Farewell
The 6th October (Harvest Festival in Tavistock) brings to a close Steve Martin’s curacy with us in the Benefice. Steve will be presiding and preaching at the 9.45 am Eucharist in Tavistock Church. This is a Benefice service (there will be no services at Brentor or Gulworthy that day so that all who wish to come are able to do so). Following the service, a lunch will be held for Steve, Caroline, Henry and John in the Parish Centre, during which we will be able to express our thanks to them all, and to Steve and for his ministry as Curate among us. We will miss them all very much indeed. Steve will take up his new post as Rector of the Holyford Mission Community and Priest-in-Charge of Northleigh on the 20th November at a service to be conducted by Bishop Jackie in Colyton Church at 7.30 pm. Everyone is welcome and a coach will be leaving Tavistock at 5.15 pm on the 20th November (details in our churches, cost £7 return) for those who would like to go. We are delighted for Steve and Caroline, Henry and John, as they enter this next stage of their lives. We wish them well and surround them with our love and prayers. May God continue to bless them.
All Saints’ Day
An advance notice for your diaries: On Sunday 3rd November, the first Sunday of November, special services will be held in the Benefice. The first will be a commemoration of “All Saints” at 9.45 am in Tavistock and Christ Church, Brentor, and at 11.15 am in Gulworthy. The period around All Saints’ Day focuses our thoughts towards “the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins and the life everlasting. The prayer for All Saints’ Day affirms that God has knit together his elect “into one communion and fellowship”.
Commemoration of the Faithful Departed
The second will be a commemoration of the faithful departed. “All Souls Day” is the completion of All Saints; it acknowledges human sadness and grief at the loss of our loved ones. Together these two days proclaim the message: “Death is not the end. The saints in heaven were the saints on earth, and death was the door from our earth to their heaven. So it shall be for us.” This is the Christian hope and it is founded in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. On Friday 1st November a service of reflections and readings will be held at Christ Church Brentor for All Souls, and on the evening of the 3rd November I am planning a Benefice Service also as a Special Act of Remembrance for all those who have been recently bereaved or who would like to remember a loved one from years past. This service to commemorate the faithful departed will be held at Tavistock Church at 6 pm. During this service we will remember those who have died by name and candles will be lit as a symbol of hope. The service will be simple and include a performance of the Fauré Requiem. I hope that many individuals and families will want to be present for one or both of these acts of Remembrance and Thanksgiving.
With my love and prayers.
Chris Hardwick