Jeremiah 29: 11 For surely, I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Wise words that we don’t always hear and acknowledge, at least I don’t, but words that I will certainly hold on to next time I doubt the plans that God has for me. Many of you now know that I am moving to Great Yarmouth sometime in September once all the proper checks have been made. The role I will be taking on could have been designed just for me. When I first knew that Bishop Clive had signed me off, Vicar John asked me what sort of church I would be looking for in my first incumbency role. That was an easy question to answer. Firstly, no administration or PCC meetings or APCM meetings, no fabric to look after and no church yards thank you very much. I also didn’t want a school in the parish. I would like the churchmanship to be Anglo Catholic and I was happy to have older people in the parish. When Vicar John had finished laughing his advice was that I should think about retiring because most Parishes would mean that I would have at the very least one of the things that I didn’t want if not more. SO, I agreed that maybe I would be the first Priest to go from being signed off to incumbent status ministry into retirement. The good Lord had other ideas and the perfect role fulfilling all my requirements became available. Great Yarmouth is a deprived area but there is lots of funding being made available for re-generation and to this end two posts were made available in the Great Yarmouth Team Ministry. One was not for me the other draws on both my skills that I have obtained since working with Vicar john and those that I brought with me from my time as a Hospital Chaplain. The benefice has three churches all of them liberal catholic and incense is used on special occasions. They robe and process, so one of my boxes was ticked. Secondly there is a team rector, praise be his role is one of an oversight minister. He looks after the day to day running of the three churches, so it is he who will Chair the PCC meetings APCM’s and do all the things I dislike such as church yard maintenance and fabric. Box two is now ticked. There is also going to be a team vicar who will look after the schools, so no schoolwork, box three is now ticked. So, what is my role? On a day-to-day basis I will be giving pastoral and spiritual care to the people in all three parishes, this is a new role so no precedent has been set, which I am pleased about because no one will know if I am doing it wrong, or say to me the old vicar didn’t do it like that. Three days a week I will be working with the Pathway’s café, I will also serve as a trustee for the charity. The café provides a hot meal for the homeless, unemployed and low-income families three days a week. My role will be one of support for the paid staff, volunteers and the clients that use the facilities. I will help them to understand the forms that they need to fill in to claim the benefits that they are entitled to and assist them in finding the right help for their needs. I will also be supporting the staff in the food bank which is next door. Being in a deprived area it is difficult to ask those who have nothing to help provide for those who have even less. Skillful negotiations will be needed in supporting the team to gain adequate support from local businesses. If a local supermarket is offering six cakes for 20p at the end of the day that is great, but not if you haven’t got 20p to buy them with. There is a lot of work to do in this area. When I am not busy doing all the above, I will also take funerals, weddings and baptisms. On a Sunday I will lead / preach in one of the two smaller churches, St Paul’s and St Mary’s giving encouragement to the congregations who have some good missional ideas but who do not have the confidence to put them into practice. Through prayer and guidance, I hope to give them courage and confidence to implement their ideas. The Minster is looked after by the Rector. This post is going to be a challenge but one that I am looking forward to. A bonus to this post is that all three churches and the café are within walking distance. The only driving that I will have to do is to the crematorium and the local authority cemetery both of which are a thirteen-minute drive away, so God has even got that covered for me. For Roger there are plenty of opportunities for him to find work. Most of the driving vacancies are currently no more than a 15-minute walk, we could not ask for any more than this. The vicarage itself is 15 minutes from the sea, which most of you know is my spiritual home. I am leaving you all with mixed emotions. A touch of sadness that we didn’t get the opportunity to meet under different circumstances, sadness because I have made some good friends in the short time I have been here, but I am sure we will keep in touch. I would like to thank Revd John for his words of support and wisdom and for letting me try out new things. Sally for being a listening ear and all of you for supporting me during this difficult time. I would also like to thank Helen and Sue from Little Fishes for showing me that working with children can be both fun and rewarding. I look forward to working with you all in the coming months and will continue to pray for you when I leave. May God continue to bless these parishes with all good things and the mission that you undertake. Ashley
Patience is a virtue and virtue is a grace and if you have all of these then you have a pretty face. I have no idea where this rhyme comes from or even if there is any more to it, but right now it explains a lot. No pretty face just a frowny face and no grace. Why? I hear you ask. Simply because I have very little patience when waiting for things especially when it is for myself! If I am waiting with someone else or praying for them for something to happen, I have all the patience in the world. I have a great ministry of presence, which simply means sitting and being present in the moment and waiting, but not for myself. When I must wait, I get frustrated. When people tell me it will be in God’s time, I get frustrated. When people say that God is teaching me patience, what I would like to say to them is unprintable! The polite version is I have waited long enough, it is time that God opened the door for me. So that I can begin a new life and Ministry somewhere, anywhere. Please do not think that I want to rush away from you all because I don’t. I have waited patiently on God for so long that to get to this point of almost being in my own parish and yet not quite there is frustrating as it is for many of my peers who are also waiting for the right position to become available. When I was signed off by the Bishop in January it was with the expectation that I would be getting ready to move by now, God seems to have other ideas and I wish he would share them with me or at least give me a time scale to work with! It isn’t just me who is waiting, it is my husband and family as well. Fortunately, my husband works in an industry where his skills are transferable to any geographical area, I can only begin to imagine the stress that waiting causes for those whose spouses have to give notice to their employers and then find a new job. So, we are blessed in that respect. Then there are family members who are waiting to know where Mum/Grandma is going to be living and when can they come to stay. Plans are put on hold, just in case that elusive parish becomes available and with only a small window of opportunity to apply. Dare we book that ten-day holiday in the Caribbean (a delayed 25th wedding anniversary gift to ourselves), and what happens if the ideal role comes and goes whilst we are away?Every time the church times arrives, I open the pages praying that this will be the week when a vacancy calls to me, then there is a sense of disappointment when there is nothing suitable. The same happens when I search diocesan websites and find nothing, After, the anticipation, there is a sense of loss and a feeling that clearly everyone got it wrong, and I should not be a minister! Then begins the half-hearted look for a secular role, that I will never take because the conviction within me and the assurance of others that God has called me to this life is so strong that it cannot be wrong, and this is what keeps me going as I continue my search.When I begin to lose hope, I am reminded in Romans 12: v 2... Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so you may discern what is the will of God. This passage spoke powerfully to me when I was preparing to go forward for discernment to confirm that my calling was indeed from God and not just my own thinking and it continues to sustain me now, in fact the whole of chapter 12 is worth reading prayerfully when we are struggling to know where we fit in. There are many books that I read, too many to mention, but all about people who have struggled to wait on God. It is good to know that I am not the only one who gets angry and shouts at God, who weeps with the frustration and hurt that waiting can bring. After I have finished with the self-pity, I remember the hope that the resurrection brings, the hope that there is something for each one of us so I sit and wait just as the disciples did because I know that the eventual gift that I receive will be far greater than I probably deserve.I am going to finish now with the words from 'I the Lord the Sea and Sky' that I use a lot in my time of waiting: Here I am Lord, Is it I lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go Lord if you lead me, I will hold your people in my heart. He called, I answered, and now I am ready to go wherever he leads, so if he could just get a move on that would be great!Ashley
“Will You Come and Follow Me…..?” This is the first line of a wonderful hymn composed by John Bell (of the Christian community based at the Abbey on the Scottish island of Iona), as seen in its first verse: Will you come and follow me if I but call your name? Will you go where you don’t know, and never be the same? Will you let my love be shown, will you let my name be known, will you let my life be grown in you, and you in me? Throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus had a naturally invitational approach with everyone he met, from the very first fishermen he invited to ‘come and follow him’ to each one of us, here and now in our 21st century lives! That personal invitation especially includes journeying with Jesus through Holy Week (10th – 17th April), and our churches in Alrewas, Fradley and Wychnor most warmly welcome you and your family to join in with the various special services and activities hosted by each one (details available in each church’s section in this edition of Parish News)….. Come and experience the first day of HolyWeek – Palm Sunday (10th April) – as Jesus’ triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem is retold in story, movement and symbol (with palm crosses for all) …enter into the awe and wonder of the crowds which celebrated Jesus as King, but had no idea what that might mean for their own lives……what might it mean for ours? On Maundy Thursday (14th April), join us at All Saints Alrewas as we gather from all three villages to enter into the experience of Jesus’ ‘last supper’ with his disciples, and Jesus blows his disciples’ minds as he reveals completely unexpected insights into God’s presence and power in their lives….and ours too! This moving Communion Service will include symbolic ‘handwashing’ for those who wish to partake as we remember Jesus being betrayed by one of his very own and his disciples abandoning him out of fear for their own lives, from 9pm to 12ama ‘Night Watch’ will continue in All Saints, with opportunity for candle-lit personal meditation and occasional readings – you are warmly invited to ‘drop in’ and stay for however long you wish, as we prepare for the world-changing events the next day… On Good Friday (15th April), you are invited to participate in a variety of services and activities which help us to experience the awesome depth and costliness of God’s love for our world, and for each one of us personally, as the events leading to Jesus’ death are retold in story, song, activities and experiences for all ages…… Following an eerily quiet ‘Holy Saturday’ as the painful reality of Jesus’ death sinks in, we sincerely hope everyone will join in our churches’ joy-filled celebration of our Lord’s Resurrection on EASTER SUNDAY as we celebrate the life-changing victory of God’s love! We sincerely hope you will accept this personal invitation to join in the wonder of Holy Week and experience afresh the amazing presence and power of God to make all things new…. including me and you, and our lives now and eternally! With every blessing, Vicar John
