The Flyfords Family

The Flyfords Family Philosophy

The new design of our website includes our new name and strap-line. This design is the culmination of nine months of consultation, planning and preparation, training and a huge amount of work.

It forms part of our steps towards building the kingdom of heaven in our villages. But what is our statement saying to the world today?

Family

This cover is making a bold statement that we, exactly like the rest of humanity, are part of the family of God. We are not some exclusive church club who clings onto medieval titles which may seem to many outside our church community, as being out of date and out of touch.

We want everyone to know that we, as part of that family, we are here to help in any way we can. The website gives more detail as to how we can help.

With Hope

It is with hope we exist. Hope is the most important message of the Christian gospel. Hope, in Christian terms, is not some kind of romantic lottery wish.

It is not something which we hang onto if we are going through a life crisis, fighting off the flab, striving to look younger or even older.

It is not a feeling that we could be better off, somewhere else, with someone else in cloud cuckoo land.

Hope is not a feeling with which we wake up on the way to an important business meeting where we are hoping for a good outcome.

Hope is not that Jenson Button or Lewis Hamilton will be the next world formula one champion.

Hope is not expressed in a range of expectations, ambitions or an optimistic speculation about the future.

Jesus' message of hope is “take courage; I have conquered the world”. In his resurrection, Jesus' victory over the world is neither partial nor only anticipated, no matter what present struggles and sorrow might suggest in our lives and in our world today.

At Eastertide Jesus, in his resurrection, has won that decisive victory both in the present and in the future. We are now in a place for the fulfillment of the promises of God.

At Eastertide, we are invited by Christ to enter into and embrace God's eternal life and future.

At Eastertide a door to that future has been opened up for us.

That hope before Christ died has now been transformed after his resurrection.

Like so many events in the life of Jesus we encounter a paradox. He is both a Good Friday person and shares our Good Friday experiences during certain times in our lives.

As a result of Easter he is also a resurrection person and invites to be the same and share eternal life with him. That hope of eternal life is a divine promise.

It is a promise that our lives following Christ are not in vain and whatever we experience, we will be of eternal value. Our lives are transformed for ever.

Jesus is heaven’s hope on earth and he is living for all who wish to receive him.

That is a hope worth living for, worth loving for, worth striving for, worth suffering for and worth dying for.

In Christ we move, have our life, our being and our very existence. That is our sure and certain hope in the resurrection

We Belong

We belong is our final statement of faith. We belong to a family of hope. We are a family that lives for that hope. We are a family that invites everyone to join us in hope for all our futures.

We are Easter people, proclaiming along with St John the Baptist, St James, St Edburga, St Batholomew, St Peter. the Chapelry, St Michael and all the angels, from the roof tops, the steeples with peel of bells ringing and fireworks screaming out. We are proclaiming alleluia Christ is risen ….he is risen indeed.

Rector of the Flyfords Family