Wednesday 23 December 2020
Sunday Letter
Benefice of St Mary’s Chard, Combe St Nicholas,
Wambrook and Whitestaunton
20th December 2020
Gaudete, Christus est
Natus!
Rejoice always, Christ
is born. Do we have much to be joyful
about? 2020 is a year we would all like
to forget and we are quite rightly anxious about what our Christmas will be
like this year. So why am I telling you to rejoice always?
This week I have been
reading Psalm 126. In it the Psalmist writes: “The Lord has done great things
for us, and we are glad”. Back then it seems God did things, God saved us, God
acted definitively.
What about now? Where do we see signs of God doing
things? Well, let’s start with our own
lives and recognize all those times when God has blessed us and when he has
comforted us and seen us through difficult times, painful times. Then let’s look out at our community and see
all the good that have come about, especially this year, in response to
Covid-19, when the people of Chard and the villages responded so wonderfully.
Then let’s look at our world and see all those who are working for peace, those who are providing food, shelter and
safety for those in refugee camps, those
working to make people’s lives better through environmental projects and bring
them hope for the future. It would be
easy to be cynical in these times, but with God there is always hope.
We can live with
confidence in the future, and yet live the lives we are meant to live here and
now. In Advent, we remember John the Baptist who came to point others to that
which was to come, confident in the promises of the past, and so we too can be
like that.
John looks back to the
promises of the past in order to point to the future. He is the voice crying in the
wilderness. In these wilderness times
that we are living through, we can also listen out for the promise of the
future, while not neglecting to live as fully as we can now, even in our
present restrictions.
John, like the writer
of Psalm 126, is part of the telling and retelling of God’s work in history, so
that we may recognise it when it breaks into the world in the form of the
Christ child
Because, whatever our
circumstances this Christmas – it is not ‘cancelled’ as some would like to tell
us. No.
God has become Emmanuel, ‘God with us’.
And the good news is
that even this Christmas, when we may not be able to celebrate as we would
want, God is still breaking into our world offering us glimmers of light and
hope.
What better light could
we possibly have than the Light of the World being born into a poor family in
an occupied and troubled land. What
better hope could we possibly have than ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us….full
of grace and truth’.
God became a human so
that he could enter entirely into human experience and never be parted from
us. If this isn’t worth celebrating at
Christmas, even a Christmas such as this one, then what is?
So please do have a
Happy Christmas and let us live in the hope of the Christ child, born, as the
carol says, ‘to raise the sons of earth, born to give us second birth’.
Gaudete, Christus est
Natus!
Rejoice always, Christ
is born.
Rev’d Ann
(Chard)
*As we will not be
holding our Christingle services this year, we have decided that the collection
at all the services in Chard over Christmas will be for the Children’s
Society.
We will however be
putting a Christingle service up on Youtube and will send the link out to
everyone. Please encourage your family
and friends to watch.
(Combe)
The Christingle 24th
5pm and the Carol Service from Combe 6.00pm will be on the facebook link live https://www.facebook.com/groups/4360858437322126.
The Carol Service at
6pm at both Wambrook and Combe will be in person, masks must be worn. Dress up
warm as Wambrook is outside.
Thursday 10 December 2020
Christmas Services
December
Services in Whitestaunton
Dec 13th
6.30pm Carol Service
Dec 20th
9.15 am Holy Communion
Dec 25th Christmas Day
9.15 am Holy Communion
Dec 27th
10.00 am Holy
Communion at Chard
live streamed, the link will be on the St Mary’s website
10.30 am Holy
Communion at Combe
To keep us
safe all services will require social distancing of 6ft, except for family bubbles
of no more than six, and masks to be worn please.
Sunday 29 November 2020
Advent Sunday
Advent Sunday
Come Lord be known in your church,
for without you we have no message.
Come fill us with your presence,
that we may proclaim your peace.
Lord, make us aware, alert to your
coming, that we may reveal your glory in the world.
Amen
We pray for those that walk in
darkness, that they may see your light.
We remember those whose lives are
clouded with troubles and pray that they may behold your glory.
Lord,
stir up your strength and come among us.
Come Lord and give peace to your
world.
Disperse the clouds of war and
violence.
Let your power and your glory be
revealed to the nations.
We pray for all who watch and wait
while we sleep: for the police, hospital workers and paramedics, for fire
fighters, cleaners and transport workers who work in the hours of the night.
Lord,
stir up your strength and come among us.
Come Lord and be known in our
homes, that our homes may reflect your love.
May we always rejoice in the
company of others that we may be fully aware of others and sensitive to their
needs.
Lord,
stir up your strength and come among us.
Come Lord to those who cannot cope
at this time; to all who are weighed down with troubles.
We pray for the ill and those who
care for them.
We remember those whose lives are
clouded with despair.
We remember friends and loved ones
in their troubles………
Lord,
stir up your strength and come among us.
Come Lord of our salvation and
save us and we shall be saved.
We pray for friends and loved ones
departed……………….
May they now rejoice in the
fullness of your presence and your glory.
Lord,
stir up your strength and come among us.
Our Bible readings for this week: 1 Corinthians 1: 3-9
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of
God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been
enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— just as the testimony
of Christ has been strengthened among you— so that you are not lacking in any
spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will
also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our
Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship
of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Mark 13: 24-37
“But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be
darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling
from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in
clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and
gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of
heaven “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes
tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when
you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.
Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things
have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass
away.“ But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven,
nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when
the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home
and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper
to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master
of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at
dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to
you I say to all: Keep awake.”
Collect
Almighty God as your kingdom
dawns,
turn us away from the darkness of
sin to the light of holiness,
that we may be ready to meet you
in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Amen
Come Lord, come down, come in,
come among us.
Enter into our darkness with your
light.
Come fill our emptiness with your
presence.
Dispel the clouds and reveal your glory.
Come refresh, renew, restore us.
Come Lord, come down, come in,
come among us.
Amen
Blessing
May the Lord find us alert to his
coming, open to his presence, aware of his love.
And may the blessing of God almighty, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit, be with us and our loved ones, now and for ever.
Amen
When the Lord comes he will bring to
light the things now hidden in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of the
heart.
Maranatha, come Lord
Jesus
Sunday Letter November 29
Benefice
of St Mary’s Chard, St Nicholas Combe, St Mary’s Wambrook and St Andrew’s
Whitestaunton
Well here we are the first Sunday of Advent; we
often say “where did that year go?” For some of us the Church year has gone
past so quickly that the phrase bears more relevance that normal for us.
We are moving into that space of waiting which for
myself definitely feels different this year, waiting and reflecting on the
coming of the Christ child wating to see what will happen.
To try and bring some rhythm for those of you who
feel unable to return to Church we are going to give you the Advent Candle
prayer for each week, you may want to light your tea light as you say it and
spend time in your devotions.
Hope: Sunday, November 29, 2020
Today we light the candle of hope. As
the flame begins to burn on this first candle of Advent, we are reminded how
far we’ve come. From our ancestors of the faith who walked in the wilderness
for 40 years, to the year that we have all experienced together. Hope does not
come from instant gratification. Instead, it comes from a longing inside of us
that knows things can be different. And yet, this year we have learned how to
wait and hope at the same time.
As we light the candle of hope, we
acknowledge a longing inside of all of us. We acknowledge the tension between
waiting and hoping. We acknowledge the stubborn hope that holds us in one with
each other as we begin our journey through Advent.
Prayer: Holy God, we thank you for the
gift of hope that we find in Christ Jesus. Remind us of your presence as we
live another week of hoping and longing. Amen.
Also, with this letter you will have received a
booklet which is for Advent, it has readings for everyday from Nov 27th,
until Dec24th, we will include it in your envelope each week, please use this
if it helps o focus towards the coming celebration of the Emmanuel. This week
it has all the “stuff” on the front that allows us the privilege of printing it
off for you, next weeks will start from the date you need. I hope and pray that
the words contained will speak into your hearts by the Holy Spirit.
I and several others have had chats with Colin
Adcock on the phone and he wanted us to send you all his love from Wales he has
settled in well and has found a Church too.
Can I remind you as preparations begin to hot up for
many that if anyone phones you and asks you for details of your accounts, pin
numbers, or for that matter any personal details please don’t not give them
over the phone. Some scammers are pretending they are the police and can sound
very realistic in the information they are giving and asking for. Always put
the phone down, wait five minutes then pick up the phone and put it down again
to check the line has been fully cleared, and contact the agency or bank, or
police station to check if the phone call was real. No one wants to have their
life savings taken from them.
We are holding our “Light up a Life” Service on
Saturday 5th at 2.30 and Sunday 6th at 2.30, if you would
like to come or give us the name of loved ones you would like included in the
remembering list, please phone the office.
Our scripture reading from Mark talks about “Heaven
and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” And “Be ready
Watching and Praying, if you can take some comfort in these words for this
extraordinary moment in history, remembering that no matter how we are feeling
about what is to come in our lives, will we be able to join with members of our
family, or our friends, or do we actually want to, that God is with us and that
the words of scripture are living and breathing words, they can speak the right
thing for us in the right moment through God’s Holy Spirit in all emotions and
turmoil’s. Our prayers may be intimate and of deep depth or they may be a quick
“help me God” in a moment because that is all we can manage, all constitute
watching and praying and being held in the love of a God who is like no other,
so like no other that he came to dwell amongst us.
Be Blessed Rev Georgina.
Lastly, I had this little prose and thought on my
Facebook Page which I had shared because it seemed to me to sum up some of the
mixed feelings going on right now.
I don’t know who needs this, but if you woke up freaking out
a little because it’s almost Christmas (like...what? How is that even possible?
It was just August two days ago), remember that the first Christmas was pretty
simple.
It’s okay if yours is too.
No tree. Five trees.
No elf. Elf every single night.
No lights. A yard full of ‘em.
No decorations. So many decorations it looks
like HomeGoods threw up in your living room.
No parties. A calendar filled.
None of that stuff matters, and none of it is
worth stressing or obsessing over.
Jesus.
Jesus matters.
Everything else is extra, and I can almost
guarantee nobody will notice and nobody will care if it doesn’t get done.
Christ is perfect. Your Christmas doesn’t have
to be.
Now deep breaths.
It’s gonna be a great season as long as He is in
it, and as long as you relax just a little.
Sometimes it is the simplest things that mean the
most.
Sunday Letter 22 November 2020
Benefice of St Mary’s Chard, Combe St Nicholas,
Wambrook and Whitestaunton
22nd November 2020
Christ the King
Dear Friends
And so we come
to the final Sunday of the Church year, when we proclaim Christ to be the
universal sovereign and Lord of heaven and earth.
It has been a
difficult and challenging year for all of us. I know that many of you have been
isolating or have loved ones that are isolating and that is incredibly
hard. Being separated from family and
loved ones has been the hardest part of this year, and we may have to bear such
things for a while longer. Mick and I
became grandparents for the first time two weeks ago. However, our new grandson and his mother are
both in Spain and we do not know when we will get to see them ‘in the
flesh’. But we are filled with
thankfulness that baby Austin Michael has arrived safely and that he and our
daughter are well.
So there has also
been great joy this year. I have had
some amazing encounters with people this year, and I have seen so many of you,
and others in our community, stepping up and offering help and support to the
more vulnerable and isolated.
In fact, when I
read our gospel for this week I was proud to say that many of you have
participated in feeding the hungry and visiting the sick as Jesus told us to
do, as well as delivering prescriptions and service sheets, shopping for and
staying in touch with those who are on their own by phone and email. And, most importantly, you have been praying
for one another, for our community and the world. You have done so much this
year and it is a sign of your commitment to one another and to your faith in
Christ.
I have found
myself wondering what kind of world our new grandson will inherit and it would
be easy to be filled with foreboding.
However, as we celebrate the feast of Christ the King today, the
beautiful thing is that this Christ who is sovereign over all of creation also
cares for every single one of us, and that he feels our pain and our joy, and
knows the secrets of our hearts. At this
time, when it would be easy to fall into cynicism and despair he comes to give
us hope, and wants us to be bringers of hope to others. He calls us to care for the hungry, the sick
and the prisoner.
So let us
remember that the same God who knows the name of every star also came to us in
the form of Jesus Christ and longs for the sick to be healed, the broken to be
mended and the outcast to be welcomed.
He wants us all to know him and be filled with the hope and joy that
only he can bring, whilst also dwelling with us in our sadness, anxiety, and
brokenness.
So, let us
declare that Christ is King and Lord of all creation and also King of our
hearts.
Whatever the
next few months bring, we can be sure that just as he holds the stars in his
hands, so he also holds us. And he will
not let us go.
Blessings
Ann
Monday 9 November 2020
Whitestaunton Church Open for Private Prayer
Dear all,
Just to let you all know that the Church will continue to be open during lockdown for private prayer and meditation whilst all services will continue on line.
Whilst this is not what we would all have wanted we can all work together to remember and keep each other safe.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best wishes George
Reverend Georgina Vye
Associate Vicar of St Mary's Chard,
St Nicholas Combe, St Mary's Wambrook and St Andrews Whitestaunton.
The Vicarage,
57, Caraway Close,
Chard,
Somerset
TA20 1HP
0146066159
07950989916Sunday 8 November 2020
Sunday Letter 8 November
Benefice of St Mary’s Chard, Combe St Nicholas, Wambrook and Whitestaunton
8 th November 2020
Dear Friends I did not think I would be writing to you again in another lockdown, but here we are.
It has been a great inspiration to me that when I have talked to some of you since the announcement on Saturday that you have shown fortitude and forbearance in the face of these very difficult times.
At the moment, we are not allowed to hold public worship in the church, so all services have been temporarily cancelled. However, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York are among those faith leaders who have written to the Prime Minister asking that public worship be allowed to continue. So we will see…..
We are in the season of remembrance, and this Sunday is Remembrance Sunday. It is a real sadness that we will not be able to be together for worship, although a small ceremony will take place at the war memorial. I am sure that you will all make your own acts of remembrance at home and take part in the two-minute silence at 11.00.
Remembering is a good thing to do if it helps us also to move forward. We mostly honour those who have fallen in war if we work hard to ensure that we live in peace now. Our job is to remember, give thanks and make sure that we use the freedom we have to build God’s kingdom of peace, mercy and justice here on earth.
The introduction to the Peace that we often use in church is this: ‘We are the body of Christ, in the one Spirit we were all baptised into one body. Let us, therefore, pursue all that makes for peace.’ Let us all say that on Sunday as our commitment to one another and to Christ.
Whatever the next few weeks bring, I do hope that you will all stay well and safe. One thing we can continue to do is pray and I know that you will all be doing that. You will also be staying in touch by phone and online and I hope to see some of you ‘virtually’ or speak with as many of you as possible.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has sent out a letter to all clergy and I want to share this last paragraph with you. I cannot think of anything more appropriate to say: “In one of the climactic passages of the New Testament, Paul says to those who follow Christ that their “love must be genuine, that they hate what is evil and hold fast to what is good.” He asks them to “serve the lord”, exhorting them to “rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.” (See Romans 12.9-12.) None of this is easy. Especially not at the moment. But it is our calling.”
Blessings
Ann
what is evil and hold fast to what is good.” He asks them to “serve the lord”, exhorting them to “rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.” (See Romans 12.9-12.) None of this is easy. Especially not at the moment. But it is our calling.” Blessings Ann
Monday 2 November 2020
Sunday Letter
All Saints Sunday, from this moment on until the beginning of Advent we are entering the period of celebrating and reflecting on the reign of Christ here on earth and in heaven. The reading from the Gospel will be the beatitudes, beginning: blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We reflect on the blessed of those who have tried in the race of life to follow Christ against all the adversities that have come upon them, the struggles and the delights, this year has certainly been a trial for many.
The one thing I will really miss this Sunday is being able to sing out lustily the wonderful hymn “For all the saints” It is one of those rousing hymns which you either love or inwardly groan at how long it goes on for, all 11 verses if you have the full version, because it was written as a processional hymn with plenty of time to sing it all as the procession moved through the Cathedral.
1.For all the saints, who from their labours rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
2. Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
3. For the Apostles’ glorious company,
Who bearing forth the Cross o’er land and sea,
Shook all the mighty world, we sing to Thee:
Alleluia, Alleluia!
4. O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,
Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
And win with them the victor’s crown of gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
5. For the Evangelists, by whose blest word,
Like fourfold streams, the garden of the Lord,
Is fair and fruitful, be Thy Name adored.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
6. For Martyrs, who with rapture kindled eye,
Saw the bright crown descending from the sky,
And seeing, grasped it, Thee we glorify.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
7. O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
8. And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave, again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
9. The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
10. But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
11. From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
Singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!
There you go, sing in the kitchen, the garden, the bath, wherever you would like. As you do though remember the Author, William Walsham How who was ordained in 1847. He became Suffragan Bishop in east London in 1879 and Bishop of Wakefield in 1888. Called both the "poor man's bishop" and "the children's bishop," He was known for his work among the destitute in the London slums and among the factory workers in west Yorkshire. He wrote a number of theological works about controversies surrounding the Oxford Movement and attempted to reconcile biblical creation with the theory of evolution. He wrote many hymns for children in his time too. Then look at the words of the hymn again, he knew what it was to minister amongst the blessed of Christ’s words, those who knew poverty of material things, but the richness of faith and God’s love would have sung out in his heart, as he rejoiced in those who had come to find peace and safety in the arms of a loving God.
Then we take a moment to give thanks for those who have been an influence in our journey of faith, those who have loved us, nurtured us and allowed us to be who we are today.
I have added here a piece from the spirituality of conflict website that I hope will allow you to reflect on how this year has been too.
Sequoias and Tattoos by Alex Wimberley
One of the things our friend Glenn* left with us is the image of the sequoia seed. It was a symbol he wanted to carry with him always, and so he had it tattooed on his leg. It’s a pine cone, but not from an ordinary Christmas tree. These little seeds, packed into palm–sized cones, become in time the giants of the redwood forests in California, with trunks as wide as lorries. Glenn not only found inspiration in the sheer grandeur of these trees, whose roots run back for thousands of years, but in their witness to hope.
Sequoia seeds open with the heat of forest fires. In the clearing that fires create, sequoias take root – taking advantage of the exposed sunlight and the enriched, ashen soil. They are a living reminder that some things endure beyond our devastating moments. One imagines that in the aftermath of the horrific and sobering forest fires of this past summer (the wake–up call nature is giving us), there are cones of ancient trees popping open, witnesses to nature’s resilience and to our short–sighted environmental priorities. And witnesses to the idea that even in the midst of disaster, there can come the start of new and magnificent life.
As we reflect this All Saints’ Day on what endures even through disaster and crisis and beyond the reality of death, we look for new shoots of life. This year has been a disaster for so many – hitting, as is often the case – the most vulnerable the hardest. It has revealed longstanding discrepancies of injustice we can no longer ignore. The pandemic has exposed inequalities that cannot continue. And yet there are – even in and because of the fractures that have been exposed – places where the enduring strength of empathy and compassion can take root in heated soil, and create the possibility of a better and more just world.
In taking inspiration of those who have lived faithfully, we trust that we can discover new ways of being from our better relationships with one another. On issues of race, class, climate justice, borders and nation, and so many other difficult conversations, it will be in honest, human connection that we will find a better world and hold on to what is divine.
For what is of God will endure. And God is with us in community.
info@spiritualityofconflict.com
Alex Wimberly is the current Leader of the Corrymeela Community. He is interested in how the Christian motif of reconciliation manages to be divisive. *Glenn Jordan (1964-2020)
Glenn was a community activist and public theologian, and a Springsteen fan looking for a moment when the world seems right. Glenn brought a keen interest in the process of community renewal and was the creative spark behind the innovative Skainos Square in Belfast. He was interested in the power of story to create newness and transform conflict, and brought a love of language, place, art and relationship to all his work. He was a beloved member of the Spirituality of Conflict team. He died in June 2020.
Corrymeela is a community based in Northern Ireland which worked throughout the troubles and into today to help understand and resolve conflict. Their work now enables communities across the world to find ways of communicating, hearing each other’s stories and working from the common shared base. This website is a source for those searching for hope in conflict, whatever that maybe.
We are going to begin having flowers again in St Mary’s Chard, as Maureen is still isolating please can you contact Kath Lee if you would like to help.
Also this Sunday’s Service will be live streamed from St Mary’s as we endeavour to hone our skills for Remembrance, if you watch on line please would you be kind enough to offer me any feedback you think may be helpful. This should work as the link https://www.facebook.com/events/395661275144095, you don’t have to be on use Facebook to access it and it will not sign you up for Facebook either.
Be Blessed Rev Georgina
Each morning and each evening
let the peace of the Father, be ours.
Each day and each night let the peace of the Son be ours.
Each dawn and each dusk
let the peace of the Spirit be ours.
Let the blessing of the three in one be ours;
both now and for ever. Amen. Carmina Gadelica
Tuesday 27 October 2020
Sunday Letter
Benefice of St Mary’s Chard, Combe St Nicholas, Wambrook and Whitestaunton
25th October 2020
Dear Friends,
This is the last Sunday of the period we call ‘Ordinary Time’ or Trinity. It is traditionally Bible Sunday when we celebrate the gift of the Holy Scriptures.
The Bible is at the heart of our Christian faith and yet it has been misused as much as it has been used, and even today it causes controversy and heated argument.
I must say straight away that I am not a fundamentalist when it comes to the Bible. I do not believe it to be literal truth and I think taking it as that misses much of the wonderful complexity of what the Bible is.
First and foremost, the Bible is a record of humanity’s encounter and relationship with God. It tells us how those living centuries ago, and in other lands, saw God and how their relationship with God changed and developed over time. It is rich with history, with geography, poetry, songs, prophecies, parables and stories. The hundreds of voices that we hear speak to us across the centuries, telling us about their encounters with God and their faith, can still enrich our lives now and help us to understand our own faith.
For me, the more I learn about the Bible, its history, its language. and its theology, the more I find it fascinating and the more I find it enriches my life.
Reading and understanding the Bible takes time and it takes work. If we are to encounter God through it then we must take it seriously and try and understand why and by whom its many parts were written. It isn’t a story book, it isn’t a blueprint, or a guidebook. It isn’t purely history or literature. It is a testament to God and humanity bound together through time and God’s great work of salvation through Jesus Christ.
In this way the Bible is the word of God, for most importantly, that word became flesh. The opening of John’s gospel, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God’ is John’s lovely explanation of who Jesus is. Jesus is the fulfilment of the Scriptures, the word of God incarnate. The New Testament is a fulfilment of all that went before in the Old Testament and it opens up God’s word not just to Israel but to all of us.
However you encounter the Bible, whether it be on a daily basis, through Bible notes or a Bible study group or hearing it read and preached upon in church, I hope that it opens your heart and mind to wanting to know more, both about the Bible itself and about God.
I encourage you to keep reading it, even when it doesn’t make sense, or it seems too hard or too harsh. Keep at it and you will be richly rewarded.
Blessings Ann
Sunday 18 October 2020
Sunday Letter
Benefice of St Mary’s Chard, Combe St Nicholas,
Wambrook and Whitestaunton
18th October 2020
Dear Friends
This Sunday we
celebrate the Feast of St Luke the Evangelist – author of Luke’s gospel and the
Acts of the Apostles.
Luke was
thought to have been a physician and because of this it is traditional to have
a service based around healing on his festival.
This is what we shall be doing at St Mary’s, Chard and at Combe St
Nicholas.
It is difficult
to be talking about healing during a global pandemic, but it is also crucial
that we do. It is a shame that the word
has been used by some to refer solely to physical cure and not looked at in its
wider sense.
There are of
course miracles, when people have been cured of physical illness and disability
and we should not discount these. We
should never discount the miraculous, even if we don’t experience it ourselves
or know others who have experienced it.
However, in a
Christian sense, healing is not about cure.
They are two different things.
Healing is more to do with wholeness, with being made whole by God in a
spiritual and emotional way. Healing is
about returning to God and putting right our relationship with God so that his
love, mercy and grace can fill our lives and help us to be the people he longs
for us to be.
So much pain
and hurt in our lives is caused by the gap between what we long to be and who
we actually are. The healing process, it seems to me, begins with accepting who
we are and our situation and then recognising that God loves us just as we are
and is always with us. From this comes a
facing up to our own failings and weaknesses but also a sense of peace. From here we can learn to hold up everything
to God and ask for his guidance, his help and his healing.
Allowing God
into every part of our lives, however dark and painful, is how we begin to heal
and that always begins with prayer.
Healing can also come through loving and being loved, through fellowship
and connecting with the natural world.
For me, most
especially, healing means being released from fear and learning to live life to
the full, wherever we find ourselves and whatever happens to us. This can only be done with God’s help.
During this
time of uncertainty and change, it would be easy to succumb to fear. But God is calling us to a fuller life. We need to trust in him, place our burdens on
to him and ask for his strength and grace to accept where we are and who we
are.
The process of
healing is not easy and might well be painful as we have to face up to some
truths about ourselves and our situations.
However, God wants us to be healed, to be released from fear and walk
with him into a new day. He will never
let us go.
Blessings
Ann
NB
Our weekly
Wednesday 9.45 am Communion services are now restarting at St Mary’s and the
monthly (third Wednesday) BCP Communion service at Combe is also
restarting. If you would like to attend
either of these, but are unsure, please talk to myself or Georgina.
Saturday 10 October 2020
Sunday Letter
The quince jelly is potted up and the apple jelly
will be finished today, the bringing in of the Harvest continues. I love this
time of year with the leaves turning such rich colours, deep reds, oranges, and
yellow. Glossy conkers are just so inviting to pick up and pass on to my
daughter for her window sill, (they are supposed to stop spiders coming in) and
some very beautiful fungi suddenly popping up in unexpected places. Can it
really be almost time for the clocks to go back?
Wambrook and Whitestaunton have their Harvest
Festival this weekend and probably outside as well, very different, and
actually quite exciting too.
In our reading from Exodus today there is trouble in
the ranks, the people have become restless and anxious because Moses is not
there, he has been gone for quite a while talking to God, they may believe he
has died even. But he is being given the 10 commandments and the Book of the
Covenant that will give them all the blueprint of life to follow, indeed for us
to follow too.
They fail in the test of faith spectacularly and
persuade Aaron to help them create a calf. This annoys God, his relationship
with Moses has become a more personal one in their time together and God offers
him the chance to be the beginning of a great nation, which Moses turns down.
Moses has remained faithful to God in his refusal and God remains faithful to
Moses in changing his mind about the disaster he planned to bring against the
people. Bear in mind here that God hears our prayers change is not impossible.
Eventually Moses will bring down the tablets, the structure
the corner stone of our way of life, and living in faith this is that which
keeps us stable, focused, a place which reminds me of the starting line on the
racing track, here are the rules, this is how we shape our moral and ethical
structure for life. The covering we wear is the love of God and the command to
love others, shaping our outline in the way each of us understand for ourselves
the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for us. We are each unique.
The commandments can seem as if they are full of “Thou
shalt not”. Apart from the 4th and 5th commandments they
can seem prohibitive of life and living, when actually conversely, they are the
tools for allowing freedom for each of us to be living in an acceptable way in
community. A point which Paul expounds on in his letter to the Romans, we live
in the Grace and Love of God whilst being held within the law as well. It can
be summed up as, Love God and do as you please within the boundaries of our
rules for safe living.
We are called to produce fruit which can come through
a life of examination of who we are in the light of God’s love for us, and his
provision and it changes through the seasons there is a time for Autumn,
Winter, Spring and Summer. Be Blessed as we move through this unusual Autumn.
Rev Georgina.
On Thursday 15th October we have the
Service of Lasting Light for babies lost, everyone is welcome to come and light
a candle we are there from 6.30 for the lighting of candles at 7.00pm. There
will be safety restrictions, only 30. No matter how old you are or how long ago
you lost your little one, before or after birth, you are welcome. If you would
prefer for us to name your little one for you, then please let us know before
the day.
Rev Georgina and Rev Ann.
Sunday 4 October 2020
Sunday Letter
October 4th
Chard and Combe are celebrating their Harvest
Festival this week and Wambrook and Whitestaunton will have theirs next week. Harvest
is here very quickly, everything seems to be going at breakneck speed, unless
it is just me that thinks that. Harvest, the celebration of what we have and
that which has been gathered into the store, one of the first festival’s to be
celebrated by our Jewish forebears, and in all cultures.
Do you remember when you were young what a Harvest
Festival looked like? All of our memories will be different won’t they
depending on where in the country or indeed the world you were brought up. In Starcross because we had the hospital for
those with learning disabilities, Harvests were grand affairs, great mounds of
produce that had been grown by staff and residents were brought into Church and
arranged on a specially made wooden display stand that would be absolutely
laden, windows were loaded too, such a wonderous display that I am sure many of
you will be able to see in your mind’s eye. It was mostly fresh vegetables and
fruits that were distributed in the village afterwards, today our focus has
changed often tins and long-lasting goodies that will be given to those in our
areas in hard ship, sharing what we have received.
Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly and
whoever sows generously will reap generously.
Give what you have decided in your heart it says in
2 Corinthians ch 9
I suppose it actually makes sense doesn’t it that
when we give away others will return our generosity in kind and we will be
richly rewarded, maybe with gifts that we can appreciate and savour or with
gifts that are only seen in our hearts.
It is only a small thing but I have been thinking
about the apples on my tree that featured in one of the services back in the
spring, the blossom was glourious and totally covered the tree subsequently we
have been blessed with a huge number of apples, we are still trying to give
them away if anyone wants some!! But when we first arrived in Chard six years
ago now there was one apple on the tree and three the year after, a drastic
prune happened the year after and from that moment on the tree was kind of
shocked into action. So, for two years we tried to store the apples for eating
over the winter, but they don’t keep, the skins went waxy and wrinkly, and yes,
we wrapped them in newspaper. The answer is not to keep them, but put them out
for anyone who wants to take them. Storing them up is a waste and has deprived
others, it took a while and some of you learnt the lesson a long time ago.
God looks after our needs, let’s help look after
others needs, the amazing circle of love
Just a little note that there are a few different DVLA
notice looking fraudulent emails out there at the moment, I have spoken to them
as received a strange one and they verified that there are two or three doing
the rounds. Also telephone calls from Amazon, again they don’t phone you ever,
unless you ask them to. Stay safe it isn’t easy, if in doubt about a call no
matter who they say they are, put the phone down and leave it for at least five
minutes before checking there is a normal dialling tone and ringing the
company/person to check out the story.
I am just about to order the Church Lectionary booklets
for 2020/2021, if you would like a copy at £5.00 then please let me know. They
contain the references to look up the Bible readings for every day of the year.
Reverend Georgina 66159
Friday 2 October 2020
Dear Friends,
I have wanted
to share Ronald Blythe’s wonderful writing with you for some time. He is a Reader in the Church of England but
also an author who has been writing about rural life in his native Suffolk for
nearly sixty years.
He wrote his
articles ‘Word from Wormingford’, the village where he lives, for the
Church Times for over twenty years.
Here is one that he wrote for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity in
1992, it is a wonderful description of rural church life:
“Late summer on the calendar, early autumn on the ground and in the
air. The harvest is in and its aftermath
begins to flourish on the stubble. The
cracked fields look as though they haven’t been rained on for a year. Their dust films our shoes as we set out on
the annual church farm walk. The King’s
Farm cows shake their heads as the congregation threads its way across their
pasture and a great meadow to Vicky’s, where lemonade awaits us. Some of the congregation are acres ahead and
the carrying talk reminds me of the calling conversations held by farmworkers
many years ago, or by fishermen in their boats.
Little Horkesley, on a Sunday afternoon is equally calm and yet full of
chatter.
We are full of Sunday dinner and footpath maps, as we walk through
Vicky’s tall wood where every tree reaches for the skies, over the stripped pea
fields, past the reservoir and then across the lane to Knight’s Farm. We are met with an astonished chorus by
calves, guinea fowl, cockerels and other creatures at this invasion. Is there to be no rest, they ask? The walk has taken us through ancient growing
landscapes, Crabb’s, Knowle’s, Breewood Hall and Hay Farm.
We stop for tea and Mr Knighton brings me two letters to his
great-grandfather from John Wesley and I sit and read them by the barn. At six we move to a lawn set out with straw
bales and we sing Evensong. Vicky reads
from the Book of Ruth, Chapter 2, and I do a makeshift sermon. We sing the evening hymns and the animals
join in. There are forty of us. Unless you are acquainted with fields, woods
and farm, why would you live in the countryside? How could you worship in a village church,
unless you know something of the seasons?”
Blessings
Ann
Sunday Letter
Dear Friends,
I was listening
to an interview with a psychologist on Radio 4 recently. He was asked who he would most like to
interview, and he replied, ‘Jesus Christ, I would like to speak with him about
the meaning of life’. A very brave man
indeed!
Jesus would no
doubt have turned him inside out and confounded all his questions, and probably
end up telling him to sell everything he owns, give all his money to the poor
and follow him. It would not have ended
well for the psychologist!
As the chief
priests and elders found out in our gospel reading this week, conversations
with Jesus can be dangerous. The
challenges can come so fast that it will leave our heads spinning and our lives
on the line.
It would be
easy for us to judge the priests and elders, but what if we looked at ourselves
first and our tendency to want to keep things the same and maintain the status
quo? What if we ask ourselves about our
own resistance to change and allowing ourselves to be transformed?
The chief
priests and elders are trying to trap Jesus with a question about the source of
his authority, but Jesus turns the tables on them and asks a question of his
own and places the question back on them.
Not only does he outwit them, but he unmasks their own deepest
priorities and concerns. They are not really interested in Jesus’ identity, but
only concerned with their own privilege and power, and Jesus’ question leaves
them speechless.
Would we too be
left speechless if we were asked about Jesus’ identity?
But Jesus does
not let up. He tells a parable, asks
another question, scolds the priests and elders for their lack of belief and
tells them that faithful tax collectors and prostitutes will enter heaven
before them.
I can imagine
how stunned and angry the chief priests and elders must have felt. They started out thinking to get the better
of Jesus and found themselves being told that they will follow tax collectors
and prostitutes into heaven. How did
that happen?
This is the
consequence of engaging with Jesus. He
is not interested in discussions about the meaning of life, as the psychologist
would have found out. Instead he wants
to challenge us to faith. Faith in his
identity as the Son of God and faith to follow him.
Are we ready to
make this declaration about our faith? To declare Jesus as the Son of God, and
to follow him. That is what he asks of us.
Will we rise to his challenge?
Blessings
Ann
Dates for October and November Services at WHitestaunton Church
October 11 6.30pm Harvest Festival
October 18 9.15am Holy Communion
November 8 6pm Evensong
November 15 9.15 am Holy Communion
Friday 4 September 2020
Sunday Letter
23rd August 2020
Dear Friends
‘Who do people say that I am - who do you say that I am?’
These are two pretty blunt questions that Jesus asks his
disciples in our gospel reading today. Jesus was probably only too aware that people
were trying to figure out who he was, and some were trying to identify him with
the great prophets.
But when Jesus asks the disciples directly – ‘Who do you say
that I am?’ It is Peter, so often the
spokesman for the twelve, who replies, ‘the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.’
This is one of the great moments of revelation in the
gospels of Jesus as Christ and it begs the question why here?
Jesus and the disciples are in Caesarea Philippi, which was
about 30 miles north of the Sea of Galilee, standing on a very high area of
cliff – it had been a centre of worship for the god, Baal – and was in Jesus’
time also a place of worship for the God Pan. There were both Greek and Roman
sanctuaries to Pan there. In the cliff
was a huge cave which sent water gushing out and was seemingly bottomless,
which led it to be named the gate of Hades.
This seems like a strange place for Jesus to take his
disciples and reveal his identity as the Messiah to them. It is likely the disciples would have felt
rather out of place in Caesarea Philippi and yet here Jesus reveals himself as
the Messiah and Son of God. Why? Well
perhaps, precisely because of where they are this revelation establishes Jesus
as the Messiah beyond the land of Israel and its religious leaders and even to
the worshippers of Baal and Pan.
And what of Peter?
For it is here that Jesus speaks of the church that will be founded,
with Peter as its rock, a church against which even the gates of Hades will not
prevail.
In our gospel reading two weeks ago we read of Jesus telling
Peter that he had little faith, Peter like the other disciples has often
misunderstood Jesus and needs the parables explained, and shortly after today’s
reading, in a few verses on from here,
Jesus will call Peter Satan as he sets his mind on human rather than divine
things. Peter who denies Jesus three
times.
Yet Jesus is speaking to Peter of his witness and his
testimony. After the coming of the Holy
Spirit Peter goes forth and bears witness and testimony to Jesus as the
Messiah. And it is here, in the strange
setting of Caesarea Philippi that Peter bears testimony to Jesus.
The church will be built, Jesus says on Peter’s witness and
testimony to him.
And so today where and why are we called to bear witness to
Jesus, the Son of the living God. Well,
in our homes, or at church on a Sunday morning is one way we do it – but there
is a greater challenge for us all. Peter
is asked to bear witness in a place that is probably unsettling and
uncomfortable, and we too are called to do the same. In church it is easy, but we are challenged
by Jesus to bear witness to him in our own Caesarea Philippi, in places where
we may not be comfortable, or even be heard, and like Peter we will not always
rise to the challenge, but we will be called to do so and it is up to us how we
respond.
Let us take heart from Peter’s story and know that we won’t
always get it right, or have courage, or enough faith. But, like Peter, Jesus has faith in us, and
he calls us to be witnesses to him in whatever circumstances and places we are
in.
Can we rise to the challenge?
Blessings
Ann
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