I’d like to thank you for the warm welcome we’ve received since arriving in Ketton, and particular thanks to the Church Wardens, and everybody involved in the Induction service. It was a very warm and joyful beginning to my ministry here in Ketton & Tinwell.
Rutland is a beautiful place, and I feel very privileged to live and work here; having grown up on an inner city council estate in Hull, the small child in me is quite simply amazed! We never know quite where the journey of life will lead us, which I think is quite an appropriate thing to reflect on as we approach Christmas. We remember a young woman, a girl really, travelling into the unknown with her unborn child. When they arrive at a dark and dangerous place, they receive little welcome, other than from shepherds, the outcasts of their time, and from foreign travellers, their culture quite different. But, of course, God was in the midst of that place. Christmas has always been a fundamental part of my faith, and I believe that it should shape who we are as a Church, this is why my personal vision for us as a community is to be a truly open and inclusive church, where each of us are special, including the vulnerable, the outcast, and the poorest, never withholding support or compassion. This is the beginning of a new journey for us in Ketton and in Tinwell, following in the way of Mary who carried Christ, and made Christmas possible. Blessings. Revd Dean.