As we heard in Father Andrew’s introduction to the season All Saints is the time when we celebrate men and women in whose lives the church has recognised the grace of God powerfully at work. It is a timely reminder, especially now when we feel more isolated from each other than ever before, that we do not walk our Christian journey alone but are part of something greater; part of the body of Christ and the whole company of saints. Those of us who have been able to meet for Morning Prayer on zoom have been following the church’s cycle of saints days, festivals and commemorations. This calendar includes a wide variety of members of the company of saints from right across the ages. From familiar saints like Luke and most recently Simon and Jude, to less well known saints like Brigid and Denys. We’ve also remembered the lives of medieval bishops and kings, monks from Lindisfarne, translators of the Bible, African missionaries, Victorian reformers and many more besides. Each has their own story to tell of God’s grace working through them, and each offers us an example of a life lived in service to God. Flicking through my diary I was curious to find the most recent addition which is from 2003 when seven anglican monks of the Melanesian Brotherhood who were martyred in the Solomon Islands. They were attempting to negotiate peace between warring tribes. I’m sure there is a Church of England committee somewhere who decides who gets added. But the vast majority of members of the company of saints are not commemorated in this way. It makes me wonder about the multitude of other stories that remain untold, forgotten or unnoticed. Saints who are remembered only by a few or perhaps only in the lasting effects of what they did, while they themselves are forgotten. I wonder who you would add to the calendar? Who are the saints that have influenced your Christian journey? Perhaps brought you to faith, encouraged you, walked with you, offered you a glimpse of something greater, something beyond. Or perhaps they did nothing at all but you saw in them God’s grace at work, perhaps they don’t even know. At All Saints we remember not only the saints recognised by the church but the saints who have touched our lives, who have given us an example of God’s grace working through them, who by their lives and actions have brought us closer to God.All Saints is a time for us to be encouraged by the example of the whole company of saints, those who have gone before us and those who are living among us, those who are well known and those who are unheard of, those who are remembered and those who have gone unnoticed. Even the greatest saints were only ordinary people, fishermen for example. To be a saint does not require greatness or heroism, it requires an open heart ready to allow God’s grace to work through it. Sanctity grows out of the ordinary circumstances of everyday life. As part of the company of saints we cannot know how God’s grace is working through us, how God will use us. But we know that he will. We can all be saints and to this end we have scripture to guide us.The reading for All Saints is the beatitudes from Matthew’s gospel, familiar but challenging words. What are we to make of them in the light of this season? Are they written as a guide to saintliness? A spiritual checklist? If you do these sorts of things and behave in this way then you will be blessed. Well no, Jesus is not talking about the way the world is, we know that the poor, the bereaved and the persecuted are not happy or blessed. Jesus is talking about how the world could be. He is offering a vision of God’s kingdom which contradicts sharply with the world’s view of what it means to be blessed. The world tells us that those who are safe, comfortable, in good health, well fed, those who are wealthy and successful are blessed. Jesus tells us the opposite.Blessed are the poor in spirit Blessed are those who mournThose who are poor in wealth or in spirit and those who mourn know what they lack. They are not satisfied or fulfilled by what the world calls blessings. There is space in their hearts for the longing to grow, a space and an openness to God’s grace which leads to true blessings.Blessed are the meek Blessed are the mercifulThose who are meek are humble before God. Recognising their need for God’s forgiveness and mercy as well as their own humble dependence upon God’s grace.Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.Blessed are the peacemakers.Those who long and work for peace and justice seek to establish God’s kingdom on earth.Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.Those who are pure in heart are are those whose hearts are focused solely on God and are not divided and distracted by wealth, success and other blessings of the world.Blessed are those who are persecutedThose who live not by the world’s values, but by the vision of God’s eternal kingdom will face opposition.The beatitudes are not a guide to saintly living. Jesus is not telling us how we should be in the world but how the world could be if we allow God’s grace to work in us. The beatitudes offer usus a glimpse of God’s kingdom which, through Jesus, he is bringing forth on earth. This kingdom will turn the values of the world upside down and it is those who realise this and depend on God’s grace who are best placed to see it now. Blessed are they indeed. God calls us, as he calls the whole company of saints, to the task of bringing about this kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. To challenge the values and priorities of the world and to offer a different vision.Today we remember the all the saints, past and present who have shared this vision with us. We take encouragement from them for the saints we can be. Ordinary people living ordinary lives through whom the grace of God can do extraordinary things. As we face another lockdown and all the uncertainty and anxiety that brings we must hold firm to this vision. A vision that brings hope out of despair and life out of death. The vision of God’s eternal kingdom where we will be united with all the saints who have gone before us, where justice and mercy will reign and where every tear will be wiped away.Blessed are those who rely on the strength of the Lord for they have glimpsed the kingdom of God. Amen.
The Rector’s Musings, October 2020, APCM and beyond.The above quote may be familiar to you, I first saw it at the Sunderland Glass Museum, having just moved to Durham to start my clerical training. Sandra and I were exploring the area and just wondering what we had let ourselves in for and where on earth we would find ourselves in the days, weeks and months to come. It was quite the adventure! This phrase captured my heart and imagination, I wanted to build the Kingdom of God with his people and together build something that was bigger than the sum of our efforts. Leading a Church and building the Kingdom of God is quite a task, it is also a very great privilege too. What sort of Vicar (Rector)) would I be? I decided there and then that I would be one who would try to emulate and facilitate this message of Antoine de Saint - Exupery.Having been in Church life for many years, involved in leadership and watching how other Rectors’ lead their troops, I knew this would be a different model of leadership for people to get to grips with.I remember well my first PCC meeting at St Catherine’s when I asked “What do you think?” to the PCC. The look on people’s faces was quite illuminating! That seems a long time ago now but as I look back over my time here, I am thankful that you all rose to the challenges that came our way.We have accomplished so much in these past 5 years; • Installing a new sound system, kitchen, electrical system rewired. • The re-payment of the loan for the underfloor heating system totalling £107,000, • Developed a well-functioning Ministry Team incorporating a Family & Schools worker• Strengthened and developed our Environmental outreach and Ministry • Become an established training Parish for future leaders in our Diocese and beyond.• A quality online presence, declaring the gospel to all who will listen. • Partnered with other Churches and organisations to help with food poverty.To name a just a few. I am extremely grateful to God for his grace and mercy to us. I am thankful to you, his people, as you have been willing to walk and work with me in this task.And now we find ourselves in the next chapter of our story together, the next season of our souls…..This past few months have been a challenge to us all, and the pandemic we face at this time is so dangerous to many of us. What are we to do?First and foremost, we must stay safe, look out for one another, and pray like we have never prayed before, this is my first request of you.Let’s remind ourselves of the task at hand.“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.― Antoine de Saint-ExupéryFrom my perspective, this means to create a vision that everyone will long to see come into fruition. It is the first step of leadership, the tasks will take care of themselves if everyone knows the vision.The vision we have is for everyone we know to have the opportunity to encounter the God we love and worship. As the scriptures say: ‘To love him with all our heart, mind and soul and to love our neighbour as ourselves.’ Matthew 22:37-39Rather than stir people up for boatbuilding tasks, we seek together to teach people to pursue a passion for ‘seafaring’. Our Seafaring being sharing the gospel in all its guises.As this year draws to a close and a new year calls us, will join with me, and rise up to the challenge ahead?We will need to petition for God to come among us, to give him permission to shape our lives, to deliver us from all evil. We will have to regain our sea legs, train our minds and give of ourselves wholeheartedly and all that we have to the task ahead.Let us build the Kingdom of God.Fr Andrew
Thoughts for today From the real world, sublime and challenging Bridgetown, Barbados – a rum place… and yes, swimming with turtles…and the bridge to community, cricket, despite a swamp…Ideally, every town and community should be the bridge to find welcome and a sense of place. Bridgetown grew out of the parish of St. Michael, one of six parishes by a swamp and was bridged by the indigenous Indians called the Tainos. The island was first visited by the Spanish and then the Portuguese, but didn’t become a settlement until the first English arrived in 1628. The slave trade of the eighteenth century saw the development of the sugar plantations. It is now an island (22 miles long and 14 miles wide) with a population of 277,000, a third of whom live in Bridgetown. It has the most centenarians per capita (117) in the world shared with Japan. Barbados became independent in 1966, but was still part of the Commonwealth. It will officially become a Republic next year on the 30th of November. The name Barbados originates from the Portuguese description for ‘bearded ones’, which described the look of the country’s bearded fig trees indigenous to the island. It continues to export sugar, rum and molasses all over the world. Forty per cent of their tourism activity up to 2020 came from the UK.At the present time when the President of the United States has contracted the Corona Virus I came across an interesting Barbadian fact. One of the founding fathers and the first President of the United States, George Washington (1789-1797), visited the island in October 1751 to help his brother recover from Tuberculosis. However, the future President contracted smallpox there. Fortunately, he recovered well and returned to Virginia with immunity from the disease. This sustained him through the American civil wars when his own troops were succumbing to the disease. Towards the end of his life (1799) he became troubled about slavery and in his will freed his own servants ahead of liberating legislation. We arrived on this March day to a 6am sunrise. The blurb about Bridgetown and Barbados indicated we would find a ‘balmy climate, glorious azure waters and incredible beaches epitomizing paradise’. This was confirmed on our excursion day. Into the last two weeks of travel we rose to the occasion of a catamaran trip. Nineteen of us braved ‘paradise’.We were welcomed on board with health and safety instructions and a familiarisation with the vessel. This included its safety nets, scuba instructions and kit check. Refreshments were served and we spotted transatlantic rowers a few yards away from us being towed into Bridgetown. The two Belgian rowers had rowed from Gran Canaria to Port St Charles on the West coast of Barbados over 73 days. They were raising funds in their self-restored wooden boat for a charity working with disabled people. Yegor Tarelkin (in the photograph) is a Student Doctor studying climate change and its effect on tree growth in the Tropics. In 2017 he swam the English Channel in aid of Carpe Marem, supporting refugees in Belgium – an extraordinary feat!Safety briefings over we were ready to swim in St James’ Bay, which is just around the corner from Sir Cliff Richard’s home at the Sugar Hill Plantation. The sea was warm and one of the catamaran crew Joshua (in the photograph) guided us to the possible sighting of turtles. I did not know what to expect. We had seen turtles in some of the ports we have visited. After snorkelling for a while I suddenly saw a couple of Hawksbill red shelled turtle coming to explore. They circled around us before swimming into the deep. They were within feet of us, and it was beyond words to see them in their natural habitat - thirty minutes of glory! We returned to the vessel for lunch of Jerk Chicken, Barbadian Macaroni Cheese Pie and a sweet cake dessert all washed down with Rum Punch. The Bajan (what Barbadians call themselves) call this pastime of mingling, eating, drinking and spending time with friends ‘Liming’ or ‘to lime’.There was time to swim to the beach at St James, and we watched the antics of green monkeys playing on the house verandahs. We cruised back to the ship to the Bridgetown marina passing the fleet of three coastguard cutters. A glimpse of the Kensington Oval (home to the Cricket World Cup in 2007) was seen by the docks. Famous Bajans include the singer Rihanna, the English cricketer Jofra Archer, West Indian stars Michael Marshall and the legendary Sir Gary Sobers. We had an early sail-away for the next day arrival at nearby St John’s and Antigua.This adventure in Bridgetown gave us the ‘bridge’ to community through its history, vibrancy and resilience through every age. The welcome, hospitality and its cheerful expression, given by those we met, with warmth, acceptance and exuberance was a generous embrace, a lasting ‘bridge’ in our memory. What a gift the sense of place is…Blessings,Jane and Edward
ST. LUKE 18th OCTOBER 2020Today we celebrate the life and great contribution that Saint Luke has made to the Christian faith, mostly through his contribution to the New Testament of his Gospel and The Acts of the Apostles, which together make up approximately a quarter of all the writings. But we also have to remember that Luke was one of those early great evangelists who spread the message of the salvation that Jesus had brought to the world.In our Gospel reading today there is a real sense of urgency by Jesus. In modern language, there is to be no faffing around. Jesus appoints 70 evangelists or missionaries to go out to proclaim that the kingdom of God has come near to them. They were not to worry about all the niceties of the Jewish faith, and its hospitality rituals etc., but to just tell people that they could accept the reign of God with the peace that it brings, or be doomed with those who do not. If we had read on from this passage we would have seen their joyful return, but we would also have heard of an ecstatic experience Jesus has, where Satan falls from heaven, and judgement comes upon whole communities who fail to accept him and the God who sent him.This is powerful stuff written by St. Luke, possibly amplified by his desire to point out the conflict Jesus was having at this point in his ministry with the Jewish Scribes and the Pharisees. It is then followed by the lawyer asking Jesus who his neighbour was, and Jesus replying with the Parable of the Good Samaritan, telling of the goodness of a gentile compared with the priest and the Levite who should have been models of goodness.Luke was gentile of origin, most probably born of Greek heritage in Antioch in Syria. He was obviously an educated man and was referred to by St. Paul as “the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14), but Luke might have been born a slave. It was not uncommon for families to educate slaves in medicine so that they would have a resident family physician. Luke was a companion of Paul on some of his missionary journeys and was obviously greatly influenced by his passion to proclaim the Gospel, especially to the gentiles.Luke's unique view of Jesus can be seen in the six miracles and eighteen parables not found in the other gospels. Luke's Gospel is the gospel of the poor and of social justice. He is the one who tells the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man who ignored him. Luke is the one who uses "Blessed are the poor" instead of "Blessed are the poor in spirit" in the beatitudes. Only in Luke's gospel do we hear Mary's Magnificat where she proclaims that God "has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty" (Luke 1:52-53).Luke also wants his readers to understand the forgiving nature of God. Sinners are to be welcomed back into God's presence, as explained in the parable of Prodigal Son or Loving Father, and other instances where Luke wants to be on the side of repentant sinners. We are all sinner, never forget that.A way to understand that God wants us to put our sins aside is to imagine a host who has opened his home to you. Imagine further that while staying in that person's home, you knock over a priceless vase, a family heirloom that cannot be replaced. Probably you did it accidentally, but maybe you did it purposely, in a moment of anger. In either case, it shatters on the floor, and now you know you cannot begin to pay for it.Feeling regret, you turn to your host with an apology. Your host, though saddened by the loss of the object, nonetheless is gracious and says in response, “I accept your apology. Now don't worry about it.” Not only that, but your host urges you to stay, even though there are a number of other priceless objects about, and knowing that, clumsy and bad tempered as you are, you could still break more of them.Even despite his generous attitude, you continue to feel uneasy, however, nervous that you might break something else. What's more, you are convinced that behind the kind words, your host must be very upset over the vase. In time, however, you begin to understand that he really values you over the objects, and you finally understand that he really wants you to stay, and not as his guest, but as a member of his family. He values the relationship. That's why he offers the forgiveness. The relationship is more important than the sin.Luke's Gospel is a gospel of repentance and forgiveness.Luke was also someone who had great respect for the women in the story of Jesus. He is the one who emphasises the importance of the Virgin Mary in his Gospel. We have the story of the Annunciation, the visit of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth and the story of the Presentation. The words that he records are the Biblical basis for the Hail Mary: "Hail Mary full of grace" spoken at the Annunciation and "Blessed are you and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus" spoken by her cousin Elizabeth. Only in Luke do we hear the story of the forgiven woman disrupting the feast by washing Jesus' feet with her tears. Throughout Luke's gospel, Jesus takes the side of the sinner who wants to return to God's mercy, be it man or woman. Maybe because of his gentile upbringing he was more sympathetic to the role of women in society and religion than the more religiously conservative Jews.Throughout his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles Luke's character as someone who loved the poor, respected women, and wanted to see healing of body and soul shines out. He saw the kingdom that Jesus had secured for us all as a guarantee of hope and healing for every sinner who would accept Jesus as their saviour.According to Paul in his letter to Timothy, “Only Luke is with me” (2 Timothy 4:11), during his final imprisonment in Rome and it is known that Paul died between 60 and 64 AD, but it thought that Luke lived until he was 84 in Greece after writing his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Whether he was martyred is open to question, but some accounts say that he was hanged from an olive tree. He has become the patron saint of artists, physicians, bachelors, surgeons, students and butchers.But finally just returning to Luke's respect for women, when I was researching this sermon I came across this section that failed to get past his editors and censors.God looks down and notices that Adam is all alone while all the animals have companions, so he decides to create a companion for man as well. He comes to see Adam and says to him, "Adam, you are my greatest creation and therefore, I am going to create for you the ultimate companion. She will worship the very ground you walk on, she will long for you and no other, she will be highly intelligent, she will wait on you hand and foot and obey your every command, she will be beautiful, and all it will cost you is an arm and a leg." Thinking for a few moments, Adam replies, "What could I get for a rib?"Sorry St. Luke.Amen
