St Andrew’s Harlestone – March 2022
Here I sit on St Valentine’s Day, under house arrest by Madama Corona, having contracted her in the lottery of life which saw all our household infected, but other regular visitors blessed with negative lateral flow tests (just a C line and no T line!) A weird St Valentine’s Day it has been today too, with the most unglamorous of starts as the NHS delivered ‘necessities’ for Dad and we snuffled our affections over our hankies on Day 5 of our isolation. This has been a week to be locked in, though, with bad weather outside, plenty on the newsfeed and I have spent much time ploughing through that news and social media.
Having had a good PCC meeting (see website for the minutes, of which more later), and a wider Benefice meeting, we have discussed what format we would like Lent, Holy Week and Easter to take, alongside the more practical issues of wall repairs, bell repairs (the 5th bell is now serviced, greased and tightened, and all bells given a careful examination by Taylors of Loughborough), some dislodged roof tiles and careful woodwork repairs to the main oak doors. There is, and will always be, something to do. Details of our services will follow and be advertised on the A boards around the village. Feedback from the Christmas Market told us how effective these are. I have also been updating our church website and uploading various documents (take a look at www.achurchnearyou.com and search for Harlestone.)
Now truly understanding why Apple call their internet browser ‘Safari’, my sniffle-accompanied, bed-based safari landed me in some really good spaces – so good that I wanted to share them. First of all, I saw an article on the retirement of the 8th Bishop of Liverpool, The Rt Revd Paul Bayes (someone I follow on Twitter) who gave a cracking interview in The Guardian. Google his name and The Guardian and you will find the full article in which among many things he said:
UK was facing a “struggle between those in whose interest it is to fragment society and those who want to sustain the common good”.
“It’s not about individual bad apples. It’s about the culture.” The culture of politics was “adversarial, scratchy, exhausted” and “rancid and dangerous”.
People who suggested that bishops should not express political views were mistaken, he said. The church has “a place in the public square” and “there are values that we can express clearly that will have political impact. As long as that platform is there, it behoves us to stand on it.”
That then led me to read a transcript of his retirement sermon in Liverpool Cathedral which truly knocked my socks off. Type www.bishopofliverpool.wordpress.com and see what you think.
And, because I couldn’t go to church on Sunday which was also Racial Justice Sunday, I read a sermon from someone else I follow on Twitter – a young Deacon called Rev Charlie Bell. Again, another fine sermon which I commend to you. You can find it (and be challenged) at www.forwhom-thebell.blogspot.com as Charlie says: ‘It is a scandal - a scandal – that in the twenty-first century world, we continue to need to remind ourselves – in some places, as though hearing it for the first time – of the importance of racial justice... It is a scandal that God’s children continue to be judged on the colour of their skin, or the country they their ancestors have come from. It is a scandal when white people refuse to listen.’
I love that the sermon finishes with the words from a favourite hymn: ‘Christ doth call – one and all – ye who follow shall not fall’. (Name that hymn!)
While some complain about the evils of social media, they can be a source of good and show how the church can have a relevance in wordly matters, and the three articles I have quoted make me proud to be a member of our Church of England with all its frailties, confusion, prejudices and yet amazing people. That honesty of preaching is found in our own services and I commend both as, since Christmas, we have also had some stonking sermons from both Revd Andrea and Revd Kathryn. Because I ‘do’ two services every other week, what I miss in the 9.15am sermon, I tend to catch up on at the 11am!
It occurs to me that in a month where integrity, truthfulness and integrity have been discussed on a daily basis, and ‘speaking truth to power’ has become a soundbite, this can all be miles away from our local discussions about our roof, bells, what we do on Easter Sunday and whether we are too late for Snowdrop Sunday (we were, by the way).
But it’s part of the thick and rich tapestry of a state church where the Queen remains Supreme Governor and we prepare for her Jubilee, where the process to select a new Archbishop of Canterbury creaks into gear, where Synod grapples with issues of (generally) yesterday and (hopefully) today, where our Bishops still have their place as Lords Spiritual in Westminster, where we are blessed and burdened by our ancient monuments (buildings, not people, I hasten to add) and where we, in our own little way, do our bit to keep it all going, keep the flag flying, raise enough money for the electricity meter and keep the place open for those who worship or just pass by.
And talking of our own little ways, I have said to Andrea I am happy to start up a Benefice Quiz night – in person or on Zoom. I already have a bank of questions from ‘Disney’ to ‘Name that Hymn Tune’ and if it helps people who still feel isolated (whether or not that’s a legal requirement) then let’s do it. A sage elder of our village and church community recently said words to me that resounded in my head all week, and is why we need to look out for each other. He said: “we may have been isolated and locked down for two years on and off, but all this has aged me seven years.” In our rich tapestry of the C of E, that’s a good butt- kick for us all to look after, and look out for, and yes, maybe even love, each other – perhaps a fitting though on which to conclude St Valentine’s Day. That’s as smushy as I’ll get.
OK, I’m done here and want to startle the editor by getting this copy in early for the first time ever. Now pass me the Lemsip and the LFT and I’ll see you in the next edition!
Sam Dobbs