From The Vicar...

AS we enjoy the beginning of summer, warmer weather, and the chance to spend a bit more time outdoors, we are starting to think as a church about the blessings, the good moments, ‘the summers’ if you like, of our life at St Ann with Emmanuel. Let me explain...

As we think about the life of our church and the dreams we hold for the future I have felt that there are three important principles to follow. Firstly, that as many people as possible are involved in our thinking together; secondly that we think about our best and what we are grateful for, and finally that we get the view from those around us who are not in the church.

As a church you have elected people you trust to take responsibilities for the life of the church – the PCC (Parish Church Council) – and a small group from the PCC have given some thought to how we can go about this work of thinking about our past, present and future. This group will be gathering people’s views over the next few weeks and then the whole PCC will spend a day together in July drawing conclusions from all that we have discovered. We will then feed that back to the church and check that the vision we are developing together feels broadly right.

So first, it is really important that as many views as possible are heard and taken into account. There will be different ways to do this:

Interviews with you

A little questionnaire in church later in June

A couple of chances to meet in focus groups to answer some questions

We want to make sure we have a good cross section of people in the church from different backgrounds, different ages and different lengths of time of being part of the church. We will therefore be asking people if we can interview them. There will also be a chance for anyone to sign up for an interview, and to be part of one of the focus groups which will be held at different times of the day.

Secondly, we will focus on positives and what we are thankful and grateful for in our lives and in the life of the church. We will remember when we have felt most alive and energised spiritually and focus on what is good and blessed. And we will gather our wishes and imagine our future together.

Thirdly, we will interview and ask questions outside the church which will help us understand our context and how we might develop our connections with our community and working in it.

So, during June and July – please join in with our ‘Vision Project’.

Every Blessing, Karen

Hi, my name is Jo Tatum...

I grew up in Nottingham, went to school at the High School and worked in retail until I was in my mid twenties. On a bit of a whim I went off and worked as an air stewardess for a season and on finishing decided to move to Guernsey for a while. However time went by, I met and married Brian and had two children and before I knew it, over 20 years had gone by! Whilst growing up I attended a Church of England school and had a very simple childish faith, the years of my adolescence and twenties meant that I replaced my faith with other things (like many young people). But the preparation for the birth of my first child also heralded a renewed sense of wanting a relationship with God and so I went to the parish church and enrolled for Confirmation classes. However the local church was sadly not blessed with many resources for a young family and so as my husband and I came to a living faith, it became obvious we needed a church that was friendly for all of our family. So for many years we attended an Elim Pentecostal Church. My husband Brian lead the worship group and together we led home groups and I developed a prayer and small group ministry. We both knew that eventually we would return to the UK and so when the opportunity for me to explore my calling to serve God and go to St John's college presented itself we packed up our home in Guernsey and returned to Nottingham.

As part of my training at St John’s we are placed in a local church to serve alongside the incumbent priest and learn the workings of parish ministry. So here I am at St Ann with Emmanuel, the welcome and affection that we have received is wonderful and I look forward to many happy months ahead!

Intercessions in Church

Tuesday 29th June - 7.30pm

A meeting at the church for everyone who does prayers in church and for anyone who would like to learn more about leading public prayer.

On The Way

Fighting the Fear

Fighting the Fear -  Saturday 3rd July, 10am-3.30pm 

at St Ann with Emmanuel Church

An interactive day organised by the Nottingham Deaneries to reflect on people’s spiritual experience, the work of the Spirit of God, and our connections with people’s spiritual journeys outside the church.

Refreshments Provided. Please bring your own Lunch. 

It will be a stimulating and interesting day.... drawing on our own  

experience, and developments in spirituality in the workplace and in schools.

It's Dust One Of Those Things

You can come from 9 to 11
Or perhaps a short time in between
And then class yourself as a member
Of your church cleaning team

The day we meet is on Friday
Just come and go when you must
Mop a small area, vacuum or sweep
Or get out a duster and dust

If it’s around 10am when you’re with us
That’s the time when we stop for tea,
Or coffee if this be your preference
With a biscuit, no charge, it’s free!

From the Vicar...

Isn’t it the case that X Marks the Spot on a map showing where the treasure is ? Jesus said, ‘where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’ I don’t think he had the saga of Pirates of the Caribbean in mind, rather he was drawing attention to the way our hearts are focussed on what we value, which very often is our wealth, and means and livelihood. And Jesus calls those who would follow him to take their attention away from their own circumstances and narrow concerns, and to focus instead on what matters ‘in heaven’.

On May 6th we have the opportunity, that comes to us every 5 years, to put our X next to the name of a prospective parliamentary candidate. Our X will mark the spot where our values find the best fit against the values of a candidate or a political party. In a sense our X will mark the spot where our treasure is – it will express what is important to us, where our hearts are.

Each of the main parties have values which draw on values we might call Christian, and each party has activists and MP’s who are open about their Christian faith. Most MP’s, whether or not they sign up to any particular faith, are passionate about changing society and making it a better place for everyone.

Having a chance to put our X against a name in global and historical terms is a real privilege – especially for women. Even if we think the system needs reforming, at least we have a chance to make our mark. Where our heart is - our true values, not what we say we value – can be read in what we do. So our values will come out as we vote. What does your default vote tell you about your values? It might be helpful as well for us to think about Jesus’ values. Who did he value – who did he spend his time with – what were his greatest concerns? Might that change the way we vote? And will we allow the commandment to ‘love our neighbour as ourselves’ to guide us both to the spot we where we place our X, and place our energies?

Yours in Christ, Karen.

Good News!!

Each Nottingham East candidate signed the Sanctuary Pledge on 16th April promising, among other things, to support policies that will end the detention of children and families for immigration reasons.

Rainbow Project

Saturday 8th May

10-3pm—with a focus on the work of the Rainbow project. Drop in for an hour or stay all day and enjoy space and time to pray.
Light lunch and Holy Communion 1-2pm.

Everybody is welcome.

Hope and Thanksgiving