Clergy Letter

Are you free?

We have more than a year of lockdown restrictions to look back on. Just think back on how many changes we’ve seen, how we’ve had to get our heads around new ways of living, of co-operating, and of thinking.

As we head towards what we are hoping is a far fuller state of freedom this month and beyond, we know we’re not totally out of the woods on Covid19 globally, or even here in the UK, but suddenly, with the vaccination programme continuing its rollout and infection rates dropping off, there is a sense of freedom ahead. So, if we are supposed to be more ‘free’, why does it feel to many of us as though we’ve lost something along the way? Maybe it’s a sense of meaning in life which you’re feeling a lack of, or you’re simply finding it hard to navigate the new landscape after an emotionally draining year which has depleted your energy and sense of purpose? Many of us have taken a bit of a battering this past year, and all of us have had comfortable assumptions about our way of life challenged, I am sure. Do we feel ‘free’ yet, and what does that even mean? The Bible talks a lot about freedom, and often these words of liberation were spoken to people living in uncertain or oppressive times, so how can these words help us in the situation we find ourselves in?

Our churches are starting a monthly service called ‘Unlocked’ which is aimed to help people with no or little background as churchgoers to engage in a relaxed way with what the Christian Faith has to say about living a life which is free and flourishing. At 6pm on the 4th Saturday of the month, starting in June at St Mary’s, Boston Spa, ‘Unlocked’ is a brand new, informal church service featuring contemporary music and videos, led by me, and seeks to create a relaxed, chilled, prayerful atmosphere and include reflections on texts from the Bible. After a year of lockdowns, we wanted to offer a Christian perspective on how our faith can ‘unlock’ our potential as human beings, and free us to flourish. This year’s programme is called ‘Faith let loose’, pondering with help from the Bible, how to make sense of a life, the world, ourselves and God, as followers of Jesus. This is church, but not as you know it, and not on a Sunday. Since it finishes by 7pm, the rest of the evening’s your own, and you can combine church with an evening meal out in one of our many local pubs and restaurants, and still get a Sunday morning lie in. I appreciate that Sunday mornings are not ideal times for churchgoing for many households for a variety of reasons, so I hope that this early Saturday evening slot is a helpful time to allow people who otherwise would find accessing church tricky to join us. Our Sunday services do of course continue, and you would be very welcome to join us in our worship there as well, or online via our Facebook page (search for Bramham Benefice there). Everyone is welcome, no previous experience of church necessary, so please look at your diaries for these dates and ask ‘Am I free?’, then come along and ask the same question.

REV NICK