Pastoral Letter May 2019
Rev Sue Cooper Writes :
It is a great pleasure for me to be writing my 1st pastoral letter. To begin I want to offer my very grateful thanks to everyone who was involved in, or attended, my Installation on March 30th. It was a wonderful day, and the welcome and hospitality that was offered on the day was truly outstanding, thank you all.
To give you some background information; I have been married to Nic for 32 years and we have two wonderful sons, Christian and Matthew. I have enjoyed two careers already before becoming a Priest. My first was as a hairstylist, a career I loved, and which I often compare with my role as a Priest; I held as many peoples secrets and troubles then, as I do now. And later I worked in care for the elderly, eight years of which were spent as an Activities Coordinator in a Care Home. These careers I enjoyed very much and helped to shape me for my work now. We are well into Spring now, and enjoying the longer days and warmer weather. But it struck me again just how quickly time flies. It is said that time flies when you’re having fun, so I guess I must be having a whale of a time!!
Having just enjoyed another Easter, I reflected on how many children and young people have no real knowledge of who Jesus is. They can tell me about the Easter bunny, but don’t really know much about Jesus. Even amongst adults there is sometimes a big gap in peoples understanding of who Jesus is. Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that God sent Jesus, his own son, into this dark and troubled world to show us another way to live, a better way; you might even say a simpler way. Jesus himself said “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10 NIV)
There are many things in modern life that rob us of our time, energy and resources, and things which suck the life out of us, even good things can do this unintentionally. We live our lives at such a fast pace that days, weeks, months, and even years fly by at the rate of knots, and all the while we just want to slow the world down and take life at a slower pace so that we can enjoy it. Many folk I speak to are retired, or are supposed to be, and the comment I hear time and time again is that they are so busy now that they don’t know how they ever found the time to go to work!
Whoever we are, and no matter what stage of life we are in, God loves us and wants us to enjoy life. He wants to be part of our daily lives and he wants us to come into a relationship with him, so much so that he sent Jesus to prove it. Life is a gift. Every day is a gift; it is a gift from God to you.
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” God bless you. With love Rev Sue Cooper.
The Churches of The Astwick Vale Benefice invite you to come to one of our Churches to join us in prayer. Using The Lord’s Prayer as our focus, we will be joining a Church of England initiative for prayer, covering the 10 days between Ascension day and Pentecost beginning on Thursday 30th May – Sunday 9th June. There will be services of Evening prayer throughout the Benefice on the following days: All at 7.0p.m.
Thursday 30th May: Hinton Friday 31st May: Aynho Monday 3rd June Evenley
Tuesday 4th June: Croughton Wednesday 5th June: Farthinghoe Thursday 6th June Hinton
Friday 7th June: Aynho
Please do come and join us as we join together with many other people and places across the land as we seek renewal for ourselves and for our nation, and for the world. ‘THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE’
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
Thy kingdom come; thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
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