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Articles from the Team
- Life After the Show
- Believe in God - He believes in us
- Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
- Aching for Justice and Peace
- Unity, Peace and Healing (added August 2002)
- What Happens When I die? (added August 2002)
- Christianity in 1253 (added August 2003)
- Generation Gap in Western Society (added December 2003)
- Praying in Times of Trouble (added January 2005)
- Delight in the past but not live in it (added January 2006)
LIFE
AFTER THE SHOW by Trevor
Stubbs (Team Rector)
"So there is more to life than strutting
the boards", said the actress to the bishop at the party after the show.
"Yes", replied the old cleric, "much,
much more!"
"Then pass me the pickled onions",
she commanded, "and tell me why you do so much acting in the course of
your job. You float around the stage - I think you call it a sanctuary
- dressed up to the nines in robes that would make an opera prima-donna
jealous. (I even heard of a bride who complained that the cleric who
officiated at her marriage put her in the shade, so ornate was his garb!).
Then the props are so lavish too. Candlesticks and silver plates,
sumptuous hangings, and even golden goblets encrusted with jewels abound.
In some of your churches stage smoke billows upwards and boys dressed in
angel costumes dash to and fro jingling bells. How does your profession
differ so much from mine? At least I admit I'm acting and take pride
in it".
The bishop helped himself to a pickled
onion too. (It is always better if two people are eating the same thing
- especially onions!). The actress stuffed another prawn vol-au-vent
into her mouth as the bishop continued...
"Acting involves pretending, but there
should be no pretending about leading worship - whatever I or those around
me might be wearing. I do not 'dress up' (as you call it) to be something
other than what I am. All the clothes and props are there to help
express something that comes from 'inside' a person. Worship is not
skin deep. Worship is not acting... Do have some of this chocolate
cake, I can recommend it!"
"No thank you. I'm afraid chocolate
is not good for my complexion. As you say, the skin is important for actresses!
So what is 'inside' that needs so many props?"
"That", said the bishop, "is the loving
presence of God! And that does not require any props. Indeed
if the props are a distraction then they should be dispensed with.
Once the glory of the sanctuary ceases to reflect the glory of the Kingdom
of God, and becomes an object in itself, then the whole thing is idolatrous
- a sham and a scandal. But if the heart is on fire with the glory
of God ..."
"then the whole thing ceases to be
a pretence", interjected the actress. "I understand. I have more
questions I want to ask. Let's go and sit over there where it is
quieter."
And so the conversation continued,
the actress quizzing the bishop with all those things she had often wondered
about the Church, but mainly about whether most who worshipped really did
express a genuine presence of God 'inside'. Some of it looked like
pretty shallow acting, she thought. The bishop agreed, but pointed
out that churches are made up of all sorts of human beings - and human beings
have their failings - but so long as they recognised that, and strove to
let God in, then they were on the rode to getting it right. They weren't
perfect, he said, but as long as they admitted it and were working to get
better then he hoped she would forgive them.
"If I could get God inside me," stated
the actress, "then I might find it easier to forgive."
"Indeed you would. And you can
have him inside. In fact he is already there - all you need to do
let him work inside you. Next time you want to forgive, or love,
or help someone, then whisper a prayer asking him to flow through you.
That's how you become aware of his presence"...
"And that's how worship is more than
acting!"
"And life is more than strutting the
boards!" concluded the cleric. "Come, there appears to be some pickled
onions left..."
"...and they are completely calorie-free!"
said the actress to the bishop.
BELIEVE IN GOD... HE BELIEVES IN US! by Trevor Stubbs (Team Rector)
Why is Bridport such a brilliant place?
The wonderful thing about Bridport is that it is full of people of all
sorts. We have folk of different incomes, job types, ages and backgrounds.
People who have always lived here are joined by people who have chosen
to live here. We have ordinary folk and celebrities too.
Bridport does not "put on airs" and pretends to be something special - it
is just naturally special.
The other day someone mentioned our
TV quiz show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, winner. She comes
from Bridport, she'll do well! For a small town with a cross-section
of folk we make an above average impact in the worlds of sport, learning,
music, art and literature. That has been the case for many years and
continues to be the case. Why should this be?
I believe a lot of it is down to people
being happy and content. The fellowship is good. People experience
a great deal of support and encouragement from one another. Of course,
there is always the occasional difficult customer (and sometimes they
hit the headlines) but day in and day out people are looking after their
neighbours and thinking about their needs. There may be a bit of
a generation gap, but the young are as good at caring for other young folk
as are the older generations. Unlike some parts of the country where
people look only to their own interests and do not even know who lives
next to them, Bridport is a caring community. We have had a challenging
winter with much illness and a lot of funerals, but people have continued
to support each other.
It is also a worshipping community.
People attend church in well above average numbers, and God plays a central
part in our lives. Nationally we have a shortfall in the numbers
of people entering the ordained ministry. I am delighted say that
in the Bridport Anglican Team we currently have one person (Liz Campling)
ordained in December 2001. She will serve locally. One young man (Simon
Chambers) from Bradpole entered the full-time ministry in June 2002.
Please pray for them. We also have two other people (Roger Pittard
and Janis Moore) in the early stages of training. In the meantime
if anyone is interested in serving God as a priest or any other vocation
(whether they are male or female, young or not so young) I would be delighted
to hear from them. I believe Bridport can continue to make its impact
on the nation in this way along with all the others.
In January 2000 in St. Mary's, South
Street, we had a service to thank God for the things he has given us to
share, and the services we have been privileged to give. We took
home a card with the words, "I believe in GOD ... and HE believes in ME!".
With God even Bridport people can be surprised at what they can achieve!
CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA! by The Revd Maureen Allchin
This is the great proclamation of Easter.
With joy and with hope the church proclaims that Jesus Christ crucified
is risen from the dead and lives for ever.
Easter is the oldest and the greatest
of the Christian festivals. If all other celebrations were to be forgotten,
this one would perfectly express the faith of the church. Sunday
by Sunday we proclaim our Easter faith, Christ has died, Christ is risen,
Christ will come again.
At Easter we celebrate the resurrection.
Jesus has overcome our greatest enemy, death, and he promises that we
too will know resurrection from the dead. I am the resurrection
and the life says the Lord. He who believes in me, though he die,
yet shall he live and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.
John 11:25,26. In Jesus' resurrection there is hope for us all.
At Easter we also celebrate the coming
of Christ as the light of the world. He is light and can bring us
light in our darkness. His love can transform the deepest pain;
his touch can heal the brokenhearted.
The timing of the Easter festival is
symbolic of renewal. It falls between March 21st and April 25th,
according to the lunar calendar, and coincides with the coming of spring.
The word "Easter" may come from a Germanic
root (oesteren) meaning "dawn". For us, Easter is about new beginnings;
allowing Christ to take the old and transform us with His new life.
Obviously the symbolism of the Passover is powerful in our understanding
of Easter. At Passover the Jews celebrate God's gift of freedom from
oppression and their entry into the promised land.
Maureen
Allchin
Lord of all life and power, who through
the mighty resurrection of your Son, overcame the old order of sin and
death to make all things new in Him: grant that we, being dead to
sin and alive to you in Jesus Christ, may reign with Him in glory;
to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be praise and honour, glory and
might, now and in all eternity. Amen
(The Collect for Easter Day)
ACHING FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE! by Trevor Stubbs (Team Rector)
"Tell me where it hurts?" is a common
question. It is usually asked of children but sometimes of grown-ups
too when something appears to be wrong. Talking about it, even before
the treatment arrives, seems to help. So can I suggest where it
might hurt the world most? It hurts a lot where there is no
love. There is either an empty heart where there should be a full
heart, or more especially, in the place where love should be, there is
bitterness, hatred, rejection or even cruelty. The emotional pain
of abuse is immeasurably worse than any physical hurting. In those
who are tortured, for example, the body may heal, but the pain in the
heart goes on - often for the rest of a person's life.
In the face of such pain in our
world what should we do? I have recently been given a questionnaire
to complete in which a question was posed: "The following list contains
pairs of characteristics. For each pair, choose the characteristic
that you believe is closest to describing the real you". The list included:
"Do you tend to be more concerned with harmony or concerned for justice?",
and, "Do you seek for truth or seek for peace?" There was no option
to choose both, they were deemed to be opposites. I suppose they expected
gentle people, or those who are fearful of conflict, to compromise on justice
and truth to ensure harmony and peace. I could not answer the question.
It does not work like that. Harmony and peace can only be properly
achieved where justice and truth are faced up to and addressed. To
do otherwise is merely, "to sweep the muck under the carpet" as the saying
goes. It will have to be dealt with one day. To use another analogy,
a wound does not heal simply because it is covered up. It needs to
be examined, cleaned and treated otherwise it might fester and become increasingly
bad and harder to heal. The hurt does not go away just because someone
has hidden the truth from view. The hurt warns us that there is something
wrong that needs to be checked out.
We ache for peace but we will
never achieve it unless we have real justice and honest truth. This
is the theory that underlies the South African Justice and Truth Commission.
It is not possible to go forward in peace unless the past has been dealt
with. We need to know what constitutes truth and what is just in
the world. We must listen and learn. Although different cultures
and religions might approach things in diverse ways, most people recognise
the ideal of a standard of inter-personal relationships that demand consideration
and respect for the other. This includes openness, generosity and
care for each person. This is acknowledged in the founding principles
of the United Nations. The Charter reaffirms, "faith in fundamental
human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal
rights of men and women and of nations large and small". Anything
less than that means a society is not just.
Christianity goes beyond this
in commanding love. "Love one another as I have loved you", said Jesus
on the night before he died (John 13:34). Love, in the sense that
Jesus meant it, requires that we long for the best for each person no matter
who they are, where they come from and irrespective of their attitude towards
us. We do not love only those who love us but all people, because
as children of God, God is their Father too. It does not matter whether
they know they are God's creation or even if they care about him.
In this way we can love even those whom we have never met. Our
hearts go out to those who suffer wherever they might be and we long for
justice and peace for them.
Justice and peace are not achieved
overnight and therefore do not make for newspaper selling headlines.
Sadly a terrorist bombing, a kidnapping or even a politician's carefully
worked out slogan (with alliteration and rhyme!) are much more dramatic
and eye-catching. But we never give up on seeking justice no
matter how difficult or unglamorous. Without true justice there can
never be real peace. In the beatitudes Jesus commends both those who
hunger and thirst for justice and those who work for peace (Matthew 5:6,9).
With God's help not only can we ache for justice and peace, we might even
achieve some of it.
Top
UNITY, PEACE & HEALING by Trevor Stubbs (Team Rector)
Unity, peace and healing are
at the heart of the Christian faith.
People these days are often reluctant to get involved with anything organised.
It may be, among other factors, the result of being over structured by
a society that has let us down so often. Today we are reluctant to trust
- anyone! We all know people and organisations we believed to be "OK" that
have turned out to be just the opposite. The Church has fared no better
than any other institution - bringing pain, exploitation and suffering to
people looking for love and hope. I can understand why it is rejected
and distrusted.
But what about God? Is God to suffer rejection too? At the beginning
of Christianity the religious institutions in Jerusalem were riddled with
corruption - a situation which led to the crucifixion of its founder.
Whatever we feel about the Church, can we really ditch Jesus? Surely
he, the victim of wicked or unscrupulous people, is the man to speak to
our 21st century world? And just supposing he is God (as his followers firmly
believed) then there is truly a real hope here.
At St. Mary's we aim not to proclaim ourselves. We do not seek to build
up our congregation for its own sake. What we seek to proclaim is that, in
Jesus, there is hope, new joy and freedom. We believe it is important to
be embedded in a community of faith, which could be at St Mary's, but could
equally be in any congregation of genuine disciples.
In October 2002 we are joining with other congregations to seek for unity,
peace and healing. We hope that you will feel able to be part of this.
Top
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE? by Trevor
Stubbs (Team Rector)
Resurrection - life after death - is key for Christians. The idea
of a life that is not dependent on this world alone means that Christians
approach the world from an entirely different angle from those who see the
things around them as the only reality. A belief in resurrection
means that material things are reduced in importance because they constitute
only a proportion of our life and our future. Christians should always
take the long view - even when they are in their "twilight" years in their
present body. But how can we can we be sure there is anything in the
idea of resurrection? Perhaps it's all just wishful thinking.
I'm not a great film buff but one film I have seen recently has something
to contribute to this question. Starring Jodie Foster, it is called
Contact and is based on a novel by Carl Saga. The story goes
that a keen able scientist called Ellie is dedicated to the SETI project
- the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence. Beginning with citizen
band radio in her childhood, she has always had a passion for reaching
out into the ether to make contact with people beyond normal reach.
The story attributes this to a longing for her dead parents. However,
religion had failed her as a child and she approaches her search of the
universe with carefully reasoned scientific principles. She believes
in Ockham's razor, a rule of logic, which states that the simplest, most
straightforward explanation should be accepted until proven otherwise.
For her the idea of God is not the simplest explanation for the universe.
But Ellie meets a believer in God whose faith is based on a personal
experience of God. For him the existence of God is the simplest explanation
for his experience - but his experience cannot be scientifically verified.
Then Ellie and her team make contact with aliens from the Vega system and,
without going into the details, she eventually travels there alone and makes
personal contact. Her video camera records nothing but static and she
cannot prove she was ever there. The scientific community doubt her
explanation and, invoking Ockham's razor, suggest she is the victim of a
massive hoax set up by a rich but independently minded financier, who (conveniently
for the plot) has just died. Ellie knows what she experienced and, although
she readily admits she can never prove anything scientifically, makes a categorical
declaration of her faith in her own judgment - putting her on a par with
the man who believed in God because of his experience.
Carl Sagan is saying that we cannot easily dismiss the testimonies of
those who believe in God. Similarly it means we have to take seriously
the accounts of the people who claim to have seen the resurrection of Jesus,
and what Christ said to people about heaven and life to come.
St. Paul gives us some of the earliest written accounts of the resurrection
in his first letter to the Corinthians penned in about 55 AD (just over
twenty years after the crucifixion of Jesus). He says:
"For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received:
that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that
he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with
the scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. Then
he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time,
most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to
James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he
appeared also to me." (1 Corinthians 15:3-8).
St. Paul goes on to explain how people take on a new spiritual body for
a heavenly existence after they have died.
St Luke tells us that the resurrection of Jesus was central to St. Peter's
first address to the people gathered in Jerusalem (Acts 2:24), and there
are resurrection stories in the Gospels. Since then many people have
spoken of their own personal encounter with God and assurances of life to
come. None of these can be scientifically proven - but they were certainly
believed by the people who were willing to stake their lives on their truth.
Unfortunately there are religious cranks about - people who have clearly
lost touch with reality - who for various motives and psychological needs
become fanatical. But the interesting thing is that few of the early Christians
appear to be of the fervid type, and most Christians today are average
normal citizens. Despite the few extremists who get Christianity
a bad name, most are rather shy and embarrassed by their faith - but are
nevertheless convinced of resurrection.
Top
Christianity in 1253 A Brief Introduction by Trevor Stubbs 5th July 2003
When I first agreed to give a brief summary of Christianity in and around 1253, I had forgotten just how difficult a period this was. I wondered if it was such a good idea to remind ourselves of a period of history of which it is difficult to be really proud. Those who sigh about the condition of the church in England today, would be horrified to learn that it was far worse in the Middle Ages!
Church and State were unashamedly in bed together. Kings and bishops, barons and prelates often divided wealth and power among them, with little regard to Christian principles. Society operated on strictly class lines, with most people having a tough time as subsistence farmers or serfs. Most of the written history concerns itself with the politics of the powerful who were, it seems, engaged in intrigue, duplicity, war and rebellion. This was the age of the Baronial wars. Henry III came to the throne in 1216 when London and the South East was under the sway of the French king, following the row over Magna Carta in 1215. The Barons had invited in the French when King John had resisted implementing it. But John died and the protectors of the young King managed to win over the Barons. So Henry was crowned twice. Once, at the age of 9, in Gloucester Cathedral and then again in Westminster Abbey in 1227. But the civil peace was always fragile. Henry was anxious to cultivate friends and supporters and must have been pleased that the burghers of Bridport accepted his charter and came under his direct rule. A decade later, in 1264, Simon de Montfort, as leader of the Barons, captured Henry in the Battle of Lewes. Although Simon's rule lasted but a year, Henry III never recovered his former authority.
Christianity in England was, of course, Roman Catholic and through the Church, the Pope was ensuring that Kings and Princes owed proper allegiance to the Vatican. This power was as much about politics as it was about following Christ, and when some Christians began to point out some of the Pope's failings they fell foul of the Inquisition, and were accused of disloyalty. The Inquisition was another invention of the 13th century which owed it's origins to a pope called Innocent III. The Inquisition began using torture in 1251. So entangled were State and Church that treachery and heresy were almost the same thing. The penalty was the same - death. In the 13th century the church was deeply involved in sustaining the Crusades in the Middle East against the Ottoman Empire. Henry III was less concerned with this than his French counterpart Louis IX. Nevertheless the persecution of the Jews in Western Europe that accompanied the crusading was intense in Britain, and many a terrible act was done in the name of Christ in this period, for which we must be duly repentant.
But the picture wasn't all bad. At the time of the granting of the Bridport Charter one of the most significant theologians in the history of the Church, Thomas Aquinas, was writing his theology. He was addressing the fundamental questions of what it means to believe, and to be a Christian in action. He was, in contrast to all the power seeking around him, spiritually motivated and caught up in deep inquiry, drawing out the power of the revelation of God and applying careful philosophical thinking to ultimate questions of God and existence. In fact as one historian points out, "between the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th, there arose the widely held conviction that the world, dominated by power struggles and corruption, could transform itself into a truly Christian community" (Ferroni, Giulio Storia della letteratura italiana vol. I "Dalle origini al Quattrocento" Turin: Einaudi, 1991).
No-one in Bridport, however, would have had access to this new work. There were no printing presses, all books had to be copied by hand. Very few people here would have been able to read in any case. The town clerk may well have been the Rector, the Clerk in Holy Orders. There are no rectors recorded before the 14th century so we do not know for sure what the status of this church was. The worship may have been led by monks, but a secular priest is more likely. He would certainly have owed his allegiance to the King and been party to the charter agreement. Rectors owned the church buildings and curtilage. They were in real and actual material possession - and they still are! (So long as I am Rector here, I own property worth millions of pounds!) The "clerk" was also the "curate". He had the cure of souls, and the body too. It was the church which cared for the sick, and we know that there was a leper hospital to the west of the Bridport, well away from the town houses, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen.
But what did ordinary people believe and practice? Unlike the nobility, who were caught up in trying to secure themselves against those trying to usurp their power, ordinary people depended on the land and the sea. They were in touch with the rhythm of the seasons. The growing of flax and food, and fishing demanded a profound knowledge of creation through which people met God. Upon the annual cycle of Winter and Spring were imposed the Church seasons of Christmas , Lent and Easter. Birth, death and new life were unquestionably the gifts of God. Rogation, Lammas and Harvest Thanksgiving of Summer and Autumn were deeply religious occasions in which prayer and thankfulness were absolutely sincere. If all this sounds rather rural for Bridport town we must remember that if there were 1000 people living here in 1253 this would have been a large town. (Outside London the main centres were rarely larger than 2000 people.) There would have been a cluster of buildings between the two rivers around this church. Mr. Mayor, where your town hall now stands would have been all fields!
In our own day, through education and scientific knowledge, and a more even distribution of resources, church and political leaders (I'm glad to say!) do a lot more listening, and ordinary folk have much greater leisure and expertise to explore beyond their own home-ground. Although God is no longer "taken for granted" as he once was, through the learning and listening of the past 750 years, those who do perceive him in the warp and woof of life today marvel at his love and his faithfulness. We need to be frank about the weaknesses as well the strengths of the past so that we may learn from them and continue the Christian journey our ancestors pursued when they began building this wonderful building in which we worship today.
CAN WE MEND THE GENERATION GAP IN WESTERN SOCIETY? A Study by Revd. Trevor Stubbs
Do you have a problem communicating with different generations? Old people are living longer. Young people are growing up in a very different world from their grandparents and great grandparents. The assumptions that old people make about morals and beliefs are different from the way young people think. Sometimes we feel we don't want to bother to communicate any more. Even language has changed. Old people often feel ignored and strangers in their own towns and cities. Many are moving away into the countryside to places where they can escape. Young people can feel judged, misunderstood and unwanted. Sometimes battle lines are drawn.
One of the battlegrounds is religion. Older people want to maintain their standards and beliefs. Here there is a haven for them, meeting in very old buildings reminiscent of the past when things appeared less complicated. But young people are also interested in spiritual things. They reckon there must be more to life than earning money and superficial fun. Young people are educated to think for themselves and explore truth. God, the philosophy of religion and ethics are popular subjects at school GCSEs and A levels. So religion (including the Church sometimes) is a common interest. We can fight or decide to be separate, or we can grasp the opportunity to use our common interest in spiritual things to bridge the generation gap. That's what I want to do? But how?
I have been given three months away from work to get some ideas. My wife, Tina, and I want to meet people in different places (both young and old) and listen to people. We're looking for how you feel about the world, how much you want to be together, and ideas for how it might be possible. We are calling ourselves "The Listening People". Talking to complete strangers is not easy so we have introduced ourselves on our website www.thelisteningpeople.co.uk . Perhaps you would like to send us your ideas via email, or contribute to the public forum. The website is of course accessible across the globe and we have already got people looking at it in Britain, America, France and Australia.
After this period of listening, I want to write about the ideas we have gained by way of suggestion for the church and people in general. I would be most grateful for your help - whatever your generation. I don't yet know what I'm going to write - but what I do believe is that we must use the opportunity we have to help mend the divisions in our society. As a Christian, I believe that is what God wants. But it is also what many people want whether old or young, because we can give so much to each other.
Trevor Stubbs
trevor.stubbs@uk.com
We are:
Praying in Times of
Trouble.
by Trevor Stubbs
It is probably true to say that, following the devastation of the Tsunami in
the Indian Ocean, the world's relationship with God has been strained. The
total number who have died looks to be in excess of 150,000 and they include
people of many nationalities - visitors on holiday as well as local people.
So many of them were young people or children. Couldn't God have
designed nature in a way that did not include such happenings? If God is
all powerful and all-knowing, could he not have done something to prevent such
disasters? He either cannot or does not want to act in this way.
If God has not, apparently, done anything to avert the suffering is there any
point in praying?
Where is he? If I am to be his follower, and if I am to pray, I
need to know he cares. If God is truly love, then does he hurt?
When he sees fathers clutching dead children, children weeping over dead
parents, parents in Britain grieving for sons and daughters killed on their
honeymoon, and whole communities simply obliterated, we want to know where God
is! We are genuinely angry. If God doesn't suffer with his creation then
he cannot be love. But if God suffers too, alongside the broken and
broken-hearted sharing their agony, then I can cope with not knowing why.
But it still does not answer the question of whether or not praying makes a
difference.
A lot depends on our idea of God. Most adults no longer think of him as
an old man in the sky - but we do still imagine him to be some kind of
"entity" located in heaven. But he isn't like that. God does
not have any physical existence, form or shape - he does not have an
"edge" - a beginning or end in either space or time. He is not a
"ghost" in the way people imagine them either. God is
literally everywhere - within and in between everything. He is not
a "thing" or an "entity", but an "event" or a
"force". But not an impersonal event or force but a personal
one. This makes a difference to the way we think God answers prayer.
As we pray we must not imagine God as simply looking down from some safe
isolated heaven. We should not pray for some direct intervention from on
high. If God answered prayer like that then we have misunderstood the nature
of God. To think of God acting to "alter" things or
"interfere" in some special way leads to all sorts of problems - not
least to him being accused of unfairness and inconsistency in his love. It
also presumes that God is a kind of "zapper" from beyond. I would
want us to think of him being as close to us as our very souls - and knowing
us, and our pain, from the inside, as well as in heaven. The way God
"intervenes" is to be constantly there within and alongside, the
sort of intervention supremely demonstrated by his coming as Jesus Christ.
(... "And the Word became flesh and dwelt -encamped - among us" John
1:14). When we pray, then, we are reaching inwards as well as outwards.
When we pray we "participate" in the God who already indwells us. We
"dance" with him as he "dances" with his creation.* He
needs us to participate in his caring and his love. He needs us to pray - in
words, in silence and in action. God needs us to give of ourselves in
the same way he has given, (and is giving), to us in love. In some special
way, that cannot be easily described, our prayers add to the power of God, and
our love is joined to his to multiply love and goodness in the world.
This may not stop earthquakes or tsunamis but it does mean we are drawn into
the healing and recreating initiative of God and we become partners with him.
I do not know why God who is love has created a world in which people
suffer. However, I would rather be part of this world than not. If the
choice is to take myself out on to the sidelines and watch, or become part of
God's healing of the pain that he, too, suffers, then count me in.
That's what I do in prayer. As we pray we will notice things happening -
we will see that prayer of this kind works. It is very unlikely to be as a
result of some kind of special interference, but because we have joined with
God in his constant flow of love.
Trevor Stubbs (Team Rector) 5/1/2005
* This idea is beautifully explored by Paul Fiddes in Participating in God:
A Pastoral Doctrine of the Trinity, (DLT, London), 2000
Delight in the past but don't live in it! by Trevor Stubbs
CHRISTMAS SERMON 2005
"'Virtual reality' has taken over Christmas!" declared a despairing
old gentleman struggling to understand his grandson's Christmas list consisting
of software games and computer peripherals, "Christmas is not like it used
to be!"
At this time of year we do get rather nostalgic at times. We remember
Christmas when we were children and hanker after the past. We remember
people whom we love but are no longer around, and traditions that have past
away. There is nothing wrong with recollecting things of the past -
memories of joy and fellowship - and all the things to be delighted in.
But, just like other good things (including Christmas "cheer"), we
should indulge in moderation. We can overdo the nostalgia - we may delight in
the past, but not live in it.
Many of us will be missing Maureen Allchin who left our Team in July. Not only
that, but the passing of the old system of "one vicar for one church".
Maureen is not to be replaced. These days we are returning to the Early Church
model where hierarchies weren't so clearly defined, and the clergy were from the
local community. A church today is about "mutual caring" and
"networks" where each member contributes his or her own gifts to the
community of believers and the wider parish. This is much truer to our times -
times in which, not only individual choices, but also a sense of personal social
responsibility and sharing underlie much of the way ordinary people think.
Let us delight in the past, but be ready to move on. We need to grab the
opportunities of today and respond to the life, the interest and the enthusiasm
of our age. An age which is less about "acquisition" and more about
"fulfilment" and "meaning".
Christmas is not really about the past - it's looks to the present and to the
future. At the heart of Christmas is a baby. He might have been beautiful, but
that's not what we celebrate. We celebrate the "promise" - what God
was doing to change the world and to make it a better place. In the Christ child
he was bringing light into a dark world. The battle to overcome darkness
is the theme of many popular modern stories - books that have been reproduced in
film and released near Christmas because they seem to resonate well with this
time of year:- "Harry Potter", "The Lord of the Rings",
"The Narnia Chronicles" for example.
St. John wrote in his first letter: "God's love was revealed among us in
this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through
him." (1 John 4:9). The first Christmas signified the beginning of a
new age - an age of light, love and hope. That was not just for the few years of
Jesus. Darkness comes back when people close their hearts to the light (what
Christians call "sin"). Darkness is insidious - it keeps creeping in
wherever the light is allowed to falter. But darkness can be, and is, constantly
expelled by the light and love of God that breaks through into the hearts of the
people of each new generation - again and again! We sing in the fourth verse of
the carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem":
"O
holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray;
cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today".
His is the
power and the glory of Christmas - not a fading memory of the past. He can and
does (if we allow him to be "born in us") transform our lives and fill
them with light, love, joy and peace - now and into eternity.
The Revd. Canon Trevor Stubbs.