Bernard Mizeki was born in Mozambique in about 1861. When he was twelve or a little older, he left his home and went to Cape Town, South Africa, where for the next ten years he worked as a labourer, living in the slums of Cape Town but, unlike many migrant workers, rising above the squalor of his surroundings. After his day’s work, he attended night classes at an Anglican school run by the Cowley Fathers. So he became a Christian and was baptized in 1886. Besides the fundamentals of European schooling, he showed a rare aptitude for language study, mastering at least ten languages. In time these skills would be a valuable asset in the work of translating the Scriptures and prayer books and hymn books into African languages.After graduating from the school, he accompanied Bishop Knight-Bruce to Mashonaland, in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), to work as a lay catechist. In 1891 he was sent to Nhowe, and there he built a mission complex. He grew crops, studied the local language, observed the daily office and cultivated friendships with the villagers. In due course he opened a school for the children, which further endeared him to the local people.Eventually he moved the mission complex on to a nearby plateau, next to a grove of trees sacred to the ancestral spirits of the Mashona. Although he had first obtained the chief’s permission, he angered the local religious leaders when he cut some of the trees down and carved crosses into others. But this clear assertion of the authority of Christ did not hinder the mission’s work and over the next five years (1891–6), the mission at Nhowe experienced many conversions.In 1896 there was a native uprising against the rule of Cecil Rhodes’ British South Africa Company, which administered Southern Rhodesia. Missionaries, regarded as agents of the colonial power, were especially vulnerable. Bernard was advised to flee but refused to desert his converts or his post. On 18 June 1896, he was speared to death outside his hut. His wife and a mission worker went for help and, when some distance away, claimed to have seen a blinding light on the hillside where Bernard had been lying, and heard a rushing sound, as though of many wings. Certainly, when they returned there was no sign of the body. The site of Bernard’s martyrdom has since become a popular place of pilgrimage.
Thoughts for Today From the real world, sublime and challenging A place for more certain times – Punta del Este.In uncertain times we are allowed to have those moments and times of wobble when we cannot see over the horizon of situations. What is over the other side?To avoid the next wobble the diplomatic theory was that you do not cruise directly to the Falkland Islands from Argentina. So, we sailed back to Uraguay and Punte del Este. It was Brexit Day, Friday the 31st January, and a strange day in so many ways. We didn’t quite know what lay ahead. If you want unusual, then go to Punta del Este. The name means Eastern tip. It was smaller than expected, with a resident population of 130,000 which expands enormously during high-peak holiday times. The resort (with a heritage of a whaling industry going back one hundred and fifty years) is an hour and a half drive from Montivideo. Today it is famous for 20 miles of great beaches, restaurants, extravagant night life and even has its own Trump Tower Hotel. One side of the eastern tip is on the Atlantic coast where the surfing is particularly challenging. It is famous for the first naval battle of the Second World War – that of the River Plate and the eventual disabling of the Graf Spee at Montivideo harbour in December 1939.Our arrival at the eastern Brava Beach revealed the concrete sculpture of a large hand emerging from the sands. Designed by the Chilean Sculptor Mario Irrarrazabel and completed in just a couple of weeks in1982 as part of a national competition. There are two theories about its meaning. One is that it is a drowning hand to warn surfers of the dangers of surfing on that side of the peninsula, and the other being the ‘Helping Hand’ of humanity. Whatever, like all prevailing sculptures it makes us think.Here in the second picture we have the wobbly bridges of the Punta. Why? Good question. The first one built in 1965 for its novelty and for road safety to hopefully make people slow down on this busy river crossing. It became so busy a second one was built in 1998. Many come just to see the novelty bridges, originally designed not by a structural engineer, but by a builder! We returned to the ship via the Casa Pueblo, a white house folly of the artist and architect Carlos Vilaro. His son Carlos Paez Rodriguez, at the age of 18, as a member of the Old Christians Rugby Football club team was part of an ill-fated flight in 1972 to Chile for a match. He is famous for surviving 72 days along with 15 others in the Andes, recorded in the film ‘Alive’ 1993. It is story of the extreme lengths that human beings can go to in order to survive. Saturday was a Sea Day. The Captain of the Balmoral always gave us a 12 mid-day update about our position, projected weather, mileage and the depth of the sea. On this occasion he informed us that our Monday next destination, at West Point Island of the Falklands, would not be visited. This was because of the adverse weather conditions for a small boat transfer. He was hopeful of our landing at Port Stanley the following day… This may account why we had over 150 passengers attend the main service on the Sunday morning all praying for a safe landing at Port Stanley! It was a wobbly moment - would the weather be a helping hand? With blessings,Edward and JaneNext scheduled destination – Port Stanley, Falkland Islands
Tuesday 16th JuneThought for the DayOne of the Bible stories I can remember from my earliest school days is the parable "The good Samaritan". It is a story of help in an emergency coming from the least likely source and an example of loving compassion and generosity. How do you react in an emergency? • Do you run away? • Do you run around like corporal Jones in "Dad's Army", shouting "Don't panic! Don't panic!"? • Do you just freeze? • Or do you react in a calm and collected way, doing the necessary things in a generous and thoughtful manner?The problem with emergencies it that they come out of the blue, they are unique and they always seem to happen at the most awkward time. This year we have the coronavirus to contend with, which is an emergency that has affected the whole world. It is an enemy that we cannot see and cannot easily control. Jumping up and down in frustration will do no good whatsoever and will only raise our blood pressure. Most of us are in the same boat, with self-isolation social distancing, cancelled holidays and cancelled everything and worst of all not seeing when we might get back to “normal”, whatever that might be in the future. In my study I had a copy of that great wartime poster "Keep Calm and Carry on" for many years. Sometimes we really do need just to keep calm, because we cannot help others if we are not in control of ourselves.Luckily, in this country, we do not have the same number of disasters and emergencies, that countries such as Haiti and Bangladesh have to contend with. When we do have them we have the benefit of marvellous emergency services, an infrastructure that allows rapid response and a degree of national wealth that allows us to regain equilibrium in time.For many years I represented the Church of England in Warwickshire on committees that prepared ministers of religion, of all faiths, to help with pastoral care if emergencies and disasters should occur. I have been trained in how to be part of the emergency team and in dealing with the media, and I have a luminescent jacket with “CLERGY” on the back to wear with my dog-collar, which is somewhere in the garage. However, none of us know how we would react in a real emergency situation. The answer as far as I am concerned is that I know that my God goes with me wherever I go. Fortunately for most of us in this country we live in a reasonably safe and stable environment, but perhaps the example of the good Samaritan should inspire us all; the slogan on that wartime poster, "Keep calm and carry on", should help us when things are tough on a personal basis, and finally remember to let God go with you in all things that you attemptFr. Terry
About Evelyn Underhill’s LifeEvelyn Underhill was born in Wolverhampton on December 6, 1875, the only child of (Sir) Arthur Underhill, barrister, and a bencher of Lincoln’s Inn, by his wife, Alice Lucy, younger daughter of Moses Ironmonger, Justice of the peace of Wolverhampton. She was educated at home, except for three years at a private school in Folkestone, and later she went to King’s College for Women, London, where she read history and botany. Her interests included bookbinding, yachting, country life and folklore, cats and visiting art treasures in France and Italy. Evelyn Underhill began writing before she was sixteen and her first publication, A Bar-Lamb’s Ballad Book, of humorous verse concerned with the law, appeared in 1902. In 1907 she married Hubert Stuart Moore, a barrister, whom she had known since childhood. She shared her husband’s interest in wood and metal work and made many of the designs which he carried out.In the year of her marriage she converted to the Christian faith, although not to Anglicanism, for her attraction was then towards Rome. However, she found that the Catholic Church of that time frowned on her intellectual freedom and she desired to have some more personal spiritual input. Through her first important book, Mysticism (1911), she made the acquaintance of Baron Friedrich von Hugel to whom “under God,” she wrote, “I owe…my whole spiritual life.” Ten years later she formally put herself under his spiritual direction and she remained his pupil until his death in 1925.From the time of her conversion Evelyn Underhill’s life consisted of various forms of religious work. She was fond of quoting St. Teresa’s saying that “to give Our Lord a perfect service Martha and Mary must combine.” Her mornings were given to writing and her afternoons to visiting the poor and to giving spiritual direction to others. As she grew older the work of direction increased until it finally became her chief interest. In 1921 she became a practising member of the Anglican communion. In 1924 she began to conduct retreats, and a number of her books refer to these. Her other publications include three novels, two books of verse, a number of works on philosophy and religion, and reviews and articles for the Spectator and other publications. While working on Worship (1936), written for the Library of Constructive Theology, she became deeply interested in the Greek Orthodox Church and joined the Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius.During World War I (1914-1918) Evelyn Underhill worked at the Admiralty in the naval intelligence (Africa) department, but her views changed and in 1939 she found herself a Christian pacifist. She joined the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship and wrote for it an uncompromising pamphlet, The Church and War (1940).Evelyn was the first woman to lecture at an Oxford college in theology, the first woman to lecture Anglican clergy, and one of the first women to be included in Church of England commissions. These accomplishments, along with her work as a theological editor and her role as a spiritual director and retreat leader, made Evelyn Underhill a prominent figure in her day. She had a vivid, lively personality with a keen sense of humour. She was interested in every side of life and had a passion for efficiency in everything she undertook. In her dealings with people, and especially with her pupils, she was always a little shy, having a great hatred, as she said, of “pushing souls about.” This love of souls coupled with the determination to help them to grow at God’s pace and not at their own or hers, won her the love and trust of all who went to her for help.Evelyn Underhill died at Hampstead on June 15th, 1941. She had no children.So, what can we learn from Evelyn? Firstly, that each of our lives is a journey and that there will be changes along the way. When we fully acknowledge the Lordship of Christ and learn to trust God with all of our heart, who knows what adventure in faith the Holy Spirit will lead us on to next? Caleb was a youthful and vigorous 85-year-old when he inherited Hebron, a full 45 years since he had been sent out by Moses to ‘spy out’ the land of Canaan, so God hasn’t finished with any of us yet!Evelyn spoke up for her beliefs. Her spirituality included prayer, meditation, reading and writing, but it also worked out in practical ways like helping the poor and needy and campaigning against needless violence. Jesus was most forthright in Luke 12, when he told his disciples that they must acknowledge him, to speak up for God, to trust in the Lord and to believe that the Holy Spirit would give them the words to say. In these times, will we speak up for Jesus?Lastly, Evelyn realised the benefit of being accountable to others for her spiritual life and the importance of retreats. We can all benefit from having a spiritual director, someone whom we can trust to guide us in our life of faith. Also, by going on retreat, whether physical or even virtual, we can learn to reflect on what God is saying to us individually, as a church and as a nation in these days. AmenMary TynanMany thanks to the Evelyn Underhill Association for the information about her life.
