Ralph Vaughan Williams 1872 – 1958 Ralph Vaughan had a keen ear for the music of England, collaborating with the folk-song collector, Cecil Sharp, he turned some of their collected folk-song material into tunes that we know and love today. There are too many to list but among them, they include Kingsfold, Forest Green, Monk’s Gate, and Shipton. Of his own original compositions, Down Ampney, Sine Nomine and Salve Festa dies are still widely used today. The new English Hymnal, into which these tunes found their way, was the brainchild of Rev Percy Dearmer, who wanted to rid the Anglican Church of turgid 19th-century hymn tunes and felt that Vaughan Williams, then in his early 30s, was the musician to help him. Dearmer cleverly reeled Vaughan Williams into the two-year project by assuring the composer that the project would only take two months. Initially, reluctant Vaughan Williams later admitted that his work on the English Hymnal had been ‘a better musical education than any amount of sonatas and fugues'. Crucially, it was tunes that Vaughan Williams discovered in the preparation of the English Hymnal that inspired the Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis (1910), Dives and Lazarus (1939), and passages of the opera the Pilgrims Progress (1951). The hymnal itself set new standards and brought fresh sounds to the English-speaking world. Ralph Vaughan vowed that the new hymn book would contain only ‘tunes of worth’. He was particularly dismissive of Victorian tunes with their sentimentality and ‘Germanic nature’. In the end, he was obliged to appease critics by adding an appendix of Victorian tunes well known at that time, He called it the ‘the chamber of horrors’. None of this, it would appear has anything to do with our passage today, but, I believe there are some interesting connections. Our passage from Luke’s gospel is about a judge who will not listen to the appeals of a poor widow. Widows had no voice in the ancient world as they had no male to speak for them. They were ignored and thought too unimportant to pay attention to. All this can be said of English folk music at the time of Vaughan Williams. Folk music was the poor relative of proper continental orchestral music which was the mainstay of the British musical calendar, but Vaughan Williams wanted to discover a genuine English voice and looked at the lowliest and most humble of musical forms and found riches beyond his dreams. He listened to the poor and was rewarded with music that in his hands was transformed into the masterpieces like the ‘Lark ascending’. The same is true of small voices when taken up by God they become his material with which he shapes the world around us. Troubled Times The Parable of the Persistent Widow, as this short parable is often called, reflects the concerns of the small, vulnerable Christian communities in the early days of the Church. These were times when these communities were often under attack from outraged religious groups, whether pagan or Jewish seeing their way of life and even their businesses threatened by this new upstart faith. Just read the accounts in Luke’s second book ‘The book of Acts’ about the situation the Church faced in Jerusalem, Ephesus, Philippi, Antioch, Corinth, and Colossae. Christians were imprisoned, executed, outlawed, and ostracized from polite society. In this situation, the leaders of the early Church needed to reassure their small communities that God had not abandoned them and that the promises of a new age dawning had not been false. Persistent Prayer Luke reached back into his store of parables told by Jesus and gave us two parables on faithful persistent prayer. The kind of prayer the Church would need to sustain itself through this testing time. The parables, as they often do, depend on the contrast between two extremes. Here we have the unjust Judge compared to the Just God and the self-righteous Pharisee compared to the humble tax collector. The message the parable teaches us is that we pray not to a distant deity unconcerned for us but to a loving Father who hears our prayers. We come to Him not to demand our rights but to receive his love, waiting on Him, trusting Him for our every need. Good Justice? The first of these parables sketches for us two figures who I think represent the situation of the Church as Luke understands it. Here is the vulnerable small Church community struggling to survive in a hostile world. As they raise their voice in prayer they ask themselves does God hear, does God care, or is God like this Judge, unconcerned with the suffering of the poor? To them, at this moment God seems more like the unjust Judge who ignores their pleas for mercy. Jesus wishes to compare the judge to whom this poor widow appealed to the Father God to whom we pray. Bad Judge! Jesus tells of a judge who, ‘Neither feared God, nor cared about men’ in other words he had no respect for the law, nor did he respond to the needs of those who came before him. Further, he took his time, delaying his judgment, maybe because he was waiting for some kind of bribe! Faced with a judge like that why bother to ask, or as Jesus implies, faced with a God like that why bother to pray? Faced with injustice, and suffering in the world, many are tempted to ask, “Why pray?” Prayer and Protest The portrait we get of the Widow is very interesting. It appears that she was quite a feisty lady! The full meaning of the parable is not apparent to us because it is hidden in the Geek original. The Judge complains that the widow has blackened his name by raising such a fuss about the injustice done to her. The phrase translates as: “Yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so she will not beat me down by her continual coming” Luke 18:5 In the Greek original ’Bothering me’ is translated as: “because she has given me a black eye, I will give her justice!” That could mean she has blackened his name or literally has assaulted him! This points us to an important dimension of faith – it is active. It does not merely wait on God to act but goes out to create a new world, by protest if necessary! The Apostle Paul was certainly very active in protesting his rights as a citizen of the Roman Empire and appealed to the Emperor for Justice. The Church too eventually achieved recognition as a ‘Religio Licito’ a legal religion, permitted and recognised in law. The Church has always been and should continue to be a Protest movement seeking justice and truth through the renewal of each one of us and of society as a whole. St Francis of Assisi protested against the corruption of the Church and preached a gospel of renewal. Luther likewise started a movement we today call the Protestant Reformation because it has its origins in his call for the Reformation of the Church. The Faith that sustains us. The parable of the persistent widow gives us an insight into the faith that sustained the early Church. It was a faith sustained by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. The God who we know in Jesus Christ came preaching God’s Kingdom of justice and peace, and the life he lived was consistent with the words he preached. He cared for the sick and suffering, the vulnerable in society, and he reached out to the unloved and unlovely. Finally, he suffered for us, offering himself in our place, the Just Judge who actually pays the penalty that is due to us! As the hymn so wonderfully puts it, ‘Love and justice mingle, truth and mercy meet. This was the God in whom they placed their faith. A faith that not only persisted in prayer but protested for justice. The early Church survived the fiery trial and handed on to the next generation this living faith rooted in prayer, praise, and protest, seeking always to establish God’s Kingdom of Justice and peace on Earth. The Father God to whom Jesus put his faith in the darkness of his own time of trial was the God who even in an unjust world hears the cry of the suffering, a God who in Jesus Christ has already responded with his ‘Yes’. The question that Jesus asks of those who hear the parable is a question for every generation of the Church as we in our turn are asked to hand on the faith of Christ as we have received it. “When the Son of Many comes, will He find Faith on Earth” Luke 18: 8 Could it not also be said of Vaughan Williams that he heard the voice of the poor and had the faith to turn that humble music into the praise of God? Rev. Simon Brignall In faith, we continue in prayer for Rory and Clare. Prayer for Ukraine God of peace and justice we pray for the people of Ukraine today, and the laying down of weapons. We pray for all those who fear for tomorrow, that your spirit of comfort would draw near to them. We pray for those with power over war and peace, for wisdom, discernment, and compassion to guide their decisions. Above all, we pray for all your precious children at risk and in fear, that you would hold and protect them. We pray in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Amen Rev Simon Brignall I am contactable from Thursday to Sunday.
You may have heard the news earlier this week that the professional footballers association is going to be auctioning their famous painting, ‘Going to the match', by Lowry at Christies this month. The painting is expected to raise £8 million. The Mayor of Salford is appealing to the football community to raise the funds so that it can stay on display at the Lowry gallery in Salford. During his lifetime Lowry’s art was not considered of much worth but with the years there has come an appreciation, even love for his portrayal of Northern life in all its gritty reality. I remember the song ‘Matchstick men and matchstick dogs’ that got to the top of the charts and made Lowry into a household name and northern icon. We may think that the figures are clumsy, the colours are dirty, and the details are sketchy, but that’s just my opinion! However, none of that matters because his art is loved and valued not for the artist's skill but for what it is. All art is valued for itself not for the cost of the materials or even the skill of the artist. Its value is in the eye of the beholder Our value to God and God’s love for humanity is very much the subject of this discourse in Luke’s gospel. Friends, not Servants Luke tells the story of a servant who does his job well. Does he get a reward? No! Jesus makes the point that when a servant does his job he is only performing his duty. He doesn’t expect praise, or thanks, because he is only performing his duty. Jesus tells this story because he wants to contrast the way the world works and the way that God works. God calls us friends and not servants, Jesus often referred to us as ‘Children of God’. We are valued by God not for what we do, but for who we are, his children. Not great faith but great love The disciples were given a challenge by Jesus. “If your brother sins against you, rebuke him and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says ‘I repent’, forgive him” Luke 17: 4. The disciples reply, “Increase our faith” Luke 17: 5. They knew how difficult it was going to be to live up to his high standards and they asked for faith. Jesus replies: “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’ and it will obey you” Luke 17: 6. Jesus knew that their faith was as small as a mustard seed, but he also knew that his Father’s love was great. Moved by love not need God’s love is seen to be indiscriminate, He blesses all with His gifts because He loves all His creation. We might expect Jesus to be motivated by pity or need, or maybe by the faith of those who came to him but that would be to misunderstand God’s love. God’s goodness is not in response to anything we do but flows only out of His love for us. Nor is His response in proportion to our faith in Him. His response exceeds our expectations and efforts – the mulberry tree obeys us! It is not our needs, our efforts, or our faith that moves God, but as Paul tells us ‘because of His great love for us, God made us alive with Christ’ Rom 5:8. So what is to stop us from taking advantage of His love, nothing, we can walk away without ever stopping to thank and praise Him, as did nine of the lepers. The leper who returned to Jesus threw himself at Jesus’ feet. It was an act more of worship than thanks. As children of God, we love and serve Him not because of what we can get out of Him, not even for what He gives us but because of who He is, our Father God. When we look at all the great characters of the Bible; Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, - we see men and women like us who often fail and get it wrong, but God never gives up on them because He loves them as they are and asks them to offer what they have. Like the Lowry painting, we may not feel it is great art but that’s not the point, it is loved and valued for itself by those who see in it something of intrinsic value. Its value like our value to God is in the eye of the beholder; in God’s eyes, we are infinitely precious. So it’s not our faith that produces results, nor even our best efforts, but God’s faithfulness to us, even in our weakness that transforms us and makes us what we should be. It is because we know that we are loved and accepted by God that we can offer Him our best knowing that He can do great things with us. He makes us more than just servants He makes us His friends. Rev Simon Brignall The seven days of Creation Scripture, art, poetry, music, meditation, clay Seven Wednesday afternoons at Lady Lucy Cottage, Coln St Aldwyns 5th October: Light and darkness Prayer for Ukraine God of peace and justice we pray for the people of Ukraine today, and the laying down of weapons. We pray for all those who fear for tomorrow, that your spirit of comfort would draw near to them. We pray for those with power over war and peace, for wisdom, discernment, and compassion to guide their decisions. Above all, we pray for all your precious children at risk and in fear, that you would hold and protect them. We pray in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. I am contactable from Thursday to Sunday.
Were you a ‘Middle child’ between your high-achieving elder sibling and your adored younger one? If you were you may have felt unloved according to many child psychologists. Our place in the family matters, and many ‘middle children suffer because they feel overlooked. The eldest is praised, the youngest is adored and the middle one is often overlooked. Parents will know the anguish of trying to love all equally. Parents do of course love all their children, but nothing can overcome that sense of inadequacy that many ‘middle children feel. Often it is overcome by ‘acting up’ and getting noticed. Middle children can often be fussy, badly behaved, and ‘foul-mouthed’ according to research reported by the ‘Times’. We’ve seen it all and we recognise it as the signs of a child wanting attention. The Ambassadors. Hans Holbein the Younger 1533 If ever there was a painting that shouted ‘look at me' it is this one. Two young men with all their finery paraded in front of the trappings of power and wealth. One is a bishop and one is a diplomat. They are on a mission to persuade Henry VIII to remain within the Catholic fold of Europe. Think Brexit! But Holbein has a subversive message for us hidden in the symbolism of the painting. The upturned globe at the bottom of the painting and the Celestial globe at the top suggest a Europe in turmoil. This is the time of the Reformation when European powers are struggling for supremacy and Henry VIII is a key player. The diplomat is French and the Bishop is an envoy of the Pope. Both hope to persuade Henry VIII to side with the Catholic vision of a united Europe. But note the broken cord of the lute and the hidden image of the crucifix, behind the curtain, which suggests that all is not right with the state of Europe. Holbein, as a follower of the Humanist philosopher Erasmus, condemned the religious controversy that was tearing Europe apart and in his hidden symbolism makes us aware of the futility of these political power games. The upturned globe contrast with the Celestial globe which shows the constancy of the heavenly order. The crucifix reminds us of God’s love for all Humanity outside of the political struggles for power. And finally, the hidden skull reminds us all that we are equal in death. All these references suggest that Holbein wanted to make a point. Political positioning is the reverse of the gospel message of love. Where do I sit? This is the story behind the parable that Jesus tells: It’s a story of children acting up, trying to get the attention of God. That was the game being played by these dinner guests, much like any child they wanted the limelight so they vied with one another in the “Look at me” game. They played the game by different rules then. It may seem strange to us but the competition was to be the ‘Holiest’. Being holy isn’t quite as fashionable now as it was then, but these were different times. The Pharisees through their self-denial and legal rigour wanted to appear world-denying but in the cultural setting of their day, it was actually a form of conformity. It was fashionable to be ‘puritanical’ because most people could not afford to be. The Pharisees earned valuable status points by conforming to the religious traditions of the day and so Jesus drew attention to their self-seeking behaviour when invited to a dinner party. Instead of honouring the other guests they would vie for the positions of importance and exclude those who did not fit in. It was a game of ‘Snakes and ladders’ played with rules we recognise today - recognition came with the prize of social superiority. The game played at the dinner table has even entered our language: “How far up the salt?’ referred to the position of guests in relation to the salt, which was in times past a precious commodity. The closer to the salt, the more exalted the guest. 'I love you'. The point of Jesus’ parable is not to condemn, that was the game played by others, but to change the rules, so we see him choose out of the crowd the most despised and rejected of all the dinner guests at the dinner party, a man with ‘dropsy, a disease that caused the body to swell and weep fluid. Jesus often singled out the most unlovely and unlovable person in the crowd and said in a way that no one could mistake “I love you” God, like all parents, is desperate to get his message across “I love you”. You don’t have to fight for attention. “I love YOU!” is the message to all His children. Sometimes before we believe in God we must be reassured that He believes in us! Rev. Simon Brignall We pray for all who seek healing, either physical or spiritual. Remembering especially Rory and Clare. Prayer for Ukraine God of peace and justice we pray for the people of Ukraine today, and the laying down of weapons. We pray for all those who fear for tomorrow, that your spirit of comfort would draw near to them. We pray for those with power over war and peace, for wisdom, discernment, and compassion to guide their decisions Above all, we pray for all your precious children at risk and in fear, That you would hold and protect them. We pray in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Amen St John the Baptist, Coln St Aldwyns, St Swithins, Quenington and St Nicholas, Hatherop Churches IMPORTANT NOTICE Cirencester Deanery Plan ConsultationThe Cirencester Deanery has drafted a plan in response to its financial problems. Within the plan, there is a proposal for Coln St Aldwyns, Hatherop, and Quenington to lose their minister post. HAVE YOUR SAY Consultation meeting open to all 7pm, Wednesday 31st August Poulton Church Please attend to support the future of your local church Revd Simon Brignall, CHQ Vicar chqvicar@gmail.com Christian Walker, CHQ Deanery Synod Representative christianwalker32@icloud.com I am contactable from Thursday to Sunday.
Jesus' observations on the weather in today’s reading could hardly be more topical. Throughout this heatwave, we have had strong winds coming from the south bringing the heat of the Sahara desert to us. We are waiting for those winds to change and bring us a westerly wind that will bring cool Atlantic breezes to us and refreshing rain. Jesus was quoting from the folk wisdom of the day, part of the life of farming communities worldwide. Yet it was not until the 19th century that this folk wisdom was recorded scientifically leading to our modern meteorology. Constable was one of the first painters to make detailed studies of the clouds and studied the latest research. “ I am a man of clouds” he once said. The painting of Salisbury cathedral was a draft for his final ‘Six footer’. It was never intended to be exhibited but is part of a study of the clouds towering over, and dominating the slender spire of Salisbury cathedral. Here the clouds are full of structure, they aren’t the light, fluffy, whipped white of Constable’s early skies. The clouds are turbulent, surely a storm is coming. As the folk law predicted: ‘When clouds appear like rocks and towers The earth’s refreshed by frequent showers Today's reading encourages us to be weather watchers: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once ’A shower is coming,’ And so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time.” Luke 12: 54 - 56 The changing weather that Jesus is forecasting heralds more than a scorching wind or a coming shower, it heralds fire and war, division and stress in the whole fabric of society. These are the signs of a new order coming into the world and the passing of the old age. As Jesus approaches his final days in which his Baptism (Death and Resurrection) is accomplished he senses the coming storm and tells his disciples and the crowds around him to be ready for a ripping apart of society that would divide even families: “Do you think I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” Luke 12: 51 The kingdom of God was coming into the world and no one had noticed! Jesus' words sound harsh and don’t fit easily with the image of the ‘gentle Jesus meek and mild’ we have of him. His words however do not contradict his message of love but say, “It’s time to wake up and see what is happening in the world, just as we see the changing weather in the clouds that tells a storm is coming." In his discourse, Jesus warns his hearers not to get embroiled in disputes and family rows but to be ready for what is coming. Later he reminds them of the people in the days of Noah who: “Were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all” Luke 17: 26 Jesus gives these warnings now so that they will not be shocked when they discover that following Jesus will mean some very tough choices. The kind of choices that each generation faces will always be different. Jesus speaks of the choice between family and faith, for others, the choice has been between riches and poverty or freedom and captivity. A personal example from our own times helps to make the choice facing some more real to all of us. For some like the Rusian poet Irina Ratusinskaya, it meant the choice between liberty and the Gulag. As a young girl growing up in the Soviet Union she longed for truth and not finding it in her teachers she turned to literature. “Russian literature saved my soul. When I was a young girl in school and I asked what is evil, no one in that corrupt system could show me” As a young adult Irina lived by the truth she had discovered and wrote poetry to express that truth but her honesty and truth-telling cost her freedom and she almost lost her life. Despite years in the Gulag when everything was stripped from her, she was able to say to the world on her release: “ The individual has to die for the person to emerge, I have learned the security of those who have nothing to lose” The question that Jesus puts to us is not, I think a choice between faith and family, wealth and riches, or freedom and imprisonment, the question is this: ‘If you were stripped of family and friends if you were stripped of wealth and possessions if you were stripped of freedom and dignity what would be left of you?’ Irina who experienced all that could say: “The individual has to die for the person to emerge” At the core of her being there was a person whose existence did not depend on family and friends, wealth or power, freedom or possessions. A person whose life was built on the solid foundations of faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ himself put it this way: “ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” Luke 9:24 There is for all of us a choice to be made not once but at every turning point in our lives, do we choose to build on the solid foundations of faith in Jesus Christ or on the shifting sands – What, when everything else is stripped away will survive of us? When the storm comes will we be able to stand or will we be swept away? When the wind blows will we be found naked or clothed in Christ? What times do we live in today? We live in interesting times! Looking out into the world and attempting to interpret the ‘Times’ convinces me that as in every generation we are called to hold fast to our faith in Christ in the face of a world that has lost its bearings. Extremes of religious belief advocating violence and death. Extremes of political populism catering to the worst appetites of the far right and far left crowd out the voices of faith and reason. In a world like this, the ideological evils of Communism and Nazism were born in the 20th century because men and women of reason were found wanting. ‘The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. Yeats wrote at the beginning of the 20th century Does that describe the world today, does that describe the church? Does it describe us? If it does then we will surely be swept away as in the 20th century, We will be stripped and found naked, we will be blown away by the storm and drowned by the flood. We will only know when the storm comes because it will depend on the choices we make today, are those choices ones that build the person within or feed the ego? Like the Prophets and Patriarchs of the Old Testament, we are called to live by faith. It is for us to stand on the solid foundations of faith in Jesus Christ, to keep faith with Christ, and witness to his selfless life. ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a crowd of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.’ Hebrews 12: 1-2 Prayer for Ukraine God of peace and justice we pray for the people of Ukraine today, and the laying down of weapons. We pray for all those who fear for tomorrow, that your spirit of comfort would draw near to them. We pray for those with power over war and peace, for wisdom, discernment, and compassion to guide their decisions. Above all, we pray for all your precious children at risk and in fear, That you would hold and protect them. We pray in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Amen
