2009 August « United Benefice of Barkway, Buckland and Reed with Barley

This Week in the Benefice 31st August – 6th September 2009 August 30, 2009

Posted by ktweston in Barkway, Barley, Buckland, Events, Reed.
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Monday 31^st August
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
1.00 – 4.00 p.m. Reed Village Day

Tuesday 1^st September
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Wednesday 2^nd September
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
North Buntingford Group Council, The Vicarage, Therfield
12.30 p.m. Eastern cluster meeting, The Vicarage, Therfield

Thursday 3^rd September
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary’s, Reed
Holy Communion Margaret House, Barley
5.00 p.m. Wedding rehearsal, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
7.30 p.m. Reed VCC, Priory House, Buckland

Friday 4^th September

Saturday 5^th September
9.00 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
2.00 p.m. Marriage of Steven Hyndman and Natalie Richmond, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Sunday 6^th September
9.00 a.m. Reed Holy Communion (said)
10.30. a.m. Parish Communion, 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 7^th September
Barley VC First school beginning-of-term service, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Thursday 10^th September
12 noon Deanery Chapter, The Vicarage, Great Hormead

Sunday 13^th September
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Holy Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
5.00 p.m. Discover Sunday – Joseph and his brothers, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Tuesday 15^th September
7.30 p.m. alpha supper and introduction to course, 27 Church Lane, Barkway
7.00 p.m. Barley VC First School Full governors meeting

Saturday 19^th September
2.30 p.m. Bishop of St Albans installation service and welcome, St Albans Abbey (ticket-only event)

Sunday 20^th September
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Holy Communion, St Mary’s, Reed

Tuesday 21^st September
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Prayer Group, The Rectory, Barkway

Wednesday 23^rd September
Hertford & St Albans Archdeaconry study day, University of Hertford

Thursday 24^th September
5.00 p.m. wedding rehearsal, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Saturday 26th September
Marriage of Tim Grimwade and Hannah Smith, St Margaret of Antioch
Barkway harvest supper, Village Hall

Sunday 27^th September
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Back-to-church-Sunday service, St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Monday 28^th September
10.00 a.m. Discover Sunday planning meeting, 2 Stallibrass Mews

Tuesday 29^th September
6.00 p.m. Barley PCC
7.30 p.m. ALPHA course, 27 Church Lane, Barkway

Wednesday 30^th September
8.00 p.m. Barkway VCC, Manor Farm

Thursday 1^st October
10.30 a.m. Holy Communion, Margaret House, Barley

Sermon Barkway & Reed 16th August 2009 – Trinity 10 August 25, 2009

Posted by ktweston in Barkway, Reed, Sermons.
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Proverbs 9.1-6; Ephesians 5.15-20; John 6.51-58

The Rev’d Sarah Hillman

The Bible is very clear about what it means to be wise. Our reading from Ephesians reminds us of this: “Do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Christians are reminded that we should live as wise people not unwise ones. In the context of this letter, understanding the will of the Lord requires living it out as well; one cannot fully understand God’s wisdom unless one is prepared to follow his will.

What the will of the Lord is can be hotly debated. The current issues in the Anglican Communion are, at heart, about God’s will. In a very simplified form, those of a more liberal persuasion put love and respect of people at the heart of their Gospel, while the more conservative population place following the letter of Scripture in the place of highest priority.

The debate requires an answer to where we find the will of God, and again there are various possible answers – the Bible, through prayer and the Holy Spirit, through the teaching of the Church and its tradition, through the gift of reason. The sad thing about the tearing apart of the Church is that all involved in the discussions are at heart trying to life out the will of God.

But let’s move away now from today’s issues and think about the questions of wisdom more widely.

We are given a picture in today’s Old Testament reading of Wisdom preparing a meal. She is ready to receive her guests – the animals have been killed, the wine mixed and the table laid. She issues an invitation to all who hear her call. “You that are simple, turn in here. Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine that I have mixed.” Swap simplicity for wisdom.

Her message to the simple could be rephrased – Come as you are. To eat and drink at her feast, you do not need to be proud or rich or intellectual. The bread that she gives will enable its eaters to leave aside immaturity and to walk with insight.

Walking with insight is another way of expressing doing God’s will. It reminds me of what Jesus said about those are well not needing a doctor but that he had come for those who were sick. Wisdom is also available to those who know they are in need; those who are too proud do not accept that there is anything missing in their life.

Why are people so reticent about discussing spiritual things? Why are religion and politics two of the subjects you should never discuss at dinner parties?

I suspect it is because in many cases those who talk about religion and politics are not good listeners but spend all their energies trying to persuade people that they are the ones with the right answers. I guess too that many other people are not confident enough to express what they think and to admit that faith is an important aspect of their lives.

Let’s look at Wisdom’s house. It is a large one, with an entrance portal of seven pillars. Seven was a number that represented completeness, perfection. It’s a house that invites everyone in, a house with wide doors.

There’s a prayer written by Thomas Ken who lived between 1637 and 1711 that echoes this thought of a door wide enough for all:

O God,
make the doors of this house wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship,
narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride and strife,
make its threshold smooth enough to be no stumbling block to children nor to straying feet
but rugged and strong enough to turn back the Tempter’s power.
God, make the doors of this house the gateway to thine eternal kingdom. Amen.

God’s kingdom is large enough to welcome all; it’s only us that make love too narrow. Wisdom involves seeing the world with God’s eyes.

God’s kingdom is not a place for loneliness and isolation, but a place of community and love. We are companions along the way.

As I mentioned last week, the word companion comes from the Latin for with bread – a companion is one with whom I share bread. Bread is not something to be eaten alone.

The idea of eating alone in the time of Jesus was unheard of. It just wasn’t done. Meals played an important part in family and community life. People didn’t live alone as we do today, so every meal was a shared meal. Wisdom invited people to a shared meal; Jesus does the same.

Meals are about sharing together with others as equals. Wisdom invited people in to eat together not to listen to a sermon. I wonder whether that has anything to teach us about our hospitality as churches. Meals build friendships. Meals are celebrations of God’s provision for us, and joyful occasions. It’s not co-incidence that when we celebrate, be it Christmas, Easter, anniversaries, birthdays, new jobs and so on, many of us go for a meal.

One of the reasons why the ALPHA course has been so successful is because it begins with a meal. People relax and get to one another over food and drink, so that when it comes to discussing deep and important things, they have already built up some kind of relationship with those with whom they will be chatting.

I was struck a couple of weeks ago on Sunday evening when I was doing the ironing. Wife Swap was on the television.

This episode involved two families, one of whom ran a pub. In the evenings the children were left on their own upstairs to entertain themselves, while Mum ran the pub and Dad spent time socialising with the customers. Mum would ring upstairs each evening, ask what the children wanted for supper, get the pub chef to make it, take it up to them and leave them to it.

One of the things the children wanted most was to be able to have shared meals with their parents. The new wife, when it was time for her rules to be introduced, made this a priority. The children enjoyed it, and interestingly enough, when the programme re-visited the family three months later, they had decided to give up the pub so that they could have more of a family life.

Even within families these days people become isolated. I know of many families who rarely eat together or if they do it’s on laps in front of the telly rather than engaging each other in conversation.

We lose sight of the fact that we are a community. And church has also been struck with this modern-day isolation. Every member of the church is part of a community; church life is not just about me and God, but about me, God and others. If I’m missing, the whole community is affected. There is, if you like, an empty seat at the table.

The Jewish people to whom Jesus was speaking were scandalised by what he said about eating and drinking his flesh and blood. We are so used to the idea of holy communion that we forget that they would have probably assumed he was talking about cannibalism. No wonder they were scandalised.

We know that that is not what he meant. We come together Sunday by Sunday to share his flesh and blood. We come Sunday by Sunday to take part in a meal, a shared meal, a meal that is at the heart of the Christian community.

In the eucharist we eat bread and wine as symbols of Christ’s body and blood, but it is much more than that that we do at the altar rail. By kneeling and receiving bread and wine, we are laying ourselves open to being fed, not just by bread and wine, but by the body and blood of Jesus.

As Christians we need to keep returning to Jesus, to keep seeking him in our lives. It’s not at all surprising that Jesus instituted a meal as our way of remembering him. People interact with one another at a meal table. Sharing meals, when done properly, builds community.

We know from the Corinthian Church that not everyone gets it right. There the rich and poor ate separate meals even though all were part of the Christian community.

In our epistle reading today, Paul warns against drunkenness – it may be that shared meals were being distorted by too much wine being drunk. There were religious sects around who used alcohol as a way of inducing spiritual ecstasy. It may be that Paul’s warning had this in mind – they were to sing hymns and psalms not drunken rabble-rousing songs.

We should ask ourselves how we see the eucharist, the central Christian meal. Do we welcome all to our table? Are we there as wise or as foolish people? Whom do we exclude and why? Why do we sometimes exclude ourselves and refuse the invitation to join Jesus and his family round the communion table?

Wisdom and Jesus have big tables and large entrance halls. Are we going to accept their invitations? If we are worthy to gather round the table, then there is no one who should be missed out when it comes to sending invitations.

And there isn’t. Jesus’s invitation to eat and drink is for all. May we never limit that because of our own lack of welcome or prejudices.

“Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” The only qualification needed is to accept the invitation.

Sermon St Mary’s, Reed, 15th August 2009 -Patronal Festival Evensong August 25, 2009

Posted by ktweston in Reed, Sermons.
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Isaiah 61.10-11; Luke 1. 46-55

The Rev’d Sarah Hillman

Question 1: What does it mean to be human?

A deeply philosophical question about which I’m sure we could debate all evening. Perhaps it’s something you might like to ponder during the coming week.

Question 2: What does it mean to be human in relation to God?

Again it’s a question that we could debate for hours.

The first question is worth asking because our humanity is what makes us different from dogs, cats, pigs, tress, butterflies, amoebae, and so on. It’s about the core of our being.

Scientists have shown us that human DNA is not so different from that of some of the animals, and yet we know that we are very different in our ability to think, our greater capacity for deep communication and so on.

All human beings have our humanness at the centre of our being.

Those of us who are people of faith also believe that we have God at the centre of our lives. Our identity is shaped not only by virtue of our being human, but also by our being created by God and in a relationship with God that springs from God’s love for us.

Christianity is often distorted, but at its very heart is a relationship with God. From our point of view it’s never a perfect relationship – God in his love for us is unchanging; our love for God is like a fleeting wind, which comes and goes and is rarely constant in its strength.

Sometimes, to mix my metaphors, our faith is like a dwindling candle flame, struggling to stay alight; at others our love for God is like a burning furnace, full of power and energy.

We are all 100% human because that is what we are. But we can also learn how to be more human, and by that, of course, I don’t mean through changing our physical being but in how we live our lives. If Jesus was the perfect human being, as Christianity teaches, then we can all become more human.

Today is the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our patronal festival. Mary was the pattern for Jesus’s humanity. Mary taught Jesus what human love is. It’s always a reflection of God’s love – remember the words from the first epistle of John: “We love because he first loved us.” But so often we humans mirror God’s love so poorly.

Mary taught Jesus through her example. Jesus was part of an earthly family – that was an important element in God’s plan of salvation; Mary, the one through whom he engineered it. We too can learn from the example of Mary more about what it means to be human in relation to God.

First Mary was obedient to her calling. When the angel announced that she was to bear a Son, Mary’s response was to accept her vocation willingly. I’m sure at the time of the annunciation, she had no idea what it would entail, but she didn’t stop and pick out all the flaws in the plan or make excuses for why she couldn’t do this, she accepted it.

There are many people who find this hard. I know a fair number of clergy who spent time – sometimes years – avoiding the fact that God was calling them into the priesthood. But it’s not just clergy, and it doesn’t relate only to jobs. It can relate to the small daily choices that we make in our lives too.

Obedience to God requires that in our approach to everyone we are loving. That means we have to be loving even to our enemies. In fact, through love, enemies can become friends.

I’m not sure that there is anyone in my life whom I would term as an enemy, but I do know that sometimes it can be hard to love even those whom we love. For love is about the bad times as well as the good. Love is about responding in forgiveness when we are hurt by someone, and often the hurt is greater when it’s caused by someone close to us. Love is about making a choice in how we respond to someone – it sounds a bit contrived – and difficult because often we act before thinking – but it’s worth asking before we are tempted to react in a less than Christ-like way, What is the loving thing to do?

I found myself in a position only this past week where my hurt human instinct was to react in one way, while the Christ-like response was to forgive and keep on caring for the person who had hurt me. And I was aware of battling with myself to ensure that I acted in the right way. We all get it wrong sometimes but I did find that objectively asking myself the question about what was the loving to do helped me in my response. And sometimes it’s a question we have to keep on asking, however mangled we are.

Mary was obedient – and it took her to some tough places. Her love never stopped. The marriage vows are a very explicit expression of what love means, in that it is something that transcends good times and bad times, times of plenty and of paucity, times of sickness and health. While marriage is a particular type of relationship, and those vows lifelong promises of commitment between two people, the underlying sense of what it means to love can be applied to all relationships.

If we are to be loyal and good friends to others, we are there for them in good times and bad; in times of sickness and health. Mary’s love for her Son took her to the foot of the cross, where she watched and waited until her precious child had died. We need to be there for them whatever happens.

Mary was also humble. When God called her to be the Christ-bearer, she accepted her role. Humility is often mistaken as being a doormat. But humility is not about being downtrodden, but about not lifting oneself up above others and lording it over them. Mary bore the Son of God, and yet she remained a loving, humble mother. She didn’t seek glory for herself, even though she had been the chosen one.

Mary knew what God’s values were. We sang earlier the Magnificat, that wonderful canticle of praise spoken by Mary after the annunciation – my soul doth magnify the Lord, and my Spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

She knows where her praise needs directing, not at her own self for being chosen, but at God because he had chosen her.

And in the Magnificat we have a wonderful expression of how God’s values are upside down from our own. The hungry are fed, the humble and meek are exalted, the mighty and proud brought low.

Humility for Mary was not about seeing herself as nothing, but about seeing herself in the correct relationship with God, whom she knew to be the Provider of all that she had, the source of her life and being.

And so we come back to what it means to be human in relation to God. It means recognising that God is the Source of all. It means living lives dictated to by love – the love of God and the love of others. It means seeing everyone as having value as children of God and treating them in the way in which we would like to be treated.

Mary was the example for Jesus of what it means to be human. She can be the example for us all. Her obedience to God, her love, and her humility we would do well to emulate.

Sermon Barley 9th August 2009 – Trinity 9 August 25, 2009

Posted by ktweston in Barley, Sermons.
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1 Kings 19.4-8; John 6.35, 41-51

The Rev’d Sarah Hillman

What more can one say? This is now the third week when the theme of our Gospel readings had been bread – and we’re not finished yet; we have another two weeks of bread to go. There are some wonderful threads on the web full of preachers asking one another what on earth they can say now about bread.

Some people advise speaking on one of the other passages set for today – but that seems a little bit like a cop out. Others become involved in long and complicated theological analysis; some pick out one or two words and concentrate on them, building up a case as to why they are important, and so on. That’s after three weeks; I’ll be interested to read them in another two.

So, yes, it’s bread again.

I wonder whether any of you know how Hovis attained its name?

Originally it was called “Smith’s patented germ bread” – hardly a snappy title, so Richard Stoney Smith who invented the wheatgerm flour that made such a difference to bread ran a competition for a new name. People were not initially tempted to eat brown bread when they’d only been used to white, so he hoped that a new name might encourage them to try it. The winner was a man, Herbert Grime, who chose Hovis – derived from the Latin words for strength and man.

It’s an appropriate name – bread gives strength. And that’s what Jesus is saying too, though in a slightly different way. Bread gives life. Everyone can understand that. But where people’s understanding became a bit confused was when Jesus started talking about himself being the bread.

The crowd were scathing about Jesus’s claim to have come down from heaven. What are you talking about, they said. We know you’re Joseph and Mary’s boy? We know who you are. There’s no way that you can be from heaven.

But let’s think about bread. Cultivation of wheat began in the Middle East, thousands of years ago, probably in the area we today call Iraq. It became a staple part of the diet, a necessary foodstuff for a healthy life. That’s how Jesus sees himself – a necessary part of a fruitful life.

The people weren’t going to have to tear him limb from limb to eat him literally. The point he was trying to make is that life is found by believing in him. Bread feeds the body; Jesus feeds the soul. Later in this service, we will share bread and wine, a reminder both of the Last Supper and the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus himself. Jesus the bread gave up his life.

And that’s where baptism comes in too. At baptism, parents and godparents say that they believe in Jesus, that they turn away from the wrong they have done and claim a new start for their child. In baptism there’s a recognition that for a healthy life, we need to believe in Jesus. The water that we use in baptism represents life too, since nothing can live without it.

All God asks of us is that we believe in Jesus. In today’s reading Jesus says: “Whoever believes has eternal life.” That’s all we have to do.

Now, when we do believe there are things to help us along the way. Eva’s at the beginning of her journey in life, and she will need lots of things to help along the way. She will need to eat and drink, to learn to walk, to learn how to read and write, how to be safe, how to look after other people, and how to receive love from her parents and other people.

The Christian journey is a bit like that too. Christians are born when they begin to believe in Jesus, and want to make God part of their lives. Today we are formally marking the beginning of Eva’s Christian journey. Her parents and godparents are saying, on her behalf, that they want God to be part of her life.

So as she grows, I hope that she will learn the stories of Jesus, that she will learn how to pray and enjoy being with other Christians. The word companion literally means “the one with whom we share bread”. A Christian companion is someone with whom we share the bread of life. What we have in common is a belief in Jesus.

Eva’s helps can include the Bible, where she can read about God and Jesus. Her helps can include becoming part of a Christian community, meeting with others in church week by week. She can learn from the example of loving behaviour that her parents and others can give.

And Victoria and Elliot and Eva’s godparents are making promises today that they will enable her to experience all these things, and that they want her to follow the Christian path.

So my prayer for Eva and for all of us is that we come to know the fullness of the life that Jesus brings, that we learn to dine on the bread of life, and drink from the living water that is a source of life, now and for evermore. Amen.

This week in the Benefice 24th August – 30th August 2009 August 24, 2009

Posted by ktweston in Barkway, Barley, Buckland, Events, Reed.
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Monday 24^th August
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Tuesday 25^th August
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Wednesday 26^th August
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Thursday 27^th August
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary’s, Reed
5.30 p.m. Wedding rehearsal, St Andrew’s, Buckland

Friday 28^th August

Saturday 29^th August
9.00 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
12.00 noon – 4.00 p.m. Barley church fete, The Manor, Barley

Sunday 30^th August
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Holy Communion, St Andrew’s, Buckland

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 31^st August
Reed Village Day

Wednesday 2^nd September
North Buntingford Group Council, The Vicarage, Therfield
12.30 p.m. Eastern cluster meeting, The Vicarage, Therfield

Thursday 3^rd September
Holy Communion Margaret House, Barley
5.00 p.m. Wedding rehearsal, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
7.30 p.m. Reed VCC, Priory House, Buckland

Saturday 5^th September
2.00 p.m. Marriage of Steven Hyndman and Natalie Richmond, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Sunday 6^th September
9.00 a.m. Reed Holy Communion (said)
10.30. a.m. Parish Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
6 BCP Evensong St Mary Magdalene, Barkway