Tadcaster Methodist Church

Archive for July, 2011

Dates for the Diary, August 2011

Church Services Calendar, September 2011

Church Services Calendar, August 2011

Dear Friends

This part of the Calendar usually contains a letter from the Manse. By the time that you are reading this our friends Ray and Joy will have moved on, and Amy, our new Minister, will not yet have landed in Tadcaster. So, to fill the gap it was suggested that you might like to hear from the Church Stewards – so here we are!

As you will appreciate the month of August will be a bit of a hiatus for us as a fellowship. This may be a good thing, in that we will have an opportunity to pause and take stock, to reflect on who we are and what we are about – perhaps a time to think about how we will move forward.

For there will be changes for us as we journey on. Change is with us constantly now, in all aspects our daily lives, including our Church life. For many of us change may be uncomfortable, perhaps even a little bewildering at times. Church and religious customs and practices that we have held dear, and that have sustained and comforted us over the years, may be moved aside or radically altered. Styles of worship are becoming more varied. Our buildings are changing to accommodate this variety. Contemporary worship songs now sit alongside our traditional hymns. In this, the year of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, there are now umpteen different Bible translations that have benefited from advances in biblical scholarship and theological thought – all designed to enrich and help us better understand the word of God.

We must be open to change in our Church life and embrace it as best we can, even if this means making a conscious effort and moving out of familiar comfort zones. In his short ministry Jesus upset traditions, preconceptions and the religious orthodoxy of the time. We do well to remember what a revolutionary figure he must have appeared to his contemporaries.

The most obvious and immediate change for us will be the arrival of our new Minister. Amy will be with us in September to begin her ministry, and it will be a challenging time for her as she gets to grips with everything. It will be a time when she will need our encouragement, support and love, and we are sure that she will have all these in abundance. There will be a change at Circuit level as Steve Barlow takes over from Ray as Superintendent Minister. We will be open to what he has to say and will support him in his new and important ministry.

But, fear not! In this world of change we have unshakeable foundations. There is the love that we have one for another, and the love of God for us through Jesus. We know that He always wishes the best for us. As Saint Paul has it – ‘…. I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ (Epistle to the Romans, Chapter 8, verses 38 and 39)

With every blessing now and for the future.

Jim, Janet, Fraser and Christine