Saint Michael’s Church
Serving God and Bishop’s Stortford
Clergy Letter For March 2009
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CLERGY LETTER FOR MARCH 2009 |
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The Revd Toby Marchand writes... |
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As I write this I am about to go to visit some friends in Belgium. They live in a tiny village near the border between Belgium and Luxembourg. It’s called Warnach, and over the years it has become a special place for me. That’s because there is a remarkable group of Christians there with whom I have had links for many years. They form the basis of a simple, small community. It is made up principally of two single Roman Catholic priests, one from France and one from Luxembourg, and a layman, his wife and four children. The three men were at College together many years ago and decided to work together on a project to restore an old farmhouse and turn it in to a Christian meeting place. They had skills between them which were put to very good use. One of the men who was to become an ordained priest was an architect. The other was skilled in plumbing and electricity. The layman, who contemplated ordination to the Catholic priesthood but rejected it in favour of marriage and a family life, is skilled in woodwork and furniture restoration. The girl he married is a trained physiotherapist. To cut a long story short, the centre that they dreamed of has now become a reality, and the Community welcomes groups, mainly young people, to their centre for times of discussion, or preparation for Confirmation, or just for time away from the big cities in the remote and quiet countryside of the Ardennes. Their common life together is based around daily services in their little chapel, and a sharing of meals particularly at midday. Between them they look after the spiritual and pastoral needs of a dozen small villages around about them. They take the services for them on Sundays and they organise the music for the services with a choir made up of people from any of the villages who are keen to sing. They keep the churches in a good state of decoration and repair, using their own skills and the voluntary labour of the parishioners. They have a broad outlook on life. They are interested in issues of peace and justice and conservation. They are liberal in terms of Catholicism, and are very ready to meet and share with Christians of other traditions. They would not dream of refusing the sacrament at their Mass to anyone who wished to receive it, for instance. Over the years that I have known them they have become real friends, and it is important to us that we maintain that friendship with visits from time to time. Some of them did come to St Michael’s several years ago and took part in our Sunday worship. Lent may seem an odd time to be thinking particularly about Christian friendship. But it is a season of growth, and it is a time for Christians to take stock of their friendship with God and with each other. As I renew friendship with the community in Belgium I am also thinking of the friendship that we share with all who believe, whether they are of our denomination and country or another. The same would be true of our friends in Fano, of course. This month sees two aspects of Church life which continue the theme of friendship. Lent, which began on February 25th is a time when, more than usual, we can focus our attention on our friendship with God. Prayer is the basis of that friendship. Just as with earthly friends there can be an unspoken acceptance of a deep relationship when you are together, so there can be that unspoken acceptance as we come in to God’s presence. We don’t have to make a great show of it or go through elaborate preliminary rituals. It is there. Just as with human friendship, our friendship with God will have seen many changes over the years. Just as with human friendship our friendship with God needs time spent on it, (but not just once a year!) Use the season of Lent to read something you don’t normally read, to spend more time in prayer and quiet reflection, to go to an extra service in church, to take yourself out for a walk, to do an unseen kind act for someone else. Your friendship with God will grow more deeply and more quickly than you imagine. The word “Lent” is connected with “growth”. Let this be a season of growth for you and God together. The second is the Annual Parochial Church Meeting. That may seem an unlikely event for friendship, but it IS the time when our church family reflects on its life together. How have things been for us in the past year, and what are we facing together for the future? By gathering for the Meeting we are expressing the value of our friendship in the Church with each other. We thank God for each other, for our shared faith, and for our support of each other. We know there are differences in the way we look at some things. It would be very odd if there were not. But the differences are nothing compared with the amount we have in common, in our Lord Jesus. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends”. Jesus said that… to us! Toby Marchand.
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Office Address:
Saint Michael’s Church
Windhill
Bishops Stortford
Hertfordshire
CM23 2ND