More tea, Vicar? – June 2016

More tea, Vicar?

June is a month of strawberry cream teas and celebrations and none better deserved than the Queen’s 90th birthday.  What a remarkable monarch we have!  Among the many local events to mark this historic occasion, there will be a ‘Bring & Share’ lunch at St Mary’s Hall on Sunday 12th June.

 

June 2016The new Vicars of Walton-on-Thames have been here for over a month.  We are settling in and have been enjoying meeting people.  We have been asked a number of times if we would like a cup of tea and the answer is usually “Yes, please!”  In fact, invitation is key to the theme we have adopted for our first couple of months at St Mary’s and St John’s.  We have given the dual invitation to you all to: “Invite the Vicar and pray for Walton”.  Firstly, do invite Jonny or Cathy to any meetings you will be going to which are not church meetings.  We would love to introduce ourselves to local groups who are curious about those two new Vicars!  Secondly, how can we pray for Walton?  If we have found the most wonderful news that God loves us, wouldn’t we want to share that with others and pray for Jesus to meet with those who live in our town?  We can pray for particular people in the town who we know: for friends, neighbours, work colleagues, shop keepers or those we meet on the school pick-up.  You may have heard of the Archbishop’s call to pray using the Lord’s Prayer during the week in May up to Pentecost.  We were encouraged to take a ribbon and tie five knots in it for five people we would be praying for.  Let’s continue to pray for God’s blessing on Walton and the people we meet each week.

 

While the Queen is not-so-quietly turning ninety, we understand that Prince Charles quietly visited a primary school in Walton not so long ago and offered gardening tips to the children.  What if Jesus was to come into our town this week?  What tips would he offer us?  “Encounters with Jesus” is the title of our sermons in both churches during June.  We will be looking at the different reactions of a number of people who actually met Jesus.  What did they feel and were they changed as a result of their encounter with Jesus?  Come along to any of the usual services and find out.  Do invite your friends – they are always welcome.

 

Some of you will already know that, for us, “More tea, Vicar?” is a very welcome question, and for those we haven’t met yet, there’s still plenty of time.

June_2016

Cathy and Jonny