The Revd Writes… Saint Benedict, way back in the fifth century, wrestled with the big question of how to live a balanced life. Benedict concluded that moderation was the key concept – too much of any one thing was likely to corrupt and endanger the possibility of living a godly life. So, balance, moderation, reasonableness, to which we might now add ‘common sense’, were values which he eventually wrote down in what became known as ‘Benedict’s Rule’. A balanced life in the Benedictine tradition is summed up in the motto, Ora et Labora, the Latin for ‘pray and work’. For Benedict, a balanced life was striking the right mix between being active and being contemplative. That sounds quite simple until you dig deeper into the negatives, e.g. too much work is not good for you. Sometimes that means having to push back against the adage that ‘hard work never did anyone any harm.’ We know, today more than ever, that that is not true. Too much hard work can be very damaging – true for those who work from home as it is for those who work in the office! On the other hand, Benedict also calls out that too much contemplation can lead you to become so introspective that you become so self-absorbed that you end up with no capacity to think about anyone else. Benedict would say that too much contemplation leads to laziness! A balance needs to be struck between ‘prayer and work.’ Some of us are given more to the active – we sometimes need to be helped to slow down and even to stop. Others are drawn to the contemplative – we sometimes need to be encouraged to ‘do something!’ Six hundred years after Benedict, St Bruno of Cologne came up with another idea. He, too, was concerned with the question of how to live a balanced life. He came up with the idea that well-being is best achieved by centring on simplicity – less talk, less ‘stuff’ - care for the soul and body together, as an integrative whole. Bruno’s model focused less on compartmentalising life into segments, ‘pray and work’ as Benedict taught. Bruno came up with the understanding that is best summed up as, ‘My prayer is my work, and my work is my prayer.’ He draws no distinction between the two. God is present in both, and it is recognising this that engenders a balanced life. So, two models which challenge us on how to live a balanced life – Benedict’s model, ‘Pray and Work’ and Bruno’s model, ‘My work is my prayer, and my prayer is my work.’ Both challenge us to think about options for a healthy lifestyle. Which would you choose? God Bless Mark
CHURCH OF ENGLANDSt Lawrence, Ardeley; St Peter’s, Benington; St John the Baptist, Cottered; Holy Trinity, Throcking and St Mary’s, WalkernChurch Services: July 2025Sunday 6th Trinity 39.30am Holy Communion St Lawrence, Ardeley9.30am Family Service St Mary’s, Walkern11.00am Morning Prayer St Peter’s, Benington11.00am Holy Communion St John the Baptist, CotteredSunday 13th Trinity 49.30am Holy Communion St Lawrence, Ardeley9.30am Holy Communion St Mary’s, Walkern11.00am Holy Communion St John the Baptist, CotteredSunday 20th Trinity 59.30am Holy Communion St Lawrence, Ardeley9.30am Morning Prayer St Mary’s, Walkern11.00am Holy Communion BCP St Peter’s, Benington11.00am Morning Prayer St John the Baptist, CotteredSunday 27th Trinity 69.30am Family Service St Lawrence, Ardeley9.30am Holy Communion St Mary’s, Walkern11.00am Holy Communion Holy Trinity, ThrockingCoffee at Ten with Pause for Thought – Walkern Coffee is served every Thursday morning at Walkern United Reformed Church from 10.00am to 11.00am, with an opportunity to hear a five minute ‘Pause for Thought’ at 10.30am – a Christian reflection on a current topic.
The Revd Writes… In his first address to the crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square in Rome, Pope Leo XIV shared his vision for the future and emphasised the importance of building bridges. “We have to look together how to be a missionary church, building bridges, dialogue, always open to receiving with open arms for everyone…” He was speaking not only to the church but equally to a world in desperate need of “a disarming and humble and preserving peace.” Building bridges is a necessary tool in order to foster an environment in which peace is enabled to flourish. It is only in a state of peace that human creativity reaches its full potential. As such, ‘peace’ is a goal desired by everyone, no matter how long or hard the work required to bring this about. Yet building bridges to achieve peace is more often than not complex and requires certain skills from the start. Ask any parent of a two-year-old! Fundamental to bridge building is the ability to listen to a story objectively; to hear without prejudice the words that are being told and to hold with empathy the feelings that lie behind the words spoken. It is fair to say that sometimes the words verbalised are so abhorrent and traumatising that the common impulse is to reject them. Such rejection needs to be checked by the hearer, however, if the one telling the story is to feel heard and understood. ‘I can’t believe my child would do such a thing’, is a common response of parents to young people receiving a prison sentence. It is a challenge to work through this shock and pain if a necessary bridge is to be built and a resolution achieved. ‘I still love my child. ’ Reaching out to others who are different from ourselves, be it culture, language, sexual orientation, etc, requires a certain generosity of spirit and a willingness to engage even if at times it means stepping back from those groups with which we have a natural affiliation. Clergy working in multi-faith communities are often at the forefront of experimenting with bridge-building in order for a degree of community cohesion and harmony to exist. Such work is to be lauded, particularly so in some of our more deprived urban areas where tensions can surface very quickly. Pope Leo has rightly asserted that bridge-building is a walking exercise, not running. The pace might be slow, but being sensitive and paying attention to detail is important. The nuance of the story being told, the impact of the pause and sigh in the midst of the storytelling, emphasising the point being made, is all critical to the narrative. All of this builds the bridge that leads to enduring peace. Our shared responsibility. God Bless Mark
The Revd Writes… “Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” John F Kennedy It can sometimes be quite challenging to think – not least in these days when it seems a revolution is taking place in the political realms of world order. Any pace of rapid change often leaves one feeling disoriented and, it would seem, particularly so at the current time. What was a given, seems no longer so. How and where amidst international relations the dust will settle remains to be seen. Amidst the ongoing agony and trauma of war, we wonder what the longer-term outcome will be for those at the sharp edge of suffering in both Ukraine and Gaza. It is sometimes difficult to think. It was difficult too for Jesus to think. He entered into the desert and was tormented – pulled in different directions, this way and that. I recently asked children in schools to tell me why they thought that the desert might be a good place to think. Little hands went up to tell me that the desert was empty – there was no one there. Solitude, being alone – having no one around you – was the common consensus. I’m of the view that being alone to think can be good, but it doesn’t have to be. And as Christian people, of course, we believe that we are never alone. We walk with God and God walks with us. Truth is, Jesus wasn’t alone in the desert. God, who is Father and Spirit as well as Son, was present, helping the thinking of a conflicted mind, the latter represented by the Devil who, by the way, was big on opinion. “Where do you go when you want to think?” I asked the children. ‘Outside’ mostly seemed to be the response. “On the field!” I couldn’t help but sense that what they were telling me was, ‘anywhere but the classroom!’ One child did explain that being inside was too distracting. Credit for that. You need to go outside to get away from the fragmentation of everything going on around you, away from the TV, computer, etc. Too many influencers with too many opinions can cloud the thinking. The mystery of Easter pushes against ‘opinion’. If you think about it, it disturbs the same old, same old, boom and bust of quite a lot of human behaviour. Bring on courage, sacrifice and a little bit of divine mercy. Now you are thinking… Happy Easter God Bless Mark
