February Thoughts

The 4^th  of February 1945 saw the meeting of Winston Churchill with  Stalin and Roosevelt at Yalta to discuss the shape of post-war Europe.  Those leaders, nearly 70 years ago, could hardly have imagined Europe as it is today.

Air travel, once the preserve of the few  has come into the reach of many. The  internet means we can communicate across Europe (and the world) at the click of a mouse. News which 70 years ago would have taken weeks to appear in the papers can now be seen almost instantaneously on  television or tablet. With shops today full of all kinds of produce it is hard to envisage that in immediate post war Europe starvation was a reality. 

The last 70 years have not been without problems. There has been a military coup in Greece, dictatorship in Spain, ethnic cleansing and massacres in the Balkans, financial instability in the Euro-zone... But for the most part,  European citizens have enjoyed peace, stability and increasing affluence.

This year is likely to be a year in which Europe’s future is once again under debate with elections of MEPs and a promise of a referendum on the EU at some future date. What sort of Europe do we want to live in? The various political parties and the newspapers will all be outlining their views. It would be wrong of me to offer any thoughts about any one view of Europe’s future. However I would like to offer two things I hope for about the debate. 

First, I hope that the debate about the future can be based in facts, not in myths and misunderstanding. Recent  research shows that what we may think about Europe (and the EU in particular) may be inaccurate. For example Yougov research shows that most people in this country think that one in three of EU migrants to the UK are on the dole. The actual figure is less than three in every hundred.  

Secondly, I hope that debate will be rooted in Europe’s Christian heritage, a heritage which places emphasis on the need to show hospitality  to the outsider.

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Nelson Mandela - an example to follow

I'm sure the internet is full of people better placed and more knowledgeable who have written profound thoughts about Nelson Mandela. This isn't to try and out do any of them, but I couldn't help but be struck between the difference between Mandela and the politicians we see in office today, indeed those very same politicians who have spoken so effusively of him seem incapable of behaving like him.

There was a marked contrast in  the "Today" programme on Radio 4 between the two main stories they carried. The headline story was Mandela's death. The other was the  Chancellor's Autumn Statement in the House of Commons.

With the Autumn Statement the behaviour of MPs and minsters was so un-Mandela-like  that the contrast really jarred. MPs of all parties were behaving in an utterly tribal manner. They stamped, shouted, booed, and intimidated so that speakers could barely be heard let alone an intelligent debate be had.  Would Mandela have behaved like that? While leading the ANC would he have allowed any of his supporters to indulge in such tribal behaviour? No, it would be unthinkable for Mandela to behave in such a way. Yet those same MPs who have lavished praise  on him did exactly that.

Ministers made speeches sarcastically denigrating opponents and make jibes about playing the piano! For all the injustice Mandela experienced he never (publicly at least) spoke about opponents to try and belittle them. Instead he worked for mutual respect and reconcilliation.

I wish that our MPs would stop mouth empty platitudes about how great Mandela was and instead try and emulate his behaviour. If MPs were to think would Mandela behave like this before they booed, stamped, roared, shouted, denigrated... then our politics and our country would be much healthier.

Eleven days when nothing happened.

No, not my holiday, but September in Britain in 1752. History records that nothing happened in Britain from September the 3^rd to September the 13^th.  

The reason?  Up until then Britain had used the Julian calendar, unlike the rest of Europe which had changed to the Gregorian calendar.  This meant that when it was the first of September in London it would be the twelfth of September in Paris, Madrid, Rome or most of mainland Europe. Parliament decided to change to the new calendar and so Wednesday the 2^nd was followed by Thursday the 14^th. Nothing happened on the 3^rd to 13^th. The days didn’t exist!

The response? In the short term there were protests on the streets with crowds chanting “Give us back our eleven days.”  Protestors demanded wages for the nonexistent days.  People even complained they were losing eleven days of their lives!

Changing to come in to line with the rest of Europe (and most of the rest of the world) was not popular.  Germany and the Netherlands made the same change a few years before us – 1698. Russia didn’t change till 1918 and it took Greece till 1923!

Changing for the sake of others is never easy whether it is for the sake of other nations of the world, other churches within a group or other members within a family. But ultimately that is what is needed for the sake of community. And God built us for community.

Try it for yourself.

Since I moved my internet to Airband I have had any number of people asking me about it. Does it work? Is it reliable?  Can you really use it for your phone as well?  Is it expensive? Is the firm that supplies it helpful

And from my experience I can answer “yes” to all those questions.  But the best thing you can do is to try it for yourself and make the experience your own by trusting Airband to deliver what they promise.

Just like Christian faith. I can answer questions. Does faith help with the muddle of life? Can it support in the difficult times? Does it give meaning and purpose?  

Here too, from my experience I can answer “yes” to all those questions.  But that is no substitute for making the experience your own.   A decision to trust not Airband but God enables us to experience Christian faith. God delivers on his promises.

And the Eternity Wide Web has to be  a more important connection!

Churches Pastoral Team

Had an excellent Pastoral Team meeting last night & have just published details of the team on the churches' website

We had a speaker from the local Social Services & we have a much clearer picture of how Social Services work and how we refer to/access them.
It was two way. Social Services have a clearer picture of what we do and we will be doing a mapping exercise so that the local social worker knows what is going on across the whole of their patch.

David Priston

Probably few, if anyone, in these villages will have heard of David Priston. There's no reason why anyone should have. He was a mission partner with the China Inland Mission working with Chinese people in Malaya, served as a curate in Hereford and for 21 years was Rector in the South Croxton group of villages in Leicestershire.

So no real connection & nothing to do with these villages, except I lived in South Croxton and it was there that I explored a calling into ordained ministry.   Without David's help, support and encouragement I wouldn't have been ordained and wouldn't now be vicar of Teme Valley South. But for David these villages wouldn't have me as vicar.

David died on the 17th of last month and there was a funeral and service of thanksgiving for his life yesterday (5th April).

Our lives are all shaped by people and events outside our control and many of which we have no knowledge about.

Give thanks to God for David and pray for Philippa and  Simon (his children) and their families