Dear Friends
Fast on the
heels of Christmas comes Epiphany and our Covenant services, firstly as a
Methodist community and then as Churches together. Like many gifts given
at the same time, we open them all, and almost all at once! Heaven forbid
that we should forget who gave each present to us, let alone write a
thank-you letter thanking one person for another’s gift. Yet may Heaven
grant that we should value gifts not so much in themselves, but rather as
signs of love towards us. Worship is a gift too.
Signs are
there that we might pause, think, and take to our hearts a message. We may
not always be receptive to messages, but the signs are there. There is
love in the world for us. We may not feel it, but it is there,
nevertheless. When we discover the signs afresh, there is a
wonder and an excitement at what God has in store for us. Today, as
I write, we shared prayer, tea and bread at St John’s the Evangelist in
Bridge Street as part of the week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This was
the first such meeting for many, many years. We discovered in that place
their ministry of music but,
far more than that, we understood that as Christians together we want to
meet together more and more, with time to pray, share meals and worship
together. People used to be in and out of each other’s houses, as the
saying goes, and it needs to be the same for the Lord’s house too.
People who grew up in the same neighbourhood, went to the same schools,
have after many years come together again. Is this, then not a good
example of the Good Shepherd at
work?
I
hope that you survived the ice and snow this year. The snow falls on us
all alike, but as it melts, it is clear that those who live on the sunnier
side of the street have an easier time than those who live on the shadier
side. I was going to say ‘shady’ side of the street, but you know what
I mean. As in previous years, the question arises: ‘Do we grit our paths
and car park?’ It is a
question everyone wants to ask, and many people have, especially those who
are less fleet of foot, and those carrying babies and children, or heavy
boxes. One view is that we have a duty to protect, i.e. clear the danger.
Another view is that we are less at risk legally if we let ‘nature
be’, in other words, that the walker takes the risk. Both options are
supported by different laws of the land. I am grateful to Richard Morgan
for his clarity in this matter. What concerns me is that the second option
is a ‘do nothing’ option, and the law leaves us in a quandary. Yet I
remember two stewards being outside to help people across the snow and
ice. Perhaps this year then, using their example, we will buy some grit,
clear a path through the snow to our door, but remind people too to take
care for themselves. This seems to me to be closest to the ministry of
Jesus. How then might we apply this in other ways?
As I read a
prayer the other day, I noticed the name of the Methodist Minister in
Haiti, the Revd Gesner Paul. It might just be that, when I attended a
conference in the Leeward Islands, he was the young
minister who was sent on mission to Martinique and Guadeloupe as he
spoke fluent French and Creole. We might therefore have been
colleagues before I transferred, but what a challenge he now faces
and what a burden he carries. The call to help, to come alongside, to walk
the mile and share the load just gets stronger. What can we spare? When
poorer people in the West Indies are sending what they can, what an
example they give us.
February is
upon us. There are Activity Days for the young at half-term, ecumenical
pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, Lent studies popping up all over Mickleover
and worship too. We are at best at worship, and when we prepare worship
together. I have pencilled Saturday March 6th in my diary for a Men’s
breakfast. How about you? It just takes one to bring the bacon, another
eggs, another coffee, and another
orange juice. What else do we need for breakfast to take place,
even in Lent, apart from a little worship of course? Looking forward to
seeing you there, perhaps?
Go with God
Ian.
