This Sunday is an Ember day: a time-honoured tradition that on certain days of the year - particularly on the Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays within the weeks before the Third Sunday of Advent and the Second Sunday of Lent, and on the Sundays nearest to 29th June and 29th September - we are called as a Church to pray for ministries and vocations.
Of course at this time of year, as we approach Petertide, it is very much the season of ordinations, and so we pray this week especially for Maria Stuttaford, who leaves this parish to begin her curacy in the Denswood Parish of Bethersden, Woodchurch & High Halden, and for Dr Steven Horne, who leaves his sending parish of the Wye Benefice to join us here in Ashford Town Parish as our new curate. It's going to be a wonderful weekend, with the ordination service at the Cathedral at 10.30am on Saturday (all are invited to attend - or you can watch it live-streamed on the Cathedral website), and Steven's first service as Deacon in the Parish, at St Mary's, Willesborough, at 10.00am on Sunday - again, please do come and join us if you would like to.
I would also call for prayers for all those who are ordained. This season is a time of joy for us, as we remember and recall the special day on which our lives were 'ordered' to the service of God in Christ and his Church. We should especially celebrate this week with The Revd Canon Paul Miller, who celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination with the Church community at St. Mary's, Ashford Town Centre, last Sunday - a huge milestone.
But, as the Church of England guidance on Ember days and the scripture readings set for Ember days remind us, we are all called to our vocation in Christ - by virtue of our baptism. We all have a part to play in the ministry of God's Church to the people of Ashford. So let us pray that as we celebrate, worship and pray together, the joy of this season will bring new light and new life to our town.
The Revd Teena Twelves