The Way Forward

Congratulations to David, Shirley, Tracey, Chris, Roberto, Toby and Sue, who were confirmed last Sunday at Lichfield Cathedral. I hope that they all may be here today to celebrate communion for the first time at their own church of St. Martin’s. As Richard said in this newsletter last week, this is the first step on a journey of faith – it is almost inevitable that this journey will involve moments of difficulty, even of despair. All of us, no matter how long we have been Christians, have moments when we feel that somehow our faith has let us down and we cannot see the way forward. The best, indeed the only, advice that I can offer is to remember that Jesus is always there to help us and “if we ask Him for anything in His name, He will do it” (John 14:14). Bear in mind, however, that the timing and the extent to which our prayer is answered will be a matter for God’s judgement of our needs and not necessarily our own wishes.

As we progress in the church calendar into Pentecost, the season that celebrates the foundation of the Christian church, our own church council is, and has for some time been, considering the way forward for St. Martin’s to grow in terms of its congregation, its faith and its presence in the community. Some of our ideas will already have become apparent to you, the stall at Park Hall School Fete, for example. But the Council exists to represent the views of the whole church, so if you have any ideas or thoughts on the way forward for our church, then please tell a member of the church council, or Simon, so that we can take everybody’s views into account – then perhaps next year we will have even more candidates for confirmation.

God Bless Keith