United Benefice of Barkway, Buckland and Reed with Barley

Sermon Barkway 8th November 2009 – Remembrance Sunday

ktweston — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:08:14 +0000

Second Reading, from the Gospel of John Chapter 20: 1-18

The Rev’d Sonia Falaschi-Ray

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t enter. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they didn’t understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she didn’t recognise him. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him off, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I’ve not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

93 years since battle of the Somme
That battle alone claimed 1 million 200,000 lives
I should like to read you part of an account, written by a young British lieutenant, of one day at the Somme and its aftermath.
First, the telegram to his father

20^th September 1916

Sir, I regret to inform you that 2^nd Lt A A Vandyk, 24^th London Regiment was admitted to No.10 Red Cross hospital, Le Tourquet on Sept 18^th suffering from gunshot would in head, slight.

21^st September 1916 Lady Murray’s ward, No.10 Red Cross hospital, Le Tourquet

My dear parents

I think some days ago I promised you an account of the whys and wherefores. Well here goes. My company was in reserve of the battalion where we were holding the line before the attack. On our right were the New Zealanders.

During the previous days we had gradually been surrounded by batteries of field guns and heavy artillery and the roar was something intolerable. The place was simply seething with them and the limbers bringing up the ammunition pulled up actually on top of our men. By the time we left, every available trench was overcrowded by humanity. On the way, we got a good view of the “Tanks” of which we had heard but had not yet set eyes upon.

[There are then some details of troop movements. To continue] I witnessed the bombardment. For 20 minutes from 6am every battery for miles around kept up rapid fire. As we advanced, Red Cross vans were speeding up and away again. Stretchers, German and English walking cases, German prisoners and officers un-wounded were all mixed up. Everyone had wandered down from the front line. Germans were being made use of, to carry both their own, as well as our men.

Our special job was to make our way through the wood to reach our first and second objectives. The wood was at the top of the ridge and the walk “over the top” was not so bad except for shells and shrapnel flying around. Bodies were lying around us, dead, maimed and wounded and I really thought that some of the men would turn, but they stuck it splendidly. We emerged [from the wood] and I left the other battalion of our brigade digging in, as we advanced to our second objective 600 yards ahead in a hollow. I got my men in a sort of line and carried on, taking advantage of shell holes as we could.

At the first go off the man immediately next to me was shot through the head and fell without a groan. Another chap got a bullet though his finger. I managed to get on a bit when I caught a bullet in my head. I dropped like a log and thought I was done for. Blood flowed and I became weak, convulsive about the legs and I waited. I don’t know how long I lay there but I gradually recovered my sense, and crawled into an empty shell hole. As I got up I distinctly remember seeing three Germans in a shell hole nearby at least one of whom was alive. I began to feel at home in my shell hole and applied a field dressing to my head. It was five past six in the evening and I had lost all sense of time. I settled down to spend the evening there. Shells were landing and bullets whizzing but I felt quite safe in my hole. I then espied my helmet and I discovered a bullet hole clean through the right front and the steel around the left centre simply curled upwards and outwards in shreds.

[Well around 10pm his sergeant found him and, with some difficulty, they made their way back to the British lines. He continued] I will not burden you with the wearisome details of my passing from the dressing station to the field ambulance thence to the advanced clearing station, the clearing station and thence to here. Yours affectionately Arthur.”

That was written on the 20^th September. Remember there were no antibiotics at that time so seemingly slight wound could have serious consequences. On the 30^th September a signal was sent to London. “Lt AA Vandyk deteriorated from seriously ill to dangerously ill today.” In fact they took him out to bury him at one point, but he indicated he was still alive!

At this point his parents went out to visit him in the French hospital behind the lines, as he was not expected to survive. A Military car and escort was laid on.

Telegram:October 20^th Lt Vandyk removed from dangerously ill list today.

Eventually he got home and had hole in his head in which he could hide a ping-pong ball, brushing his hair over the top

That Lieutenant was my grandfather whose medals I am wearing today.

Huge memorial arch to the Missing of the Somme at Thiepval, designed by Edwin Lutyens, which is on one of slides you’ve been seeing. This arch is the principal tangible expression of the defining event in Britain’s experience and memory of the Great War of 1914-1918. On the disastrous first day of the battle on 1 July 1916, there were 60,000 British casualties, of whom 20,000 died.

I’d like to read you a description of a visitor to the memorial in a book by Gavin Stamp. [p172-3]

‘As she came up to the arch Elizabeth saw with a start that it was written on. She went closer. She peered at the stone. There were names on it. Every grain of the surface had been carved with British names; their chiselled capitals rose from the level of her ankles to the height of the great arch itself; on every surface of every column as far as her eyes could see there were names teeming, reeling over surfaces of yards, of hundreds of yards over furlongs of stone “Who are these…?” she gestured with her hand. “These” The [gardener] man with the brush sounded surprised. “The Lost.” “Men who died in this battle” “No. The lost, the ones they didn’t find. The others are in the cemeteries.” “These are just the unfound?” She looked at the vault above her head and then around in panic at the endless writing, as though the surface of the sky had been papered in footnotes. When she could speak again she said, “From the whole war?” The gardener shook his head. “Just these fields.”’

Here we have a woman shocked by the evidence of death who cannot comprehend that these are just the lost. Reading that I was reminded of another woman who was shocked at the death of a man in whom she had had so much hope. Mary Magdalene went to Jesus’ tomb and found it empty

“Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. ……….”They have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they’ve laid him.” His body is lost, we only have his name.…..She turned and saw Jesus, but she didn’t recognise him. He said, ” Why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She thought he was the gardener,… Jesus called name, “Mary!” “Teacher!”. Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold on to me,…But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ Mary sees the risen Jesus and after that hundreds of people see him before his ascension into heaven. He is alive and, even though we can’t see it, his Spirit is with us.

But where was he in the carnage of the Somme? How could he allow such a thing to happen? He was there in the trenches sweating blood, terrified; cut down by machine gun and pinned to barbed wire; he was there in the field stations as wounded survived; he was operated on, barely alive; he was in the hands of the surgeons and nurses; up to his neck in mud, blood and curses. He was at home when the cable arrived. For you he was crucified, for you he died, for you he is risen and glorified.

He allows us to have freedom of action, wherever that might lead. He didn’t make us obedient robots, but freedom allows us to perform both good and evil acts. However he is longing for us to let him into our lives and if we do, if we just say, “Lord Jesus, I’m sorry for what I’ve done wrong in my life. I now turn from all that. Thank you for dying for me. Please come by your Spirit and live in me.” He will. He will be with us all the way, until at last we find our rest in him.

Sermon Barley 8th November 2009 – Remembrance Sunday

ktweston — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:02:30 +0000

Micah 4.1-5; Matthew 5.43-48

The Rev’d Sarah Hillman

I wonder what words you would use to describe war.

Get ideas.

Throughout the ages, people who have been caught up in war have written about their experiences in prose and poetry. The First World War, a war like no other, in which millions were killed led many to write poems. Some of those who fought became famous for their writing – Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sasson, Rupert Brooke, John McRae. Others caught the mood of the time, and though they did not fight, still used poetry to express deeply held feelings about war.

Laurence Binyon’s words are used the world over on Remembrance Day. We have used them already in this service, but what many of you will not have heard is the complete poem from which they came.

Binyon was moved by the number of casualties early in the War, and though not a soldier himself, he penned these words.

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of spirit,
fallen in the cause of the free.
Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
and a glory that shines upon our tears.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
they fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
we will remember them.

They mingle not with laughing comrades again;
they sit no more at familiar tables of home;
they have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
they sleep beyond England’s foam.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
to the innermost heart of their own land they are known
as the stars are known to the night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
as the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
to the end, to the end, they remain.

The poem reminds us that, so often, the casulaties of war are young – back then young men, now too young women. Lives that end too early because of carnage and slaughter. Binyon did see the horror for himself later. He was too old to sign up as a soldier but in 1916 went out to the battlefields as a Red Cross volunteer.

Wilfred Owen’s poem Anthem for Doomed Youth echoes that thought in its title, and expresses the agonies of the loss of life.

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles rapid rattle
can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, the shrill, dementedchoirs of wailing shells;
and bugles calling for them from sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes
shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;
their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
and each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Back in the First World War, the bodies remained where they fell, later to be buried far from home. Rupert Brooke’s poem The Soldier reminds us of this

          If I should die, think only this of me,
          that there’s some corner of a foreign field
          that is for ever England.

In the past year, the last three British survivors of the battlefields of the First World War died. They were men who had lived through immense changes in their lives, who had coped with the horrors of what was supposed to have been the war to end all wars. Society had changed for ever.

Soldiers who have died are no longer left abroad, but brought home with ceremony and dignity.

But some things haven’t changed. Wars come and go. We heard last week that more British troops have been lost in 2009 than in any year since 1982 and the Falklands War. It seems that there will never be a war to end all wars.

Today soldiers are still writing poetry to express their feelings about conflict. There are echoes in them of the sentiments we find in the earlier verses.

Here is A Soldier’s Plea by Bradley Shane.

If only all the dead could cry out
in a single roar
and say don’t send a mother’s son
to die a death in war.

They’d say look at how we lay
without life or limb
the bullet that tore our breast so wide
has caused our eyes to dim.

The flash of a musket,
the crack of a bullet’s speed,
a small piece of death is sent
to splinter bone and bleed.

The cannon sends a rain of death
of steel and grit and bone.
Pay no heed to the dying man
or take pity on his moan

The orders are always the same
move forward, boys, make haste:
a yard of ground a league today
don’t think of the horror and the waste.

The war boys, the war’s for all
God’s on the side that’s right.
But the devil owns the battlefield
when you hear the cries at night

A drummer rolls a steady beat,
a bugle plays a mournful tune,
a sword is dipped in honour
for the mother’s son who died too soon.

War begins when dialogue fails. Harry Patch and Henry Allingham, two of the three veteran soldiers who died this year had strong words about war. Patch said: “It wasn’t worth it. No war is worth it. No war is worth the loss of a couple of lives let alone thousands. T’isn’t worth it.”

And Allingham’s words: “War’s stupid. Nobody wins. You might as well talk first. You have to talk last anyway.”

The hard thing about dialogue is that it needs both sides to participate and that rarely happens.

War leave broken people, devastated lands and smashed hopes and dreams. And that hasn’t changed. Harry Patch said before he died: “It’s right that we should think about the fighting men of the Great War. But that still goes for our boys who are sent off to battle now, in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. Let’s remember them too. They come back bloodied and broken, just the same.”

This is a sermon, but there’s one thing I haven’t yet mentioned: God. Where is God in the battlefields? Many people in the First World War had their faith challenged, and I’m sure many do today. But many also gain hope and courage from faith.

In an interview, Anthony Feltham-White, an army chaplain in Afghanistan, says this: “I am constantly humbled and amazed by the extraordinary courage and commitment shown by our soldiers in this most hostile of environments.

“Our services and Bible studies are always well attended, but what impresses me are the myriad conversations I have with soldiers in the most extraordinary places. Most of my battalion wear a cross on their dog-tags, and are constantly asking me to pray for them and with them; some are even baptised while out here. There is an old expression that there is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole. In many ways it still holds true.”

“A six-month operational tour uses all my reserves of everything. Immediately I think of ‘footsteps in the sand’ as I feel the arms of God carrying me every step of the way. Being among and ministering to the young men and women of our Armed Forces is a remarkable privilege and extraordinarily fulfilling, but on operations it is a roller-coaster ride. I’m on my knees by the end – but perhaps that is the best place to be.”

God is right there in the midst of battle. God does not take sides in war, for God’s aim is peace. It is not God who fights but human beings. What God sees is his beloved people of every creed and colour, destroying each other and the world.

The six moral values of the army – selfless commitment, respect, loyalty, integrity, discipline and courage – are all values dear to God.

Anthony Feltham-White also says in his interview: “My favourite part of the Bible is the Sermon on the Mount. It’s all there in those three chapters in Matthew. If only we all took to heart what Jesus is explaining, then our soldiers would not have to be fighting and dying in this place.”

And what are those words. We heard some of them earlier.

Jesus said: You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

This Week in the Benefice 9th – 15th November 2009

ktweston — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:52:36 +0000

Monday 9^th November
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
12 noon Deanery Chapter with Archdeacon Trevor Jones, Buntingford Church

Tuesday 10^th November
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
Discover Sunday planning meeting, 2 Stallibrass Mews, Barkway

Wednesday 11^th November
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
12.30 Deanery cluster meeting, Great Hormead Rectory

Thursday 12^th November
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary’s, Reed
7.45 p.m. Carol Service practice, Barkway House, Barkway

Friday 13^th November
9.00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m. Book Sale St Mary’s, Reed

Saturday 14^th November
9.00 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
9.00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m. Book Sale St Mary’s, Reed
10.00 a.m. Working Party, Barkway Church

Sunday 15^th November
9.00 a.m. Parish Holy Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion + Baptism of Katie Maddison, St Mary’s, Reed
5.00 p.m. All-age service, 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 16^th November
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Prayer Group, Aylwins, Roe Green

Tuesday 17^th November.
7.30 p.m. ALPHA course, 27 Church Lane, Barkway

Thursday 19^th November
8.00 p.m. Deanery Synod, Buntingford church

Saturday 21^st November
5.00 p.m. Friends of Barkway Moonlight Market

Sunday 22^nd November
9 a.m. Parish Holy Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion + Junior Church, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. BCP Matins, St Mary’s, Reed

Monday 23^rd November
6.00 p.m. Barley PCC, venue TBA

Tuesday 24^th November
7.15 p.m. Barley VC First School Governors Meeting, School

Wednesday 25^th November
North Buntingford Group Council, Barkway Rectory

Thursday 26^th November
7.45 p.m. Carol Service practice, Barkway House, Barkway

Saturday 28^th November
10.00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m. From Here to Eternity – a study day on worship, Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban Cost £10.00 more details from Sarah

Sunday 29^th November
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Holy Communion, St Andrew’s, Buckland
2.30 p.m. Baptism of Victoria Stevenson, St Mary’s, Reed
5.00 p.m. Discover Sunday – Advent, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Tuesday 1^st December
7.30 p.m. ALPHA course, 27 Church Lane, Barkway

Wednesday 2^nd December
7.30 p.m. Barkway VA First School Governors meeting, Flint House, Barkway

Thursday 3^rd December
10.30 a.m. Holy Communion at Margaret House
7.45p.m. Carol Service practice, Barkway House, Barkway

Saturday 5^th December
11.00 a.m. – 4.00 p.m. Children’s activity day – St Nicholas – St Margaret of Antioch and school, Barley
Friends of Reed Church Christmas Supper

Sunday 6^th December
9.00 a.m. Holy Communion (said) St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Special St Nicholas service, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
11.30 a.m. Christmas Market, Barley Town House
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
6.30 p.m. Farewell to Canon Robin Brown at evensong in the cathedral

Monday 7^th December
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Prayer Group, High Bank, Reed

Tuesday 8^th December
7.30 p.m. ALPHA course, 27 Church Lane, Barkway

Thursday 10^th December
All day Barley VC First School rehearsals in church
6.30 p.m. Barley VC First school Christmas Concert
7.45 p.m. Carol Service practice, Barkway House, Barkway

Sunday 13th December
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Holy Communion St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
3.00 p.m. Joint Chapel and Church Carol Service, St Mary’s, Reed
5.00 p.m. Christingle service, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
6.30 p.m. Carol Service, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Monday 14th December
Barkway VA First School put staging up in church

Wednesday 16^th December
10 a.m. Barkway VA First School end-of-term service, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Thursday 17^th December
All day Barkway VA First School rehearsals in church
6.00 for 6.30 p.m. Barkway VA First School Christmas Performance, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
8.00 p.m. Carol Service practice, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Sunday 20^th December
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 Parish Holy Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
4.00 p.m. Carol Service, St Andrew’s, Buckland, followed by tea + mince pies
6.00 p.m. Nine Lessons and Carols, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Thursday 24^th December
5.00 p.m. Crib Service, St Mary’s, Reed
8.30 p.m. Holy Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
11.30 p.m. Midnight Mass, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Friday 25^th December
10.30 a.m. Christmas Holy Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Sunday 27^th December
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Holy Communion, St Mary’s, Reed

Sermon Barley & Barkway 25th October 2009 – Bible Sunday

ktweston — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:35:54 +0000

Isaiah 55:1-11, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5, John 5:36b-end

The Rev’d Sonia Falschi-Ray

“My word… that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” “My word”, the word of God, is a dynamic and performative act. Dynamic, as in a powerful, propelling action of the will of God. And performative, as the act of speaking brings the intention into being. On a human scale that can be like saying “Congratulations!” The utterance of the word is the act of congratulating. On God’s scale he said “Let there be light” and there was light.” The word of God. How do we access the word of God? Well one important way is by reading the Bible. The Bible, as you know, is more like a library than just a book, containing as it does a range of different types of books: history, poetry, prophesy, prayer, biography, parables the use of metaphor and mythology. (By mythology I don’t mean fairy stories or ancient Egyptian and Greek tales of gods and monsters, but of stories which contain important truths of God’s relationship with us and the nature of humankind packaged into accounts which may not be historically factual.) For example I view as myth and parable the story of Adam and Eve and, in the words of Milton[1],

“Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden.” till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,…….

……Say first–for Heaven hides nothing from thy view,
Nor the deep tract of Hell–say first what cause
Moved our grand parents, in that happy state,
Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall off
From their Creator, and transgress his will
For one restraint, lords of the World besides.
Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?
Th’ infernal Serpent; he it was whose guile,
Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived
The mother of mankind, …..

However, whatever genre the books of the Bible are written in, Christians believe that they are all inspired by God. That in them he has revealed himself and revealed the relationship he would like to have with us. Not all of it is an easy read, and some parts, especially in the Old Testament, can offend modern sensibilities. Why does the God seem to be so bloodthirsty? Why do the Israelites have to fight to clear the promised land of its inhabitants and continue to fight to maintain its boarders? Well tackling that could involve an entire sermon series. In part, God is attempting to bind a people together and educate them in his will for all mankind. The diktat of ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, is to bring proportionality into retaliation, rather than escalating violence and having intergenerational blood feuds. Later on Jesus developed that thinking further telling us to love our enemies. However, God always starts with us where we are, drawing us onward to become more like him, if we are willing. The word of God is to an extent codified in the Ten Commandments. Many rules and regulations were added on, some in scripture hopefully inspired by the word of God and some, as Jesus pointed out, rules made merely by men.

Then the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. Jesus admonished his critics saying, “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”[2] Jesus in person took some of the words of God, the Ten Commandments and expanded their meaning, most memorably in the sermon on the mount. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil……. You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”[3] He also emphasized the underlying spirit of the law, the principles rather than the technicalities, for example, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. …….. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. ……. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Jesus made himself very unpopular with the political and religious leaders of his day by combating their legalism which ran contrary to God’s intentions. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!”[4] The scandal of our MP’s expenses falls straight into this category. The purpose of their expense allowance is that they should not be out of pocket by having to maintain a London residence. It was drafted at a time when MP’s were expected to act as their title suggests, ‘honourable’ members of the House of Commons and the ‘noble’ Lords. However, many seem to have operated on the basis of “what can we get away with within the “rules”?” to enhance their life-styles. This got to the stage of some MP’s claiming for imaginary mortgages and one claiming a spare room in her sister’s house was her principal residence, (rather than the large family home in the constituency where spouse and children resided)! When caught out, so many of them just didn’t “get it”. “We operated within the rules”, they complained. The general public may not act all that honourably itself, but it knows a scam when it sees one.

The Bible, the Word of God is to guide us. As the letter to Timothy says, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” The Bible is not just an old book. It is inspired by God and contains his living word. It can speak to us personally and the more we read it, the more we will be able to discern God’s voice speaking to us and into our situations, both personally and corporately, as a church, a village community, or even a country. It is often best to have a systematic approach to reading the Bible, using the lectionary will get you though most of it over three years. Alternatively, choosing a theme helped by using Bible notes or a commentary. Or, just starting with a book and, maybe, alternating between the Old and New Testaments. Many lifelong church-going Christians have a sketchy knowledge of the Old Testament and as Jesus said, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?” By ‘Moses’ Jesus here means the first five books of the Bible, the Torah, which were thought all to have been written by Moses at that time. The Old Testament shows us how God formed a people for his own possession and without it there can be little understanding of salvation history and the importance of what Jesus did on the cross.

There is a, possibly apocryphal, story of a man who wanted spiritual guidance, believing that God would speak to him through the Bible, so he opened it at random. His finger fell on, Mat 27:5 “Judas ‘departed; and he went out and hanged himself” “Oh no the man thought, that can’t be right”, so he tried again, Luke 10:37, “Go and do thou likewise” In despair he thought he’d have one more go, John 13:27 “What you are going to do, do quickly”. So, random verse selection may not be the best way to seek God’s guidance.

However, I will finish with an example of God seeming to speak to me directly through the Bible. I’m sure many of you will be able to offer your own examples. Shortly after I had come to faith on an Alpha course at Holy Trinity Brompton, I was approached by a woman, whom I shall call Clara. She was in my Home Group and was aware that I had had a highly paid job in the City of London. We were numbered about 10, who met weekly to study the Bible, pray together and enjoy each others’ company. Clara suggested she and I have lunch together, during which she explained that she was in a tight financial situation, (she was a free-lance journalist). She then said that God had told her that I would give her £1000 in order to pay a tax demand. Now I can be a bit of a soft touch, often getting my chequebook out as my heart is moved even before the end of the sob-story. I felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. Having listened I left the restaurant table and went to the loo, where I got down on my knees in a very small cubicle. I was troubled, it didn’t feel right and I prayed, “God if this is from you, let me know. Please give me a sense that you have spoken to Clara and you want me to give her the money.” I felt nothing, heard nothing, saw nothing. I returned and regretfully refused. She was pretty put out. The next morning I was still perturbed. Had God spoken to her? Was she prophesying? I turned to the Bible and asked God to speak to me through it and he led me to a passage I don’t believe I had ever read before, 1 Kings Chapter 13. Briefly, a man of God prophesies disaster to the king of Judah, the king hates it but his arm is withered as he tries to strike the Man of God who, on request, prays and the King’s arm is restored. “Then the king said to the man of God, ‘Come home with me and dine, and I will give you a gift.’ But he replies, ’If you give me half your kingdom, I will not go in with you; nor will I dine. For thus I was commanded by the word of the LORD: You shall not eat food, or drink water, or return by the way that you came.’ So he went back another way. Now there lived an old prophet in Bethel, he went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak tree. He also invited him home for dinner, but got the same rebuff. Then the old prophet said to him, ‘I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD: Bring him back with you into your house so that he may eat dine.’ But he was deceiving him. Then the man of God went back with him, and ate and drank but, as they were sitting at the table The LORD spoke though the prophet, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD, … your body shall not come to your ancestral tomb.’ Then, as he went away, a lion met him on the road and killed him.” [5] The old prophet had said, ‘An angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD.’ But he was deceiving him. That was what I was given, a deceitful, false prophet. I am not aware of a similar situation begin described anywhere else in the Bible. I felt a lot better after that!

So the Bible is the living word of God and the more we read it the more we will be able to discern God’s voice.

[1] John Milton, Paradise Lost opening stanzas 1667

[2] John 5:39-40

[3] Matthew 5:17, 27-8

[4] Matthew 23:23

[5] 1 Kings 1-24

Letter from Sarah – November 2009

ktweston — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:38:39 +0000

Will you remember me?

Will you remember me when I am dead and gone?

Our graveyards are full of stones and memorials to those who have gone before us. Quite a few of the graves mark the resting-places of people whom no one alive now has known personally. Many graves are never visited; their occupants forgotten.

Others, often where those who have died more recently lie, are cared for every week – I love watching the flowers change as the seasons roll around. People who have been known and loved are remembered with sadness at their passing and joy for all that they meant to their families and friends.

In Barkway churchyard is a wonderful, weather-beaten, wooden cross. It remembers “John Collins, who lived in the woods”. He was born in 1887 and died in 1974. I have no idea who put the cross there, but I find it poignant that someone cared enough to remember him.

Who was he? I don’t know, though I guess there are some who do. The cross marks a life, a life lived and now gone.

November is a month of remembering. We remember the saints of the church, past and present, on 1st November, All Saints’ Day. We call to mind those whom we have known and loved on 2nd November, All Souls’ Day, and, of course, we recall the lives of those who have died in war on Remembrance Day.

Remembrance Day seems to have regained importance in recent years, since fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan has meant that soldiers are again being regularly killed. How do we remember them? Why do we remember them, when we don’t know them?

War is never a good thing. It causes devastation and bitterness, destruction and hatred. We know from our news how young men and women are still dying in conflict, still giving up their lives to protect others. That is worth remembering, and giving thanks for.

It reminds Christians, of course, of another man, who gave up his life 2000 years ago, that others might live. He walked the path of love, not hatred. If we all managed that, then the world would be a better place.

We can’t change everyone, but perhaps we can start with ourselves. If our remembering is to take on a positive meaning, then let it draw us towards peace and love.

With best wishes, Sarah

Sermon Reed & Barkway Sunday 1st November 2009 – All Saint’s

ktweston — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:34:41 +0000

Isaiah 25.6-9; Revelation 21.1-6a;

John 11.32-44

The Rev’d Sarah Hillman

“As important as it is to mark the places where we meet God, I worry about what happens when we build a house for God. Do we build God a house so that we can choose when to go see God? Do we build God a house in lieu of having God stay at ours? Plus, what happens to the rest of the world when we build four walls – even four gorgeous walls – cap them with a steepled roof, and designate that the House of God? What happens to the riverbanks, the mountaintops, the deserts ad the trees? What happens to the people who never show up in our houses of God?”

That was a quotation from a book I’m reading at present by Barbara Brown Taylor, an American priest.

The book, An Altar in the World, aims to show readers how they can find God’s presence in the world around them without going on long pilgrimages or to special places.

Reflecting on what I’ve read in that book leads me to the conclusion that one of the things the saints managed to do was to be aware of God’s presence in the world around them. No one becomes a saint by notching up a record number of church services, but by living out the Gospel. That, of course, is a calling for all who name themselves Christians.

Of course, we need to remember that church is about much more than a building. Brown Taylor continues with some words about St Francis. “The people of God are not the only creatures capable of praising God, after all. There are also wolves and seals. There are also wild geese and humpback whales. According to the Bible, even trees can clap their hands.

“Francis of Assisi loved singing hymns with his brothers and sisters – who included not only Brother Bernard and Sister Clare, but also Brother Sun and Sister Moon.

“Francis could not have told you the difference between ‘the sacred’ and ‘the secular’ if you had twisted his arm behind his back. He read the world as reverently as he read the Bible. For him, a leper was as kissable as a bishop’s ring, a single bird as much a messenger of God as a cloud of angels. Francis had no discretion. He did not know where to draw the line between the church and the world. For this reason among others, Francis is remembered as a saint.”

So often we seem to lock God into a church building and then leave the divine there. But God is truly everywhere, and the saints were those who recognised that.

If we go back to the Bible, we have stories of God speaking to people in a whole host of places: on the top of mountains, under tress, by rivers, in the wilderness. We have stories of God revealing the divine presence in a still, small, voice, through the stars in the sky, a burning bush, a whirlwind. Jesus teaches using everyday images, showing how God is very much in life outside the building. He uses lilies and sparrows to get his message across, bread-making and shepherding, parties and crop-growing.

There are saints who are known for doing great things, but they were always people who knew God in their daily lives. There are countless stories of the saints and today, All Saints’ Day, we can remember some of them.

But All Saints’ Day also helps us to remember those countless saints whose names we don’t know, who are not famous, but who have lived for Christ, who have known his presence with then and in their communities and who have served him wholeheartedly. There have been many Christian martyrs – what made martyrdom possible was their belief that God was with them this side of the grave and would be with them on the other too.

Those who are saints are those who give attention to God. If we look at our daily lives, I wonder how much of that we actually do. Do we see God in the trees and fields around us as we drive or walk the dog? Do we find God in other people?

Mother Teresa believed that her work with the impoverished people of Calcutta was “doing something beautiful for God.”

She said: “There is always the danger that we may just do the work for the sake of the work. This is where the respect and the love and the devotion come in – that we do it to God, to Christ, and that’s why we try to do it as beautifully as possible.”

Mother Teresa’s life in Calcutta was full of clamour and noise. There is not much peace in the crowded slums. But as with all the saints, she found too that she needed space and quiet. And ensuring that she found these enabled her also to find the presence of God in the dirty, poverty-stricken, forsaken, noisy city.

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. . . We need silence to be able to touch souls.”

It is the times of space and silence and attention to God that enable us to find God’s presence also in the noise and clamour.

In times past, one of the ways in which God’s presence was celebrated and linked to ordinary life was through the festivals. Yesterday evening All Hallows’ Eve was often spent in a quiet vigil, preparing for the celebration of All Saints’ the next day, and then All Souls’ the day after. Now it’s a day of witches and ghouls, trick or treating and celebrating the darkness.

Religious festivals took on greater significance than they do today. For one thing, they were days off work, days for the family and community. Days when everyone would stop and take part. Nowadays those of us who have faith celebrate our festivals while the world carries on. Christmas is really the only Christian festival that is still widely celebrated. And for many the celebration of Christmas is done without Christ.

If we want others to find God, we need to be better at recognising God’s presence in the world than we are. We need to learn to be more attentive ourselves to God. Mother Julian of Norwich learned this. She was ill when she had her first vision. As she looked she saw all creation as if it were a hazelnut in the palm of her hand.

“And in this he showed me something small, no bigger than a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed to me, and it was as round as a ball. I looked at it with the eye of my understanding and thought: What can this be? I was amazed that it could last, for I thought that because of its littleness it would suddenly have fallen into nothing. And I was answered in my understanding: it lasts and always will, because God lives it; and thus everything has being through the love of God.”

It is about being attentive to God in the world. All the saints managed this. For them God was not confined to church for an hour on Sunday, but was an active part of their daily lives. They were aware that, though separate from God, they were also inseparable; that wherever they were or whatever they did, God was there. Now we may fully believe that God is everywhere, but I wonder whether that knowledge is something we live out or just something that we believe but which makes no difference to our lives.

God is alive, and faith is something living and changing and life-transforming. If we go into a room and there is another human being there, rarely would we ignore them, but we spend most of our lives unaware of God’s presence with us.

There is a religious discipline of paying attention: being aware of God in our daily lives. It takes time and space to start with but as we become more attuned to God we find that we will become more aware of God’s presence with us, wherever we are.

Faith is not just about a God who lives in heaven. It is about a God who came to earth, and lived as one of us. It is about a God who still lives with us, though the power of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes it means turning aside as Moses did with the burning bush, but more than anything it means being aware of God in the now. As R. S. Thomas puts it:

I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the pearl
of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it.

I realise now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

This week in the Benefice 2nd – 8th November 2009

ktweston — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:28:54 +0000

Monday 2^nd November
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
12.30 p.m. Deanery cluster meeting, Great Hormead Rectory
8.00 p.m. All Soul’s Day – Service of Thanksgiving for those who have died, St Mary’s, Reed

Tuesday 3^rd November
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
7.30 p.m. ALPHA course, 27 Church Lane, Barkway

Wednesday 4^th November
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
7.45 p.m. Growing Together in Christ, Great Hormead Church Room

Thursday 5^th November
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Holy Communion at Margaret House, Barley

Saturday 7^th November
9.00 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10 a.m. -12 noon Save the Children sale, Barley Town House
7.30 p.m. Strictly Come Barley, Town House, Barley

Sunday 8^th November
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion with Act of Remembrance, St Mary’s, Reed
10.40 a.m. Remembrance Service, Barley, beginning at War Memorial
10.55 a.m. Remembrance Service, Barkway, beginning at War Memorial

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 9^th November
12 noon Deanery Chapter with Archdeacon Trevor Jones, Buntingford Church

Tuesday 10^th November
Discover Sunday planning meeting, 2 Stallibrass Mews, Barkway

Wednesday 11^th November
12.30 Deanery cluster meeting, Great Hormead Rectory

Thursday 12^th November
7.45 p.m. Carol Service practice, Barkway House, Barkway

Friday 13^th November
9.00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m. Book Sale St Mary’s, Reed

Saturday 14^th November
9.00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m. Book Sale St Mary’s, Reed
10.00 a.m. Working Party, Barkway Church