Benefice Letter
As we say farewell to Rev’d Manette and begin a period of vacancy, I am tempted to start with the comforting words of the late, great Douglas Adams - DON’T PANIC!’ From now on, until a new minister is appointed, the churchwardens of our four parishes will be taking on the running and administration of our local churches, dealing with enquiries about baptisms, weddings and funerals and organising the weekly church services.
In many ways, it is an interesting time as we will be welcoming ministers from the diocese and Hadleigh deanery to take our services. We will most certainly be working even more closely together as a Benefice of four churches. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with any of us, our details are in the central pull-out section of Quartet. We warmly welcome you to any (or all! ) of, our services.
Whilst on the subject of extending warm welcomes, I recently came across a charming welcome notice in a Gloucestershire church, which, on closer examination had been borrowed and adapted from the welcome notice of Coventry Cathedral – you may have seen it? Apparently, it went viral on social media after it was first displayed and it bears repeating here*:
WELCOME!
"We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, widowed, gay, confused, filthy rich, comfortable or dirt poor.
We extend a special welcome to wailing babies and excitable toddlers.
We welcome you whether you can sing like Pavarotti or just growl quietly to yourself.
You're welcome here if you're 'just browsing', just woken up or just got out of prison.
We don't care if you're more Christian than the Archbishop of Canterbury, or haven't been to church since Christmas ten years ago.
We extend a warm welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast.
We welcome keep-fit mums, football dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, junk-food eaters.
We welcome those who are in recovery and those who are still addicted.
We welcome you if you're having problems, are down in the dumps or don't like organised religion.
We offer a welcome to those who think the Earth is flat, work too hard, don't work, can't spell or are here because granny is visiting….
We welcome those who are inked, pierced, both or neither.
We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down their throats as kids or got lost … and wound up here by mistake.
We welcome pilgrims, tourists, seekers, doubters... and YOU! ‘’
(*with thanks to Coventry Cathedral)
YOU are very welcome at any of our four churches – they are all called St Mary’s, so you will always be in the right place!
Sandy Ranson
Churchwarden – Stratford St Mary.
- The Churchwardens, St Mary's Benefice
- See the About Us tab for contact information