2010 SEEN BEFORE US AS 

UNTRODDEN SNOW

SOMEBODY LOST AND FOUND

During the stress of living I seem to spend my time searching for things that I`ve  mislaid. I`ve learned to generally bear horrid things that folk may say about me or unfair or fair criticisms but losing keys or mobile phones is quite another matter. It infuriates me having to waste endless time looking for objects that I`ve absentmindedly mislaid!

Perhaps it`s a sign of getting older but more than once over the last few years I`ve even forgotten where I`ve parked my car when going shopping. One struggles to recall which car park level the car is on and when I`ve found it I realise that I`ve forgotten to buy the main thing that I went shopping for in the first place. The frenzy of Christmas shopping only accentuates these bizarre traits and leaves me wondering what I`ll be like in twenty years time?!

The maddening thing is that when the missing keys or mobile phone do turn up then I don`t remember having put those items in such and such a place in the first place. They seem to turn up in the most unexpected of places – places that I could swear I`ve never been near on that day at all. Those of you who are psychologists would have a field day with all this – especially watching my furious reaction towards myself for being so absentminded in the first place. I`m relieved when I encounter other apparently normal people who seem to possess the same character traits. There`s something comforting about knowing that I`m not the only one who hops up and down in rage like Rumplestiltskin every time I lose something that seems to have a will of its own and walked from the place where I thought I`d last put it!

The parable in all this is that we often get disappointed when we can`t seem to find God in our lives – or maybe we once had a sense of his presence but no longer seem to be able to get it back again. In fact I`ve met those who are positively furious that despite all their sad circumstances in life they cannot find God in it all – let alone experience God actually helping them. Have you ever felt like this?

Some have lost their jobs, been let down in romance or perhaps experienced a difficult bereavement. They look for God to help them but cannot find him. Consequently they turn their back upon an apparently absent and indifferent God who seems to be immune to all their suffering in this life. In fact you wouldn`t be human if you`d never felt this way before.

However, sometimes we look in the wrong places when it comes to discovering God. As with finding that lost set of keys we find that looking in the obvious places yields no results at all. Remember – things tend to turn up in the places where we least expect. We`re left thinking `how on earth did those keys end up there? That`s the last place I`d have thought of looking`. This is true too when one is looking for a post Christmas bargain at the shops. The things we wanted most aren`t always in the shops where we expected them to be.

This is so with God too. God is not always to be found where we expect him to be. This is because God does not always fit into our expectations of where we want or expect him to be. God doesn`t easily slot into our neatly opinionated theories about how He works in the world. His face is sometimes seen in the most unlikely of people and situations – in the sort of people and situations which we tend to avoid or not want to be part of. Human beings are tempted to think that if God doesn`t show Himself in the way that they want then He either doesn`t exist at all or He doesn`t care.

The fun and fascination of God to me is that He reveals himself when I don`t expect Him to and often in places that I`d normally keep away from. He sometimes shows up in the thoughts and actions of people that I actually don`t like very much – the sort I would NOT want to go for a quiet or unquiet pint with!

We all tend to create God in our own image – assuming that He will be just like us and do things in the same way that we would. The Christmas story shows how wrong we are. God revealed his will to a young 14 year old girl called Mary and asked her if she could bear Jesus into the world. The King of the universe was then born in a smelly cow shed and visited by shepherds – who had the reputation of being the `thickies` of the day. God pitched up in unglamorous circumstances.

These are events that were certainly a bit shocking for most religious AND non religious people during the first century. God will not be bound by prejudiced human expectations. We must therefore often look for God precisely where we don`t expect to find Him in order to discover Him. If we knew Him once but seem to have lost a sense of His presence then we need to see that He may now be discovered elsewhere – through different unexpected people and circumstances than before.

The Christmas story is therefore a wake up call for us to not only recognise that God has become a person who meets with us on earth but that he is a person who is found in places and people where we don`t expect to look. This news is exciting and yet unsettling at the same time – but then this is what Christmas is partly about. As for the other aspects of Christmas – more of that next year!

Happy Christmas to you all and don`t forget to celebrate the exciting and positively unsettling news of Christmas by attending a local place of worship over the festive season. Sometimes the presence of God is discovered in church too!

Nick Evans/Vicar

WAITING FOR BUSES?

We live next to the no29 bus route to town. In theory this is very convenient but actually it is much faster to get to town by car because the buses take three quarters of an hour to get to town whereas the car only takes ten to fifteen minutes. The buses go the long way round – all round the Wrekin – but the car takes the fast and direct route in and is much more convenient too because you can set off when you want to without hanging around for buses in the pouring rain.

We spend much of our time in life waiting for things to happen, whether it is the end of a war as in Iraq, waiting for the right partner, waiting for promotion, waiting for a cure from a disease and so on. It can be frustrating and energy sapping as we crane our necks into the future and forget about enjoying the present.

Even at a bus stop we can choose to notice other things around us that maybe we were too busy to notice before we were forced to wait for that bus.

As we wait with nothing else to do we may notice the flowers as life around us in a way in which we had not done before. We may meet someone at the bus stop who is interesting and have the time in our waiting to be able to talk to them in ways in which we were too busy to do before we embarked upon our period of waiting.

We may read something that changes our lives or even start to ponder things to do with God and why we are here on the planet at all.

During periods of waiting there is the opportunity to discover things which elude us while we are busy with the things which we don`t want to wait for – job, family, work, the daily relentless duties and grind through which we earn our living. How often have I heard it said, “I`m too busy to come to church or think about God – I`m too busy just living.”

What is the ultimate goal of all this living and striving? When we stop the spinning roundabout what do we see? What comes into focus? What do we see as our priorities then?

When we have to wait for things in life we have to stop for a while and deal with the silence and the `doing nothing` aspect of waiting at the bus stop. Some are afraid of the silence and of being alone. Maybe they are not used to it and don`t know how to enter the silence where God is because it is a different world to the one they are used to and people are often wary of change.

The silence of waiting is an invitation into the supernatural world where God is and this has to be more exciting than the ghoulish supernatural world that is currently being manifested at Halloween. I can`t see anything positive or joyful about dressing kids in fangs and covering them with fake blood – although I`m not one to  bleat on about the pumpkin season turning our kids into devil worshippers. Sometimes Christians panic too much about the effects of Halloween and through their objections to it they are actually giving the night even greater publicity!

It is much better to present the exciting nature of God rather than to spend our time condemning others - who are unlikely to attend church anyway - just because they are wearing plastic witches hats for one night of the year. In my job I`ve encountered the real dark side and seen things that would make Halloween horror films look like a teddy bears picnic. During this season of remembering the war dead one can also in the silence reflect upon the horrors of war and the huge and evil suffering that is caused by war. This is where real evil is. I don`t see it so much in a child wearing a rubber hag`s mask!

Anyway the key thing is to use fruitfully the periods of waiting that present themselves. Most of my magazine articles, for what they are worth, are conjured up during the reflective moments when while I`m waiting for something or someone. When I drop the concerns of life for a moment then sometimes God can finally whisper through.

If you don`t have to wait for buses very often then we have to create a quiet time in our day when we are still so that we can hear the still small voice of God that so often gets drowned out by our frenzied activity. In fact its better to actively set time aside for God rather then simply only give God the spare bits that are left over when we are waiting for buses. Our quest for God should never just be an afterthought. Silence and stillness strengthens the spirit and allows God to communicate with us.

So set a regular time aside for reflection each day. DON`T be detracted by family, friends and TV. At first you may struggle with the silence and find that nothing happens. Stick with it each day and ask God in your heart to communicate with you. Eventually without realising it yourself others will notice subtle positive changes in you. Ask yourself in the silence why you are here at all and what the purpose of all your striving is. Bring this question before the silence in which God is present. Ask for healing prayer for others and pray for the situations in which you are involved. There is so much one can ask God about in these sacred pools of silence and waiting. Don`t let the discipline of these regular 15 minutes or so slacken.

The bottom line is where the hec do we think we`re going for the rest of eternity if we don`t even give God some tome even when we`ve a few minutes to spare at the bus stop? Are we prepared to encounter God when our time here on earth finally runs out and we are forced to end our frenzied activities and face the living God? Be still then and know that the Lord is your God.

Nick Evans/Vicar

October 2009

You can`t blame folk for switching off when people start talking about church renovations – the refurbishment of toilets and roofs. It doesn`t seem exactly exciting or stimulating and there`s always that lurking feeling that at the end of the conversation one will be asked to contribute a dollop of your hard earned cash to keep the roof on a church building that perhaps you rarely enter!

Currently our loos are being renovated and a new clergy vestry is being created from the space left over so that people can have some privacy and comfort when they talk to the clergy.

Bear with me on all this though because I want to share with you why church buildings are important – even though we all know that the `Church` is really the people of God regardless of whether they have a building to meet in.

Firstly a church building reminds us of the existence of God in a world which is full of shops, houses and traffic. For those who have not encountered Christians driving past St Davids on Shenley Lane reminds them of the existence of, or the need to consider issues to do with God in their lives. Without the church building or the sound of its bell what else physically reminds us of the activity of God in the world?

In a similar way birthday cards, photo albums and anniversary celebrations remind us not to take those we love for granted. We don`t need any of these things but they pull our mind back to ensure that at least for part of the year we don`t forget certain important people in our life. Therefore birthday cards and suchlike are not necessary for our existence but they do play an important role in helping us to focus on somebody who we may be tempted to take for granted in our lives.

War graves do the same thing. We know about the war from history books but the SIGHT of a war grave is a stark reminder that we should never forget. Without seeing the physical monument we may never be reminded of certain important things that have happened or are happening in our personal life or in the life national life.

We can always choose not to read history books but we can`t but help noticing a war grave cemetery in Belgium as we drive past. Our mind is more likely to consider what we have seen – even if for a brief moment.

People visit British cathedrals because they are THERE and not because the public have requested that cathedrals be built in the first place! When they visit they may `catch` something of God`s presence due to the atmosphere of prayer and the visual symbols that are inside the actual building.

So the church building is a reminder to consider our spiritual lives and our relationship with God as we drive past on Shenley Lane.

Secondly, we need church buildings in the western world because of the impact of the weather. Jesus tells us to break bread together at communion and therefore we need a place to meet. Christianity is not a `private` religion – contrary to what some English people seem to think - namely the sort of person who says they`ve got their own views on God so they don`t need to worship, learn or pray with others. How anyone can think that they`ve got GOD all sewn up and doesn`t need to learn from others is beyond me. We learn from each other and therefore need a place during the winter months in which to meet. 

Thirdly, buildings enshrine things that have happened that humans forget about or forget to pass on to their children. Museums and libraries play an important role in this. They keep what we have learned before us so that successive generations don`t have to relearn everything all over again.

Similarly a church and church ritual encapsulates images and facts about God that have been learned over centuries – things that can be seen and passed on to future generations. Some parts of this knowledge are things that we personally need reminding of - or areas of `God stuff` that we don`t want to be reminded of because it makes us uncomfortable. The images and words of worship point us to what we need to be pointed to rather than only the things that we are comfortable with. Sometimes a building enshrines important things about God that we simply forget to teach that the present or future generations need to know.

Fourthly, a building is morally neutral. It is people who upset us in life and sometimes put us off public worship. I`ve never heard of a building being rude to me or criticising my wife or choice of clothes or football team or ethical values!

People often choose to go into churches alone in the week because people aren`t there to upset us or because they wish to be alone with God in a place that is dedicated to him. You can`t argue with a building. We only argue and fall out with people! A church building offers a `safe` place to be away from the nagging demanding family – a place to be still before God surrounded by the things of God.

So folks don`t be put off when there is an appeal for help to maintain the physical structure of the church building. It isn`t all as boring as you think! We spend a lot of time and money getting our own houses in order so for all the reasons listed above lets make sure that God`s temple in Shenley Green is ship shape and in good working order. It is YOUR building set aside for you and Go - so use it or lose it!!

Nick Evans/Vicar

September 2009

SPECIAL VISITS?

During my time in the army I was attached to the Army Air Corps as their chaplain. This consisted of ministering to soldiers who maintained and flew Lynx attack helicopters. These machines were fitted with anti tank missiles and a side door machine gun placement. I also spent time in Bosnia with various Lynx squadrons flying over the rugged terrain of former Yugoslavia.

It was fun at times but also very dangerous since one never knew which bandits in the mountains may take a pot shot at an unsuspecting helicopter. The mountains were full of rebel Serbian forces and terrorist groups.

I learnt a lot about helicopters during my time with number 3 Army Air Corps Regiment and about how costly it is to maintain a helicopter. For example for every flying hour there is something like three to four hours maintenance time that has to be spent ensuring that every part is working correctly before the next flight. Various expensive parts are constantly replaced and many young soldiers are engaged in the technicalities of aircraft maintenance.

The figurehead Colonel in Chief of the Regiment was Prince Charles and periodically we were visited by himself and Princes Harry and William. The preparations for their visits to the base in Britain caused more stress to many than many dangerous days in Bosnia! So many things had to be organised and timed to perfection on the helicopter base. Even the shrubs had to be made to look pristine and the aircraft themselves were given a good scrub down. Every mess block was cleaned to perfection and the troops were inspected rigorously by their company sergeant majors. Woe betide any soldier who wasn`t immaculately turned out on the day of the royal visit!

It was all exactly the same at my last post with an infantry unit when they were preparing for a visit by their Colonel in chief, Prince Andrew. The base was a flurry of activity and yours truly had to prepare a sermon for the day too. This was fortunately appreciated by the Prince who ensured that a few bottles of wine ended next to me during the ensuing dinner! Gosh what a name dropping article the Vicar`s article is this month!

I suspect that if the Queen paid a visit to your house you`d do a bit of preparation too. Perhaps you`d give the house a spring clean, put on your best bib and tucker and ensure that the best teacups are used. The kids would be told to be on their best behaviour and drilled to say please and thank you at the right moments and we`d be careful of our language and coming out with some of those dodgy jokes that only our best friends generally hear!

Having said all this though I found that my encounters with royalty were relaxed since they weren`t as stiff upper lipped as I`d previously assumed. They didn`t seem too concerned about whether we`d bought new shrubs for the garden in preparation for their visit. They were more bothered about other things and seemed to want to know us personally and share a sense of humour with us all. I`d have to therefore say that my personal encounters with royalty and royal connections have been surprisingly positive and I`m no longer the rabid republican that I once was!!

Now how many of us look forward to a visit – or arrange a visit – from the greatest royal figure known to man? Not the Queen in Shenley Green but the presence of Jesus himself? We prepare to receive worldly monarchs and Princes with great gusto but tend to sideline God himself who would love to be invited into our homes and hearts. 

We will probably never receive the Queen into our homes or ever have to prepare for that occasion. I doubt if she really wants to come to my vicarage or to a house in Greenmeadow Road – and she`d certainly find that her corgies would have trouble coping with our Yorkie Willow – who I suspect has strong republican tendencies!

It all begs the question as to whether we want to, or how we prepare for the royal visit of Jesus into our lives. It is our hearts and not our physical homes that need to be made ready. 

To receive the presence of Jesus doesn`t require us to be perfect people but only a willingness to want to meet him and share with him. Like my surprise at how informal our British royalty was when I met them you may be surprised at how pleasant an encounter with God actually is when he is invited into your life.

Of course you may have already met with Jesus and be able to share with others something of the nature of God`s personality so don`t be afraid of chatting about God – the royal visitor in YOUR life who doesn`t give a fig what street you live in or whether you`ve replaced the garden shrubs in anticipation for his visit!!

Get that personal invite out as soon as you can.

Nick Evans/Vicar

August 2009

DEEPLY MOVED?

I wonder what things in life deeply move you? Sometimes I am moved by a good film or by seeing someone in great distress. I can remember other times in life that stand out in my mind with great clarity like being at a League Cup Final once to see Villa play Everton when I was a youth. 

The Wembley experience inspired me and gave me a sense of occasion and ceremony. It made me feel that if more people were interested in sport then the world would be a better place. Sport joins folk together in a way that politics and religion often do not. It is harmless, involves healthy competition and is physically beneficial to us. Sporting events often stick out in my mind. I remember playing for Queens Theological College in 1983 in a inter colleges Cup Final. 

You don`t easily forget moments like that – the journey to the ground, the supporters, the fun and the party after the game – even though I played dreadfully and the score was a 0-0 draw. We lost on the basis that Queens had scored fewer goals in the preceding rounds of the competition compared to the Methodist College team that we were playing against in the final. It was a miracle that we even reached the final with our ageing team and shortage of talent and this made the event even more memorable!

We re-run in our minds memorable times. Perhaps you can remember clearly your child being born or some other high point in your family life – you re-live it and share the memory with your friends. We can remember how much that baby weighed and what colour hair they had at birth and later on we capture the moment in our minds when the baby utters his first words. We are moved by such events and changed by them so that we are not the same people as we used to be several years on from such events.

I believe that this is the case when you capture a moment during worship – a God moment for YOU. Something happens deep within us that we can`t quite explain and yet we are deeply moved. Somehow during a hymn or the sermon or during communion we glimpse the mystery or presence of God in a way that hadn`t previously happened at home.

To experience God deeply leads to a desire to worship God with our hearts and our heads and to support the church that keeps the knowledge of God or the reminder of God`s presence alive. Similarly when we have experienced the beauty of a certain person we want to be in their presence more. We look for opportunities to meet with them. We go to where they are or say they`ll be like a love sick teenager who hangs around a part of town where he knows where the object of his crush will turn up. Just a glimpse of that person will deeply move them and they`ll be back for another glimpse, or something better, next time round.

Those who are regular to worship in church are often those who have glimpsed God there or have been profoundly moved by a God experience in their life inside or outside of church worship. Since the church is about God stuff they turn up to church for worship on Sundays and at other times – because it is to do with the God that they have experienced who has moved them deeply. 

When you truly experience God then I believe you are drawn to worship with others too. There is no question of perpetuating the nonsense that we don`t need to go to worship in church in order to have a right relationship with God. Jesus commanded us to break bread together on his day - Sunday in our culture. 

To have experienced God in your life means that you will be drawn to worship with others whom God loves. It is where God has promised to be – `where two or there are gathered in my name then there am I amongst you` said Jesus. Therefore our faith is not solitary – it is a journey that we do together. We learn together, worship together, break bread together – and in so doing we experience more of the activity of the God who has profoundly moved us in our individual `God moments`.

Do you want to be part of this? If you are the sort of person that is fit and healthy do any of these reasons stop you coming to church: a relative is coming that Sunday: it is raining: you don`t feel like coming: it might cause family friction with the kids or other half: you have too much DIY around the house to do:

If you fit into any of these categories for not going to church then you probably have not experienced the living God yet because if you had then you`d be chomping at the bit to get where God has promised to be on Sunday mornings – the breaking of bread at communion. If you`ve been genuinely and deeply moved by God you`d want to be there – not just for yourself but for God too.

I`d go so far as to say that it doesn`t matter whether the service is solemn or `happy clappy` because God shows up at both. Sometimes he`s at the sort of service that we don`t like.

We have to grow up and see that the important thing is to BE THERE!

Nick Evans/Vicar

July 2009

ARE YOU A BUDDY OF THE INLAND REVENUE?

We’ve heard a lot in the news about politician’s expenses and the media have really gone to town on this one. The impression given is that ALL politicians are corrupt even though in reality it is a minority who have made excessive expenses claims and only one of the 100s of MPs has claimed expenses on a moat refurbishment for his stately manor!

It has got to the point where any MP who has made a questionable £50 claim for something over the past seven years or so is being scrutinised and risks their career being shredded by the newspapers. In my experience politicians do a difficult job and are actually underpaid for the work that they do. The prime minister himself has a comparatively low income compared to what the captains of industry, David Beckham or the recently departed Michael Jackson earns.

In reality of course many folk photocopy the odd document for private use on the works machine or use work resources for domestic purposes – the famous saying about a company biro being found in many homes still holds true. As one lady vicar said to an indignant member of the public whist I was waiting to conduct a funeral, “well most people would probably pull a fast one if they thought they could get away with it – especially where money is concerned.”

I think she was referring to the way in which people fill in their tax return forms so that the tax man thinks they are poorer than they actually are. Perhaps some folk over exaggerate their expenses so that more can be offset against tax. In fact many I know would try to ensure that the taxman claims as little of their income as possible. People spend a fortune hiring accountants so they only pay the barest minimum of tax possible or a consultant is often hired to find tax loopholes and other ways of keeping the tax burden down.

Of course those in public life have to try their best to be above reproach and nobody would argue with that. However the spiritual truth is that human beings are all prone to find loopholes to benefit themselves and their own families in all areas of life. Some sail closer to the wind than others as they fill in their tax returns or use company resources for private use.

How we judge what is acceptable is open to debate since people have differing value systems. The extreme view would be to sack someone on the grounds of theft for taking a company pen home on the basis that if they are dishonest about the biro then what else are they being dishonest about?  I suppose it is theft but how rigorous are we prepared to be as a society? Sometimes such scrupulous honesty borders upon the pastorally inappropriate and sledgehammers are used to crack nuts! Would you sack somebody for photocopying a personal letter on the works machine or if they had taken a company pen home when there are others who are involved in defrauding the public of millions of pounds? As a society we need a sensible debate about such issues away from the type of knee jerk press and public reactions that give us the impression that all our leaders are corrupt compared to honest ‘Joe Public’.

In the Christian faith there are many areas of life, including this issue, in which an appropriate response to a given situation has to be worked out through discussion and prayer. The Bible isn’t clear cut about some controversial situations. In St Paul’s epistles you can see how the writer is trying to grapple with the context of some divisive scenarios.

The worst response possible for a Christian or any thoughtful person is to jump to conclusions without possessing all the facts. When in possession of all the facts our inbuilt prejudices are usually modified and the thought of running with the lemmings recedes. Mass prejudices are dangerous and there are still millions who take what they read in the newspapers as unquestionable fact.

Jesus stood up against many traditional prejudices of his day. He risked ridicule and chastisement by not practising the prejudices of the masses. It is a lonely furrow to plough when one stands up and says, ‘hey folks there is another way of looking at this issue or this person who we are all condemning.’

Once we cast the first stone we are in a spiritually precarious situation in our private and public lives. Yes issues need to be spoken about and dealt with but the excessive personal attacks on others need to be guarded against. As it is said – when we point a finger at someone else then the other three on the same hand are pointing back at us. Try it and see!

As for politicians expense claims it seems to me that the system is predominantly at fault and if MPs wages were improved then the temptation for some to cheat on expenses would be reduced. Those who are clearly and hugely in the wrong have to be disciplined but I suspect that the problem isn’t as great as the newspapers are making out. So I’ll go against a prevailing view by saying well done to most politicians of all the main parties for the sterling job that they do and don’t be disheartened by the antics of a corrupt few colleagues.

Let us keep out local politicians in our prayers at all times. They have a very important role to fulfil in society. It is a difficult and thankless job they undertake and most of them do go into the job for altruistic reasons to serve the public. Talk to your local politicians and find out for yourselves.

Nick Evans/Vicar

June 2009

 I’m always struck by those folk at church services who may be new or taken by someone else who stare blankly ahead of them when a well known hymn is sung with their lips tightly shut – as if God is nothing to do with them and they are nothing to do with God. In my head are questions like, ‘Don’t they realise that the God we’re worshipping is the one that resurrects their granny and that we are all on a spiritual journey to discover the meaning of our existence?’

Heavy questions you may say but then they are important ones – and questions to do with God require asking and seeking for the answers. Such questions about how we discover and relate to God are fundamental to everyone’s future and in to my mind cannot just be ignored. It is all something to do with why we are here at all. Don’t some people want to know that? When I was a teenager I wanted to know why I was here and what the purpose of my life was. I couldn’t believe it was just to grow up, get a job, have kids and then die. What on earth is the point of that?! With that philosophy everything leads to nothing for everyone. Life simply becomes about the survival of the species and little else. I am convinced that there is a lot more purpose to our existence than that – for theological and scientific reasons.

If you find some services a bit starchy then how about spending Sunday night at a praise service at St David’s? To my mind it’s better than sitting in front of the telly doing much of the same week after week. There is a service at 6.30pm every two weeks either in the church or the hall and I’d encourage you to come along and experience a more informal style of worship in which the praise of your creator is still the main focus – but done slightly differently.

The focus of all our worship is upon connecting with God – it’s NOT about what miserable sinful wretches we all are. Therefore whatever is going on in your life come and get caught up with praise anyway.

It is difficult to describe what goes on in our minds and heart when we get lost in wonder, love and praise with God. It’s a bit like trying to describe to another, what a certain food tastes like that others may not have eaten or what being in love is. They are experiences that have to be entered into in order to be understood. To appreciate the importance of praise is something that we have to enter into rather than observe from the edge of what is going on.

Praise is not only about appreciating God – it’s fundamentally a lot more than that. It is about reaching our souls into another perhaps unfamiliar place – something that lies beyond this world. It is about allowing ourselves to be open to God communicating with us and we with him. It is about, at least for an hour or so during a service, suspending our long held prejudices and disappointments and focussing on the things to do with heaven and letting God’s presence filter into our life – even just for that moment.

So often we do or don’t come before God rather grudgingly, full of complaints about how we’ve ‘fallen out’ with God because things have gone wrong in our lives. It is important – at least for a short time to put that aside and be open enough to give God a chance to communicate with us. This often happens best during public worship and the privacy of our own home is not always the best place to do this. The world is full of people that say they don’t come to church because they’ve given God a chance in their private lives to sort them out and yet he has remained silent.

God makes it clear in scripture and during public worship that he tends to speak to us individually and collectively when we worship TOGETHER. This is one reason why folk are often deeply moved by something that happens in public worship.

Praise is the key to unlocking the problems of our past, present and future. When you allow yourself to get caught up in the atmosphere of praise then I believe something happens that unlocks and releases the problems we carry with us throughout our lives. Praise for its own sake affects a state of change in our circumstances and in the lives of those we pray for and are concerned about.

We have the rest of the week in which to analyse, observe and grumble about what we think God is NOT doing for us. A service of praise doesn’t require a deep faith, academic intelligence or even a great understanding of what is going on. It requires a willingness to simply be open with excited anticipation of what God can do for you if we are open to experiencing his activity in your life.

So the key to change is less of the shopping list of our complaints and demands and more praise of the God who loves you more than anyone else on earth – whether you’ve `fallen out` with him or not. HE certainly hasn’t fallen out with you whatever you feel about him!

Come along and do something you don’t usually do – PRAISE!

Nick Evans/Vicar

 

May 2009

WHO REALLY GETS UP YOUR NOSE?!

Within this magazine is a copy of the Vicar`s Report that was submitted to the Annual Parochial Church Meeting which took place during April. Have a look at the report before reading on!

As I reviewed the year just gone I was aware that the church, like any other human institution, has its strengths and failings. No organisation run by people is ever perfect and this includes the Church – even though we are committed to building God`s Kingdom on earth. We all struggle to discover and interpret what God`s desire is for us as individuals and as a body. Nobody gets it right all of the time but at least we have each other (fellowship) to learn from and seek together with. The goal of our seeking is a high and important one because it concerns God and issues of our eternity and what Christians refer to as us being `saved` by Christ`s sacrifice.

The important thing to recognise is that the seeking is done by those who, like myself, have many glaring faults. This makes Christians easy prey for those who say they don`t need the church because it is full of hypocrites who are nothing like Jesus. Often the critics of imperfect Christians retreat into private religion and regularly use the phrase ` you don`t have to go to church to be a Christian.`

I start from the premise that I and the flock are all faulty broken vessels who God uses - so I am not put off when one discovers a glaring fault in my fellow Christian. We go to church BECAUSE we are sinners and NOT because we are saints!

Whatever people`s faults and hypocrisies the Church is still God`s chosen vessel through which He imparts knowledge about himself and the good news of salvation. The Church lays specific emphasis upon SALVATION and what we mean by the love of God. Without this then people`s understanding of God is likely to remain a vague concept of striving to be a sort of good moral person which is disconnected from any relationship with God or the knowledge that God in Christ DIED for them on the cross and the forgiveness that this involves.

However moral or immoral folk are there is no other source stating how God saved us for eternity other than what is taught by the Church. Nobody is totally moral so the forgiveness of God is an important component of this teaching. Where else is this taught other than by the Church? How else would this message be kept alive without churches across the land? This is all taught and lived by people who are imperfect but the message they bring to the world is really important.

To put it another way – would you rather go to a rude unpleasant doctor who knew the cure for your disease or would you rather visit a charming friendly loving doctor who hadn`t a clue how to treat your disease? Some church folk are like the latter but the knowledge they share about you, me and God is vital to our futures.

So church folk fall into the same variety and personality types as work colleagues in the office or factory floor. There are those who whinge and complain and nit pick. There are those who are lethargic whereas others are hot headed and impatient. Some are kinder and more generous than others whereas others are more diligent than the lazy amongst us. There are those who are quiet and sullen and there are those who dominate social and church events with their big egos. You`ve seen them all in daily life at work and the local leisure centre or bingo hall!

You`ll see them in church too! Thank God I`m not among a congregation of saints because that would be hard to live with and I`d stand out like a sore thumb!

The difference is that whatever their personal strengths or failings the Christian is one who holds to the message of God`s salvation and acknowledges that things happen to us in church worship which affect us deeply. This fellowship and activity of God is not something that is usually taught or experienced outside of Christian fellowship – regardless of how good or bad a person we are.

The annual report is my view of where we are as a body of people who struggle to present the real Jesus to the world – the exciting life giving, humorous, dynamic and colourful Jesus – rather than the media and folk lore`s rather straight laced moralistic puritanical perception of Jesus.

We`ve seen amazing things happen at St David`s over the last year – folk experiencing God first hand, healings and changed lives. These are things that rarely happen in the lives of those who resort to only their private views of God and `religion` at home. Yes we have our faults at St David`s and there are still many who, despite their shortcomings, stand up for God and his church and pour their time, energy and money into keeping the knowledge of God alive in Shenley Green. Together we help each other, learn to forgive each other, work with each other, bear each others faults and draw from others` strengths. Jesus made it clear that if we`re to call ourselves followers of his then it is about more than just good morals. It is about prayer and breaking bread together and discovering him in each other in daily life and in worship on a Sunday.

You can`t learn all about God all on your own as if God is a sort of private club with a membership of two!

Whatever my private views of individual churchgoers I am heartily glad that they are still part of the family of God – of which I am a part - and turn up to break bread with myself and others on Sunday when so many thousands of others do not.

Thank you to everyone who has helped to keep the rumour of God alive over the past twelve months in Shenley Green. It certainly makes my job a lot easier!!

Nick Evans/Vicar

April 2009

 I recently went to the tyre place to have four new tyres on my humble Rover 100 – a sort of Mini Metro looking car. Its not the sort of car a boy racer would prefer to boost his image since its small, outdated and TURQUOISE! Consequently, as well as being constrained by my income, I always opt for the cheapest tyres available but this time the mechanics discovered that the wheel tracking was also out of alignment. This meant that constantly driving over speed humps in the road had made the steering go off line so that the front wheels were pointing in opposite directions. This ultimately is unsafe and makes the tyres wear faster.

Anyway for those of you I’ve given lifts to I’m glad to say that £160 later my humble mean machine is now roadworthy again and perfectly safe!

Of course not being one to waste time while it was all being fixed, I felt given an image of it all that applies to issues to do with us and God.

I thought primarily of the wheels facing in different directions and reflected upon my observations of people in daily life and the direction in which folk choose to travel.

It seems to me that there are broadly two different types of people when it comes to matters concerning God. There are those who thirst for, or are fascinated by, things to do with questions of God and eternity – and there are those who are not.

I find that the latter do anything to change the subject if anyone drifts onto discussing or sharing anything to do with God. They tend to avoid reading about such topics or watching anything to do with it all on TV or the media in general. I don’t mean that this is their response to `Bible bashers` because most of us get angry at their bullying approach to religion and either argue with them or tell them to buzz off! I’m talking about those who persistently and deliberately switch off to any issues of time and eternity which relate to God and their relationship with God.

After asking around as to why this is so people from all walks of life tend to give several reasons for this switching off response to God issues – namely:

 1.        An avoidance of a God who they perceive as a vengeful moralist

2.      Fear of the unknown and what they can’t control

3.      A bad experience of the church or religious people when younger

4.      Sheer spiritual laziness due to the materialism of this life

5.      Concern that their friends and families will not approve/peer pressure

6.      A perception that God is associated with institutionalism and regulations

7.      A belief that anything to do with God is anti fun and unsexy

8.      A sense that they aren’t ‘holy enough’ to be pursuing God stuff or church

All of these responses are what some people who do not go to church have shared with myself and other members of the church. These factors lie behind the direction in which some people have chosen to live their lives. It is important to also say at this point that one can still be a spiritual person without going to church – but the church does have particular claims that need to be examined carefully

The choice as to which path to explore is ours.                                    

January 2009

BURIED TREASURES AND DEMONS

The beginning of 2009 is a good marker point to consider where we are in our work, faith and relationships. I have to say that I`m not one for making new year`s resolutions in a vain attempt to clean up bad habits. Usually such attempts fail miserably by the end of January as the relentless surge of life and responsibilities takes a grip over and above any new year`s resolutions! One feels that one has enough to cope with without trying to adhere to a batch of self imposed new rules for any coming new year.

However one famous writer once said that `a life unexamined is nothing worth.`

At some point in our lives we have to begin to see ourselves and the content of our lives in the light of cold daylight.

What are the issues that drag us down that we never seem to deal with effectively? What are the buried treasures too within us that never seem to emerge to the surface – our hidden talents and abilities?

What are the things this year that God wants to look at again?

So often events from our past act as brakes on our development as human beings created in the image of God. Unhappy events from our childhood may still plague our present state of mind. Maybe an unhappy event in our lives has coloured our whole interpretation of life – something that we just can`t get over. Perhaps we are locked into an unrewarding friendship or marriage and this bit by bit destroys our ability to truly enjoy the life that God intends for us. Sometimes something important and direct needs to be spoken to somebody else – and that something just can`t come out of us for fear of what someone else will think.

Some are trapped in unfulfilling jobs or bound by worry for their young or adult children`s antics in life. Others have all they need materially but still sense a lurking lack of that vital ingredient that leads to true happiness.

Behind all of these `bondages` is often a fear of initiating the change that can reverse the heartache of many years – so that our true selves and talents can come to the fore in our lives.

All of us have something in our lives that needs to be examined again in 2009 – however mentally and emotionally painful this may be to us. Inner integrity of thinking and expression is a prized asset in God`s Kingdom of truth and light. To grapple with these inner `demons` is to invite God into our lives to help us. Wherever truth is sought then God steps in to help out. He loathes fear and inner unhappiness which are not His goals for our lives.

We often reveal a different side of ourselves to others than what is really going on deep down in our true feelings. The shrub on the surface of the land looks very different to the longer roots which penetrate even more deeply into the hidden depths beneath the soil. So it is with our thoughts and emotions.

This solitary world within us often goes untended and unexamined. It is difficult to know where to start and who to trust to help us in this awesome journey. Often our families or well meaning friends do not have the wisdom or aptitude to know how to help us – so we stay locked in our inner hidden world and struggles preferring to keep things to ourselves – persuading others that we are doing okay with life.

It is this wilderness that Jesus encountered during his 40 days in the desert – the encounter with his own inner self before God. This is the pattern of a Christian`s life too – to be able to have the courage to do this alone before God.

However there are resources to help us in this journey. There are books to read on these relevant issues. There is also the resource of those who have been there before and this could be clergy or laity.

Speaking as a priest we were trained to be able to share and listen to people`s deep experiences of their hearts. It is in this sharing that God manifests himself and is seen to move. When one heart meets another then there is God in the centre for both to experience. When one circle overlaps with another there is a section in the middle and this middle part is like the space where God is when two people, circles, overlap. God visited earth as a person and where two people really share then that has something to do with the presence of God.

So during this coming year consider the deep recesses and desires of your hearts and address what may be lurking there and holding you back from true happiness. This may be painful but one never could make an omelette without breaking an egg!

Try to share with someone who is trusted and wise and let God do the rest. You may find real treasure too buried underneath the sludge being hoovered from your soul! Use your local church to help you on this pilgrimage. It was put here by God to help you through the wilderness that lies within.

So as we do this may we all have a truly happy new year and be happier and changed people by 2010!

Nick Evans/Vicar

December 2008

CHRISTMAS OUCH!!

The problem with Christmas is that so many people seem to be having a party for no real reason at all. I could understand it if the whole nation were still Druids and decided to celebrate a midwinter festival in honour of the seasons or in the name of some fierce Viking God!! At least there`d be a reason for celebrating Christmas even if I don`t believe in Viking God`s and midwinter festivals!

These days though folk open their wallet for no apparent reason at all – other than because the TV and media say we should celebrate Christmas. Surely a party is in honour of something – like a birthday or a thank you occasion or a retirement do or perhaps a welcome hope for troops in Iraq and so on?

So what do we teach our kids about what December 25^th is all about? Why do we spend a fortune on the latest computer game and encourage them to have a massive party for no apparent reason at all? Why do YOU celebrate Christmas? Is it because you`re under family pressure to do so or do you think there is a more profound meaning behind it all?

In addition to all this there is the eternal problem that weddings, funerals, baptisms and Christmas tend to magnify family dysfunctions. This is because folk who don`t see much of each other, or don`t even like each other, are suddenly thrown together for these family state occasions – OUCH!

Stress levels increase as old rifts are recalled by the presence of family members or friends who we`d rather not talk to. They turn up – or are expected to turn up for these `family` times. If they pitch up we keep away from them and if they don`t turn up they`re seen as anti social or uncaring. It all gets rather awkward in some homes and people soon nail their personal loyalties to the mast resulting in a family row. Does any of this seem familiar? It is the stuff of human existence and difficult to avoid on these family occasions.

It was all as fractious at the time of Jesus`s birth – and the middle east is as fractious today around Nazareth. A wall built by the Israelis now divides communities and in some areas people cannot go through the wall to visit other family members who may only live a few hundred metres away. Even before this there were tensions as Palestinian and Jew struggled to live together in peace and harmony – the fault being on both sides.

Our own family and community lives are microcosms of this situation and Jesus gets left out of the debate as if he still lives in the smelly barn or outhouse where he was born. Somewhere down the line Jesus gets forgotten about at Christmas and is never invited through prayer to be the just arbiter in our family and community disputes.

Even when God came into the world physically as Jesus he was ignored. Even when he was spat upon, tortured and died he was ignored. Even when he rose from the dead and promises to answer our prayers and change our lives – he was, and is, ignored still today.

When we put up our Christmas trees he is ignored. When we drink fine wine, eat fabulous food and exchange expensive presents he is ignored. When we pick holes in others during family disputes asserting our own righteousness - he is ignored too.

In fact in many of the stories the Bible show of how God is constantly ignored. His offer of life and wisdom is set aside as people enthrone themselves as the Lord of their own lives and prejudices. Many appear to believe that they can justify and resurrect themselves at the end of time as their mortal lives slip away through old age or sickness.

The one who resurrects us, who gives purpose to our lives and who is the incarnation of justice is the one who we should not forget at Christmas. Our mince pies, presents, tree lights and fine wine is all in honour of JESUS during this season. We exist to love and serve God and it is this God that is persistently ignored during many people`s lives – not just at Christmas time but during the rest of the year too.

Keeping Jesus outside in the dog kennel (a form of stable) will not save us at the end of our lives nor even provide us with an adequate reason for celebrating Christmas.  Those who ignore the possibility of God do so at their own peril. I met a man yesterday who told me he believed in ghosts but not God! I wondered who he believed created the world beyond this one where ghosts, by his reckoning, are supposed to live? I wonder why he`ll be putting up a tree this month – for what purpose?

Don`t only invite Jesus from outside into your home this Christmas – invite him into your life and walk by faith – faith in the little rejected kid who was born of a teenage mum in a wooden room full of animal pooh. Either we do that or we enthrone ourselves as Lord of our lives. That`s the choice we are called by God to make.

Try giving yourself something to REALLY celebrate on December 25^th. Hand yourself over to the living Lord Jesus. Then uncork the wine and share it around. Celebrate Christmas for a REASON – a reason that involves the God who loves you but is often ignored and kept in the kennel or stable outside.

Happy Christmas readers!!

Nick Evans/Vicar

October 2008

GOD GOSSIP

 A Vicar friend of mine always records Coronation Street so that after his day`s  duties he comes home to gin and tonic and the latest helping of Coronation Street. Every time I used to visit him I had to put up with Coronation Street before we did anything else. Needless to say for me this was a tortuous experience since soaps have always depressed me. I`d rather go out into the world and have real adventures than watch others have them on TV!!

The other thing that gets to me is that I find enough problems in life as it is without watching other people`s traumas in soaps for entertainment!

Of course this doesn`t all make me a better or holier person than the avid soap watcher since there`d be many who`d be bored silly by the sort of things that I like watching. Maybe for some soap TV really is a relaxing exercise after a long hard day at work.

I suppose for me  it wouldn`t be so bad if the soaps were more comedy orientated or less full of disasters and people having a miserable time in their relationships and romantic liaisons. Nobody ever seems truly happy in the soaps that I`ve seen.

The soaps on TV seem to over concentrate on people gossiping about other people`s lives. Something said in the corner shop at the crack of dawn is all over The Rover`s Return by lunchtime!

I don`t know whether these programmes simply reflect the way in which folk live their lives or whether they influence contemporary attitudes and behaviour. Much ink has been spilt trying to work that one out in academic circles!

However I still think that the soaps give the impression that it is acceptable to gossip about others when they are not there.

Yes I suppose we all gossip from time to time and that is part of being human – although it can do great damage to others when it occurs. During gossip we can be tempted to think that we are the righteous ones whereas the one gossiped about is the sinner or simply just a wally!

So often folk are all too willing to share bad news about somebody else rather than good news.

Recently a number of people in your church, St David`s, have shared their stories from the pulpit on Sunday morning. Quite apart from everyone having a break from the Vicar and Curate preaching it was fascinating to hear how God had done things for the good in the lives of people who live in this parish.

These weren`t holy `do gooders`who were sinless. They were ordinary people who lived in this area. They `gossiped` to us of marvellous answers to prayer that they had witnessed and of tremendous and powerful experiences they had had of God in their daily lives. This was supernatural and mind boggling highly listenable to good news – and not in the least bit boring!

Behind all that was said the message for all of us is that if God does such wonderful things for them then He is just as willing to do them for us too. God isn`t biased with his love and generosity. He loves all equally and yearns to help us and give to us and walk with us when times are tough. He doesn`t prefer to be generous to religious people any more than to anyone else – the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike in equal measures.

Similarly Christians experience as much sadness in life as the non religious. God has no favourites – as any good parent would have no favourites. Only poor parents show favouritism to particular sons or daughters. Favouritism leads to bitterness and a sense of injustice and is often the cause of family conflicts and, when exercised towards groups in society can lead to civil or even international warfare.

So why bother going to church at all then if God is so even handed? The answer to this is that it is at church where we learn to connect with each others stories and God. It is the place where we pull all of our good and bad experiences together, pray for each other and offer it all up at Holy Communion. It is the place where we together learn to identify the God who bears our pains and sorrows and shares our joys and thanksgivings.

In all walks of life people learn more when they share and learn together – whether at work or at their hobbies. Private religion that says it needs no church or anyone else to teach us is an arrogant and dangerous thing. We become limited in our perspective and only see what we want to see about God and his activities amongst us. This cannot be a healthy thing in the long run since it takes us longer to learn and grow when we try to work things out alone about such significant subjects. Christianity is not a solitary way of life and nor is it all about becoming a pious moral person going around doing good works. It is fundamentally about a relationship with God which is about far more than slavishly following rules.

At church we are faced with a variety of stories about how God operates and loves us. We learn more about seeing where he moves in our lives – or how he could move if we let him. There is the opportunity too of asking questions about things that bug us about time and eternity from people who may be further along the pilgrimage road than ourselves. It is also the place where we truly belong as part of God`s family.

For me church is also the place where I can hear people gossip fascinating accounts of what God is doing in their lives – and that`s the chit chat I really want to hear because I then know that these things can also happen to me.

I LUV God gossip!!

Nick Evans/Vicar

June 2008

A Message for Churchgoers and Non Church Goers!

As I get older I get increasingly fussy about the sort of restaurants I go to. Given the cost of eating out I want to enjoy the best food and drink that the hard earned pennies can buy. Myself and Ellie get very disappointed when badly cooked food is served up in minute portions. It usually gets sent back to the restaurant kitchen and the waiter`s patience is tested!

We now have a list of our favourite restaurants where we know there is excellent quality food and good value for money. I suppose its the same with other things in life too. People are careful over what car they buy and spend a long time deciding what colour the walls will be in their homes. Shopping for clothes is another activity that can take time and I personally find it infuriating shopping for trousers. Nothing ever seems to fit right – around the waist and leg length. Sometimes I wonder of I am an alien since nothing ever seems to fit!

We are all hungry to create a good impression and there is nothing necessarily wrong with that – but how hungry are we for the things that are eternal – the things that we take with us into the next world when we finally leave this world? How fussy are we about understanding God who is the author of our resurrection and everlasting future?

Far too often people leave these things to fate and ignore the plea of Jesus that we should come to him and be saved for eternity? This is something that is more important than anything that we are hungry for in this life. Too often folk are unwilling to desire more of God and to understand the meaning and real purposes of this life. We cannot do this on our own. We need teaching and to learn how to pray and communicate with God. This is vital to our eternal futures.

For all the criticisms of any church it is only within the church that we can learn more about how we relate to God and to not do so is to slow up our progress in understanding our true calling in life. Yes, you can encounter God outside church since God is bigger than the church but we miss out on a lot by cutting out a commitment to seek further and to try and understand more that is vital to our salvation and to seek from those who have something to teach us.

The fact that all churches are full of hypocrites (including the clergy) is irrelevant. The presence of hypocrites doesn`t invalidate what is taught about salvation and prayer and getting to know God personally.

If you think you have life sussed and know all about God then think again. The stuff of God is too great for just one individual to grasp alone. Jesus makes this absolutely clear time and time again.

He commands us to break bread together and that states that He will be present when we do so. Isn`t that more important than the other things in life that we hunger for and fuss over?

As for some who already attend church – are you really still hungry to discover more about God – the God who will resurrect you when your time comes? Are you reading about such things? Are you hungry for God to reveal himself in new ways to you? Are you clamouring to find out when the next prayer meeting or Bible study is in the week? Are you banging on the Vicar or Curate`s door to plague them with questions about your life and where God is or isn`t in your life? Is there a passion within you to know more about eternity and you? Do you wish to learn more in the week about the activity of god rather than only attend Sunday worship in obedience to Jesus`s command to break bread together? Do you want to see perhaps the miracles of God too through healing and the giving of God`s spiritual gifts you – as revealed in the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians 12 verses 1-11?

Read this passage before you read the next magazine article. Let your eyes feast on the words and say to yourself, `where do I fit into this?` Rest assured that God wants you to be part of the Body of Christ and wants to bestow upon you the gifts that are promised there. He`s not expecting you to be perfect in this life. He only desires that you be hungry for him and to take his love for you seriously – that you become truly alive and not totally bound by the practicalities of this world and other people`s expectations of us.

Do you want to be at those special services at other times of the week and sometimes on a Sunday night where the Holy Spirit is sometimes present in a new and dramatic way?

Does all this scare you? Is it all too unfamiliar and makes you feel out of control?

Sometimes in life we have to take a risk based on our hunger for God and allow ourselves to be in unfamiliar territory so that God can reveal something new to us.

The problem is that God wants more for us than we are sometimes prepared for him to give. We are all stingier than God ever was or is.

Read that passage quoted above and you`ll see that we have to discover God together – and God has gifts for YOU in store. Be hungry for them. They are part of what YOU were created for.

Nick Evans/Vicar

May 2008

ANIMAL THOUGHTS – A TESTIMONY

I was never really an animal lover. I was one of those people who thought that animals should be in the wild where they belong – as long as they weren`t near me. I couldn`t really see what they had to do with me or my religious faith.

Strangely enough God`s healing ministry through me started with animals in a west London suburban parish. When visiting houses where there were sick animals people reported how there had been `miraculous` cures of their pets after I had reluctantly stroked them - and so on. Before I knew it I was inundated by calls from national pet journals and invitations to appear on pet TV and radio programmes as various TV and radio hosts attempted to discover the secret of what they termed `animal healing.`

It all seemed very odd to me that I was becoming a celebrity in the field of pets – a subject in which I had no interest or knowledge whatsoever! However the animals (particularly dogs which I had never liked) kept coming with their owners for me to touch them and so save paying a fortune at the vets!

It was all rather bewildering at the time and I then realised that God must have a sense of humour since my history with dogs had never been good. As a child whenever I walked to school past a house with a dog in the yard it would always attempt to take a chunk out of my backside!!

Eventually some parishioners suggested the obvious – which had not occurred to me – that maybe this `gift`, as they put it,  could also be used on people. That is another story for another time though – and equally as fascinating. We had healing services in London and many people came to them and we witnessed God perform some mighty miracles – things that only God can do and not just the curing of common colds that would have got better anyway.

In time I spiritually returned to where it had all started – with the healing of pets. I wanted to know why animals were so responsive to God`s healing power through the touch of an ordinary priest like me in an ordinary town.

The whole thing made me review my attitude to God`s creation – particularly towards the animal kingdom. Then of course I met Ellie who is an animal lover and is now starting her monthly `pet`s corner` in this magazine.

The first thing to note is that God told Adam to exercise stewardship (good care) of ALL of his creation and this must have meant the animal and plant world. In the Genesis story God gave man the right to even to name the beasts.

Furthermore in the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, we are told that ALL creatures are worshipping the lamb upon the throne – and not just human beings. See Revelation chapter 4 verses 9-12 which talks of other living creatures worshipping God around his throne.

There is something too in scripture suggesting that Jesus suffered for the whole of creation and not only for people. There is a mystery in this that we cannot fully grasp with our small human brains. In the book of  Romans chapter 8 v22-23 St Paul talks about the whole of creation `groaning in travail` as if sin somehow affects the created order causing it to `fall` too:

`For we know that up to the present time all of creation groans with pain. . . .`

At any rate there is something of divinity in at least some animals. Dogs, I have learned can be faithful and trusting and are capable of self sacrifice for their owners. I have seen them comfort and protect the sick in very definite ways. Their trust seems to make them open and responsive to receive God`s healing for themselves.

In the process of healing animals I sense how uncluttered by religious dogmatism and prejudice dogs can be. They don`t  ask endless cynical religious questions or tell you that they are suspicious of religious stuff because of how they were brought up or of how they reject God because he allowed the death of a loved one. Neither do they keep away from you because they once had a bad experience with religion or a past vicar! A dog doesn`t condemn you because you are pro or anti such and such a way of life or because you have imperfections in your character!

We can learn something about trust and faithfulness from some animals and there is also a mystery about them too since they do possess senses that we do not have or which are less developed in humans. We cannot hear what a dog can hear and we know little about the `spiritual` realm in such animal`s lives.

There is a mystery about God too since God is not human – that`s why he had to become a human being in Jesus so that we can grasp what we need to know about the part of God that is relevant to us – the part of God`s spiritual image that we are capable of reflecting in our lives as human beings.

So the signs of God`s activity and nature are all around us in the natural world and are somehow affected too by the Fall of mankind and our deliverance by God through Jesus. Pause for thought and pray next time you see an animal.

All fascinating and exciting stuff and right under our noses.

Nick Evans/Vicar

April 2008

RELIGION – IS IT WORTH THE HASTLE?

This month is again addressed to those who think religion is a load of rubbish and just a prop for the afraid and inadequate. Someone`s got to keep the challenge on!!

One reason why some get fed up with the whole idea of religion is that they want all the answers to their questions answered straight away. If there isn`t a slick and easy to understand answer then God and church are dismissed from the mind as just one great big con that can`t be proved.

Some adults even resort to the `if I can`t see God then he doesn`t exist` argument! To me this is the most unscientific and childish argument of all since there are plenty of things that exist but cannot be seen or quantified. Because something, like God, cannot be seen doesn`t necessarily mean that it doesn`t exist. Intelligent people should know better than to use such unscientific arguments in the quest for the existence and character of God.

Naturally of course there are always those who would believe any argument against the existence of God because it suits them. They don`t want the inconvenience of some God in their lives. Some like to be their own boss and find it hard to stomach a greater entity in the universe than them who they may be answerable to.

It also takes effort and determination to thoroughly explore such issues as the existence and nature of God. I`ve met many intellectually lazy people who prefer the ready made entertainment of TV shows and soaps – watching other people have fun and adventures instead of seeking for real adventures themselves.

Seeking for God in our lives is an adventure and an exciting journey. It keeps you on your toes and you get challenged and surprised at every turn. You discover things that you `d not even contemplated before. You realise too that the journey involves learning from others and worshipping together – often with folk that you wouldn`t normally mix with or go for a drink with!

This journey can be undertaken by people of any age or background and by those who are sick or healthy. You need no religious background to begin but only need to recognise that YOU are not God and that God may meet you in the most unusual of ways – if you are prepared to be open to him.

The answers to your questions may not all come at once. You may not be ready to receive or accept some of the responses that God gives to your questions. There may be other things that God wants to teach you first through the things that are going on every day under your own nose!

Why is all this so important and why do Vicars like myself keep banging on about it?

Isn`t it easier to just lie back and convince ourselves that religion has caused all the wars in the world and is better left alone on the periphery of our lives only to be dug up at baptisms weddings and funerals – when it suits us?

Why should any of us be bothered at all about whether there is a God and won`t we find out anyway when we die?

One key thing here is that we ARE going to die. Our time here on earth is short and over 100 years ago it was even shorter. Then you could die from a cut infection or of other diseases that are easy to cure today. Despite modern technology we cannot stave death off for ever. It will happen to us all.

What is it you are here to learn for our brief time on earth? What is it that we are ultimately preparing for? What is this God and eternity that Christians speak of? Supposing how I choose to be and live now affects the rest of my eternity?

What if the claims of Jesus are true? If so I`m going to look pretty daft standing before God churning out the same old chestnuts about religion causing all the wars,  God being a figment of the weak`s imagination, Holy Communion being for a lot of old religious fuddy duddies and the usual claims that one doesn`t believe in `institutional religion` (even if it is instituted by God). Interestingly, when the crunch comes those who don`t bother with God or his church often opt for an institutional Christian minister to do their relative`s funerals.

I for one wouldn`t pitch my feeble arguments and excuses before a God that was my creator, redeemer and sustainer. Who are we to argue the toss with God or even to deny his existence? Are we God? Do we know all the mysteries of the universe? Are we able to resurrect ourselves and families when we die?

Of course not! Only God can do such things. So it is for each one of us to seriously consider the issue of who God is and how he manifests himself on earth and in our lives. This means an end to the arrogance that proclaims that we don`t need God or his `institutional religion`. The issues are too important to be dismissed so lightly or arrogantly – especially given the claim that God died for you on the cross.

The issue of God, worship and judgement are things that affect all of our personal futures. It is time for some to wake up and worship their maker with the rest of us sinners! Wakey wakey before its too late.

Nick Evans/Vicar

March 2008

IN DEFENCE OF HYPOCRITES - A RESPONSE TO EASTER

This article attempts to address the many I meet who say they believe in God but do not go to church. Note the title says `in defence of hypocrites` and not `in defence of hypocrisy`! Please think seriously about this Easter message!

Every Vicar and worshipper has been told at some time that it is not necessary to go to church in order to be a Christian. I was told recently that you can be a Christian at home and that you don`t need to mix with a load of nasty people at church who never spoke to you when you hit bad times in your life.

In the same conversation I was told about how wonderful a previous vicar had been and that things weren`t the same since him! Quite apart from the rudeness of the statement to such a sensitive soul as mine I was intrigued that the person concerned hadn`t been to a communion here for many years and had nothing to compare him with. I`d certainly not met the person before so they certainly knew little about the folk here or myself!!

There will always be those who prefer to stay at home and miss out upon the resurrection life of the church, miracles and new life that all mainstream churches teach. It is not possible to enter into the fullness of the resurrection life of Jesus when we cut ourselves off from the body of Christ – which is active engagement with the people of God.

If we don`t mix and worship with each other then we slow down our learning about what it is to be a Christian. You can be a good moral person at home who believes in God but that alone doesn`t make you a Christian.

A Christian is someone who believes that God entered our world as a person and experienced the pains and sorrows that we do. A Christian believes that God as Jesus was crucified and resurrected for you and me. God himself took all that we deserve upon the cross so that we can be free for the rest of eternity.

A Christian is not necessarily a better person than a non Christian. They may be no more moral or kinder than the rest of humanity – so don`t expect to find perfect people in your local church. What you will find is folk who believe that God has been crucified and raised for us. They respond to what God has done through worship and breaking bread together as Jesus taught us to do.

Remember – being a good moral person who believes in God is not the same as being a Christian – unless you also believe that Jesus was the Son of God and came into the world to save YOU!

A Christian has a certain view about the PERSONALITY of the god that so many people say they believe in. As you would die if you had to for your children then so God suffers for us to PROVE his love. This invites a response however moral or immoral we are.

Yes - Christians have their personal problems and imperfections like anyone else but they attempt to bring these things before God as they bow their knee at the altar rail week by week – sometimes with tears. Never be too proud to shed tears with other Christians.

We teach each other how to identify the activity of God in our everyday lives and how to relate to what we discover there.

It is much harder, and I think more foolish, to believe that we can do this entirely in private – teaching ourselves all there is to know about God.

Imagine a doctor that says that he has privately taught himself medicine but never went to medical school?! Would you trust his medical opinion? I`d be a little more than suspect to say the least!

So those who say they don`t go to church because they see hypocrites there or they don`t like the vicar or hymns and so on are missing the point as to why we should go to church at all. All people are hypocrites in some way since nobody is all they proclaim to be.

If someone tells me that they won`t worship with other Christians because they are hypocrites then my response is “well there`s room for one more!”

It is a big error to judge the church`s message by what we think about the behaviour of Christians since they are human too and prone to error. I for one will publically defend worshippers against non Christian criticism on the grounds that however bad we Christians sometimes are there has to be someone about to share the good news of God to the world. There will never be perfect people to deliver this news so don`t shoot the messengers!

Us bunch of sinners will continue to proclaim Jesus`s command to break bread together with or without those who think they are less hypocritical than us.

Maybe you don`t worship because you are angry with God? If that is the case then come and express your anger or try to discover God`s response to your pain. In medicine it is not always possible to diagnose and know the cure for our illnesses – and so it is with problems to do with our emotions and souls. We all bend the knee to God seeking his response to our hurts and pains. Church folk have also experienced sorrow, cancer, the loss of a child and so on so they have also experienced anger and sorrow towards God – BUT they, despite all their faults, have something of value to teach about where God is in your life.

Without church where do you learn to worship and break bread with others as Jesus commanded? Where do we learn more about God? Where do we learn what it is like to bow before God with other sinners like us? Where do we learn about how God communicates with us? Where do we see the healings and other miracles of God? Where else do we see that God speaks largely through the community of God rather than purely through individuals? Where else do we see and learn all these things if we don`t go to church to FIND OUT more? If you disagree with me about all this then come and have a coffee with me.

Of course there will also be those who are purely self centred for whom God is an inconvenience in their life even though they may be standing before him one day when they die. The idea of seeking for what just may be the most important thing in the universe fills them with a sense of lack of control and fear. People sometimes tend to avoid and fear what they cannot control or understand. 

So floating voter I hope that I have triggered a response rather than no response at all!

What is your response to the God who died for you at Easter? Have you really researched the issues fully?

Nick Evans/Vicar

February 2008

TRENDY RUBBISH ABOUT LENT?

Political correctness has its place in some areas of our national and personal lives and there is a massive debate in society at the moment as to how fussy we should be in our attempts not to upset others by expressing our opinions openly.

I`ve noticed that in some schools teachers are discouraged from writing anything negative on pupils reports in case a pupil gets discouraged and becomes worse at a certain subject. Reports all seem to be glowing even when a pupil is clearly poor and at the bottom end of their setting. It is difficult for parents sometimes to know how to help their kids when reports aren`t balanced for fear that a teacher may get challenged or a pupil won`t be robust enough to accept that there are weaknesses in some lessons that could be improved upon! I speak as a qualified secondary school teacher myself who used to be a head of department.

It seems that we are developing a society in which balanced criticism is discouraged in case another gets wounded or discouraged by even the truth about themselves.

What really narks me off is when the wrong sort of political correctness creeps into the church – as I think it has done in some modern views of Lent.

Lent is traditionally about facing our fragile mortality and foregoing something wonderful for 40 days so that we can focus on the God who gave us this gift in the first place. It is also about looking inwardly and facing our own inner demons, complexes and histories and bringing them before God – a painful journey. It IS about looking at ourselves before God and examining what motivates and drives us in life. It is about evaluating where we stand with God and recognising our total dependency upon God and issues to do with how we hear God speaking in our wildernesses.

However,  Lent is becoming redefined as something else which is much more comfortable for the spiritually timid.

Many Lent booklets I have seen recently seem to focus upon taking something ON for lent rather than upon giving something up. Lent seems to be being used by some sectors of the churches to promote more activity within the community – a sort of `let`s do a good deed for every day of Lent` idea. There seems to be a growing emphasis too on praying for everyone else in the world instead of focussing on our spiritual inner selves – almost as if to do so is deemed as being selfish or self centred.

Surely the church should be involved in the community throughout the whole year and we should be praying for others similarly – and not just in Lent?!! These activities are not specifically what Lent is about. They ought to be done all the time for Christians and not done for 40 days of Lent with the apparent assumption that we can go down a few gears when Lent is over.

Lent is traditionally and specifically about something quite different to doing good deeds for forty days or kick starting our charitable giving.

It is 40 days worth of confronting our mortality before God and is a process of self examination of our own past, present and future. This means that Lent is a time of discovering a deeper way of communicating with God in which we face painful aspects of our lives. This is a process which happens for 40 days – to go on longer at such an intense level would be to invite too much introspection at the expense of looking outward to share on helping and serving the world.

It is important to get ourselves right with God first before we can be any good for anyone else. Running around doing `good` all the time is what any atheist can do and doing good isn`t necessarily what saves us since we are not saved by deeds but by faith in God. Sometimes we need a break from `doing good` in order to get ourselves MOT`d before God. Lent gives us that opportunity to do just that.

You may be brave and wish to spring clean your inner life – facing the pain and unresolved things that you find there. If you want to take Lent really seriously then do this and read something that will help you in this lonely wilderness journey. Maybe you could seek out a minister or another to confide in who could confidentially share your inner walk and help you to ask the right questions about yourself and your difficulties. After all Lent reflects Jesus`s aloneness in the wilderness facing his inner turmoils before God.

If you are brave enough to take Lent seriously then at the end of the 40 days you will experience a sense of freedom and liberation from things that have kept you in spiritual or emotional bondage for years. Lent is an opportunity to focus on ourselves so that we can eventually be free and effective vessels to be used by God for the rest of the year.

So away with trendy painless modern reinterpretations of Lent that seem specifically designed to the spiritually non robust! The modern `politically correct` stuff may be a good start for some people but Lent is about infinitely more than doing a good deed for the day. It is much deeper than that – if you`re brave enough!

Nick Evans/Vicar

January 2008

A NEW YEAR – NEW PROBLEMS!!

None of us knows what the New Year has in store for us – as a nation or as individuals.

We can only guess or dream about what our futures could be.

Undoubtedly there will be a mixture of good and bad things happening to us or to our friends and families. Some of these fortunes and misfortunes will be partly of our own making and others will be things that happen to us regardless of how holy or horrid we are. When bad things happen some blame God.

People often moan at God for not giving the wicked an exceptionally hard time. Folk remark that God should protect the good with life and health and money. If God was truly just then why, they argue, doesn`t God reward the good and punish the wicked? If He did this then more people would go to church and believe in Him – because we are all tired of seeing evil people `prospering` while only the `good` seem to die young.

The times I`ve heard this argument in pubs, newsagents and parties around the various parishes in which I`ve served.

However, Jesus made it clear that the sun shines equally upon the righteous and the unrighteous. It is precisely because God loves good and bad people equally that He does not discriminate – anymore than we should love one of our children more than another.

God gave us free will to choose good or bad. If we got zapped by God every time we did something wrong then we`d all be a bunch of robots who`d have no choice but to do good. Some free choice that would be!

Who wants to worship a dictator who forces us to be good children on the pain of being obliterated? It hardly makes for genuine goodness does it – having to be good only out of fear? God may not like wicked people but he loves them nevertheless. Loving and liking are two very different things.

Another response to the old time question of why God doesn`t zap evil people with nasty diseases and protect the good is this:

When God came to earth as Jesus he was not protected from pain and disaster either. God entered into it himself. He was not immune to being badly treated or even facing an unjust death penalty Himself.

It is a misleading form of Christianity which says `if you`re a good holy person then God will bless you with wealth and status.` This is a result of what is called the `Prosperity Gospel` which is a modern American school of thought that says God blesses the good with wealth in THIS life and repays the evil with misfortune in this life too.

This modern thinking sounds nice – what people want to hear – but it bears no resemblance to the life of Jesus who was born in, and died in, poverty and pain. It also says nothing of the forgiveness of God.

Jesus, who was God on earth was given little in terms of property or worldly status and died an unjust death despite all his good deeds.

This is whom God says we are to follow - and to follow Jesus`s way is to enter eternal life. Fighting and dying for the justice of others, feeding the hungry and being generous is the way to build God`s kingdom on earth. The Saints followed this way and not the way of the `prosperity gospel.` If you don`t believe me then read their stories and see what sticky ends they came to!

Yet another response to the `why doesn`t God protect the good and punish the wicked in this life` question centres around what we mean by `good.`

It is unnerving to hear people call themselves `good` - as if they in particular don`t deserve anything bad to happen to them. St Paul in scripture makes it clear that nobody is truly good and that all human beings are in some way or other corrupt. Put another way why should bad things happen to others but not to me? What makes me dare to think that I am holier than someone else?

Even if another person is guilty of heinous crimes that I am not then have I had their upbringing or suffered the abuse that they may have suffered in their lives? What makes me so certain that given another`s circumstances and background I wouldn`t be the same killer or thief? How lucky I am to have had a more secure upbringing and be a Vicar rather than to be serving a life sentence for murder as consequence of a dreadful upbringing or an errant gene?

We all like to feel that we`re holier than someone else and deserve better treatment by God. We forget that God does not see as man sees. God sees our past and our future and understands things about ourselves and others that we cannot even begin to grasp.

So as we hurtle into 2008 do not despair or necessarily blame yourself or God when things go wrong. A disaster is not a sign that God disapproves of you or is trying to punish you for your known or unknown bad deeds. Only pagan religions and misleading pseudo `Christian` sects and cults think that. God calls people to life not death and disaster!

Whatever happens in the year to come the mainstream Christian denominations assert that God loves you and that you are the apple of his eye. If you are up to no good then God is sad at the damage that you are doing to your own souls as well as other people`s. He yearns for you to come to him and learn to love as he intended us to love and be loved. He`s not going to give you a nasty disease or make your house blow up in the night. God is not vindictive as humans are vindictive. His love surpasses anything that we can offer.

It is at the end of time itself or at our own death that the ultimate judgement happens – and God has already paid the price for our misdeeds – on the cross. It will then be up to us to choose to receive God`s forgiveness or not. The choice is always ours.

So don`t be too hard on yourself or God when bad things happen in 2008. God will never stop loving you – and that`s good news indeed. What is your response to that – greater I hope than what you could write on the back of a postage stamp?

Nick Evans/Vicar 

EVERYDAY CHRISTMAS?

Why can`t we spiritually live as if Christmas Day was every day of the year?!

There is a man on Radio Five Live who seems to be interviewed annually because he celebrates Christmas each day of the year! He has turkey roast every day and keeps his house decorated with tinsel and Christmas trees throughout the whole year!

Of course this must be very expensive for him if he also buys presents every day for his family and friends!  I`m not sure what it is he thinks he is celebrating each day of the year but when I heard him last he seemed very cheerful and upbeat.

I wondered what his wife and family think of it all – and whether his kids get mocked at school?

Maybe they lose the sense of occasion as they tire of turkey dinners every day of their lives?!

If he is not a religious man then his actions don`t really make sense because before Christianity `Christmas` was a pagan midwinter festival – to be celebrated  only in winter and not during the other seasons of the year.

However I love the basic idea – if you apply his thinking to celebrating the birth of Christ. Every time we go to Holy Communion we are partly celebrating the birth of Christ – God coming into the world. The Eucharist (Holy Communion) is a word that literally means `thanksgiving` and this is what we are all encouraged to do every day of our lives no matter how bad our situations can sometimes be in the daily grind of life. If we really had this sense of thanksgiving at some point each day then what a wonderful world it could become.

Alas though – folk don`t think like this do they? They could do I suppose if they really wanted to. The service in church is very much thanksgiving orientated for all that God has done for us and continues to do (if we let him).

So often people inside and outside church are more prone to discourage rather than encourage others. We tend to see and comment on the negative in people or situations. Maybe that`s the product of our `fallen-ness.` It happens as much in the church as anywhere else in the world because churches are full of human beings who are not perfect. It`s easy to get stuck in a negative trench.

Christmas is a great reminder or jolt to help us to, for once, focus on the positives in life, God and other people – including those who are not Christians. The non Christian calls it the `season of goodwill` whereas those who have committed their lives to God focus primarily upon the goodness of God in entering this world to deliver us. Actually too we are called to be generous and giving for the whole year and not only at Christmastide!

I am glad that the non religious world decorates with tinsel and Christmas trees and worries about what to buy others for Christmas. It makes people think of others for a change and stimulates them to make up and forgive their enemies. I think that God is in this too - also working away in the world outside of Christian religious belief.

All the decorations and media coverage of Christmas may rarely mention Jesus but it does provide an opportunity for the Church to fill that prepared vessel of celebration with the real message of the good news of what God does all the year round – which started at the birth of Christ.

So rather than be cynical about the commercialisation of Christmas use the atmosphere to say something positive about God and how our lives can be changed for the better. Then we can really purposefully LIVE during the following year rather than grind our way through with gritted teeth as life`s blows swipe at us with one thing after another. Bad news will always happen but never forget that for the Christian – to some extent at least - we celebrate Christmas every day of the year because to discover Jesus and to allow him into your life is a transforming and crucial experience. You can receive the Christ child on any day during the year.

That`s worth considering. Thanks to the non Christian man on the radio for reminding me once again that in reality Christmas Day is every day – because God is in the world not just on December 25^th but long after the Christmas trees have been packed away again until next year.

So a happy Christmas to you all and thank you to all who have helped to keep the real message of Jesus alive over the last year in this parish.

As for those who haven`t sought to seek and engage with God then let this be a time to kick start your spirituality and take a risk – that leap of faith that a teenage Mary took when she said yes to bringing Jesus into the world.

Alternatively you may wish to consider exactly what you are celebrating Christmas for? Surely you`re not a lemming spending a lot of money because everybody else is - hiding behind the excuse that you only do it for the sake of the kids??

There is a lot more to Christmas than that! Take that leap of faith. What have you to lose? Christmas is every day.  Celebrating God`s great gift every day is a startling change to the grim news that the media daily throws in front of us.

Make sure you have the courage to come to church at some time over this season. God is present when we meet together in His name. This is far more than a midwinter festival to cheer us all up.

Happy Christmas Readers!

Nick Evans/Vicar

 

November 2007

REMEMBER – OR ELSE?!

American films like `Kelly`s Heroes` and `The Great Escape` seem to give the impression that guys like Steve McQueen and Yul Bryner defeated the Nazis single handedly. On the silver screen they make the Germans look rather thick as hundreds of them get mown down by American machine guns whilst only one or two Americans are killed, the hero himself always escaping with a mere scratch on his arm. After all he has to survive to make the next film doesn`t he?!

Yet the ghastly truth is that 42 million died in the Second World War and half of those were Russians. We are aware too of the fate of those who perished in the Nazi death camps and of how a technologically `civilised` European nation like Germany can lapse into thuggery within only a few years of a particular regime.

Unlike in American war films, the Nazis were no military fools since they had conquered most of Europe within a matter of months leaving the UK alone in western Europe to face the might of the Luftwaffe and the German armies poised to invade this soil.

It took a huge number of civilian and military deaths to free Europe. Alliances also had to be made in order to repel the Nazi onslaught and send out the message that dictatorship was unacceptable in the modern world.

God also spilt his blood on the cross that we could be free. The cost of ultimate freedom is always high. Given the evil in this world somebody somewhere always pays the price to win another`s freedom. The war dead are a testimony to that.

I hear them cry, `For your tomorrows we gave our today.`

Others face terror and bereavement so that we can live in safety. It still happens today. I noted the countless mass graves I saw in Bosnia in the year 2000. I realise too that if there wasn`t a multinational force there then the killing could happen all over again. Troops from various nations have been killed keeping the peace in places like Bosnia and Iraq whilst most Iraqis and Bosnians are terrified in case we pull out and leave the population to the mercy of the bullies and terrorists.

It seems that we were involved in protecting Europe during the Second World War and are doing so again, sharing the task with many other countries too. It is not only the UK and the USA who are involved in peacekeeping as the media would have us believe. There are many other countries who are participating in policing trouble spots such as Iraq, Afghanistan and parts of Africa and the former Yugoslavia.

My concern is that young people don`t realise these things because they don`t watch the news or take an interest in what is going on in the world. They pay no attention to these things because often their parents don`t. They are not brought up to understand what citizenship and social responsibility are about.

The `X Factor` or Eastenders is more important to them. As soon as the news comes on the channel is flicked over to another American soap or `Buffy the Vampire Slayer.` or yet another house makeover or `Pop Idol` programme.

Anything to do with politics or what is going on in the world is only seen as relevant if it directly affects the pounds in their pocket. It all seems too much trouble to have to bother with trying to understand real events that are happening in our world – events that demand that we pressure for justice to be done.

As you read this young men from the armed forces are taking huge risks in patrolling the streets of Baghdad and other parts of the world to protect families from the ravages of mob rule and political terror.

So, as with God who spilt His blood that we may be free, we must never forget such sacrifices – massive events that happened within our parents and grandparents lifetimes. When was the last time we ever really spoke to our kids about the sacrifices made by millions during the Second World War or warned them of the dangers of extremist governments or encouraged them to vote against extremists?

When was the last time we talked to our kids about what God has done for us when His blood was shed to pay the price of our own misdeeds so that we could be free?

I suspect that many in this generation would shrink from such conversations because they find them `morbid` or `boring` - not exciting enough to offer the instant entertainment for which our generation craves.

I don`t feel like making any jokes in this month`s vicarly article due to the staggering scale of the devastation and death that we remember in November.

We need to start teaching a new generation about what went on 60 years ago -  and listening to those who are still alive who went through it all.

Our kids really need to know, whether they find it boring or not.

I`ll tell you why we should insist upon them knowing. It is because:

`Those who do not learn the lessons of history are condemned
to repeat them again.`

Chilling isn`t it?

Let`s remember and teach our children what has happened before

it is too late and our own kids allow it to happen all over again.

Nick Evans/Vicar

October 2007

We`re soon coming up to All Soul`s Day and the season that the world calls `Halloween`(an abbreviation of ` all hallows eve). Although these are Christian and non Christian festivals respectively both of these events share something in common. They both focus upon our mortality. Halloween concentrates on the ghoulish and gothic death themes whilst All Saints/Souls Day helps us to look at our place in God`s kingdom when we finally leave this world through physical death.

I wonder how prepared we are to meet our maker when our time comes? I suspect that many don`t consider such questions because they think that it is morbid or just too scary to contemplate. Many tell me that its all too spooky and morbid to consider amidst the hustle and bustle of our daily lives.

I suppose that if one has no belief in God and of the Christian belief that there is a kingdom that lies beyond this world then it must be quite depressing to address the issue of death. After all most of our encounters with death are bleak since our memories of `death experiences` are usually limited to the misery of losing a loved one. The issue of our mortality is often the last thing that we want to consider or talk about – its something we avoid because its something that we cannot control. We tend to fear or give a push out of our minds things that we cannot control.

There may be lots of other things about ourselves that we don`t examine or bring before God as well as death issues because we find it difficult to cope with the parts of ourselves that we don`t understand or don`t like.

In fact the most significant problems, fears and issues in our lives where we feel out of control are often the very things that God is interested in helping us with.

God IS interested in the mortal things of this life as well as the things of the world to come.

Eternal life begins NOW and not after death and this is the thrust of Jesus`s teaching. What sort of things in this mortal life can God help us with then?

After all if God isn`t interested in the mortal everyday stuff of this life then one could argue that Christianity is irrelevant to us and just another `airey-fairy` religion that makes claims about the world to come but is pretty useless in helping us with the serious issues of this life.

Let`s imagine that we are an iceberg. Three quarters of an iceberg lies hidden beneath the water. The further down you go the more debris lies in the berg – but it is debris nobody sees. We only see the surface of the berg which is brilliantly white and sparkling in the sunshine – the beautiful fabulous bit that makes us want to be arctic explorers!

Now this top part that lies out of the sea is like the part of ourselves that we reveal to the world – the pleasant bits that we want everyone to see and admire.

However we all have other issues that are buried within us that we try to hide from the world and God. These things are our secret fears and worries about issues like money, friendship, family life, sex and romance and so on.

We may also repress parts of ourselves that are not very nice – burying our real secret desires about all sorts of things.

It is these things that lie at the bottom of the berg – the things that nobody else sees that profoundly affect our happiness and sense of well being. In is in this murky deep hidden  world that the roots of our depressions and anxieties lie. This is the part of ourselves that we find difficult or foolish to share with others or God. We only want to show people the pretty top of the iceberg.

So God IS relevant to our mortal lives on this side of the grave (or should l say on this side of life) because God is concerned for our well being and true happiness.

God is not some moral taskmaster who wishes to condemn us for our secret worries, fears and desires. God wants us to invite him to the bottom of the iceberg to help us with our concerns about mortgages, money, family stuff, romance and sex, our jobs and so on. He knows that it is these very relevant things that determine our happiness and sense of well being in this world where we are NOW. Our God i
Life has enough pains of its own without us adding to them by a refusal to share our real worries with the living God. Jesus showed that God is concerned with the real practical and people problems of everyday life.

Look at the bottom of your iceberg and hand over to God the things that are there. If they are things that you feel pretty powerless about then what have you lose by letting the source of all wisdom into your life – into the bits that we think nobody else sees? Try praying with someone about these things or sitting quietly in church as you dredge up the seemingly undredgeable before God.

You may be pleasantly surprised by what the living God is capable of doing just for YOU in this mortal life of ours. What a preparation for eternity! Wow!

Nick Evans/Vicar

September 2007

TO PRAY OR NOT TO PRAY?

You'll notice that I've recently been stressing the importance of praying together during the week.  Some may have felt that I'm being an incessant nag and bully!  Praying together during the week is an indispensable part of the Christian life which is steeped in the Bible and Christian tradition.  So ofter people say, "I pray on my own and I don't need to do it with others thank you very much.  I go to church on Sunday and that's my public bit."  Prayer tends to be seen as only a solitary and very private activity which, of course limits our perception of how God chooses to work in the world.

This month myself and Angela, the Curate, were reviewing people's actual excuses for not coming to prayer group during the week,

The reason why we decided to work together after her ordination is because we have the same view on this very important issue.  Here are some reasons why people do not pray together.  I wonder if any of these excuses apply to you?

********

REASONS WHY I DON'T GO TO THE MIDWEEK PRAYER MEETINGS

I can pray perfectly well on my own and don't need the well meaning company or experiences of other Christians to pray with.  I am self sufficient in my praying.

I believe that the prayer group is all about speaking out loud in front of a bunch of others which is a tadge embarrassing and there are some there I don't like being with.  Prayer meetings are full of gossip and broken confidentialities.

Prayer group is about endlessly praying for the sick and we do that on Sunday anyway.

I don't go out a night because I'm old, my hearing isn't too good and I can't get a lift.

You have to be a spiritually supercharged Christian expert who knows all there is to know about God in order to be part of a prayer group so I feel a bit inadequate.

I don't like the room/house/building that we have to pray in.

My spouse/partner won't like me going out without them since they're not religious.