June 2018

JUNE 2018
A Letter from the Curate
Dear Friends,
I can scarcely believe that this is my twelfth month here with you in Market Rasen
and the villages! It has been quite a year and my family and I are so grateful for the
welcome and support we have had from you all.
The transition from my previous life to life as an ordained minister in a completely
new place has sometimes been scary and overwhelming but has been a huge
privilege and a joy and so much of that is down to the warmth, encouragement and
patience of the people among whom I have begun my ministry.
Thank you!
Since my ordination at Lincoln Cathedral last year I have been a deacon. On the
1 st July I will be ordained priest and will then be able to preside at Holy
Communion and give blessings along with the things I have already been doing
this year.
The orders of deacon and priest, though, are only a small part of the many and
varied ministries and works to which God calls all his people. These are as varied
as the people called to them and part of the joy and privilege of the ordained
ministries is having the opportunity to walk alongside others exploring what their
own calling from God might be.
Prayerfully considering the gifts and aptitudes we have been given and how they
might best be deployed in response and service to God is hugely rewarding and, in
most cases, a lifetime’s work. It’s work that cannot be done alone.
As St Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians, ‘Now you are the body of
Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.’ Every part is needed, even though every
part has a different role, works differently, looks different.
Not everyone is called to be ordained, not everyone is called to be a
churchwarden, or to arrange flowers in church, or to provide food and drink for
people in need, or to maintain databases, create works of art, sing in choirs, teach
children, visit vulnerable people, sweep floors or preach on street corners.
But we are all called to something.
And finding that something and growing into it with God is where we find our true
selves – and that must really be a special thing indeed. Thanks be to God!
Love and prayers,
Rev Claire
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