Hearing the Word - Seeing Jesus

I was struck by the image of the young boy, Kiki, rescued from the earthquake ruins of Haiti, pulled up with arms outstretched - in the midst of so much suffering a moment of joy. It had an effect on our Reader, Paul Heatherington, who referred to the incident in last Sunday's Sermon, which you can find here.

Meanwhile, the February issue of our Parish Magazine has been published. Income from the hard copies keeps it viable. But you can find the free full colour edition here.

Haiti, holiness and miracle

I wanted to avoid attempts at "explanation" when I preached in St. Cuthbert's yesterday. What can you say in the face of natural disaster and human suffering on such a scale? You can link to the sermon itself here. The text isn't immediately displaying for me, so if you have a problem give the page a few moments and then scroll down. For a preview, this is how I started:


When you live in a Vicarage, one of life’s pleasures is in encounters with the unexpected caller at the door. There have been a few this week, so if you’re one of them, count yourself in! Highlight of the week was on Friday afternoon when I opened the door to find a man standing there with a slightly confused expression: “Hallo,” he said. “Is this the Holy Cottage?” I think he’d seen the plate on the wall saying “Vicarage.” So I was sorry to disappoint him: “Well, you might think this is the nearest thing to a holy house on Church Bank, but actually I think you want Holly Cottage - and that’s on the other side of the road.”

In the midst of my sense of lassitude and gloom about the weather, that delivery man with a package for a neighbour brightened my day and cheered me up. He made me laugh, but he also made me think… Either the address label was mis-spelled or he’d mis-read it. He came looking for a place he’d thought was called “Holy…” - and he’d found me!

It’s humbling for a priest to be alongside a person when he or she is looking for something which can be described as holy… numinous… beyond our understanding of the mundane. One of the complaints of evangelical atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens is that religious faith doesn’t make rational sense. Faith makes claims which can’t be verified, which go beyond what reason can ascertain. And much of what they say is true. You can’t reduce faith to a matter for argument and proof. It’s when people have a sense of the holy - when they’re reaching out for something that they can’t express in words, but know in their heart to be real - that they are moving beyond rationalism. Religious faith doesn’t need to be irrational - I hope it isn’t! What faith points to is a desire for what is true. And truth as it touches us most deeply has its source in God, and reveals to us what is truly holy.

We find that truth and holiness revealed in the encounters between Jesus and so many other people recorded in the Gospels. I read one of them in the Gospel which was set for the Eucharist on Thursday of last week, St. Mark’s account of a man described as a “leper” who comes to Jesus and pleads with him on his knees: “If you want to,” he said, “you can cure me.” “Of course I want to!” Jesus replies. Jesus stretches out his hand, touches the man, the leprosy leaves him and he is immediately cured. There’s no “how” or “why” here. Just need on the part of the sick man - and the clear statement on the part of Jesus that healing is central to his calling and purpose. “Of course I want to cure you,” says Jesus - and he does.

But even as we read that story of the healing of a sick man in his need, we can find ourselves asking the question, if Jesus can heal that leper why are there so many other sick people in the world? Why doesn’t he heal them? Why are so many people suffering now after the earthquake in Haiti? Why have so many tens of thousands of people been killed there, why do so many more lie sick and untreated in the hospitals, or dying in the streets? What sort of a world has God made in which there is so much potential for suffering?...

read on...

To donate - the Disasters Emergency Committee is coordinating a relief appeal by major charities including Christian Aid, CAFOD, Oxfam and Save the Children.

Winter Thoughts & Images

"In the dead of winter, you might sometimes wonder whether spring will ever come again."

These are Rosie Junemann's words when she preached at the year's end for the Feast of St. John, Apostle & Evangelist. Find her sermon here. We were already in the grip of ice and snow at St. Cuthbert's, but her words seem now prophetic - and she enlarged on them with a poem by Laurie Lee:

O never again, it seems, can green things run,
or sky birds fly,
or the grass exhale its humming breath
powdered with pimpernels,
from this dark lung of winter.

Actually it's been quite bright today. By now we've accumulated over a foot of snow. Tomorrow we have the funeral of Donald Love, member of St. Cuthbert's and well-loved throughout our community for his participation in so many aspects of its life. With our steep hill in mind, we're doing all we can to clear the way to the church - and this morning a JCB descended the hill, plough on its front, digger behind. It's a valiant effort. Now we desperately need some salt on the icy surface left behind - a councillor is working on it, even as I write.

Meanewhile there's a great beauty in the snow. You can find more pictures here.

Christ the Saviour is born

The reality of the Christmas celebration would have been the same, regardless of the weather. In the event, despite yet more snow on Christmas Eve, with a fair bit of effort people managed to reach St. Cuthbert's - mainly on foot...

Numbers were pretty much the same as in recent times at the 6p.m. Carol / Christingle Service - almost full, but with a well-represented choir as a real bonus. They were back for Midnight Mass. And numbers were actually up a bit this morning! But it's still freezing with Church Bank in the grip of ice and snow.

The weather was my starting point in preaching at Midnight Mass, and I felt even chillier after reading R. S Thomas's poem, Hill Christmas as part of it. But the offering of worship was warm. Thanks to all who made it possible. I haven't yet taken any pictures of the church - but it was beautifully decorated.

And my sermon is to be found here.

Happy Christmas!

Christmas approaching

I think I'm going to have to sort out what we're doing on Sunday before I think any more about Christmas. Sunday is the Feast of St. John the Evangelist, and we've decided to keep the Feast - but how to combine it with all the carols that people might expect?

Meanwhile, we're continuing to have the white lead-up to Christmas which Bing Crosby dreamt about. But the good news is that Church Bank has now been salted - so we're accessible with care. Flower arrangers are hard at work in church, the Brownies and Guides produced about 250 Christingles for the Christmas Eve Carol Service (service details in my previous post), the Crib is in place, orders of service are sorted out etc. etc....

So come along and join us - as well as sweets, our Christingles have sultanas... the healthier option (and why not try eating the orange?).

Lovely snow and the perils of the hill

We've celebrated the Fourth Sunday of Advent with a Nativity presentation by our Sunday School at the Sung Eucharist. All credit to them for making it to church on foot. The average gradient of Church Bank is 1 in 7 - and at its steepest is nearly 1 in 5. Only two cars made it to the church - both 4 x 4s. Yet still more than half our average numbers turned up for our main service.

And it's worth it, of course! We got our rather wonderful tree in place last week - and it's been beautifully decorated. After the Eucharist a working party got the stable for our crib scene in place too. Now we just need the decorations and good turn-outs later in the week. Brownies  & Guides are preparing to make 250 Christingles for the Christmas Eve Carol Service.

The snow is lovely - but we could do with a clear road (and more salt please, Durham County Council!).

Meanwhile the next event is carol-singing round the Tree in Shotley Bridge Village Centre - 7p.m. Monday 21st December. Later in the week in St. Cuthbert's Church, there's...


Thursday 24th December: CHRISTMAS EVE

6.00p.m. Carol Service with Christingle – a lovely service with candlelight and hand-bells.
11.30p.m. Midnight Mass of Christmas


Friday 25th December: CHRISTMAS DAY

9.30a.m. Parish Eucharist with Carols - a service for all ages.


Sunday 27th December: 1st SUNDAY OF CHRISTMAS (St. John the Evangelist)

10.00a.m. Sung Parish Eucharist


Meanwhile you might like to take a look at a new website / blog from Shotley Bridge Village Trust

And more wintry pictures from my phone are to be found here

Gaudete - Time to rejoice!

The use of liturgical rose (pink) at St. Cuthbert's sadly doesn't extend further than the colour of the third candle on our Advent wreath. But it was duly lit, and we were reminded that yesterday was Gaudete Sunday, the name coming from the Entrance Antiphon for the day: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near - and also from the Epistle of the Day, Philippians 4.4-7.

Paul Heatherington, preaching, took the Epistle as his starting point and involved us in an imaginative excursion into personal relations in the early church at Philippi. I'm glad to say that the members of the congregation who took the parts of Euodia and Syntyche get on rather better than the characters they played. Click here to find out more.

Sending me his text, Paul added pictures to the e-mail of two of his subjects, Bishop Tom Wright and St. Paul, with the cheeky note: "Separated at birth?" I suspect this has been noted before...