Annual Report 2023

Dear Parishioners,

It is with gratitude and joy that I present an annual report of St. Michael's Parish Church for the year 2023. This year has been filled with blessings, challenges, and growth as we continue to serve our community and deepen our faith.

Ministry Highlights

Worship Services:

Despite the challenges posed by the recovery from pandemic, we have adapted our worship services, JAM has started, with the addition of additional lay ministry thanks to Lucy and Chris Metcalf Stewart. We also restarted occasional deanery evensongs, beginning at Saint Michael’s and elsewhere in the deanery. We will also be holding Compline, as a response to our need to deepen our prayer life as a church. Our monetary giving in services has increased during 2023, a significant development.

Community Outreach:

Our parish remains committed to serving those within our community, our monthly open café “tea and talk” has begun. We have faced a significant pastoral event within our parish and reached out to the community.

Youth and Family:

From partnering with our church school, and to Karen, Lucy and Chris working with Sunday School we are dedicated to fostering a strong foundation of faith and community.

Pastoral Care:

Our pastoral care team has provided compassionate support to those facing illness, loss, and other challenges. Through prayer, counselling, and outreach, we strive to offer comfort and guidance to all members of our church family and geographical parish.

Challenges and Opportunities:

While we celebrate our successes, we also acknowledge the challenges that lie ahead. Financial sustainability, outreach to newcomers, and the ongoing need for spiritual renewal are areas where we must continue to focus our efforts. To this end, during 2024 we will begin the Leading your Church into Growth Local programme.

Looking Ahead:

As we look to the future, let us remain steadfast in our commitment to love God and love our neighbours. Through prayer, service, and fellowship, may we continue to grow as a community of faith and make a positive impact in the world around us.

In conclusion, I am deeply grateful for the dedication and generosity of all who contribute to the life of St. Michael's Parish Church, particularly our elected officers and licensed staff. Together, we are truly making a difference in the lives of others and building the Kingdom of God here on earth.

With prayers and blessings,

Rev Andrew Wilkinson

Vicar

Leading your church into growth

Leading your church into growth

At St Helen’s (our sister church) and at St Michael’s, we will be following the above diocesan LYCIG course. It will be an opportunity for the PCC to review mission strategy, beginning with ourselves and where we stand with God, moving onto developing a plan for how we can reach out to others, in the power of the Holy Spirit and in union with Christ. You will be hearing more about it in the coming months as we spend the next year in prayer and study.

During this time, we will be praying for growth and carefully developing a plan for the near future in our churches. Watch this space!

ALM commissioning

This month we welcome two new authorised Lay Ministers, Chris Metcalf Stewart at St Michael’s On Wyre and Carolyn Johnson at St Helen’s. They will be commissioned in the cathedral on Saturday 9th of September at 3 pm, if you would like to come along you would be welcome. We look forward to welcoming them into our ministry team, our leading of worship, and thinking about what new projects we can do together.

A Holiday Thought

It’s funny what we remember isn’t it? I can only remember going to church with my father once.

It was on holiday, on the Isle of Wight, and in an ancient little Fishermans chapel we found ourselves at compline, and listened to the vicar say these words: “Amidst the vastness of the sea, a homesick sailor, Thomas, found himself consumed by an overwhelming longing for his beloved homeland. The endless horizons stretched out before him, echoing the ache within his heart. Each crashing wave reminded him of the distant shores he yearned to return to.

In the solitude of his cabin, Thomas stumbled upon a worn-out ship’s Bible tucked away in the sea chest. Curiosity sparked him to open its pages to a random spot. His eyes fell upon Psalm 139, and there, he read the words that would forever change his perspective.

‘If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.’

As Thomas absorbed those words, they resonated deep within his weary soul. They spoke of a presence that transcended time and distance—a guiding hand that could reach even the furthest corners of the world. In that moment, his homesickness was met with the realisation that he was never truly alone.

From that day forward, Thomas clung to the promise woven into the fabric of Psalm 139. It became his anchor, grounding him. The knowledge that God’s hand would lead him and hold him, regardless of his geographical location, brought solace to his aching heart.

As the ship sailed onward, Thomas found solace in his newfound faith. He sought comfort in the words of the Bible, finding hope and strength within its pages. Though his homesickness remained, it was tempered by the knowledge that he was not abandoned, that God’s presence would never leave his side.

In time, Thomas discovered that his homesickness was gradually replaced by a sense of belonging—a deepening connection with the divine. While he still longed for his homeland, he found solace in the knowledge that wherever he may be, God's hand would lead him, and His right hand would hold him close.

Wherever you travel this summer, may you know the one who is the Lord of Sea and Sky walking beside you. 

Thank you

At St Helen’s thank you to all who made the barbecue possible this year. At St Michael’s, thank you to those who made the concert possible, a remarkable feat for a parish our size. Untold hard work goes into these things!  

With all good wishes

The Rev’d  Andrew Wilkinson MA

Vicar & Area Dean of Garstang

View from the Vicarage

May 2023

Saint Lawrence was famously asked by Roman soldiers to bring out the treasures of his church. He presented the poor and sick to the Roman soldiers who asked, and you can imagine their response!

We are currently being careful in terms of security. There is an alert and thieves are targeting church safes, please be vigilant. However, if you were to ask me what the most precious items are in our church safes the answer, like Lawrence of old, might surprise you. It is the oils of anointing. Every Maundy Thursday they can be collected from the Cathedral and there are three small bottles, one is oil of baptism, the other oil of chrism and finally oil of anointing for the sick. Oil of baptism is for making the sign of the cross at that time, Chrism is used in confirmations and ordinations and oil of anointing for the sick is used at significant and critical times in our lives, traditionally on our foreheads and the palms of the hands, recalling the marks of Christ and how they became signs of healing and resurrection. Our church officers will always give out my mobile number if a parishioner is in need of such prayers at home.

We will be hearing an awful lot, more about anointing in preparation for that coronation, because, as well as the cross on the orb and the crown, monarchs are still anointed in this country. It will be oil of chrism that is used. Being anointed in this way means being set aside for a special purpose, which goes some way to explain the media attention on the coronation service and the Monarch’s role in setting a Christian example. After all, Christ is the Greek word for anointed one, hence “chrism”. We may not all be anointed for the purpose of leading a nation, but in a baptism we have all shared in the anointing of Christ, his death and resurrection and the salvation of the world.

By baptism, we have received his sign, the sign of the cross, and are all ministers of the Gospel. There can be no high calling. I hope you enjoy the coronation and all the events that we and our churches have planned, including our special coronation services and big coronation picnics!

Thank you to all those who have been so busy in this last month: our Palm Sunday hospitality, which was exemplary as always, our Easter egg bingo at Saint Helen’s, open church at St Michael’s On Wyre, our parish walks and all the preparations for Easter to make our churches fit for a king, the king of kings.

With all good wishes

The Rev'd  Andrew Wilkinson MA

Vicar & Area Dean of Garstang

So, what are you doing on Good Friday?

April 2023

It’s a bit of a challenge really isn’t it! Everything seems to be closed, even the garden centres.

A trip up to the Lake District maybe? The traffic on the M6 is quite incredible though. Perhaps you can find something closer to home, going for a walk on Good Friday is a real Lancashire tradition, and  in our part of the world there is a Good Friday tradition of churches organising walks. You might find that something has appeared behind the door, telling you of Easter events, it might include an Easter egg trail, it might include a walk to place a cross in a significant spot, not far away, it might just be a treasure hunt and hot Cross buns at the end of it, it might be going for a walk indide your local church, following the stations of the cross, as they’re called, anyone can go and take part. As we approach the Easter weekend and perhaps plan what we’re having to eat, if we can fit it in after breakfast of chocolate! may you also find something that really nourishes, the bread of life and the water, from which you will never be thirsty again.

With all good wishes

The Rev'd  Andrew Wilkinson MA

Vicar & Area Dean of Garstang

That you may know the truth

March 2023

We have a free gift for you this Lent. You know about advent calendars, but what about counting down the days of lent until Easter! At the back of our churches there are enough booklets for everyone to take one home, so that, day by day, all of us make our way through the beautiful gospel of Saint Luke.

As Canon Professor Jenn Strawbridge from Blackburn Cathedral says:

“This Lenten season, we are invited, through Luke’s gospel, to know the truth of Jesus Christ. We are called to walk with him to and through the cross. We are called to include those excluded by our society, culture, world and church. We are called to fill the hungry and lift up the lonely. We are called to enter into God’s saving work through the radical love and teaching of Jesus Christ.

We are called to join Jesus in his mission to those outside the places we gather. This Lent, may we be strengthened in our identity as lovers of God, and may we not only know, but embody and proclaim his truth in our daily lives.”

Please make sure you pick up your copy the next time you’re in church, I look forward to talking about the things we have been reading together day by day and week by week as we travel together to Easter morning.

With all good wishes

The Rev'd  Andrew Wilkinson MA

Vicar & Area Dean of Garstang

“Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, rejoice!“

October 2022

The books of condolence have been closed and are on their way to the Royal family, the flags have returned to masthead and BBC radio is playing its normal playlist, every day life is continuing. Hymns like All my hope on God is founded, chosen by the Queen for her Funeral Service, are full of confidence, optimism and faith. They speak to those who mourn of an energy that will carry them if they only look and ask for it. The additional seven day mourning period of the royal family is almost complete and we are getting on with the fabric of our lives.

We seem to do this rather well in this country, the many steps and outward stages that we have all been through as a nation, are not to be confused with mawkishness or unnecessary gloom, the stages of grief, when abserved, are there to guide us through, “the lantern in our hand” as it were, in the words of King George the sixth, words which are to be found in the Chantry chapel in St George’s Windsor where Queen Elizabeth II is now interred, with her father, mother and husband. Our cultural is not to be oversentimental or gloomy for its own sake but to allow each successive stage to process our grief. Once the healing has taken place, even if it comes with scarring, we are once again able to identify our blessings and count them, and to rejoice in the Lord always as St Paul puts it.

If you need a lift I can recommend St Paul’s letter to the Philippians, it is one of the shortest of the epistles but very definitely the most joyful. There’s a time for everything and for everything a season and now it is time to rediscover joy.

The Reverend Andrew Wilkinson, Vicar