And so the Christmas Season has been rounded off with our celebration of Candlemas and we are now rapidly approaching Lent. The Crib scene is now safely packed away for another year – Our celebration of Candlemas at St Johns a couple of weeks ago was simply wonderful – filled with joy and beauty, it was especially lovely to be joined in Church by our Sunday school to process round with our candles.
Getting ready for our services takes a surprising amount of time, especially when we celebrate one of the great feasts of the church. There is so much to sort out, – thinking through the Liturgy, where are we going to stand, what route for the procession, what hymns, when do we relight our candles. Of course there are lots of short cuts we could have taken, miss bits out, do what we did last year (if anyone can remember), or wing it and see what happens. However, I know when we rehearse and put some effort into preparing; things are less stressful, things work better and we can focus on the meaning of what we are doing instead of wondering what might happen next or what might go wrong.
I think there is something in the human disposition that means we always want to jump into the doing, the action, the good bit. I hate preparing to decorate a room – all that washing of walls, sanding, stripping off of old paper, before I can get on with the “fun bit” of sloshing the paint around. Mission Action Planning feels a bit the same- its tempting to want to jump straight to the end and do the doing, the changing, making a difference but we need to get it right, discern what is needed and prepare the way. We need to be strict with ourselves and really discern, hold our selves in the preparation phase before we can then get on with the doing. Following the process means we are more likely to get it right, our changes more likely to work and hold.
I am full of excitement and enthusiasm as our Mission Action Plan groups meets and begins to map out the process, generate ideas and make changes. It’s tempting to assume that we must all be excited and positive. Given that we are a diverse group, all of us agreeing is very unlikely – and that’s a good thing. We need to hear the cautious voice, the cynics those that take a bit more convincing of an idea – its not being negative its being a balance, a stabiliser. Listening to these voices is vital, they offer fresh insights, observe risks and challenges that those of us with a more enthusiastic disposition might have over looked in our excitement and desire to get on and do. We all want to get this right, we must get this right, our generation and future generations need us to.
Let us enjoy the first phase of our Mission Action Planning the discussing, the gathering of views, the discerning, lets listen to all the voices – but lets communicate, we must share our ideas, enthusiasm, doubts and worries with each other – everyone of us has part of the picture and we need all the bits to make the one great glorious picture.
For my next blog I might think about how do we jump straight to Easter – do we really need all that preparation of Lent? Let’s crack on and slosh the paint around and eat our Easter Eggs!
Before setting off to Rome for a short break (retreat) with some Priest Colleagues I joked “That’s it I am off to Rome” with an imaginary flounce and door slam to boot. I sent a tweet to such effect and was surprised that a couple of people took me seriously thinking I had enough of the Church of England and was off. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every Sunday I am renewed with excitement and joy being with my Parish Family – I know they don’t all agree with everything I do all of the time, but they humour me and for that I am grateful.
Vatican at Sunset
Papal Archbasilica of St. John Lateran
Lovely Coffee
My time is Rome was simply wonderful, lots of sightseeing , Churches and Pasta. Lots of discussion with my friends and lots of ideas for the future and only a small amount of “essential” shopping . One incredible moment came one evening when I found myself stood in front of St Peters Basilica without another person to be seen. I was completely on my own in front of this amazing building, the centre of Roman Catholicism for a bezillion Roman Catholics, the site of the Great Pontifical Masses and it was just me. David from Christchurch New Zealand, standing on his own in St Peter’s Square all alone, just incredible. It was the most humbling experience and reminded me how I am only a very small cog in the great eternal machine of Christ’s Church. The worry about what to preach next Sunday or what Hymns to choose seemed so far away and small in the grand scheme of things.
It is that same sense of awe and wonderment that I want us to share on a Sunday Morning when we come to the Altar and celebrate Gods love for us in the Eucharist. For us to see ourselves in that long procession of faith, standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before us, doing the best we can as we serve God, Serve our Community and Serve each other. Humility is so difficult and so very counter cultural in our world, but sensing the Power & Love of our Lord, understanding that we are a small but vital cog in a great machine is simply wonderful. Getting the small things right is critical, the right hymns, a reasonable sermon, a smile for our brothers and sisters and a helping hand when needed is all part of us making sure we do what we do as best as we can. All the small actions, deeds and thoughts go to make up the bigger picture, building to the great crescendo of our Eucharist.
I have returned from Rome, re-energised and excited to be continuing our journey together over the bumps and rocks and along our winding road. One thing that I am discovering is no matter what my thoughts are some clever person has always managed to capture them beautifully in a hymn or carol and I can think of no better way to sum up that with the words of the first verse of My Song is love unknown,
I have rather surprised myself of late with a new and interesting hobby. For my birthday someone brought me a bird feeder and the requisite nuts. On opening the present its fair to say I was slightly underwhelmed but I duly hung feeder on a small tree in the garden and have been completely fascinated by the variety of birds that come to feed. Growing up in New Zealand, land of the Birds I think I rather took all the birds for granted and of course our national bird the Kiwi is flightless. I still smile at the New Zealand’s RAF logo - the usual concentric red, white and blue RAF circles with the addition of a silhouette of the flightless nearly extinct Kiwi at its centre. Who thought a flightless bird was good emblem for the national air force?!
New Zealand RAFLogo
The Squirrel Feeder
I have now purchased a bird book so I can start to identify the various feather chaps that pitch up at the Vicarage- if only a similar book was available for parishioners – the lesser spotted cassock chaser, the waxy billed sacristan but maybe that’s another blog? Anyway, I have now relented and purchased a couple more feeders and different variety of seeds and fat balls to feed the increasing number of visitors. I do however have mixed emotions about the Grey Squirrels –their cute face, white tummies and tree acrobatics are just wonderful but their persistence at eating the bird seed is definitely an annoyance.
I have now taken pity and purchased the squirrels their very own squirrel feeder – a small flip top house contraptions which is filled with Maize –The resident squirrels do seem to go a bit crazy for the maize but still they venture to munch on the sunflower seeds of the birds. I fear I might become slightly obsessive in guarding the bird seed, creating ever more complex and bizarre mechanisms of keeping the squirrels from the bird seed. The thought of camouflaging myself as a bush and sitting in wait to ambush the squirrels with a waterpistol has crossed my mind. Feeling rather like a slightly eccentric 18th Century vicar – I venture into the vicarage garden each morning to scatter seed, replenish the nuts and feed the squirrels.
I am certainly no St Francis but the joy of living side by side with nature is really wonderful and makes me double my efforts to make sure we look after this planet we have been entrusted with. Feeding the small number of birds and getting annoyed with the cheeky squirrels isn’t going to change the world but it reminds me of what a fantastic world we have. Deo Gratias (still not sure about the Squirrels!)
As I was cleaning in church today and getting rid of the Christmas Tree, I was reflecting on what a wonderful Epiphany service we had on Sunday. All our Sunday school children processed in with the clergy and servers, three of them carrying our wooden statues of the Magi and three of them dressed up as Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar with three small caskets containing the gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. When this great caravan of children and adults arrived at our Crib Scene – which had been transformed in to a more regal and suitable palace – we placed the gifts in front of the images of the infant king and his parents, and ponder for a moment the meaning of these rather strange gifts for such a poor little family. I heard via Facebook that a dear friend and priest in Norwich started his Epiphany Sermon wondering what the Holy Family did with these gifts – I flippantly replied that Joseph probably put them in the first ever church raffle, or Mary had bought a life time’s worth of nappies with the gold they had been given. But it is an interesting question to ponder – what did the Holy family do with these gifts? I have no profound theological thoughts to offer here but I would love to hear what you think?
We Three Kings...
What I do know, is that the process of creating our Mission Action Plan (MAP) is now well underway and whilst the end result will be some bits of papers on which our hopes and ideas for the future will be expressed, the most important and exciting part of this process is all of us thinking about what God wants for our Church in the Centre of Watford. The hardest part of this is prayerfully searching for what we need to do, not just what we want to do and what we like. What is our role? How can we best serve the community in which we are placed? How can we best play our role in the wider Church? What I love about the Church of England is its great breath of opinions and all the various styles of worship – that is not to say I agree with and like all the opinions and styles of worship! I am keen we continue to offer something beautiful and distinctive to the Church and community and we can acknowledge that some of our sister churches are better at something’s than we will be and I hope visa versa. But the most important thing we must remember here is that we as members of the body of Christ, are called to build up the Universal Church of Christ not the church of <insert your name here>. All of us hold part of the bigger picture, all of us have a view and opinion that we need to share and it is by talking with and listening to each other our plan will emerge and develop.
On Wednesday the 25th January, the Reverend Jeanette Gosney, who is the Diocesan Parish Development Officer, will be presenting a work shop which will guide us through the first stage of the MAP process. This might sound a little daunting to some, but believe me it’s not. I spent four wonderful hours with Jeanette last week and found her inspirational and full of great tips and ideas for us to consider as we decide on our MAP. The evening will be full of fun with plenty of opportunity for each of us to speak and capture those thoughts and ideas that will help shape the parish and move us forward in mission. Quite simply, this evening is vital for every one of us in our parish if we truly believe that Jesus has commissioned us to ‘Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to the whole of creation’ (Mark 16:15). We have GOOD NEWS – do you want to share it? I do!
I am very excited as we continue on our journey together and please make every effort to attend our planning sessions because we need all views, opinions and experiences. I am tempted to add up how many years of experience we have between us, but that might be a little daunting!! But in the words of the great hymn – ‘Lord for the years your love has kept and guided, urged and inspired us, cheered us on our way, sought us and saved us, pardoned and provided; Lord for the years, we bring our thanks today…’
10 years ago did I expect to be a priest serving this community in the heart of Watford? The short answer is no! As a little boy in New Zealand did I dream about this moment? Again no! I really loving the people and community I have been called to serve – and I know that something special is beginning to happen in our parish. Sometimes we need to bend a little and allow ourselves to wonder at and enjoy all that we have. So go on be radical – I dare you to sit in a different seat at church on Sunday or during the week –it’s surprising how liberating it is!
So what did the Holy Family do with the Gifts ? I am still not sure but I hope they didn’t just tuck them away somewhere safe and sound and not enjoy them.
I feel I should be writing a classic New Year blog reflecting on 2011 and sharing my hopes and ambitions for 2012 but somehow that just doesn’t seem to be working. I am still on a bit of a high from Christmas and all the wonderful people I have talked with, to start getting all reflective on the last 12 months of life.
I must admit I was slightly anxious about my first Christmas in the Parish as I knew a lot of regulars were to be away and I thought the whole season would be slightly depressing and hard work. Whilst it was certainly hard work it was as rewarding and wonderful as any of my previous Christmases. Although, I did not preside at a concelebrated Mass with 6 other Priests in a Church full to bursting ( I still do love this by the way!) I did have a most beautiful and moving Christmas. Meeting all our visitors and extended St John’s family was simply inspiring, the warm and supporting comments from some and smiles on people’s faces makes it all worth doing.
In my previous blogs I have talked of clearing things out and getting rid of layers and stores of Junk - Rather surprisingly, I recently found myself grateful that some clever person saved the old purple candles from a previous Advent wreath. My love of the advent wreath, which has been helping us track the progress towards Christmas, means I may have left it alight slightly longer than usual resulting in the first candle being completely burnt away. After a quick rummage in the draws in the vestry I was able to find an old purple candle to replenish the wreath. So I must admit that saving things carefully away can be helpful, I suppose the important thing is knowing what we have stored away for a rainy day- so we can use them when we need them. Things boxed away that no one knows about are really not much use. Who knows what we will need in 2012 and the future? Who knows what we have tucked away all ready to go when we need it?
My excitement following a great Christmas gives me the energy and confidence to stride into 2012 with the incredible stored away talents we have in our parish and our wider parish family. Throwing things away is still important but knowing what we have stashed away, coupled with the courage to use them is what is going to make 2012 fantastic.
So what I have learnt from 2011? Next year we need a bigger Advent Wreath! Happy New Year.
We had a fantastic night on Sunday at our traditional Carols by Candle light service, and the Church was beautiful and (I hope) welcoming. I have had lots of positive feedback about the service and even a few good comments on the small talk I gave (not sure it really counts as a sermon!) . I know I don’t preach any earth shattering theology but I thought I would share my thoughts and words from Sunday Evenings.
[address from 18th December]
Why do we come to Carol Services? One of the reasons many of us are here tonight is because we love a good sing along. When we sing, we do two things – we combine words with music – so when we come to sing carols, I am absolutely convinced that it is not just the music that draws us into the Christmas spirit, it must be the words well. One of my all time favourite carols is “Oh come all ye Faithful”. Why?
Because to me as a Christian Priest, I believe the first line of this carol sums up what Christmas and Christianity is all about – “Oh come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant…” Note the carol does not sing “Oh come all ye faithful, except those that don’t quite fit with the traditions of the church” or “Oh come all ye faithful, except those we disagree with” – but rather, “Oh come ALL ye faithful, come everyone and gather and celebrate the great diversity of the human race and the wonderful gift of Christmas.”
Now a lot of people will call me stupid or completely naive for saying this – but I truly believe the best bit about being a Christian is that we are not called to judge one another. However, this is easier said than done! It sometimes seems we ALL have an inbuilt tendency to want to judge each other based on very little information that we might have. We judge people based of where they live, how they dress, what type of newspaper they read and our favourite past time in this present age – who they form relationships with. Judging people is all too easy and I am sorry that some people who work and live inside the church seem to think their main purpose for being is to judge others – as if they were perfect themselves.
Nowhere in the Bible can I find the statement “Judge one another as I judge you” – but I can find the statement repeated over and over again in the life and teachings of Jesus – “Love one another as I love you.” The resounding message of Christmas – from Heaven above to Earth below – is love one another and good will to all people – unconditionally!
I know as well as you, that it’s not easy to always welcome and love everyone. Welcoming those we like and we agree with, and those that think and look like us is fairly easy – but and it’s a big but – caring for those we disagree with or dislike is much harder, much, much harder. But to me this is what Christmas is all about – welcoming ALL and trying as hard as we can to love those that don’t like us – and loving those that make it so hard for us to love them.
Now, in just a few minutes during our final carol we will be taking up a collection for the charity HomeStart, we will be supporting this year, which is based in Lord Street right here in our parish. Home Start offers support, friendship and practical help for parents with young children – who for whatever reason – face challenges that stop them from doing all they want for their children. The Homestart team are working hard to help mothers and fathers do the best for their families with all the support they can give – but they too need help to finance their work, so please let us help HomeStart for this coming year by giving what you can tonight, and by visiting them at their shop and cafe on Lord Street, just around the corner.
When we celebrate Christmas – we celebrate a vulnerable family – a family in need – a family that was isolated, poor and not conforming to the pattern of their time. I imagine that Mary and Joseph were being judged very harshly and unfairly by members of their own families, friends and society. But somehow, I like to believe that they had their own version of Home Start when they got back to their home in Nazareth – people who supported them, did not judge them or isolate them – but just loved them and supported them.
So this Christmas let’s rejoice in all that we have, and try hard to love those people that make it hard for us to love them and remember to be on the look out to see if we can be of help to others making their way in life’s wonderful journey. Oh come all ye faithful, oh come let us adore Him, who is the very meaning of Christmas – Christ the Lord! [END]
Well I suppose it is the Church New Year, so it’s a good time for a clear out. I was just starting to get things ready for Christmas Services and was looking through some of the cupboards and draws in the vestry. Wow what and incredible collection of stuff, so easy to get distracted from the task in hand. Draws full of old candles, service booklets dating back to 1895, old prayer books and beautiful pieces of linen that I struggle to identify any use for. I did wonder if anyone in the Church of England is able to throw anything away! So many things kept safely wrapped and stored “just in case.” I came across some beautiful pieces of lace and linen, and several large squares of good white linen, about 3ft x 3ft with a cross in the centre on one edge – not sure what they are for (but I am sure someone remembers or knows).
As you know I love tradition, and I am so glad that many of the great traditions of the Church continue, but when faced with 100 years worth of carefully collected “junk” - I do ask the question are we desperately trying to cling to the past? Being the new boy in the parish, I am often told stories of how we use to have tickets for midnight mass and the need for several Sunday services to cope with the large numbers. How wonderful and joyous it all sounds. But I think we need to remember the past is for reference, not for residence. However great it was, however happy our memories time has moved on and our memories are just that memories of the past. We must of course learn from the past and make sure we keep our traditions alive so they become the present and the happy memories of generations to come.
As I get to the bottom of the draw of half burnt Paschal candles the newspaper lining the base of the drawer is from 1976 ( a mere 35 years ago) – I begin to wonder what we can do with all the old candles, its wrong just to carelessly discard something that has been used in Worship, but we can’t store 30 + years worth of old candles. So I have decided that we should use these candles in a new act of worship, a new act of reverence and praise and they will be perfect for lighting our Taize services on Friday evenings. I look forward to gazing upon the candles blest many years ago as the give their strong light out in the our world today. I will give thanks for the past but look forward with hope and new light for the years to come. However comfortable the past has been we can’t stay, the past is for reference not for residence.
…for Carols by Candlelight. The sense of expectancy and excitement is almost palpable at St John’s at the moment as we prepare for the great Feast of Christmas and for the annual Carols by Candlelight service. I think the excitement for carols is probably the greatest at the moment. That sense of hope, longing, worry and busyness is quite wonderful. I was worrying that there was so much to do and how would I ever get it all done, but on asking I find that people have been busy in the background getting on with all the various tasks and jobs that need doing, flyers, candles, service books, gifts for children, as well as the routine work of the church.
It’s all just wonderful and inspiring to be part of such a great team but I do ask myself why do we do it? Why go to all the hassle of organising a carol service? What’s in it for us? Personal gain on a materialist level is pretty minimal. We don’t gain financially from it – in fact it costs us to put this all on Its and lot of work at this already busy time of year. So why do we do it?
We do it because we love doing it and we love to give – after all, that’s what Jesus did and want’s us to do. To give something of a Christmas experience to those that come from the surrounding parish and further afield. To give a warm glow of Christmas to our friends and the chance to gift some much needed money to a local charity. To give the gift of shared joy and laughter with those we meet.
I also see it as a gift to those brave souls who founded our Church over 100 years ago, their courage of setting up an Anglo-catholic parish going against the religious flow at the time introducing the radical innovations of incense, wafer breads and oodles of candles – it’s a gift of thanks to them for having the courage to step out, stand up and be counted, a ‘Thank You’ for their gift of our Faith and Church. But most importantly we do it to serve our Lord – “Prepare ye the way for the Lord” – cried John the Baptist, so as we busy our selves getting ready, preparing lets us do so with joy in our hearts and eager anticipation of all the wonder and love of the Christmas season. I can think of no better way to end this blog but with the final wonderful words of the beautiful Christmas Carol, ‘In the Bleak Mid Winter’:
What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb.
If I were a wise man I would do my part.
Yet what can I give him, give my heart.
Please come and join for Carols by Candlelight at St John’s – 18th December @ 6:30pm – its free and its our Gift to You!
It was fantastic to be part of the Taize Style service at St Johns Watford on Friday. The atmosphere created was beautiful and calming. We sat in the in the Choir and were bathed in the wonderful soft glow of candlelight, singing the enchanting Taize chants. My thanks to the team who organised this service. A little taste of the wonderful community of Taize in the heart of Watford.
I have a great fondness for Taize – a truely wonderful place in central France, where year by year 1000′s of young people flock to stay, worship and reflect. The power of sitting on the floor with over 1000 young people of aobut 13-25 years old in the large church of the reconciliation in complete silence, is just amazing. My first ever visit to Taize was one summer afternoon whilst holidaying near by and I absolutely hated it. We arrived at the Taize community not quite knowing what to expect and I remember seeing dusty areas and benches, an ugly monster of a concrete church, young people milling around and rows of tents. Most of the inhabitants where in bible study or meeting so the place had a strange clam over it. I was not really keen to return. I was persuaded (nagged) to return for evening prayer and I returned to the Taize community, reluctantly as I was more inclined to enjoy an nice cold beer in nearby Cluny. Evening Prayer was just amazing, different to anything I knew- sitting on the floor with over 1000 other people, in silence, reflecting, singing and praying was just incredible, the Brothers of Taize are holy men. Its hard to put into words the feeling of the place, the sight of people from all over the world worshiping together. Calm and stillness are things that we just don’t seem to have enough of and to be embraced by the peaceful silence is wonderful.
“ When we are agitated and restless, we have so many arguments and reasons not to forgive and not to love too easily. But when we “have calmed and quieted our soul”, these reasons turn out to be quite insignificant. Maybe we sometimes avoid silence, preferring whatever noise, words or distraction, because inner peace is a risky thing: it makes us empty and poor, disintegrates bitterness and leads us to the gift of ourselves. Silent and poor, our hearts are overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, filled with an unconditional love. Silence is a humble yet secure path to loving.” -From the Taize Website
I look forward to our next Taize service at St John’ s the timing is perfect on the 16th December at 7pm , a half hour of sanity and peace before we enjoy a busy Christmas time. If you can spare the time to join us at this hectic time of the year, I am sure you will find it time very well spent, leaving refreshed and relvialsed to enjoy the wonders of this Christmas Season.
Well what a week it has been! We have now been living in the Vicarage for nearly two weeks now and so much has happend. New window and doors, and Keith our decorator has transformed the inside of the vicarage to a clean, warm and fresh dwelling place. Most of the boxes are unpacked and things are slowly finding homes. All in all we seem to be getting there.
My Licensing as Priest in Charge of the Parish of St John’s Watford was last Thursday (further blog to come) and that was a really amazing night. The church building was full, the singing was brilliant, the clergy well behaved and Bishop Paul and Norman colourful and on good form. The spread of food post service was amazing – all thanks to Celia, Linda and the people of the parish – well done and thank you.
Yesterday was down to business at hand, and the parish Mass at 10am was well attended and a beautiful hour of worship together as a parish family. The icing on the cake was the celebration of Fr John and Pat’s Golden (50th) Wedding with lots of fizz and cake – what better way to kick off my first Sunday in this great parish!
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