Minister's Letters
March 2009
Times are hard at the moment for many people. A recent information day held at Swindon College about retraining for new careers revealed just how many people are suffering. The comments of one man sums up the agony of those recently made redundant. ‘When I started twenty years ago they told me it was a job for life, now here I am at fifty-seven having to consider training for different work.' However it's not just those losing their jobs who are suffering. One company, having made several people redundant, has now asked remaining staff to accept a 15% salary reduction. Of course it's not only those working who are suffering, retired people who've worked hard all their lives and made careful provision for retirement, have found their standard of living dramatically lowered.
The falling bank rate may have benefited some people but it's penalised those who rely on the interest from savings to maintain a comfortable standard of living. The economic downturn is worrying most people, so many of us are cutting back on the things we've previously taken for granted. People are loath to decorate their home and renew furnishings, to upgrade their car, to book holidays; and many are trying their best to reduce large mortgages payments, as well as pay off loan and credit card debt. It seems we are now reaping the effects of an economy fired up by credit. Credit card companies have urged people to spend on items such as clothing, entertainment, and trips to the theatre, whilst mortgage companies encouraged first time young buyers to take 100% mortgages; some even urging young people to take out a 110% mortgage so they could immediately equip their first home. It would seem then that the ethos of saving up before you buy had largely disappeared.
So where does this leave us as a church? Well, amongst the people of Malmesbury there will be some who have lost, or are in danger of losing, their jobs. Young couples will be worried about losing their homes and how they'll manage to support a family, whilst older members who rely on bank interest to help them pay for such things as heating will be worried as to how they'll manage. Only the very wealthy among us will be unconcerned as to what the future holds. So maybe it's now time for us, as a church, to consider how we may best assist not just members of our congregation who are struggling, but also people in the wider community. Is there anything at all we could do as a church to help the vulnerable in Malmesbury
Well, as I write this, thirty members of differing churches are registered to attend a food hygiene training course at Chippenham; twelve of them being members from Malmesbury URC. So maybe at some time we could consider opening the church one morning a week to serve refreshments such as coffee and cake, soup and a roll, or sandwiches to those in need of respite and fellowship. With willing helpers the church could become a real place of hospitality. So if you haven't put your name down, I wonder if you would consider attending. It isn't a hard course and there won't be an exam, just a simple test on what you've learnt during the morning. It doesn't matter how old you are or whether you are female or male. Lifts can be arranged
‘They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They gave to anyone who had need. Everyday they continued to meet together in the temple courts'.
Georgina
February 2009
As you know my ministry is shared between Chippenham and Malmesbury. Being so new to the area I was pleased to be able to take part in a pulpit exchange organised by Chippenham Churches Together to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. So on the 18th of January, I led the service at St Andrew's Anglican Church, whilst the Revd Simon Tatton-Brown, Vicar of St Andrew's, led the service at Tabernacle. Each of us leading the service in the way of our own tradition, so as to enable the congregation to experience the rite of the other.
We suggested the swop because, although our churches are sited within a few yards of each other, members rarely join together even for fellowship events. As yet Simon and I haven't had time to reflect on the experience, but I would think that, like me, he found it encouraging, enlightening, uplifting, even somewhat exciting. Although, as both of us have previously ministered in Local Ecumenical Partnerships between the URC and Anglican Church, the experience wasn't quite as strange for us as it may well have been for our congregations. The way of unity can be exciting; however it can also be stressful. Those people who have grown up in one particular tradition, never having worshipped regularly elsewhere, might find the thought of joining with another church difficult to cope with. However, the fact that all our mainstream traditions are now declining means that we need to seriously consider whether we might work to better effect together.
No matter the church we belong to, we are called to take the teaching of Christ out to the world, so even though our churches are structured quite differently we respect the other traditions as being a part of the world-wide Christian Church. We should therefore be able to work together, finding nothing strange about the experience; however the differences in rite and ritual, style of national and regional governance and even church architecture, have over the years served to separate us and make us nervous of each other. Now though, the changing religious climate in Britain means that we urgently need to find ways in which we can share together in worship, pastoral and out-reach work.
Those people who know little about the Church need to see each local church as being but a small part of the far larger whole. They need to see Ministers and members working together, side by side out in the community as ‘A Community' , understanding that our relationship is one of Shalom , a relationship of wholeness of being. The world needs to see Christians of all our traditions working together to build up Christ's body in the world; because it's actions, not words, which count outside the church building.
A disciple questioned his master saying ‘I have two neighbours as dear to me as I am to them, but each pray in a different way. Neither invokes the Trinity, neither prays to the Holy Son of God. Thus the truth is not in them. Are they damned? The Master answered, ‘The Lord Christ, Universal Word, speaks with a multitude of accents. Walking through time he draws around himself the cloak of many histories. That truth is unbounded, and in the spot of time we call a life, we understand but its smallest part. Go now; learn from your friends how you may unite your prayer to theirs'.
(Derek Webster in ‘Wisdom Calling', compiled Geoffrey Duncan 1999)
Georgina
December 2008 - January 2009
The joy of Christmas shopping!! Each year I vow that next year I'll begin shopping far earlier, but every year I'm just the same, putting it off until well into December. This year however I've been slightly better organised. I bought the cards well before we moved here and recently, on spotting a jigsaw at Westonbirt, decided it was just the thing for my mother-in-law. So, being inspired by my early start, a few days ago I ventured into one of the gift shops in Malmesbury. I was determined to get at least four presents bought for the young girls of our family, but sadly, even though the assistant made some very good suggestions, nothing I liked was suitable to post.
So here I am again at the end of November, wondering what to get and thinking that the easiest thing will be to blitz the shopping one day nearer to Christmas. I suppose I really should start thinking what to buy far earlier in the year, but the trouble is that I really have to be in the Christmas spirit to think ser1ously about presents. It seems somehow wrong to consider Christmas before November's ended. I dare say you feel the same. Because the day to day business of keeping the church running governs much of our time, before we know it Christmas is nearly upon us and we are left dashing around the shops at the last minute. But maybe you are different to me; other people always seem far more organised than I am. I struggle to remember how old the youngsters of our family are, never mind choose the very thing they've asked Santa to bring.
Many Christians find it hard to get excited about Christmas, knowing as we do that the nativity stories are actually just the way in which the early church presented Jesus as a special leader, conceived and born, as it was believed pagan leaders were, by the intervention of the gods. However the fact that the stories are symbolic rather than historical should not prevent us enjoying Christmas; remember, without the nativity stories we might well be celebrating the winter solstice. So rather than begrudging the long queues in the shops for presents, food and drink, rather than wondering at the happiness of those people who celebrate without knowing ‘the reason for the season', I'm determined to be thankful that at this time of year, everyone does hear something about Jesus; if only from the carols played loudly over the loudspeaker at the supermarket.
So if like me, you're already getting fractious wondering what to buy and when you'll get time, remember that when the tree, decorations and cards have been taken down and are long forgotten, you'll have Jesus to guide you through the coming year; but so also will those people who've just discovered Jesus over Christmas.
I pray you will all have a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year
God with us, Emmanuel, we thank you that Christmas is an opportunity for retelling the story, for giving and receiving, for worship and song, for renewal and rededication. We thank you that at Christmas we know you to be among us, listening, healing, mending, forgiving, teaching, sharing, celebrating and suffering. So may our celebrations reflect your closeness and commitment to all people .
(Seasons and Celebrations: Donald Hilton.)
Georgina .
November 2008
At our Harvest service we praised God for creation and the good things he gives us, at the same time praying for people across the world who have little. Yet how many of us ever realise that our good harvest damages the world; that our harvest of cereal results in diminished animal and insect life as hedgerows are cut back, that our harvest of cheap meat and eggs comes from factory farming, that our harvest of cheap fruit and vegetables has grown through use of land polluting pesticides. As our desire for cheaper and more variety has increased we have begun to think less in terms of caring for the natural world and more about what we can get out of it. So nature is seen as something to be made obedient to our demands and we count as precious only those parts we are able to master. The word ‘Harvest' means the crop of food that is gathered in a season and the process of gathering in that crop, how ironic then that the word can quite easily be altered to mean the result of a lack of anything to be gathered in. Put to one side the letter ‘H' and the remaining letters spell out the word ‘Starve'.
Some time ago there was a programme on TV about the great wastage of food in Britain. Several people were interviewed about their shopping habits. Although they spent a large amount of money on food, much of it was thrown away, because they bought, either far too much, or things the family wouldn't eat. One woman always bought a large bunch of bananas but at the end of the week threw most away, because the family couldn't eat them all before they went too brown. One single man bought food enough for a main meal every night of the week, but as he regularly went out or ate take-away meals, it was wasted. So the programme also revealed how poor shopping habits fuel the cycle of supply and demand; as we constantly buy, so the supermarket buyers supply; yet some of us throw a great deal of that supply away.
There is an old Jewish story that serves to remind us of God's command to care for the earth's bounty. Adam was walking in the garden and wanted to try the fruit of the trees around him. He reached out to pick an apple but the branch moved away from his reach. He tried again with a pear and the same thing happened. He tried to get fruit from several different kinds of trees but each time the branches moved away. Finally a voice came from heaven: ‘First water and tend the trees and then you may eat of their fruit.'
O God of Harvest great and various, help us to find ways, large, little and diverse, to co-operate with creation; to restructure our economies; to share our harvests, so that the potential to ‘starve' hidden within harvest is not activated but remains a warning that the good ‘harvest' may not last as such; that harvest should be a hope for all, therefore healthy harvests need to continue. May we always value fruitfulness from planting as a gift from you Creator God, and use it wisely and generously .Amen
(A prayer from Aotearoa, New Zealand : G. J. Barclay)
May we always tend and care for the earth, considering carefully what we really need and what we might waste, before we buy. May we never forget that as we eat well other people starve, and so count it as our duty to press for a fairer sharing of the world's rich resources.
Georgina
October 2008
I've recently been reading a novel about life in Britain centuries from now*. A young woman, Mira, becomes aware that there is a mystery surrounding her birth. Living in the wilds of the north, she is shocked when she sees a stranger killed by security forces, aided by a man Mira had become fond of. Mira runs away, eventually discovering she is a person cloned in order to become a substitute or to provide spare organs should the daughter of the ruling family become seriously ill.
The story reveals how quickly the world may become like this. Britain and France , where Mira searches for a much younger cloned sister, are waste lands being slowly flooded by the rising sea. Weather patterns have changed so dramatically that the harsh countryside is sparsely populated whilst cities are full of people who live crowded together in very poor conditions. All but the ruling family, the Saints, are strongly controlled. There is a large divide between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless. Security cameras and computers record the movements of all but those actually running the country. Millions of people live on the streets, scavenging from the bins of the wealthy. Violent crime, prostitution and drug addiction are rife.
The Visionaries are spiritual people who keep themselves to themselves, whilst the Wreckers regularly attack the wealthy, trying to overthrow and change the system. The Scroats are the very disadvantaged and many have turned to crime in order to stay alive. People find it difficult to trust anyone and the world is a cruel and very frightening place.
The book tells readers that the divide between the wealthy and the poor may quickly become wider, that more and more people will end up living on the streets or in very poor housing unless something radical is done to change world economy. It reminds us that the climate is changing dramatically and that unless we take global warming seriously weather patterns will result in the world being decimated. It also teaches us about the danger of interfering too much with nature. We are also reminded that many people today have no sense of there being a spiritual dimension to life.
The Visionaries are thought to be odd because they can see and understand things other people can't, so I thought of the Visionaries as being Christian. Many people think we are odd because we have a different outlook on life to them and they have no idea what Christianity is about. It struck me that one day Christians might well become like the Visionaries, living very secluded and isolated lives. Nowadays many Christians are nervous about discussing their faith with others, so those who have had no religious teaching don't have the opportunity to learn exactly what we believe in and why. Also, by trying to make the Services more accessible we are weakening the gospel message about redemption and the resurrection.
Evangelical churches across the world are growing not because they sing modern worship songs, but because they teach a strong message about the resurrection of Christ, right conduct and the way to live. So maybe, instead of altering our services we should be stronger in the message we proclaim. Many people today are searching for the meaning of life and they want answers and rules to live by. If we don't tell them what gives our life meaning, if we don't give them answers and don't teach them the rules we live by, then we are failing in discipleship; failing to pass on the good news of Christ, that by him all people may have life everlasting.
‘Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee , to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.' Matthew 28:16ff
Georgina
(* Sharp North. Author: Patrick Cave . Publisher Simon and Schuster 2004)
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