Parish Magazine Item

Well, here's my offering for the March edition. Any corrections, feedback, suggestions, most welcome - especially before midnight!

From the Rectory

We seem to have had more than our fair share of wind and rain since we moved into the Rectory in January. Caleb the dog and I are regularly returning from our little trots round the Green a bit damp, but with the cobwebs well and truly blown away.

As I write, although it looks pretty grey and horrible out of my study window today, the first hopeful signs of Spring have already been appearing. It’s noticeably less dark when we have to drag ourselves out of bed in the mornings. Bulbs are doing their thing and flowers are beginning to burst into life. The snow drops are out in the churchyard and I’ve even heard a rumour of a daffodil. A local farmer told me their first lamb of the season showed up unaccountably early last week.

Our kitchen calendar tells us that “Spring Begins” on 20^th March and British Summer Time begins (with the clocks going forward) on 27^th March.

So by the time you read this, new life will be everywhere.

Spring is a great time of new beginnings, of fresh possibilities, of hope. The symbolism of Easter is not hard to see: the winter of death gives way to a resurrection as new life bursts forth. That’s part of the wonder of the Christian faith: that God is the God new life, of fresh starts and second chances – well, and 734^th chances too! When we trust in Jesus, there’s always full and free forgiveness. Although we can’t change the past, we need not be trapped by it. God’s undeserved love can work to transform our future. Jesus offers us a fresh start.

All change!

Life and growth always involve change. Change is one of the constants of life. And of course not everyone welcomes change.

People are sometimes curious, or even apprehensive, about what the new Vicar might try to change. Well, I don’t have a revolution planned just yet!

Certainly we need to be open to change, to new life, to what God might want to do with us and through us in the future. As churches, we want to be as effective as we can be in serving Warbleton and Bodle Street Green and their communities, even if that means doing things rather differently in the future from the way they’ve been done in the past.

But some things won’t change. We need to be both radical and conservative. Some things are up for grabs, others aren’t. We need to continue to stand for the Good News of the Lord Jesus, and his life-changing power. Continuing faithfulness to that message requires a constant willingness to do things differently. But the same old message of God’s Word remains ever relevant. The true story of Easter, of the cross and resurrection, remains our hope for new life and a transformed future. If we want the life changing power of God, with all its fresh possibilities, our fidelity to the Bible is something that must not change.

Rev’d Marc Lloyd