VIEW FROM THE PEW
February/March 2018
Lesley Coates Jones
From all at St Matthew's, Stalling Busk, a very Happy New Year and a big thank you to all who helped to make Christmas at Stalling Busk so memorable and enjoyable. A true celebration of the love of God, being brought to His people, as a vulnerable child, born in very humble conditions into a world as fragile as parts of ours continues to be today. The long awaited Christ child whose undoubted influence and significance (long before the sometimes questionable benefits of publicity, social media hype and notion of “celebrity”) has changed the lives of people ever since is a fact difficult to dispute.
It is worth reflecting, in these sceptical times, when we are constantly fed the theory that the church and religion are on the decline, that so many ecclesiastical words and customs are embraced so wholeheartedly. Quite recently, I heard someone say,” It was a real epiphany for me” describing something which had taken them by surprise, and I thought how many words directly rooted in the faith, have found their way into every day conversation without us perhaps noticing. Epiphany is a wonderful word describing a wonder-filled event, linked to the star which led the wise men/ or Kings to that lowly birth. Bringing both their gifts and their wisdom, That Light must have been a scientific phenomenon in that time and heralding He who was the light of the world. I was quickly made aware, as a young art student many years ago, that without light, there is in fact, no colour. As creative people we have been drawn to light and the play of light over countless centuries, and as Christian people we are told “Not to hide our light under a bushel “but to let it shine”.
Light promotes growth and helps us to share our gifts just as the wise men did before us. And those ever inspiring words seem so appropriate. “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven”. The Epiphany story make it abundantly clear, that the Saviour was not just sent for the Jews has had been previously indicated from the earlier scriptures in the Old Testament but was for the gentiles as well. The salvation offered was, and is, for all people. In these days of xenophobic attitudes, convincing ourselves that we are somehow “The Master Race”. and better than others of a different colour or creed, etc, that is a very telling message for us to ponder.
As Epiphany heralds the rest of the gospel story to follow, it is appropriate that it runs parallel to the natural world beginning to look to lighter days, each dusk becoming a little later than the one before, and the first welcome signs of snowdrops and crocus making their appearance. If we, as those who attempt to follow His wonderful bidding, can help to spread a little light in our own world, it will be a step along that journey we all seek to make. Light illuminates Love and Love is the gospel message. Lightness of spirit is just as contagious as the opposite, a smile often encourages another to smile, (and costs nothing). Maybe a good New Year Resolution would be to embrace light and let it shine into the corners of our lives that may have become rather dingy.
As a follow on from the revelations of the beginning of the Christian year we celebrate a traditional time of fasting during Lent to prepare our spiritual lives for the most important festival in a believer's calendar: EASTER.
So what of Lent then? Again a time which has been adopted by the secular world to “give up” the strangest things, sometimes things which seem impossible and some things, frankly, which most of us would have no difficulty with at all!
One of my older granddaughters and her boyfriend where visiting with the family last week and I became drawn into their conversation. He was curious to know what her take was on Lent and also what I had to say. She has been brought up in a Quaker tradition, my views pretty straight forward Anglican, and he was really trying to find out what Lent meant to us, and why. It was a lively and interesting discussion. The upshot was we all felt a time of reflection was valuable to everyone, and that although it might be good to” Give something up “for Lent (possibly more for waistlines than spiritual wellbeing) it would be just as profitable to try do an extra kindness each day.
How much better the world might be if that were to become a regular habit! God Bless, and keep the best Lent you can.
It is worth reflecting, in these sceptical times, when we are constantly fed the theory that the church and religion are on the decline, that so many ecclesiastical words and customs are embraced so wholeheartedly. Quite recently, I heard someone say,” It was a real epiphany for me” describing something which had taken them by surprise, and I thought how many words directly rooted in the faith, have found their way into every day conversation without us perhaps noticing. Epiphany is a wonderful word describing a wonder-filled event, linked to the star which led the wise men/ or Kings to that lowly birth. Bringing both their gifts and their wisdom, That Light must have been a scientific phenomenon in that time and heralding He who was the light of the world. I was quickly made aware, as a young art student many years ago, that without light, there is in fact, no colour. As creative people we have been drawn to light and the play of light over countless centuries, and as Christian people we are told “Not to hide our light under a bushel “but to let it shine”.
Light promotes growth and helps us to share our gifts just as the wise men did before us. And those ever inspiring words seem so appropriate. “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven”. The Epiphany story make it abundantly clear, that the Saviour was not just sent for the Jews has had been previously indicated from the earlier scriptures in the Old Testament but was for the gentiles as well. The salvation offered was, and is, for all people. In these days of xenophobic attitudes, convincing ourselves that we are somehow “The Master Race”. and better than others of a different colour or creed, etc, that is a very telling message for us to ponder.
As Epiphany heralds the rest of the gospel story to follow, it is appropriate that it runs parallel to the natural world beginning to look to lighter days, each dusk becoming a little later than the one before, and the first welcome signs of snowdrops and crocus making their appearance. If we, as those who attempt to follow His wonderful bidding, can help to spread a little light in our own world, it will be a step along that journey we all seek to make. Light illuminates Love and Love is the gospel message. Lightness of spirit is just as contagious as the opposite, a smile often encourages another to smile, (and costs nothing). Maybe a good New Year Resolution would be to embrace light and let it shine into the corners of our lives that may have become rather dingy.
As a follow on from the revelations of the beginning of the Christian year we celebrate a traditional time of fasting during Lent to prepare our spiritual lives for the most important festival in a believer's calendar: EASTER.
So what of Lent then? Again a time which has been adopted by the secular world to “give up” the strangest things, sometimes things which seem impossible and some things, frankly, which most of us would have no difficulty with at all!
One of my older granddaughters and her boyfriend where visiting with the family last week and I became drawn into their conversation. He was curious to know what her take was on Lent and also what I had to say. She has been brought up in a Quaker tradition, my views pretty straight forward Anglican, and he was really trying to find out what Lent meant to us, and why. It was a lively and interesting discussion. The upshot was we all felt a time of reflection was valuable to everyone, and that although it might be good to” Give something up “for Lent (possibly more for waistlines than spiritual wellbeing) it would be just as profitable to try do an extra kindness each day.
How much better the world might be if that were to become a regular habit! God Bless, and keep the best Lent you can.
