the Parish of St thomas' Brampton, Chesterfield

St Thomas' Brampton and St Peter's Holymoorside, Chesterfield

Rector's Letters February 2000-January 2001

Our vision statement: Sharing the love of Jesus

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The Rector's letter is printed in each edition of the Church Magazine

February/March 2000	April/May 2000	June/July 2000
August/September 2000	October/November 2000	December 2000/January 2001

February/March 2000

Millennium celebrations are underway - and should last all year. Whether anyone will have any energy left, come 31 December [2000], to celebrate the real start of the new millennium remains to be seen! Christians do have every reason to see this as a special year.

Feedback from the different projects and events in our parish has been positive. Great appreciation was expressed for Millennium candles - a genuine free gift! Likewise people have appreciated Millennium Gospels, especially the children's ones which came with special torches. Several parishioners have asked for free copies, as offered in Mustard Seed and also copies of AD, a booklet about our Christian heritage. The video "So, who is this Jesus?" is doing the rounds. The various parties have been great.

Millennium services seem to have gone well. The 'New Start' theme has struck a chord and enabled us to pray that the remarkable optimism and confidence felt throughout the nation may be lasting. The Prime Minister did say that he wished he could bottle it!

Our motto for 2000 is just the reminder that we need
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."
For a start it points us in the right direction. If Jesus isn't its focus, there is no justification for celebrating the Millennium. Then, it reminds us how utterly reliable he is. He doesn't blow hot and cold, he doesn't have moods, he doesn't come and go. He is always the same, always relevant, always available.

He offered a new start to people of all background and needs in 1st century Palestine. Ever since then people have found their broken lives mended, their confusion dispelled and emptiness replaced by purpose, as they have put their hope in Jesus.

Our millennium message is that he will continue to do just this. He always has. He always will ."I am making everything new!" he says. (Revelations 21:5)

Christopher Frith

From the February 2000 edition of the magazine

April/May 2000

I have been listening to a report about the Prime Minister's visit to Russia. People are claiming that he has not made a strong enough protest to the acting President about appalling violations of human rights in Chechnya - Amnesty International in particular. The complaint is that our government tends to be compliant when dealing with the strong and only tough when dealing with the weak. This may or may not be true of Mr Blair's stance, but it is a general human weakness.

Jesus Christ was the exact opposite. He was always gentle with the weak but remarkably tough when dealing with the strong. As a basically compliant person, I like to avoid conflict. However, I am learning that it often doesn't work. Like all of us, to some extent, I am called to be a peacemaker, not a peace lover.

A Vicar said recently "It's not my job to keep everybody happy. My job is to keep God happy. And, if people get upset, well I'm sorry about it, but there does come a point when you have to say, `Well, that's the way it is!" I don't think I would put it quite like that, but he has a point.

The peace making of Jesus was incredibly costly. The unbelievable agony he experienced on Good Friday was all about reconciliation. He was bringing together the recalcitrant human race and Almighty God, destroying what the Apostle Paul calls the "dividing wall of hostility" between them.

As we reflect on this extraordinary peace making, and enjoy the vast benefits of it, we can and should be inspired to make for peace - in our community, our Churches, our families - however costly it may be.

Christopher Frith

From the April 2000 edition of the magazine

June/July 2000

St John's Walton is very nearly a parish in its own right. By the time this is read - probably a month after I write - the date of the transition may well be known. It is in the hands of the Privy Council; everything this end has gone through smoothly.

"It's rather sad isn't it?", someone said to me the other day. "Not really", I replied. "It's rather like I felt when I gave my daughter away at her wedding here five years ago. I feel rather proud and pleased." St John's has grown up and is gladly taking on the respon-sibility and demands of independence. It's natural and good and healthy and right.

It will certainly be sad if St Thomas' and St Peter's lose touch with St John's, but that is far from our intention. We are to become what is known as a "Group Ministry" and the Wardens and Clergy are working out together how we will give expression to this. We will continue to be sister Churches taking a keen interest in each other's progress. No one will be expected to move from one church to another. As they do all over the country in this mobile pick-and-choose generation, church members already cross parish boundaries to find their favoured Church to belong to. This is fine. Steady, natural development and growth is the aim of all three Churches involved.

The Bishop of Derby is to come to St John's to celebrate this great step forward on Saturday 23 September. That will be the public occasion to express our love and congratulations. However, on behalf of all at St Thomas' and St Peter's, I want to say we praise God for what He is doing at St John's. We commend this exciting, growing Church to Him for His continued guidance and inspiration. And we shall continue to regard you as very special to us.

Christopher Frith

From the June 2000 edition of the magazine

August/September 2000

From 1 August 2000 the parish of St Thomas' Brampton will be a different shape - and smaller - and the parish of St John's. Walton will have come into being. As far as we are concerned, they have taken responsibility for most of Walton and Somersall from us, with the River Hipper acting as their northern boundary. In addition, the small part of Boythorpe around Sycamore Avenue which used to be part of our parish has now passed to St Augustine's.

Readers may well discover that they are no longer St Thomas' parishioners. As l said in the last issue of Ploughshare, no one needs to move from one Church to another. However, if your allegiance is to St John's you may decide that you no longer wish to receive Ploughshare. You have probably paid for it for the rest of this year. If you would like to cancel your subscription, please ring the St Thomas' office (558461) and we'll quite understand.

Readers who are still in St Thomas' parish may like to help by finding new Ploughshare subscribers. We are eager to extend our readership and to see this new era as an opportunity for contact with many more of our parishioners.

Christopher Frith

From the August 2000 edition of the magazine

October/November 2000

1980 was a momentous year for the Church of England. The Alternative Service Book was published. Prior to that the language and form of worship had remained unchanged since 1662.

The ASB, as we call it, was never meant to last for generations. Although I believe our experience of it in our parish has been extremely beneficial, it certainly isn't perfect! The world and the Church have changed enormously in those twenty years - although perhaps not quite so much as they had between 1662 and 1980! So, at the end of this year, the ASB will not be authorised for use.

Instead, we are to have Common Worship. It takes note of weaknesses in the ASB and tries to improve them. It takes note of cultural changes and tries to address them. It is a natural development and not hugely different. Changes all have a good reason.

The 1662 Book of Common Prayer was characterised by uniformity - "these bricks, in this order, in every place, every time." The 1980 ASB was characterised by flexibility - "mainly these bricks, in roughly this order, in most places, most weeks." Common Worship is characterised by flexibility and variety - "bricks (including these) in some order."

This is just right for the start of the 21st Century. In Chesterfield we have three large supermarkets to choose from and many smaller ones too. Inside each one, we have a vast array of choice, whether we're looking for bread, cat food, shampoo or whatever. Variety and flexibility are part of life - and therefore rightly part of worship too.

I expect us to enjoy Common Worship and find our corporate worship enriched. St Thomas' was chosen to try out many of the texts (road testing them!) and the response was consistently positive.

Come to Common Worship with an open heart and spirit. Allow time several weeks? - to become acclimatised to changes. Remember what Jesus said; "God is spirit and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in faith."

Christopher Frith

From the October 2000 edition of the magazine

December 2000/January 2001 -by Petra Owen, our Curate

Last year a couple of friends (two members of St Thomas') decided to spend Christmas Day on the beach with a flask of soup and some sandwiches! For some it may seem strange to spend Christmas in that way. For me, it seems liberating and so different that it challenges us to ask once again what Christmas is really about.

Liberating? Yes ... freedom! Freedom from the busyness, the overindulgence, the overspending, the ever increasing stress and hype. Does that seem negative? It's not meant to be ... it is, rather too often a realistic picture of what Christmas is for many.

A challenge? Yes ... to think again! What is Christmas really about?

It's all about the birth of Jesus, the Son of God. God who came to live among us ... incredible? Yes it is! But why? This story helps to answer that question ...

It was a snowy Christmas Eve. Inside the warm house, the Christmas tree was cheerfully ablaze with lights and surrounded by dozens of presents. The man's wife and children were dressed and ready to leave for church. "Come with us", they said, for they loved him. "Not me", he snapped. "I don't believe all that religious garbage."

For many years the man's wife had been trying to tell him about Jesus and the salvation he offers. How God's Son had become a human being in order to show us the way to heaven. "Nonsense", the man always said.

The family left for church and the man was all alone in his cosy country home. He glanced out of the window at the cold snowy scene outside. He turned to warm himself by the fire.

But as he turned, his eyes caught a movement in the snow outside. He looked. Cats! Three young cats walking slowly past his window. "The fools", he thought. "They'll freeze for sure!" The man put on his hat and coat and opened the door. A blast of wintery air sent a shiver through his body.

"Come here, cats! Come inside where there's warmth and food. You'll die out there." But the cats ran away, frightened by the stranger at the door. He walked outside. "Come back! Don't be afraid, I want to save you."

But the cats were gone. It was too late.

"Well, I did everything I could for them", the man muttered to himself. "What more could I do? I'd have to become a cat myself in order to reach them and save them. If I became a cat, I could tell them and show them. They would have to believe me then surely?"

Just as he reached the door, the church bells rang in the distance. The man paused for a second and listened. Then he went in by the fire, got down on his knees and cried.

This is what Christmas is really about. God loves us so much that he came to earth to show us how to be saved. And if we listen to him and follow him, then we will not perish but instead will be given everlasting life. That surely is the reason to have a "Happy" Christmas and, for those who accept this offer, a wonderful New Year.

Petra Owen, Curate

From the December 2000 edition of the magazine

Rector's Letters 2001