By Revd. Neil Lambert, St Mary’s Ash Vale
Welcome to this very special edition of The Parishioner Magazine, where we are celebrating our amazing local churches and all the love, support and joy they bring to our local community.
In the season of Pentecost we are celebrating the very beginning of the church, which happened in Jerusalem all those years ago. You can find the story in Acts 2 in your bible. I just love these paintings by Giotto, which you can find in the Scrovegni chapel in Padua, Italy. In this amazing cycle of paintings of the life and resurrection of Christ we have two fascinating pictures of Jesus’s disciples. In one of them they are sitting with him at the Last Supper (John 13), and in a later one they are with another member of The Trinity, the Holy Spirit, at Pentecost. You will notice that at the Last Supper, the disciples had halos, but Jesus is the only one with a golden one. In the second painting they all have a golden halo, and fire resting above their heads.
What excites me about this Pentecost painting, is that it speaks about the beginning of the church, where God has not abandoned his people, but has come, not only to live with them, but to live in them. What an amazing effect this had on the disciples. This worried, fearful, group are transformed, freed from fear. They have become people of freedom, who don’t shy away from speaking truth and justice. As the hymn says “My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth and followed Thee”
That same freedom that they experienced is available to each one of us today. Coming out of a year of pandemic, there is a lot of fear in our community. As churches, we want to say to you, that we should not be fearful of engaging with one another and also with God. If we can help you with that, we would love to! Get in touch, pop in, and let’s share our freedom and learn from each other.
Neil
Vicar: Rev Neil Lambert, 203 Vale Road, Ash Vale, Surrey, GU12 5JE,
email: revneil@me.com
Parish Administrator
Jackie Scott
E-mail parishoffice@ash-vale.org.uk
Office Hours Tues 11am-4pm, Thurs 10am-3pm
Parish Office Mobile: 9am-5pm: 07863 311165
Churchwardens
Martin Lindsay
Nikki Glover
Hon. Treasurer
Patrick Brown
Sunday Services 10am – pop in and join us!