Jigsaw pieces, and tunnels

He was very understanding and patient with me. I had taken his wife's funeral, my first, and called on him once a week to see how he was getting on. As he trimmed a hedge, he told me he was doing fine and I no longer needed to visit.

I had fallen into the trap of feeling that my responsibility was far greater than needed. A wise book put me right. You and I place just a few pieces into the pictures of others' lives; we shouldn't attempt to do the whole thing. What a relief!

Why can't we trust God to sort things out. After all, if he created and sustains the universe, working the detail of our lives is nothing. It may be that the piece of the jigsaw that reveals the full picture is placed there by a total stranger, or a child, or just falls into place. Then the view is clear and faith blossoms.

Occasionally we have the extraordinary privilege of placing key jigsaw pieces at the right moment. Once I told an angry man, who was trapped inside his body by a stroke, that Jesus on the cross knew what it was to be unable to move. That man found a real faith that made a difference. He had fallen out with his son years before, and asked me to write to him. There was a genuine reconciliation, followed not long afterwards by death with sins wiped clean.

It also means there's no panic when it comes to timing. When the first followers of Jesus realised that he had genuinely come alive again, you'd think they would be commissioned to tell everyone. Yet Jesus told them to wait until empowered by his Spirit. In contrast, Mary, the first person to meet the risen Jesus, was told to tell others straight away.

Knowing and trusting God's timing is key. There will be periods when life is manic and our first priority is survival, looking after ourselves. It may be we can't survive without others assisting. It can feel like going into a tunnel, without any glimpse of light from the other end. There's no picture on the jigsaw lid to use as a guide, and all the pieces make a mess.

But tides turn and we will almost certainly find ourselves having opportunity to give to others. We have so much to learn from others, and a small part to play in their lives. Together we can discover more depth and beauty in God's amazing world.

Barbie, the Pope, and walls

Hurray! Barbie has been remodelled
I've never owned a doll and don't intend to, but I am aware of women whose self-esteem has been crushed by trying to conform to the image of a stick insect. The one size is everybody doll has done much damage.

http://boingboing.net/2016/01/29/young-girls-react-to-seeing-th.html

Now Barbie is manufactured in a range of sizes, colours, and looks. The image is still too thin in my book, but the change is a step in the right direction. Being comfortable in your own skin is an important gift.

The second great command common to Jews, Muslims, and Christians is first recorded in Leviticus. That's one of the first five books in the Old Testament part of the Bible, sometimes called the Torah. We know it well: 'Love your neighbour as you love yourself'.

We may not realise that it is an invitation to love ourselves, in order that we can love others. This is quite different from selfishness. It's about self worth, and can energise us to love others.

The Pope wants bridges
I found the contrast between the Pope and Donald Trump at one level rather amusing. At another, Pope Francis has put his finger on something really important. Trump promised to build a wall between the USA and Mexico to keep illegals out. The Pope said that Christians should build bridges.

By Diliff - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34168215

There is much talk about building walls in our world, to keep people out. Not many generations ago they were being built to keep people in! I don't know how you felt when the Berlin wall was ripped down; I felt slightly less embarrassed to be a member of the human race. Splitting a city in two, dividing families, causing air lifts ~ it was all crazy. Thank God that wall came down.

Walls are going up around Israel, across parts of Europe, and elsewhere. They shame us because they are evidence that we can't work out ways to share the only planet we have. In the debate about the UK possibly leaving Europe, I believe that whatever happens we must not build unnecessary walls. After all, Europe came together to prevent a repeat of the horrific destruction caused by two World Wars.

Of course we should consider what's best now, but it's wise to remember our history too. I profoundly agree with the Pope, that we should build bridges not walls.

Forgiveness is an art. You can try too hard. It's a gift from God, part of the Easter message, and I believe it enables us to build well for generations to come.

TW'sV on 'power of love' over 'love of power'

True love overcomes the love of power
We need more situations where the 'power of love' eats the 'love of power'. Much of the strife between nations, or communities, or families is about loving power. North Korea is an extreme case, but in terms of the span of history Nazi Germany was only five minutes ago.

There are lesser examples which sap our energy. People absorbed by themselves are tedious, and we shouldn't waste time on them. Titus is a short book in the New Testament section of the Bible, and its third chapter speaks of giving difficult people a couple of chances but then not getting hooked in by them.

What of the future?
I've been padre to the Air Training Corps for 18 years, and at our last session asked the cadets what they thought of Isis or Daesh. It should be wiped out. And then they added something wise: another group will soon come along.

Wikipedia lists around 200 designated terrorist groups, from Baader-Meinhof, Black Hand, al-Qaeda to Boko Haram. Some may not being so active now. All struggle for power, and there is no doubt that a few have a righteous cause while others love power beyond any sense of reason.

Easter love is stronger than death

Let's draw on Easter love to be a people whose actions speak louder than than our words. This month we celebrate Good Friday and Easter Day, apparent disastrous failure followed by new life. Jesus Christ risen from the dead. It lies at the heart of the Christian faith, and is the source of the 'power of love' which erodes the 'love of power'.

By the way I am one of many who think that fixing Easter to a particular month in the year makes sense. But Easter is too good to only celebrate once a year. Every Sunday is designed to be a mini-Easter, however 52 are not enough. We need to live Easter every day.

Honest feedback sources are gold dust
Philip Elliott, our new team vicar was licensed by Bishop Nicholas at St Nicholas & St Laurence Primary School. It was a wholesome do, with welcomes from our mayor, Friends of Upwey (International?) railway station, the snooker club, and other local representatives.

However, I was particularly pleased by a conversation with the bishop's driver, who said it was the best he had been to! and he attends many. 'Why was that?', I asked. 'Because it was real'.


Everything could have run smoothly, without a word fluffed, or a person out of place. And yet it might have been just hollow ritual. What made it real were the people involved having integrity, and doing their best. I think it was also a touch of humility.

TW'sV on words, prayer, & EU

Words are funny things because they move about. Man used to mean mankind or the male of the species, but now it is very gender powerful. We leave the man off chairman. Meanwhile guy has been travelling in the opposite direction. We used to talk of guys and girls, now we can cover both with guys. I'm confused!

However the Word never changes. That famous Bible passage read every Christmas describes Jesus as the Word that became flesh:

'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.'

In a world where fashions change, or words morph their meaning, it is reassuring to know that God is changeless. He can be our reference point, our solid rock

Prayers have so many shapes, and as I have read those written on Christmas or prayer trees it has been a privilege to add an Amen. Some have been deeply personal, almost private. Others more general, longing for peace in our troubled world and so on. Many have been offering thanks to God. They reflect all the emotions and aspirations appropriate to our all powerful God, who chose to show himself in the frailty of a baby.

Trees are good places to tie ribbons or labels that mean something to us. Of course Churches are too. After all they are 'houses of prayer', but that doesn't mean just a collection of interesting stone or brick structures. They need to be lived in, and that takes a pattern and rhythm of praying that is far more than just Sundays.

In the Register or on www.ridgeway.org.uk you can find the details of the prayer opportunities across our sister Churches. Make yourself at home. You are welcome to turn up at any of those published ... and on Sundays too.

But there's one more invitation. Privacy and quiet may be important. Often our Churches are open but empty, and a trickle of people call every day. At Holy Trinity, Bincombe you will find squash welcoming you in the porch. So, please, come on in and help us keep these places prayer-full.

There's something missing in the EU debate which we must never overlook. We will decide whether to stay in or leave in a referendum later this year. We must never forget why it was formed. It has been said that more blood was spilt in Europe last century than in all the preceding ones put together. Many millions died, often in horrific circumstances. This ghastly evil infected many other countries in the two World Wars. The symmetric graves in thousands of cemeteries mock our failure.

The European Union was born to get warring factions working and sharing together. So whatever your political view, may I strongly urge you to put our future peace into the equation. At the moment the debate is severely impoverished by the most important consideration.

TW'sV on celebrating life

A couple of generations ago home births were the norm, with midwives bombing around on bicycles. Husbands boiled the kettle and put newspaper on the floor. It was a public event.

 (c) Neal Street Productions

Then came along maternity homes, when often husbands were excluded. I was only allowed in for good behaviour, and spent some time waiting in a draughty porch. Next maternity units in hospitals made us almost think that having a child was some form of disease!?

It was a Frenchman, Dr Michel Odent, who helped us to remember that giving birth is natural! Of course the superb care in hospitals has reduced the number of deaths (child or mother) enormously, but we had lost the truth that birth is normal.

I think birth into eternity, or dying has become too private a matter. To be fair, it was highly public fifty years ago. Someone in the community almost had the right to lay out the body in the front parlour. Neighbours and family would be expected to call and pay respects. Now an 'ambulance' turns up, and few may even know a neighbour has died.

It would be helpful to notch back a bit, not too much. Although having a public role, I'm a private person by nature, and I'd hate my grief to be public property. But I would value being able to talk about death, and loved ones in a natural easy way.

Welcome to another New Year, and a natural chance to think about opportunities to relish the gifts of life, and of eternal life which is behind all our dreams. If you've made a new year's resolution you're not supposed to tell anyone. Why not?

One year I resolved to walk along the beach at least once a week, and it has kept my life in a better balance. What a fantastic part of the world we live in, and how often we waste opportunities on our doorstep.

So this year, why not share your hopes with others, and help us all recover the fact that dying is natural and we should talk about it more.

And may God bless you richly.

TW'sV on a tale of two ships

Both the Cutty Sark and the SS Great Britain are examples of fine ships restored after abandonment or fire. The first is partially hidden by a support structure while the second is seen as if floating on water.

SS Great Britain (www.ssgreatbritain.org)

The true Christmas story of a refugee couple in occupied territory, facing pointless bureaucracy can so easily be masked behind tinsel and commercialism. Don't get me wrong because I love the party that is Christmas. However, it needs a heart to make sense. It needs to be about how our Creator and Sustainer shows his love towards us.

The Open Air Carol Service in Sutton Poyntz will be followed by baptisms in the Springhead pond. Here's an opportunity to remember loved ones, to give thanks for all that is wholesome, to pray for each other and particularly those for whom Christmas is a reminder of loneliness or pain. We can also give thanks for family and community life.

The carols and readings remind us of that first Christmas, and make it real in our hearts and minds. All are welcome to any of our Christmas services across our Churches. There's a great choice of venue and style, so make yourself at home.

Kings College reflected in a car roof

It's no surprise that the service heard by more people across the world than any other comes from Kings College, Cambridge. Every year it is familiar, and every year introduces us to something new. This keeps the celebration alive. It's no fossil, but a magnificent vessel which invites us on board.

A very Happy Christmas, and fulfilled New Year to you and yours.

TW'sV on revolution and recycling

• Greater London's Crossrail is the largest infrastructure project in Europe. Why is it revolutionary? Full sized trains rather than smaller tube-trains will travel at speed from outlying areas, for example Reading, under the heart of the city through large diameter tunnels. New stations are springing up which key into existing transport links, and match their environment.

Crossrail Place, Canary Wharf

The spoil from tunnelling has been moved by barge to create wetlands for the RSPB at Wallasea Island in the Thames estuary. Crossrail is a fantastic example of an imaginative project producing revolutionary ideas which include recycling material. 

• So what has it to do with my day job, as a minister in the Church of England? Towards the end of my schooling I thought and prayed about what to do. The result was a sense of calling to work in the electricity power generation industry. I served ten years across a mix of coal, oil, and nuclear fired power stations. 

Aberthaw Power Station

Then I received a call to serve in the Church of England. From my point of view it all fits together. Everything in the universe was created and is sustained by God, so I don't consider any one part of his world to be any more holy than another.

• When Jesus was asked about faith, he gave the example of moving a mountain. Today he might talk about tunnelling under a huge city. Our lives are a profound challenge; will we work under God's lead through his Spirit to find imaginative ways of building things? Or will we merely exploit nature for reasons of shear greed alone? Will we evaluate life in terms of beauty and sustainability, or just for profit?

Already Londoners are looking forward to Crossrail opening, and improving connections east to west through the centre. There is already talk of Crossrail 2 connecting north and south. 

I believe it's part of a revolution in which we should all play our part: beauty, respect for our world, and the imagination to make a difference.