This month we start the liturgical season of Lent when churches around the world begin to prepare for Easter. Lent is regarded as a penitential season that builds up to the events of Holy Week culminating in the crucifixion on Good Friday. Once all the pancakes have been eaten on a particular Tuesday evening Lent begins with Ash Wednesday with the Imposition of Ashes when worshippers receive a mark of the cross on their foreheads with words spoken over them:"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return"Lent holds us together as humans, as mortals, as people who have made mistakes, as people who struggle, as people who hurt ourselves and others. In summary, Lent feels like a time of turning, a time of confessing, a time of seeking forgiveness, and a time of remembering.This month, I’d normally be telling you about the Lent and Easter services and events coming up in the next few weeks. But given the summary about Lent that I’ve just given I want to take this opportunity to say something different.Sorry.As your local vicar, and thinking about the national Church of England, as your representative of the ‘CofE’ I’m sincerely sorry, the national news about the wider Church of England has been really devastating. The past few months have seen the Safeguarding failings of the Church of England being brought into the light, and some of the voices of survivors finally being heard. As I write, General Synod is meeting and Safeguarding is being discussed. It’s my opinion that we, the national Church of England have utterly failed. People come to churches in moments of joy, in moments of grief, ready to mark significant moments in life. People encounter the local church week by week, or at festivals, or when seeking a quiet safe space to pause and pray. And all too often, across the nation, local churches haven’t always been a safe space. Which is heartbreaking. When I think of Jesus’, whose Church this is, who loved all and stood up for the forgotten people, I’m conscious that the Church of England we’ve become isn’t always worthy to bear his name.Nationally the Church of England will make the decisions it makes and I pray that an appropriate way forward will be found. Locally, we will continue to abide by the Safeguarding standards of our diocese. For my part, I want to acknowledge that as Christ’s body – the whole global Church, we’ve not always got things right, and there is so much more work to do, there are many more survivors who need to be heard, there are many more challenges to be resolved. But I want you to know that here in Betley and Madeley, Safeguarding is at the forefront of what we do, and we will continue to strive to improve our practices as we seek to keep you and your family safe.Please pray for us as we pray for you.Rev Tim.
In January we launched our new church Vision. It’s a vision that has been prayerfully developing for the last 7-8 months and the development of this Vision has taken multiple steps to get to this point.And in all honesty it’s not rocket science: Loving God, Loving others.Taken from Matthew 22:37-39, where Jesus has been asked by one of the Pharisees about what the greatest commandment is, Jesus replied,“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’” (NIV)Going forwards as a church community these are the two Core Values we want to take forward with us: Loving God, Loving others.As a church we are going to seek to express these Core Values by what we do, and in our church life we’ve identified Five Ways we will make these Core values known.In our Worshipping – As individuals, in groups, as a whole church we will worship God wholeheartedlyIn our Apprenticing – Jesus called his disciples to follow him, not just as hangers on, but as his apprentices learning from himIn our Serving – We are not just called to be people who are to tell our neighbours that God loves them, but we are to share that love through practical acts of loving serviceIn our Presencing – (A strange word I know!) We are to practice faithful presencing to explore what it means to really engage with our communityIn our Sending – God sends, as a church community we need to be explicit about discerning what God is sending us out into the world to do as a church, but also as Jesus’ apprentices.If you want to find out more about our Vision, Core Values or the Five Ways, please do speak to me!BlessingsTim
As December rolls in, no doubt with a chill in the air and perhaps a frost on the ground, we find ourselves preparing for another Christmas and another new year. I don’t know about you, (maybe it’s a vicar thing), but for me the month of December passes by so very quickly. With the Christmas preparations, plans, presents, decorations, get-togethers. Add into it some Christmas activities, nativity plays, Christmas fayres and the like and the month starts to fill up. Then add into that carol services, Christingles, and whatever else comes along, and the month is jam-packed and can easily carry us through without our feet touching the ground. And then its January. New start. New year. New plans. New resolutions….Advent – Christmas – Epiphany. The three church seasons we’ll journey through in December and January bring with them opportunities to pause, to reflect, to renew our thinking. And if it wasn’t for the busyness it would be the perfect triptych of seasons to do it.Advent – the season of waitingChristmas – the season to celebrate God’s saving work in the worldEpiphany – the season of newness, of encounterDecember and January come around and they can be expensive times, tiring times, challenging months, and yet at the heart of the three liturgical seasons is the reassuring cry of “God’s got this!”Perhaps in the busyness, we might pause and find perspective, maybe keep some moments of the diary clear, maybe rethink how much credit card debt we want to take on to buy gifts and pay for celebrations.Maybe there’s something to the simple idea that at the centre of those three festivals is a little baby, placed in a borrowed manger, in a cave/stable. Maybe such an idea might release us from some of the pressures this time of year brings.Whatever your situation, may God bless you this Advent, Christmas and Epiphany.BlessingsTim.
In October Clare and I went to the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle, to a production of Angela Carter’s, The Company of Wolves. It was fantastic. The production had garnered some excellent reviews from national newspapers and it really was a very thrilling and challenging piece. There was dancing, acrobatics, incredible lighting and a very simple but beautiful set design. The music was contemporary and pulsing. The whole piece was full of dark and light, brimming with red and white. A moral tale, a contemporary take on a fairytale, it could be a story of following expectations and rules, or going off with wild abandon. The style of certain aspects of the production reminded me of the classic 80’s vampire movie, The Lost Boys. The soundtrack reminded me of Blade Runner 2049 and the recent Dune films. Wow just wow. Clare and I don’t get out to the theatre much, maybe we should a bit more.Why am I writing about a no longer showing theatre performance? Because as I watched the production I was inspired - in the way that good art inspires. I was challenged, filled with awe and a little bit of terror at the acrobatics too.Life can seem like a full-on pelt towards whatever is next in the calendar. Days and weeks running by in a blur. I know personally, that I find it helpful to try to make space to be inspired, it keeps me thinking creatively and refreshes my soul.I wonder, what inspires you and are you making space for it?Peace.Tim.
