One of the habits deeply ingrained into me in teaching was looking back and reflecting on progress. Also, the importance of resting after extended periods of busyness to replenish, renew your energy and be ready to start again. That rhythm established by God in creation – working, reviewing, resting, repeat.August can usually have a slightly slower pace and different rhythm. Opportunities to reflect, rest and plan next steps. God’s gift to us. Letting go the tyranny of the to-do-list. Choosing to prioritise things that often don’t make it onto the list. Perhaps that might be meeting up with friends, cleaning out the garage, reading that book sitting on the shelf, trying a new hobby, joining a summer club, visiting tourist attractions you’ve never yet made it to… Jesus paid careful attention to the things he did and the people he spent time with. He ensured he had space away to rest and pray. At times he chose to leave work undone and move on to something new.As church meetings slow down, schools close and holiday season sets in, I encourage you to see this month as gift. The opportunity to slow down and do things differently. Is there something you’ve not been able to find time to do that would be life-giving for you or others? How might you carve out time and space to enable you to do it during August? Our vision of the kingdom of God, which is good news for all, centres around God’s life-giving love for us. I pray that these summer weeks will be God’s gift to you and will feel life-giving and refreshing. A gift that will furnish you with stories and memories of joy and hope you can share with others and look back on during the busyness of general life. A month that will fill your heart with joy and gladness and enable your spirit to soar and sing as you rise up on wings like the eagle. An experience of God’s goodness and gift to you.The Venerable Nicky Fenton Archdeacon of Derbyshire Peak and Dales
Recently I found myself considering a spoil heap hill (a feature of former coal mining areas) as a metaphor of transformation. A bit of background to explain that!As Archdeacon of East Derbyshire the part of my role that involves me travelling throughout the eastern side of the county means that I am frequently driving through settlements and landscapes associated with mining and its legacy. The small hill (and it was big enough to be considered as such) I was driving past at the time is now partially wooded and partially farmed. I’m not sure how long it will have taken to get this ‘heap’ to this point but it will have been a journey that has involved a great deal of attention and care around stability, drainage, probably some form of reclamation of the material and varying levels of plant and species colonisation, planned and otherwise. It is so much more than a single event! Many of us are on a journey of transformation as followers of Jesus, as our desire to be more like Him and the work of the Holy Spirit in us combine to spur us on in our pilgrimage. That can take us in a myriad of directions as we follow God’s call on our lives, but even as we heed that call, Scripture encourages us to ‘go on being transformed’, to keep on with the journey of discipleship, to go deeper with God. Others of us may be on a journey of enquiry and exploration, uncertain of where that might lead but still with a desire to find out. That journey is of itself transformative. For some that has led them recently to Ordination as deacon and priest. Please do hold those people in your prayers as they settle into this new phase of their lives. For a lot of us it is about ‘keeping on keeping on’ in our own situations, whatever we do, dealing with all the joys and challenges of life in the context of ongoing inner transformation as we daily know more of God’s love for us. Often challenging, sometimes extremely so, never dull! For me, as retirement approaches, the transforming love of God and my response to that will continue to transform me, although in a different setting. This is the last Archdeacon’s message I will be writing. Thank you for being part of the journey with me over the years, not just as Archdeacon but prior to that as well. My life has been enriched beyond measure by the people of this Diocese, whether part of a worshipping community or not, whether colleague or companion or passing acquaintance and it has been a joy, sometimes in the midst of struggle, to see God’s Kingdom bringing transformation in so many different places and lives in such a variety of ways. Keep on keeping on, nothing is beyond God’s redemptive and transforming presence, as the spoil heap illustrates (just a metaphor, don’t push it too far as one of my lecturers used to say). May God’s blessing be on you and with you as our journeys of transformation continue. The Venerable Karen Hamblin Archdeacon of East Derbyshire
This year sees the 10th anniversary of Thy Kingdom Come, a prayer movement launched by the archbishops of Canterbury and York 10 years ago. Since its launch, Christians in 172 countries now participate and more than 85 denominations are involved. Thy Kingdom Come is truly global in its reach!Thy Kingdom Comes focuses on the 10 days between Ascension Day and our celebration of Pentecost. Think back to the story of the disciples after Easter, waiting patiently in Jerusalem, full of expectation and anticipation, for the gift of the Spirit which Jesus had promised. If they were honest, it was all a bit frightening as they didn’t quite know what the gift would involve. They may not have realised what the impact of the Spirit would be – for them all it would be a costly gift involving the giving of their own lives in witness to the risen Jesus - yet they waited in obedience to Jesus’ instructions.This year the focus is on the words of the Lord’s Prayer, the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray and which we pray in every act of Anglican public worship. The published materials say: ‘the prayer Jesus taught us transcends the ages, uniting people across different denominations, generations, and nations. We believe that now, more than ever, we need to pray Thy Kingdom Come over our homes, communities, nations, and our world.’The resources include reflections on the Lord’s Prayer from a range of different voices from across the world to help us experience something new in a prayer that many of us are familiar with. Thy Kingdom Come has travelled a long way in 10 years. Let’s engage with it this year and become part of the story with global Christians. Let’s enter the hope and expectation that the first disciples experienced in those days before the first Pentecost in Jerusalem. Let’s create an opportunity every day in the 10 days between the Ascension of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit, to notice where God is active in the world, in the church and in our own lives, and to commit ourselves to cooperate with God’s work. Why not visit thykingdomcom.global and see how you can get involved in your parish? There are resources to help the Church pray and especially there is an encouragement to pray for individuals close to us. We are encouraged to pray for five people each that we with them may know the gift of God’s Spirit in their daily lives. On Friday, 30 May, from 7pm to 10pm, Derby Cathedral is holding a prayer vigil for Thy Kingdom Come to which all are invited. Why not hold a vigil in your parish church and open your own parish community to the growing involvement in Thy Kingdom Come?The Very Revd Dr Peter Robinson Dean of Derby
On the day I wrote this article, the stock markets were down 11% as the impact of what President Trump termed ‘Liberation Day’ took hold on the global economy. As of April 2, the United States has imposed global tariffs on countries exporting goods and services to America. Some countries have already responded to Trump’s move by imposing retaliatory tariffs on the cost to the United States of exporting their goods into those countries. Now, you might not follow the ups and downs of global stock markets and the twists and turns of the geo-politics, but part of the concern over these tariffs will be their effect on nearly all of us. The US President’s move affects pensions, the cost of car purchases, family savings and more. And the language applied to the advent of these significant and far-reaching tariffs is ‘Liberation Day’. The heavy burden imposed on countries and individuals by these tariffs starkly contrasts with Jesus’ message of salvation, liberation, and hope that we celebrate during the Easter season. Jesus took the full weight of human sin on himself on the cross and rose from the dead to offer us new life in Christ. Whereas President Trump’s tariffs lead to hopelessness and despair, the liberation Jesus offers us brings hope. However, as we take our confidence in the Good News of Jesus, we must reconcile what we believe in faith with the world as we experience it; that is the challenge of being a disciple. It might strike you as hard to cling to a message of hope amid a fractured world, but that is the work we must do if we are to point people to Jesus. Will Freemont-Brown’s chapter in the Archbishop’s Lent book ‘Wild Bright Hope’ suggests that for Christians, hope is not the same as optimism but inviting Jesus into the challenging and traumatic: the hopeless places of our lives and the world, we can reimagine those spaces with hope. The apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans (12.2) urges early followers of Jesus to ‘not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your [our] mind’. Therefore, the challenge for us as contemporary followers of Jesus is not to deny or play down the despair of tariffs and warfare but, through prayer, invite the Holy Spirit to help us reimagine our outlook on the here and now, in light of the liberation Jesus won for us on the cross and in the resurrection. The Venerable Matthew Trick Archdeacon of Derby City and South Derbyshire
