Thoughts for Today From the real world, sublime and challenging The Falkland Islands War, Constancy, Peace and wild bleak beautySo, at 8am Tuesday 4th February we were ‘anchors off’, and the tenders were ready to transfer us to Port Stanley part of the East Falklands. The Falklands made up of 776 smaller islands and now designated a British Overseas Territory are 752 miles from the northern tip of Antarctica and 300 miles east of the South Americas. Since their discovery in 1690 by Royal Naval Captain John Strong they have been in French, British and Spanish hands. Britain reasserted its rule in 1833 after a two-year settlement by the Argentinians. The total population of the islands today is 3,398.The Falkland Sound was named by Strong after the 5th Viscount Falkland, Treasurer of the Navy in 1690. Falkland is from the Gaelic word for enclosure hence the name of the town of Falkland in Scotland. It wasn’t until 1765 that the Falklands Islands were named. Captain John Byron claimed them for King George lll and when the French challenged their ownership it was almost called St Malo! We arrived on this breezy and sunny day aware of the context of the 1982 Falklands Conflict between April and June of that year. After a warm welcome at the Tourist Board we made for Gypsy Cove, a twenty-minute minibus ride away. We were quickly out of the centre of town, past the large supermarket, petrol station and the great peat banks (the residents get an annual peat fuel allowance) into the wild barren vista of the sea coast with one or two large wrecks lying forlorn and rusted. At Gypsy Cove we met guides who were able to let us know what we were seeing around us. They left us to walk (at a safe distance) past the Magellanic Penguin burrows where there was evidence of some youngsters. We saw a Turkey Vulture on top of one of the high outcrops. The local regulars like the Falkland Thrush and the bright yellow Siskin escorted us until we came to the bright red dust-bath display of a Long Tailed Meadow Lark.The Cove revealed a vast expanse of beach being patrolled by the adult Magallenic Penguins in every stance you could name. Preening their stiff wings which can propel them 20–50 metres into the sea to catch fish and jelly fish at up to 25km an hour. Commerson Dolphins swam close to the shore, five or six of them fleetingly saying hello with their dazzling white and black markings. ‘Diddle Dee’ Shrub Heath guided us to the cliffs where the Cormorants were nesting overlooking York Bay. The Balmoral was just the other side of the bay where we saw a gun emplacement from the second world war. Further along in the distance we could clearly see HMS Forth part of the present British Fishery Protection fleet.All of this before 12 midday. Back in Port Stanley we took refreshment at the Globe Tavern where the licensee was from St Helena and his forbears from the heritage of slaves. The Falklands flag displaying the Falklands coat of arms shouted the motto of the Islands: ‘Desire the Right’. The pub was filled with memorabilia of the islands in war and peace. We paid our respects at the Falklands Memorial recording all the fallen of 1982 conflict which included 3 civilians, 255 British personnel and 649 Argentinians. Nearby we passed the Governor’s House en route to the 1918 Memorial outside Stanley remembering the Sea Battle of the Falklands on 8th December that year. This was when the German Squadron, headed by Vice Admiral Graf Von Spee, was defeated by the British Navy. Flanking the memorial are the three words War, Constancy and Peace. The story of the Falklands goes on with the fishing industry, tourism and sheep farming. The possibility of drilling for oil still looms.Christ Church Cathedral on the front at Port Stanley, built in 1892, is the most southerly Anglican Cathedral in the world. The Whale Jaw Bone arch was put up in 1933. We met the Dean, Ian Faulds, in the Cathedral and shared a service of dedication. A wreath made up of a hundred poppies knitted by passengers on our ship Balmoral during the first half of our voyage was placed on the Book of Remembrance, and meant so much to the Veterans in our party. It was a very moving ceremony and took Jane and I back to our parish life in Poole where we and the Church family were able to give support to the families of Marines engaged in the Falklands conflict.It was hard for us to leave this extraordinary place with its remoteness and untouched habitat, and where we had received such a warm welcome.The three words War Constancy and Peace describe our present circumstances and the process of reflecting upon what makes for peace and builds up our common life.On we go to Chile, Punta Arenas and the Chilean Fjords…Blessings,Edward and Jane
And it’s goodbye from me…….I want to say thank you to everyone at St Catherine’s and St Peter’s Churches for your whole hearted welcome and friendship. It is not always easy being a stranger in a church, learning different ways in a different church to what you have been used to. However the guidance and support that I have received from everyone has been amazing and something I shall not forget. I have certainly learned many new things, whether that is the particular names of the garments that is worn, the articles used in a service and indeed to know what a ‘Monstrance’ is. There are many things that I will take forward into my next context of ministry, much of which I have learned while at St Catherine’s and St Peter’s.Although my time here was short, the quality of fellowship has been rich and rewarding.I will miss you all.Pauline x
And it’s goodbye from me…….I want to say thank you to everyone at St Catherine’s and St Peter’s Churches for your whole hearted welcome and friendship. It is not always easy being a stranger in a church, learning different ways in a different church to what you have been used to. However the guidance and support that I have received from everyone has been amazing and something I shall not forget. I have certainly learned many new things, whether that is the particular names of the garments that is worn, the articles used in a service and indeed to know what a ‘Monstrance’ is. There are many things that I will take forward into my next context of ministry, much of which I have learned while at St Catherine’s and St Peter’s.Although my time here was short, the quality of fellowship has been rich and rewarding.I will miss you all.Pauline x
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30. 16 “But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,17 ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; 19 the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” 25 At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.28 “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”No one can overestimate the influence 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. This 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 today’s 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 ‘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 KingdomInstead, Jesus found a ready audience among the people considered outcasts. The tax collectors and sinners, those unable to keep the Law in all it’s rigor, all welcomed Christ’s message and the hope it brought. Unfortunately, the experts were so preoccupied with keeping the externals of the Law that they had largely lost sight of it’s purpose, to lead people to god. They were no longer open to hearing the word of god, because they did not need it. They placed the Law above every other consideration, even above people. The Law became an end in itself.Jesus offered a different ‘yoke’, a simpler one. We do not have to worry about hundreds of laws, or keeping the minutiae of rules and regulations. Jesus simply offers himself as the 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 makes more in who he is, than anything he says. He asks us to be like him, to be gentle and to acknowledge our need for God. It is only when, like the tax collectors and sinners, we are open to the words of God, only when we admit our dependence on God, that we are able to receive God’s mercy. And, like them, we experience God’s love and mercy, not by mindless obedience, but by meeting a person: Jesus, God’s own Son, face to face.Jesus says that his burden id light. We can be burdened with all kinds of things, we have burdens from our consumerist society, the burdens of other’s unreasonable expectations and demands, the list is endless, we can become overwhelmed by burdens.Jesus’s yoke is easy. It is well fitting, tailor made to the individual. Because the task he sets is simple – be yourself! Be the person God wants you to be, using Jesus as your teacher. Be gentle, with yourself and others. Be humble, acknowledge your need for God, don’t assume you have to do it all by yourself. Resit becoming overburdened by any unreasonable demands. Simply get to know Jesus, the person. Learn from him and you will find rest.Pauline
