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The Letter Archive December 2007 Dear Friends, I want to offer some reflections on the season, and then to share some news. Firstly, Advent is again upon us, a time of waiting, preparation and hope. We often mark this period by the weekly lighting of candles on an Advent crown. The candles represent a number of things, and let me share one way of interpreting them. The first candle is for Jesus bringing love into the world. We think of everyone who fears that no one loves or cares for them. We think of those who will be on the streets this Christmas, lost without meaning or security. We think of young people struggling to find their way in life. We pray for all who will feel alone or bereaved, in whatever way, that they too might feel something of Christ’s love, perhaps through friendship and the care of others. The second candle is for Jesus bringing hope into the world. We think of situations that seem hopeless, whether they are in our personal or family situations, in the community about us, or in the wider world. What are the ‘hopeless’ situations that you earnestly desire could be different? Pray for them; remember the bible stories where God nevertheless found ways of acting; and find the ways in which you can make a difference. Remember the odds stacked against the Christ child? Herod was determined to slaughter him when he was but a few days old; opposition and misunderstanding followed him when he began his ministry; in the end, death nailed him to the cross. Yet, even then, just three days later… The third candle is for Jesus bringing peace into the world. What slaughter exists in the world: flood and earthquake, terror and war. How we need the peace that Christ offers: “Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does”. Let us pray for the peace of Burma and Baghdad, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Gaza, Dafur and Jerusalem, and for the peace of our own cities, homes, and relationships. Let us become instruments and channels of Christ’s peace. The fourth candle is for Jesus bringing joy into the world, the joy at the birth of a baby, of children opening presents, and at Christmas morning thanksgiving for the birth of the Christ child. As Christmas approaches, may this joy find, and rest deep within, you, a joy that somehow manages to wrap together sadness and happiness, hope and peace, in the perfect redemption of the world’s sorrows offered through Christ Jesus. Finally, on Christmas morning, we light the candle for Christ the light of the world, the light which shines through darkness and remains with us each day into a new year, so bringing life to the world. And as we journey into that New Year, may Christ’s love, hope, peace, and joy shine through us, as we in turn become part of Christ’s continuing light to the world. The New Year will also bring the culmination of the Circuit Review, which has been looking at how we should resource and shape the future work of our Circuit. We look forward to its findings in March, but in connection with it there is some news that I need to share. As many of you will be aware, for sometime it has been apparent that the shape of my appointment does not work very well. The three churches with which I am connected at times need more time than the half time that is earmarked for them, whereas the Methodist chaplaincy to the University (a community of some 30,000 people), even as part of a team with others, often demands a full time role. It has been acknowledged that we need to shrink the chaplaincy role to make it sustainable, or to resource it to allow a full time commitment to offer care and service to those that, because of lack of time, it is not possible presently to reach. Change is required, and at the same time I have realised that I also need change. A growing exhaustion has been matched by a frustration that I often spend time and energy on matters that don’t feel central to ministry. In addition, I have a particular concern about how the insights of ministry and psychotherapy might be linked together to strengthen our appreciation of God and our care for one another, and initially this is a concern that is focussed on some studies. However, three intense appointments have not allowed much space for me to explore this aspect of calling, and there is an urgent sense that time is passing. After conversations, negotiations and agreements with the relevant parties at Circuit, District and Connexional level, I have been given permission to spend some time in study. Consequently, my appointment will end a year early in the summer of 2009, but in addition I shall work part time from the summer of 2008. How the Circuit is staffed will not be known until after the Circuit Review, but it seemed sensible to begin to work towards some of the possible changes to smooth transitions and to take account of my present load. Also, given the changed arrangements with Broomhill and Crookes Valley, now might be a good time for fresh eyes and ideas to become involved. Consequently, the Superintendent minister, Rev’d Tim Bradshaw, will share the ministry of Broomhill and Crookes Valley Methodist churches from January 2008. He will look after the administrative and business side, and will increasingly work with you in shaping the life of the church, whereas I will retain responsibility for pastoral care and pastoral matters. I will continue to have responsibility for the Chaplaincy and Dungworth. Until completion of the Circuit review, arrangements from the summer of 2008, when I go half time, will not be finalised, but at that point I will probably retain the Chaplaincy and Dungworth, and end my role at Broomhill and Crookes Valley. However, the Chaplain will need to continue to work closely with these churches and with the students who attend them, so, until I leave the Circuit, I am still likely to be around and taking services. This is a summary of the reasons why change in the appointment is necessary, why it is appropriate for me to move on, and why the particular transitional arrangements have been suggested. If you do need clarification or more understanding, please do ask me. I hope I can convey that, whilst the present structure of things and the urgent call to get on with the studies has led to the decision to move on, it is not without ambivalence. There will be sadness when the time comes to part, for I do care for you and your well being, although there is still the best part of a year or two to go! But it does mean that the New Year will bring change for us all. May I therefore wish you God’s blessing in Advent, Christmas, and in the New Year, and may God be with those whom you hold dear, and in the troubled places of the world, James November 2007 Dear Friends, Do you remember when people were bringing children to Jesus but the disciples stopped them? Why was that? Did the Disciples think that the children or parents were being a nuisance, that Jesus had more important things to deal with or more important people to see? Were the disciples being protective of Jesus; did they have a wrong sense of priorities or wrong ideas about status and worth? Whatever was going on, “when Jesus saw it he was indignant, and said to them, ‘Let the children come to me; do not try to stop them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Mark 10.14). This is a time of reminder and remembrance of all that is important, and that all people are important. In One World Week we remember our connections to God, the planet, and all people, not least to those who suffer poverty and discrimination of innumerable kinds. We remember that whenever any aspect of creation is not respected or anyone is not treated as having equal worth, all are the less for it. At the start of November we remember ‘All Saints’ and ‘All Souls’, those who have gone before us, showing us something of the way. We thank God for their love, witness and courage, and remember all who have died, including those dear to us. Then, on Remembrance Sunday, we recall those who have fought and died and made unimaginable sacrifices, not least in two world wars, ultimately in the cause of peace and a better world. We can so easily forget what is important, or through preoccupation or topsy-turvy values, ignore and disbar things and people of value, not least the vulnerable. Yet Jesus was indignant: “the kingdom of God belongs to such as these”. What is more, the young, the vulnerable, those on the edge, teach us something about the nature of God: “’Truly I tell you: whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.’ And he put his hands round them, and blessed them” (vv.15-16). At this time, can we draw on our deepest memories and be open to the most pointed or poignant of reminders, in order to grasp again all that is of true worth in life? Can we be open, trusting that God can meet us even in the most painful of memories, ready to heal and inspire, enabling us to bless as Christ blessed? One practical response we are trying at Broomhill is in connection with the two families with children amongst us (Crookes Valley do not at present have any children attending, but it is important for both congregations to be aware of this). As a result of the summer invitation for more people to become involved in the children’s work, we have decided to ensure that Sunday School (or Sunday Club as it is presently known) should generally take place on the third Sunday in the month, starting in November. The children will be present for the first part of the service and then leave for their own activities in the Wesley Room. We are very grateful for the small rota of adults who are committing to preparing and working with the children, and I ask you to keep them and the families in your prayers in the coming months. If others would also like to become part of the safeguarded system for working with the children, including perhaps any students during term times, then please let one of the stewards or myself know. On other Sundays, such as Communion Sundays, the children are likely to be part of the service for the first part and then slip upstairs to the balcony for some activity on their own, before sometimes (especially on Communion Sundays) rejoining the rest of the congregation. Whilst hopefully there will be something suitable for the children in the first part of every service, at festival times or on special occasions we shall also have ‘All Age’ worship throughout the service when everyone will remain together. We pray that the new arrangements will develop and go well. In memory and reminder, may God bless us and keep us, and encourage us to follow where others have trod, in welcoming, including, and striving for God’s peace. If this is a particularly painful time for you, may God’s love and presence surround and uplift you, may you know God’s peace. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, James July/August 2007 Dear Friends, Nicola and I went to see 'Oceans 13', the latest film in a series involving a likeable gang of criminals who successfully undertake the most far-fetched of heists. The plot this time involved a complicated series of events whereby the hated owner of a new Las Vegas hotel and casino was relieved of a tidy half a billion dollars. Many human attributes were involved: greed, revenge, hatred; attraction, ambition, smartness; and the illusion that a quick and large buck can lead to happiness. If the story had been real, the combination of these features might not have been very attractive. However, in the film, with some human touches and humour thrown in, the villains became heroes. One character, a con-artist, following in his Dad's footsteps, was desperate for his father's approval, and, after three films, began at last to receive some. Another two characters went under cover in a Mexican factory. Whilst attending to their own interests, they also successfully lobbied and provoked a strike that led to ordinary workers receiving an increase in wages. Meanwhile, the two leaders of the gang had to hide a tear whilst watching on a chat show a poor family get re-housed, which prompted them to siphon off a vast sum of one baddy's money to be paid towards a children's charity. Improbable as most of the film's antics and surprises might have been, moments like these won the characters to our hearts and made the film good. Jesus told a good story (the parables), and was himself, to use an old description, the subject of the greatest story ever told. He was interested in human beings, notwithstanding their flawed attributes, seeing beyond the greed of a tax collector, or the revenge threatened by the disciples' swords on his arrest, or the human attraction gone wrong in the stories of some of those he met. There would have been humour there too, when he relaxed with his disciples or shared a meal with friends (remember the 'Jesus loving and laughing' exhibition last summer?). The great surprise is that God makes us the centre of the story: people to be interested in, with all our attributes, good and poor. Notwithstanding our mixed or selfish motives, God treats us not as villains but as heroes, taking us to heart, bearing with us, and helping us to win through. Whenever we delight in or are moved by others, whenever a smile or humour enriches us, thanks be to God, and may we be inspired to offer others the interest, kindness and goodness that God offers to all. May you have a good, relaxing, and inspiring summer. God be with you, James January 2007 Dear Friends, We are a few weeks into the New Year now, but those lines from a poem by John Keats have stayed with me: capturing the mood of the Spanish explorer Cortez and his men as they stood on a peak looking out at the Pacific Ocean, they looked at each other "with a wild surmise". The newness of the discovery, the vastness of the unexplored horizon unfolding before them, echoes (if a little more dramatically!) the newness of a year now unfolding before us. The phrase suggests excitement, and wariness, in the attempt to divine what lies before. Here are some further thoughts as, individually and collectively, we travel into the new year. First, new things might well befall or challenge us. Happily sometimes these will provoke excitement or joy, but, inevitably, they will also bring anxiety. Yet to discover new things, to journey into unknown places, requires of us courage and risk. According to the French writer, Andre Gide, "One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore". Yet, second, to comfort and sustain us on the way, we are given resources of value, things that can illuminate and teach and interpret for us. What is it that is most important to you, that you must place in your pack to carry with you? If there is a time or season for everything, but the only time in which to live is in the present, what is of most value to you, that deserves your time and attention, that you must cultivate and appreciate, if you are to make sense and flourish in the months ahead? Third, sometimes our paths are direct and straight; sometimes they are by the route less travelled, meandering up hill and down dale. There is value in both. The question is, what is our ultimate destination, what is our final goal, what is the hope and the vision that holds us to our path, that guides our route and shapes our steps, inviting our response along the way? Through good and ill and whatever the hardships, this hope, this vision, coupled with a willingness to listen humbly and learn anew, can offer courage for the road and blessings on the way. I truly pray that you will have good year, come what may, and I trust and believe that whatever might befall, God will be with us, and with us all. For, in the very end, our faith suggests "Christ is the end, for Christ was the beginning, Christ the beginning, for the end is Christ" (Hymns & Psalms 236). God Bless, James October 2006 Dear Friends, "We Welcome you to Hear and to Dance": so read the greeting sign for the evening entertainment at the hotel in Madeira where Nicola and I stayed on holiday last year. Maybe something of the idiom was lost in the translation, but the message was plain enough, and we were sufficiently amused and intrigued to turn up a few hours later. (After all, given that we couldn't speak Portuguese, it was kind of them to write it in English!) Notwithstanding that we come with different languages, experiences, cultures, and accents, in human relations it is not that difficult to offer or grasp the basic message. Needless to say, the message that I hope that our churches can offer is - "Welcome". Sunday by Sunday each one of us, and especially at this time new or returning students gathering amongst us, is most welcome! Each one of us is welcomed to hear that we are accepted and included, valued for the people that we are, wherever we have come from and whatever language we speak. Each one of us is welcomed to dance - in the Spirit; vibrantly to share in God's life and love and truth. I leave it to you to decide whether you want to do this literally, or prefer simply to dance metaphorically! Maybe we can think of ourselves as being welcomed to the Well from which we can draw the living water? This water nourishes and sustains, gives us grace and compassion for others, and it sees us through the difficult times. Can we think of our church as a meeting place where we can draw water for each other, as the woman drew water for Jesus in John Chapter 4? They were from different cultures, religions, genders. She drew water for him; he offered her water of a very different type: the living water. Together they made sense of the message, that God's love is for all, that God welcomes all. As we journey into this new term, let us gather together Sunday by Sunday around the Well. Let us help one another draw from the deep springs of God's truth and love that never run dry. Let us engage in conversation and friendship, and thus let us live the welcome for one another. We are welcome to hear and to dance! I look forward to meeting and greeting you, whether for the first time, or for the umpteenth time! Take care, and God Bless, James September 2006 Dear Friends, I hope that through this summer period you have had opportunity for a holiday, or at least for relaxation and the recharging of batteries. Nicola and I spent some time in Cornwall, in part visiting some old childhood haunts, but also some new places, including the Eden project, which as a Millennium project is but a few years old. Both Crookes Valley and Broomhill endeavour to be fair trade churches, and Broomhill is now aspiring also to become an 'Eco-congregation'. We will be having some services reflecting on that theme during the Autumn, and perhaps I was doing some early preparation! The Eden Project made use of an old clay mining pit to replicate three types of the world's environment. In one area flowers and vegetables from our climate are set out; the other two areas, under great covered domes, replicate the trees and plants from a warm Mediterranean type climate and the vegetation from a hot, humid jungle. The experience of wandering around connected us to the plants and foods on which we rely for our existence, whether from this country or abroad. Maybe it helped renew that closeness to the land of which our ancestors might have been more aware. Thus there were some echoes from the past; but, also, in heightening our awareness of just how fragile our environment can be, it alerted us to the dangers that could lie ahead in the future, particularly if climate change goes unchecked. Nevertheless, in the middle, in the present, I found the experience remarkably hopeful. The intimate connection between humanity and the environment means that the decisions each one of us makes can damage and exploit the environment. On the other hand, it also means that our decisions, purchases and practices, could instead become part of a process that restores the harmony between humanity and earth. A more interdependent, mutually beneficial, relationship has at times been known in the past; why should it not be developed again into the future? 'Past, present and future' is a theme to which I often return; it was the subject of my first sermons with you a year ago! In the Broomhill Jugglers fellowship group we recently shared some of our concerns about the church. We remembered with gratitude the years of energy and activity in the past, and worried a little for the future in terms age profiles and weariness and reduced numbers. But then we reminded ourselves that "The time is now! The Kingdom of God has arrived." The past resources us, and the future can inspire; but it is in the present that we need to live. And, as Neil Richardson, a recent President of Conference invited us, in the present let us be a God-centred, not a Church-centred, Church. Provided that we are being faithful and focused on God, in the end God can take care of the church. Our task and calling is to focus on God. With that faithfully done, then we can let God worry about the future of the church, whilst we get on with being the church in the here and now. The Eden Project invites us to take responsibility in the present, but in so doing it offers us hope, in both present and future, for the partnership between earth and humanity. This invitation and optimism for living in the present surely applies to us in our partnership with God through the Church. Our responsibility might be to focus on God and God's ways, and God will surely work in partnership with us, taking care of whatever the future brings. Yet the only time in which we can do this is now: the here and now is the only time in which we can live and be God's people! God Bless, and a Happy New Methodist Connexional Year! James July 2006 Dear Friends, As I write we are in a time of festival. The local Broomhill Festival is in full flow, the World Cup has begun, and, with end of year exams out of the way, the students have been in festive mood! In the midst of it all, the celebration of Pentecost is fresh in mind, for in these weeks we remember the power, the presence and the diverse gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit brings to us God's love and life. Wherever there is goodness, the Holy Spirit is prompting; wherever there is difficulty, the Holy Spirit encourages, brings hope; wherever there is tenderness, the Holy Spirit is nurturing; wherever there is wrongdoing, the Holy Spirit challenges, points to another way. Surely in the outpouring of art and music and community, in the sense of work well done and of opportunities in life, even in the beauty and exuberance of a wonderful goal, we can see signs of the Spirit at work and representations of the joy that the Sprit brings. As for the gifts of the Spirit, we read of these in Paul's letters, for example in 1 Corinthians 12-14, or, in Ephesians 4.7: "each of us has been given a special gift, a particular share in the bounty of Christ". We use such gifts in humility and through teamwork for the common good; they are woven together as part of the body of Christ. But if I remind you that God has given you a particular gift or gifts, are you aware of what they are? Are you trusting of yourself, appropriately confident, that there are gifts of grace and talents within you, of which others might sometimes be more aware than you are yourself?! I read once (in Nelson Bolles' 'What colour is your parachute?') of an imagined scene, an insightful fantasy if you like, of each of us standing before God before we were born and volunteering to receive some particular gifts and talents that especially appealed to us. With these we would carry out particular tasks, a particular mission, that is needed here on earth. Our time here then becomes one of recovering and developing and using those particular talents and gifts, in the process of which we bring joy to ourselves, and of course joy and life to those for whom we use the gifts. So may I encourage you, of course with modesty and in harmony with others, but to trust yourself and the gifts that you have been given. Have confidence in the good that God is doing within and through you, and know that he can yet do more. And, as we seek together to be God's people in this time and place, may you know the courage and comfort, the joy and the peace, of God's Holy Spirit.
'Gracious Spirit, dwell with me; June 2006 Dear Friends, The rain is pouring down and those early summer days seem long gone! Maybe they will return, for warmth and sunshine speak more easily to the joy of the Easter season. Sometimes our mood and circumstances speak easily of Easter, but at other times, it is a question of searching, of holding on, or of trusting that Easter is still true. I hope that you have been feeling something of the joy of our Risen Lord, or, if things have been difficult, that at least that you have had a sense that, in the power and the love of the Resurrection, the world's difficulties will ultimately be overcome. Maybe with such a sense you will also find the quiet, faithful endurance to persevere through any difficulties of your own. In the Lent Course we reflected on what it might have been like to have been one of Jesus' disciples. At this point, a few weeks after the Resurrection, I imagine that they might have been getting used to having Jesus around again. But then, as he had warned, he disappeared once more, this time, in one sense, for good. This year we celebrated the Ascension on Thursday 25th May. How strange that must have been for the Disciples. I guess that initially they might have been thrown back into feelings of grief and loss? Things never stay the same, do they? Even when they are going well, something new can happen and we are encouraged to journey on again, sometimes seeing the change as a difficult loss, but at other times as an opportunity as well. Forever we face change in the Church, as also we do in our own lives. Sometimes that change can be dramatic, but often it can be in much smaller ways that are nonetheless just as concrete. How we love the security of the familiar!, and yet how easily, instead of a comfort, that can also sometimes become a trap, of complacency, or whatever. And yet, ultimately, do we need to fear the new? Change is often unsettling, yet deep, deep down we really needn't fear it, for Christ promised, and in his goodness God gave us, another gift. That was the gift of our true comforter, our true inspirer, our true strength and help, the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, this year celebrated on Sunday 4th June. We live, therefore, constantly with change, yet, also, the Holy Spirit is always with us, meeting us in the midst of change, present with us come what may. Some of you may be wondering what I'm meaning by referring to all this change! Actually, nothing in particular, save the recognition that change is always with us. I was simply struck by those disciples, living in the in-between times between Easter and Ascension and Pentecost, and I was reminded that we too are always living in an in-between time…but that's OK, for God is with us: "'Tis Jesus, the first and the last,
God Bless you, James
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