It’s a big hello from my wife Jean and myself as we start to think about the move to Holmes Chapel.  We’re very much looking forward to joining St Luke’s in November and meeting you all.  Counting how many days to Advent and Christmas this year will have extra meaning and excitement.

Jean and I have lived and worked in the north east of Cheshire in recent years and on the Wirral before that, so it will be a new delight to make a home in the centre of the county.
We are pleased that Holmes Chapel is a community-minded place and we will want to be active in the whole community.  It has been a great privilege being the vicar of Poynton for fourteen years, where St George’s has a strong witness for Jesus and a wide-reaching Christian ministry.  We look forward to being part of the life of all sorts of people in the communities of Holmes Chapel, Cranage, Saltersford and beyond.

As I drive through the village, I have seen new houses as part of a growing township and I see that it is important that St Luke’s grows too.  It is the Lord who gives growth, and it is what we should expect in God’s kingdom, as Jesus’ parables tell us in Mark 4 and Matthew 13.

Don’t tell her yet because it’s a birthday present, but I have just bought my wife a few herb plants and put them in a big quirky pot with happy associations from the past.  I’ve done enough gardening to know that they need good soil, and they need to grow or else they’ll die.  Nothing stays the same in a healthy garden, and it is one of the joys of life to see how the Lord very gradually adds beauty and variety, colour and strength, with the aim of a wonderful harvest.  That’s our prayer for St Luke’s as we keenly anticipate being part of things later in the year.

Yours in Christ

Rob McLaren