Julie's Jottings for August
Julie’s Welcome to Rev. Chris Shore, St Mary’s new curate.
It is with great pleasure that we welcome Rev. Chris Shore to join us at St Mary the Virgin Church, and Great Shelford parish. Chris comes as a Curate. He was ordained as a Deacon at the end of June. In his message he will tell us something about himself and what this role entails. Rev. Julie Norris
Rev. Chris’ Thoughts
It is my great pleasure to be joining the team at St Mary’s this month. Following my ordination as a deacon, I will continue my training as curate in Julie’s team for the next three years. Those who have already met me will know that I am coming to ordained ministry quite late in life - I retired from a career in IT in 2022, the last 22 years of that at well-known Cambridge company Arm. I do hope that the life experience that has given me will be valuable in ministry here in Great Shelford.
I came to Cambridge as a student in 1983, studying Physics and Computer Science - as you can imagine, switching to Theology 40 years later has been quite the challenge! My wife, Davina, and I met at St Andrew’s Street Baptist Church in 1987 and were married there in 1988. We have two grown-up sons, one in the wine industry in London and one a programmer for a games company. Following a thirty-year career as a classroom music teacher, latterly as Head of Pre-Prep Music at King’s College School, Davina is a self-employed music educator working in several schools in and around Cambridge.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term “deacon”, it’s a Greek word meaning ‘servant’ or ‘helper’. As such, it’s my job to serve God, the church, and the parish of Great Shelford as best I can. I’m looking forward to getting to know the parish and all who live, work and worship here and doing what I can to serve wherever I can.
Rev. Chris Shore