June News From the Clergy

24 May 2023 • From the Clergy

“New beginnings” is a theme we usually associate with the start of a new year – whether that is the calendar, academic or Church year. So why, you might be wondering, has it been chosen as the theme for a magazine we’ll be reading in June? Well, if we think back to the events of May, we will find that the theme is, in fact, very appropriate.

On May 6th the nation witnessed a new beginning as King Charles III was crowned in Westminster Abbey. A new reign ushers in a new beginning for the King, the Queen, their family and for the nation. Charles has taken on a role for which he has been in training for seventy-four years. He has never made any secret of the fact that he has his own ideas, hopes and aspirations for what the role should involve and how he should perform his duties. As head, not only of this country and the Commonwealth, but also of the Church of England, Charles’s words and actions will come under close scrutiny. In what ways will he honour the past and our traditions, how will he try to introduce new methods, attitudes and customs?

Similarly, members of the Royal Family – especially the Prince and Princess of Wales – will be working out how to manage the change in status and role for themselves and their children. It is a new beginning for them too.

Much as many of us will have enjoyed the spectacle and pomp of the Coronation and the celebrations that went on over the Bank Holiday weekend, it will not greatly influence or change our daily lives. There were, however, local events which, for some of our members at least, will have had far greater significance.

On Wednesday, May 3rd, I had the great privilege and pleasure of baptising Thomas Fairman. During his preparation for baptism, Tom had spoken frankly about how his baptism, for him, was not so much a start, as an opportunity to declare his intention to go on building on the foundations which had been laid over the years. Nonetheless, there is a subtle shifting of the ground when an adult is baptised or confirmed. It may not be the start of a new book, but it is certainly the beginning of a new chapter, as the candidate takes on those baptismal promises and publicly announces an intention to consciously follow the teaching, example and commands of Jesus.

Just a few days after this quiet but wonderful baptism, St Johns played host to a much bigger celebration. The morning service provided the setting for the baptism of George Evans and the whole congregation joined in welcoming him into God’s family. George has, of course, already become established as a regular attender at the churches of our Team. In that sense his baptism, like that of Tom, did not mark a new beginning. What it did do – and did with real love and joy – was to give thanks for the gift of a new life and to promise to support George and his parents in this new stage of their Christian journey which they will undertake together.

A baptism, regardless of the age of the one being baptised, is a wonderful celebration of the beginning of a new life; a life newly dedicated to following Christ. An even greater cause for celebration is the fact that in our Christian journey we have many opportunities to start afresh. However much we might wish – or even imagine it – we are none of us perfect! We all make mistakes. We all go astray. As Paul expresses it: ‘All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ [Romans 3.23]. Yet none of us, however often we fall short, are without hope because God understands our weaknesses and failings and is willing – even eager – to forgive us; to “wipe the slate clean” and allow us to have a new beginning. This is not to say that we have carte blanche to live as we please, give a nod towards repentance and then carry on as before. Repentance, to be worthy of the word, must be sincere and accompanied by a real intention to try, with the help of God, to amend our ways and start again.

At the baptisms of Tom and George, as at all other baptisms, the questions were asked: Do you turn to Christ? Do you repent of your sins? Do you renounce evil? When the answer to all these questions is a sincere and heart felt “Yes!” then we open the way to receiving God’s grace and his great gift of love – the gift of a new beginning in Him.