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‘Churchwardens’ Chat’
We are now in an interregnum following the retirement of the Vicar and so the monthly letter for the Parish News is written by the Churchwardens
August 2022
“Seek Ye First The Kingdom of God….”
( Gospel of Matthew – inspiration for the hymn by Karen Lafferty)
Our journey through life is often all about seeking: personally in our relationships, professionally in our work aspirations but most importantly of all, spiritually in our journey with God.
In St. Chad’s there is a great deal of ‘seeking’ at the moment: seeking a new Vicar, seeking to listen to the needs of our community and, at the heart of everything, seeking to hear God’s word and follow Christ.
This can be difficult, especially when things are not going well for us and each day seems to bring new challenges, new loneliness or new grief. Each of the Gospels in the Bible reminds us (Matthew Chapter 7:7, Mark Chapter 11:24, Luke Chapter 11:9, and John Chapter 15:7) to pray – to ask and you shall receive, to seek and you shall find.
We ‘ask’ a lot: we ask for God to intercede in the terrible war in Ukraine which seems to be one continual stream of grief and suffering and terrible waste of life. Then we hear news of agreement over the movement of grain from Ukraine and this is surely a wonderful sign to renew our hope!
Perhaps we should try to ‘seek’ more deeply through prayer and by seeking examples of God’s love and generosity for us to follow?
A wonderful example of this, here in our community, was our Church Fete, which brought together so many people, volunteering their time, working hard for others, showing love for our community and finding joy in being together appreciating the lovely village in which we live and the wonders of God’s creation.
Thank you very much to all who have given their time and skills to help with our Fete. Asking and doing nothing is not part of the ‘deal’ – if we work hard to seek God in all we do we shall surely find the ‘right path’!
News about a new Vicar – meetings, meetings, meetings and, yes, lots of ‘asking’! Sometimes that is what it feels like! But, despite the ‘snail’s pace’, progress is being made as we also ‘seek’ and we are truly excited about further developing our church and our outreach to do God’s work in and around Pattingham. We will be ready for our new vicar, and we pray for your continued patience and that God will guide us in our decision making.
Happy Holidays! We want to wish all children and students and their teachers a peaceful, happy and well deserved summer break! We think especially of those changing schools or awaiting exam results and those leaving school for work, apprenticeships or university; we wish you all exciting experiences.
Finally, we pray for all children who are joining the St. Chad’s Church Holiday Club at Kingswood this month. We want you all to have a wonderful time exploring ‘God’s wonderful creation’. We will make sure all children and parents have a ‘Feedback’ form so we know what has worked well and what you would like more of. Perhaps there will be interest in more activities organised by St. Chad’s church in other school holidays? We can’t wait to see you in church with your parents to hear all about it and plan more opportunities!
God Bless and take care,
Clive Pendrell and Dorothy Steel
Churchwardens