The Rector writes.....

I have recently been involved closely with the funerals of three very elderly ladies, the mother of a friend who was 98 (born 1912), my own mother-in-law who was 94 and an aunt who was 95 (both born 1915). Few of us expect to live that long and at all three funerals the person giving the tribute referred to the year that they were born.

In 1912 Scott reached the South Pole only to find that Amundsen had arrived there first. This was the year that the Titanic sank. In 1915 Alexander Graham Bell made a record long distance telephone call 4,750 miles from New York to San Francisco. This was the year that the liner ‘Luisitania’ was sunk by a German torpedo killing about 1,400 people. It was also the year that Frank Sinatra was born.

The Psalmist writes in Psalm 90 v 10 ‘The days of our life are three score years and ten, or if our strength endures, even four score;’ Well these good ladies certainly exceeded that. They lived through two world wars, many global crises and developments in technology that even the brightest modern mind cannot handle. Consider a child born this year, if he or she should live 90 years or more into the next century what will have happened during their lifetime? It is more frightening than exciting to speculate about the changes ahead.

But to return to Psalm 90 v 10 the second part says ‘yet the sum of them (our years) is but labour and sorrow, for they soon pass away and we are gone’. Not very comforting is it? It is quite clear that when some people die it is what we call ‘a happy release’. Life has become burdensome, filled with pain and frustration, and there is little left to enjoy. However, by far the majority of people whose funerals I conduct have had many blessings in their lives and we tend to call their final service ‘Thanksgivings’, not just for what we appreciate in the life of a loved one but for all the good things that have come their way as well.

Few of us go through life without a loving family and friends, more good health than we care to admit, a reasonable income to afford some luxuries and many opportunities that we either choose to take or reject. The Psalmist was writing in harsher times than ours. However the World Cup has reminded us that for all the excitement and entertainment the football has produced, (if this your thing!), not far from the stadia are areas of extreme poverty where there is considerable ‘labour and sorrow’.

 As our harvest time approaches we need continually to give thanks for ‘all good gifts around us’.

Verse 12 of the Psalm instructs us ‘So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.’ There is a challenge for all of us to try and lead useful lives to use our time on earth well. So that when we are well advanced in age we may pass on wise teaching and experience to younger folk.

 The most sobering moment at a funeral is when we are all reminded from Psalm 103 that ‘we are but dust’. When I visited Cambridge crematorium last week for the funeral of my aunt, Mandy and I were shown the places where the ashes of my mother (1972) and Mandy’s father (1983) were scattered. That was a long time ago. Yet the Christian faith assures us that we live beyond the grave. The triumph of

Easter is Christ defeating death. On the occasion of the Ascension he returns in triumph to join his Father in Heaven. Yes, when we die we leave behind our earthly remains but we ourselves live on. St Paul speaks of us being raised as a ‘spiritual body’. He continues in 1Thessalonians 4 v 17-18 ‘And so we will be with the Lord for ever. Therefore encourage each other with these words’. We will do well if we manage to live reasonably healthy lives into our nineties, but even if we do reach the magic century, what is a hundred years in the context of the age of the world? What is a hundred years in terms of ‘everlasting life?’

I used to be fearful that after death we enter into an existence that simply goes on and on and on. I do not like that idea at all. Then there is the much more helpful phrase ‘eternal life’, which suggests quality rather than length. What sort of quality? Quite simply, the promise of life with our loved ones but more importantly in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Imagine a gathering of all your favourite people on a very happy occasion. Everyone is enjoying themselves so much that time becomes completely irrelevant. Magnify this idea to infinity and that is my concept of Eternal life. Not something to be dreaded but the beginning of the greatest adventure of all – even if we have been lucky enough to have had a long and exciting time down here.

 

Sunday May 9th was Rogation Sunday. Not too many people remembered that. Rogation comes from the Latin word rogare, which means to ask. The idea is that we should ask God in prayer to bless our crops, those who work in agriculture, in industry, in distribution and so on that once again we may have the generous harvest in our land that we always take for granted. When I was growing up in Bury St.Edmunds in Suffolk, the tradition of All Saints Church, where my late father served as vicar, was for the congregation to process to the end of Park Road where my father would say a blessing over all the surrounding fields and meadows. This came to an end one year when we found that a housing estate was being built where we used to stand. So this tradition came to an end but we never failed to keep Rogationtide in our prayers.

If you failed to observe Rogation I hope that you did not miss Christian Aid week, which took place at the same time. Supporting such charities generously reminds us that we are extremely fortunate in what we receive and other folk do not. We need to learn to share far more than we do.

 Christian Aid produced the shocking statistic that 20 per cent of the world's population live on less than 50 pence a day, and that 799 million people in developing countries go to bed starving. Also consider that in our country where so many of us choose to drink bottled water, 1.1 billion people do not have access to clean water at all. And if you failed to notice both Rogationtide and Christian Aid week you might just have noticed that there was a General Election!

 There was plenty of 'asking' during the campaigning, mostly for things that would increase the prosperity of certain individuals at the cost of somebody else. The Treasury is not an endless pot of gold and may God bless Mr. Cameron, Mr. Clegg and their staff as they try to sort out the economy, because whatever hard decisions they make some people are not going to be very happy! But before you start complaining, just remember how very fortunate we are in our country in our standard of living whatever government is in power. The basic line in the Lord's Prayer says 'give us this day our daily bread'. In this land we get far more than that, but please note that the word in the prayer is 'us'. This reminds us of our duty is to share what we have with others. But first we must pray 'Dear God thank you for all your blessings in the past, please in your great goodness provide for us again'.

A group of Geography students studied the Seven Wonders of the World. At the end of the section, the students were asked to list what they considered to be the Seven Wonders of the World. Though there was some disagreement the following got the most votes:

1. Egypt's Great Pyramids

2. Taj Mahal

3. Grand Canyon

4. Panama Canal

5. Empire State Building

6. St. Peter's Basilica

7. China's Great Wall

While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student, a quiet girl had not turned in her paper yet, so she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The quiet girl replied, 'Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many.' The teacher said, 'Well tell us what you have, and maybe we can help'.

The girl hesitated, then read,

I think the Seven Wonders of the World are…

1. to touch

2. to taste

3. to see

4. to hear

She hesitated a little, and then added,

5. to run

6. to laugh

7. and to love

It is far too easy to look at the exploits of man without giving thanks for all that God has done for us. We are very poor at giving thanks and it is good to be confronted by 'Comic Relief ', 'Children in Need', 'Sport Relief ', 'Christian Aid' and many more worthy causes to remind us of our good fortune.

A young man once asked God how long a million years was to him. God replied, 'A million years is to me is just like a single second to you.'The young man asked God what a million pounds was to

him. God replied, 'A million pounds to me is just like a single penny to you' Then the young man got his courage up and asked, 'God, could I have one of your pennies?' God smiled and replied, 'Certainly, just a second.'

As we reflect on the new Government in our land, please remember how fortunate we are to live in this country with our many blessings compared with so many millions of others throughout the world. I hope and pray that now the election is over we have a government that will really engage with world poverty supported and encouraged by you and me. Pray for our new leaders, give thanks for all our blessings and pray that God will continue to provide for us.

 From 'A bucket of Surprises, J John and Mark Stibbe, Monarch Books.

Michael

 

 

The Rector writes…
Just about 1,300 years ago some Christian missionaries came to the northern part of Britain, the wonderful area of Northumbria, where the heathen King Edwin lived. Edwin had begun to feel dissatisfied with the old heathen gods and listened to what the missionaries had to say about Christ, but before making up his mind about becoming a Christian he decided to discuss the matter with his counsellors.

The heathen priests were at the meeting with their leader Coifi; and Edwin began by asking what they thought about this new religion called Christianity. Coifi admitted that he had never
much believed in Woden and Thor and the rest of the old Saxon gods. Then one of the King's chieftains said something very striking; this is how he put it…

"O King, often when men are sitting at meat in your hall in the winter-time and the warm fire is alight on the hearth and the cold rain-storm is raging outside, a sparrow will fly in at one door and warm himself for a few moments in the light and heat of the fire, and then go out again by the other door into the winter darkness. So it is with the life of man in the world; what has gone before it, what will come after it, no one can tell. If therefore this new teaching can tell us
something more certain, then it seems to me indeed worthy to be followed."

So they listened again to what the Christian missionaries had to tell them about Christ's Resurrection from the dead,and then, we're told. Coifi, the chief priest, suddenly cried out
'Now I understand the truth!' He jumped on a horse and rode straight away to the Temple of Woden and ordered it to be burnt to the ground. Later on King Edwin built a little wooden church at York on the very spot where York Minster now stands and was baptised there on Easter Eve with many of his nobles and people.

That little story about the sparrow, seems, a perfect illustration of our life here. Out of darkness - we cannot remember anything before we were born, then into the light that is where we are now, flying along the lighted Hall of Life. Then one day out into darkness again. But since Jesus came back from the dead on the first Easter Day it is not darkness any more. We know where we came from and where we are going to. This is how one great Christian writer put it; "I come from God. I belong to God. I'm going to God". What a difference the message of the Resurrection made in the lives of King Edwin, Coifi the priest and the people of Northumbria. What a difference the Resurrection made to the first disciples, it was the certainty that Christ had risen from the dead which transformed them so dramatically from a group of frightened disillusioned mourners to men of such courage and conviction that they turned the world upside
down. What a difference the Resurrection made to Paul who had not only thought the resurrection nonsense, but wicked propaganda, and he did his utmost to stamp out the belief in
it and to persecute those who so believed. Yet it was this man who later wrote "If Christ be not risen, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also in vain." 1 Cor. 15 v 14.

Someone once described our world "as a ship which has slipped its mooring in the night and in the morning there is no land in sight, the sun and stars are obscured, the compass is broken, the rudder smashed and the captain dead." And the reason that this is such an apt description of society today, is because it is ignorant of, or has forgotten or simply refuses to believe that Christ is Risen from the dead. The Psalmist says that "our days are three score years and ten or if we have strength four score". The scientist is suggesting that life expectancy can go well beyond even that. But all of us must eventually come to terms with our mortality. The
material world in which we live caters for the things that can be seen and touched and tasted, as they were the really important things. To be well fed, to be comfortably housed and suitably clothed, to have adequate sufficiency for recreation and entertainment and an adequate provision for a rainy day - these appear to be the basic aims of the modern mind and they are all material aims. None of them look over and beyond the fact of death. Indeed they might
be the aims of a community that accepts death as the end, a community that has never heard or refuses to listen to the truth of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the message that it proclaims of Eternal Life!

Stop and consider this Easter that the hope and joy that Easter proclaims is that Jesus Christ is Risen for you - yes you!

I would like personally to say how thrilled I was on Saturday March 20th to witness the licensing of Carolyn Chappell at Redbourn Parish Church as our new Reader. It was also
wonderful to see Hector there beaming from ear to ear whilst shedding the odd tear. Welcome Carolyn to your exciting new ministry.

Michael

 
Friday 6th February was a very unusual day. I tramped through nine inches of snow to say Morning Prayer and afterwards spent some time helping to shift a couple of vehicles that had been unwise enough to venture out in the snow. I then had the unusual experience of walking up the middle of Church Street without any chance of a vehicle passing me either way. As I was wearing a decent pair of boots I decided to walk into the park where the snow was very deep indeed. You might remember that there was a ghostly mist around that morning, the park was deserted and very white. I trudged from the football ground past the play area to the cricket pavilion. There was no one around, no dogwalkers, no children out yet, no footprint in the virgin snow. Everything was incredibly still. Had I somehow entered Narnia via Woburn Street? Just for a moment I might have been the only person alive!

It is at times such as these that the mind becomes very focused and I felt rather more aware of the presence of God than I had an hour earlier in church.

Do you ever have moments when everything seems more startlingly vivid than usual? I love views from hills and mountains and have been lucky enough to experience many abroad. But you don't have to go too far from home to experience the majesty of God's world, the Dunstable Downs or Ampthill Park on a fine day are glorious places to be.

Last Sunday the Gospel was The Transfiguration. 'After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up to a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus' (Mark 9 2-4). This was an extraordinary moment for the three disciples who did not know how to react such was their experience of such holiness. Peter wasn't sure what to do so he offered to build three shelters. You may remember that they heard a voice from the clouds 'this is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!'

Very soon after the disciples found themselves alone except for Jesus, yet they knew that they had experienced something so remarkable that words were insufficient. What they had seen was the great Old Testament Lawgiver, Moses, and the greatest of the Prophets, Elijah, pointing to Jesus Christ as the fulfilment of everything that they had stood for and his father God giving his approval for what lay ahead. This occurrence happened very shortly before the events of the crucifixion and the glorious resurrection of our Lord. When Jesus did rise from the dead, the significance of the Transfiguration was clearly seen in its context that Jesus Christ is triumphant above all things.

Of course not all our special moments come to us as happened at the Transfiguration. We all need to make an effort to find God ourselves. Jesus frequently would take himself away from the crowds to pray alone. He needed silence and peace to learn the will of his Father. The most obvious example was when he went into the Wilderness for forty days and forty nights to strengthen himself spiritually and physically for what lay ahead. This period corresponds to our season of Lent. I know that Lent means different things to all of us, but many of us are afraid of silence and the thought of being alone. Is this because we are frightened of discovering things about ourselves that we know are wrong? It is only through prayer that they can be corrected. Our God is a god of forgiveness and love and wants us to come to him, warts and all. Lent is the time to re-examine the path that our lives are going. Please do use this season positively.

Glimpses of glory such as happened on the Mount of the Transfiguration only occur very rarely but unless we strengthen our prayer life and our relationship with our Father God we may miss them completely, and in the mess that mankind is making of the world that would be a huge shame.

Affectionately

Michael

Many of you may recently have seen a distraught woman from Tyneside declaring on television, 'My life is ruined!' Had her family abandoned her? Has she a terminal illness? Had she just had to declare bankruptcy? No none of these things. Simply, her football team, Newcastle United, are in one big mess and Kevin Keegan has left them. As a Sunderland supporter I smile wickedly at the misfortunes of our rival team but saying that your life is ruined over a football team shows a tragic narrowness of life. Oh yes, maybe I have given my dear wife the odd hard evening due to the dismal results of my team, for which I apologise to her now, but there is more to life than football, and that comes from me! Yet this woman has become part of a sad culture where it seems acceptable to spend over thirty million pounds on a footballer because football is so important, and turn a blind eye to the millions of starving people. This is but one obvious example of how we have lost all grasp on our priorities.

So ask yourself, 'What really is important to you?' Is it your family, your health, your house, your bank balance, your car, your forty-two inch T.V., your football team or any other status symbol that you cling proudly on to? Just remember the words of St. Paul in 1 Tim.ch.6 v 7 'We brought nothing into the world, and we take nothing out'. Obviously this verse is all about our possessions but what about our contribution to life? Whether we consider ourselves religious or not surely all of us would like to think that when we depart this life we have contributed something to make the world just a little better than it was when we entered it. This can be done by the ethical and moral laws that we live by, the way we bring up our children, our attitude to work, the causes we support and so on. There is so much that needs to be done and can be done, yet those who make a real contribution to improving society are always in the minority. So often there is a call for 'volunteers' be it to stand for a particular position, to run a club, to help with a charitable event or to take responsibility for a task in church. So often it falls to the same dedicated few, and the majority who do very little themselves, frequently have the cheek to criticise those who do.. 

I am sorry that I always seem to be talking about funerals but I do get involved with many tributes and I always think to myself, 'What would I like someone to say about me?' Then, 'What would be really accurate to say about me?' That is quite frightening is it not? Try this exercise for yourself and remember the words used in wedding services, 'God, who is judge of all and who knows all the secrets of our hearts.' One day we will all have to give an account of ourselves and it will not be possible to hire the top lawyers then, even if we could afford them!

Of course many people choose not to think of any life beyond the little world that they choose to live in and take the easy way out by declaring, 'I'm not religious'. Yet it is my experience that when they are confronted by the death of a loved one or they suffer a serious illness themselves, then so much that has occupied their thoughts and time suddenly becomes trivial and irrelevant - even football teams!

What really matters to you? May I suggest that you each make a personal list of the top ten most important things that matter to you and share them with God in prayer.

Affectionately,

Michael

    

St. Georges, Barcelona

Many apologies for not being with you for the Harvest weekend. As many of you know, Mandy and I had been invited to the Institution and Licensing of my good friend the Revd. Andrew Tweedy as Chaplain of St. George's Barcelona. Andrew's wife Billie and my wife Mandy are very close friends from school days. My family attended their wedding, just outside Oxford, in the summer and we wanted to offer support as they began a very new ministry in a foreign country. As exciting as the job sounded they were naturally apprehensive. So we wanted to be there, the fact that it was a trip to Barcelona did not come into it!!

The service was conducted by the Bishop's Commissary and Area Dean, Canon Hugh Broad and the Archdeacon of Gibralter, the Venerable David Sutch. The church is part of the Diocese in Europe and the position is shared with the Intercontinental Church Association, who sent their representative over from a parish near Manchester. This poor clergyman arrived five minutes into the service due to a delayed flight, presented Andrew as their candidate, and left to go back to England early the next morning. I will not reveal the cost of the trip!

I felt very privileged that I was invited to take part in the service and somehow squeezed into Andrew's spare robes (he is a small chap!). Andrew made the usual declarations that would be made at a similar service back home, except that the Canonical vow of obedience to the Queen was omitted. After the service there were the usual refreshments served with a Spanish flavour, and then members of the church council and invited guests (Mandy and I included!) were taken to a rather pleasant restaurant for a proper meal! I discovered that the Archdeacon's area of responsibility takes in Spain, Portugal, Morocco and of course Gibraltar! Andrew's nearest Anglican neighbour is 150 miles down the coast near Valencia! 

St. Georges is situated in a quiet residential area in the northwest of the city. On the ground floor is the modern church with a huge stained glass window in the Gaudi style, yet the furnishings consist of pews, a pulpit and font from many years ago when the church was in an older building in the middle of the city. On the floor above the church are a wealth of parish rooms that would make most churches back here very envious. Above them is a lovely four bed room flat where the chaplain lives, with a huge balcony offering marvellous views of the city. At the very top is another flat where the chaplain's assistant, if one is appointed, will live. It seems that the church electoral roll is about 150 people, many who live well outside the city and have a long journey to attend worship. So the Sunday service is at a fairly late time of 11am. Many of the congregation have top professional jobs. There are many young families with children and there is a thriving Sunday School. At the last count there were 25 different nationalities attending the Church, all English speaking, of course.

Revd. Michael

   

Be Still and know that I am God.....

 There is a very ancient story, found in some version or other, in many religious traditions.

               Once upon a time there were three brothers. In the fullness of time their parents died and they were left to decide what to do with their lives.

                "I am going to nurse the sick and cure the injured and reform the health service," said the first, "it only needs a bit of energy and enthusiasm and all its problems will be solved." And, without delay, or pause for thought, he rushed out.

                "Everywhere I go," said the second, "I see people at loggerheads, arguing and fighting, road rage and trouble. I am going to reconcile them. I shall force them to be friends and lead peaceful, kindly lives." And he too packed his belongings, and full of enthusiasm, hurried off.

                "I think I'll stay here," said the third brother.

 After a couple of years the two brothers returned.

                "It's hopeless," said the first. "I can't cope, there are too many problems, as fast as one gets sorted out a new one arises. I give up."

                "Well what about me?" said the second, "I'm torn to shreds, I can't sort out even a few of the world's problems. I have no peace in myself , let alone any to bring to others."

The third brother got up and filled a bowl with muddy water.

                "What do you see?" he said.

                "Nothing," they answered, "it's all obscured by mud."

                "Let it stand quietly," advised the third brother. 

 Later they looked again and sure enough it was clear and bright for the mud had settled. The brothers could see themselves, as in a mirror.

                "When the water is always being disturbed, it's muddy," said the third brother," nothing is clear. It is the same with you. Only when you are still and reflective can you see the way you should go. Only then can you know your true selves."

 The story is not saying that caring for the sick or acting as a peacemaker is wrong. It is saying that we cannot help others if all we offer is busyness and frustration. We are all tempted to think we must always "do". As Christians it

is also important to "be". August, the summer holiday month, could give us all the opportunity to "be still and   know........."

 Have a lovely holiday whether you are "vacationing" or "staycationing" and give yourselves a chance to re-fuel your engines for the winter that will surely come!

The Last Word

 Be still and know.....

 But they walked and they ran,

And they marched and they rode,

And they flew and they drove,

And they bussed and they commuted.

 Be still and know that....

 But they gathered and they met,

And they communed and they congregated,

And they assembled in circles,

And lined up in rows and they organised.

 Be still and know that I.....

 But they conversed and they spoke,

And they shouted and they shook,

And they cried and they laughed,

And they murmured and complained.

 Be still and know that I am....

 But the marchers went forward

And the buses rolled on,

The circles went round,

The lines kept moving,

And the shouts and the sighs

And the laughter and the cries,

And the murmurings and the complaints,

Grew louder and stronger

Whirling and swirling

Faster and faster

Until suddenly......it stopped........

And everybody fell off.

 Be still and know that I am God.