Resurrexit!

 

Have you ever met up with a friend who you haven't seen for some time and found that you were immediately off on the same footing as you had been before? It felt a bit like that, being in church again on Easter Sunday. For me, as someone else said afterwards, it was like 'coming home'. In spite of all the restrictions it just felt so right being back worshipping together.
I think that what I have missed most over the last year has not been so much the ritual, although I have missed that a lot, but being together with my church family and worshipping and celebrating together. 'Zoom' is a good second best but Christianity has always been a community religion. Yes, there always have been and will be a few special people whom God has called to work out their faith through a commitment to prayer and asceticism but Jesus founded his mission on the small community of the disciples and the early church was all about working TOGETHER to build God's kingdom. Without the community of the disciples being prepared to pick up Jesus' work and carry on with it, working out the rules, supporting each other financially and spiritually, and discerning and commissioning new leaders and missionaries there would not have been a church here for us today.

We have a dear and loving community here at St. Mary's, that is something to celebrate! 

We also have an individual and community challenge given to us by Jesus; "Go and make disciples....." . As we reconvene over the next few months, what have we learned in this past year that will help us in that task? How can we encourage others to come and share in the precious community that means so much to us?
Churches throughout the world will be asking themselves this question soon if they aren't already so this could be a wonderful moment when God's work takes a step of faith and hope forward into the future. What will our part in that future be, I wonder? Where will God, through Kathryn and the PCC, direct our thoughts, prayers and energies? What part will God call each one of us to play....?
With love
Jacquie xxx