Roundabout Online

Blackberry flush

‘… and then he dropped his blackberry in the toilet!’

They say that it’s never good to listen in to someone else’s conversations but sometimes you just can’t help it!! It sounded like someone was having a really bad day, but what was ‘he’ doing with soft fruit in the toilet?  Wouldn’t it have been better to leave it in the kitchen before answering the call of nature?

 

My eavesdropping happened a year or two back – and I now know what a Blackberry is, but I still have some questions.  Not least, does being a working person mean that there is no longer a time that is truly our own?

 

It can be great to be busy – we can feel involved and fully alive. It is also the only way that many of us are able to buy food and other necessities. But sometimes busy-ness can get out of hand.  If we’re not careful it can eat into our every waking (and sleeping) hour. So much so, that we are unable to relax and, every time we try, we just end up feeling more anxious than ever. It becomes hard to believe that if we were to slow down the world would not come to an end or that there could ever be more to life than work. And we are too frightened to try to find out. 

 

But there really IS more to life than work.  We weren’t created to be human machines rushing around at 70+ mph.  We were created to be human beings, to move at 3.5 mph and to enjoy our relationships with other people and with the place we live.  This is a time when holiday-makers visit our villages and when we ourselves may take a break.  But in a financially difficult time or when working life is at fever pitch it can take a while to get used to a slower pace; to loosen our shoulders; to let go of the stress and the mobile phone; and to enjoy new things and appreciate those we have been given to love and who love us.  But it’s important that we try hard to do this.  God created Sabbath – a time to stop working – so that we could rest, be renewed and refreshed … and it’s not for nothing that our breaks from work are called holy-days.

 

Lydia Avery 

 

(PS. For those like me, who didn’t know, a Blackberry is a ‘smart phone’!)

 

Thank God for Darwin

A friend recently gave me a badge. It says, 'Thank God for Darwin!'

 

Some people seem to think that Charles Darwin was a great enemy of religion, but I don't reckon he was. Neither were Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, or other great scientists.

 

Take Isaac Newton. In his time many scientists had come to believe that the earth went round the sun, but they didn't know how. What Newton did was to explain how it happened. The earth would have shot out into space if it weren't for gravity, which makes it turn around the sun.

 

What scientists do is explain how things happen. By Darwin's time many people had realised that the earth had been around for a very long time, and that there were creatures like the dinosaurs that had lived long ago but then become extinct.

 

What Darwin did was to come up with an explanation of how species develop: that creatures change in small ways and those that fit their environment in a better way survive, and pass on the changes to their offspring.

 

I think that Einstein was right when he said that what scientists are doing is 'drawing God's lines after him.'

 

What science does means that when I look at the world, the birds outside my window, the clouds in the sky, the flowers growing, I can not only appreciate them as they are but also be amazed at the ways they work, and how they've come about. And we can continue to discover more and more.

 

At my friend's church they had a science festival, including a Dinosaur Day for children. I'm not planning on organising one, but it seemed to me like a good idea. We appreciate the work of musicians, artists and poets. Why not scientists? Thank God for Darwin, and the rest of them.

 

                                                            David Osborne

‘Do not worry about tomorrow …’

A red light has just appeared on my computer which seems to be telling me something about the battery.  I am unsure what it means – and it’s making me nervous!  I depend on my computer and am now worried about what will happen if it suddenly conks out. But in the grand scheme of things this is minor.

 

There is a lot of worry about at the moment – about work, money, lifestyle, school, college, health, body image.  Every day the news seems to be a little more depressing or downright distressing – little wonder then that recent research tells us that in Britain anxiety and depression are on the increase.

 

Magazines and newspapers are trying to help by suggesting quick fix ways of busting stress. I have to hold my hands up and say that I’m not convinced by the ‘quick fix’.  The miraculous aside, it seems that for something to be lasting, it is more likely to involve a journey that includes being gentle with oneself and with others, rather than something that is simply switched on and immediately successful. 

 

Of course, ‘gentle journeying’ is easier said than done because it often involves trying to slow down and to live in the moment, rather than rushing and worrying about the future. Almost certainly there will be a few false starts.  But we shouldn’t worry if this happens.  Worrying saps our energy so that we feel unable to cope - and the thing we worry about often doesn’t actually happen (or when it does, it turns out not to be the monster it became in our minds). In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells us we should try not to do it. Worry can take our attention away from enjoying things that we can be thankful for – like food, clean water, beauty around us, people and friends we love, our home.

 

One way of dealing with anxiety is to engage with nature.  Recently someone advised setting alarm clocks at 4.30 a.m., getting up and going to some woodland to hear the dawn chorus. Whether we go to the woods or listen from bed there IS something wonderfully relaxing about bird song at the start of the day. Walking in the countryside can also help.  On May 17th, to mark Rogation Sunday, the churches are joining together to walk around the benefice – you’ll be very welcome. As a stress buster it will be a win, win event (and no computer will be needed).

Lydia Avery

 

Who's coming for Supper?

Many of us grew up with the idea that the Holy Communion service was only for grown ups, and only people who had been confirmed could receive the bread and the wine. That has now changed. The Communion is still an adult service, but people of all ages are welcome, and sharing in the bread and wine is not just for people who have been confirmed. Anyone at the service who wants to join in this way of remembering Jesus and being part of his movement is welcome to do so.

In the early days of the church everyone who was baptised shared in the Lord's Supper. But as time went on two things changed. Firstly there developed a second ceremony, after baptism, called Confirmation. Then a rule was introduced in some churches to say that only people who had been confirmed could have the bread and wine. Preparation for Confirmation, or for baptism as an adult, would involve a period of study in order to have some understanding of what being a Christian involved.

But in the last few decades many churches have come to see this situation as not fitting with the way Jesus worked. Everyone agrees that it is important to apply our minds to our faith. But our being welcomed by God does not depend on us having the right ideas, believing the right things, or understanding what it's all about. God welcomes us in prayer and worship when we are confused, baffled or full of questions, as well as when we are clear and confident.

Jesus wanted people to use their minds, and to weigh up the cost of being one of his followers, but he was also happy to have meals with all sorts of people, and welcomed children.

The Church of England changed its national policy on Communion a few years ago. Our local church councils have now decided that in these parishes children, and others who aren't confirmed, should be welcome to share in the communion if they wish.

Some time in the next few months we'll have a gathering for all our children who come to church, to explore what the communion service is, and what it means. Any adults who want to think and talk about faith are also welcome to do so. We organise discussion groups from time to time for that purpose. Or if you'd like a conversation with one of the ministers, just give us a ring and we can get together.

Confirmation is still important. It is an opportunity for people to say for themselves, in public, that they are followers of Jesus, and for the church to pray for them. But, confirmed or not, you are welcome at Communion.

                                                David Osborne

Journeys

   We have all travelled through 2008. Was your journey through the last year a good one? If you are like most people, I expect you had some good times and other times that were not so good. It is also true to say that no two of us had the same journey through the last year. Each of us will have had different experiences. Here we are at the beginning of 2009. Where will your journey through the coming year take you? Will 2009 be a good year for you?

   At Christmas, we remembered the journeys various people took to Bethlehem. It seems as though all journeys were heading towards the baby Jesus lying in a manger in Bethlehem.

Of course, those nativity scenes that we so often see are not particularly accurate if they show the shepherds and the magi at the manger together. The truth is that the shepherds came to Bethlehem by one route and at one time, and the magi came by a very different route, and they arrived long after the shepherds had left.

The shepherds were poor people, materially speaking. They were out on a hillside with their sheep on a dark and starry night. These shepherds heard the angels’ message and they acted. Theirs was a journey of simplicity and almost child-like faith. They heard; they believed; they obeyed.

    The magi, on the other hand, had a much more complex journey. These were men of great knowledge. They were familiar with science, reason and logic. They were astronomers and would probably have been materially wealthy. They were much more complex characters than those unsophisticated shepherds, and their journey to Bethlehem was much more involved and it took considerably longer.

     It is interesting to note that both the shepherds and the magi brought gifts to the child in the manger. God gave to us the gift of his son, Jesus. In response, gifts were brought to the child. The gifts they brought were very different from each other. The shepherds brought sheep for the baby Jesus. The magi brought gold, frankincense and myrrh: gold, signifying the world of commerce, politics and economics; frankincense representing the aesthetic and spiritual side of life; and myrrh, the ointment of death. These gifts signified everything that we are. Whether we identify more with the simplicity of the shepherds or the complexity of the magi, even for us today, we are called to bring our lives and lay them at Jesus’ feet. In the manger was laid the incarnation of God.

    The 6^th January is known as Epiphany. At Epiphany we remember the magi and their story. They made quite a journey. Their journey was significant, and we still remember it today. What will your journey be like as you travel through 2009?

                                                     Rev Nick Lakin  Methodist Minister