Dear Friends,The first event of my return from leave was the happy task of welcoming Archdeacon Verena to Lynton where she met the deanery clergy. During our worship together she introduced herself and preached from the story of Jesus sending out his disciples. She focused on her real sense of God's presence through the tough times of this pandemic when so much fo our church life has been stripped away and encouraged us to take time over the coming months to reflect on what is part of our renewal and what we need to leave behind. Over coffee she asked each of the clergy to talk about "what makes your heart sing" and as people spoke I had a sense that it was a bit like an act of harvesting the fruit of the last months.Our Harvest Festivals begin this weekend - with Countisbury Harvest festival at 3pm on Sunday 26th Spetember. Here we know how important it is to give thanks to God for all that we receieve from land and sea, and to give thanks to God for all those whose work we depend on. Let's keep our farming neighbours at the centre of our prayers in the coming month. This is alos a good time for us each to reflect on the last year - to see how we can find God at work even through our dificult days: what is the harvest of your year that you can give thanks for now?I am very grateful to the clergy, churchwardens and administrator who helped me have a peaceful break. Could I remind you to let Sam White know that you are happy for us to hold and use your contact details - an email to the lynvalleymissionoffice@gmail.com is sufficient, or the full form is attached below. Sam's work with us is helping me get back to concentrating more fully on my role as your priest, so your permission for us both to hold and use your details is a way of supporting better and wider communication across the Mission Community in the coming months.God blessSamantha
Devon Churches Rural Forum have produced their annual update on the state of the farming world at harvest time.
The next self-led Morning Worship service would have been Sunday 19th September. There is no-one available to lead this service so this is cancelled for that Sunday.At a service of Ordination in Exeter Cathedral, Marilyn Sanders will be one of those ordained as Deacon. More information here and you can watch the service on Facebook.
Dear friends,The season of Creation-tide runs from the beginning of September until the first week of October. The intercessions in today’s mail out are for Creation, you may like to use them throughout this period, perhaps adding your own thoughts to the …. spaces as you pray (that will make sense if you look at the text I’ve attached!).I am very grateful to the Revd David Runcorn and Revd Laurence Hillel who will be taking Sunday services while I have some leave through the next fortnight; and to Revd Jean who is available to be contacted in case of pastoral need. Sam White is also willing to receive practical queries and you will see her contact details in the next item.I am also attaching our first newsletter – for September. In future it would be good for Sam White (our administrator) to be able to send this to you directly. Also, under the GDPR regulations, we now have to ask for your permission to hold your contact details and have attached a Form for you to complete and return to Sam White either by email to lynvalleymissionoffice@gmail.com or via hard copy. For future newsletters to include a comprehensive of events across the Mission Community please can we ask that all Calendar Events are emailed to Sam White (email address as above)by 15th of the preceding month? If you have any queries regarding this, please do not hesitate to contact Sam by email or ringing 07340762327. God bless,Samantha
