From the Parish Priest
Dear friends,
The month of November is, in church, community and national life, a month of remembering.
Whether in church: remembering the great saints of the Church, or those loved ones that we still miss and mourn on All Saints day and All Souls day, or around bonfires in community and family groups on the 5th November, or standing round a War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday as a nation, remembering those who have given their very lives in service of our country.
What we are doing, in all these acts of remembrance is making sure that essential parts of our community, be they the great characters of the past, or events that have shaped us, are held and treasured and learned from. The Act of Remembrance that we repeat day after day and week after week does exactly the same thing. “ Do this in Remembrance of Me” Said Jesus to his disciples.. and we do… we make sure that Jesus, and his example of love and sacrifice are central to who we are and how we love each other.
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When Bishop Robert came to install me as your priest 22months ago, I was looking forward to all the things we would do as Mission Community and Benefice: the worship, community outreach, and working together.
Unfortunately, Covid came, and for most of the past two years, we have had to deal with a situation that has caused havoc in almost every area of church, community and family life.
Despite the difficulties of the past few months, we are still called to be a community of Christian people, and so I would like to invite you to a celebration of our partnership.
There is nothing like an approaching New Year to gather our thoughts and to encourage us to make resolutions for the future, and we are going to celebrate this new year. NOT in January, but at the start of the Christian Year on Advent Sunday. So please, do come and join us for a Joyful Celebration of our shared mission at 10am at St. Mary’s Lifton Advent Sunday, 28th November. Everyone is welcome, and Katie and I are looking forward very much to welcoming you to the Rectory for a Celebration Lunch at the Rectory afterwards.
Let us start our new year off as we mean to go on:
with joyful and prayerful worship, friendly Christian fellowship, and Hope in Christ for our growth in faith, understanding and strength of numbers.
With love and prayers,
Philip.