Monthly letters in 2004
from the Rector,
Revd Michael Rusk

Current Year

Dear Friends,

A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

New to Oadby, I am very much looking forward to the Christmas services in the parish. Christmas anticipates and celebrates the coming of Jesus into the world - God born as a man. During this busy time of preparation, I try to be still and reflect more fully on the wonder of Jesus' birth. I hope we can all reflect on our own Christian path, give thanks for this year and look forward to the new things that God has for us in 2005.

Wishing you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Every blessing, 

 

November letter - from Simon Harvey, team vicar

Dear Friends,

The small printed card on the wall outside the Chapel caught my eye, "When Jesus returns, he'll ride a motorbike"

A striking claim, I thought. But I was in a place which was full of surprises - Her Majesty's Prison Leyhill. It had been such an amazing time - the chore of doing a compulsory 'mission week' as part of my theological training had been something very special. In so many ways, the people I met in that Passion Week, have influenced who I am now, and what I understand the gospel of Jesus to be. We had to throw out our thought-through plans within 24 hours of arriving. We discovered the knack was to listen, look, feel what was happening and where God was, then to respond in faith and love. I'm left with many memories. And among the tiny details I'll never forget are those surreal words on the card publicising the Christian Motorbiking Fellowship.

In those days I rode a small 125cc two-stroke Kawasaki. Top speed depended on which way the wind was blowing - the return journey from an afternoon in the beautiful Cheddar Gorge was always half an hour quicker than the outward struggle against the prevailing south-westerlies. With a cloud of blue smoke and an engine note that sounded like a wasp in a kettle it hardly did anything for my image. But in a few months of riding I'd become hooked.

I have to say that the Christian Motorbiking Fellowship's claims strike me as somewhat unlikely. Sure, when Jesus returns, there'll be plenty of surprises but I hardly imagine his choice of transport to feature in the top ten 'guess what he did today' list.

But I confess that I rarely feel more alive than when I'm out on my bike. Yesterday an hour stolen from a late September Monday afternoon felt like a special treat - the low sunshine and cool gusting breeze reminding me that this is a season in which such moments have to be seized without any planning. No point hoping that in a week's time the next day off will deliver dry roads free of leaf mulch and frost. Take your pleasure while you can.

It's worth a bit of reflection, all this 'I feel so alive' stuff. After all, as a Christian, I get the gist of the important things in life and I endeavour to reflect these priorities in day-to-day living. So is my hobby a hedonistic and selfish diversion from the real world, with all its complications and tough decisions? Or does it put me in touch with something deeper than my usual mental processes can deliver?

These days I'm riding a 750 Suzuki - a tame machine in comparison to the race-trimmed, track-focussed, state of the art exotica that some ride. It's not GSX-R, an R1 or a Hayabusa. But it will still do 150mph (apparently) and is faster-than-Ferrari quick off the mark.

What a big bike delivers is as different from driving a car as surfing is from paddling. The road becomes a different place - not a playground (the stakes are too high) but a canvas on which curves need to be painted, corner lines chosen, the unwritten equations of speed and lean constantly balanced. Car-bound road users are caged in pressed steel, impact-absorbing, deformable passenger cells and travel at a pitiful pace. Out on the bike, the wind presses through a quarter-inch of fabric or leather like a waterfall against bare skin. It reminds you - reminds you that you're really here, in a world of turbulent air and tilting horizons, fastened to the grit and tarmac by two patches of rubber no bigger than your feet.

Yes, that's what riding does - it reminds you. Just in case you started to believe the deceptions of four-wheeled transport with their armchair-soft seats, heating and stereos. Reminds you that the cruel difference between gloriously sculpting an arc near the limits of the adhesion and a savage crash is held in the balance of your throttle hand, in the finesse of counter-steering, and above all in the equilibrium that's in your head: belief, trust, confidence, reason, daring, sober judgment and totally focussed commitment.

Ride with passion, like you really mean it, and there's no opportunity to daydream or to worry. Hope and anxiety both belong to realms where there is the luxury of living outside the present moment. Proper riding is about now - a totally absorbing experience in which each limb, hand, foot and finger has controls to be co-ordinated along with a dozen different mental tasks.

Try too hard and it doesn't work. Force things by sheer effort or will alone and a ride disintegrates into a frustrating fumble for consistency. So stop trying, relax and become so utterly absorbed that the road, as well as the machine, seems to become part of you.

At times in my life, I've learned that merely thinking things through doesn't always produce the best results. Perhaps its because bike riding echoes those defining moments when gut-feeling, intuition and total focus combine in an instant of complete engagement of mind and body (and soul?) that make it so compelling. Musicians talk about something similar - periods of transcendence when musician, instrument and score fuse into one. Climbers extol moments when fingers, limbs, mountain and brain blend together. 'It feels so… alive' is the usual cliché.

Living the Christian life is certainly a challenge. There's plenty to be weighed, pondered, considered and thought about. There ought to be no place for anti-intellectual sentimentalism in response to the call to discipleship. But there's the equal danger, that a life lived too earnestly can become passionless, loveless and dull.

Riding a bike isn't the most sensible thing to do. But then again, who said life must always be sensible? Jesus must have been surrounded by plausible encouragements to stay rational - dispassionate and detached from life. After all, if he had spent a little less time in places where life was raw, less time with those who danced and cried, risked and lost, he might have written more. As it is, we are told about only one time when his thoughts were recorded in his own writing. Tantalisingly, these words were written in sand - blown away by the wind or scuffed by the feet of a crowd who knew how to judge but not how to forgive. He lived the rest of his life at the moment of complete engagement wherever, and with whosoever, he found himself.

I don't really think he'd ride a motorbike. But I think he would understand why I do.

Simon

October Letter

Dear Friends,

While the leaves on the trees in Oadby turn from green to yellow and brown before falling to the ground, the tower and spire of St. Peter's has turned a distinct shade of green this autumn. Scaffolding has been constructed round the tower and this in turn has been covered by green mesh presumably to give greater protection to the workmen who will be re-pointing the stonework. All of this gives a very visllal image to the people of Oadby that vital restorative work on St. Peter's is underway. Imaginative ways need to be found to inform everyone in Oadby about what is happening and to encourage those who wish to contribute to give generously to the St. Peter's Appeal. It will be good and hopefully fun to raise the £40,000 that the present repairs will cost.

As I watched the scaffolding go up, and the ladders within it scale the full height of the spire, I am reminded of a photograph my late Uncle Alec once showed me. It was given pride of place on the sideboard in his home just outside Lurgan in Northern Ireland. My Uncle Alec, like my Grandfather Hol-lywood was a painter and decorator all his life. Father and son ran the family business that took them to all the surrounding towns and villages in that part of Co. Down. The picture that I remember was taken towards the end of my uncle's working life, It is a picture of him standing on a ladder at the top of the soaring spire of Shankill Parish Church Lurgan painting the weathervane. "Look at this, Michael," my Uncle would say proudly. "'There is not another man in Lurgan who could have done this. It takes a lifetime's work with ladders to do this, and even then most men would shrink with fear from climbing such a height." My Uncle was probably right. The spire of Shankill Parish Church is considerably higher than that of St. Peter's. Moreover, the spire is more slen-der in appearance and subsequently the angles are steeper. For my uncle there was no scaffolding. What ladder was used and how it was extended remain unanswered questions, but somehow or other Alec climbed to the top with a paint tin and brush and start re-gilding the weather vane.

I haven't got a head for heights like my uncle. My grandfather used to say that Alec knew no fear. As r look at the scaffolding round St. Peter's Spire, I wonder if 1 can climb to the top and if so what fears I have to overcome. I remember my grandfather used to ruminate on the importance of introducing young appren-tices gently to work at a high level. The height of the ladder was gradually increased as their confidence and expertise grew, Nothing was to be gained from a foolhardy attempt to paint at a high level straightaway. EXIJerience and discipline were the keys to ultimate success.
But why did my uncle paint the weather vane? \\Then I questioned him, 1 dis-covered that he had been contracted to paint the interior of the church. The decision to paint the weather vane was an entirely personal one that he had made on his own initiative. So the climbing of the spire, which was a precarious, almost an outrageous enterprise was something that he had chosen to undertake voluntarily. Alec wanted to do it. This enterprise "'as to be literally the pinnacle of his lifetime's work. It was something that in drawing on a lifetime's experi-ence was to transcend anything that he had achie\'ed. Afterwards he would r~gard it as his ultimate triumph. That is why the picture was so important.

With any action there are of course many motivations that prompt us. For Alec, there was the personal drive to demonstrate to himself and others that he pos-sessed supreme confidence and pride in his own abilities. As he came down the ladder, there was for him the joy and ecstasy that others who have achieved great things -let's call it the Kelly Holmes factor -discover. Something that lJltimately reshap:es and alters them as people for the rest of their Ii ves. It is as if t~e soul has been nourished with the elixir of heaven. But it wasn't just for personal satisfact~on. I am convinced of this. My uncle wanted to do something for his town of L;i1rgan of which he was so proud; to give to the people there a gleaming weather vane that could be seen for the whole mile of the magnificent wide main street

There was, too, I believe an offering to God. This was a voluntary offering to the church of the very best that my Uncle could give. It Qidn't involve attending countless services for which he had little time. But it qid involve faith and trust and something intensel)' practical. It required nerve, courage, total conviction, risk, and trust. And the result was not exactly a reli-gious experience but perhaps the most profound experience of my uncle's life. In many ways, I long for the Christian faith to become more like this adventur-ous risk of offering all that is best in one's life to God. Christianity was never meant to be a sitting down activity. At times. of course. it is important to sit down and reflect on faith, but more often than npt, Jesus was to be found out and about on his feet. We are called to put the action. the energy. and fun back into Christianity.

With the help of God's Spirit we can all do that. At St. Peter's there ha5 been a wonderful mushrooming of fundraising activities that have been fun. Let us all join in, and have fun as we raise the £40,000 needed. And as we look at the spire. let us reflect on what we have already done or what we need to do in order to reach for the skies. For God has given each of us has a ladder that. if we choose to, can ultimately reac:h up to heaven.

Michael Rusk.

September letter - from Simon Harvey, team vicar

It was one of those days that comes close to being 'perfect', at least by the definition of perfection the Harvey household might use.

We had managed to get tickets for the cricket at Edgbaston - not a test match or conventional county game, but the finals of the new Twenty20 Cup. We bought the tickets before we knew who the finalists would be, so finding that Leicestershire had joined Lancashire, Glamorgan and Surrey gave the day a special local interest.

Jennifer, Jon, Phil and I set off early and found our seats for the start, carrying a sumptuous picnic in our coolbags and sitting beneath a cloudless sky for a nine hour feast of cricket.

It's a year since we moved from Walsall to Leicester and I think in our day at the cricket we discovered that our new county has become part of our identity. Cricket is becoming more of a partisan sport, with supporters rather than spectators. Thankfully, tensions are few, so you can cheer for your team alongside the followers of other teams - the banter is all part of the day's entertainment. Perhaps the enthusiasm with which we cheered the Leicestershire team through a semi-final victory over Glamorgan and onto triumph in the final over Surrey slightly surprised us. Here we were, West Midlanders, now vigorously supporting our newly adopted county,

Moving across the Midlands hasn't been easy but it's in moments like this that I've realised how far we've made the move - not just physically but mentally and emotionally too. Our sense of belonging has deepened. Perhaps like becoming aware of an incoming tide during a day at the beach, a big move doesn't occur the instant that the removal vans arrive but is slowly noticed over a period.

Coming to a personal faith in Jesus Christ was a similarly gradual process for me, as it is for most people. One of the peculiar things I discovered was finding that I had 'moved' in my thinking and my attitudes without really being aware of the change as it occurred. Some changes are so gentle you can only be aware of them by looking back and noticing how things now look different.

And each year since, I've noticed changes in the way I look at things, changes in my sense of who I am, and where I belong. I've found that it's not always easy to spot the ways in which we grow but grow we do. God has made us all for growth, it's not just for the young.

Every now and then it's helpful to sit and reflect, preferably in the company of someone who has shared life with you, on just how things have grown, changed, or evolved. I imagine the disciples did so with Jesus at the end of a season or a year. September feels like the start of a new season, especially for those involved with education, and in church the pace certainly picks up after the summer. So why not look back over the last year, get out your diary from 2003, reflect on how the 'tide has moved' and the changes that have happened? You might find that in some slight or even profound way, you are a different person from who you were.

Now, in case you get the wrong idea - adopting a new county cricket team is one thing. But let's get this clear - it doesn't apply to football! Come on you Wolves!

St Paul's now has new windows. We were refused permission to replace the aluminium window frames so the new double-glazed units don't make much difference to the appearance, but at least we've improved the weatherproofing and, because of the better thermal efficiency of the new units, will save some money on bills.

Bookings of St Paul's Church and the Barnabas Centre continue to be an encouragement. Not only have we recently set a record for use of the buildings, but the record income is helping to support the church and the parish in our mission.

The recent rise in funeral ministry in the parish has led to more opportunities to serve the people of Oadby, especially in times of crisis. Bereavement ministry is a vital part of Christian service in any parish and a witness to our hope and faith. But the resources to do so aren't always easy to find - for Michael, Helen, Simon and Mandy it sometimes means juggling the diary at short notice. Please pray for this area of our parish life.

Simon

August Letter

Dear Friends,

The world of technical gadgetry never ceases to amaze me. Simon, our Team Vicar, organises his life and St. Paul's on a pocket PC. Mandy Flaherty, our Curate, has much of her life at present recorded on camera by Channel 4 - a kind of ecclesiastical equivalent to "Big Brother". Helen Bence has greatly enriched the parish by making available a Video Projector and Laptop computer. And I have just become the proud possessor of a DDD. What you may ask is a DDD? Surely I mean a DVD? No, a DDD is a Digital Dictation Device. At a recent review with Bishop Tim, I had reflected with our Bishop on the twin struggles of keeping up to date with administration and of failing to keep a record of some of the talks, sermons and addresses that I give. A recent request for a copy of my sermon for the special D-Day service at St. Peter's has, for example, left me scratching my head and trying to remember exactly what I preached on that occasion. So Bishop Tim told me to go out and get myself a Dictation machine to sort out this shortcoming once and for all.

The modern dictation machine has moved on from using micro or mini cassettes. It is smaller and lighter as a result: if you hear a crash from the pulpit and a look of horror on my face, you will know that I have dropped this featherweight device. I will have to explore with Frank that a few elastic bands are placed on the pulpit to keep it securely in place. The latest machines record sound digitally and the results can be transferred onto computer. Technology is advancing rapidly but still has some way to go to enable the words to be transcribed automatically onto the screen.

To get used to the device and its confoundedly, complicated, and numerous features, I recorded reading a bedtime story to Felicity. This was great fun but what was striking was the power of the microphone. The slightest sound was uncannily recorded: a knock on the door, someone shouting from the bottom of the stairs. Every sound and every breath was perfectly captured. It was quite unnerving.

I have two reflections on this new device. The first is the word "device" itself. It has suddenly become a popular, desirable word. Less gimmicky than "gadget" and more respectable than "gizmo", the word "device" is increasingly used to describe the new wizardry of the computer age. But the word has not always been used so positively. In the Middle Ages, the word "device" was often associated with some cunning or crafty invention whereas if one really approved of a particular invention, one was inclined to describe it as "a useful contrivance". We also talk about "leaving someone to their own devices" which means letting them "do as they please". It is not always used in a complimentary way. Moreover, in the Confession of the Book of Common Prayer, the worshippers pray: "We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts."
Here the meaning focuses on the inclination of the heart: the deeply hidden, crafty strategies with which we delude ourselves on a daily basis; the strategems we use to deceive ourselves, others around us, and God. As the post-modern age develops more and more devices, it is refreshing to rediscover the focus of the Book of Common Prayer, where it is not the invention of new devices that should surprise and delight us, but rather an awareness that attention needs to be paid to the devices already in place and working internally and perhaps destructivally in our hearts and lives.

My second observation is about the life of Jesus. How could God entrust His Son to the world before all these devices were invented? Nowadays, we can record every word that an individual says. The camera can capture every movement. It is possible to video someone's life from the cradle to the grave. So what is the significance of God choosing a different time before all this technology was invented? Is there something important and profound about this? I think there is. The power and great strength of modern technology is about "capturing the moment". The word "capture" here is important. God did not want Jesus to be "captured" on film or on soundtrack. Jesus' words were indeed the "Word of God" but they were to be entrusted to people, who would not only remember them (perhaps imperfectly) but would pass them on to others insofar as they brought life to them; have them translated into different languages and idioms; have them modified to address different spiritual issues in different contexts. In other words, it was vitally important for the Word of God to be living and active and not captured in a particular language and ossified for veneration. There is something wonderfully liberating about such an approach. It is, however, frighteningly incarnational. How can we be totally certain that Jesus told a parable in exactly the way that the evangelists record? The answer is that we can't have the certainty that a modern DDD would give us.

However, we have the opportunity of trusting that the Holy Spirit has imparted the words of Jesus to us in such a way that they can become for us today the Word of God speaking to us directly about what it means to be Christ's disciples in our age and context. God is not to caught on camera. God is to be discovered afresh and alive and in surprising new ways from day to day. The constant revelation of God; of God entrusting His Son to us is a dynamic that is invisible and inaudible - as hidden as the devices of our own hearts, and yet real, in some senses more real than our sensory world. This should give us a confidence in reading Scripture - of being open to the Spirit's prompting so Holy Scripture becomes alive for us today.

And as for those sermons: well if before I couldn't remember what I said, how could you be expected to remember? No excuse now! No escaping sermons now. Even if you haven't made it to church, we will be able to e-mail them through!

Michael Rusk.

July Letter

Dear Friends,

At the beginning of July the Parish welcomes a new minister. The Revd. Mandy Flaherty joins the Team Ministry after her ordination as Deacon at Leicester Cathedral on July 4th. Please remember to support Mandy in your prayers, and extend to her your friendship as she begins the task of public ministry. Mandy will be Assistant Curate to the Parish and will be deployed across the whole parish. She will have involvement in some specific areas at St. Paul's as well as St. Peter's. Often in the past, the curate was regarded as the exclusive preserve of St. Peter's. That mould was broken with Stuart Mousir-Harrison's ministry and will change even more during Mandy's curacy.

The appointment of a new curate brings the Ministry Team up to full strength for the first time in over two years. Indeed, the Ministry Team is at its fullest complement ever with a Team Rector, 2 Team Vicars, and an Assistant Curate. In addition, there are 2 Readers, and another Reader - Hugh James - to be licensed in September, a Pastoral Assistant, and at St. Peter's a Children's & Youth Worker. The Parish should rejoice that we are so well served with lay and ordained ministries at this time. God is certainly being very gracious to us.

All this takes place in a context where the ministry of the wider church is about to undergo major changes. Bishop Tim has called upon the Diocese, deaneries, and churches to re-imagine the church and to move beyond thinking of the mission of the church in terms of individual churches and parishes. In his recent Synod address, Bishop Tim stated: "I believe the inherited model of the parochial ideal (the parson among his or her people, knowing and caring for them like the Good Shepherd whose example he must always set before him) has become largely either unworkable or unlikely to lay a foundation for a flourishing Church life in the future. Patterns of ministry have been evolving and clergy roles altering, but sometimes it has seemed as if the Church has had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the recognition of this reality."

In the same Synod address, Bishop Tim announced that national projected trends in the diminishing number of stipendiary clergy indicate that the Diocese of Leicester should reduce the number of clergy by 19 posts over the next 5 years. That is likely to mean that this Deanery which has 10 posts at present will be asked to re-organize so that it has 8 posts. I suspect that by 2010 the Deanery will be asked to operate on 6 posts.

Bishop Tim, however, has a vision that is about growth and quality which far outweighs the news that there are to be fewer clergy on the ground. He is calling for "the essential ingredients of sustainable Church presence in every locality in Leicester and Leicestershire." And these essential ingredients are:

• there is a vision for the transformation of lives and communities in accordance with the gospel
• there is worship which is renewing ad inspiring
• there is commitment to outreach, witness and service to the local community
• there are opportunities for deepening spirituality for prayer groups or informal worship
• there are opportunities for the nurture of people in their faith
• there are programmes of welcome and nurture of newcomers
• there is resourcing for a ministry specific to children and young people
• there are opportunities to mark and celebrate significant moments in the lives of people and communities

There is, therefore, the beginning of a consultation process in the Deanery of how we can go about being the people of God reflecting the priorities outlined above. There will be an invitation to clergy and people to prepare for the church of the future by developing new patterns of working, new ways of togethernesss, greater expectation for the delivery of quality ministry.

So where does Oadby Parish fit into all this? Well, it is clear that through the grace of God we are extraordinarily well resourced at this time. It is very clear that this is an opportune time that a highly gifted team has to make church work and to demonstrate what the church of the future may be like. It is highly likely that the expertise of this team will be shared in the villages around Oadby. It may be that we have to come to expect our clergy to be peripatetic, catalysts on the move enabling the people of God to flourish. This after all reflects the ministry of Jesus who moved from village to village, and of St. Paul who journeyed from one town to another.

This means that a major priority on the part of the ministry team is to train lay leaders for our churches. The time is not far away when the clergy will not be available for every service every day of the week and head up Sunday worship as well. We are being called by God to change and to respond positively to that call.

So it is a strange time. At present we have one of the strongest and ablest ministry teams in the country. But we have it on trust: to prepare the church for a very different future - still loved by God and sustained by His Spirit, but one that structurally may be unrecognisable from what we presently enjoy.

Michael Rusk.

June Letter

Dear Friends,

How could the recent 1st Test Match between England and New Zealand pass me by? How could I have missed it? And now, as I read the newspaper once the game is over, I find that England have recorded an excellent win. The paper states that it was one of the most exciting Test matches played in recent years. Unusually it lasted for the full five days. Nasser Hussain scored a winning century, and England blooded an exciting new batsman called Strauss who had he not been run out, could have achieved the rare feat of scoring a century in each innings on his debut.

Yet all this passed me by. Plenty of publicity mounting for Euro 2004, but I heard nothing about cricket. Five pulsating days of cricket on Channel 4, and I never tuned in. Commentary on Radio 4, and I didn't hear a word of it. News bulletins passed me by as well - the continued violence in Iraq and the constant exposure of atrocities committed against Iraqi prisoners has created a news service both predictable in its subject matter and depressing in its content. Like many, I have switched off, almost able to know the news without listening to any of it. As a result, I missed out on the cricket, a sport I love and which I follow normally with enthusiasm and diligence. It is a strange thing to miss out on good news. To know that something worth attending to, some highlight in the national life has passed you by. There is no easy way of retrieving the situation. The opportunity has been lost, the moment gone.

Life can be full of lost opportunities but it need not necessarily be so. Jesus talked about the kingdom of God coming among us; of "now" being the "special moment" or "kairos" of God. Jesus wanted people to discover the unique God-given opportunities of the moment and delve deep into the mystery of God here and now. Those who responded to His call, discovered that Jesus was right. The power of God could be discovered and experienced and lived out at this very moment whoever you were, wherever you were. That is what made following Jesus so exciting. Moreover, this new experience of the God-given reality of every moment didn't disappear after Jesus had ascended to heaven. No, the coming of God's Holy Spirit brought new power and energy to the apostles' lives.

So how do we go about living in the reality of God's love this summer? First we need to grasp the opportunities that the summer gives us. It could be for you a time of enjoyment, and refreshment, of new discoveries, of real joy. Second, we must be prepared to find God wherever we are: Jesus ministry was out and about - in the villages of Galilee moving from place to place; by the sea of Galilee; by the mountain of the Beatitudes and Transfiguration. It was an out of doors ministry enjoying the beauty of God's world. We must therefore recognise that our spirit may be best nourished and refreshed by being out of doors and out and about. Third, we must follow the promptings of the Spirit and allow our souls to be nourished by what really feeds us. Whether it is art or music or sport or the garden, all these things are ultimately spiritual experiences if through them we develop a sense of well-being. God's desire for each one of us is that we should experience his well-being, energy and peace. So the summer lies before us as a glorious opportunity to tune into God. Some may ask - but what about work - won't anything get done? Work has its place but there is a danger in our overworked society that work distracts us from our true calling in life. The Christian life is to be lived in all its fulness. The task of the Christian is to live out that calling and to show to others how a balanced integrated lifestyle is achieved in our hectic frenetic western world. So enjoy the summer - God's summer - and don't miss out!

Michael Rusk.


May Letter

Dear Friends,

A post-Easter family holiday in the beautiful Mourne Mountains in Co. Down, Northern Ireland meant that I had to hire a car from the airport for the five day break. I generally do this over the internet, and had requested a Ford Focus or similar sized car. What I was given was a new Renault Megane. You may have seen the adverts on TV emphasising its distinctive shape: "La derrière" may not be to everyone's liking but it does mean that the car is memorable. The children's initial reaction to the car was not positive: they looked at it in horror and grumbled a bit as they got into the back seat. I wondered if I should have upgraded to the luxurious looking Rover 75 that I had been tempted with at the desk (provided of course if I parted with more money).

But the Renault Megane proved to be full of surprises. First, our cases fitted into the infamous looking boot very easily and neatly. There was just enough room for the cases to sit upright as if someone had designed the boot with our precise measurements in mind. Then there was the oddity of getting the car started. I had never started a car before without a key! I had been given something like a credit card which I inserted into the designated slot, put my foot on the clutch, and pressed a start button. The car started perfectly and I was off.

What then surprised me was the computerised readouts: the pressure of the tyres was constantly evaluated; the miles to the gallon; the outside temperature. Indeed there was so much to read on the car's computer that it was difficult to realise that the primary task was to look at the road! As the week unfolded, our initial dislike of the Megane turned to appreciation of its qualities. Once I sorted out the position of the driver's seat, I found the seat firm and comfortable. There was no roll with the car as it drove round the windy Ulster roads: the children didn't feel sick in the back as they had with last year's hire car. In the course of the week, we discovered, that the window wipers came on automatically at the first hint of rain; that the car lights also came on of their own accord when it got dark; that there could be a coffee table in the middle of the back seat; and that there was a nice little ledge on the boot to sit on when you were putting your walking boots on! The car drove sweetly; the brakes were frighteningly efficient; the gear box so easy that I never once got into the wrong gear. Our initial negative impressions proved unfounded and by the end of the week we were all rather sorry to say goodbye to what had been a fun driving experience.

What struck me about driving the Megane was just how far cars have moved on in their design. The modern car aims to get you from A to B, as an older car, and the basic principals of driving along the road may still there, but a 2004 car goes about its business in an entirely novel way. There is a lot more emphasis on safety. Performance is constantly being monitored. Faults and dangers are anticipated to reduce risk. Every part of the vehicle seems to have an electronic sensor which feeds information into the car's computer. It was a far cry from my own car; still more from the humble Fiat 127 which I first purchased as a curate. The aims of motoring were the same but the means of delivery entirely different.

In many ways the life of the church has changed enormously in recent years. The aims of the church - to worship God, to bring people to and nurture them in the Christian faith by the power of His Spirit - remain constant. But how that is achieved and delivered upon is in many ways very different now compared with 5, 10 or 25 years ago. And it is important to note that. Change is challenging and the new ways of doing things aren't always better than the old ways. Sometimes they are; sometimes not. Just different. But it may be helpful to reflect on some of the changes that have affected the life of St. Peter's over the years.

There was a time when church going on a Sunday morning was a regular, normal feature of the majority of homes in Oadby. The majority of people in the village belonged to the Parish Church, just as they belonged to the village. Some enthusiasts and religiously minded people were drawn of course to the great riches of the non-conformist churches - the Methodists and the Baptists. And there would always have been a hard core of men and women who didn't go to church at all - but for the most part they would have been in the minority. Religion, social life, and community were all closely interwoven. Parish records, for example, show large attendances for Holy Communion on Easter Day with numerous services to cope. And all this in the last 50 - 75 years - within the worshipping lifetime of some members of our present congregations.

There were of course some innovations: the move to a weekly Choral Eucharist was an innovation borrowed from the Roman Catholic tradition. This gradually won over many adherents and effectively replaced BCP Morning Prayer as the principal Sunday morning service. But the biggest changes were what was happening in society generally. The winds of secularism, individualism, and capitalism meant that church going instead of being the norm became increasingly a minority activity. Slowly but surely, the pews (now seats at St. Peter's) began to show gaps on a Sunday morning - and quite big gaps at that. Moreover, it was clear that the congregation of faithful worshippers was getting older; few new people were joining the church; and there was a dearth of children and young people.

It seemed impossible to stem the tide of decline - secularists claimed that belief in God was old hat and of no relevance to the modern world; a world where the individualism was highly prized struggled increasingly to gather people together in large numbers - the idea of the village coming together as at, never mind as church, became an alien concept. Capitalism brought undreamt of properity to people's lives, giving them homes, cars, holidays, all kings of luxuries - but also exhaustion and stress. There was no energy to be given to society or church. Weekends had to be spent recovering and preparing for the next onslaught of work. Finally Oadby began to change in many ways: it expanded from being a village of 3000 people to become a vast suburban area with of 22,000. In its expansion virtually no public buildings or infrastructure were provided. Moreover, Oadby began to become ethically diverse with people of many different faiths - Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, alongside Christians and those of no faith at all.

This is the context where the Parish of Oadby finds itself: St. Peter's, St. Paul's and the Lighthouse Christian Fellowship have their individual stories to tell of how each congregation has been affected and how they have responded to these massive challenges. Each church in its own way has been profoundly affected by the changing culture around it. Our task, however, ultimately, is to proclaim the kingdom of God - the kingdom of Christ's eternal values - whatever the prevailing cultural conditions. Sharing the good news of the kingdom is something that can be done in many different ways. We are called to find the most effective ways of doing this today. Like the Renault Megane, we must monitor our performance as we go. Let's therefore take to the road. Remember the early Christians were called followers of The Way.

Michael Rusk.


April Letter

Dear Friends,

One year on from the war against Iraq, there is one word which is a particular favourite of the politicians as they explain what their present aims and objectives are: reconstruction. The present task in Iraq and one that will pre-occupy British, American and other allied forces for an unspecified time into the future is one of "reconstruction." At every level of Iraqi life, from the transport system, to the water system, to the political system, things have to be put back together again. For bridges and roads that need to be repaired or built (having been bombed by the allies in the first place) it is literally reconstruction - putting back what has been destroyed or damaged. In some instances, it is construction as new work is undertaken. But on the whole it will be reconstruction. Similarly, from the health service, to the training of a new police force, to the issuing of new currency, the task is described as one of re-building - whether it is of the economy or some part of the complex infrastructure of the country. So it is reconstruction that is talked about, and when most of that has been undertaken, there is an implication that the job is done, and the allied forces can return home.

The Christian faith does not talk about reconstruction as such. As we approach Holy Week and Easter, there are two important words that are emphasised instead. One is "reconciliation"; the other "resurrection." When set alongside the word "reconstruction" and what we mean by that today, these words give us a glimpse of what Christianity claims and strives to contribute to our world.

First the word "reconciliation." St. Paul writes: "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5.17-21.

The word which Paul uses for "reconciliation" refers to a relationship which has broken down or been marred that is restored once again. Anger and rejection are replaced with love and acceptance. It is about being restored to favour - almost as if in sport having been dropped from the team, you are recalled and restored to your former place. Paul boldly claims that the ministry of Christ was one in which the world is restored to God's favour. Through Christ's perfect life, and sacrificial death on the cross, the sin of the world which has separated God and humanity is taken away, and true reconciliation takes place. Moreover, Christian people are called upon to further the work of Christ in the world today, by continuing to be agents of this "ministry of reconciliation."

The removal of alienation, hatred, and anger is therefore at the heart of Holy Week. This is the work of Christ spelt out in detail. What is achieved in terms of restoring humanity to favour with God, is worked out in a world, where people need to be reconciled to one another. As we look at our world today, we can ask what would the greatest achievement that humanity could accomplish actually be? Would it not be this removal of hatred and animosity from those who feel such antipathy to each other that it can only be expressed in destructive violence? Perhaps the greatest living testimony to the power of reconciliation is to be found in South Africa where the Reconciliation Commission tackled the evils of apartheid in an impressively cathartic and healing way. Reconciliation therefore is not just "reconstruction." It is not primarily about rebuilding the infrastructure of a country, important though that is, but rather bringing about a change inside people - a transformation in their thinking about others, and particularly about their enemies which will result in changing attitudes and practice. The anger and hatred that causes so much evil and misery in our world is overcome and the new creation emerges freed from the blight of rage and harm. The question that our political leaders must face is whether as regards Iraq, reconstruction will be enough. To bring about reconciliation between hostile factions of a complex country; and furthermore, to make reconciliation between the Middle East and the West the primary task of the next decade would bring about a huge change in political priorities. But it might just bring about the security for which we yearn in the frighteningly unstable world of post September 11th.

Resurrection is when the whole process of reconciliation has been undertaken and the victory over evil has been decisively won. Resurrection is the fruit of reconciliation. Christ conquers death, but more than that: in his body, he has absorbed all the hatred and anger that has been pitted against him. By overcoming evil with good, a new way of life is offered to us. A path of life that demonstrates that reconciliation can indeed be achieved. The great joy of Easter is that through Christ, we are reconciled with God. The risen Jesus befriends us, and just as he befriended all kinds of disreputable people in the course of his earthly ministry, so he now befriends each one of us, drawing us to the love of God and encouraging us to make a make a fresh start on the spiritual journey. On our own, our lives are a write-off. With Christ, there is a new beginning and a fresh start. The purpose of such new life is that we should engage as Paul emphasises in this ministry of reconciliation. Having experienced reconciliation at a very deep level of our own being, we should have a confidence in relating this experience to others. That is slowly but persistently tackling the anger, hatred, and alienation in our world. You are likely to find such alienation all around you. There is certainly a great deal of it on the international stage.

The Christian message of Holy Week and Easter therefore is deeply challenging to our world. Its basic claim is that reconstruction on its own is not enough. For the true peace of God, we have to aim for reconciliation and resurrection. May you have a blessed and joyful Easter.

Michael Rusk.

March Letter

Dear Friends,

Lent is a time of spiritual challenge. An opportunity to take the Christian life with the serious disciplined attitude of a top athlete. A desire to train and acquire a spiritual fitness that can be so easily lost in the normal day to day running of our lives. The Christian tradition teaches us that as we engage in this more rigorous approach to Christian discipleship, we become aware of our weakness and frailty - our total incapacity to improve ourselves and our hence our total dependency on the grace of Christ to offer us rescue from our miserable plight. Of course in Western Europe, it has become unfashionable to take Lent too seriously. The Church, for example, has the terrible habit of continuing a full schedule of meetings at parish and diocesan level - some of which are actually among the most important of the year. Wouldn't it better if we cleared our diaries and focussed on the real priority of seeking God?

In his recent book on the wisdom of the desert, Silence and Honey Cakes, Archbishop Rowan Williams writes:

"A healthy church is one in which we seek to stay connected with God by seeking to connect others with God; one in which we 'win God' by converting one another, and we convert one another by our truthful awareness of frailty…The desert teachers encourage us in many ways to expect the worst of ourselves…We need to be aware of our fragility and never stop weeping for it."

Lent is therefore a two-fold challenge: individual and corporate. Individually, we are called to reflect and at times to enter into a time of real personal struggle: central to the Lord's Prayer are the words: "lead us not into temptation". That means "do not bring us to the time of testing." One can be tested as an individual in many ways from the more trivial "Don't test my patience any more" to deeper questions about one's job, one's relationships, one's place in the family, one's relationship with God. The testing determines the central core of our personality; but also makes us painfully aware of our own weakness. That in turn should give us a desire for a greater humility as well as a yearning to belong to a church community where we are truly accepted for what we are. The corporate challenge of Lent is one that invites the church to be such a community of love and forgiveness that people can be truly themselves within the fellowship. No hidden boundaries, or carefully contrived image making, but rather a vulnerable sharing of weakness, and failure that is wondrously redeemed by Christ. It is incredibly hard to create such communities of trust and love. Yet the power of God's Spirit invites us to persevere with each other; to break down our natural reticence and to share ever more deeply in the mystery of being the body of Christ.

To achieve any of this can only be by an outpouring of God's Spirit. But more than that: there has to be a serious approach to the Christian life. There needs to be discipline and training. Consider the inspirational example of Nelson Mandela who in his remarkable autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom" described his self-imposed training regime during those hidden years of incarceration on Robben Island. He writes: "On Mondays to Thursdays I would run on the spot in my cell in the morning for up to forty-five minutes. I would also perform a hundred fingertip push-ups, two hundred sit-ups, fifty deep knee-bends and various others callisthenics." That is the kind of discipline we need on the path of Christian discipleship - feeding our souls through a routine of prayer, bible study and worship. Try it and feel the difference!

Michael Rusk.

February Letter

Dear Friends,

There is a powerful and moving moment in the recently released film version of Peter Pan. The situation is this: Tinker Bell is either in a deep coma or else is dead. For all her maverick, unreliable, and fickle traits, she has courageously drunk the poisonous potion that the evil Captain Hook had dropped in Peter Pan's cup while he sleeps. Just as he was about to put the cup to his mouth, Tinker Bell flings herself at Peter Pan's lips and drinks from the cup herself. She collapses to the ground and perhaps for the first time, Peter Pan begins to feel true emotion: a sense of loss and regret pervades him. He wants Tinker Bell (for all her mischief) alive and well. Meanwhile, Wendy and her brothers are on Captain Hook's ship. They have been kidnapped, and now tied up on the deck an ugly fate awaits them. It is at this point that something wonderful happens: Peter Pan picks up the lifeless Tinker Bell and in his sorrow, begins to say or perhaps to pray for her to be restored to life. He whispers, "I do believe in fairies! I do! I do!" As if by telepathy, Wendy, tied up on the ship miles away, picks up the refrain: "I do believe in fairies! I do! I do! I do believe in fairies! I do! I do!" The refrain gives an extraordinary liberation to those tied up on deck as they join with Wendy in the refrain. And Peter Pan shouts it out too, "I do believe in fairies! I do! I do!" until his heart would break, willing Tinker Bell back to life. On the ship, Hook's cronies are nonplussed and knocked off their guard. Although their captives are tied up, they appear to be reaching out for a new freedom. The joyful shouting of this refrain appears to put them in touch with an unseen power greater than anything with which they can contend. Eventually, as the refrain fills the heavens and earth, Tinker Bell stirs, slowly blinks, and comes back to life. The joy and energy of Peter Pan explodes through the universe: Hook's men know that the game is up and that the final battle although still to be fought has already been lost. Pan wings his way back to the ship, releases Wendy and the boys, and conquers Hook in the final battle. More importantly, he has discovered for the first time in his life what it is to love, to grieve, to experience pain and sorrow, and joy out of despair.

What is extraordinary about this scene - and it is wonderfully portrayed in this classic remake, is that it is essentially a resurrection scene. This is all the more interesting insofar as the film is dedicated to Dodi Al-Fayed, the lover of Princess Diana who, with her, was killed in that fatal road accident in a Paris motorway tunnel. His father, moreover, Mohamed Al-Fayed is listed as one of the Directors of the film. So it is fascinating that in a film which has been sponsored by and directed by a Muslim and a dedicated to a Muslim, that its climax should echo so profoundly the resurrection of Christ. For me, this is one of the great mysteries of the gospel as Christ is shared in all kinds of hidden and subtle ways to our modern so-called secular age.

But why do I think the scene is such a religious one? Interestingly, the film scene is more of a resurrection scene than the original story version which J.M. Barrie wrote about a decade after his phenomenally successful 1904 stage production. We find the passage in Chapter 13:

"Why, Tink, how dare you drink my medicine?"
But she did not answer. Already she was reeling in the air.
"What is the matter with you?" cried Peter, suddenly afraid.
"It was poisoned, Peter," she told him softly; "and now I am going to be dead."
"O Tink, did you drink it to save me?"
"Yes."
"But why, Tink?"
Her wings would scarcely carry her now, but in reply she alighted on his shoulder and gave his nose a loving bite. She whispered in his ear "You silly ass," and then, tottering to her chamber, lay down on the bed.
His head almost filled the fourth wall of her little room as he knelt near her in distress. Every moment her light was growing fainter; and he knew that if it went out she would be no more. She liked his tears so much that she put out her beautiful finger and let them run over it.
Her voice was so low that at first he could not make out what she said. Then he made it out. She was saying that she thought she could get well again if children believed in fairies.
Peter flung out his arms. There were no children there, and it was night time; but he addressed all who might be dreaming of the Neverland, and who were therefore nearer to him than you think: boys and girls in their nighties and naked papooses in their baskets hung from trees.
"Do you believe?" he cried.
Tink sat up in bed almost briskly to listen to her fate.
She fancied she heard answers in the affirmative, and then again she wasn't sure.
"What do you think?" she asked Peter.
"If you believe," he shouted to them, "clap your hands; don't let Tink die."

In Barrie's version, there are many echoes of the gospel story. It is hard to know whether these are conscious or unconscious echoes, but what emerges is an archetypal salvation motif. The Christian overtones to the story should not surprise us: Barrie was born and grew up in nineteenth century Scotland, and his mother Margaret Ogilvy, to whom he was devoted, was a deeply religious woman. But what are these echoes?

First, Tink drinks the cup of poison to save Peter Pan. She dies in order that he might live. She offers herself as a substitute and sacrifices herself to save him. The linking of sacrificial death by drinking the cup of poison is profoundly Christian: in Mark 10.38, Jesus asks James and John, "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with?" Second, the tears of sorrow which Pan sheds and which Tinker Bell lets run over her beautiful finger is reminiscent of the gospel story of Luke 7.36-38, where a woman brought to Jesus "an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them." In both scenes, tears, sorrow, death, and a certain aesthetic emphasis are to be found. Moreover, Pan's tears reveal a profound change within him - the appropriate response to one who has saved him from certain death. Of our Lord's passion, Peter Abelard wrote: "our redemption through Christ's suffering is that deeper affection in us which not only frees us from slavery to sin, but also wins for us the true liberty of sons of God, so that we do all things out of love rather than fear - love to him who has shown us such grace that no greater can be found, as St. Paul himself asserts, saying, "Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Third, there is a strong emphasis on the importance of belief. It is the children's belief in fairies - articulated by clapping - that brings about the transformation whereby Tink can be revived. "Do you believe?" is the essential credal formula, which has real potency. This emphasis on belief is very clearly Christian: some of the modern creeds used in our Church of England services begin with the very same phrase!

But back to the film. In what way is it a resurrection scene? Because while we have demonstrated that Barrie's original has distinct Christian echoes, those echoes are essentially about the passion of our Lord. In the film, Tinker Bell stays dead: she doesn't pop up as in the story with her fate in the balance. Rather she appears dead, stays dead, and evokes the tears of Pan. Secondly, much more is made of the credal formula - "I do believe in fairies! I do! I do!" It doesn't come in the form of a question, it comes as a statement of hope and of growing conviction that this can be true; that there can indeed be life after death. The idea of all the children clapping is replaced, by a focus on Wendy and boys tied up on the ship, crying out with all their might and discovering an exhilarating freedom as a result. This scene has powerful echoes with Wesley's experience of "my chains fell off, my heart was free" linked to the potency of non-violent Civil Rights movement, exemplified by Martin Luther King. Finally, there is the energy that fills the universe once Tinker Bell is restored to life. For it is not just Tink who comes back to life: it is Peter Pan: his shadow is suddenly seen in the sky, and he is back exploding with new power and energy. Wonderfully, and graphically portrayed on screen, and with tremendous music, the film focuses on this burst of new life and it victory over evil.

It is strange to think that Peter Pan, in the cinema, is a powerful vehicle for disseminating the Christian gospel. There can be no doubt that Mel Gibson's forthcoming film "The Passion" will be more explicitly Christian. But as regards touching the soul, and retelling deep truths, and particularly the deep truth of the resurrection, this remake of Peter Pan attempts to reach for the skies, and in my view, succeeds.

Michael Rusk.

January Letter 2004 (to read the Rector's Forward Look for 2004, click here)

Dear Friends,

The New Year affords us the opportunity to reflect on what God may be calling us to be and to do in 2004. So often in church life, it is easy to get distracted from what the real priorities of following Jesus actually are. We can get so easily distracted by setting our own agendas and failing to discern what God's intention is to bring his kingdom here on earth. For example, there are cathedrals and abbeys (and I suspect parish churches) in England which sadly focus 80% of their energies on preserving their magnificent buildings. Only 20% is left for living out and sharing the good news that Jesus brings. Their argument, of course, would be that the building is for the glory of God, and that is true. But it is a question of priority; of why people are gathered together as the people of God, and being absolutely clear what their ultimate aim and purpose is.

The gospel readings in January remind us of how easily it is to get lost, or sidetracked from truly focusing on God. The Magi, in their search for the infant Christ, get sidetracked with their visit to Herod. Following the star is not enough - they want to implement their own agenda and hence they make assumptions of where the new born king is to be found. And so they follow their own instincts and initially get it wrong - with terrible consequences for all the young children in Bethlehem. The baptism of John by the River Jordan is a call for repentance - a call to people that have somehow got distracted and moved away from the reality of God impacting their lives. John calls them back and invites them to submerge themselves totally in the river as a sign of finding a new direction and purpose in life - a life now turned towards God. But even in the busyness of all this activity of baptising, it is difficult for John to identify who the Christ actually is: in Luke 7.18-19, John, who is now imprisoned, sends some of his disciples to question Jesus.

It is as if John almost misses working out who the Messiah is. It can be the same for the church today: we want Christ to be at the centre but somehow or other our church life distracts us so that the centrality of Christ gets marginalised.

So how do we keep Christ at the centre of all our endeavors in 2004? Prayer, bible study, regular Sunday attendance at Church which nourishes us in word and sacrament, should all be important priorities. Bishop Tim has helpfully outlined the kind of qualities which a parish should be demonstrating and they provide a useful check-list of what we should be about:

It is important that we consider all these and seek to implement them, but for me there are two overarching qualities which I would like to emerge as featuring prominently in the life of the parish.

The first is a desire for everyone who comes through our church doors to have a tangible experience of Christian love and fellowship. That, above everything else, will enable lives to be transformed by power of God's Spirit. There is a story about a monastery which was on the verge of closure. Only five monks were left and they were all in their late seventies. In despair, they decided to visit a hermit to ask if he could throw any insight into their future. The hermit, who was noted for his wisdom and prophetic vision, could offer no help: people had turned their backs on the things of God: it was the same all over western Europe. Aging and decline were symptomatic of the church. But as the monks were about to leave, the hermit said one thing:

After they had returned to their monastery, the monks ruminated on what the hermit had said. What if it was true that one of them was a saint? And if it was true, who was it that he was referring to? As the weeks passed they began to have a new regard for one another; a greater respect; a greater desire to know and love one another; each monk began to see the possibilities of saintliness in the other. So love was born into that community, and before long the many visitors to that beautiful valley, where the monastery was situated, began to notice how gracious the monks were to one another and what a wonderful atmosphere of peace and love permeated the place. In time, some were so drawn to this, that they asked if they could join the community, and in a matter of years, the community had been transformed. Instead of dwindling away, it flourished with the abundance of Christ's love at its centre. Can our churches be like that? What is the cost of enabling our communities to become like that - because it is costly in terms of time and effort and growth in holiness?

Secondly, we need to escape from our buildings and see what it means to be church without any walls to hem us in. What does God see when he looks at Oadby? How and where does God really want his people to be involved? What are the needs of God's world and how do we respond to them? To illustrate the point: how are our churches going to engage effectively with the teenagers of Oadby? Libby Purves writing in The Times in response to the recent British Medical Association report on adolescent health, writes this:

Isn't this just the kind of issue that the gospel calls us to address? Isn't this the kind of work that Jesus would involve himself in? How do we have to change as churches and as a parish in order to put this kind of work at the forefront of what we do? What sacrifices do we have to make to enable it to come about? No work of real commitment can come without real sacrifice. And this is only an illustration of the needs of one particular age group.

These are therefore the questions that we are called to grapple with in 2004. The gospel is about challenge and commitment, and when we respond to that positively we discover the true joy and creative energy of God. May you experience his peace and blessings this coming year.

Michael Rusk.

Looking Forward to 2004!

January is a very ecumenical month. As well as Christian Unity Week, there is an important occasion on Sunday 11th January at Trinity Methodist when the President of the Methodist Conference, Dr. Neil Richardson is coming. The St. Peter's 10.00am congregation is invited to Trinity Methodist at 10.30am for the service: it will be an opportunity to attend the ratification at local level of the Anglican-Methodist Covenant.

On Sunday 18th January, we welcome the Rev. Janet Hargis from URC Rosemead Drive to the 8.00am Holy Communion, as a visiting preacher. At the All-age 10.00am service, we welcome contributions from Oadby Baptist: we are fortunate to have the very talented Brian Glover and the drama group Translucent for what should be a really special service.

Congratulations to Simon Harvey and St. Paul's for hitting the headlines with the world's largest Christingle. Simon's engineering skills have been put to good effect and the resulting orange has had quite an impact with the media. It makes one wonder what is going to happen at St. Paul's at Easter: let Simon get to work soon to create the world's Easter Egg or will it be an electronically controlled Easter Bunny?

The Grange Church move to St. Peter's Church Hall on Sunday 8th February at 3.00pm. The Archdeacon of Leicester, the Venerable Richard Atkinson, will be the preacher. Considerable work has gone into the move: there have been generous donations from members of the Grange and 80 chairs have been refurbished. The other chairs for the Green Room and the Guide Room are also to be refurbished, thanks to the generosity of the St. Peter's congregation. In addition to the chairs, 8 new screens have been ingeniously designed and beautifully made by Tony White, enabling us to turn the Main Hall into a much more user-friendly space. This should enhance the worship. It is hoped that the opening service on 8th February will be well supported by St. Peter's and St. Paul's and that it will prove to be a memorable occasion.

A further meeting with the architect, Paul Roberts, has helped sharpen up the plans for the Church Hall. The need for a ramped Fire Escape from the far end of the Green Room has been identified as a major priority. With two lunch clubs a week in the Green Room, it is really important that elderly people can exit the room safely and quickly in the event of a fire. In addition, security locks are to be introduced to the Main Entrance of the Hall. This is to help prevent children escaping on the dangerous road, and also to keep unwanted intruders out. Longer term, a rearrangement of the foyer area is planned so that people who are accessing the Green Room won't have to interrupt those using the Hall. The idea is to relocate the Disabled Toilet by the Ladies (losing one set of doors into the Main Hall) and accessing the Green Room through a new entrance where the Disabled Toilet now is. The new screens will be able to form a temporary wall so that activities in the Main Hall can continue unimpeded. It is also hoped to install a lift on the far side so that all three levels can be accessed. Other plans for the Main Hall include improving the amount of natural light getting into the Hall, and perhaps putting in a new heating system.

Nurture courses are an important part of the life of the parish. The Ministry Team - Michael, Helen, and Simon, strongly encourage everyone to belong to small study group - whether a home group or a course group. St. Paul's are committed to hoping to hold two Emmaus Courses a year; and the Grange will run an Alpha Course from March. St. Peter's continues with the Rector's course entitled, "Challenging Faith", and is also exploring setting up other nurture courses. Please give serious consideration to making time to attend one of the courses on offer.

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