Rivertown United Reformed Church

Minister’s Letter – Sept 2009 “Jesus - the Travelodge”

I have come to be very grateful for the Travelodge. For these “oases” offer rest on the journey – total acceptance, sometimes at a very good price, to travellers of every kind. They are a welcome acknowledgement of the vast distances that we travel these days – for work, study, leisure, even family history research, maintaining personal links with old friends. An acknowledgement of our need, in this express-paced world of ours, for rest, recuperation, so that tiredness does not overcome us and make us a potential danger to other road and motorway users. The time to remember again who we are – and in a faith context, that we are all much more than the journey we are making, the job we do, the family we belong to, the friends and possessions we have accumulated, the skills we have inherited, been born with or achieved through training.

Minister’s Letter – September 2010

A garden of foreigners!?

How well do you know the flowers and plants in your garden? Not in terms of relationship – though we do talk to the trees” -
in terms of their country of origin. (Go on, have a look now – surprised?)

Such details appear on most of our shopping today. That reminds us of the debt we owe to those who work long hours in often difficult and dangerous conditions so that we may enjoy our food at its very best and cheapest. But a closer look at the gardening books reveals that so many of those plants which we consider to be truly British, actually come from far away places with strange sounding names. Asia and the Himalayas, for example. Africa also, and the Americas. And all because British explorers went, saw, quite often conquered in the name of civilisation. And took – stole samples in the name of science?

Minister’s Letter – August 2010

“If the Cap Fits…………”

I am not one for wearing any kind of headgear – perhaps that’s why I still have some hair left on my ageing pate!

But the other day at a certain Strawberry Tea I did forget myself – and kept a cool blue-peaked thing on for several hours. St Paul had a run-in with the Christians at Corinth over hats in worship. “A man has no need to cover his head, because he reflects the image and glory of God”.

BP has been having problems with a cap of a different kind – one that will finally put paid to the huge oil spill that has been gushing since April in the Gulf of Mexico. The crisis, which began with an explosion on an oil rig, has not won BP any friends. On the other hand, BP shares were quick to rise when hopes of a solution were first broadcast, and now that the ‘cap’ seems to have halted the oil flow, their shares have risen another 9% I believe.

Deeside Pastorate – Minister’s letter – June 2010

“Tell me what you see”

The words are the title of a Lennon-McCartney track on the Beatles’ best selling “Help” album. Now Jesus didn’t quite say that – but something very similar. John the Baptist, in prison and soon to be executed as a birthday present for King Herod’s seductive daughter’s mother, still wasn’t completely sure about who Jesus was. John sent his friends to check Jesus out. Jesus replied, “tell John what you have seen me do”.

The crowds that followed Jesus were not interested in the nights he spent in prayer; and unless they were from his home town in Nazareth, they were not interested in his upbringing, his education, his family – nor, thank goodness, where he lived, what he ate, where he shopped or spent his holidays. All they were interested in was – could he heal? Did he really care for people? Did he provide a good “after sales service”?

Minister’s Letter – April 2010

Dead – or Alive?

Someone once said to Joseph of Arimathea, “that was such a beautiful, costly, hand-hewn tomb. Why did you give it someone else to be interred in?” “Oh,” said Joseph, “he only needed it for the weekend.” **

If I were ever asked “do you believe in life after death?”, my reply would be quite simple; my relationship with God does not depend on anything physical (it is the Holy Spirit who keeps us in touch). Therefore the ending of my physical life will in no way cut me off from God.

When Jesus said “I will be with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28 v 20), he did not just mean as a memory. Jesus told a woman he met one day at a well “everyone who drinks of this (well) water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life”(John 4 v 14).

Minister’s Letter – November 2009

“God’s Economy”

I was talking to someone the other day who had spent her whole life in the same house. She had reached the stage of realising that she now had an awful lot that she really didn’t need. I am a hoarder by nature - but our regular moves as a manse family have made regular clearouts not only possible, but welcome. In a sense God does not have this problem. God never moves house! But God does not waste anything. Whilst walking the dog in Wepre Wood one beautiful sunny day I was struck by the canopy of trees, the multicoloured carpet of autumn leaves in red, orange, gold, yellow, green, with a smattering black dots. Nothing is wasted here. Everything plays a part – and by recycling helps growth the next year. One leaf by itself, through beautiful, cannot hold a candle to the sight of all the leaves thrown together. But we need to stop, and look.

“Sorry seems to be the hardest word”

Let me be one of the first to congratulate – if that is the right word – the new Roman Catholic Archbishop, Most Rev Vincent Nicholls, on his new office. He has promised to raise the profile of the church, so that it plays a larger role in democracy. That is something that we should all support.

But - did you know you could be a priest without ever turning your collar round? Or even going to college? In fact all praying Christians (is there any other kind?) are priests. For the role of the priest is to be a go-between between God and God’s children. Not just the churchy ones – all of them. To pray for them when tragedies occur – but also when they themselves make a mistake. In Exodus ch 19 verse 6 God tells Moses that the fledgling Israelite nation is to be “ a priestly kingdom (RSV “a kingdom of priests”) and a holy nation”.

Deeside Pastorate Newsletter – May 2009

Are we afraid of being raised up? OR “Walk Tall!”

As you will know, I have been my current “lamp post” shape since the age of 13/14. What I must inform you now, with great shame in this part of the world, is that, apart from school, and maybe due to my sports experiences there, I have never been a rugby player, let alone a fan. Of course, there was a certain football team based close by, who succeeded, to my great delight, in winning the Cup and League “Double” during my Tottenham residence. But in rugby I faced one insurmountable problem – my shape, and my light weight. No stamina for running; half a tackle - and I was floored. (My brief attempts at boxing produced the same result!).

My first proper paid job (age 18-20) was as a Clerical Officer for what was then the London West Collection of HM Customs and Excise, based at Ebury House, 150 Victoria Street SW1.

Pilgrimage at a pace!

Greetings once again, and may the peace of God be with you. As you will know, Ruth and I took up the offer (from Ruth’s sister Heather, an Anglican parish priest in Leeds) to join a 10 day pilgrimage to the Holy Land, 1st – 10th February. I am grateful to the pastorate for allowing us to make the one-off trip; in due course a presentation will be forthcoming.

Since our return, many people have asked “How did the holiday go?” Well – yes, there were short ‘spaces’, such as the wonderfully peaceful sail across what was a millpond Sea of Galilee, in gentle sunshine. And the food throughout was wonderful and plentiful! And the company too (we were the only non-conformists in a group of 23)! But we were very busy! And we were following a tight schedule - we had to, to cover all the ground. We rose daily at 6.30 / 7am! We actually visited 19 churches, passing by with reference another 8!

Who cares?

Such are the pressures, the disappointments, the disillusionments abroad in virtually every field of working life today, that I believe people have neither the encouragement nor the energy nor the enthusiasm to care about their as much as they might. Part of the reason for this is surely the “Credit Crunch” as it is called, causing companies to fear for their future unless employees are put on short time or simply made redundant. There is the feeling that those at the top, however caring they may appear to be, however hard they might appear to be working to safeguard the company, they are basically trying to save their own skins first and foremost. People in every walk of life are feeling cynical, unappreciated – as if even their very best is no good because ultimately it will not save the day.