Monthly Editorial
February 2012
Tax is never popular, and probably even less so than at this time of year: as you read this many of you will just have completed your tax returns.
Governments are always looking for ingenious ways of extracting money from its citizens. Under the reign of King William III (1650-1702), when idea of personal income tax was still felt to be too intrusive, the government created an alternative form of wealth tax called the window tax. It was based on the number of glazed windows in a person's house.
But just as government are clever at finding ways to impose taxes, so citizens are always looking for crafty methods of avoiding them: In the eighteenth century, householders responded by blocking up windows and forgoing ventilation and light. Thus tax mitigation has a long, dark and stuffy history.
The practice has grabbed headlines again recently with claims that some high profile company bosses pay less tax than their cleaners. Calculating income and tax liabilities is complex and while it's quite appropriate that we should not pay more than really owe, trouble can arise if not everyone is contributes to the pot in a proportionate manner.
Supporting the common good is a Biblical principle goes back to the earliest times. The Old Testament encouraged people to regard all income as a blessing from God and to ensure that this blessing was shared. A strict tithe, 10% of income, was required by the temple, but that was not all. Generosity was also continually asked of the People of God who were exhorted to look out for the “widow and the stranger”. So in addition to the tithe, landowners were asked not “to harvest right up into the edges of the field”, or “to go back for a second harvest”, because harvesting too closely leaves nothing over for the stranger or the widow to glean.
Applying financial rules from a simple agrarian semi nomadic society, as it was in Old Testament time, to our modern life, can't be done literally. However, the basic principle of treating our income as a blessing and sharing it generously, remains. We continue to encourage Christians with the principle of a 10% tithe. We don't necessarily ask that people give 10% to the church, but hope that Christians will give at least 5%, as well as supporting other charities and good causes. It's this kind of committed giving that has enabled some churches such as the Salvation Army to run renown social welfare programmes, and become a practical and respected living sign of the Kingdom of God.
So even in these tough financial times I hope I can encourage each other to these Biblical principles. Committed to contributing to the common good with our taxes, but also much more living generously with what we have because it is all a blessing.
Alex Bienfait
January 2012
As we ponder the new year 2012 the prospects are daunting: we are facing hefty cuts in public to spending, and the prospect of recession. We don't yet know how the this will affect our schools and health services, never mind the impact on employment. And now we're told that this economic retraction, originally forecast for one year, will dominate the next six. One thing we do know is that those who do manage to keep a job will need to work longer. While raising the retirement age by just one or two years may not appear significant, other changes mean people will be less likely to retire at 60 or earlier.
This is going to create challenges for charities, community groups, and churches, who have depended on large numbers of fit and able retired people to give up their time for the public good. The changes simply reduce the potential pool of people available for this.
There has also been a trend for young people to concentrate for a few years on making a lot of of money very fast, with the hope of deliberately changing down gear after they have become wealthy. This kind of dream may become harder to pursue in the current climate, but it indicates an attitude which itself may need challenging. The planned economic retrenchment highlights concerns about the gap between rich and poor, which is still increasing, and about the way we do business.
Among those calling for change is the flamboyant entrepreneur Richard Branson. Writing in the Guardian1 recently, argues that he always likes to encourage private sector solutions for the needs of society. And to those running businesses it is interesting to note his advice to them: you need “a passion for what you do”, he says, and “believe in yourself and your product and your customer, persevere, delegate, listen, have fun.” But now, he has one extra injunction to the list: “Do good.”
As Branson acknowledges work has great potential for good and for harm, both for us as individuals and for our society. Early in January we will be celebrating the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. In Luke's2 version, note the Baptist's attitude to ordinary members of the public, people with everyday jobs for the time, who came to him for Baptism. He didn't tell them to leave their jobs, even though some involved collaboration with the occupying Roman authorities, he just advised them on how to do them better. He told tax collectors to act fairly, soldiers to behave properly and be content with their pay, and others to share their wealth if they have more than they need.
Can the raising of the retirement age encourage us to consider more carefully what we put our energies into? What about our work-life balance? How can we create time for our work family and our community? How does your work tie with your faith?
With good wishes for 2012.
Alex Bienfait
December 2011
As we ponder the new year 2012 the prospects are daunting: we are facing hefty cuts in public to spending, and the prospect of recession. We don't yet know how the this will affect our schools and health services, never mind the impact on employment. And now we're told that this economic retraction, originally forecast for one year, will dominate the next six. One thing we do know is that those who do manage to keep a job will need to work longer. While raising the retirement age by just one or two years may not appear significant, other changes mean people will be less likely to retire at 60 or earlier.
This is going to create challenges for charities, community groups, and churches, who have depended on large numbers of fit and able retired people to give up their time for the public good. The changes simply reduce the potential pool of people available for this.
There has also been a trend for young people to concentrate for a few years on making a lot of of money very fast, with the hope of deliberately changing down gear after they have become wealthy. This kind of dream may become harder to pursue in the current climate, but it indicates an attitude which itself may need challenging. The planned economic retrenchment highlights concerns about the gap between rich and poor, which is still increasing, and about the way we do business.
Among those calling for change is the flamboyant entrepreneur Richard Branson. Writing in the Guardian (1) recently, argues that he always likes to encourage private sector solutions for the needs of society. And to those running businesses it is interesting to note his advice to them: you need “a passion for what you do”, he says, and “believe in yourself and your product and your customer, persevere, delegate, listen, have fun.” But now, he has one extra injunction to the list: “Do good.”
As Branson acknowledges work has great potential for good and for harm, both for us as individuals and for our society. Early in January we will be celebrating the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. In Luke's (2) version, note the Baptist's attitude to ordinary members of the public, people with everyday jobs for the time, who came to him for Baptism. He didn't tell them to leave their jobs, even though some involved collaboration with the occupying Roman authorities, he just advised them on how to do them better. He told tax collectors to act fairly, soldiers to behave properly and be content with their pay, and others to share their wealth if they have more than they need.
Can the raising of the retirement age encourage us to consider more carefully what we put our energies into? What about our work-life balance? How can we create time for our work family and our community? How does your work tie with your faith?
With good wishes for 2012,
Alex Bienfait
1 - The Guardian Saturday 18th October 2012
2 - Luke 3:1-14
October 2011
From nowhere, it seems, riots erupted on the streets of many our towns in August. It was shocking and frightening seeing how easily they spread, and feeling the venom and anger that were expressed.
Like many, I have been wondering what underlying issues sparked such violence. Martin Luther King once remarked: “At the bottom, riots are always the language of the unheard.” He was speaking of the deep structural injustice affecting his country at the time, but such blatant divisions do not exist on the same scale today. Some more subtle and pernicious inequalities must be at play.
The riots were triggered by the death of Mark Duggan, and serious questions must of course be asked about how the Police came to shoot him. But while this may have been a trigger for the violence that ensued, his tragic case did not feature much in the stories given by the rioters. What was driving them looked like a mixture of anger and greed.
So what was Martin Luther King telling us?
Just this week, UNICEF has released further explanation behind its shocking claim, originally made in a report four years ago, that UK children are among the unhappiest among industrialised countries. UNICEF argue that we place more emphasis on materialism and less on parental involvement in the lives of our children. In other words, more UK children are more commonly fobbed off with electronic gadgets, as replacement for parental contact, than any others.
And yet, UNICEF also highlights a greater material inequality in Britain than among our near neighbours. So where does this leave poorer young people who lack parental attention and also crave the trappings of status, the latest computer games and fashionable trainers?
These issues must be pertinent to the summer riots. I was struck how shops selling designer labels were particularly targeted for looting. I also noted how young many of the rioters were, some aged ten. Does this betray how too few parents, especially uninvolved fathers, managed to stop their children coming out onto the street to riot?
So with these challenges for society, can Christians be bolder proclaiming and living out the counter-cultural message: it is the quality of our relationships, with God and each other, which feeds us the most, not what we possess.
Alex Bienfait
September 2011
So pre-conditioned have we become to the actions of Islamic extremists that many of us will have experienced a jolt to our expectations upon hearing that the tragedy in Norway was not perpetrated by an Al-Qaeda cell, but by an individual who calls himself a Christian. We can now begin to imagine how many Muslims might feel about atrocities being carried out in the name of their faith.
What these events have again challenged me to consider is, how do we interpret the will of God? One fundamental channel of communication with God is in prayer, so it is worth exploring what prayer can be.
A common image which comes to mind when we pray is that we are placing ourselves in the presence of a ruler or king, a being far greater than ourselves. It is true that this imagery is encouraged throughout the Bible, and yet it is also contradicted.
The apostle Paul writes in the letter to the Romans: “We do not know how to pray, but it is the Holy Spirit, with sighs too deep for words, that helps us.”1 There is no reference here to any distant supreme ruler, Paul uses the language of intimacy. In the very act of seeking, we find God within. As soon as we beckon and seek his presence, the Holy Spirit to comes alive within us. Like the parable of the Prodigal Son 2, the minute we turn to God, God himself seeks to come alongside.
We may often regard prayer as an activity, a “doing” thing. We're trying to get the formula of words right, that's part of our problem. Paul reminds us that the only active decision we need is to choose to be with God and to align ourselves to his Holy Spirit. Rowan Williams writes: “God alone will tell me who I 'really' am, and he will do so only in the lifelong process of bringing my thoughts and longing into his presence without fear and deception.”3 Placing ourselves in prayer with God is a journey of self-awareness and discovery.
And yet, how can we truly know if what we do is in accordance with God's will? The Gospels give us a simple test. Time and again, Jesus asks us to measure our actions against their fruits: “Can the blind see, are the hungry fed?” or in other words: are our actions sustaining and giving life? A relationship with God requires prayer and honesty, honesty to reflect on the fruits of our actions and on whether they promote love. In this way, God will guide us toward a better understanding of who we are.
Alex Bienfait
1 Romans 8:26
2 Luke 15:11-32
3 Silence and Honey cakes, Rowan Williams, p. 50.
August 2011
Archbishop Rowan Williams has got himself into the headlines again, this time by criticising the Coalition Government's programme of public services reform. If he was perceived by some as one-sided, he did not mince his words over the lack of response from the opposition, ie Labour, who he felt still had to provide 'robust account' of what they would do differently. The basic thrust of his message, however, was not to complain about the cuts themselves but to highlight their impact on community, participation and democracy. In spite of high and mighty words about the importance of 'localism', the government is drastically cutting budgets for community services while also imposing, on local authorities, stringent rules dictating how monies should be spent.
Williams made his comments while guest-editing The New Statesmen. If we're to believe Paul Vallely writing in The Independent, the archbishop had been planning to write about overseas aid. He was allegedly diverted by some 'naughty' staff who wanted material that would grab headlines for The New Statesmen.
Unlike the archbishop, let me not get side-tracked: overseas aid is an area where the government might expect to receive praise from Rowan Williams. Against a backdrop painful political decisions on spending, the government should be congratulated in keeping to its commitment to maintain the aid budget at 0.7% of GDP. This currently represents £ 7.7 billion, compared with the budget for education in this country of £85.7 billion (1).
The importance of our aid was underlined recently at a gathering of world leaders in London, discussing the £2.3 billion shortfall in money promised for immunising children in developing. Churches are rightly proud of their part in pressurising world leaders to commit to the UN Millennium Goals which call upon richer nations to contribute 0.7% of their GDP. This policy is underpinned not just by compassion but also by hard-headed pragmatism: extreme poverty provides a breeding ground for international terrorist groups, and so overseas aid is instrumental helping maintain a secure world.
In his article, the archbishop called for policies that 'develop ability of the other person or group to become in turn, a giver of life and responsibility'. These worthy Biblical aims, fundamental to St Paul's notions of Christian community, apply globally as well as locally.
Alex Bienfait
1: www.ukpublicspending.co.uk – An independently run website.
July 2011
The curate’s letter
As part of my preparation for ordination as a priest, I joined a group from Barham Church for a trip to Israel in early June. On the second morning as I emerged from the Bedouin tent, where we had slept overnight, the dawn was just breaking. The colours of the sunrise where spectacular as the blue of the sky intermingled with red and yellow. Here I was in the heart of the Negev desert, a very deserted, stony place, sitting in complete silence awestruck by the sheer beauty to be found in what at first appeared to be such an unforgiving, harsh terrain.
The Negev desert is a wilderness with stones, sandy soil and acacia trees and at the time of the Exile had just sufficient greenery to keep a flock. We read the story in the Old Testament of how God called the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and into the wilderness. Where else, I wondered, could he have led them and why put them into the desert? I could see from being there that they would have been very vulnerable and so had to completely trust in the Lord as they were formed into a new nation. What a great message for me who was entering a new priestly ministry which may well put me into the “wilderness” of life at times. I can celebrate the knowledge that whatever the Lord asks of me, He will be there forming me and encouraging me.
The news each day makes us very aware that Israel is a country that lives with constant tensions both internally and along its borders but despite this I found space and calm, devoid of the trappings of modern technology which invade so much of our lives. This was a very special, quiet space where I could sense the love of God encircling me as I sat.
I wondered where in our busy, hectic, noisy lives do we find time to just sit and be with God? It is often in the ‘desert’ experiences of life, when we encounter deep sorrow or confusion or are brought very low and vulnerable. How much better would it be for us to find time and space on a regular basis in the ordinary times of life I thought, as the donkeys and the camels started to engage in conversation, my silence was broken and the hubbub of the new day began.
Judy Darkins
June 2011
News of the death of Osama Bin Laden was accompanied some bold triumphalist claims, in particular that “evil has been conquered.”
During the recent events in Pakistan, the United States demonstrated its strength subtly and skilfully. That power stands in direct contrast to the way Jesus lived out his life and ministry.
The power the United States exercises today is what Jesus' followers yearned for 2000 years ago. When the people saw and experienced his healing, they thought their moment had come: Jesus was going to be the promised hero. And like the heroes of the Israelite past, he would bring dramatic salvation from the grinding poverty and oppression meted out by the Jewish elite and by the Roman rulers. Nowhere do we read more graphically about this than in his behaviour after the feeding of the 5000, according to John's gospel chapter 6:15: “When Jesus realised that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself”.
Clearly Jesus was not going to be that sort of king. Any dream that he would was dashed by the events of Good Friday, Jesus hanging dead on the cross.
Throughout his ministry Jesus preached a different kind of power: the power of love and compassion. On the sermon on the Mount he challenged his audience with the beatitudes: “Blessed are the peacemakers”, and: “When someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn and offer the other cheek. Love your enemies and pray for your persecutors. Do not judge. Forgive and you will be forgiven.”
Bin Laden certainly masterminded some dreadful acts of violence and, according to intelligence gathered at his home, was planning more. As Christians we mourn and deplore these acts, but should not forget that another individual has been killed. “Live at peace with everyone,” we read in Paul's letter to the Romans chapter 12 . “Do not look for revenge … Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for by doing so, you will heap burning coals upon his head. Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.”
As we look to the Gospels for inspiration, they warn us about our motives and reveal to us where our ultimate power lies. Bin Laden's death, hailed as a victory, is really a failure of justice and reconciliation because the problem of terrorism remains. There can be no victory in retribution, only in reconciliation. Christ's peace was not won though the punishment, but by tackling evil through overwhelming love of the cross.
Alex Bienfait
May 2011
Earlier this year I spent eight days on retreat in North Wales. Apart from a daily meeting with a retreat conductor my days were spent in silence. Silence does not mean you do nothing – apart from prayer and meditation there was reading, writing, drawing, and for me a lot of walking through the welsh countryside.
One of my walks took me up a quiet lane past a strange place that must once have been a farm, but is now a residential house. Signs proclaimed loudly that video surveillance was in operation. Two imposing, snarling stone lion figures guarded an entrance which cut through a line of dense hedge surrounded by keep-out signs. I walked up further and found another pair of lion statues heralding another opening in the hedge, followed by more video surveillance warnings and keep-out signs. Peering inside, my gaze was met by two enormous black statues, three times human height, which might have come straight out of a film set for Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. These menacing creatures had piercing eyes which I suspect hid the surveillance cameras. At this point some real live dogs spotted me and began to bark. I was grateful for a strong fence inside the hedge as the dogs enthusiastically accompanied me to the edge of their domain.
As I walked away I wondered whether the occupants were trying to frighten or impress. The experience reminded me of the poem Ozymandias, by Percy Shelley. “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings, Look upon my works, ye Mighty and despair” quotes the poem of the carved words lying amid the desolation of a desert, their author’s kingdom long since having gone.
For all the tension produced on a visitor by all the statues and signs in the house in Wales, I had to wonder about the state of mind of the people within. What they had created sought to incite fear, but also betrayed their own fears. You don't create all of that without being afraid that you might lose what you have.
We have just celebrated Easter, the great Christian feast which seeks to proclaim that we do not need to fear. Through Jesus’ death on the cross evil has been banished, love has overcome all. We can have the confidence to love, Easter invites to believe we can be released us from our fears
Alex Bienfait
April 2011
Images from Japan are hard to comprehend as we see the scale of indiscriminate suffering following the earthquake and tsunami. Amongst the disorder and chaos, our natural sense of justice asks why one person who went out shopping escaped the devastation, while another, who stayed home to finish housework, was overcome and perished.
These events bring into sharp focus the questions about the role of God, as religion often appears to make bold claims about suffering.
It is sometimes suggested that suffering comes from human sin, which we can see in war, greed or selfishness. However, the recent earthquakes remind us that it cannot just be so easily explained. In fact, much of the pain in our world appears indiscriminate, whether from from the instability of our planet's crust or the imperfections of our genetic code which leading to early disease or birth defects.
How tempting it is, then, to condemn the apparent failings of the natural world. And yet if we look more deeply, we find that it is these very “failings” make life possible. The genetic mutations that causes defects are also the basis for evolution which has brought humans into being. A modern example is sickle-cell anaemia, a genetic blood disorder suffered by many people of African descent. It means red blood cells assume an abnormal sickle shape, which causes illness but also confers increased tolerance of that other African scourge: malaria.
Likewise, it is the very instability of our earth's crust that helps maintain the conditions for life as we know it. In The Thin blue Line, part of a recent TV series on the solar system, Professor Brian Cox compared our barren, lifeless fellow planets with our own. He explained that the earth's rotating molten core gives it a strong magnetic field that protects us from the solar wind that would otherwise blast away our life-supporting atmosphere into space. The movement of tectonic plates, which causes eathquakes, is a by-product of this molten core.
Though I believe our actions are guided for good by God, it is nevertheless a mistake for Christians to assume they deserve any special protection from Him. Even without the vagaries of illness and natural disaster, all of us need to face our own mortality and reconcile ourselves to it. There are many examples in the Bible of writers struggling to understand just like we do why bad things happen to believers and non believers alike, read the book of Job or some of the Psalms, like Psalm 73:
Because I envied the proud
and saw the prosperity of the wicked:
For they suffer no pain,
and their bodies are sleek and sound;
they are not afflicted as others are;
We live in a fickle world where suffering is an unpredictable feature of our lives. But Christian faith should gives us confidence not to fear suffering. Life has a meaning beyond our lives, and the basis of this hope is all bound up with the great central celebration of the Christian year: Easter.
In the Easter celebration we remember Jesus' suffering, when as a perfect representation of God he experienced the depths of despair. He did this in order that in our hardship and weakness, Jesus, in his risen Spirit, may be able to walk alongside us. His life shows us that suffering is part of the life of the people of God.
In that hope we can be people though whom God acts and brings grace. We can have confidence to respond with compassion to the suffering of others.
Wishing you a happy Easter
Alex Bienfait
March 2011
Mao Tse-Tung famously extolled the virtue military power: "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun," he said The Chinese state ruthlessly demonstrated this when it confronted pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989. The events which unfolded on that square symbolised by the picture of one man standing in front of a column of tanks.
In the west we are more muted in our rhetoric but no less shy using military power, as Saddam Hussein, for example, found to his cost. But in turn we have learned that while military victory was swift, a stable peaceful democracy has proved more elusive as different interest groups fought for political control after Saddam.
It is against this backdrop that we are watching once-feared middle-eastern dictatorships teeter on the edge of oblivion, unable, or maybe unwilling, to exercise the power of the gun.
What will fill the power vacuums in these countries? We will wait for new leaders to emerge, but it is concerning that while the protests have erupted spontaneously, there is no strong unifying vision in the countries concerned: there is no Ghandi or Mandela, preaching a strong value system with an emphasis on reconciliation.
For Jews in the time of Jesus, living under the autocratic Romans, there were many who hoped Jesus would take on a political role and replace their hated monarch. His most dramatic moment of decision seemed to come when, after the feeding of the five thousand (John 6:15), the people wanted to take him and make him King by force. Instead, he slipped away quietly. And yet this decision was only a confirmation of what he had already learned during his forty-day fast in the desert before he began his ministry.
Each year we remember this as we observe our own forty-day preparation for Holy Week and Easter. Jesus' time in the desert became a crucial journey of self-discovery, where he his faith and relationship with God grew and shaped the kind of ministry and leadership he was to exercise later. Jesus' desert experience culminated in three tests in the form of temptations: to create bread out of a stone; to test his father's desire to save and protect him by throwing himself down from a high point; to gain power and obedience of all peoples, provided that he first worship the devil.
Jesus' decisive rejection of all three is summed up in his later declaration in front of Pilate: “My Kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36). Throughout his life Jesus reveals a greater power through his own self-sacrifice, which gives strength to all who withstand oppression.
Governments in the middle-east were not able to overcome this more subtle power of love and compassion which ultimately, through the self-sacrifice of one, overcomes all evil.
Alex Bienfait
February 2011
In winter time darkness features large. If you want to find out just how restrictive that can be, try a spot of winter camping: you'll probably opt for early nights or a visit to the local pub for warmth and light.
But while I might wish to hibernate indoors, my dog thinks otherwise. In recent weeks I have indulged him in some night walks to which he has responded with eager passion. He has run across fields and through undergrowth in an urgent, vital manner not evident in daylight. It's almost as if he finds light a distraction while at night he can concentrate on being guided by scent, using his sense of smell much as we use our sight. Without my dog I would not have walked through lunar landscapes on hard crisp ground, sometimes in a monochrome light casting razor-sharp shadows, other times through a kind of dank darkness unmoved even by a torch.
Having embraced this new experience, I'm aware that we retreat from darkness not just for practical reasons but from a legacy of mistrust of what might be lurking in the shadows, from fear of the spirit world or in years gone the very real threat of attack from bandits.
In church we use the darkness to emphasis light and the promise of hope. Christmas is declared a season of light, celebrating as it does the birth of Jesus followed by the Epiphany, when Jesus was revealed first to the Wise men and then the world. The season of light culminates in the the festival of Candlemas.
We often use analogies of light and darkness to speak about God and our faith. We describe faith as the means by which light of Christ enters our lives, even into its darkest places.
So in this season of light are there aspects of our lives which we struggle to acknowledge? Are there dark corners to which we dare not own up? Faith means letting the love and light of God shine everywhere, and a practical way to achieve this is to write it in prayer. It can also help speaking about it in front of another person, to give voice what you might seek to ask before God. Remember that clergy like myself and Rev'd Judy Darkins are here to listen and speak with you.
We do not need to be fearful in the light of God for which nothing is too dark. The writer of John's Epistle reminds us: “Whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.” [1 John 3:20] One of the things you discover walking out under a star-lit sky is just how much greater than ourselves our world is.
Alex Bienfait
January 2011
Greetings to you all and a Happy New Year
I suppose like me last year was a time of mixed emotions for many of us. There were sad times and happy times and it is this combination which constantly makes up our lives.
During last year I have felt the strength of our communities bound together by God’s love in many ways. Personally for me it manifested itself through the support and love I received at both my ordination in July and during my first five months of curacy as well as the many good wishes for my husband, Alan, during his heart surgery and recovery time, for which we are both very grateful.
What this year will bring in our private lives we cannot know but in our church and the diocese we have a really challenging time ahead following the launch of The Year of Discipleship.
But what does discipleship mean? We have many examples in the Bible of the followers of Jesus opening their homes to him and learning and sharing over a meal. They learnt together, as we learn together, of the constant, inexpressible love of our God and that is too great a gift to keep to ourselves. Discipleship is about learning how to share in God’s love, to care for the World and for each other and so this next year will be truly exciting knowing that we in our church are joining with churches all over the diocese in learning how to share God’s love with others.
In this benefice we begin our year of sharing with “Christianity Explored.” It is not so much a course as an opportunity to share supper with each other, to see what the Bible says for our lives today and to share our own stories – stories of love, stories of challenge and stories of today. Everyone is welcome and we look forward to seeing you all on 14th January in the Charter Hall, Smarden at 7.15 for 7.30pm and then alternately in Biddenden and Smarden, but please let us know you are coming so we can provide sufficient supper for you.
The lead for the Year of Discipleship comes from Bishop Trevor who talks passionately about discipleship and so it is right that I leave you with his words at the start of his ministry here in Canterbury.
‘My passion is for every Christian to grow in faith and to make disciples in Christ’s name. I know this passion is shared. As I have travelled around the diocese I sense a real and urgent desire within our collective life to grow as disciples in this ever changing and noisy world and to make disciples'
May God’s blessing be on us all as we start 2011 whatever that may bring.
Judy Darkins
December 2010
News that Lauren Booth, sister of Cherie Blair, has converted to Islam has caused some raised eyebrows. She has rather a reputation for self-publicity, so I hope her new-found religious commitment will be sustained. For us as we prepare to celebrate Christmas, aspects of her conversion story are striking.In newspaper articles, Booth explains that her attraction to Islam began on her first visit to the West Bank as a journalist for the Mail on Sunday. She is quite candid about her fear and anxiety of Islamic culture when she travelled there for the first time, particularly alone and as a woman.
But rather than the stereotypical images she had conjured in her imagination, she was arrested by an overwhelming experience of generosity. She arrived in the West Bank one evening, her luggage held back by Israeli customs, and had to walk the streets late at night at the start of winter without a coat.
“Walking around the centre of Ramallah, I was shivering, whereupon an old lady grabbed my hand. Talking rapidly in Arabic, she took me into a house on a side street. Was I being kidnapped by a rather elderly terrorist? For several confusing minutes I watched her going through her daughter’s wardrobe until she pulled out a coat, a hat and a scarf. I was then taken back to the street where I had been walking, given a kiss and sent warmly on my way. There had been not a single comprehensible word exchanged between us.” [Mail on Sunday]
I am not seeking to romanticise Islam, there are serious issues about the way women are treated in many Islamic countries. Furthermore, Muslims converting to Christianity often receive great hostility from adherents of the faith they have left behind. But this does not diminish the power of this story whose main strength is its simplicity.
Booth's faith journey did not result from complex teaching but from an experience, a gift at the point of need. On this and on many other occasions during her time in the West Bank, hospitality and kindness were practical expressions of Muslim faith.
The Christmas story is a profound simple act of generosity, the gift of a baby, Jesus, God gives himself. The theme of generosity did not end there, it was a constant feature of Jesus' live , very seldom it was to do with money, but with compassion, in his ability to see need, in helping people begin again, in realising they mattered, are loved and valued. Our faith challenges us to do likewise, Christian faith is lived out when we are generous, responding to people at the point of need in just the way Lauren Booth experienced in Ramallah.
Alex Bienfait
November 2010
Fairness has suddenly taken on a huge political significance as we all wait to see the effect of the spending cuts which have been announced.
Oddly perhaps we don't hear much about fairness in the Bible. Instead there is plenty of frustration and anger expressed to God about just how unfair life can feel at times.
Why do the people who cut corners and cheat have fine and healthy lives,
“their bodies are sleek and sound.
“In the misfortunes of others they have no share;
“they are not afflicted as others are;”
pleads the psalmist in Psalm 73.
Neither do the Gospels talk about fairness. Instead, should we be tempted to complain like psalmist, the Gospels consistently remind us that we are not valued according to our worldly achievements or material possessions, and that it is a mistake to rely on them to prop up our physical and emotional security.
In developing the debate on fairness, politicians of every major party have quoted a recently published book called The Spirit Level. This argues that more equal societies are better for everyone, the better off as well as the poor. Inequalities cause increased stress at all levels of society, reducing health outcomes for all.
One of the assertions the book makes is that poverty is a subjective experience. It's not just about having a roof over your head, clothes or food. It about how we see ourselves in relation to others.
Take the issue of housing. We have come a long way since the horrendous conditions of early last century. From my experience of inner London, while there is clearly still more to be done on housing, I was more struck by poverty of ambition, and by people's inability to make the most of opportunities. In many situations, what I saw was not poverty, yet an air of depression still pervaded. The Spirit Level argues that this is caused by the inequalities that still subsist.
If the book's assertion is right, the cuts will be a good thing if they achieve a more equal society. They won't work if they don't challenge the widening wealth gap in this country – in other words, if they are not fair.
While the Bible does not speak about fairness, it looks more to the principles of justice. Justice goes beyond fairness because it demands that every person has a voice and is valued in society. Being valued means people have the freedom to make choices, to have ambitions and to decide their own future.
Alex Bienfait
October 2010
An event that seldom fails to surprise is the annual inter-church cycle or stride. (Takes place on the 2nd Saturday in September). Nearly all churches, belonging to many different denominations, open their doors for this great event providing a welcome for visitors. Some people are sponsored to visit as many churches as they can walk or cycle to, while others are also sponsored for keeping their church open. The proceeds are split between the participating church and the preservation charity Friends of Kent Churches.
The day can be a wonderfully sociable occasion, meeting other cyclists, being welcomed in a whole variety of churches. In the towns where there is a greater variety of denominations, you get a glimpse inside churches of different traditions and experience the different ways in which they provide a welcome. We have much to learn from each.
This year's event, which took place on 11th September, was no different but one big change for us was getting back on our bikes. My family's experience of cycling, once practised several times daily, had dwindled upon moving into Biddenden and stopped almost entirely on the acquisition of a dog.
Thus it was a surprise what a fuss we made getting the bikes ready. The tyres needed pumping, the saddles wiping, the panniers locating, the breaks checking and the puncture repair kit adding to our bags, not forgetting the helmets. The whole culture of cycling suddenly felt alien, strange. If we who had once depended on bikes as a mode of transport every day were feeling this, what must it be like for those who have done very little cycling? And what about other experiences with which we might not be familiar?
Might church itself might be one of them?
A newcomer may feel put off by fear of the possible strangeness. Perhaps worried at not knowing quite what to do. But remember that aim to make church accessible and welcoming. But I also hope that you experience church as different, as we create an atmosphere that is separate from the world we inhabit for most of our lives; if it did not it would be meaningless.
Next year's sponsored cycle event is on the 10th September 2011. Do join us if you can. But you don't need to wait till next year if you are curious to visit one of our churches here.
Once we were on our bikes again we quickly realised what we had missed, and felt at home on our bikes. If you are new to church I hope that is what you will experience by coming to church a sense of home coming and belonging.
Alex Bienfait
September 2010
We all know arguments cause unhappiness. Many of us go to considerable lengths to avoid conflict, to 'paper over cracks' rather confront difficulties.
Now imagine a society where there was neither argument nor conflict. Would this be a place of perpetual happiness? Welcome to the fictional world created by Ray Bradbury in his futurist classic, Fahrenheit 451. In this world, society attempts to keep people happy which constant entertainment and by prevent them from talking to each other. Nor is anyone encouraged to read or think. Books in particular, perceived as very dangerous, are burned – indeed the fire brigade exists to burn books, not put out the fires. But Bradbury slowly he reveals the hollow emptiness of his society in which there is no true dialogue, and consequently no real happiness or contentment or purpose.
Psychological evidence shows that we are happiest when we confront our fears and challenges, and resolve them. As we address an issue which bothers, us we add meaning and engagement in our lives, though these moments will also test us to our limits.
Conflict is hardly unknown in the Church of England, the current divisions being over whether women can be made bishops. The Church's governing body, the General Synod, voted in July to pave the way for this historic change*. Now the proposals are to be debated in each diocese, and in turn locally in our churches and deaneries.
Disagreement has centred on the desire, on the part of those who cannot accept women bishops, for a legal framework enabling them to request the oversight of a male traditionalist bishop. Others have argued that this would mean women are not treated the same as men, a simple matter, as they see it, of human justice. I personally look forward women being consecrated as bishops soon. For me, now that we have decided to have women as priests 16 years ago, it comes down to valuing equally men and women and the gifts they bring to ministry.
What ever is decided, I also believe it is important to maintain the broad diversity of belief that has been such an important feature of the Church of England. This means a continuing dialogue with those with whom we disagree: surely, in the long run, this will be healthy and productive for us all.
Alex Bienfait.
August 2010
The parishes of Smarden and Biddenden have a new Assistant Curate, Judy Darkins. Judy was ordained deacon in Canterbury Cathedral on Saturday 3rd July by Archbishop Rowan Williams. It is a significant personal achievement for Judy, a full-time teaching assistant at John Mayne School Biddenden, who for three years had partly withdrawn from parish life in order to study in the evenings and at weekends. It is also a special celebration for the support group who have met and prayed regularly with Judy and joined her in studying some of her required subjects.
It's easy to believe that Judy and other ministers 'do God' on our behalf, in other words, 'I don't need to think about God or of prayer, because I know that Judy and other ministers will sort that for me'. But I hope Judy's example will encourage all of us to walk more visibly in the way of Christ.
Let me explain a bit more with reference to something Jesus spoke about often: The Kingdom of God. For Jesus, this was neither a geographical area nor a bid to turn Israel into a mighty nation. It was about people's personal allegiance to God, winning people over to God's rule with the tools of truth, humility, grace, unity, justice and prayer. Jesus' emphasis on the Kingdom is at the heart of the prayer he taught his followers: 'Our father, who is in heaven, Holy is your name, your will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven' - a kind of mission statement.
Thus ministry is not only about bringing people to faith. It is also, and more importantly, about bringing people into the life of the Kingdom: this means visible, outward signs of a life lived generously . The Kingdom of God is not something that can be described, it needs to be experienced and above all, seen in us.
Someone claimed recently that our church needs to be a 'Sesame Street Church'. Sesame Street is so fantastic you don't have to invite people there, they beg to be told how to reach it. This is what often happened in the early church when Christianity was underground: strangers would sidle up to Christians in the market place and whisper: 'I hear you are a follower of “the way”, how can I find out about it?'
Building the Kingdom is a is a big task that needs us all to participate in. I hope that with Judy's encouraging example will inspire you to join in.
Alex Bienfait
July 2010
Dietrich Bonhoeffer pointed out that, “A God who let us prove his existence would be an idol”.
What is your experience of idols? They can be glamorous, dazzling, but we are also able to keep at a distance, “on the mantle piece,” as it were. Uninvolved in our lives, an idol only comes to life when we call upon or want it. On the contrary, God seeks something very different, a living dynamic relationship nurtured through taking responsibility in prayer and trust.
For all of us there will be periods in all our lives when God seems far away. It might be in situations where tragedy strikes, or when generally things seem to go against us. It's ironic that for some people this is precisely when they feel closest to God, while for others it is at this point that doubts kick in. For them, the the seemingly passive silent vacuum nags to suggest there is no God.
These are situations where we might find ourselves questioning the integrity and value of our faith. It is important for us to deal with these questions before we experience such times. Generally this is hard for us; our culture is far more comfortable talking about periods of success. We tend only to admit to difficult times when they are over.
If discussion of doubt and fear is much less part of our culture, it is nevertheless essential if we are to experience the presence of the risen Christ who is no idol, but offers a real relationship.
Alex Bienfait
June 2010
I try to go swimming once a week. It doesn't always happen, and it's easy to make excuses. But have come to know it is a fantastic exercise.
But to go regularly I have had to overcome years of negative experience of swimming and swimming pools. It was not just the whole inconvenience of getting changed and being wet, my main inhibition was not really knowing how to swim well so that I was always cold. So I was grateful to discover some years ago that individual lessons were available at my local pool. These lessons taught me the basic strokes but I have still a lot to learn, as until recently my breast stroke was still faster than my front crawl.
A swimming pool is not the exactly a social centre. But even through my short-sighted haze looking through goggles I do manage to recognise people who share the same time slot. There is scope for snippets of conversation, and now that the lessons are over, I have been particularly grateful to one regular for his affirmation and criticism of my front-crawl technique.
This experience got me thinking about how foster this kind of support and encouragement in our churches. Teaching from clergy and ministers in sermons and during confirmation courses is important, but to grow and sustain our faith it are not sufficient on its own. We all have a ministry to interpret the ways in which God is directing our lives. Speaking to and supporting others may make us nervous but I hope it is something we can encourage more.
Alex Bienfait
May 2010
Nurse Shirley Chaplin fought hard to be allowed to wear a crucifix to work, but recently she lost her claim for unfair dismissal. Chaplin argued that removing her necklace bearing a crucifix would “violate” her faith, but her employer said its concern for her was on safety grounds. The hospital points out that patients could potentially grab her necklace and that its treatment of her was not about religious discrimination.
The case is complicated because adherents of other faiths have been granted permission to break hospital dress codes – Chaplin cites Muslim doctors who are allowed to wear head scarves. Rowan Williams in his Easter Day address has expressed concern that there might be real religious discrimination here.
Whether or not Chaplin's case is about religious discrimination, it raises the questions about we show our faith. How do we let be known that we are Christian?
Many of us have a natural inhibition about making our claims too prominent. Our fears may not be of discrimination, rather of being placed on a pedestal and judged according to other people's assumptions about how we should behave.
However, pendant crosses and fish car stickers are only outward signs of a Christian life. They may not reflect, and certainly should not replace, the faith within. The way we live matters more, as it did to Jesus's disciples as news spread of his resurrection. Their key value as they formed into a distinct community, returned to again and again in accounts of early church life, is their generosity.
Working out how we too can be generous can be complicated but one ancient Biblical principle still guides many Christians today. This is the tithe: a setting aside of 10% of one's income to give away. The detail of how we interpret this in each of our situations is up to us and may force some difficult choices about priorities, but generosity with money makes a statement about the role God has in our lives.
Early Christian communities were known for the radical love and the generosity they practised. Whether we trumpet it or not, I hope our faith can help us make similar decisions.
Alex Bienfait
April 2010
After the resurrection, how the risen Jesus was exactly experienced by the early disciples remains a mystery, but one fact we can be sure of, is an empty tomb.
We can be fairly sure for number of reasons, both Jesus' friends and enemies had interests in making sure his body stayed where it placed. Remember the words of Mary when she first discovers he is gone speaking to the person she thinks a gardener. “Tell me where you have laid him” she pleads. Anyone who has buried a loved one might easily be able to relate to this plea. For his enemies, the Roman authorities, and the Jewish establishment there had been too much of the speculation him rising again to take any chances. So much so, that the Roman authorities made sure there would be no trouble – they placed an armed guard over his tomb.
The post Resurrection experiences of Jesus by the disciples are to pin down. Some describe Jesus walking through closed doors and walls, but others see him eating fish and sharing meals. Whatever the experience, and they must have been real and profound. Within a few weeks the disciples changed from a frightened introvert group, that met behind closed doors, into a confident movement that the authorities actively tried to harass and put down to stop it growing.
The question of the empty tomb, how it came about and the form of the resurrected Jesus are all important questions as we consider the basis for our faith at Easter. However, we shouldn't get lost in pursuit of just these questions alone. In his ministry Jesus performed many miracles and he healed many people. But often, in nearly every situation, Jesus urges those whom he heals to be quiet about what has happened, he stresses the importance and need for faith. Faith doesn't come through gimmicks, it comes through relationship. 2000 years after the events, we can be confident on some of the detail, but what really sustains my faith experience is relationship, of the knowledge of God's presence in our life, speaking and sharing about this with others. This only comes about when we sit down, pray and acknowledge his presence, when we share and talk about the presence of the Holy Spirit, and testify to each other about how the resurrection continues lead us in hope and new opportunities.
I wish you all a joyful Easter.
Alex Bienfait
March 2010
Centuries, ago being a Christian was a very risky business and you had to be very definite about it. The Church was a secret underground organisation, membership of which affected your social position, work, and life. Only the most determined became members, those who were invited or for whom someone could testify to their seriousness and good character.
But before they were admitted, adherents began a period of instruction and testing. When this was completed, the new member was baptised as two people spoke up for them. The period of preparation was called Lent, and baptism was part of the Easter celebrations.
Despite the persecution and hardships, the church grew in strength and numbers. When Constantine converted to Christianity in AD 312, becoming a Christian was suddenly fashionable and huge numbers joined. But this too brought challenges, as many of the new Christians had only a notional interest in faith. Thus the period of study and preparation remained important.
The risks of confessing faith nowadays are nothing like they were, at least in life or death terms anyway. Yet there is a worry about ridicule in our post-modern age, and about being excluded in a village where there can be a perception that everyone knows everyone else's business including their faith.
Lent is still a time for testing our relationship with God through study and regular prayer. Might it also be a time when we think about how we employ our money, using our generosity to test and nurture our faith?
Alex Bienfait
February 2010
How are you getting on with the New Year's resolutions you have made?
If research from a group of psychologists is to be believed, three quarters of us who made resolutions will have broken them already, or are just about to do so. At end of last year one national newspaper proclaimed: “New Year's resolutions: Don't bother”1. The article went on to explain that with such a high failure rate, by making resolutions we risk becoming more “dispirited” and “despondent” than before.
But before before you become totally disillusioned with the idea of new commitment, I should mention that the article pointed to a significant proportion of people who do keep their resolutions. “These,” it assured us,”tended to be people who had broken down their goal into smaller steps, with rewards at each stage, and also told their friends about their goals. They also focused on the benefits of success and kept a diary of their progress.”
I believe it's really important to know we are capable of making promises and commitments. It's about realising we can change and grow, that we do have power and choice in our lives. If we are really honest, many of us have more scope to make decisions about the way we life than we like to admit.
But keeping promises is a challenge. As the research reminded us, one of the best ways we can keep them is to tell a friend. This is one reason why being part of regular church community is so important to me. When churches are working well, they are places where we encourage each other in the commitments we make.
But also as Christians we believe we have don't just have community of friends in the church, but are part of a unity and relationship with God. We are called by God to develop and grow our gifts. Paul describes in his letter to the Ephesians “Each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift … by speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.”
So have you dared voice your commitments before God?
I hope we may we know the encouragement of our friends and experience the grace of God as we seek to uphold the commitments we have made.
Lent, beginning on 17th February, might provide the next chance to make a short-term resolution as we look ahead to Easter.
Alex Bienfait
January 2010
We have always had a fascination with the stars.
2000 years ago, the Wise Men 'from the East' observed a star which prompted them to leave their homes. They began a pilgrimage to distant lands to pay homage to a new-born King.
Do we share the Wise Men's fascination with space and dream of a future for ourselves out there? Just think of the host of sci-fi books and videos sitting on our bookshelves. Politicians too dreamed of advancing knowledge through space travel. Ronald Reagan, in a speech at the launch of the space shuttle Discovery in 1988 following the Challenger disaster, told the American people it was essential to ‘conquer’ space in order to overcome ‘war, scarcity and misery on Earth.’
But recently I have noted how much our aspirations have changed. Not long ago I watched the 1960s classic, 2001, A Space Odyssey. The film is a product of its age: released just a year before a person sets foot on the moon, it is full of confidence in future moon colonies and routine space travel.
Of course nothing like that sort of development has happened. The fascination may be still there, but there is little evidence that humans will be able to make their home outside earth any time soon. Even our MOD has apparently lost interest in UFOs. Instead we are rising to the challenge of our caring for the home planet we do have, set against the alien and inhospitable environment of space.
Yet it was gazing up at stars that led the wise men beyond their homes. Their journey was full of events that forced them to change their expectations of what they were searching for. First they looked in on Jerusalem, the place of power, but then they were led to that out-of-the-way place called Bethlehem. They were guided to a stable to encounter not the trappings of wealth and status, but a baby, itself one of the most complex and beautiful mysteries of life.
It seems that the further abroad we go to search for meaning, the more we need to look within ourselves and our homes to find it.
With Good wishes for the New Year.
Alex Bienfait
December 2009
There is a story of Jesus with his disciples looking up at the vast walls of the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus tells them there will be a time when all of these stone will be broken down, and that the temple will be no more. For anyone hearing Jesus speak these words, they must have been hard to comprehend.
The Temple was a powerful and important institution. It must also have been one of the word's most dramatic impressive buildings at the time. To hear someone speak of its downfall must have seemed crazy. But Jesus was trying to help prepare for the future, for a time when he would not be with them and when God's power would not be founded on earthly institutions.
In the coming weeks an important conference takes place in Copenhagen which could have significant for all our lives. Climate change induced by our industrial activity, mainly the burning of fossil fuels, is now accepted to such a degree that governments are coming to together to negotiate how reductions in carbon emissions can be agreed. They are taking seriously the predictions of future events that will rock our familiar planet, of disasters that we, like the disciples in Jesus' time, cannot begin to imagine.
You might argue these are largely political issues on which the church should not speak. But I believe significant spiritual are issues are bound up with these matters, as we are challenged to act beyond what we think of our immediate needs and think about children and the well being of our global community. They prompt us to ask basic questions about what drives us constantly to want to acquire and consume more.
Trying to imagine the “low-carbon” world so often spoken of is very hard. There will be things that we will have to adapt and do in different ways. But that's not a reason to be gloomy, because there are also great opportunities. Despite our consumption patterns, happiness indicators for most western industrialised countries are in fact going down (See New Economic Foundation website). We should try to welcome the changes which beckon us as an opportunity to improve and make our lives more fulfilling and ourselves more content.
Alex Bienfait
October 2009
In the midst of a teeming mass of people, within a semi-circle of non-descript and functional buildings, stood the lone sculpture of a tree.
I was at the Greenbelt Christian Arts Festival, Cheltenham, a gathering of over 20,000 Christians. There we were offered music, spoken words, and worship. You could flit from a lecture on the mysticism of St. Paul's writings to practical workshops on leading Sunday school activities, to midnight experimental 1662 traditional language communion service where the music was led by a heavy metal band. And that was just a fraction of what was there.
Among this busyness the tree patiently proclaimed its silent message as people scuttled past, walking, running or ambling from one event to the other. Wrapped in gold and red, the sculpture was inspired by the Old Testament story of Moses who encountered God amidst a bush that seemed to be on fire.
Beneath it was the following quotation:
“Earth is crammed with heaven,
and every common bush is on fire with God;
but only he who sees takes off his shoes;
the rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.”
(an extract from Aurora Leigh (1856), the epic novel/poem by Elizabeth Barrett-Browning.)
I could not help thinking of the churches in the midst of our village and of how we value them. A commonly held belief is that the church is where God lives: often people refer to our church as God's house. This may be very comforting for those who have little to do with church otherwise, the feeling that because the church is there God is somehow in the midst of our busy community.
A similar sentiment may creep up on those who are committed church members. Many churches keep the sanctuary area around the altar closed, discouraging people from walking there. By keeping it apart we encourage the impression that it is especially holy.
But this is misleading. God is not limited to the church or even to the sanctuary. As Elizabeth Browning reminds us, our lives are 'crammed with heaven' if only would but stop and notice.
Our churches are special, they help remind us that God is present in our lives. The church helps create the atmosphere in which we pray and give the sense God’s presence. But we cannot regard God as exclusively in our churches. We can glimpse heaven and encounter God in the every day, if we 'but only take off our shoes' and know we are on holy ground.
Alex Bienfait
September 2009
Have you bought or sold anything on Ebay? Even if you have not, you may well have heard the name of this auction site which enables individuals to buy and sell over the internet.
Newcomers to this system might be reassured to know that Ebay makes big play of the trust that must develop between sellers and buyers, fostered through a ratings system which builds up over time. Each time a transaction takes place, both buyer and seller are invited to rate the experience as positive, neutral or negative. The more you buy and sell, the more your user profile develops, and if you can boast a 100% positive response profile anyone trading with you can be confident the transaction will go well.
It occurs to me that this kind of profiling could apply to lots of other transactions and experiences. While camping in Cornwall (and yes, it was wet...), we stayed at one campsite with impressively clean facilities and helpful and well-informed hosts. I would not be surprised to learn that websites already exist that would allow me to rate this campsite for the benefit of future potential campers. What I'm sure does not exist, however, is a rating system that would apply to me as a customer, one that would ensure I was denied entry to the campsite if I had behaved badly elsewhere.
There is clearly plenty of further potential for this kind of vetting. But as I continued to think through the possibilities, worries bubbled up as well, along with a sense that this system can run deeply contrary to Christian hope. We could be in danger of being too much defined by our profiles which describe our history, and if we live too much by them we can stay locked in our past.
Church is a community of hope, of the future, not the past. Church communities seek to be very different and to foster genuinely trusting communities. While we still have to be careful with vulnerable people and avoid being naive about the power of past addictive behaviour, we believe in the ability of people to change their “profile” through God's grace acting in our lives. We should not allow ourselves to be entirely defined by the past but grow into what God hopes and yearns for us.
Alex Bienfait
August 2009
The holiday season is upon us. Travel is popular, as you will have noticed if you have passed through the bulging airport lounges, or sat in a packed train, or had to wait patiently in motorway jam. But for all the frustrations, travel brings new horizons and perspectives that can be important chances for spiritual growth.
Our countryside is full of reminders of the popularity of travel many hundreds of years ago. Old pilgrimage routes criss-cross our local countryside, perhaps most famous being the North Downs way leading to Canterbury. The medieval age saw a huge rise in travel whose purpose was to make pilgrimage to the holy places: cathedrals or churches with holy relics.
Even longer ago in Biblical times many people journeyed to seek God. Moses, long before he became the famous leader who shepherded the people of Israel across the Red sea, was a shepherd looking after his father-in-law's sheep. We are told how he travelled 'beyond' the wilderness, to 'Horeb, the mountain of God', to experience God through a burning bush.
Even though we are encouraged to seek God in our regular life, it is for many of us the same as with Moses: we can often experience God more strongly in a place that is separate from our everyday routine. Holidays can offer valuable opportunities for spiritual renewal if you seek it.
So where might the modern-day pilgrims go? A small group from Smarden and Biddenden will soon travel to Germany for the Oberammergau Passion Play. Others might visit a cathedral or other ancient religious site. Less obvious, but very significant, are a whole host of Christian festivals with names like Awesome and Soul Survivor, attracting hundreds and thousands of people. I myself will be making trip to the Greenbelt Christian arts festival later this summer.
Will you be setting aside some 'holy' time on your holidays this summer?
Alex Bienfait
June 2009
This year we hear much about an important historical national figure, Charles Darwin, as several significant anniversaries coincide. 2009 is the 200th anniversary of his birth, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book On the Origin of Species, the book in which he explains his theory of evolution.
Darwin's thinking has changed the way we understand the world which we inhabit. Up to that point the most widely accepted explanation for the existence of the world came from the creation stories in the Bible.
Quite naturally many in the church felt confused and challenged by what Darwin published. Darwin was aware that his ideas required dramatic shift in thinking. In fact, so concerned was he about its impact that he delayed publishing his ideas for many years.
Many Christians today reconcile their beliefs with advances in scientific knowledge by arguing that God is within the aspects of life which we don't understand or can't explain. But the danger with this approach is that it relegates God to just what we don't know, the “god of the gap”. While it is important to have a sense of awe about life, there is the danger that God becomes smaller the more science reveals about life. Instead we should marvel at what we do know about our planet and the solar system as evidence of God. We should celebrate the incredibly small probabilities that sustain the chemistry of the sun, and hence our lives, and the factors to which led to the possibility of life taking hold.
In that sense, Darwin has been a positive inspiration for Christians and their their faith. Darwin made is discoveries with intense fascination and observation of our world. Rather than seeing God as a Divine detached designer who started everything off, as they work with uncovering the complexities of life they see God at work in creation. God, rather than remote and unapproachable, is one who is intimately connected with our lives, close to each one of us.
I hope we can be inspired by Darwin's passion for observing our world. One of the ways you will be able share this, is to join us on our Rogation Walk, Sunday 17th May. This year we will set off from Smarden and walk to St. Margaret's Bethersden. We will acknowledge and give thanks to God for what the land provides us, and pray for the coming year. As in previous years we will meet with farmers and land owners and help us to understand how the countryside is being managed and farmed. For further details see the website or magazine.
Alex Bienfait
May 2009
Dare I admit that my expenses have doubled in recent years? Yes clergy do get expenses, but there are no allowances for swimming pools, chandeliers or even mowing the lawn. The bulk of my expenses claims goes on a single item: the use of the car. From a suburban setting where I could use my bike for the majority of church business, I have moved to parishes that are geographically among the biggest in the Diocese. Hence the huge increase in the amount I need to claim for travelling. It highlights one of the tensions we all face living in a rural area, the amount of driving we all need to do in order to stay in touch.
The recent embarrassing expenses controversy has exposed greed and selfishness at the heart of our society. We are involved both because it has shaken our trust and confidence in Parliament, but also as it highlights pervading attitudes of our time, which suddenly looking shocking.
This was illustrated in part for me by comedian Stephen Fry who argued that we should put this in perspective. These were minor lapses, he said, we “all” fiddle expenses, and it is more important are to judge our MPs on the the mistakes which take us to war or ignore poverty. While I have some sympathy with this argument, with many of the examples being presented are relatively minor, history is full of examples, were essentially good people have been swept along on an unquestioning, selfish tide where the consequences have eventually cost human life.
David Cameron has warned that following the letter of the rules does not excuse MPs from practices which are “wrong”. Any rule is just a guide to help our frame actions; we are still required to think for ourselves.
Jesus so often got into trouble for breaking rules. Rules were not important where it stopped him doing that which most loving, to that which fulfils the most good.
At the heart of our political system we need honesty and freedom from corruption. I believe the reason a bunch of early Christians made such an impression was because they lived simply and so were free from corruption. They lived by a faith that ultimate power was with God, not human institutions. They didn't need to be greedy, because they lived out their faith with generosity, God provides, and blesses.
Alex Bienfait
April 2009
Each week is bringing slightly warmer weather. Spring beckons, daffodils are finally showing off their golden trumpets following our unusually cold winter. As they, do they herald the Easter season.
Easter comes at a time of year when the weather promises so much, but when there is little in the ground. Vegetable growers call this the hunger gap. Food from winter stocks are running low, but little new food is yet available.
In the days, before refrigerated warehouses, this could be the cruellest of seasons. It is significant that Easter arrives now, to remind us that the hope of the resurrection is to be experienced at the point of greatest despair.
Easter is the great Christian feast of the year and forms the basis of everything else which is celebrate through the rest of the year. As we remember the last days of Jesus' life, the events that lead up to Easter are both moving and dramatic.
The most significant services take place on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Day.
On each of these days, the services are not designed just for the committed, but for all who want to be encouraged, all who are searching for meaning and faith.
Alex Bienfait
March 2009
White Monday. The snow came down, the roads became treacherous, schools closed and many people were forced to take time off work.
So with our children high on excitement, we headed for the nearest half-decent slope and practised our sledging skills. It felt good to spend some time revelling in this rare spell of winter wonderland.
The following day came the familiar lament: why does everything have to close? Why can't Britain cope with a couple of inches of snow?
What a coincidence, then, that on the same day the Church of England Children's society published a report drawing attention again to how bad our nations is at supporting children. While materially children in this country have never had so much, they have also, said the report, never been so unhappy. A key factor in this is the amount of time their parents are able to spend with them. This is not supposed to make individual parents feel guilty but it is a challenge to all of us, about society's acceptance of children's needs.
The report calls for "a radical shift away from the excessively individualistic ethos which now prevails, to an ethos where the constant question is, 'What would we do if our aim was a world based on love?'"
It may have been an atrocious day for business, but perhaps it wasn't so bad for our children or for some parents to have an enforced day of fun.
Alex Bienfait.
February 2009
Visit one of the big cities and you will probably come across an advertising campaign emblazoned on Buses: “God probably does not exist, Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” It's meant to be a campaign to spread the idea of no God. But there is something hesitant in its message. The advertisers might have wished to leave out “probably”, but since it is impossible to prove or disprove the existence of God, they presumably had to leave it in.
This slogan should prompt us to reflect on what image of God each of us really carries around inside us. Do you worry, for instance, and live in fear of God? If you picture him as an old man with a white beard you might imagine he is autocratic and unpredictable, a fearsome God, a monster even.
Or perhaps you see your bearded old man as a kind of “sugar daddy”, always there to lend a hand. But this view can lead to disappointment if life doesn't go your way, the sense that God was not present in your time of crisis. Like a bus perhaps: never there when you need one.
It is helpful to be challenged about our view of God. Here are some pictures from the New Testament:
God as baby vulnerable and part of us, part of our lives.
God with healing hands willing to touch and heal us.
God on the cross prepared to die for us.
My faith that God probably does exist is important because through this I know that my life has a direction. Believing he is there gives purpose and fulfilment to my life.
So if I had the chance to write my own message on a bus, what would it be? How about this: “God probably exists. So don't be frightened and enjoy your life.”
What does it mean to enjoy life? You may well ask. That will have to wait for another 'Rectors Letter'
Alex Bienfait.
January 2009
A question I am often asked is, can I be a Christian if I don't come to church?
And stripped to its most basic, the answer is yes; Christians acknowledge God as creator, Jesus as redeemer, and the Holy Spirit as sustainer. But being a Christian is also much more, it's also about being part of a community of believers, and through fellowship understanding how God is part of our lives, realising the gifts we have, and how we are called to serve.
The relevance of this question was highlighted for me with an article carried in the Telegraph a few weeks ago and (reproduced in last month's parish magazine for Biddenden). It reported concern from the Government that one in five churches may be forced to close. It's interesting think why the Government might be concerned. It is that faith communities are valued because they have a good record in helping fostering and building up the fabric of society. Experience indicates that the presence of churches helps communities function and care better for themselves, even when this may not be very visible.
Our local church is not faced with the threat threat of closure, but neither are we complacent. While individual rectors do not stay long, the churches themselves, built 700 years ago, are there for the long haul, and they need to be collectively owned by their community if they are to survive.
Small communities are more aware than most, perhaps, of what they stand to lose if their church is no longer there to serve them. But if all of us treated our Christian faith as a private matter never to be shared, our churches would indeed turn into empty shells. Churches need the life-blood of our presence, our involvement, in order to flourish and take their place at the centre of our villages as they were built to be.
Here are a few ways to get more involved:
- Our new mission plan summarizes the key areas and priorities upon which we want to focus both in the immediate future, and the longer term. It is highlighted in the PCC summary.
- 'Gifts unwrapped' is the Epiphany-inspired title of our parish retreat day on the 23rd January 2009. It will be led by the Rev'd Richard King, Diocesan Missioner, and the Rev'd Amanda Evans, Diocesan Advisor on Healing and Wholeness, and is open to all.
- There are lots of ways to support your local church, in addition to joining the congregation. It might just be financial, but there are also lots of practical things as well, such as the upkeep of churchyard, bell ringing, helping with our children's clubs, singing in the choir, helping with the Magazine, the list goes on.
Your church is there for you, and it is you who stand to gain the most by supporting it.
With Good wishes for the New Year.
Alex Bienfait.
December 2008
America has a new president elect, Barak Obama. Resting upon his shoulders is a huge weight of expectation. In part this is a measure of the seriousness of the issues that he faces: US soldiers in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, the worst economic crisis for 80 years, the continuing Palestine / Israel question, all set to a back ground of deepening awareness of climate change, and environmental trouble.
So who is he and where has he come from? Newspapers have been full of his childhood spent in Hawaii, Indonesia and the US, even tracking a grand-parent to a Kenyan village. All of this contributes to the sense of of his being a very unlikely candidate.
But while some Americans hail him as their Messiah, we will hear a lot in the next few weeks about another life, both much younger and more ancient, an equally improbable arrival heralding astonishing promise and expectation. It is, of course the story of the birth of Jesus. Bethlehem was, like Hawaii and Kenya, an out-of-the-way place, and not the obvious birthplace for a president or a king.
We will have to wait and see how Obama copes with the pressure. It could be that many idealists are disappointed: the man has an extraordinary gift for building consensus, for drawing his opponents onto his side. This might happen at the cost of his more radical ideas.
Jesus was surrounded by people who hoped he would be their king and lead a rebellion against the Roman oppressor. But his ministry was far more long term and profound, and so there was misunderstanding. Misunderstanding which led to disappointment and betrayal, and death. Out of this came the Easter story, the resurrection, the basis of our faith in hope and in the power of love.
Christmas will conjure the image of promise and change. But if you waiting for this promise to suddenly break through and happen, be prepared for your expectations to be challenged. This story of our Messiah coming as a baby, helpless, dependent upon us. It's a story which needs us to play our part, however small or big, in making our community and this world closer to the Kingdom he came to herald.
Looking forward to celebrating Christmas with you.
Alex Bienfait
November 2008
Putting God to the test is not encouraged in the Bible. Before Jesus started his public ministry he had a time in the desert to prepare himself. There he was tempted by Satan to climb the top pinnacle of the Temple, suggesting: “Throw yourself off, and God's angels will let you down gently.” Jesus retorted: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
Well, that didn't stop 86 people climbing All Saints Biddenden's tower and throwing themselves off. Granted, they were supported by a rope as they abseiled down, as well as plenty of prayers.
The true meaning of trust in rope was brought home to me as I took my turn at the top of the tower. From up there, it looked a longer way down than it had seemed from below. I leaned out backwards over the edge, put the ropes under tension and started to feed a rope through for the descent. As I did so the ropes, re-adjusting themselves around the shackle, suddenly gave way. It was only for a few centimetres but for a split second I wondered if my trust had been misplaced.
Trust is a word we hear a lot at the moment. Our banks are in crisis, and trust, broken by too many promises, may have turned out to be worthless.
Trust is also important for our faith, as faith can be impaired if trust is broken. This can happen when disappointment hits us, when we are faced with a sudden calamity. But as Jesus reminds us with his response to Satan, God is bigger than a Santa Claus who just comes to our rescue.
So what do we base our trust upon? Upon the resurrection, and the fact of the empty tomb? All of this is important. But what really makes it real for me is the experience of a relationship and sense of friendship with God that happens when we pray. Faith is not something you can proof or is logical, but for me is alive because of what comes as a result of prayer. Prayer is what, I believe, makes the ropes of trust in faith.
Alex Bienfait
October 2008
Do you remember a rather old television advert for Kellogs' Corn Flakes? It was set in a monastery where the monks ate in silence. As a large pack of the cereal passed along a row of monks who helped themselves generously, the very last monk began to show signs of deep anxiety – he clearly thought there would not be enough left for him. He needn't have worried explained the comforting voice-over: there were 16 portions in every pack.
I had to think of this advert as I found myself staying in a Benedictine monastery for a training course early this September. Meals were taken in silence and food passed down the line, just like on the advert. It was up to you how much you took, but since your neighbours were not allowed to speak you had to look round and check that others had what they wanted, before polishing off the dish.
Soon we will celebrate Harvest. Actually how much of a celebration this will be for some farmers still remains to be seen. News reports of combines stuck in a foot or two of water tell clearly how bleak the situation is in some areas. Even locally, this has been an anxious time. In other parts of the world, however, the harvest looks more promising and we will be able to tap into the international markets for food. Thus we can buy our way out of trouble, but other nations are not so fortunate.
Harvest is a recognition of the gifts which we believe ultimately come from God. As well as celebration, Harvest reminds us to share what we have been given.
Those with economic might are charged with looking round to see who else has needs, whether it be a neighbour or another country where the havest has failed. The silence of the Benedictines has something to teach us about attentiveness to others and about spontaneous generosity; outwards signs of a living faith.
Alex Bienfait
