Dear Hampstead
I am so grateful for your kind words, the parties, the food and the gifts. Parting really was ‘such sweet sorrow.’ I have been very happy in Hampstead, and I have gained so much from all of you. I now face a new challenge which is daunting, but with your kind words, prayers and support I feel I can face it.
I am grateful to everyone who contributed to the table and chairs, and to those who provided bowls, place settings and other decorations for it. I preached about tables on my first Sunday in Pimlico. The Gospel was about the sheep knowing the shepherds voice, and the reading from Acts talked about the breaking of bread. I mixed the metaphors and asked, ‘what do you do when you do not recognize the shepherds voice?’ The answer is you sit down at table with him and talk over a meal. I went on to talk about the different tables we would gather around, meeting tables, coffee tables, dinner tables and the Eucharistic table – all provide different contexts in which we can get to know each other.
The gift you have given me is not just something nice for the house, but a contribution to the kind of ministry I hope to exercise here, a ministry of hospitality. It will be used for the first time this Sunday when some parishioners come in for a drink after Mass, then again in the week for a PCC social, later in the week for an evening when friends are coming over to relax, and again next Sunday when more parishioners will come in for lunch.
Thank you for all you have given me, thank you for all you will continue to give me as I use your gifts.
With much love
Matthew