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"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint."

Isaiah 40:31

Hope is so important.  It helps us to maintain positive relationships and physical and emotional health. Even during times of uncertainty and adversity, hope can endure and even thrive.  It is available to everyone.

Researchers have noted that when fear is paired with looking toward the positive, it becomes hope and can provide us with new possibilities. 

Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl (1959), who survived the Auschwitz Nazi death camp, claimed there is always a choice, and that emotional health is influenced by the attitudes we choose, the decisions we make, and the desire to look forward rather than backward. When we believe we have the capacity, a plan, and the resolve to reach a goal it can shift us from wishful thinking into action.  

Attending to the glimpses of goodness in our lives offers opportunities for hope and renewal. Experiencing the beauty and warmth of the sunshine, a flower emerging through the cracks on a pathway, sitting back comfortably in our favourite chair, sorting through photographs that evoke positive memories, or listening to a special song are some possible examples.

Research has shown that being appreciative has emotional, physical, and interpersonal benefits.  These positive effects can be enhanced by keeping daily in a gratitude journal. 

Christian hope is something even greater than we can create ourselves.  It is a confidence that something will come to pass because God has promised it will.

Faith and hope are overlapping realities for me: hope is faith in the future tense. In essence, most of faith is hope.

The Bible says, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). 

This implies that hope, like faith, is strengthened by listening, reading, studying and internalising the Good News contained in the Bible. 

The Canadian Evangelist said the “Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity--hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory--because at the Father's will Jesus became poor, and was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross.

When we are facing difficult circumstances, we are invited to look to Christ, look to his promises, and hold fast to them. Christian hope comes from the promises of God rooted in the work of Christ.

Revd Annette

If you enjoy sung Compline - Radio 3 is broadcasting a weekly service on Monday evenings during Advent, 9:30pm, from different venues around the country.  Last Monday's was a traditional language version - you can find an order of service on the CoE website.  

Jenny

Last week I returned from a one week visit to Cairo at the invitation of the Anglican Archbishop of Alexandria Dr Mouneer Anis. He asked me to give a number of lectures about the controversy over the Trinity in the fourth century that led to the Nicene Creed (325AD) which we say most weeks in our Communion Services. Earlier this year I published a book entitled Defining God: Athanasius, Nicaea, and the 4th Century Trinitarian Controversy (available from Amazon!), hence the reason for the invitation.  I spoke to an audience made up of Anglicans from All Saints Cathedral in Cairo as well as some Copts and Muslims. In their context defining who God is, is fundamental to understanding the differences between Christianity and Islam (and for that matter Judaism too – the three Abrahamic faiths so talked about in the present tragedy of the Middles East). But, more positively than simply describing differences, it was a chance to say that `at the heart our faith is a God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit and that is the glory of the Christian faith. About 80 came to the lectures and there were many questions.

In particular, I spoke about Athanasius who was the Coptic Bishop of Alexandria from 328-373AD and the principal advocate of The Nicene definition of God, that the Son was of the same substance (homoousios) as the Father. He was said to stand Contra Mundum ie against the world which, in the Eastern Mediterranean, wanted to make the Son subordinate to the Father. But Athanasius in a famous work called De Incarnatione (About the Incarnation) argued thar the divine word (Logos) took on human flesh as John makes clear in the opening words of his Gospel.  In fact, towards the end of that great work, Athanasius said “He, Christ, became as we are that we might become as he is” (para 54 De Incarnatione).

As you can see the Incarnation lies at the heart of what we will celebrate at Christmas. It is that God himself took on human flesh (John 1:14). He became like us in order that he might save us from our sins (see Matthew 1:21).  And in these next weeks of Advent, we prepare ourselves to celebrate that great truth. What struck me in Cairo was the reality of these questions for the audience.  Athanasius was their bishop, albeit many years ago. He battled for this truth. And when we say the Nicene Creed, we are joining with Christians around the world to declare the mysterious truth of the Incarnation which we especially remember at Christmas. 

Patrick  Whitworth                          

My cat Amber’s bleating sounds like a baby crying. It sometimes has the power to startle me out of a light slumber reminding me of the sleepless nights of parenthood.  She cries for attention, for treats and to have the kitchen door open so she can stand, breathe in the air, and catch a glimpse of what she might be part of if she was brave enough to venture out.

In the summer she sat on the mat at the door we left open, her presence blocking the dogs from either entering or exiting as they worry about walking past her. She teases our two Labradors walking elegantly across the lounge room as we relax in the evening, jumping up onto the coffee table and lying on her back.  I swear she is watching TV.  

She annoys guests by being determined to try and make herself comfortable on their laps, giving me the choice of shutting the door to keep her out or endlessly removing her from the claimed position.  It is embarrassing but she shows no remorse. 

We chose her from a cat sanctuary as a kitten. She is now 14 years old but looks and acts like a kitten.  When she runs and jumps about upstairs it sounds loud enough to be a person, yet she can move with utmost grace.

In our old Rectory, she would spend most of her time outside in the garden hunting.  We would see the spoils of her adventures. Fortunately, she would eat most of what she caught making the killing somehow more palatable.  She was independent, more of a rather arrogant, demanding visitor than an integrated member of the family.

But there was a change when we moved to the Vicarage in Kintbury. For most of the first year, she rarely ventured downstairs, remaining upstairs hidden under the beds, and sneaking into corners of wardrobes. We discovered that if we left our bedroom window open, she would creep out onto the roof over the office and sit there watching life from a position of safety.  It was rather sad to see her so unsettled by her new environment.

Then early this year our very elderly, eccentric cat Lucy, who slept most of the day in the front room had to be put to sleep. We were convinced that Lucy thought she was a dog because she would follow the dogs everywhere. Daisy, our chocolate Lab would often groom her.  She would try to reciprocate but as a Labrador is a bit more of an ask, it was limited to Daisy’s inner ears and her front paws. I think she adored the dogs and they certainly appeared to enjoy her company.

After Lucy’s death, we noticed an almost instant change in Amber.  She started to venture downstairs more often to wander into the front room and hide behind the settee. It was not long before she let her presence be known, chasing around in the hallway and even at times playing with the dog’s tails as they walked past.  It has been a very surprising transformation. 

Now she runs the house.  Well, at least she thinks she does. And the dogs seem to believe her.

It seems to me that having a pet may fall into the category of God-saturated fascination and joy. God created animals, blessed them, and called them good and one day they will be part of His restored perfect kingdom.  Thank God for pets. 

Rev. Annette

That patriotic First World War song written Lena Guilbert Ford is incredibly evocative. I first came across it when I was in the sixth form, we were invited as older girls to augment the cast of the boys’ school’s Old Time Music Hall production. The opportunity to finally meet socially with a group of same-aged boys was too much to miss even for me as a very reticent performer!  My debut was as the cast in the pub singing, ‘Om-Pah Pah’.  

Home for most people is a place of safety, rest, and peace. It is reassuring that many people who are terminally ill can remain in their own homes where they feel comfort and peace supported by medical professionals. The death of Layla on Eastenders surrounded by her family and friends was beautifully portrayed without ignoring any of the pain of loss.

Home is the space where we should be free to be our truest selves. 

It is heartening to watch a tired, neglected house being renovated to become a new dream home for someone, and not surprising that people spend so much time searching for the right property to make their home. Dave and I own a house in Suffolk where we had imagined returning to spend our final years.  Then our children moved away to secure jobs. We have already spent a great deal of time exploring potential areas near here that we could envisage as a home for when we eventually retire.  It is not easy to seek the right place.

Sadly, for so many people home is not a place of hope, safety, or peace. When we look at the wars raging across the world and the rise in natural disasters, it can generate deep concern, anxiety, a sense of loss, and accelerating horror.

We all hope that as many people as possible may feel supported and safe as we endeavour collectively, and with open hearts to build a world with less hate, less suffering, and more peace and justice. That is a long process.   In Mark 13, the image of birth pains is used to describe several terrible and painful kinds of events, strife, earthquakes, and famines. I think it is because giving birth is painful, a process that once started cannot be stopped, over which you have limited control but that ends in new life.

When life’s circumstances feel overwhelming, they can begin to attack hope moving people from hope to despair and even depression.

But God came to dwell among us and to make a home with us through his son Jesus. That knowledge gives us a great reason to hope. It reminds us that God’s heart is always with us. We are never forgotten or alone. God is faithful and will complete what He has begun. 

One of the greatest gifts God has given us is hope. It is what God’s promises are designed to do – to inspire patient hope. To provide us with the ability to look at any situation and know that regardless of how it may appear God is going to come through. This is the essence of what hope is. 

Our true home is not in a building, a space with a roof and four Walls. Our real home is with Christ, in God.

This week I paid a lovely visit to Notrees residental home in Kintbury to carve smiley pumpkin faces and to share childhood memories with some of the residents. It was a very messy job removing the insides of the fruit with our hands or spoons before we could start, resulting in a lot of laughter. At least two of those taking part had never carved a pumpkin before.  I was inspired by the enthusiasm, even though some had weak and stiff joints in their hands they found a way.  The activity resulted in a disparate collection of illuminated lanterns with broad, toothless but rather joyful grins. 

What I really loved was as we worked and supported each other the conversation flowed naturally.  We covered topics from loss, remembrance, isolation, and sadness to childhood anecdotes, Christmas, and visits to church.  We are making an Advent Wreath in November with the organiser of the Church Flower Group and God’s Eyes in December (so if you have any spare wool please pass it on to me)!  At the end I gave them a bookmark with these words:

Pumpkin Prayer

{cut off top of pumpkin}
God, open our minds so we can learn new things.
{remove innards}
Remove the things in our lives that don’t please you.
Forgive the wrong things we do and help us to forgive others.
{cut open eyes}
Open our eyes to see the beauty in the world around us.
{cut out nose}
we are sorry for the times we’ve turned up our noses at the good food you provide.
{cut out mouth}
Let everything we say please you.
{light the candle}
God, help us show your light to others through the things we do.

Amen

The benefits of social connections and good mental health are numerous. Proven links include lower rates of anxiety and depression, higher self-esteem, greater empathy, and more trusting and cooperative relationships.  I certainly felt the benefit from my morning.

I am conscious that men have fewer opportunities to gather. Some Churches are getting involved in projects to create Men's Sheds. These are community spaces for men to connect, converse, and create. The activities are often like those of garden sheds, but for groups of men to enjoy together. They help reduce loneliness and isolation, but most importantly, they're fun. 

Dave my husband has often returned home after walking the dog sharing his delight at being invited into a garage or shed to admire a motorbike, car, or sit-on mower. He is always enthralled by engineering and reminds him of his biking days.  At fetes, he will disappear for long, animated conversations with owners of vintage vehicles benefiting from those engagements.  It does mean I then have to talk him out of buying a motorbike as I am too conscious now of the danger!  

Have a lovely week ahead,

Revd. Annette

This a parable for those who like me tend to get too impatient for the finishing line. 

One morning I discovered a cocoon in the bark of a tree, just as the butterfly was making a hole in its case and preparing to come out. I waited a while, but it was too long appearing, and I was impatient.  I bent over it and breathed on it to warm it.  I warmed it up as quickly as I could, and the miracle began to happen before my eyes.  The case opened and the butterfly started slowly crawling out. 

I shall never forget my horror when I saw how its wings were folded back and crumpled. The poor, wretched butterfly tried with its whole trembling body to unfold them. Bending over it I tried to help it with my breath.  In vain.

It needed to be hatched out patiently and the unfolding of the wings should be a gradual process in the sun. Now it was too late. My breath had forced the butterfly to appear, all crumpled before its time. It struggled desperately, and a few seconds later, died in the palm of my hand.

Adapted from a story by Nikos Kazantsakis. 

Patience is a good thing. I like being around patient people who don’t get irritated easily or overreact to circumstances that are out of their control. There is a calming presence that patient people have about them.

But practicing patience is something that many of us are not very good at. It is also not something we celebrate and value in our culture. We live in a day and age where we can fly anywhere in the world, download the newest music, and record all kinds of TV shows or films.  As far as the world is concerned, what is the point of pursuing patience in our lives when there is so much to experience?

But patience is a fruit that church leaders desperately require. But we need the Holy Spirit to help it to grow in us.

 Most rural churches are struggling, with congregations tired, perhaps even burned out. They tend to be of senior age, discouraged by dwindling numbers and increased responsibilities. Church leaders need to be constantly discerning how best to lead within the framework of old systems, structures, and traditions that have shaped the culture of the Church of England for many years but can feel at times like straightjackets.

But healthy change takes patience and time. Congregations are made up of individuals. For change to happen in an entire congregation, it is dependent on change taking place in the lives of those who make up the congregation. This doesn’t happen overnight. It often takes a great deal of time. 

Patience and calm assurance are needed to help people experience true, Gospel change in their lives. 

Love and prayers

Annette

I am writing this from a camping site on our caravan holiday with our two Labradors who are currently sprawled out blankets on our settees fast asleep!  I am tired.

Last night at around 1am we were greeted with an amazing thunderstorm. Our chocolate Labrador Daisy slept soundly through it.  However, our rather nervous white Lab Yuki, is terrified of storms.  At the first sign of thunder, she tried to hide.  In a small caravan that is quite a challenge! We discovered her shaking and panting by the door with her nose wedged into a corner.  When I opened the bathroom, she crept into the shower and sat with her back hunched facing the wall. I eventually managed to coax her out with doggy treats, joined by the chocolate Lab as any mention of food manages to penetrate her subconscious!  It complicated manoeuvres.  

I was able to encourage Yuki onto our bed, which opens across the end of the caravan and cover her with the duvet. I hoped it would make her feel safe. There we lay for a couple of hours.  She trembled through the whole experience only stopping for a few seconds to listen every time the thunder rolled.  She snuggled close licking my hand as I stroked her, but my presence was not enough to reassure her. I felt very sad that she was going through such a horrible experience and helpless. If I moved, she moved to get closer to me, so I knew that my presence provided comfort at some level.

There are many times in ministry when I watch people struggling through difficult circumstances. I want to make it all right, but I know it is not possible.

The experience made me reflect on some of the things that I have learned about how to help each other through difficult times.

  1. If you worry about knowing what to say to someone who is struggling, remember most of what you say is better than saying nothing.  The phrases, "I'm so sorry," or "I'm thinking of you," or "I'm praying for you," can be enough.

2. There is nothing more humbling than asking for help even for simple things like meals, babysitting or a lift so Instead, of offering your help suggest specific ways that you would like to help.

3. What people are going through has probably been faced before. People do survive and generally things do get better but individuals need to know that the pain they feel is real and to move through it in their own time to properly heal.

Sit with them. Listen. Let them be honest about their challenges. Let them be angry and resist the urge to fix them, heal them, or placate them. Just be with them.

4. Support, but don't preach. Avoid all cliché, trite phrases, and platitudes. Listen, love, and give time, energy, resources... and yourself. Avoid giving advice when they haven't asked.

5. Life is hard and messy. Let them know you are thinking of them, praying for, and loving them.

6. Don't make it about yourself. Don't complain about how your friend's struggles make you feel.

7. People are different. Some want hugs whilst others aren't touchy-feely. Some people want company, others prefer to sit alone. Some people want you to do things without asking, others want you to run it past them first. Some people want someone to cry with and talk to, others reserve that trust for a select few. Support them accordingly.

Life can be messy, but with love, we can help each other survive even the toughest times.

Dear All
What an exciting Angel Festival weekend!
We had 25 entries in our Children’s Art Competition to draw an Angel of Peace. Our resident artist Chris Turner was persuaded to judge the entries and spent almost 2 hours looking at them. The attendees at the coffee morning running simultaneously with the judging were able to listen to his comments on the drawings and the positive impact of engaging in creating on health. Chris has even offered to run an art workshop for adults who would have enjoyed taking part in the competition.

Lots of different people knitted and painted beautiful Angels to hide within the village. I know that the knitted angels were particularly coveted. 55 people joined our special Facebook page where families shared stories and photos of smiling children having discovered hiding angels. Notrees fed back that some of their residents enjoyed making the stones and hiding them after my visit. I shall make sure they hear about the joy they gave to those who found the stones.
We started our weekend with a very informative talk by Lou from MIND (who are receiving all the
profits from the weekend). We established some great links with the organisation including offers for training and support for our pastoral care team. This talk was followed by an inspiring one by Alice Armstrong Scales, with just a glimpse of the work she does in helping people develop positive mindset practices for a happier life. My husband, Dave has always been rather skeptical about coaching, but he came away quoting Alice’s tips and relating her stories to experiences that he has faced at work. We will be repeating the evening in the Spring, so keep a lookout for the ‘keep this date’ notice. It is one not to miss. I had three particularly significant conversations about mental health as a result and I know that I was not the only person approached.

I had a baptism in Church following the service. They knew about the Angel Festival and
children in the party appreciated being able to look for stones in the churchyard afterward. There are still some more to discover and take home!
Dave had lots of conversations about the angels when he was out walking the dogs and heard
people chatting to others about the stones and knitted angels.
I think coming out of the church enables a strengthening of relationships with our community.

Sadly, we clashed with the Orienteering, the Dog Show, and the Craft and Food Market. Although it was sad that only a few families came to our special service on Sunday, I think the congregation liked hearing about the links that we had made and meeting some of our junior artists.  

How reassuring that the Bible affirms the belief that we do have guardian angels.
The weekend was a wonderful illustration of Saint Paul’s image of the Body of Christ witnessing
unity amid diversity with different parts working together as one.
Oh, there was lots to celebrate.

A huge thank you to all those who were involved.

Revd Annette
 

I think the whole Benefice will be thinking about angels to coincide with the Angel Festival
at Kintbury and the Feast of St Michael and All Angels at Inkpen which celebrates its
Patronal Festival on October 1 at 11:15am. If you are like me, you don’t often think about
angels but a surprising number of differing people have, and written about them. Billy
Graham, the great American evangelist, wrote about angels as did Dr Jane Williams,
Archbishop Rowan’s wife, who wrote a delightful book on angels. And a clergy friend of
mine from Somerset, John Woolmer, who had taught maths at Winchester College and was
an expert on butterflies also wrote on angels. So, there is no shortage of interest in them, or
literature about them.
As I think about Angels and their role in life, it is worth making a few basic points. According
to the Judean-Christian Scriptures, ie the Bible, they occur in both the Old and New
Testaments. They were active in the events of both: from the giving (ie the literal or physical
handing over of the Ten Commandments) of the Law at Mount Sinai, to the announcement
of the birth of Jesus in the New Testament; and much else besides. It seems to me that they
have three main roles as messengers, guardians and warriors and appear in each of these
three roles in the scriptures. Also, the angelic order is a separate created order to humans.
If humans were the pinnacle of God’s earthly creation, angels were a heavenly order which
served God himself and are distinct from humans. Although it seems that some angels
rebelled against God (fallen angels), so having a will of their own, from which the origin of
evil or Satan or Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12-15) came. And other angels may have cross-bred with
women (Genesis 6:4) but this seems a difficult and rather shadowy story with only
temporary repercussions.
Whatever the exact description of angels should be, there is no getting away from their
reality in the scriptures and without them there would be a real gap in the whole of the
created order. There is no doubt that in the glimpse of heaven that John is given in the
Apocalypse, and which Isaiah has in his own vision of heaven (see Isaiah 6), that they are
part of the reality of heaven and the future, and just occasionally they appear on earth to do
God’s bidding; and perhaps you have entertained angels unaware! So, let’s enjoy and
celebrate their ministry and work this weekend as part of God’s creation and activity. We
would be the poorer without them !