Vicar's Letter for April	Archive
As I write I am remembering my Scouse friends for whom Paddy’s Day is a special day of celebration for today is St Patrick’s Day, and at Morning Prayer we recalled how as a teenager he was taken from his home in Cornwall to be a slave in Ireland. Eventually escaping to France, Patrick was trained and then ordained as a Priest; at the age of forty he returned to Ireland, the place of his captivity, to spread the Good News of the crucified and risen Lord. St Patrick died on this day at the age of 75 in the year 460. As we give thanks for him with the Church in Ireland we pray for that country, north and south, for reconciliation and a new flowering of peace. Passiontide approaches; this is a special time when we remember the Passion of our Lord. 20 years ago I read a book by W.H. Vanstone called ‘The Stature of Waiting’ in which he makes the link between the word ‘Passion’ and ‘passive’ and helps us to understand the contrast between Jesus’ active ministry of teaching and healing and then his ‘passive’ ministry or his passion, when he was ‘done unto’. Things happened to him; Jesus was arrested in the Garden, he was taken before the High Priest, he was brought before Pilate, he was put to death on the cross. Each of us is created in the image of God, each of us is created for action and for passion and for all of us there are times in our lives when we are done unto rather than being able to be in control and acting. We all have our times of being laid aside – this may be through redundancy or unemployment, through ill health, chronic or acute sickness, a loss of ability such as sight, hearing or mobility. As we look upon Christ in his suffering, in his Passion, we are reminded of the stature or dignity of every human being; Vanstone helps us to see through this that whether we are active or passive we are loved, valued and accepted. Henri Nouwen in a Lent book I am reading called ‘Show me the Way’ puts it this way: ‘In solitude we become aware that our worth is not the same as our usefulness. It is in this solitude that we discover that being is more important than having, and that we are worth more than the result of our efforts.’ For me the words of one line of the hymn ‘From Heav’n you came’ sum up this idea; ‘Hands that flung stars into space to cruel nails surrendered.’ I do commend to you the various ways that we are keeping Passiontide and Easter. Holy Week begins with the commemoration of our Lord’s Entry into Jerusalem; if you are able, do join us for the walk with the donkey from Parkgate; after the Blessing of the Palms our service continues in church. Those who will be waiting for us in church will also have an opportunity to share in the reading of the Palm Gospel before joining in with the Processional Hymn ‘All Glory, Laud and Honour’. Unusually for a First Sunday of the month we shall then share in a Family Communion Service to which all are welcome. There are details in the magazine about the evening meditations during Holy Week, the service and vigil on Maundy Thursday which will include the foot washing, a special event for families on Good Friday (Easter Crafts will include egg decorating and card making), before the afternoon service and then of course the Joyful celebration of Easter Sunday. I hope we shall all gather together as the family at St Cross for silence, prayers, worship and thanksgiving; if you know of anyone who is unable to attend church and would like a visit for prayer and/or Holy Communion please let me know. At the end of the month, on 26th April there is a very important event in the life of St Cross Church as we hold our Annual Parochial Church Meeting; this follows our morning services and afterwards there will be a bring and share lunch. In this year of celebration for our 150 years we find ourselves challenged in a number of ways including how we may reach out to and care for the children and young people in our community. We are also challenged to look again at our finances as a church – sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that the money we give simply goes to the building and the heating and so on; important as this is the money we give also contributes substantially to my being here as Vicar and to all the pastoral work, teaching, services...etc. You will hear more of our work at the Annual meeting. In our Lent course ‘Tough Talk’ we have been challenged by the sayings of Jesus in this area of giving and we have been asked to find out how much our church costs to run each week. The cost is nearly 1.5K or Ł1,500! There will be more about this stimulating course and how the two groups have found it in a later edition. Elsewhere in the magazine there are details of some exciting forthcoming events so it just remains for me to commend them to you and to give you advance notice of a United Service that we shall be holding at St Cross at 7 p.m. on Pentecost Sunday (31ST May) – watch this space for more details later, but do keep the date free for what promises to be a wonderful occasion! I wish you all a Holy and Blessed Passiontide and an Eastertide filled with Love, Joy and Peace. *Jayne*

Vicar's Letter for April

Archive

As I write I am remembering my Scouse friends for whom Paddy’s Day is a special day of celebration for today is St Patrick’s Day, and at Morning Prayer we recalled how as a teenager he was taken from his home in Cornwall to be a slave in Ireland. Eventually escaping to France, Patrick was trained and then ordained as a Priest; at the age of forty he returned to Ireland, the place of his captivity, to spread the Good News of the crucified and risen Lord. St Patrick died on this day at the age of 75 in the year 460. As we give thanks for him with the Church in Ireland we pray for that country, north and south, for reconciliation and a new flowering of peace.

Passiontide approaches; this is a special time when we remember the Passion of our Lord. 20 years ago I read a book by W.H. Vanstone called ‘The Stature of Waiting’ in which he makes the link between the word ‘Passion’ and ‘passive’ and helps us to understand the contrast between Jesus’ active ministry of teaching and healing and then his ‘passive’ ministry or his passion, when he was ‘done unto’. Things happened to him; Jesus was arrested in the Garden, he was taken before the High Priest, he was brought before Pilate, he was put to death on the cross. Each of us is created in the image of God, each of us is created for action and for passion and for all of us there are times in our lives when we are done unto rather than being able to be in control and acting. We all have our times of being laid aside – this may be through redundancy or unemployment, through ill health, chronic or acute sickness, a loss of ability such as sight, hearing or mobility. As we look upon Christ in his suffering, in his Passion, we are reminded of the stature or dignity of every human being; Vanstone helps us to see through this that whether we are active or passive we are loved, valued and accepted. Henri Nouwen in a Lent book I am reading called ‘Show me the Way’ puts it this way:
‘In solitude we become aware that our worth is not the same as our usefulness. It is in this solitude that we discover that being is more important than having, and that we are worth more than the result of our efforts.’
For me the words of one line of the hymn ‘From Heav’n you came’ sum up this idea;
‘Hands that flung stars into space
to cruel nails surrendered.’

I do commend to you the various ways that we are keeping Passiontide and Easter. Holy Week begins with the commemoration of our Lord’s Entry into Jerusalem; if you are able, do join us for the walk with the donkey from Parkgate; after the Blessing of the Palms our service continues in church. Those who will be waiting for us in church will also have an opportunity to share in the reading of the Palm Gospel before joining in with the Processional Hymn ‘All Glory, Laud and Honour’. Unusually for a First Sunday of the month we shall then share in a Family Communion Service to which all are welcome.

There are details in the magazine about the evening meditations during Holy Week, the service and vigil on Maundy Thursday which will include the foot washing, a special event for families on Good Friday (Easter Crafts will include egg decorating and card making), before the afternoon service and then of course the Joyful celebration of Easter Sunday. I hope we shall all gather together as the family at St Cross for silence, prayers, worship and thanksgiving; if you know of anyone who is unable to attend church and would like a visit for prayer and/or Holy Communion please let me know.

At the end of the month, on 26th April there is a very important event in the life of St Cross Church as we hold our Annual Parochial Church Meeting; this follows our morning services and afterwards there will be a bring and share lunch. In this year of celebration for our 150 years we find ourselves challenged in a number of ways including how we may reach out to and care for the children and young people in our community. We are also challenged to look again at our finances as a church – sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that the money we give simply goes to the building and the heating and so on; important as this is the money we give also contributes substantially to my being here as Vicar and to all the pastoral work, teaching, services...etc. You will hear more of our work at the Annual meeting. In our Lent course ‘Tough Talk’ we have been challenged by the sayings of Jesus in this area of giving and we have been asked to find out how much our church costs to run each week. The cost is nearly 1.5K or Ł1,500! There will be more about this stimulating course and how the two groups have found it in a later edition.

Elsewhere in the magazine there are details of some exciting forthcoming events so it just remains for me to commend them to you and to give you advance notice of a United Service that we shall be holding at St Cross at 7 p.m. on Pentecost Sunday (31ST May) – watch this space for more details later, but do keep the date free for what promises to be a wonderful occasion!

I wish you all a Holy and Blessed Passiontide and an Eastertide filled with Love, Joy and Peace.

Jayne