May 2008

Vicar's Letter | The Trinity| New Head Teacher | Coffee Morning | Annual Meetings | Thursdays

Coffee Morning for Mozambique | From the Registers | Hope | | Calendar

The Vicar
Mark Ewbank, the Vicar of St Jude's Church is currently not able to work in the parish as he is serving as a Territorial Army chaplain. He is at home for some of the time.

We have now been told by the Archdeacon of Dorking that a curate from St James', Weybridge will be filling the gap while Mark is busy elsewhere. His name is The Revd James Rattue and he will start with us on 8th June when he will be licensed by the Archdeacon to work here as well as Weybridge.

The Trinity
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)

On Trinity Sunday (18th May) it's salutary to recall that many millions of believers in God see the doctrine of the Trinity as a serious mistake. Muslims passionately defend the oneness of God. They also believe in Jesus, but as a human prophet, not as the Son of God. They believe that Jesus and his original followers simply believed in one God, but that later Christians drifted away from this pure monotheism into errors about the Son of God and the Holy Spirit and so into the seemingly contradictory idea that God is both three and one. Other religious groups (Jehovah's Witnesses, for example) also reject Trinitarian Christian faith in favour of a unitarian faith in God just as one. But for 1,400 years the challenge from Islam has posed some of the most searching questions Christians have had to face.

One response to this challenge might be to regard the doctrine of the Trinity as a problem, an obstacle in the way of good interfaith relations. Some Christians have been drawn in that direction, but recently there has been a recovery of confident belief in the Trinity and Christians have been realising afresh that this doctrine is neither an optional add-on to our faith nor a problem to be embarrassed about. It's simply the best way of understanding what the New Testament says about Jesus and about the Christian experience of God.

In the Gospel the risen Jesus commissions the eleven to make disciples of all nations, "baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit". This is a pivotal moment in the Christian story: Jesus is saying that his own relationship with God is now to be opened up to all people; they are to be baptised (or "immersed") into the life of God the Trinity.

Let's think further about Jesus' relationship with God. Throughout the story of Jesus we see his constant sense of himself as the Son, loved by the God he calls Father. And Jesus doesn't speak only of the Father; Jesus knows the love and guidance of the Father through a distinct personal presence whom he calls the Holy Spirit. Think of Jesus' baptism in the River Jordan. As the Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus he hears the Father saying, "You are my beloved Son", and is commissioned for the work which lies ahead of him. The love of the Father is poured out through the Spirit on the Son and returned in the loving obedience of the Son to the Father, again through the Spirit. This is God the Trinity, the Three-in-One, the God who is loving relationship in God's very self. And this has always been so; from eternity God has been Trinity. But in the life of Jesus, God made flesh, we see something of the Trinitarian life of God active in our world.

Very nice for Jesus, we might think. Very nice for the Father, and for the Spirit too, but so what for us? Well, so a lot for us, actually. The point for us is that Jesus' relationship with God is opened up to us. We are invited to join in the relationship of love that flows within the life of God, that has been there from eternity and was seen in our world in Jesus. Jesus takes us by the hand and says, "Come with me and be led by the Spirit into the presence of the God I know as Father." We are to share in the life of the God who is love.

When we were baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and the Spirit, we were immersed in the life of the God who is love. And as we see in Jesus, that life isn't static, but active, outgoing, self-giving. From his baptism onwards, Jesus' relationship with God was bound up with a mission, the life-giving, renewing, liberating mission of God in this world. So also for us. On this Trinity Sunday may we and the whole Church of Christ be renewed in our faith in the God who is eternally love; and may we respond with joy and obedience to the call both to share in God's life and to participate in God's mission in the world.

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NEW HEAD TEACHER
We would like to give our best wishes to Mrs Vicki Chiverton, the new Head Teacher of St Jude's School who has taken up the position at the beginning of this term.

We would like to welcome her and look forward to the continued close relationship which St Jude's Church has with the school.

COFFEE MORNING
There will be a Coffee Morning in the porch of the Methodist Church in Victoria Street on Saturday 3rd May from 10.00am. The money from this will go to Christian Aid. Christian Aid Week runs from 11th to 17th May and donations may be sent to Christian Aid, 35 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, London UK SE1 7RL.

THURSDAY COFFEE MORNINGS
There are coffee mornings every Thursday in the Methodist Hall, in aid of a Breast Cancer charity, starting at 10.30am. Everyone is welcome.

COFFEE MORNING
There will be a Coffee Morning on Saturday 10th May in the Methodist Hall from 10.00am to 12.30pm in aid of the Journey summer mission trip to Mozambique. For more information about the Mission, please contact Mark Gallagher on gallagher.m.2@pg.com or 07909 99322 after 7.00pm (or chat to him in church).

ANNUAL MEETINGS
The Annual Vestry Meeting and the Annual Parochial Church Meeting took place in Church after the 9.30am service on Sunday 27th April. We were pleased to have the Venerable Julian Henderson, Archdeacon of Dorking with us as celebant at 9.30am and chairman at the meetings.

At the first meeting, we were reminded that new church rules prevented either of the existing Churchwardens from standing again as both had already served for 6 or more years. We are delighted to report that Brian Summers and Guy Bunce were elected to the post for the next year. They take office on 19th May after being admitted by the Archdeacon at a service in St James', Weybridge.

The revised Electoral Roll was presented and the Annual Report and Accounts agreed. It was an opportunity to say thank you to those who had worked hard for the Church during the previous in many ways not least of which is serving on the Deanery Synod and Church Council.

Brenda Meyer, Andrew Sheer and Joan Wintour had completed service on the Deanery Synod - the smaller Electoral Roll means that we are now only entitled to two places and these are filled by Jenny Chew and Cassandra Gouriet.

Following various job changes we needed to fill more than usual places on the Church Council and the following were elected: for three years - Norman Critchlow, Robert Jeffries, Claudia Tubb and Joan Wintour; for two years Geoffrey Chew and Brian Hooker; for one year Andrew Sheer. This left one space for one year which may be filled by co-option. We will then be back on track of electing 4 people each year.

HOPE 2008
HOPE 2008 Various events and projects are in the pipeline, in conjunction with Homestart, Besom, the Noise, plans for the Village Fair, and a future Alpha Course. A Prayer Walk will have taken place by the time you read this, and Colin Bryce from Eden People gave a refreshing evening on having a prayer tent at big (secular) music festivals.

We ask for our community:
Healing for those who are broken
Order where there is chaos
Protection for the vulnerable
Enterprise for all

FROM THE REGISTERS

Wedding:
(5th April) Neil Dixon and Sangeeta Hosangady.

Funerals:
(8th April) Winifred Peggy Mansfield; (11th) Elizabeth Alice “Dolly” Stiles.

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CALENDAR FOR MAY 2008

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