This Sunday is February 14^th and we all know what that means… Valentine might be the only Christian saint most people could name in this secular age; certainly the only one whose festival they celebrate, albeit without any reference to Valentine himself. The Valentine who we celebrate on the 14^th February was probably a  Christian priest who was martyred in Rome in the 3^rd Century. He is said to have restored the sight of the daughter of the judge who initially was charged with investigating him. He was released but rearrested and eventually beheaded. One version of his story is that just before his execution, he sent a letter to the daughter whose sight he restored; this seems to be the origin of his association with romantic love.

Whatever the truth of the tradition, Valentine’s Day is now a celebration of romance and the physical love between a couple. The church has sometimes seemed rather embarrassed by physical love; the passion and joy that this involves. It has overtones of uncontrolled emotion and indeed, it can pass into lust and a desire for self-satisfaction that can be destructive. But it can equally be something higher; a mutual joy between individuals who can imagine nothing better than to be united as they love each other. This is what we celebrate in Christian marriage, it is what we might hope that all couples enjoy and is also can be a useful way of thinking about the love of God for ourselves. So celebrate the day and remember Valentine, whose passionate love affair with God was stronger than life itself.

Covid and a Scientist

Many will know that in addition to being an assistant curate in the Severn Valley Benefice, I am also a scientist; I lecture and carry out research in pharmacology at Aston University. For the last 30 or so years, my research has centred around a substance called calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), although in recent years my interests have broadened. Currently I have funding to carry out two projects. One is a novel way of developing antibodies to recognise proteins that are found on the surface of cells; one of these recognises CGRP and is called the CGRP receptor. When it interacts with CGRP, it changes shape and this in turn activates the cell. This relates to the second project, which is using computers to understand how receptors change shape to activate cells. New antibodies will tell us where receptors are found in the body and how this changes in disease; they can also be used as drugs. A better understanding of how receptors change shape will help us design new drugs which bind to them. Modern science is a team effort and both of these projects are being carried out with my long-term collaborator and friend, Professor Mark Wheatley at Coventry University; in addition, the computer project is being driven by another friend and colleague, Dr John Simms, at Aston University.

Our research is some distance away from producing drugs that can be given to patients; we are interested in the underlying science. There are also no very strong links between CGRP and Covid. As a result, we are not directly doing Covid research; others are much better placed to take the lead on this. However, ultimately our research may feed into therapies to treat Covid.

The Covid virus attaches itself to our cells by means of the “spike protein”, which exists on the outside of the virus. This is a large protein (Fig 1) with several different parts. It is embedded in the outer covering of the virus using a “stalk”, and the “headgroup” of the protein sticks out into the blood of the person who is infected. This headgroup is able to recognise a protein that is  found on the surface of cells in our lungs (and a few other places) called ACE2 (Angiotensin converting enzyme 2). This normally makes a substance that helps control blood pressure. Unfortunately, it also sticks tightly to the headgroup of the Covid spike protein. When the two bind, the Covid spike protein changes shape and pulls the virus against the surface of the lung cells allowing the virus to enter and damage these cells.

Vaccines work by getting our immune system to produce antibodies that bind to the headgroup of the spike protein, so stopping it from sticking to ACE2 on lung cells. The technology we are trying to develop for new antibodies may provide new ways of making vaccines. Our work on how proteins change shape may help us understand both how mutations to the spike protein can change its properties and also develop drugs to block it from bringing the virus into contact with the surface of lung cells.

Fig – The ACE2 protein (bottom, green and blue), sitting in the membrane covering lung cells, binds to the Covid spike protein (top, purple and pink) Taken from the Protein Structure Database. [labelled CovSP ACE2]

Captain Sir Tom

Like many people, I was saddened to hear of the death this week of centenarian Captain Sir Tom Moore, who last year raised £32 million by walking 100 laps of his garden. Despite great age, death is rarely easy to confront; the knowledge that a loved one had a long and fulfilling life is unlikely to take away the pangs of loss. But we still can reflect on his achievement. For many, simply getting to the age of 100 would be enough, but we remember him for his vision of how he could help others despite his obvious physical frailty. I admire him, not because he raised £32 million pounds, but because believed that it was still right for him to do what he could to serve. The actual sum he raised was irrelevant, it was the act of self-giving that was important.

As a Christian, I am meant to take inspiration from Jesus’s sermon on the mount; “blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled”. I am not sure how seriously I actually take those words; the promise that if I seek to do what is right, I myself will be filled with a “right spirit”, the strength to do more right. I’m busy, it’s not going to make any difference, somebody else will do it. How fortunate that Captain Tom ignored those voices, if they ever whispered in his ear. We build God’s kingdom here on earth by individual, small steps, one lap at a time of right-doing. And little by little, we and those around us are built up as citizens of that same kingdom.

Today the 6th draw of Billingsley’s 100 Club took place. Number 10 won £61 with numbers 88 and 53 both winning £30.50. Since the first draw last September 16 people have won a total of £1,124. Two numbers have been draw twice and on several occasions new members have won on their first draw entry. There are still numbers available for anyone wishing to join. All details are on the 100 Club page.

Many thanks to Bonnie and Mike who  made the draw.

1) Wednesday Home Group, 7.00pm,

For the next few weeks, we are looking at the book of Nehemiah

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2) Friday Morning Prayer, 9.00am

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3) Friday night prayer, 9.00pm

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4) Sunday Morning Prayer, 10.00am (Whilst lockdown lasts)

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Covid vaccines are in the news. As I write on Friday, two new vaccines have shown successful results in clinical trials. Unfortunately, a new term has also entered into our vocabularies; “vaccine nationalism”, with the EU and Astra Zeneca embroiled in a row about supplies. This is not the place to pronounce on who is right and wrong, but it is depressing; the World Health Organisation has declared its concern over the possibilities of export controls being applied to vaccines. Science has given us the tools to fight the virus; sadly, by itself, it does not give us the wisdom to know how to share these. But, lost in the current war of words, is another story that I find even more challenging. On Monday, Norway announced that for every vaccine it administered to its own citizens, it would also donate a matching vaccine to go to a poor country. I admire this act, but I really am not sure if I would dare do it if I had power in this country. Leaving aside political consideration, is our death rate so high that we have a moral responsibility to first control our own epidemic? How do I judge between the lives of people in this country and elsewhere? I simply do not know and I am grateful I do not have to make these decisions. A colleague who I was talking to in the church about this dilemma pointed out that there are organisations such as Unicef that allow personal donations to worldwide covid vaccination programs via their websites (e.g. https://www.unicef.org.uk/donate/coronavirus/) and this is the best I can come up with in response to my own dilemma. We can at least celebrate the actions of nations such as Norway (and our own country in offering free facilities to characterise new versions of the virus from anywhere in the world) and companies such as Astra Zeneca who will supply their virus as cost-price to countries who cannot afford it, whilst pondering how best to act ourselves.

I caught the end of the inauguration speech of the newly sworn president of the United States, Joe Biden. I found myself wishing I had heard it from the start. At least to my ears, he was speaking words to try and uplift and inspire his listeners, primarily the people of the USA, divided as rarely before. Now words can be double-edged; I have seen the grainy footage of the dictators of the 1930s, using their speeches to whip up hatred. Perhaps we do not need to go back that far to see examples of the same trick; the people known to the ancient Greeks as demagogues, who roused a mob with false promises so as to win easy popularity. What is important is what the words are based on. President Biden had gone to mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral shortly before the inauguration. In his speech he quoted St Augustine, “a saint of my church”, to talk about what can unite a people. And he quite openly led a short time of silent prayer for those 400,000 Americans who had died from Covid. It seems to me that Joe Biden’s words were based on his Christian faith and he was speaking from that in an open way that no politician in this country would attempt.

None of this is to say that President Biden will be a good leader of his country; I am not competent to make any prediction about that. But I do think he is sure of his own moral compass; he knows the direction of travel he ought to be following and he has the courage to make that known. Perhaps there is something here that we can note; what is our compass based on and are we confident enough in that to declare it to others?

1) Wednesday Home Group, 7.00pm,

For the next few weeks, we are looking at the book of Nehemiah

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Meeting ID: 359 285 1895

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2) Friday Morning Prayer, 9.00am

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Meeting ID: 359 285 1895

Password: 512607

3) Friday night prayer, 9.00pm

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Meeting ID: 359 285 1895

Password: 512607

4) Sunday Morning Prayer, 10.00am (Whilst lockdown lasts)

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Meeting ID: 860 9504 5519

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1) Wednesday Home Group, 7.00pm,

For the next few weeks, we are looking at the book of Nehemiah

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3592851895?pwd=cksyL0t5TlhFUURRenpxMG9yQTVhUT09

Meeting ID: 359 285 1895

Password: 512607

2) Friday Morning Prayer, 9.00am

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3592851895?pwd=cksyL0t5TlhFUURRenpxMG9yQTVhUT09

Meeting ID: 359 285 1895

Password: 512607

3) Friday night prayer, 9.00pm

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3592851895?pwd=cksyL0t5TlhFUURRenpxMG9yQTVhUT09

Meeting ID: 359 285 1895

Password: 512607

4) Sunday Morning Prayer, 10.00am (Whilst lockdown lasts)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86095045519?pwd=R2Iwa0hwYW5uRUE0dzc0WERnMnU2QT09

Meeting ID: 860 9504 5519

Passcode: 589249

The Wise Men and Brexit.

As everyone knows from the carol, Christmas has 12 days, culminating in a spectacular display of gymnastics by a group of peers. In the dark days of late December and early January, particularly in former times, any excuse for a celebration would have been welcome. But eventually holidays have to come to an end and the normal round has to be resumed. The church moves on, but with one last moment of celebration before the time of horse-hair shirts and self-denial/general misery that is Lent in the popular imagination. This is Epiphany, when we remember the visit of the Wise Men to the infant Jesus and it is the season we are now in.

The story of the Wise Men is perhaps best known from the carol, “We three Kings of Orient are” with the “star of wonder, star of might, star of royal beauty bright, westward leading”. The star periodically comes in the news as people speculate about what might have been the basis for the story; an alignment of two planets perhaps? This year, had anything been visible, we could have seen such an alignment on December 21^st. This speculation is interesting in its own way, but to me it seems to miss the most important part of the story. We only find the account of the visit of the wise men in Matthew’s Gospel and he is at pains to point out that they are not Jews. They come from the east. The Jews living in Palestine when Matthew wrote had survived numerous attempts to wipe them out; they had experienced deportation and had been living under foreign occupation for centuries. They had survived by closing in on themselves, rejecting foreign influences to preserve their own culture and faith, sustained by the hope that at some point God would step in and send them a saviour to rescue them. In some stories in the Gospels, Jesus seems lukewarm about reaching out to non-Jews. But in this story, at the very start of his Gospel, Matthew makes it clear that Jesus is for all humanity. Matthew was a Jew, he wrote his Gospel for his fellow Jews, but from the first word, he grasps the Jesus came to break down barriers, not reinforce them. In the early days of a New Year, a year in which Brexit has finally been done, Epiphany reminds us of the revolutionary message, that God reaches out to all.