Letter from Sarah – February 2009 January 31, 2009
Posted by hillmansc in Barkway, Barley, Monthly letter from Sarah, Reed.add a comment
A couple of days ago I went to London to see the stage show Billy Elliot.
Billy is a young lad who longs to dance, but has grown up in a mining community, where young boys are taught to box, and dancing is for “the lasses”. Times are hard – the background to the story is the miners’ strike in the 1980s; Billy’s father and brother both work in the pits, and have joined the walk-out.
Billy’s mother has previously died. In spite of opposition from his remaining family, Billy continues with his dancing in secret, and reaches the point of auditioning for the Royal Ballet School.
One of the things that keeps him true to his dream is a letter that his mother wrote before she died. Her intention was that he would not read it until he was 18, but Billy was unable to wait that long. In the letter, she explains how proud she was to have known him, and proud that he was her son.
Her letter continues with her advice to Billy that he should always be himself. That wasn’t easy for Billy as his father and brother and community had very fixed views about what was appropriate for lads and what wasn’t. The culture of their community was so entwined with mining that it was hard for them to see any other kind of future. And that’s why they fought so hard against Mrs Thatcher’s policies. Their whole way of life was under threat.
And it’s not always easy for us to be ourselves either, because there are so many demands in our busy lives. We’re pulled in all directions, and sometimes it’s hard to hang on to who we truly are. But it’s not just Billy’s Mum who thinks that’s an important thing for our lives.
God has created each of one of us as unique beings, and wants us to live as ourselves and not as someone else. There is no one exactly the same as any of us, and if we are not true to ourselves, then the world is losing out on what is special about us.
We all have strengths. Sometimes discovering what they are is easy; for others it’s a task that takes a lifetime. But living true to ourselves and to what God has made us, is worth it, however hard the struggle to get there, because then we will have an inner peace and strength. Our lives will have an integrity and honesty, which will positively affect our happiness, our relationships with others, and, if we let it, our understanding of God.
With best wishes, Sarah
Letter from a churchwarden – January 2009 January 31, 2009
Posted by hillmansc in Barkway, Barley, Buckland, Monthly letter from Sarah, Reed.add a comment
January seems a good time to take stock, to look over the past year while planning the one to come. A churchwarden’s year is a full one, though nowhere near as full nor as pressurised as that of a parish priest, moreover, one is not alone.
We are fortunate that all six curchwardens of the three main parishes get on and work together and this provides invaluable support.
I can only speak of first-hand experience in Barkway, but I am pretty sure it applies more widely in the Benefice as a whole, in that members of the VCC (and PCC) are always willing to help and frankly I would not know what to do without the invaluable VCC/PCC secretary, my predecessors as churchwardens and our excellent sacristan, for all of whom nothing is ever too much. My fellow churchwarden provides what I so often lack: calm and considered views and a great sensitivity to the needs and feelings of others; I appreciate her support greatly.
In Barkway we are especially fortunate in having the best organist in North Hertfordshire and it is entirely due to his enthusiasm and drive that the extended Barkway-Barley-Reed choir has been singing at various festivals throughout the year.
Then there are those who open and lock the churches every day, who clean and decorate the church buildings, who draw up rotas, produce weekly pew sheets, clear the churchyards, and do a myriad of jobs, usually without having to be asked, often without being thanked, but without whom church and parish life would not be able to function and without whom it would certainly be a lot less agreeable.
To all those: my warm and heart-felt thank you!
All this lay support is invaluable, but even more valuable is our parish priest, who works so hard and does so much throughout the Benefice. Her inspired services, her excellent sermons, her visits to all those who are unable to come to church or who need her for any other reason, her general visibility, her ceaseless and much-appreciated work with the schools, all that and much more are reasons for which to thank God and to be deeply grateful to Sarah.
With such help and support, with such good friends and colleagues, how can one but look forward with hope and confidence and wish you all a very happy new year.
Mirjam Foot
churchwarden
Sermon – Barley and Barkway Conversion of Paul 2009 January 31, 2009
Posted by hillmansc in Barkway, Barley, Sermons.add a comment
Jeremiah 1.4-10; Acts 9.1-22; Matthew 19.27-30
For me, one of the most chilling sentences in the New Testament is the first half of the first verse of chapter 8 in Acts. There’s no reason why any of you should be able to quote it at me; it’s not a particularly famous or memorable statement, but it has always made a profound impact on me.
It says this: And Saul approved of them killing him; The “him” in this instance is Stephen. Just a few sentences previously we are told that the witnesses who stoned Stephen laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
Neither of these details would have mattered much in the ordinary course of things.
Saul, at this point, is clearly fairly insignificant, although we know from other places in the Bible, he was a keen Jew, who wanted to excel in the spirituality and practice of his faith. He was zealous to retain the purity of the Jewish heritage, and was beginning to align himself with those who were using violence to make their point and remove those who thought differently.
How like today, we might think – different people, different places, but violence against those with whom there is disagreement or where people feel their way of life is threatened by others is still rife in our world. We have come so short a distance in 2000 years.
Saul was clearly an enemy of the early Christians. After Stephen’s death, persecution began and the Acts tells us that “Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house: dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison.”
And in today’s reading, we heard that he was still breathing threats and murder, and was on his way to the synagogues of Damascus to arrange for the arrest and deportation to Jerusalem of any Christians.
But then something happens to Saul that changes his life and his dedication to a cause for ever. We know the story – Saul sees a bright light, is knocked to the ground and blinded, eats or drinks nothing for three days, until Ananias comes to visit, at the command of God, and restores his sight.
It’s told three times in the book of Acts, which highlights its importance for the early Christians. Saul’s conversion is important for us too – God’s task for him was to take the Gospel to the Gentiles.
If we look closely at this story of conversion, we can find parallels with other calling stories in the Bible.
There are parallels with Moses – by the time of Moses’s calling, he had murdered an Egyptian; there was a light from God in the burning bush; and Moses asked who God was as did Saul. In both the answer included those eternal words of God’s being – I am. There are parallels with the calling of some of the prophets, with Samuel and the disciples.
The voice Saul heard was the voice of Jesus asking why he was being persecuted. Until this point I suspect that Saul had no idea it was Jesus he was persecuting only Christians, but this verse highlights the fact that the Christian Church is Christ’s Body here on earth – if one is persecuting the Church, one is therefore also persecuting Christ.
What do we mean by conversion? Normally the word is used to denote the changeover from a person’s state of living under sin to their salvation through Jesus at the point they decide to become a Christian.
Saul’s conversion in this sense was dramatic, and many people today also have dramatic conversion stories – our Christian bookshops are full of paperback books telling tales full of hope, full of lives where violence or drugs or alcohol or abuse are rife but turned around through an encounter with Jesus.
Those are obvious conversion scenarios. And they continue today, as with Saul so long ago. We could perhaps imagine the title of Saul’s story – Saul: From murder to mission. But conversion is about more than just an initial life-changing episode, when someone decides that they wish to follow Christ and turn away from all that has gone before.
Conversion is a life-long process, if we look at it in another way. Christians are Christians by virtue of a decision to follow Christ – that’s what a Christian is, but it doesn’t stop there.
Throughout our lives, we are led towards a maturing faith, a conversion of attitude and faithfulness, a growing desire to put Christ first in everything.
Ananias also had a conversion experience in the story we read about today. He was already a believer in Christ, but his attitude towards Saul needed converting. He knew Saul as someone who had persecuted his fellow Christians. So, when God gives him a particular task to go to Saul, as with some of the Old Testament characters we know about, he challenges God initially. He seems to be scared of an encounter with this murderous man about whom he has heard. But God allows him to change his view, so that when he meets Saul, he greets him as “brother”, as one of the family, as part of the Body of Christ. Ananias’s conversion is every bit as real as Saul’s.
The common threads in these stories, and in the story of Jeremiah we heard today, and also in last week’s Old Testament story of Samuel and Gospel reading of the calling of Nathanael, are about God’s calling and people’s response. God doesn’t not call people because they’ve had a seedy past. God doesn’t look at each one of us and say “No, can’t use her, she did so-and-so.” “No, can’t use Saul, he’s persecuted my people.” God sees the potential in people.
Saul had enthusiasm, he had an industrious way, he was zealous for the truth, he wasn’t going to give up until all the Christians had been routed. If God had judged in the way that we do, there would have been no Paul, apostle to the Gentiles. God saw what Paul could become, and that far outweighed what had gone before.
And that’s how God sees us. Accompanying these conversion experiences about which we are thinking was a call to ministry for God.
Now there are different ministries for different people – of course there are; we all have different gifts and skills. But all of us will have a calling of some kind or another, for we all have a place in the people of God, and, though there are times, when we are laid aside for God, they are rarer than the times when God wishes to use us.
Conversion is not just about a one-off experience. It’s about discovering our calling from God; it’s about growing more faithful day-by-day in faith and hope and love. William Willimon, in his commentary on the book of Acts, writes this: “One never becomes so wise or so adept at faith that conversion stops or one is immune from divine surprises.”
The story of Saul is a story of great hope. If God can take a murderous, zealous man and turn his life around so that he become possibly the greatest evangelist ever known, how much more can God do in our lives, if we heed his call.
Sometimes we need to take time to listen. Sometimes the clamour of our busy lives drowns out the call of God.
Sometimes there is an obvious gap in church life that God might call us to fill – in our benefice we have some clear gaps – a lack of Readers or other licensed lay ministers who can help to lead worship, a lack of work with teenagers, and sad to say in the past year, both Barkway and Barley congregations have decreased in average numbers – only by a small amount, but the stark truth is that they have.
Now, in that case, it’s very easy for me to blame myself for that, especially as I was ill last year, but the stark truth is that the church is about all of us, not just the priest. Each one of us is the church, and the church works best and grows when all its members are responding to God’s call upon their lives.
I’m not saying that no-one here does things for the church – many of you give much time and energy to church matters, and that is wonderful, and as your priest, I want to thank you for that.
But we all also have a responsibility to ask if what we are doing is the right calling, to listen to God to see if he has new tasks or ministries for us. Paul’s gifted evangelism needed backing up by welcoming, loving, faithful church communities, in which everyone played their part.
Perhaps there is an area of church life that you would love to be involved but have never had the confidence to take up – why not? Now is your moment. Perhaps you’re not sure where you fit – come and talk to me or the wardens or anyone in the congregation. Perhaps you have new ideas – things you feel God is calling you to that are not yet happening in our churches – pray about them and ask God for the opportunities.
Wouldn’t it be good to look back this time next year and see many, many people having listened to God’s call and found themselves in new ministries or taking their Christian lives in new directions?
I urge you to consider what I have said today, but above all to pray – to pray for the life of this church and its community, to pray for God’s vision for our benefice, to pray for those outside our churches, for our ministries cannot remain inside the four walls of this building – Paul’s calling took him far and wide. Where will our lead us?
Sermon – Barkway and Reed Epiphany 2 2009 January 31, 2009
Posted by hillmansc in Barkway, Reed, Sermons.add a comment
1 Samuel 3.1-10; Revelation 5.1-10; John 1.43-51
I wonder whether you can remember the first time you encountered or became aware of the living God. And I wonder how that encounter has affected the rest of your life.
Discovering God is something that happens in so many different ways. For some people it is a cataclysmic event, totally unexpected or spectacularly life-changing, an instant in which life changes. For others it is a more peaceful, gentle affair, with a growing sense of conviction, a quieter awareness of the presence of God.
Some people discover God after a long search; others find God in the search. Some never search at all before they are confronted with God’s reality. Some meet God but don’t recognise who it is that they have encountered.
In today’s readings, we have two characters that encounter God in new ways.
First, Samuel. Samuel appears to be in the right place for a meeting with God: the temple. Though believed to be a young boy at this time, he is already serving God by ministering under Eli. God has not been apparent much in recent times – we’re told that the word of the Lord was rare and visions were not widespread.
In the temple worship is continuing in practice, though it seems that it is not wholehearted. But the temple, the house of God, was a place where one might expect to find God. At the time of Samuel it was seen as the place where God was.
However, when God called, Samuel did not recognise the voice. He makes the assumption that it is Eli demanding his attention. So he gets up and asks Eli what he wants of him.
Only the third time that Samuel hears God, does Eli twig what is going on and advises Samuel to listen to the voice of God, and Samuel has his first knowing encounter with God.
Nathanael too encounters God in a new way. He is sitting under a fig-tree, like the temple thought to be a place of spiritual significance. The fig-tree was seen as the place to study Torah; in itself a way of worshipping God. We see the historical development when we lay these two stories side by side. At the time of Samuel, the temple was the heart of Jewish worship, but with the destruction of the first temple and the exile, the Torah took on greater significance in the community and religious life of the Jews.
Under the fig-tree, Nathanael might have expected to have an encounter with God.
But as with Samuel, when the call comes, he does not at first recognise who is speaking to him. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Nazareth, a small insignificant place; surely nothing can have come from there.
But the minute Jesus answers Nathanael’s question, he realises who it is to whom is speaking – the Son of God, the king of Israel.
There are similarities between these stories. Both main characters are in places where they might have been expected to encounter God – the temple and under the fig-tree. Both these characters appear to encountering God for the first time. Both are later given special tasks to be carried out for God – in Samuel’s case acting as prophet, choosing and anointing King David, and trying to ensure that God was heard; in Nathanael’s case, becoming one of the 12 disciples, with their essential tasks in the spread of Christianity.
But note how neither responded to God in isolation – Eli prompted Samuel as to what to say, Philip brought Nathanael to Jesus.
We are still in the season of Epiphany, the season of the revelation of God. God’s revelation of himself is needed now as much as it has ever been needed. Samuel and the first disciples were confident about carrying out their work for God. We too need to be confident about Jesus and about God’s activity in the world.
Both Samuel and Nathanael were directed to God through others – Eli and Philip. Without guidance from those who had already experienced God, they may never have come to God at all. This suggests that God uses all sorts of people to help others respond to God’s eternal calling.
It means parents brining children to church to experience worship for themselves, as something that sustains one’s life, not just because it’s something to do on a Sunday when nothing else is going on.
It means friends having the confidence to speak to others about why they believe in God, why they pray, or to offer prayers for someone. It means to point the way in word and deed in how we behave towards each other and the community at large.
It means reminding ourselves that God is at work already, that God will continue to work with or without us, but that we are called to be part of that work of God in spreading love and the Gospel.
It means being prepared to stand up and be counted as a Christian. Part of our task – a task which belonged to Samuel and to Nathanael as well – is to help others to see the glory of God in the world.
We all need some kind of help if we are to develop a true and living relationship with God. We all need guidance and support in our faith journeys. Eli pointed Samuel in the right direction; Philip told Nathanael to “come and see” – it was something they were going to do together. Philip didn’t say – off you go, he’s over there, I’ll wait here for you. Instead he took Nathanael to see Jesus.
It’s not about someone knowing and someone else not knowing in a superior or inferior way. It’s about sharing together the life of God. God, Three in One and One in Three, who chose to share his own life with us. Sharing together means saying “come and see”, not “there you go”, It means recognising that we all have more to discover about God and that we can help one another to do this.
Our task is to help others, Christians or not, to see the glory of God in the world: the glory of God that is the awesomeness of the Creator, the beauty of creation, the love of Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit, the grace of the dove, comfort for the grieving, hope for the despairing, joy for the deeply burdened.
But if we are to accompany others on the journey and travel together – and remember that Jesus chose 12 companions on his journey – then we need to be open to recognising God ourselves.
Where do we find God? God is everywhere. But, if God is everywhere, why do we struggle sometimes to know that or to feel that?
The answer is about possibilities, and being open to possibilities. Samuel and Nathanael were both in the right place at the right time.
God can and does speak anywhere, not just in the temple or under a fig tree. God speaks to us through Scripture, through the tradition of the Church, through our thoughts and reasons. God speaks to us through the advice of others – family, friends, priest, spiritual director. God works thorough our consciences and when we are at prayer. God can speak to us in study groups and sharing with others.
We do though have to be careful about how we use these channels. There are sensible and right ways and those that are not honouring to God as the following apocryphal story shows.
It’s about a man who decided he needed some guidance from god so he turned to the pages of his Bible. Please help me, God, he prayed. He closed his eyes, opened the Bible and stabbed at the page with his finger. Whatever it says, that must be what God wants, he thought.
When he opened his eyes, he read: “And Judas went out and hanged himself.” This guidance wasn’t helpful to him at all, so he decided to try again.
This time his finger ended up in the story of the Good Samaritan, on these words: “Go thou and do like-wise.”
Sometimes our eyes are opened to all the possibilities; we are very much aware of God at work in the world. Sometimes we struggle to see God’s glory. But never has God expected us to do it alone. There are scores of opportunities for us to become more aware of God’s presence. We can begin by looking around us and seeing signs of God’s hope and love at work.
Until we are prepared to make that an important part of our lives, we will never be able to help others to find God’s glory – people learn by example, by sharing, by being taught, by experience.
Philip called Nathanael to “Come and See.” They went on together.
Our calling of others will only be effective if we say “come and see; come and be part of what I experience.” We will never be truly effective if we stay silent or if we send people off on their own. Philip could have told Nathanael to go and have a look on his own and report back. But he didn’t. They went together.
God could have told us to worship him from afar. But he didn’t. He sent Jesus to live and love us, to share our lives. If that is God’s way, then we need to consider how it will also become our way.
Sermon – Reed, Barley and Barkway Epiphany 2009 January 31, 2009
Posted by hillmansc in Barkway, Barley, Reed, Sermons.add a comment
Isaiah 60.1-6; Ephesians 3.1-12;
Matthew 2.1-12
I’m sure if I asked you to tell me what gifts the wise men brought to the baby Jesus, you would have no trouble at all in responding – gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Not so a group of children, aged four to nine, who gave these answers:
Daniel, aged seven: “I know for his birthday he got money and gold from the wise men but I would have given him a Liverpool kit.”
Dominic, aged six: “I don’t know what the three wise men brought Jesus but I would have given him a tin of biscuits. I think Mary, Joseph and Jesus would have all liked a biscuit.”
Rebecca, aged five: “They brought Jesus gold and myrrh but I would have brought him a nice warm blanket.”
William, aged seven: “I don’t know what presents the wise men brought Jesus but a Lego set would have been better.”
Ellie, aged six: “When he was born three kings brought him gold, coins and a sheep.”
Ellie, aged five: “The three wise men brought Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh – no real presents. I feel sorry for him.”
Many of these children spoke from their own experience. In their view, what child would want gold, frankincense and myrrh? What sort of presents were these?
I wonder what gifts you received this Christmas? Were there favourites? What I wonder, makes a good gift? Did you give gifts this year with which you were particulalrly pleased?
I received some lovely presents this year, and I’ve been thinking about which touched me most.
It wasn’t necessarily the ones that had greatest monetary value, nice as they were. The gifts that made most impact were the one where I knew the giver had put a lot of thought into the gift.
I had a lovely bag full of small pink-wrapped gifts from people who have spotted my passion for that colour – not hard you may think! And inside the pink-wrapped gifts were treasures such as a tube of pink Smarties, Dairy Milk chocolate coins, essential oils to help with sleeping, socks with dogs on, a pink elephant, pink gloves and so on.
Other people gave Toby the dog toys and treats. I had a book about cat illustrations, and a delivery of logs to keep me warm. Several people gave me meals that required little doing to them other than sticking them in an oven at what was a very busy time.
I had lots of other lovely things too, but the ones I’ve mentioned were all presents where the givers had thought hard about the things I like, the things that give me pleasure or things that would make my life easier – or warmer. They were reflections of the fact that the givers have got to know me much better than just on a superficial level, and the thoughtfulness of those presents really touched me.
If someone were to ask me what makes a good gift, I think my response would be something that reveals a recognition of who I am and what I enjoy, something unexpected, something that has been put together thoughtfully and with care, something that the giver knows will mean something to me, and something, above all, given out of love, not duty.
Today’s Gospel story is about the coming of the magi, Gentiles led to Jesus by a star.
It’s about the opening up of God’s kingdom to those beyond the limits of God’s chosen people of the time. It’s about God’s light moving outwards to encompass all people and not just the Jewish nation.
We don’t know much about the wise men. If we look at our Bible readings, we have to strip away much of the tradition that has been attached to them.
First, the number. Nowhere are we told that there were three wise men – only that they brought three gifts. Nowhere are we told that their names were Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. Nowhere are we told that they are kings.
They were clearly important people since they gained access to king Herod. They had been studying the stars and they paid attention to a warning in a dream to go home another way.
But we know little else. It is probable that the designation kings arose from the verse in today’s Psalm, which speaks of the king’s son bringing justice and peace. It talks of how kings will bow down before him and offer gifts – this has been taken as a prophecy referring to Jesus.
Their gifts were costly – gold never comes cheap. They were also symbolic and have meanings far greater than at first sight. The meanings are not directly given in the pages of scripture, but people of the time would have been aware of the symbolic value of the gifts as well as the monetary one.
The gold represents kingship. The three wise men were acknowledging that this child was a king. We know from Matthew’s story that they asked Herod for the whereabouts of the king of the Jews, and it was this that peturbed and challenged him.
A small child in Bethlehem, in relatively poor circumstances, did not look like a king, but they were able to see more deeply than that.
Frankincense – incense offered to God. It was commonly used in worship at the time, and symbolised the prayers of the people rising to God in heaven. To offer a child incense revealed a deeper meaning. Not only were the wise men acknowledging his kingship, but also his divinity – whether they knew it or not.
And myrrh, used on dead bodies, certainly not a gift to give a young child. Myrrh, a symbol of death, of the end, a reminder that even at this early stage in his life, jesus was detined to die. The Christmas and Epiphany stories need to be held together with stories of Holy Week and Easter.
And, we, what do we give in response to God’s greatest gift to the world?
We are all familiar with what is, according to Classic FM, the nation’s favourite carol, In the bleak mid-winter.
What can I give him,
poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb.
If I were a wise man,
I would do my part.
Yet what I can I give him,
give my heart.
And that is also what the three wise men did. The gold of kingship represents obedience – for a king freely recognised is also one to whom we owe allegiance and whose laws we follow.
Frankincense is an offering of worship, a recognition of the God to whom we accord value.
Evelyn Underhill in a collection of papers published in 1946 says this: [Worship is] the adoring acknowledgment of all that lies beyond us—the glory that fills heaven and earth. It is the response that conscious beings make to their Creator, to the Eternal Reality from which they came forth; to God”.
And myrrh is a representation of love. The anointing of a dead body was an act of love. Nowadays the care of the dead is mainly performed by undertakers, so the final tasks one can do for a loved one are different. But in times past, the preparation of a body for burial was carried out by those who loved the person who had died, and its ownway became a part of the gireving.
Obedience, worship and love. These three make up our response to God’s gift of a Son. We begin with love – God’s love for us which inspires in us a love for God.
And from that love grows a desire to worship, to acknowledge in adoration o just what God has given us, but also who God is, and obedience – obedience to the way of Christ: and that comes back to love again.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength strength, and your neighbour as yourself.
There is no more complete a response we can give than that.
Sermon – Reed and Barkway Christmas Eve/Christmas Day 2008 January 31, 2009
Posted by hillmansc in Barkway, Reed, Sermons.add a comment
One of the highlights of my year, which will stay with me for a long time, was seeing the baby barn owls, born in the owl-boxes in Reed churchyard. I won’t forget the sight of them sitting on the ledge of the box, or popping their heads out of the hole to look around, or the grace and stealth of the parent birds flying to and fro with food for their offspring. It was a magical experience.
The boxes went up several years ago, but until this year, were not in use. There was a waiting period, a period of hope and anticipation, a period when disappointment was also apparent because the boxes remained uninhabited.
If, during the waiting period, we had given up hope of the boxes ever being used, or had given up checking them, we would have missed the owls this year.
The waiting needed to be an active and hopeful waiting not just an idle one.
The owls would have come whether we had seen them or not. Their life continues whether or not they are observed.
Waiting can be hard but the joy when the waiting-time is ended outweighs the impatience. The Israelites had been waiting for many, many years for the Messiah to appear. They had in mind that a great, powerful king, would be raised up by God, who would rescue them from their oppressors, a king who would bring with him many blessings, a king who would be descended from the great king David, a mighty warrior, but who would bring peace and prosperity with him.
But when God’s king came, many, many people missed him because he wasn’t what they’d expected.
What did they see? Just a baby, born to a poor couple, in a feeding-trough, in an animal-stall. No great king this – not born in a palace or rich house, but to travellers away from home.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that they missed him.
But others saw him for who he really was. Shepherds in a field had an amazing experience of angels and then, St Luke tells us, went with haste to see the new baby. And then the shepherds went and told everyone about it, about what they had seen and experienced.
Others recognised who this child was – the magi: astronomers, astrologers, star-watchers, pagans. Matthew tells how they arrived and worshipped the child, offering him gold, frankincense and myrrh.
And what do we see when we look at the child in the manger? How do we respond?
There are different ways of responding to many experiences. Some of you will know, particularly if you are local, of the recent appearance of the rough-legged buzzard. News of its arrival travelled fast – not by angel or star – but predominantly via the Internet and mobile phone. Soon there were cars lined up along the Joint, and the twitchers were out with binoculars.
But the reactions of the people who saw the bird vary from person to person. The main aim of some of them is to see as many bird species as possible, and tick them off their list, before they move onto the next sighting of a rare bird. What’s important to them is the number of birds that they see.
Others come just to watch and be fascinated by part of God’s creation. They wonder at the grace and elegance of birds and see them as treasures in the landscape. They go away full of what they have seen, and often tell others excitedly of the joy it has brought.
Other people travelling along the same road don’t even stop, though they see all the cars, because they’re in a hurry or not interested in birds. Another type of person doesn’t have a clue what is going on but sees the cars, assumes something exciting is up, and gets out to find out what is going on.
As with the owls, the buzzard continues with its daily tasks anyway, taking no account of those who are watching it.
And what none of them know, or appear not to know, is that this buzzard was here last year as well, but the news hadn’t travelled so widely then.
Communication is at the centre of the Christmas story. God sent angels to tell the shepherds about the wonderful thing that had come to pass. God gave people a chance to recognise that their Messiah had come. The shepherds did their part. They responded in haste and then told people of what they had experienced.
And Christmas is all about God’s communication with us, God’s longing to get across to the human race how much he loves us.
God led the magi by a star to the place where the young child was. When they saw the child, they fell down and worshipped him, and then returned home another way because of their fear of king Herod.
Herod knew about the baby Jesus, but his reaction was a completely different one. The new baby had been referred to as a king. No one must be allowed to threaten Herod’s shaky grasp of power, his only authority allowed him by the Roman occupiers, so he commits the outrageous act of killing all the children in the Bethlehem are in the hope that he might just get Jesus out of the way. No such luck.
But Herod, the magi and the shepherds are characters of the past. They all saw different things in Jesus, but they recognised in him something that would mean the world would never be the same.
What, I wonder, do we see when we look at the baby Jesus? Do we tick off Christmas 2008 as one more celebration on the list, to last us until next year?
Do we ignore him totally – though we can cross that off the list of our reactions, for are we not all here together now, making worship a priority on this Christmas Eve night – or decide that we know others are celebrating so why don’t we join in too?
Do we travel past, knowing that people are celebrating and why, but decide that we have no interest or time to stop and linger?
Do we stop and wonder at God’s glory, and take time to recognise who this baby really is, not leaving him in the manger when we carry on our way, but taking him with us in our hearts?
The buzzard and the owls continue their lives whether they are observed or not. God’s life is like that too. God continues living and loving; whether we take notice of that is down to us.
God’s desire is not for us to come to the manger and then go away as if nothing had happened. God sent Jesus as proof of his love for creation. When he looked at earth and all its people, their sins and woes and sorrows, he didn’t remain detached but came down to join us. Christ doesn’t remain in the manger. Christ lives with us and shares our lives.
Christ is part of our world. Today, Christ will be with those who are celebrating his birth. Christ will be there at our tables, amidst the feasting and revelry. Christ will be alongside us as we share with family and friends. Christ will be there as we give and receive presents.
But Christ will also be with the down-trodden, with the Christians who are unable to celebrate openly because they will face persecution. Christ will be with those who are too poor for celebrations, because they are not sure where the next meal is coming from, let alone a Christmas dinner. Christ will be with those on their own today, feeling lonely and unloved. Christ will be with those who are hurting so much because it’s their first since a love one has died.
Christ will be with the downcast and sick. Christ will be with those who are dying and those who are being born.
Christ will be with those who are working during this Christmas season; Christ will be with those who are resting.
Christ is never far away. The babe in Bethlehem was born in a distant country in a long ago time, but part of our Christmas celebrations are because he didn’t stay there. The baby grew up, walked among his people, was crucified for us all, was raised to life, and lives still through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The shepherds came and stopped and spent time with the Christ-child, before they picked up their lives again and shared what had happened to them.
How will we leave the manger this evening? What will we take with us of Christ into our Christmas celebrations and beyond, into 2009 and our lives ahead?
Sermon – Barkway and Reed Advent 4 2008 January 31, 2009
Posted by hillmansc in Barkway, Reed, Sermons, Uncategorized.add a comment
2 Samuel 7.1-11,16; Romans 16.25-27; Luke 1,26-38
It must be here somewhere? I’ve looked where I last left it. Has someone moved it? I’ve gone through everywhere I’ve been today. I’ve checked all the bedrooms, the dining-room, sitting-room and study. I’ve had a look in the car and on the driveway. It must be here somewhere. Where on earth is it?
Perhaps I left it in Barley stores or at church? Maybe it’s in my coat pocket. I’m searching high and low but I cannot find it. Where is it?
And then, oh joy, it’s on the kitchen table. Right under my nose and I’ve walked past it several times without realising it.
I guess we’ve all had similar experiences. I spent five minutes looking for my glasses on Friday morning this week, not understanding why they weren’t in their case, until I twigged that I’d already put them on and had forgotten.
Searching for something we can’t find is a frustrating experience until we find the object of our search. Some searches are concluded quickly – perhaps we’ve lost the car keys or the dog’s lead. But many of the things that we search for are much more elusive. The search for happiness, for peace, for prosperity, for health and well-being is life-long task for many.
And what about our search for God? For thousands of years, people have embarked on religious journeys of seeking, physical pilgrimages as well as spiritual wanderings. The ideas of faith and religion are common to many, many societies and cultures though the expression of the experience of a greater being is varied.
The fact that round the world in modern and primitive societies religion is a feature of life suggests two things – one) that humans need to believe in something greater than themselves, and two) God exists.
But where is God to be found? One day God may feel very close to us; on a host of others, God seems to have slipped away from our lives. We reach out and grasp for God, only to find that he seems to have moved.
What is God? Where is God to be found? David thought he had the answer – God was in a tent in the ark of the covenant, where he had been residing for many years. Where the Israelites travelled, God came too, since they made sure that they carried the tent with them.
By the time of David, the Israelites were settled. David, the king, was living in a palace; if he had a fine building, then surely God too should have a smarter dwelling-place than a mere tent. Tents are fine when one is travelling but now that they were settled, surely God should have more permanent dwelling?
David’s got it wrong. God doesn’t want a temple in which to dwell at this time. Hasn’t he been with his people, shepherding them and caring for them, all this time? God’s house is not made of wood and stone; God’s house is not too be made by human hands. God instead would make David a house, and a kingdom that will last for ever.
This side of the incarnation we know what that means. It is not coincidental that in the first chapter John the Gospel-writer that when the Gospel-writer says “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” the words he uses for “dwelt” literally means “pitched his tent”.
The lesson David had to learn is that God had been with the Israelites from the start. God’s dwelling-place is far more dynamic than being confined to a palace.
God had been with them wherever they had gone. The God of power and transcendence; the God who had kept them safe and rescued them from the Egyptians and from other enemies; the God who had made the glory of the mountains and the abundance of the rivers, the beauty of the hills, and who had made David king.
Where is God to be found? For David, God lived in the tent, which had been with his people for generations.
David, a man of power, wanted to do something for God. But he was obedient to God’s will and allowed himself to be laid aside in order for God’s greater glory to shine.
God is beyond our understanding. We humans will never be able to fully comprehend the glory of God. We might want to capture it or experience for ourselves, but we will never fully understand it.
Our readings moved from David to Mary. Mary, in many ways, the opposite of David. She wasn’t rich or powerful; she wasn’t known to the people; she wasn’t old or influential; she was a woman; young and insignificant. But God used her. Where is God to be found? In Mary’s womb.
David desired to do something for God; I guess that Mary never dreamt that she would be able to do something for God. And yet, God asked her to be the tent in which he would dwell.
David was obedient in accepting that God did not want him to build a palace. Mary was obedient in accepting that she herself was to be the dwelling-place for God.
Where is God to be found? No longer in a tent or a temple, but because of Mary’s utter obedience, God can be found anywhere.
In some ways, the human search for God is in vain, because God is right here with us. Those who seek God miss him because he is right under their very nose. God is all around us – there is no place where God is not.
What do we see when we look at Mary? An obedient village girl? A disciple of Jesus? An unmarried mother? A refugee from Herod? The Christ-bearer?
Because humans struggled in their search to find God, God revealed Himself to them by becoming one of us. Sometimes our searches for God far and wide are not what is needed. Sometimes all we need to do is stop and see God in the world around us.
We see God the Creator in the beautiful countryside in which we live. We see God’s compassion when we see the poor and lonely being cared for, the hungry fed, the humble lifted high. We see God’s love at work when we know the power of forgiveness. We see God in the life of Jesus, the Messiah, through the pages of our Scriptures and in our own experience.
As we prepare for Christmas, let us move the focus of our search to the God who, though utterly powerful and transcendent, is also the humble God, small enough for each of us to know for ourselves. God the un-knowable becomes know-able through that child, born to the woman who said “Yes” to God.
David’s obedience allowed God to reveal his purpose for the house of David, not a house of wood and stone, but a house of people, from whom the Saviour was born.
Mary’s obedience changed the world for ever. God no longer confined himself to the skies above, but reached down with his hands of love and touched all those who saw in Jesus more than just a man.
And, as we look towards Christmas Day, let us pray that we see in the babe of Bethlehem more than just a child. Let us calm ourselves and reflect on the object of our search, God, in human form, made real for us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
THIS WEEK IN THE BENEFICE 1st February – 8th February 2009 January 31, 2009
Posted by hillmansc in Barkway, Barley, Buckland, Events, Forthcoming Services, Reed.add a comment
Sunday 1st February – Candlemas
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion (said), St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion with Junior Church, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
Monday 2nd February
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
6.00 p.m. Barley PCC, Willetts, Church End
Tuesday 3rd February
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
Wednesday 4th February
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Holy Communion, Magaret House, Barley
Thursday 5th February
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary’s, Reed
Friday 6th March
10.15 a.m. Church Mice, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
Saturday 31st January
9.00 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
Sunday 8th February – 3 before Lent
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Holy Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
5.00 p.m. Discover Sunday Candlemas christingle, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
THE COMING MONTH
(Morning Prayer usually takes place each day: Monday and Tuesday in Barkway; Wednesday and Saturday in Barley and Thursday in Reed)
Tuesday 10th February
12 noon Women in Theology Group, High Wych Vicarage
Wednesday 11th February
11 a.m. North Buntingford Group Council meeting, Therfield Rectory
Thursday 12th February
11 a.m. Reed Home Communion
12 noon Deanery Chapter, Weston Church
Sunday 15th February – 2 before Lent
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
5.00 p.m. All-age service, God’s love, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
Monday 16th February
9.15 a.m. Barkway Home Communions
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Prayer Group, Westfields, Barley
Thursday 19th February
10 a.m. Barkway Churchwardens meeting, 2 Stallibrass Mews
Saturday 21st February
2.30 p.m. Wedding of Nick Hillman and Lara Welch, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
Sunday 22nd February – Next before Lent
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway, with the Revd Janet Pratt
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion and Junior Church, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
Monday 23rd February
8.00 p.m. Deanery Synod, Royston Parish Church
Tuesday 24th February – Shrove Tuesday
10 a.m. Barkway Pancake Cofee Morning
12 noon (- 4p.m.) Save the Children Pancakes, Town House, Barley
Wednesday 25th February – Ash Wednesday
8.00 p.m. Holy Communion with imposition of ashes, St Mary’s, Reed
Saturday 28th February
11.00 a.m. Baptism of William Emerson, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
7.00 p.m. for 7.30 p.m. Barley Village Supper, Town House, Barley
Sunday 1st March – Lent 1
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion (said), St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion with Junior Church, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
Monday 2nd March
1.45 p.m. Lent Course – Faith, Hope and Love, Barkway Church Room
Tuesday 3rd March
8.10 p.m. Barley VC First School Governors, school improvement committee meeting
Wednesday 4th March
10.30 Holy Communion, Margaret House, Barley
12.30 p.m. Lent Lunch, Barley Town House
2.00 p.m. Clergy Cluster meeting, Great Hormead Vicarage
7.45 p.m. for 8 North Buntingford Group Lent Course, Rushden Village Hall
Friday 6th March
10.15 a.m. Church Mice – songs, stories, prayers for pre-school children and parents/carers, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
Saturday 7th March
7.30 p.m. Concert by Flautando (a flute, cello, harpsichord trio), St Mary’s, Reed
Sunday 8th March – Lent 2
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Holy Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway, followed by APCM for Barkway/Reed and bring-and-share lunch
THIS WEEK IN THE BENEFICE 25th January – 1st February January 24, 2009
Posted by hillmansc in Barkway, Barley, Buckland, Events, Forthcoming Services, Reed.add a comment
Sunday 25th January – Epiphany 3
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
Monday 26th January
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
8.00 p.m. Barkway VA First School full governing body meeting
Tuesday 27th January
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
1.00 p.m. Private cremation of Nancy Tranter
3.00 p.m. Thanksgiving service for the life of Nancy Tranter, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
Wednesday 28th January
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
Thursday 29th January
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary’s, Reed
Friday 30th January
Saturday 31st January
9.00 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
9.30 a.m. Mission Group meeting, Barley
Sunday 1st February – Candlemas
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion (said), St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion with Junior Church, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
THE COMING MONTH
(Morning Prayer usually takes place each day: Monday and Tuesday in Barkway; Wednesday and Saturday in Barley and Thursday in Reed)
Monday 2nd February
6.00 p.m. Barley PCC
Wednesday 4th February
10.30 a.m. Holy Communion, Magaret House, Barley
Friday 6th March
10.15 a.m. Church Mice, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
Sunday 8th February – 3 before Lent
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Holy Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
5.00 p.m. Discover Sunday Candlemas christingle, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
Tuesday 10th February
12 noon Women in Theology Group, High Wych Vicarage
Wednesday 11th February
11 a.m. North Buntingford Group Council meeting, Therfield Rectory
Thursday 12th February
11 a.m. Red Home Communion
12 noon Deanery Chapter, Weston Church
Sunday 15th February – 2 before Lent
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
5.00 p.m. All-age service, God’s love, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
Monday 16th February
9.15 a.m. Barkway Home Communions
8.00 p.n. North Buntingford Prayer Group, Westfields, Barley
Saturday 21st February
2.30 p.m. Wedding of Nick Hillman and Lara Welch, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
Sunday 22nd February - 1 before Lent
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway, with the Revd Janet Pratt
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion and Junior Church, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
Monday 23rd February
8.00 p.m. Deanery Synod, Royston Parish Church
Tuesday 24th February – Shrove Tuesday
10 a.m. Barkway Pancake Cofee Morning
12 noon (- 4p.m.) Save the Children Pancakes, Town House, Barley
Wednesday 25th February – Ash Wednesday
8.00 p.m. Holy Communion with imposition of ashes, St Mary’s, Reed
Saturday 28th February
11.00 a.m. Baptism of William Emerson, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
7.00 p.m. for 7.30 p.m. Barley Village Supper, Town House, Barley
THIS WEEK IN THE BENEFICE – 4th – 18th January 2009 January 3, 2009
Posted by hillmansc in Barkway, Barley, Buckland, Events, Forthcoming Services, Reed.add a comment
Sunday 4th January – Epiphany
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion (said), St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
Monday 5th January
8.15 a.m. No Morning Prayer
Tuesday 6th January
8.15 a.m. No Morning Prayer
8.10 p.m. Barley School Improvement Committee
Wednesday 7th January
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Holy Communion, Margaret House, Barley
11.00 a.m. Quinquennial Inspection, The Rectory
Thursday 8th January
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary’s, Reed
Friday 9th January
Saturday 10th January
9.00 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
Sunday 11th January – Baptism of Christ
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Holy Communion, St Mary’s, Reed, with the Revd Canon Michael Sansom
Monday 12th January
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
8.00 p.m. Deanery Standing and Pastoral Committee meeting, with Bishop and Archdeacon present
Tuesday 13th January
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.00 a.m. (-3.00 p.m.) Deanery Chapter Away Day, The Grange, Ardley
7.00 p.m. Barley VC First School full governing body meeting
8.00 p.m. Barkway VCC
Wednesday 14th January
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
Thursday 15th January
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary’s, Reed
11.00 a.m. Reed Home Communions
Friday 16th January
Saturday 17th January
9.00 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
Sunday 18th January – Epiphany 2
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
5.00 p.m. All-age service – being disciples, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
THE COMING MONTH
(Morning Prayer usually takes place each day: Monday and Tuesday in Barkway; Wednesday and Saturday in Barley and Thursday in Reed)
Monday 19th January
10.00 a.m. Discover Sunday planning meeting
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford rayer group, High Bank, Reed
Tuesday 20th January
9.30 a.m. Barkway Home Communions
Wednesday 21st January
7.45 p.m. Reed Vcc, September cottage, Church Close, Reed
Sunday 25th January – Epiphany 3
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
