As we enter December, we enter the season of Advent which leads us to Christmas. This is followed in the New Year by the season of Epiphany. This time of year can be very busy. For many it brings excitement and joy, while for others it can give rise to stress and heartache. All too often the search for the ideal or perfect gift for loved ones along with the planning of special celebrations and meals can distract us from the true focus of Christmas, which is to celebrate the birth of the Christ child. It is in celebration of this greatest of gifts that we exchange gifts on Christmas Day. Some countries, though, celebrate and exchange gifts 12 days later on Epiphany, remembering the visit of the wise men to Jesus bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. This year my first sighting of Christmas cards, gifts and wrapping paper came in July. At one time the various seasons would be distinct and Christmas goods would not appear in the shops until bonfire night and fireworks were finished. It seems now that commercial pressures distract us from remembering what Advent and Christmas are about. Please do not think I have become a grumpy old man in my retirement! I love Christmas and all that comes with it, especially the celebrations and the enjoyment of both giving and receiving gifts. Christmas is a time when we are to show each other good will and share love, happiness and joy and when we can reach out to those who are struggling to hold onto hope. in his novel "The Keys of the Kingdom" A. J. Cronin tells the story of a compassionate and humble priest who is sent to China to maintain a mission. He comes face to face with desperate poverty, civil war, plague and is met with hostility from his superiors. At one point the writer describes hell as “that state where one has ceased to hope”. Day after day in the news we are confronted with the stories of people living in war zones such as the Gaza strip, Lebanon and Ukraine. Situations where children and families are caught up in conflict and violence, where they have lost all hope and must feel that they are in hell on earth. Nearer to home people may be struggling to hold onto hope as a result of homelessness or poverty, cruelty or neglect, constant pain of mind or body. As we enter the darkest days of the year the Church keeps Advent, a time of hope and joyful expectation. As we journey through the days of Advent, we’re invited to watch and wait for the promise of light and hope, bringing to God our longing for peace and justice throughout the world. Recognising our failings let us ask God to change us and help us to reach out to touch others with his love. At Christmas may we celebrate with joy the time when Christ entered our world as our Saviour and friend. As we exchange gifts with loved ones, we give thanks for the gift God gave us in Jesus. The gift that we are loved, are never alone and can have hope for the future. I hope that you will have a good time this Christmas as we remember the coming of the Christ child. We would be delighted to see you at one of the Christmas services. John Underhill
November is a month of Remembering, we will be holding an All Souls service on 3rd November at St Lawrence, Gnosall, an opportunity for loved one's names to be read out and remember those we have lost in the Benefice. I’m sure we all know the rhyme Remember, remember the 5th November, the date we remember the failure of the gunpowder plot. On the 10th November Remembrance Sunday services will be held across the Benefice and then at 11am on the 11 November each year, we will join with many countries around the world in two minutes silence to remember all who have been killed, wounded or affected by war. In 1914, Edward Grey, Britain’s then Foreign Secretary, uttered these words on the eve of Britain officially entering the First World War: “The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.” Since then however, the United Kingdom has been involved in many more wars and conflicts. At Remembrance services all around the globe the words of the Kohima Epitaph are read: When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow we gave our today. However, it is based on something much older. It was Simonides who wrote the famous lines about the Spartan action under King Leonidas who held the pass of Thermopylae against the Persians in 480 BC. One translation of Simonides' epitaph reads as follows: Tell it in Sparta, thou that passes by, here, faithful to her charge, her soldiers lie These moments in human history and the experiences and memories that we each personally have show us that the lamps do not go out, that the hope of peace and justice in the actions of our service men and women keep the lamps lit. This is the promise of God that although we may try, we cannot extinguish what is good in humanity and God’s creation. In the Gospel of St John, we read “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it”. So, as we remember the lights going out over Europe at the start of the First World War and the sacrifice of all those affected in the conflicts since, let us be inspired in the knowledge and faith that they will always be relit by those prepared to give themselves for others. They left home and family often to foreign lands in the search of justice, freedom and peace; the effects of which we feel in our society today. The world could have been a very different place for us without their sacrifice, which cannot and should not be forgotten. The memories we recall should spur us forward in the search for true harmony and peace throughout the world. As the Lord commanded the apostles to “Do this in memory of me” we pray for the grace of the great sacrifice of Calvary to engulf the whole world that we may live in the harmony for which Christ prayed; and to our fallen we say “We will remember them”. Adie Harris
Letter for Village and Parish Magazines October 2024 ‘Good, for nothing’ was the tongue in cheek description applied to Readers in the Church of England at Tina Henderson’s licensing service in Lichfield Cathedral a few years ago. In her sermon, the preacher declared Readers to be ‘good’ in that they are faithful people, called and equipped by God, who give themselves ‘for nothing’ to the service of the church. The five parishes and six churches that make up the Staffordshire Borders Group of Parishes are blessed to be served by not only Tina Henderson but also John Underhill, who give freely of themselves in the ministry of Reader. It’s not only Readers, though, who are ‘Good, for nothing’. Many people offer to undertake a wide range of tasks and activities in our churches – leading services, running Messy Church, taking Holy Communion to those who can no longer get to church, delivering food donations to the House of Bread, organising fund-raising activities, looking after churchyards, serving refreshments. The list goes on. Some people we know of, because their names are in the public domain on rotas and lists. Others we are unaware of. We can guarantee, though, that certain jobs will always get done, but by people who choose to do them quietly and unnoticed. The word volunteer is perhaps a better term to use than ‘Good, for nothing’. Volunteers are a vitally important category of people. Without them much in our society could not be sustained. Volunteering is praiseworthy because it is not undertaken out of a desire for any reward. Volunteers are rewarded by the knowledge that they are making a difference, are ‘doing their bit to help’. Volunteers are like glue. They hold together the life of our churches, whether Anglican, Methodist Catholic or any other denomination. At every point, from local through to national, committed people give generously of their energy, time and wisdom to supporting churches in a variety of ways. Many do so in addition to paid jobs that make heavy demands on their time and abilities. Volunteers help to hold together not only church communities but also society as a whole. Without volunteers, so much that we take for granted in our society would simply come to a halt. Young people’s organisations like Scouts and Girl guides are reliant on volunteers, so too are many charities. In our schools, parents and others take on the demands of being school governors as volunteers. In the police and fire service part-time volunteers are recruited to perform a wide range of duties. Community responders and Samaritans are volunteers who play a vital role in emergency situations. These are challenging times for all involved in the life of our churches, most of whom are volunteers. At the start of September Revd Alison Hudson left the Benefice to take up a new opportunity in Scotland. She has now begun her ministry as Priest-in-Charge of Greyfriars, Kirkcudbright and St Mary’s, Gatehouse of Fleet. At this time of vacancy, the work of volunteers is more important than ever, as the Benefice seeks to serve the communities of Gnosall, Moreton, High Offley, Knightley, Norbury and Adbaston through the coming months and beyond. As a part-time ‘retired’ priest in the Benefice, I thank God for all those people who are partners in this great work. My prayer is that we will be faithful in nurturing one another and all in our communities, as we look forward to the future to which God is calling. I pray too that our churches and our communities will flourish as more people take up opportunities for volunteering and discover the fulfilment and rewards that come from being ‘Good, for nothing’. Revd Cathy Dakin Associate Minister
Philippians 1: 3-5 3 I thank my God every time I remember you, 4 constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, 5 because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. September is a time of endings as well as new beginnings. Our schools return after the long summer holidays, with some starting a new school in a new place, while others return to what is more familiar. For our farmers the summer fruits have been picked and sold and now the crops are starting to be collected in, and harvest is on its way. For me September brings a house and job move as I transfer my ministry from the Staffordshire Border Group of Churches to Greyfriars, Kirkcudbright and St Mary’s Gatehouse of Fleet on the south-west coast of Scotland. My time here has been fulfilling and rewarding as I’ve journeyed with you through the high and low points of life, as well as all that comes in between. And while it has been a relatively short period of time, I feel that much has been shared in that time. Each encounter and memory is precious, each time of ministry a privilege and each answered prayer a source of joy and encouragement. We have a God who travels with us, through the beginnings and the endings, the goodbyes to a season just ending and the welcomes into a new season. Paul’s prayer for the Philippians was one of confidence in God’s promises to fulfil his plans in and through each one of us. And that is my prayer for you, for each of the churches in this Benefice, for our lovely church schools in Gnosall and Woodseaves, and for each one of your lives. It has been a privilege to live and minister among you, may God continue to bless your journeys, hear your prayers and fulfil your hopes and dreams. Philippians 1: 9-11 9 And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight 10 to help you to determine what is best, so that on the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, 11 having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.
