Recently, on one of my days off, I was in Leigh on Sea and went into a shop which has just opened, called ‘The Refill Room.’ The main ethos of the shop is to eliminate single use packaging. There are shelves full of glass dispensers containing all kinds of organic foods like nuts, cereals, different rices, chocolate, herbs, flours, loose leaf tea and ground coffee beans to name just a few. In fact, I saw varieties of foods I have never heard of before. You take your own container or buy the packaging in store and pay for the weight of the product. They also sell things like soaps, shampoos, cleaning products, water bottles, coffee cups, metal straws and sandwich boxes.

I had a look on their website and it says,

‘The origin of the store stemmed from the owner Gemma, who has a growing concern about the ecological state of the world. Gemma’s husband is a diver and has seen first- hand what the wastage and over use of un-recyclable plastic products has done to our oceans and they wanted to do something about it.’

Pope Francis, in his encyclical letter, back in 2015, said:

‘The earth cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22).’

God calls us to be good stewards of the creation with which he has blessed us and it is a call which we must all take seriously. And, to this end, following the impassioned campaign and speech by 15 year old Swede, Greta Thunberg, last week thousands of schoolchildren and young people joined a strike to challenge politicians to tackle the escalating ecological crisis. More than 10,000 young people in at least 60 towns and cities from the Scottish Highlands to Cornwall joined the strike. Our son and a fellow pupil at his school, with the permission of their headteacher, organised a three-hour strike, during which time the students wrote letters urging the Government to act upon this.

As I was in ‘The Refill Room,’ I spotted a book called ‘Living Plastic Free,’ and it inspired me to see if our family, in the 40 day run up to Easter, can try to have a plastic free Lent. Perhaps you might like to join us in this challenge. But even if you don’t do that, I challenge you to try to minimise the amount of plastic you use. Perhaps, if you don’t do so already, you could carry a cup in your bag so that, if you are offered tea or coffee in a paper or polystyrene cup, you can use your own instead.

Just as God calls us to care for the environment, he also calls us to care for one another. This year, the Thurrock Food Bank, already supported by many of you, has created a Lent Challenge which is included in this magazine and you might like to join in with this and take the things you collect to one of the foodbank boxes in each of our churches.

And, finally, as you prepare to celebrate Easter, if you have anyone to buy Easter eggs for, you may like to consider buying either a Fairtrade egg ‘The Real Easter Egg’, from the Meaningful Chocolate Company, with chocolate which has been ethically produced and which contains the Easter Story, or a plastic free organic Easter egg from the Refill Room. Just a few ideas to reflect upon…

With continued love and prayers for you all.

God bless, Sue x

Rector’s Reflections

I hope you had a blessed and peaceful Christmas; thank you, so much, for all your cards, presents and greetings. And may I take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year!

We are now well into 2019 and there is, of course, lots happening in our world, our nation and our local community.

I really urge you to keep praying for our Government as they are faced with the task of negotiating and securing Brexit deals. It is an unenviable job, yet so easy for us, whatever our view, to sit on the side lines and criticise. May I encourage you to continue to pray for our leaders that, in all this decision making, God’s will might be done to create a worldwide community which is fair and just for all. Of course, we do need to be mindful that, whenever we pray, we need to be prepared to answer that prayer ourselves.

Those of us who are Christians appreciate the joy and privilege of being members of God’s family. But God, as well as giving us this deep sense of joy, also calls us to make sacrifices. One of the ways he calls us to do this is in our sharing of the resources he has given us, including our time and money.

In all Church of England churches, as many of you know, we have a Parish Share to pay, which is to finance clergy, clergy housing and insurance, the training of priests and the pension fund. In addition, churches have to pay their own in-house bills for things like heating, water, repairs, maintenance, service sheets, ministerial expenses and giving outside the parish. As three parishes in relatively affluent areas, we are also called to support poorer parishes in the Diocese.

Whilst, in 2018, we celebrated many good things, the end of the year was marred by the huge struggle to meet our Parish Share costs. We did manage to fulfil our payment, as we did in 2017, but a significant amount of this money was taken out of reserves which are now depleted, to complement our monies accrued through giving and fundraising.

Our Benefice Share, alone, for 2019 is £82,614 which, divided between the three parishes, requires Orsett to pay £35,425, Bulphan £17,828 and Horndon £29,361. This is before we even begin to add our in-house bills, resulting in the weekly cost of keeping our three churches open, with a serving stipendiary priest and self-supporting associate priest, approaching three thousand pounds.

Before Christmas, all clergy in Essex received a letter from Bishop Stephen, our Diocesan Bishop, stating that the Diocese of Chelmsford is similarly struggling. It received insufficient Parish Share money to pay its clergy last year, so this deficit had to be mitigated by the use of savings and the selling of vacant clergy properties, both of which are unsustainable means of income. Bishop Stephen stated, ‘…the message we need to give out in our parishes is very simple: if you want stipendiary priests serving your parish, then pay the Parish Share.’

I would like to thank those of you who give to the Churches in the Benefice, through one off donations, envelopes, standing orders, direct debit and loose plate collections and to those who organise and support fundraising events. Your contribution is greatly appreciated.

As the Priest in Charge, I am rooting for our Churches here. We have a committed worshipping community with lots of people working hard and I believe it is the desire of us all that the churches remain open for occasional services such as weddings, baptisms, funerals and regular acts of worship and that they continue to thrive, grow and share the love of God with others, with the continued support and guidance of a stipendiary priest.

Sadly, though, the reality is that our income falls far short of our Parish Share costs, let alone the other bills and, currently, the huge amount of time required for fund raising limits the opportunity for the mission of the Church. We will only be able to meet our expenses and continue our ministry effectively if our regular giving increases significantly.

All three parishes have now registered with a scheme called the Parish Giving Scheme, whereby tax payers are able to give by direct debit. This has the advantage over standing order in that each parish is able to receive the Gift Aid rebate of 25% within only a few days of each payment being made. There is also the opportunity to tick a box agreeing to a yearly increase at the rate of inflation. In Bulphan and Orsett they are already using this scheme and Horndon will be launching it in due course.

As a regular or occasional congregation member or someone who has benefited from an important service, please do pray and consider whether you might be able to support us financially on a regular basis or, if you are already doing this, whether you might be able to increase your giving or join the Parish Giving Scheme, for which each of the churches has packs. I would be very happy for you to contact me with any questions you might have and am sure that the wardens or treasurers would be happy to do the same.

With love and prayers, Sue