NEWSLINK
The Parish Magazine
of Saint Faith's Church, Great
Crosby
Saint Faith’s Prayer for
Mission
Faithful God, in baptism you have adopted us as your children,
made us members of the body of Christ and chosen us as inheritors
of your kingdom:
bless our plans for mission and outreach; guide us to seek and do
your will;
empower us by your Spirit to share our faith in witness and to serve,
and send us out as disciples of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
July 2006
From
the Ministry Team
Speaking the truth as we know it
It was lovely to meet up again with Bishop Michael Marshall
recently when he came to take part in the Gala Concert and preach a
stunning sermon the following Sunday morning. In talking to him
afterwards I realised that I had forgotten that he was involved in
helping Archbishop George Carey by playing a leading role in the Church
of England’s Decade of Evangelism. A key figure in the Anglican
Catholic movement playing a lead role in evangelism? Whatever next!
It is easy to think that evangelism is about peddling simplistic
religious certainties and getting people to make some sort of
embarrassing act of public commitment. Nothing could be further from
the truth. An evangelist is simply someone who announces good news –
the faith as they know it.
But we have a bit of a problem at the catholic end of the Church of
England in talking about our faith – especially if we are middle class.
It is almost as if talking about faith was some sort of terrible faux
pas, some grave social misdemeanour – most terribly embarrassing! So
instead we opt for trying to be nice to people, and offering them a
warm welcome if they appear in church, but shrink at the possibility of
actually talking about God. What on earth do we think people come to
church for?
We desperately need some evangelists at St Faith’s - people who are
able to share the good news as they know it, people who can give a
convincing account of how their faith makes a difference to their
lives. There can be no beating about the bush with this one. Unless we
start engaging people with the faith as we know it there will not be a
church in a few years time. The maths are simple. Like many other
churches, we are not replacing ourselves as a church. We are not
passing on the faith successfully to following generations.
How many of the grown up children of people at St Faith’s are regular
and committed church members? I would hazard a guess that it is not so
many. So what is going wrong? Good liturgy, fun social events,
pantomimes, concerts and recitals, wonderful music from the choir, and
all the other round of great things that we offer at St Faith’s are not
enough. We need some practice in becoming fluent in the language of
faith. We can no longer rely on implicit religion, faith today needs to
be explicit if the church is to thrive.
Recently I conducted some baptisms at St Faith’s. It was the first time
I had visited a baptism family in the two years since I left parish
ministry in Kirkby. It was a shock to realise again just how big the
gap is between the churched and unchurched. It was as if I was speaking
a completely different language. And as a result I felt tongue-tied. I
just didn’t have the means to engage with these young parents in
talking about what faith means to me in words that they could
understand. So what did I do? I chickened out. I took the easy option.
I said some nice things about the baby, talked about the details of the
baptism service, and might even have managed some religious platitudes
about what baptism means. But I failed spectacularly in finding the
words to communicate what the Christian faith means to me, and
therefore why it might be important for them to show up a bit more than
on the day of the baptism.
If that is true for me after theological training and over twenty years
in the ordained ministry, then I guess that some of you will also share
my sense of inadequacy at this daunting task which is so vital for the
future of our church.
We have just begun the process of putting together a five year plan for
St Faith’s, and as Father Neil pointed out last month, evangelism came
bottom of our list of activities when we looked at the life of St
Faith’s at our PCC away-day. I want to make a plea that in that process
of planning we don’t duck this issue of talking about faith –
evangelism – because I think it represents our greatest challenge. I
think we need some help with it. I think we need someone to encourage
us, to help us to develop the skills of bringing alive our catholic
heritage for other people; someone who can give us the confidence to
begin to shape some words which make sense of that precious gift of
faith as it becomes incarnate in your life and mine.
Yes, your life and mine. This isn’t something just for clergy. It is
the vocation of every Christian to speak the truth of faith as they
know it. Simply coming to church and getting our dose of religion
without going out and sharing some of it is no longer an option in a
post-Christian society – not if we really value the church and its life
and want it to have a future.
Fr Mark
Holy
Days in July
(from the Church
of England’s “Common Worship” calendar)
3rd S. Thomas the Apostle
6th S. Thomas More, Scholar, and S. John Fisher,
Bishop of Rochester, Reformation Martyrs, 1535
11th S.Benedict of Nursia, Abbot of Monte Cassino,
(patron of Europe) Father of Western Monasticism, c.550
14 S. Swithun, Bishop of Winchester, c.862
20th S. Margaret of Antioch, Martyr, 4th century
22nd S. Mary Magdalene
23rd S. Brigid of Sweden (patron of Europe)
25th S. James the Apostle
26th S. Anne, mother of the B.V.M.
31st S. Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of the Society
of Jesus, 1556
Healing
Services
Fr. Neil
July 2003 saw the reintroduction of the Healing Ministry at St. Faith’s
and regular Thursday Healing Services, alternating with St. Mary’s, now
take place monthly. So this month celebrates our third anniversary of
this important part of the life of our United Benefice.
An important aspect of that service is that we pray for many people who
can’t make it to church but nevertheless value our prayers.
To this end, there will be some cards available at each service,
post-card shaped, which you may take to send or give to those for whom
we have been praying. Please feel free to take a card, or a few, and to
fill in the relevant details before passing on to the person we have
been praying for.
This is, I hope, a way of strengthening our commitment to the Healing
Ministry of the Church and also letting people know they have been
remembered in prayer. That means a lot to people.
So please do take a card and send it with our love and prayers.
Figuring
it out
Chris Price
The Church of England over the next 15 years
Last month’s analysis of the findings and predictions of the official
figures published by Christian Research looked at such things as the C.
of E. Electoral Roll and the relative decline of attendance figures in
the mainstream Christian denominations in the U.K. This second analysis
begins with a look at the traditional concept of ‘family’. The
continuing and startling decline of the standard family unit of a
married couple, with or without children, from 90% in 1980 to a
predicted 35% in 2020, is highlighted. The report believes that the
church needs to do more to welcome the growing numbers of lone parents
(‘invariably mothers’), divorcees, gay people and cohabiting couples
likely to come to churches, or to risk disenfranchising what may soon
be a majority of potential members. ‘People don’t want a friendly
church: they want friends,’ is how one commentator put it. The survey
asks how churches can best give unconditional and loving support to
these groups. It would be good to think that this is something that we
already achieve pretty well at St Faith’s.
4
The report moves on to Sunday Church Attendance. In 1980 11% of the
population of Great Britain went to church weekly. By 2005 this was
down to under 7% and, if present trends continue, will be down to under
4% by 2020. The numbers exclude those who attend once a month or so
(about 10%), and Christmas attendances (about 20%), and notes that if
visits for the Occasional Offices (christenings, marriages and
funerals) are counted in, then perhaps as many as 50% of the UK
population will see the inside of a church in the course of an average
year. Naturally the researchers ask how the local church can best adapt
to these challenging figures. It speaks of the need to convince clergy
that change is essential for survival (and the need to equip them to
‘lead change’) and commends ‘innovation in experimental services’. Our
New Worship monthly experiments would clearly fit this pattern and
already can be seen as a small step to ‘temper an otherwise rapid
decline in numbers.’ This section of the report concludes with the
implication that in its opinion the church nationally cannot continue
to support 43 independent Dioceses each replicating many functions, and
makes the sensible comment that local change needs to be matched by a
radical rethink at the top.
Next under the microscope comes An Ageing Church. It’s no surprise to
learn that the average age of those attending church is rising. During
the 1990s half a million young people under 15 left church, and this
trend is continuing steadily, as we have noticed. Seemingly most make
up their minds to leave while attending Sunday School (not ours,
surely!) but actually leave when a year or two into Secondary School.
The graphs show that, using actual and predicted figures between 1980
and 2020, total numbers of churchgoers over 65 are actually rising,
those between 45 and 64 falling only slightly, while those between 20
and 44 have more than halved and for under 20s the decline is more than
twice that decline. The C. of E.’s decline averages out at 2.5% per
year and – most significant of all – ‘half the Church of England
parishes had no work at all among young people in 2005.’
The rate of decline seems to be increasing: from 273,000 children in
Sunday Schools in1980 it is likely to total fewer than 55,000 by 2020.
The survey speaks of the need for more Youth Workers, for making Sunday
School more lively and relevant, and realising the full potential of
Church Schools. Recognising the fact that many more middle-aged people
now have to work on Sundays, it reflects on how best to make worship
available at times and in places to suit these people. The possibility
of After Schools Clubs to look after children until parents get back
from work is seen as one way to grow the ‘fringe’ of people connected,
however loosely, with the church.
Finally, the researchers note that although in 1980 those aged 65+ made
up just 20% of churchgoers, with current trends this will rise to as
much as 46% by 2020. They see this as having serious implications for
church life, but also as ‘representing a mission opportunity to others
of like age in their neighbourhood.’ It commends coffee mornings and
luncheon clubs and wonders how the church can make better use of
grandparents - and even whether it should hold Grandparents’ classes!
It is interesting to look at Saint Faith’s statistics in the light of
these findings. Our mission survey found that 66% of our people were
aged 60+ and 43% were 70+ (and more than 60% were female) – well up
with the national ageing trends if not in advance of them. It is
perhaps comforting to note that our Saturday recitals (glorified coffee
mornings!) attract a significant audience in the retirement age
bracket, and that we play a major part in running the successful and
much-appreciated Christ Church Luncheon Club. And a glance at the age
of the ‘core workers’ in our congregation undoubtedly reveals that
grandparents play a very large part in keeping the life and mission of
St Faith’s (and St Mary’s) on the road. Perhaps our church’s
grandparents should be taking classes, not attending them…
Next time: the final analysis – the topics are rural church attendance,
relative sizes of congregations, ‘What makes Churches grow’, Church
Buildings and, as you might predict, the mandatory SWOT Analysis (you
must have come across this – it stands for Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats, and invariably involves the use of flip
charts and brainstorming sessions…) Goodbye for now from the Old Folks’
Corner of our ageing but still much-loved church.
Information
Release
Due to the nature of the quality of driving in England, the Department
of Transport has now devised a new scheme in order to identify poor
drivers and give good drivers the opportunity to recognise them whilst
driving. For this reason, as from the middle of May
2006 a scheme for identifying those
drivers who are found to be driving badly has been put in
place. This includes:
- overtaking in dangerous places;
- hovering within one inch of the car in front;
- stopping sharply;
- speeding in residential areas;
- pulling out without indication;
- cutting in front of cyclists;
- performing U-turns inappropriately in busy high streets;
- under taking on motorways;
- taking up more than one lane in multi-lane roads.
These drivers have been issued with flags, white with a red cross,
signifying their inability to drive properly.
These flags must be clipped to a door f the
car and be visible to all other drivers and pedestrians.
Those drivers who have shown particularly poor
driving skills have to display a flag on each side of the
car to indicate their greater lack of skill and general
lower intelligence to the general public.
(internet circulation)
May 20th, 2006, saw a special event in St Faith’s. A Gala Concert was
held in aid of the Walsingham Appeal, with celebrity soloists and in
the presence of the Archbishop of York. As the photo above shows, a
cheque for £2,000 was handed over as a result of the concert. In
the article below, Fr Neil writes about Walsingham and the concert,
reprinting (unsolicited!) some words from this writer dating from the
first St Faith’s Pilgrimage to Walsingham in 2000. On the church
wesbite, Denis Griffiths’ photographs show some highlights from the
pre-concert reception in the Library at Merchant Taylors’ School, and
during and after the concert itself.
Why Walsingham? Why Not?
Fr. Neil
Archbishop William Temple once said, ‘The Church is the only
organisation that exists for the benefit of those who are not (yet) its
members.’
That belief certainly underpins the parochial system of the Church of
England where, at S. Mary’s and S. Faith’s for example, the
congregation forms only some 1.87% of the total number of people the
Vicar could potentially minister to at any one time. Indeed a great
deal of the working week for any incumbent is spent (or should be
spent) dealing with those who don’t come to church on a regular basis
but nonetheless require the ministry of the church for whatever reason.
They (non church-goers) don’t necessarily have access to the automatic
support of a church family as many of us do. Very often when someone at
S. Faith’s has been bereaved, or been seriously ill, the first thing
they do is to thank the members of the ‘church family’ who have looked
after them. Many people bear their sufferings, loneliness and anxiety
on their own, without that inbuilt support network which the church
family, at its very best, offers.
It is perhaps with something of that sentiment in mind that the Shrine
of Our Lady of Walsingham meets not only the needs of regular paid-up
Christians but many more people beyond. People of very deep faith,
wavering faith, or no faith at all, find at Walsingham a peace and
tranquility which is rarely found in their own homes or workplaces, and
dare I say, even in their own churches! No wonder then that in 2003
Walsingham was voted the nations most favourite spiritual place.
We live in a society obsessed with paper-work and figures – and the
church is no different. Forms come to us regularly asking attendances
for this or that in an attempt to see where the church is (or isn’t)
moving. We can so easily fall into the trap of thinking that growth
simply means more numbers on a piece of paper or more people in church.
Rarely do we talk of the importance of spiritual growth; it is
difficult to quantify. But it is important. If we are not growing
spiritually we are not moving in our relationship with God or living a
faith which is dynamic and life-changing. A faith which is stuck in a
rut is not a faith to commend to others!
Walsingham provides ‘safe space’ or ‘sanctuary’ where talk about God or
and/or prayer is a most natural way of conversation (when did you last
talk about prayer to someone in church or in your own family?).
Walsingham provides a setting where no prayer is too trivial or unheard.
For that reason I am so pleased that the concert we held recently for
the Walsingham Appeal was such a great success. The presence of the
Archbishop of York certainly gave the event a high profile. I said to
the Archbishop at the reception how grateful we were that he could find
time in his busy diary to be with us. He said in reply: ‘But I had to
come. The work of Walsingham is so very important’. And he meant it!
The support for the Walsingham Appeal from so many different traditions
of church backgrounds demonstrates clearly that the power of a place
like Walsingham very much transcends human boundaries of churchmanship!
A lesson for us all to learn.
Walsingham, for me at any rate, is wonderfully summed up in the article
written by Chris Price back in 2000 when St. Faith’s made its first
parish pilgrimage. And it’s not just me who thinks that! Chris Price’s
article can be found on the Walsingham Website under the heading “why
pilgrimage?”
Chris
says this:
“48 hours of rich and varied experiences. Worship in forms familiar and
strange. Fellowship in the refectory queue and around the bars of the
welcoming village hostelries. A fascinating mixture of prayerful
devotion and shared laughter, not all of it always entirely reverent.
The mysteries of the rosary... for many a focus of prayer, for others,
even by the end, about forty Hail Marys too many. The intense and
wondrous silence of the Holy House, bedecked with blue and gold and a
myriad of burning lights, the most moving of backgrounds to a parish at
worship and in intercessory prayer. A singularly moving and spectacular
Procession of Our Lady around the dark grounds, by candle-light and to
the enthusiastic accompaniment of a hymn with more verses (and
certainly more Ave Marias) than you could shake a stick at, and
punctuated by dubious descants and just a little departure from
devotion in places.
“A visit to the Roman Catholic Shrine (the Slipper Chapel down the
road), and moving words in their official handbook commending a visit
to ‘our’ Shrine and ‘our’ Parish Church and asking for prayers for the
Anglican Diocese and its priests and people - how far and wonderfully
we have come in recent years! Conversations in corridors, coffee brewed
in little rooms, bonding between people who may scarcely have spoken to
one another before. No sense (at least not for long) of anything alien
or frightening ... and no pressure to accept anything you weren’t happy
about, nor to feel left out if you chose to snooze or stroll rather
than join in things.
“Parish Mass in the Parish Church in the village, packed with pilgrims
and locals - a building gloriously light and airy, with acres of clear
grass, after the intense and sometimes stifling weight of the shrine
church. Strolling back after coffee at the back of that church through
sunny, still streets lined with flint-set, pantiled-roofed cottages.
“Drinks outside the Bull in God’s providential lunchtime sunshine. The
transporting experience of going down into the well in the shrine in a
new baptism for the blessing of pure, cold water in the mouth, on the
forehead and splashing over the hands.
“And, on the road home abiding memories of
Peace and a deep silence of prayer made simple and appealing.
Fellowship made stronger and laughter more ready than ever (where even
the old jokes sounded new)
A place to which to bring doubts and scepticism, but where, even where
those reservations remained, it did not matter.
A place where it seemed overwhelmingly and satisfyingly normal to be a
Christian and an Anglican and to live a life founded in the sacraments
and prayer; a place where to believe and to practise
the faith was simple and natural.
A place where the unlikely became possible, the flamboyant and even the
absurd were at home with the beauty of the holiness and where we could
all be ourselves for a spell.
A lovely place and a lovely time, together for a time out of time with
our fellow Christians and, without a shadow of doubt, with our God.”
We beseech thee, O
Lord,
pour thy grace
into our hearts;
that, as we have
known the incarnation
of thy Son Jesus
Christ by the message of an angel,
so by his cross
and passion
we may be brought
unto the glory of his resurrection;
through Jesus
Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and
reigneth with thee,
in the unity of
the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and
for ever. AMEN.
A Plea
for Peace
Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways;
For most of us, when asked our mind,
Admit we still more pleasure find
In hymns of ancient days.
The simple lyrics, for a start,
Of many a modern song
Are far too trite to touch the heart,
Enshrine no poetry or art,
And go on much too long.
O for a rest from jollity
And syncopated praise!
What happened to tranquility?
The silence of eternity
Is hard to find these days.
Send thy deep hush, subduing all
Those happy claps, that drown
The tender whisper of Thy call.
Triumphalism is not all,
For sometimes we feel down.
Drop thy still dews of quietness
Till all our strummings cease.
Take from our souls the strain and stress
Of always having to be blessed:
Give us a bit of peace.
Breathe though the beats of praise guitar
Thy coolness and Thy balm.
Let drum be dumb, bring back the lyre,
Enough of earthquake, wind and fire:
Let’s hear it for some calm.
From the Lancaster Priory magazine, courtesy of Canon Peter Cavanagh.
Published originally in Laudate, the magazine of the Guild of Church
Musicians.
P.C.Watch
A selection of the more bizarre
stories from our PC-conscious modern world, with thanks to the
excellent ‘The Week’ periodical.
Would Yew Believe It?
A council that spent £5,000 planting a row of yew trees last year
is digging them up again in case children are poisoned by their leaves.
Bristol County Council planted 100 yews to create a border between a
café and a children’s play area. However, a risk assessment
later concluded that the trees should be pulled up because, if eaten in
sufficient quantity, the leaves can cause vomiting. A council spokesman
admitted that this was extremely unlikely to happen as the leaves
tasted ‘foul’, but said, predictably, that it was better to be safe
than sorry. However did those of us brought up in the country survive
all those venerable yew trees in our churchyards? Should they now all
be pulled up too?
Getting To The Bottom Of Things
A National Health Service Trust in Dundee has issued a four-page
leaflet containing helpful tips for going to the lavatory. The leaflet,
which bears the unforgettable title of ‘Good Defecation Dynamics’,
comes with explanatory pictures and contains advice such as: ‘When you
sit on the toilet make sure your feet are well-supported’; ‘Do not
slump down but keep the normal curve in your back’; and finally, ‘Don’t
forget to breathe’. It’s good to be able to reflect, when in the
smallest room, that our taxes are being so well spent.
Railway Letters
Railway bosses may have to withdraw a fleet of 29 trains because the
letters on their information screens are a whole 3 mm too small.
Government advisers (who of course have nothing better to do) say that
the South West Trains carriages must be scrapped because their
in-carriage LED screens don’t comply with disability regulations.
Thousands of commuters on the Waterloo to Reading line will simply have
to cram on to shorter trains…
One For The Road
And finally, drunks and criminals are being offered free taxi rides
home from police stations, lest they get injured making their own way
home. Surrey police alone have spent £9,000 on taxis in the past
twelve months, rather than face compensation claims.
Funny
You Should Say That
We are pleased to note that there has been a change of mind by the
Housing Department regarding the name for the new housing complex for
the elderly. ‘St Peter’s Close’ did seem somewhat inappropriate.
The
150-Club Draw: June 2006 winners
1 Rita Woodley £150
2 John Weston £100
3 Joan Tudhope £75
4 Harry Roberts £50
‘Risen,
Ascended, Glorified’
Sermon preached by Fr. Gerwyn Capon at
the 6.30am Solemn Mass on Ascension Day.
The great cornerstone events in the life of Jesus have inspired
painters and various artists to create many wonderful images that help
us draw near to the mystery of our faith: the Incarnation, Mary with
the Infant Jesus, the scene around the Crib, the Cross, the Risen
Christ bearing his wounds to the first believers. Whether we are
looking at Giotto or Caravaggio, a fresco by Fra Angelico or
Michaelangelo, the Church’s iconography has been pretty camp at the
best of times but when we come to the Ascension, pictures suddenly
begin to lose the plot, I feel. Take for instance the frescoes, if that
is not too generous a term, around the little altar in one of the side
chapels at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, dedicated to the
Ascension of Our Lord - it is Blackpool gone to the Wash - lurid blue
swirls and puffy white clouds and an image of the soles of Jesus’ feet
disappearing into the highest heaven, rocketing like superman into
space. The artist has tried to inject some kind of 3-D perspective on
the figure of Jesus with the result that it looks as if Our Lord and
Saviour has been subjected before take off, to a quick bit of emergency
liposuction. Perhaps that’s the way of it, how else are we going to
have the confidence to hang around the celestial city in the company of
all those heavenly bodies without spending eternity in abject paranoia?
In Rome recently I managed to see, in the Vatican Museums, one of the
most thought- provoking depictions of the Ascension, completed by the
artist Raphael; Christ is taken up into heaven, heaved up by
accompanying angels, his right arm held tightly by God the Father at
the wrist. It is a scene almost of rescue - Jesus has accomplished his
mission and is now taken back into the safety of
heaven, rather like a man being hauled back
into 12
a boat from the sea. You get the impression that Jesus is welcomed back
into the embrace of heaven, having been so coldly and dangerously
treated whilst he had existed in the realm of humankind. An interesting
perspective but not one, I fear, that I warm to. What we celebrate at
the Ascension is much more profound I think and does not involve Jesus
escaping from us back to safety where he can remain unmolested but
rather, it is we who are carried into the safety of heaven with him.
What we see in Raphael’s picture then, is a rescue, our rescue, our
very being taken up into the life of God. In Raphael’s picture, it is
possible to see the tension of the sinews and muscles of the arm
stretched out holding Jesus - God using all his strength as it were,
because it is not just Jesus who is being lifted up, it is the weight
of all humanity that is being brought up into his presence, and into
his love. God is welcoming humanity back into the society of the
eternal things, so we are again united with what God envisaged and
intended from the beginning. This is the deepest mystery of the
Ascension and the firmest hope we have - as God came down as the Word,
so the Word now takes us back into the life of the Father.
About this mystery, all that Leo the Great could say of the Ascension,
preaching to his students, was this: And so our Redeemer’s
visible presence has passed into the sacraments. Our faith is nobler
and stronger because sight has been replaced by a faith that is
accepted by believing hearts, enlightened through the spirit of God.
Many theologians have written of the Ascension that it is a crowning
moment for Jesus; he is lifted up, as St John records. This “taking up”
of Christ has significance for the church in that through it, the life
of faith is explained, sustained and completed.
Life is explained because through The Ascension we see that the life we
receive by faith, now has a destiny - to be with God. We are not just a
load of chemicals and protoplasm - we are now joined with God through
Christ and inseparable from his love - we are given meaning, ultimate
meaning. So life is explained. Through the Ascension, life is sustained
- Jesus has left his Spirit here - the spirit that is the engine of the
Christian life, the spirit that kindles in us the life of faith and
holiness of living. The spirit keeps us trusting and hopeful.
And if the Ascension explains life and sustains life, it also completes
life. Jesus says, as St John records, “when I shall be lifted up from
the earth, I shall draw all people to myself” - for in Jesus we find
all that we need, the complete life that brings all our broken pieces
into one, for it is through the risen life of Christ that all are made
alive.
So whatever your picture is of the Ascension, let it call us to risk
being lifted by Christ, to allow him to do this for us. We are more
important to God than we dare sometimes to think, for as that early
church Father Ireneus has said the glory of God is the living man, and
the life of man is the vision of God. We are made for the life of
heaven.
“Alleluia, alleluia – Risen, Ascended, Glorified”
A
Summer Reflection
Fr Dennis
In a summer of the early 1970s, when staying in Hemel Hempstead with
Leslie and Jean Crossley, the three of us drove into Central London for
Sunday Mass at the lovely and architecturally unusual church of St
Vedast, Foster Lane. A quartet of professional musicians accompanied
the mass and, after the service, we joined the regular congregation for
a glass of wine.
The celebrant and preacher was the newly-appointed Rector, Father
Gonville ffrench-Beytagh, (yes, really! Ed.) who, only a few years
earlier, had come to Britain in exile from South Africa, following his
brave and outspoken criticism of the evil regime of apartheid.
Gonville ffrench-Beytagh was born in Shanghai, educated in England, and
spent his early life in New Zealand as a tramp and casual labourer. He
then went to South Africa and was ordained priest, but fell foul of the
authorities and was tried for subversion. He was convicted but later
released on appeal. He is perhaps best known for his book ‘Encountering
Darkness’, which he wrote about his experience of being imprisoned by
the South African authorities for working against apartheid. His other
books are ‘Encountering Light’, ‘Facing Depression’ and ‘A Glimpse of
Glory’.
The following extract from ‘Encountering Light’ is one which I have
long valued:
‘Think of yourself for a moment. There is no one on this earth who is
like you. This may be just as well, but it is true. You may have an
identical twin who was removed at birth for all you know, but there is
not, and cannot ever have been, nor will there ever be, a person who is
exactly like you. Even if someone has exactly the same genes and
chromosomes, the environment in which he (or she) grew up will have
been different and so he will have become a different person. It is not
possible for someone else to have the same loves and hates and lusts
and fears and anxieties and hopes and desires as you yourself have.
You are unique, you are yourself and there has never been, or can be,
someone who is just like you, or who fills your place in the world. And
if religion is, as it claims to be, a personal relationship with God,
your relationship with God will be something unique to yourself and
him. You can listen to preachers preaching, you can read about religion
- and probably ought to do so because we can learn from each other's
experience - but in the last resort your religion and your prayer is
something of your own self.
Finally, at the end of your life, you will stand before the judgement
seat by yourself. You are responsible for yourself. Many people have
contributed towards your goodness and badness. Many of them may
well be blamed and have some responsibility for what is in you, but in
the last resort, you are you and no one can take your place.’