Some people find prayer easy; I am not one of those. Sometimes there are situations or people I can focus on, but without these, I struggle. At least, I struggle with prayer as a shopping list, but there are other ways and reasons to pray. One of my inspirations is the poet and priest R.S. Thomas, who words have often inspired me. This poem tells of how he found prayer a way of simply being with God, moving us from "the snake-haunted garden", the Garden of Eden, our current world, to the "tall city of glass", the New Jerusalem in the book of Revelation, the place where God dwells.Not as in the old days I pray,God. My life is not what it was...Once I would have asked healing. I go now to be doctored...to lend my flesh as manuscript of the great poemOf the scalpel. I would have kneltlong, wrestling with you, wearingyou down. Hear my prayer Lord, hear my prayer. As though you were deaf, myriads of mortals have kept up their shrillcry, explaining your silence by their unfitness.It begins to appearthis is not what prayer is about.It is the annihilation of difference,the consciousness of myself in you,of you in me...I begin to recognizeyou anew, God of form and number.There are questions we are the solution to, others whose echoes we must expandto contain. Circular as our wayis, it leads not back to the snake-hauntedgarden, but onward to the tall city of glass that is the laboratory of the spirit.
In many different spheres, leaders have recently been in the news. Let's start with the most important; Gareth Southgate has stood down from being manager of England; after 8 years at the helm, he wants a change. Then we have the changing of the guard in Government; I have been struck by the gracious exchanges between Keir Starmer and Rikki Sunak as they adjust to their new roles. Then of course there is how they do things in the USA; the hatred that led someone to try and kill Donald Trump (and, let us not forget the person who was killed and the people injured) but perhaps signs Mr Trump may be adjusting his style and the warm words to him from President Bidden in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.There are many different ways of being a leader. Traditionally Jesus is said to personify "servant leadership", humble and leading by example at cost to himself. This is certainly true, but Jesus had a number of leadership styles, depending on the circumstances. Any effective leader needs to use a number of styles, as the occasion demands. But equally, the leader will have a preferred style; for Jesus, this was servant leadership leading to the cross.I was talking to a colleague in the week about the recent coronation, when our symbolic leader was confirmed in office. He spoke of how one of the most moving part of the ceremony was after Charles and Camilla were crowned, after all the pomp and ceremony, their first act was to kneel at a communion rail to receive bread and wine. The crowned monarch, our liege lord and his consort, paid their homage to the servant king, their strength as leader.
We are delighted to welcome the Rev Kina Robertshaw as our new rector, who was formally installed as rector of all the parishes in our benefice on April 18th. Kina was previously Associate Minister at Bromyard where she gained considerable experience of working in rural communities. Kina was born in Angola and left home at 17. She was a successful entrepeneur in the fashion industry until she started to train for full-time ministry. She carried out research on Christian entrepreneurs for a master's degree and has co-authored a book on the subject. Kina can be recognised by her broad smile, her enthusiasm for meeting and talking to people and her dog, which she takes for walks. For those who want to know more about Kina, her website is Kina Robertshaw
