Dear all,

 

I'm sure you don't need me to remind you that the country will grind to a halt this afternoon as millions of us will be watching the football when England take on Slovenia in a must win game. There is something quite religious about the way we momentarily share a sense of community as a nation as we are drawn together by a shared event. If you hate football then I apologise - I won't mention it again!

 

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the result"  - Benjamin Franklin

 

A very busy weekend in this neck of the woods.

The Darlington Embroiderers Guild is holding its "Sparkling stitches" exhibition in Gainford church Friday 12.00 - 4.00pm; Saturday 10.00-12.00 & 2.00-4.00pm; Sunday 2.00 -4.00pm. Admission is free - but donations are appreciated! 

 

Also this Sunday 15 gardens in Gainford are open in our "Open Gardens" Sunday (including my own). Entrance to Gardens £4.00. The programme which gives entry will be on sale on the Green or at the entrance to the Methodist Chapel if raining. Teas on the green from 2.30 - 5.00.

Saturday is also Gainford village sports day!

 

But there is another event happening this weekend that will have an enriching and far reaching impact on the Deanery in that on Saturday afternoon Reverend Emma Johnson, the curate at Cockfield, Evenwood and Lynsack is to be ordained priest in Durham cathedral. Please pray for her and for all the deacons and priests being ordained this weekend. The ordination ceremony is at 5.15pm. If you would like to attend there is a coach leaving from the Evenwood area that still has some spaces - if interested ring Rev. Jane Grieve on 01388 718447 

 

On Sunday Gainford and Winston will reap the benefits of having Rev. John Moore preside and preach while I look forward to being at both Whorlton and Barnard Castle on Sunday morning - see you there!

 

I scanned all the readings as I usually do waiting for one bit to either hit me between the eyes, confuse me, intrigue me or leave me spellbound by its beauty. There is so much to choose from this week - Great stories of Elijah in the O.T., usual bracing and confusing bits from Paul but with the added bonus of having the famous "The fruits of the spirit are...." bit from Galatians but one sentence leaped out at me this week. In the gospel reading from Luke this week we have this intriguing exchange.

 

"To another Jesus said "Follow me". But he said "Lord first let me go and bury my father". But Jesus said to him "Let the dead bury their own dead"

 

Wow! Let the dead bury their own dead. What does he mean? Well just as Jesus spoke about sighted people as capable of being blind, so he also spoke about living people being dead. What a beautiful one-liner. The meaning is clear. There is a way of living that amounts to a living death. Death as a metaphor for a way of living also appears twice in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15). The father says "This son of mine is dead" when his son is obviously not actually dead but is in a faraway country. To state the obvious the son was alive, yet his life in exile as counted as death. The parable also affirms that there is also a way back from a living death to life in all its fullness. A way back to life in community and in full communion with his Father and community - just like the demon possessed man in last Sunday's gospel reading.

Jesus was talking about spiritual enlightenment - something we normally see as being the preserve of eastern religions like Buddhism - but when Jesus also spoke about being "born again" or "born from above" what else could he possibly mean?  Nicodemus the pharisee and great religious teacher was spiritually dead and needed to be enlightened. This enlightenment leads to "eternal life", not meaning heaven or any sort of afterlife but a quality of life available to us now.   

 

Every year the lovely big garden of my vicarage which backs onto the river Tees is opened up to host quite a bash! A BBQ, Bar (Hurrah) and stalls. Nothing religious at all except the very important (but often neglected) religious imperative to eat drink and be merry in one another's company! The admission charge of £7.00 and children £2.00 includes food and one drink. This year the event is on a Friday evening - Friday 16th July at 7pm. Ostensibly for Gainford and Winston people it would nevertheless be wonderful to see people from other parts of the Deanery here. Come and enjoy yourself! For tickets - don't ring me though - contact Sue on 01325 730379 or Lynne on 01325 730844 or come and pay on the night.

 

 

Sometimes we take so much for granted in the world about us that when something obvious really makes an impact on our consciousness it can knock us sideways - a kind of Eureka moment. That happened this week when it suddenly dawned on me (no pun intended) that "dark" does not exist! We all experience darkness of course, but dark is not a "thing" in and of itself. You cannot take a slice of dark and put it under the microscope!

Dark is merely the absence of light. Darkness as an absence rather than a force or thing of its own takes on a theological importance because darkness is the antithesis of light in our religious thought patterns. And light does have a separate and quantifiable existence. From "Let there be light" to "I am the light of the world" God is portrayed as light filling the void.

I would also take this one step further. We often talk of evil as being a force or having an existence of its own. We talk of the "forces of evil" in everyday speech. But extending the analogy of dark, might we not say that evil like darkness (with which it is closely identified in our minds) has no independent existence. It is not a thing in and of itself but like darkness is merely an absence - an absence of good. Of course we experience the effects of evil just like we experience the effects of darkness but evil like darkness has no separate existence. What does have a separate and quantifiable existence is light. And we are bid as Christians to walk in that light - to become enlightened - which means to know God in our heart and practise his presence in the way we are and relate to people and the world about us - to shine God's light into the darkness. If I can come over all twee for a moment - to literally be little rays of sunshine!

After all. All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.

 

The prayer for today was written by a friend and colleague called Janet Tully, an NSM priest in St. John's Margate and was our church's "vision prayer". But that begs a prior question. What is your vision for your church?

 

 

Love and peace

 

Martin