Reflections from the Chair

26th October 2020

Reflections from the chair...

I do occasionally leave the world of Chaplaincy, and on one such pastoral visit to a rural group of parishes I asked the Vicar what they had heard from God through lockdown.  He offered three thoughts...

How important the community was, both the wider village community and the Christian community within that.

That the church buildings were less important than the village had thought.  There were now more people gathering together for morning prayer on zoom than there were before in church.  Many other aspects of pastoral care, service and worship had also continued.

That their eyes had been opened to some of the most vulnerable and isolated people within the community and they had been challenged about how they could engage with these people, working with partners across the whole village.

That may be familiar to us as chaplains.  Many of us have had no chapel buildings to either open or close, and we work, perhaps especially with the vulnerable and forgotten, even when they try to hide.  However, what have you heard God saying through this time, within your community and context?