Dear friends
Celebration, and …
July has been a month of almost continuous celebration as Dawn and I have enjoyed turning 40! We had largely impromptu dinners on both our Birthdays, as well as the wonderful turnout at the parish Rector’s Birthday Bash, and good fun at an event later in the month for family and other friends. In the process, we have both become aware of your appreciation of us among you, as well as a renewed insight into the value of both family and friendship.
… Sacrifice!
Along with all this celebrating, as a parish from Sunday to Sunday we have been reflecting on the nature of sacrifice, and I have become aware (it wasn’t planned!) as we have progressed through the Sunday Lectionary Readings and accompanying Collects that being a living sacrifice, in particular being a place where others can meet God, has developed into a whole theme of somewhat momentous implication for us as a community. I have been encouraged to consider putting it into print – a somewhat daunting thought as I rarely preach from notes. If you have perchance taken notes during my sermons during June and July I would greatly value a copy.
Vision Afternoon
We have planned a parish Vision afternoon for Saturday 20 August 2005 from 14:00 till 17:00. It was referred to at the last parish Council as our Parish Indaba, which I think is a helpful concept as it reflects a gathering where there is freedom for anyone to express their hopes and desires for our parish community. Thus, PLEASE COME ALONG and JOIN IN the process! This meeting will be a beginning rather than an end, and will give direction for where we go as a community into the future.
I think I have been around long enough now to have some sense of who we are as Corpus Christi, where we have come from, and where we need to go, but I see this Indaba as an opportunity for the community to express this for itself, rather than have me impose from above. It also gives me the opportunity to test my perceptions against that of the group – so your involvement and presence is most important.
I am aware that, although we have a very strong Anglo-Catholic, Traditional High-Church background and that there are still parishioners who value this approach in particular to Worship, there has been an influx over the last eight to ten years of people who have joined our community for reasons other than our origins, and for whom an unswerving loyalty to this particular worship tradition is not a priority; and many of whom have brought with them a valuable variety of both worship experience and diverse cultural outlook. It is, I believe, time that these issues are opened for honest and open discussion. It is my intention that our Indaba be this time.
Please make every effort to attend!
Yours in Christ
Mark
Celebration, and …
July has been a month of almost continuous celebration as Dawn and I have enjoyed turning 40! We had largely impromptu dinners on both our Birthdays, as well as the wonderful turnout at the parish Rector’s Birthday Bash, and good fun at an event later in the month for family and other friends. In the process, we have both become aware of your appreciation of us among you, as well as a renewed insight into the value of both family and friendship.
… Sacrifice!
Along with all this celebrating, as a parish from Sunday to Sunday we have been reflecting on the nature of sacrifice, and I have become aware (it wasn’t planned!) as we have progressed through the Sunday Lectionary Readings and accompanying Collects that being a living sacrifice, in particular being a place where others can meet God, has developed into a whole theme of somewhat momentous implication for us as a community. I have been encouraged to consider putting it into print – a somewhat daunting thought as I rarely preach from notes. If you have perchance taken notes during my sermons during June and July I would greatly value a copy.
Vision Afternoon
We have planned a parish Vision afternoon for Saturday 20 August 2005 from 14:00 till 17:00. It was referred to at the last parish Council as our Parish Indaba, which I think is a helpful concept as it reflects a gathering where there is freedom for anyone to express their hopes and desires for our parish community. Thus, PLEASE COME ALONG and JOIN IN the process! This meeting will be a beginning rather than an end, and will give direction for where we go as a community into the future.
I think I have been around long enough now to have some sense of who we are as Corpus Christi, where we have come from, and where we need to go, but I see this Indaba as an opportunity for the community to express this for itself, rather than have me impose from above. It also gives me the opportunity to test my perceptions against that of the group – so your involvement and presence is most important.
I am aware that, although we have a very strong Anglo-Catholic, Traditional High-Church background and that there are still parishioners who value this approach in particular to Worship, there has been an influx over the last eight to ten years of people who have joined our community for reasons other than our origins, and for whom an unswerving loyalty to this particular worship tradition is not a priority; and many of whom have brought with them a valuable variety of both worship experience and diverse cultural outlook. It is, I believe, time that these issues are opened for honest and open discussion. It is my intention that our Indaba be this time.
Please make every effort to attend!
Yours in Christ
Mark
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