Parish of All Saints
Cheltenham
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Parish of All Saints Cheltenham
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What now? We have just completed the greatest celebration of the Christian year: the Feast of Easter. Now we hear the wonderful stories of how Jesus appeared to so many different people after his resurrection: proof indeed that, as he promised, he has risen from the dead. We are Easter people who share in the new life which Jesus has won for us and so we boldly say: ‘Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia!’. But, like the disciples, we might be wondering ‘What now?’. They waited, spending time together in Jerusalem and also back in Galilee. What were they doing? How were they feeling? Surely they must have been anxiously wondering what the future would hold. We, as Jesus’ followers today, must find the ways in which we can live out our calling to be His disciples. What does that mean for us as individuals? What does it mean for us as members of the local church? What does it mean for us all as members of the wider church – our Team Ministry, the churches of North Cheltenham and beyond? In both our parishes of Prestbury and All Saints’ we have identified Sunday 27th April as Stewardship Sunday. Every single one of us who feels that we belong in some way to God’s family in the churches of our Team will be asked to consider prayerfully what response we want to make to the Good News of Easter, to all that God has done for us through His Son, Jesus. And yes, we shall all be asked to make that response a financial one, because the work of God cannot carry on unless it is properly financed. Sunday 27th April is also the day on which we hold our Annual Meetings. This is part of the way in which, as members of God’s family, we can be involved in the life of the church, particularly through the process of election of Churchwardens and PCC members. Two people who have served as Churchwardens, one at St Mary’s and one at All Saints’, are not eligible for re-election, and we shall have the opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to Jerry Porter and Simon Taylor at the Annual Meetings. This means that we shall be looking for other people to stand. At a recent PCC meeting we considered some of the qualities and requirements of a Churchwarden. One that particularly struck me is ‘an ambassador for the church’. Certainly our Churchwardens are ambassadors for the congregations they represent and that has wider implications as we meet together more and more as churches in the North Cheltenham area. But each one of us is also called to be an ‘ambassador for Christ’ (2 Corinthians 5:20) and that is part of our discipleship, part of what it means to be followers of the risen Christ. Not all of us are being called to be Churchwardens! We give thanks for those who have served in this way and we pray that God will encourage others to take on this role. We are all being called to review constantly what it means to be a disciple of Christ, to be an ambassador for Him as we share the Good News of His resurrection. Fr Michael
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