“The Most Precious New Year’s Gift of All” The most precious gift you will receive this New Year, which God graciously offers to each of us, is - quite simply - the gift of time. Now, God doesn’t give us this gift in one big lump sum, which would be totally overwhelming and unmanageable (after all, 31,536,000 seconds in one year is an overwhelming lump sum, by anyone’s measure!). Instead, God gives it to us by means of a very special type of ‘bank account’, which is wonderfully depicted in the following (anonymous) reflection entitled Sands of Time: If you had a bank that credited your account every morning with £86,400, that carried no balance over from day to day, allowed you to keep no cash in your account, and every evening cancelled whatever part of the amount you failed to use during the day, what would you do? Draw out every penny, of course, and use it to your advantage! The fact is, each of us has such a bank, and its name is TIME. Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night, it writes off as lost whatever of this we have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balance, and it allows no overdrafts. Each day it opens a new account for us; each night it burns the balance of the day. If you fail to use the day’s deposit, the loss is yours – there is no going back. There is no drawing against ‘tomorrow’. It is up to each of us to invest this precious fund of hours, minutes and seconds in order to get from it the most out of today. Wow! Just think – for every day in the coming New Year, God will credit us with 86,400 seconds to spend. What a tremendous gift! In our pressurised daily lives, we often say, ‘There just aren’t enough hours in the day’ to get everything done. But, given the gift of 86,400 seconds each day, the question is not actually ‘whether we have the time’ (we do!), but rather – in 2024, how will we choose to use the time we have ‘in the bank’ each day of our lives? Will our daily use of those 86,400 seconds include not only work, but also time for play and refreshment? Will we spend enough of our time not only with (or on) ourselves, but also with cherished family members and friends, and joining in the life of our local community with all it has to offer? And what about our response to the one who so graciously gives us each and every moment of our existence – what portion of our time will we give to God each day, and each week, through private prayer as well as public worship and community service, so that – being truly aware of his amazing gift of time to us - we live out every moment of our lives with a tremendous sense of wonder and joy?My hope and prayer in this New Year is for each of us to ‘empty the time bank’ every day, using each moment wisely and thoughtfully - in the service of God, in meeting the needs of those around us, and in developing our own gifts and aptitudes as persons wonderfully crafted in the very image of God! Your Vicar and friend, John Allan
A Special Appeal to all the residents of Alrewas Village from Vicar JohnRising to the Challenge…of Raising £100,000 Dear Friends, As many of you will know, the very first church which was built in Alrewas (on the present site near the mill and stream, which is where the village was formed) was a small thatched roof structure around 830 AD – and we’ve been blessed to have a church building on this site ever since, with the stone-built Norman church erected in the 1100’s and modified over many hundreds of years. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to previous generations of villagers who have generously offered their time, talents and treasures along the way, enabling all of us to benefit from the well-equipped and maintained ‘Grade I’ listed building known as All Saints Parish Church, which belongs to us all and is here to serve this special village and its growing community. We are delighted that it is open and welcoming daily to everyone, whether villagers or visitors! Over the years, many of you will have enjoyed coming to All Saints for various forms of Christian worship. These will have included regular Sunday and Wednesday services; special festival occasions at Harvest-time, Remembrance Sunday, Christmas and Easter; as well as services personally meaningful to you and your loved ones, particularly christenings, weddings and funerals. In recent years, we’ve also offered new forms of services to meet the varied spiritual and practical needs of folks in our village, including All-Age Praise, ‘Reflections’ meditative service, Café Church, and Village Songs of Praise. Of course, we’re also thrilled that our beautiful church is seen by the village community as a valued amenity for everyone’s use and benefit throughout the year – for example, providing not only a regular meeting place for the Alrewas Community Choir (with its special concerts) and the Alrewas Show Committee, but also creatively using the facilities for treasured village events such as Open Gardens and the Arts Festival, as well as providing hot soup, refreshments and a warm space on ‘Souper Wednesdays’ during the colder months of the year! All of these events – and a great many others which haven’t been mentioned – depend upon our ancient Parish Church building remaining in sound shape! Over these past 22 years that I’ve had the privilege of serving as your Vicar, we’ve all worked hard together to ensure that regular maintenance was regularly performed, professional inspections carried out, dangerously worn stonework replaced, electrical systems renewed, and the church tower (which was becoming structurally unsound and unsafe) has had major restoration work carried out to ensure that our building could continue to be used safely and enjoyably by all. Over the past year, our Architect has been inspecting and monitoring the church roof, and particularly the lead lining which protects the ancient wooden roof structure, since more frequent leaks are occurring due to the lining which has been exposed to the elements for more than 60 years, patched countless times over the decades, having now become dangerously thin. A full replacement of the protective lead lining over the nave (central) roof section is required as soon as achievable, in order to prevent the wooden roof from serious deterioration and becoming structurally unsound. The longer we delay replacing the lead, the greater the risk we run of serious structural damage to this special building, as well as significantly higher costs for replacement of water-damaged ancient wooden roof timbers! The Architect has recently confirmed the actual present-day net costing of this project as £150,000. The good news is that All Saints Church has already succeeded in raising £50,000 towards this (including some very generous funeral collections in memory of beloved villagers!). Our aim is to be able to commence this vital restoration work in the summer of 2024 – but in order to start the project, we must successfully raise the remaining £100,000, including via donations and grants! We have established a Nave Roof Appeal Strategic Fundraising Team to explore all possible avenues for raising the revenue needed and are deeply grateful for the willingness of Anthony Coates (Coates the Butchers), Richard Kirkland (RJK Construction), and Peter Ralley (Alrewas Archives/Arts Festival) from the village community to contribute their expertise and energy in helping us to move forward as swiftly as possible. Next year marks my 40th anniversary of full-time ordained Ministry, as well as 23 years of privileged service as your Vicar! Having recently announced my plans for retirement in September 2024, it would give me the greatest joy if – during my final year with you all – we could together successfully reach this goal and get the project underway…..If you are willing and able to support this project for the benefit of this generation and those who will follow us, I have detailed below how contributions can be made. With my deepest personal appreciation and gratitude for your valued friendship and support, and every blessing, Vicar JohnDonations can be made in any of the following ways:-1. Posting an envelope through the Vicarage letter box.2. Posting an envelope in the donations box just inside the main church door.If using either of the above methods, please mark envelopes ‘Roof Appeal’ and if you are a taxpayer, completion of a green gift aid envelope (these are available in Church by the donations box) will increase the value of your donation by 25%. Alternatively, please also annotate your own envelope ‘Gift Aid’ and include your name, house number / name, and post code.3. Via our Just Giving Page - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/all-saints-church-alrewas This has a facility which allows donors to remain anonymous should you prefer. The page is in the process of being updated to reflect the launch of the roof appeal but as this is also a vehicle for other donations to the Church, please clearly state that your donation is for the roof appeal, and as with direct donations, please indicate where Gift Aid can be claimed.4. Directly to the PCC’s Bank Account. If you would like to donate in this way, please contact our Treasurer, Nick Kilford on 07912 359237, or via email at treasurer@alrewasallsaints.church.
Dear friends, It has been an absolute privilege and joy to serve as Vicar of Alrewas, Fradley and Wychnor churches and our village communities for more than 22 years, and I wanted you all to know that at today’s services in our churches, I shared our hopes and plans for my forthcoming retirement….don’t worry, we’re not rushing away! Next year marks the 40th anniversary of my ordination and full-time service in Christian Ministry, and over those four decades I’ve had the immense joy of serving churches initially in the USA, and for the past 33 years in England in the Diocese of Lichfield; next year Sally and I will also celebrate 44 years of marriage, all of which has been devoted to service together in public ministry, and we feel it will be the right time to conclude formal full-time stipendiary ministry and begin the next chapter of our lives together! It is our plan to serve here for a further 12 months, affording us the joy of sharing in all the key Christian festivals as well as the many wonderful village events which will be taking place, giving us time to sort out provision for our retirement housing (which sadly cannot be in the parish we’ve just been serving, due to professional protocols), and time to share special moments with all of you dear friends who have meant so very much to us during our time here! We anticipate that Sunday 30th September 2024 will be our final day of official duties and services, and thought it would be helpful to share this with you all at this point, as we look forward to making the most of the next 12 months with you! With our immense gratitude and appreciation for your understanding, support and friendship, and with our love and prayers – Vicar John”
“So Much More Than a Building…”Dear Friends, When you think of ‘the Church’, what is the very first thing which comes to mind? More often than not, when I’ve asked this question, most people offer the usual answer, ‘the building’. That is in fact very understandable, because our lovely English church buildings are truly unique and special places within the local community – generally quite historic places where beauty, tranquillity and ‘treasures from the past’ can be found and enjoyed, and that is certainly true of our wonderful historic church buildings in our benefice of All Saints Alrewas, St Stephen’s Fradley, and St Leonard’s Wychnor! In the New Testament of the Bible, however, ‘the Church’ is always characterised as ‘the people of God’, and ‘the body of Christ’. Although the Church has a meeting place (perhaps a historic building, perhaps a more modern structure), the Church as the ‘body of God’s people’ is always understood to be, first and foremost, a living organism (very much like your own body) which, precisely because it is alive, is quite naturally changing since it is constantly growing and developing. Indeed, this is a vitally important feature for all of us to recognise and accept. A Roman Catholic priest who is a friend of mine was lamenting how so many of his parishioners seemed to expect ‘the Church’ (both as a meeting place, as well as a gathering of God’s people) always to remain the same, and who found it immensely difficult to embrace change for the Church when it came along. He then shared with me a short written reflection which he’d acquired somewhere (author unknown, sadly), which may well offer some challenging and insightful ‘food for thought’ for each of us as we consider what it means to be (in the words of this piece’s title), a ‘Church Alive’: “Living churches are constantly changing… Dead churches don’t have to.. Living churches have lots of noisy babies and young people… Dead churches are fairly quiet. Living churches are constantly improving..... Dead churches simply focus and planning for the future… upon their past. Living churches are intense and earnest about their worship… Dead churches aren’t. Living churches move out in faith… Dead churches operate totally by sight. Living churches support missions heavily… Dead churches keep it all at home. Living churches focus on people… Dead churches focus on programs. Living churches are filled with generous givers ........ Dead churches are filled with ‘tippers’ who only give their ‘spare change’ to God. Living churches dream great dreams for God… Dead churches re-live nightmares. Living churches have fresh winds of love blowing... Dead churches are full of bickering. Living churches don’t have ‘can’t’ in their dictionary... Dead churches have nothing else but. Living churches evangelise…. Dead churches fossilize.”You may (or may not) happen to agree with everything said in this reflection, but – above all – I do hope that it will stimulate each of us to reflect upon our churches in Alrewas, Fradley and Wychnor as ‘living organisms’ which continue to grow and change naturally (never seeking ‘change for change’s sake), as we claim Jesus’ own promise that we may have true life in him abundantly. So, then, how shall WE live? The answer lies within each of us – and I truly hope that, individually as well as together, we will choose abundance of life - with all of the natural change and growth that it implies! Your Vicar and friend, John Allan
