The magazine for the parish of Ss Peter & Paul, with St Michael and All Angels, Kettering 2 From Your Rector David writes: Half of the church's calendar is taken up with 'Festival' and other special seasons, marking the great events in the Christian story. The other half is what we call 'Ordinary Time'. This divides the Christian year fairly neatly into two distinct halves, with one exception. For just a few weeks in February, we have a brief taste of Ordinary Time in the middle of what is otherwise an uninterrupted run of special seasons: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent and Easter. But soon Lent will be with us. It is a special time of the year, a time to reflect on our lives and our faith. As a parish, we will be reflecting on what it means to be a follower of Jesus. There is no one way to follow Jesus. Part of the delight of being in a church is to see people working out for themselves in such different ways how to respond to the words 'follow me'. Yet as we wrestle with what this means for us, we can be inspired and we can learn: from other Christians, from some of the remarkable women and men who have been on this journey before us. This year as a parish we are taking as our guide and teacher the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, whose book 'Being Disciples' I encourage you to get hold of and read. We have copies of the book for those of you joining our Tuesday evening and Wednesday lunchtime discussion groups during Lent. But it's easy to get hold of online and I encourage any of you who want to make Lent a special time to read just one short chapter each week. What does it mean to follow Jesus in our work? What does it mean to follow him when we're with our neighbours, friends or family? What does it mean for us as church members? After Easter we're going to be asking what it means for our two churches to follow Jesus in our ministry and mission here in Kettering. There are plenty of great examples out there of churches who have done this in different ways. We can learn from them. But we need to discover what is the distinctive and unique thing which God is calling us to do in the coming years as we try to live out the gospel here in the heart of this town. We're going to start by having two conversations. One amongst ourselves, allowing ourselves to engage our imagination and dream about what kind of churches we would like to be by 2025. The second, with the wider town, asking what their needs and aspirations are and what they want from us. This is especially relevant for P & P with its historic position as the 'town church'. But St Michael's are already talking to their local community about this ahead of a DCC Away Day in May. 3 The aim is that by summer next year, both churches together will have a clear sense of our vision and priorities over the coming years. We want to take seriously the challenges and opportunities ahead of us and then to raise our sights. We want to reimagine what might be possible as together we try to follow Jesus and to respond to the promptings of the Spirit. For all this to be possible, we need to look again at how we encourage and enable the ministry of all our members, so that all can play a part in this. It won't be priests like me who make this happen. It will be the members of the church, working together in new and unexpected ways. My main role as Rector is to encourage and help you in this. But we do also need to strengthen the resources at the centre of our parish, to make sure we have enough priests serving the parish and that their time is spent in the best possible way. I hope over the coming year we will have more than one good piece of news in this area. As a start, my wife Carys, who says something in this edition about herself and her ministry, has now received permission to officiate in the Diocese. The moment has not yet come for her to be licensed to any one parish, but she has chosen to preach and preside here on Sundays and is very much enjoying doing so. In the meantime, our PCC has made a bold decision to invest resources in an administrator, which I believe will make a significant difference to our ministry and mission. You can read details elsewhere in this edition of 'Saints and Angels': do think about whether you know someone suitable to fill this post. I am looking forward with excitement to the journey we will soon be setting out on. But first each of us needs to ask what it means for us to follow Jesus. I hope to be travelling alongside many of you on that journey through Lent. [email protected] Do you receive our weekly email newsletter packed with information about upcoming services and events in the life of your church? Don't miss out! To be on the mailing list send your email address to Kate Bowers today: [email protected] 4 Thoughts from the Bishop of Peterborough Shocks and Surprises in 2017? 2016 was a year of surprises. You might feel that we could all do with a bit more stability in this New Year. However, I doubt that we can bank on it. Whether you are into politics, sport, soaps and celebrities, or just family and friends, I’m pretty sure you can expect a surprise or two. But I’m not going to make any predictions. One of the interesting things about surprises is how we react to them. It is worth thinking about that. What sort of reactions do you have to a shock election result, or an unexpected sports champion, or an ex-politician being lauded for dancing badly in a yellow suit? Or, much more seriously, how do you react to the news of the serious illness of a loved one, or even yourself? Or the death of someone who has been a hero of yours, or of a family member? The immediate reaction isn’t the most important thing. Some of us are more volatile than others, or more used to showing our feelings. Others seem to take everything calmly, maybe too calmly. But what counts is how these shocks and surprises affect us long term. You may have met someone who says that a tragic event caused them to lose their faith in God. You may be someone who has never been able to deal with a deep disappointment or a death in the family. Jesus seems to rebuke his disciples for panicking in the face of a storm, even a life-threatening one. He seems to imply that his presence ought to give us a deep peace, a strength to deal with what life throws at us. But it isn’t that easy. He still wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus, and he still showed anger at those who used the Temple to make a profit from the poor. He isn’t modelling or teaching a false calmness, an emotional deficit. The big question is: Can we trust him, whatever life throws at us? The famous saying of Job in the King James Version of the Old Testament, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15) may be a bad translation, but it still sets us the challenge. And the testimony of the whole Bible, and of so many Christian people in history and today, is absolutely clear. Come what may, he can be trusted. Great is thy faithfulness. 5 The Parish is recruiting an Administrator, ideally to start work from mid-May. Do you know anyone who might be suitable? Details of the post: 20 hours a week. £9,880 pa (£18,525 pro rata) We are looking for a self motivated & well organised homeworker with excellent ‘people’ skills to: • provide general administrative support • maintain and oversee our communications • manage and grow our lettings business Good people & communication & basic IT skills essential. The Administrator will work closely with the clergy, staff & officers of this Church of England parish with two churches in the heart of Kettering; and alongside volunteers from both churches. Closing date for applications: Tuesday 28th February Interview date: Wednesday 15th March For further information and an application pack, please contact the Rector, Revd David Walsh: [email protected] 6 BOOK REVIEW Dethroning Mammon: The Archbishop's 2017 Lent Book Bloomsbury Continuum ISBN 1472929772 In his first full-length book, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby looks at the subject of money and materialism. Designed for study in the weeks of Lent leading up to Easter, Dethroning Mammon reflects on the impact of our own attitudes, and of the pressures that surround us; on how we handle the power of money, called Mammon in this book. Who will be on the throne of our lives? Who will direct our actions and attitudes? Is it Jesus Christ, who brings truth, hope and freedom? Or is it Mammon, so attractive, so clear, but leading us into paths that tangle, trip and deceive? Archbishop Justin Welby explores the tensions that arise in a society dominated by Mammon’s modern aliases, economics and finance, and by the pressures of our culture to conform to Mammon’s expectations.