Sunday 29th June, Peter and Paul, Apostles, Dedication Festival

Sunday 6th July, 3rd Sunday after Trinity, Partnership Sunday

A double notice sheet this time, as we all recover from Lifepath (‘Lifepath!’ *wiggly hand gesture*), and Catherine takes some well-earned time off. This was my first time experiencing Lifepath (‘Lifepath!’…you get the idea…), and it was an exhausting, dynamic, deeply moving joy. 639 children from 18 schools, led through 15 workshops by 108 volunteers from the Priory and many other churches in Malvern and beyond. And at the heart of it were the children themselves: excited, open, inquisitive, awe-struck, joyful. And their joy was catching, if the faces of the volunteers were any indication. At the commissioning service I shared with the volunteers an insight from the American theologian and educationalist John Westerhoff, that faith in young people grows like a tree: it begins with experiences of awe and of intimacy, and develops through loving relationships. These are the foundations on which the mature faiths of adults are built, and the key insight is that we don’t leave behind the early stages when we grow into the later ones. Rather, those early stages, like the rings at the heart of a tree, are always there, always available, if we take the time to remember them. Growing up is what saplings are supposed to do: all healthy trees grow, some grow tall and wide and complex, but all began as a sapling. That sapling is still there in us, and sometimes God still wants to speak to that sapling in the language of awe and intimacy.

Every blessing,

Roger.