Brothers and Sisters in Christ I am writing to introduce myself to you as the new superintendent minister of the Thames Valley Circuit. In these strange times, the welcome service will be on Zoom and the opportunity to gather together afterwards for cake, coffee and the fellowship that we Methodists enjoy so much and do so well, will be missed. Neither will I get to meet you all live at your Church Council meetings which had been my intention pre-lockdown. So a letter will have to do, and I pray it does its work well.
I have moved into the Cippenham Manse and will be living there with a large, multigenerational family consisting of my husband Mark, daughters Elanor and Sophie, Son-inlaw Tommy (married to Sophie) and grand-daughter Martina. Alfie and Evie, Tommy’s other children also visit us fortnightly so we are a full house and hope to be out and about in the Circuit as is appropriate and when allowed to do so. In particular, Mark and Martina will be visiting various toddler groups as they re-open and will love to meet you all. As you probably know, I have pastoral charge of Windsor, Cookham Rise and Burnham Churches and am particularly looking forward to meeting everyone there.
The situation being as it currently is, I will be making a lot of phone calls and, where appropriate, organising one-to-one visits with as many people from those churches as possible but of course, it may be that you need an early visit, but don’t hear from me for a while because of where you are on my list. If this is the case, please do not hesitate to get in touch. Email is the best way (rev.vicci@mail.com) or you can ring the manse telephone on 01753 536357. Please note though that I never pick up the telephone when I am meeting with somebody, so you may need to leave a message and I will get back to you.
At the beginning of Psalm 13, we hear words that may well resonate with us at this point in time: “How long O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?”
For everyone for whom the only lockdown impact has been around seeing or not seeing friends and relatives, this will have been either difficult or even possible healing – for some people having the requirement to withdraw from social interaction will have come at a good time. Nevertheless, there have been huge ramifications. The effects of job loss, fear of job loss, reduced income, lost educational opportunities, lost work opportunities and the inability to attend routine appointments or planned surgery have all been well-documented and there will be further knock-on effects that we are still to learn about.
But the Psalmist finishes: “I trust in your unfailing love. My heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.”
This Psalm is most likely written by David, either when in hiding from Saul or later hiding from his son Absalom. In either context, we recognise the pain and also that God kept faith with him and brought him through; as he has for us many times before, and as he will again.
As our buildings start to re-open, one of the sadnesses expressed across the Connexion is that we are not yet allowed to sing together. Perhaps we should remember the song of exile in Psalm 137 “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” Perhaps while so many are still in exile, worried about health, work, finances, it is appropriate that we don’t sing. But we will pass through this desert place, we will re-open our buildings, rebuild our worship and worship with songs of thanksgiving. The Bible shows us that these things happen time and again, but in the end, love wins, hope wins, faith wins and God’s people sing God’s songs in God’s sanctuary again. As we anticipate that time, I look forward with joy to worshipping with you and to exploring with you what God calls us to do next as we journey out of the desert.
God bless Vicci