PRIEST's LETTER

Times they are a changing

Nothing in life ever stays still or stays the same.  Just as soon as we think we have settled into the present, it becomes the past and we are moved onto the future.  Our natural world daily reminds us of how things change, as we watch the seasons pass-by, currently enjoying the warm delights of spring and new life in the flora and fauna around us.  This is reflected in our church year, as we move through the season of Easter, a season of hope and expectation. A time of looking ahead and seeing how God is working in the world, where he might be acting in our lives and our communities.  I no longer feel so ‘new’ here in the parish of Silton, and in the wider benefice, and I hope I have gotten to know many of you.  I am excited about all the future will bring, as we continue to serve alongside each other in this community.  One change that is coming up on the horizon is the service time moving just slightly to the right by half an hour, going from 10.30am to 11am on Sunday, still following the pattern of alternating BCP Holy Communion and Matins.  This will take effect from Sunday June 7^th.  This change sits alongside similar changes in the other two churches of the benefice to allow for me, as Rector, to be able to take two services every Sunday morning.  This way, I can assure, that I will be with you at St Nicolas Church twice a month, for us to worship together, to see each other, and together to discern where God is moving in this place where we are rooted.  And this will create a new unity and synergy with the rest of the benefice.   As it says in Isaiah:

 “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?   I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

Isaiah 43:19 

As we look forward, let us plant seeds in fertile ground where God is working amongst us, looking to see where the new waters are springing up. In our worship together, our friendships and social time, our service here, God is making things new.

Rev’d Becca McDonnell.