Christmas seems a long way off now, when we hopefully had some time to celebrate and to rest in the company of family and friends. Everything relating to Christmas: decorations, cards, gifts, tree are all safely put back or disposed of and presents enjoyed in their usage. It seems that Christmas, then is ‘done and dusted’ for another year. And yet right at the beginning of February we have a reminder that Christmas is not done with us yet! The Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, sometimes known as Candlemas and the Purification of Mary, occurs on the 2 of February, forty days after Christmas, and is one of my favourite feast days, as I know it is for others too.Tradition has it that the greenery decorating homes should be taken down and the Crib scene put away.The festival has a bitter-sweet nature. It’s about revelation, with Jesus being taken to the Temple by Mary and Joseph, in accordance with Jewish law and tradition there presented to the Father and shown to the people. There they are greeted by Simeon and Anna, who rejoice at seeing him. Simeon speaks those prophetic words about the falling and rising of many and the sword that will pierce, leading on to the Passion and to Easter. There are several pointers to the suffering of Jesus in the Christmas season scriptures and liturgy, but I think none so poignant and potent as these words spoken by Simeon. And Anna, telling all who were waiting for God to set Jerusalem free about the child, Jesus and what she had witnessed. And of course, there are those other wonderful words of Simeon’s, ‘Lord, you have kept your promise and let your servant go in peace,’ Words beloved of so many Christians, bringing heartfelt hope and peace.At St. Mary’s Uttoxeter there is a wonderful depiction of the Presentation. It’s my favourite window and I marvel at the scene. Particularly with the thought that Simeon holds the creator of the world in his arms. We can learn much from that scene in the Temple: Simeon, patiently waiting for the Messiah, but praising and giving glory to God; Mary looking on adoringly, but with trepidation in her heart at what was to come; Anna, dedicating herself to a life of worship and joyful proclamation and Joseph looking on in the background with his offering of thanksgiving and obedience, doing what was required. Which one to you associate yourself with?It is also a festival of light too! Coming at a dark time of year in the winter season reminding us that this babe in arms becomes a man , who is Christ the Light of the World.This event and words coming as they do at the very end of the Christmas celebration with Lent nearly always close, makes The Presentation a kind of pivot in the Christian year. It is as if we say’ One last look back to Christmas and now turn towards the cross.’ It seems to signify to me that life goes on, but enables us to look back and to look forward too!I wonder what your “looking back” is like, are there regrets, or are there thoughts of happiness and thankfulness? And I wonder what you are looking forward to? I hope that whatever your circumstance, as you journey on, like Simeon and Anna you can quietly, thankfully and joyfully know that Jesus is with you as he lights your way.Blessings and peaceCharlesRev Charles Dale, Minister for Uttoxeter Area of Parishes
Dear friends,As I write, the world seems to be taking a collective inhale as we hold our breath and await the science of the new COVID variant. We’re tired, weary, exhausted of it all aren’t we, and I hope that by the time this letter arrives in your hand our response will be a little clearer, that perhaps the New Year might resolve to be more positive. I wonder if you, like our family, decided to not make resolutions last year - no rules 2020 morphed into 2021 – everything seemed so uncertain, and challenging ourselves to pull our socks up, and fix everything in our lives, felt, well, an unattainable goal! Of course, the New Year is a good time to look at our habits, be it our finances, our diet, our television or internet habits, but all too often, by the middle of January it's all forgotten, as we remember that all we want to do is huddle down away from the weather and keep warm, with comfort food and comfort watching. And that’s OK!Resolving to look at our lives is a good thing to do, but as this poem suggests, it’s not always easy. “Once I've cleaned the house up” by Adrian PlassOnce I've cleaned this house up properly, I honestly think I'll get somewhere.Once I've pulled out every single piece of furniture and used an abrasive cloth with strong stuff on it, I think I shall come to grips with the rest of my life.Once I've put everything into separate piles, each containing the same sort of thing, if you know what I mean, I think I'll manage.Once I've written a list that includes absolutely everything, I think the whole business will seem very much clearer.Once I've had time to work slowly from one item to another, I'm sure things will change.Once I've eaten sensibly for a week and a half,Once I've sorted out the things that are my fault,Once I've sorted out the things that are NOT my fault,Once I've spent a little more time reading useful books, being with people I like, going to pottery classes, getting out into the air, making bread, drinking less, drinking more, going to the theatre, adopting a third world child, eating free range eggs and writing long letters.Once I've pulled every single piece of furniture right out and cleaned it all properly.Once I've become somebody else, I honestly think I'll get somewhere.I wonder, how many of us are trying to change who we are because we think that's the problem – or that we're more likely to be loved if we change? How many of us are desperately trying to live up to utterly unfair and unrealistic expectations because we look at the media, with their airbrushed images, proof that the camera can lie? How many of us will limp into January, feeling that just keeping going is enough at the moment, making New Year resolutions to change ourselves, and the world, is just too much? And that’s OK!God came into a world that was fragile, hurting and had lost its way. Jesus came because he loves – there is nothing we can do to make him love us more, or less! We are loved, just as we are, and God longs to be in relationship with each one of us, imperfections and all! Do you notice, how over time those who love each other become more attuned with one another? It isn't an immediate thing, it can’t be forced, it takes time. This is the same with our relationship with Jesus. Our lives and habits are changed over time as we heed the greatest of all resolutions to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” (Matthew 22: 36-40)So, this January, let's step off the treadmill of unattainable resolutions, and instead open our hearts to a relationship with Jesus. Let’s give ourselves the space and time to seek God afresh, to catch glimpses of his goodness all around us, to see how our wonderful church communities can help that journey, and to find a love that will last eternity!Happy, and peaceful new year.Rev JulesRev Jules WalkerDiocese of LichfieldTeam Vicar in the Uttoxeter Area of Parishes
AREA LETTER FROM THE RECTORY. 2020/2021 has been unprecedented as we have faced the uncertainty, anxiety, changes and grief caused by the Covid pandemic. Much has been lost – people, jobs, schooling, freedoms, routines and perhaps even hope. This year, the Season of Remembering, from All Souls’ to Remembrance Day, has an added poignancy and there is special need in our communities to pause, reflect and remember. What this looks like will be different in different contexts. Loss is often compounded and any specific service or activity will remind people of unresolved past or present loss and pain. There is often a need to ‘do’ something and to ‘mark’ a loss to help to bring closure and healing. This year why not take a moment to specifically think about the losses that you have had over these past couple of years. In most of our Area churches an All Souls’ Day service will be taking place on or near 2nd November, ask at your local church when theirs is. At this service we will remember those who have died at any time and in any way, especially those who have died during 2020/21. There may be a Remembrance Service around 11th November which will be specifically about people who have died in the world wars or armed service. If you are not able to go to a service there are other ways to remember someone. A virtual candle can be lit on www.churchofenglandfunerals.org/lightacandle Or you could stop for a moment somewhere and remember someone close to you and use this prayer, you may want to light a candle at home as you say it. God our Father, we thank you for the person we knew, the years we shared, the good we saw, and the love we received. Turn the darkness of death into the dawn of new life, and the sorrow of parting into the joy of heaven. Amen. Blessings Rev Margaret
The RectoryOctober 2021I have an old apple tree in the rectory garden. Since we arrived in July 2016 we have had a crop each year to harvest, with last year's being a bumper crop. This year however, there are very little, if any, apples. We have harvested a large amount of tomatoes – thank you to the kind generosity of those of you who brought me the baby tomato plants during my confinement due to the heel injury! Potatoes and cabbages we have also grown this year – cabbages for the first time. We’re having a competition with the caterpillars as to who gets them first! We have much to celebrate as we eat another meal with our harvested home grown produce.Celebrating harvest goes very deep in us – it seems to stir in us a sense of our country roots, memories of a land that lived by agriculture before the Industrial revolution. Harvest marks the end of a sequence in the church/country calendar. Plough Sunday in January, when the farm implements were blessed; Rogation Days just before Ascension Day in May, when prayers were made for favourable weather for the growing crops; Lammas Day (not when we celebrate Lamas!) at the beginning of August, when the first loaf made with flour from the new crop was offered in token thanks, and coming full circle, (though it was introduced much later on the liturgical scene, in the 19th Century) Harvest. Time for a pause before it all starts again. Time to be thankful, to remember God’s mercy and goodness, enjoying the sight of full storehouses and barns, pantry shelves and freezers. Time to feel secure against the coming winter. It is good to be thankful, and we come gladly, enjoying the colour, the smells and sometimes gathering together for a Harvest meal.But there is something uncomfortable about Harvest, too, especially now that we can see on our television and computer screens that there are people who haven’t got a harvest to celebrate, some who haven’t had a harvest for years, perhaps because the rains have failed, perhaps because civil war have made it impossible to cultivate the land. The Jewish people faced the same situation on a smaller scale. Reading the instructions in Deuteronomy we are reminded that God’s people have always been told to be generous and help the poor to share our good fortune. Deuteronomy speaks of very different farming methods, but the message is clear: don’t keep it all to yourself, leave something for those in need.And the New Testament warns us against taking things for granted, being pleased with our achievement. That man who pulled down his barn and built a bigger one, stuffed it full sat back feeling pleased with himself got a sharp reminder – ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’(Luke 12:16-21) That’s the question Harvest asks us too.In the Bible, harvest and judgement go together – the parable of the wheat and the tares puts the point very starkly (Matthew 13:24-30). So it’s right and good to be thankful, but we have to ask ourselves how our thankfulness can find expression in making it possible for all humankind to be thankful. We can’t ever sit back and say we’ve done enough – not while there are those children with stick limbs and swollen bellies looking at us hopelessly from our screens.Imagine if my apple crop this year was a year in year out event and it was what I relied on for food for myself, my family and community. We need to support our local food banks and ‘Helping Hands’ and support those in need. We also need to support the agencies who work to improve farming methods, but also with those who challenge the leaders around the world to remove world debt. We must keep asking the questions and seeking action. Harvest is the point where, far from sitting back and thinking how fortunate we are, we have to prepare to sow the seeds and encourage the growth for the harvest to come, when the will of God will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.Rev Margaret SherwinArea Rector
