This weekend I went to visit my aunt’s grave. Auntie Veronica (or Auntie Barometer as she was affectionately known) was a Catholic nun – Order of the Poor Child
Jesus. This Order was founded to look after poor children – teaching, running orphanages etc. In her time, my aunt was a teacher and also ran the children’s home in Sheffield, the town where I grew up. She also held different positions within the Order over the many years that she served.

When Veronica died, one of the sisters in the convent asked if I would like Veronica’s Daily Office book – the prayer book that she would have used several times a day for over fifty years. When I had a chance to look at this book in detail, I discovered that Veronica had tucked different items into the cover. One piece of paper was a photocopy of a photograph of an uncle of hers who was a monk, with some details of his life typed underneath. She had also placed in there a photograph of her and her parents on the day of her Solemn Profession – the day when she formally became a nun.

It moved me very much to find these items and to realise that my calling to ordained ministry is part of a thread that runs through my family. One day, I will place a photo of me on my ordination day in with the other photos and hopefully pass on the prayer book to someone else in the family is also called to set their life apart in some way for God.

Many of us at MCC Newcastle do not have children of our own and may wonder what our legacy will be in the world.  One of the things that I love about being part of MCC worldwide is feeling as though I am part of history. Our founder, Reverend Troy Perry, is still alive and well and active in ministry. I still am able to draw on the wisdom and support of many more experienced colleagues. At the same
time, I have now been in MCC for over 24 years and have seen other people grow and develop in their faith journey. Hopefully, I have helped and encouraged some of them in this.

Who is part of your faith family tree? Who has supported, encouraged and challengedyou?  Who are you nurturing and supporting in your turn? This week, perhaps you
would like to thank God for these people and even send them a card or a little message. It is good to be part of a faith family.

God bless,

Cecilia
 

The Church Size Summit is nearly upon us!
 
“What is that?” I hear you ask!

MCC Newcastle is hosting a two day training conference on 8th and 9th February. MCCers from many of our UK churches, as well as from Germany and even New Zealand will be attending. Many of you kindly completed the congregational survey which will give our Elder, Reverend Elder Darlene Garner, valuable information about your church experience.

The Board and I also completed several other surveys, based on our roles and different aspects of our church life together, such as stewardship (looking after all our resources wisely), leadership, our policies and other documents, the different activities and events that we offer.

The Church Size Summit will be an opportunity for us to learn about different sizes of churches and how they need to function, in order to best serve God and God’s people. During the two days, Darlene will give us specific feedback from the MCC Newcastle surveys we submitted and those of us attending the CSS will develop an action plan for MCC Newcastle, based on her recommendations. 
 
All of this process needs to be “bathed in prayer”. The two Elders leading the event, Darlene and Rev. Elder Dr. Mona West, are preparing their work for us. They will need the guidance of the Holy Spirit in discerning what to learn from the many surveys from the different churches that are gathering. Those of us who are attending need to arrive in good order and be willing to hear what we need to learn – even if it feels a bit uncomfortable or challenging. We also need to rejoice in the many positive things about our ministry that we will also hear and hopefully get a real sense of what God is calling us to do and be over the next year or more.

MCC Newcastle is hosting this event because of the excellent welcome, hospitality and technical support we offer. Prayers are needed for the many people who will
volunteer of their time and talents leading up to and during this weekend, to make it a great success for all the churches involved and for the Elders too. 

Please keep us all in prayer, as we lead up to the Church Size Summit.
 
Let’s make it fabulous and beautiful!

God bless,

Cecilia

Happy New Year! Here’s to a year of blessing and good things.

As we start this New year, my ears have been assaulted by all the debate about the Church of England now allowing gay men in Civil Partnerships to become bishops, as long as they remain celibate and renounce previous sexual activity. This has been the stance for allowing gay men to become ordained for some time and just extends the ruling to those called to be bishops.

At the same time as this was going on, there were the announcements about the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list. The Radio 4 programme iPM awards its own New Year’s Honour, to someone nominated by its listeners. This year the award went to Stu Thomson, a youth worker working on a deprived South London estate, to offer the young people there an alternative to drug and gang culture and lives
of extreme violence. You can listen to the interview by clicking here.

 Mr Thomson sounds like a very reluctant hero and clearly is very committed to this challenging work of turning around the lives of young people. What impressed me the most though was his motivation for doing this work. In the same understated manner he used to describe the day to day challenges of his role, he talked about how he believed God had called him to leave retail work in Cardiff and move to London to work with these young people.

At the beginning of the New Year, it was thought provoking and humbling to hear the story of a man so willing to listen to God’s call and to use that as a basis for trying to make a difference in the lives of others, no matter how difficult or
even futile it might seem to others.

For me, this is what being a Christian means. Hearing God’s call in our lives and working with others to make a difference. When so much of what we hear in the media just seems to be about who isn’t allowed to serve God, it is heartening to remember that millions of Christians all over the world are quietly working to bring a bit of heaven here on earth - today and every day.

May you hear God’s call in your life this year and may it be a rich blessing to you.

 God bless,

 Cecilia