Vicar’s Christmas Email
Christmas Eve, 2016.
To read the vicar’s latest email update, click here.
God, Science and a Post-Truth Nativity
If you spend any time on social media, reading the comments of what policy-makers like to call “opinion formers”, you will encounter many furrowed brows. There is grave concern about the times in which we live. Our problems apparently stem from ignorant people voting the wrong way on the basis of being misinformed about the facts. They’ve been given “fake news” invented by mud-slinging liars. Or, worse, they’ve looked at true facts and are unmoved or unconvinced. Surely facts should end any debate?
This state of affairs should be no great surprise. We have been living in a society which has been rejecting absolute truth for decades. It began in academia with post-modernism, and so slowly spread to the rest of our culture. Truth with a capital “T” has been undermined for decades. So now when presented with facts, why shouldn’t people shrug or ignore what has been put in front of them?
Moreover, when Truth is demoted or destroyed, what do we expect to emerge other than lies? Our media lies, telling lies about our leaders who in turn lie to the media, sometimes about the media and other things too. It is clear that our nation has never been hungrier for truth.
[This is part of an article by James Cary at www.thegoodbook.co.uk You can read the rest here.]
Christianity Explored
No matter where you are on your journey with Jesus -whether you’re just setting out or whether you’ve been on the road for ages – we want to help and encourage you to grow deeper.
A great place to start is by getting to know Jesus in his own words, straight from the gospel of Mark. We call this: Christianity Explored – a course for anyone who wants to investigate Christianity informally with a group of other people.
We’ll be starting early in 2017, and depending on the number of people signing up may run more than one course at different times in the day. When booking onto the course, please let us know whether daytime or evening is best for you.
To find our more visit our Courses page.
Remembrance Sunday 2016
Remembrance Sunday – 13 November
We have three opportunities across our churches to give thanks to God for those who have given so much for our freedom.
On the east side of the river, there’s a Remembrance Sunday service at St Mary’s Church in Ripple at 10:50am.
In the Hanley’s and Welland, our service is at Hanley Swan Church at 10:50am.
And in Upton and the Hook, our service is at Upton Parish Church, beginning at 10:45am. This will be a joint service with our partners in Upton Churches Together.
Please join us at any of the services.
Why a Bright Lights Party?
On Halloween this year we’re hosting a Bright Lights Party at Upton Parish Church. It’s going to be a great family fun night with bouncy castle, games, big screen video games, food and loads of fun.
To find out about tickets go to our online booking page here.
And if you want to know more about why a Bright Lights party – take a look at this short video.
There’s a new vicar in town…
This article was originally published in the Bridge Magazine, October issue.
Where are you from?
I grew up in the North-East of England, the son of a journalist, moved to Sheffield when I was 18 to go to university (studied Economics) and after graduating spent the next ten years or so working for Rotherham Training and Enterprise Council in various capacities – before training to be a vicar in 2002.
Ordained in 2005, I spent four years working with a church on South Tyneside, and then seven years in New Barnet, on the north edge of London.
While I was in Sheffield I met Carol (who hails from Malvern and was training to be a Landscape Architect). Marriage and six kids followed, along with lots of trips back to Malvern – and now we’re back in Worcestershire for good.
Six kids – are you mad?
No – They play together, pray together and do life together. It’s wonderful – on a good day. Other days its hard work, and requires some pretty big lifestyle sacrifices. I remember thinking when we had our fourth child was born that I’d blown my final hope of ever having a fancy car. So now you’ll see me driving a battered 10-year old Renault minibus around. It’s not a car I’d ever imagined driving – but God is like that – he gives us what we need not what we want.
What are your hopes for your time as Priest in Charge of the Benefice of Hanley Castle, Hanley Swan and Welland; and the Benefice of Upton on Severn, Ripple, Earl’s Croome & Hill Croome with Strensham?
Broadly speaking I’ve got three priorities for our time here.
First of all – to encourage discipleship.
Being a disciple of Jesus isn’t just a one-time decision to pick a side in the religious free-for-all, it’s an ongoing commitment to actively living out the values Jesus taught and demonstrated in his own life, underwritten by a growing dependence upon prayer and the Holy Spirit.
Second – is what I call “getting the shop-window right.”
When we’re out shopping, there’s nothing catches our eye more than a well laid-out shop window. The goods look inviting, the colours and lighting entice. First impressions really matter.
Sad to say, many people’s first impression of church services isn’t as captivating – so one of my challenges over the coming years is to listen to the experiences of those outside our church communities to learn how our churches can do better.
One thing we’ve started straight away is getting rid of that awful name that our family of churches goes by – “the benefice of Hanley etc etc. “ It’s so long you probably didn’t even read the whole thing the first time!
I’m proposing we call our family of churches the “Hope Church Family” and our new website (www.hopechurchfamily.org) is a great place to visit to find out all about the various things going on in the individual churches. Do give it a visit – when you see it all together there’s a lot going on. And while you’re on the website, do sign up for our monthly newsletter which will tell you more of what’s going on.
My third priority is planning for the future.
Sad to say, some of the churches have only a very limited provision for children. Over time I hope to see that change – because without children our church congregations will never know a long-term future.
At my last church God blessed us with considerable growth in our children’s work – and I believe it can happen here too. But it does mean we might have to change a few things along the way so that children and young families can more easily participate.
It sounds like you’re going to be busy then!
Yes! But I also know I need to get to know our communities better and understand more of the rhythm of rural life. That will take time – Rome wasn’t built in a day. But it was built – so if you’re the sort of person who likes to build things and make a difference – please get in touch – we’d love to get you involved!
Barry Unwin
Vicar, Hope Church Family
Wing Walk Plane Sailing for first-time flyer
Congratulations to Mary Purser, church warden at St James, Welland for completing her charity wing walk, and making the BBC website!
To see video of her flight and the story on the BBC website, click here.
Tom Holland: Why I was wrong about Christianity
Great article by Tom Holland, writing in the New Statesman
It took me a long time to realise my morals are not Greek or Roman, but thoroughly, and proudly, Christian.
With time, it darkened further still. My obsession with dinosaurs – glamorous, ferocious, extinct – evolved seamlessly into an obsession with ancient empires. When I read the Bible, the focus of my fascination was less the children of Israel or Jesus and his disciples than their adversaries: the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Romans. In a similar manner, although I vaguely continued to believe in God, I found Him infinitely less charismatic than my favourite Olympians: Apollo, Athena, Dionysus. Rather than lay down laws and condemn other deities as demons, they preferred to enjoy themselves. And if they were vain, selfish and cruel, that only served to endow them with the allure of rock stars.
Read the rest here.