A letter from the Vicarage – Rev’d Andy Stand

Hi Everyone,

How are we all doing? I hope and pray that you are all keeping well

It’s holiday season, or at least almost holiday season – depending on whether your holidays are tied into the school holidays or not! If they aren’t then chances are that it is holiday season, otherwise there is still a few weeks to go, with the kids professing that they can’t wait!

I wonder is there something that you are looking ahead to that would cause you to say that you can’t wait?

Maybe a sporting event, such as the culmination of the European Championships in football, or Wimbledon, the Tour De France in cycling or even the Olympic Games. No doubt there will be cricket as well during the summer.

Or maybe you are a music lover, or a festival go-er, and are looking forward to seeing your favourite bands (as I write the Glastonbury festival is just getting under way), or hearing your favourite pieces, watching the proms or the Three Choirs Festival (which I believe is to be held in Worcester this year).

Or maybe there is something that is looming on your horizon that rather than fill you with anticipation, fills you with trepidation. Maybe, you are changing schools this summer, or starting a new job, or leaving an old one, and you are not too sure what the change will mean for you.

We send our best wishes to Gary Richards, who is standing down from the headship at Whittington school, this summer; and to Paul Newell, stepping down as chair of Governors; and to Judith Harrison, retiring after many years of service to successive generations at the school.

From conversations I’ve had over the last few weeks, I know, that one thing people are looking forward to is the end of the General Election campaign. By the time you are reading this, I imagine we will know who has been elected as our MPs, which party will be making up our government for the next few years and who has been appointed by the electorate to serve as our Prime Minister. I encourage you to pray for them.

Last Sunday, in our services, we heard the story of Jesus, calming the storm. He and his disciples, have taken themselves out on a boat onto the Sea of Galilee. They are trying to move away from the crowds of people that Jesus has been ministering to, to find some space for rest and relaxation. Before too long, Jesus having fallen asleep, a storm begins to brew, and the boat begins to be in danger of sinking. In their agitated state, the disciples wake Jesus and he commands the storm to be still, speaking ‘Peace’ to the wind and the waves.

I wonder, how might we find ways to speak ‘Peace’ to one another, and to rest in the ‘Peace’ that Jesus wants to speak to us.

As we take time out of our normal routines this holiday season, can we find ways to encounter the ‘Peace of God’ and use it to speak ‘Peace’ to one another?

Whatever you are planning to do over these next couple of months, and wherever it may be that you are doing it, may God go with you, and bless you.

For those of you that know already that these weeks ahead are leading to choppy and stormy waters, I pray you may encounter God in the midst of the storm, and hear his words of ‘Peace’ spoken to you and to the storm raging about you, and that they may bring you eventually to a place of sanctuary and shelter.

May God give His blessing to us all.

Andy.