Dear friends

I have been thinking about stories of our lives recently. Part of this is the time of year, when the story of Jesus that we are following is familiar, when the stories of the people he connected with - Thomas in his doubt, Saul / Paul on the road to Damascus, Tabitha in her healing, for example - are real, rather than the parables we find in other times of the year. We also, as I mentioned last week, will be saying goodbye to those who have been part of the story of this place, as they move on in their ministries. 

I may also have been thinking about stories because we have been working on the St Martin's Book of Remembrance, replacing the old files that had become a bit tatty with something that honours the names of loved ones more appropriately. I have taken such pleasure in looking through the lists of names, some surnames I recognise as they are your loved ones. Others I don't know, but they will be known to some of you. Others again may be people who were connected to St Martin's many years ago, and there may not be any current living relatives remaining in our church community, but their stories remain part of the St Martin's story, and God's story in this place. We are creating a prayerful space in the Baptistry, where the Book will be open on the relevant page for each week, where you can remember your loved ones, or like me, you may like to prayerfully gaze over the list of names.

We don't stay in the stories of the past of course, and the incredible story of our faith is that God is always doing a new thing - the Creator God is always creating, and we are inviting to join in with this creative activity. We have a new PCC which met this week for the first time. Whilst the majority of the members of PCC remain unchanged, I believe it to be true that when a new person joins any group, it becomes a new group. I am excited about the energy, commitment and dedication these PCC members have, to want to make a difference to the life of our church and community. Please pray for them as we give thanks that they have agreed to stand and as we discern together our priorities.

We have also continued to discern our way forward through the story of the pandemic. We have decided that at all of our services now, the wearing of face coverings are down to personal choice and responsibility. We think it is wise that if someone has a cold or cough they should probably take care of themselves and stay tucked up in bed!, and we trust that we can all be responsible and considerate to each other as the story continues. I will continue to wear a face mask when distributing communion, and for the time being this will continue to be in one kind.

There is another story to celebrate soon, and that is the story of the reign of the Queen. We look forward to celebrating on Sunday 5 June with a cream tea at 2.30pm - and you may like to come along dressed for a Garden Party! We will follow this with a (hopefully outside) service of celebration and songs of praise called "Singing through the Reign" at 4pm, where we hope to include music that covers the whole of the Jubilee.

Do please save the date and come along if you are able to. If this is something you feel you can help with, please do be in touch.

Whatever your story has been this week, and whatever lies ahead over the coming days, I pray that you will hold firm to the story of love, acceptance, grace and peace that is God's gift to us in Jesus.

With love in ChristBecky