This page has the latest thought from our Vicar Marcus, followed by the latest Diocesan letter.
Vicar’s Thought for the month of November 2024
Marcus is on sabbatical, so this month’s thought is from the Rev. Katie Smith.
It has been a joy to be able to gather together in fellowship for our Harvest services. Thank you to all who made these occasions special by decorating the churches, hospitality and music.
We are now coming to the end of the church year: ‘All Saints’ Day and the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed on All Souls’ Day both celebrate our sense of belonging in this one community.
All Saints’ Day celebrates men and women in whose lives the Church as a whole has seen the grace of God powerfully at work. The Commemoration of the Faithful Departed celebrates the saints in a more local and intimate key. It allows us to remember with thanksgiving before God those whom we have known more directly: those who gave us life, or who nurtured us in faith.’
Remembrance Sunday continues to explore the theme of memory, both corporate and individual, as we confront issues of war and peace, loss, memory and forgetting. A time to reflect on how we can all be peacemakers, maybe not on a worldwide stage but in our families and communities.
The year that began in Advent 2023 and the hope of the coming of the Messiah, through the tears of the crucifixion, joy of the resurrection at Easter finishes with the Feast of Christ the King. November is a time of reflection and a time of change. Nature itself lets go of the old, the Leaves turning into their Autumn hues. A good time to think of what we want to ’let go’ to allow space for the promise of the new to come.
The church of England year begins at Advent with a new cycle of prayer and readings, this will be year ‘C’. The Gospel of Luke is the focus. How about making this the year you read through a whole Gospel?
Every blessing,
Katie
Letter for November 2024 from the Bishop of Hereford
A Christian poet once wrote, “History repeats itself; it has to, no-one listens!” These are words we do well to remember in our current international climate, with wars in the middle east and Ukraine. As we remember the great conflicts of the 20th century and the political context that led to those wars there has been some progress, in the west at least. A lot of the warlike rhetoric and posturing; the appeal to patriotism, and the sense of our individual identities being tied up with national ones seems strange and dated. At the time, these attitudes combined with the arrogance of empire were a toxic combination that led to the horrific conflict with the loss of so many lives. However, elements of these attitudes remain. We always prefer our own tribe. There is an alienation that has opened people to the rise of the far right with its attempt to blame all our ills on immigration. A knowledge of history shows where these things can end up.
Christians are instructed to pray for our political leaders and to live in peace where we can, but one of the things that got the early Christians into trouble was their political subversion. There will always be elements of our culture and politics we want to affirm, but there will be others we want to challenge. Early Christian worship declared that Caesar wasn’t Lord; Jesus was. That sort of talk could (and did) get them killed. The personal security that sustained this courage was a conviction that they were first and foremost citizens of heaven. In Jesus they had experienced the power of the other country breaking into their experience. We will remember our national tragedies and sacrifice on Remembrance Day. But every Sunday we remember a tragedy and sacrifice that turned into a glorious victory. Christ’s death. It points us to the ultimate powerlessness of violence to achieve real change. It subverts the doctrine that might is right. Sadly, it may take a lot of bloodshed for that to come home to Hamas, Hezbollah, the Israeli government and the Russian army.
With best wishes
Richard +