Vicars letter

September 2020

Click for the Vicars letter from August 2020

Making our new normal

Back from holidays. Back to school, college or university. Perhaps even back to work. But definitely not back to normal. The consequences of this extraordinary time that we are living in continue, and seem set to for many, many months to come. Despite these consequences - which affect all of us, but in different ways - I still give thanks for the beauty of the rural area in which we live. I give thanks because I know that things could always be so much worse if we did not have the beauty of our countryside and garden around us. While we may have down days because of the way the restrictions affect the things we normally want to do, it does us good to spare a moment to think of those who are not as fortunate as we are and to be grateful for what we do have.

If you are going back to school, college or university, I trust that you will be able to settle down into the new routine and the new way of doing things quickly so that you can enjoy your time, the learning of new skills and building your knowledge. If you are going back to work, I trust that this too will be smooth and you settle into the routine easily. Our work is not the be-all and end-all, it does not solely define who we are, but it is an important part of our lives. Things may not be as they were; you may have to accept that and work on the new normal, the new routine, and make it work for you. I trust you can find a way to do that quickly.

If you are fortunate enough to be going back to work, then please take some time to think of those in our community who want to but find that they cannot. The financial impact of these extraordinary times are starting to take effect. I hope that we will soon be able to report on the setting up of a proper Food Bank for Benenden and Sandhurst. If you are interested in helping, please give me a call.

Two other things to let you know about - dates for your diary:

Our re-scheduled Annual Parish Meeting (for the election of churchwardens) and Annual Parochial Church Meeting (reporting and elections of other posts) takes place at 7.30pm on Wednesday 23 September in St George’s Church.
• Ylva Blid-Mackenzie, our new curate, will be starting with us on Sunday 30 August. She will be at the 8am service at St Nicholas and the 10am service at St George’s; please make her very welcome. Ylva’s ordination is going ahead on Saturday 26 September at 4pm, at Canterbury Cathedral. The service will be ticket only and numbers will be limited due to current restrictions, but it will be streamed live. See the church website for details when they are released.

Revd. David Commander
Rector

Benefice of Benenden and Sandhurst

T: 01580 240658 E: david@dc-uk.co.uk