St Mary's, Highley

Consequences

This week, the late Dr Abbas Khan has featured in the news. Dr Khan was a UK surgeon who went to Syria in 2012 to treat victims of the civil war. There he was arrested and died in custody. He was perhaps, a kind of a martyr, losing his life whilst saving others. However, the reason the story is now in the news is because it has a sequel. It inspired  the then 15 year old Karim al-Jian, born in Syria but raised in the UK, to study medicine. Karim has just qualified and met the family of Dr Khan to tell them how he had been so influenced by Dr Khan’s life and death. As far as I know, Dr Khan’s family were completely unaware of this. 

There are many people who we meet once or twice and never see again. We have no idea what impact we make on them. Probably in most cases neither they, nor we, remember the encounter. But occasionally, we may make a difference; something as simple as a smile or a brief word of support may be a life-line. In vicar-speak, by these brief acts, we open the way for God, the Holy Spirit, to act, even though we almost certainly will never know what we have made possible. Around 2500 years ago, an individual known today as Deutero-Isaiah wrote these words, now part of the Book of Isaiah in the Bible: 

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,  neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord… 

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish…. so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” 

Rev David Poyner

There is a danger that any church can become so obsessed with its own existence and a narrow focus on “saving souls”, that it forgets Jesus’s teaching on loving others; the parable of the Good Samaritan is there to remind us we need to look outwards to serve and be served. At Billingsley, we try and offer financial support to one or two causes each year, one local and one further afield. This year, our local cause is the Borderlands Rural Chaplaincy, an agency that offers support to those of all faiths and none who are struggling in rural communities such as ourselves. Below is an extract from their website, https://www.borderchaplain.org/ If you are able, remember their work in your prayers. 

Borderlands Rural Chaplains work in Herefordshire, Shropshire and Eastern Powys. We are a confidential, listening ear offering pastoral support to farmers, farming families and agricultural communities.  Since our inception in 2013 we have helped over 100 individuals and families through difficult situations such as animal disease, family problems, mental ill-health and the demands of farming processes. Funded, supported and managed by churches of different denominations including Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal and Anglican, we assist in various ways from a one-off phone call to on-going pastoral care. We collaborate with national agencies who can assist farmers with emergency finance. 

Working alongside other agencies such as the Farming Community Network, Shropshire Rural Support, The Arthur Rank Centre and The National Farmers’ Union, we are “church without walls”, committed to serving our rural populations.

Re David Poyner

Jesus summarised all the teaching in the Old Testament in two commandments; to love God with all our heart and to love others (our “neighbours”) as ourselves. Jesus stretched the boundaries of who we should consider “neighbours” to include those we do not like and by his example, showed us what it means to live for others. We are now faced with decisions that never occurred in Jesus’s day as we move away from the Covid restrictions, particularly on masks and social distancing. I have to say that in recent weeks, I’ve sometimes pushed the boundaries of the law, where I am with people, who like myself, are fully vaccinated. But, much as I dislike masks, I do worry those who are vulnerable but who cannot have the vaccine; masks do not protect the wearer, they do help those around them. Perhaps this prayer, adapted from the Church of England Daily Office, is appropriate. Lord God, you pour out your love on all humanity. Help us, by small acts of restraint and self-discipline, to share your love amongst all those who we meet. For the sake of your son, who gave himself for us and for others. Amen

Rev David Poyner