My dear friends,I write this whilst ‘decompressing’ after a very busy and fruitful 2024. What a year it has been. As we enter this new year, we can reflect not only on the past blessings but also the dawn of fresh beginnings with the arrival of our new rector and the exciting ministry opportunities ahead. Each day presents us with a space for renewal and growth, both in our faith and our community – but the New Year is a great time to be reminded.God has wonderfully made us, He has made St Mary’s a place of belonging – where we extend a radical welcome to all. We are a place of healing, spiritual health and service. It’s an exciting time in the Church of God. Let us embrace the changes that God brings our way and shoulder into those things well established. With joyful open hearts we trust that God has equipped us for this journey or will provide those with gifts we need.May we work together in unity, sharing His love and grace as we reach out to all those in need. With every step we take, may we reflect His light and purpose in our lives. Here’s to a year filled with hope, transformation, and abundant blessings! But remember, always, the simple call of our faith – LOVE. Love for God and for each other. Love. Happy New Year.Andrew Bevington,Reader, St Mary Astbury with All Saints’ Chapel Somerford & St John the Baptist Smallwood
Thought for the week: Advent 4 - Peace An art competition was once held on the theme of ‘Peace’. Most artists used images of green fields with sheep grazing safely. There were streams and trees swaying gently in the breeze on a summer’s day. However, the winning painting showed a bird in a nest, protecting its young, in a tree that was swaying in a howling gale. Were we to enter this competition, what images would we produce? Maybe we could come up with a sculpture like the ‘Throne of weapons’. This is a sculpture by Mozambican artist Cristavao Canhavato and is made from decommissioned guns. It was created in 2002 as part of the ‘Transforming Arms into Tools’ project, through which over 600,000 weapons, left in Mozambique after the civil war, were exchanged for tools and hardware. At the time the sculpture was said to ‘represent both the tragedy of war and the human triumph of those who achieved a lasting peace’. Or what about the image suggested by Graham Kendrick’s song ‘Thorns in the straw’, which suggests that Mary may have seen, as she looks at her sleeping child, ‘by his head a thorn’. ‘And did she smell myrrh in the air on that starry night?’, the song continues. The baby lying peacefully in the manger, the one whose birth we will celebrate in just a few days’ time, the one who the angels said would bring ‘peace on earth’, was threatened right from the start. He brought peace, but at a cost. Then there is the traditional symbol of peace, the dove. Surely this would suggest a placid creature, but you might see a slightly different picture if you were to see a collared dove, whose nest was being threatened by a magpie! There is nothing ‘static’ or placid about Mary’s song. It is a song about righting wrongs, a peace that will come through justice, and action to achieve it. We need to find peace at times of turmoil and to be peacemakers to bring a peaceful space for others. Are there wrongs that we can right to bring peace? So what will our pictures of peace look like? And will they change our lives?
Thought for the week: Advent 3 - Joy Imagine a scene from an EastEnders filming session (or another soap of your choice…). A person is sitting at a kitchen table, writing a shopping list. The second character brings them a coffee but manages to spill some on the list. This being a soap, the situation escalates quickly: the first person is annoyed that their shopping list is ruined but the second character blames them for having an overly cluttered table, and tells them they should make their own coffee in the future! Now imagine a retake of this scene – coffee still gets spilled on the shopping list, but this time the second person apologises, gets a cloth to wipe up the mess and makes another cup of coffee. Both characters laugh off the incident and harmony is restored. Repentance i.e. being sorry and changing accordingly, isn’t necessarily associated with joy. But saying sorry, meaning it and showing it by our actions, can bring healing and joy to all sides. Looked at from the angle of the wronged person, it is much easier to forgive someone who has admitted they are in the wrong. And forgiveness can bring healing. At first sight, the message of John the Baptist sounds harsh and joyless, but true change and repentance bring joy. This message comes across even more in the life and ministry of Jesus, the one for whom John was preparing. Think about people who Jesus met, such as Zacchaeus. Here was a man whose whole life was turned around. The change was real, as he prepared to give half his goods to the poor and reimburse the people he had cheated. What joy it brought to him – and no doubt to the people who received back what was due to them. Are there people you need to say sorry to? Why not do something about that this week?
Thought for the week: Advent 2 - Love Have you ever been roped into helping a child with a particularly challenging school project? Someone was asked to help their grandson with making a model for a school art project. The grandson expected that his grandparent would react immediately and miraculously produce materials and the help needed. The grandparent had two options: A) Try to find something in the house that could be used to make the model immediately; B) To think carefully and come up with a plan to buy some materials or spend time collecting paper and making a papier maché model. After a hunt round the house turned up only a small amount of modelling clay, plan B was decided on and materials duly purchased for it. The papier maché took a while to prepare and was very messy, but the wait was worth it. Grandparent and grandchild had great fun making the modelling material and the whole family joined in and made their own models. Though the grandchild had to wait longer, the end result was much more imaginative and creative – it was the result of a loving plan! God has a plan for raising us up, saving and loving us. Sometimes the plan requires patience on our part. We may need to change some of our expectations or preconceived notions. Maybe we could use a different modelling material! Our readings emphasise that God’s plan was and is one of love. It is carefully planned, with messengers and others preparing the way. And the outcome was God sending his son in love for the world. The final part of Zechariah’s song sums the situation up rather nicely: ‘For you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.’ That’s surely a loving plan worth waiting for!
