Churchwarden's Corner
Purton Warden, Mary Tucker, writes:
Today I have two farewells to write. It’s the last Sunday of my six week Pre Theological Training Placement at St George’s, Cam and I want to thank them all for having me and for all I’ve experienced and learnt. It’s also time I bit the bullet and sat down to start writing my last Churchwarden’s Corner article, for as you know I have to resign at Easter. To digress just for a moment, God has answered prayer in a most wonderful and unexpected way. Margaret Price, who has really been doing 80% of the job anyway, but has always resisted our attempts to persuade her to do it officially, has agreed to be put forward and I have had the joy and honour of formally proposing her to Bill. I couldn’t be more thrilled.
Anyway, back to farewells – it’s all about journeys I think, this is what I wrote for St Georges
‘We are all on a journey; with God and towards God; as individuals and as a Church, Parish and Benefice. I am very grateful that during the last six weeks you have allowed me to share your journey with you.
The journey is often difficult and much of the time we are not sure exactly what lies ahead. It’s at times like these that it’s encouraging to glimpse someone on the path ahead of you. And so I offer my particular thanks to Jacob, far ahead of me on the road but just in view, showing me where I may one day be. And to all of you who have generously shared with me an experience of collaborative worship that I can take back as an inspiration to my Church, Parish and Benefice, of where we might one day be.
Keep travelling! Be brave! And remember that God is with you always, not just awaiting you at the end.’
Now if I change ‘six weeks’ to ‘twelve years’ and ‘Jacob’ to ‘Bill’ there’s a lot of that that’s also relevant to my farewell to you (only in my official capacity I’ll still be here!). It has been a joy to serve as your Churchwarden (even if it was only 20%) and to travel with you on the journey towards being what God intends us to be. The trouble is that when you’re on the road, trudging along, mile after mile, the goal still far off, it’s often difficult to see that you’ve actually got very far. Looking back though can sometimes be useful. You suddenly realise you have come quite a long way and that’s certainly true of my journey with our Churches over the last years (I think I’ve actually been Warden for nine of them but I’m not sure). There are two areas which it has given me great joy to realise we’ve made progress together on.
When I first arrived in Hinton back in February 1992 I set out on my bike to find a Church. I didn’t realise I was almost exactly half way between two and it just happened that I turned left out of my drive first and found St John’s, to which I attached myself. I then had the joy of finding St Andrew’s and came regularly for some time during Donald’s ‘reign’ to evensong there. Once I became Churchwarden and began to attend PCC meetings though, I became aware of a sadness which was a real feeling of ‘them and us’ between the two churches of the parish. I don’t think it was intentional and like so many divisions in families it seemed to have grown up over time out of lots of small misunderstandings and disagreements. The LAST thing I want to do is drag all that up again because with God’s help and the determination of both congregations it has almost completely disappeared - there is a real feeling of love and mutual support that I am so often aware of now. For me it shows particularly at The Annual Plant Sale (May 8th this year by the way) where from the outset people from both churches worked together and shared the proceeds.
The second area of growth has been in becoming a Benefice. I don’t think any of us at either end of the A38 that divides us need be ashamed to admit that when uniting was first suggested we were resistant and worried and down right suspicious. But of all the ways we have grown I think the real love and spiritual fellowship we now experience as three churches together (especially at our Benefice services) is the greatest joy to me. We have all made new friends and feel close in a way you would think the miles between us would make impossible. So thank you to all of you for your growing love, support and fellowship – not just to me as Church warden, but to me as me, and to each other. Here’s to the next twelve years – may we allow ourselves to allow God to continue his work in us and through us – for us the journey may sometimes seem impossible but with God all things are possible and as a Benefice we have so many possibilities still ahead of us.
God Bless you all
With thanks and much love for the last time