St Mary's, Highley

Cooking Beans

A colleague at work this week posted on his Facebook page what I believe is a classic Chinese poem, first published in 430AD and called Quatrain of Seven Steps, apparently because it could be recited whilst walking just seven paces. Wikipedia has the full story. The author imagines beans, being boiled over a fire, calling out to the bean roots, which are being burnt to make the heat.
Beans are boiled to make broth, Pulses are filtered to extract juice.
Under the pot the beanstalks burn, In the pot the beans weep.
“We are born of the self-same root, Why in such a rush to cook me?”
The poem is said to have been written in response to the threat of civil war and is essentially an appeal for the ruler of the victorious party to be merciful in his treatment to the losers; the poet is reminding him of his common humanity with the vanquished. The confirmation of killings of civilians in Ukraine by Russian forces shows us what happens when individuals forget this and see only enemies, not fellow humans made in the image of God.
Rev David Poyner

The Slap at the Oscars

On Monday this week, I switched on Radio 4 at 7am for the news and found it dominated by the story from the Oscars; actor Will Smith hitting compere Chris Rock after Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife. Now film and TV would not be my specialist subject on Mastermind and whilst even I have heard of Will Smith, I had no idea who Chris Rock was. But the story has continued to roll, even on Radio 4.

From what I have subsequently discovered, it appears Messrs Smith and Rock have previous form; once friends, they fell out some years ago. As far as I can tell, the general reaction has been to condemn Smith’s violence, whilst perhaps having some sympathy for his anger. There seems some sadness that the ceremony will not be remembered for Smith’s Oscar, but for his temper; perhaps a man trapped by past events.

My own reflections on this story lead to the story of another slap; that given to the face Jesus by those who judged him before the court of the High Priest, after his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. But Jesus, who famously taught that his disciples should literally turn the other cheek in response to an attack, made no show of anger and raised no voice of protest. He simply absorbed the insults and violence and, from the cross, forgave. Perhaps the parties to the Oscar slap may also learn how forgiveness can free them from the past.

Rev David Poyner

Mothering Sunday

This Sunday (27th) is Mothering Sunday; “Mother’s day” as greeting card makers usually put it. Whatever we call it, it is usually a time when we remember mothers, especially our own. This is good, especially if it is done remembering that the relationship between mother and child may have been difficult for some. But there is another aspect that is often neglected. Before Mothering Sunday ever became a celebration of mothers, it was a time when people remembered the place they came from and in particular the parish church they attended. This was their “mother church”, and, at its best, it was the place where small communities would come together; the people who attended that would be part of the wider, extended family to all the children growing up together. So Mothering Sunday was a recognition that individuals were part of something more than immediate family. Now the parish church has largely lost that role, but there is an important truth that still holds; we are more than individuals; we have connections with each other. As refugees pour out of Ukraine, from Syria and the Middle East, as our food banks creek under the strain and the cost of living rockets, we need to remember we are not just related to our immediate family.

Rev David Poyner

The Deeper Rythm

“Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing.”

Thus Kenneth Grahame, in “The Wind in the Willows”, marks the arrival of another season in the life of Mole. And if it penetrated the subterrain dwelling of Mole, it has also made its way into the equally closed recesses of my inner being; I have commenced operations in the garden. And somewhere in Ukraine, alongside the missiles, flowers will be blooming, birds will be nesting, just as they did two years as Covid first gripped us in this country. We live our lives on a bigger canvas, where nature follows its own rhythms, in spite of our impact on the planet. Kenneth Graham talks of spring having a “divine” spirit, the discontent and longing perhaps reflecting the way we can draw from its example to make a fresh start. Perhaps we also draw strength from its constancy; you do need to believe in the literal truth of the story of Noah’s flood to stand alongside the ancient Hebrews in their awe that seed time and harvest do not fail, that the seasons still follow each other. Many who do not call themselves religious none-the-less find something spiritual in this pattern, that stands above the traumas and happenings of everyday life.

On Tuesday evening at 6pm a small group of us will meet in Glazeley churchyard to seek meaning in the renewal of spring. I will bless the soil in the churchyard and fields; as a Christian priest I will do this with words that draw on Jesus’s parable of the sower. But all are welcome, to draw sustenance from the miracle of rebirth that happens every year.

Rev David Poyner