From the Registers

Baptisms

27th April. St Wilfrid, Kirby Knowle. Patrick James Warrington, infant son of Ivor and Fiona, of Harrogate, and grandson of Stuart and Celia of Kirby Knowle.

18th May. St Felix, Felixkirk. William, adopted infant son of Ian and Debbie Blackhall of Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe.

18th May. St Wilfrid, Kirby Knowle. India Matilda Cecilia Turton, infant daughter of Robin and Georgina Turton of South Kilvington and Upsall.

Wedding

3rd May. St Felix, Felixkirk. Toby Cockcroft and Fenella Guthrie of Kirby Knowle. He is a surveyor and she a cook, younger daughter of Peter and Gilly Guthrie of Pallet Hill.

10th May. Holy Trinity, Boltby. John Boxer and Helen Turner, both of London. She is the florist daughter of Brian and Margaret Turner of Boltby.

17th May. St Michael & All Angels, Cowesby. Richard Dunkley, farmer, of Catton, and Jennifer Wood, daughter of Frank and Maureen Wood of Low Farm.

Funeral

Burial of Ashes. 27th April, Holy Trinity, Boltby. Alan Todd, 65, beloved husband of Dorothy, late of Boltby, where he farmed with his brother John.

June 2003

What overwhelms the Church today? Short of priests, short of money, short of support, short of interest, parish system collapsing, support system failing, roof a burden, church hall either underused or not big enough so is it underused? The pessimistic list goes on. While one Archbishop sees the need for space in our lives, and the parish churches as convenient places to find space, our Yorkshire Archbishop sees buildings as a burden and a turn-off. The third main spokesman in the video* is Tom Wright, future Bishop of Durham, who affirms the attempts of the man in the street to grapple with spirituality and to articulate it.

Over the last four decades there has been much change in the Anglican Church, with so-called modernisation, that has left us like a dog chasing its tail. Language has been opened up and loosened, liturgy shaken up and expanded ………… There is so much choice that many do not know where to turn. We are like children aat a birthday party trying to find the presents amongst all the wrapping paper, having stripped everything off. On the whole congregations are very conservative, so if nothing has been conserved because it was cherished, it leaves little backbone to support anything else. A measure of stage fright in tackling what is unfamiliar on the other hand does not help, nor being overwhelmed for choice.

Personally, and I think the PCCs agree, we have got the balance right when it comes to worship. This will become all the more true when the new 9 a.m. Matins / Family Prayer at Leake gives a chance to explore the national themes that flood through the letter box - Sea Sunday, Prison Sunday, Christian Aid Week, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, etc., etc.

So what overwhelms us? I think the Press is very negative about spiritual matters and the Church. Yes, the antics of bishops with purple hair make good news but there is too much scepticism. Editors are good about printing letters from clergy - The Times had four the other day (not unusual). There are Christian journalists who write good and fair columns, and often there is a Sunday or seasonal leader. We are not starved, but overall it is hard to see the wood for the trees and the pilgrim seems stuck in a forest of gloom.

* NB There are several videos of “Restoring Hope” floating around the parish, so please borrow, view and pass on or share with someone else. But please do not sit on them! T.H.

Easter - we are the Easter People - is about resurrection, and all Christians cultivate a grain of light and hope in their outlook. Yes, the Church may change and structures and traditions be brushed aside. By bending over backward to accommodate everyone else’s faith or religions we may marginalise ourselves. We should play more to the gallery of the Established Church in public and in our national life. We should ensure that those schools that are meant to start the day with an act of worship - do so. The Prime Minister is not frightened to mention or include God despite the efforts of the bureaucratic system to muzzle him. This is perhaps a real illustration of what I am trying to say - about the position of the man in the street trying to articulate his faith, and everything seems against him. Well, we do do God!

Because empty and unused churches stand for failure, I think few communities will let their church buildings close. As one non-church-goer said to me: “They stand as a reminder for better values in Society.” Yes, but we need to get Society to practise those values and we need preachers to preach them. That will continue because the Christian light will not go out - but we will need to make more effort to open a window for that light to shine. And we may have to go an extra mile to hear it. By the time we have our next combined PCC I hope the video will be a topic we can discuss. Don’t lose Hope!

Proposed Hillside Rural Learning Community