As part of the week of Christian Unity, all the churches in Lymington and Pennington met at in the morning of Sunday 26th January in St Thomas Church, Lymington – for a Christians Together service.
Towards the end of January we invited the community to Pennington Church for an event of songs, reflections and poems to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Including the Straight Bananas acapella group, a specially commissioned piece by our director of music, Leigh Jerwood and local students performing readings and prayer – as we Stand Together as a community.
Rachel Noel, affectionately known by the local press as the Pink Vicar. Rachel had a particularly formational journey through curacy, during which she was diagnosed with Bipolar, ADHD and Sensory Processing Disorder, with strong autistic traits and is currently awaiting ASC assessment. She lives and works openly with these conditions, and has been licensed as Priest in Charge of St Mark’s Church, Pennington. Her gifts and symptoms include high energy, enthusiasm, creativity and love of colour (especially pink!), she loves exploring her faith and spirituality through creativity, stitch, paint and contemplation, and is a member of the Community of Hopeweavers.
For our Harvest Festival service, Maureen Harris, a member of neighbouring St Thomas’ Church in Lymingon and active in Traidcraft, talked to us about the importance of buying fairly traded goods – and why it makes a difference to the lives and communities of the growers and producers of items we take for granted.
What are we doing when we pray for healing? Rachel shares something of her own experience of an encounter with God, the gifts of the spirit, through a lower point in her life in hospital. Do we accept who we are – do we let go of our need to control, to always get it right, our fears: allowing us to step back and know God with us now?
On a Wednesday evening between Ascension and Pentecost, members of St Mark’s and St Thomas’ churches came together in Pennington, to ask those going about their evening in the centre of the village if we could pray for them. Some said “yes” – and in a special service later that evening, we brought these prayers before God.
On Wednesday evening, members of St Mark’s and St Thomas’ churches came together in Pennington, to ask those going about their evening in the centre of the village if we could pray for them.
In late 2016 through to early 2017, St Mark’s engaged the services of local conservator, Peter Martindale – to help restore the artwork that frames the chancel.