St Peter

LETTER FROM OUR VICAR

Dear Friends,

The birds are beginning to dance: the males strutting, the male wrens singing their hearts out, the robins now very territorial. I wonder if they remember bird ‘flu. It was two or three years ago. In it came, setting off all kinds of alarms. They seem to be getting louder, the alarms. Are we listening? And what are we listening out for?

I remember once seeing an army colonel being interviewed on television and he was asked what he looked for in a new recruit; he came straight out with it - grace under pressure.

I have never forgotten it and of course that is really what is needed when things are heading pear-shaped. This virus is a new life form, and it is not Chinese as Donald Trump suggests; we can call it our 'enemy' but it is not our enemy either, it is simply doing what it does. It may well however be a source of great teaching, it is asking us some very big questions, some uncomfortable questions, about what is important and how as humans we organise ourselves on this beautiful planet.

Also it suddenly feels much more alone. Social-distancing and self-isolation have heightened the reality of being on this planet right now in all this emptiness, enduring uncertainty, mortality and anxiety. There are two things that are perhaps helpful right now. The first is to consciously develop a place of 'Sanctuary' - that is to say a 'safe place' – and to allow yourself to go there, to be there, at least twice a day. This is the place inside you where you are not worried or fearful, this is your own temple. I find meditation really helpful, to sit down and to close your eyes and let all that you are carrying loose from your shoulders and to breathe deeply and evenly until you arrive at the place where there is nothing other than being.

The second thing is the fact that Jesus Christ was continually reassuring those around him that they were not alone, that their life, every life, is part of a much bigger loving universal reality. And this is not about judgment, it is about love. And, yes, life on this planet can be brutal, difficult, heartbreaking and unjust. But it is at times like these that often you can see just how beautiful human potential is, that one tiny organism can challenge our deepest assumptions. What better time for kindness, for giving, for compassion and, yes, for grace under pressure - but more than ever for dancing.

All my love,

Pete

St Peter

News and notices

Sermon 29th March 2020

Sermon 5th April 2020

Sermon 29th March 2020

Message from Rev Pete OJ 21st March 2020