Ministry Team Letters January – June 2010
Dear Friends,
What a Christmas we had! With snow underfoot and the country’s transport system seemingly as frozen solid as the puddles, and despite waves of viruses and bugs rolling over many of us, we celebrated our Lord’s birth in a way that for me at least has left a deeper impression than usual. We had our regular fare of services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, including a children’s Crib Service as successful as ever but this time with a script written by a young member of the Children’s Church, Matthew Wright. Our Carol Service was packed, with the choir splendidly on song, and the complete contrast of the Quiet Christmas met the needs of at least one person who, because of personal loss, could not have coped with anything bigger or louder but who still wanted to observe Christmas in church. At midnight we had the unusual bonus of a sermon from a passing bishop, Trevor Willmott, who will shortly become Bishop of Dover. (The Bishop of Dover looks after the Diocese of Canterbury for the Archbishop, who has other things to do.)
On Christmas Day, our worship at 9.45 was a unique experience for all of us. We joined with our Baptist brothers and sisters for a communion service which included traditional carols and the support of those members of the choir who were not completely carolled-out by all they had sung earlier. The communion itself was led by John Smith, the Baptist minister, in a simple, informal but dignified manner that moved many of us. The church was about twice as full as it would usually be on Christmas Day, and it was a great joy to be able so to greet our Lord on this happy morning.
The reason for this joint service was, of course, that the Baptist church hall had been prepared for a Christmas lunch for people who would otherwise be on their own, and if our Baptist brethren hadn’t come to us they would have had no-where else to go. It was good to have a practical reason that all could appreciate as a catalyst for our united worship – perhaps now we have done it once because we had to, we can do it again simply because we want to. The lunch itself was a tremendous success. Jean White has written about it elsewhere in this magazine, so I won’t go over the details again, but I would like to record here my own thanks - and I know I can also do so on behalf of many others - to Mary Jepp, who master-minded the operation from the beginning, as well as the small army of helpers who made it all possible. We were all worn out by the end of the day, but it was worth it. We had done something that made Christmas come alive for us with new depth, and I shall always be grateful for the experience.
Now as I write our thoughts are filled with the truly appalling disaster in Haiti. We will do what we can to raise funds to help with the immediate aftermath. Let us pray God our efforts do not end there, but that individuals, agencies and governments continue their help in the long term to begin to put this afflicted land back on its feet. This would make the Incarnation of God more visible not just for Christmas time but in the hard realities of every day.
With love,
David
Dear Friends,
Happy New Year! The first decade of the 21st century and of the third millennium is over. (Yes I know that really this century began on 1st January 2001, not 2000, so that in fact we have another year to go, but that’s not how it feels – we have had a decade of years called ‘two thousand and something’.) For all except those with youth on their side, it feels astonishing that this new era should already be ten years old. Just as when birthdays or anniversaries or Christmas come around once again, or when we meet a friend after a long interval, we tend to say things such as “I don’t believe it’s been ten years.” We are all familiar too with how time seems to speed up or slow down depending on circumstances – a fortnight’s happy holiday flashes by, but two days with toothache last for ever. And each additional year of our life, representing an ever-smaller fraction of the whole, moves by at an accelerating rate. We are constantly being ambushed by time, expressing our surprise at its flow.
C. S. Lewis thought that our endless bewilderment about time suggests that it is not our natural element. A fish is not disconcerted by the ocean – it is where it belongs and feels at home. If we find time un-homelike and awkward, perhaps we are created for a life outside time, in other words for eternity, the dwelling of God. This is both a cheering and disturbing thought. Our lives are destined to find their fulfilment beyond all that we know and experience, and therefore we need not panic if we do not yet enjoy perfect contentment – we are not supposed to, nor could we ever expect to do so while subject to time’s whims. We can feel contentment simply in this: the knowledge that all shall be well. We do not need to fret too much over imperfection of things as we find them now.
But this source of consolation has its dangers. If we believe we are journeying towards an eternal home, we might be tempted to ignore or despise things that seem merely temporary, time-bound. Certainly Christians have succumbed to this error often enough, being “so heavenly-minded that they are no earthly use.” I suspect the temptation of our own age is the other way, to focus on details to the exclusion of the big heavenly picture. But in either case, the corrective is found in the feast we have just celebrated, that of the incarnation, the birth of Christ. In the Nativity, God reaches down fro eternity to touch the local, historical and very specific scene of the manger in Bethlehem, and in so doing begins the work of hauling heavenwards all the weight and clouded life on earth. Now, as the celebrations are over and a new year begins, it is a good time to reflect that this one act two millennia ago in Palestine, far from reducing all that goes on under the sun to meaningless, endows all our lives, here and now, with inconceivable honour and value and gives worth to our actions. God has chosen to dwell with us in this and all times, so that we may dwell with him in timelessness. With this faith, we can face 2010 or any time knowing that the last word belongs to God.
Again, a very happy New Year.
With love,
David