Dear Friends,Thank you for your prayers for my commissioning as Dean of Women on Thursday, at the diocesan clergy conference. It was a very moving experience with so much warm support from my colleagues (there is a Twitter post about it on the diocesan Twitter feed but I have added the picture taken of me with many of the other women at the conference for those who (like me) are not on Twitter! The conference was excellent, with some very good speakers and input. Bishop Robert set the tone at the beginning recognising that we are all living through very challenging times with no easy answers. In his sermon at the concluding Eucharist he followed that up with a reminder that in the midst of all that is challenging "the one who has called us is faithful" and our first calling is to be faithful too. I hope in weeks to come to be able to share more of what was helpful and inspiring. It was a series of full days, so I am returning to plenty of calls and emails. I will prioritise what is pastorally urgent, so if you are waiting for other replies, please be assured I will get to them when I can.And a reminder - the Epilogues at Countisbury begin on Sunday 8.30pm.God blessSamantha
Congratulations to Rev’d Samantha Stayte who was commissioned by Bishop Robert this morning as our new Dean of Women in Ministry! She was supported and welcomed by a large gathering of women in Ministry from across Devon.<br>
Dear Friends,I've often described the Trinity season, using the idea from Godly Play, that it is is the "green growing season": with yesterday's blazing sunshine offering the light the green plants need, and today's (Saturday) replenishing rain across the Lyn Valley, we are certainly likely to see the green growing of summer in the gardens and land around us!Taking our cue from nature, we might reflect on what we need to nourish and replenish our growth in faith. This is especially true if we have had, or are experiencing, hard times in life. Sometimes just getting through is all we can do, our conscious reconnection with God comes later. My reflection on today's quite dramatic readings is to be reminded that God remains with us even when we can't feel and connect with God. Life can shake our faith in God, but God's faith in us, God's love for us is steadfast. And as fellow members of the body of Christ, one of the reasons that praying for one another is profound is that we can carry others in prayer when they need support, and rely on others to hold the sense of God's presence with us when we need it. As this green growing season begins, perhaps it is a good time to give some attention to the way we each pray for others, or the way we receive the knowledge that others pray for us. May God show us how prayer nourishes our growth in faith and trust in God's presence, and offers replenishment through the prayers of others in those times when we cannot voice our own needs.A group of us had a very inspiring evening at Deanery Synod last Thursday listening to Archdeacon Verena tell the story of her journey to her current role. This is perhaps a good time to remind all Churchwardens that her Visitation for the Barnstaple and Shirwell deaneries is at 7.30pm on 7th July at Holy Trinity Barnstaple. This is the service at which our Churchwardens formally make their commitment to their significant role in our parish life. All church members are invited and it would be great if others were able to support them on that evening.Just a reminder: the Diocesan Clergy Conferenec runs from Monday 20th - Thursday 23rd next week so I will be away from my desk through that time. I would particularly value your prayers on the Thursday, as it is when Bishop Robert commissions me as the new Dean for Women in Ministry.God blessSamantha
Dear Friends,This Sunday we focus on what it means that we worship a Trinitarian God. Undoubtedly God is a mystery which we experience more fully than we can understand, but I am keen to encourage us all to get past any sense that the Trinity is a complicated puzzle. At its simplest, I think our belief that God is Trinity is about recognising that the Godhead is revealed as "relationship". When we think about our own lives we begin to realise that, made in the image of God, this is true of us too. Our fundamental relationship is with God who holds us in being, and from there our identity is shaped by the ways we relate with others. The revelation of the God that Jesus shows us is that love is the nature of the relationship of the Godhead, and we are called, as those made in the image of God, to make love the nature of our relationships too.This coming week there is an opportunity to meet with our brothers and sisters from the churches across our Deanery: Thursday 16th June, 7pm at Bratton Fleming Church, Deanery Synod. The speaker is the Venerable Verena Breed, Archdeacon of Barnstaple. She has a real love of the distinctive ministry we are all called to in a rural environment, and began her own ministry as the sole priest in a group of parishes right on the edge of Chester Diocese in the Peak National Park - so she knows our kind of life at first hand. There are very few Deanery Representatives in our Mission Community but this meeting is open to any one who is interested to come - so if you are able to participate it is a really good way to get a sense of what is happening beyond our own parish boundaries.Extending even further: diocesesan efforts continue to work with organisations finding homes for Ukranian refugees. Updates on this - including a link to donate to a fund helping refugees with the cost of travel can be found here: https://exeter.anglican.org/pray-for-ukraine/God blessSamantha
