This article first appeared in the April 2021 edition of the parish magazine of St John with St Mary, Devizes.
I went for a very long walk earlier this week, even by my standards. A whopping 43 km (27 miles for those who prefer pounds, shillings, and pence). The highlight came just after sunset, heading west into the twilight on the Roman Road between the Cherhill Monument and Morgan’s Hill. Silhouetted against the orange sky was something I’d never seen before but entirely unmistakable – a mad March hare, leaping wildly, full of joyful abandon.
The Roman Road between Avebury and Morgan’s Hill just after sunset, © Gerry Lynch, 23 March 2021
New life is all around us in this season. What will our world look like in the months and years to come? While we can’t be certain of the course of the pandemic, at present our hospitals are emptying and vaccinations are proceeding at pace, so we should plan for a return to normality in the first part of this summer. What sort of things might help us renew our life as a parish community?
I think there are two key elements to this. Firstly, enabling our existing worshippers to deepen in faith and in relationship with one another. Also, to deepen in trust that we really are the people God has called to serve Him in this place. Secondly, giving people who are not yet part of our congregation the chance to engage with us, and for us to provide pathway to faith for the majority of people who think of themselves as entirely secular.
We are making tentative plans for a day pilgrimage to Wells on either the Saturday or Monday of August Bank Holiday weekend. While only an hour away, visiting this beautiful little city takes us out of our diocese and county, to a beautiful cathedral. Any formal activities we undertake would not be about planning and strategising, but praying and enjoying some spiritual and emotional space together, with plenty of time to wander round the shops or go for a good walk.
To reach out to others, we are considering a Festival of Angels sometime around Michaelmas, 29 September. Autumn plans can only be tentative at the moment, and the same goes for the Michaelmas Fayre normally organised by Omnes Ad Unum, but a possibility to keep in mind. Angels have a cultural resonance well beyond people who would acknowledge having a Christian faith – look at our trinket shops, or else the iconography celebrating the NHS during the pandemic; they also have an interfaith aspect, being of great significance to our Muslim neighbours.
Something aiming to strengthen both our existing community and our links with the town more widely are the small groups we are hoping will meet in the first half of May, to think about what we’ve learned in this dreadfully historic year and how we might move positively into the future. By law, they will still be limited to six people and meeting outdoors. Six is a good number for this sort of work, and there is much to be said for doing this work we are still unable to meet inside, hopefully ensuring that the thoughts, feelings, and ideas that the pandemic has generated are still fresh. We expect they would meet for about an hour and a half, before feeding back to the wardens and the PCC.
We would greatly appreciate it if as many people as possible signed up to one of these groups, even if you aren’t normally a big ‘joiner’ of things.
We will give more precise details in the next few weeks but for now, we would greatly appreciate it you would consider participating.
May God renew you with the power of His Resurrection at this holiest time of the year.
