Sunday is Mothering Sunday, or Mothers’ Day as it is usually called outside the church. Each of us will have our own responses to, and feelings about this day. It may be an opportunity to celebrate, or a day of sadness and regret. This past week saw the Feast of the Annunciation, when we recalled the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary, with the news that she was to give birth to Jesus. Mary has often been seen as the ideal mother, even though the Gospels suggest that the relationship between mother and son was not always straightforward. The lives of mothers, and of women generally are today very different to the way they have been through much of church history. We recognise that many mothers juggle employment and other responsibilities alongside looking after their children, and that fathers (and grandparents) often take their share of the work. We are indebted to those in playgroups, nurseries and schools who provide care for our children. One of my favourite pictures of Mary is in a medieval manuscript of about 1325 AD. Mary has handed over her son to a convenient angel, so she can wrestle with the devil! So, this weekend I will be giving thanks for mothers, and for all those women who in different ways stand up bravely for the truth. Rev Fran
Hope Church has been part of the community since 1843 and for many in the area has been the setting for life events including baptisms, wedding and funerals. It has been supported by local people including churchwardens who have given many years of service.It still has a very small congregation who meet and worship regularly together and are joined by others at different times such as Easter, Christmas and Remembrance Sunday. Our current minister Fran Brealey is well known in the community and provides support for individuals and groups.But the Church is currently facing a major challenge. A recent inspection identified that the building requires a considerable amount of work to carry out repairs and other works to ensure that it remains in suitable condition to continue to serve its community. The need for repairs has been caused by a combination of age and its location where nature thrives! It is estimated that the works required will cost in the region of £70000 to include items such as scaffolding to carry roof and stonework repairs and removing years of greenery that is taking hold.Members of the church are willing to embark on the required fundraising to ensure that the building can be preserved for the forseeable future to continue to serve the needs of local people.But we do have a question for local people. Do you still want or see a need for the Church building and would you be willing to support us in our efforts? This might involve attending events that we plan to hold (community events, quizzes, Open Days), passing on details of our campaign to those who may have moved from the area but have a connection and perhaps even pledging or donating to our efforts.We know that we shall have to concentrate our efforts on raising funds through bids to grant-making bodies and other organisations but it would be a great boost to our submissions if we could show that you, the local community are behind us and we have your support.We are organising a public event on Tuesday 29th April at the Village Hall where we shall explain in detail the work to be undertaken and give an outline of our plans for how we hope to raise the money. Everyone is welcome to attend (refreshments available) to ask questions, make suggestions or just show that you want the Church to still remain as an integral part of Hope.
By the time you read this our Christmas celebrations will probably seem a long time ago, especially as the shops have been selling Cadbury’s creme eggs for weeks already! The beginning of February marks the feast of Candlemas, celebrated in England since the 8th century. It commemorates the visit of Mary and Joseph to the temple with the baby Jesus. They were greeted there by the elderly Simeon and Anna, who blessed the child, and spoke both of the light he would bring to the world, and also of the suffering through which that light would come. The name Candlemas refers to the custom, first recorded in Anglo-Saxon times, of people carrying candles into the church to be blessed, and then carrying them out to light their homes during the year. We will be doing the same at our service at All Saints, Shelve on February 2nd. Candlemas falls halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. The days are getting longer, the light is getting stronger, and the spring flowers are starting to appear in the hedgerows. In our part of the world at least, this moment of turning from winter towards spring mirrors the story of Simeon and Anna, with its contrasts between old age and youth, between birth and death, and between darkness and light. At Candlemas, even as we prepare to welcome the light of spring, we hear the promise that our salvation will come through the suffering of Jesus, and we turn from the crib towards the cross. Lent will soon be here. But the darkness is not yet defeated, and we carry our candles to light our way. Candlemas reminds us that Christ is with us, and his light will shine for us, whatever our circumstances, and whatever 2025 brings. The light has come that all the world might know his truth, justice and compassion. As we nurture that light in ourselves, drawing closer to God through worship, prayer and service, we will be able to share it too. We receive the light to carry it to others, whether that’s our neighbours and family, or those others we encounter, often fleetingly, in our daily lives. I will end with some words of a hymn. You might like to use these as your prayer this month: Longing for light, we wait in darkness. Longing for truth, we turn to you. Your Word made flesh, hope of the nations, Light for the world to see! Christ, be our light! Shine in our hearts, shine through the darkness. Christ, be our light! Shine in your church gathered today.
The season of Advent is traditionally described as a season of waiting, a time to prepare our hearts for the coming of the Christ Child. Yet for many of us these weeks are some of the most hectic of the year; we are occupied with buying and wrapping presents, writing cards, doing extra baking, making arrangements for visitors or planning journeys to see others. Those employed in education, retail and finance, and many other sectors, including the church, find this an especially busy time. Waiting is the last thing we feel able to do, and we have little space to think about our hearts, when there is so much else to prepare. Nevertheless, the Christmas stories can provide us with a rich focus for thought at this time of year. In the midst of my own activity, I have been reflecting on the description in Luke’s gospel of the visit of Mary, the mother of Jesus, to her cousin Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist. This is a story about two women, from among the many women whom Luke brings to our attention in his gospel. They are ordinary enough women, who would have spent much of their lives busy with mundane chores. Yet, they were women for whom life, in the culture of their day, was not straightforward, Elizabeth, because of her long years of childlessness, and Mary, with the prospect of a child to be born outside marriage. It is easy to see that Mary might have wanted the advice of her cousin about the troubling message she had just received from the angel Gabriel. Both these women were soon to become mothers. Along with mothers before and since they must have shared the uncertainty and risk of childbirth, the doubts as to their own abilities to care for their babies, and their hopes for what their children would become.I once saw a painting hanging in a chapel in south-west England. I have been unable to discover the artist or even its title, but it depicts two women greeting each other, full of joy. It is the moment of meeting described by Luke, as Elizabeth and her own child recognise the identity of the baby Mary is carrying. Mary’s joy finds expression in the song which we call the Magnificat, praising God for what he will do through the child in her womb. It is a song which promises the lifting up of the humble. It announces that God is turning the world’s values upside down. In his poem, ‘The Visitation’, Malcolm Guite describes Mary and Elizabeth as ‘two women on the very edge of things’. They are humble and ordinary, and yet God will use them to change the world. They are more than women, and more than mothers. They are people who are faithful and obedient to God’s call on their lives. Each of us, whether we are women or men, can be faithful and obedient like them. We can never be too ordinary, too doubtful of our own abilities, or our lives too complicated for God to call us.Over the next few weeks, as Christmas draws near, in the midst of our work and our busyness or in a rare moment of quiet, might we too hear his call?
