A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks. Methodist Conference came together via mixed media, and managed the process pretty well. The new President and Vice President gave powerful addresses, each in their own style, but both worth listening to, and they chaired efficiently, sensitively and with some light touches where appropriate. I felt rather proud that we have such capable women leading our church.
It was lovely to be able to share a prepared video with Conference to highlight our tenth anniversary and remind people of the range of work that we do and how that affects people is so many ways, as well as geographical areas. Regular readers will know that plans have had to be curtailed this year, but we have adjusted and learned skills that have enabled us to reach a wide range of people. In fact, the pandemic has probably, no undoubtedly, prompted us to find out how to better use social media and the internet. It feels as if we have been guided in this to keep moving forward, even when the learning curve has been quite steep!
Our commissioning service for Ruth Parrott has been the latest event to go entirely on line. After several attempts to find a way to gather together, we pre-recorded the service in sections in our own settings and Matt Collins put it all together for us. Some of you will be aware that it went ‘live’ via YouTube on Saturday, and we thank you for the positive feedback that we have received to date. You can also find the recording that was shown at Conference there, along with a longer version containing contributions from a number of people about MWiB, which we could not include in the time allowance for Conference.
At home life is still rather busy. Two years ago whilst I was still a steward in my home church I committed to mounting an exhibition as part of the churches support for the town in it’s tri-yearly Festival. The Festival should have happened in 2020, but has come together in reduced form a year late. So, in the church we have textile panels created by Jacqui Parkinson, supported by a range of art work by some of our home grown artists. We have welcomed a range of visitors, many of whom have no connection with the church, offered refreshments and a space to relax and enjoy the work. Overall footfall to events across town is less than in previous years, but many of our visitors have expressed appreciation that there is something different to see, and a safe environment in which to spend some time, as we invested in several air purifiers some months ago.
As we approach what is usually the time of year for holidays let’s pray for people to be able to take some time for refreshment, and relaxation, and also for the continued practise of sensible measures to keep us safe and healthy.
