A Year at Redcliffe 2020 Online Version.Pdf
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1 Welcome 2 WELCOMING ALL Sidesmen 38 LEADERSHIP Stewards 39 Vicar’s Review 3 Treefest 40 Associate Vicar’s Review 7 A Curate’s Perspective 10 DISCIPLESHIP Ministry at St Mary Redcliffe 11 Vocations Group 41 From the Churchwardens 12 Theology Book Club 41 Feminist Theology Group 42 CHURCH GOVERNANCE From the PCC Secretary 14 OUR CHURCH COMMUNITY Electoral Roll 15 Safeguarding 43 Church Lands Charity 16 Mothers’ Union 44 Temple Ecclesiastical Charity 17 Pot Luck Lunches 44 From the Head of Operational Development 18 Christmas Puddings 45 Deanery Synod 19 Parish Magazine 56 Diocesan Synod 21 OUTREACH and SOCIAL ACTION DEVELOPMENT, BUILDING and FABRIC From the Community Development Worker 49 Project 450 25 Churches Winter Night Shelter 52 Wardens’ Fabric Report 27 BS3 Community Larder 54 From the Church Architect 29 Textile Conservation 30 FAMILIES, EDUCATION and YOUNG PEOPLE The Canynges Society 31 From the Families and Youth Minister 59 From the Community Youth SUPPORTING WORSHIP Development Worker 63 Readers, Intercessions and Offertory 32 From the Education Officer 69 Administrants 32 St Mary Redcliffe Primary School 72 Guild of Ringers 33 MUSIC CONTACTS 74 From the Director of Music 36 1 elcome to A Year (and a bit) at Redcliffe 2020, our annual review of life at St Mary Redcliffe Church. Covering the period since the last Annual Parochial Church Meeting in May 2019, this booklet includes updates and reports from the many groups, activities and organisations associated with the church, and provides a snapshot of the diverse and fascinating life of this community and the magnificent building we call home. As well as an account of the work and activities of 2019, you can read how the life of the Church has adapted to the new challenges presented by Coronavirus as we serve God, our church family and the people of the parish. We hope you find this publication enjoyable as well as informative. It’s not fully exhaustive and there’s a lot more to discover in the weekly newsletters, on our website at www.stmaryredcliffe.co.uk, and via Twitter and Facebook. If you’d like to keep up to date with everything that’s happening at the Church, why not sign up to receive our e-newsletter by visiting https://forms.churchdesk.com/f/By8U8h0gM St Mary Redcliffe Church September 2020 2 t’s hard to remember the start of 2019. So much change has been forced upon us that the perspective we now have on life almost entirely eclipses that which went before. Nonetheless, as we ‘walk through the valley of the shadow of death’, it is helpful to turn our attention back to the time before Coronavirus, to remind ourselves of what was happening at St Mary Redcliffe in 2019 to help us not become overwhelmed by our current situation. More than that, we can begin to notice what this new perspective has to offer as we begin to imagine what life might look like beyond Covid-19. For as many have said: “There is nothing good in this virus, but it doesn’t mean that nothing good can come from it.” To help me think that far back, I started by checking a few things: Bishop Viv had been installed as Bishop of Bristol by then; Richard James was one of our Churchwardens, though (in his own words) he was getting ‘demob happy’ and Theresa May was Prime Minister! We were anticipating a very special Good Friday service, the arrival of a curate, a parish weekend and the centenary of the end of the First World War. However most of us probably weren’t expecting Notre Dame to be gutted by fire, the phrase “Brexit backstop” to be part of the vernacular or the Vicar of St Mary Redcliffe to be installed as an Honorary Canon of Bristol Cathedral! It was very surprising to be invited by Bishop Viv to become an Honorary Canon of the cathedral. The installation service was at the end of July and all arranged in rather a hurry. By then David Hoyle, Dean of Bristol, had been announced as the next Dean of Westminster and I was particularly delighted to learn that he was keen that the service should happen whilst he was still in post. David and I had developed a strong working relationship since I became vicar and it was really lovely to have him preach at that installation service. Despite the relatively short notice and the service being held in the school holidays, there was a really good SMR contingent at the service and I felt as though this was not only a significant moment in my ministry but also an important event in the continuing unfolding journey of SMR. A month before that, I was at the cathedral for another significant moment and important event: the ordination of Aggy Palairet to the diaconate. Aggy, Ed and the boys had moved into Colston Parade a few weeks earlier from Knowle where they had been living for a few years. It was on that Sunday morning that Aggy took her place as an ordained minister of the Gospel and began the next phase of her walk with Christ. It was a significant moment for her and an important event for us: for we, as a church, are charged with Aggy’s formation as a priest in the church of God, enabling 3 her to exercise all functions of ministry as a priest whilst at the same time to fulfil her calling to ‘be’ a priest. Aggy made a fantastic start in those months before lockdown, showing herself to be not only very able in her role but also highly versatile in her attitude to ministry. I look forward to her ordination to the priesthood in October and to walking alongside her during the rest of her curacy. Aggy’s is not the only vocation we are nurturing. We have a thriving Vocations Group which continued to meet throughout 2019 and we saw one of our number, Simon Goodman, be approved for training for ordination. We are expecting his ordination to the diaconate in July 2021, and much more recently Becky James also was approved for training and we are looking forward to her ordination in 2023. Good Friday 2019 was a real ‘one-off’. Rather than a standard preached service, David Stancliffe (former Bishop of Salisbury but really in his capacity as a musician) with a handful of singers and players, as well as our choir, came to Redcliffe to bring an experience of the Passion according to St John through the theology and musical imagination of Johann Sebastian Bach. David explained to the congregation how Bach understood St John’s Passion in its three parts and how “the dramatic passion narrative is complemented with evocative arias that allow us to meditate on Jesus’ sufferings and death, and how the whole is undergirded by well-known chorales that earth our response to the passion in the hymns of the church’s worship.” The service was very well attended, highly appreciated and shows how SMR can use its place within the city to do things that blur the boundaries between faith and art, between worship and culture. The notion of blurring boundaries emerges from our engagement with HeartEdge which is an initiative of St Martin in the Fields in London. This idea encourages churches to think about the life of their church within four strands: congregation, compassion, culture and commerce. The underlying theory is that, working together, these four themes can provide the bedrock not only for sustainable church life but also for evangelism and community outreach. It is worth pointing out that these four themes map entirely onto the four strands of vision statement: Singing the song of faith and justice - as a thriving, inclusive Christian community congregation - as a recognised, welcoming heritage destination culture - as a church that makes a difference in the parish and beyond compassion - all animated by a sustainable and progressive organisation commerce And as the year was drawing to an end, we marked the anniversary of Armistice Day. We invited people to bring in artefacts from WW1 (including my grandfather’s communion set from the trenches) which were displayed in the transept before a special service during which we created the Poppy Cross. I was surprised by just how many artefacts were put on display, and then amazed at the number of people who came to the service. Again, we should never underestimate the pulling 4 power of St Mary Redcliffe especially when we are creative in providing special moments for people who feel that, despite everything, the church threshold still seems too high to cross. 2019 was also a year of transition in the parish office. We said “Farewell and Thank You” to Ros Houseago, who retired; to Pat Terry who also retired from employed work with us but has kept on her role as Clerk to the Church Lands Charity and Canynges Society; to Pete Rignall who moved on to pursue other activities after three years with us; and to two people who most of you won’t know but who have provided invaluable back-of-house work for SMR for over twenty years, Tanya Stratton and Marlene Green who both left their work with our accountants. This meant that we spent quite a lot of the spring and summer of 2019 recruiting, and the autumn and winter inducting Sarah Purdon as Parish Administrator, Roseanna Wood as Head of Operational Development and Héloïse as my PA. These new members of staff, all excellent appointments, were just getting stuck in when Coronavirus hit.