November 2011
Journeying to a place of special significance plays a part in almost all cultures. The goal may be a site given prominence by particular events, the shrine of a saint or other significant figure. Pilgrimage is still very much alive in the twenty-first century. It usually involves journeying, alone or in a group, reaching a destination, encountering special rituals, objects or architecture, enjoying particular experiences and benefits and returning home. For some people pilgrimage acts as a rite of pas-sage, for others it involves seeking spiritual reward.
'Pilgrimage' can also describe an individual's journey through life, highlighting stages of personal growth, exploration and encounter with God. 'Pilgrimage', then becomes a word to convey an inner spiritual journey through prayer, meditation or mystical experience. For many the hope is that the physical going on a pilgrimage interplays with the inner spiritual journey and each feeds and enhances the experience of the other
We were part of a party of 24 led by The Revd Canon Stephen Purvis (Vicar of Leagrave) He gave us a talk daily about our Celtic spiritual heritage. We worshipped together each evening, experiencing Celtic Worship. Being helped to see God in all things, in such beautiful language has given us a new insight into thanksgiving and praise in my prayers.
We stayed in Bishop’s House, which is very comfortable and has its own house chapel. We also had the opportunity to worship with the Abbey Community. We attended their Eucharist on the Sunday and it was wonderful. The Abbey church was packed with Christians of all de-nominations coming together to share communion. Afterwards we were welcomed to have refreshments, and to chat as well as having the opportunity to listen to a member of the community who told us a little about its history.
We had quite a lot of free time so we could explore the island and experience its beauty. On one occasion we walked to St Columba’s Bay, reputed to be where Columba landed when he arrived from Ireland. The place was very beautiful, and had the aura of a very sacred space.
On another occasion we joined with others and went by boat to the Island of Staffa to see Fingal’s Cave. The day was warm and the sea was calm, and we all saw a basking shark, the captain of the boat told us it was only a baby, but it was huge!!!!! Angela managed to walk along the edge to the mouth of the cave and then her courage failed her and she couldn’t go in. Walking back seemed a little easier, and the views from Staffa were breath taking.
The Abbey Community lead a pilgrimage round the island each week. The day we went was wet and windy but that did not deter us. We walked together and stopped at various places for prayer, reflection and silence. It was lovely to have so many places pointed out that made the island really come alive for us.
We met and chatted to many of the people who live on Iona, who were friendly and welcoming and left us with warm memories of our stay and helped us feeling very close to God in a very, very special place.
August 2011
Dear Reader,
I am preparing this letter to you in the midst of the furore about the goings on at the News of the world. It is difficult to believe that the ethics of journalism could, for one moment, be seen to stretch to cover the sorts of behaviour we have seen exposed in recent days. Our hearts go out to the families whose private tragedies have been invaded through such practices. and whose grief has been polluted in the name of journalism or under the justification of public interest.
But I do have two comments to make about all of this. The first is to wonder why the public outcry, so much in evidence now, was so muted when it seemed that it was “only” the celebrity and the politician who was being caught in this way? This practice of invasion of privacy should not depend on the status of the victim. It cannot be right in one situation and wrong in another. Ethical behaviour is not partial or dependant on circumstances.
No, this practice is either ethically acceptable or it is not. I guess that in today’s world we have, to an unhealthy degree, lost sight of the notion of right and wrong behaviour and instead behaviour is governed by expediency. I would suggest that we could do ourselves, and our community, a lot of good if we were to try to reflect on choices about which way to behave using the out-of-fashion question, “What would Jesus do?” Of course our answers will still be partial and subjective, but hopefully still be more ethically sound than if our question was, “How do I feel about this?”.
My second comment, arising from what we have seen and heard, is a plea for more humility and less humbug from us when we read and think about those who did the hacking. If what they did had not had a positive response in the sales of their papers it would have been a very short-lived practice. I remember being on a course that included a discussion with journalists and one journalist said, “good news is no news”. Time and again we have seen celebrities built up to hero/heroine status only for their frailties to be exposed and salivated over as the press knocked them down and humiliate them.
I think it is true to say that we get the standards in ethical life that satisfy our lower nature. These people have behaved badly. As to who and whether there has been criminal behaviour time and the courts will tell. BUT lets own up that they have done these things because that’s what millions of us want to read and hear about. I am reminded of Jesus words when he was faced with humbug and hypocrisy,” Let him who is without fault throw the first stone”.
Our politicians are setting up the structures to review what goes on in Fleet Street, within the police and around politics, over this issue. So how about the rest of us—can we hear Jesus’ stricture about humbug? Can we determine to restrain our delight when the rich and powerful are shown to be mere mortals, just like us? It is just too easy to make those currently in the spotlight the scapegoats for the ethical frailty of us all. So, all in all, there is much for us to learn from the unpleasant revelations that have been placed before us in recent days.
Best wishes
Graham Newton, Rector
July 2011
Dear Reader,
I feel very flattered to have had my picture on the front cover of last month’s issue—thank you to Doug Scott who took the picture and to Jenny Gray for making it the front cover picture. Who know, perhaps next month I will be the cover picture on “Time” magazine!!!!! I hope any reader of Outlook, who would like to, will come to share my Thanksgiving Eucharist on Saturday 2nd July at 11.00am.
Looking back over 40 years has been a lot of fun, with many happy moments but also sad ones and challenging ones too.
I remember the first (but not the only!) time I overslept and missed the early morning Eucharist as a curate (early meant 6.30am). Feeling very guilty I called round later in the day to apologise to the vicar who was amused not cross and said, “At last, now we can all relax” and I realised that the rest of the staff had been trying to keep up with the new boy—until I arrived oversleeping by the non-celebrants was a fairly regular occurrence!
In my early days, working in central London, the homeless were an ever present reality. Showing a group of American visitors round I discovered that the homeless had been using the font to store their empty booze bottles. Not being very good at housekeeping, when one of them called and asked for a sandwich, all I could manage was Marmite (no butter or margarine) on Rivita. He was not impressed and paid me back by smashing a window by tossing a lemon through it.
In the summer we used to take children on day trips. On a trip to Windsor we went into the park to eat our picnic and one little lad started to cry—he had never walked on grass before and was frightened at the thought of doing so!
I was reminded the other day about the time when I asked Angela to help out with the camp of our local Scout Troop. The cook had had to cry off and would she help out, with me offering help and support since she was at the time breast-feeding our daughter Sarah aged 5 months. Without that solution the camp would have to be cancelled . A big ask, especially when I had to opt out and stay at home with a comfortable dry bed because of all that was going on in the parish…… Looking back I am surprised I lived to tell that tale!!!.
In Porthill (Staffordshire) there was a convent. Unfortunately it was literally next door to a house that, for a while, was a house of ill repute. On several occasions the sisters phoned me for help and I had to go and explain to someone waiting outside their door that all that was on offer there was prayer and spiritual counsel - sex and dressing up was next door! Sometimes they took a bit of persuading!
As the church building there was celebrating its centenary we spent a lot of time modernising its interior. This included removing a wrought iron rood screen which we, and the parish that was to re-home it, did together. Taking it down involved loosening its foundations and then lowering it gently to the floor. My task was to be on the rope over a beam that controlled its rate of lowering. Unfortunately we had not worked out how heavy the screen would be. The screen came down with a bit of a crash and I went 10 feet up in the air swinging, on the rope, either across the screen with all sorts of sharp pointy bits, or above the altar. Angela walked in at that moment, to see me fly gracefully through the air and disappear inside the altar! Amazingly I reappeared a few moments later with only a few minor scrapes and bruises.
And so, 25 years ago, we came to this diocese and to Stevenage. I don’t suppose I will ever forget the Christmas when a disc slipped in my back. The choir, robing for the service of Lessons and Carols, were completely unfazed by having to step over their vicar lying prostrate on the floor and nobody seemed to mind their vicar absenting himself for chunks of the service for another lie down.
Here were 2 homeless gentlemen living in Stevenage at the time. One called “Horse” - he was a gentle giant. He had been a soldier in one of the Guards regiments but had been unable to cope with civilian life. Sarah, our daughter, caused much consternation to some of the Stevenage people because she would sit down beside him on a park bench and have a chat. It never worried us, or those who knew him, because (apart from the drink) he was a perfect gentleman. The other one, Andy, turned up on our doorstep one day with some distinctly off smelling sausages!! He had been given them by one of the local butchers and please would “the lady” cook them for him. We have often accidentally burnt food (especially sausages, as members of the Mens Fellowship can testify) but on this occasion the cooking nearly to cinders was anything but accidental and he did not go down with food poisoning.
Alongside all of these incidents there has been the regular base of prayer, both public and private, the pastoral care for individuals and groups, the management of the Church’s ministry and mission and the care of its buildings. These 40 years (41 if you include my year as a Deacon) have been hugely varied, immensely rich and (for the most part) very enjoyable. I have been blessed by the support I have received in all of this from Angela, Sarah and Andrew and am grateful too to the clergy and churchwardens with whom I have worked down the years.
This is beginning to sound like a good bye letter, but that is to follow before I retire in January. I do hope that my/our service to the Kingdom of God can run on till then at “a trot” rather than gradually dwindle away over the summer and autumn.
May 2011
Dear Reader
In May (8th) we have the annual service for parents and godparents. This is an opportunity for them to remember, and remind themselves of, their commitment to the spiritual, as well as the physical and mental, development of their children/godchildren. I should say that this service is not exclusively for those who came here for the baptism. Anyone and everyone is welcome—the service is at 10.30am and is followed by light refreshments in the church hall.
May is also the month when both weddings and baptisms start to be more frequent. I think the brighter, warmer weather is felt to be better for photos and also there is a general perception, not true in the case of St Nicholas’ church, that the buildings are too cold in the winter. Both these “extras” are normally compensated for a bit by a reduction in the number of funerals during the summer months.
I called them “extras” because they can be seen as add-ons to the work of a priest and the Church, but in reality they are at the core of what the Church should be about. Baptisms, weddings, funerals all touch people at key moments of their lives—as they begin and end their lives and as they make one of their most important commitments which will hopefully endure till life ends. The Christian belief is that God’s loving will is to be a part of these key moments and the Church’s desire is to afford them with the dignity and sense of purpose they deserve. So they are not extras at all, but are moments when, by our involvement in them, we can make visible the love that God has for each of us.
In May (5th) the Friends of St Nicholas will hold their Annual General Meeting. It will be five years in October since we began the Friends. So far, as well as laying on a regular series of enjoyable events—concerts, open gardens, barbecues etc—they have funded a replacement notice board facing Church Road and have put in lighting for the path between Church Road and the car park by the Church Hall. They are now looking at assisting with the repair and restoration of the external woodwork on the church tower. We are very grateful for the Friends endeavours and wish them well in their efforts for the church building which is an amenity and centre of history for our village.
I know the Friends are always delighted to welcome new members. The recommended minimum subscription donation for 2011-12 is a mere £5.00. So if St Nicholas building is important to you—either as a place of worship or as part of our heritage—why not come to the AGM (7.30pm start). I know you will be made very welcome.
We have elections and a referendum at the beginning of the month. Sometimes people say to me that the Church should stay out of politics, but I think differently. Politics is about the ordering and development of society and the church is also definitely about that, only we tend to use the term “Kingdom of God” rather than talk about society. I believe the Church has important insights into what makes for community and what priorities should be at the heart of the endeavours of our politicians and leaders. These insights give us something important to say in the political arena. However, it is important to recognise that all our political organisations have things to say that are at one with our Christian values and others that are contrary to them that we should be challenging, so it is important that the Church is not seen as allied to any one political party. What I will say is that it is important that Christians engage with the issues and support our political system by voting.
Best wishes
Graham Newton, Rector
February
I am preparing this article while waiting for my car to have its accelerator pedal replaced. I bought my car second hand - its previous owner had been a disabled driver who had the accelerator as a control on the steering column. So that a regular driver could use the car, the foot pedal was still there but spring-loaded to be down then but out of the way behind the dashboard for the disabled driver. When it was converted for sale, the column control was removed but the sprung pedal left in place. Driving along the M25 at about 70mph in the outside lane, without realizing it I flopped the pedal up so there I was - M25 outside lane gently slowing to a stop!! Actually I managed to coast onto the hard shoulder without causing an accident. No wonder I was having the pedal changed!!!
After the panic, and during the 90 minute wait for the RAC man to arrive, standing freezing behind the safety barrier, I thought that here was an illustration for us as a Church.
So often the Church is characterised as being a 'brake' organisation holding out for the values of a bygone age, espousing old fashioned virtues, providing bolt-holes for those fearful of or angered by today's value systems and social trends. There is a role here for the Church - we do stand for those values and truths which are timeless and (we believe) divinely given or inspired. This is especially important when, as now, many of them seem out of fashion. We are here for the vulnerable and isolated in society - to provide them with sanctuary.
However, to be solely in braking mode, never accelerating, is a recipe for coasting to a gradula stop on the hard shoulder, going nowhere, irrelevant and as useless as a car without an accelerator pedal. We have a Kingdom-obligation to challenge the value systems and societal trends which have moved away from the core principals of our Faith. We have a duty to move and to change so that we are best equipped to serve those who need us and to reach out to the communities in which we are set.
Sometimes we need to touch the brake and slow down so that those who need us are not left behind and on other occasions the accelerator so that we can move forward with purpose. It is by prayer and waiting on God that we learn what we should be doing at any given time, so lets pray ... that God will help us to move in His way, at His speed, towards His goal.
Not bad meditation and thought when stuck on the hard shoulder of the M25!!!
Graham Newton
Rector