In the September
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By Canon Alan Cole
M
y dear friends,
When I was Vicar-Chaplain of St Edward King and Martyr on King’s Parade Cambridge I
would walk in, early on a Sunday morning, from the Backs through the Colleges to take the
8am Service. I remember thinking that this surely must be one of the loveliest parishes in
England. The intense early morning light. The Autumn mists. Little did I realise that six years
on I would return to live in that Parish albeit for three months as Acting Dean of Clare College.
The Dean’s rooms were originally the Master’s Lodge when the Old Court was built in the 1680's. The first Master to live
in them was Samuel Blythe who had been Vicar of Everton. Thoughts of home have never been
far away. It has been a good place for convalescence. Towards the end I have a twinge of ‘homesickness’ to be back home with those I am called to care for as Parish Priest.
There has been plenty of time to think – to look back over the past and to look ahead. In a sense
my return to the parishes is a new beginning. Life is full of fresh starts. There will be those this
month who will either start or change schools. Some will prepare to start work or go off to
College.
The Christian Calendar is a constant reminder of new beginnings. Through it we prepare for the
birth of Christ.The birth of a child is always a fresh start. Later in the year we prepare to reflect
on his death and the new life given to us through that death. At the end of this month we celebrate
the feast of St Michael and All Angels when the Church Triumphant comes into focus. We realise
that in life there are many inexplicable things – there is mystery and in Christ the realisation that
the best is to come – and new beginnings. The words of a well loved prayer sum it all up.
Merciful God,
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