Julie's Jottings for July

Julie’s Welcome to Fr Edward Westrip.
It is with great pleasure that we welcome Fr Edward to join us at St Mary the Virgin Church, Great Shelford as Associate Priest.  In his message he will tell us something about the role that he is going to be taking in the church and parish.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Rev Julie Norris
 
Father Edward’s Ponderings
I was licenced to serve as Associate Priest at St Mary the Virgin, Great Shelford on 19 May. I am married to Joanne and have three grown up children all of whom have now left home.  I am self-supporting – in effect a volunteer – and I still work as an accountant.  You will see me around as I am going to work typically from the parish on Mondays and Thursdays, in addition to being present on Sunday.

My curacy was at The Church of the Good Shepherd in the Arbury.  In this setting I did a lot of work with people on the fringes of the church and building relationships with people of peace and goodwill.  This is something I intend to do here in Great Shelford too.

The move to Great Shelford came about because, as my curacy was drawing to a close, I bumped into Rev. Julie at a church study day.  We realised that the sort of things that I was being called to do in my next role was something which she was enthusiastic about too.

On my journeys I meet plenty of people who describe themselves as ‘spiritual but not religious’ or just ‘spiritual’.  God was making it clear to me that I was being called to do something practical to help people develop their sense of spirituality.  The aim is to create at St Mary’s a centre and resource for this.  This is likely to be based upon action and doing and not simply teaching. Alongside this, we are taking back some of the practical caring for the churchyard which is very beautiful behind the church itself.  We think that we should also create a sort of ‘Forest’/‘Wild’ church community which connects with some of those who draw inspiration from our sacred interdependence and connection with God’s creation and the duty of stewardship God has given us.

I am a Franciscan, a life professed member of the Third Order of the Society of St Francis.  It was precisely some action and doing that drew me to explore this.  In the future I will tell you more about being a Franciscan,  but I will say that we are all created uniquely and we want the people of the parish to develop their spirituality in the way that God has created for each of them.  I recently read a description of spirituality as the mutual love story between God and humanity which I think puts it rather wonderfully. We know that it is totally a gift from God.  It comes from above so to speak but we live it here below.

There will be more on spirituality when I next ponder, but in the meantime let me leave you with a question.  What takes you out of the ordinary?  This could be a place such as a church building where people have prayed for a long time?  Some aspect of the countryside?  Watching the Northern Lights as some did recently?  Something else or somewhere else, a piece of music, the smell of flowers?

We call these ‘thin places’ where we get a sense that we feel close to heaven and where we feel the peace that comes from knowing Jesus.  The spiritual atmosphere of such places makes it easier to connect with God. 
You may understand this as experiencing the feeling that there is something deeper and more.  That is what I would like to build on with you.  It is early days so watch this space!

I will end with the traditional Franciscan welcome and goodbye.
 
Peace and all goodness. 
                                                                                                                                                                           Fr Edward Westrip