June seems to be the month when it all happens. The first two Sundays see the completion of the Bible Study, the month closes with Sam's ordination as priest and his first Sunday celebrating communion, and there is plenty in between!
The letter to the Ephesians ends with the encouragement for the saints: "Put on the whole armour of God". In Ephesians, 'saints' means church members. God has changed our natures, through the work of Christ on the cross, so that, 'in Christ', we are already 'saints' in 'the heavenly places'. God is still changing our habits, through the work of the Holy Spirit, so that we can 'walk' in the way God wants. The place and the way in which God has chosen to make us saints is as part of the 'body of Christ' - the Church. Perhaps we should put another new sign on our church: 'Danger - Saints at work'.
There is always danger when there is 'work in progress'. How much more so, when the workers are 'work in progress' themselves? So, "be kind and tender-hearted to one another" (Ephesians 432) because God hasn't finished his improvements yet! Also, "put on the whole armour of God", because without it you will not be able to cope with the 'work in progress'.
We do now have enough 'saints' to enable the Summer Event to go ahead on June 14, though a few more 'saintly' helpers would not go amiss - contact Sue Higson if you can help. The Summer Event is intended to be more a 'fun raising day' than a 'fund raising day', though, as there will be various stalls and many other opportunities to spend money, I am confident we will raise some funds as well.
So far I have had no 'history' items offered, so the History Corner is not likely to happen. Unless, that is, you do find some old magazines, confirmation cards, Bazaar programmes, photographs, service orders, or anything else that shows us how the 'Saints of St Ursula's' lived out their faith in the past. (All loan items will be returned, though we would like to copy or photograph them first, to start building an historical archive)
Sunday the 15th of June is the 150th Anniversary at Holy Trinity Geneva. I do not think I will be free to go, but it would be good if we were represented at that. (P.S. the 100th Anniversary of St Ursula's building is coming up soon. Geneva are having a boat trip on the lake. How should we celebrate our Anniversary in 2006?)
Chaplains and curates are saints too (the Ephesians sort) and are just as much 'work in progress' as all the other saints. On Saturday June 28, Sam makes a bit of 'progress' when he is ordained priest. Please pray for God to bless him with every good gift to equip the saints for the work of ministry (see Ephesians 4.8-13). We already have various 'national tables' planned, with a wide variety of food, including American, British, Canadian, Chinese, Indian, and Swiss 'tables', but that still leaves plenty of scope for more. If you can help, by starting a new 'table' or helping with one that is underway, please contact Sharon.
With so many things going on, we must be careful not to mistake signs of activity for signs of life. As Ephesians reminds us, everything that a church does should serve one ultimate purpose: "building the body of Christ; until we all arrive at the unity of faith and the full knowledge of the Son of God" (4.12-13). One of the subjects to which we still have to turn our attention is the 'pastoral care' of the 'saints'. We often forget that 'pastor' is just another word for shepherd, so 'pastoral care' simply means shepherding. So watch out for more about saintly sheep and saintly shepherds in the coming months.
Richard Pamplin