| November
letter by the Curate, Mandy Flaherty
Dear Friends,
If any of you have ever bought a property, a house, a flat or a bungalow, you will probably have experienced a degree of frustration as the sale moves, often excruciatingly slowly, towards completion. And along the way, there may have been complications, surprises, difficulties with vendors, sellers, surveyors, estate agents, solicitors, mortgage companies and a whole host of other people and organisations that are involved in the sale of a property. Buying or selling a property is frustrating and can take a long time, often not the six or eight weeks that is promised! It is listed as one of the `big' life changing events and can create lots of stress in our adult lives.
Buying a house is also an exciting time: preparing to make a place a home, the feeling of pride in what you have got, putting your personal stamp on a place ; and it is an integral part of our British culture too. In other countries in Europe and the rest of the world, buying a house is not seen as a necessary part of a successful adult life. For many in other countries, the option of buying is not available; for others, it is not deemed necessary to own your own home. The ownership is in how a place is treated rather than who owns the bricks and mortar. And let's face it; those of us who have had long mortgages; how long is it before we actually own more than just a few bricks in the place we have bought?! I'm still at the stage where the years of payments stretch ahead endlessly before I can say I own the small flat I have just bought. And I know that many of you have been/are in that situation too.
As a parish, we are in an exciting but perhaps frustrating position of wrestling with the issues over the purchase of the Rectory site. It is an enormous challenge to the people of the parish which has been met with some relish and positivity when we see how much has been pledged in loans over such a short period of time. An amazing response! However, there is caution and reservation and rightly so. All big challenges need to be faced with realism
and thought before proceeding.
In all of these things, we seek God's will and if I look at much of the Old Testament, I see that the issue of buildings is often the bane of the Israelites as well as us in 2005. There is the building of the Temple in Solomon's day , fraught with difficulties! Then there's the building of the city walls in Nehemiah , a project where the people had to be encouraged to be strong and march round the city walls a number of times to claim it as their own. Then, of course, the Israelites lost everything as they went into exile and had to rebuild much later.
And so it seems that there was this continual excitement of expectation and then dashing of hopes as the Israelites, often through their own fault and disobedience, acquired, settled and made a home, then lost a battle and were exiled. There is this continual cycle of being established and having God on their side and then being attacked and losing everything.
But they stuck it out and so did God.
I have often wondered why the Old Testament veers so starkly from God's encouragement to the Israelites to keep going, to God promising to punish and bring down his wrath on them because they have turned away from Him. This is sometimes difficult to come to terms with but when you know the Israelite cyclical history of gaining everything and then losing it because they have not followed God's ways, it goes some way to explaining the swings in temperament.
I do believe that God is a God of encouragement and this is borne out in the words of the prophets Amos and Joel as they speak at a time when Israel was in exile and had lost everything. Then, God's words were timely and encouraging;
In that day the mountains will drip new wine, And the hills will flow with milk; All the ravines of Judah will run with water A fountain will flow out of the Lords house
And will water the valley of acacias. (Joel3:18)
I believe God's word to us now in this parish is timely and encouraging. Many people have demonstrated what they feel about acquiring the Rectory site and we have a cautious optimism, a realistic excitement about proceeding. And I believe that the psalmist's words from Psalm 127 are key here:
have sought guidance as a parish and that God's people have responded in all kinds of ways. That should encourage us that we are, ultimately, building God's house and are not labouring in vain. So, let us be encouraged by that thought, and whatever work we do, whatever involvement we have in the parish and at whatever level, let's be encouraged that just as God helped the Israelites build their house for His Glory, so he will help us build ours for His Glory.
Mandy.
October Letter, by the Team Vicar, Simon Harvey
Dear Friends,
Did you know that Simon Harvey is a leading member of The Communist Part of Great Britain? Or that Michael Rusk is a Director of Educational Planning at the Community College of Denver? Or that Mandy Flaherty competes in the Pentathlon?
All of this may come as something of a surprise to the good people of Oadby.
But before you wonder why your clergy have enough time on their hands to be pursuing these extra-curricular activities, I should point out that the Simon Harvey in question is not the Team Vicar at St Paul's Church. Nor is Michael Rusk of Denver doubling as your Rector. And Mandy Flaherty is not juggling her curate’s responsibilities with the demands of athletics.
It’s all down to Google.
Google (www.google.com) is the biggest and best internet search engine. The world-wide-web contains such vast amounts of information that a way to search for key words is essential. Google lets you enter a word or a phrase and then, within a fraction of a second, offers you a choice of websites that contain the phrase you’re looking for.
So interested in local weather records? Type “Oadby weather” and follow one of the links. Fancy a pizza in Great Glen? Enter “pizza” and “Great Glen” and you’re on the way to supper.
A few years ago I first tried entering my own name in Google to see what happened. I confess I did so with a mixture of curiosity and vanity – had the ‘real’ Simon Harvey (i.e. me) made it onto the web. In those days the web was much smaller, with a fraction of the pages than there are today. Even so I got a rewarding crop of results. I was pleased to see that my name appeared on the pages of the company I worked for, and an article I had written for was referred to on another site. But I spotted Simon Harvey the Communist leader, Simon Harvey the Australian voice-over artist (“Simon's versatility has let him establish a reputation & clientele that covers all areas of voiceover work with excellence.”)
These days, Google will lead you to Simon Harvey working for Cancer Research, as a stained glass artist and a translator of Voltaire. Oh yes, and Team Vicar in Oadby Parish.
I find it just a little disconcerting to see “my” name being used by these others. They feel a little like impostors – but perhaps they feel the same about me. My name matters to me. My parents gave it to me and every time it has been spoken in my presence and every time I’ve seen it written down, it has meant nothing else but me.
What’s in a name? Would a rose, by any other name, smell as sweet?
In the bible, names are often especially significant. Not only do they identify a particular person, but the name given at birth is often a statement of the circumstances of the event, whether happy or sad.
So Sarah, who laughed uncontrollably to discover that at a ripe old age she was to give birth, named her child Isaac, meaning ‘he laughs’. Adam, whose name derives from the Hebrew for ground was formed from the soil. Moses was drawn out of the water by Pharaoh’s daughter, and named after the phrase ‘drawn out’.
Some poor children bore names which carried a more tragic significance. Pity little Ichabod, (“the glory has gone”) named after the Ark of the Covenant had been stolen. And the prophet Hosea’s children Loh-ruhamah (“not pitied”) and Lo-ammi (“not my people”) presumably struggled through life as a testimony to God’s displeasure with his people at that time.
Joseph received an angel’s command to name his firstborn son ‘Jesus’. Similar to Joshua, it means ‘God saves’, or ‘God brings salvation’. How fitting for the child who came to save.
What about your name? Have you ever found out what it means?
Perhaps your name matches your personality or perhaps it doesn’t. Perhaps it’s a popular name or may be you’re the only person who bears it. No matter, because although names are important, you are uniquely you. Not just one in a million, but the only one of you that there is. And loved by God for being you.
Simon Harvey
September Letter
Dear Friends,
This month of August has been a great time of challenge and delight for me. The challenge has come in the form of a book that I discovered on holiday - Dr. Gillian MacKeith's 'You are what you eat.' Noticing one or two other members of the family reading it. I began to glance at its pages. It was a shocking experience. I found that my high sugar, low fibre, high caffeine diet was roundly condemned. In terms of my food preferences I failed on all accounts. It was an odd experience: I had never really thought that I was ultimately responsible for what I eat and drink. Grammar school education in Northern Ireland never taught me anything about food. I was too busy learning the declensions of Latin verbs. Moreover, in that matriarchal society men never had to think about what they eat, because it was the women who monitored that and put the food on the table for three meals a day. Perhaps it helped that Dr. MacKeith came from a similar background as she grew up in Scotland. To my surprise, I decided it was time for a change.
To demonstrate to the family, I was serious, I announced to their surprise that for the rest of the holiday I would give up coffee, tea, sugary snacks, and alcohol. The days of "More tea, Vicar!" had finally come to an end! The first 48 hours, I was a bit ratty, and my head felt in a bit of daze. Most of all, I missed a cup of coffee at I I o'clock. But after a few days, I felt fine. I undertook one or two trips to the supermarket and came up with a new regime. In place of chocolates, there were nuts, dried fruit, and dates. I also bought a wide range of herbal teas: discovering nettle and fennel for the first time. My grandfather had been a great advocate of nettle soup. The dining table groaned under lots of fruit and vegetable: if one needed to snack then there was plenty to snack on. Back from my holiday. I have not been quite so rigid about what I eat and drink - the occasional cup of tea and chocolate biscuit comes as an absolute treat-but I have changed the sort of food that is around the kitchen, In many ways, shopping has become easier because the bulk of what needs to be bought (or grown) according to Dr. Gillian is fruit and vegetable.
The Christian tradition has always had an important interest in food. Bread and wine are brought to the Holy Communion service, blessed, distributed, and consumed. Many of us remember a childhood, when it was fish for Friday, The great monastic houses, as well as the varying seasons of the Church's year - feasts on Holy Days, and fasting in Lent - provided a natural rhythm to eating which ensured balance, and good health. So much of this has been lost in the post-modern era. Thankfully there are a few prophets left who question what we eat and where it has come from.
I believe that it is important for us as a Church to rediscover the centrality and the spirituality of food and drink, What we choose to eat, how we prepare it, and how we eat it, fundamentally affects how we are as individuals and as a society. Having the mindset to face up to these questions for many of us does involve a conversion experience. The church has a wonderful opportunity at being at the forefront of the dietary debate that could bring about a profound change in the nation's health and well being. It is a challenge.
The delight for me this summer as for many others has been the splendid and stupendously exciting Ashes Test Matches. The epic encounters between England and Australia at Edgbaston, Old Trafford, and Trent Bridge have been truly enthralling, At the end of a summer when there has been so much suffering and anxiety as a result of the London bombings, cricket has come as a splendid example of all that is good and right in our culture, In an era when so much of our national identity is tied up with the world superpowers - with what the United States is doing, and what China will be doing - it has been wonderful to set all that aside and focus on playing cricket against the Australians - no foreign policy to worry about, no influx of cheap clothing - just the Ashes to play for and to win. Even the national newspapers have put cricket not just on the back pages as the lead story but on the front-pages too,
Last October, a senior sports editor of the Sunday Mail assured me that no sport could ever supplant the dominance of football on the back pages. But cricket has this summer, and it is wonderful to celebrate its emergence again as a national sport. Even humble Channel 4, which usually only gets a handful of viewers, has suddenly discovered an audience of millions, The Daily Telegraph predicts that for the final Test at the Oval that begins on Thursday September 8th that the economy is in danger of coming to a standstill for 5 days, as workers tune in to the match. Isn't this wonderful in a country that has been overrun by the desire to make money and where people work harder and longer than anywhere else in Europe? So there is for me in the cricket a hint of godly play, God creates us to enjoy life and to celebrate it, And at times, the best we can do is just to enjoy that and to play. (It would also be a very good thing if we could win the Ashes as well!)
Michael Rusk.
Numbers recommended to train as clergy continue to rise
A total of 564 men and women were recommended to train as future clergy in the Church of England in 2004 - the highest number in six years. The figure represents an increase of more than 10 per cent over the 505 recommended in 2003. It has only twice been exceded in the last 20 year: in 1986 and 1998. The recommendations include 284 men and 280 women, There were 51 selection conferences last year. attended by 727 candidates testing their vocations. This year is expected to see 52 selection conferences with more than 740 candidates.
The increase in 2004 was among candidates in the 50-plus age bracket, where recommendations rose from 150 in 2003 to 210, The Archbishops' Council's Ministry Division is responding to this trend through a young vocations initiative. The initiative will include teams of clergy and ordinands in their 20s giving presentations in parishes or Higher and Further Education chaplaincies, taking stalls at university careers fairs and encouraging incumbents and chaplains to recruit actively.
 August Letter, written by our Team Minister to the
Parish, Helen Bence
Dear Friends,
August - school is out and the lazy, hazy days of summer beckon. Are you ready for a holiday and looking forward to it? Maybe you've already had your holiday and, now you're back in the swing of things, it's as if you've never been away. Perhaps, you'd love to go on holiday but can't take one this year, because of ill health, or finance, or simply because you are too busy.
Holidays are big business these days and I got to wondering why. I concluded that essentially we are seeking something which is missing in our day-to-day lives: we may be looking for "sun, sea and sand" - wanting to give our own children the fun we remember from our own childhood holidays, or looking to re-connect with family and friends in a society in which community and family bonds seem hard to sustain; we may be looking for "peace and quiet, rest and relaxation," a time in which to recover from the stresses of our workaday lives; we may be keen on more active pursuits, looking for new adventures, challenge and excitement to balance the hum-drum existence in which we feel confined for the rest of the year; or we may be seeking "personal space" for recreation (re-creation) in an overcrowded world.
The strange things is, very often when we return from our holidays, we either quickly forget the holiday we've just had, or it's been a disappointment and we thumb through the brochures in the hope of finding the Perfect escape next year.
Perhaps we need a different approach to the whole thing. Perhaps we need to rediscover what holidays are really all about. The word "holiday" is, of course, a corruption of "Holy Day" - and it's not just a linguistic corruption - holy days /holy space are no longer a part of most people's expectation of holidays
though, it is true to say that retreats and pilgrimages to places like Lindisfarne and Iona are increasingly popular in a society which is seeking to re-connect with the spiritual dimension of life.
I used to "escape" as often as I could and "survive" in between. Then I took stock and decided that this was not the way life was meant to be - life is for living, not waiting for jam tomorrow but enjoying jam today. And I happened to read at the time about the idea of "mini-breaks", not in the sense of a weekend away, but in the sense of making time and space just for myself on a daily or weekly basis; time and space in which to enjoy what has the power to restore me. For me, that something is time with God.
Of course, God had the idea of mini-breaks long before I did:
"For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day,
a Sabbath of rest to the Lord." (Exodus 35.2)
Sunday trading has done much to destroy the specialness of Sunday, yet we can still decide to chose our Maker's intended rhythm of life - days of rest - holy days - days in which we become whole.
"There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest." (Hebrews 4. 9-11)
Throughout the gospels, we read of Jesus seeking out lonely and solitary places, across the lake or up mountains, to pray and spend time alone with God. It seems he needed this as part of the natural rhythm of his life. I love walking, losing myself in the countryside, yet in recent months a combination of energy-draining conditions followed by hayfever and asthma have meant I have had to miss out on this pleasure for much of the time. But that doesn't stop me taking a spiritual holiday, "walking" with God in spirit, even when I'm confined to the house. Jeremiah says:
"Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." (Jeremiah 6.16)
And on this spiritual walk, even though I may not physically be able to get to remote and beautiful places, God:
"makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul." (Psalm 23.2-3)
But walking with God on a daily basis can be more than a gentle, restorative stroll,
For all of us, including those who seek novelty, there is the biblical promise of the spiritual excitement of God doing a new thing, of totally transforming our dried up lives:
"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. (Isaiah 43.19)
For those seeking re-connect with family and friends in a society in which community and family bonds seem hard to sustain, the summary of the law given by Jesus has got to be the basis:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment, And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself." (Matthew 22.37-39)
And those seeking peace in a stress-filled life have the promise of "perfect peace" (Isaiah 26.3) for those who trust God, a peace which can come even when you can't believe it's possible:
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus," (Philippians 4.4-7)
But maybe, peace is the last thing on your mind and what you are looking for is adventure, a challenge. Having tried to match my elder sister's adventurous and risk-taking exploits as a child, with broken bones and a dislocated neck to prove it, I'm reasonably unadventurous on a physical level - you wouldn't catch me abseiling down a rockface or white water rafting for example - but if adventure and challenge is what energizes your inner being, as it still does mine, then the challenge and adventure of really living the gospel takes some beating.
So, this summer, whether you can get away on holiday or not, why not reconnect with or boost the spiritual dimension of your life by setting time aside to enjoy "mini-breaks" with God.
Happy holiday!
Helen Bence
July Letter - written by our curate, Mandy Flaherty
Dear Friends,
Father God, I wonder how I managed to exist,
Without the knowledge of your parenthood and your loving care.
But now I am your child, I am adopted in your family
And I can never be alone `cause
Father God, you're there beside me.
As I prepare to go on retreat ready for my ordination as Priest on Saturday July 2nd, I find myself reflecting on how the year has been and the events that have made up that year. Of course, I have spent much time endeavouring to get to know the parish and its people and I have been amazed by the huge variety of experiences I have had, ranging from schools work, to performing occasional offices like funerals and baptisms to putting on productions and events. And I am still not good at remembering names!
It has been a busy and eventful year, both for the Parish and me. We have had all the building work taking place in the Church Hall, now called St Peter's Centre, and we are very pleased to welcome Leicester Social Services into their new premises this week. The clients are delighted to be here, it seems, and we are delighted to welcome them. Fund raising has been at its optimum this last six months and grateful thanks go to all efforts.
As I try to take a little time out for personal reflection on my retreat, I am reminded of the above song that helps me to sigh with relief at times when I realise the extent to which God loves and accepts me as His own child - and hoqw much safety and security that offers.
Some of you will be aware of my plans to adopt a child and a fuller account of my thoughts and plans is given in my article, below, `The Adopted Child'. In going through the very intense adoption application, I have experienced highs and lows as I have been interviewed, taken part in preparation classes, written statements, collected references and finally sweated through the gruelling Selection Panel before being finally told that I have been approved to be an adoptive parent. The elation was immense -I was going to be a mum! And once this had subsided, I sat and thanked God -that He had brought this about, and that He was my Father who loved me as His own child.
Have a happy Summer!
Mandy
The Adopted Child
For many years I have been interested in the subject of adoption. Ever since I spent time in China and visited the orphanages that were to become the subject of the 1992 documentary `The Dying Rooms', I have pondered over the child whose start in life is a struggle and who needs a home. My very best friend in China was a single woman in her early thirties. She was a very practical, down to earth woman and one day she said to me `do you want to come with me to the orphanage?' The invitation was matter of fact and incidental so I said yes, without thinking too much about it.
I was not prepared for what I saw in that place:-
Wooden cots with no bedding and four or five babies left to fend for themselves - not picked up, fed or cuddled. The older children were dirty and stank of urine sitting around on bare concrete or wandering aimlessly round the playground, matted hair and vacant eyes. The most horrific sight was seeing toddlers tied to a slatted bench above a long drain to control their 'incontinence'. Most of these children had not ever been stimulated in their young lives and those who survived babyhood never learned to walk or communicate properly.
It was clear from that first visit that my friend wanted to be more involved than just as a casual visitor and two months later she took `Rachel' (not her real name) home from the orphanage with a view to adopting her. She said she'd seen in Rachel's eyes a child who was fighting to survive and whose eyes followed my friend round the room. It took two more years in China for the adoption to be finalised there and a further year back in England for my friend to become the first British single woman to adopt a child from China. That was twelve years ago and Rachel is 15 now. My friend has three more Chinese children and is still single.
During the time in China with Rachel, I co-parented with my friend to allow her to continue with her job and support herself and Rachel in a very difficult situation. Those were fraught but exciting days and I reflected much on the `ethics' of the situation, the maternal instincts that appeared from nowhere and what God might think about it all.
Adoption runs right through the bible as a theme and as an actuality. It is a recurring theme that demonstrates God's relationship and love for us. In the Old Testament, God is continually turning His face towards his people whom he has chosen to be his heirs and to form a covenant with;
`And I will make my covenant between me and you, and I will make you exceedingly numerous' (Gen 17:2)
I have seen Rachel grow up over the years and she is fully aware of the circumstances of her adoption and I would guess that she is also deeply understanding of being chosen to have a different life from the one she was destined for.
The Israelites are continually 'without' in the Old Testament. They suffer abuse, live in exile, rebel against God and have trouble 'growing up', like many children put up for adoption. God calls them his 'rebellious children' (Isaiah 30:1) and claims them as his own;
'Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he the child I delight in? As often as I speak against him, I still remember him'
(Jeremiah 3l :20)
I have reflected much on the issue of adoption over the years, both as the increase and ease of foreign adoptions has been much in the media and as I have looked into the British Adoption system. As a single person, in the past I did not have the courage nor the conviction that it was right to do what my friend did and willingly create a single parent family. It has not been easy for her and I have watched her journey, reflecting on my own situation and vocation over the years. I have considerably shifted my position since then and see the worth of adoption, in whatever family set up, as rightfully fulfilling natural desires to be a parent and to offer care to one who has been chosen rather than rejected.
Many times I picked up and put down the probability of me adopting as a single person, deciding it was not the right time for a variety of reasons. In August 2003, I picked up adoption again and I didn't put it down. Over the last two years or so. I have been going through an application to adopt a child. Because of my ordination and move to the parish, the application had to be delayed, but now the application process has been completed and I have been approved to adopt one white child, of either sex, aged 0-5yrs. I am now waiting to be matched with a child but don't envisage this happening before September -and I might have to wait much longer.
I am very excited about finally being a parent and, as Curate to the Parish, I wanted to have an opportunity to tell the people I live with and work with. The next few months and years will bring about much change in my personal life but I am committed to my Vocational calling as a Priest, as well as to being a parent.
Adoption is recurring metaphor that is used throughout the New Testament to describe our destiny with God and his familial love for us. I am profoundly moved as I reflect on this truth and wonder how I will see this in the creation of my own family.
Thanks for listening!
Mandy.
June Letter
Dear Friends,
A major feature of the new government's legislative programme is to introduce Identity Cards. While the aim is reduce the Civil Service by thousands of jobs in other sectors, a complete new department will have to be created. The cost of introducing a National Identity Register is unknown - some estimates put the figure at £1-£3 billion; other opposed to their introduction claim that it could cost as much as £6 billion - the equivalent of the government building boo secondary schools. If introduced, there will be a cost to you, as it will be compulsory to get one when you next go to renew your passport. You will be charged E40 for the new
card. Many. of course, in our Parish have carried Identity Cards before - during the war they were an essential feature of the war effort and they were only withdrawn in 1952, due to growing tension between police and innocent civilians.
The new cards are much more powerful and potentially invasive than their wartime counterparts: biometric technology will use your fingerprint to identify who you are. There is a possibility that your iris may be used as well - another unique feature of being you. But it is not so much the accuracy of the biometric technology that may cause you to pause and consider if you are keen to carry one of these cards in your pocket. Carrying an ID Card will mean, that with a single swipe, your presence at any place or time can be recorded in a central database. George Orwell's 1984, with its underlying theme that Big Brother is watching you, becomes a reality with the introduction of the ID Card. Is this a price that is worth paying to preserve the lifestyle of one of the richest countries in the developed world? In an ID Card, an unprecedented amount of information on you will be kept: it may, in effect, be an intimate account of "This is your life" - financially, medically, professionally, etc. Moreover, the technology exists (RFID) should the government ever wish to use it - and it has stated that it does not - to access your ID card without ever needing to swipe it. Simply walking past a hidden sensor whilst carrying your card could cause your movements to be recorded. It surely must be likely that undercover operations would want to make use of this facility.
So how should British citizens respond to this latest political initiative that will dominate the national news over the next 6 months? Some of the questions that need to be asked will be about how effective the ID cards will be. Will their introduction reduce crime? Will Britain be a safer society, a terror-free society, because of ID cards? What will happen with the unknown number of illegal immigrants already in the country? Will they be immediately deported, and if so, where are the police resources with which to do this? How are people to be treated who fail either to have an ID Card or who refuse to carry one? How do we treat those who become part of a civil disobedience movement? And is it financially worth it, or could the money be spent more effectively in other ways? These are the questions that all citizens will need to ask.
Christian faith has much to say about the uniqueness of our identity In the Old Testament, there are wonderful verses about God knowing us each uniquely and completely: "But now, this is what the Lord says, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, 0 Israel: `Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine."' (Isaiah 43.1) The Psalmist writes about God's intimate knowledge of each one of us: "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139.13. It is, perhaps, worth exploring why it is so comforting that God should know us so well, and yet so potentially sinister and threatening that the national state should be privy to such a massive amount of material about ourselves. Is it to do with a feeling of being able to have confidence to trust God, and a fear and suspicion of how the state may use information about oneself?
There are important stories, too, in the Bible about hidden identity Moses, as a baby, was a case of hidden identity: a Hebrew baby drawn out of the water by Pharaoh's daughter. God used Moses' hidden identity to enable him to emerge as a great leader. Before that Jacob was a case of mistaken identity - outwitting his father to receive his blessing, but nevertheless blessed and used by God to become Israel, the father of God's people. David, too, was anointed king secretly - another case of hidden identity whom God used to bring new life and hope to His people. And the life of Jesus was one of real questions about his true identity. There was no ID card with genetic and other information that would point people to the claims that were made about him that he was indeed the Messiah, God's Son. That has to be discovered in a personal revelatory kind of way. The evangelist Mark is most insistent about this: time and again, individuals healed by Jesus are told not to spread the secret of his identity too quickly: "Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone." (Mark 7.36) Yet it is clear that discovering the true identity of Jesus is what Christian faith and discipleship is about: Mark's gospel begins: "The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God." Faith in Jesus is not to be discovered by the swiping of a card but by a lifetime of faithful discovering who he is.
So the Bible enriches our understanding of how God uses hidden identities to achieve his purposes. Those purposes are ultimately to give us a new and a true identity in Christ. Surprisingly there are ID cards in heaven: the servants of God have a seal on their foreheads (Revelation 7.3). But in heaven, there is no fear or suspicion - just love and trust in a forgiving God. That is why those with their new identity in Christ can sing: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honour and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" (Revelation 7.10).
Michael Rusk
May Letter
Dear Friends,
The iPod has become the latest iconic fashion accessory. Beautifully designed by Apple, who have recently released the even chicer mini
iPod, this recently invented bit of technological wizardry is what you want to be seen with! A recent newspaper article noted with approval that President Bush acquired one as a birthday present and uses it to listen to music as he engages in his latest keep fitness craze of mountain biking round his ranch in Texas!
On the surface the iPod isn’t very different from its illustrious predecessors: the Sony Walkman Cassette player, and its close relative, the CD player. All three offer music on the move. Many runners for over 25 years now has had the Sony Walkman strapped to themselves as they pound the streets. The CD offers better quality of sound, but apart from that offers a similar product to the cassette player. So why all the excitement about the
iPod?
Firstly, like the mobile phone, Apple have designed something that is desirable to own. iPods are attractive: they look neat and expensive; they are a fashion and status statement. And the smaller they are, the more attractive they become. Like the Mini Cooper Convertible, they capture the imagination effortlessly: at a recent shop visit, all three of my children stated they would like a mini iPod for a present or would even consider saving up for up. That’s enthusiasm for you!
Secondly, the iPod like the mobile phone is making a statement about the individual. The modern way of coping with the post-modern world of the west is to be very clearly a private person in a public place. You may be sitting on the train, or be walking across the Millennium Bridge in London, but all the time you are in contact with your own personal world – with your friends and business contacts via your phone and palmtop computer and with your music through your
iPod. You are cocooned in your own private world while you relate to the world at large.
Thirdly, the iPod is the ultimate in individual choice. While the cassette and CD was more often than not the recordings of a full album (unless one had laboriously created one’s own cassette or burned a CD), the iPod records music digitally via the computer and one is free to order it in any way one chooses. iPods can hold a staggering 4,000 songs, all of which can be chosen and personally selected by you. The iPod gives you power of choice, passes no judgement on what you choose, and lets you order it exactly as you wish. Moreover, should you tire of a song, you can simply delete it and having discarded it, replace it with another.
The word “icon” is a Greek word meaning “image”. In religious terms, an icon enables one to read or look through a pictorial representation of Christ or a saint to discover God. To describe the advent of the iPod as iconic is to state that the iPod reveals a great deal about what people are like in today’s world. So how does the church relate to the generation of iPod users? What are they likely to be like? What is going to make them enthusiastic? What do they not like? How does one relate to them?
The iPod generation are people who will insist on exercising individual choice. They will struggle with and have no interest institutions who make all the decisions for them. They will want to shop when they want at any time of day or night. Arrange and attend meetings at their convenience and at a time of their choosing. They will want to choose their own music and exercise wherever possible control over their lives. How they are, how they behave, how their lives are shaped, will all be personally configured by them. No wonder Cardinal
Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, wants to rid the world of the values of post modernity! To engage with this world of personal choice; to affirm what is positive about it, and to challenge what may be negative about it, and then to try to create community in the midst of it, is surely of one of the greatest challenges that has ever faced Christianity.
For example, imagine what an iPod church would be like. When it comes to a hymn, everyone chooses their own preferred choice on their iPod and stands to sing in accompaniment to their own music! No one else would be affected as everyone would be listening to their own music. It would be chaos, of course, but there would be no argument about the choice of hymns! Everyone would have chosen their own beforehand and perhaps worked out what is most spiritually uplifting for them.
It is a comical vision, but one that is deeply serious too. If people increasingly control their own lives and choices, then the church has to grapple with how the negotiation from private, individual spiritual nurture to corporate, communal living is going to take place. The Church has to work out whether individuals are to be allowed to develop spiritually as hermits, or whether they are to be drawn out of their individuality to learn the skills, the benefits, and the drawbacks or being part of a community. It is very clear that the church has to adapt and seek to reach out effectively to people whose way of living is completely different from what we have been used to. We have to develop a dynamic understanding of how that reaching out is to take place, of what it is to be the church in today’s world.
There are perhaps two signs of hope. The first is that while we might wish to control our lives completely and today can succeed in large measure in exercising such control, ultimately at some point individuals discover that they cannot have final control over life and death. Perhaps the church’s role may be to pick up the pieces when the myth of self autonomy is smashed. The church is about healing and learning through encounter and relationship. It still will have a vital part to play. Secondly, the fact that people can be enthused, can find their imaginations excited by the purchase of an
iPod, points to the possibility that peoples’ imaginations remain hungry to be fed. Jesus in his ministry aroused similar emotions and enthusiasm. Peoples’ hearts and minds were stirred by his teaching and healing. After his Ascension into heaven, the disciples were filled with even greater enthusiasm as they were empowered by the Holy Spirit. Christianity swept through the ancient world at an astonishingly speed and was embraced wholeheartedly by millions. The iPod invites us as the church to think again about what we are offering. Are we firing up peoples’ imaginations and if not, why not? So may God’s Spirit so enthuse us and others that we are spiritually swept off our feet as we experience the joy and power of God’s love.
Michael Rusk.
March letter is written by our curate, Mandy Flaherty
Dear Friends,
There's much in our media that concentrates on the notion of 'celebrity'. Victoria and David Beckham have just had their third son -Cruz, and on many a talk show this week has been some discussion on: why the name Cruz? Has Victoria had a tummy tuck as well as the Caesarean? Will they ever have a girl? Does this mean that their marriage is saved?
Endless speculation and chat like this increases the notion of celebrity in our eyes, fed to us by the powerful media machine. Many studies have been done on the phenomena of 'celebrity' and the notion of the 'star' in modern 20th Century life and one idea emanating from such studies is that we need stars and celebrities in our lives because they allow us to live the ideal life that we all long for, yet they are not too far removed from us so that we can't identify with them in some way. The fact that David and Victoria Beckham have problems like the rest of us perhaps means we can breathe. a sigh of relief -'phew! They're not perfect after all!' Yet, they remain removed and we're never likely to meet them face to face.
Jesus was, at times. a star and a celebrity while he lived among us here on earth. He did amazing things that made people go 'Wow, this guy's special!' and people flocked to him. But, as we reflect during Lent and as we approach Easter. it is apparent that Jesus' celebrity status disappeared quickly when many realised the full cost of what following Him actually meant. He was deserted by his followers and his 'media' turned on Him. And maybe this is where we begin our identification with Christ. If the Son of God could be deserted by his own followers and know what it was like to be truly alone with no-one to rely on. then He can always identify with us in our darkest and most needy moments.
Sometimes, bad weather and dark winter days can make us feel alone and cut off but I have seen lots of things in our parish that make me realise that Christ's love and commitment to us is very real in our churches. The Choral Evensong and Tea brought lots of people together last Sunday and provided a real atmosphere of fellowship. Young people at St Paul's are developing mature friendship bonds through being in 'A Fish Could Wonder'.
All these things, and more, should encourage us that Christ's love and commitment to us is being demonstrated and is alive and well in Oadby. David and Victoria Beckham, and other celebrities, might be idealised and far removed from us in the eyes of many but Jesus is the celebrity who walks with us day to day and helps us to carry our load. He is the one we can meet face to face.
And another date for your diaries: The Oadby Parish Summer Ball ¬July 9th. A superb event, not to be missed! A chance for us all to get together and enjoy good company and good entertainment:). Details to follow.
Mandy.
February Letter - from Simon Harvey, team vicar
Dear Friends,
The triumph of the Cassini-Huygens expedition to Titan, the most interesting of Saturn’s moon, is truly astonishing.In the last generation we’ve hurtled man-made artefacts into space but none have gone as far to settle into the dust of another world as this. The technical achievements are hugely impressive. The journey itself was amazing. No spacecraft could carry enough rocket fuel to make the journey in any reasonable time, so the engineers planned an elaborate tour of the Solar System, using the gravitational attraction of the planets to swing the probe into ever-faster loops and turns. Cassini-Huygens passed Venus twice in, returned to lap the Earth to picked up even more speed, before finally being flung around Jupiter.
 The
tiny Huygens probe (about the size of a large dinner table) detached itself from Cassini and plunged through Titan’s thick atmosphere, withstanding temperatures of up to 18 000°C.
The engineers and scientists at the European Space Agency were thrilled as the first trickle of data was transmitted back from the surface of Titan, and we saw the pictures of a rock strewn surface, methane seas and ragged coastlines on our own TV sets within hours.
It took me back to 1969 when, as a child, I sat spellbound in front of a shaky black and white TV picture showing the first exploration of the moon by Armstrong and
Alldrin. I remember the excitement of those evening TV shows, which began with the same stirring music of Strauss, which was used for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey . James Burke introduced them with a mood of tense excitement and reverence.The achievements of human ingenuity are dazzling. When thousands of men and women pit their technical expertise and imagination against a complex challenge, we see something of the best of human nature. The scientists help us wonder at the beauty and intricacy of the universe but it is the engineers who make their instruments and get them into the right place and at the right time. (Yes, okay, I admit to a little bias, being an engineer myself.)
So achievements like Cassini-Huygens leave us with a sense of awe and wonder. Awe at the complexity and elegance of God’s Creation. Wonder at the capacity of human beings working in co-operation to achieve the near-impossible. But achievements like this can also bring us something else, something more practically useful for our own living. They bring us perspective.
At Christmas in 1968 the astronauts of Apollo 8 made the first fly-by of the Moon. Never before had anyone left earth-orbit and, in its day, it was another spectacular technical triumph. But in just a few months, this dramatic achievement was eclipsed by the successful manned expedition to the Moon’s surface. This is the way of technical achievements, what is remarkable today in time becomes merely admirable. Nevertheless, Apollo 8 did leave a legacy in the popular imagination – something which you have probably seen countless times.
Never before had anyone been sufficiently far from earth to take a picture of the whole globe. Those pictures had an immediate impact. When Astronauts
Borman, Lovell and Anders looked back at Earth, they helped us see our precious planet for what it truly is. They gave us perspective.
Lovell said of being so far from home, "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realise just what you have back there on Earth."
On Christmas Eve, the three astronauts made a live TV broadcast. As the camera showed the earth above the horizon of the Moon, the crew took turns reading from the book of Genesis.
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth… And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness… And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good."
Many thinkers believe this was a defining moment in the way we regard our planet. In the years that followed, the environmental movement gathered pace and a concern for the environment grew. Earth became a vessel on which we journey together. Until that broadcast, in the popular imagination the earth was best represented by maps – lines and coloured areas on flat paper, drafted by politicians and generals. Now for the first time we could see the home of billions of people as if we were beyond it, looking back. Poet Archibald MacLeish wrote: "to see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold-- brothers who know they are truly brothers". It is awesome and marvellous that we have a place in Creation. It is amazing that we have the ability and imagination to comprehend the universe and explore its mysteries. It is remarkable that we have the capacity to engineer complex machines and systems to make incredible journeys.
Yet, what may be the most enduring legacy of space exploration in this last couple of generations is the new perspective on our common humanity and our planet home. We have shared with God, in beholding ourselves in the cosmos. We can echo his appreciation, “And God saw that it was good.”
Simon Harvey
January Letter
Dear Friends,
There is a small but striking difference in the way in which the evangelists Mark and Matthew describe the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. In Mark, which most scholars believe is the earlier of the two gospels, and upon which Matthew relied significantly for his account of Jesus, the story is one of continual movement. Jesus sweeps through the Galilean villages proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing the locals from their diseases. “Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘Repent and believe the good news!’ As Jesus walked beside the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew…” (Mark 1.14-16). There is a breathtaking energy here, and perhaps a challenge to us: what kind of a church would we be, if we were to reflect the style of the Marcan Jesus? Wouldn’t we be a church on the move, without any buildings? A church of constant encounter, spreading ever more widely over a large geographical distance? A church perhaps like the early Methodist movement led by those wonderful and travellers, John Wesley and George Whitefield. Perhaps in 2005,we need to ask ourselves: is our image of being church too static, too fixed, too tied?
But, then again, there is a different picture in Matthew whose gospel we focus on this year. Matthew records: “When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum…from that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’” (Matthew 4.12-17). What is interesting here is that Matthew claims that Jesus had a home; a base from which he launched his operation of inaugurating God’s kingdom (or as Matthew out of reference for the divine name of God prefers “the kingdom of heaven”). There is something more measured about the Matthaean Jesus. By living in Capernaum, the people there had “seen a great light.” So perhaps we don’t have to rush around, but rather settle down and let the light of Christ shine in us so that the light of our faith draws others to the still, settled, available presence of Jesus.
That fits perhaps more easily with how our churches are in the Parish of Oadby. But we must not be complacent. Rooted in the community, yes, but more importantly, rooted in God. Both Matthew and Mark are agreed on one thing: the impact of the ministry of Jesus was threefold. It was universal in its significance; it was engaged and relevant to local people; and it was personal: individuals who encountered Jesus found their lives completely changed and transformed for the better. The world, the local community, individuals all found and discovered the joy of heaven. And that is our calling.
Our Parish needs to have a global vision of God’s saving power – “Making Poverty History” is something that we need to campaign on actively. The Rev. Mandy Flaherty will give a lead on this by being part of the Vicar of Dibley March on 14th January. Led by Dawn French, female clergy will march on Downing Street to campaign for the poor of the world on behalf of Christian Aid.
Locally, God calls us to find ways of demonstrating His love, compassion, and healing with those around us. Engaging with our local communities will win us friends; will be of real practicable help to others; and will put people in touch with God.
Individual encounter with the living God through the power of God’s Spirit changes lives: our church life must offer opportunities and space for such encounters and then continue to nurture people so we can all grow from these experiences.
It is my prayer that 2005 will be a year of exciting transformation for our Parish. May God’s Spirit drive us to campaign relentlessly for world justice; discern locally the signs of God’s creativity; and encounter individually in awe and wonder the living God who brings salvation through Jesus.
Michael Rusk.
Building Work to Commence
Building work on St. Peter’s Church Hall is to commence on 10th January. The work which will cost over £100,000 will “infill” the gap between the Main Hall and the rear Classrooms. On the lower basement – which Leicestershire Social Services will use a their Oadby base for people with learning disabilities – there will be new toilets, a kitchen and an office. Above that, on a level with the Green Room, there will be a new large storeroom, a disabled toilet, and an office for the Hall Manager. The aim is for this work to be completed by 1st April. In addition, new ramps are to be installed from the Green Room and the Main Hall Fire Exit to provide ramped access to and from all parts of the building.
About £30,000 will need to be raised as part of the on-going St. Peter’s Appeal over the next two years. The work, however, will bring huge benefits to the Hall and will secure its long term financial viability.
Return to top of page
Return to front page
|
