Dear friends, In December, when storm Darragh hit I decided to snuggle in bed, listen to Saturday Live whilst doing some paperwork. I was feeling rather low as all the news had been about the failings in the Church of England. I was aware of one of the guests Rob Parsons as I have read some of his books but the story he told had me in tears. I immediately ordered the book he had written and read it in one sitting. “A knock on the door” tells the story of Ronnie Lockwood. Ronnie and Rob had known each other at Sunday School. Ronnie went through his childhood in local authority care and became homeless. On the 23rd December 1975 Ronnie turned up at Rob's door. He and his wife Dianne had been married for 4 years. Ronnie had been given a chicken and he wondered if Rob could cook it for him. They invited him in, gave him a meal and a bed for the night and he ended up staying for over 45 years. He became part of a loving family that he had craved all his life, he got a job as a bin man and was accepted into a local church and became part of a family larger than he dreamt possible. He became a volunteer and when he died, he gave all his money to the local church and in 2022 the Lockwood Centre was opened which is a well being centre for one of the most deprived areas of Wales – where coincidentally our niece is the manager. When asked why he had done it, he referred to the Bible. Then the King will say I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me. Lord – when did we see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and gave you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger, or needing clothes, or sick or in prison? Then the King will reply “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine – You did it for me” (Matthew 25;34-40) This is what being a Christian is about – loving God and our neighbour. When we see our neighbour in need – how can we fail to act. How can we fail to speak out when we see injustice.I have just finished reading Justin Welby`s book called, “Reimagining Britain.” Within this he looks at many aspects of our country and how things could be changed, how we could re-establish a loving and generous society. It was a challenging read, considering how we can put the command to be “love in action” into practice . As we are fast approaching Valentine`s Day I thought more about love. In the Bible there are at least 4 different words for love, storge means affection – I love books, dark chocolate and Hastings. Philia was used to refer to deep friendship. For romantic love, the Valentine`s day type of love, the word Eros was used. Agape was used to refer to sacrificial love, the sort of love shown when someone gives their life to save another. It is a love that keeps on loving even when it gets nothing in return. It's the sort of love like the father who welcomes back his completely undeserving son. In the New Testament whenever the love of God or Jesus is mentioned then the word agape is used. As we look towards the start of Lent, in March we start to consider how much God really loves us. When we have worked that out we need to ask ourselves how are we going to respond to that. To close with Charles Schulz the author of the Peanuts cartoons “Little things we say and do in Christ’s name are like pebbles thrown into water, the ripples spread out in circles, and influence people we may know only slightly and sometimes not at all.” Let`s throw some more pebbles and see how we can embody “love in action.” Christina
From the Vicar Happy New Year! I’m writing this in the middle of one of the busiest times of the year, with Carol and Christingle and School Services in full swing, as well as a baptism, two funerals, sadly, and the last wedding of the year! December is always a very busy month of course, but last December just seemed busier than normal and, in addition, the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury and calls for the resignation of the Archbishop of York have cast quite a shadow over the work and ministry of all of us in the Church of England. The theme of the Comberbach Methodist Advent Study Group, which some of us attend each year, was “hushing the noise” (from the well known and beautiful Christmas Carol “It came upon the midnight clear”) and it has been hard to “hush the noise” of everything that has been happening in our Church, society and world in the last few months and to concentrate upon the message of the angels, and to hear them sing. But, in the midst of all these “Babel sounds” I have thought, prayed about and reflected on our discipleship, work and witness as followers of Jesus, the “babe in the manger” and Messiah among us, to bring tidings of “comfort and joy”, peace and hope to all those whom we encounter. Given the vagaries and circumstances of life, this is not always an easy thing to do, but our (and I stress “our ”) work in this Parish with people in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and in all sorts of situations, has been I think a very good example of our Christian faith in action and really what the Church is expected to be and should be about – encouraging and nurturing faith and hope and love, bringing comfort to people and always looking forward whilst acknowledging that there are, inevitably, things that hold us back and things for which we have to express our sorrow.This month, and in a new year, which sees the 1700th anniversary of the formulation of The Nicene Creed, which we will be remembering during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and which links all Christians throughout the world and across all denominations, we celebrate one of the most significant festivals in the Church, the Epiphany, as well as celebrating the work of members of our rural communities on Plough Sunday. This is what the Church is about – giving thanks to God for the revelation of the Messiah among us and, at this time, and amongst many other things of course, for the ongoing “busyness/business” of our farming communities, as they “plough the fields and scatter......” – and we are all part of this ongoing story and journey, and what a joy, and a privilege, that is. “Oh, hush the noise, ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing” and, as we all try to do this, may God bless each one of us in this coming year, whatever it may bring! The Revd Alec Brown.
Dear friends I don't know if you have ever missed the boat? Have you ever got so wrapped up in things that you have missed out on something amazing? We live in a very busy, fast paced world. We are encouraged that whatever we are planning we need to hurry up. This time of year life gets busier and sometimes we forget what it is all about. Take the year 1809. The international scene was tumultuous. Napoleon was sweeping through Austria; blood was flowing freely. Nobody then cared about babies, but the world was overlooking some terribly significant births – William Gladstone, Alfred Tennyson, Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln. Similarly, everyone thought taxation was the big news when Jesus was born but a young Jewish woman cradled the biggest news of all. As we approach December 25th again, it gives us another opportunity to pause, and consider again the events of Christmas and the person whose birth we celebrate. There is someone who missed the boat on the first Christmas. In those days, Caesar Augustus decreed that all the world (or the known Roman Empire) should be taxed. At this point, Mary and Joseph began the trip to Bethlehem. They had to go to Bethlehem because that was where Joseph came from. They had to go home to pay the tax. So they arrived in Bethlehem, with the baby about ready to be born. Can you imagine the timing of this? You have the town of Bethlehem that is now crowded with people. Everyone is hustling and bustling, trying to get their taxes paid. Visiting families. In fact, by the time that Mary and Joseph arrive, there is no room in the inn.And this is where we meet the person who missed the boat - the innkeeper. The Bible doesn’t tell us anything about him at all. All we know is that there was no room in the inn. Mary and Joseph were relegated to the stable, to live among the camels, donkeys, horses, and their feeding troughs. They would have used their own robes and extra blankets to shield themselves from the cold.But let’s get back to the innkeeper. Can we really fault him? I mean, it wasn’t his fault that there was no room—he was just a business man. He did allow them to stay in the stable.And he never knew the significance of the baby inside Mary, how he wasn’t just another baby, but the actual son of God.The innkeeper was so close to the truth, yet so far away.Over 2000 years ago, a baby was born who changed the world. He was the perfect embodiment of love, both fully God and man, and he came that one night, born in a manger, because there was no room for him in the inn.So this Christmas remember the innkeeper. He missed Christmas in the hustle and bustle of what was going on - let's not make the same mistake.There is an unattributed poem about the inn keeper; it says“And how were men to know?There was a sign they say a heavenly lightResplendent, but I had no time for stars.”This Christmas make time for stars.Wishing you all a peaceful and blessed Christmas from all @ St Mary`s Christina
At the beginning of last month, on National Poetry Day, I attended a workshop which was held in The Old School in the Churchyard and lead by Chester Cathedral’s Poet-in-Residence Julia McGuinness. There were about 15 of us present, from across the Diocese, and the theme of the workshop was “Making words count” and we were all encouraged to wander around the Churchyard, Church and Quiet Garden and to look carefully at and think about the things we saw, and then to see if we could write about them in new and different ways. I ended up writing a poem from the perspective of one of the many former upright or “table top” headstones which were laid flat in the 1960s to form part of the new Churchyard paths’ scheme. Thinking about the coming month though and the various celebrations and services, including of course All Saints and All Souls and Remembrance Sunday, our Poetry Day theme seems very appropriate and relevant – making words count. November’s festivals and services are amongst the most important in both Church and national calendars – from the simple yet incredibly poignant and powerful reading of names at both All Souls and Remembrance, to the short sentences and phrases on Remembrance Sunday with which we’re all so familiar, and which mean so much – “They shall grow not old........At the going down of the sun........we will remember them.” And as for the poetry, the opening lines of poems such as John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields” say so very much and are incredibly evocative: “In Flanders fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row........” One of my favourite poets is Edward Thomas, who was killed on the opening day of the Battle of Arras in April, 1917 and whose poem “Roads” (written in 1916) contains this beautifully poignant verse: “Now all roads lead to France And heavy is the tread Of the living; but the dead Returning lightly dance:”Making words count is of course an ongoing task/responsibility for all of us and not just aspiring poets. We know how important our words can be, for good or for ill, and the Bible has quite a lot to say, in different ways, on this subject.Remembering and giving thanks for the sacrifice of so many people during past conflicts, as well as our own departed loved ones, is so important for all of us, and November affords us numerous opportunities to do this together as a worshipping community (as well as individually of course) and I look forward to welcoming everyone to the Church over the coming weeks.May God bless us all in this coming month.The Revd Alec Brown Vicar.
