Goodbye and Hello

The coming week is when in the Christian Church we remember All Saints and All Souls; if you like the heroes of faith and the rest of us, although that is not a distinction I suspect the writers of the New or perhaps the Old Testament would have been entirely comfortable with. Regardless of this, in our benefice and in many other churches, we will recall those who have died, especially those in the last 12 months. Hard on this, in two weeks time we recall those who have fallen in war, especially members of our armed forces.

As many will know, my own father died in August, so I will have a particular interest in remembering the deceased this time round. It takes time to come to terms with loss; for some it can be a very long process. But, for many reasons it is something we have to go through. As I have entered into that process, I have been deeply struck by some words of my spiritual director, a person I regularly visit to help me look into my own soul. She commented that we need to eventually say goodbye to the dead so that we can then start to say hello again to them. By that she meant that by acknowledging that the deceased are no longer physically present, we can than enter into a new relationship with them based on our memories and acknowledging the ways in which they have moulded us. My All Souls’ project is to make a frame for a picture of Dad to put in the workshop where he used to work and where I now enjoy his tools and the skills he taught me. It is my way of acknowledging that new relationship we now have, and the union that we still enjoy as members of the body of Christ, living and departed.

Rev David Poyner

Remembering Black History Month

October and November seem to be months for remembering; we have Remembrance Sunday and Bonfire night; in the church’s calendar we have All Saints and All Souls, somehow transformed in modern culture into Halloween. Perhaps that is why, 35 years ago, October was designated “Black History Month”. This is not something that I have ever considered very carefully; in my own explorations of local history, black history really seems to have begun in the 2nd World War, with the arrival of a black refugee from Liverpool and a black service battalion of US troops at Kinlet. At the end of war, it seems to have quickly become just a memory; the Windrush generation did not make for the communities of the Severn Valley Benefice. Highley when I grew up was entirely white; I only encountered ethnic diversity in trips to Dudley. That was my background.

We are moulded by our background, often in ways we do not realise. It is only fairly recently in my life I have become properly aware of “subconscious bias”; the assumptions that we make that we never even think about. It comes from our own histories but is also how we evolved; we instinctively trust people “like us” on the grounds that they are more likely to be friendly. Indeed, 100,000 years ago this was probably a good survival strategy. Today it is much less helpful, however we might try rationalise it. Subconscious bias goes far beyond skin colour; it is everything from how another person speaks to how they dress. Jesus has something to say about not judging people by outward appearances. Perhaps just thinking about the term “Black History month” and how we react to it, is spiritual self-examination.

Rev David Poyner

We are pleased to announce the appointment of a new Rector for St Mary’s, Highley. Rev Kina Robertshaw will take up her post in April 2023. As more information becomes available we will, of course, post it on this website. Meanwhile, we welcome Rev Kina and look forward to her ministry to this village and the Benefice.

Living in the Moment

At the October Evening Service in Billingsley, the talk was given by Jane Peeler, a Reader from the Bridgnorth group of parishes and also an Anna Chaplain. Anna Chaplains minister to the spiritual needs of the elderly; a lot of their work is with individuals with various memory problems. Sometimes dementia leaves the sufferer in a very dark place but this is not always the case. Jane told of one of the people she visits who has severe memory loss, but when asked when he was most happy, after a long pause, he replied “right now”.

We often hear the phrase “living in the moment”. It can be trite; an attempt to distract from deep seated worries which may be very real and which will not go away. These do have to be faced. But in other contexts it takes on a different meaning. For Jane, the lesson was to give her friend her undivided attention at that instant, to share in his happiness as much as she could. Jesus also addressed this when he spoke about how we cannot add anything to our lives by worrying about the future. His point was that ultimately we can only trust to God; however difficult it is in the moment, however unreal it may seem at the time, the love of God is the only certainty that we have. Anna Chaplains are sustained by their trust in the unbreakable love of God and through this, they reach out to those they visit to help them find contentment and live fully in the moment.
Rev David Poyner