Month: July 2020

Some of the things we were so used to before lockdown are becoming part of life again aren’t they?

What a blessing it is to have the church open on Wednesdays and Saturdays for private prayer and the coffee shop open for takeaways.

What I am enjoying most of all though, is being able to see our grandchildren indoors rather than at the end of our driveway.

On one occasion recently, one of them started to ask about a holiday that Ken and I had taken on a cruise ship. He had seen photos of a tender taking us to shore and he wanted to know how we could be certain that the ship would be there on our return to it. So, I explained all about the anchor and it started me thinking about its use as a Christian symbol for hope.

The author of the book of Hebrews uses the anchor as a metaphor of hope, stability and security for us in the storms of life.  

Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.

Hebrews 6:18–19 (New Living Translation)

The image of an anchor locked firmly into the seabed helps us to understand something about the nature of Christian hope.

Our lives often seem uncertain and unsafe, as ships are in a storm and, for many of us, the Covid 19 pandemic has brought to the surface many underlying insecurities. But ships can be safe, even during a storm, if their anchors hold firmly to something solid – the seabed. When we are anchored to God’s seabed, when we know that his word and character are true and solid, we are safe, even during great troubles. His anchor is one of confident hope for our souls.

 My prayer for us all is that we will be able to look to the Lord as our anchor, the only sure place, and constant heartbeat in an unsure world.

May God bless each one of you and keep you in his love and care.

Julie Hobbs

Licensed Lay Minister and Pastoral Care Assistant

Vicky has now joined our Core Leadership Team, and her ordination as a Deacon will follow later in the year.

You can watch Vicky’s licensing on the the youtube clip below. For more info from the Diocese and Bishop Viv, read the post here

You can watch an edited version of the service below, and underneath that is the full version of the service.

We asked Vicky to tell us a bit about this new stage, as we welcome her to the role.

Hello!

I’ve been training for ordination for the last two years, and I start work at St Michael’s on 6 July. I’ve been part of the church here for a long time and so starting on Monday feels a bit like coming home. But I have a totally different role so it is also a new start – and I have all the nerves that starting a new job brings. I am so grateful to you, my church family, for all the love and support (and food and coffee and book-lending and so on) over these two years – thank you.

One of the things we are called to do as we get ordained, is to ‘tell the story of God’s love.’ That is what I am most looking forward to. I don’t yet know exactly what that will look like (but I know it is not an essay that needs footnotes!) but it will be with people inside and outside the church, through Alpha, with families and individuals of all different ages and anyone else who stands still long enough.

Please pray for us as a family as we adjust to this new phase. Rob continues to run his film making business, Oliver (20) will be back for his third year at university in the autumn, and George (18) will – all being well – start university then too. It’s all change in the Wicks household, so please pray that it does not overwhelm those of us staying in Bristol. Please pray too that I can see, and join in with, what God is doing here in Stoke Gifford, and that there will be plenty of opportunities to tell his story.