Dear friendsTwice a year I sit on a national selection panel as part of the discernment process for those feeling called to ordination. I was on one of these panels this week, and having met some wonderful candidates, of all ages, I feel confident that the future of the Church of England is in safe hands!!I heard stories of people involved in their local churches, some doing simple and loving acts of service to the community or in their places of work, some creating spaces for conversation for those with faith as well as those with none, some preaching for the first time and feeling terrified, yet certain it was the right thing to do; all of whom had deep loving relationships with God in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.It can be easy to hear these stories and think "well yes, this is because they are called to be vicars", but of course the reality is that every person who chooses to say "yes" to the invitation to follow Jesus (and I would hope that means every person who comes to church) has a vocation, even if it doesn't have a capital "V" and involve wearing some kind of robe!I wonder when the last time you thought about your vocation was? This doesn't mean the things you do for the church, although that is wonderful. I suggest it means the response to live your life as a result of accepting God's love fully into your life, every day, every moment, in every encounter. It means seeing the world as God sees it - fairly easy perhaps: taking seriously a love of creation, sharing in the care of the planet... It also means seeing others as God sees them - perhaps more difficult? Seeing everyone as made in the image of Jesus; not thinking less of ourselves, but thinking about ourselves less as we consider those around us and make decisions about how we live; being prepared to compromise, to make room for others point of view, to bend towards the needs of other ... This is much more tricky isn't it! And then of course, the final part of the puzzle of discerning our vocation, seeing ourselves as God sees us: beloved, chosen, precious, salt and light for the world, loved as we are but loved too much to be left where we are!I wonder if this week you can find space to be still and offer those three elements to God in a time of prayer - "God help me to see the world as you see it, God help me to see others as you see them, God help me to see myself as you see me". I hope if you are able to do that (and I would put aside at least 15 minutes of quiet time, perhaps with a lit candle, to do this), that it will be such a special time for you, and that God might even reveal something to you in this. I would love to hear about it.This weekend there is lots going on! Hopefully the balloon launch will happen at Redcatch Park - I'll be there on Saturday evening. Then some of you are going to Lincoln to share in Susanna's ordination service, otherwise we will gather as always at 8.30am for our traditional service of Holy Communion, and then at 10.30am for our all age "All Together" communion service. You're invited, it would be great to see you.And just another reminder, that next week (2 July) there will be just one service at 8.30am as we will be at the Cathedral at 10.30am for the ordination of our new curate Phil.With every blessing, as everBecky
Dear friendsIt's not often we could say that church is the "coolest" place to be (!) but I think it's fair to say with the extreme heat of recent days and weeks this is literally true.Thankfully God doesn't require us to be 'cool' in the contemporary sense - thank goodness, I'm sure the children at Knowle Park wouldn't describe the dance moves I shared in assembly this week as cool!I remember vividly an episode of "Rev", the BBC drama a few years ago, which was always a bit too realistic to be comfortable. In this episode, Rev, the vicar of a small but faithful church community, was asked by a more contemporary church if they could use his church for a short while, allowing renovations to their own building to take place. With this new church community came leather sofas, smoothie machines, and funky light systems which crashed into this traditional church building like a bull in a china shop! It wasn't really a helpful message, as it put different church traditions at polar opposites, and of course the reality is much more nuanced.There is a need to "bring the Gospel message afresh to this generation", and the messages in our Gospels over recent weeks have reinforced what happens when God's people become fixed on traditions or behaviours in their worship, without noticing the new thing that God is doing. As a PCC over the coming weeks and months we want to discern a clearer vision on who we are being called to be as a church in this time and place, for this generation. We're going to begin our preparation for this, for all of us, with a sermon series later in the Summer that takes us to some of the foundation stones of faith, and what it is to be church. This will hopefully also include some mid week opportunities to gather, in fellowship, prayer, bible study and conversation. I don't anticipate a smoothie machine, leather sofa or funky lights will feature, however I do hope you'll feel called to join in.We also want to grow our Pastoral Care team over the coming months, and we'll be running some training sessions for this in September. If this is something you feel called to be part of, why not have an informal conversation in the first instance either with me, or Becky Wearne, who co-ordinates the Pastoral Care team.In the meantime, we look forward to gathering together this Sunday to worship at 8.30am for our traditional Holy Communion service, and at 10.30am for our Sung Eucharist with Sunday Spirit for young people. You're invited, it would be great to see you.With every blessingBecky
Hello St Martin’s!I am thrilled to finally be able to introduce myself to you all, and I look forward to getting to know each of you over the next few years as we spend time worshiping and praying together. I am delighted to be coming to Knowle for my curacy and I am excited to discover what life and ministry look like in this new place. A little about me…I have lived in south Bristol, with my wife Abbey for nearly ten years, where we have worked with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) and then in various pubs and restaurants before I began training for ordination at Trinity College. We love Bristol with all its music, art and festivals and we are glad we landed south of the river. I enjoy cycling and watching football, although being from Southampton I now face the dilemma of my local team playing my home team since they have joined City in the championship. I also love cooking, gardening and growing vegetables – our last church was even based around a community garden where we worshiped God through growing and caring for local green spaces.My spiritual journey has been full of adventure but also all the usual ups and downs of life. I have spent time in various communities and church styles including Bristol Cathedral and St Francis, Ashton Gate where I came to love liturgical services. I believe there is such richness in the Anglican spiritual tradition and I look forward to seeing how we can worship together in new ways that are infused with this richness.I really hope that as we get to know one another we can walk together on this winding path of faith and life, sharing our doubts and our assurances alike.See you all after my ordination in July!Phil Manning
Dear friendsWhat a glorious week of weather - quite extraordinary to have a sunny bank holiday, and then for half term to be dry and warm.We are still in the season that is "out of the ordinary" in this space between Pentecost and Trinity Sunday. This is the time of year when vergers around the country are swapping colours of altar cloths like crazy, reflecting each of the seasons and festivals!There is a richness to our liturgy in these weeks, additional phrases in the Eucharistic prayer, collects that connect the life of the church with the life of the world, hymns and worship songs that only really come out in this short window of time, frills on the servers white robes ... so much that speaks of something extraordinary. The stories we hear each week are old, familiar, well known - those last days of Jesus human life, and the last visions of his resurrected body, the gift of the Holy Spirit being given to the whole people of God - even in the familiarity we are hearing extra-ordinary stories. And this week, the simple yet complicated notion that God is both one and three, as Father Son and Holy Spirit. It's a rite of passage to preach on the Trinity, and Chris is going to do that for us this week!I wonder how we will retain the idea of an extra-ordinary life such as we are called to live? The call to live differently, to act differently, because we follow an extra-ordinary man as seen in the life of Jesus? We can't do this alone - being grounded in our faith in God, recipients of his love, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and built and up encouraged by being members of a set apart body, that is the Church, that is the body of Christ.So my invitation for this week is to embrace the extra-ordinary invitation as we go about our ordinary and everyday lives. What difference does it make to the way you live your life, that you are Christian? How are you aware that you live differently, act differently, speak differently because of the extra-ordinary man you follow?Let's explore this together as this beautiful body of Christ that is every member of St Martin's church, whichever community you worship amongst, whichever congregation you regularly attend.This weekend, we gather at 8.30am for our traditional Holy Communion service, then at 10.30am for our High Eucharist with Sunday Spirit for the younger members of the family.You are invited, it would be lovely to see you, and we miss you when you're not there.With every blessingBecky
