Holy Trinity Sneyd

A member of the North Potteries Team Ministry

Vicar’s Window March 2020

Dear friends,

For a brief period we are back in the green season. Candlemass falls at he beginning of this month and Ash Wednesday sees the month out. A little respite before the rigours of Lenten fasting take over. Meanwhile, I write this as the United Kingdom eases itself out of the European Union and British Nationals are brought home from China in the hope that, following a period of quarantine, the Coronavirus has escaped them. (I never thought that I would hear Arrowe Park Hospital mentioned in the news. Being my local main hospital when I lived on the Wirral, I can guarantee that that is the correct spelling.)

February is the month of the spring meeting of the General Synod of the Church of England. This is the last London meeting of the present synod – that body of bishops, priests, deacons, and lay people who are the decision-making body of the Church of England. Elections will take place later this year. The final session will take place in York in July. A new synod will be inaugurated by Her Majesty the Queen in the autumn and the opening eucharist (mass) celebrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury in nearby Westminster Abbey. I have been a member of the General Synod for the present quinquennium (five years) and it has been an interesting time. During that period there have not been the fierce and emotional debates about the ordination of women and the introduction of new service books. A great deal of what has been discussed has been, quite frankly, booring but necessary for the well-being of the Church of England. Perhaps the most emotive have been the discussions around same-sex relationships. In recent years, same-sex marriage has arrived on the secular scene and civil partnership has been extended to heterosexual couples. How does “the church” view these developments?

For the Roman Catholic Church, the situation is relatively simple. Marriage is a sacrament which binds a couple of the opposite sex in a union which lasts for their earthly existence. It is to provide the setting for the birth, care, and nurture of children and the well-being of the couple concerned. Divorce is not possible but the annulment of the marriage is. If there is sufficient evidence to show that the couple entered into a flawed relationship, then that relationship can be declared (by the Church) to be null and void and the people concerned free to remarry.

The Church of England has a more complex understanding. Until a few decades ago, there was no possibility of a previously married person remarrying in church unless their previous marriage had been annulled. The only grounds for annulment was the non-consummation of the marriage. There was a debate about divorced individuals being granted the freedom to remarry following a diocesan investigation into the causes of the divorce. (This raised the whole question of “guilty” and “innocent” parties.) The decision was taken to leave the decision to marry divorcees in the hands of the parish priest in conjunction with the Parochial Church Council. This, inevitably, has led to the accusation that some (horrid) clergy “won’t” marry divorcees while (nice) clergy will. What is forgotten is the belief that God and the couple make the marriage and that the unmaking of the marriage is not simply a matter of a Court of Law but of God and His Church. In other words, priests can’t marry divorcees, not won’t. (It is not unlike a priest being asked to provide adult baptism for a person who was baptised as a child. It is simply not possible. Baptism is a once-and-for-all sacrament.)

Now we have the situation with the Church of England accepting same-sex couples but being very clear that there must be no sexual interaction. This is the position stated in a recent document from the House of Bishops about the nature of civil partnerships. Clergy are now being accepted as having same-sex partners while the demand is being made that that relationship must remain celibate. Curious that no questions are asked, as far as I know, about the individuals belief in the divinity and resurrection of Our Lord.

Marriage is always going to be something of a dilemma in a Church which operates in a pluralistic society. Marriage came before the Church. It took on a specifically Christian understanding as Christianity became the dominant religion. Is there now a distinction between Christian marriage and secular marriage? Has the advent of same-sex marriage changed the very nature of secular marriage which, itself, took much of its understanding from its Christian antecedents? It is for that reason that some heterosexual couples want a civil partnership and not marriage because of the so-called “cultural baggage” and expectation which goes with any form of marriage?

Doubtless the next General Synod will have to embrace these thorny questions. Will anyone get hurt? Will anyone rejoice? Wait and see.

Vicar’s Window February 2020

Dear friends,

For a brief period we are back in the green season. Candlemass falls at he beginning of this month and Ash Wednesday sees the month out. A little respite before the rigours of Lenten fasting take over. Meanwhile, I write this as the United Kingdom eases itself out of the European Union and British Nationals are brought home from China in the hope that, following a period of quarantine, the Coronavirus has escaped them. (I never thought that I would hear Arrowe Park Hospital mentioned in the news. Being my local main hospital when I lived on the Wirral, I can guarantee that that is the correct spelling.)

February is the month of the spring meeting of the General Synod of the Church of England. This is the last London meeting of the present synod – that body of bishops, priests, deacons, and lay people who are the decision-making body of the Church of England. Elections will take place later this year. The final session will take place in York in July. A new synod will be inaugurated by Her Majesty the Queen in the autumn and the opening Eucharist (mass) celebrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury in nearby Westminster Abbey. I have been a member of the General Synod for the present quinquennium (five years) and it has been an interesting time. During that period there have not been the fierce and emotional debates about the ordination of women and the introduction of new service books. A great deal of what has been discussed has been, quite frankly, boring but necessary for the well-being of the Church of England. Perhaps the most emotive have been the discussions around same-sex relationships. In recent years, same-sex marriage has arrived on the secular scene and civil partnership has been extended to heterosexual couples. How does “the church” view these developments?

For the Roman Catholic Church, the situation is relatively simple. Marriage is a sacrament which binds a couple of the opposite sex in a union which lasts for their earthly existence. It is to provide the setting for the birth, care, and nurture of children and the well-being of the couple concerned. Divorce is not possible but the annulment of the marriage is. If there is sufficient evidence to show that the couple entered into a flawed relationship, then that relationship can be declared (by the Church) to be null and void and the people concerned free to remarry.

The Church of England has a more complex understanding. Until a few decades ago, there was no possibility of a previously married person remarrying in church unless their previous marriage had been annulled. The only grounds for annulment was the non-consummation of the marriage. There was a debate about divorced individuals being granted the freedom to remarry following a diocesan investigation into the causes of the divorce. (This raised the whole question of “guilty” and “innocent” parties.) The decision was taken to leave the decision to marry divorcees in the hands of the parish priest in conjunction with the Parochial Church Council. This, inevitably, has led to the accusation that some (horrid) clergy “won’t” marry divorcees while (nice) clergy will. What is forgotten is the belief that God and the couple make the marriage and that the unmaking of the marriage is not simply a matter of a Court of Law but of God and His Church. In other words, priests can’t marry divorcees, not won’t. (It is not unlike a priest being asked to provide adult baptism for a person who was baptised as a child. It is simply not possible. Baptism is a once-and-for-all sacrament.)

Now we have the situation with the Church of England accepting same-sex couples but being very clear that there must be no sexual interaction. This is the position stated in a recent document from the House of Bishops about the nature of civil partnerships. Clergy are now being accepted as having same-sex partners while the demand is being made that that relationship must remain celibate. Curious that no questions are asked, as far as I know, about the individual’s belief in the divinity and resurrection of Our Lord.

Marriage is always going to be something of a dilemma in a Church which operates in a pluralistic society. Marriage came before the Church. It took on a specifically Christian understanding as Christianity became the dominant religion. Is there now a distinction between Christian marriage and secular marriage? Has the advent of same-sex marriage changed the very nature of secular marriage which, itself, took much of its understanding from its Christian antecedents? It is for that reason that some heterosexual couples want a civil partnership and not marriage because of the so-called “cultural baggage” and expectation which goes with any form of marriage?

Doubtless the next General Synod will have to embrace these thorny questions. Will anyone get hurt? Will anyone rejoice? Wait and see.

Vicar’s Window January 2020

Dear friends,

During this Christmass Season I have enjoyed watching “The Grumpy Guide to Christmass.” (You can find it on YouTube.) One of my favourite Tories, Anne Widdecome, made the observation, “In our house, the decorations go up on Christmass Eve and come down on Twelfth Night – just like they always did.” I do the same but sometimes thought that I had imagined it. Sad to see so many families taking down the decorations on Boxing Day!

What is happening to us? Do we live in a society that can’t wait? “It is my birthday on Tuesday so we are having a party on the previous Saturday. Nothing to get up for on a Sunday so the party can go on. (I rarely go to parties on a Saturday because of the Lord’s Day needing to be observed.) My reply is, “But you might die before your birthday – which would nullify the reason for the party.” I get a look!

The all-time favourite film was broadcast just before Christmass – The Holly and the Ivy. I watched it on DVD. Because it is set in the late 1940s, the house is being decorated with holly and mistletoe (wonderfully pagan, of course) and the paper decorations are paper and not tinsel, including a bell hanging from the “big light”. All this taking place on Christmass Eve. (Some of you may remember those decorations that folded to a flat shape with cardboard at either end. Chains pulled out to reveal shapes in various colours, usually fairly pale because of age. Bells and balls were opened in a circle and the cardboard ends secured together with little metal clips. Hard to explain but magical. No throwing away of decorations every year – that didn’t come until the 60s. In fact, so old were the streamers (We never used that term.) that rips were repaired with bits of ancient sellotape. Drawing pins, carefully placed into the ancient holes in the picture rail, held one end to a room corner, the other being in the middle of the room with the three other streamers and the aforementioned bell or ball. (Coming from a family of seafarers, I can remember my sister’s mother-in-law putting up decorations that had been used in a cruise ship. So big and long were they that they were fixed round and round the rather small sitting room. (We called it a kitchen – which wasn’t the kitchen, that was the back-kitchen!) Anyone taller than 5’6″ stood in an upside-down sea of coloured paper.

Then there were the tree lights. Usually 12 large, brightly-coloured – and a box of spares! The baubles were the same year by year too, not least because they were so strong that they bounced rather than smashed when dropped. (Why was it always the ugliest ones that refused to break?) We used to put our (real) tree on the sideboard (remember those?). This had a top middle drawer lined with green baize. This was the place for keeping the cutlery. Long after we had moved on to an artificial tree, I can remember finding the odd pine needle stuck to the fluffy surface, usually in a corner.

A final remembrance. Carefully washed glasses so the women could sip either a Cherry B or a Snowball. This was (and is) a cocktail consisting of Advocaat, lime juice, lemonade, and a glacế cherry. I can’t remember many of the women drinking alcohol at any other time of the year, apart from weddings. I recently watched 101 Dalmatians with Barry, Christine Cutty’s brother, Cruella deVille always makes me think of Auntie Megan in her leopard skin fake fur (or was it?) sipping the bright yellow drink. Oh the joys of a child’s 1950s Christmass.

Forgive the huge digression into nostalgia. This month’s magazine has a fair bit of Christmass stuff gleaned from Tunstall’s magazine. Don’t forget that Christmass only took up one week of December. We now have the second week leading up to Twelfth Night – and an additional week brings us to The Baptism of the Lord. This officially concludes the major celebration of Christmass. From the 13th we are back in the green of Ordinary Time before returning to the conclusion of Christmass, the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, otherwise known as Candflemass. This year it falls on a Sunday and we will process from the porch into the church as Mary and Joseph entered the Temple in Jerusalem with the Christchild. As Simeon declared Jesus to be “the light to lighten the Gentiles” so we will carry lighted candles to celebrate that prophesy. The manger scene under the altar with remain until Candlemass is celebrated. Then we start looking towards the beginning of Lent!

Take care and enjoy this continuing holy season.

PS Pray for our new government and for our new MP – and for Ruth Smeeth, our former MP. May those who govern listen to the voices of the new “northern” MPs – and may they, in turn, listen to their constituents.

Vicar’s Window December 2019

Dear friends,

Worshippers at Holy Trinity will soon notice a seismic change in our worship on a Sunday morning. After many many years of faithfully playing the organ and accompanying the singing, Maurice Greenham has decided, at the age of 7…, to step down as our regular organist. He will still be with us on the fourth Sunday of the month and at funerals and weddings – but not for the other three or four Sundays or feast days. This puts us in the same boat as many other churches. I shall be playing on the second Sunday of the month (Father Kevin holding the liturgical fort as he does anyway.) and I am looking for a kind soul to play on the third and fifth Sundays. Recorded music (either through CDs or via a digital organ machine) or unaccompanied singing will be the order of the day for the All-age Mass.

I have to record, even with Maurice continuing in a part-time capacity, that he has been a wonderful colleague and has coped with the vagiaries of the ancient Compton pipe organ – and with the last-minute changes introduced by my good self during the course of various masses. During Maurice’s time, the repertoire has grown considerably and we have all enjoyed the spectacular voluntaries her has played after mass each Sunday. May he enjoy his semi-retirement and feel free to join us in worship without the responsibility of playing. (It is a curious thing being the organist. Although a very rudimentary player, I have to confess that sorting out the next piece of music and playng on time does make for a slight detachment from the actual worship. It is extraordinary how easy it is to have a mental blank in the middle of playing a hymn – and forgetting which verse we have arrived at!)

Need I add that, if there is an organist out there looking for a fun experience, then please make contact. Maurice arrived when i was painting the church ceiling and a neighbour brought him to see the church. Maurice told me that he was an organist and that he wasn’t playing at any church. I invited him along and , voila, we had Hilda’s successor. (Hilda Burgess ceased being organist when her sight failed. We had a good six months without an organist and John Baillie operated the recording machine.)

While on the subject of music, Daisy-Mae Goodwin continues her studies and Holly-Mae is having a wonderful time doing her degree at Bangor in the University of Wales. She also serves at the cathedral and is learning to sing in Welsh. (Surely Welsh and Latin are the only languages in which to sing the praises of God.)

So the holy season of Advent is upon us – and on the first of the month so the Advent Calendars are actually in synch. with the church. Time to ask ourselves (and God) how well we are doing in our discipleship. Are we becoming more joyful, outward-looking Christians – or are we lazy and introspective? Will the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) be part of our pre-Christmass discipline or will we arrive at the Lord’s Birthday unprepared? Paradoxically, while the Catholic wing of General Synod are fighting (with others) to retain the “Seal of the Confessional” (No telling others what is told in “the box”.) – the use of the Sacrament seems to be almost non-existent in the Church of England. I can remember going to confession on Shrove Tuesday and having to wait for the six or seven earlybirds to make their confession before I could take my turn. It is a sacrament that seems to be used by the clergy rather than the laity. Do we sin more or is there a lack of awareness of what sin is? I can remember hearing confessions at Walsingham and being astonished how little penitents understood what they were meant to say. (There are plenty of manuals available. All the people I have presented for confirmation have the excellent volume “Some daily prayers for Church of England people.” by Father Harry Ogden (R.I.P.) which includes a form of self-examination which I still use.

So – have a good Advent. The sun is shining as I write this. Could it be that the rainy-season is over? Some decent, freezing bright weather would be very welcome.

Oh – and don’t forget to vote. For all my ranting last month, I shall be voting for Ruth Smeeth (Labour) without apology. No party is perfect and Brexit isn’t the only issue. I believe that Labour has the interests of people like us at heart. Certainly the interests of places like Stoke on Trent. I really don’t understand why so many people think that Boris is a Good Thing and complain about Jeremy. We haven’t had a proper Socialist Government for some time. I fear that people don’t realise the effect that so-called austerity is having on our city and on the provision made for the people of this city, especially those (unlike me) who are having a hard time.

Take care and enjoy this holy season.

 

‘Living Stones’ – Sermon given at the Dedication Festival (19th November) by Father Michael Fisher

Brother Jude was a member of a community of Benedictine monks living in ‘Middle England’, round about the middle of the twelfth century. The 12th century was a time when monastic communities like Brother Jude’s were springing up all over England; and when all of those large abbeys whose ruins attract sightseers nowadays, were being built – like Fountains Abbey, Walsingham Priory, and Croxden here in Staffs. When a community grew beyond a certain size, a small group of monks would be sent off to set up a daughter-house in another area, and this is exactly what happened in the case of the abbey to which Brother Jude belonged. So Father Abbot had the job of deciding which of his monks would leave their mother-house to build a new abbey in another place. He had to make sure that within the group there were enough skills and talents to do the necessary work. So he made his choice carefully. He chose Bro. Mark who was a skilled stonemason; talented Brother Cyprian who could carve and sculpt stone into the most wonderful patterns and shapes. Then there was Brother Joseph, a carpenter who could make all kinds of furniture such as choir-stalls and refectory tables. There was the multi-talented Brother Ambrose whose artistic skills were put to good use in creating those beautiful coloured miniatures which decorated the books and manuscripts in the abbey’s library. More than that, Ambrose could design and make magnificent stained-glass for the windows Then there was the metalworker, Brother Stephen, who could produce anything from locks and latches to candlesticks and chalices.

Finally there was Brother Jude. Now Jude wasn’t chosen because of his potential usefulness; far from it. Not for nothing was he named after the patron saint of lost causes, for Brother Jude had a problem. He was clumsy on a monumental scale, and accident-prone to the ultimate degree. Imagine a combination of Mr Bean with the physique of an all-in wrestler, and that cag-handed magician Tommy Cooper in a monk’s habit – and that’s Brother Jude. If there was anything to fall over or fall into, Jude was sure to fall over it or fall into it. Valuable books in the library would just shed their pages in his hands. Refectory benches would collapse underneath him. If he was asked to ring the Angelus bell, he would forget how many chimes he was supposed to pull, or the bell-rope would fall off. But in spite of all this, Jude was a happy soul whom everybody in the community liked, because in spite of everything that happened to him, he always managed to remain cheerful.

So, on the appointed day, Brother Jude and the others set off for the place where the new abbey was to be built, and when they got there the big question was what sort of job Brother Jude could be given that wouldn’t be a danger to himself and to the rest of the community. Help with Woodwork? Metalwork, stone-carving, stained glass – all completely out of the question… But there was one thing in which Brother Jude absolutely excelled – he was physically very strong; plenty of muscle-power and stamina. So a job was found which matched his one big asset.

The walls and pillars of large churches and abbeys are not made out of solid stone. The procedure was – and still is – to build cavity walls of dressed stone, then fill in the cavities with rubble and cement. The pillars too are built hollow inside, then filled in in the same way. Tons and tons of rubble and scrap stone were used up in this way, and it was this which gave the real strength to the building, binding everything else together. So this was the work that Brother Jude was given to do – carting barrow-load after barrow-load of rough stone, mixing it with cement and tipping it into the wall cavities. And he did it without too many accidents or mishaps. And he went about this repetitive and tedious work day in and day out, come rain or shine, without a moan or a grumble; doing it willingly for love of God and the community.

Eventually the abbey was finished, and the time came for its dedication; and how splendid it all looked. There was Brother Mark’s impeccable stonework reaching right up to the roofs; Brother Cyprian’s fine window-tracery, carved pillars and statues; Brother Joseph’s exquisite woodwork, Brother Ambrose’s glowing stained glass windows, and Brother Stephen’s silver cross and candlesticks on the altar. But of Brother Jude’s hard work there was just nothing to look at or admire. All those tons of rubble and cement that he had heaved and mixed and barrowed and poured – all out of sight, hidden away behind Brother Mark’s perfect ashlar, or Brother Cyprian’s finely-moulded pillars and arches. ‘Ah well’, thought Brother Jude. ‘It wasn’t meant to be seen anyway. Just a load of rubbish really.’

Now turn the clock forward five centuries and more, and we find that the abbey on which Brother Jude and his fellow monks had built and loved is now a ruin, as a result of the so-called ‘Reformation’ – just ‘one of the ruins that (Thomas) Cromwell knocked about a bit’, and now cared for by Heritage England. Gone – long gone – is all of Brother Joseph’s fine carpentry, Brother Ambrose’s beautiful stained glass. Of Brother Mark’s and Brother Cyprian’s fine stonework there are some survivals; but what stands out more than anything else is that where the stone facings have crumbled or eroded away, you can now see the solid core of cement-bonded rubble that was always the real strength and the invisible heart of the entire building. Those barrow-loads of rough stone that Brother Jude had pushed and hoisted day after day have outlasted nearly everything else; and by a strange irony the contribution of the least-accomplished member of that community has survived the longest.

A bit far-fetched, you might think; and of course it’s only a story. But think of this; on every such building –abbeys, cathedrals, parish churches – there would have been the equivalent of Brother Jude who did the most menial and least-skilled job of filling in cavity walls with rubble and cement; and it is a matter of historical fact that these masses of cement-bound rubble are the most enduring part of any medieval building.

Tonight we give thanks for this house of prayer and worship, and for all who were involved in its construction and dedication. Some can be identified by the beauty of the decoration and embellishment, making it a fitting place for the celebration of the Liturgy. But there were others too, who did the more menial tasks whose names we may never know, but they all had their part to play in making this building what it is today.

In tonight’s New Testament Reading, St Paul who compares the Church to a building in which all the various parts stand together, function together, built firmly on the rock that is Christ Jesus – you and me joined together in the faith we profess, and every one matters. Not all are called to be priests or Readers, churchwardens, cantors or altar-servers, but every single person has been given something which they can offer for use in God’s service and the building-up of his kingdom on earth. But above all and in all, and more important than anything else is what we might call the ‘cement’ which binds us all together like the barrowloads which poor old Brother Jude poured into the cavity-walls of that monastery – for love of God and for the love of the community; and they outlasted everything else. The spiritual cement is of course that precious gift of divine love without which everything else is pointless, St Paul tells us; and which – like Brother Jude’s cement-and-rubble walls, will stand firm and secure after everything else has vanished away. And remember this too, that the church building – whether the one which Brother Jude helped to build, or this one here in Hamil Road, is the place where mortal men and women of every age and ability may keep the company of angels, receive the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation, and know that whether they are a Brother Ambrose or a Brother Jude, a Sister Mary or a Sister Martha, they are all, in the eyes of God, utterly loveable and utterly redeemable.

Much as we love our church buildings, there is a danger that we can become so attached to them that they become an end in themselves; at worst an exclusive ‘private members’ club’. It’s that kind of attitude that Our Lord Himself confronted in his conversation with the Samaritan woman in tonight’s Gospel reading. For the Jews, the Temple in Jerusalem was quite literally sacrosanct, and you couldn’t worship God properly anywhere else; while for the Israelites in the south, the hill of Samaria was their special sanctuary. The holy people of God – yet divided, and hating each other on account of where they worshipped. Jesus told the woman – and he tells us too – that true worship has more to do with attitudes of mind than with specific buildings.

The famous early-twentieth-century architect Sir Ninian Comper – whose work inspired some of the decorations here at Holy Trinity – said that a church building was like a lantern, and that the altar was the light inside it. If the light goes out, then the lantern – however beautiful it might be – is useless. So our church buildings should focus attention upon the altar, with the Eucharist as the light of the Christian life. Whenever the people of God gather for Mass – be it a Solemn High Mass with all the trimmings, or humbly and quietly at an 8 o’clock in a remote village church, we worship ‘in spirit and in truth’ as we obey the Lord’s command to do this….’, so that wherever you may be – as the Letter to the Hebrews puts it – ‘What you come to is Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival, with the whole Church in which everyone is a first-born son, and a citizen of heaven (Heb. 12.22-23). The Church Militant, the Church Expectant, and the church Triumphant, at one in Christ, present both on His throne of heavenly glory, and upon our altars on earth.

Now here’s another text; this time from Revelation ch. 3: ‘Hold fast to what you have been given, and let no-one rob you of your crown’. It’s the text upon which the homily was given at the funeral of the first Bishop of Ebbsfleet, John Richards, in Exeter cathedral, exactly sixteen years ago tomorrow – 20 November 2003.

His appointment as a so-called ‘flying bishop’ at the age of sixty-two back in 1994 was taken by some to be a sign that provision for alternative episcopal oversight was just a temporary expedient, and that it would sooner rather than later fade away. How wrong they were. Though he was Bishop of Ebbsfleet for only four years before his retirement, he set a pattern of pastoral care and support of clergy and parishes that has become hallmark of alternative episcopal oversight right across the board, and an object lesson to many a diocesan of what episcopacy is – or should be – all about. He also fought hard for the parishes in his care, if ever they came under threat from wily archdeacons and the ‘liberal establishment’, so that some compared him to Cardinal Ratzinger, aka ‘God’s Rottweiler’. Today – and thanks to the tenacity of people like ‘JR’ as he was known, traditional Catholic parishes such as this one enjoy a much greater measure of security than was the case even a decade ago, and together we form a recognisable province within the structures of the Church of England. Fresh challenges may lie ahead, as it never was just a single-issue body; but the glass is always half-full, never half empty; so – rest secure upon those spiritual foundations that others have laid, and – to give that text in full :

‘Hold fast to what you have, and let no-one rob you of your crown. He who is victorious – I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.’

Vicar’s Window November 2019

Dear friends,

I can’t remember if I have put pen to paper about the subject of Brexit. The Eve of All Saints’ Day approaches and there seems to be little sign of Brexit actually happening.Whatever one’s viewpoint, I don’t think anyone is holding their breath.

Three things remain in my mind from the time of the referendum. The first was the day itself. I had never seen so many people coming out of their houses to cast their vote. There was an air of jubilation. At long last, a vote that seemed to count. In or out – that was it. It made me think that proportional representation could produce a similar response during a General Election. The second was the meeting of General Synod a few weeks later. This seemed to involve the two archbishops and the House of Bishops assuming that everyone in Synod had voted to remain. (Does this mean that they are out of touch with the country or that Synod members are out of touch or both?) The third was being knocked off my motorbike by a Dutchman only a few days after the vote – and in a left-hand drive car!

Since then there has been the relentless war of propaganda waged by the BBC, not least by the hand-picked bunch of comedians who seem to spend their time vilifying both Brexiteers and Christians. Slightly bizaarly, many Labour MPs have come out in favour of a general election and another referendum. I do wonder if they realise that the majority of Labour voters (certainly in Stoke on Trent) voted leave. Is it the case that the only Labour voters who matter are those who live in Islington and Hampstead? Let us also not forget that both main parties declared that they would respect the mind of the electorate.

I can’t help but wonder why there haven’t been riots and protests about the machinations of parliament during these past few years. I am sure that the French would have come out in their droves and the press coverage extensive. We simply moan into our warm beer and tea cups.

As I have written before, the problem for many of us who observe the deliberations of General Synod, the scenario is depressingly familiar. (Even the act of proroguing is a normal part of General Synod procedure.) Whenever a vote has been taken by synod on an issue which doesn’t have the support of the liberal intelligencia – it reappears within a short period of time. The ordination of women as priest and bishop had to be debated until the “right” answer emerged. No chance of further debate to ascertain the godliness of such decisions.

The truth is that many people are angry and frustrated. I detect that the next General Election will see people reluctantly turning away from the parties that they have supported in the past and either not voting at all or seeking the election of those who stand on a one issue ticket. Can you blame them? The danger is findng people in positions of authority and influence who will not be for the good of the country. I fear that the blame lies squarely with parliament and with those who decided to hold a referendum in the first place.

So let us wait and see – not least what may happen over the border if another independence referendum takes place.

Several people have mentioned to me that the country needs a Day of Prayer for Her Majesty the Queen and for her government. Perhaps someone needs to suggest this to the archbishops? Here is a possible prayer to be used…

Dear God, we pray that the people of this land may come to their senses and realise that the financiers and wielders of power and influence are the right people to make decisions for the good of the country and for the lining of their own pockets. We pray that we may only pay lip-service to democracy and not expect to put power into the hands of the electorate. We pray that those who voted leave may come to their senses and accept what is good for them, that is, the viewpoint of the minority. Amen.

Every blessing,

PS. I am a firm sitter-on-the-fence over the issue of remaining or leaving. It is the manipulation of people (and church communities) that bothers me.

R.I.P. STEVE BOULTON

It is with great sadness that I have to record the sudden death of Stephen Boulton, the founder of Arlington Funeral Services. (His advert is always on the back cover of this magazine.) Steve died of an heart-attack on Saturday 19th October at his family home in Wolstanton. Since setting up Arlington many years ago, I have had a great deal to do with Steve, not least, professionally. His establishment was (and is) a welcome stopping-off point between Leek and Burslem. Together with Tracey (his wife), Oliver (his son), and Malcolm (his side-kick) this was, and is, a truly family-run funeral business.

Steve directed a number of funerals at Sneyd Church and was present at my 25th anniversary of priesthood and on other occasions. We were also known to meet up at The Bull’s Head in Burslem on an early Friday evening. Steve would sometimes talk through problems (as did I) but mostly we sat and discussed and laughed. Both being mad about films, there was always plenty to talk about.

Steve’s funeral will be conducted by Father Andrew Swift at the church where Steve was baptised, S. Saviour’s Smallthorne on Tuesday November 5th at midday. Please keep him and his family (including mum, Chris, and son, William) in your prayers.
Father Brian
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R.I.P. ROSEMARY MYERS

Perhaps more sadly for some of the Sneyd congregation, was the death of Rosemary Myers following a freak car accident on Tuesday 1st October. Rosemary and Father Paul’s vehicle was shunted from the front while they were packing goods in the boot. Paul sustained minor injuries while Rosemary suffered fatal heart failure.

I have known Rosemary for nearly fourty years when she and Paul were at Old Church, West Bromwich. (Paul was, like me, in his second curacy or apprenticeship.) Alice was three and I was present at George’s baptism. Later, when I arrived at the vicarage on High Lane in 1983, Rosemary arrived with a bunch of flowers and took me out for lunch at The Kismet (fully air-conditioned) restaurant in Burslem. Throughout her career in education and Paul’s ministry in various parishes, we have remained firm friends and Rosemary was equally a friend of this church. She always bought raffle tickets when the occasion demanded – and with only a little grizzling! We would discuss The Archers endlessly – and rake over the embers of respective fairs. Rosemary was both extremely clever and an endless source of amusement, both her observations and the situations she ended up in.

She was also a great devotee of OurLady’s Shrine at Walsingham and was an annual pilgrim together with other members of this congregation. Many people told me that they were the focus of votive candles offered in the shrine and the recipients of Marian prayer cards. Paul and Rosemary joined us for various other pilgrimages, including Holy Island and Santiago da Compostella.

Rosemary often attended major feast days at Holy Trinity although, being a Leek resident, she made her regular spiritual home All Saints in Compton. Requiem masses were offered here at Sneyd Church. (I am happy to offer a requiem for someone important to you. Don’t be afraid to ask and, indeed, find out what a requiem is.) Her body was received into All Saints church on the eve of her funeral requiem, which took place on Tuesday 15th October at midday. May she rest in peace and may Our Lady of Walsingham pray for her. We should do the same.
Father Brian

An additional note; Don’t forget to tell your next-of-kin that you expect to be brought into church on the eve of your funeral, and that a funeral requiem mass be a basic requirement. It is the Christian way of doing things.

Vicar’s Window October 2019

Dear friends,

Although this month isn’t packed with notable feast days, there is a new feast day which will set this month apart for English Christians. Blessed John Henry Newman will be included among the ranks of the saints by Pope Francis on Sunday, October 13th in S. Peter’s Basilica, Rome.

John Henry Newman was born in 1801 into an evangelical family in the City of London. He went up to Oxford and eventually became a Fellow of Oriel College (full title – The Oriel College of Our Lady) and Vicar of the University Church of S. Mary. During his time in Oxford he became drawn to the high church tradition of Anglicanism and was a co-founder of the Oxford Movement, a movement which sought to restore to the Church of England the Catholicism it had generally claimed but ignored.

Newman was one of the driving forces behind a series of pamphlets entitled “Tracts for the Times”. These were disseminated among the clergy with the intention of recalling them to the catholic practices contained in the Book of Common Prayer. Tract Ninety was Newman’s attempt to give a catholic interpretation of what appeared to be the highly protestant Thirty-nine Articles of Religion. Such was the uproar against him and his fellow Tractarians that he ceased to be vicar of S. Mary’s and withdrew to a quasi-monastery at Littlemore, near Oxford.

In 1845 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church. (The Catholic Movement in the Church of England continued inspite of his, and others, departure for Rome. Sneyd parish was the direct result of that movement.) He was ordained priest and founded the Birmingham Oratory – a community of priests praying, teaching, and serving parishes in the city. He was also instrumental in founding the Catholic University of Ireland in 1854. Among his writings, apart from the various tracts, he wrote The Dream of Gerontius, a lengthy poem which was abridged by Edward Elgar and set to music. (“Firmly I believe and truly” and “Praise to the holiest in the height” are hymns extracted from that lengthy work – but set to different tunes.)

In 1879, Newman was created a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII. He died in August 1890. Half of his life was spent in the Church of England and half in the Roman Catholic Church.

Newman’s writings and theology influenced the direction of the Second Vatican Council in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His desire was for truth and reality as opposed to sentiment and feeling. Substance was all-important, not style. His writing is elegant and clear with touches of humour. (“I see ….. has proffered an olive branch, albeit fired from a catapult.”

He was buried in the community’s graveyard at Rednal, near Birmingham. His study has remained as a memorial within the Oratory complex. In 2010, Pope Benedict declared him Blessed during his visit to Great Britain. His canonisation (recognition of sainthood) was officially approved by Pope Francis last February. His feast day will be October 9th.

Since Blessed John Henry’s beatification (one step down from sainthood), the Oratorians in Birmingham have created a chapel to Newman’s honour in their church. This contains relics associated with the holy man, though not his actual body. On exhumation, this was found to have disappeared into the damp soil of the area! We are most fortunate at Sneyd Church to have, thanks to Father Kevin, a tertiary relic and a small shrine to Cardinal Newman. The tertiary relic is a small part of a cope (a cloak worn during various ceremonies in church) that Newman wore during worship in the Oratory.

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman (soon to be Saint John Henry) is an important person who learned his faith within our own church and continues to influence the church of his conversion. His writings are as important today as they were in his own time, in fact he was ahead of his time. Even in his years as an RC he was treated with suspicion, not least in his distrust of the placing of all authority in the hands of the Pope – ultramontanism, as it was called.

On Wednesday October 9th, we will have our usual evening mass but with more solemnity than is normal. The relic will be available for veneration and his prayers will be invoked. Ask him for his prayers now as we journey in faith as he did. “Blessed John Henry, pray for us. Saint John Henry, pray for us.”

Every blessing,

Vicar’s Window – July & August 2019

Dear friends,

Has summer arrived at last? The sun is shining, the air is warm – and the seemingly endless rainy season may be behind us. Meanwhile, the tweety-birds have been tweeting mightily and seem to be around in their droves. There is a wren-in-residence in the vicarage front wilderness. What a din! I sit at my (vicar’s) window with the air rifle but to no avail. Clearly this is a sign that there is no such thing as global-warming etc. etc. Thank God that we have President Trump to keep us on the true path. Will he find a matching counterpart leading over the Pond. We wait and see.

Enough serious reflection. We are back in the glorious green season in the life of the Church. A sprinkling of feast days to keep us on our toes, including the wonderful and glorious Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady on August 15th. (We will be celebrating it on the Eve as it is a major feast day with two Evening Prayers.) There is a sermon about Our Lady Mary elsewhere in this magazine and a wonderfully esoteric article about the Marian Antiphons sung at the end of Evening Prayer. If you are in Sneyd Church and getting bored, look them up at the end of Evening Prayer in our black service book. (Not as sinister as it sounds.)

We also have the Feast Day of S. James the Apostle on the 25th July. James was the first of the apostles to be martyred – killed for witnessing to the Lord Jesus. His body was discovered in a tomb in what is now Santiago de Compostella (S. James of the Field of Stars) in north west Spain. One of his titles is “Santiago Matamoros” (“S. James the Moor Slayer”) because he appeared at the head of the Christian army at the Battle of Clavijo and routed the invaders. Spain then declared James to be their principal patron saint and the protector of Christianity in the face of Islam. Make of that what you will. In our own time, Christianity has tried to marry itself to a different threat, to western godless ways, and is in danger of disappearing in some places. Curiously, it is those countries which were the hotspots for emergent Protestantism (Holland, Switzerland, for examples) which are now the centres of the most godless activities, not least the permission of euthanasia.

Which brings me on to The General Synod of the Church of England…

Seriously though, the problem for the Church is the way it responds to the increasing cultural norms of our society. Here are a few – same-sex marriage, abortion, divorce, euthanasia, self-harm (which could include tattooing), Sunday activities which promote anything but the worship of the Lord, paganism, veganism, sexual interchangeability, gender confusion. None of these activities have grown out of Christian theology and practice. Does the Church then have to embrace one or all of them? For many Christians (western and white and middle-class, largely) there is a desire to respond positively to these developments. For the majority of Christians there is much disquiet about the ways of the world. Are we called to “put on Christ” (S. Paul) and stand against much that modern society accepts and proclaims – or are we quietly to accept what everyone else accepts? Is the secular world right in some instances?

Many years ago I had a number of friends staying at the vicarage. One of the unmarried men and women were “in a relationship”. “Which bedroom are we in?” they asked. “That one’s yours and that one’s yours – and Gregor will be sleeping on the landing with the talcum powder.” was my reply. The talcum powder is self-explanatory, the dog was my (in)famous collie of the bared teeth and the subterranean growl. I enjoyed the counter-cultural moment. Would I have stood my ground after years of being ground-down, not least by the stream of baptisms issuing from unmarried parents?

Oh dear! This has turned into a bit of a rant. The problem is all to do with what do Christians do in the face of such a wholesale rejection of Christianity. From the way people talk today, it would seem that the only sin, the only evil, is the abuse of children. Nothing else matters. Yet it does. If we believe in God and in the avoidance of sin, repentence and salvation, then we have to take all these things seriously. “If you deny me then I will deny you.” is a paraphrase of Our Lord’s teaching in the Gospels. “Stand up, stand up, for Jesus, ye soldiers of the Cross.” This is not an excuse for a jolly hymn. Do we? I suspect that, these days, I keep silent.

Meanwhile, the wren continues his happy song of joy – or of threat to rival males – or of sexual prowess.

I continue to enjoy the experience whatever the motivation.

Every blessing,

Vicar’s Window June 2019

Dear friends,

A busy month – and General Synod around the corner in July.

Having had a whole month of uninterrupted Eastertide, we now move towards the great feasts of Ascension, Pentecost, Holy Trinity, and Corpus Christi – not to mention The Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Birthday of S. John the Baptist, and the feast of the holy apostles, Peter and Paul. This is also the season for ordinations – to the diaconate and to the priesthood. Having failed to include my old confirmation notes in the last two magazines, I will include the section dealing with the Sacrament of Orders somewhere in this edition. It is also the month of the Summer Fair!!!

Over and over again, I write about the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord and, over and over again, I note that very few of the congregation (about half) attend. I wish I understood this. People never fail to keep the Lord’s Birthday and Easter Day. For some reason, His Ascension gets overlooked. I realise that it is very hard for us to conceive of Our Lord ascending to the heavens. “And a cloud withdrew Him from their sight.” is a more measured description. The importance of the Ascension, however, lies in the fact that He has completed His task. The whole point of Our Lord coming among us was to open for us the gate of heaven. By taking on our flesh at the Annunciation; being born of Mary at Christmass; living among us, preaching and teaching; offering Himself on the Cross on Good Friday; rising on Easter Day and revealing Himself to the apostles and many disciples, He now takes our flesh into heaven through His flesh in His glorious Ascension. No Ascension – no eternal life for us. It is a package deal. Then comes the Gift of the Spirit at Pentecost and the Birth of the Church. (So many people say that the church is superfluous. Try reading The Acts of the Apostles without reference to the Church!

If you have access to an English Hymnal (or many other hymnals – or via the internet) then look up 143, “Hail the day that sees Him rise. Alleluya!” Here are two of the seven verses:

There the glorious triumph waits; Alleluya!
Lift your heads, eternal gates! Alleluya!
Christ hath vanquished death and sin; Alleluya!
Take the King of glory in. Alleluya

There we shall with thee remain, Alleluya!
Partners of thine endless reign; Alleluya!
There thy face unclouded see, Alleluya!
Find our heaven of heavens in thee. Alleluya!

In other words, Jesus is the heart of our eternal joy. Even though I love my dogs, Brian Sewell’s concept of heaven is somewhat limited. Waking to find oneself being washed by canines from a former life is not exactly what Our Lord has in mind. (I suppose that an atheist is going to have difficulty with heavenly concepts.) Being surrounded by family and friends is also a limiting of heaven. Whoever is with us in heaven is up to God. More importantly, it will be that vision of celestial divine Beauty which will take our breath away. I wonder how you imagine heaven to be. So much depends on experiences we have had in this life. For many it is a glorious sunset – or a sunrise. For others it is a favourite scene from a sci-fi film. (Something out of Spielberg, perhaps?) For me it is the vision of glory given in Ralph Vaughn Williams’s “The Pilgrim’s Progress” – and particularly in the recording by Sir Adrian Boult. Equally powerful was a performance given by The Northern College of Music many years ago. Curious how an atheist/agnostic like Vaughn Williams couldn’t leave heavenly things alone. (He was, of course, the musical editor of The English Hymnal – and the son of a clergyman.)

One important think about heaven will be the end to worry and fretfulness. “You cannot now cherish a wish which ought not to be wished.” says the angel in Cardinal Newman’s “The Dream of Gerontius”. All that energy absorbed in contemplation of the future and its outcome will be replaced by an eternal NOW. Even the mass, which looks to its fulfillment in the heavenly banquet, will be no more. “And so, at length, when Sacraments shall cease,” as another hymn describes the heavenly experience.

Have a lovely June. May seems to be full of glory and beauty at the moment. Perhaps that is a glimpse of heaven?

Every blessing.

Vicar’s Window May 2019

Dear friends,

Eastertide is a good time to think about death. “I am the resurrection and the life.” are words from S. John’s Gospel which should begin any church funeral. They are the words of Our Lord – and are often drowned out by Frank Sinatra singing “I did it my way.” on the P.A. system. (What an anthem to selfishness that is! How about seeking to do it God’s way?)

Last week, I attended the funeral of a friend’s mother at Bucknall Parish Church. She would have been ninety-seven four days after the funeral. A former member of the RAF and, in her middle years, the receptionist at a GP’s surgery in Bucknall. Unusually for one of such great age, the church was full. Equally, unusual was the volume of sound as we sang, among other hymns, “THine be the glory”. The rector, The Rev’d. David Street, preached an excellent sermon which included details of the deceased’s life and also made clear the Gospel message – including the judgement of God. Although her daughter is a committed Christian and, I think, worships at the church, I believe that the deceasaed was a non-churchgoing Christian.

These days people seem to assume that you can’t be a believer without going to church. While finding it difficult to understand why people don’t go to church while still believing in the Lord, I can see why they don’t go, especially if the receiving of Holy Communion is not considered essential. Perhaps it is easier for catholic Christians (including Anglicans) because we believe that the bread and wine become, through the actions and words of the priest, the Body and Blood of the Lord. Jesus, in another part of S. John’s Gospel, said, “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you do not have my life in you.” In Matthew, Mark, and Luke he says, “Take, eat. This is my body broken for you… my blood poured out for you.” The fact is that church can be very dull and there is always the danger (as I wrote last month) of judging what is going on by the sermon, the prayers, the music etc. Last Sunday, I sang in a choir at a cathedral where the celebrant was a woman priest. Being compromised by the situation, I attended an evening mass at my sister’s local Roman Catholic church. While not being able to receive Holy Communion, I was able to be present at the offering of Christ by a priest. It mattered not one jot how entertaining or enjoyable the celebration was.

I digress. Back to the subject of funerals. The friend’s mother could have had a funeral at the crematorium. Had the family not had any religion (like so many) they could have responded to the funeral director’s question “Did your mother believe in God?” with a negative. They may not have even known that she said her prayers – or not, as the case may be. Many people belong to an age when beliefs, prayer-life, sex-life are not for public discussion. Very often, it is the lack of belief of the family which can dictate what happens at the funeral. I know many priests who have had to battle with families to get the deceased churchgoer a Christian funeral.

Fortunately, in this case, the family knew exactly what was the right thing to do. It was a community funeral, celebrated in the community, by the community and by the community priest. The funeral was full of resurrection hope and a call to discipleship. Wonderful. It was a far cry from a modern trend of pushing a funeral into a corner. I understand “no flowers” but not “no people” or, indeed, “no body”. How far we have come from the funeral in Ghana I attended – where the whole community gathered together – and a number of that community helped to carry the coffin to the grave, bury it, and fill the grave in. The fact that the grave was too small and needed a bit of on-the-spot digging only added to the sense of celebration. Tears and laughter mingled together as we sorted the situation out.

So – bring the resurrection of the Lord into your funeral celebrations. Let the Lord’s triumph over death and sin be seen in the way you respond to death as well as life. When you come to the fortieth day of Eastertide, celebrate the Lord’s ascension with style. I no longer worry about how He returned to His Father, even the Scriptures have differing accounts. What is important is that the Lord has completed his sacrifice, his self-offering which began at His incarnation, His conception in the womb of Mary, reached its climax in His death on Calvary, and its culmination in the Ascension when He takes His humanity (our humanity) with the marks of the nails and spear into the heavenly realm.

Every blessing for the rest of Eastertide. No fasting is allowed. No nonsense about dry this and vegetarian that.

Vicar’s Window April 2019

Dear friends,

A bit of Scripture for you!

1 Corinthians 15:3-8 New Revised Standard Version

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas*, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters[a] at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.[bThen he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

*Peter

Chapter 15 of Saint Paul’s First Letter to the Church in Corinth used to be read in its entirety at every Church of England funeral. It was read as the congregation gathered around the grave. I remember having to translate it into English in the dim-and-distant past when I struggled with New Testament Greek. (Trying to learn another language always played to my weaknesses!)

The reason why I have started this Window with S. Paul is to do with the nature of faith and the discipline of being a practising Christian. Father Eric Mascall was a lecturer at King’s College, London and I was fortunate to sit at his feet. He was a philosopher and theologian and was definitely in the catholic wing of the CofE. He also wrote a number of books on religious themes. (Curiously, “Mr. S.” my local barber, had a large, framed, photograph of Eric Mascall (and other clergy) on the wall of the shop. It is now on the vicarage landing.)

This is what he wrote about the attitude of churchgoers to the place of sacraments – particularly the receiving of the Lord’s Body and Blood in Holy Communion.

“The Church has often failed by not emphasising the part which (sacraments) play in the personal sanctification of the Christian. That is, looking upon the sanctification (making holy) as brought about by the stimulation of devout feelings in the recipient and in forgetting the connection between the sacrament and union in Christ with his Church… Now if it were true that what enables us to receive Christ into our souls is the strength of our feelings of devotion towards him, it would follow that sacraments are valuable only in so far as they produce those feelings.” (Slighty adapted.)

In other words, “I didn’t get anything out of that service.” means precisely that. He later writes,

“So we look on the Mass as good for those to whom it appeals, and Evensong or a good novel are legitimate substitutes.”

The point he is making is that many people seem to rely on feelings to decide whether something is a good thing or not. The Mass is only ok if it “floats your boat”. (“To be sure, he says a lovely mass, Father.” say the nuns in Father Ted.) Faith in Christ depends on the feelings reading the Bible, going to church, singing a hymn etc. produce. Now the reason I started this complex Window with the quotation from Saint Paul is the fact that he is concerned with facts, not feelings. This happened to Christ, and this and this. These are verifiable truths. Life-changing events. The Apostles witnessed the Lord’s death and resurrection. Paul shared in that witness, though only at the tail-end. In addition, all these events are verified, not in the New Testament but in the Old. The New Testament didn’t exist, in effect, for over three hundred years. (What became the NT did but as separate writings which were referred to as the “memoirs of the Apostles and letters”) It was to the Old Testament that Paul and the Apostles appealed. Similarly, “according to the Scriptures” in the Apostles’ Creed is, again, a reference to the prophesies in the Old Testament, not to the New Testament writings.

The question is this. As Holy Week and Easter draw near, do we approach that most holy time as a feast of warm feelings (or not), pretty flowers, music and drama – or are we caught up in the setting forth of events which happened and which have eternal significance? We live in a very subjective world. Things are only valid if they make us feel one way or another. Dave Allan’s, “May your God go with you.” makes clear that God is the invention of the individual. In other words, not God at all.

I pray that we may all approach Holy Week, Easter, Sacraments, Faith as having an objectivity which is not dependent on the way we feel at the moment. The Gospel is set before us and it is up to us to respond. Jesus said, “Do this.” when he told bread and wine and turned them in to His Body and Blood for our ongoing sanctification – being made holy so that we may enter the Holy of Holies which is heaven itself.

So – Holy Week. Mass will be offered every evening at 1900 (7pm). The celebration of the Lord’s Passion will take place on Good Friday at the same time. The most important celebration, the Easter Vigil, will take place at 2000 (8pm) on Holy Saturday. It is at this mass that we renew the fact of our baptism and the fact that we are people who form the Body of Christ, the Church, in this place. Be there – or, like Peter, deny THE LORD!

Every blessing during the rest of Lent and the GLORIOUS FIFTY DAYS OF EASTER

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