March 08
Holy Days in March
This month the Church remembers, Perpetua, Felicity and their Companions martyred on 7th March 203. A  contemporary account exists of their martyrdom and their example brought great encouragement to others enduring the widespread persecutions that were facing the early Church. Below is printed an edited extract from that account. It makes shocking reading and is not for the squeamish. There is nothing attractive about martyrdom; their suffering echoes the suffering of Christ. Living in easier times and remembering their example should perhaps makes us bolder in standing up for our faith. Read on with caution…

When the day for their victory dawned, the martyrs marched from their prison to the amphitheatre, their faces joyful but dignified, as if they were on their way to heaven. If they trembled at all, it was for joy, not fear. Perpetua took up the rear of the procession. She looked noble, a true wife of Christ and beloved of God, her piercing gaze causing spectators to avert their eyes… The women were stripped naked, placed in nets and were brought into the arena to face a mad heifer. Even the crowd was horrified… So the women were recalled and dressed in loose clothing. Perpetua was thrown to the animal first, falling on her back. She stood up and saw that Felicity had been crushed to the ground. She went and gave her hand to help her up and so they stood side by side. Now the cruelty of the mob appeased, they were recalled to the Gate of Life. There Perpetua was supported by a certain Rusticua, a catechumen at the time, who was keeping close to her. She called her brother to her and the catechumen, and spoke to them both saying: ‘Stand firm in your faith, and love one another, Do not let your suffering be a stumbling-block to you’. As the show was ending, her brother was thrown to a leopard… Then he became unconscious, and was thrown with the rest into the place where they have their throats cut. But the mob demanded that the Christians be brought back into the open so that they could watch the sword being plunged into their bodies, and so be party to the spectacle of their murder. The martyrs rose unbidden to where the mob wanted them, after first kissing one another, that they might seal their martyrdom with the kiss of peace. Each received the sword without resistance and in silence. Perpetua, however, had yet to taste more pain. She screamed as she was struck on the bone; then she herself had to guide the fumbling hand of the novice gladiator to her throat.

Such is the example that the saints and martyrs set before us as we too seek to faithfully follow Christ.

Rectory Reflections
Anyone it seems can write their autobiography these days or issue an authorised biography.  It does not even matter how young you are or even if you have a good story to tell.  Some rising music stars have barely made it into adulthood before their life story hits the bookshelves. 

Perhaps they are trying to cash in on their fame whilst it lasts.  In the fickle world of fame, popularity comes and goes and if you are not careful you can wake up tomorrow and nobody wants to know you let alone read your life story.  All too soon a best seller can end up in the remainder bin where nobody wants to know even at a bargain discount price.

And in part it seems that at least some people have an insatiable desire to read about other people’s lives.  The continuing success of celebrity-based magazines such as Heat and Hullo suggest there are a lot of people who love to be in on the gossip.   

Whilst it helps to be famous even that is not essential.  Just create your own blog or post a video clip on YouTube and people who have never heard of you will be passing your story or image on to contacts across the world.  Whether the fame that comes with it is worth it. 

Once the autobiography was the product of retirement and the biography might even wait until the death of the subject.  The idea was that such writing gave some perspective on events – a reflection with the benefit of the passage of time and the gift of hindsight.   Now writing of such books becomes part of the on going story.  Many of those seeking fame in print get in early lest by the time they die nobody will remember them or with the gift of hindsight realise they were not really that significant after all.

If Jesus were alive today it is almost certain the Church would want to produce an authorised biography and as with all other similar commercial products all merchandising would be heavily controlled.

But even back 2000 years ago it was regarded as unusual that the Early Church did not produce one version of the life of Jesus.  Instead the Church adopted four (although we know there were others in circulation) each of which is very different in both style and content. In some points they even seem to contradict each other. 

Most crucially of all they were all written after his death.  In fact if it were not for the events surrounding his death they most likely would never have been written at all.

The truth is that whilst Jesus was alive his followers did not really understand him and by the time of his arrest whatever popular appeal he had had was melting away.  His life seemed to have ended in failure.  Even his closest friends could only see his death as the end of the dream.  All that was left for them to do was to go back to their old jobs and wonder where it had all gone wrong.  Certainly there was nothing up to this point that made them think there was anything to go into writing about.  In fact fearing they might suffer the same fate as their master they seemed to want to keep their association with Jesus as quiet as possible.

But then something happened; something so unexpected that at first they could neither believe it nor make sense of it.  And this unbelievable thing changed everything.  Suddenly this dispirited and broken-hearted group were filled with new energy and wanted to tell everyone about Jesus.  Their bewilderment and confusion was replaced by a growing understanding of the true significance and meaning of all that Jesus had said and done during his earthly ministry.

And what was this transforming experience?  They had encountered Jesus risen from the dead!  Jesus had been dead and buried; there was no doubting that awful reality but on the third day he had risen from the dead.  It cannot be over estimated how much this one event changes everything.  Without the resurrection there is no Christianity.  It is not just a questionable add on to the life of a good man.  It is the heart of the story and it is why Easter is the most important of all Christian celebrations.  This is the revelation that Jesus is the Son of God and that God’s love for us can never be broken and that despite its seeming finality, death does not have the last word. 

I hope you will be able to take time to join us at church for our Holy Week and Easter celebrations and that by understanding more about these events you will know they can transform your life even as these events transformed the lives of those first disciples. 

Andrew.

December 07
Holy Days in December

On Sunday 28^th December at our church services we will remember The Holy Innocents; those children massacred by King Herod in his search for the baby Jesus.  We will also remember all who have suffered through the horrors of ethnic cleansing and acts of violence.

Among those others who have given their life in the service of the Gospel, this month we also remember Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury.  Thomas was born in London in 1118, of a family of merchants.  After a good education he served as a clerk to another burgess then entered the service of Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury.  Thomas proved himself an excellent administrator and skilled diplomat.  In 1155 he was appointed chancellor by King Henry ii.  For several years king and chancellor worked harmoniously together in mutual admiration and personal friendship.  As a result, the king nominated Thomas as Archbishop of Canterbury to succeed Theobald in 1161.  From the start there was friction, with Thomas insisting on the privilege of the Church.  The conflicted worsened until 1164 when Thomas fled to France.  Encouraged by the Pope he pursued his arguments from exile, sending letters and pronouncing excommunications.  Three efforts at mediation failed before an apparent reconciliation brought him back triumphant to Canterbury in 1170.  But the nobility still opposed him, and words of anger at court led four knights to journey to Canterbury where they finally chased Thomas into the cathedral, and murdered him on the steps of the altar on 29^th December 1170.  Thomas was undoubtedly a proud and stubborn man, for all his gifts, and his personal austerities as archbishop were probably an attempt at self-discipline after years of ostentatious luxury.  His conflict with King Henry stemmed from their equal personal ambitions, exacerbated by the increasingly international claims of the papacy, played out in the inevitable tension between Church and State.

Rectory Reflections
Do you like babies?  And more to the point would have the courage to admit you did not like babies?  There is an assumption that we are all meant to have a soft spot for babies.  But whilst some people seem to go gooey-eyed at each and every baby others do not see the instant attraction. 

Many a new mother and new father has had to struggle with the reality that they have not felt an instant bond with their child.  This can leave them feeling guilty, frightened and worried.  Yet the truth is it can take time to bond even with our own children and not everyone automatically goes weak-kneed at the sight of a baby.  Thankfully human emotions are more complex than that.

Nevertheless at any Nativity play the moment with the biggest “ahh” factor is usually the moment when Mary enters holding the baby Jesus.  It is seen as the ultimate Christmas moment.

Adults often talk fondly of how Christmas is a special time for children.  Many a grandparent can be overheard to say that they have only gone to so much trouble with the decorations “for the sake of the children”.  Thankfully children are still caught in the wonder and fun of the lights, the tree and the decorations.  Christmas also seems to enable many adults to get in touch with their own inner child and rediscover the mystery and the magic of the festive season, always providing, of course, that the sheer busy-ness of this season has not left them too exhausted.

It is wonderful when this time of year can be a time of celebration, a time when family can enjoy being together and we can shake off the winter blues and indulge in some feasting and fun.  Truly this is a time for all ages to join together in celebration but we must never make the mistake of thinking of Christmas as either just a children’s festival or a time for baby worship.

Behind all the glitter and tinsel something much more serious is going on.  The world is being offered a profound and serious choice.  Quite simply the birth of God as a helpless child lying in a manger invites us to ask what kind of a world we want to live in?

The birth of Jesus offers a path of salvation rooted in weakness, vulnerability and love which in the world’s eyes is the path of foolishness.  However much we pretend to want to be on the side of love in the end, time and time again, the world shows it prefers power, strength and domination.  King Herod hearing of the birth of a child destined to be king responds with the massacre of every child in Bethlehem under the age of two.  Thirty years later the crowd will prefer the way of the terrorist, Barabas, and demand the death of Jesus.  The desire to get even always seems stronger than the desire to get alongside people; attack seems the best form of defence.

Each Christmas the child in the manger stares up at us and asks the same question – what kind of a world do you want?  Shepherds do not leave their flocks nor Magi their palaces to come and go gooey-eyed at a baby.  For them this is no “ahh” moment but a deep and life changing encounter with God.  They understand the divine challenge that has been laid down.  The magi may give gold fit for a king, and frankincense for a god, but they also give myrrh in preparation for burial.  Recognising the path of weakness, vulnerability and love that Jesus will follow, they understand how the world will respond.  They see the shadow of the cross even there at the birth.

Heaven may rejoice at the birth of Jesus and angels sing in the sky but the world shows its true response, not in the running of the shepherds or the journeying of the magi, but in Mary and Joseph fleeing into exile into Egypt  and in the sobbing of the mothers of Bethlehem whose infants have been massacred.  The real themes of Christmas are all too adult.

Of course the birth of God’s son into the world is well worth celebrating.  God would want us to enjoy all the feasting, fun and family traditions that have grown up around this time of year.  But do not let all the lights, decorations and gift-wrap distract from the child lying in the manager and the silent question that he posses?  Let his eyes search your soul and when the dust of Christmas starts to settle and you ponder your New Year resolutions, may you seek to shape your life more as God intended.

May the presence of the Christ-child truly inform and shape your Christmas celebrations and may His joy and peace enrich the lives of you and your loved ones.
Andrew.

September 07
Rectory Reflections

During August it has been so much easier for Wendy to get to work in Guildford.  She has even been able to leave home a little later.  But know with the start of September and the return of the schools it will be back to the earlier routine and she tries to get ahead of the worst of the Guildford morning traffic.

We all have our own routine, our own rhythm of life shaped by the demands of work, the need to get children to school or just what we think is a good habit.  This all important routine shapes when we get up, when we have meals, when we hope to be able to relax at the end of the day and when we go to bed.  Many have a different routine Monday to Friday than they have on Saturdays and Sundays. Holidays offer a welcome opportunity to break free of our normal routine, to eat and sleep just when we want to – or at least that is the theory; it does not always seem to work like that!

My own morning routine is shaped around the Radio 4 Today program.  I know just whether I am on or behind schedule by what I am doing when I hear the Sports News, the Review of the Papers and Thought for the Day.  Some people get quite anxious if their routine gets broken.  My father was always particularly lost when meal times were delayed.  At work or on holiday, lunch was at 1pm, Afternoon Tea at 4pm and Supper at 6pm.

The sad thing about many of our routines is that they actually leave all too little time for the things we really want to do.  Despite all the luxuries and advantages of living where and when we do and the lure of ever more labour saving devices our lives seem to get busier and busier as we try and fit more and more into each day.  It is estimated that the average couple spend less than seven minutes each day talking to each other; perhaps it is no wonder that relationships are struggling as we seem to have less and less time for each other.

As we try to fit more and more into our lives we also get more and more impatient.  We don’t expect to wait for our food, meals should be instant, even cheese comes ready grated and vegetables pre-washed.  We complain that our computers are taking too long to download information for which we once would have had to travel to the other side of the globe to access and motorists seem most impatient of all, speeding and taking risks to shave a few minutes off a journey that not so long ago would have taken several days to complete.

Aware that all this rushing and busy-ness is not good for us, we are now all being asked to think about our work/life balance, to have more quality time for each other and that all important “me time” and to remember that we “are worth it”.  There is a real worry that all this talk of work/life balance only ends up making us feel more guilty and feeling a sense of failure as we imagine that somehow everyone else’s lives are more in balance than our own.

And yet thinking about the balance of our lives is important.  Do we really achieve anything by always rushing?  Do we need to be so stressed?  Can we not manage to spend more time doing the things we really enjoy doing and more time with those that we love.  Are our lives really so much better for trying to cram so much into them?

And in these whirlwind lives God often seems to be the first victim.  We prioritise the things that we believe have to be done.  We have to shop or there will be no food in the house.  We have to eat otherwise we feel hungry.  If we don’t get some sleep we will not cope with tomorrow.  But if we don’t gather for worship, if we don’t say our prayers, if we don’t read our bibles, life still goes on just as it always did.  Besides does the preacher not tell us that God’s never stops loving us whatever happens?

Once preachers gained loyalty based on the threat of hell fire and eternal damnation.  Yet true faith should be based on love not fear.  Those who make time for worship, prayer and bible study in the midst of busy lives do so not out of fear but out of love for God.  The routine or rhythm of our lives should reflect the priorities of our lives, the things that our important to us – our family, friends, ourselves and our God. 

During September and October we are going to be thinking more about the rhythm of our lives and how we can ensure that God is central to that rhythm and not something that only gets fitted in if we have time or worst still gets squeezed out if we don’t have time

To live after the example of Jesus, is to let God shape our lives, is to let our lives beat in rhythm to the heart of God.
Andrew.

August 07

I write this with the memory of our two very different festivals fresh in my mind. At St Alban’s the beautiful flower arrangements added so much to the prayer stations, and the unfolding story of the Old Testament  came to life as it was read aloud. There was such a peaceful, prayerful atmosphere.

Songs of Praise on Sunday morning was indeed just that.  The music was superb and St Alban’s hymn was a fitting and rousing finale. The Confirmation service in the evening, at St Mary’s, was another inspiring occasion. It was so good to have our own candidates confirmed in their own church.  What a contrast the following week as everyone rushed round in the rain setting up scarecrows and putting plan “B” into action. But what a success it all was! The rain didn’t seem to dampen spirits at all and everything went ahead as planned.  Even the Barbeque cooks loyally persevered under umbrellas.  At the Festival Eucharist on Sunday morning we re-dedicated ourselves to God’s service and gave thanks for the generations of worship that has taken place on this site. The sermon about the work of Jubilee Action in Rwanda made us aware of the courage of those who have endured unimaginable horrors in their lives.

So many things to remember, so many special moments, but the lasting memory for me will be the Biblethon. Unless we base our lives on the Scriptures then none of the above events will have any meaning.  We hear isolated passages from the Bible every Sunday but it is not till they are put in context that we can begin to appreciate the vast sweep of God’s design for his people.

Throughout the Old Testament there is a constant pattern of the people coming to God, falling into sin, being punished and ultimately forgiven and given another chance.  From the story of the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve’s disobedience, right up to the last verses of the Prophet Malachi the message is the same. If the people love and serve God he will bless them, but when they turn to their own selfish ways then he is angry and they will be punished.  Many times God threatens to destroy the whole world that He has created, but each time there is at least one faithful prophet who pleads for the people to be given another chance. It is only when we look at the history of Israel as a whole that we come to appreciate the incredible love and infinite patience of God.

If we do not study the Old Testament  then we will find it much harder to understand the significance of the coming of Jesus Christ and the new covenant that God made with his people. Jesus frequently quotes from the Jewish scriptures, reinterpreting them in the light of his Incarnation and God’s ultimate sacrifice for us.  Our faith needs to be firmly rooted in the Scriptures or else it will have no depth. Our souls need feeding and the best spiritual food is to be found in the pages of the Bible. We all know some passages really well, but it is in the understanding of the story of God’s people from the beginning that our spirituality will grow.

 “The Bible is the place where the mind of God engages the hearts and minds of those who seek him and will listen to him” - Douglas Dales 

Betsy

March 07

I recently visited one of the newer hospitals in Surrey and was surprised to find that every patient now had their own room. When we are feeling unwell or in pain we understandably yearn for privacy. Not having every passer-by see us in our disarray helps restore some sense of dignity. For visiting family and friends it is good to be able to have time with their loved one free from the eyes and ears of other visitors and patients. No doubt too it can help with control of infections and other aspects of health care. I do not know if this is to be the style of all future NHS hospitals but I can certainly see its appeal.
Nevertheless, as I left that hospital I could not help but feel a certain sadness if we are seeing the end of the traditional hospital ward. I am all too aware of its many disadvantages but the traditional hospital ward is a symbol of an important truth. Healing is a communal experience and health care a community responsibility. In an increasingly individualistic age the focus has become all about “me and my needs”. I expect to see the doctor when I want to and to receive treatment when and where I want to and to receive the very latest treatment, regardless of cost.
On the face of it this seems completely reasonable. The only problem is that “me” does not exist in isolation. Hospitals are places funded by the community to meet the needs of the community. Hospitals are places where the needs of many different individuals are brought together. I am able to receive treatment because the community has pooled its resources to help me. But equally my treatment has to take place alongside all those others also in need. Whilst the doctor or nurse is seeing me others are waiting and whilst I am waiting others are being seen. I have to understand the demands I place upon the health care system whether that be in terms of time, personnel or treatment may effect the resources available to others. Such resources are always finite. My healing has to take place alongside the healing of others. Much as I may wish it to be so, my needs are not the only ones that matter. Sometimes even my needs may need to be sacrificed in order to ensure that others can be helped Whether we are treated in an open ward or an individual room we must never forget that healing is a communal experience and health care a community responsibility.
Among the many reasons why I am angry at the threatened closure of the Royal Surrey County Hospital is precisely because I believe that hospitals need a community setting. We are told that fewer and bigger regional hospitals can deliver better health care. But such an approach severs the vital link with the local community and panders to the very individualism that puts ever-spiralling demands upon the health service. Precisely because in my local hospital I am likely to meet people I know, I am more likely to understand that the meeting of my needs must be placed alongside the meeting of others needs. The fight to save the Royal Surrey County Hospital (and the other Surrey hospitals under threat) is not just some selfish ”n.i.m.b.y”. reaction but a recognition that the true place for a hospital is at the heart of the community that it serves. Healing is a communal experience and health care a community responsibility.
The Church is vulnerable too to this growth in individualism. So people pick and choose what they want to believe, come to church when they want to, choosing a type of service they like and often falling for the biggest illusion of all, “but I don’t need to come to church to be a Christian”.
Christianity is not an individual religion. It is about belonging to a fellowship of faith, being a member of the family of God. One of the dominant images of the New Testament is that of the “Body of Christ”. We are all members of the one body with our own part to play. The eye cannot say it does not need the ear or the hand say it does not need the arm. Christianity affirms our fundamental interconnectedness. We belong to one another, we need one another, we are to be there for one another.
For a Christian coming to Church is a way of affirming our belonging to the Body of Christ. I come to church not to have my own personal time with God nor to make “my” communion. I join with the family of faith to acknowledge our true parentage (God our Father), to affirm our shared faith (we believe…), to break bread together (we are the body of Christ…) and, refreshed, to be sent out in the service of others (send us out in the power of your spirit…). Let us never forget we are all part of a community and that we belong to one another.

Andrew.

January 07
Reflections
A Happy New Year and how are you doing on your New Year resolutions? Are you one of those enviable people who make one or two resolutions and manage to keep them throughout the year; do you start well but by Easter, they have fallen by the wayside or do you not bother at all knowing you will not be able to keep them in the first place?

One resolution I make each year is to improve my prayer life. Each New Year, I resolve to try better. Over the years, I have tried various different methods. These have varied from using written prayers, candles, music etc but the conclusion I have come to, is that prayer is a conversation with God and to have a conversation with someone you need to be in their presence and giving them your full attention.