The Rt Revd Alison White, Bishop of Hull, licensed
the Revd Tony Hand, formerly of the Church of the Holy Redeemer, York, as Priest in
Charge of St Laurence, Scalby, and St Peter's, Hackness with St Margaret's,
Harwood Dale, in the Scarborough Deanery on Tuesday 4th August.
Lesley Newton writes:
"The small, socially-distanced, congregation all wore masks and Bishop Alison welcomed them, together with Tony, his wife Rachel, and two of his three children, Emily and Robert, saying that although they couldn't see it, she was grinning behind her mask. She thanked everyone for coming to the service, and said history was being made; because to license anyone in these strange circumstances was odd; because the new Archbishop's seal (sent electronically, which was unique) was being used for the first time on two licenses, and because we were making history in a very special way in the churches that God had called Tony to serve.
The Bishop said what a strange time it was for such an important moment in our stories, of our churches and communities and the Hand family. She predicted everyone will look back on today and have stories to tell of God’s faithfulness and his blessing being on them, and so often it is like that for the people of God – life was not what they expected or wanted. All around the world it seems we are being stripped back. The church would have been filled, we would have sung our hearts out and soon would have been on our way to Hackness for more welcomes. Her prayer was that somehow in the stripping-back we all find out more of who the Lord is. This is the desire of our hearts to know him more dearly, follow him more nearly, love him more dearly whether the times are strange or not.
Tony Hand
chose the reading from Acts 4:32-37, of ordinary people in strange times, but
great grace was upon them. Bishop Alison reminded everyone that we too
are Kingdom people, given God's grace and power to strive to ensure no one is
in need, and in our communities now we have been finding new ways of doing
that. At the end of the reading we learn about Joseph whom the
apostles called Barnabas, meaning son of encouragement. It was her hope
that we would discover Tony Hand, like Barnabas, was a son of encouragement and
her prayer for us was that we too will be encouraged.
Since we were not permitted to sing, the Organist and Choirmaster Chris Wright read the first two verses of 'Holy Spirit, Living Breath of God' which he played on the piano and later the congregation clapped and cheered as he played 'Be Thou my Vision'.
The Revd Mike Leigh, Area Dean, stood in for the Archdeacon of the East Riding, who was on holiday."