Dear Friends

In today’s reading from Acts we see Peter as a completely changed man. 

The disciple who so often seemed to misunderstand Jesus and who denied him three times and who had been hiding with the other disciples after Jesus’ death, is now transformed by the Holy Spirit.  He has become a witness to the saving power of the risen Christ, a true Apostle.

After celebrating the resurrection at Easter, we now look forward to Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit.  Perhaps this mirrors where we are in the lives of our churches.  We returned to church on Easter Sunday to proclaim the resurrection, and after a two week break, we return to weekly services this Sunday.  It feels as if we too have been holding our breath, waiting for the joy of Easter, and now waiting for the Spirit to fill us again with the joy of fellowship in being together in person.

However, as we return to church, we must be mindful that there are those who will not be coming back so soon, or perhaps not at all.  We will continue to provide these letters and sheets for them as well as live-streaming services from Chard and Combe.

We also need to look to the future.  We will have decisions to make about the sustainability of our churches, both the congregations and the buildings.

We need to find a way of both honouring our current traditions and all that sustains us now and also making the changes that are needed for the future.  I am convinced that one way this will happen is us, as the body of Christ, reaching out to our communities and working for them and alongside them.

We can’t really afford to do nothing.  Just as Peter was transformed by the Holy Spirit and became a great witness to the saving grace of Jesus Christ, so we must pray for that same Spirit to fill us and lead us into the future, as fellow witnesses.

Below is my Rector’s Report presented for St Mary’s APCM this Sunday.  It follows the same theme:

“When I wrote my last report in September last year, we did not know that we would soon be back in lockdown for November, and then again from January.  We had no idea that our next APCM would be held under lockdown conditions, again.

However, here we are and the last year has been difficult, challenging, but also remarkable  at the same time.

Usually a Rector’s report for the APCM would be looking back over the past year, but things are not ‘usual’ and we need to look to the future as well as back at the past.

During the past year both Georgina and I have travelled a steep learning curve in developing our technical skills(!), many of us have become Zoom regulars and we have kept in touch by phone and email.  Thanks go to all of you who have kept in touch with others by phone or email and also provided practical help through shopping, collecting prescriptions and other forms of support.

We have also, kept in touch with some of you through paper deliveries to your door.  I calculated that in the past year we have put 1756 envelopes through your doors.  Many thanks go to those who have week by week, delivered these.  Ken, John Rollings, Chris and Robin Williams, Sue Milne, Ruth and Georgina, thanks to you all.

However, happily we are now coming out of lockdown and able to be together to worship.  It is wonderful to be in fellowship with you again and we hope to be back to a full rota of services by the end of June. 

Last year saw the cancellation of all weddings at St Mary’s, all of which have now been re booked for the coming year.

We conducted  only one adult and one child baptism over the past year, and we pray that as we come out of lockdown we will begin to hold others.

We have held a number of funerals, with restricted numbers, including those of Diane Packham, Pamela Dix and Harry Govier.  It has been a difficult time for bereaved families, who have been dealing with their grief as well as organising funerals under Covid restrictions. Some families were unable to be with their loved one at the time of death and this was a cause of further grief.

Many of you will be pleased to return to ‘normal’ and to be back in the familiar surroundings of our lovely buildings and our services.  But things will have changed, one thing that lockdown has reminded us of is the importance of fellowship and community, but what kind of community or fellowship will that be?

We want to be back together, but we must now also be mindful of the future and how we are going to maintain our current communities of faith while looking at how we can make them sustainable for the next five, ten, fifteen years and beyond.

We have now installed a live-streaming camera in the church.  We realised that over last year, the number of people watching our online services grew and often surpassed 100.  There are those who have faith, or who are seekers after faith, who will not come to church, but are happy to connect online.  It is really important, therefore, that we continue to provide something for them.

Over the Christmas period, although physical attendance at our services was down, the number of people watching our livestreams grew and was often over 50.  Let us rejoice that we now have the means to reach out to people in this way even though they won’t or can’t be with us in church.

Lockdown has also made us more aware of how we need connection and fellowship, and we hope to meet up as soon as we can to share and enjoy one another’s company. When circumstances allow we will be going back to our monthly Saturday breakfast, we will begin a weekly coffee morning after the 9.45 service and find other ways to get together socially.

We propose to have more Benefice services in the future and also have a Benefice social event on fifth Sundays. 

We have recently been successful in applying for a Heritage Lottery Grant, thanks to the patience and huge efforts of Robin Bailey, with support from Anne Perez.

Part of that money will pay for the installation of a screen and projector in the church which will enable us to provide clear and accessible materials for our services, but also make the church more attractive and usable for community groups. We need to make our building capable of generating some income for us and inviting for our community.

Our church building has changed and changed again over the centuries as it has been made fit for purpose for each age.  What we are doing now is continuing that tradition. 

As with churches up and down the country, St Mary’s is at a crucial point. We can choose to do nothing, change nothing, and decline financially and in numbers, or we can be bold and have faith that God has a plan for our future, and take some risks.

Tom Tame, our Youth Pioneer is doing just that. He has been in post since last August, and despite all the restrictions of two lockdowns he has been making excellent progress in making connections in the town, meeting our young people and planning for the next year.

He has been working with other youth workers in outreach in Henson Park, working at Chard Youth Centre and in Holyrood school.  He has set up a group who will be doing prayer walking around the town and begin working as Street Pastors, focusing on young people.

We live in confusing and fast moving times.  Most of our young people have grown up with no connection or experience of church and consider it to be irrelevant to their lives.  Because of social media, technology, social, economic, and educational pressures their lives are completely different to our own lives when we were younger, or even our own children’s lives.

We cannot expect young people to simply walk through our doors.  What Tom is doing is meeting them where they are, getting to know what matters to them and bringing them the good news of Christ’s love for them in new and relevant ways.  Let us continue to pray for him and the work he is doing.

Our calling as Christians is to be the light of Christ in our community.  We need, therefore, to care for one another and also to care for others.  We need to recognise that if we are to keep that light shining for the future, that some change is required.  Standing still is not an option.  Let us trust in our calling and move forward with confidence and hope.

Reminder of our services:

At St Mary’s, Chard we will be back in church for a service this Sunday, followed by our APCM. From then on we will be holding a weekly 10.00 am service in church.

At Combe St Nicholas, weekly 10.30 am services will also commence again this Sunday. The APCM will follow the service on Sunday 16^th May.

Services at St Mary’s, Wambrook will recommence with 9.15 am BCP Holy Communion on Sunday 2^nd May. 

Services at St Andrew’s, Whitestaunton will recommence with 6.00 pm Evensong on Sunday 9^th May.  The APCM will be held at 7.00 pm on Wednesday 12^th May.  

In the midst of a year that will stand out in history we have also had a week that will stand out in history too.

Regardless of what we may feel personally about HRH Prince Philip, there is no doubt that he has achieved and given so much in his life that has helped in the cause to save our planet and creation, and to give young people opportunities in life that they would never have had without the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. He was the longest serving consort in history, alongside the longest serving Monarch in our history, and had achieved an amazing seventy-three years married to Elizabeth our Queen. Often quietly devoted, sometimes putting his foot in it, being a gentle support and above all a person of laughter, well done good and faithful servant. Our thoughts and prayers are with our Queen in this sad time.

We are all able to go out now, as before if anyone is finding the prospect of leaving your home daunting, please say and we will come out with you. When we have these larger moments of change it isn’t always easy to make the move. We went to the beach last week for the first time since November, it did feel very strange, but so lovely to hear and see the waves.

Plus we are living in history and story this week as we hear in the account of Jesus appearing to the disciples as they eat together with friends their astonishment and fear at seeing him.

Acts 3 12-19 –“and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know”. What a wonderful way of speaking “the author of life” the one who came to rewrite the story, to change the story and to make it readable (for the most part) for everyone, to create a narrative that is not dead but alive. We have our Bible to direct and guide us as we read its life-giving story, Jesus is the one through whom it has come to life and the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to understand it.

I don’t think I will ever stop being amazed at the way scripture seems to change and new words and phrases jump out at me almost it seems from nowhere. This experience which I am sure you all have had too, allows us to identify with the account from Luke here: “Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you – that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, suddenly they saw, suddenly the last piece of the jigsaw fitted into place in their minds”, What a privilege it is to be allowed to be part of the story the author of life has given us.

Luke 24: 36-48 “While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence”. You see I am not sure I had not noticed before that the disciples also disbelieved, it wasn’t just Thomas, Thomas voiced his disbelief, Jesus could see it in the faces without the words, and he takes a piece of fish to eat. Then they are relieved, then they can hear and receive as he shares with them the way forward in the story.

Spring is here, new life is rising, the blossoms are creating fluffy trees, and the birds are gathering nesting materials. As we pray let’s remember those who have worked tirelessly and continue to do so, in finding new ways to combat this virus, testing old drugs and new to save lives, to bring us hope of returning to the new normal soon. Be expectant that God is travelling with you in the difficult and the joyous moments when you can’t see or feel his presence yourself or in others, and when you sense he is holding you close.

Be Blessed Rev Georgina

Friday April 16th Memorial service for HRH the Duke of Edinburgh – 6.00 pm at St Mary’s.  Bookings only. It will be livestreamed on Facebook – details below.

Please log in from 5.50 pm onwards.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/4360858437322126

The Church of England has opened an online condolence book following the announcement from Buckingham Palace of the death of HRH Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh.

If you wish to sign the online Book of Condolence please click here

In today’s passage from John’s gospel, we find the disciples behind locked doors, fearful of what might happen to them at the hands of those who killed Jesus. And then – the risen Christ steps into the room, into the midst of their fears with the first of a three-fold “Peace be with you.” ! This first peace is the peace that perhaps comes when our worst fears are not realised; the relief that against all odds, death has not won; the realisation that out of the blood, the nails, the thorns, the beating, and the cross has come new life.  Something we need to pay particular attention to as we move out of lockdown into something which will be life, but life changed and renewed.

When Christ shows them his hands and side, the disciples rejoice with the adrenaline rush that follows the miraculous — the crucified one is the risen one. Jesus then speaks a second “Peace be with you”, maybe this time it is a “not so fast” kind of peace, a kind of peace that lasts beyond the initial rush, that abides even when one remembers the cost and the challenges that still lie ahead. 

 “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” These are sobering words, even when the disciples see the living Christ since they have also just been shown his wounds. Christ’s victory will be theirs as well, but in order to get there, they will need the kind of peace that lasts even when — in the midst of their own blood, thorns, and cross – victory seems a dim and distant possibility.  So we too need this second kind of peace when things seem to be hard, when we do not know how we are going to get through a certain situation or how all our struggles will ever come to an end.

The third “Peace be with you” follows a famous exchange with the disciples and Thomas, who was absent during the previous appearance of the risen Christ. As many have noted, although he is famous as “Doubting” Thomas, he asks for no more than what the rest of them, including Mary Magdalene, have already received, and Thomas’ words do not seem particularly troubling to Jesus. But perhaps the other disciples are exasperated  with Thomas. After all, Thomas has in so many words called them liars to their face. “I won’t believe you until I see for myself.”

However, when we meet the disciples again a week later, they are still all together. 

Jesus again appears among them, and before anyone says anything, says again, “Peace be with you,”.  Perhaps this time it is the peace of reconciliation–“peace be among you,” the peace that follows when we forgive one another. This task of forgiveness was given to the disciples at Jesus’ previous appearance, verse   It is John’s that most emphasises oneness and unity among the disciples, a oneness that shows the world that this message of life is true.  So, this third peace, within the community, might be the most significant of all. For life in all its fullness cannot be lived unless we live as a community.

Jesus does not admonish Thomas and, in fact, invites him to satisfy his doubt by seeing for himself Even if he were to be considered a doubter (as the traditional interpretation understands him), he is welcomed into the peace of Christ before he can either apologise or defend himself. Congregations and communities of faith often do not do well with people who, like Thomas, challenge them with doubt and difficult questions. Christ calls them and us to live in his peace as a way of reaching our own peace with each other. He seems less concerned than we often are about sticking to one interpretation of his life and resurrection. He sends Thomas, doubters, and all of us to continue his work.

After all, in the end, it is Thomas ‘The Doubter’ whose response stands as the highest proclamation of Christ by any person in the gospel, “My Lord and my God!”.

Rev Ann

Dear friends,

We move from ‘Hosanna’ to ‘Crucify’, and then to ‘Hallelujah, He is Risen!’.

This season of the church year encompasses so many aspects of faith and human experience that it challenges and blesses us on all levels.

Are we hopeful, snatching at good news, seeing but not altogether getting the picture? The Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday holds a poignant balance of confidence and apprehension, for the story is not yet over. Are we grieving, in pain, desolate, ashamed, or guilty? The Crucifixion speaks to our distress and offers forgiveness.   Do we rejoice, feel overwhelmed by joy and wonder, and yet need to understand further?  Easter morning comes with an almost incredible statement of new life in the Resurrection of Jesus.

As a Deanery, we are blessed in many ways and I hope that each one of us can speak of some particular blessing in our parishes and projects. We are also challenged to look at things afresh, and to apply faith to new and emerging situations. One major change is that we are now working in partnership with Crewkerne Deanery, so our boundaries are extending as we welcome this collaborative ministry with laity and clergy over the combined area from Haselbury Plucknett to Pitminster.

Also, we are all very aware of the urgent need to address matters of climate change and eco-responsibility, globally and locally and our responsibility to protect the lives of others by the way we live as Christians and in our stewardship of church buildings and land.

God’s love includes all of us, so we are also beginning a discussion on matters of faith, sexuality, and gender, connecting with the Church of England report ‘Living in Love and Faith’.

Beneath, and of foundational importance, there is each parish and all who live therein.  As times change, we look forward to seeing more lay leadership at parish level, along with anticipated changes in clergy deployment.

In all of this, we do indeed need a Saviour, and the essential confidence of Resurrection as we walk onwards.

May God bless and guide each of us through the Easter season, in the name of Jesus our Risen Lord,