Smarden church and Biddenden Church: editorial comment space

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.