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It can sometimes be difficult to work out where your journey through faith began, but if you had to choose somewhere...
For me it started when my first child was born. Before then I had never been in regular attendance at church services, I wasn’t even baptised.
I came from a mixed background where my mother was from a Church of England background, my father was Jewish, and although neither of them were in regular attendance at their said places of worship, this resulted in a childhood where I was not brought into faith.
Growing up, I had many friends of different faiths. Some of my closest friends were Catholic, and regularly attended church. During my young adult life, I attended many weddings, funerals, and baptisms, I even attended bar mitzvahs as my cousins were Jewish, and it was at this time where I started to feel left out.
I went on to meet my wife Sarah, and we instantly bonded.
After living together for a while, we decided we would be married.
Although Sarah was from a Church of England background and had been baptised as a child, I myself had not been baptised or even attended church regularly, and so a church wedding seemed completely out of the question.
Therefore, our wedding was a civil ceremony, although our chosen wedding venue had beautiful surroundings, and it even had a chapel. We decided that we should put it to good use, Sarah had a connection with a Christian minister who we invited along, and so we were fortunate to have a blessing immediately after our civil ceremony.
We enjoyed married life together for a short while, and then came along our first child, Emilia. This was our blessing, we knew then that as a family we should begin our journey through faith, but where would we start?
As it turned out, Sarah’s mother had a connection with our local vicar, Rev. John Walker. He came to visit us at our home, and a baptism was arranged for Emilia.
We continued as a family to attend the church services here at St. Wilfrid’s, and three years later along came our son, Joseph. It went without saying that Joseph would also be baptised, and so it was done.
It was not long after this, we started to realise one or two things.
I was still not baptised myself, even Sarah had not been confirmed, and so this was something that we would have to remedy. It was not long then until a confirmation service was arranged for us at St. Wilfrid’s.
I was baptised, then both of us confirmed, all during the same ceremony.
And so, what next? Become a church warden maybe? Who could have imagined it...! Five years on, and as I now prepare to stand down from being a warden, I take a moment to reflect. To say that things have been eventful during my time as a warden would be the biggest understatement ever.
At this moment I could write a whole new chapter, but here are just some of the things our church has seen during my time as a warden:
• Three Vicars
• The passing of Queen Elizabeth II
• A new King
• Four Prime Ministers
• War in Ukraine
• The Pandemic
I feel that it has been a real honour and a privilege these past few years, to serve our church family here at St. Wilfrid’s, but to also serve god in a higher capacity and more meaningful way than I would have ever thought possible.
As I pass yet another milestone in my journey through faith, I look forward to beginning a new role at St. Wilfrid’s and continuing to serve.
Where will your journey take you next?
With every blessing,
Dan Cohen
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