From the Curate - June 2011

A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM THE VICAR

Some of you may have picked up that I have been a little bit under the weather for the last few months.   I think it is becoming a little more apparent to people now, and I thought I ought to put you in the picture.   I am awaiting a brain scan and other tests at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.   Hopefully there is nothing too sinister going on, but you may be aware that I have been experiencing some difficulties.   I am finding it increasingly difficult to walk, and my balance is getting quite bad.   I have also had one or two falls.   No, I have not been drinking excessively as one or two have suspected!!   My memory seems to be getting affected, and I am finding concentration difficult.   I am very grateful to the churchwardens and to my colleagues in the ministry team for their support and for carrying the things I am not able to do at present.      You will understand that it is frustrating for me to be having these problems so early on in my ministry here.   And I hope you will make allowances when I have "left undone those things which I ought to have done."   I am sorry for my absence at the 8.00am Holy Communion service.   I find it particularly hard keeping my balance at the High Altar and negotiating the steps.   Hopefully it will not be too long before I am able to be given a diagnosis.

Thank you to those who are keeping me in their prayers.

Stephen Carter

Our Curate, Jo Jones, writes for us this month.

Many of you will know that I am preparing for my priesting at the end of June, and that All Saints is preparing to host the ordination service for the seven Bradwell Area deacons to be ordained by our diocesan Bishop, +Stephen. Over the months that I have been with you all at All Saints, I have been welcomed and encouraged by so many people and I have been moved by the love and care shown to me and my family, so it will be very special for me to be ordained priest in the parish church where I’m serving as curate.

During my diaconal year I’ve particularly enjoyed the baptisms I’ve carried out – babies and adults. It’s really fulfilling to be so involved in the start of a Christian’s life-long journey of faith. Each of us is given in our baptism the primary vocation of loving response to God’s own deep love for his creation – to be witnesses in our own lives to the reality of that love seen in Jesus Christ. Whatever our particular role within the church, we are all called to tell the story of God’s love.  We are all called to see the world as God sees it, sharing in God’s mission to the world and encouraging others to become followers of Jesus. As a priest I’ll be given the authority of the Church to do this through carrying out particular tasks – in ministering the sacraments, preaching, teaching, evangelism and pastoral care. It will be especially important to me that I will be authorised to celebrate the Eucharist, that great thanksgiving for all that Christ has done for us in his incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension. All of what we are given – our life, our ministry, our calling as individuals and as a church – all of it is a gift which inspires our thanksgiving and praise. As human beings we are made to be a people of joyful thanksgiving, offering praise and worship to God in response to his gift of love; so to be able as a priest to enable the whole Christian community to do this in the Eucharist is both a great privilege and profound responsibility. 

Of course, priestly ministry isn’t just about what I’ll do that’s in addition to the roles of a deacon in the liturgical and missional life of All Saints. It is about who Iam, and who I am becoming. As well as a primary vocation each of us has a primary identity – that ofa beloved child of God growing into the fullness of Christ through the transforming power of his Spirit within us.  As I look forward to my ordination, I become increasingly aware of this; for without knowing and experiencing the reality of this identity as God’s beloved, I cannot hope to grow into the priest that I am convinced God is calling me to be. So my vocation to priesthood is inextricably bound up with my identity as God’s beloved child; out of this assurance of God’s unconditional, eternal and limitless love for me comes the gift of being used in his service to express and make real his love for us all through my ministry as a priest. 

I hope that this new shape of ministry will continue to be as personally fulfilling as my diaconal year has been. But this ordination is a gift given not principally for my sake but for the sake of others. And it is not given because I am especially holy or virtuous or talented; like the gift of Christ himself to the world, and every other gift of grace from God, it is given out of the abundance of God’s self-giving love that through it the whole Christian community may grow in faith, hope and love. It’s my sincere hope and prayer that through my ordination as priest, all of us may become more alive to the reality of God’s love at work in our church, our community and ourselves.

Jo Jones