Newsletter

 

Goodbye from Albert.....

The time has finally come. After nearly 18 years, Pam and I are leaving St. Stephen’s, and the 10 a.m. Holy Communion on Sunday January 29th will be our last service.

The rules and customs of the Church of England mean that you will not see us in church on Sunday or Wednesday mornings for quite a long time, certainly not before a new priest has been appointed and he or she has had at least a year or so to establish him or herself.

This is sad for us, as I know it is for many (perhaps most) of you. Of course we will still keep in touch with friends individually, but we have to turn our backs on the church we have come to love over these years.

However, I believe we leave it in a stronger position than would have been the case even just a year ago, and  already plans are being made for the future by able and committed people.

There is a great deal to look forward to. For a while, there will be a variety of people leading worship at the main services, but Rev. Sheila will provide continuity by leading two Sunday services most months and taking responsibility for weddings, baptisms and  funerals. (though, because we are still living in Harlow, it will be possible for me sometimes to conduct these “occasional offices” with the permission of Sheila and the churchwardens.

What do I look back on with pleasure?  Above all, bringing people to faith in Christ. When people ask why I became a priest, I simply say: “I want people to know that their God loves them”. If they then ask how I know this, I say: “Because of Jesus”.  I also never cease to wonder at the huge privilege of giving Holy Communion to people. I love teaching groups of children about the church. I love the opportunity to speak to people at sensitive times like bereavement or after the birth of a child.  All these I will continue to do until I’m dead or ga-ga.

Disappointments:  Oh, there are many! They are mostly to do with my own failures and weaknesses: all the things I haven’t done, and things I know I could have done better or more regularly. A wise priest once said to me: At the end of every day, there is always someone you should have visited.  See the poem “It is not finished” elsewhere in this newsletter.

Goodbye is a short form of “God be with you” and in that sense I sign off with “Goodbye, my dear friends.”

 

and from Pam.

It feels like a time of last things. We’ve had our last Christmas at St. Stephen’s, we’ve had the family around for a last meal and slept in the Rectory for the last time.  And this is my last Thought for the Month.

But last things, both for you and for us, mean a whole load of new ones to follow. So, while cherishing memories of all that has happened in the last 17 years, there is something new to come, of which we must all be a part.

A new challenge is exciting, and new people are fun to get to know.

All friends remain a part of us through their influence and love; we have influenced you and you have influenced us, so we take each other into the future.

I know God will bless us all as we move into 2012.

Slightly unknown maybe, but still living in God’s plan.

 

A poem by G.A. Studdert Kennedy,

chosen by Albert to express his feelings about his ministry in St. Stephen's:

 

It is not finished, Lord.

There is not one thing done,

There is no battle of my life,

That I have really won.

And now I come to tell Thee

How I fought to fail,

My human, all too human, tale

Of weakness and futility.

And yet there is a faith in me,

That Thou wilt find in it

One word that Thou canst take

And make

The centre of a sentence

In Thy book of poetry.

I cannot read this writing of the years,

My eyes are full of tears,

It gets all blurred, and won't make sense

It's full of contradictions

Like the scribblings of a child,

Such wild, wild

Hopes, and longing as intense

As pain, which trivial deeds

Make folly of--or worse:

I can but hand it in, and hope

That Thy great mind, which reads

The writings of so many lives,

Will understand this scrawl

And what it strives

To say--but leaves unsaid.

I cannot write it over,

The stars are coming out,

My body needs its bed.

I have no strength for more,

So it must stand or fall--Dear Lord--

That's all.

 

Charity begins at home....

.....but doesn’t end there!

One of the strengths of St. Stephen’s has always been your readiness to give to charity when the cause touches your heart. There are people who give faithfully and regularly to the Children’s Society and the Leprosy Mission, and in the past the Church Mission Society and the Church Army have benefitted.

As usual, the offertory from our three Christmas services went to Shelter, the charity for the homeless, and we were able to send more than £350 this year.

We sent more than fifty shoeboxes full of  children’s goodies to Operation Christmas Child in November, and our giving of food and other necessities of life to Harlow Foodbank is so generous that we have to empty the box every other week.

There is no reason to believe that this generosity will dwindle after Albert and Pam leave, though God may need to call people to organise the various projects.

Now here’s another thought:  Is St. Stephen’s as generous in giving to the church itself as it is to outside charities?  As part of the vision for the future of your church, is it time to think again about how much (and how regularly) you give to the church?

 

Lord, in this New Year we pray that you will give us all that we need and a little of what we would like.

 

This has not been a happy newsletter to put together.

Next month will not be easy and I shall need help from you . Please let me have any thing you would like to see included, in time for the end of the month.   Tony.

 

 

 

 

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