4th Sunday after Trinity, 5th July 2020“…..and learn from me…”Illustration“…..and learn from me…” words that have stuck in my mind over these past few days and caused me to think of teachers and teaching.Teaching has taken a lot of criticism over the years, differing teaching methods seem to be blamed for all sorts of things, from:• failing / falling literacy rates, • respect levels in society, • the increase of verbal and physical violence, • and, any other ill will that is prevalent.Which is when you think about it quite depressing, a while ago a group of researchers set about trying to alleviate this idea and asking a number of famous people for the names of any teacher that had inspired them.The result was astonishing, each and every famous person had at least one or two names of teachers who had influenced their lives and changed their futures. Sometimes it was their academic gifts, but more likely it was the teachers ability to inspire their pupils, to give them a special something which spurred them on to achieve their very best, even to reach heights previously unimagined. Think for a moment, who were your inspirational teachers?Gospel teachingNo one can overestimate the influences of a good teacher. Even if we cannot remember a thing they actually taught us, good teachers will be remembered with fondness long after their words have been forgotten. That is because people are more important than words. Qualities like kindness and generosity are always more enduring than principles or rules, and integrity is more infectious than dogma.In todays Gospel, Jesus offers himself as a teacher: “Learn from me”, he says. At this point in his ministry Jesus has had to face up to being rejected by the religious hierarchy and the ‘wise’ people of his time. His message found no place in their hearts, becoming experts in the law had prevented them from recognising the coming of God’s Messiah, the coming of God’s Kingdom. Instead, Jesus found a ready audience among the people considered social outcasts. The tax collectors and sinners, those unable to keep the law in all its rigour. They all welcomed Jesus’ message and the hope it brought.Unfortunately, or perhaps not? the so called experts were so preoccupied with keeping the externals of the law they had lost sight of its purpose, to lead people to God. Indeed as I have said on many occasions these experts of the law had created a further 613 laws so that people could keep the 10 commandments more easily. Does this sound familiar?No wonder Jesus says “Come to me, all you that are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest.”“Come to me.” - Come to me and follow me, rather than rules and regulations devised by religious, political leaders.Jesus offered a different “yoke,” a simpler one. We don’t have to worry about hundreds of laws, or keeping the minutiae of rules and regulations. Jesus offers himself as a model to follow. He alone is the way to God. Follow him and we will find God. Like a good teacher, the lasting impression he /she makes reside in who they are, more than what they say.Jesus asks us to be like him, to be gentle and to acknowledge our need for God. Can you do that? - in these moments; offer yourselves to God - place your life into his hands, give him the freedom to come into it and shape it and allow his Holy Spirit to breathe within you.You know, we read time and time again in the gospel stories and even in more contemporary stories, that when someone asks God into their space, into their lives, then that is the defining moment; like the tax collectors and sinners of old when we admit our dependence on God, then we are able to receive his mercy and grace.And like them we experience God’s love and mercy, not just mindless obedience, but by meeting a person: Jesus, God’s own Son, face to face.Application Jesus says his burden is light. We can be burdened with all sorts of things; laws, rules, guidance, even from the best of friends who often say let me have “a kind word in your shell like!” Today and every day I am confident that Jesus wants you to experience his yoke, that is easy and is full of gentleness and humility. Jesus yoke is ‘well fitting’, tailor made to suit you. Because the task is simple - be yourself!Be the person God wants you to be, let Jesus be your teacher, be gentle, with yourself and others. Be humble, acknowledge your need for God, let him into your story, your life, allow him time and space to change you from within, follow the prompting of His Spirit within you, allow him to give you rest.Amen.
Thoughts for Today From the real world, sublime and challenging Turning a corner to a time of riots, hot choco and a glacier…Punta Arenas meant we were turning the corner at the southern tip of South America to find long slim Chile. It heralded nine days of further adventures in the country. Jane and I were aware that there had been some political unrest there the previous November, mainly in the capital Santiago. Student led, they continue to protest for a revised and less oppressive and more representative Constitution and a reduction in gas prices under the Pinera Government.Punta Arenas means ‘Sandy Point’ and is the capital of Southern Chile. The Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (1480? – 1521) discovered the straits off the coast in 1519 and a penal colony was founded in the port in 1848 by the Chilean government. The discovery of gold and the development of sheep farming made the place prosper and the Chilean people kept their independence from Argentina. It still remains an access port to the Antarctica Peninsula. These days the city has adopted a permanent summer time-zone all year round. We walked from the ship into the centre of the city into a fine square with a large statue of Magellan. There was an opportunity to kiss the foot of a native Indian at its base ‘to ensure your return to the city’. Groups of dancers and musicians performed for the visitors. We walked to the heights via brightly coloured houses and wild gardens to a gallery overlooking the Magellan straits and the port. There were native Indians selling their wares and sign -posts showed us we were 13,387 kms from London.The main shopping area revealed many signs of the recent riots that had spread south. Political slogans were everywhere, even across the Cathedral walls. Shops large and small were boarded up, and on one corner was a burnt out building. One of the untouched cafes was the ‘Choco Shop’ where we rehydrated with the best and smoothest hot chocolate we have ever tasted! We shared a table with a young couple from Holland on their travels.The nearby Cathedral of the Sacred Heart was off the main square. It was rebuilt (originally built in 1584) in basilica style in 1892 and has a renaissance style tower in honour of St Francis de Sales and the Order of the Salesians as they are called. The most moving windows were of the history of missionaries ministering to the native Indians. What we hadn’t known before was that Magellan himself lost his life in the Philipines fighting to convert the population to Christianity.Down the road we passed plaques remembering adventurers like Captain Scott 1868 - 1912 and Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) who used the port as a base. Scott announced from there his successful expedition in discovery in 1904 and Shackleton rescuing his men from Endurance in 1916. On the front we saw hundreds of Ganay Cormorants gathered on a broken down jetty. We moved on from this historic and challenging place. We were soon sailing through the Fjords on our way to the Skua Glacier which is part of a huge protected National Park called the Bernardo O’Higgins National Park.Are you asking yourself who was Bernardo O’Higgins? I asked myself the same question. Known as ‘The Liberator of Chile’ [1788-1842] he was from Spanish and County Sligo Irish ancestry, and during his lifetime visited Britain and Spain. As General he defeated the Spanish in 1817 and was the Supreme Director of Chile until 1823.At this stage of the voyage it remained light until 10pm and that night of 6th February we sailed past the Southern Cross of the Fjords. This cross marks the most southerly point of mainland South America and was lit by the late sunset. A very moving site in these remote regions.The next afternoon the Skua glacier came into view as a blue haze being one mile across at its widest point. Ice was falling away in small shards. One of them was retrieved by the ships tender and later sculpted by one of the Indian chefs into a Phoenix bird. The remainder was added to passenger drinks. The sheer scale of this glacier cannot be caught on camera but was on the footage from the ship’s drone cameras.Having Morning Prayer in the 10th deck Observatory on the move in this extraordinary and dramatic setting of the fjords was overwhelming in its intensity. Again, we wondered at the creation and our Creator.Blessings,Edward and JaneNext stop Puerto Chacabuco in the middle of nowhere…
Sunday 28th June 2020Trinity 3 – St Peter’s and St Paul’s DayMatthew 16: 13-19VOCATION – The Journey – “Who do you say that I am?”Jesus words “Who do people say that I am?” could not have been more direct. In my school days I can remember a friend saying to me ‘Would you ever become a Priest?’ that was a direct question as well. My reply to that was, words to the effect ‘I do not have enough faith.’The answer to Jesu’s question is one that we can all answer from our own experience. My answer is now that, through grace I can now say and mean, he is the Messiah and the Son of the Living God. My vocation grew by grace over time, dragged into a new relationship with my creator and sustainer in Jesus through the Holy Spirit. The last time I had Lock down hair – not since the days of 1979 when this photo was taken….Over time I have met so many people who have a genuine vocation for what they do, and that is through so many different walks of life. In my latter life - from Nurses to Doctors and Consultants, Lay Visitors, Volunteers and Morticians, Funeral Directors, Spiritual Directors, Bereavement Counsellors, Psychiatrists , Social Workers, Carers, Psychologists, and the impressive list of people goes on.The three strand definition of vocation is = * A strong feeling of suitability for a particular career or occupation.* A calling, life’s work, mission, purpose, function, position, niche.* A divine call to God’s service in the Christian life –function or station in life to which one is called by God. Not since the days of 1979 have I had ‘Lock Down hair’. My ordination to the priesthood was publicly witnessed 40 years ago today by the day and tomorrow by the date. That was at St Mary’s Parish Church in the North Wiltshire town of Calne. I was ordained a priest in the Church of God, at 10.45am by John Neale, Bishop of Ramsbury. I was ordained Deacon a year before in Salisbury Cathedral by George Reindorp the Bishop of Salisbury and prepared at a retreat with Geofrrey Tristram by Frances Dominica, the founder of Helen House at Oxford. Geoffrey Tristram is now Superior of the Order of St. John in Cambridge, Masachusetts, USA. This morning, in this time of reflection I want us to think about our journey of vocation whatever our calling is. It goes on and on and it evolves over time. The journey entails people who we meet and mine included a revelation because people saw in me something that I could not see myself. I turned up at the Bishop’s House in Southwell (Notts) as a result of an appointment made to discuss my vocation. The Bishop’s daughter answered the front door and asked me whether I had come to collect the Jukebox. That was not a good start. I didn’t see what others saw in me for a long time and it was a car crash…and a time of rehabilitation that gave me time to reflect upon what others saw in me and hence my visit to the Bishop’s House.In my sermon on St Peter’s Day, before my first celebration of the Eucharist 40 years ago in Calne I related this story. The midwife who delivered me in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire at home was the daughter of a previous curate of St Mary’s, Calne, H.Thompson Adam. She was baptized at St Mary’s Calne as was our first born Thomas. The only reason I knew this was that Sr Adam had seen an announcement of my ordination in the Southwell Diocesan News in June 1979 and told my mother - thinking she would like to know the connection. The irony is that the midwife who should have delivered me at home was Nurse Jane Thorneywell who was unwell at that time of my birth. She had delivered my brother and sister before me. I used to visit ‘Thorney’ in her retirement as a friend of the family. She comes to mind again today for she epitomizes the help and support that Jane and I have had from our families and friends over time.* Thorney didn’t enjoy good health for the last twenty years of her life. She was my first unofficial ‘spiritual director’. From her chair or her bed she would listen well to me in my teenage years. She had a childlike quality, always wanted to know the truth, gently asking questions with her chesty chuckle. She never dwelt on the past. She always looked to the future, always kept in touch with world events through the radio and TV and her optimism in life was founded on a faith that kept opening the doors of new experiences – growing experiences despite her bed of sickness. One day in my teenage angst her immortal words to me were ‘Edward, you have got your knickers in a twist.’ She knew pain and she knew the reality of new life with many Mums and Dads in home confinements – home births. She expected nothing from anybody but was eternally grateful for anything she did receive. A good spiritual director can spot when we have ‘our knickers in a twist…’One of the ordination cards I received at that time was the picture of Holman Hunts’s picture of Christ ‘The Light of the World’, standing by a creeper covered door without a door handle. It requires clearing all that negatively clings to us. Then a gentle effort to push at the door of vocation and the Kingdom of God asking God our Creator to reveal what he has in store for us?For me the question that Jesus himself asked of his disciples and asks of us now at this moment when we look for meaning and purpose for the future is, ‘Who do you say I am?’ – not just the Son of Man but the Son of the living God and the Messiah.From that declaration is formed the foundations of the Church and all our vocations. Who we believe Christ to be?When we have pushed at that open door then we are equipped through the Holy Spirit to reveal the Kingdom of God.30 of my forty years of priesthood has been in health care as a Chaplain. Vocation – ordained to the Priesthood, or another manifestation, is about discovering our purpose under God in Christ. I can see now that Jane and I were prepared for pastoral ministry through the Police service through to a lively curacy in Calne and being a Team vicar for 7 years on a new housing estate in Poole building a new church from our vicarage and developing that into an ecumenical project – a church built in people and bricks and service to the community.So, the first purpose was pastoral working with families and schools and organizations and the homeless, an ex prisoners hostel and local businesses.The second purpose that was revealed to us was the vital relationship between religion and medicine. How does the whole care of people make a difference whole care in individuals, communities, nations and the wider world? Health Care Chaplaincy including Hospice Care. Sharing peoples’ pain and joy and everything between in difficult times of extreme circumstances.It is still an open road and along it our working with people of all faiths and none and our relationships. The one thing that has united us in the Chaplaincy and Community world has been helping people to be open to God’s possibilities through the expertise of the medical profession and general pastoral care and spiritual support. Together this makes an enormous difference to so many. Caring for people as unique individuals whatever their background with respect, with big ears that hear, and seeing the Christ in every person is key. (Richard Rohr – The Universal Christ).Vocation – we all have something revealed to us that can contribute to the extension of the Kingdom of God in care. This last week I was in touch with Geoffrey Tristram my fellow ordinand all those years ago and he has a podcast that I had found on their Community of St John website about Vocation and Listening. Prayer and action always…Prayer – listening to God, to others and the grace of God touching us in body mind and spirit.Thorney was just one person who listened and at this traditional time of ordination …we remember those who have given us the quality and the everyday spiritual gift of listening. Thomas on his baptism day in St Mary’s Church, Calne and much more…great memories…photos show us so much. Answering the question – who is Christ? The Son of the Living God! He is a creator not just of the past but always of the future. Today we offer that future to him.Vocation is about grace, not having enough faith. Thanks be to God in Christ through the Holy Spirit who gives us that reality to reveal the Kingdom of God daily.Amen…Canon Edward Pogmore
Thought for the Day24th June 2020Many of you will now that I am a keen bird watcher and that also extends to a great interest in other branches of the animal kingdom. This coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing lockdown has put paid to many of my plans for this year but within the current restrictions at any one time I have managed to get out with my binoculars and camera and find some very interesting things. In the early days of the lockdown I explored the footpaths in the locality and found the Courting Styles area very interesting. There were good views to be had of warblers and when the flowers came out in the hot weather it was really delightful. During a walk through Burbage Common I was delighted to see a water shrew go hurtling across the surface of a shallow pond. This was the first live water shrew I had seen in the wild, although I had found a dead one at Draycote Water some years ago. The bird song in Burbage Woods and the surrounding area was a real joy, even with my deficient hearing, and it made me reflect once more on the glories of nature and this wonderful world that we have so much influence on. In the past I have often stood and soaked in the beauty of many natural places round the world and meditated on God’s creation. Many people say that they feel closer to God when standing alone in the wild beauty of His creation and I am very much in tune with that.Just two weeks ago, Nick gave us a very inspiring sermon on the Holy Trinity on the occasion of Trinity Sunday. As he remarked, this is a topic which can cause a certain amount of trepidation in the potential preacher. There is no doubt that it is a complex subject and one that has caused divisions in the Christian church in the past. We often say that the Church of England is a broad church and provides a home for a host of people with many individual interpretations of the Christian teaching and these days there is more room for debate than in earlier times. As I remarked in my opening paragraph, I glory in the power and wisdom of our Creator God. We dwell on a small planet in a corner of our known universe and can hardly begin to contemplate the immense extent of all that lies around us. Yet, we must acknowledge that this immensity came from nowhere and was formed by God. However much you drill down with known science you come back to one fundamental point. From nowhere this unimaginable collection of galaxies, stars, planets and other objects was formed. To me that was and is the Creator God. In Genesis we are told of the creation and of how God created all of the animals and then finally man and woman. The nub of the story was that God gave man and woman the dominion over the animals and had created everything for them and had finally made them in His image. We now have to decide how we interpret this story. Here the concept of a broad church really kicks in. Some of my friends believe this story as absolute fact and will not be swayed in any way. Others, including myself, take the view that this story was an attempt by the early scripture writers to express the foundation of the world and the human race in an allegorical way. If we take the chronology of the Old Testament and work forward adding the ages of all the characters mentioned therein we would arrive at a date of just over 6000 years ago for the creation of the world. Now that is something I simply cannot accept. My view is that God revealed his intentions and the reasons for and limitations of the power of humans under His rule to the patriarchs and prophets. Eventually these were set down in allegorical form, at a period of around 3000 years ago, in the form of God’s Testament to his people by the scribes who were setting down the record of those oral stories coming down from the patriarchs and prophets.There will be many that strongly disagree with my interpretation and I accept fully that this is their undoubted right. Religion is a very personal thing and touches us all in different ways. When I read the Old Testament and moved forward from that time 3000 years ago I came to realise that the peoples of Israel and Judah began to stray from that strict interpretation of God’s law that had been set down in the first five books of the Old Testament. This is recorded very graphically and shows that there were a series of kings, some good but the vast majority bad, and these led Israel into a steep decline. How much the captives in Babylon had to grieve for and it would have been hoped that when they finally returned to Jerusalem, following their release by King Cyrus, they would have managed to build a new stable society based on the law of God. This was not to be the case and politics once more ensured that the priesthood were influenced and then controlled by the local monarchy and governors imposed by Rome.This is the time that God sent His only begotten Son to earth to reform society and to amend the abuses taking place in the Temple and throughout the state of Israel. Do you believe that Christ was the Son of God and conceived of the Virgin Mary? I do, and I believe He came to earth to teach the population a new way of interpreting the Jewish religion. That interpretation was not based on pure blind ritual and animal sacrifice but on serving others in need and building a new society that was inclusive. Inclusive of those who were then seen as outside the bounds of polite society. Inclusive of those of other races and who currently worshipped other gods. Christ was the great teacher and must have made a tremendous impact on all of those around Him. He picked His disciples well and even Judas had an important role to play. When Christ ascended to heaven again His disciples did a phenomenal job. They certainly picked up the ball and ran with it and the word spread round the shores of the Mediterranean and to the furthest parts of the world in a remarkably short time. The disciples suffered for their faith, as Christ knew they would, and yet they felt so much empowered and moved that they went on and did the job that Christ had left for them. So we say that Christ is the Son of God. Does that mean that He is a separate entity? In my interpretation and I believe that of the established church - definitely not. My take is that Christ was a manifestation of God in human form come down to engage with the Jewish nation to teach them a new and better way to worship God and live with their neighbours in a better way. It was necessary for God to take human form in order to have a close relationship with His disciples and to teach them this new way. When God appeared to Moses it was such a terrible experience that Moses was awestruck. How could God appear to many people in that sort of form?The third element of the Triune Deity is the Holy Spirit and this should mean more to us than it does. In my interpretation I feel that this is a part of God that is always with us. The Holy Spirit should remind us of our duties to God and also to our neighbours. Whenever we pray on our own we should let the Holy Spirit shape our thoughts and prayers. We can read in the bible of those great occasions when the Holy Spirit came among the faithful people to influence their actions and Pentecost is a wonderful example of this. All that were gathered there began to speak in tongues, that is to say in languages that they previously had no knowledge of. The power of the Holy Spirit is truly wonderful and reminds us that God is with us every minute of the day; all we have to do is to acknowledge the fact. With this knowledge we can confidently awake every morning, get out of bed and meet all the challenges that life has to offer and to help to do God’s work here on earth.As I mentioned earlier on, this is a very personal view and I hope that I have not offended anyone in sharing it with you. I respect everyone’s right to hold dear to their own interpretation of these matters and I am sure that not two people think of it in the same way.Don Peacock
