St Mark's Church, Newnham, Cambridge

Letters and Sermons

Take part in the Survey : "The Seven Marks of a Healthy Church" Simply download the appropriate form below this message, complete and return to either the church administrator or the vicar by email, by regular mail or by hand.

For those unable to have attended the services and hence unable to have heard the corresponding sermons introducing each of the seven concepts, you may download from the sermons list below.

Survey 1 : Is St Mark's energised by faith?
Survey 2 : How far is St Mark's outward looking?
Survey 3 : Seeking to find out what God wants
Survey 4 : Facing the cost of change and growth

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Vicar's Letter May 2008

Dear Friends,

For our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, May is ‘Mary’s month’. Although I can see that as a beautiful association, bringing together the traditional festivities in which ‘May Queens’ are chosen with a celebration of the most blessed among women, I more naturally tend to think of May as the month of the Spirit. Pentecost so often falls in this month, as it does this year (11th May), and the fields (and part of our garden!) will soon clothe themselves with the delicate whiteness of cow parsley, a blessing in the way it is so light and airy, yet absolutely ‘there’ and all-embracing, speaking to me of the Spirit of God.

Many of the things which will occupy St Mark’s this month could be described as aspects of a quest for the Spirit. We begin May with our Flower Festival - a celebration, if anything is, of the Creator Spirit, ‘Lord and giver of life’ at work in our world, and in all whose contributions will be brought together in a display of beauty. The theme this year is ‘Journeys’ – and that, too, is very much a ‘Spirit theme’. Many Christians describe their whole life as a journey, and mark and remember the moments in it when they sought and found special strength and guidance from the Spirit of God: baptism, confirmation, moments of deeper understanding or clearer calling; times when power seemed to come from on high; times when a presence seemed most deeply felt or most deeply longed-for: all these are milestones on our journey into the Spirit’s perfect light. If the Festival (3rd – 5th May) is not yet over when you read this, do take the opportunity to come along, if you can, enjoy the flowers, the art exhibition, the hospitality, and what promises to be a stirring Gospel Concert by the Ridley Hall Gospel Choir on the Saturday evening.

Over the same weekend as our Flower Festival, Christians of many traditions all over the country will be offering a weekend of service to their local communities, entitled ‘Hope where you are’. This is all part of the ‘Hope 08’ initiative, of which I have written before. Here in Newnham and West Cambridge, as well as the activities of our Festival there will be Christians from other churches offering some specific service and gift to the community. Its nature has not been fully decided at the time I write this, but I and some members of the Flower Festival Committee have met with some of the Christians living locally who intend to do something, and we have agreed to see the two events (Flower Festival and ‘Hope where you are’ activities) as complementary forms of outreach in the local community. To symbolise and seal this cooperation, it is planned that the Flower Festival Praise service on the evening of Sunday 4th May (6.30 pm) should be one in which both ‘Hope where you are’ and the Flower Festival are celebrated and brought to God in prayer and thanksgiving together, along with intercession for the community in which we are all set. Please do join us in what should be a very joyous service. Once again, the Spirit of God will be near the centre of our thinking and acting – the Spirit who brings unity among Christ’s people, the Spirit of love and service, the Spirit of Joy and celebration.

May will also bring to an end our sermon-series on ‘the Seven Marks of a Healthy Church’, concluding on Whitsunday (11th May) but with an invitation to you to help us move forward in our ‘Mission Action Planning’ subsequently. It may be (and again, as I write, final decisions have not been made yet by the PCC) that as many of you as possible will be invited to stay for a meeting, and perhaps a shared lunch, after the 10 am service on the 18th May, to reflect on moving on together. If you can, pencil that date into your diary, and watch this space!

I am grateful to all who have been giving time and thought to responding as the sermon series has been going along. To be a healthy church must, above all, mean to be a church living in and by the Spirit. In trying to offer a variety of ways for people to respond, I hope we have been leaving all sorts of doors and windows open for the Spirit to come in through. I very much believe that one of the chief ways he speaks to us is through each other. This is why you have been offered sheets to fill in – not as a ‘marketing’ or ‘strategy’ exercise, but as a way of trying to make sure that everyone’s voice can be heard, and not just the voices of those who are ordinarily eloquent and persuasive, of whom there are many at St Mark’s! It may be that there is occasionally a danger that the quieter or more hesitant voices don’t get heard as much as they might. If, at the time of writing, you haven’t filled in a response sheet about any or all of the ‘seven marks of a healthy church’, it won’t be too late to do so until the 18th May. I would love you to share your insights, even if it’s only to ring some numbers as you reflect on how ‘healthy’ the church seems to be according to the seven criteria. The forms are still available in the Narthex, with the box to return them into.

I love May. It’s one of my favourite months. I love the theme of the Holy Spirit in our world, our church, our lives. I associate God’s Spirit with growth, with surprises, with excitement, and with true focus. Let us pray for the Spirit to be with us, with eagerness and anticipation:

Come, Holy Spirit,
Visit the hearts of your faithful,
And kindle in us the fire of your love.

With best wishes,

Maggie Guite

Sermons

	A Heathy Church 4 - Facing the cost of change (Mark 4)	Maggie Guite
	A Healthy Church 3 - Finding out what God wants (Mark 3)	Marguerite Roberts
	A Healthy Church 2 - Outward looking (Mark 2)	Maggie Guite
	A Healthy Church 1- Energised by faith. (Mark 1)	Maggie Guite
	'...for they were afraid' Easter Evensong 2008	Maggie Guite
	Good Friday addresses on Jesus prayer	Maggie Guite
	What did Jesus die for?	Maggie Guite
	You must be born again	Maggie Guite
	Sin's True Nature	Maggie Guite
	Baptism of Christ	Maggie Guite
	Midnight Eucharist - Christmas 2007	Maggie Guite
	Advent 2007 - "hypocrisy"	Maggie Guite
	Advent 2007 - "keep awake therefore"	Maggie Guite
	Remembrance Sunday 2007	Maggie Guite
	Persistence	Maggie Guite
	Harvest Festival October 2007	Maggie Guite
	St. Mary Magdelene's Day 2007	Maggie Guite
	Our Neighbours - Ourselves	Jason Fout
	A Different Difference	Jason Fout
	Disconnected thoughts about 1 Corinthians 13	Maggie Guite
	BCP Communion Second Sunday in Lent	Maggie Guite
	Mark 8.34 - 9.1 Radical Detachment, a sign of the Kingdom	Maggie Guite
	Passiontide Sermon	Jason Fout
	Stewardship Sermon	Maggie Guite
	Pentecost Sermon 2007	Maggie Guite

Previous Letters from the Vicar

	May 2008
	April 2008
	March 2008
	February 2008
	January 2008
	December 2007
	November 2007
	October 2007
	September 2007
	July 2007
	June 2007
	May 2007
	April 2007
	March 2007
	February 2007
	January 2007
	Christmas Letter December 2006
	November 2006
	October 2006

This, together with much more Parish news and information appears in the lively St. Mark's Church Magazine (SEEK).

SEEK is printed monthly and is available for purchase in the Church Narthex - Price 45p