Letter from Rose - August & September 2014

Letter from Rose

August/September 2014

Dear Friends,

Last Sunday (20^th July) the reading set from the Gospel was that well known parable of the sower. (Matthew 11: 16-19, 25 to end)

At St Mary’s I explored the fates of the different seed, but in particular the seed that fell amongst the thorns.

As I write this letter we are in the ninth month of interregnum where we have all being working extra hard to maintain the church across the seven churches including Wolverley and Cookley and the places they serve while at the same time waiting for the formation of the new Kidderminster Ismere Team and looking for a new Team Rector.

During my sermon we thought about our position in God’s church at this moment in time with the parable of the sower in mind, and which seed we might think we are. Perhaps we may feel a little like the seed that is being choked by the weight of the ‘thorns’ of extra work?

It is so easy to give in when things get a bit tough, but let’s think about those thorns for a moment and what can happen to them.

When winter comes along they too will lose their leaves and strength and die back, then when spring comes along the seed once more is given the opportunity to sprout, to grow and bear fruit, 30, 60 or 100 times over.

I know we have all been disappointed by the fact that we have not been successful in appointing a Rector, perhaps we were not ready.

Maybe we needed a winter period first but now are at a point when we need to open the door anew to the Spirit’s working and see what God wants of us.

Whatever form the future may take, I am sure we all realize that it will not be as it was before - but I wonder if we are brave enough to embrace whatever God has in mind for us and become the ‘good soil’ where the Spirit can and will be able to work and grow the Kingdom across our seven churches and beyond.

Bishop John, our Diocesan Bishop says that ‘our churches should be communities where the Kingdom is our core conversation, where these Kingdom values (of love, compassion, justice and freedom) are evident and through which we strive to incarnate them in our communities ….. a framework in which churches might flourish and grow rather than impose a blueprint of how every church should look.’

The new Kidderminster Ismere Team has now been ‘made’ and will come into being as soon as the Clergy are relicensed and so across our new Team we have a wonderful opportunity to grow those Kingdom values but it will mean a renewed openness to the working of the Spirit and hard work supported by prayer.

Are we brave enough to move forward?

A prayer from Bishop Tom Wright praying for God’s church – for us.

‘Give us faith, good Lord, to see your kingdom at work even when the seeds seem wasted and the soil seems bare.

Thank you for the promise of the great harvest, of which your resurrection was the first fruits.’

Amen.

With every blessing for our future together,

Rose

Revd Rose Lawley

Acting Team Rector

 

From the Parish Registers

Christenings

Paula Michelle Cooper; 8^th June at St. John’s, Wolverley

Aaron Lee Meagham; 8^th June at St. John’s, Wolverley

Fraser James Brooks; 8^th June at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Carly Louise Lewis; 6^th July at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Jessica Daisy Sullivan; 6^th July at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Eric Phillip Waldron; 6^th July at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Ruby Louise Williamson; 13^th July at St. John’s, Wolverley

Ethan Shaun Davies; 20^th July at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Weddings

Luke Nicholas William Martin and Rebecca Louise Portman; 25^th May at Cookley

Jamie Luke Childs and Emma Jane Taylor; 25^th May at St. John’s, Wolverley

Matthew Alan Fidoe and Harriet Emily Smith; 30^th May at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Alexander Michael Bowman and Gemma Elizabeth White; 14^th June at Cookley

Stefan Karl Jordan and Victoria Louise Clarke; 21^st June at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Matthew Ashley Thompson and Elizabeth Charlotte Crich; 12^th July at Cookley

Simon Mark Cox and Heather Janet Neal; 18^th July at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Funerals

Anthony Chapman of Cookley; 2^nd May at Wyre Forest Crematorium

Brian John Jacques; 9^th June at St. John’s, Wolverley

Gillian Lynes of Wolverley; 13^th June at Wyre Forest Crematorium

Irene Richards of Cookley; 17^th June at Wyre Forest Crematorium

Leonard Thomas Mumford of Wolverley; 18^th June at Wyre Forest Crematorium

Avril Elizabeth Forrester; 19^th June at St. Peter’s, Cookley & W.F. Crematorium

Muriel Baynham of Wolverley; 9^th July at Stourbridge Crematorium

Stanley William King; 16^th July at St. John’s, Wolverley & W.F. Crematorium

Letter from Jan - June & July 2014

Letter from Jan

June/July 2014

Dear Friends

As many of you know, I met Chris three months before coming here to Kidderminster. And in those three months, I knew so much about him: about his mum who’d died when he was two; also the fun times he’d had in Guildford and at his church in Lye.

But there was one thing I didn’t know about him. How much he earned.

I found this surprising that he just couldn’t tell me, (trust me, it’s no BIG deal!!), because I come from a family who talked about money openly and honestly. I knew how much my dad earned and my mum earned so I understood why some years we couldn’t go on holiday.

I can’t work out whether most people are like Chris or like my parents. I do know that if our collections are not keeping pace with our outgoings, we are uncomfortable about what to do about this.

In the Old Testament there was a stipulation for the people of God to give a 10% of their income away (if people had no income there was no stipulation). Many Christians who earn still give away 10% because they want to be generous just as God is generous.

Let us be generous givers and if we are giving money to the church let’s celebrate this and if we are giving money elsewhere let’s celebrate this too.

I want the church to be solvent and to pay its bills. But I want far more that we as Christians are generous and can say I’m grateful for what I’ve been given and I’ll give away a proportion as a way of expressing my thankfulness.

If Chris was old school about money, I’m glad the church is new school. If you want to know exactly what the church spends its money on and where it gets this money from and what the diocese spends our money on, do ask a church treasurer. The church is trying to be open and honest about monetary matters.

Let us be open and honest with ourselves too about how generous we actually are.

Jan

Bishop John offers some thoughts on growing deeply as disciples by offering our money to God.

Where is your treasure?

"Do not store up for yourself treasures on Earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6. 19-21)

What I want to do here is to ask you a simple question arising from that passage from St Matthew's gospel. Where is your treasure? It's strange how reticent we are as Christians to talk about money particularly in view of the fact that Jesus mentioned it so often. The parable of the talents, the dishonest manager, the story of the rich young ruler, the widows mite, the importance of serving God versus serving mammon - the list goes on and on. A quick count indicates that 19 out of the 47 teachings which are clearly parables relate directly to money or material possessions. And that is just the parables. If the frequency of his sayings in the gospels is anything to go on, Jesus talked about money every other day (or every other teaching): he knew how interesting and vital it is to people. Our Lord made more reference to money and possessions than to either prayer or faith - more than his sayings about Heaven and Hell combined. And he preached to rich and poor alike.

Why then was Jesus so concerned about something we tend to keep quiet about? It wasn't anything to do with a shortfall in Parish Share, it was much closer to home than that. Jesus didn't wait until things got desperate to teach about giving. He wasn't concerned with fund raising, he was concerned with faith-raising, and he knew that ultimately our security will be defined by what we depend upon. And in his kingdom, lasting treasure is measured not by what we have but by what we give away. For where our treasure is, there will our heart be also. Our giving will reflect what is really going on inside us. When Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" he put his finger on our spiritual pulse. He knew the signs of spiritual vitality, and the blockage of the giving arteries that will be a serious risk to our health.

That we are created to be givers follows quite simply from the fact that we are made in God's image. It is when we give that we will most reflect the gracious God who formed us in his likeness. God's nature is to give, rather than to accumulate. When Christ did not exploit equality with God for his own use but emptied himself, giving himself to a death on the cross, he was expressing something very profound about God. Our God is in the giving business. He can't help it. It's just the way he is. Money Managers in the City would say that God has a real problem: much more expenditure than income. Praise God for his economics.

Although the instinct for self-preservation in us is strong, deep down we know that it is only in sacrificial giving that we will find and enjoy real life. Only in giving to others will we find the real joy and fulfilment we crave. Christmas reminds us of that. It's a sign of maturity when we move from focusing on what presents were received to the joy we can bring to family and friends by what we give.

Financial crises in churches and dioceses are opportunities: opportunities compelling us to discover who and what we really depend upon. We give not just because others have a need or because the church needs it for its mission but for our own good; we were created to give and will be frustrated spiritually and stunted in our growth if we don't. God doesn't need our money. He wants our hearts. But the fact is that our hearts are very closely connected to our cheque books. The cords that bind them are many and strong. Some of us have bad memories, but I bet there is no one reading this who can't remember immediately where they bank. We know it in a heartbeat. And what is written in our bank and credit card statements tell a story where our true religion is really found.

In Old Testament times, God gave his people the gift of the law. In Leviticus 27 he commanded them to give a tithe, 10% of their crops and herds back to him. The tithe was a holy reminder that whether they were rich or poor everything the people had belonged to him. The profit Malachi said that to do less than tithe was to rob God (Malachi 3.8). On top of that tithe, the Israelites were to give special offerings on specific occasions. In addition to that, they were also to give alms to the poor as needed. That was the minimum commanded in the scripture.

Jesus criticised Pharisees who were tithing spices while neglecting weightier matters, but he didn't dismiss tithing (Matthew 23.23). There is not the slightest evidence that the very first Christians stopped tithing, providing offerings, and giving alms. In the New Covenant in which we have been giving the gift of the Spirit and every spiritual blessing, God says, "Give as you have prospered". Have we prospered any less than the people of Israel? I tithe and have received many blessings as a result. For the fact of the matter is that the way in which our gracious God orders the creation means that the more we give the more will be given back to us; "Give and it will be given to you; good measure, press down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back".

In my experience it is the poorest of people who are the most generous. I was vicar of a church right in the heart of inner city Tyneside and I moved from there to Ely Cathedral. I was shocked to discover that, with congregations of roughly equivalent size, giving in Ely Cathedral was less than on Tyneside. That's not in relative terms, that's in absolute terms: prosperous Ely as compared with impoverished Tyneside. And that's a picture I have seen reflected the world over - travelling in Africa and Peru and seeing the extraordinary sacrificial generosity of people there who, frankly, are a lot more cheerful than much more prosperous people in England.

Why don't we dare to embark on an adventure of giving? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could start a renewal movement in the church based on the neglected gift of the Spirit, the gift of radical giving? It's fun to give away money that belongs to someone else. Everything we have belongs to someone else - to God. Where our treasure is, there will our heart be also. Our heart should be committed to giving for we were created to give. Give for Life - giving in order that we might have life and conform more completely to the image of the God who created us, to be truly Kingdom People.

Bishop John

From the Parish Registers

Christenings

Isabella Diva Curty-Pitt; 12^th January at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Gabriel John Curty-Pitt; 12^th January at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Dylan Joseph Stewart Roberts; 27^th April at St. John’s, Wolverley

Dexter Joseph Spare; 11^th May at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Aston Joseph Price; 11^th May at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Noah Zackary Price; 11^th May at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Weddings

Stuart James Thorpe and Lynsey Dawn Bache; 2^nd May at St. John’s, Wolverley

Funerals

Doreen Edith Evans of Wolverley; 7^th March at Wyre Forest Crematorium

John Quinn Billingsley; 8^th April at St. Peter’s, Cookley and Wyre Forest Crematorium

Edward Harris of Cookley; 28^th March at Wyre Forest Crematorium

Robert Trevor Hodgson; 16^th April at St. John’s, Wolverley and Wyre Forest Crematorium

Margaret Monger of Wolverley; 17^th April at Wyre Forest Crematorium

Anthony Andrew Harrison; 22^nd April at St. John’s, Wolverley

Margaret Frances Perks; 23^rd April at St. John’s, Wolverley

Dorothy Garbett of Wolverley; 8^th May at Wyre Forest Crematorium

David Albert Freeman; 8^th May at St. John’s, Wolverley

Derek Gordon Wren; 13^th May at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Memorial Service

Malcolm James Green; 1^st May at St. Peter’s, Cookley

 

Letter from Alex & Archdeacon of Dudley, Nikki Groarke - April & May 2014

Letter from Alex

April/May 2014

Dear Friends

Going to the Holy Land was something we always said we’d do “one day”. And so I have to admit that it seemed slightly unreal to find ourselves, at the end of January, on the Diocesan Pilgrimage, travelling to visit the places where Jesus lived, died and carried out his ministry. It was an amazing experience, not least because of the privilege of sharing it with 65 other wonderful people, all pilgrims from across the Diocese, and with Bishop John and his wife Denise. We spent four days in and around Jerusalem, with its hustle and bustle, its incredible history and mix of cultures; and then three nights at Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee, where the pace of life was slower and the scenery simply breathtaking.

In this multi-media age, we think we’ve seen it all; we can watch films, read books, view video clips of almost anywhere in the world. But somehow, reality is different. Of course places like Jerusalem have changed in 2000 years – it would be strange if they hadn’t! But there was still the incredibly intimate sense of walking where Jesus would have walked, of seeing the landscape that he would have seen. Standing on the Mount of Olives and looking over to the city of Jerusalem itself, it became easy to envisage Jesus and the disciples walking out across the Kidron Valley – still there today – after the Last Supper, to the Garden of Gethsemane – also still there today – where Jesus would finally be betrayed by Judas’s kiss.

We had expected that the most visited sites would have succumbed to the plague of tourism and become commercialised and tacky, with plastic souvenirs and contrived photo opportunities, but we were surprised to find that this wasn’t the case. Although the churches and shrines built over those places where the key moments of Jesus’ life were purported to have taken place were sometimes cluttered and over-ornate for our western tastes, they were merely in keeping with the Orthodox denominations that were responsible for them.

In Bethlehem we queued to pick our way down the narrow stone steps to kneel at the 14-pointed silver star that marks the place where, it is said, Jesus was born to Mary over 2000 years ago. And in Jerusalem we knelt again, to reach down and touch the hard, roughened rock at the spot where it is believed that the cross on which Christ was crucified would have stood. And I think that what stuck us with a surprising intensity at those moments was that, although these might not be the precise places, although the true location might have been lost in rumour and the mists of time – still, somewhere, very close to where we were, there was a place where all these things actually did happen. 

 

What was brought home to us was that all this was real. That the Bible stories that we’ve known so well since childhood weren’t just made-up fables, but accounts of real happenings, in real places, that involved real people. The reality of Jesus was there all around us – and has remained with us.

The Jesus that we mostly have in our imagination is rooted in the images that we encounter; the pictures in our children’s bible, the actors in Biblical dramas in film or on TV – and in our own imaginations, the images that we conjure up as we read the Gospel stories. But Jesus wasn’t just a character in a story, a good subject for an artist. The Son of God walked the dusty streets of that noisy city, trod the stone steps that rise up out of the Kidron Valley, made long and difficult journeys through the barren desert landscape. He was as real as we are. And having that brought home so vividly has made our faith more real, more alive. And as we watched the sun rise over the sea of Galilee on our last morning, while a fisherman drew in his catch, hauling the net up the side of his boat – we felt that we were honoured to see something just like Jesus must have witnessed as he stood on the lakeside waiting for his disciples.

Alex

Letter from the Archdeacon of Dudley, Nikki Groarke

My introduction to the Diocese of Worcester and the Archdeaconry of Dudley has been a very watery one. As I have met with diocesan staff to find out how their roles interact with mine, the views through their windows in the Old Palace offices have been ones of vast expanses of water stretching across to the Malverns. As I have driven from one church to another, detours to avoid roads and bridges closed by floods have featured often. I have learned that life in the country means permanently having a dirty car and that wellies in the boot are a must-have item!

The floods across our area, and in other parts of the country even more so, have been devastating for many, though thankfully held back by new defences along much of the Severn this time. Water in vast quantities in the wrong place can be powerful and destructive, it permeates everything, flows everywhere there is space, gets in through the cracks, over and under many barriers. Yet we know too that water is vital for life. In countries ravaged by drought, the rains are longed for, every drop of clean water is regarded as a precious gift.

It may be hard for us to imagine intense heat and desperate thirst, surrounded as we are by our flooded countryside and with clean water readily on tap, but that is the experience of many, and one with which many can therefore connect when King David draws a spiritual parallel with his need for God in Psalm 63: "You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water."

God's presence is as life giving water to the soul, as crucial for our spiritual health as water is for our bodies. The Bible teaches us that through the Holy Spirit we can experience God's refreshing presence in abundance. In John's gospel Jesus talks about the water of life:

"On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive." (John 7:37-39)

As healthy kingdom people who are deeply rooted in prayer and being renewed and transformed by regular worship, we are constantly filled with the Spirit, in order that the Holy Spirit might flow from us into our communities. How wonderful it would be if the life and hope of the gospel, its values of love, compassion, justice and freedom, flowed from our churches into our communities with the same persistent permeation that flood water exhibits. What an impact for good will be made if God's love seeps through every crevice and crack as his people serve those around them. And what good news stories there will be to share if barriers are consistently broken down by acts of loving kindness in God's name.

I pray that my Worcester experiences will continue to be watery as I explore the diocese, but in the spiritual realms rather than the physical ones, as I see God's life-giving presence flowing from the people of our churches into our neighbourhoods.

Ven. Nicki Groarke
 

From the Parish Registers

Christenings

Felicity Rachel Wright; 9^th February at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Felicity Amber White; 9^th March at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Funerals

John Goodall; 13^th December at Wyre Forest Crematorium

Thomas Clarke; 17^th January at Wyre Forest Crematorium

Jennifer Ann Cox; 31^st January at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Natalia Andree Brittain; 6^th February at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Gordon Thomas Ross; 13^th February at St. John’s, Wolverley & Wyre Forest Crematorium

Lilian Denise Tompkins of Cookley; 13^th February at Stourbridge Crematorium

Lilian Mary Edwards of Cookley; 18^th February at Wyre Forest Crematorium

Cynthia Margaret Male; 6^th March at St. John’s, Wolverley

Dorothy Edith Pinfold of Cookley; 19^th March at Wyre Forest Crematorium

Pamela Maud Griffin; 21^st March at St. John’s, Wolverley

Letter from Rose - February & March 2014

Dear Friends

This morning I took an assembly in one of the Church of England Primary Schools in our area that many of our church members as well as Clergy and lay ministers are involved in, either by being Governors, general helpers or even just parents or grandparents. Each Term we look at a different value and this New Year in this particular school we are looking at ‘thankfulness’ - saying thank you.

When I returned home and began to think about what I would write to you I began to wonder how often we say thank you these days, and what do we really mean when we are saying it?

The story we had during the assembly was of the ten lepers who asked Jesus for help, they asked for healing from the terrible disease that had ruined their lives making them outcasts from family and friends. Jesus did in fact heal them, but afterwards only one came back to thank him for giving him back his life.

Some people may think there is not much to give thanks for in today’s world.

A world where people still kill each other through acts of war or terrorism -

A world where people are still hungry -

A world where life seems so cheap -

A world where children live on the streets or are used as a bomb -

A world where lives are lost through negligence or greed.

But we need to look again, for as awful as these things are, we can still find acts of love, generosity, forgiveness and even joy around us - things we should be grateful for and say thank you.

Rabbi Harold Kushner said -

If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.

During the assembly, I asked the children to, during a few moments of quiet, think of something they would like to thank God for. They sat quiet for a while and then I asked them if they had thought of something and they all either nodded their heads or said yes. Then I told them after the words ‘thank you God for……….’ They were to shout out what they wanted to thank him for, and do you know they almost raised the roof!

If those young children can say thank you to God like that - well so should we - for all that IS GOOD in our world and in our lives too.

Ahead of us we have a few more months when we need to say thank you to God for all that has been good in the past but also to pray for his guidance and support as we look forward to the future as the new Kidderminster Ismere Team with a new Team Rector.

So I hope you will join in the prayer meetings that have already begun and will continue throughout this time.

Your friend in Christ

Rose 

Congratulations to the Venerable Nikki Groarke who was licensed as our new Archdeacon of Dudley on Sunday 5^th January at St. Thomas' Church, Stourbridge.

We are pleased to announce the arrival of a new grandson for Revd. Jan Ashton. Edward Charles (Ted) was born on 13^th January, weighing-in at 7lbs 14oz.