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Please find a link to our May 2023 magazine, a paper copy of which you can pick up in either of our two churches:

In this edition you’ll find news and views of what’s going on in the life of our church family. We also have updates on the Mission Community of which we are part (the group of local churches which work together) and the #MorethanSunday initiative. Plus details of arrangements over the Coronation Weekend.

The May 2023 magazine also has this letter from Margery Spencer…

Changing times

For our diamond wedding anniversary sixteen months ago, our daughters produced a set of photos of Alan and I taken during the course of sixty years. I showed them to someone who has only known us for the last ten years and she said, “Oh I would recognise Alan anywhere but you have changed so much Margery!”

Yes, I know my hair can no longer be described as brunette, I possess many more wrinkles and my joints are decidedly less flexible but I think the 23 year old version of me is still recognisable. Change in our appearance as we age is inevitable, change in our attitudes likely and even changes in our beliefs may arise with advancing years. The absolute certainty of youth may be tempered with the experience of age, but the basics remain.

And if I have changed in the last 60 years so has the world in which we live. Fashion, transport, medicine and education have been revolutionised. Probably the greatest change has been brought about by technology. What a difference mobile phones, and computers have made to peoples’ lives. Little did we think when we were first married that we could order goods, book tickets, consult our GP and manage our bank accounts from a small gadget in the comfort of our home or even in the street.

Adaptations

Covid has brought its own adaptations to life. Who knew four years ago what a “Zoom” meeting was or what “social distancing” meant?

We could never have envisaged the whole population walking round with their faces covered by surgical masks.

And we have another big change nationally. A new monarch will be crowned this month. Seventy years of the Elizabethan age are replaced by the Carolean age.

Two thousand years ago the disciples experienced a mammoth change. They had seen their beloved leader arrested, crucified, and they had finally met the risen Jesus. But they knew that they would not have his physical presence with them in the future. It is little wonder that they were afraid, and uncertain of the way ahead.

Yet from a group of ordinary men, extraordinary things came about. Without them the message of God’s love through Jesus would never have reached us.

In a world where there is unceasing change, what does remain the same?

God’s love

In Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans he tells us of the constancy of God’s love:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything in the whole of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In today’s hectic world, may we find reassurance and comfort in the unfailing love of God.

Yours in Christ, Margery

Many thanks to clipground.com for the Ascension image.