This week, some words from a recent post by Pete Greig, a church pastor in Surrey.

“Jesus is to be found in the eye of the storm. This is something I am learning. In fact, with all the distractions, deletions and distortions of this turning world, it has become my necessary daily practice simply to sit in silence and stillness each morning for a few minutes, re-centering myself on the peace of his presence, re-anchoring my scattered senses in the absolute bedrock of his love.

This is not a type of prayer I was taught as a child and at times it doesn’t even feel like praying. … But I believe that God’s quiet invitation to each one of us at the start of this year is this: ‘Be still and know that I am God.’. We know ‘of’ God through the bible but we actually know him through the practice of silence, stillness and solitude….

I believe that our world needs people who carry this deep stillness, a lack of anxiety, a reassuring quality of eternity in their hearts. Each morning in prayer I reinstate Jesus as the One whose loving actuality defines reality – not my hormones, not my bank balance, not my problems and pains. Only his presence. Without these moments of recentering I can easily spend my day like a pin-ball pinging between flashing lights, propelled from reaction to reaction by circumstance….

T.S. Eliot captures and conveys the spirit of precisely this kind of silent praying;

‘You are here to kneel, where prayer has been valid. And prayer is more than an order of words, the conscious occupation of the praying mind, or the sound of the voice praying’”

Advent is traditionally considered as a season of penitence; a mini-version of Lent, when we are called to consider the four “last things”, death and judgement heaven and hell. This is not something that translates very well into chocolate advent calendars, nor indeed in many church services during December. If I am being honest, these are not things that I preach about very often; I am much more comfortable talking about the God who is love. But talk of bringing love only really makes sense if we admit there are times and places where it is absent, where we are prepared to look at the darker side of our nature and its consequences. In the last few weeks we have heard of the terrible end of Arthur Lanjino-Hughes, killed by the brutality of his parents and the deaths of the 26 refugees in the Channel, victims of people-smugglers and before them a chain of events which led to them being refugees in the first place, the majority of which can probably be laid at the door of the wrong-doing of either individuals or groups. One of the key themes running through the Bible, especially the Old Testament, is the search for justice in a world where it not present. The prophets warned that the God who is a God of justice is also necessarily a God who is a judge, who will hold individuals and groups to account for their actions, who will turn her/face from the perpetrators of evil. As Psalm 82 puts it, “Arise, O God and judge the earth, for it is you that shall take all nations for your possession.”

The news is full of parties; Christmas parties held in Downing Street to which we, and apparently the Prime Minister, were not invited. Parties held when we were under the last lot of Covid restrictions when we were all told to avoid unnecessary social contact. For many, this brings back memories of Dominic Cummings’s trip to County Durham at the start of the first lock-down; then there was the rather close physical contact between the former health secretary and one of his aides earlier this year. It does seem like one law for them, one law for us; the powerful do not share the world of the rest of us.

There is a danger that we can be excessively judgemental when we read these stories; I’m aware that I have not always followed Covid restrictions to the letter . But I understand the anger of many (including politicians supportive of the government) at these incidents; the feeling that we really should all be in this world together. We can contrast this with Christmas, when the ultimate power, God, entered this world as a human, fully human to ultimately suffer death. Whatever political rulers may do, God is with us; God does share our world.

This month’s draw took place in the church and thanks go to Jenny who drew the numbers. The December draw is always a bonus one when all proceeds go into the prize pot effectively doubling the value of prizes. Number 59 was drawn first winning Eveline £106, James (number 19) and Amanda (51) both won £53 each.

A huge thank you to all those who have supported the 100 Club throughout 2021. The proceeds have been a lifeline to secure the future of St Mary’s Church and a programme of essential maintenance is being planned that will commence in the New Year.

Wishing all ‘friends’ a very Happy Christmas and good health, happiness and fortune.

Again we hear politicians and commentators asking how we can save Christmas. I offer two quotations, one from a recent meditation by Sister Theresa White and the other the words of Jesus from St Luke’s Gospel.

“Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to bring good news to the people of the troubled world of his time. He comes today to give the same message; in the midst of the turmoil, the sorrows and disappointments of everyday lives, God’s faithful love is at work in our broken world.”

 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

We do not save Christmas, Christmas save us.

St Mary’s is a member of the Small Pilgrim Places Network which is a group of special places where anyone can find a place of quiet reflection in a busy world.

In recognition of more than 20 years work the group produced a book this year which includes details of the ‘places’ and contains inspiring and comforting words and descriptions from an eclectic mix of sources. There is something for everyone.

See the image above to read the entry that highlights the essence of St Mary’s.

Call into St Mary’s at Billingsley to reflect and also enjoy reading the book which is on display for all.

To find out more about the network and perhaps plan your own pilgrimage visit www.smallpilgrimplaces.org

The 3^rd Sunday in November (21^st this year) is celebrated in the churches year as the festival of “Christ the King”; a time we acknowledge that Jesus is the ruler of what he called the “Kingdom of Heaven”. In his lifetime, people struggled to make sense of Jesus; they thought he might be the much anticipated “messiah”, the ruler sent from God who would finally set the Jewish people free, but they really did not know what that ruler would look like. Would he be a political revolutionary, a soldier, a priest? At the end, it seems that the Jewish religious authorities tried to persuade the Romans that he claimed to be a king who threatened their rule. In his Gospel, John has an exchange between the Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor and Jesus, where Pilate appears baffled by Jesus, who in one breath says that he is a king and then that his kingdom is not of this world. But Pilate was, indeed is, not alone in being puzzled. Throughout the ages, Christians have had to live with the tension in Jesus’s words; his Kingdom is not of this world, but we live in this world; he rules over the world, but he is not of the world. At the heart of this is Jesus’s insight that the world as we live in is not how the world is intended to be; through his life and death, he shows us what our world and indeed ourselves should be. That is a world lived out in love, not coercion; a world of self-giving, not self-gain. It is a pattern for living that I doubt any of us achieve, but Jesus shows us what it looks like. That is why Christians acknowledge him as King; but perhaps it is so counter to the world we live in that it is not surprising Pilate and the authorities of his day could not understand his authority.

10.55am Sunday 14th November; Act of Remembrance

There will be  short act of remembrance in Billingsley Church. For those who want a full service, this will take place at Glazeley.

10.30am Sunday 28th November; Forest Church

An outdoor event of music and words, to mark the shortening of the days and the coming of the winter season.

8.00am Sunday 21st November; Holy Communion

A simple service of Holy Communion to start the day

A prayer for remembrance, for Sunday and for any time:

God of all nations, active throughout history and in our own world, we remember those who serve or have served in our armed services. We hold before you all who have been killed in action, or by disease, the bereaved, the lost, the families which have been shattered, the wounded, maimed and injured, those who held or still hold in silence unspeakable memories of warfare.

As we remember those who fought in the past, those who serve at present and those who remained or now remain anxiously at home, let us pray that God will heal all memories, speak a word of peace, and bring us his healing. Amen