October Magazine Foreword

Dear friends,

As the days go by my anticipation level rises. I believe that St Mary’s is about to start a new and exciting chapter in its history. As you all know we have a new Rector, Revd Nerys Brown; she isn’t here yet, but she will be, if all goes well, some time in November. As she comes back to us she will find that the St Mary’s she left is not the St Mary’s she’s coming back to. We have moved on and done some good and exciting things. When she left us, we had no Messy Church, our church building was not the well cared for newly renovated place it is now. Young Church and the Youth Group were not so great in numbers and were not the thriving groups they are now. Many people have worked really hard to make these changes and they are good ones. You may very well be able to add more to my list, I haven’t been comprehensive. Many of these changes are Nick’s legacy to us, and for that we must thank him.

Now it is time for us to move on some more, as Nerys comes to us, for just as we have moved on since Nerys was last with us, so Nerys too has moved on since she was last with us. She left us a Lay Reader, and a very good one at that, who had worked hard with the children in Dunblane, going into the schools, being one of the people behind the development of Radio Rainbow, which has now run for many years. She comes back to us a mature, creative and effective priest, ready, willing and able to lead us to a deeper discipleship and a renewed commitment to our Lord and Saviour and to the tasks he sets before us as we live to bring his kingdom closer in our changing and sometimes frightening world. She also comes to us with a very different kind of authority to share with us than she had before. Then she was our lay reader, under the authority of our Rector. She comes back to us as our Rector, with all the authority her office bestows on her and that is a very different place to be.

Exciting times are ahead, please pray for Nerys as she prepares to come to us, and for St Mary’s that we will welcome and support her and the new things she will help us to see and do.

Love and prayers,

Jeanette