Some phrases from the Apostle James in the New Testament and Jesus in Mark’s Gospel, and the experience of a very recent crossing to Bardsey Island, at the end of the Lleyn Peninsula in North Wales, have been very much in my mind and on my heart as September comes to a close. “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” and “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all...........Whoever welcomes a little child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me” (James Chapter 3 and Mark Chapter 9). Simple, straightforward and very clear – no beating about the bush but.......as is so often the case, easier said than done! Over the course of the Church’s year and calendar we remember and celebrate countless people – saints – who have all tried, over the centuries and in their own individual and particular (and sometime peculiar) ways to draw near to God, to be last of all and servant of all and who had welcomed all in Jesus’ name. In one week in September the Church’s calendar included a 5<sup>th</sup> Century teacher of the faith John Chrysostom, a 3<sup>rd</sup> Century bishop and martyr Cyprian of Carthage, a 5<sup>th</sup> Century Bishop, missionary and evangelist of the Picts, Ninian, a 19<sup>th</sup> Century Anglican reformer and teacher Edward Pusey and the celebrated German abbess and music maker from the 12<sup>th</sup> Century Hildegard of Bingen. Quite an array, and of course we need to add to them the millions of “ordinary” Christian women, men and children who were also practising and witnessing to their faith in their own different ways and times and places. Thinking about the “company of saints and the great cloud of witnesses” I finally finished the North Wales Pilgrims’ Way on 16<sup>th</sup> September, just over 6 years after I had started it at Basingwerk Abbey in Flintshire. I prayed at the ruins of the 13<sup>th</sup> Century Augustinian Abbey, and remembered the 6<sup>th</sup> Century Breton missionary Cadfan, who had come from Brittany to Wales and Bardsey to establish a monastery on the island. What Cadfan’s journey must have been like doesn’t bear thinking about – ours was relatively simple and straightforward (thankfully the sound between the island and the mainland was calm-ish and the waves light and the sky clear and blue) but the overall experience of boat trip and the day on the island was incredible and very profound. I will certainly be returning to Bardsey in the future - trying to draw nearer to God and reflecting on the many thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of people who over the centuries have been making the sometimes perilous crossing to the island in search of holiness and peace. Drawing near to God isn’t just about solitude and peacefulness and holiness in a particular place however, no matter how spiritual the place happens to be – and Bardsey Island is an exceptionally holy and spiritual place. It is of course about engagement in and witness to the world, as the Apostle James makes very clear early on in his epistle, and that is the challenge for all of us, as individual Christians and as members of churches. Welcoming the stranger in our midst, welcoming the asylum seeker, welcoming the Afghan refugee family – these are all part of that engagement in and with our world, which is so broken in so many parts, and there are many different ways of doing this, including this month’s sponsored sleep out (and in) to raise funds for Afghan refugee families. As Christians, as Churches, we just have to continue praying, reflecting on and discussing the best and most effective ways for us of drawing nearer to God and to each other. And in so doing God will draw nearer to us...... May God bless each one of us in this coming month. The Revd Alec Brown.
Dear friends, I cannot believe it is September already. One minute I had broken up with the long summer holiday ahead of me and the next I am sharpening pencils and packing my school bag. Slowly we have seen changes in church, we are now singing hymns albeit with masks and sitting down, we are greeted on Sunday morning with the glorious sounds of the bells, we can have coffee together, we have restarted our monthly Celtic Evening prayer on the 1<sup>st</sup> Thursday of the month and Evensong in the beautiful surroundings of Arley Chapel. We have celebrated baptisms and weddings which have been such unbelievably joyous occasions especially as so many have been postponed at least once. September for children and all those working in schools and colleges is always a time of fresh starts and new adventures. We pray for all those starting at school, college or universities and for each member of staff. We especially pray for Lucy Wainwright who is joining our family as the new Head at Great Budworth and Antrobus and we hope to be able to welcome her properly soon. On 5<sup>th</sup> September Jenny is leading our All Age Climate Sunday Service. Andrew Needham from Chester Diocesan Environmental Forum will be speaking. As you may be aware in November, in Glasgow, we are hosting the UN Climate Change conference. In 2015 the Paris Agreement was signed which committed world governments to limit the global temperature rise. The world is not doing well in achieving this goal. At the very beginning of Genesis, God spoke and the world was created. However the world came about; we believe God was the originator, the creator- a mighty God, but also a God who is loving and intimately involved in his creation. When God created the world, he looked at it and said it was good - the intricacies of nature, the sheer vastness of the mountains and the seas, down to the star shaped Mole of North America with the 22 little tentacles at the end of its nose are all incredible.. The world is amazingly beautiful but it is also wounded, it suffers due <span style="font-size: 1rem;">to our sin and wrong doing, the incredibly selfish ways we have lived for so long with little regard for the world around us,</span> We need to add our voices to those who are suffering the most but have done the least to cause the problem. It is said that the climate crisis has reached an unprecedented level. We are at a pivotal moment and something needs to be done – the climate is out of kilter. 690 million people go to bed hungry. 2 billion people have no access to waste management. There is a real climate emergency and there needs to be climate justice in the world. God`s heart is for the poor and this situation is heartbreaking There are however signs of Hope – Christians are joining with other organisations to not only change habits but to speak out. We cannot ignore those whose food security is affected by climate change and our unseen neighbours, people living in areas of the globe where habitats are disappearing, crops are failing and sea levels are rising The Church of England has 5 marks of mission – the 5<sup>th</sup> Mark is to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth. Safeguard, sustain and renew. Worship, Commit and speak up. We need to listen, learn, pray and act There is so much that we can do to change our habits – walking or cycling rather than using the car, looking at our carbon footprint, shopping ethically, up cycling, planting more trees, using less plastic, harnessing renewable energy, going on creation walks. Also we need to hold Governments to account. Christian Aid and many aid agencies have so many ideas on their websites – writing to our MP, joining prayer chains, protesting and demanding action not just words. As a church community what can we do together? Are there ways we can make our church and its surroundings more environmentally friendly? We are called to love God and love others. Being a Christian is all about relationships –relationship with God, relationship with others and relationship with our planet. God commissioned us to be good stewards of his creation. <span style="font-size: 1rem;">There is no planet B.</span> To end with words of Archbishop Justin Welby, “As people of faith, we don`t just state our beliefs- we live them out. One belief is that we find purpose and joy in loving our neighbours. Another is that we are charged by our creator with taking good care of his creation.” Love Christina
On 5th September, our All Age Service will be part of the Nations' Climate Sunday Service Event where we pray and worship ahead of the COP26 Climate Talks in Glasgow. Led by Curate, Jenny, our guest speaker is Andrew Needham, of the Chester Diocese Environmental Forum and we will learn about ways the church is adapting to change and how we can get involved and commit to "zero carbon" in our church community by 2030.
The last month has seen so many changes including weddings and baptisms on the increase in church (which of course is marvellous experience for a second year curate!), an exciting UEFA EURO Final and relaxation of COVID precautions. I’m not sure if the latter is such a great idea though, and, at the time of writing, I have no idea where we’ll be in a few weeks, but looking around the globe, relaxation has been associated with increased case numbers and hospitalisations, and worryingly also in vaccinated individuals. Our church PCC has therefore decided to proceed along quite a precautionary path, and after a very collaborative PCC Zoom discussion on the 19th July, we were all aligned with this view. More on this in the magazine! Finally, we’ve also been able to bask in long awaited sunny days, and for Cheshire we have been seeing extra-ordinary temperatures for this time of year. The first ever extreme weather warning issued by the UK meteorological office came out as temperatures soared up to 33 degrees Celsius. We have also been shocked by the floods and loss of life and homes in Western Germany which was preceded by record temperatures in North America. As I said to one of my work colleagues, we think we are untouched by these events until they start to come closer to home, and climate change is, of course, very much on the Church of England’s radar. The General Synod has set new targets for all parts of the church to work to become carbon “net zero” by 2030 and in Great Budworth, we will also be thinking of creative solutions in our Deanery. We are all being encouraged to take bold action on climate change in advance of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow on 31 October -12th November. The culmination of this campaign is a national Climate Sunday event on Sunday 5th September 2021, to share church commitments and pray for bold action and courageous leadership at COP26. Here at Great Budworth we will also be holding a special All Age service with a “This Time Tomorrow” interview format and a couple of guests, <span style="font-size: 1rem;">but thinking about where we will be in terms of our environment in 10 years’ time rather than ”tomorrow.”</span> For Christians, environmental concern runs deep. We know that God created the world, and that we are only stewards or trustees of God’s creation. As the Bible says “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). As we enjoy the rest of the summer with friends and family, I pray for good health, many blessings, caring hearts for the people and animals who share our lives, and a recharging of the batteries before we all enter the season of “back to school.” Happy Summer, Rev Dr Jenny
