01/10/2021

FIRST WORD from The Revd. Canon Stuart Nairn Office 01760 338562 Thank filled Generosity: is the theme of our Harvest Services this year. Thank full generosity for the years we have spent living and ministering amongst you and Thank full generosity for all that we receive from God and that we can share with others. Thank full for the kind messages and thoughts Susan and I are receiving as I move towards retirement. Thank full generosity is the message I invite each of you to embrace as we come to our Annual Gift Day, on Saturday 9 October, in support of the ministry of the church across these seven parishes. For a second year the Covid pandemic has hit each of us in so many ways and the church is not exempt from the limiting consequences that the virus has brought to us all. For a significant part of the year we have been limited in providing face to face worship. Others have been cautious about joining with large numbers and have watched online but weak signals mean it is not always consistent. Week by week and day by day, however, the church has to meet its bills just like any other household. The sums involved are a challenge as we seek to pay the energy costs, insurance, building maintenance and ministry costs. For the seven churches it totals in excess of £85,000. All of this has to be found locally and increasingly it is a sum too high for the congregation to bear on its own. It is for this reason that each year we invite everyone in these seven villages to play their part in helping to meet these daily costs through their prayers and hopefully through their financial contribution in supporting the church in this Valley. The challenge this year is particularly hard for West Acre, Pentney and Narborough and Narford but all seven congregations are stretched to achieve what is required. For the last eight years we have succeeded in doing this through generous giving and as a result, unlike other places, we have been promised a full time replacement for me. We need to respond to the commitment others are making towards us and offer our gifts in thank filled generosity for God’s presence in our midst. Please, if it is at all possible make your gift in the envelope that accompanies this Nar Valley News and return it to your church on the morning of Saturday 9th October or Sunday the 10th or drop it into your churchwarden or the Rectory. May God richly bless you in all things. Fr. Stuart Nairn.