Could 2020 be our Annus Horribilis (horrible year) or perhaps it could our Annus Mirabilis (wonderful year). Sorry to appear to be showing off by spouting Latin to you, I can assure you my Latin is virtually non-existent – as Peter Cook said “I didn't have the Latin for the Judging”.The first 2½ months of this year were fine for Sue and I. We were going about our lives as usual and had holiday plans and had already had a short break in Yorkshire to see family and friends. Talk of a nasty virus in China had already hit the headlines, but it was 7,000 miles away and was not considered a problem for us, then it was in Italy, then we were suddenly in a pandemic and told to lock-down (probably more than a week after we should have been). Suddenly our world was a different place, it was quiet and one of the first things I noticed was the absence of aircraft. You have probably noticed that we live under a main East/West air route with a few North/South planes as well and even if they are too high to hear, their vapour trails give them away. We had some beautiful clear blue skies in April and May, the like of which I find it hard to remember. In 2010 you might remember that a volcano erupted in Iceland that cause absolute chaos with air travel due to volcanic dust in the upper atmosphere. The volcano was called Eyjafjallajoekull if you can pronounce it. The skies were free of aircraft but there was a dust haze that meant that the sky colour was a sort of bluish-pink, but after a few weeks flying was back to normal. Whilst we still do not see the number of aircraft crossing our skies as we did in in February they are coming back.We are so used to being able to travel anywhere in the world in 24 hours, that we forget the great distances involved and that without aircraft we are at a loss. Before I was ordained I had to travel around Britain for my job and could put 35,000+ miles on the odometer of a company car each year - the thought now makes me cringe, but I was a lot younger then. Without our cars or good public transport, life is very difficult today. “The world is a small place today”, is a popular saying. However, a tiny virus or a small volcano in Iceland can make us realise that it is still quite large if we are not flying around it at 500 mph.It seems to me that the human race is so greatly reliant on technology that we forget how dependent we all are on services that are provided. I believe that most people in the world (7 billion current population) now live in cities or large metropolitan areas, with their food transported to them, and in the richer countries it is conveniently packaged. Our electricity is produced in remote power stations and our gas comes from who knows where: our water is pumped to us and our sewage taken away through unseen pipework: our entertainment relies on electricity, together increasingly also our communications. We also forget about all the mess leave behind that has to be disposed of or recycled.Science has brought us many blessings and will continue to do so, but we must never think that we are in control. Christians believe that whatever happens God is there with us. We may not understand the workings of God, but through faith we can see the magnificence of the world and allow God to be God. A wonderful story in the Bible is that of Job, who when things go really wrong for him, questions the fairness of God. God answers him by asking about his understanding. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” God asks, and Job has to admit his folly. When you see the beauty of this glorious summer give thanks to God and enjoy.Fr. Terry
In our calendar of prayer for today we are asked to remember and commemorate the British politician, MP, Christian, philanthropist and social reformer William Wilberforce (1759-1833) who campaigned to abolish the slave trade in Britain and across the British Empire. He worked with others to try to completely abolish the slave trade and by doing so enabled legislation to be passed by Parliament that led to the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833. However, while the nature of slavery has changed at least in some forms since the time of Wilberforce it continues to plague our cities, towns and rural areas, even across Leicestershire. Today, forms of slavery include forced labour on farms and construction sites. Forms of slavery are to be found in manufacturing and in services such as nail bars and car washes. Other forms include bonded labour and debt bondage that can be passed down to family members. Also, domestic servitude, drugs, human trafficking, organ harvesting, sexual exploitation and child marriage are other forms of slavery which is described by Leicestershire Police as “The illegal exploitation of people for personal or commercial gain”. The most common forms of slavery today in the UK are forced labour fuelled by a drive for cheap products and services and trafficking people into crime. People who do this prey on the vulnerable and disadvantaged, both young and old, and they have little or no regard for the well-fare of others. When I began to dig into the issue of Slavery, especially in Leicester, I was shocked to discover that while about 10,000 are currently working in slave-like conditions, mostly in textile factories, the real number trapped in or affected by slavery according to one official source is believed to be much higher. Many who work in factories or businesses are paid little. The current UK national hourly wage is £8.72 for those aged 25 and over, £8.20 for those aged 21-24, £6.45 for those aged 18-20 and £4.55 for those aged under 18. One national newspaper recently reported that a crime crackdown investigation is being launched in Leicester into sweatshop conditions where workers are being paid £2.50 an hour. There are dark corners in all societies and slavery inhabits them. Slavery in every form continues to be a reality across the UK and it is important to do what we can to eradicate it not least by voicing our concerns and reporting questionable practices. We need to be vigilant making shopping choices. With regard to purchasing food one thing we can do is buy Fairtrade marked products. Fairtrade promotes decent working conditions, helps address the injustices of conventional trade, and provides decent wages for people. As for clothing or shoes and other items it is difficult to know whether or not products are manufactured by companies that oppose slave labour but often retail outlets, even reputable ones, may purchase goods not direct from manufactures but through a chain of agencies that in turn supply retail outlets. We may feel reassured knowing what we buy is ‘Made in the UK’ but some product labels tell us little. So we need to be careful what we buy. Some months ago, prior to lockdown, I noticed that one local store was selling T-shirts for £3.00 and two for £5.00. That made me question how much some workers are being paid given all the costs of running factories, the cost of raw materials, the time taken to cut and sew garments, agency commissions, and the end of line % mark-up that retailers need to price-tag items at in order to make a profit. With regard to the issue of poor and overcrowded working conditions this is certainly a worrying issue that needs to be urgently addressed to help clamp down on the number of Coronavirus cases. One worker recently highlighted the problem in a national newspaper by saying, “It’s crazy what is happening in these factories. These men and women are decent, hard-working people but they are risking their lives to produce clothes for big fashion brands in the UK”. One of Jesus’ commandments is to ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself’ (Mathew 22.39). If everyone did this then it would go a very long way to completely eradicating slavery in all its forms. While that remains a consummation devoutly to be wished it would certainly encourage a way of living and working that William Wilberforce and others would have supported and applauded. Let us give thanks for the mission of those who in the past have worked to oppose slavery and pray for all who are currently campaigning to do the same and bring to light all forms of human injustice.Fr Graham
Thoughts for Today From the real world, sublime and challenging Peruvian Galapagos, Ballestas, otherwise known as ‘Poo Island…’ the unlocking of light…Life on the Balmoral was never dull. The Sunday afternoon before our arrival in Peru gave us concerts by the passenger Ukelele Band of fifty and the Choir of twenty. Both took part in our services during the voyage. Many participants had not played or sung seriously before the trip. We worked closely with the Ukele coach and Choir leader and chose the featured music together. Glorious creativity on the move!This week we purchased avocados and the label stated ‘product of Westfalia, Peru’. I always thought that Westfalia was a reconstructed VW campervan. In fact, it is a fruit exporting company based in Lima, Peru. The name Peru comes from the Sanskrit word meaning ‘the sun’ and the ‘ocean’. The meaning of ‘Paracas’, our next port, is ‘sand rain’. Islas Ballestas is the Peruvian Galapagos and our boat ride from Paracas was to these volcanic islands. On the way we saw El Candelabro in the sand of the Paracas Hills by the sea. As can be seen from the photograph it is enormous, 595 feet high and is a prehistoric geoglyph called ‘the Candleabra of the Andes’. On a good day it can be seen 12 miles away at sea. It reminded me of the tree of life of the Garden of Eden. In the guide books it is described as a possible Mesoamerican tree, symbolically ‘the Tree of the World’. The most practical explanation I heard from the guide was that it was a pre-lighthouse beacon indicating landfall to sailors. This site is not far from the famous inland Nazca Lines dating back to 500 BC. They are still a mystery and are best seen from the air.A flying pelican overtook us on the way to the Ballestas. ‘She’ heralded the sights ahead of enormous Sea Wolves (larger sea lions), fur seals, Peruvian Boobies and thousands of sea birds of all kinds. All contribute to the bird droppings. The distinct aroma of the ammonia-Guano gives it the name of ‘Poo Island’. In the 19th Century this was a large export ‘poo’ business around the world for fertilizers. Even the Cornish inventor, Humphrey Davy (of miners lamp fame) gave lectures in 1813 which unveiled its distinctive properties of Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potassium and its use in the manufacture of gunpowder.The photo gives you a sight of the seal and sea lion intensive care unit on the beach. The breeding season is from January to March in their summer season. Here is the care of orphans, some in the sun or shade and some in the ocean. They just love basking and making sure their territory on the beach is safeguarded. You would not argue with a Sea Wolf, the largest of the ‘big boys’! The sheer diversity of wild life in one place was overwhelming and loud. The noise from the beach was only distracted by some fishermen near to the shore-line hauling in Octopus.We saw Humboldt Penguins, Guano Albatross, red-legged Cormorants, Peruvian Boobies and Inca Terns. Amazingly, there is no ground fauna at all. 300 types of sea algae form part of the rich food diversity and many species of fish attract great migrations of so many types of birds there. It was a calm sea day with a breeze rather than the high winds that are famous in that part of the world. On our return to the jetty we relinquished our life vests and made our way back to the ship. Our fellow travellers agreed that this day had been a true highlight of sun, Pacific Ocean and awesome nature sustained by a very protective National Park. May we all have the candelabra of hope leading to the unlocking afresh of the redemptive light as lockdown is eased. It will symbolize the intensive care, the ‘seal beach’ of sun, shade and the refreshing ocean of sustenance.The Peruvian port of Callao for Lima beckons…Blessings,Edward and Jane
TRINITY 7 YEAR A, 26th July 2020What is the kingdom of heaven? Where is the kingdom of heaven? Who will enter the kingdom of heaven and when will it be accomplished?Those are very tricky questions which we all have to examine during our Christian journey, and I am going to make the bold assertion that for every one of us there are slightly different answers. The reason for that is perhaps more to do with our individual life journey than our scholarly interpretation of the Bible.Our starting point when we consider our goal is something which affects us dramatically. All of you taking part in this service this morning have a past which is secret to yourself, and I include myself in that, a past which moulds us into what we are and how we see the world and how we see God. If you were to write an autobiography would you tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I wonder. But God really knows you, he knows all your failings, and all your good points, and gifts, and he wants to use you to build his kingdom,The kingdom of heaven is from my viewpoint being in the presence of God. This was accomplished by the presence of Jesus in his incarnation and remains with us if we allow the Holy Spirit to direct our lives. So the kingdom can be with us now and we can help to build it and we will be eternally in God's presence if we are judged at our death to love him as he loves us.Every day we say the Lord's Prayer and pray “Thy Kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. God's kingdom of heaven is secure and certain, but we all have a job to do to try to make our world more heavenly, by fighting evil wherever it is, starting with ourselves.Today's Gospel reading is a succession of parables that St. Matthew has linked together to try to give Jesus' proclamations concerning the kingdom of heaven.The first two signify how the kingdom will grow. The fruitfulness of the Church is dramatically emphasised by Matthew, where a mustard seed grows into a tree where the birds can make their nests. This transformation from a shrub as depicted in St. Mark's Gospel is perhaps just an exaggeration (a mustard seed might make 8 - 10 feet in really good conditions), but as in all good story telling a bit of hyperbole helps. The spread of the Gospel is then stressed by the parable of the yeast, with the emphasis on the small amount of yeast required. During the lock-down, I like some of you I am sure, have resorted to making bread. I know lots of you have been making bread, because for several weeks it was almost impossible to buy bread flour, and even harder to get yeast. Making a loaf this week it took only 2 level teaspoons of died yeast to make a loaf, and some of you oldies like me might also remember having a Ginger Beer Plant that went on for months with the original mixture of yeast and bacteria. So these tiny seeds or fungi bring about mighty produce, they are examples to us all about, however insignificant or unconfident we might feel, we can spread the Gospel, to build the Kingdom of Heaven.The second two short parables describe how the kingdom of heaven is so valuable that it is worth exchanging all the other thing we treasure to obtain it. In New Testament times where there were no banks, only the super-rich had treasuries which had to be guarded at all times, so ordinary people if they had any wealth would bury it in their land and sometimes if they died the whereabouts of their treasure would go with them to the grave. This still happened in our country until two or three hundred years ago when the banking industry became reasonably secure, as we occasionally see hoards of coins or jewellery being discovered by metal detectorists. On this occasion a man found treasure in a field, but knowing that he would get found out, sells everything to buy the field and then everything in it was legally his. He must have been a poor man to have to sell everything he had to buy a field, but he hit the jackpot. The second parable is obviously about a more wealthy man, a dealer in pearls, but a man who was seeking the best and when he found it was prepared to sell everything he had to obtain it. So we have two different men, one a poor man who hits the jackpot by accident and then through ways of this world secures it, and then a wealthy man who was searching and then found what he wanted and was prepared to give up everything for it.The final parable goes back to judgement with the story of the net, which would have been very familiar to most people in Jesus' day and we still see today where trawlers catch everything and then throw back all they are not fishing for, or they are not allowed to catch. So judgement will come to us all, but the God that we know as Christians, is merciful and loving and if we approach him in love and humility we will be taken to him.Jesus finally addresses the disciples and says basically “have you understood that”. They say “yes” which considering how they messed up at the time of the passion gives us all hope. Then Jesus finishes with a final sort of parable or slightly obscure sentence “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is old and new”. This may have been added by Matthew to point out that he was a scribe, but much more than the Jewish scribes; although he was writing more for a Jewish readership. He knew the treasures came from both the Jews and their traditions and the gentiles who were searching for the kingdom of heaven.Just one final thing – when you say the Lord's Prayer – don't just say it – pray it.Jesus told us it was OK to be worldly at times and you know I like to include a joke or funny story so here goes.Before going to America on business, a man drove his Rolls-Royce to the City of London and went into the Bank of England to ask for an immediate loan of £5,000. The loan officer was quite taken aback, and requested collateral. “Well, then, here are the keys to my Rolls-Royce”, the man said. The loan officer promptly had the car driven into the underground parking for safekeeping. Two weeks later, the man walked through the bank's doors, and asked to settle up his loan and get his car back. The loan officer checked the records and told him, “That will be £5,000 in principle, and £15.40 in interest”. The man wrote out a cheque, thanked the loan officer, and started to walk away. “Wait sir”, the loan officer said, “while you were gone, I found out that you are a multi-millionaire, why in the world would you need to borrow?” The man smiled. “Where else could I securely park my Rolls-Royce in the City of London for two weeks and only pay £15.40?”Pray for the Kingdom. Amen
