With Thanksgiving...

AFC Harvest Festival 2018

Harvest Festivals, like the one we are holding this Sunday, are a Cornish invention.  Apparently it's all due to the Rev Robert Hawker inviting his Morwenstow parishioners to a thanksgiving service in church in 1843.

Festivals such as Harvest invite us to make a connection between life and faith.  So, on Sunday, through our hymns and prayers we'll have many opportunities to give thanks for the beauty of creation and the fruitfulness of the earth and sea.

During this Sunday's service members of our Junior Church will also bring a presentation about water and the challenge of there being either too much or too little of it.  Their presentation is much appreciated because Harvest Festival is also a time for us to think about our stewardship of the world.

An active interest in ecology is surely a necessary part of our faith and it's why we are starting to put 'Eco-Church' on our agendas at AFC.

A piece of good news, that I believe is worth celebrating this harvest season, is the fact that over July and August this year the UK energy capacity rose marginally more in renewables, such as wind power, than in carbon based fuel.  A step in the right direction, I think, and a cause for thanksgiving.

Taking a step back

Listening to the radio this morning I heard the CEO of Microsoft talk of the need for those in his digital industry to ‘take a step back’ and reassess the road technology is going down.  He was concerned at the rapid rise of the internet and the use to which governments, industry and individuals have put it, even talking of its ‘weaponization’; using it for manipulative purposes.

Like most of you reading this, I’ve embraced new technology with enthusiasm and enjoy the benefits of communicating using WhatsApp, writing sermons with the ability to reference facts on Google and write articles on a word processing programme that has a built in spell checker!  Yet I am also aware that all this technology has a downside and that schools these days will have sessions on Cyber bullying.  This week an App was launched, supported by The Duke of Cambridge’s mental health charity, designed to help youngsters keep alert and safe whilst on-line.

‘Taking a step back’ means deliberately pausing and reviewing both the path already taken and the one in front of us.  These can be pivotal moments and forks in the road that determine our future. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ‘A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds’.  In other words, there are times when changing our minds and coming to fresh conclusions is a sign of maturity, not weakness.

As I write the Supreme Court, opposite Westminster Abbey, is pondering whether or not the Proroguing of Parliament this autumn is an abuse of the system.  It’s a ‘stepping back’ moment, to pause the tape and take a considered view.

We all need such moments in our lives because, by and large, life runs on at quite a pace and we can be swept up by events.  Liturgically we do this on Sunday mornings in church as we share in the Prayer of Confession.  Confession includes reflection.  We are called to ponder the events of the last week.  In doing so we are all aware of moments things have been done well and occasions we have fallen short.  In the quietness of prayer we acknowledge all this before God seeking his renewal and help for the week to come.

Centuries of worship has taught us that ‘taking a step back’, such as a time of reflection and confession, can be positive and healthy – even good for the soul.

What's in a name?

I sometimes think that in church life September is the price you pay for August!  After a month of virtually no meetings they all come at once.

So, on Tuesday our Elders gathered.

If we met in other churches this particular group would be called by a different collective.  'Modern' congregations seem to have adopted the title 'Leadership Team'.  A term that has a certain 'thrust' behind it.

Other congregations might call such a group a 'Church Council' emphasising that it is in the coming together that discussions take place and decisions are made.

Most of the churches I've had the privilege to serve in the Baptist tradition have had 'Diaconates' - coming from the Greek word 'servant' - and I've always loved that, the idea that 'service' is at the heart of leadership.

At Amersham Free Church we follow the URC and Presbyterian convention of having 'Elders'.  It's interesting that there is always a delight expressed when younger Elders join!  In a sense the term isn't, I think, so much an age issue but the hope that the experience found within the group will prove beneficial.  Most of the good folk sitting around the table on Tuesday evening have met with similar challenges and joys on the agenda before.  We bring that experience and perspective to our current discussions and that's a blessing.

Whatever our teams are called, all of us in church life know that we need God's help as we seek to serve the local church.

Every Queen's Speech in Parliament ends the same way and it's really a prayer - suitable not only for our MPs but also for our; Leadership Teams, Church Councils, Diaconates and Elderships.  It goes like this: My Lords and Members of the House of Commons, I pray that the blessing of Almighty God will rest upon your counsels.  And a hearty 'Amen' to that!

Eurpoean friendships

On Sunday a member of the congregation, a former RAF pilot in his 90's, told me how his thoughts every September 1st go out to the people of Poland recalling their invasion on what was, effectively, day one of World War Two.

Later on Sunday I caught sight of a news report from Poland and the visit there that day by a dignified German President who 'apologised' for his country's actions eighty years ago.

Over the summer it's been a joy for us to visit both Germany and Austria.  In fact, over the last five years we've deliberately (post children!) made various European countries our destination of choice for holidays.

 Invariably we have been impressed by the courtesy with which we've been received and the sense of history and identity we have found in each place.  I've concluded that many of our continental neighbours find it so much easier than us in thinking of themselves as being, say: German, Italian, Danish or Spanish and, at the same time, European.

Our most meaningful contact has been with a German family and it's been wonderful to twice be guests in their beautiful farmhouse home. We first visited last year with a group from church and on the opening evening after supper our gracious host made a short speech of welcome.  He spoke so eloquently about 'friendship'.  It has clearly been his family's deepest wish to take every opportunity to forge bonds of friendship with folk from Britain whenever possible.

As I listened to his speech it dawned on me that such a desire is essentially 'spiritual'.

 It is driven by the deepest faith convictions that we share a common humanity.  In fact, I suspect that for my German friend the European project can be seen, partly, as an act of 'redemption' for the horrors of the twentieth century.  And that, I believe, is something we should better understand, appreciate and respect.

Howzzat!!

On Sunday evening, on my way home from our monthly Communion service I was surprised to see ten Whatsapp messages from my brothers in Southampton and Spain.  Once back at the Manse I realised they were sharing the nervous tension surrounding the final moments of the cricket World Cup from Lords.  As brothers we do this!  We may not have spoken for weeks, yet come a sporting cup final of any kind and there's an instinct amongst us that we must share the moment together!  Even though I'm the least 'sporty' of the three I love these moments - they are very special!

It's got me thinking this week about the 'community' side of life and how we are simply not made to experience our deepest lows or most exuberant highs alone.

This week thousands of students will have shared their Graduation ceremonies with invited family guests.  Their achievement is a very personal one yet it is to be shared collectively.

On Monday I had the privilege of officiating at the funeral of a wonderful lady well into her nineties.  It was inspiring to see so many people at the crematorium, so much so that the stewards ran out of both orders of service and seats.  It was clear that the guests that morning wanted to be together, to gather around her widower and share the moment with him. Human love and decency at its very best.

And this weekend our family will gather to celebrate an 80th birthday.  I cannot imagine that ever being a private affair!  Cakes have been baked, cards drawn and speeches prepared.  How could it be otherwise?  We all simply want to gather together and sing 'Happy Birthday!'

The notion of God is expressed in the bible as Trinity, a COMMUNITY of love, goodness and light.  We are made to share in that sense of togetherness - it's part of our humanity which reflects the nature of God.

To pinch a line from a one time advert on TV promoting chocolate toffees: Life is meant for sharing!

Have a good summer - the Blog returns in September.

God bless!

Every common bush afire with God...

Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806-1861

In the book I'm currently reading for our church's discussion group in a few weeks time I came across these inspiring lines by Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Earth crammed with heaven and every common bush afire with God.

I suspect I'm not always so positive as she was and it's easy to imagine she wouldn't have been either if she had lived today amidst some of the most negative news headlines of recent years.

But, that may not be true!  That's because Browning wrote these words against a backdrop of personal struggle, challenge and disappointment.

She was brought up a Dissenter and perhaps she would have felt at least half at home in AFC because she once described herself as 'not a Baptist but a Congregationalist'. All her life she suffered from chronic spinal pain and lung problems, was disinherited by her father upon her marriage to the poet Robert Browning, was passed over for the post of Poet Laureate which, on the death of Wordsworth, went to Tennyson, and had four miscarriages before her son, Pen, was born.  Elizabeth Barrett Browning knew real pain yet continued to write poetry, work for the abolition of slavery and strove for better working condition for child labourers.

To see earth crammed with heaven in the light of Brexit and this week's breakdown in diplomatic trust between the UK and the USA takes some doing, but maybe we become more balanced and whole people when we try to make this connection.

The Jewish Scriptures show us the way in the stories of 'exile'. Even when wrenched from their homeland, our Jewish cousins were encouraged by their faith leaders to seek the good of the new country in which they found themselves, and to pray for its prosperity.

Finding goodness and encountering the divine even on the bleakest of days and in the most alien of contexts is part of a spiritual discipline that sees every common bush afire with God.

Ringing Bells

I heard on the radio this morning that they will be ringing lots of bells in Manchester tonight.

Apparently the idea originates from Yoko Ono to ring a bell for peace.  Hundreds of Mancunians will be doing just that in the Cathedral Gardens and the sound is anticipated to be so loud that ear plugs are being offered free of charge to those listening.

The ringing of bells is up there with the lighting of candles as deeply meaningful and symbolic acts much akin to prayer.  When words seem inadequate or simply can't be found, actions can express the depth of our longing, so why not ring a bell for peace?

When I served in Malvern I was amused to learn that in granting our church 'permission' to build on the lower slopes of the hills in the mid 1890's, Lady Emily Foley stipulated that even though the design had a tower, no bell should ever be hung in the belfry.  She didn't want the Baptist's call to prayer to be in competition with that being sounded by Great Malvern Priory across the road!!

Perhaps today, 4th July, it's worthy remembering the central place 'Liberty Bell' has in the folk lore of the United States.  Although there's no evidence it was ever rung on July 4th, 1776, it is documented that it rang out on the 8th, when the Declaration of Independence was actually proclaimed from the Assembly Hall in Philadelphia.  Years later the bell became a focal point for the Abolitionists and the freedom they sort.

So, ring out the bells in Manchester this evening, each one a heartfelt and worthy prayer for peace.