Hillside Parishes Magazine
Hillside Parish MagazineNovember 2008Ian’s First Letter ! First of all Mel and I would like to thank you all for your warm welcome to us. The Licensing Service was a wonderful occasion, so well supported by all the churches. The Deanery was well represented too and it was good to share the occasion with our families and also friends from Peterborough who were pleasantly surprised by Yorkshire hospitality! They went on their way knowing that they were leaving us in good hands. Then it was “in at the deep end” for me as several churches celebrated their Harvest Festivals the following weekend – but what a nice way to meet congregations and communities. As I write this I still haven’t quite made it round all of the churches in our new grouping, although I will manage that in the next day or two. There are eleven churches in all and I am beginning to understand how my grandparents must have felt – my father was one of eleven children. In Genesis Chapter 35 we read of Jacob, who was the father of Joseph the dreamer. He went one better and had twelve sons! As any parent knows, each of their children has his or her own personality. And even though they share the same parentage, siblings can have very different gifts, strengths and weaknesses. Just so with our churches, each has its own very distinct location and history. Each has its own areas of expertise, things that it does well, but probably also some things that could be done better. And probably, like children, we sometimes find it difficult to admit to our weaknesses and to ask for assistance. Families that work well do so because there is give and take between their members, there is space for everyone to express their opinion and allowances are made for different points of view so that unity does not necessarily mean uniformity. It is possible to disagree from time to time, and even to be disagreeable, because home is the place where we can behave worst, yet are loved best! The thing that makes a family of disparate personalities work is the the bond of affection, the mutual love and respect, which infuses every relationship and every aspect of the lives of its members. So much so that when the individual members go about their daily business they carry something of that love with them and the people they meet experience it too. As they see the profound strength which this brings they often want to discover where it comes from and how they can find it for themselves in their own lives. I hope that our new church family will be like this too. That we will quickly come to know and trust one another and to share the love of God in our life and in our work. For we shall then begin to shine as lights in the world, to the glory of God the Father, and draw others into His family that they, too, may know His wonderful love. With my prayers Ian Houghton
The magazine of the parishes of Boltby, Borrowby, Cowesby, Felixkirk, Kepwick,
Kirby Knowle, Knayton, Leake & "The Siltons". Also circulated in
Upsall, Thirlby & Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe. |
| ©Thirsk.net |
|
©Thirsk.net |
