Dear friends,
Welcome to this week’s newsletter, which comes with an invitation to you and your family to come and join us next Sunday for Palm Sunday. It would be lovely to welcome you at Lealholm and/or Grosmont!
Please come along to the Bring and Share Lunch and Community Forum meeting in Grosmont (at St Matthew’s) if you can (12 midday to 2.30 pm) - it will be a special time for all our parishes to look back together over the last year and plan ahead over the next six months.
I do hope all is well with you this week? Do reply to this email if there’s anything I can help you with.
With blessings and all good wishes,
Reverend Anthony
To confirm, this coming Sunday we have our regular
9:00 Weekly Holy Communion Service at St James' Lealholm
followed by…
followed by…
Our Survey
Thanks very much if you have replied to our survey. There have been some more responses in the last week, and I’m so grateful for all the feedback. If you haven't replied yet, I would be really grateful if you could complete the survey online by clicking this link. Thank you.
Please follow this link for the Readings and Prayers.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts together be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock, and redeemer. Amen.
There's a poem by George Mackay Brown called Elegy. The name suggests that it’s a poem about mourning those who have died, but it’s actually a poem about how life and death are inextricably intertwined. The poet speaks of the harvest crops as being "risers from the dead," emphasising their "ripeness and resurrection." Brown lived almost all his life in Orkney, a group of islands off the north coast of Scotland. It's a place where you can’t avoid nature.
The darkness of the winter, and the long days of summer when it never grows dark; the seasonal comings and goings of the fish, the sand eels and the birds;
the animals who are born, grow, and become the renowned Orkney beef;
the crops sown, watered by the soft rain, buffeted by the winds, ripened by the warm sun, and finally harvested;
the County Show, when the whole community gathers to celebrate another year of agriculture.
Brown knew what city dwellers can sometimes forget: that we human beings belong to nature too. We are born, grow, live and die, like everything else on earth. Brown was also a Christian, and for him the turn of the seasons spoke not only of decay but also of resurrection. The world turns, and there is death and new life. That’s the way God designed the universe to be: a continuous cycle of new life – growth – death – new life…
However, on the whole, death is something we prefer not to think about. Our culture spends a lot of time and effort denying and delaying death. Cosmetics reduce the signs of ageing. We pretend we’re immortal. But the reality is, we die.
Not wanting to be too depressing – I’m just picking up the strong theme in our Gospel reading, something we can’t ignore, and I’m also looking ahead to the Cross in less than two weeks’ time. Jesus had no time for sentimental notions about human life. He knew all its reality. According to the Gospel writers, he was aware that his own life would be cut short. The stance he took, the things he did, the people he interacted with, his outspoken attacks on religious and political authorities alike, all these things combined to make it certain that he would not be allowed to live to a ripe old age. In John's Gospel in particular, we find Jesus trying to break through his disciples' denial and misunderstanding, and prepare them for his death and what that death on the Cross would mean.
Like George Mackay Brown, Jesus and his disciples lived close to nature. Some were farmers, some were fishermen. They knew the cycles of nature, and human powerlessness in the face of nature's power. So, Jesus turns to nature for a metaphor to try to help the disciples understand. He speaks of a single grain. Held in the hand, it’s useless. It needs to be put into the ground, where it breaks down as if it’s dead. From that death, life grows, a plant with many grains that can be used for food. Jesus suggests this is what his death is all about. The effect Jesus had on the world would be minimal during his earthly life 2050 years ago. But from his death, enough new life would be created for all the world. That’s why Jesus won’t try to avoid his death. It’s all part of the plan. Jesus knows that true life, for him and for those who come after him, only comes on the other side of death.
But Jesus isn’t just speaking of himself here. Jesus also talks about his followers needing to be ready to lose their lives so they can gain life. Being afraid of death, trying to delay it at all costs, trying to defeat the signs of ageing, all these things preoccupy people. The obsession with preserving our lives, as they are, prevents us from attending to the kind of life that really matters: life that is full, generous and truthful. We, understandably, mostly want to take the road of avoidance, to forget about death until we can no longer ignore it, to cling on to youth and beauty and hope that cures will be found for everything that might kill us. But, of course, it's hard to face up to death, both our own and that of those we love, and our society doesn’t help us. I certainly live with a nagging fear, buried deep inside me, which I push away rather than face up to. I wonder if you do too? But facing up to that fear, Jesus suggests, is the way to real life.
That real life is one where we know our limitations and can be honest about them, and not be afraid to take risks for the sake of love and truth. The result, according to our Gospel reading, is worth it. Absolutely worth it. Nothing is worth more.
The result is eternal life!
We can reaffirm that our lives are indeed eternal, once again at the Eucharist this morning. The body and blood of Jesus keeps us in eternal life.
Amen.
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The Reverend Anthony Bennett
Interim Minister – the Benefice of Middle ESK Moor
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These two books, edited by Jane Williams, are continuing to be very helpful with planning my sermon writing:
Williams, J (2009), Ed., ‘Lost for Words, A Sermon Resource for the Anglican Three Year Cycle,’ Redemptorist Publications, Chawton, UK.
Williams, J (2011), Ed., ‘Lectionary Reflections, Years A, B and C.’ Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, UK.