On one of my pre-Christmas walks around the Parish I met and chatted with a parishioner, as often happens, and during the conversation she said that, although it wasn’t a good idea to wish time away, she would be very glad to see the back of 2020! I can only imagine that her sentiments will have been shared with countless others throughout our Parish, communities and country! I have resisted the impulse to go back to the Parish Magazines of December 2019 and January 2020 to see what I had written, suspecting rather harmless generalities and so on, before just about everything changed – but in my defence, could any of us have seen Coronavirus and lockdowns and everything else coming? What a year it has been, and it is true to say that Covid-19 has affected all of us and every aspect and area of life as we know it in a way that has simply not happened before, at least not in our lifetimes. In different ways we have all had to get to grips with and get our heads around what has been an unprecedented time in the life of the country, and of course the Church. I’m sure I don’t need to remind readers that the last time churches were closed for public worship (as far as I know) was at the beginning of the 13th Century, during the dispute between King John and the Pope! We have of course learnt to adapt, to change and to cope as best we can with the challenges and demands of the pandemic and, in spite of the suffering and loss and pain that we have all been through (and continue to go through) I think we have, as individuals, as communities and as members of the Church, emerged stronger and more resilient and adaptable than we perhaps ever thought we were capable of doing. We enter then this new year with all sorts of emotions and feelings and thoughts – of sadness for the past of course but also of thanksgiving for all the positives of the last year (an elderly veteran, a certain footballer and Thursday night claps come to mind straight away), as well as <span style="font-size: 1rem;">hope for the future in relation to the development of the Coronavirus vaccine. But also I think of a quiet confidence and trust in God’s providential care and love, and in God’s great faithfulness towards us, even and perhaps especially in the darkest of times. You will I’m sure all be familiar with that beautiful story entitled “Footprints” – in the most difficult of times, when we may have felt abandoned by God, yet we were in fact being carried by God. The message of the angels, celebrated by us all at Christmas in the birth of the Messiah, is as powerful and hopeful now as it was 20 centuries ago – Emmanuel – God with us – now and always.</span> May God bless each one of us in this coming month and in this New Year, whatever it brings! The Revd Alec Brown.
Dear friends I am not a great modern art lover. Dave and my first date was at a Seurat exhibition at the National and that is about as modern as I get. I once asked at Tate Modern for the Gainsborough exhibition. “This is Tate Modern” the lady said, with a look that said it all. So when Tracey Emin was interviewed on Radio 4 I was not listening intently but then her words just hit me. She had been explaining about her year and the fact that she had been diagnosed with cancer and needed immediate surgery and she said that she felt like she was “on the cusp” of something. This is how I always feel on New Year`s Eve, that we are on the cusp of something. Last year none of us could have anticipated how 2020 would go. During the 1st lockdown I do not think that any of us would have anticipated that we would still be in the midst of lockdowns and Tiers. I am praying this month that we can all keep hopeful and pray that with the vaccines we can see an end in sight, but in the meantime we need to continue to love and support each other in any way we can. I often talk in my Musing`s about resolutions but you will have noticed that I am not great at keeping them so this year I aim to love God and love others more. George VI in a very dark time in 1939, when we were at war with Nazi Germany used this quote from Minnie Louise Haskins in his Christmas message. "I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year, 'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.' And he replied, 'Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be better than light, and safer than a known way.'" I can`t think of a better piece of advice to put our hands into the hand of God and continue to hope and pray. As George VI concluded his message, “ May that Almighty hand guide and uphold us all.” With love, prayers and blessings Christina
Winter in the Workplace. Revd Dr Jenny McKay Well, what a year 2020 was! This time last year we were receiving sporadic reports of a few outbreaks of a new flu virus in Asia, but little did the general public know what that would really mean for the year ahead. Dave and I had returned at the end of January from a snowshoe holiday in France although there was little snow in the Southern French Alps due to changes in seasonal snowfall and we had to climb quite high to see any. That was our last holiday abroad. Then, in February, a number of us in work had to fly out to Portugal for a Lab Leaders’ Meeting and we were starting to feel a bit nervous as colleagues from Korea, Japan and Italy were told not to fly due to escalating flu cases. By the end of the week, those of us who had managed the trip were feeling decidedly anxious and there was a real feeling of foreboding in the airport on the trip back home where everyone just wanted to get home safely in time. In time for what? We didn’t know but it was an almost apocalyptic feeling. In fact, while in Portugal I had also learned that Cransley High School had been shut due to coronavirus fears after Italy ski-trip pupils were showing flu-like symptoms. The disease was now literally on our doorstep! Almost one year ago, who could have imagined that people would be working from home, life would carry on and those of us who had always been present and “needed” in the laboratory were now confined to home? On the 4th Sunday of Advent I talked about the song “Lord of The Dance” by Sydney Carter. In it, Jesus dances through people’s lives, inviting them to join him. Sydney also wrote another powerful song about this dancing God, and the danger of trying to trap him, or keep him still. It’s called “The Bird of Heaven” and it tells us that if we try to hold God down or control him, that we will “look again tomorrow, and he will be gone.” You, like me, may not like to be constrained at home but during this pandemic the Holy Spirit has certainly not been constrained within church buildings, and we’ve seen time and again how the church has adapted with new types of services, social media and many people who may never have thought much about Christianity are now really asking questions about faith.All of us with faith are being looked at to answer questions about why this pandemic has happened and what it all means. Sometimes it can be difficult to feel ready for these challenging questions. However, think about Mary, the mother of Jesus. She was and is an inspiration. An ordinary woman chosen to fulfil God’s purpose for his people. As Luke tells us, the angel appeared to her and said “you are the favoured one!” Because Mary loved God and followed Him she had the confidence to agree. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled’ she said.Whatever happens this year, where ever we are, whatever place or time, God calls us to follow Jesus and to let him guide our steps into the unknown future. I try and remember that when being a presence in the workplace even if that is virtual! If we dare to open our hearts to God, and to the world around us, and to the difference God can make in people’s lives, the dance of 2021 will go on.Blessings to you all, Jenny
From the Vicar At the time of writing, it is still unclear as to exactly what the tiered restrictions will be that follow the ending of the temporary lockdown on 2nd December, but I would like to reassure all readers that, notwithstanding any indications to the contrary, Christmas will not be cancelled! It has been interesting, to say the least, to have observed the way in which large sections of the media understand and appreciate the importance and the significance of Christmas – or should I say “the festive season” or “the December celebrations”. We all know and appreciate the huge importance of the Christmas season for the economy, and for families and communities across the country in the “bleak mid-winter” of Covid-19 restrictions and the continuing suffering and death for so many people – all the more reason therefore for us to remind people of, and celebrate, the joy and the hope that is at the very heart of Christmas – the birth of the Messiah – God with us. This, as we all know, is the true “reason for the season” and some of us will be celebrating this in Church (God willing), others online or listening to the radio or watching the television – whatever situation we find ourselves in we will be celebrating and giving thanks for the birth of the Christ Child – neither plague nor pandemic can prevent this – nor even Oliver Cromwell! I do not underestimate how different this Christmas will be for hundreds of millions of Christians throughout the world – but I will take great comfort in the celebration of a Festival which, in a strange way that we’ve begun to appreciate more during these long and difficult months of lockdowns, awful suffering and different restrictions, may well take on far greater significance and meaning for Christians, and others, everywhere. Difficulties and disappointments there will certainly be, and I do not want to gloss over these with glib platitudes – but our faith and hope as Christians is, or should be, far deeper and much more resilient than anything that can be thrown at us, including the current pandemic and all the problems associated with it. St Paul put this so wonderfully and powerfully into words in his letter to the Romans: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8) – nor Covid-19!<span style="font-size: 1rem;">So, wherever we are and whatever we’re doing this Christmas, let me remind everyone of one of my favourite lines from one of the most well known and loved Christmas Carols “In the bleak mid-winter” by Christina Rossetti, which I’m sure we’ll all hear at some time over Christmas: “What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb; if I were a wise man I would do my part, yet what I can I give him: give my heart”. Give our hearts this Christmastide – to God, to the Christ Child and to one another.</span> On behalf of all the Ministry Team (to whom, along with the many workers and helpers in our Church community, on your behalf, I would like to pay tribute, for their enthusiastic willingness to take on all the challenges that came in the wake of Covid-19 and the lockdowns, and continue!) – best wishes for a truly happy, peaceful, blessed and safe Christmas. Happy Christmas! And here’s to 2021! The Revd Alec Brown.
