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Since writing to
you in early March for the April magazine some important events have taken
place.
Firstly we had our silent procession of witness from
Mostyn
Gardens to church on Palm Sunday. We were well represented including a
number of children waving green palm branches. Once in church, members of
the Parish Players participated in a dramatised reading of the Passion.
Holy week services brought us via the symbolic washing of feet on Maundy
Thursday and the vigil until
midnight,
to the Good Friday Service where, in the first two hours the Revd Dr Jules
Gomes, Chaplain of Greenwich University, led a deeply moving series of
addresses. Holy Saturday symbolically and gloriously brought the light of
the risen Christ out of the darkness of the unlit church. And the Easter
Day services were joyful with the church beautifully decorated with spring
flowers.
At
the Annual Church Meeting on Palm Sunday the new PCC members were elected.
Thanks were given to Barbara Clayton at the official end of her three-year
stewardship as churchwarden and we welcomed Anne Carroll as our new
churchwarden to join Hilary Yates in her second year. We said farewell to
James Gutteridge who has been inspirational in his role of musical director,
and wished him well in his new appointment in Melton Mowbray.
We
also thanked our vicar Tom Leary for his leadership in the past year and
wished him well for his sabbatical commencing on Easter Bank Holiday until
July when we look forward to his return and for news of the fruits of his
sabbatical project involving on-line support for the clergy.
Beyond the parish of course there have been some momentous milestones –
especially the last days of Pope John Paul II, his death and his funeral in
early April. On April 9th followed the postponed marriage of
Charles and Camilla. And a few days later the government announced the date
of the General Election.
As
our guest preacher Revd Hannah Neale, reflected on the 3rd Sunday
of Easter, the past weeks have taken us all on a journey, symbolically
through the pre-resurrection experience with the death of Pope John Paul to
new life in the marriage of Charles and Camilla. And now in May we move
forward on our Christian and liturgical journey to Pentecost and Trinity.
As a
church, we walked in silence to St Mary’s on Palm Sunday in expectation of
planned events in the days leading to Easter. We now move forward shaped by
our experiences, to new events, one of which is planned for 15th May the day
of Pentecost; The Churches together in Merton Park’s Walk of Witness.
Member churches are invited to process from their churches to meet for an
ecumenical service in
John
Innes Park. Details will follow in church notices about this event, which
will provide a great opportunity for Christian witness and Christian unity.
As a church we do play our part in witness in various ways but such an event
as this, is a wonderful opportunity for a unified and broader outreach
especially to those who do not attend church or know little about the
Christian Gospel. A few years ago at an inter faith day, Christian Care
had a table with handouts about Christian beliefs and we had very few
visitors, but suddenly a wind caught the papers and they were scattered
across the field in all directions, and people started picking them up and
reading them. That may have been divine intervention or just the weather –
but the effect was to spread the good news.
We
need to be witnesses just as the first disciples were witness but we need to
find ways of achieving this in these days when there are so many other
attractions to take people away from church. We need always to be prepared
to talk to others when asked about our faith, and to always be open to the
prompting of the Holy Spirit. And so whether or not you will be able to
join in the ecumenical event at Pentecost I encourage you all to find time
to pray for the spreading of the Gospel, to be bold in talking about your
personal faith, and to be always open to the God of Surprises, because it is
amazing what He can do if we put our trust in Him
John
Hillier
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