Weekly Update – 4th September

Dear all,

There is a lot of bad news around at the moment. I’m sure that we had all hoped that with the easing of restrictions from the pandemic life would get back to some sense of ‘normal’ but it is clear that the impact of those two years will be felt in many ways for some time to come, only compounded by the uncertainty around the leadership of the country, the economic situation, the war in Ukraine, climate change and so on.

It is difficult sometimes to find joy in the midst of such things, although I have to say that I did find great ‘joy’ when I went to a show at the Chichester Festival Theatre just the other week – that show was called ‘Crazy For You’ by Gershwin. It was light, frothy, fast moving and gave the whole audience a couple of hours of release from the troubles of the world.

A couple of days later I had the joy of baptizing an infant and then just this week meeting another family wanting to get their new addition to the family baptized. Baptism can often be referred to as Christening, and rightly so because it has ‘Christ’ at the centre. In a baptism service parents and Godparents are asked “Do you turn to Christ” – there is a ‘centredness’ (if that is a word!) about the person of Christ. There is a modern worship song (actually written in 1999) called ‘Jesus Be The Centre’ which presents this ‘centredness’ beautifully;

Jesus, be the centre
Be my source, be my light
Jesus
Jesus, be the centre
Be my hope, be my song
Jesus

Be the fire in my heart
Be the wind in these sails
Be the reason that I live
Jesus, Jesus

Jesus, be my vision
Be my path, be my guide
Jesus

In the midst of all the troubles it is good to be reminded that the centre of our being is defined by the person of Jesus Christ whose life and resurrection had, and still has eternal implications for all of humanity, past, present and future. Our ‘joy’ is found in Him and, for me, brings a new meaning to those words ‘Crazy For You’.

Blessings,

Rev Chris

THANKSGIVING SERVICE FOR THE LIFE OF SHIRLEY ROSE

This will be on Thursday 6^th October at 2.15pm in St Nicholas’ Church and a wake afterwards in the main hall, with a private committal having taken place beforehand at the crematorium. The service in church is to be seen as an opportunity to be thankful for, and to celebrate, Shirley, her life and the lives she touched and therefore please do not feel the need to wear colours for mourning.

‘TAP & GO’ DEVICE IN CHURCH

This device is proving extremally useful in situations where those wishing to give are not carrying cash. Please don’t be alarmed if you are one of those that have used it in recent months and the transaction/s have only just left you bank account – this was because it had been storing the transactions ‘offline’ and we had failed to transmit them. We promise to do better from now on!

Rev Chris