Message from Juliet
From the Vicar
Have a look at this picture…. it’s someone’s idea of a joke, at churches that do things the same way ALL the time.
Well, there may have been times in your life, I know there have been in mine, when I couldn’t tell what was going on in church. Someone standing at the front, reading, talking, giving notices or praying, and it all looked exactly the same.
Now I think that you guys who happen to live in a beautiful part of the country, right along the River Severn, nudging the stunning Forest of Dean, have it quite good. Especially when it comes to churches. I would say that, I’m the Vicar! But it’s really true! 3 beautiful churches. All welcoming. All very different. All open for business every day of the week! For prayer, worship, school services, lunches, choirs, concerts, plays, recitals and floral displays.
In the past we’ve seen flower festivals and ladies choirs ; scarecrows and songs of praise; balloons and bishops…..in the Benefice churches. Services of praise and thanksgiving, services of weddings, funerals and baptisms, family do-nut services, meditative memorial services, Taize, Celtic, Northumbrian, all-age worships, quiet prayers and all the variety of Christmas events with carols, nativities and Christingles.
Led by different people, lay and ordained. Different styles of music, piano’s, organs, IPODs. Different experiences of bottom furniture, pews, bean bags, comfy chairs and rugs on the floor.
All different, suiting the occasion and people very well indeed. Those who come to church often, will have experienced the changing face of church amongst the traditional. My hope and desire is that YOU will come and check Church out…to see if the cartoon is true in THIS benefice. I guarantee that you will notice a difference, for the better. And hopefully, feel that church can be the place for you too.
It’s core element, of course, is the same, because at the heart of all worship is God, and HE NEVER CHANGES. But the rest is for you, knowing you and working with you….
So Come to church…..Come as you are, not as you think you should be, or would like to be, or the way that someone else tells you!
God wants YOU as YOU are….not as OTHERS think YOU should be….
We might all be different, and that’s why church needs to offer plenty of variety….but God remains the same throughout.
Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes! James 1 v 17
See you there! Juliet xxx
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