Dear all,

 

A busy weekend raised nearly £1,000 at Gainford including donations by visitors to our embroidery exhibition, teas served on Saturday and Sunday and our open Gardens - though it was hard watching England collapse while being waved at through the window by strange children with their Grandparents walking around our Garden.   

 

The main event though happened on Saturday afternoon when Reverend Emma Johnson was ordained priest in Durham cathedral. For those unsure what this means - the practical result that you will all see is that now Emma can preside at Holy Communion. Those who know Emma know a passionate and thoughtful person wanting to inspire and serve God's people. Let us all pray for a long and fruitful ministry. In the almighty scrum that happens when we all gather round to lay hands on each candidate during the ordination prayer I managed to get to the front and lay my right hand on Emma (Don't worry Emma - it'll wash off!)

 

Many thanks as ever to Rev. John Moore who presided at Winston and Gainford while I was at Whorlton and Barny. 

 

Galatians: Some sterling advice from Paul who advises us to "work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith" even though we may feel tired sometimes and tempted to give up. Verse 11 is also very interesting because Paul's letters were written by a scribe to whom Paul dictated his letters but here he obviously takes the pen himself and writes "See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand". This has led many people to surmise that Paul's eyesight may not have been very good and indeed an eye ailment may have been his famous "thorn in my flesh" 

Luke's gospel deals in part with the reality of rejection. Rejection of the Christian gospel is commonplace in Britain and can lead many congregations to become dispirited and disempowered - tired - because of it. This is in part because we take the rejection personally and feeling hurt we will naturally want to curl up and lick our wounds - nurse our dented pride - and are tempted to withdraw from the world. Jesus says that when they reject you they reject him and the way of Christ, but this is entirely natural state of affairs (some will fall on stony ground!). Like Paul in Galatians says - don't give up living the gospel or rejoicing in the knowledge of God's love for you even if it sometimes feels like the whole world is against us.  

 

* A care-worn figure sitting at a bar says to the barman "I feel like my goal in life has been disallowed"

* "I've just installed a skylight in my ceiling...........The people who live upstairs are furious." (Steven Wright)

* Quote: "It's my bell and I'll ding when I want to"  Me to a friend at the contemplation session in church after querying when I rang the bell.

 

An account of the Barnard Castle Deanery synod held last week in Cockfield can be seen by clicking on the link Barnard Castle Deanery News - June 2010 to keep you abreast of things happening in the Deanery. 

 

A new TV comedy show started this week - Mondays at 10pm on BBC2 called "Rev". It follows a church of England vicar as he gets to grips with a tough inner city parish. It is unusual because, although a comedy, it actually takes his role seriously and in fact a lot of the material was apparently supplied by real vicars. I thought it was very funny as well as being a bit gritty- but if you are offended by bad language be warned there is a fair bit of "Anglo-Saxon" in the show. Quite realistic and funny - Give it a go if you haven't already.

 

"And I was too far out all my life and not waving but drowning" (from the poem by Stevie Smith)

 

One of the enduring images in my mind - it comes to me from time to time - is of a Sunday school picnic in the grounds of Kearsney Abbey near Folkestone. A perfect summer's day, surrounded by close friends, children and adults playing organised games - the Dads for once were all there and messing about amiably as Dads do when let off the leash once in a while. The tug of war was hotly contested. The husband of our Sunday school teacher was there wearing a white suit like a junior diplomat in the tropics. Blond hair, perfect couple with lovely kids, a lovely house, lots of money and the whole of their lives ahead of them. He was the life and soul - though I can't even remember his name. He lives in my mind as an image of a happy time. I remember it because I am nostalgic and this was to me quite idyllic. I was unemployed at the time and I was probably thinking, I wish my life could be like his, have a house like him, be successful like him, have as much money as him, be as happy as him.

 

On Christmas day some months later the news reached us that he had taken his own life just the night before. He jumped off a bridge into the path of the Eurostar train bound for Paris. Christmas eve now must be very difficult in those he loved and left. It turns out he hated his life, hated his job and the long hours he had to work to meet all his huge financial commitments which were crushing him. He finally went bang. He couldn't take it any more. I learned some powerful lessons here, not least never to judge by appearances. We are all masters at keeping our carefully crafted masks in place when meeting our public. The public me and the private me should be - could be - wholly one, but rarely are. The unity of God and creation, the unity of our fractured souls, and our own unity with the rest of humanity are in my view all interconnected. When one of them moves further together they all tend to move together. When one moves further apart they all move further apart. Loving God and loving your neighbour as yourself are two sides of the same coin. One side (loving God) is dependent on loving both yourself and others. They cannot be separated.

 

The prayer for today is chosen for obvious reasons. It is the Lords prayer said by Adrian Plass who (eerily when I first read it) suffered losing a sister of a close friend to suicide by throwing themselves under a train. Her name was Jenny.

 

Jenny walked under a train last night

She was only thirty seven

You knew she was going to die didn't you Lord?

She had no hope left

Jenny is forgiven isn't she?

Lots of us are on the edge of darkness

The only strength we have is yours.

And she's living there now

She's your Lord

Jenny

 

Peace and love

 

Martin