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New Year – More Changes
I quote from my sermon
on Advent Sunday 2006.
‘So St Mary’s has to
face changes in the same way as each of us has to face changes. One big
change facing both you and me is that I will be leaving St Mary’s in June
2007. In May 2007 I will have been ordained for 40 years. I will be
retiring on my 65th birthday which happens to be a Sunday 17th
June. This is no sudden decision on my part but I did not want to do a Tony
Blair but on the other hand I did want to give enough notice so that we can
together face the different changes that will occur. For Jan and me it
means leaving a community of which we have been part for 14 years. For St
Mary’s the future will be in God’s hands and there will inevitably be a
period of uncertainty.'
Vision Sunday 21st
January
If you care about the
future of St Mary’s and the future of Our Lord’s church then please make
every effort to be there so that the vision can be shared and everyone will
know the vision for the church for the year ahead. Obviously children,
young people outreach, effective pastoral care, how to manage an
interregnum, together with high standards of worship will be included in the
presentation. It will be a PowerPoint presentation given by different
people, so please come early enough to get a good seat in the nave so that
you can see as well as hear. Please bring this to the attention of anyone
who you think might be interested.
Epiphany
The church’s seasons
move us on quickly after the Christmas period. We shall throughout this
month of January be celebrating the feast of the Epiphany. Epiphany means
the manifestation of Christ to the Magi. Manifestation means an indication
or a sign. These ideas can be expressed in terms of visions. Hence the
mention in of Vision in some of our Epiphany hymns.
Bright the vision that
delighted
Once the sight of Judah’s seer;
Sweet the countless tongues united
To entrance the prophet’s ear
Heaven is still with
glory ringing
Earth takes up the angels’ cry,
‘Holy, holy, holy,’ singing,
‘Lord of hosts the Lord most high.’
And to quote another hymn:
Be thou my vision, O
Lord of my heart
Be all else but naught to me, save that thou art;
Be thou my best thought in the day and the night,
both waking and sleeping, thy presence my light.
Here we see the
movement of the manifestation of God’s glory being translated into a daily
vision of God. It is these sentiments together with the theme of change
which will, I hope by presented on Vision Sunday.
Week of Prayer for
Christian Unity
Unity week also falls
this month. The Merton Park Churches Together Unity service will be held at
St Mary’s on Sunday 21st January at 6.30 p.m.
May your New Year be
blessed with a vision of God’s Glory.
Your priest and friend
Tom Leary
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