|  |  |
|
|
| | |
|
| |
|
articles taken from the parish newsletter The Window (issued most weeks)
© the authors
| 2004
[click here for more recent Thoughts] |
|
Keep me as the apple of your eye
Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings (Ps 17) This psalm is broadly about focus
- God's focus on us, and our focus on God. David was being persecuted when he
wrote this psalm. He had been anointed King of Israel but had been chased away
from the palace, as his betrayers sought to kill him. He knew how important it
was to stay focussed on the right things and so he makes his prayer that God may
guard him, that God may keep him as the focus of his attention, and that God would
hide him in the shadow of his wings.
What comforting words when he was
on the run for his life. What comfort too for us when sometimes it may feel to
us as though God is far away. Far from it. God loves each of his children and
loves us so much that he wants to keep us in the centre of his attention. He has
that watchful eye on us to make sure we don't stray into difficulty. God cares
very much about what happens to us and wants to lovingly protect us. It can be
a great comfort to feel that God is watching over us and that the feathers of
his wings will keep us warm and safe, just as a mother bird would protect and
warm her chicks.
That's God focus on us. What about our focus? What do
I find myself focusing on today? In this psalm David mentions the trouble he is
in; that there are those out to kill him, but he doesn't dwell on this. Instead,
he chooses to focus on a deeper reality and draw strength from this. We tend to
focus on very immediate things and often get fretful about all sorts of details.
Such worry may keep us awake at night when everything then seems so much worse
than it did in the daylight. Keeping those thoughts in check during the night
hours can be quite a challenge. David makes a choice, he knows that if he keeps
focused on God, he will begin to absorb something of God's likeness and that as
he gazes on God he will find peace. Focusing on God helps to keep those worries
and anxieties in check. It certainly didn't change anything for David overnight
but he obviously gained strength for each day's battles as he focused on God.
David knew that he could trust God's wings to be hovering over him, keeping him
protected form the days troubles. David was able to sleep at night because of
the confidence he had in God and because he regularly chose to focus on God and
to trust in his providence, love and protection.
Will you, will I, do
the same in the challenges that face us today and in the rest of the week?
Wendy
Blagden
| |
A Song for Europe
The 60 miles of French coast from the villages
of Benoville in the east to St Mere Eglise in the west are very much like that
of Devon and Cornwall. For centuries the area, known as Calvados, had escaped
the ravages of the wars that had plagued Western Europe for almost 900 years.
All that changed 60 years ago; the date was June 6th 1944, D-Day.
Of all
the interviews with the veterans on this 60th Anniversary year, one particularly
stayed with me. It was that of Franz Gokel, in 1944 a recently turned 18 year
old German soldier, stationed at resistance post 62, on the beach of a small seaside
town, Coleville-sur-mer, codenamed 'Omaha' by the allies. At 5.30am on the morning
of D-Day approaching ships began shelling his position; once the invasion began
he stayed at his post firing his machine gun for six hours, being told by his
officer that if he kept on firing they just might survive. Alone in his small
bunker, the wave upon wave of Allied troops was a terrifying sight; he was sure
he was going to die. "I started to speak an imaginary letter to my Mother, 'Dear
Mother, this is my last letter to you. This morning the Allies landed. There are
hundreds of dead and dying lying in front of us on the beach, but still they come'."
Franz started to pray that somehow it would all stop. His prayer was soon answered,
he was shot in the hand and left the battle; he was one of only two out of 27
to survive.
Today, almost 80, with tears in his eyes he recalls,"I've
told people I was praying a lot during the attack and one of the Allied soldier's
that I am now friends with today said 'we were also praying'. We were praying
and killing each other at the same time." The Normandy landings were more than
a military struggle to liberate Western Europe from tyranny; the birth of modern
Europe began on those beaches and landing grounds at dawn on that day. They spawned
the United Nations and The Council of Europe. Eastern Europe waited another 45
years for their liberation. Today the Council of Europe consists of 46 nations;
800 million people with one anthem, Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" expressing the ideals
of freedom, peace and solidarity - a true Song for Europe.
(Ps.126 v.
5 'May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy!' )
Andrew Graham
| |
Remembering the dead
This Sunday evening
we will have our annual Memorial Service, when those who were bereaved this year
will come together and remember their loved ones - through prayer, through the
lighting of a candle and through giving thanks for their lives. It's an important
service of sharing our experience as a community and of supporting each other
in our journeys through life.
'We are one people, one community and
the death of one is the concern of all. In the face of death man can achieve grandeur,
but if he turns his back on death he remains a child, clinging to a land of make-belief.
For death is not the ending of the pattern of life's unwinding, but a necessary
interruption. Through the painful work of grieving we rediscover the past and
weave it afresh into a new reality... We may back away in fear, refuse the chance
to change, drown our pain in drugs or alcohol or meaningless activity, or we may
accept the pains of grief and begin the long struggle to rediscover meaning in
a life whose meanings can no longer be taken for granted. There is no easy way
through the long valley but we have faith in the ability of each one to find his
own way, given time and the encouragement of the rest of us' (Colin
Marray Parkes)
Margreet Armitstead:
| All
Saints
In Buddhism, there are certain beings called bodhisattvas. They
are men and women who have achieved enlightenment, which means that by deep meditation
and uncountable acts of love towards other beings, they have become perfectly
wise and infinitely compassionate. They could enter the perfect state of Nirvana
and stay there forever. But instead they take a vow that they will wait until
all beings are ready to enter Nirvana together. Until that day, they help everyone
they can to achieve enlightenment, by sharing their wisdom and love.
I
think of the saints in a similar way. They are people who have prayed and hoped,
practised their faith and performed uncountable acts of love, until they have
become exceptional followers of Christ. They could spend eternity in heaven, praying
and praising God. Instead, we think of them as moving between heaven and earth,
listening to the prayers of people like us, strengthening our faith, hope and
love and helping us to become more saint-like in our turn. On All Saints' Day
we give thanks for the lives of all the saints and for the help they continue
to give us. We are grateful for their love, their teaching and their example.
The faith they share with us is a lifeline connecting us to heaven. We look forward
to the day when their work will be done, and every one of us will join them in
the eternal presence of God.
Teresa Morgan
| Bible
Sunday
This Sunday is sometimes also called 'Bible Sunday' to remind
us of the central importance of Holy Scripture in our lives. Clearly it is not
enough to hear the Bible read in small portions on Sundays in church. The Bible
needs to be a witness to the living word of God. We need to find time to read
in it and live with it in such a way that God's word becomes the fountain from
which our lives are refreshed. Reading and studying the Bible is a form of communion
with God through which we are fed. St Paul makes the distinction between treating
the Bible as a written code, full of wooden and dead words and - on the other
hand - letting the words come alive through the Holy Spirit in our lives (2 Corinthians
3,6).
Whether we read the Bible in groups or alone, we must not remain
at the dry surface meaning of individual words and sentences (better known as
'Bible bashing') but we must enter ourselves into the story and meet God as we
do so. Chiara Lubich, the founder of the 'focolari movement' said once that if
all Bibles were lost or burnt one day, people ought to be able to re-write it
simply by observing the lives of Christians! This is the ancient prayer for this
Sunday as written for the Book of Common Prayer: Blessed Lord, who caused all
holy scriptures to be written for our learning: help us so to hear them, to read,
mark, learn and inwardly digest them that, through patience, and the comfort of
your holy word, we may embrace and for ever hold fast the hope of everlasting
life, which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns
with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever.
Bernhard
Schunemann
| Three influential Christians
are remembered this week (17 October)
St. Luke the Evangelist on the
18th, Henry Martin on the 19th and St. James of Jerusalem on the 23rd. Each life
story has something to offer. Luke is believed to be the author of the Third Gospel
and the Acts of the Apostles. He is the only non-Jewish New Testament author.
His Gospel emphasises Christ's human love, and includes the parables of the Prodigal
Son and the Good Samaritan, along with examples of Christ's compassion for sinners,
outcasts and the poor. He is probably the physician who travelled with Paul on
his difficult missionary journeys.
Henry Martyn was born in 1781, and
was a brilliant mathematician and linguist. He had intended to enter the legal
profession after Cambridge, but was called to leave those comforts behind to travel
through India and Persia. He translated the New Testament into Hindi and revised
the Arabic translation, making it available to millions. He died shortly after
completing this task. His diary has been described as "one of the most precious
treasures of Anglican devotion' as it describes the many trials and perils he
faced to complete his mission.
James was the brother of Jesus. He is often
referred to as 'James of Jerusalem', as there are at least 3 others (possibly
8!) with that name in the New Testament. In John's gospel, we are told that Jesus'
brothers did not believe in Him. Jesus appeared to James after the Resurrection
and James became a leader of the Christians in Jerusalem. He is believed to be
the author of the Epistle of James. He was apparently respected even by the Pharisees
for his strict observance of the Law, but enemies took advantage of an interval
between Roman governors in 62 AD to have him killed for his new beliefs.
Mark
Jones
| HARVEST
- the ten lepers
Last week the sanctuary in our church was packed
with delicious and nutritious goodies, from healthy vegetables to chocolate Maltesers,
taken to church by various groups in the wider Littlemore community including
the local playgroup, schools, scouts and parishioners. For last week we celebrated
an important and joyful occasion: Harvest. Harvest is a great opportunity for
us to express gratitude. Somehow it is very human to be ungrateful, isn't it,
to complain, to see the bad side of life, of people, of situations, let alone
the weather. Often, however, we don't mean to be ungrateful, we simply forget
to give thanks.
In the Gospel passage of today Jesus heals ten people
suffering from leprosy. One comes back to thank Jesus. We don't know why the others
didn't, but quite possibly simply because life had moved on for them and they
forgot. We don't always have to pay back exactly what is given us. If we are grateful
in life for what is given us, then that will become clear by the way we can freely
give. Hopefully something touched the heart of the other nine, so that, although
they didn't come back to thank Jesus, they may well have adopted a more generous,
grateful attitude to life around them. Jesus would have found that more important
than a polite 'thank you.'
Margreet Armitstead
|
HARVEST - hidden meanings
How many other words can you make out
of the word 'HARVEST'? That will be the question I will ask the children at our
school harvest festival service this week (don't tell them!). My hope is that
the children will re-arrange the letters and find the word EAT. Surely that goes
right to the heart of HARVEST. We give thanks to God for the food that sustains
our body. But there are other words hidden in the word HARVEST: STARVE for example.
It must dawn on us rather uncomfortably, that we here in England with our temperate
climate and our industrially controlled food-production never seem to have to
starve, but that there are still many parts of the world where people literally
have not enough food to sustain themselves. But the letters of the word HARVEST
can come up with another variant: SHARE. A good harvest for us means having more
than enough to eat, it must also mean sacrificially sharing with those who are
less fortunate.
There are many other words that can be constructed out
of the letters HARVEST. But my hope is that we will discover one more word and
that is the word REST. This will help us to reflect on a great and deep truth
of Harvest: When God created the world he built in the idea of having a sabbatical
rest. Our modern European life style has put us in danger of overlooking this.
We are driven relentlessly to be productive. Our food-production is maintained
by rest-less technology (chemicals and genetic engineering, pressure on farmers).
Our lives are driven by ever increasing demands of consumption. And all the while
we are in danger of forgetting our vocation to be good stewards of the earth's
precious resources and to put our lives in the service of our one and only God
and Saviour. Let us use this time of harvest to re-dedicate our lives - in thanksgiving
- to God and his Christ!
Bernhard Schunemann
| |
Serving the Church  This
Sunday (26 September 2004) we celebrate the ordination to the priesthood of our
curate Margreet Armitstead. The only thing in our Christian life that gives us
status is, of course, our baptism, and as baptised Christian believers we all
share in the famous 'priesthood of all believers'. A priest is ordained to serve
in a church, so that all the believers can better fulfil their roles as Christians
in the community. This is the job description the Bishop will be reading out at
today's service:
A priest is called by God to work with the bishop and
fellow priests, as servant and shepherd among the people to whom he or she is
sent. Priests are to proclaim the word of the Lord, to call their hearers to repentance,
and in Christ's name to absolve, and to declare the forgiveness of sins. They
are to baptise, and prepare the baptised for Confirmation. They are to preside
at the celebration of the Holy Communion. They are to lead their people in prayer
and worship, to intercede for them, to bless them in the name of the Lord, and
to teach and encourage by word and example. They are to minister to the sick,
and prepare the dying for their death. They must set the Good Shepherd always
before themselves as the pattern of their calling, caring for the people committed
to their charge, and joining with them in a common witness to the world.
Bernhard
Schunemann
| Our baptism vows
 This
Sunday is a very special Sunday for us in Littlemore. Not only will there be a
Baptism during our main service, but we will also have many families with us who
have had a baptism in the past two years. They have been specially invited to
be with us this Sunday because all parents, godparents and those baptised will
be able to renew their baptism vows. So the service will be a wonderful opportunity
to recommit ourselves to Christ.
All of us have travelled a bit further
in our lives since our baptisms or the baptisms of our children, have had a bit
more exposure to the rough and tumble of life. Therefore we can approach the vows
in a renewed, yet deeper way. We can wonder to what extend we have actually taken
these vows seriously. For if taken seriously, these vows are totally life changing,
life enhancing. They invite us to leave behind anything that separates us from
God and instead turn to Christ, the way of life, forgiveness, love, light. These
are quite heavy-duty things to promise.
At our baptism we received a candle,
the symbol of the light of Christ, the new light in our lives. What should we
do with this light and with all the promises that we made? Well, the answer to
that question comes at the end of the service when we encourage to step out into
the world with our renewed commitment to Christ with the words, 'Shine as a light
in the world to the Glory of God the Father.'
Margreet Arnitstead
| Cloud
of witnesses
 Some
time ago, I wrote in the Window about the stained-glass 'Rabbit Trinity' in Long
Melford Church, Suffolk. Three rabbits (or hares) follow each other in a triangle,
feet outwards and heads to the centre. Each rabbit shares each ear with one of
the other two, so that between them they have three ears in all. This week I discovered
that this design, known as the Three Hares, has now been found in more than twenty
British churches, and in France and Germany too.
What's more, the same
design has been found on Mongol coins and a brass tray from twelfth-century Muslim
Iran, surrounded by the words 'happiness and blessing'. Further east and even
longer ago, it appears on the ceilings of a group of seventh century Buddhist
cave temples at Dunhuang in China. Dunhuang was a trading post on the Silk Road
which ran from China to Western Europe, and it seems likely that the three hares
came (rather like the wise men) from the East along with fine silks and other
goods. They were not the only non-material travellers. As merchants, soldiers,
pilgrims and craftsmen went to and fro they told stories, and many of the same
stories can be found all along the Silk Road. (Noah's Flood is one of them.)
Scholars
are not sure what the three hares meant in Buddhism or Islam. But they remind
us of how much Christianity owes to other cultures and religions. We also remember
how we borrowed the Old Testament from Israel and much of our theology from the
Greeks. Whenever we are tempted to contrast ourselves with other faiths, or call
ourselves God's chosen people, we should never forget how much we owe to God's
other people. We belong to a world-wide cloud of witnesses.
Teresa Morgan
| A modern parable
One of
the most exciting new developments - in my opinion - in this parish in recent
times is the building of the huge multiplex cinema next to the football stadium.
To be able to walk (or cycle) to the cinema and then have a selection of twelve
films to chose from, what a luxury!
Good films for me can be like the
parables that Jesus tells: absorbing stories that create in me a deeper understanding
of God's interaction with his world. Billy Elliott is such a film. It's the story
of a small boy growing up in a Northeast mining community at the height of the
1980s miners' strike. All his male relatives are miners. But Billy develops and
interest, even a passion for ballet dancing. - not an easy interest to pursue
in his particular environment.
The film goes on to tell the story of how
Billy ultimately succeeds as a ballet dancer despite of huge domestic opposition.
Billy grows up without a mother; she had died when he was two years old. She had,
though left him a letter to be opened on his seventeenth birthday. Billy treasures
this letter and one day he cannot resist it and he opens it long before his 17th
birthday, it reads: "Dear Billy I am sorry I died when you were still so young.
But I want you to know one thing, and this one thing I want you to know and believe
very firmly, whenever you think of me you must know that there is at least one
being in the world who really and truly loves you."
I think this could
be a parable summing up the essence of our faith: Whenever we think of God, whenever
we pray we can be assured of one thing, one very certain thing: there is one being
in this world who loves us most certainly and must unconditionally!
Bernhard
Schunemann
| |
The Saints
In the Church of England we remember saints and holy Christians
from the whole spectrum of Christian history. This week we have a particularly
varied bunch making up our Christian heritage, inspiring us on our own journey
and praying for us in our daily struggles.
On Monday (30 August) we commemorate
John Bunyan. He was a barely educated wandering odd-job man in the 17th century.
He educated himself to read and write by reading the Bible. Because he was a nonconformist
and early founder of Baptist churches he spent a considerable part of his life
in prison during which time he wrote "Pilgrims Progress", a greatly entertaining
story of "Christian's" journey through life in search of salvation.
On
Tuesday (31 August) it's the turn of St Aidan, who was a missionary Bishop of
Lindisfarne (7th century). He combined living as a monk on a remote offshore island
with converting Northumberland to Christianity.
On Wednesday (1 September)
we remember St Giles, a hermit who specialist in caring for outcasts with leprosy,
hence churches on the edge of city walls are dedicated to his patronage.
On
Thursday (2 September) we remember the 20th century Anglican martyrs who gave
their life in the mission to Papua New Guinea.
On Friday (3 September)
is the day of St Gregory the Great, he re-founded the English Church after the
turmoil of the dark ages by sending St Augustin to Canterbury.
On Saturday
(4 September) it's the turn of our local St Berinus (first Bishop of Dorchester)
who converted people of this area to Christianity by first converting King Cyegils,
the then King of Wessex.
Bernhard Schünemann
| Spiritual gifts
 Now
about spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant.
You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led
astray to dumb idols. Therefore I tell you that no-one who is speaking by the
spirit of God says, 'Jesus be cursed', and no-one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except
by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12,1-3)
What is St Paul talking
about here? He is talking about how we pray, about our 'spirituality'. There is
so much longing for 'spirituality' all around us. And more than ever before there
is so much on offer to satisfy the spiritual hunger of our age. It is like a bewildering
supermarket in which we are invited to pick and choose bits of spirituality from
any tradition and none to suit us. Everything is offered as being of equal value:
from meditation to aromatherapy, from tree-hugging to life-style-consulting the
choice is apparently endless.
How are we to choose between all this? St
Paul is offering us a very simple test: if it brings us closer to the simple truth
that 'Jesus is Lord' then it is good, whatever the method. Although Paul is the
earliest Christian writer in the New Testament, he is already drawing on a tradition.
"Jesus is Lord" is the oldest of all Christian creeds. Unlike some of the creeds
that came later, it can help us to pray. And if we say it, the Holy Spirit of
God is speaking inside us.
Bernhard Schunemann
| 'My
spirit rejoices in God my saviour' (Luke 1,46)
 During
the middle of August, when most people think of holidays and when the summer fruits
are beginning to be seriously ripe, the Christian church throughout the world
celebrates the festival of the 'Blessed Virgin Mary' (15 August). There are other
festival days and times celebrating this most important of saints but it is the
middle of August that all in East and West were able to agree on!
For
us in Littlemore it is one of our patronal festival days. Mary is important for
us because of her closeness to Jesus. She is the first 'real Christian' in that
she brought Jesus into the world: in her the word of God truly became flesh. She
received the love of God, she was filled with it and she gave of it to the world
when it had become part of her. Her closeness to God also gave her a special insight
into the radical values of the Christian faith as expressed in her famous prayer
the Magnificat (Luke 1,46-55)
As Christians who follow in her footsteps
we have that same opportunity every time we receive Holy Communion: we are filled
with the reality of the love of Christ and we go out from here to make God's love
real in the world. For Mary this involved the greatest sacrifice that any mother
or indeed and parent may ever have to make, a piercing of the heart from which
it is almost impossible to recover: the death of her beloved child. For most of
us a sacrifice on that scale will not be required, but we can bring all our pain
and disappointment for healing to God, knowing that she is there praying for us
as our patron and our forerunner.
Bernhard Schünemann
|
'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you' (Luke 12. 20)
Often, when a family member dies, ancient wounds and resentments between brothers
and sisters get reactivated: perhaps one sibling feels that she or he was less
loved or favoured than the other; but the hurt then becomes focused, symbolically,
on the dead person's things and the details of the will. Sometimes families can
be split for whole generations over quite minor matters of inheritance. Today's
gospel is about this (sadly common) form of human alienation. But as so often,
the parable that Jesus tells in response to a question about inheritance is seemingly
more discomforting than it is satisfying.
Jesus does not tell us how to
heal the wounds of family resentment; nor does he give sage, legal advice on how
to share an inheritance fairly (as his questioner requests). Instead he cuts to
the quick: any attempt to hoard wealth is itself a form of spiritual death. Our
life hangs in God's hands at every moment; it is only 'richness towards God' that
matters, and all possessions tend to wrench us away from that final good. And
that is why, according to the same gospel writer's testimony, the poor are intrinsically
'blessed' (Luke 6. 20).
This is a hard saying in a culture obsessed with
the accumulation of wealth and status, and bent on the denial of death. But it
is a word of tremendous comfort for those who feel they have nothing, or who stand
shaken before the facts of death: they hold the secret of what it is to be 'rich
before God'. And what could be more important than that?
Sarah Coakley
| Martha and Mary
The Gospel
reading this week describes a visit of Jesus to the house of Martha and Mary.
Martha is busy preparing food, Mary sits at the feet of Jesus and listens to his
teaching. Martha is upset about the lack of action in Mary and asks Jesus to tell
Mary to help her. Jesus answers, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried about so many
things, but just one is needed. Mary has chosen the right thing and it will not
be taken away from her.' In the previous chapters of the Gospel travel and hospitality
had been important themes.
At the time it was considered the duty of women
and slaves to provide meals for guests and therefore Martha was doing the right
thing as far as she was concerned. Mary, on the other hand, was breaking away
from the expected role for women. She was sitting at the feet of Jesus, like a
disciple. Martha tried to call Mary back to her expected role of server, but Jesus
points out something valuable for us.
We all have expected roles in our
life, expected by society, by our families or by ourselves. We all have our duties.
Jesus was not rejecting the importance of what Martha was doing, but he pointed
out that we should not be so preoccupied with our daily tasks, that we have no
time and energy left for listening to God and be nourished spiritually. A very
simple meal would have been enough for Jesus and it would have given Martha time
to sit at Jesus' feet for some time as well.
Margreet Armitstead
| Independence
Day
 On
the 4th of July, 1776 the thirteen American colonies signed a Declaration of Independence
from British rule. The Declaration, written largely by Jefferson, highlighted
the reasons for the separation and their ambitions for the future. It opens with
these famous words: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable
rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness".
It concludes "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance
on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives,
our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor".
In other words, they present
their decision in terms of their rights, justice and what they believe God would
want for them. They expressed themselves in tones they realised would ring through
the centuries, as whatever the consequences of their decision, it would certainly
be historic. The Bible tells new nations, "When you have entered the homeland
that God gives you, serve Him faithfully. Deal generously with the alien and the
homeless, for you were homeless aliens in the land of Egypt." (Deuteronomy
10:17-21).
We can take pleasure in our nation's achievements, but the
Bible (Hebrews 11:8-16) reminds us that national pride needs to be kept in check
- God doesn't want us to use all our energy setting up new countries here on Earth,
but to strive for a better country- a heavenly one.
Mark Jones
| A
wonderful lesson in tolerance
 In
the Gospel passage of today, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and asks his disciples
to get things ready for him in a Samaritan village. They are refused hospitality.
So the disciples ask, 'do you want us to call fire down from heaven and to destroy
them?' But Jesus rebuked his disciples for this suggestion and simply went to
another village. A wonderful lesson in tolerance.
When Abraham Lincoln
was criticised for being too courteous to his enemies and reminded that it was
his duty to destroy them, he gave the great answer, 'Do I not destroy my enemies
when I make them my friends?' Even if someone seems utterly mistaken from where
we stand, we must never regard him as an enemy to be destroyed but as a strayed
friend to be recovered by love. A great challenge for us. However it is what we
are asked to do.
To love our enemies, to transform through love. May God
be with us to inspire us.
Margreet Armitstead
|
Trinity Season
I
cleared the ground
untiringly. The hedges needed clipping.
Under the fence
stole buttercups and elder,
tangled with hybrid teas. I weeded
nettles
from borders and collected seeds
towards next autumn's sowing.
I meant
to talk
as soon as I had mown the lawn once more. But You
were readier
to hear than I to pray
and gave me more than I deserved -
more than I
dreamed that I desired -
reason to keep away until I dared bring love to light;
to root out fear and let compassion flower.
Teresa Morgan | |
| 'When
I was in prison you came to me...'
As many of you know I am a teacher,
and on the Education Management Team at a prison for young offenders. It is very
easy to assume that when Jesus gave us these words 'when I was in prison you came
to Me' He was only addressing the situation in which my students find themselves.
The problem with that approach is that it is all too easy to feel sanctimonious,
and that we are being very charitable if we go anywhere near such an institution.
I believe Jesus was addressing all of us. There are crimes which society deems
worthy of a custodial sentence, however all of us do things about which we feel
guilty, and that guilt can become its own prison. If we are going to carry out
Jesus' wish it demands that we be honest with each other and with ourselves about
the 'prisons' we find ourselves in. We will then be in a position to offer compassion,
loving and reassuring one another. We must not judge because it may well be the
other way round next week!!! Through this exchange we will find ourselves growing
closer and closer to our Lord. This has certainly been my experience through my
work. It is pure joy to work with the young men, and through them God teaches
me much about my own need for repentance and for forgiveness.
Judy Baldwin
| Where shall wisdom be found?
One of the readings for today is taken from the book of Proverbs. Wisdom speaks
directly to mankind. She says, 'The Lord created me in the beginning of his works,
before all else that he made, long ago.' After a poetic description of all the
things that Wisdom had been created before, she goes on straight away with the
following, 'Then I was at his side each day, his darling and delight, playing
in his presence continually, playing on earth, when he had finished it, while
my delight was in mankind.'
It seems significant that the first actions
of Wisdom were to do with playing a carefree and joyful play in the presence of
God. No mention of deep reflections on the meaning of life, no intricate theological
theories. No simple play in the presence of a loving Lord. These days play seems
to have been reserved for children. Yet in the Bible passage of today it was Wisdom.
At the moment I am doing an after school club called 'Godly Play.' It is meant
to be a play that comes from within, as a response to a Bible story.
Could
it be that Wisdom herself is inspiring this kind of play, making us discover God's
love for us and our love for God afresh? In which case, is this kind of play only
for children? Are we, 'mature adults,' desiring wisdom, not denying ourselves
something life-giving, refreshing, enjoyable and even necessary if we think play
is only for children?
Margreet Armitstead
| Pentecost
I am writing this on the eve of my departure to Israel, where I shall be
at a conference for the week before Pentecost. The conference - at Tantur, between
Jerusalem and Bethlehem - is bringing together Christians from all around the
world (Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant) to discuss the theme of 'Forgiveness'.
It is a poignant time in Israel for such a discussion, as you well know: my own
paper is on the 'fearfulness of forgiveness' (see Psalm 130.4) - on the human
impossibility of forgiveness, except as mediated through the divine.
Please
pray for peace, and for forgiveness, in the Holy Land. And please pray for the
renewed gift of the Spirit this Pentecost; one tends to despair of hope in so
many areas, but only if we ask for the Spirit (and mean it!) do things begin to
change. In fact then we tend to get more than we had bargained for. I'm afraid
I have been a wretched correspondent this year: my weekly trips to Princeton,
where I've been on a Fellowship, have been very draining. But I think of you all
often, and pray for you. I shall be back again, God willing, in July, and so much
look forward to seeing you all then. With my love and prayer, Ever yours in the
Spirit,
Sarah Coakley
| Our
church clock
 The
church clock is ticking again! What a joy to have it back! Not only is it ticking
but its is also striking again! And what a striking restoration it has undergone,
many weeks of painstaking repainting and re-gilding has gone into this. Having
not had it for a number of months has made me think why it is that church towers
have clocks. Clearly they are in convenient places, often at the right height
for everyone to see. But they are also a reminder of time passing.
In
our Christian faith we do not believe that time is just endlessly repeating itself.
We believe that our lives have a beginning a middle and an end, and so has the
whole of creation. And by 'end' we mean 'goal' or purpose. The present is there
with the possibility of redeeming the past. And the future is there pulling us
forward towards God's truth. In the Bible, when the word 'time' is used, it is
often used with a very significant meaning: time is often the word for MOMENT,
in fact God's moment. We need to be careful not to miss these moments in our lives
when God's reality breaks in and offers to change us.
On this Sunday after
Ascension we are in an 'in between time', finishing the time of Easter and waiting
eagerly to celebrate God's life-giving gift of his Holy Spirit at Pentecost (next
Sunday). Waiting never needs to be a waste of time.
Bernhard Schunemann
| The
Ascension of Christ
Pussycat, pussycat where have you been?
I've been to London to visit the Queen.
Pussycat, pussycat what did you there?
I frightened a little mouse under the chair!
The implication in
this nursery-rhyme is that the cat, despite his adventurous excursion, remained
preoccupied with the usual cat routines of life, and so failed to glimpse the
sight of majestic glory that had been the object of his journey. He failed to
look up beyond the level of the skirting board.
At Ascension tide we are
invited to glimpse the whole of the 'Christ experience' in one majestic moment.
The ascension holds together everything about Jesus Christ: his becoming human
at Christmas, his human suffering on Good Friday, his wonderful and mysterious
resurrection and his being lifted up to sit beside God his father. Our humanity,
taken by Christ at his birth in Bethlehem, is now deeply within God. Jesus' earthly
ministry is no longer limited to the first half of the first century, it is now
available to all people in every place and in every age.
The cat may after
all have looked in the right place, but may have just missed something: In Luke's
gospel the disciples are told to stop gazing into an empty sky but to look around
them for the evidence of Christ's glory, the world around us is redolent with
Christ's glory, let us take another look. On Thursday this week we celebrate Christ's
Ascension.
Bernhard Schunemann (from an idea by Christopher Irvine)
| |
The Water of Life
 There
is a verse in today's reading from Revelation which speaks of being guided to
springs of the water of life. In our modern sanitised life we are familiar with
our kitchen tap being the source of water but we don't have to go back very far
in history to a time when people were completely dependent on local wells and
springs. In many parts of the world this is still the case, and these springs
are quite literally life giving - without them people would die. Many cultures
for this reason view their springs as sacred places. If we consider one interpretation
of "sacred" to be something God given, which brings us life and renews us, then
we can see their point.
Each of us will have sacred springs within our
own lives - God given people and places which renew, inspire and energise us.
Sometimes we might stumble across such a spring by surprise, finding life and
energy flowing from people and situations where we least expected it - think of
the desert springs. Other springs of life we will find simply in our routine daily
living. Often times these go unrecognised and it can be good practice at the end
of a day to reflect and to give thanks for those moments during the course of
the day that gave us new energy or inspired us. Water, of course can never really
be owned and is meant to be shared as a source of life for all. In the words of
one of our post communion prayers "may we whom the Spirit gives life, bring life
to others".
Wendy Blagden
| |
Easter - a new day
Sometimes the greatest miracle is just waking
up to a new day. If you have had a serious illness or an operation, or survived
an accident, you will know the feeling. You see the world with new eyes: everything
is still here and you are in it, and it's wonderful. While the feeling lasts,
the simplest activity is a treat. Stepping outside the door is an adventure. You
feel you could do anything.
The miracle of salvation is like that. Human
beings have made mistakes and done terrible evil. On Good Friday, we even tried
to kill God in the person of Jesus Christ. But Jesus and God conspired to turn
a disaster into a triumph.
On Easter morning, we find ourselves looking
at an empty tomb. A neatly folded shroud. Jesus was dead, but he is gone. His
followers are horrified. What has happened?
Just this: God has saved us
from our own evil. God says to us, I love you and the world I made for you. My
love for you is stronger than everything - much stronger than the death you tried
to put me through. So I am giving you another chance. The evil you did is undone.
Your sins are forgiven.
Salvation changes all our lives. On Easter morning,
all the evil we have done and all the evil we have suffered, are washed away in
God's overwhelming love. God gives us hope and joy. We are new people. Everything
is possible.
God says, Behold, I make everything new.
Teresa Morgan
| |
Easter - Christ is risen
 'Christ
is risen' is the oldest and most important Christian truth. This is what St John
Chrysostom preached about it in the fourth century: Enter ye all, therefore, into
the joy of our Lord, and let both the first and those who come after partake of
the reward. Rich and poor dance one with another. Ye who fast and ye who fast
not, rejoice today. The table is full laden: do ye all fare sumptuously. The calf
is ample, let none go hungry. Let all partake of the banquet of faith. Let all
partake of the riches of goodness. Let none lament his poverty; for the kingdom
is manifested for all. Let none bewail his transgressions; for pardon has dawned
from the tomb. Let none fear death; for the death of the saviour has set us free.
He has quenched death, who was subdued by it.
He has despoiled Hades,
who descended into Hades. Hades was embittered when it tasted of his flesh and
Isaiah anticipating this, cried out saying: Hades was embittered when it met thee
face to face below. It was embittered, for it was rendered void. It was embittered,
for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was despoiled. It was embittered
for it was fettered. It received a body, and it encountered God. It received earth,
and came face to face with heaven. It received that which it saw and fell whence
it saw not. O Death, where is thy sting? O Hades where is thy victory?
Christ
is risen and thou art cast down. Christ is risen and the demons have fallen. Christ
is risen and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen and life is made free. Christ
is risen and there is none dead in the tomb. For Christ is raised from the dead,
and becomes the first fruits of them that slept. To him be glory and dominion
from all ages to all ages. Amen.
Bernhard Schunemann
| |
Palm Sunday - "They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their
cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them" (Matthew 21:7)
 This
year 'Charlie' is once more helping us with our Palm Sunday celebrations. We are
used to Charlie now, and - it appears - he is used to us, for some years now he
has taken the courageous step of coming into church with us! Charlie normally
lives in a donkey sanctuary called the Island
Farm Donkey Sanctuary. No doubt Charlie, like all the donkeys there, has seen
his share of sadness. There would be no need of donkey sanctuaries if donkeys
were generally treated well. Donkeys are often mentioned in the Bible, in both
Old and New Testaments, though they are amongst the most badly treated animals
in Europe. Donkeys don't complain, at the very most they are stubborn and try
to refuse to co-operate. There are over fifty donkeys in Charlie's sanctuary and
the irony is that despite of their history of being abused they willingly carry
disabled children as part of their role in the 'riding for the disabled' at their
farm.
Donkeys, of course, don't say very much, but perhaps they don't
miss very much either. The donkey on which Jesus rode into Jerusalem must have
wondered what was going on: all the waving of palms and the shouting and singing
and the putting down of garments in his way. Did he know that Jesus had chosen
a donkey to reinforce the truth that he really was a king? Perhaps he knew the
other donkey, which had carried Jesus and his parents into Egypt, when they were
first fleeing from the persecution of Herod. Perhaps he stood on the roadside
five days later when the palms were being trodden underfoot and the cross, being
carried by that same Jesus, cast its shadow on the road - in the heat of the midday
sun.
Charlie, like many donkeys, has a big head, a kind face and a stubborn
nature, as one commentator once observed about Palm Sunday: "And only the donkey
and the children noticed that Jesus was crying"
Bernhard Schunemann
| |
Passiontide - Peter's betrayal?
 We
are all familiar with the drama of Peter's betrayal in the courtyard by the fire.
It is a tragic but strangely comforting story which makes St Peter appear full
of human frailty, capable of betraying him whom he holds most dear. And it is
comforting because we know in our hearts that, when push comes to shove, we too
would be capable of such weakness.
But perhaps it is also comforting because
we never expect to be put in such a position - our faith is unlikely to be challenged
in such dramatic and heroic circumstances. Are we not also involved in a betrayal
of our Lord in our daily lives here and now? We don't turn to God when we have
to make difficult decisions, God is not relevant and real to us in most moments
of our lives. Ours is a creeping, almost imperceptible betrayal. Peter 'wept bitterly'
when he realised his weakness and saw Jesus looking back at him.
The realisation
of our own incremental betrayal does not normally drive us to weep. Perhaps it
is crying that we need to relearn during this week, so that Easter will come in
a way we can truly celebrate.
Bernhard Schunemann
| |
Mothering Sunday
This Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent. Lent generally is a time of reflection,
of considering our relationship with God, as individuals, as a faith community,
as a world. But the fourth Sunday of Lent has a different flavour to it. First
of all, it is often celebrated as Mothering Sunday. We remember and celebrate
the care and dedication of mothers and mother figures in our lives, while trying
to be sensitive to that fact that Mothering Sunday can bring to the surface all
sorts of issues that can be quite painful.
The fourth Sunday of Lent is
increasingly known also as 'Laughter Sunday', or 'Refreshment Sunday', when the
austerity of Lent is relaxed a little. This idea comes from the first word of
the traditional collect for the day: 'Rejoice'. In our church this Sunday we will
celebrate Mothering Sunday with flowers and thanksgiving as well as 'Laughter
Sunday', remembering that Jesus' life death and resurrection also happened to
spread joy in the world. So, on a humourous last note: A young boy was overheard
praying, 'Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it. I'm having
a real good time as I am.'
Margreet Armitstead
| |
Lent 2004 - My Hope (Martin Luther)
Martin Luther was good at bringing into sharp focus things that are sometimes
difficult to express or explain in words. These are his plain words about what
it means when we promise to 'turn to Christ' as part of our conversion at our
baptism:
Up until now I have not been able to satisfy the demands of God because of
an innate evil and weakness. If I wasn't allowed to believe that God for the sake
of Christ forgives me this daily lamented shortfall, then it would be all over
with me. I must despair. But that I will not. I must hang myself on a tree like
Judas. But that too I will not do. I will hang myself around the neck or on the
foot of Christ like the sinner. Even though I am worse than her I will hold on
to my Lord. And then he will speak to the Father: this little appendage must also
go through. He has never kept anything and all your commandments he has transgressed.
But Father, he hanged himself on me. Nothing to be done! I died also for him.
Let him slip through. That shall be my faith.
(translated by Bernhard
Schunemann)
| |
Lent 2004 - God of creation
|
God of creation
we have abused the life you gave us.
Who would know we
are your children?
We are ashamed.
For the times we have not loved
you;
for the times we have not trusted you;
for the times we have forgotten
you,
forgive us.
For the hurt we have caused one another;
for
our neglect of one another;
for our rejection of each other,
forgive,
and teach us to forgive each other.
Your wisdom watches over what you
made
and your love never fails.
Help us to mend our hearts
and let
your spirit shine in us again.
Amen
Teresa Morgan
|
|
| |
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday signals the beginning of Lent. On Wednesday this week we will be
forty days away from the festival of Easter. These forty days reflect the forty
days that Noah was in the ark, the forty years that Israel spent wandering in
the desert and the forty days that Jesus fasted in the wilderness at the beginning
of his ministry. It is a period of reflection, a period of conversion, a period
of reorientating our lives in accordance with God's purposes for us.
There is an old ritual associated with Ash Wednesday it is called the 'imposition
of ashes', we have our foreheads signed with a cross in ashes. The Ashes with
which our foreheads are signed are the burned palm crosses from last year's Palm
Sunday a symbol of the cleansing fire of God's love. But any ritual is only meaningful
if it means something in our lives. Lent is a time of fasting, a time for considering
where we stand with God.
During Lent we can set time aside and seriously re-consider the fundamentals of
our faith. How important is God in my life? How close do I want God to be? How
relevant is God to the busy life we lead? For those of us who are very busy fasting
may mean to make ourselves less busy. Business can sometimes be a shield, shielding
us from the necessity to ask these fundamental questions. Lent allows us to take
this leisure, it may even encourage us to make this extra time.
Bernhard Schunemann
| |
St Valentine
Valentine's Day has arrived again. So the shops are full of love chocolates, flower
stands are stacked with love roses and pub notice boards are advertising special
love meals. Many years ago the Beatles told us that all you need is love. Two
thousand years before the Beatles sang their hearts out, Jesus told us the same.
But are we all referring to the same thing? What is this 'crazy little thing called
love?'
The pop songs and the soaps show us largely 'eros,' the expression
of our desires, including the butterflies in the tummy that go with it. But butterflies
tend to flit restlessly from one flower to the next. That's fine for butterflies,
but not for people, it causes huge problems as we can see around us, in the pop
songs, in the soaps, and, unfortunately, in real life.
It seems that the
love that Jesus told us about is to a large extent an act of will. He said, 'It's
easy to love those who like you, but I say to you, 'Love your enemy.' What a statement
to make, how incredibly difficult, yet there it is. What do we do with a statement
like that in our world? Do we take it seriously? How can we possibly go about
this kind of love? Well, Henri Nouwen thinks that the following may be helpful
as a starting point. When Jesus was baptised he was told by a voice from heaven,
'You are my beloved, my favourite.' Nouwen says all of us, including the people
we don't like, are told the same.
Margreet Armitstead
| |
What is so special about Luke?
We now have a three-year reading cycle for our readings on Sundays. During this
year (2004) we will be hearing a lot from St Luke's gospel. We will be getting
to know Jesus through Luke's eyes. There are two little words that Luke uses more
in his gospel than any other gospel writer. And these two little words will help
us to understand more deeply the person and the teaching of Jesus. The first word
is both simple and strange; it's the word 'daily'. Luke remembers it in the saying
about the taking up of the cross: "If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let
them take up their cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9,23). Or again in the Lord's
Prayer: "Give us each day our 'daily' bread" (Luke 11,3).
Luke remembers Jesus' teaching to be relevant for our every day life; we can live
our Christian life on a daily basis. There are bits we can do every day of our
life, as we are drawn closer and closer into the Kingdom of God! The other small
word is 'prayer'. Luke's gospel stories about Jesus invariably begin with the
phrase "Jesus was praying with his disciples" or "Jesus got up from his prayers
and he..." Luke remembers Jesus as someone who did everything preceded by prayer.
Jesus' relationship with God his father was totally alive. It seems that his whole
life was bathed in this special energy. Do we follow Jesus in the direction of
our own lives?
Bernhard Schunemann
| |
Candlemas
 "To
be a light to give light to all nations and for the glory of your people Israel"
(Luke 2,32)
These are the last reported words of the old man Simeon. He spoke them after seeing
the baby Jesus being brought to the temple for his first service, and after he
had taken the baby in his arms and looked him in the eyes. How very perceptive
of him! He saw something in Jesus and he was able to express what many after him
were able to repeat: That Jesus is the light for the world. We, as Jesus' followers,
must look for this light and multiply it, so that the whole world will one day
be bathed in his glorious light.
This story is quite a simple one. Mary
brings the forty day old infant Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem in order to make
the sacrifices she feels are necessary. Jesus is her first born son and therefore,
according to ancient custom belongs to God. By making the sacrifices she believes
she can keep Jesus with her to bring him up. But once she arrives at the temple
she meets two old people called Simeon and Hannah. Simeon recognises in Jesus
the saviour of the world.
We learn that Jesus, though he is the Son of God and our eternal Christ, did live
as a real flesh and blood human being subject to the strange rules and regulations
of his time. We learn today that Mary did not flinch from bringing Jesus and presenting
him so that he would light up even the darkest corners of this world, hearing
that her own heart would be pierced also. And we also learn from Hannah - if we
listen to our gospel reading carefully - that women have been prophets right from
the beginning of Christian history. Simeon also has a message for us: having experienced
the presence of Christ we can contemplate our own departing in peace.
But above all we celebrate that Christ lights up our faces because in him can
be found truth that is beyond speaking.
Bernhard Schunemann
| |
Transformational encounters
Transformational encounters. It is a bit of a mouthful, but well worth reflecting
on. Have you ever come across someone that really made you think about your life,
someone that shook you up a bit, someone that did not see life the way you saw
it and therefore challenged you in some way?
Some years ago we lived in Hong Kong and for my teaching job I had to travel in
a ferry. I shared this ferry with a colleague, a lady in her early forties. Some
days during our 45 minute journey to our work she would pray. She would not pray
to Christ but to Vishnu, because she was a Hindu. Seeing my friend pray to God
was for me a 'transformational encounter'. She opened up the idea for me that
there are other ways to God.
Jesus' presence always seemed to have been transformational, it changed people.
For Jesus the most important aspect of true religion was to try and embody unconditional
love. Therefore both the sick, the poor and the outcasts were transformed because
they were loved and the religious leaders were transformed because their rigid
views were challenged. The first group found new inner peace, the second new inner
disquiet.
Margreet Armitstead
| |
2003
| |
Christmas - Is it true?
Perhaps that is the crucial question for Christians at this holy time: the possibility
of radical change and transformation in a fallen and desperate world, because
of what happened — once-for-all — in God-made-human. Is
it true, despite all appearances? In saying yes, we, as Christians, stake our
lives on Jesus', and that is both costly and joyous. Even if times are difficult
for you now, I wish you some of the taste of that joy this Christmas. Here is
John Betjeman, reminding us afresh:
And is it true? And is it true?
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen
in a stained-glass window's hue,
A Baby in an ox's stall?
The Maker of
the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me?
And is it true?
For if it is,
No loving fingers tying strings
Around those tissued fripperies,
The sweet and silly Christmas things,
Bath salts and inexpensive scent,
And hideous tie so kindly meant,
No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Not all the steeple-shaking bells
Can
with this single Truth compare -
That God was Man in Palestine
And lives
today in Bread and Wine.
Love and prayers to you all from America, Sarah Coakley
|
|
Do not be afraid, Mary!
Earlier this year we had a flower festival on the occasion of the feast of St
Michael and All Angels. We learned then that angels might come in all sorts of
shapes and sizes. We are used to thinking of them as harmless little cherubs mainly
adorning bits of the church that otherwise might look unsightly. Or we have them
dangling from our Christmas trees. In the church where I was baptised we had some
angels painted on the ceiling, and I have a very strong memory as a child, during
seemingly endless sermons gazing up at these strange beings. They had scrolls
coming out of their mouths with music written on them.
As far as the Bible is concerned, that is of course their main function: they
are 'messengers', nothing more and nothing less. Their appearance is entirely
unimportant compared to their function as 'messengers'. The messenger-angel Gabriel
seems to have been of a rather frightening appearance, perhaps more along the
lines of angels in orthodox iconography. Mary was 'greatly troubled'. The entry
of God into our lives can be very disturbing, especially if we take it seriously.
Mary had no choice: her life was turned upside down and never the same again,
no wonder the angel had to calm her down. The Good News of Christmas is brought
to us courtesy of this one person's courage and faithfulness. Thank you Mary,
O favoured one!
Bernhard Schunemann
How shall I tell of this great mystery?
He who is without flesh becomes
incarnate;
the Word puts on a body; the Invisible is seen;
He whom no
hand can touch is handled;
and He who knows no beginning now begins to be.
The Son of God becomes the Son of man Jesus Christ,
the same yesterday
and today and for ever.
(Great Vespers, 26 December - Orthodox
Liturgy)
| |
Advent Again
|
We were still waiting when the trees let drop
their brightest hopes; through
drifts of disappointment
wading towards the sharp hill top, to watch
December
raised.
Easter was gone; the difference delayed;
we harvested, made hay,
uncertain.
Planted winter wheat. Summer is dead
and it is hard to feel
we've even started.
Night shivers between us now; rain sifts
round cottages'
cold shoulders, skirts
abandoned, gardens where the grass was greener,
and are we saved?
Behind the clouds
Venus emerges; slowly; like a
star,
radiant with expectation.
Stir up the clay clogging your boots.
A new moon rises, rocking like a cradle.
Open your eyes, she says. Look
east
where hope is warm. Where else but in the dark
could you have seen
the dawn?
Teresa Morgan
|  |
| |
Advent as a 'path of waiting'
Waiting, as we see it in the people on the first pages of the Gospel, is waiting
with a sense of promise. 'Zechariah, your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son.'
'Mary, listen! You are to conceive and bear a son' (Luke 1,13 & 31). People who
wait have received a promise that allows them to wait. They have received something
that is at work in them, like a seed that has started to grow. This is very important.
We can really wait only if what we are waiting for has already begun for us. So
waiting is never a movement from nothing to something. It is always a movement
from something to something more.
A waiting person is a patient person. The word 'patience' means the willingness
to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that
something hidden there will manifest itself to us. Impatient people are always
expecting the real thing to happen somewhere else and therefore want to go elsewhere.
The moment is empty. But patient people dare to stay where they are. Patient living
means to live actively in the present and wait there. Waiting, then, is not passive.
It involves nurturing the moment, as a mother nurtures the child that is growing
in her womb.
Henri Nouwen
| |
End of the church year
The Church year has come to an end. This week will be the last of this Church
year, next week will be the first week of Advent, the first week of the new Church
year. At the end of a certain period, a day, a birthday party, a holiday, a summer,
a school year, a life, even a millennium, we tend to reflect on what the time
past has been like. Was it exciting or boring, pleasant or painful, healing or
hurtful, successful or disastrous, perhaps a mixture of many things.
In Church we shall reflect on all the different sides of Christ that we have been
thinking about this past year. We have thought about Jesus as the storyteller,
the healer of the sick, the one who comforted the lonely and poor and challenged
the complacent. But there are two sides of Christ that stand out for me. One is
expressed in a hymn that we will sing this Sunday, 'What a Friend we have in Jesus,'
expressing that it is actually possible for us to have an informal intimacy, closeness,
with God as our closest friend. The other one is expressed in the official title
of this last Sunday of the Church year 'Christ the King,' that Christ is above
all the one who showed us that his kingship was best portrayed with his crown
of thorns, absorbing pain and turning it into transforming love.
Jesus' life and teaching was full of other transforming paradoxes, one of which
we will look forward to from next week, Christ the King, born in a lowly stable.
May we all follow Christ's way of transforming love in our lives in the next year.
Margreet Armitstead
| |
Remember people in prison
Prison at its best can be a place of reflection and change, a place where people
can encounter God, but mostly it is a bleak, frightening and lonely place where
people are in danger of losing touch with their own humanity. Dietrich Bonhöfer
was a Lutheran priest, imprisoned and finally murdered by the Nazis. Some of his
most powerful writing came from him in prison:
Proclaiming God's word It is not up to us to predict the
day - but the day will come - when people again will be called, to speak God's
word, so that under it the world will be changed and renewed. That will be a language,
perhaps quite unreligious, but new words of liberation and salvation. Just like
the language of Jesus: people will be shocked by its power, its power to overcome.
The language of a new justice and a new truth. A language that proclaims the peace
of God with humanity and the drawing near of God's Kingdom.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (translated by B Schunemann)
| |
To be a saint is to know God in Christ
I had a friend, who, for a while, was responsible for proposing people of the
past to be commemorated as saints in the Church of England. In the Church of England
we have a number of saints (or sometimes called special "commemorations") that
have not been recognised as saints by other churches yet. Among them Julian of
Norwich (8 May), John Henry Newman of Littlemore (11 August), Martin Luther (31
October) and John & Charles Wesley (24 May).
As we don't have a Pope in the Church of England, it falls to the General Synod
to confirm the status of sainthood. But it fell to my friend to allocate dates
on which these new saints might be commemorated. Invariably he did this by choosing
the day on which they died. The saints go before us (official ones and unofficial
ones). Saints are people who have been perceived to be profoundly close to God
during parts of their lifetime. But saints are especially people who have gone
before us through death. And for them death, the moment of their dying, is a new
birth. For them death has truly opened the gate of glory and through them we can
glimpse what might await us. In the end only God can 'make' saints, and it is
likely that we would be thoroughly surprised by who appears to be included. Who
knows, it might even be ourselves and - even more shocking - the neighbour whom
we have never noticed before!
But the discussion about who might or who might not have been a saint is actually
irrelevant when it comes affirming the deeper truth: there is a connection between
our life here on earth and our life awaiting us beyond the grave. And though we
do not now know any details, we do know that the saints have gone before us and
that they accompany us with their prayers on our journey.
Bernhard Schunemann
| |
Bible Sunday
Today is Bible Sunday. For me, there is no other book in the world quite like
the Bible. It is a unique piece of literature. We can read it to enjoy the artistic
beauty of its poetry, the exciting action of its historical books, and the drama
of its prophets. We can look to the Bible for comfort or guidance, inspiration
or entertainment. The Bible is also God's special revelation telling us about
God and pointing the way to salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ. As
God's word it speaks authoritatively to all our needs and desires and calls on
us to listen and obey.
For many people in the world the Bible is God's word for today and for every day
of our lives. Many believe that it is important that we memorise verses from God's
word. This can help us to grow in our Christian faith: 'I have hidden your word
in my heart that I might not sin against you' (Psalm 119:11) and it will help
us to tell others about our faith: 'Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light
to my path' (Psalm 119:105). Throughout history God has continued to direct and
illumine humankind through the Bible. It presents us with a lifelong challenge,
to learn to know God, to love him and to obey him.
Richard Chand
| |
Fair Trade
"And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and love kindness and
walk humbly with you our God" (Micah 6,8). To treat people fairly, and especially
to do so with those who are less powerful than us is at the heart of the conversion
that the prophets of the Old Testament want us to experience in our lives.
Fair
Trade is one way in which producers are guaranteed to get a fair price and they
begin to be less at the mercy of all the traders and processors in between them
and the consumer. Fair Trade also benefits the communities in which these producers
work. Julien Mistidor is a member of the Cooperative Sainte Helene Carice. For
the first time, they are selling coffee direct to the European Fair Trade market,
the latest stage in a long process, which could mean greater prosperity for rural
families in the poorest country in the Americas. Julien says, "I've been in the
co-op for twenty years. As far as price goes it's going quite well - the price
the co-op is getting is much better. At first, before the co-op was set up, we
would have to take out loans at very high interest in order to send the children
to school. Now with the co-op we're getting something back. Now the coffee is
worth something. Before, we didn't get anything, even after the harvest. I have
nine children and all but the youngest are at school - if it hadn't been for the
coffee and the co-op this would have not been possible. The co-op has helped my
wife, our children and me with our health problems. We can store the harvest and
be more secure in the knowledge that if we have any problems we can turn to the
co-op for help, if we need a loan. It's helping us progress."
Bernhard
Schunemann
| |
Baptism
Today's
gospel tells us how a rich man who kept all the commandments was told by Jesus
to sell everything he had and follow him. The rich man left quietly and we are
subsequently told that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. That makes most of us shift uneasily
on our seats even if we were more than averagely generous last week on gift day.
Last year at college friend told us a simple story. A man came before God and
was asked to give everything to God, house, car, mobile phone, family, the clothes
he was wearing, even his life, the lot. There he was, totally stripped of everything
he had held dear. Then God said, 'Here, have the key to your house, have your
mobile phone, have your family, have everything. But remember who gave all this
to you and use it wisely.'
We are not asked to sell everything and become poor but we are all asked to use
what we have in God's service, become channels of God's peace, whether we are
rich or poor, even you, even me. We start this path of service officially when
we are baptised and welcomed into the family of the church. Today we are delighted
to celebrate Helen's baptism. People are gathered from many different countries
to witness this joyful occasion. May we all feel inspired today to continue our
journey of life with God joyfully, to thank God for all he has blessed us with
and to use all we have been given wisely.
Margreet Armitstead
| |
Harvest
 October
has arrived, sweeping the last warmth of summer out of the most sheltered corners.
In my garden, chairs and toys which lived outside all the hot weeks of August,
have been brought in and tidied into their winter cupboards. The garden is left
to michaelmas daisies and fat harvest spiders, who throw up bigger and bigger
webs to catch the last few flies. It is time to enjoy being safe indoors, turn
up the heating, put on the oven, dig out the book or the indoor job we have been
keeping for the dark evenings.
It is time to look back on the year and reckon up: what was good and what was
bad, what we're glad we did, what we wish we had (or hadn't); how family and friends
have been; what we'll have to leave till another year.
Every year is a mixture of good and bad, but the collect for Harvest Festival
reminds us firmly that the goodness of God towers above everything else. "You
crown the year with your goodness," it says. Harvest Festival is a time for giving
thanks. The collect also reminds us that before we lock the door and close the
curtains, we must check that the people around us are also safe and warm and have
what they need to get through the winter. "You give us the fruits of the earth
in their season: grant that we may use them ... for the relief of those in need
and for our own well-being." God and the earth are father and mother to us all.
At Harvest Festival, we show how much we honour them by taking care of each other.
Teresa Morgan
| |
Being a Christian
In the gospel reading from Mark chapter 8, Jesus asks two questions of his disciples.
The first is "who do people say that I am?", and the disciples reported back the
various conclusions that people had reached. In these current times where spiritual
issues are of great interest to many people, it is neither particularly difficult
or threatening to have long discussions about who Jesus was or might be, and there
will be different answers depending on who you talk to.
It is important
for us to be aware of what other people think about God and Jesus, but of far
more significance is Jesus’ second question "but who do you say that I
am"?. This moves us away from the impersonal and the abstract to the personal,
where we are forced to stop and confront our own beliefs. This is not merely a
theological debate about what we believe. Knowing who Jesus is lies at the very
core of our own individual humanity and spirituality. Knowing who Jesus is defines
who we are, and how we live our lives. As Christians we will hopefully come up
with a broadly similar idea of who Jesus is, but as individuals we will all experience
him differently in our lives. In this sense the significance is not in being able
to come up with the "right" answer to the question, it is in knowing what our
answer would be if the same question were to be asked of each one of us.
Wendy Blagden
| |
Our new John Henry Newman School
The opening of our brand-new church
school here in Littlemore this week has set me thinking about the role as teacher,
that Jesus has in our lives. Like all 'Rabbis' (literally 'teacher' - see John
20,16) at his time, Jesus spent most of his later life teaching his disciples,
they knew him to be their teacher.
A lot of his teaching has been preserved for us in the gospels. He taught by example,
he taught by deeds of authority and, most memorably of all, he taught by telling
stories, painting in the most vivid and sometimes disturbing colours the reality
of the kingdom of God. But perhaps the single most important thing he teaches
us is to live well. When Jesus teaches us to pray, in the famous words of the
Lord's Prayer, he does not teach us how we should ask God for things, but
he teaches us how we should learn to live our lives. By starting our prayers with
the simple words 'Our father', he teaches us an intimacy with God that
will fill our whole beings with such an awareness of being loved, that we will
learn to live in a completely new way. Jesus, even today, can be our teacher and
we can learn to enter his 'school for real life' and pray in his words.
In our prayers in this church we commit ourselves to praying for our new school
and its entire staff and children regularly so that they also will be able to
learn to live in the light of this intimate love of God.
Bernhard Schunemann
| |
God as gardener
Last year I described how I picked some valerian
out of a wall and planted it in my garden, and how it died, but after several
weeks came amazingly back to life. This year, that valerian has grown and spread
and produced scores of pink flowers. And I don't want to seem ungrateful, but
it is now almost too vigorous, and is starting to crowd and kill the plants around
it. I have already had to move some, to save the azalea bush and the nearby ferns.
This kind of situation is common in human life too. People who are treated roughly
can all too easily be damaged, even die. But people who are well treated or naturally
strong can become aggressive and damage others. The question is, how do we get
the balance right? In the wild, it is simple: strong plants survive and weak ones
die. But in a garden, there is a place for hardy plants and delicate ones, large
and small, native and exotic. We love them all, and we try to make sure that we
plant them where their special qualities will flourish.
In the same way, the Bible often describes God as a gardener, or a farmer, of
people. God loves us all, and hopes for each of us to find a place where our best
qualities can thrive. And one of the things we can do for God, is to keep an eye
out for each other's good qualities, and think where they would do well, and if
we can, help people to get there. That way, we will all flourish, and no-one will
get hurt.
Teresa Morgan
|
|
| 
