Over the last 15 months or so, we have been praying for God to send us the right person to be our new Rector, or - as we now expect - Vicar.  Romans 12 tells us to rejoice in hope and to persevere in prayer. There were times when there were apparent disappointments, two rounds of advertising that failed to find the right person, but  they were not failures, just steps on the journey. God used the time to change our thinking, resulting in the recognition that St Mary's and St Andrew's may well function better as separate parishes again and so to focus on someone for St Andrew's alone (hence reverting to "vicar").

We have been praying for God to "tap the right person on the shoulder and say, psst, this one…". God did just that. The Revd Dr Mike Branscombe will be licenced as Priest in Charge of St Andrew's on Thursday 6th September. We rejoice and give thanks for answered prayer. Do you feel to have been praying a long time with no answer? keeping praying ... and be prepared to be changed yourself.

Sometimes it seems that we expect our vicars to wear blue lycra with a red S on the front. God can only give us a real person, with his or her particular gifts. We look forward to Mike's ministry with his gifts whilst remembering that each of us is still part of the one body - it's not all down to the Vicar alone, we all need to play our part. Romans 12 also tells us that: "For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function,  so we, who are many, are one body in Christ …  We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us". We look forward to welcoming Mike & family to team St Andrew's.

DG. co-webmaster