North Tamar Churches

From the Parish Priest

I write this letter just after our Epiphany celebration.

I do hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. We were very happy to see so many of you join us for our services across the Mission Community. It was a really good sign of people wanting to join in the worship and celebration the Church offered over the Christmas season.

Worshipping God should be enjoyable, and I have always found it so. However, it should also be able to challenge us as to how we live our lives.

This month sees the start of Lent, the season when we are challenged to think about how our lives reflect the life and love of Jesus.

The North Tamar Mission Community includes St Mary the Virgin, St Nicolas, St John the Baptist, St George, and St Peter, serving Kelly, Bradstone, Lifton, Broadwoodwidger, Stowford, Thrushleton, and Lewtrenchard.

This is not, as many suggest, a hard and painful thing to do, but an opportunity, supported by the whole Church, to reflect on how we live our lives as Christians.

So do please come and join us on our journey through Lent, starting with our Ash Wednesday service at St Mary’s, Lifton, where we can all support each other as we live and grow in Christ Jesus.

With love and prayers,
Philip

From the Parish Priest

The seasons of Advent and Christmas should be times of hope, joy, and celebration of the Love of God.

We are often so busy at this time of year, and there are so many demands on our time and finances, that we can too easily forget the heart of the Christmas story and season.

The world that Jesus came into in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago is the same world we live in today. The Christmas Story has wealth and poverty, despots and dictators, violence and oppression, as well as the peace of the Christ child, the love of Mary and Joseph, and the joy of angels and shepherds.

St. Mary the Virgin, St. Nicolas, St. John the Baptist, St. George, St. Peter, Kelly with Bradstone, Lifton, Broadwoodwidger, Stowford, Thrushleton, Lewtrenchard – The North Tamar Mission Community.

It is my hope and prayer for us all this Christmastide that we can see the light, joy, and love of Jesus Christ shine through all the darkness, sadness, and hatred that we see happening in our world. I invite you to come and join us in all the services, events, and activities, which we have planned to celebrate this wonderful season.

Everyone is welcome to everything! There is always a special place for children in church, even if the event is not specially designed for them. I would much rather hear the noise of a child’s presence than the silence of their absence!

So do come and join us in celebrating the wonderful truths of Christmas and help us to proclaim the love of God and pray for the world He loves so much.

With love and prayers for a blessed and holy Christmas, and a happy and peaceful New Year.

Philip

Dear friends,

They say that Christmas gets earlier and earlier every year!

This year I saw my first Christmas display in a supermarket in August!!!!

I love Christmas — both the festive atmosphere in our homes and communities, and the joy of our Christmas Worship in church.

Despite what commerce may claim, Christmas begins on Christmas Eve.

The twelve feast days end with the wonderful celebration of the visit of the Wise Men on the feast of the Epiphany (January 6th), and the season concludes gloriously and finally on February 2nd, when we celebrate the last event of Christ’s infancy on the Feast of Candlemas.

Now, I am not a killjoy, and I am not in any way saying that we should not fully embrace the joy and hope of Christmas — but when we start Christmas so early, we stop ourselves being able to appreciate the joy and excitement of the season of Advent.

Advent Sunday heralds the start of a new Christian year — four weeks of excited anticipation, not just for our Christmas celebrations, but for God’s call and purpose for each of us.

The words, symbolism, and music of the season are some of the most poignant and meaningful that we have.

There is a real danger that we blind ourselves with so much early Christmas light that we fail to see or experience the beauty and joy of watching and waiting, which are the great Advent themes.

This year, Advent Sunday falls on a Fifth Sunday, and we will be celebrating it with every fibre of our being at a special Fifth Sunday Service in Lifton Community Centre, followed by a celebration lunch.

Do come and join us at the start of a new church year as we make our Christian New Year’s resolution and commitment to watch for, and wait on, the Lord Jesus.

With love and prayers,
Philip

From the Parish Priest

Dear friends,

As many of you know, due to recent — and not so recent — events in our families’ lives, Katie and I are in the position of reviewing and sorting out vast numbers of archive documents and photographs that we have inherited from our parents.

There are packets and packets, and album after album, of small black and white photos — mainly of anonymous faces — staring out at us.

“I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
— Matthew 25:35

The context of these pictures is a million miles away from our lives now, and it is so easy to forget the real lives behind the faces staring out.

But these were real lives of real people — not characters in a book or a play — but human beings made in the image of God, each carrying the likeness of Christ in their faces.

The same can be said for the faces we see today on the screens of our televisions and phones, or in our newspapers — people whose lives we hardly recognise, as they struggle with war, violence, statelessness, and extreme poverty.

It is so easy to ignore — or even deny — the humanity of people who are different from us. And sadly, the language sometimes used by those who claim to lead us to describe fellow human beings can be uncaring and unchristian.

Whatever opinions we may justly hold regarding the security of our nation, the stability of the world, or our society, we must never remove the humanity from those whose situation is desperate.

History — and the present — is littered with examples of people being denied their God-given human dignity by others who believe themselves to be superior.

Jesus walked, talked, and ate with all the groups of people that the authorities of His society regarded as enemies or worthless. And we must always work to demonstrate the priceless value of each and every human life — wherever that life is from, whatever language they speak,
whatever the colour of their skin, whatever situation they find themselves in.

With love and prayers,
Philip

From the Parish Priest

Christmas Already?!?

Dear Friends,

This may seem a bit soon, but I am preparing for Christmas and need your assistance!

Between Advent Sunday and Candlemas (basically all of December and January), we will be hosting six major Mission Community events—one in each of our parishes, but for the benefit of all! These will be in addition to our usual activities. I hope to have a full timetable of these ready for the next magazine.

One of these events will be a Crib Festival—a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the Nativity scene and enjoy the many beautiful interpretations that adorn our homes, schools, and churches.

We would love to have as many cribs on display as possible. If you have one or more—we would be very grateful if you’d consider lending it to us for the festival.

Whether it’s:

• Been in the family for years
• Made by the children at nursery
• Knitted by a favourite auntie
• Carved as trench art during the wars
• Made of wood or plastic
• Old or new
• Crafted locally or brought from afar

—We would love to include it, along with its story, in what we hope will be a wonderful festival leading into Christmas.

The Crib Festival will take place the weekend before Christmas, concluding with a special Carol Service.

More details will follow, but I wanted to give everyone plenty of notice so we can prepare the best display possible.

Those of you who know me well will know that I hate the early celebration of Christmas. I love Advent to be a season of waiting and hoping, and I so enjoy the excitement of Christmas Eve and the joy of the Christmas season—but that doesn’t happen unless someone has done the preparation in advance.

So… if you would like to be part of this year’s celebration, let me know—and it will be wonderful to have you on board!

With love and prayers,
Philip

From the Parish Priest

Dear friends,

As I write this, thousands of people are packing up their tents and attempting to start the journey home after attending Glastonbury. No doubt many of them are looking forward to a long-awaited shower!

There are many great music festivals taking place over the summer, which people either attend or enjoy in the privacy of their own homes thanks to the broadcast media. But for me, there is only one, and that is the two-month musical extravaganza we call The BBC Proms.

Everyone knows about the famous Last Night party, but not everyone is aware of the importance of the Proms to the international music scene — the encouragement of new composers, the commissioning of new works, and the availability of affordable live music.

The Proms today are very different from the first season in the Queen’s Hall in 1895, but they are still the same Proms. They have grown and developed, become more diverse — both in the music performed and in those who perform, attend, and listen. They are, arguably, the most important classical music event in the international calendar.

What happens in the Church of God now is very different from what happened with the apostles, in the Celtic Church, at the Reformation, or in the “great days of the Victorian era” — but we are the same Church. We grow, develop, and evolve, building on what has happened in the past to be the very best version of the Church that we can be.

Sir Henry Wood, the founder of the Proms, was passionate about introducing new and often controversial pieces to audiences. Many of these were initially met with derision but are now firm favourites in the hearts and minds of many radio listeners and concert-goers.

As the Church continues to evolve under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we engage with new ideas and new concepts — many of which will at first seem foreign or strange — but which often end up being eternally treasured. After all, Harvest Festival was at first just Parson Hawker’s bright idea!

I look forward very much to hearing a mixture of old favourites and new, challenging music in this year’s Proms — and equally, I look forward to some reassurance, challenges, and growth in our church life.

With love and prayers,
Philip

From the Parish Priest

Dear friends,

I would like to begin my letter this month by thanking all those of you who have been so kind and supportive to me over the past three months.

Inevitably, my mother’s illness and passing have had a disruptive effect on our church routines, and I thank you all for your patience.

As I write this, we are almost at Midsummer, and nearly halfway through the calendar year. The “busy times” in our church life are now behind us, and we enter the long period of Green, or “Ordinary Time,” when we are asked and encouraged to live out the story of Jesus in our daily, ordinary lives.

“Ordinary” is such a strange word, as in God’s love, all things are extraordinary. I hope and pray that you will work daily to proclaim, in your words and actions, the extraordinary grace of God that we have been celebrating in the life of Jesus over the past six months, and now celebrate in our own lives.

Our church life, particularly when we gather for worship, should be a joyful celebration of God’s love in our lives. We have been blessed recently with some wonderful celebrations of weddings and baptisms, where God’s love and joy have been utterly tangible and present.

This is not something that can be manufactured by the priest or leader, but something that happens when the worshipping community gathers with the intention of living in and celebrating the love of God in their lives.

Over the summer, let us work to infuse all our worship and gatherings with Christ’s hospitality and joy, and encourage others to join us in this wonderful vocation.

With love and prayers,
Philip

From the Parish Priest
Thy Kingdom Come – 29th May to 8th June 2025

Every year, Christians across the world pray from Ascension to Pentecost for something special. For eleven days, over a million Christians from all denominations and in 90% of countries worldwide are involved. They pray that people among their friends, colleagues, families, and neighbours who haven’t yet come to faith in Jesus may do so.

Prayers are said for people to hear the Word of Jesus and feel the Holy Spirit.

This year, in the North Tamar Mission Community, we are holding a prayer meeting every Thursday for five weeks starting 8th May. These will be held between 6 and 7pm in St Mary’s Church, Lifton. Everyone is welcome. Refreshments, including cake, will be available.

There will be a service at Exeter Cathedral on 8th June to celebrate the end of Thy Kingdom Come for this year. Please see our website or contact your local church for further details. Everyone is welcome.

Further information is available at: nabntmc@outlook.com or exeter.anglican.com.

Peace and blessings,
Nicola

From the Parish Priest

Dear Friends,

I have mentioned on more than one occasion the statues of the 20th-century Christian Martyrs on the West Front of Westminster Abbey. They are a collection of faithful and brave Christians from across denominational divides, who lost their lives because of their commitment to Christ and his teachings.

One of them is, of course, an image of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who lived through and campaigned against the appalling injustice of a racially segregated society in the USA during the fifties and sixties. His community, and his family, lived through very dark days indeed.

He is quoted as saying, “Only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.” This is something I am reminded of when I am out and about after dark in this beautiful part of God’s Kingdom.

Sadly, the past few weeks have ushered in at least the potential for very dark days, and I have had a number of conversations with people who are concerned and frightened regarding the changes there have been in the world order in recent times.

Dr. King is right, though. Sometimes the glory of what is good can only be recognized when compared with the contrast of what is wanting. As Christians, we are not only looking up at the brightness of the stars, but also at the brightness of the resurrection of Jesus. We can be too easily tempted to see the resurrection life as something that only happens on the other side of death, rather than something we are called to live here and now.

Sometimes, as Dr. King and other Martyrs have demonstrated, proclaiming the resurrection life can be a dangerous thing to do. But we follow a Savior who put himself at risk for others.

As we work towards the annual commemoration of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus, let us hear Christ’s call to proclaim the good news of his love, peace, justice, kindness, and compassion—and loudly and joyfully proclaim it.

With love and prayers,
Philip

Dear Friends,

The spring months are a busy time in the Christian year. In our worship, we are busy keeping Lent and preparing for Easter, and that quite rightly demands our effort and energy. Just to complicate things, the spring months are also when church business, such as the ratifying of accounts and preparation of Annual reports, needs to be done.

There is one other important piece of administration that needs to be done this year, and that is the complete revision of our Electoral Rolls. This means that if you wish to be regarded formally as part of a church’s congregation, you need to fill in the appropriate form, even if you have been part of the electoral roll for a number of years.

The Electoral Roll forms will be available in all our churches, and we can also send them out digitally or by post if you are unable to pick one up yourself.

Do please let your friends and neighbours know, as it is important that we inform as many people as possible so that our church role realistically reflects our membership. It also gives all of us the opportunity to review our commitment to Christ and His church, both in the time we set aside for worship and service, and in supporting the church with our effort and considered financial support.

Our church buildings and the living stones that make up our church communities are a heritage and legacy that has been left to us to build upon and hand on to the next generation. I hope and pray that this year, we will all be able to take steps to strengthen our church life so that we can continue to worship God and proclaim His love in word and action.

With love and prayers,
Philip