The Rector writes – November 09

“Faith healing” is something all of us have heard of and we are either enthusiastic and positive, or afraid of what it means and avoid it like the plague… an interesting simile when we’re talking about healing!

Up until a few years ago, mainly because of bad experiences of bad practice, I was very wary and sceptical of “healing” in a Church context. However, after a week spent at Crowhurst, a Christian Healing Centre down near South coast, I came to terms with how important God’s gift of healing really is, and how it can become a part and parcel of our individual Christian lives, and of our Churches’ worship.

“Faith healing” is not what we’re about, nor are we about the cult of the individual healer. It is God who heals… through his Church. So you are invited to explore “The Church’s Ministry of Healing” on two Saturday mornings in November (14^th in the Samworth Centre and 28th in St. Mary’s Church, 10.00-12.30), looking at issues like “Healing and the Scriptures”, “Healing and Health” and “Healing and the Church’s Ministry”. So if you have any doubts or fears about the healing ministry the Holy Spirit equips us to engage in, or if you would just like to know more… why not come along? You’d be very welcome.

And “healing” is very much the theme of our worship in November, with Services of Loving Remembrance, when we remember before God loves ones who have died, and Remembrance Sunday services in most of our churches. Going through the grieving process involves healing and a return to wholeness, and shows how healing can take a long time and can be a very painful process.

Then on Advent Sunday (29^th) at 6.30 p.m. we have our Candle-lit Advent Carol service at St. Mary’s, Melton, when we begin our preparation for Christmas. Thorpe (9.45 a.m.) and Burton (11.15 a.m.) also have Advent Celebrations. Please join us if you can.

Kevin Ashby

The Rector writes – October 09

My first few months in Melton have been both busy and “bitty”! I started at the beginning of May, and I have tried to spread myself around the various churches in the parish as widely as possible, just to get a feel for the parish and to meet as many people as possible. I have also got to know many of the key people in the town and villages, as well as my fellow ministers in the other churches in the area, both Anglican and in the other denominations. Being one member of staff (the Team Vicar) down has meant that I have had less flexibility in the things I’ve wanted to do, and the summer holidays have restricted some of the meetings which may have taken place, but, now that we’re into September, the next few months gives me an opportunity to reflect on my experiences of the last five months.

God is certainly working in an amazing way across the parish, and I am really heartened and encouraged by what I’ve seen.

One of the key areas we do need to look at is our service pattern across the parish, and many people have already spoken to me about what they think is good or bad about our worship and what changes (if any!) they would like to see made.  When we look at our worship we need to remember that the word is from the Anglo-Saxon “wurthscipe”, meaning that we worship God because he is “of worth”. Our role as churches in our parish is to provide a variety of worship to enable and encourage our communities to worship God in a way that is meaningful and relevant to them.

So, if you have any ideas, comments, questions or suggestions about our service pattern, present and future, please let me know as soon as possible… we need to explore together the way our God is calling us to worship him     

Kevin Ashby

The Rector Writes – September 09

Not many people can say that they shared the last supper with Jesus! But Alyson and I did, together with a group of fellow tour-leaders! We also shared the supper with Judas, and, at that point, I think I’d better explain…

Last month we had the opportunity to visit the village of Oberammergau where the Passion Play is performed every ten years in fulfilment of a vow made 375 years ago by the villagers at the time of the Black Death, that if no-one else in the village would die, they would perform a play about the last week of Jesus’ earthly life every ten years. Next year we’ll be taking two groups, and it was great to have the opportunity to see back-stage and meet some of the cast (the men are already growing their beards, so they look suitably biblical. It was quite surreal to see Simon Peter riding past the hotel on a push-bike!) and, especially, to have Martin Norz, one of the two actors to play Jesus in 1990 and 2000 (and who, at 45, will be too old to play Jesus, and so will be one of the two Judases!), join us for the last supper of our trip!

One of the other tour-leaders asked Martin about his faith, and the amateur actor (all the actors and musicians come from or live in the village), looking so much like the traditional image of Jesus, was quite evasive, and made it clear that his faith wasn’t an important issue. What was more important was how convincingly he played the part, including being hung on a cross for over twenty minutes in sunshine, wind or snow.

What is quite amazing to me is how God can work so powerfully through people of little or no faith to move so many people (nearly five thousand per day, over a five month period) both emotionally and spiritually. Our God doesn’t only work through Christians!

Kevin Ashby