On Tuesday evening, 22nd March at 6pm there will be an open-air event (“Forest Church”) in Glazeley churchyard to mark the coming of spring. There will be readings, time for reflection and music and I will bless the soil in the churchyard and fields. All are welcome, whatever your faith, to join in and draw sustenance from being in nature. The event will last about 30 minutes; you might want to bring a chair or a blanket to sit on. Should the weather be “refreshing” rain, plan B is to retreat into the church and use our imaginations a little more….

The Refugees

It is impossible to avoid the images of the civilians fleeing from Ukraine; crossing a major river on a plank footway, the wait at stations for trains going east and then the scramble to get on. Then there is the misery of those still in the besieged cities; the cold, the hunger, to say nothing of the danger from bombs and shells. Poland seems in danger of being overwhelmed; the response of our own government does seem to be caught up in red-tape and form filling.

The Bible, and especially the Old Testament, has much to say about exile. At the heart of their faith, the ancient Hebrews had a memory of when they were captives, how God acted to bring them to safety from Egypt. And in historical times, they lived through a period of enslavement, when they were all taken into captivity in Babylon. The pain is recorded, especially in the psalms. And this led to a response; engrained in the Law was an obligation not just to look after the poor, the widow and the orphan, but also the “alien”, because “you were once aliens in the land of Egypt”.

And so we also have an obligation to help the refugees from Ukraine; something I suspect almost everyone agrees with. But inside me, I have an uncomfortable thought. When Russia was bombing Allepo in Syria, did I feel quite the same concern? Does our compassion extend in quite the same way to refugees who are not from Europe? From pride of race and creed, Good Lord deliver us.

Rev David Poyner

Ash Wednesday

Overshadowed by events in Ukraine, this week has seen Shrove Tuesday (pancake day) and Ash Wednesday, the events that between them mark the start of Lent. Lent is traditionally kept as a time for prayer and reflection within the church as we move to Easter and, again, there is much to pray and reflect on this year. Ash Wednesday gets its name from the service that takes place on that day, when each member of the congregation is marked in ashes with the sign of the cross on their forehead. For at least for a few hours, they very publicly carry the mark of the cross on their bodies. Ash is a sign of mourning; we pick up images from the Old Testament when we talk about wearing sackcloth and ashes to mark our distress at some event. The ashes themselves are traditionally made by burning the palm crosses left over from Palm Sunday the previous year. Then they were symbols of rejoicing, as believers remembered the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem at the start of Easter, greeted by palms. Now they are turned into signs of mourning. Perhaps this speaks of the speed at which moods can change and the fickleness of our nature; Jesus welcomed as a king on Sunday, crucified as a criminal on Friday.

This Lent, we watch helplessly as the towns and villages of Ukraine are turned to ashes by a hostile army; joining those destroyed in recent years in the Middle East. We can do very little to help in that situation but the ashes of Lent stand both as symbols of our shared humanity with those caught up in that conflict and as reminders of our obligations to fight in our own communities and in ourselves against the attitudes that have led to the invasion. “From all evil and mischief, from the crafts and assaults of the Devil… Good Lord, deliver us”.

Rev David Poyner

As the crisis in Ukraine deepens, this is a reminder that Billingsley Church and churchyard are always open for prayer, or simply as quiet places to sit and reflect.

Below is one of the psalms appointed for today, with a prayer afterwards; it seems appropriate when some rulers are following false gods.

Psalm 82

Refrain:   Arise, O God, and judge the earth.

1 God has taken his stand in the council of heaven; in the midst of the gods he gives judgement:

2 How long will you judge unjustly and show such favour to the wicked?

3 You were to judge the weak and the orphan; defend the right of the humble and needy;

4 Rescue the weak and the poor; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. R

5 They have no knowledge or wisdom; they walk on still in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

6 Therefore I say that though you are gods and all of you children of the Most High,

7 Nevertheless, you shall die like mortals and fall like one of their princes.’

8 Arise, O God and judge the earth, for it is you that shall take all nations for your possession.

Refrain: Arise, O God, and judge the earth.

God our deliverer, when the foundations are shaken and justice has departed, defend the poor and needy and give your people strength to fight all wrong in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.