This is the text of the Christian Comment I submitted for the Lymington Times of 15th October, 2009.

The following week's L.T. printed a lengthy letter of complaint from an elder of the local Jehovah's Witnesses, so I thought it would be good to make the original available:

Christian Comment

As this year marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal work, 'On the Origin of Species', it is an excellent time to reflect on the natural world and our place within it. (It's also rather comforting to reflect that one can still make a such a contribution to the world at the age of 50!) Although some of the detail is unclear, it is now certain that all the complex life forms we see around us, including penguins, poppies, and people, evolved from microscopic common ancestors over the past four billion years or so. It's a truth about God's amazing creation which should make us stop and think. Not only are other human beings our brothers and sisters, but also all living creatures are our cousins. Our past is shared and our futures are interwoven – we all depend on one another, and this is the way God intended it to be. As St.Paul put it, “Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.” Darwin helped us to see that those words apply not only to the Church of Christ, but to the whole created world.

Peter Salisbury, Vicar of Lymington

Dear friends,

There has been quite a bit of excitement in the parish recently as we are beginning to realise that our Curate, Andy Smith will soon be arriving. It was great to be able to help him and Nicky decorate their new home in Pennington Vicarage, experiencing at first hand their wonderful hospitality and welcome; and of course the briefest meeting with their one-year-old daughter, Olive, would melt anyone's heart.

Although it is still a month until they arrive properly, it seems an appropriate moment to make it clear what is involved in training a Curate, and what we can expect while Andy is with us.

To start at the end, the nominal training period is four years, which means the Smiths will probably leave here in early 2013. In the short time before then we must, in partnership with the diocese, help prepare Andy for his next role in the Church, which is likely to be Parish Priest or Chaplain.

When we welcome Andy among us in July, he will be a deacon. This role is focused on service, both in the community and in the church. In the normal course of events Andy would then be ordained priest in a year's time. Until then he cannot preside at a Communion service, and he would not normally lead a wedding service. He will share in other ministries as his training progresses and he feels he is ready to take them on.

Throughout his time here, the first call on Andy's time will be his training, including frequent courses hosted by the diocese. He will also be observing and learning from our leaders here, both lay and ordained, and visiting other churches in the area. One of the reasons we have been selected as a training parish is the breadth of experience we can offer him.

Andy and Nicky will also be bringing with them tremendous gifts, which they will want to share with us as we work together to build up God's people in this place. It will be an exciting journey of mutual service and learning, which will help us all to grow in Christ.

Clearly supervising Andy in his training will take quite a bit of my time, especially in the first year, but I must say I can't wait!

With best wishes, Peter