Sausages don't grow on trees...

It's Harvest Festival season - well, we're having our Thanksgiving at AFC on Sunday at least - and a Harvest Social Evening the night before.

I got hooked on Thomas Hardy's novels when I was at school and had to study Far From The Madding Crowd for O Level English.  I love his description of rural Victorian life including characters like the obsessive Farmer Boldwood, disasters like a rain soaked harvest and comedic incidents such as the Gallery Choir sabotaging the new church harmonium!

Yet I suspect Hardy's Dorset is as much a myth as Walter Scott's tartanisation of life north of the border in the 1800's.  It's easy to paint a idealised picture of the countryside, a rural idyll when in fact life for the farm labourer was just hard, hard, hard.

Today's countryside issues revolve around the complexities of EU subsidies and GM food production as much as the Village Show or Farm Shop.

I have to admit that I'm a 'townie' at heart!  I love the countryside but always want to retreat back to well lit tarmac roads and shopping centres with everything located near a car park.  So I can fully understand the girl in one of my son's classes (years ago) who maintained sausages grew on trees.  I remember being shocked myself to discover, whilst visiting Australia, that pineapples actually grow on the ground.

So how do we approach Harvest Festivals - especially if you're a townie too?!

I think it's interesting to note they are a relatively 'new' church invention - just about a hundred and fifty years old.  We borrowed the idea from village 'Harvest Homes'.  When those celebration got a little rowdy we sanitised them by bringing the 'thanksgiving' into church - exchanging ale for hymns!

In our services this coming Sunday we have a split focus.  In the morning it's very much about 'thanksgiving' alongside opportunities to be generous through our offering to Operation Agri and our support through the giving of our harvest produce to the homelessness charity 'New Hope'.

Then in the evening we're asking one of our members, Dr Bob Bradnock to help us think about things 'ecological'.  All part of seeing the world as a whole - combining our faith and intellect.

Stewardship of the planet is never easy, but neither is it optional - so on Sunday we'll take both the opportunity to sing praise to God for creation and remind ourselves of our responsibility towards it.

With best wishes,

Ian

Constant Transition

On Sunday we walked along the canal that runs by Regent's Park through to King's Cross.  It was a sparkling afternoon and people were just out enjoying themselves.

As we approached the King's Cross/St Pancras culmination of our walk we passed the newly restored gas holder located just by the canal.  Now disused it has been restored - at least its skeleton frame - the actual gas holding part is long gone.  The sign beside it said each section of the structure had been transported to Yorkshire to be sand blasted and restored to colour scheme twenty (apparently they discovered it had been repainted no less than twenty eight times!)  Now back in place it's an impressive structure - a landmark and a 'listed building' in its own right.  Beneath its lattice work a 'park' is evolving - a new life and function very different from its industrial past - a 'transformation'.

I think something similar is happening today with the Scottish vote.  When we wake up tomorrow we'll know the result - but in a way I think we already know that it will never be the same again.  This referendum has let some sort genie out of its bottle and a sort of transformation is now clearly focused and unstoppable.

The truth is that none of us stand still - we are all in the business of transformation.  Every experience and encounter moulds and changes us in some way.

This weekend I'm preaching at the Church Anniversary of a congregation where I used to be the minister.  In the years since I've left them they will have journeyed on and changed.  Part of me expects to find them as I left them! But that simply won't be the case.  They, like me, have been on a journey and for one service I join them to renew our friendship and wish them well for the next step.

Life, it seems, is about living in constant transition.

With best wishes,

Ian

He who sings - prays twice

Organ and Choral Concert at AFC 6.9.14

Last Saturday we held an Organ and Choral concert at Amersham Free Church to celebrate the rebuild of our 1962 Willis Pipe Organ - it was a terrific evening.

We were celebrating the fact that over £42,000 has been raised to make this rebuild possible.  Churches and their projects are funded by incredibly generous people.

We were celebrating the technical skill of our organ builder and his team of tuners and voicers.  Part of our instrument now has the most up to date software which now drives it in place of miles of wires and cables.  It also has the addition of a trumpet stop in memory of my predecessor The Revd Andrew Busby.

We were most certainly celebrating the musicianship of all those who played or sang on Saturday.  Our in house and visiting organists put the instrument through its paces and the combined choirs just filled the church with such strong singing.

We were, I think, celebrating God.  And music seems such a natural medium through which we naturally seem to do this.

We were in many ways just celebrating life.  A life enhanced by rhythm, melody and sound.

I love music - be it in a concert hall, church or ipod!  And I fully understand that saying: 'He who sings - prays twice'! And I hope our newly rebuilt organ will help us continue to do that for another fifty years!

Best wishes,

Ian

Birthdays

Birthdays have been on my mind recently.

Earlier this year we celebrated a special one (that normally means one with a zero at the end!) with a big family party followed by a week in Rome.

Our sons' birthdays bookend the school summer holidays; one falling at the end of July, the other (celebrated just this week) at the beginning of September.

Then, on Sunday, we had lunch with a friend who was celebrating her 'name-day' - a tradition in some countries (often with a Roman Catholic tradition) which is as significant as one's birthday.

Of course we all know that The Queen has two birthdays - yet the UK isn't the only place where the birthdays of national leaders are celebrated.  In the US Washington's birthday is marked in February by the federal holiday called 'Presidents' Day' as is Martin Luther King's in January.  In India the anniversary of Gandhi's birthday is not only observed as a national holiday but all the liquor stores are closed out of respect for his tea total convictions.

The birthday we celebrated in our family this week was because one of our sons turned twenty (in Japan that would have meant he 'become of age').  Amid all the presents, singing of Happy Birthday, and a special meal in London I suppose his mum and I just marvelled that two decades have flown by since his arrival on a warm September day in 1994 - and I suspect it wasn't only his age that we were celebrating - we were also aware of our own advancing years too!

I'm always keen to celebrate birthdays because it seems to me they say something very special about our relationships.  There's nothing wrong, and much that's right, about marking a promotion at work or success in an exam.  These family celebrations value our achievements.  But that's not what birthdays are about.  They simply say: we are glad you were born and we feel privileged that you are sharing this journey of life alongside us.

So - whenever it's yours this year I hope you too either had or will have a Happy Birthday!

Best wishes,

Ian

Ministry - from the other side

A few years back we exchanged manses with the minister of a church just outside of Washington D.C.  During those three weeks we got to know a few people in his church and I had the privilege of preaching there on our two middle Sundays. Since then I've followed this congregation from a distance by now and then browsing their website. My minister friend has now moved on to another appointment so this suburban Washington church has been in Pastoral Vacancy for about eighteen months - until last week when they announced a new minister who will be coming up to them from Texas.  What surprised me was the fact that during this settlement process they had received no less than two hundred applications for this post!

Although I've caused a few ministerial vacancies I've never actually lived through one - but all that is about to change.  Next week I attend my first meeting at a neighbouring church as their Moderator.  That is - they are in Vacancy (we used to call it 'Interregnum - meaning 'between reigns' - a term which is now going out of favour a little bit!) and I have been asked to support them through this process.  I've already seen the excellent work they have done on their Church Profile and eventually I'll travel with them as they select potential candidates, interview and consider the possibility of calling one of them to be their next minister.

I suspect church life looks different depending where you sit (metaphorically) within the life of that congregation.  For the first time I'll see the settlement process from 'the other side' - instead of waiting for the phone call from the church secretary to tell me the result of the appointment election, I'll be waiting with the church secretary to hear whether or not a prospective candidate wishes to accept the pastorate.

Maybe it's always natural to think 'my view' of church is the only one, or the right one - especially so if we put a lot of effort into the life of a local fellowship.  Yet the truth is ours isn't the only viewpoint.  Others will see things differently depending on 'where they sit'.

Listening to one another and respecting each others viewpoints and experiences is a constant challenge to us church folk - one we must never give up on.

I'm looking forward to 'going over to the other side' (!) and walking with this neighbouring church as they look for a new minister - I have a feeling I won't only learn a lot about them and the process, but about myself as well.

Best wishes,

Ian

Swiss Chess

We have recently returned from a great family holiday in the Swiss mountains.  Every day we were thrilled by the stunning scenery of snow capped peaks, rushing waterfalls and sweeping meadows filled with Alpine flowers.  Yet...one of my most precious memories of the time we spent together is of a damp afternoon in the village where we stayed, Wengen, the day our train passes ran out as we tried to fill a few hours playing chess.

Chess became something of a feature of our time together - we played it at night in semi-serious family tournaments and there was a giant set next to the table tennis and volleyball in the centre of the village.  Last Friday we played it in full public view and soon a little crowd gathered.  Our family game came to an abrupt and humiliating end (it was parents verses teenagers - so you can guess which side was triumphant!)  As we went to walk away a Chinese girl, just eight years of age, indicated that she might like a game - so our youngest son, all six foot three inches of him, took her on!

For the next hour they thrashed it out - each time she moved a piece she made the most beautiful smile to her dotting dad as if to gain his approval and encouragement!  Although nine years separated them the truth was they were actually quite evenly matched and it was a great game.

Slowly other people gathered to watch so that by the end the crowd consisted of English, Chinese, Arab, Swiss and German onlookers - a truly wonderful international moment.

We didn't speak each others language - the only language being used was the game of chess and many smiles.  It was, in my view, a very beautiful moment - binding people together in friendly, peaceful competition - and a spirit of great fun and interaction.

At the end our two competitors (and the bidding of both their proud fathers!) shook hands and stood for a photo.  So on either side of the globe this moment of international chess is commemorated in a couple of photo albums!

We saw many wonderful things in Switzerland over those ten days but nothing inspired me more than watching these two young people engage together in a game of chess - something so small yet containing the essence of all we long for: a world in which different cultures and traditions live side by side in mutual respect, peace and friendship.

With all good wishes,

Ian

Grateful for courage and still praying for peace

This and next week many nations are commemorating the outbreak of World War One.

If only it had been the 'war to end all wars' - instead it became the first act of a two part catastrophe.

Clergy at Washington Cathedral composed this litany to mark this one hundredth anniversary - I think it's worth reflecting on the words - challenging words.  This is a piece of liturgy they used in their morning service last week - at AFC we shall, this Sunday, be using something very similar, namely the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation.

Here is the Washington piece:

Presider:  One hundred years ago, an assassin’s bullet plunges the nations of the world into violence unlike any the world has ever seen. Self-justification and self-righteousness divides your people; divides your
world into opposing alliances; into enemies and friends. Forgive us!

Cantor:  For you, O God, seek to unify your people. Your word goes forth, calling us beyond self-
centeredness and self-certainty into the ways of humility and understanding.

Presider:The war to end all wars enlists 70 million people. 8 and a half million soldiers dead; 20 million
soldiers severely wounded; 7 million civilians will also die; showing us the futility of our ways;
the arrogance of our thoughts. How dare we imagine that by killing the sons and daughters of our
enemies, we become friends! Forgive us!

All sing: Holy God, Holy and mighty; Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us

Cantor:  For you, O God, create our hearts in love: hearts to love our neighbors; hearts to love our enemies; hearts to love ourselves. To share in your heart means to seek shalom, not swords: that your loving
kindness may prevail among the community of all your people.

All sing: Holy God, Holy and mighty; Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us.

Presider:  From the fields of Flanders to the forests of Verdun to the peninsula of Gallipoli, the dead cry out: life and love interrupted; hope and promise laid waste; war, war, and more war. Forgive us!

Cantor:  For you, O God, receive them into your presence. And raise them by your grace to life eternal, where sorrowing and sighing will be no more.

All sing:  Holy God, Holy and mighty; Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us.

Presider: Mounted cavalry meets withering machine gun fire; lye burns the skin; mustard gas causes the
afflicted to drown on dry land. Our weapons of death exceed our moral preparation; squandering
the gifts of your grace; careless with your creation, the work of your hands. Forgive us!

Cantor: For your life, loving God, pulses through the universe; creating, redeeming, sustaining life. Your life:
animating our very instinct for life; countering our tendency to choose death; quickening in us our
every impulse to live.

All sing: Holy God, Holy and mighty; Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us.

Presider : Trench rot, shellshock, battle fatigue: the consequences of war; cruel, prolonged, ill-conceived war. Our jealousies, our rivalries, our animosities prove costly. Your vision for us; a peaceable reign; grows
dim. Forgive us!

Cantor : For you, O God, desire shalom. We do not fool you when we cry “peace, peace” when there is no peace. You seek the day when all your people live whole and free; in hope and in safety.

All sing:  Holy God, Holy and mighty; Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us.

Presider:  A League of Nations arises. Political hope for a peaceful future; nations committed to negotiation, arbitration and disarmament. This nation resists. Forgive us!

Cantor: For you, O God, give counsel to the nations of the earth: courage and political will to risk the way of reconciliation and redemption. Your vision breaks through by your Spirit moving in our midst; your
new heaven; your new earth; your global community made new.

All sing:  Holy God, Holy and mighty; Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us.

Presider: Merciful God: You who breaks the bow and shatters the spear: we know what you require of us.
You lead us to do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly with you. Give us discerning wisdom to
choose the things that make for peace; the capacity to resist evil and support the common good;
that we may never again stray from the ways of peace; neither shall we practice war anymore. Amen.

As the poster we have prepared for display outside our church at this time says:  We are grateful for courage and still praying for peace.

All good wishes,

Ian
ps Blog 'holiday' for the next two weeks