This page has the latest thought from our Vicar Marcus, followed by the latest Diocesan letter.
Vicar’s Thought for the month of March 2025
During Lent our minds perhaps turn to thoughts of the desert, and maybe later, to God. When we hear the word ‘desert’ we might think of those hot, arid places, with little water and much sun, well yes, but not necessarily. A desert is simply a deserted place. When we think of the desert in Lent, we are thinking of the Judean wilderness in which Jesus is said to have spent his quarantine, his forty days and forty nights. In my mind’s eye, and I have never been there, this is a wilderness of mountainous and yet rounded hills, fissured by deep ravines, set underneath a huge sky.
Apart from the lack of grass and other vegetation, photographs of the Judean Desert remind me of the chalk down-land landscape of Wiltshire in which I grew up. Like the limestone hills of the Judean Desert, the downs are made of a type of limestone – chalk, and so are shaped in a similar manner by water. I have the same feeling looking out towards the Black Mountains as well. A desert, then, is a place in which one can be alone, quiet.
What kind of god might we envisage in these kinds of wilderness? The sky, at least, on the top of them, is wide, and the land bare. The word ‘God’ comes from an indo-Germanic word, meaning the one on whom we call. It is therefore a title and not a name. When Moses encountered the God of Israel in the desert, he asked this God, not unreasonably, who he was. He sought to know the name of name of this God. He received the reply ‘I am what I am’. In other words, ‘I will not be named and therefore limited to what ever that name means’. When someone is named they receive something of their personhood, and as persons who are discrete and boundaried and we relate to other things as personal. It’s natural then to relate to God as personal. But as I look out at those big skies and the fairly feature-less landscape of Down or Desert, and I remember the God of Israel who refuses to be named, who refuses to be boundaried and ‘controlled’ and who’s shrine in the temple is an empty space. I am minded to say that whilst we may call upon a person, the God who hears is beyond person and description.
Every Blessing, Marcus
Letter for March 2025 from the Dean of Hereford
As we begin Lent you might think that there is nothing new to say about this period of the church year. As I was reflecting on what I would write I was reminded that March 2025 also marks the twentieth anniversary return of one of my favourite cultural icons. Doctor Who returned to our television screens on 26th March 2005 and a whole new generation of children and adults were introduced to what has and continues to be a British cultural phenomenon on a par with Sherlock Holmes. Even if you don’t like it and science fiction isn’t your thing it has even generated entries in the Oxford English Dictionary with Dalek and Tardis now part of our language.
You might be thinking what has Doctor Who and lent have in common and to be fair on the face of it very little! Yet at the heart of Doctor Who is the important idea of ‘regeneration’ by which the Doctor changes his or her appearance and is completely renewed. The Christian faith also has regeneration at the heart of its message. Lent is an opportunity for each of us to open ourselves up to the power of God to bring spiritual regeneration in our lives. Lent is traditionally a period of self reflection, abstinence and discipline which are not words which create a lot of excitement in our very instant society yet it is these very straightforward spiritual disciplines that lead to spiritual growth and help us to deepen our faith in God. St Paul writing to the early church in Rome challenges us to be renewed and regenerated:
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
The New Testament writers recognised that it is only when our inner spiritual life is brought to life that at pattern of behaviour, thoughts and way of living is radically changed to become more like Jesus. Lent allows us the space and time to reflect on how we live and seek God’s forgiveness and strength to turn our lives in a different direction. The bible calls this repentance but in effect it means turning our lives in a completely new direction and living God’s way rather than our own way. God will never force us or compel us to choose to live according to the rules of the kingdom but instead he stands ready to bring us spiritual regeneration when we turn to him. This is what is meant by John in his gospel when he talks about being born again. This is not some evangelical American term but the words of Jesus to Nicodemus when he enquires about how to live God’s way.
“Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” John 3:1-3
As you approach this coming Lent why not give yourself the time to examine your life and faith and allow the Holy Spirit to challenge and change you to be more like Jesus. It is only when we invite God to help us to live according to his values and to help us lay aside the things that hinder our journey with him that we can truly begin to become the people that God has created us to be and to fulfil the potential he has given us. This is true regeneration that is life changing and life affirming and enables us as followers of Jesus to be signposts of the kingdom in our communities. Paul in his letter to Titus sums this up perfectly:
“But when the kindness and the love of God our Saviour toward us appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, …” Titus 3:4-6
As we begin our Lentern journey rather than give something up we should instead seek to take something up and ask God to begin afresh the process of regeneration in each of us as we seek to journey together and grow in our faith.
The Venerable Derek Chedzey