In The Interregnum June 2023

Whilst St Andrew's Church is in interregnum, this page will see a variety of authors from St Andrew's Church and the Diocese

This month we hear from the Rev Sue Upton, Assistant Minister at St Nicholas’ Church Bradwell and member of the ministry team at St Andrew's during the interregnum 
 
Do you have capacity for any more celebrations after the excitement of The Coronation weekend last month? There were so many ways just to enjoy coming together and relaxing in each other’s company whether as family members, church communities, or the wider community, as games were played, crafts undertaken, and lots of eating and drinking enjoyed!
 
But June in our family has always been a month of celebration. I was born on my grandmother’s birthday; my father’s birthday was the following day and my aunt’s was the following week! An expensive time for those buying presents for everybody, but there was always lots of birthday cake to enjoy
 
Celebrations come in all shapes and sizes don’t they? Thinking back to all those birthday parties of past years – some of them really stand out in my memory because of the way that I celebrated them. My childhood birthday parties were always in the garden in bright sunshine – well that’s what my memory says – but in reality I know from the photographs that we were sometimes inside, presumably because the weather was anything but bright and sunny. Then there was the birthday as a student when Martin and I saved up hard and went out for a meal – quite unheard of in the ‘70’s, at least for us students anyway
 
We celebrate the special things – the births and marriages in the family, the birthdays and annual festivals such as Christmas and Easter. But, how about planning in smaller celebrations into our everyday lives. Since we have been married we have had a small celebration if the 3 football teams that we have supported all win on the same day. We started by putting aside 50p each week and if they all won we spent it. It became a Chinese takeaway if all 3 sides won - it’s amazing how infrequently we need to trouble the Chinese takeaway – well for that reason anyway!
 
Of course we need to celebrate the big things – though hopefully we won’t be celebrating another coronation too soon – but we also need to find ways to celebrate the little things in our lives. What sort of treat is there for completing that difficult task, or the one that you’ve been putting off for ages, even if it’s something as simple as weeding the drive, or clearing out that drawer that is so full that it doesn’t quite close anymore? How long is it since you invited someone round for coffee/tea just because you are glad that they are your friend?
 
At church we celebrate Jesus being our friend week in week out and that is a really important thing to celebrate with our friends. Sometimes at St Andrew’s we do that in very familiar words, particularly at the service at 8.00am on a Sunday, sometimes we are more free in our worship such as at most 10.00am services. The style doesn’t really matter. What matters is that we are taking time to celebrate this important relationship in our lives
 
What are you going to celebrate this week and how are you going to do it?
 
 
courtesy of St Andrew's Church in the Gorleston Community Magazine

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