Did you watch A Vicar’s Life back in January? It showed four very different vicars, serving their communities in very different ways. What was the same about them all though, was that they were serving more than one church in a rural setting; just as I am here.
What was quite apparent to me during the series was how little time they filmed the vicars in their role of service leader. We saw a baptism, a wedding and a harvest service but we saw very little of the regular Sunday morning worship. What we observed the most in these episodes was the vicars out and about in their communities.
A vicar’s life is not confined to the church building. A vicar’s life is within a community, building the Kingdom of God beyond the doors of the church. The overwhelming majority of my work takes place outside of the walls of the four church buildings – and I love that!
Since I’ve been here I’ve seen so much of what goes on: I have been to coffee mornings, school productions, charity meetings, open gardens, a borough council meeting and the Pub Quiz at the Dog, which was great fun. Indeed we’re extremely grateful to Gary and Jo at the Dog, since the money they raise at their quiz evening goes to St Giles’ Church. We’ve also held community events in our churches: The Rock Choir Concert, Christmas Tree Festival, Family Day with Tame Valley Wetlands and a Hog Roast.
I very much hope that during this season of Easter and beyond we can be even more visible in our villages. We are a small community but so much goes on here. I’m personally looking forward to being an even greater part of this community, especially coming along to The Whitacre Show, Open Farm Sunday and more pub quizzes! I’m also looking forward to our Rogation walk as well as so many other events we have planned – keep a look out on our website and Facebook page.
I hope I meet you somewhere soon.
Rev Becky