There are, as ever in our world, many difficult and challenging decisions facing us as a society and a community: such as questions about the nature of marriage or the question as to whether it is ever right to consciously end a human life in a time of great suffering.
As I mentioned last month in order to "deal" with those things, we need to have some sort of foundation from which we can start. I personally cannot see how, once you take any idea of "God" out of the equation, one can actually have any sort of firm foundation from which to proceed. Without that it comes down to what we humans decide on our own authority – and I firmly believe that a society founded on that alone is on very shaky ground...
However, this is not a question just for the ‘world’ but for the Church as well.
In some of the comments made about Rowan Williams recently (when it was announced he was to retire from the post of Archbishop) there was an implicit suggestion that, although we do, of course believe in God, when it comes to the practical issues of life, well, really we know better...
Let me illustrate: "the problem with Rowan Williams is that he is too ... Christian” ; “Williams was too nice to his enemies”, ”he took a long time to realise he had enemies who really hated him”; “he put his trust, perhaps too often, in the Holy Spirit”.
The "Church" (and that includes you and me) really has to make-up its mind whether it believes the picture the New Testament gives us of Jesus and then if it is willing to use that as the basis for life or whether it has some other source of revelation. If its source of revelation then turns out to be just the same as everyone else’s, albeit dressed up is religious sounding language but ignoring the ‘God’ dimension, then it is no wonder if we have little or no impact in today's world.
It reminds me of that quote that I hear from time to time “I know it isn’t very Christian, but...” If I claim the name of Christian (a follower of Christ) then ‘if we believe something isn’t very Christian’ we surely have can no business doing it!
With my very best wishes in Christ himself David Wilson 01935 862328 email: thevicar@fastmail.co.uk
April 2012
The
current controversy about the institution of marriage raises some
interesting and challenging aspects in our public life.
There
seems to me little doubt that the government of the day has a right to
determine what relationships may be regarded as special and, particularly, to link them with various benefits. Indeed, it
is the state that regularises and arranges for the registration and legality of
marriages both within and without churches.
However,
the underlying question is all to do with how we decide what things are good
and appropriate within our human lives and what are not.
So
I find it incredibly paradoxical that a government, which in public statements
has extolled the virtues and the foundation that the King James version of the
Bible has given to our country, then goes on to suggest something that is foreign
to it.
This year, 2012, sees the 350th anniversary of the Book of Common Prayer and no doubt we will see and hear similar commendations of its foundational significance for our country. But listen to what that book says about marriage: (excerpts from the version used and witnessed by billions across the world at the Royal Wedding last year)
DEARLY beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God and in the face of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony; which is an honourable estate, instituted of God himself, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church; ... and therefore is not by any to be enterprised, nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly; but reverently, discreetly, soberly, and in the fear of God, duly considering the causes for which matrimony was ordained.
First, it was ordained for the increase of mankind according to the will of God, ...
Secondly, it was ordained in order that the natural instincts and affections, implanted by God, should be hallowed and directed aright...
Thirdly, it was ordained for the mutual society, help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity...
The Archbishop of Canterbury says to Prince William and Catherine:
I REQUIRE and charge you both, as ye will answer at the dreadful day of judgement when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, that if either of you know any impediment, why ye may not be lawfully joined together in matrimony, ye do now confess it. For be ye well assured, that so many as are coupled together otherwise than God's word doth allow are not joined together by God; neither is their matrimony lawful.
It all has to come down to where our direction in life comes from – at its most basic, without a belief in God and a knowledge of what he requires, it has always seemed to me that the only other basis is what we humans decide – and I firmly believe that a society founded on that alone is on very shaky ground... that is why I see Jesus’ resurrection as so crucial for our daily living – it is the ultimate demonstration of the reality and the truth of the God we see in Jesus.
An important part of human maturity is a certain amount of introspection - looking at ourselves and seeing how we measure up to our own standards. This is something diametrically opposed to the default style of much of today's life, seen not just in the media but so much in what counts as conversation - in other words the question is more usually how others measure up to us.
It is surely no accident that Jesus warns us time and time again about the danger of "judging others" and encourages us to "take the log out of our own eyes" (Matthew 7).
Lent is designed as a time for us to try and see where we are on our journey to Christian maturity and then to help us on the way.
During our time away I read a memoir by the American Theologian Stanley Hauerwas (Named by Time magazine in 2001 as "America's Best Theologian") in which he recounts this conversation at an academic faculty meeting:
“I began by confessing that some of them might not regard me as a proper academic because I was not a free mind. ... I offered the example of the Trinity, noting that, as far as it is possible to do so, I am supposed to think about that. I then observed that it is clear to me who I serve, or at least who I am supposed to serve. I concluded by asking my colleagues who they thought they served”.
That question made me think and I offer it to you and suggest as a practice this Lent to ask yourself this fundamental question "who do you serve?" and to think about that as you go about your daily business and see where it takes you...
LENT Groups 2012 – This year we’re trying something a bit different . We have arranged a number of lunches or suppers in homes across the benefice. They will begin with a short devotional service before sharing a simple meal together. The aim is both to mark Lent itself and also to provide a means of closer linkage across the whole benefice – so it’s important that as far as possible we try and mix ourselves up abit! Current ‘schedule’ is:
Tue 28 Feb 12:30 Lunch – Sadlers, Hardington Mandeville - Brian & Jenny Dodd 863113 Tue 06 Mar 19:00 Supper - Coker Wood Cottage, Pendomer - David & Anthea Lovelock 891328 Thu 08 Mar 12:30 Lunch - Dawes Farmhouse, E Chinnock - Pamela & Keith Lewis 864408 Wed 14 Mar 12:30 Lunch - Southmead, Burton Lane, East Coker - Derek & Gillian Smith 862572 Tue 20 Mar 12:30 Lunch - 80 Combe Park BA21 3BE - David & Judi Pedrick 413007 Wed 28 Mar 19:00 Supper - Weavers Cottage Hardington Moor - Robin & Sheila Carpenter 862339
Thanks so much to all those who have so kindly offered their hospitality – please do give them a ring in advance of the one you hope to be part of as space will inevitably be limited and, of course, to help with catering!
Health & Healing
Towards the end of last year a couple of folk, quite independently, asked me about holding a ‘healing service’ – it’s a subject that I think is most important and, indeed, was given a prominent place in my licensing service back in May 2010:
There was this reading from James 5:
Let us hear the words of St James:
“Are there any among you sick?
They should call for the elders of the Church
and have them pray over them
anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.”
Presenting a jug of oil, the parishioner continues:
Receive this oil for the healing of the sick,
All: and as a true pastor bring comfort, reconciliation and wholeness in Christ.
The passage in James goes on to say
"The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven."
And perhaps that gives a little inkling as to why this clear and straightforward scriptural command is so often sidelined - because we know from experience it isn't straightforward – you don’t just slot your prayer into the machine and always receive the answer you want.
One help to understanding this is that the outcome of this prayer and anointing is described as “The prayer of faith will save the sick” which of course includes healing but also is far wider. Uncomfortable though it may be, there is sometimes something more important that God wants to achieve within us than immediate physical relief. That is not to say that God is indifferent to it but that He sees the whole perspective.
However I firmly believe that as we obey God in this, in seeking prayer, so God always begins to work something in our lives that is for our good, our blessing, our salvation and our ultimate healing.
As ever I’d be grateful for comments and responses as to how we might go about this in a formal way but also to make it quite clear that I am always very ready to come and offer informal prayer and, indeed, always delight in being asked to pray...
Traditionally a new year is a time for
taking stock - I certainly find that happens to me and there are all sorts of
things that I tend think about and seek,
when necessary, to change.
One of the things that has characterised
the English church over the last decades has been a significant drop in the
number of people actually "going to church". And then of course
there's the change in the pattern of church attendance; rather than weekly,
it's often monthly or so on,- there are no doubt a number of reasons for that
and I don't want to enter that discussion directly but I do want to examine the
viewpoint that sees going to church as some sort of "optional extra".
But Ido so havingin mind the rather neat quote "going to
church doesn't make you any more a Christian then going into a garage makes you
a car!"
I suppose this question was focused for me
when, amongst a group of fellow clergy, quite a number said that "of
course when we are on holiday we don't bother to go to church" - the
implication was quite clearly they'd had enough of it the rest of the year! I
personally found this quite worrying for if us clergy don't think there's any
great point or purpose in "going to church" why should anybody else?
Let's think about the things that we might
attend in non church life.
Presentations - by which I mean things like the theatre or cinema that we would generally pay to go to.
Clubs - things that we are particularly interested in and have become members of - perhaps we only go when the subject interest us but we feel it's still feel it's our club or society.
Family coming togethers - things we feel we have a responsibility to be at - they might not always be something we are are especially keen on but they are part of being a member of the family.
It is obviously the last section that
relates mostly to "church" in terms of the New Testament picture of
‘the body of Christ’ - aproperly
functioning group always makes sure
there is something for everybody at some point of the event and that each are
welcome for their own particular part they have within the family whether patriarch
or newborn.
I think there are things that we can all
learn from that picture - not just about what we do but also about the
structure and content of our services - perhaps that's something for us all to
think about in 2012?
I thought that this month I might try to update
you on how things are progressing here ‘on the ground with the creation of the
new benefice out of our current two of East Coker (East Coker, Sutton Bingham
and Closworth) and West Coker (West Coker, Hardington Mandeville, East
Chinnock, Pendomer).
Most of the Wardens of the seven parishes,
together with Charles Hatton and myself, were able to come together to meet at
East Coker Vicarage on Wednesday November 9th. We enjoyed a very pleasant
social time together around a meal that Alison and Charles provided and ably
hosted. It was an opportunity to re-establish relationships that had been
formed in times of vacancy. After we had
eaten and chatted together we shared our own thoughts and feelings, hopes and fears
about the future and what this development might really mean.
We realised that ultimately this proposal is in view
because of the changing nature of the Church's Ministry and resources - gone
are the times, due to both personnel and finances, when each parish in the
whole country (10,000 or so of them) could expect to have its own resident
vicar. We are not exempt from that and all across England the church is having
to work out how best to move forward - because seeking to move forward is
ultimately what we need to have in mind.
We don't know how long it will take for the
formal inauguration of the new benefice but In the mean time we thought it
would be useful to try to increase the mutual communication and awareness between
the two sides of the benefice, East and West and, at the very least, to publicise all the different services across
the two present benefices as well as working towards some sort of single
publication that would further link us together.
We also talked about the use of, say, the 5th
Sunday as a time for all seven churches to get together and of the hope that
there might be a greater and more widespread attendance at different Churches
as we begin to seek to get to know one another across the natural and historic
boundaries.
I expressed my own particular concern that
through this we need to make sure the church buildings we have been entrusted
with are places where individuals can come and meet with Almighty God himself
in ways that are relevant and helpful and hear his voice to them.
We are meeting next on February 29th to share
together at West Coker Rectory. Your prayers would be much appreciated as we
take our faltering steps forward in seeking to make sure that we build on firm
foundations* for the future
With love and prayers to all
David Wilson
*For no one can lay
any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus
Christ.(1 Cor 311)
Church News Letter
October 2011
We have wonderful resources in our hymns - both old and new
but they are a resource that I find I can easily take for granted and not really
think any more of once the music ends - take one of our harvest hymns for
example:
We plough the fields
and scatter The good seed on the land,
But it is fed and
watered By God's almighty hand:
He sends the snow in
winter, The warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the
sunshine, And soft, refreshing rain.
All good gifts around
us Are sent from heaven above;
Then thank the Lord,O
thank the Lord,For all his love.
I'd like to encourage you, as I do myself to reflect on the
words of this hymn at this harvest time - how easy just to sing them, to enjoy
the tune, to allow the words to flow over us but yet not grasping them and
taking them into our hearts...
He only is the maker Of
all things near and far;
He paints the wayside
flower, He lights the evening star;
The winds and waves
obey him, By him the birds are fed;
Much more to us, his
children, He gives our daily bread.
To remind ourselves that despite all our technology and
wonderful inventions and machinery it is the mechanism and gift of creation
itself that provides and produces our food and our daily sustenance...
We thank thee then, O
Father, For all things bright and good,
The seed time and the
harvest, Our life, our health, our food.
Accept the gifts we
offer For all thy love imparts,
And what thou most
desirest, Our humble, thankful hearts.
And then to Mathias Claudius's (the German poet author)
conclusion : and what God seeks above all: yes. the gifts we offer in token of
his goodness but "humble, thankful hearts" with a genuine dependence
on God offered are not grudgingly and
but joyfully as weremind ourselves at this Harvest time of our total dependence
upon him and allow that to inform the way we live.
With love and
prayers to all
David Wilson
September 2011
A Rambling Rector...
'The New and the Old'
I am now the proud possessor of a ‘Kindle’ (a welcome Anniversary present from Frances). For those who are not familiar with the term it is piece of electronic ‘gubbins’ that enables you to read and carry innumerable (well they say 3,600) books around with you in the space of a fairly normal paperback!
So that’s the ‘new’ but what about the ‘old’? Well the items I am finding it most useful for are older books, now often out of print that I can find as electronic versions either free or for less than a pound and download to the device [for I must admit that, at the moment, given the choice between buying a ‘normal’ book and paying much the same for an electronic one (eBook) I would still go for the ‘normal’ one – it may be just my years of being so used to them but there’s also the far greater ease of lending it on – though having said that the fact that you can easily make notes and highlights in the electronic versions and file them away is a big plus for me!]
So at the moment I am reading the ‘Diary of John Woolman’ (born 1720, an American Quaker Christian leader prominent in a quiet sort of way in the anti-slavery movement) – I’ve wanted to read it for some time since having found it mentioned in another book but unable to easily source it.
Sometimes we tend to think that only the latest thing is ‘any good’ but this ‘latest thing’ is opening my eyes to the wealth of instruction and help available from the wisdom of the past as well!!
With kind regards to all
David Wilson
The Rectory, 7 Cedar Fields, West Coker. Tel. 862328 E-mail: thevicar@fastmail.co.uk
The question of ‘atheism’ has emerged in the media again recently (at the time of writing) and my letter this month is a bit different - mainly a collection of quotes for your perusal and thoughts from a book: ‘Faith and doubt’ by John Ortberg.
I have never heard anybody say, "one day I realised there was no God, no one behind reality, no life after death. I realised existence is a meaningless accident, begun by chance and destined for oblivion, and it changed my life. I used to be addicted to alcohol, but now the “law of natural selection" has set me free. I used to be greedy, but now the story of the Big Bang has made me generous. I used to be afraid, but now random chance has made me brave."
I have never heard the story of an accidental, meaningless universe changing a life like that. Now, I have heard people say they were oppressed by the former faith they followed and felt a sense of liberation when they didn't believe it was true anymore. But I have never seen anyone receives the power to live the kind of life and become the kind of person he or she wants to be by hearing there is no story behind the Universe.... P 167
Children are not supposed to grow up with no one caring about them... women are not supposed to be abused. Dads are not supposed to die of cancer when 40 years old and their children are young. If the universe is a machine, a giant accident, a blind, pitiless indifference, where did we get the idea that there is a way that things are supposed to be?
A response to a ‘beautician’ (It's an American author!) who asked why, if there was a God there was so much wrong in the world:
"beauticians do not exist because if they did, they would be no people with dirty, long hair and appearing very unkempt like that woman outside!" and the reply: “but we do exist, the problem is people do not come to us."
With love and prayers to all
David Wilson
PS
As mentioned in ‘In Touch’ proposals have been received for the Union of the benefices of East Coker with Sutton Bingham and Closworth and West Coker with Hardington Mandeville, East Chinnock and Pendomer. If any one wishes to express any views or make any comments on these proposals they are invited to write to Mr P Nokes, The Old Deanery, Wells, BA5 2UG.
In essence the proposal says that the 2 Benefices should be united to create a new benefice which shall be named “The Benefice of the Coker Ridge”. The parsonage house of the benefice of West Coker shall be the place of residence of the benefice and the parsonage house of the benefice of East Coker shall be transferred to the Bath and Wells Board of Finance for Diocesan purposes.
July/August 2011
A Rambling Rector...
During July in West Coker there have been three deaths very close together - 'unprecedented' was one person’s comment and we send our prayerful sympathies to their families...
It's sometimes difficult for friends and neighbours to know how to relate to the recently bereaved but my advice is simply to continue whatever your relationship was before - there's no need to skirt round the issue or to avoid mentioning people's names - the bereaved have that with them all the time; and if tears come don't allow that to mar your relationship for that is an important part of grieving and the careful support of continued friendship is so important in such circumstances.
Of course such things also remind us of the frailty, and indeed uncertainty, of our own lives and what we see for our futures - but here is not a place for a sermon on that - but I would encourage each of us to give thought to this. One key thing is making sure that we have a properly written and up-to-date will for that makes the time ‘after’ just a bit more ‘copeable’ with. It's also very helpful to discuss with your next of kin (or else leave it clearly written down) what you'd like to happen in the event of your death: cremation or burial and so on - for in those early days it's such a help to know those things rather than have to try and guess and wonder if you got it right.
With kind regards to all
David Wilson
PS The Benefice has ordered a supply of a very helpful little booklet called ‘What to do when someone dies’ which will be available in the 4 churches or directly from myself (£1)
The Rectory, 7 Cedar Fields, West Coker. Tel. 862328 E-mail: thevicar@fastmail.co.uk
www.7churches.org.uk
Church News Letter
June 2011
June this year contains both Ascension day (Benefice Communion at Pendomer 7.30pm) and Pentecost both of which are key moments in what follows on ‘after Jesus’ and leads to you and me as followers of that Jesus. Perhaps the two key verses are:
And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ Matthew 28.18-20
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1.8
They are obviously addressed in the original context to the apostles and that, together with the way the people of God have been divided into ‘clergy’ and laity’, makes such things seem very distant to an ‘ordinary Christian’ but listen to the testimony below about how one woman came to see what her role was in fulfilling the taking of Jesus message to others... It’s not just about missionaries or fulltime workers but each of us in our daily lives living and serving as Christians. Remember Jesus’ parable of the sheep and goats (Matthew 25) where the things he commends are simple things of daily practical care...
I used to think that there was a great moment in everybody's life when God revealed to them what he wanted them to do. I'm sure some people do have something like that, and that's really great for them. But the great moment for me was when I realized that there wasn't a 'great moment' and that my calling as a disciple was staring me in the face.
I've got a husband and three kids who need to see God's love in their mum. I work part time as a teaching assistant in a school where the teachers are stretched and under stress, and where loads of the kids come from broken and dysjunctional families. Sometimes my 'Christian witness' is nothing more spectacular than being calm and pleasant in the middle of the mayhem, but I know it makes a difference.
I've got neighbours all around me who don't half appreciate a cup of coffee and a listening ear sometimes. And I'm part of a church where my contribution is helping with the worship team.
I often say that when it comes to ministry, I'm more like Popeye than Mother Teresa. You know, 'I yam what I yam.' But with God's help I yam the best I can be. And I think I yam making a difference. (Lara) (quoted from ‘Moving in the Right Circles’ Chick Yuill IVP 2011)
For me this is the key fact of the Christian Faith – for without it Christianity is just another set of ideas that doesn’t really change anything. At one of the ‘Happy Octopus’ meetings earlier this year I was asked what reasons I could give for firmly believing in something that seems so far from our everyday experience; to which my simple answer was: “nothing else seems to me to fit the data”
Let me develop that a bit:
That basic data that we have is in the gospels: one recent academic puts it like this; "the stories exhibit, ..., exactly that surface tension which we associate, not with tales artfully told by people eager to sustain a fiction and therefore anxious to make everything look right, but with the hurried, puzzled accounts of those who have seen with their own eyes something which took them horribly by surprise and with which they have not yet fully come to terms" " (N T Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God p 612)
Further
Nobody expected this - everyone knew that dead people don't come to life again, and nobody expected the Messiah to even die, let alone rise. [Let’s remember this was not a backward age of gullible peasants – it was the age of the Roman Empire and all it’s economic, cultural and engineering feats]
When other so-called Messiahs were also executed [e.g. Simon bar-Giora in AD 70] - no one went on to say that they really were the Messiah or that he was raised from the dead ...
The disciples' actions following the Crucifixion. To quote from a Christian theologian called Origen (AD. 185 - 254), "a clear and unmistakable proof of the fact I hold to be the undertaking of his disciples, who devoted themselves to the teaching of a doctrine which was attended with danger to human life, a doctrine which they would not have taught with such courage had they invented the resurrection of Jesus from the dead; and who also, at the same time, not only prepared others to despise death, but were themselves the first to manifest their disregard for its terrors." (523)
Visions of the deceased are relatively common both then and now but nobody then says such a person has been raised from the dead.
The Gospel accounts - varying words used in the descriptions but the same story is there - You’d really expect inconsistencies to be ironed out if it was simply propaganda.
And then the question as to what actaully happened to the body of Jesus if not raised.
I've just finished reading through Acts with its account of the spread of the Christian message in those early years and it has been compellingly noticeable how time and time again when the apostles are challenged about their faith they go back to the resurrection and what it says about Jesus [e.g. Acts 4.10 – 12; Acts 10.39 – 42]. Perhaps it’s because of what it says about Jesus that it’s so important - as the voice at the Transfiguration said ‘This is my Son... listen to him’ (Luke 9.35).
As Easter approaches may we all be renewed in confidence about our Faith
Easter Day: 24th April this year, 23rd March in 2008! As many will know it’s all to do with the date of the Jewish Festival of Passover – which gives us the exact date for the Crucifixion of Jesus on ‘Good Friday’. [The simple standard definition of Easter is that it is the first Sunday after the Full Moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox (which is assumed to be March 21)]
But I wonder if you have ever thought what the title ‘Good’ Friday implies? If Jesus was simply a great teacher then presumably the response has to be something like – what a sad day, this profound leader is no longer here and his ideas rejected. But ‘Good’ surely implies something was achieved that day that was more than that, more than the death of another Jew at the hands of the Roman authorities. It’s another marker, as the 400 anniversary of the ‘King James Bible’ is celebrated, of how the very fabric of Christian Faith is woven into our everyday life ...
With kind regards to all
David Wilson
The Rectory, 7 Cedar Fields, West Coker. Tel. 862328
To start 2011 in the Church News I’ve sought to draw attention to the means of growth Jesus refers to in Matthew 6 – and if you’re familiar with that passage you may well ask – where does ‘other people’ come into that, is not what Jesus is saying exactly opposite when he speaks about giving, praying and fasting as ‘secret’ affairs?
BUT the key phrase is surely Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them. Even in these sayings comes the Lord’s Prayer with its plural address (Our Father, .. give us ...etc) let alone the fact that Jesus regularly attended the synagogues and prayed himself in the presence of the disciples (cf. Garden of Gethsemane).
Yet what has so often happened is that passages like this are seized upon to back up our own desires and preferences such as the very Western idea that faith is a very personal and private thing and not a concern or sphere that anyone else should be involved in.
This is simply not how the gospels and indeed the New Testament sees it - most of the epistles are written to congregations, the ‘you’ that you find in most of the letters is plural and not singular, ‘you’ rather than ‘thou’.
From NT times to John Wesley’s class system to Christian groups today men, women and children have found growth and help in the presence and support and challenge that meeting with others brings.
LENT is a time often used to provide a launch pad for this and across the Benefice there are going to be weekly groups seeking to provide such a garden for spiritual growing.
They are going to be weekly meetings starting in the week beginning 13th March on:
Tuesdays at 10am at 1 Manor Farm, Gooseacre Lane, West Coker (home of Pat Ricketts)
Wednesdays at 2.00pm at Dawes Farmhouse, E Chinnock (Keith and Pamela Lewis)
Wednesdays at 7.45pm at Gooseacre Farm, East Coker (linked with East Coker Christian Fellowship)
Thursdays at 7.30pm (tbc) at Coker Wood Cottage, Pendomer (David & Anthea Lovelock)
Thursdays at 8pm at Welhams, East St, West Coker (Jackie and Alan Gormer)
There may also be another venue at East Coker linked with St Michael’s
The course being followed is produced by ‘York Courses’ – their material has been widely used over many years by many different and varied Christians – this years is entitled ‘Rich Inheritance: Jesus legacy of Love’ To quote from the leaflet: “Jesus didn’t write a will. He left no written instructions. He didn’t seem to have a plan. At the end, as he hung dying on the cross, almost all of his followers had abandoned him. By most worldly estimates his ministry was a failure. Nevertheless, Jesus’ message of reconciliation with God lived on. It is the central message of the Bible. With this good news his disciples changed the world. How did they do it? What else did Jesus leave behind – what is his ‘legacy of love’? This course addresses these questions through 5 headings: An empty tomb; a group of people; a story; a power; a meal.
The course comes with a CD giving input from the various speakers and a course booklet to help facilitate our thinking about the subject.
I do hope that each member of the Benefice will at least give thought to being part of one of the groups whatever the final response!
It apparently appears very likely (via a Kew gardens expert) that the Yew tree in the church yard at West Coker is well over 1000 year old - further examinations are still to take place - but as someone also said to me `that blows my mind' to think that it's been there all that time and `seen' so many different things and stages of history... perhaps there's a little reminder there to us that it's not necessarily the new or `modern' or `instant' that is always the most important; and perhaps it may be that the most worthwhile things in life tend to take time to grow and develop and in that time put down strong roots that will bear the future? Perhaps that's something the quote below also has to say to today's world?
"And another thing. Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion, it is not the desire to mate every second minute of the day, it is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every cranny of your body. No, don't blush, lam telling you some truths. That is just being 'in love', which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two. But sometimes the petals fall away and the roots have not entwined. Imagine giving up your home and your people, only to discover after six months, a year, three years, that the trees have had no roots and have fallen over. "
From Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres (p281)
January 2011
How do you want to grow?
Whether we like it or not we are all growing and changing day by day, year on year - for in our world what is not growing is either dead or inanimate! But often we don't seem to give much thought to that except in our New Year’s resolutions that last usually but for a moment...
Jesus refers to this area of how we grow and resource our lives for growth in Matthew 6 where he refers to what are sometimes called 'spiritual disciplines':
Giving - with its outward aspect to the way that we live, not just about what I want out of life but what I can share with others, be it money, time or other support.
Praying - with its focus of dependence and seeking after God
Fasting - with its reminder that our desires for food and the like need discipline and being kept in their proper place.
In particular I would like to encourage and stimulate you, if you don't already, to make good use of the Christian books that are widely available. I have come across many Christians in the past who seem only too willing to spend a great deal of time with novels and magazines but less willing even to attempt something that might help them to grow in their faith and knowledge of God. The local library is a good source as is the Christian bookshop in Park Street and of course all the Internet opportunities these days. I suggest a few basic titles to get you thinking, though appreciating that we all relate to different styles and subjects and what helps one may well not help another ...
New books: The Shack (W P Young), The best idea in the world (M Greene), Simply Christian (Tom Wright)
Classics: Mere Christianity (C S Lewis), Knowing God (J E I Packer), Freedom of Simplicity and Celebration of Discipline (Richard Foster).
I am always happy to suggest or lend out the books I have.
Of course Lent is often seen as a time with a particular focus on growth - Ash Wednesday is 9th March and we are hoping to arrange Lent groups around the churches following a course called "Jesus’ legacy of love" - I would be grateful if folk could be thinking whether they might be able to offer their home as a place for one of these groups - it would be good to have them spread over the benefice with a variety of daytime and evening meetings.
May 2011 be a year of growth for you as an individual and ourselves as churches in this area.
December 2010 December Messenger Article
A Rambling Rector...
It was good to be able to share in the various Remembrance services in the Benefice back in November -but I wonder if you've ever thought about how important the fact of "remembering" is to our everyday lives?
Just to take a simple and perhaps silly example: when I come to a door I need to remember that to open it. I must look for a handle and then having found it to remember to operate it in the right way...
Now we are coming up to Christmas and all sorts of things can flood into our memories: good times in the past or sadness that a loved one is no longer with us... but ultimately one purpose is to remind us of something that is really important to life and how we live it (and quite distinctive to Christianity - all religions are not the same - as indeed adherents of each will tell you!) namely that "God so loved the world..."
God comes first to meet us and only then invites us to come to him and there is something quite revolutionary about that... Almighty God first seeks us out and doesn't just wait for us to try to find him!
May I wish you a happy Christmas and encourage you to renew your memory and understanding of the heart of Christmas by sharing in worship where ever you may be over the season.
With kind regards to all
David Wilson
Christmas – it brings so many thoughts to our minds...the happy things: time with family, extra special food, presents but also the sad times: the first Christmas without a loved one, facing the unknown at a time of illness, loneliness when everyone else seems to have someone to care for them – but amongst all these things I can’t help feeling that we have often forgotten what it’s really about. We bemoan the commercialisation of Christmas but then in our own circumstances ‘Christmas’, and what we think it should be, becomes, so its seems to me, almost an idol.
Let me give an example of what I mean: a few years ago Christmas Day fell on a Sunday – now the church where we were then always had an evening service every Sunday but the automatic conclusion was, of course as its Christmas Day we won’t have one that Sunday. It seemed to me then and still does, that it was a case of not remembering that at Christmas we celebrate not firstly families and so on but God’s love for us in the birth of Jesus – and so how can it make sense for us to offer fewer opportunities to worship this God in public on such a day? [Just to let you know that I put my ‘money where my mouth was’ I was over at the church that Christmas evening to hold a short reflective service]
Now I use that purely as an example – there are no rules in Christian Faith as to how often you ought to go ‘to church’ (nor indeed how long a service ought to be to be a ‘service’!) and it may well be that there are good Christian reasons for not doing so at times but it does seem to me we do need to consider how the way we celebrate Christmas shows what we really believe it is about.
You see, we may bemoan the ‘commercialisation’ of Christmas but does the way we celebrate it give substance to our words? Is God and his purposes and will for our lives at the centre of our celebrations? Is that shown by making public worship central or making it disposable or an optional extra if it doesn’t fit in with the cooking or presents? What about what we spend our money on and the presents we give to family and friends – what gift(s) might God want us most to give him? [Things like we see in the Old Testament Festivals where families and clans gather in worship, offer costly sacrifices, make provision for those in need and have a thoroughly good time with food and wine! E.g. Deuteronomy 16.14, Nehemiah 8.10, Isaiah 25.6]
I appreciate that these are not easy things to think about – far easier to just ‘go with the flow’ and not think about it – but if I think there is any reality rather than fantasy about Christmas then it seems to me I must.
May the way we celebrate this most wonderful time of year show how much we appreciate the gift God has freely given to us and his world!
David Wilson
November 2010
The Bible today...
I often find it very difficult knowing what to write in this space! (if anyone would like to suggest a particular topic they would like me to say something about them please do let me know)
You might ask then how do you decide what to say Sunday by Sunday? Well, with that there are the set readings for the day and that provides a starting point. So what am I going on to write about this month and why?
Well, one of the readings for the Sunday of the week when I'm writing this (and which I won’t be using on that Sunday as we are away) speaks about the importance of the Scriptures and it is that I want to use these few words for.
When we first came here one of the things that came to my attention in one of the parishes was a copy of the ‘Book of Homilies’ - I knew about them but had never read or seen a copy even though they are an important part of the Church of England's doctrine and understanding. [The Homilies are written down talks or sermons on particular subjects that were often read in church if there was no one licensed to preach a sermon - a bit like the CD talks I have provided for West Coker and East Chinnock!]
In the one on the Holy Scriptures this quote is found: "Let euery man, woman, and childe, therefore with all their heart thirst and desire GODS holy Scriptures, loue them, embrace them, haue their delight and pleasure in hearing and reading them, so as at length we may bee transformed and changed into them. For the holy Scriptures are Gods treasure house, wherein are found all things needefull for vs to see, to heare, to learne, and to beleeue, necessary for the attaining of eternall life".
The scriptures are key for Christian growth and life and if we don't feel we are growing in faith then the first question that needs asking is what place does the Bible actually have in our life?
I don't pretend that is always straightforward or easy but it is a fundamental part of Christian life. The modern view that says “we have moved on from these old writings” is, to my mind and understanding, profoundly mistaken. After all what replaces it? Simply our own ideas or someone else's...
I take strength from the amazing witness of thousands, even millions of people down the ages who have found in the scriptures something more than just words but a means by which Almighty God himself communicates with, comforts and strengthens us.
Just think of what comes from such familiar words as “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want...” or “Cast all your cares on him for he cares for you” or “Come to me all you that are weary and heavy laden”...
May we all make good use of the resources God has gifted to us.
David Wilson
October 2010
Sunday and worship - a corporate faith – part 2(!)
In the last newsletter I wrote about the place of public worship in principle and then at the united Benefice Communion in August I tried to explain a bit of how the Communion service itself works in hopefully helping us achieve those ends. I summarised them as: "they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers" (Acts 2. 42) and "not neglecting to meet together, but encouraging one another and provoking one another to love and good deeds" (from Hebrews 10.24 & 25)
This month I‘d like to link that in to our current life as a group of 4 different churches/parishes (and I’ve been intrigued as to how different each is with their own particular ‘personality’!).
So how do we decide our own personal patterns of worship? Now to many that is obvious: “I attend where and when is most congenial to me and my outlook (or not to attend if what is going on in ‘my patch’ isn’t what I like)”.
The problem with this is that it forgets the basic principles that the scripture gives us ( see above) and thinks only about ‘me’ and secondarily that because it is all about ‘me’ any sense of joining in with something simply because that is what ‘we’ as a church do is lost.
We have a spread of different services across the Benefice with, largely, the services at the same time of day each Sunday (which always seems a help wirt domestic schedules..) but those services vary considerably in their content – again something, which in itself is positive because just as churches vary as distinct ‘entities’ with their own developed ways of working and worship so we as individuals often find one way of expressing our public worship of God more helpful than another.
On this theme one thing I would like to encourage us to consider more is moving around the various churches in the grouping – perhaps particularly the services which are not at the normal regular times – I think of the monthly 8am Communion services on the 3rd and 4th Sundays, our only evening service (6.30pm) on the 4th Sunday, the mid week communion on the 3rd Wednesday (10am) and the bimonthly 4pm Sunday Communion.
I must admit I always find it rather nice to come across folk in ‘unexpected places’ and if anyone ever requires a lift please let me know!
David Wilson 01935 862328 email: thevicar@fastmail.co.uk
