- 2010 letters
- December 2009
- November 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- 2008 letters
December 2009
Dear Reader,
I must be getting older! After all, don't people say that time passes faster as one gets older? This year seems to have shot by, and to be writing to you for the Outlook that sees us into 2010 came upon me almost as a surprise.
However, first we have to 'do' Christmas. From my perspective doing Christmas is a succession of carol events and services, the liturgies actually around Christmas, and then family jollifications. It is such a busy time that the idea of personal, spiritual preparation can sometimes seems no more than a dream. I am sure I am no different to many of you, the readers of Outlook, in finding December a helterskelter month. We have all of Lent to prepare for Easter, but the days between Advent Sunday (29th November this year) and Christmas Day include the patronal festival at St Nicholas, the Christingle Service and carol services for each of our churches. This year I am adding to our programme 2 evenings to STOP and REFLECT (they are in the diary section). We live in a world where times to stop relax and reflect are at a premium and many of us are quite unused to this whole idea. Retreats and quiet days have a long history in creating the spiritual space to grow. I know that many are quite fearful of the idea of silence so I would like to suggest you consider coming to one or both of these quiet evenings. Hopefully they will be relaxing and give you a taster of what a quiet day is like. I hope they will also be a blessed preparation for Christmas.
So, having survived the tinsel and turkey, the cards and the cake, we arrive at the new year. 2010!!! It doesn't seem 5 minutes since we were seeing in the millennium and worrying about the non-existent consequences for our computers of the millennium bug! For many of us 2009 has been a year to forget - a year of jobs lost, bereavement or illness, a year of watching the steady stream of coffins from Afghanistan, of seeing pension plans shrink. It’s at times like these that I am really glad God did not grant us the gift of forward vision. We have to head into 2010 in hope. For me that hope is in God - whether 2010 is judged this time next year as having been better or worse than 2009, I trust that God will give me the necessary gifts of wisdom, courage, laughter or whatever is needful for me. There is a wonderful prayer for peace from Jainism that goes as follows:-
Lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth.
Lead us from despair to hope, from fear to trust
Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace.
Let peace fill our hearts, our world, our universe. Amen
It may not be from our Christian heritage of prayer, but it is, nonetheless my prayer for 2010. Might it be yours?
Best wishes for Christmas and the New year. Graham Newton (Rector)
November 2009
Dear Reader
At last we have been able to restore heating to St Nicholas’, and just in time!
When the old, subterranean, boiler house flooded in May 2008 we hoped to have new heating in place by the end of 2008, not to be worrying lest the 2009/10 heating season would also be problematic! However, these things can so often be beyond our control and waiting becomes the order of the day. I would like to thank everyone for their patience and for their good humour last winter when we either shivered or used the hall.
Once we get into November we start planning in detail for Advent and Christmas and there is all the usual fayre to look forward to. In Advent there is the Tree Festival, the Patronal Festival and the Christingle. I am also going to run 2 evenings I am calling, "Peace & Prayer Preparation for Christmas". These will be a combination of music, short addresses and quiet times. And will, I hope give those who come refreshment as well as preparation for Christmas. We are also hard at work, now, preparing for the Christmas Tree Festival. This is an event that has become something of a village institution with lots of community groups and families decorating the trees and the church looking and smelling so beautiful. It has become one of those events where you are likely to bump into old friends or even make new ones as we enjoy looking at the trees, drinking mulled wine or eating excellent cakes, and listening to the music. Hopefully, in that place that has been prayed in for over 800 years, and despite the gentle hubbub of conversation, many will also have a sense of the presence of God too.
But I would not want November to be thought of solely as part of the early preparation for the Christmas season for it has its important events in its own right - most notably Remembrance Sunday. It could never be right to allow the cost of war in pain and continuing suffering to be taken for granted both for the sake of those who are suffering and as a spur to us all to work and pray for a better world in which evil no longer has to be confronted violently. It is this double significance - facing squarely the cost of war and renewing commitment to the cause of peace - that I try to place at the core of the service we hold for the village. I try to make this service appropriate for those needing to “touch base” with their own involvement with past periods when we were at war but also for the younger generation who sooner or later will become the key players in the quest for a world at peace.
Graham Newton (Rector)
August 2009
Dear Reader
At the end of September at St Nicholas' we will be taking part in Back to Church Sunday. This year it has the slogan, "Come as you are". I had to smile at that because it reminded me of an event that happened many years ago when our daughter, Sarah, was 18. It was Good Friday and she wanted to come to the service but was going on to a party afterwards, so she came dressed ready for the party - at the time she was into what I believe was called "Goth" music and fashion!! One of the congregation was unwise enough to say to her that he was surprised at her coming to church dressed as she was - she told him exactly what she thought about that and reminded him that she was there but his daughter was not!! She offered to go and apologise, but I told her that if an apology was due, it was most certainly not from her. Happily such intolerance is much rarer now, though it was not so long ago that someone asked me if they were "allowed" into a service wearing jeans. I told her that Adam & Eve started coming into the presence of God without even a fig leaf!! I got a rather startled look as she thought for a moment that I was suggesting she should come to a service a la Eve!!!!
When we use the slogan, "Come as you are", it may be that we are encouraging people to feel comfortable and at home in our church and services, wearing what makes them feel OK, but I hope it goes much deeper than that. I hope people will share in the life of the church aware that they are valued and welcomed as a whole - with their strengths and weaknesses, with their moral bravery and cowardess with their history of good deeds and bad behaviour, of hopes raised and spirits dashed. Too many people at the periphery of the Church have this perception that the Church is a club for saints and feel that that excludes them. I hope that those who are part of the Church are all too aware that it is rather a school for sinners and that that is where we all belong.
When we look at the ministry of Jesus we see that all through, whether he was talking to the great and "good" or the crushed and the outcast, they were able "come as they were" into the aura of his love. They were greeted and welcomed, they were taught, fed and healed and they left His presence refreshed and renewed. That is my hope for all those who "come as they are" into the churches and communities to which I am priest and pastor. That is what I put my effort into in leading the worship and life of all the churches where the Church has asked me to serve. But this is not just about the priest in his/her parish, for together we are called to be as if we are Christ ministering to the wider community, greeting, welcoming, meeting need and enabling the refreshing and renewing gifts of God to permeate our locality.
Back to Church Sunday (27th September), with its theme "Come as you are", is also Harvest Festival at St Nicholas. A day when we reflect on the generosity of God in creation and recommit to sharing our riches with those who are seriously poor - the hungry, the homeless and the refugee. We remind ourselves of the truth of the cliché, "God provides enough for our need but not for our greed". In other words it is an opportunity to be thankful but also to be aware that we all come as we are, rich and poor, generous and mean, giving and taking and that he loves us all, as indeed he suffered on the cross for us all.
Graham Newton (Rector)
July 2009
Dear Reader
I am not a great follower of football. I have only twice EVER been to watch a professional match on the touchline, so to speak. The first time was at Chelsea and the second at Port Vale and for no other reason I regard myself as an armchair supporter of these two clubs. Those who are genuine and enthusiastic followers of one team or another are all too aware of this "flaw" in their Rector from the number of occasions that I have fixed a meeting etc on the evening of a really important match!!!!
So, without going into the footballing merits or otherwise, I was amazed to see on the television news today that the Manchester United player Christiano Ronaldo had been sold to Real Madrid for 80 million pounds. When I contrast that with the fact that almost half of the worlds population exist on about £1.50 a day, I have to ask myself, "Can any one human being be worth that much?" or I can turn the question round and ask myself the equally shocking question, "Can so many (about 3 billion) people be worth so little?".
Now, I have no doubt that those into football in a big way would be able to give me the reasons why the top players can be worth that amount, but that to me is not the point. They may be brilliant, and they may earn amazing sums for their clubs in turnstile revenue and advertising arrangements, but still I am left with a world divided between the haves and the have nots. None of us who write or read this letter can have any idea what it is like to live on £1.50 a day. Many of us at the present time are grappling with the ill consequences of the credit crunch and the recession and some are being crushed under the weight of debt that only a few short months ago seemed reasonable but is now threatening to bury us.
And yet our welfare state, for all its failings, will ensure that there is food on the table for our children, a bed in hospital when we need it and education to the age of 16. I don't think that anyone in our society needs to be in that genially poverty stricken half of the world community. We do well to remember this when we are at our bleakest.
However there is another aspect to all of this. There was a survey recently into which were the happiest nations and which the saddest. Here we were near the bottom. Why might that have been? I think we do have in this land - not material poverty, but a poverty in self esteem, a poverty in spirituality. Christiano Ronaldo knows he is gifted, admired and wanted, but so many in our society feel they are useless, unloved and unwanted - that nobody cares. What a tragedy that is and what a waste when it disempowers those who feel like that. Our faith teaches us that we are ALL loved and wanted by God and we are ALL gifted, if only we can have the courage to trust - God and our neighbours.
Being damaged and disabled by a consuming lack of self esteem is one of the most common and most harmful factors that bring people to me for pastoral support. All too often there is an unresolved event or relationship breakdown that has convinced the sufferer that they are useless and that neither God nor his church has anything to say or to offer to them in their plight. Yet we can offer the thought and belief that each and every one of us is made in the image of God and is of infinite value to him. We are worth far more than £80 million to him - we are worth the sacrificial love seen in the life, death & resurrection of His Son. We also sometimes need reminding that in his Son we are all brothers and sisters called to love and care for each other - including doing whatever we can, however minute it may seem to the size of the issue, for our brothers and sisters living on £1.50 a day
Graham Newton
June 2009
Dear Reader,
We recently held our annual Parish Conference on the theme 'Journeys into Faith'. This could have been an exercise in 'navel gazing' during which we simply looked at what we liked and disliked about what we do and how we worship at St. Nicholas. BUT IT WAS NOT LIKE THAT!!
Most of the time together was spent in effect asking ourselves, 'When people look at us, what do they see and what do they get?' There was a strong desire that what they want and get is a warm, open and generous welcome. There was a desire too to change where necessary so that this is always very evidently the case.
I know that our building is on the edge of the village but that does not mean we want our community to be there too. We want the village to feel confident that we aspire to be fully engaged with the life of the village and that that is our aspiration because we care.
There is nothing unique or special (or loaded) about our desire to be part of the village's life - a group of humanists or a community from other faiths could have the same aspiration. The difference is our motivation which comes from the example of Jesus. He provided wine for a wedding where nobody knew him and food for thousands just because they were there. We care because like him, the village is where we are and we belong.
On a final note, you may have noticed that, at about 11.15am on Sunday mornings, the church bell rings three times, twice. This is done so that members unable to get to church, and others who value knowing, can tell that we have come to that special moment when first the bread and then the wine is blessed. We hope that those for whom this is important are pleased, and those for whom it is not, do not mind.
Your friend and priest
Graham Newton
May 2009
Dear Reader
Phew! Lent and Holy Week over for another year! Its not that I don't enjoy them - I find them deeply healing and enriching, but they are a bit of an endurance trial. Now we look forward to the Easter season, culminating in the feast of Pentecost when we recall and celebrate the gift to us of the presence of the Holy Spirit and the nurture and support to be found in the Church. Sadly in our culture and in our Church the feast of the Ascension (when we recall the final ending of our Lord's earthly ministry) is often passed by.I say, "sadly" because our society is not very good at endings and needs all the examples and help it can get and the 2 endings of Jesus' ministry are very instructive. The first ending was his death on Good Friday. Here we are presented with a picture of an untimely, unjust and violent ending which seems to encapsulate the failure of his ministry and the victory of the corrupt, the cruel, the weak and the inept. It was a particularly cruel death that was suited to the harsh times in which Jesus lived, but the other elements in it are timeless - they exist as much today as they did 2000 years ago. In the midst of it all, Jesus came under the control of these evil and weak forces and is faced with the failure of all that he believed in, including God and himself. Yet two things stand out - he did retain his dignity and his ability to love even those who were tormenting him and he did retain his humanity, offering hope to those suffering a similar fate, and comfort to his despairing mother and closest follower. I hope I and we can ensure that the endings we are involved in - and there are other endings than death where all this is equally valid (divorce, redundancy, ill health) - give others the dignity and humanity they deserve and need.
So lets look at the second ending as he returned finally to his heavenly home. Gone is the violence and despair. Because Jesus and his followers knew that this day was coming, they had planned for it and he had spent a lot of time lovingly moving them through the agenda of failure and betrayal so that they were ready for the post-Jesus era to begin. But all that was made possible by the acceptance that in that ending there was the hope and promise of a new beginning. The new was not going to be easy, but it was going to be "real" and that was enough. If only we too can help others to see beyond an ending - whatever ending it might be - to see that there is hope and promise and possibility even where the seeing and hoping are most difficult.
I guess all of us have faced the pain of endings at some stage, and will do so many times before the final ending that we all have to face. In this Easter season we are reminded that even that final ending is not the end and that there is the promise of what lies beyond for which we can prepare ourselves and others. My thoughts and prayers at this time are particularly focussed on those facing the ending and change that comes from losing their employment and all the uncertainties and fears about what that new situation's impact will be on home, relationships etc.
Graham Newton, Rector
April 2009
Dear Friends
It was a delight to share in the service of welcome and installation for Sverker Linge in our friendship link parish of Vreta Kloster in Sweden. As usual when we visit our Swedish friends the welcome was enthusiastic and warm. The service, at which I was invited to take part, was prayerful and the music was wonderful. Even the winter landscape was superb - the snow which had fallen several days previously was still crisp and beautifully clean.
Although it was cold, none-the-less there was a hint of spring in the air, and this sense of new beginning was behind the optimism expressed in the service. One of the parts of the day that was an unexpected delight was a web-cam recording of a greeting from Per Edler (the previous Rector) and his wife Gannek which was played at the reception after the service. Our custom is that, once gone, the previous parish priest steers well clear for at least a couple of years, but I felt that the Swedish way had much to commend it.
It demonstrated to me that the new Rector was beginning his work as a continuum from the work of his predecessor, but not as a replica of him. Per was a very popular rector, but things need to change and move on and the parish as it applauded both Sverker and Per was recognising and embracing this truth. This, it seems to me, is the sentiment expressed in our happiness when we see spring bulbs blooming and the birth of lambs etc.
It is also at the core of Holy Week and Easter. We celebrate the new birth beyond death that was first made visible in Jesus and is now a promise to each of us. I wish you Easter Joy, especially at Easter but for always.
Your friend and priest Graham.March 2009
Dear Reader
Lent is the forty-day-long liturgical season of fasting and prayer before Easter. The forty days represent the time Jesus spent in the desert, where according to the Bible he endured temptation by Satan. Different churches calculate the forty days differently. For us, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes on Holy Saturday. The six Sundays in Lent are not counted among the forty days because each Sunday represents a "mini-Easter" - a celebration of Jesus' victory over sin and death.
The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, and our celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Historically the preparation of the believer was not only for the church members generally but also particularly for those who were about to be re-admitted to the Sacrament of Holy Communion after a period of excommunication and those who were to be Baptised, Confirmed and admitted to Holy Communion. For both of these it was also a period of intensive preparation and study.
So, although the focus is often on the answer to the question, "What are you giving up for Lent?", actually our preparation for Holy Week and Easter needs to reflect five aspects not just the one - prayer, penitence, almsgiving and study as well as self-denial.
I do not intend here to go through each of the five, giving a mini-sermon on each. We've set up the Lent Groups, there's a Lent book available, and a sermon series at the 10.30am Sunday Eucharist. There are opportunities for the practice of almsgiving, through the Charity of the Month and many other ways advertised in the media, prayer and penitence are matters of personal and private practice, although there are opportunities in the public services of the Church, and self-denial as an act of fasting is something most of are familiar with and often link to our acts of almsgiving. So now its up to each of us to sort out what this Lent will mean for us.
But there is an unanswered question here, "Why bother?". In days gone by the answer, "Because the Church says so!" sufficed, but that will not do, today. We live in what has been called a "pick and mix" society which could also be called a "cherry tree" society in which we can cherry pick the bits and values of society that we like and ignore those that we do not find so acceptable. Words like "discipline", "obedience" and "humility" are out of fashion. It is generally assumed that, "I always know what's best for me!" The disciplines of Lent help us to focus on the truth that the best for me is what God wants for me. After a Lent of purposeful attention to the needs of our souls we are ready to enter into the full emotional and liturgical roller coaster that is Holy Week that leads us to the profoundest and deepest joy that comes with the dawn of Easter.
I do hope that what I have said may stimulate you into a fresh appraisal of how you are going to observe Lent this year.
Best wishes
Graham (The Rector)