St Mary's Church News 28th October 2020

My background
My Christian journey started as an adult. I had not been baptised as a child and we were not a family of church goers. I was a Brownie and a Guide and would always attend church parade, but it is fair to say that this was the sum total of my church attendance, save the odd carol service. Even non Christians like to belt out the odd chorus of Oh Come All Ye Faithful.

The conversion started without me knowing, through the prayer of a college friend. Said friend had to my amusement at the time announced that he had undertaken an Alpha Course and was really very much exploring his faith. He talked about away weekends with the Church and house group and worship bands and prayer meetings and any number of other alien topics. To which my uneducated and agnostic self, teased, challenged, argued and even laughed. Not very Christian!

However, unbeknownst to me, said friend was praying for me. Praying that my bias and my ignorance, would be broken by the love of Christ. Not once did he tell me he was praying for me. And it would not have entered my head at the time to consider that he was doing so.

On a particular visit he had prayed all the way up on the train from his home in Herfordshire that on this visit I would not attack his faith and that there might be a chance that I would come to faith. He has since told me he did not hold out much hope and was considering this being a potential turning point in our friendship. I can only say Jesus must have knocked loud enough for me to eventually hear him and so as I picked up my friend from the station, fresh from praying his latest prayer for my salvation, I peppered him with questions about faith rather than my usual ridicule and derision. I don’t remember, but I now imagine he probably had a quiet smile to himself.

So, fast forward to an Alpha Course with St. Peter’s in Anlaby, much reading and exploring for answers (I’m a solicitor, we like to test the evidence), I felt confident enough to say I wished to be baptised.

I was baptised by full immersion in April 2007, an experience in which I was joined by Lynn Pratt, who now attends this church as my supporter. It is quite the renewal and I feel privileged to be able to recall it, in a way I would not have done if I had been baptised as a baby. I was confirmed the following year.

My Connection to St. Mary’s Church
My main connection to St. Mary’s is through house group and more recently zoom house group. I suppose this means some of you will know me, but many will not.

My Passions
Cooking and baking. I am a feeder. Put me in a kitchen and let me feed you. Lockdown was for me a joyous chance to stand in my kitchen and bake and experiment. It is currently preserving season, so chutneys and jams are top of my list.

I love nothing more than a house full of hungry people waiting to be fed. Just don’t tell me you are on a diet. I am deaf to such things.

What Encourages My Faith
My faith is very important, it grounds me and comforts me, it speaks truth to me when I need to hear it. I truly believe that faith can change lives and that prayer is a tool that can alter hearts and attitudes. I am living proof.

In many ways my main encouragement comes from quiet times of prayer and reflection. When I can contemplate God and occasionally hear Him respond.

When not adventuring Lynsey is a solicitor specializing in employment law