Letter for September

As a teacher September has always been to me a month of new beginnings and this new start seems now to be a part of my life.  And so for our parishes this is very much the case this year.  We welcome Stephen Brian into our parish life on the 4th of the month and as we join together with so many other parishes this is a new beginning.  We welcome Stephen and his family as part of our community not only to our church but in the wider community and pray that they will all be very happy in Earl Soham and the surrounding villages and we look forward to meeting them on many occasions.

The words of the hymn “Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy” might be our prayer for the coming year and as we face each day we could make these words our prayer.

Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy,
Be there at our waking and give us we pray
Your bliss in our hearts Lord,
At the break of the day.

Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith
Be there at our labours, and give us we pray
Your strength in our hearts Lord,
At the noon of the day.

Lord of all kindliness, Lord of all grace,
Be there at our homing and give us we pray,
Your love in our hearts Lord,
At the end of the day.

Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all calm,
be there at our sleeping, and give us we pray,
Your peace in our hearts Lord
At the end of the day.

The world around us seems to be a very troubled place and we long that a solution to the trouble spots of the world might be found, and yet we feel so helpless.  When I feel over-burdened with all these problems my mind is drawn towards the peace and tranquillity found when sitting beside a pond.  If I throw a stone into that pond the ripples made by my stone gradually spread outwards and affect a much wider area.  This reminds me that although I may be like that stone, only affecting one little spot yet the results may spread to a much wider part of life and so each one of us has a responsibility to make the most of our lives, however mundane they may seem, so that the ripples of our life can spread into places that we know nothing about.  If we take God into each part of our day, He can use us in ways we know nothing about and He will bring to us His joy, strength, love and peace. 

Mary Vellacott

New Beginnings

Forget motorway jams, airport queues and baggage restrictions, for me the most relaxing of summer holidays are when my husband and I throw all our stuff in the car, drive down to the South coast, onto a ferry, and then spend a couple of weeks meandering through the French countryside.  Despite the rain that followed us across the channel, for me this is the ultimate in relaxation, especially as I leave the actual driving to Graham and confine myself to navigating him up precipitous hillsides and down disused farm tracks.  One thing I have noticed as a seasoned, if ineffective navigator, is that not only does each village have a sign telling you that you are entering their particular zone, but that there is also a sign when you leave the village, with a line drawn through it, indicating that you have now moved on to another place.

I still remember, through the hazy mists of time, the excitement I felt every September at the start of a new school year.  My uniform was laid out days before it was needed – pristine, crisp and new.  Arriving in my new classroom, there to greet me was my new form teacher, better by far than the old one (at least for a time, until I got to know her and, more importantly, she got to know me!) and the glorious sight of new, unspoilt exercise books, just waiting for me to fill in my name and new form number, the written evidence that I had left one class behind and moved on. 

This is very much a time for new beginnings in Earl Soham and its surrounding parishes, and we at the Baptist Church warmly welcome the arrival of Stephen and Liz Brian and their family, and look forward to working and enjoying fellowship with them.  It is my first Autumn in Earl Soham and I am also aware that I too am a newcomer.  There are still many folk I have yet to meet and get to know, and I feel the same sense of excited anticipation as I once did at the start of a new school year. 

The apostle Paul expressed that same sense of anticipation and determination to move forward into the new things God had in store for him:“forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Phil.3:13-14)

New opportunities await us all the time when we follow Christ.  New ways to serve him, new ‘places’ he wants us to explore with him, new spiritual ground to take for him, both in our personal lives and in our neighbourhood.  And as we move on with him, it may be that we will look in the rear view mirror of our lives and discover the things God wants us to leave behind, to draw a line through. 

“forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 

See, I am doing a new thing!” (Isaiah 43:18)

Gill Lee