Vicar's Letter

The NEW Vicar of St Paul’s Ruislip Manor…has arrived! 

“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” John 10:10 

My dear sheep, (for that is what you all now are…) It is a joy and a privilege to be with you as your shepherd. 

Thankyou to all of you for the wonderful welcome, and all the hard work that has gone into making the induction and beginning of my ministry with you so smooth. I feel so blessed that you are now my flock, and I look forward to the years ahead as we continue to build the Kingdom, here at St Paul’s Ruislip Manor. 

I thought I would write a precis of my inaugural sermon for the article this month and again share with you my vision, promises and offering as your new priest. (Later in the newsletter there will also be a little biography about me too). 

So I said how in my ministry here I am going to offer you 5 things, and each of them requires you to bounce back with me in support of those. 

PRAY – I am going to devote my life to pray for you, day and night, in different ways, including in the daily office - I am going to be a prayer warrior. If I am not praying, I will be a terrible priest, and I want to be a good one. 

To guide my prayer life I meet regularly with a spiritual director, and I take retreat. In return please pray for me, please ask me if I’m praying (and if I say that’s going badly, encourage me to go and pray and sort it out, in fact, demand me to do so) please also join with me – I don’t know how that pattern is going to look yet as I need to work out the diary and days off etc, but do come and pray with me. 

TALK – I am going to talk, a lot (as you’ve probably realised!) But I want to use the language of the Bible and talk using the breath of God. I want to talk everyday about Jesus who is the Christ and tell every person of Ruislip Manor of the Good News that changes lives. For me to do that I need to keep reading the scriptures (and the many books in my library!)  

I also need to keep learning and studying, every day, of the richness of God, so again you can join me in that journey of discovery. 

To be a good talker one must be a good listener and so my ears are ready for you, please talk to me, share with me, question me, challenge me, congratulate me, encourage me. 

I also love silence and sometimes we’ll just let God do the talking… 

LOVE – I promise you, that while I am your Vicar, I will LOVE you! I’m going to love you with the face and feelings of Christ. And loving is more than liking, getting on or tolerance.

Love is patient, it is forgiveness, it is heart-breaking, but it is healing. 

Do love me, of course I’m going to bring change and difference and new ideas, simply by being me and starting a new ministry, but you’ll get used to me, so let us journey together, in love! 

We will laugh together, we will cry together, but we must follow the command of Jesus to Love one another. And even when sadness or even evil steps in, we must be ready, with God on our side. For as Gabriel said to Mary “do not be afraid,” may we be assured that we have the best armour, for Love is our weapon. 

SERVE – As your vicar I now have your souls as my responsibility – I am your shepherd, but I am here to serve you, to spiritually guide you, I will feed you, teach you (possibly admonish you sometimes), I will nurture you, I will preside at the altar and offer you His sacraments, I will hear confessions, anoint and offer blessing. 

I will wash your feet on Maundy Thursday and I will share my life with you. 

Please let me serve you and help me to serve you. How can you do that? 

You can let me in, talk to me, invite me round, I would love to visit you all and I would love to see you all at the Vicarage soon (party dates coming…) I want you to feel at home in my home – of course sometimes I need some time out, and I will take my day off, enjoy my holidays and need time to rest and I Thank you for supporting me in that. But if you are in need, then let me know. 

Communicate with me – and yes sometimes I’ll be busy, but we can always make a date to meet. And do remember that I have quite a good relationship with my Lord and Master, but he doesn’t tell me everything – so if you haven’t told me – I don’t know! If you are not well or require a visit or a chat, just let me know and let’s be responsible communicators together, in Christ. 

I like to think that there is a reason for everything I do, especially in worship, so if there is something you don’t understand then ask me and I’ll tell you why I do it! 

Finally FUN – We are going to have a phenomenal time, on occasions outrageous, we’re not going to be silly – and sometimes we are called to be quite serious – we won’t be too joyful on Good Friday, but we must rejoice and have fun: Why? Because Jesus desires it of us. 

A few chapters earlier than today’s Gospel, Jesus offers my favourite verse of the whole scriptures: He says “I came that they may have life” – So Jesus calls us to life, to live, to love – but if we read on, He also says “and have it abundantly”. 

Jesus doesn’t want us to simply have life or survive, he wants us to truly live, he wants us to have it all, full to overflowing. 

As Christians we have truth and life - why would we not enjoy that in all it’s fullness and fun? 

I like things done well, I like order, I like good time management, but I am not precious, and I believe God has a great sense of humour, we are to have fun. I will keep my promise made at my ordination to the priesthood and again at my induction, to stir you all up…in the spirit. 

I am here to PRAY for you, 

to TALK (and listen), 

to LOVE you, 

to SERVE, 

to have FUN. 

I share with you some words from Ecclesiastes 3: 

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 

a time to be born, and a time to die; 

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 

a time to weep, and a time to laugh; 

a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 

a time to seek, and a time to lose; 

a time to keep, and a time to throw away; 

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” 

A New Season, and a new time has begun, and this is our time, With love and blessings, from your Vicar and New Shepherd

Fr Tommy