Dear Friends,

By now most people will know that Angela and myself will be leaving the benefice at the end of February 2025. My actual last day of full time ministry will be on Friday 28th February after nearly thirty years serving in various churches around the country. Looking back it’s hard to believe that in July 1986 our Vicar at the time asked if I had ever thought of being ordained? That started a journey which led to selection for training for ordination in the autumn of 1992, followed by a two year course at Cranmer Hall in St John’s, Durham the following September. We left Durham in the summer of 1995 with Angela heavily pregnant with our twins Bethany and Samuel who arrived into the world in October that year. By then I was serving a curacy in Warminster in Wiltshire which led onto seven years in the Fens in Cambridgeshire before working our way ‘back up north’ in 2006 to serve at St Michael’s in East Ardsley until joining the benefice here in June 2019.
It is now time to stand down from full time ministry and move into retirement which will see us start a new life in Bridlington on the east coast. It has been a privilege and honour to serve in the benefice these past five and a half years and we are both very sad to be leaving. Nobody likes change but with Diane now on board and a very committed and gifted group of church members I am sure the benefice can go from strength to strength as it moves into a new stage in its life. This obviously brings on another vacancy and the Archdeacon is fully aware of the time-scales and has already thought about plans to fill the vacancy.
In the meantime please be assured that Angela and myself will continue sharing our lives with you all until our paths go separate ways. You will always have a special place in our hearts and we shall continue to remember you in our prayers.
As we journey towards Christmas, please join us in worship and the many social events and activities taking place across the churches as we prepare to welcome the Christ child into our hearts.
With much love and blessings at this time, Glenn and Angela

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. “
John 15:13 (NRSVA)

It’s been a real joy since I arrived with you nearly two months ago to worship in all of the churches and to begin the process of getting to know you all. As I write I’ve been in post now for nearly six weeks and a lot has happened. It’s scary to think that we’re already nearly at Christmas!
But between then and now we have our season of remembering and our season of Advent. November is always a significant time in the church year when we remember those who have died. Over the past couple of weeks we have held our All Souls, or Memorial, services in each of our four churches. At these services we remembered all those who have had funerals in our churches over the last twelve months, as well as those who are requested in each church. If you missed it this year, look out for details of next year’s services—they are always held at the end of October or the beginning of November. Everyone is welcome to these ser-vices whether the loved one you are remembering died recently or many years ago.
Remembering those who have gone before us is a really important thing for us to do. Remembering the things they’ve done for us, the things we’ve learned from them and that everything we do today is built upon the work and the prayers of those who have gone before us. And we in our turn are laying more foundations for future generations to come.
Perhaps the most poignant part of our season of remembering is our annual Remembrance Sunday services around the benefice. (See opposite for details of the service times). The freedoms we take for granted now were won by the sacrifice of many men, women and children. We remember their sacrifice and pray that never again will such sacrifices be required so we continue to pray for peace in our world. These services of Remembrance are not about glorying in victory but remembering the hardships the struggles and the sacrifices everyone affected experienced as a result of the conflict. Peace takes work, hard work and as churches we need to be people who seek to build peace in everything we say and do.
May God’s peace dwell in your hearts in everything you say and do this season of remembrance.
With love and prayers
Diane
Revd Diane Komorowski (Associate Vicar)

Dear Friends, It was wonderful to gather at St Mary Magdalene in Outwood on last month for Rev Diane’s licensing to serve here in the Benefice. It has been a long journey since Fr Jonathan left in January 2023 with a lot of extra work to cover, and therefore we are very appreciative of the many people in the four churches who have helped in many ways during this time.
We are all pilgrims on a journey, and as we look to future, it will be lovely to share with Diane our hopes and vision for the future of our benefice. To get us started, you are invited to join us on Saturday 19th October at St Anne’s in Wrenthorpe. There will be refreshments from 9.30am, then worship at 10am, with the session finishing at 12pm at the latest. The meeting will allow us the time to pray, share, discuss and plan the next stage in the life of the benefice. At harvest time we give thanks for God’s bounty, and this meeting will allow us to give thanks for the many gifts and talents we can offer to God in his service in our benefice.
This year, we have celebrated the 200th anniversary of St Peter’s and the 150th anniversary of St Anne’s. It has been good to look back and reflect on the journey of these churches, but we know the baton has been passed to us to continue ‘being the church’ in these villages at this time. Therefore, please do join us on the 19th October and in the meantime pray for our time together that our plans and discus-sions will be in line with God’s will for the benefice.
From Monday 7th October 2024 we will be celebrating Morning Prayer on a different day each week in each of our four churches. Anyone is welcome to join any of the services. It will give us an opportunity to pray for what’s happening in each church and the mission of the wider benefice as well as the world and community in which we live. The times and locations are as follows:

null
• Mondays 9.30am St Peter’s church, Stanley
• Tuesdays 9am St Paul’s church, Alverthorpe
• Wednesdays 9am St Anne’s church, Wrenthorpe
• Thursdays 9.15am St Mary Magdalene, Outwood

If you would be interested in having a regular zoom prayer meeting on a Saturday morning, please contact Rev Diane (revddianek@gmail.com). If there is sufficient interest we will organise one from November. If anyone is unable to join any of the prayer meetings but would like to pray with us from homes there will be prayer sheets available in each church from October that you can take home to pray alongside us. Take care and God Bless, Glenn
Rev Glenn Coggins, Vicar of the United Benefice of North Wakefield

“For in the one Spirit we were all baptised into one body” 1 Corinthians 12: 13

I’m Diane, the soon-to-be Associate Vicar here in the North Wakefield Benefice and I’m really excited that I’m going to be joining you permanently this month. My family and I are currently settling into the vicarage in Wrenthorpe, slowly working through all the boxes and adjusting to the quirks of our vicarage. Then after my licencing I’m looking forward to really getting to know you all and the gifts that God has given each of you as I start to learn how you all fit into this body because we all have a part to play in building God’s kingdom here in North Wakefield. It’s always a great adventure seeing how the gifts we have can be used to help each other to grow.
One of the things I’ve learned over the last thirty odd years of being a Christian is that everyone has a contribution to make. No-one is too young or too old, too unfit or too unworthy to be able to contribute to the work we do together. The people God called in the Bible were all of those things too – Samuel was young, Abraham was old, Moses was a murderer and Peter was a denier. God used all of them to do amazing things despite and often because they weren’t perfect. And he can and will use the gifts he’s given to each one of us if we’re willing to trust him to do it.
Over the next weeks and months and years, things will change. That’s an inevitability when people come and go and I know it’s hard. My prayer is that we trust each other and trust God and remember that its His Kingdom we’re building here which is bigger than any of us. When I was on placement with you I began to get to know you and I know there are a lot of very gifted people in all the churches. I know you all have a huge amount of love for the communities you are each a part of and I am looking forward to really getting to know them all and loving them as you do.
In the meantime, please pray for me and my family as we settle in and get to find our way around everything. Thank you to everyone who has offered suggestions to get the shed built! As soon as the weather permits we’ll get that done. Please also be patient with me as I attempt to learn everyone’s names – it will take time, especially whilst I’m only with each church only one Sunday a month! I’ll do my best to get my head around it as fast as I can. God bless you all.

Revd Diane Komorowski
(soon to be Associate Vicar for the North Wakefield Benefice)

Many years ago I can remember talking to a man who said he had been asked several times if he would stand as a local councillor. He had never taken up the invitation as he wanted to have a quiet pint in his local after a long day at work. He thought that as a councillor he would be at the beck and call of the locals and never have a moment of peace. In many ways I take my hat off to those who offer them-selves to serve in parliament or as local councillors. I am sure it has never been an easy undertaking but how hard it must be in today’s social media world where arm-chair pundits feel it’s their right to be abusive to those in public office and we have even had MPs murdered for their beliefs. It must take some soul searching to offer oneself to serve in this way and we are all thankful that people still stand to serve.
I am writing this before the general election on the 4th July and after the dust has settled, MPs will be getting ready to take up their place in parliament and a new government will take shape and be sworn in. I wonder what you look for in the person who serves your constituency? When I was ordained many years ago one of the people who had overseen my training was asked “if I met the test of character.” In other words, was I fit to take up the office to serve as a priest in the Church of England and the people I was called to serve.
Looking back, the run up to the election has not so much been dominated by personality or policy, but rows about selection of candidates, D-Day, betting scandals, racists remarks…the list goes on. In other words, many of the top news stories have been about matters of character. I wonder therefore what would be in your list of character traits for our new MPs? For me they would include, integrity, trustworthiness, resilience, endurance and a desire to serve all people.
To hold office to serve the nation is indeed a very high calling and our MPs need our prayers and support. Here’s a prayer for your own personal prayer time as our new government and opposition take up office:
Endue the High Court of Parliament and the ministers of the Crown with integrity, wisdom and understanding. Bless all those called to government and opposition; guide and guard them in their public service. Amen.
Take care and God Bless and hope to meet you over the summer at many of the wonderful events taking place across the benefice. Also, please continue to remember Revd Diane and her family as they move into Wrenthorpe vicarage in August and Diane prepares for her licensing service at Outwood Parish church at 7.30pm on Tuesday 10th September.

Rev Glenn Coggins, Vicar of the United Benefice of North Wakefield

I wonder if you are a ‘Swiftie’? This is the name is given to fans who follow the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift who is an extremely gifted, popular and very successful pop star. She is only in her thirties but has been writing songs for many years that come from her heart about her feelings, vulnerabilities and relationships. Writing from the heart takes a lot of courage and when you are on the world’s stage it is open to public scrutiny, but for the ‘Swifties’ her words speak to them in their situation. I wonder if the same could be said in general of works of literature, art, poetry, music, sculpture etc where there has been a process of self examination of life along the way to the completed work.
In early June, St Paul’s in Alverthorpe will host the Borealis Chamber Choir who will be recording some choral works that were composed out of a mixture of sad-ness and joy in the composer’s life. The composer is Robert Fürstenthal (1920-2016), a Jewish émigré who narrowly escaped the Holocaust and later settled in California. Steve Muir who is co-director of the choir, has been asked to make the recordings by Robert’s 100 year old widow, Françoise. After the war, Robert believed that Françoise, his child-
hood sweetheart back in Vienna, had been murdered in Auschwitz. But miraculously they found each other again thirty or so years later, neither of them knowing that the other was still alive, and both living in the US! They married, and Robert poured out his joy and gratitude via a remarkable body of new musical compositions until his death 8 years ago. Take time to read that again – what a story!! We look forward to hearing the final recording.
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that we are ‘human beings’ and not ‘human doings’. In other words life is not about rushing around from one thing to the next but also allowing time to sit and reflect on life. When we do this, it allows us see more of God’s hand at work in our lives and indeed in the world. In the early days of the Church, St Irenaeus wrote “The Glory of God is man (and women of course) fully alive”. Being ‘alive’ is more than just existing but experiencing the wonder of our lives and the world God has given us to share. There may be times when we feel we have fallen short or things can not be redeemed but nothing is beyond God’s mercy and forgiveness. We are followers of a God of new beginnings and all of life’s experiences can be used by God as we are transformed into Jesus likeness and our own lives can be offered to God as a work of art.

Take care and God Bless, Glenn
Rev Glenn Coggins, Vicar of the United Benefice of North Wakefield