This Month’s Letter

Dear Friends
We are very pleased to be welcoming our new Rector on Monday 30th September. Revd Andrew Hiscox is to be installed by Bishop Rachel at St Andrews, Sevenhampton, at 7:30 pm. All are welcome, but please do not leave your arrival until the last minute as we expect it to be a crowded event. Parking will be available in a field nearby, and refreshments will be served afterwards.
October will therefore be the first month of Andrew’s ministry here. In order to facilitate his getting to know the community quickly, we have arranged an unusual service schedule for the month. Andrew will be taking a service in every church in the Benefice. This does mean that some services are at unusual times, and indeed that at least one church will have an unexpected service. Please work with this and understand our reasons for organising the month in this fashion, and do take the opportunity to join services and meet Andrew. This magazine has details of the services for October.
The bare fields around us remind us that this year’s harvest has been gathered in. This is the season when we celebrate God’s goodness to us in providing our daily bread, indeed in providing so much more. In a year of lower than usual harvest yields because of the wet Spring, perhaps we have more to be grateful for than usual. I’m reminded that in the past there were many years when crops failed completely and famine was a reality, resulting in starvation and death for many. We must not presume that our food will just continue to come regardless of circumstances; the gap between food production and the supermarket means that we have become disconnected from the source of our food, and perhaps less grateful for its availability.
Perhaps this is a good time to remind ourselves of our local food bank and folk in our community less well off than ourselves. Can I encourage you to contribute to the food bank this month; demand has risen steeply; the local organisation (based in Guiting Power) is very efficient in managing what its given and in ensuring that it reaches needy families. Details of what and where to give are included elsewhere in this magazine.
Wishing you every blessing
Tony Barron