‘By the light of the silvery Moon …’Noticed the moon recently? If you listen to the radio, you’ll likely have heard reports recently about NASA preparing for the second in a series of complex ‘Artemis’ missions that will enable human exploration at the Moon and future missions to Mars. Be that as it may, there’s still nothing quite so lovely as having been surprised by the unexpected bright light of a full moon – especially first thing of amorning.The moon has of course no light of its own. Whenever we see the Moon, we see light reflected from the Sun. It’s light from our Sun which picks out the meteor-battered surface of what is otherwise largely consolidated rock dust – all quite dark and mysterious on the other side, the side we never see. And in a similar kind of way, the Psalms in the Bible tell us that though we hear no voice, yet the ‘sound’ of God’s glory is ‘heard’ because the stars and the planets are ‘telling out’ the wonder of their Creator. The book Genesis speaks of God as has having made humankind in his image and likeness. Now at a graveside I regularly recite ‘earth to earth … dust to dust’ but I also on other occasions read of ‘the glory of God being seen in the face of the man Jesus Christ’. The privilege and wonder of our having been made in God’s image and likeness is that by the illuminating power of God’s unseen Spirit, ordinary earth-and-dust creatures like you and me can become Christ-like so we too reflect the glory of God’s goodness and love into the situations and circumstances of our everyday lives. That’s rather lovely and pretty amazing too, don’t you think?
Tending the Garden of our Mind Last year’s BBC Reith Lectures were given by forensic psychologist Dr Gwen Adshead who has studied the minds of society’s most violent perpetrators for more than 30 years. Dr Adshead has come to the conclusion that the capacity for evil is to be found in all of us and in one lecture she suggests that individual minds are like a garden that needs close tending so that its boundaries are not obscured and lost. Neglected weeds so easily choke all else to death in an untended garden, and so she proposes the importance of cultivating goodness in the individual mind, and so more widely in communities. ‘We need to grow goodness by practicing compassionate states of mind which can lead to the growth of tolerance, gentleness and patience. Such virtues act as a protection against violent and destructive states of mind.’ Dr Adshead believes that defending against such states of mind means developing a capacity to take horrible emotions, like rage and hatred, seriously. We especially need to recognise in ourselves the kind of anger that leads to a wish to hurt others, so that we then take care to protect ourselves and one another. She concludes that this kind of self-care is vital given the wilderness of combative attitudes and aggressive ideologies to which we’re regularly exposed. It is perhaps especially important for those of us who have suffered trauma and for whom anger may be a constant struggle to manage – anger which could so easily be the connection with later violence. St Paul urged us long ago in similar vein: ‘Whatever is true, pure, pleasing and excellent … think about these things … and the God of peace will be with you.’ The Rev’d Dr Richard Hines Rural Dean for Wisbech Lynn Marshland richard.hines@outlook.com
As I write, the results of the recent UK General Election are being digested. We’ll all carry from this period in our nations’ history a particular memory of the fast-moving political developments of the last week. For myself, I’ve noted how often our new Prime Minister has referred to the privilege of having been ‘elected to serve’ our country as opposed to his party having ‘won power’. It was Pope Gregory the Great who first described his role as Servus servorum Dei (‘Servant of the Servants of God’), a title that has been used on papal documents ever since, and a designation that disturbs and challenges any inappropriately exalted estimation of the full range of other Christian leadership roles enacted today. And as if, by way of a divine prompt to me personally, my wife has surprised me with a card and a box of chocolates on this, the Fortieth Anniversary of my ordination as Deacon in Norwich Cathedral. I was ordained Priest in the same Cathedral the following year: but, like all priests, I remain in deacon’s ‘orders’ as well as priest’s ‘orders’. I remain essentially a servant. The word deacon means ‘servant’, and given the sobering words of Jesus, ‘Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all’, I have in my own way as much in mind to ponder at present as Sir Keir Starmer. One beautiful Christian prayer perfectly expresses this aspiration for all Christian people, lay and ordained: ‘Almighty God, you have broken the tyranny of sin and sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts whereby we call you Father: give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service.’ Amen to that! The Rev’d Dr Richard Hines Rural Dean for Wisbech Lynn Marshland richard.hines@outlook.com
The Impossible (and Unnecessary) Choice The ever-popular BBC radio programme Desert Island Discs concludes each episode by asking its celebrity guest to choose just one luxury and one book for their imaginary far-away exile. They will already have The Bible and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare available - as if that wouldn’t be enough. I struggle to decide what book I’d choose: perhaps it might always be “the one I’m reading at the moment”. For many of us a favourite book is at once companion, doorway into another world, glimpse into the mind of its author, source of delight and more besides. For many years I foolishly pooh-poohed those (like my dear wife) who, as I thought, escaped everyday reality by reading novels. I wanted to deal with reality, things that matter. But mercifully, I now know better. My more recent cumulative experience of numerous readings of books such as Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Hilary Mantel’s trilogy Wolf Hall and Marilyn Robinson’s four (so far) superlative Gilead novels, have transformed my understanding. There’s not much that beats a good book - other than a good friend with whom to endlessly enthuse, discuss and share one’s favourites. ‘Mind you’, quipped Professor C S Lewis, ‘a book’s no good to me until I’ve read it two or three times.’ Well, goodness knows how many times I’ve read parts of The Bible and still I wouldn’t want to live without that very close to hand. I confess, I’ve yet to make a proper start on Shakespeare, so a challenge awaits. However, for sheer absorption, imagination, profound insight, tears and laughter, give me Tolkien’s masterpiece. But, oh what a relief … I don’t have to choose! The Rev’d Dr Richard Hines Rural Dean for Wisbech Lynn Marshland richard.hines@outlook.com
Counting the cost of Christmas In late October, the popular BBC R4 consumer programme You and Yours asked how much listeners planned to spend this Christmas? It signalled the start of our annual national anxiety fest, as once again we heap countless unrealistic expectations upon each other. All will be focussed on ensuring at great cost that for one or two days in mid-winter everything will be ‘just right’, everybody warm, reassuring, peaceful and generous with each other. Truly, the year that soon draws to a close has brought many grim events – some of which continue to weigh heavily upon our collective human heart. The desire to blank out the darkness and despair is understandable. But an authentic Christian celebration of Christmas offers a realistic way of acknowledging that pain, expressing prayerful yearnings for justice and peace, and renewing the rich experience of shared communal blessings and joy. When, as the Gospel declares on Christmas Eve, ‘the Light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not overcome it’, it speaks of a conviction that the Eternal Creator God entered our time and space in Bethlehem, was born as Jesus to live, suffer violence and be killed - but also be raised by Resurrection from death. This was and remains the great Sign, Promise and Hope that God has, in our place and on our behalf, overcome humankind’s great enemy (death), and so turned a corner in human history. Our share in that unshakeable Hope and new life remains to this very day for each to receive. By listening carefully to the traditional Christmas readings in church, on radio or TV, and to the best Christmas carols, this enduring message can be heard again, strikingly and memorably expressed – and, in one sense, it’ll cost us not a penny. The Rev’d Dr Richard Hines Rural Dean for Wisbech Lynn Marshland richard.hines@outlook.com
Jesus said, ‘I came that all may have life, and have it abundantly.’ This year, the National Health Service, marks 75 years since it was first established. It was started because the government at that time believed everyone should be able to get healthcare - no matter how much or little money they had. Since earliest times, Christian doctors and nurses, inspired by the example and teaching of Jesus, have been at the forefront of efforts to alleviate human suffering, cure disease, and advance knowledge and understanding. It was Christians who began to change society's attitude towards the sick, disabled and dying. In AD 369, a man called Basil in Caesarea founded a 300-bed hospital. This was the first large-scale hospital for the seriously ill and disabled. It cared for victims of the plague and was the first of many built by the Church. It was not until the 18th century that the Christian hospital movement re-emerged. It reminded Christians to remember the poor and needy in their midst. They came to understand afresh that bodies needed tending as much as ‘souls’. New institutions were built by devout Christians for the 'sick poor', supported mainly by voluntary contributions. And Christians were at the forefront of the dispensary movement (the prototype of general practice), providing medical care for the urban poor. Indeed, modern nursing owes much to Christian influences. For centuries the majority of nursing, like most medicine, was carried out by monastic orders in their own hospitals. In many ways, the Christian faith and medicine are natural allies; medicine offers people unique opportunities to express their faith in practical caring for others, embodying the command of Christ: 'whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me'. The Rev’d Dr Richard Hines Rural Dean
