Team Letter, December 2021

by | Dec 8, 2021 | Team Letter

Dear Friends

As we have entered the Advent season, our thoughts are no doubt very much turning towards Christmas and preparations being made in all our churches to celebrate the birth of Christ. But let’s not forget that Advent is not only a season to prepare for Jesus’ first coming as a baby at Bethlehem, but also a season to prepare for His second coming at the end of time. And hence in the Advent Sunday gospel, we were reminded to ‘Be always on the watch..that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man’ (Luke 21:36).

So how are we using this season of Advent, which so often gets overlooked in the rush towards Christmas? Perhaps you are reading a Christian book, making some extra time to pray or to study your bible, or to reflect upon your life, perhaps with the support of a fellow Christian. All of those are good Advent disciplines which basically means a practical way of exercising our discipleship. One of the things I am doing this year is to follow a daily Advent video series called ‘The Bethlehem Story which concerns the story of the little town in Palestine from the death of Rachel to the birth of Christ. As well as exploring the biblical references to Bethlehem, there are also Palestinian Christians telling their story about life there today. If you would like to follow the series, you can subscribe to the Unreached Network Youtube Channel, where all the previous days videos are available to watch as well. The series is presented by Andy McCullough, who is the teaching pastor at Reading Family Church, and is supported by Bethlehem Bible College and Sabeel-Kairos, a Christian human rights charity working for peace and justice in Israel/Palestine. I commend it to you.

On a separate note, it was good to join with folks at St.Philip’s on 21 November for a service to mark the ending of the partnership agreement between the Church of England and the Methodist Church. This agreement has been in place for the last 30 years since the church’s inception and it was good to be reminded of the many ways in which St.Philip’s has engaged in mission to its local community. Though the Methodist Church has now had to withdraw from the partnership, St.Philip’s (under Sarah’s leadership) will continue to look for ways of partnering with all Christians who wish to join with them in continuing to reach out to those in their locality. The ending of monthly Methodist input into St.Philip’s will now mean the team are adopting a new service pattern from January next year when the third Sunday will be designated a Team Sunday and the clergy move around our different churches. I hope this proves a blessing and that you will enjoy seeing more of our clergy across the team.

With my best wishes for a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year. Stay safe and take care.

Jeremy Tear, Pioneer Team Rector

Parish Magazine Letter, Dec / Jan 2022

by | Dec 6, 2021 | Magazine Letter

Dear Friends

Just as I was writing my last magazine letter before our Summer Fair, so I am writing this one before our Christmas Fair. The Summer Fair was a great success, blessed by some fine weather, and raised over £1,000 for church funds due to the hard work of Sarah Lavelle and others. Likewise, I hope our Christmas Fair will have been a similar success, aided by the efforts of Clare Archibald and team.

And so it is that the Christmas season will soon be upon us but not before we get to Advent (which begins this year on Advent Sunday, 27 November). The word Advent comes from the Latin word ‘advenio’ meaning to come, and so in this season we anticipate the coming of Christ as a baby at Bethlehem, as well as His second coming at the end of time. The four weeks or so of Advent give us time to reflect upon these great comings and of what we can do to prepare ourselves to receive Christ afresh at Christmas, as well as when He comes again. And yet often we rush through Advent to Christmas in a whirl of busyness – shopping, wrapping, cooking, and yes, even church services! So why not put aside some time this year to make your Advent different – to make time to pray, to read a Christian book, to perform acts of kindness towards others? It could make your celebrations at Christmas even more meaningful and joyful as a result.

And then of course, we move from Christmas to the New Year. I wonder what 2022 will hold for each one of us, for the life of St.Mary’s church, and indeed, the life of the world? There always feels something slightly strange to me about stepping over the threshold into a New Year. For none of us can know for sure what it will hold – what joys, sadnesses, challenges and delights. One thing for sure though is whilst we do not know what the future holds, we can know the One who holds the future, right there in His hands. As the words of the poet Minnie Louise Haskins put it:

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied:

Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

Wishing you and your loved ones a joyful Christmas, and a peaceful new Year

Jeremy Tear

Pioneer Team Rector