Author: svbenefice

Today (Friday) is St Matthias’s Day. Who?…. He is one of the many one-hit wonders of the Bible; elected by the remaining disciples to take the place of Judas who betrayed Jesus, never mentioned again. For obvious reasons, the Church does not have a St Judas’s Day, but Judas features as much in this day as Matthias. He is described as the “betrayer Judas” in the prayer used by the Church of England for today as we ask God to preserve us from “false apostles”. He gets short shrift in the Gospels; he was in charge of the money for the disciples but is accused of being a thief by John. It is undeniable that he was the disciple who betrayed Jesus. Although he took money for his services to the authorities, Judas was then overcome with remorse; Matthew preserves a tradition that he hung himself. It is hard to know what Jesus made of him; the Gospel writers had to rely on the memories of his other disciples, whose recollections would have been coloured by the act of betrayal and its consequences. Jesus was well aware of what Judas intended to do and did not stop him. I can only speculate as to what his feelings might have been, but perhaps there was some understanding of the confused, even tortured, workings of Judas’s mind. At the point of betrayal, Jesus called Judas “comrade”; the Greek word can mean a friend but could also be ironic. Be that as it may, he did not call him “betrayer”. Orthodox belief has Jesus descending to Hell after his death, to release those who had died before he came but now would chose to follow him. I am one of those who like to think that, during that time, Jesus particularly sought out his tormented friend Judas, to bring him redemption.

Rev David Poyner

It is unlikely that you will have missed that Sir David Attenborough is now 100; the BBC have been celebrating this for the last month. He has combined his passion of natural history and his skills as a TV presenter to shape the way nature documentaries are shown on the television. He has very largely shaped the national conversation on the environment and polls consistently show him as one of the most trusted figures.

Some look at the natural world and see in it evidence for a loving, creator God. Attenborough is not one of these. He often speaks of the examples of parasitic worms, that debilitate their (sometimes human) hosts in order to live; he can see little evidence from these of a loving creator . From my perspective as a professional biologist, I admire the beauty of the natural world; I know this from staring at cells  through a microscope. I can praise God for the beauty. However, I am aware that this is a consequence of evolution by natural selection, driven by random changes to our genes. This process does not need an intelligent creator to drive it; indeed it relies on chance and does lead to suffering as well as progress. But I would agree with those who say that this shows that if God has chosen to “create” through natural selection, then this is inevitable. If God has given the universe the freedom to progress by this mechanism, their must be pain. But the glory and the love are shown in what God knew all along; the wonder of nature that Sir David has spent his life revealing.

Rev David Poyner

By the time you read this, I will be coming to the end of a week’s holiday on the Shetland Isles. For over 30 years I have had an annual trip to a Scottish island with a group of friends. When we started, we would think nothing of stopping off en-route to climb a Munro; the name given to a Scottish hill over 3000 feet. These days we have learnt to savour the delights of 500 feet elevations on the coast. The islands have a mystical quality; I enjoy visiting the numerous sacred sites on them, where Celts, Picts and Norse have worshipped God. Although there may be little left now other than a few stones, these places remain holy. They are often called “thin places”, where the barriers between earth and heaven break down. Except, for me, it is not quite as simple as that. When I visit these places, I am fascinated by the history; my brain is active trying to make sense of how the stones were once buildings. I have archaeological experiences at them, but usually not spiritual ones. I am not alone; I recently read an article by Dr Catherine Fox, a writer who has had the same experience as myself. To her, these are actually thick places; so much is going on in her head, she loses sight of God. But, like myself, she perseveres. I do this because I know that the memory of these places will return to me, when my mind is less busy. Then I will not be trying to work out the shape of the church; all I will remember is that on this site, God was present to people. And in that memory, God becomes present to me; it turns my living room into a thin place.

Rev David Poyner

It may not have escaped peoples’ notice that there has been recently been an exchange of views between two prominent Americans; the US President, Donald Trump and the Pope, Leo XIV. It began with the Pope pointedly saying the Christ rejected the prayers of war mongers; the President responded by accusing Leo of being weak on crime and foreign policy and Leo in turn refuses to debate politics with Mr Trump. Christianity and the world of politics have always had an uneasy relationship. At one level the Bible has much to say about justice and peace; particularly in the Old Testament the prophets were vocal in their views on the rulers of Israel and Judah. Jesus followed in the line of prophets by speaking out on social justice and promoted a vision of how the world would be organised in the Kingdom of God. On the other hand, the Old Testament notably failed to identify any obviously successful way of governing a nation state; rule by “judges”, kings and priests all were tried at various times. Sometimes they seemed to work, more often they did not. And Jesus, whilst clear on the direction of travel, did not endorse any specific political manifesto, at least as far as I can see. For what it is worth, my own view is that as a Christian, I must be an active citizen, doing what I can to promote a Godly society. I also must recognise that there is no simple political philosophy on the left or right that will exclusively lead in that direction, albeit there are some that deny our common humanity that do not seem compatible with Biblical teachings. I pray for justice and the coming of God’s kingdom, I pray for all our political leaders, I may highlight issues but I hope I do not tell people how to vote. That is between themselves and God.

Rev David Poyner

This last week I have been in Zurich, attending the 11^th International Meeting on CGRP.  CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide), is a chemical found in most nerves in the body. It mainly seems to play a role in protecting us from damage. Sometimes however, if it is released inappropriately from nerves, it can cause problems. This seems to be what happens in some forms of migraine and new drugs to treat this work by blocking CGRP. It remains an exciting area where much remains to be discovered. There may be some big drugs to be discovered, which could be very lucrative. There is a danger that this could encourage a cut-throat approach in the field, where nobody trusts each other.

I have been doing research on CGRP since 1988 and have attended most of the meetings. The CGRP research community is a friendly one; we share our results and we support each other as best we can. The science we talk about at the meetings is interesting but these days I more value our friendships. Science, like many activities, can be a very cut-throat business. This week has once again reminded me that there are other ways of doing business; we do seem to try to love each other. 

Rev David Poyner

In Glazeley Church, there is a stained glass window next to the pulpit, in memory of Lt Philip Crooks, who was killed in the First World War. It is a fine piece of work; it shows Philip, drawn from a photograph welcomed by angels; actually portraits of his sisters. In the background is a field of wheat, ready for harvest; apparently a sign that, at 21, Philip’s work was done. He is greeted by the risen Christ. Back in August, we welcomed the Bishop of Hereford to Glazeley to mark the 150^th anniversary of the present building. He admired the window, but then added; “of course, it is theologically indefensible”. As a mere assistant curate, I did not press him on this, but merely nodded my head in agreement. But I suspect what disturbed him is what also disturbs me about the window; the risen Jesus holds out his hands to welcome Philip, but they are unmarked. In the Gospels, Jesus carried the marks of the nails on his hands and feet; the wound from the spear in his side. I think this says something very profound about the meaning of resurrection. It is indeed the triumph of Jesus over the grave, but that triumph does not wipe away scars from past suffering; memories are not wiped clean. Instead past pain is transfigured; the scars remain but they no longer have power to hurt. Easter is not about magic, it is about transformation.

Rev David Poyer

The church’s calendar builds to its climax over this coming week; as I write I am putting the last touches to the service for tomorrow, Palm Sunday. It is a bit rushed; I am just back from 5 days in Venice, largely spent in glorious churches. Most have representations of Palm Sunday; all have numerous images of Christ on the cross, some veiled in purple as is common at this time of year, to mark his death. Tomorrow we will have a procession into church as we re-enact the events of the first Palm Sunday. Sometimes this story is presented as though it were the whole city that turned out to welcome Jesus. However, our Bible reading for tomorrow suggests it was only Jesus’s followers who actually waved the palms; for the rest there was instead puzzlement, with the “whole” city asking “who is this?”. The churches of Venice witness how that question has been disturbing people for the last 2000 years; our service tomorrow challenges us to answer it today. 

Rev David Poyner

I have recently been doing a lot of funerals. I am a vicar, this is what we do. Each time I do a funeral I am aware that this is something poignant; a life has come to an end and there is usually grief associated with that. Sometimes it is possible to draw comfort from the fact that the deceased had lived a long life, or perhaps that death had released them from suffering. Sadly, that is not always the case. This coming Sunday is Passion Sunday, when the Church remembers the suffering and death of Jesus. This occasion can be mawkish or sentimental, although crucifixion was only ever brutal. It does not explain away grief and suffering. It does however, give me the strength to stand at a graveside and speak of God. I follow a God who has known suffering; I can only worship a God who has known suffering.

Rev David Poyner

Mothering Sunday is a festival that has many guises. It is the 4th Sunday in Lent, also known as Refreshment Sunday. Refreshment Sunday originated as a kind of bank holiday to give some relief from the rigours of the Lent; a day off from fasting and horsehair shirts. As part of the break in Lent, it became the custom to give house servants the Sunday off. As such, they would return home and, because that is what everyone did in those days, they would go to their home church on the Sunday. This was their mother church, the church that senior clergy liked to think had nurtured them and brought them up safely in the faith. The senior clergy so liked this idea that they were very happy to go along with it becoming a church festival; Mothering Sunday in honour of the church. Meanwhile, the home coming servants knew which side their bread was buttered and made sure they had a posy of flowers for their actual mothers, who had really brought them up and would be feeding them this day.

Today, for most people it is now “Mothers’ Day”, a purely secular occasion but one which still focuses on mothers. Even within the church, this is now largely what it is, but with some prayers and perhaps a sermon attached. It is good to give thanks for our mothers; the people who brought us into the world, those who nurtured us. But for people of faith, we can also go beyond this if we wish, to remember the female side of God, who is both our father and also our mother.

Rev David Poyner

Most (but not all) Christian churches recognise that there is a time when war can be justified. There are strict criteria that need to be met. We have to use our judgement in any given conflict as to how far they may be met.

Before going to war, the following criteria must be met:

• Just Cause: The war must confront a grave evil and by in self-defence, to defend another nation, or to protect innocent life.
• Legitimate Authority: The war must be declared by a lawful, proper authority,.
• Right Intention: The goal must be to promote good or correct a wrong, not for revenge, vengeance, or territorial expansion.
• Last Resort: All peaceful alternatives must have been exhausted.
• Reasonable Chance of Success: The war should not be fought for a hopeless cause, which would waste lives unnecessarily.
• Proportionality: The good to be achieved must outweigh the total evil that the war will cause. 

Once a war has begun, there are rules which dictate how it is fought: 

• Discrimination/Distinction: Non-combatants (mainly civilians but also those in the military who do not carry arms) should not be targeted.
• Proportional Force: Only the minimum necessary force should be used to achieve military objectives. Methods that are inherently immoral, such as genocide, torture, or using weapons that cause uncontrollable destruction  are forbidden.
• Treatment of Prisoners: Prisoners of war must be treated humanely.

Recently thought has been given to what represents a just peace at the end of the war. 

• Just Termination: Aims should be limited to the original just cause.
• Reconstruction: Efforts should be made to restore peace, repair damage, and uphold human rights. 
• (I have adapted this from an AI generated response to a Google query).

Rev David Poyner