The Revd Writes… Back in August my wife and I had the privilege of visiting Norway on holiday. One of the highlights was visiting a medieval Church made completely of wood. These beautiful ‘stave' churches with their roof-top dragon motifs, a symbol of earlier Viking heritage, adorn many a tourist brochure. You could be forgiven for thinking that such churches stand at the heart of every Norwegian village, but the truth is that Norway only has 28 such churches left. Hundreds have simply rotted away over the centuries and few are now used for regular worship. Our Holiday Guide was quick to point out that Norway is a secular country. Less than 2% of the population are regular worshippers, nevertheless, 70% see Evangelical Lutheranism as part of their national identity. In the words of our Guide, “Norway is a secular country. But we are all Lutherans… Maybe we go to Church once at Christmas… Just in case!” August also saw the publication of an important survey commissioned by The Times Newspaper, the first since 2014 of the views of Church of England Parish Priests. 64.2 % Of the 1100 parish priests who responded stated, ' We are a Christian country but only historically. We are not a Christian country today in practice.’ My initial reaction to this was that this is not news. Those of us who work in ministry on the ground know all too well that the Church and all that it offers now exists in a complex marketplace in which the right of the consumer to choose predominates. This is not necessarily a bad thing, indeed in multicultural Britain, in many respects, it is a good thing. What The Times fails to mention is that what is happening to the Church of England and other mainstream churches is being replicated all over the Western world. The challenge to the local Church to flourish in the Diocese of St Albans is no different than the challenge that the local Church is facing in the Diocese of Oslo. Regular church attendance in our own village churches is often very low not least because for most people now Christian worship is alien and some would argue counter-cultural in the secular age. How many now understand what ‘Holy Communion’ means? Answer - Increasingly few in England, and in Norway, and in the rest of Europe. It isn’t just the institution of the Church that is under threat, Christianity itself seems to be in decline. And yet… No longer identifiable as a Christian country does not mean that we are not a Christian state. Herein lies a paradox. ‘Norway is a secular country. We are Lutheran.’ Britain, along with the rest of much of Europe, continues to look to Christianity for a religious framework, and still calls upon the Church both nationally, and locally, to be there when needed E.g., Carol Services, Christenings, Coronation. In the same way that secular Norway cannot quite conceive of itself not being Lutheran, here at home, relatively few can think of an England without the C of E. Christianity and the Church might be struggling but it does seem as if secular culture hasn’t quite done with it just yet. God Bless Mark
The Revd Writes...“That many things revolve thou mayest explore And when thou dost dissolve it is no more, For so this earthly transitory mound In an eternal motion still runs round.”Last year I received an email from an American academic, Professor Wendy Wall of Northwestern University in Evanston, north of Chicago, querying whether I could help with some research work that she was doing on the C17th poet, Hester Pulter. Were there any relevant memorial stones in Cottered Church? As a still newly arrived parish priest I had not heard of Hester Pulter and, when I asked neighbours and friends, no one in Cottered seemed to have heard of her either. Wendy however reassured me that Hester Pulter had made a lasting contribution to English literature and pointed me to her own research project ‘The Pulter Project’ available online. Thus I began to learn about another notable character who lived within one of our own village communities and whose writing in recent times has taken the academic world by storm. In 1996 a ‘lost’ manuscript was discovered in the Brotherton Library in Leeds. The manuscript contains 130 poems and some 30 pages of a prose romance written by Lady Hester Pulter under the pseudonym of the Noble Hadassas, a biblical reference to Esther. Since the discovery, her literary fame has gone from strength to strength. It is believed she was born in Dublin in 1605. Her father, James Ley became the first Earl of Marlborough in 1626. Hester married Arthur Pulter whilst still a young adolescent and lived the rest of her life at Broadfield Hall. The Civil War proved to be a difficult time for the Pulters. Arthur hung on to a pragmatic neutrality; Hester’s voice was unequivocally for the King, as is reflected in some of her poems. Revolution and strife in the outside world became a metaphor for her own internal suffering and melancholic state, a consequence of witnessing 13 of her 15 children die. Such trauma led to her seeking consolation in her writings and in a worldview that clung to an understanding that ultimately God holds all things in his hands. She believed passionately in the circle of life and death and in this understanding found a meaning to life that endured. The above lines from her poem, Circle 3 give expression to her own articulating of that faith. She would surely have rejoiced in the circular patterns of the later C19th floor tiles now in place in the sanctuary of Cottered Church. Pulter’s poems are beautifully written. Her use of language connects with a woman’s struggle to give vent to her feelings of what it means to have lived in a time and a place in history dominated so much by the chauvinism of Roundhead and Cavalier alike. What she writes has for so long lain hidden from view, like much of her own personal anguish, yet is now being explored in the light of day by our own generation who are learning to appreciate her literary gifts in ways in which she would never have thought possible, and to value in ways she would never have believed. It was a real pleasure to welcome Professor Wall to Cottered in July this year as she made her own personal pilgrimage to Cottered to walk in the footprints of our newly discovered heroine of the pen. Discover Hester Pulter for yourself at https://pulterproject.northwestern.edu/(Cover photo is of Broadfield, home of the Pulter family, in Henry Chauncy, The Historical Antiquities of Hertfordshire (1700), plate between pp. 72-3. Folger Shakespeare Library.)God Bless Mark
The Revd Writes… The month of August is, for many, the opportunity to step back from the day-to-day routine and take a break. In our post-pandemic world holidays are now back on track even if the cost-of-living crisis means a ‘staycation’. We have regained our freedom to roam. For children in particular there is much to be said for learning more about our local environment, with fun to be had during days out, perhaps with grandparents and friends stepping in to share the juggle of childcare needs. School holidays often mean relatives, friends and neighbours all joining together, giving voluntarily of time and energy to ensure that children are kept fruitfully occupied and engaged, ensuring that the journey of learning never really stops. Indeed, childcare costs, even with government support, is a big item for many family budgets with now more than ever before over the last two decades, parents turning to their parents for help when it comes to looking after children. 82% Of all grandparents now spend some time helping to look after their grandchildren, contributing an estimated £6.8 billion to the economy. So, a BIG Thank You to everyone helping to look after children this school holiday. A founding principle of Christian faith is that God gives of himself voluntarily in love to humanity. The whole history of Christian faith is focused on God going out of his way to step in to save men and women from themselves when they fail to love properly - often catastrophically so. This theological understanding centres on following the example of Jesus in serving others and has been a founding principle of much of our modern-day voluntary sector movement. ‘I help to look after my grandchildren, not because I always want to, but because I believe it is the right thing to do. If I believe that God first loved me then it is my Christian duty to love others and where better to start than with my grandchildren.’ July saw village fairs taking place across our communities. Hardworking committees, made up solely of volunteers, pulled together to celebrate the best of who we are and in doing so helped to raise thousands of pounds for those institutions and charities on which we all rely. Without this activity, much of the social and built fabric of our villages would quickly fall into a state of neglect. Our local schools, village halls and our ancient churches are all dependent upon the goodwill and generosity of what is given freely, not just in terms of maintaining bricks and mortar but equally in terms of sustaining relationships and community cohesion. August brings a time of much-earned rest for this group of volunteers. And another BIG Thank You from all of us to them. A consequence of the COVID pandemic has been to see a dramatic decline in volunteering of all kinds. Some estimates put this at up to fifty per cent, with many not rushing back to pick up on commitments they previously undertook. If the summer holiday period means you are having a think about the possibility of volunteering, rest assured you are needed! The benefits can be hugely rewarding not least for mental health and wellbeing. If you are not sure where to start… You might like to ask if you can help by listening to children read in one of your local schools… God Bless Mark
The Revd Writes… Not all is what it seems. Recent anxieties about Artificial Intelligence have brought to the surface the need to question what at first appears to be original thought but on further investigation reveals to be a construction of words cobbled together to look like something that in fact it is not. It is now possible for an essay or sermon(!) on any given topic to be produced in any particular style in a matter of seconds. Those who teach and who work in academia must now be more vigilant in spotting the fake from the real – and that is more of a challenge than ever before. Did the student really write this? Caution, suspicion, and the need to be vigilant against falsehood have taken on a whole new meaning when it comes to Artificial Intelligence and the impact it has on our everyday lives. The recent discovery of new fragments of medieval wall paintings in the recently restored and redecorated Mortuary Chapel at St Peter’s in Benington has raised tantalizing questions about what lies underneath the whitewashed plaster. Evidence of wall paintings, dating back to the C14th, were uncovered many years ago at the west end. The recent discoveries raise the question of whether the whole of the Church was once decorated, in pre-Reformation times, possibly with the same floral pattern as revealed at the far end of the nave. Was what is now a plain white interior once a wild splash of reds and browns celebrating God’s creation on every wall? The whitewashed surfaces are not all that they seem. Over thirty years a parish priest has taught me that people too are often not what they first might seem. The experience of bereavement often reveals whose one’s true friends are. Sometimes those who you were most expecting to be around to support fail to appear whilst those whom you least expected to give a shoulder to lean on show loyalty and kindness beyond measure. There is no telling, though our common life together means we know what it is to be disappointed by some and equally, pleasantly surprised by others. It is best not to rush to judgement when it comes to people. Different circumstances bring to the surface what our characters are really made of. Though made in the image of God, we all have the potential to fail each other – but also, we have the potential to succeed in our loving of one another too. If Artificial Intelligence raises anxiety and suspicion then the question of how we resettle and reintegrate offenders back into society, particularly those who have committed serious crimes, understandably raises anxiety and suspicion even more so. Is it possible for someone who has committed a grievous offence to be reformed in such a way as to be enabled to make a valuable contribution to a community? Can all that it seems on the surface of past history be transformed underneath so that the individual might learn and be allowed to live a life in the light of day rather than the darkness of night? And can a community of generous-hearted neighbours tolerate such a change? There’s a wisdom in reminding ourselves occasionally that, quite often, not all is what it first might seem. God Bless Mark
