Advent Reflections with a difference: The story of a poorly Vicar!

On Sunday 4^th December Jane and I were sat relaxing after tea, eating chocs when I started getting a mighty pain in my right year. Sleep was erratic but OK.

On Monday morning I was well enough to go exploring Retford with Jane, but a planned Shoe shopping expedition for me was cancelled (not my favourite job when I am in tip top condition and if you saw my feet you would know why!). I slept on the sofa and even went to a church meeting at Warmsworth in the evening.

I slept well and went to Amy’s school on Tuesday morning to see their production of Alladin. During the panto I got some discharge from my ear (all together now EGHHH). Jane arranged a docs appointment, he thought I had a boil in my ear, give me drops and antibiotics and I went home. Did some paper work, even took on the Tax returns. Then around 7pm I started feeling really unwell, got a shocking headache went to bed. Had a shocking night sleep.

I briefly got dressed on Wednesday but was soon back in bed. Jane called the GP in the afternoon when I  was screaming in pain and had a temperature. The GP arranged for me to go the Ear, Nose and Throat ward for them to assess me.

I was admitted and to be truthfully I don’t remember a great deal until Saturday when my pain was got under control. I was sick a lot! I was also very aware of the prayer that was going on for me and the family. I cannot put into words the spiritual comfort I received. Somehow I could feel the prayer. This also shows the power of the prayer chain as I believe people in New Zealand were praying for us.

The Doctors were fairly mystified as to what was going on with me but on Saturday some results came back which showed I had a blood infection (septicaemia) and I was started on antibiotics straight into my blood stream. This did at least start to get my temperature down from 39+ it had been running at.

On Monday I was taken down to clinic to see  the Consultant Mr Dugar, who with the aid of a very fancy ear microscope cleaned up my ear and without hesitation said I had “Bullous Myringitis”. He explained the details and the features on my ear drum with great care to the Senior Registrar who was with him as she had not seen it before. He said it was only the fourth time he had seen it in 10 years but is usually caused by a virus so the source of my blood infection was still unknown.

The next day Mr Duggar came bounding up to my bed looking very pleased with himself. He told me that he had done some further reading and found that “Bullous Myringitis” can be caused by a bacteria and he was now happy that this is the source of my blood infection. He also said the intense pain I had was because the blisters I had were on my ear drum and this causes a disproportionate level of pain. I should expect the pain to require painkillers for many weeks.

I continued on the antibiotics and was sent home on Saturday 17^th December having spent 11 days in Hospital.

I am slowly recovering but must be careful not to do too much

I did manage to do some services over Christmas but a huge thanks to everyone who helped keep “everything” going at a very busy time of the year.

I very big thank you to all who offered support to Jane and the family.

My licensing service at Balby obviously had to be re-arranged and indeed this happened on Wednesday at Balby church. I meant to announce the new date at the Christmas service but only remembered on the Christmas morning service. Many thanks to those who were able to come along. Sorry to those who did not know about the service.

So I start as planned in Balby Parish on New years Day and I believe this is going to be an exciting year for both parishes.

Tis the Season to be …..? Jolly!

The familiar words of the song echo through the shops  Deck the halls with boughs of holly!!!  Historians tell us that the holly was a Pagan symbol adapted  by Christians…the spiky leaves remind us of the thorns used to make a crown for Christ, the berries are as red as his blood and so on, we hear it year after year.  The next line is perhaps not so thought about, Tis the season to be jolly!  Is it? Are we jolly in the Christmas Season?  What is the Christmas season?  In the Church calendar it is quite clear, we have 4 weeks of Advent and 12 days of Christmas, easy.  Not so in the secular calendar.

Christmas starts sometime in the middle of summer. The supermarkets clear their shelves of BBQ things, have a small section for Halloween, but all the time slowly introducing the puddings and crackers.

Not so many years ago Christmas was a very special time, not just because Jesus was born, but because it was the time when people spent ages choosing a single gift to give to somebody, when children looked forward to a new penny and a tangerine in their stocking….when meat was eaten even though it wasn’t Sunday and it wasn’t stewed or minced from Sunday!  Various treats were carefully saved for…such things as the Co-op 4d club meant that mothers would spend ages deciding which little luxury would be on the Christmas day tea table. …..the one big theme of Christmas  (other than Jesus birthday ) was anticipation and unusual little treats.

Where is the anticipation today?  We are told that as much as a third of the food we buy is wasted…if this is the case in the average week then what must the figure be at Christmas?  As we walk round supermarkets we see trolleys groaning with the weight of food, groans that are almost as loud as those of the credit card holder in January when they realise that perhaps Scrooge had the right idea…bah humbug!

The posters that have been up in and around church tell us that however we dress it up Christmas begins with Christ.  Does it? ~Sadly for most people no it doesn’t, yes   the odd hour for a carol service, a Christingle, and of course the Midnight Mass but only if it fits in with the other Christmas stuff.

So this year my question is “How Jolly are you?” How happy, how at one with the our family and friends and neighbours?  How Christ filled is your life…how Christ filled is MY life?  The Christmas story happened a long time ago but much of the situation is still real today, the homeless teenage mum, the refugee, the people persecuted for their faith in some cases even to death…as we know there is nothing new in this world, we just get better at trying to pretend it is not there and to blank out the horror and misery by applying a layer of bling and glitz…Let’s stop, let’s try to regain some of the loveliness of the season that does not cost money…perhaps it is too late for this year, the rollercoaster is already on the move…perhaps next year? What will the season be? Jolly, less materialistic? Less wasteful?  If Christ is at the beginning of it then it will automatically be all of these things….Just put the humbugs away, even Scrooge saw the good in Christmas.

From all at the Vicarage

Memmories and Remembrance

November is the month of remembering. All Saints’ Day celebrates men and women in whose lives we have seen the grace of God powerfully at work.  It is an opportunity to give thanks for that grace, and for the wonderful ends to which it shapes a human life; it is a time to be encouraged by the example of the saints; and it is a chance to recall that sanctity may grow in the ordinary circumstances, as well as the extraordinary crises, of human living. We celebrate with Communion at St Katherines at 7pm on 1^st November.

There are many countries in the world today where Christians are martyred for their faith. Believers in Afghanistan are facing death threats; Christians in Uzbekistan, Nigeria and many other countries all around the world face violence, imprisonment and even death.  There are other places in the world such as North Korea where acts of persecution take place, but we don’t see or hear of it.

On the first Sunday, 6^th November, it is the International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians and we will mark the day with a special service in the morning at Wadworth and the All Age Sunday School at St Katherine’s at 3pm will look sensitively at the lives of Christian Children throughout the world. This is a time set apart for us to remember thousands of our Christian brothers and sisters around the world who suffer persecution, simply because they confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

The following Sunday is of course Remembrance Sunday and we shall be altering the service times for this day. There will a Holy Communion Service at 9am at Wadworth followed by an Act of Remembrance starting at 10:55 at Wadworth memorial. In the afternoon at St Katherines we have our annual memorial service for those loved one who have died. We will also remember those who have died in the service of their country at this service.

Sunday 20^th marks the start of Prison Week when we have several services focused on Prisons and the Justice system. We have 4 Prisons in Doncaster and a large population of ex-offenders. One of the most serious aspects of being in prison can be the sense of isolation and even abandonment; and one of the most effective witnesses that can be given to prisoners is the assurance that they are not forgotten. ‘When I was in prison, you visited me’, says Jesus and this tells us two things – that Jesus is already with those in prison, as he is with all who live in loneliness (including the loneliness of self-reproach or self-hatred); and that he is waiting for us there.

St Katherine spent considerable time in prison before being executed. St Katherine’s day also falls during Prison week on 25^th November. So we are having all evening Prison Week service at St Katherine’s. On Friday the Church will be open from 10-12 in the morning for those who wish to come and look around. Refreshments will be served. In the evening at 7pm there will a service of Holy Communion with liturgy rich in reference to St Katherine. There will be drinks and refreshments afterwards.

November 27^th is the first Sunday of Advent was we start our preparations for Christmas. All Age Sunday School Christingle will take place at 3pm at St Katherine’s.

Come and remember with us!

Alun

“Giving Poverty the Boot”

Some of you have asked for more information about “Giving Poverty the Boot” campaign by FARM-Africa which we are making central to Harvest Celebrations this year.

Well during the last 20 years there has been a chronic lack of investment in agriculture.  Yet over 80% of people living in remote or rural areas of Africa rely on the food they grow and the animals they keep to survive. Faced with harsh conditions and poor access to essential resources, subsistence agriculture can be a constant struggle.

FARM-Africa provides the training and support that poor rural communities need, to identify and implement appropriate solutions to many of the key problems they face.  Families are directly supported to help work themselves out of poverty through improved ways to manage their crops, livestock, forests and access to water.
"FARM-Africa can play an important role by being able to work at the local level, but with an eye on impacts at national or regional level. We need more of this kind of innovation and learning - finding out what works well and where. FARM-Africa is more strategic in their thinking that most small development organisations, in terms of how to get the maximum impact from a limited budget" Derek Byerlee, co-director of the World Development Report 2008.

FARM-Africa work with a wide range of small-scale farmers and herders through our country programmes in eastern Africa.

In Ethiopia, FARM-Africa is working to reduce poverty and raise the living standards of the country’s small-scale farmers and herders through improved management of their natural resources.

FARM-Africa helps rural Kenyans develop innovative ways to manage their natural resources and ensure they have a role in shaping the policies that affect their lives.

FARM-Africa is helping communities living in Southern Sudan to develop sustainable ways to earn a living based on livestock and agriculture.

Working with pastoralist and forest communities in northern Tanzania, FARM-Africa is helping to change policy and increase productivity.
FARM-Africa’s goal is to reduce poverty by helping rural Ugandans develop innovative ways of managing their natural resources.

FARM-Africa’s  work specialises in support for three groups of people:

1          More than 80% of rural Africans are smallholder farmers and most rely on less than an acre of land to support their families.
However, with access to the right tools, training and services such as animal healthcare, farmers can dramatically improve their economic position.
2          Many pastoralists live in harsh environments, reliant on rearing livestock to sell for food and other essentials. Frequent droughts and disease outbreaks make this way of life ever harder to sustain.
FARM-Africa helps pastoralist communities to form their own plans to improve their livelihoods, and access the finances to realise them.
3          Eastern Africa's natural forests are fast disappearing.  FARM-Africa is working with forest communities helping them to reduce their reliance on timber products to earn money and develop sustainable forest management plans.

So please come along and support our Harvest celebrations this year.

Alun

The Vicar is Leaving his Day Job

I always get asked the question why I have not left my day job and become a full time vicar. I have always said that God had never called me to leave work but had called me to be a vicar. I have always loved being a scientist in the NHS and if God wanted me to stop working the NHS then he would need to stop me liking it so much. Well this has finally happened.

I remember going on a careers tour of the local hospital labs and just loved it and knew that’s what I wanted to do. So as 16 year old I went to work in the NHS. That was in 1976. For 34 years I enjoyed it, loved my job but in the last year or so I stopped enjoying a job I had always loved. It was almost like God was loosening the ties so I could be free to be a full time Vicar. Through mine and others prayers,  I soon came to realise that was what God wanted. So from January 2012 I will be a full time vicar, staying in this Parish but also working in Balby Parish.

Some of you will know that Balby church has a different style of worship than Wadworth or Loversall. Some would describe it as “Bells and Smells” a phrase that refers to the extensive use of incense and the ringing of bells during the service. That does not mean that I will be introducing this style of worship at Wadworth or Loversall. Neither will I be seeking to change Balby church and remove the “bells and Smells” I see beauty in diversity, and hope that through very different services at the three churches we will have something for everyone.

Of course some of you will also know that Mary the mother of Jesus also has a higher  prominence in the way the Christian faith is expressed at Balby church. I also know this will worry some of you.

I recently went with Balby church to Walsingham, where there is a shrine to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Although Mary is held in very high esteem, a more Christ centred place you would not wish for!  Mary always points to Jesus, every story in the Bible that mentions Mary, focuses our thoughts on Jesus. It is important to realise we do not pray to Mary but ask Mary to pray on our behalf. The church does not consist purely of those alive now but also of those who have died and are in heaven. Just as we ask a friend to pray for us, we to can ask Mary to pray for us.

Likewise it is important to realise that statues of Marys although much-loved are simply a focus for devotion - a visual aid - and not something to be worshipped in itself.

I enjoyed the 4 days immensely made new friends but also had an intensely spiritual time. Balby church go to Walsingham every year, perhaps you would like to join us in July 2012 and see for yourself.

War then and now

I am indebted to Russell Eastham for much of the information in this months article. Russell is currently training as a lay minister in the Church but has a keen interest in history. He has recently been researching the archives to find out more about the war memorial at Wadworth but has found a number of interesting facts.

Russell noted how one family had all their children baptised before daddy went off to war. Daddy did not return. Despite all the years in between, a different War, different circumstances, some wishes do not change and I have baptised several babies in the last few years before daddy has gone off to War in Iraq or Afghanistan; thankfully all these daddies returned. But the comfort daddies receive from the knowledge their children are baptised does not change.

Russell has also found the magazine from when War broke out in 1914. Revd  Blumhardt, wrote:

“The Great War cloud that for years past has hung over Europe has burst, and the whole world stands aghast at the horror and infamy of it all.  This is not a time for words, except for those addressed to God in prayer. Every Wednesday a short service will be held at 2pm, this hour has been fixed as most suitable for the women. The men must work in the fields and in the pits, the women must pray, the women must work too and they have begun in earnest.”

A latter magazine gave the following Church announcements:

1.      Role of Honour with list of names

2.      Injured with List of names

3.      The Ladies Knitting circle will meet in the vicarage on Wednesday night at 7 o clock.

What ever happened the knitting circle continued to meet, (actually they were knitting socks for the war effort).

Russell also went this year out to France for the 95^th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme to participate in the remembrance events. At one service 2000 people joined hands and the Lord’s prayer was said in three languages. Russell said:

“The many French were first, then those from the UK, finally a single German voice prayed.  Many hairs stood to attention on the backs of necks”

It is easy to forget “the other side” in all the suffering and the fact that the Germans thought God was on their side. Each German buckle contained the phrase “God is with us”. If God is anywhere in War, God is with the suffering, the displaced, the landless.

Through the information Russell has gathered we hope to have a small temporary display in church about the War memorial in Wadworth and how it was commissioned and built. Russell is hopeful that he can identify where all those remembered died and are buried. Perhaps some of your relatives were involved. Perhaps you have some information passed on to you by members of your family. We would love to know what you know.

I know no better way to end but with…

“They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them. Amen”

So there's a God, what to do about it..................

I am always surprised when I hear the results of surveys that consistently show around 70% of the population believe in God. I wonder how much people who assert in such surveys the presence of God, have thought about the implication of their answer. God’s existence must surely elicit a response of more than passive acceptance. If any single fact should make you sit up and want to know more, then acknowledging God’s existence must be the most supreme of stimuli.

So what should be our response to acknowledging there is a God. The existence of something completely outside our understanding? What else can we do but worship….that surely has to be our first response, the response of mortal humans to a vast eternal God must be to show that we respect and cherish God’s existence.

Yet so many want to just nod in God’ direction, give a passing glance and carry on as if nothing had changed. Hang on a minute, you’ve just acknowledge the existence of someone who is powerful beyond your understanding, is time it’s very self, is the universal constant behind the whole universe and you’ve just carried on living as nothing had changed? Let’s put it another way.

I love my science fiction, and of course a common theme in lots of movies is the visit to this planet of a lifeform not as we know it, a lifeform that is more powerful than us, a lifeform that is  cleverer than us, a lifeform that will destroy humanity. What is the usual response, well it is defiantly not a vague nod and life carries on, it is usually panic on a mass scale when we realise there is someone around that is more powerful than humanity!

So why, when we acknowledge the existence of God, who is even more powerful than any alien species, do we carry on as if nothing has changed? Should we not at least be trembling at the knowledge that God exists? From there should we not be moved to show that we respect and cherish God’s existence.

There was a point in my life when I did not believe there was a God but when I changed and realised there was a God, my first response was to bow down and worship because what else could I do? In the face of a vast eternal God what else can you do……..

Acknowledging God’s existence is not a private matter it must be a public declaration of thanks. Christians have always done this by gathering together and worshiping together. Offering our praise and thanks to God for our very existence.

Think of it this way. If you fell in a river and were drowning and someone rescued you. What would be your response? If you had an operation that saved your life, what would be your response? If you had a heart attack and someone revived you, what would be your response? In all these examples my response would be overwhelming gratitude. Big thanks are usually public affairs. A desire to shake their hand and ask could I do anything for them? Yet these acts are nothing compared with the gratitude we must have for our existence! Every day we should remember the gift of life that God has given and we should be grateful.

I urge everyone reading this to think deeply if you believe there is a God and if you do, think even more deeply what your response must be…… Alun