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May to mid-June 2009
from Jean Harris of our Ministerial Team
Looking Back and Looking Forward
Recently the young people of St Mary’s congregation (Connexion, Link Up and Link Club) took responsibility for the evening worship. Refreshments were available before the service; the presentations which followed were both interesting and thoughtful.
I found myself thinking back to the time when I was a member of a Church Youth Fellowship and recalling how important it was to me. To join we had to be confirmed which meant most of us were around fourteen years of age. The Fellowship was about fifty or sixty in number and I suppose it was inevitable that such a large number would break up into smaller groups. The group I became part of numbered about 18-20, we had a lot in common with one another and most of us have remained in contact with each other although two have died. Vocations were fostered and encouraged by the Vicar and Curate. Two or three of the men were ordained to the Priesthood; my friend Jean and I became Church Army sisters, at least one became an engineer, there were nurses, teachers and secretaries among our number. The rest of the Fellowship became variously employed and occasionally I have news of them.
I’m writing this during Holy Week when we are encouraged to follow Jesus into the Garden of Gethsemane, to the Cross and on Easter Sunday to rejoice that He is risen.
By the time this is published we shall be looking toward the Ascension and the return of Jesus to His Father. For us the promise of Jesus to be with us for all time will be ringing in our ears.
Ten days after the Ascension we celebrate Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church. When the disciples responded to the call of Jesus, they didn’t realise what it would entail or where it would take them.
The young people who are part of St Mary’s will have their dreams and hopes – let us pray that they will have a sense of vocation and look to God to guide them in His way.
When I was thirteen I realised I had to work with people – there aren’t that many people who work entirely alone – at that stage I didn’t know where I had to fulfil any calling from God I might have. It wasn’t until I was twenty that I realised God was calling me into the Church Army, an Anglican Society within the Church of England. I had only heard of the Society about two years before.
My ministry has been very varied – conducting missions in often very rural areas, first in Lincolnshire then in Staffordshire. From the rural I was asked to go to Holloway Prison to work alongside the Chaplain. I have cared for the elderly and based at Church Army HQ enabled staff to receive appropriate training in caring for the elderly. I have worked in parishes, one of which trebled in size while I was there. Although I didn’t work specifically with young people, I was constantly in touch with them and one of those young people, Stephen, is a Church Army captain.
The young people who are members of Connexion, Link Up and Link Club look to us to support, encourage and pray for them as they grow older, deepen in faith and knowledge of God and His will for them. May they look back on their time at St Mary’s with affection and gratitude.
Jean Harris Church Army Sister |
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St Mary’s Parish Church Marshalswick, St Albans |