Reepham Life

Last month, Revd Helen Rengert reflected on a book that clergy throughout the diocese were given about village churches thriving.

One of the sections in the publication was on welcoming more people into our churches, and I thought I would reflect on that this month.

The book commented on how many of us in the church worry that our congregations don’t reflect our communities. This got me thinking.

Over the summer, I volunteered on a Scripture Union beach mission. Scripture Union is currently trying to reach the 95% of children who are “outside” the church.

Both this aim and the book’s comments made me wonder whether we worry because we look at things from a particular view.

Perhaps it is simply that our Sunday congregations don’t always reflect the community in which the church is placed.

Actually, when we think of all the people who have contact with the church in some form, we can be more hopeful.

Many people have contact with the church through fetes and coffee mornings, groups for the isolated, the chance to ring bells, communion for the housebound or simply visiting in the quiet of the day.

Our churches see numerous baptisms, weddings and funerals every year, and these services bring many people into contact with our churches.

Children are no exception to this extended network of contact with the church. Each of the schools in our benefice is regularly in contact with the church in some form, not just the church schools.

And we are observing that it is the children who are more comfortable in the church buildings than the adults are. We hope to build on this positive contact over the coming months.

So our Sunday congregations might not always be representative of the communities they are in, but the people that we welcome and have contact with are spread more widely. And we hope and pray that seeds are sown that might one day bear fruit.

But Jesus also demonstrated a different kind of hospitality: he didn’t just welcome people into his presence, he went and shared hospitality with people where they were.

Perhaps those readers who don’t come to church might consider what it is they would like to share with their local church?

Is there something you feel we could do together? Is there something we could help one another with?

Our churches are part of the community, and the welcome we show and receive should be for all.

Revd Richard Turk, Assistant Curate, Reepham and Wensum Valley Team Churches

I recently heard someone describing a piece of music that had moved her. She described it as “quite spiritual”, hastily adding “but not necessarily religious”.

As someone who, though retired, still dons my dog collar to take services, I imagine that I am assumed to be “religious”.

I wonder if people’s follow-up thought might be “but not necessarily spiritual”? How sad I would find that!

How sad it is that our natural, human, spiritual longings, ponderings, experiences, are felt or found by so many to be completely different from, and at odds with, any kind of religious adherence or commitment.

Church, sadly, for many, is not the place they would think of going to explore their questions about what life is all about; not the place they would expect to express their deepest feelings of joy or sorrow; not the place they would go to sense same the oneness, wholeness, joy that they feel when outside in nature.

Those of us in the church have to take some responsibility for this mismatch: we have to recognise that, though we do our best, not all of our services, all our traditions, make it easy for people to find these things – this peace, this solace, this inner space to question and ponder that they look for and find elsewhere.

But our church buildings are places anyone can go, at any time of the day, and be still for a few moments.

Revd Helen has put up on at least one church door a simple notice welcoming people to do just that, to come in and perhaps sense and encounter God’s touch in the peace, stillness, beauty of these ancient and sacred spaces.

Of course, God is not confined to church buildings – God is to be found in nature and in the many poignant and meaningful moments of our lives, but perhaps being still for a moment in your own local church can also be a place to connect with your own, deep inner life and the life of the God who loves you so utterly and entirely.

I am sure that God is not religious, but God is most surely, and vitally, spiritual.

Revd Judith Sweetman, Hon. Assistant Priest, Reepham and Wensum Valley Benefice Team

As I write this month’s article, two big things lie ahead of me: the first is the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend and the second is my ordination as priest.

For both events, there is a lot of preparation: I need to prepare for services, celebratory events and fun activities.

Other people have things to prepare. The local Jubilee events are being organised by a number of different people. In terms of my ordination, there are people preparing the service, the retreat, the paperwork, and my father-in-law is preparing a sermon for the service at which I will preside for the first time. There is a lot to prepare for in June!

But what I really started to reflect on as June loomed ever larger on the calendar was the theme of service and duty.

The Platinum Jubilee celebrates a landmark in royal service and duty. It is a chance for us to celebrate and to give thanks for the long service of our Queen to her nation and the Commonwealth.

I’m sure there has been much for her to enjoy about her reign. However, there has been a lot for the Queen to handle that will have been difficult, hard work.

She has been called upon to occupy her role as Queen. She didn’t choose to be the monarch; she was chosen. I am reminded of the words from John’s gospel: “You did not choose me but I chose you.” (John 15: 16).

Similarly, I believe I was called to the role that I occupy and the one to which I will soon be ordained.

Of course, I chose to answer that call, but the question had a “yes” or “no” answer rather than a more open-ended “what do you want to be”.

There will be a lot of joy to be found, but there will be service and duty, too. Sometimes, the joy will be found in that service and duty. Sometimes that service and duty will be harder.

But each of us has some kind of duty in our lives: to family, to friends, to neighbours, to our jobs. And each of us needs to serve others in some way. It is all part of living in community.

So as we celebrate this month, let’s also think about how we serve one another and what duties we have to one another in order to make the most of these communities that we so value.

Richard Turk, Assistant Curate, Reepham and Wensum Valley Team Churches

As I write this, I’m coming to the end of 10 days of Covid isolation. To start with, I was frustrated that my placement at a school was going to be disrupted and rearranged.

I did, however, try to think positively about the fact that I would have plenty of time to read. But then I started thinking about how I was being forced to give up on certain things.

We are, of course, entering the season of Lent, when each year people tend to give something up. It made me think about the difference between choosing to give something up and having to give something up.

I had to give up contact with people. Fortunately, technology meant I could have remote contact. But I discovered that what affected me most was not being able to interact with people in the way I normally would.

Yes, there was the social side of things that I missed: coffee in the local shop on my day off, bellringing with friends, chatting with people on the school run. But I missed being “at work”.

For much of the time, because I wasn’t actually unwell with the virus, I was still working; I was just working from home. But I wasn’t doing all the parts of my role that I normally would.

It wasn’t until I started preparing a sermon for my first Sunday back after isolation that I realised what had been missing and what had been bothering me. It was service.

I had been reflecting on the Queen’s life of service and how Christians live lives of service. That’s when I realised that while I had been working from home and may have been completing tasks, I didn’t feel that I had really been serving.

I wasn’t serving my family, as I was shut away. I wasn’t serving the community or the Church. The tasks I was completing weren’t leaving me fulfilled because I didn’t feel as if I was serving anyone.

In recent years, I’ve noticed that many people take up something new rather than give something up during Lent. Perhaps this is a good thing, and you can see our benefice website for details of groups and activities that might help you think of something to take up (although I think the idea of giving something up shouldn’t be dismissed too quickly).

Maybe this year the thing to do is give something up but also commit to some kind of ongoing service. It doesn’t matter how small that act of service is, because every act of service to another has the potential to make the world a better place.

Jesus said: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these… you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40).

Acts of service are at the heart of a life focused on loving one’s neighbour and, no matter what your faith, our society can always do with more of that.

Revd Richard Turk, Assistant Curate, Reepham and Wensum Valley Team Churches