Pastoral letter
Dear Friends,
What does the summer mean to you? Long sunny days enjoying
the garden or at the beach (if only...)? Sneezing with hay fever? School
holidays and bored children? A happier smile on everyone's face?
Summer can often mean a change of routine; the school run is ended but so are a number of other activities in church or social life. It can be a time for families and friends, but it can also be a lonely time as you see other people out enjoying themselves together and feel cut off from it all. In church this year summer will mean a change of routine in that we are holding our morning services an hour earlier at 9.30am. The thinking is that many people use Sunday as a leisure day, perhaps to go out or visit family, and church at 10.30am means the morning is fully used up. In families where only one person regularly goes to church this can lead to tension or disappointment. So the Church Council's decision is an attempt to adapt to a rapidly changing society and to encourage regular attendance at worship.
The church, both the Church in general and Fulwood
Methodist church in particular, has to think seriously about future patterns
of worship and fellowship (meeting) in order to help people grow in faith
and
express their spiritual feelings. Inspirations
has been a try at something
different, reflecting the way we engage with the world through all forms of
media Ð aural, visual, experiential. Today our news doesn't come on a closely
worded black and white broadsheet, but with colour, in different sections,
on TV
and radio, through the internet and so many ways. We may or may not connect
with these methods but this is how new generations function in the world of
the 21st Century. Jesus was the most amazing innovator; again and
again he challenges people to renew their thinking and doing, in order to truly
reflect God in their
lives. Parables and miracles were his way of revealing God to those who had
lost touch with religion. Our challenge is to help today's people re-connect
with our timeless God.
Please help us by sharing your thoughts with us. Help the church pass on our precious faith and grow new Christians for the future.
God Bless
Peter Sheasby
Sunday Worship in July and August will be at 9.30am
If you need transport contact a Steward (736319 or 717661)
