Dear friends,
I hope you are well and had an enjoyable bank holiday weekend. As you may know, we spent ours camping at Greenbelt Festival where, despite the wind, we had a marvellous time. Greenbelt is a unique music and arts festival rooted in Christian faith where you can find everything from loud punk music to an outdoor Holy Communion. When I look at the values of the festival and our own values at St Martin’s (click here to read our values) I see so much overlap. It strikes me that Greenbelt would be an excellent place for us to be challenged and inspired as a church community seeking to offer a radical welcome, value each and every human and worship God in ways that are rooted in tradition but accessible to all in our parish. As such, if you would be interested in hearing more about the festival or are considering coming along next year I would love to chat with you.
One of the themes that came out over and over again at the festival was to do with how we care for creation. I wonder what your thoughts are on climate and ecology? It is such a vast topic and one which has so many layers to it. Each of us will have ideas, thoughts and hopes that come together to form our action in this area. Equally we all have fears, anxieties and irritations when it comes to “eco” and “green” topics that will cause us to feel anger or paralyse us, leaving us feeling stuck in inaction. As we are now entering the season of Creationtide, these are the themes we will pick up on in our next Café church. So, come ready with your questions, your thoughts and your frustrations and hopefully we will be able to reflect on some of the wisdom from the Bible as well as spending time praying for this world that we have been created as part of.
As the new school year approaches, and with GCSE and A-level results published, many of you will now be focused on new things. Whether these are the new things you hoped for or unexpected challenges, my prayer for each of you is that you are able to find peace and courage from your faith to face them. Several of the young people who have been connected to our church over the years will be moving onto university and we wish them all the best in their studies but also in their lives as they discover what it is like to live away from home and family. This does mean that, for anyone looking for a new thing, there are some opportunities available to volunteer at St Martin’s. Both our Messy Church and Café church have space for new volunteers if you are interested speak to me and I can tell you more. As families go back to school many of them will face additional expenses that they can’t meet which highlights just how important our local foodbanks are. All the foodbank donations collected at St Martin’s are gratefully received at the Withywood Foodbank in BS13 so please do continue to use the lists provided to add a few things to your basket when you shop. We will also have a collection at our Harvest service which I hope will provide another way for us to think about the food we eat, where it comes from and the ethics of it.
This week we meet at 8:30 and 10:30 for Holy Communion with Sunday Spirit at the latter. You are welcome and invited!
Every blessing,
Phil