August 2024 <br>Those of you who know me well, know I love to garden, and I hope you will forgive me for the gardening references that I am bound to use in my letters over the coming months. I find August is a quieter time in the garden. The busyness of spring sowings and early summer plantings has faded. The summer flowers are filling the garden with colour and fragrance. The summer fruits of strawberries and currants have been harvested and the autumn harvest is yet to come. Now is the time to sit and enjoy all the hard work, with just a bit of tweaking here and there and nipping out those pesky weeds that keep appearing! It is the same with the church’s year. The busyness of the early year is over, Lent, Holy Week, Easter celebrations, Pentecost and Trinity Sunday are behind us, and the frenetic end of the year has yet to come: Harvest, Remembrance Sunday, Advent and then Christmas. For a while the church settles into that period of time known as ‘ordinary time’. A time for the ministry team to relax a bit and take stock and make plans. It’s not without its big events though and July brought sadness as we said goodbye to Anne-Marie and Andy, but we also celebrated all that they have done during their time with us, and we wish them well for their move to Chester. An interregnum can lead to a time of uncertainty, and many may worry about the future; however, let me reassure you that your ministry team of Andrew Bailey (Andrew), Andrew Bevington (Bev) and myself are working hard to ensure that this time will continue to be one of growth and development for the church. We are a team of three but unfortunately, we can’t cover all the services and there will be an element of change for some until our new incumbent is appointed. There are lots of things to look forward to as we move into the autumn. Sophie Molyneux will join our ministry team in September as she starts training to become our Pastoral Worker and will be running our new Youth Club on Sunday afternoons. Also, Andrew will be licensed at Chester Cathedral on the 12th October as a Lay Reader; we will hopefully be organising a bus to go to this service, more details will follow later, but do please let us know if you would like to go to Chester. We are also looking forward to continuing our Discipleship Explored course during the autumn and Bev will be running Christianity Explored during Lent 2025. Andrew will be continuing with the monthly Bible study sessions this autumn. If you would like to attend any of these events do have a word with Bev, Andrew or myself. We are also looking to grow the team who help with worship at 11 o’clock at St Mary’s. If you would like to help by becoming one of our welcomers, or leading our intercessional prayers, do let me know. Also starting in September I am planning to get out and about to start getting to know you all a little better and do some pastoral visiting. If you or someone you know would like me to call in for a cup of tea and a chat do let me know. Either drop me an email or give me a call. If I don’t pick up do leave a voicemail or send me a text or WhatsApp message and I’ll get in touch when I can. Just a gentle reminder, Andrew, Bev and I are volunteers and have limited hours to give, so if you don’t get a reply to a call or an email straight away, please be patient and bear with us. We all have other jobs that have to take priority. However, we will do our best to get back to you as soon as possible. I am a self-supporting minister, which means I don’t receive a stipend from the church and am only contracted to work 6 hours a week for the church, during school term time. On Wednesdays I am usually in Astbury, either at toddler group, in school or at Mid-Week communion. This is a lovely service; if you are free do join us for our service of holy communion, followed by coffee and a chat. We do take a break over the summer, but we will be back meeting weekly from the 4th of September, either in church or at the village hall at 11:30am. As we all hope that the August weather will be kind to us, whatever we get, I pray that you all have a peaceful and restful August. Rev. Steph
