From the Vicar

Not long ago I went on a pilgrimage. I didn't go far, just to Bradford in West Yorkshire, but it was the first time I had been back to the city for 35 years. Bradford was where I was born and where I went to school. I left there to go to university, and have lived elsewhere since, so I didn't really know what to expect on my return visit. As I walked around the streets I saw things that had changed and things that had stayed the same. Bradford is no longer the solid wool manufacturing town that it had been in my youth and it doesn't yet seem to have found it's new identity. Unlike Birmingham which has a vibrant commercial base, I think Bradford is still trying to re-establish a firm basis for new economic growth might be. Advertisements showed shoppers carrying a large bag with the slogan of encouragement, "Buy it in Bradford".

As I walked around the streets I encountered my own past: the bus-stop where I caught the trolley bus up to school, the town hall I walked past each morning, the St George's hall - not only a concert venue but where we had the school speech day, the steps into the fabric shop where I had worked in the school holidays and the wool exchange now a Waterstone's book shop with a gallery cafe. I also went up to the cathedral where I had first gone to Sunday school and where Sandy and I were married. What I encountered was not only material; I met with the person I had been all those years ago. I remembered the spiritual and intellectual awakening that had happened in those early days, and the people who had encouraged me to wider and deeper visions of what life was all about.

This year we are celebrating at St Mary's our 600th anniversary. As part of that celebration we are inviting back all those clergy who were here as vicar or curate, or who had some kind of involvement with the worship and ministry of the parish. Already we have some dates fixed: the Dean of Bristol, the Very Revd. Robert Grimley, will preach at the 10:00 a.m. service on 13 March, and the Revd. Canon Robin Howard at the Choral Evensong on Easter day. On 17 April we welcome the Revd. Canon Dr Denis Stamps to the 10:00 a.m. service. On 29 May there will be a SMYG re-union: for the uninitiated that stands for the St Mary's Youth Group - a flourishing group in the 60's and 70's which is responsible for at least one marriage in our congregation (Nigel and Liz Blakey). On 12 June the Revd. Josephine Mason returns to preach and in particular to focus our thoughts on the ministry amongst the elderly that we offer in the nursing and residential homes in the parish. At 6:30 p.m. on 17 July we welcome the Revd. Stuart Millington, who was curate here with particular responsibility for Centre 13, and who - as it happens - became vicar of the parish adjacent to my own previous parish in Bury, Lancashire.

We look forward to the return of the Ven. Hayward Osborne at both the 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. services to commemorate our Patronal Festival on 11 September; the Revd. Marcus Small at 6:30 p.m. on 25 September; the Revd. John Haslam to preach on Remembrance Sunday; and the Ven. Lorys Davies on 27 November. There are others who have indicated their willingness to return, but with whom dates have not yet been finally agreed.

As they return to St Mary's, perhaps these visiting clergy will be reminded of many things. They too will encounter memories, not only of the building, but of the people amongst whom they lived and ministered, and no doubt they too will be reminded of the person they were themselves many years ago. Those of you who have been here for some time will be able to renew old acquaintances. In particular, if anyone would like to offer hospitality to any of those I have mentioned, please let me know.

As we celebrate our 600th anniversary, so we remember our roots. We give thanks for all those, known and unknown, who have given of themselves to this church and community through many generations. We have invited back the clergy, but the life of a parish is not dependant on those who serve here in ministry. It flourishes when the people have a heart for enabling the worship and the mission of the church to develop and prosper. It flourishes when the people of the church look outwards at the community which they serve, with a willingness to change the way they do things in response to the changing needs of the society around them.

On Shrove Tuesday this year we were delighted to welcome the Ven. Hayward Osborne to give a talk organised by the Moseley society on the history of St Mary's. He was supported by Ann Bold, who was responsible for doing the research and collecting the material on display in the North aisle. Hayward gave the overview, and Ann provided the detailed knowledge. What became apparent as we listened to their talk was that St Mary's has changed and evolved over the centuries. The church we know and love is only, in a sense, present at a moment in time. It will no doubt continue to evolve and change in the years to come. Indeed, there is already a group looking at the possibility of re-ordering the building to make it more flexible for worship, more available for community use, and more suited to the needs of the congregation and community of our own day. All this will take time, and nothing will happen until at least 2006 and not without wide consultation.

It's good to be reminded of our roots, to remember what it was that first inspired us perhaps many years ago. But a healthy church cannot only dwell in the past. If the roots are to lead to new growth then we have to care for the many branches that represent our church life in the present. Some of those branches may need pruning for healthy growth, others will need to be encouraged and nurtured. In all of this we must also look to the future, being aware of what it is we are trying to achieve, of the spiritual fruit that is, ultimately, the reason for our existence.

During Lent we have the opportunity for reflection, for making a spiritual pilgrimage. Our Lenten journey encourages us to spend time in prayer, in spiritual reading, in discussion with others in our house groups. It encourages us to go deeper, to discover the well-spring of our own spirituality, to ask what it is that gives us nourishment and to reflect on the gifts we have which can be offered for the well-being of others. It gives us above all the challenge of any pilgrimage: to come face to face with ourselves, with the person we were and the person we have grown into, and to open ourselves to a new encounter with the God who loves us and who asks us to take the risk of journeying from the comfort of the known into the exciting possibility which is our future.

Celebrating 600 years of life in Moseley.
St. Mary's 1405 - 2005

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