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A Word from The Rector . . .
October
2011 |
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Dear Friends
If you could be God for a day what would
you do?
Most of us, I suspect would say
something about ending wars or eliminating hunger, deposing dictators,
rescuing the environment or enforcing honesty in government. On a
more personal level we would heal those we care about and hold back
death from those we love.
So many things in the world could
benefit from divine intervention.
A Christian Aid cartoon has a
character saying to a friend, "I'd like to ask God what he's doing about
the situation in the world."
"Why don't you?", his friend replies.
"Because I'm afraid he might ask me the same question".
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And that's the rub, its easy to ask why
God doesn't do something and neglect to do something ourselves within
the proper scale of our life and our energy.
Obviously, we don't have the ability to
accomplish worldwide change or have supernatural powers that would
enable us to instantly annihilate the pain we see all around us, but in
the proper scale of our lives, our energy and our abilities, we can take
whatever steps we can - finite, perhaps insignificant - towards making a
difference. We can minimize negative impacts on the environment.
We can decline to be dictated to. We can demand accountability,
transparency, and even intelligence, from our elected representatives.
We can extend comfort to those in distress.
We cannot possibly grasp and resolve
the whole of the pulsing, complicated organism that is our world and in
fact its not our job, but we do need, however, to resolve to make a
difference where we can, in our own world; or as someone has put it, to
become that messy, imperfect, gorgeous thing, that drop of washing
up liquid in the sinkful of water away from which the grease scampers
and leaps. I think he's asking us to be a squirt!
I noted a comment in a newspaper
lately, "When you stay in your room and rage or sneer or shrug your
shoulders, the world and its problems are impossibly daunting. But
when you go out and put yourself in real relation to real people, or
even just real animals, there's a very real danger you might love some of
them. And who knows what might happen to you then? |
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It is one of the mysteries at the heart
of the world in which we live that God clearly does not arbitrarily do
the things we expect God to do. God does not put an end to wars.
Or wave a magic wand and mend the environment. Or banish greed.
Or make everyone honest and trustworthy. And because God doesn't do
these things, an increasing number of people deny that there is a God at
all. But perhaps God does exactly what were able to do, get into
relation to people, animals, plants, planets, to care about them, even
to fall in love with them, and to encourage them, in response, to love
each other. That is especially
true at harvest time as we contemplate all that God has provided for us.
Its not there simply for our selfish enjoyment but to be responsibly
managed and generously shared. I hope you will join in that
sharing through the Harvest Gift envelope. Once again I am
suggesting we channel that money towards Paul and Tanya Baker, our link
missionary partners in Kiwoko Hospital, Uganda.
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The work they do amongst the very poorest
is enormous and life changing. I appreciate too that many of you,
like we do at the Rectory give to other charitable organizations beyond
the church, but it would be wonderful if everybody gave even a little as
a united response to a wonderful enterprise and to assure Paul and Tanya
that they are in our thoughts and prayers.
Please note the dates for
Harvest
Thanksgiving this year they are slightly different from normal.
Harvest will end with a bang, literally, as we have our 'Bangers and
Bangers' evening on Friday 28 October.
Parish Centre. As I sit
down at the computer to write this I am still unable to confirm a date
for the opening of the Parish Centre and I can appreciate that as each
month goes past the sense of both anticipation and, to some extent,
frustration grows. Having followed the build closely over these
past months I can understand our contractor's reluctance to commit
themselves, the extent of the build and the difficulty of the site have
provided them with a number of unwelcome surprises but nevertheless we
are approaching the moment when we might expect the progress towards
completion to be more straightforward.
Very importantly the roof has been
completed, so the whole building is now watertight and the screed has
been poured to the annexe and store rooms and, as this takes at least
four weeks to 'cure', it is encouraging that this has taken place more
or less to schedule.
Best wishes,
Ronnie |
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