St Mary's, Highley

Miserable Sinners

I finished my sermon for this coming Sunday a few days ago. It will be the first Sunday in Lent, the time when Christians are called to be especially disciplined in their spiritual life, to prepare for Easter. And the sermon does include some stirring words on this topic. Then I heard “Thought for the Day” this Wednesday, Ash Wednesday. The speaker talked about what she called “that unfashionable topic” of sin. And I realised I had forgotten something in my sermon… The word “sin” often has negative associations; of a vengeful God, taking our his anger on us; in some presentations, killing his own son to satisfy his own wrath and indignation. Particularly those like myself who would consider ourselves to be liberal Christians find it much easier to talk about God’s unconditional love. There is however a danger in this, that we ignore part of who we really are and our need to change. Each day we are all faced with moral choices with our words and actions; if I am honest, by this evening I will probably have said something, however briefly, that I will regret. I can pretty well guarantee I will have had some ungracious thoughts about individuals. Hopefully there will be no great consequences as a result of any of these, not least because the people I may speak harshly to, or think of badly, will probably have done the same themselves, if not to me then to someone else. At its heart, sin is about our own inevitable failings. Lent is an opportunity to think about the big questions of existence and that includes are own inability to act and think as we know we should. Sadly, this is one of things that binds us all together; it is part of our common humanity. I am called to be honest about myself, but my faith as a Christian is that, with the help of God, I can daily work to change who I am and be forgiven.

Rev David Poyner

Valentine’s Day and Lent

This year, Valentine’s day falls on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Anyone for a romantic candlelit dinner with the beloved, but no wine and certainly no chocolate? I suppose, if it were all by candlelight, your beloved might not see you surreptitiously drinking a glass of wine and eating a chocolate bar. Perhaps thoughts like that explain why I’m single… There is not an obvious connection between Lent and Valentine’s Day, but fortunately my colleague, the Rev Val Smith has been thinking about this and, slightly adapting her musings, I think I can see a link.

On Valentine’s Day, we celebrate romantic love which is grounded in commitment between two people. It is not about a one-nightstand; all passion but no love.  It celebrates love that involves commitment, that requires work and sacrifice and it is not to be entered into lightly.  Likewise Lent  is a celebration, of commitment, in this case, commitment between God and ourselves. It is a time when we are encouraged to explore more deeply our own spirituality; to recognise it needs discipline and perhaps sacrifice. But from a Christian perspective, it is about mutual love and a God who, through the man Jesus, sacrificed himself out of love for us.

Rev David Poyner

Singing

Many years ago, I used to attend a church in Finchley in London. One Sunday, the vicar, Pat Brock, preached on the valley of the dry bones; the prophet Ezekiel has a vision of a valley full of scattered human bones that miraculously come together to become again living people. Pat was a marvellous preacher and he finished his vivid description of this with a detail of his own; “I know, that once it had happened, there would be singing”. Pat was drawing on his own experience as a soldier in the “Desert Rats”, the 8th army that fought in North Africa in the Second World War. He had been in the great battles, for four days he had been adrift in boat, escaping the advancing German army. Pat knew how people respond to crisis, death and danger. Snging is an important part of that; it releases emotions, binds us to others. Through the music, it communicates in ways that spoken words alone cannot, it connects those singing. There is no such thing as a person who cannot sing; some may be better able to hold a tune than others, but we all can make our own music when we open our mouths and that is precious.

We sing hymns in church for a reason. There have been many services where the only thing that has spoken to me has been the hymns. We of course, do not need to go to church to sing; just go to a football match to see the power of singing. And in church, we do not restrict singing to services. Some churches host community choirs, where people can sing all kinds of music, simply for the joy of singing. In our local churches, we have the Daddy’s Hat events. From Spring to Autumn, usually on the 3rd Saturday of the month, for an hour from 3pm, local musicians will come to one of our churches to perform. They do so for the joy of making music. And at all those events, we sing together; it may be a hymn, something from Leonard Cohen or the sounds of sixties; it has even been “Just one cornetto”. It really does matter. It uplifts all of us who take part. Just sing.

Rev David Poyner

Just Wars, Far and Near

The war in Ukraine will soon enter its 3rd year and is currently in a stale-mate that resembles the First World War. In Gaza, in addition to 1200 or so Israeli civilians killed in the initial attack, we now have the deaths of around 25.000 Palestinians and over 250 Israeli soldiers; as far as I can tell, the military operation has rescued only a very small number of the hostages.

Traditionally the church has judged conflicts according to the criteria of the “just war”. There are some Christians who regard this phrase as a contradiction in terms and oppose any military action. I disagree, but then I have to make a whole series of moral judgements; is the action proportionate? Will it succeed? Overall, will it ultimately do more good than harm. For what it is worth, I think that the conflict in Gaza now does not meet those criteria. However, my views on that or any other international conflict will have very little influence over what actually happens and I may be wrong. But perhaps it is more useful to think of the ideas of a just war when it comes to our own personal wars; those situations where we are in conflict with others. The same set of judgements need to be made; what will be the consequences if we escalate the dispute? Is the battle worth fighting or is it better to back down? As in the international sphere,  these are not always easy to answer. However, if we do think through our own conflicts and their consequences as rationally as we can, our decisions here will influence situations we can change.

Rev David Poyner