Hi, i am posting from the UK where I'm a member of a C of E parish. I am completing my first year as a regular church goer. I have tried church from time to time but find myself becoming weary of much of the cliques that i find exist. My local church got a new vicar. We hit it off and i have been able to learn so much about God. His views and mine on church are so similar. It is because of his encouragement and friendship that i have stuck with the church now for a year. He and his wife have become great friends. He even got my non-church going wife to come to a few services. I learnt this week that they are moving away. A fantastic opportunity for them and we are so happy. From a very selfish view point, i feel i am losing the rudder to my faith. I understand there will be a period where we will have no priest. I fear a fertile ground will emerge for those in the parish who like to make a noise and who run the place as their own little manor. My friend, who is a forward thinking inclusive vicar faced great hostility when he arrived. I dont want to go to church to fight and bicker. I want to leave each Sunday in peace to love and serve the Lord.
Hi Pontboy, and welcome among us. In the main this is one of the friendliest forums on the internet. There is I would think no person on this forum who does not understand what you are thinking and feeling. I know, and you know, that it is easy to fear the worst, and indeed it may come to pass, however you do not have to deal with it until you have to deal with it. Listen in amidst of the noise and rabble for the still small voice of calm. Maybe your very presence can add something to the mix, and you will be able to be clear about the things you have learned of God. Do not fight and bicker, and do not be a doormat. Nurture the seed that has been planted in you, protect it, and let it bloom. People (and I include vicars in that) are sometimes in our lives for a reason, and sometimes in our lives for a season, and some of them leave something that will be with us for a very long time if not the rest of our lives. Growing in faith may need us to understand the rudder a little better. The rudder for our lives is not the person (vicar or ...) but Christ in that person. The traditional Anglican diet is understood as feasting at two tables, word and sacrament. Don't give up on either, for they will see you through, and listen even more carefully for what God has for you in the people who annoy you the most. I suspect that sometimes God likes to tease us like that. If you need to challenge someone for what they do or say, do it prayerfully, quietly and privately. let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.