Rector's View - March 2012

Dear friends,

Mothering Sunday

Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent. Traditionally, it was a day when children, mainly daughters, who had gone to work as domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mother and family.

Mothering Sunday, this year, falls on 18th March. We will be celebrating the day with services across the Benefice. At All Saints', Wickhambrook there will be a short, informal Family Service at 9.30am. At All Saints', Stansfield there will be a short, informal Family Service at 11.00am. During the service there will be a baptism and a welcome into our Church Family - so, two reasons to celebrate! All Christians have the opportunity to give thanks for our mother the Church, which loves us and nurtures us and cares for us from birth to death. It is also, of course, an opportunity to give thanks for, and to, our own mothers and to show our appreciation for all that they do for us. For those of us who have lost our mothers it is an opportunity to say thank you for all that they have done for us, and to pray that God will care for them and look after them, as they looked after us, and to pray that through God's mercy we may be re-united with them one day. As part of the service, flowers will be blessed and given to all the ladies present. If you are free, why not join us? You will be most welcome.

Annual Church Meetings

The most important meetings in the life of a Parish Church are the 'Meeting of Parishioners', at which Churchwardens are elected for the coming year, and the 'Annual Parochial Church Meeting' (APCM) for members of the church electoral roll, at which the PCC is elected, the accounts and annual report adopted, reports received, and questions of general church interest discussed.

Over the next few weeks all seven parishes of the benefice will be holding their annual meetings. It is always disappointing when there is a low attendance. It is vitally important that as many people as possible attend these meetings to ensure that they are truly representative and that decisions reached have the consent of the majority.

Above all, it is vitally important that we come together prayerfully, with open hearts and minds, as together we try to discern God's will for our parishes for the coming year.

Mark

As many of you know, our younger son, Mark, is in Manzini, Swaziland for three months, volunteering with Skillshare International, an organisation which seeks to reduce abuse against women and children, through education, counselling, and court observation. Mark is using his legal training to help those who are vulnerable and who have few other people to help them. Skillshare International describes its vision in these words "Our vision is of a world without poverty, injustice and inequality where people, regardless of cultural, social and political divides, come together for mutual benefit, living in peaceful co-existence".

Some of you kindly sponsored Mark, and I often get asked how he is getting on, thank you for your interest and concern. I am pleased to say that he has settled well and seems happy and fulfilled in his new environment, tackling such challenging work. If you would like to read Mark's account of his experience so far, please go to: http://asambeni.blogspot.com/

Full details of our services for Holy Week and Easter can be found on the Services section of the website. Everyone is most welcome to attend any or all of our services.

With every blessing.

Stephen

Revd Stephen Abbott

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