18th September 2023. Pastoral Letter
Dearly Beloved
It is good to be back. Thank you so much for praying for myself and for Lucy; thank you for getting on with looking out for each other and welcoming new people and for being supportive of Derreck and Stefan and Liz and Fred, and for being lovely to the visiting Clergy. Thank you.
You can read all about what I have been up to here – https://seafordparish.org.uk/blog/
Here you can read about how just days before flying off to Jerusalem I left my wallet on top of my car as I drove away from a petrol station and an angel returned it to me before I had even prayed for help!
Or about three strangers who came up to me as I was on my way to the Church of Gethsemane. They prayed for me in the hot Jerusalem sun that I would relax and go with the flow. I was later invited to go swimming in the Dead Sea (not an invitation you turn down) by some Americans who were also on pilgrimage. They later took me to Bethlehem where I did my Christmas shopping. You can read also about a different place where I got ripped off. The story ends well.
You can save yourself a lot of money reading my book reviews (I read about two feet worth of books if you follow me) and I polished up my two Church History courses (thirty hours of lectures). And I started to learn to read Hebrew.
Lucy and I went to the Scottish Island of Iona. We made a pilgrimage of the two-day journey. On a train to Glasgow, we met two Scottish ladies out for a day’s shopping. They had just finished their first can of gin which may have helped the flow of the conversation as they talked about some of the joys and sorrows they had lived through and how they did not go to Church but they did pray. It would seem people have more faith than they believe.
On Iona, we were part of the worshipping community at the Abbey. This included chores. Mine were to clean three showers and mop three toilet floors whilst Lucy’s was to clean the sinks and mirrors (using vinegar). We did this along with thirty other strangers, mostly from America. Interesting how working together even doing tasks we usually label as menial resulted in pulling us altogether into a prayerful community within a few days.
Back home, I took a week to scan in a box load of old slides and photos. Lucy noticed that I was a bit morose that week. I think I was. Its hard filtering through photos of people not that long dead. It felt a bit like living inside the book of Ecclesiastes. One entire album solely containing photos of people coming into the wedding of my Mum and Dad. Fascinating and yet I don’t know these people, and yet they were friends who were meaningful to my parents. I created a photobook, really for my children, so that they might know a little of their grandparents’ story.
You can also read some recent sermons on that blog link. I preached last week about Balaam’s Ass. You can find the story of the talking donkey and the prophet-for-hire Balaam in Numbers 22. I thought it was a rather good sermon. When I mentioned it to my son, his girlfriend (I don’t know if she read it) came back with this observation that left me thinking that that would have made a better sermon.
“Donkeys are so stupid and yet they can open their eyes to see what is in front of them. They are not blinded – as Balaam was, as we can be – by pride, ignorance, or anything. This story is a good reminder that sometimes the stupidest things will see God’s work before we will” How stubborn we adults can be! You could do well to hear in this echoes of Jesus and little children. Here is also the encouragement that God can literally use anything to get our attention, even an ass.
Coming back into Vicaring has been a bit of a shock to the system. 550 emails and six pages of to-dos, but I will get there!
Keep praying for me and I look forward to hearing about how you have been growing in prayer and what angels you have come across over these last few months.
I came across this prayer in Iona. I think its worthy of praying each day:
God, in whose heart is love and justice, show us this day whom we must love and what we should challenge or change in order that your will for the earth might be done. Increase our hope, dispel our apathy, inspire our imagination, and deepen our commitment until we become the signs of your kingdom for which we and others pray. Amen.
With love and prayer
James and Lucy
(photo is of Lucy and I atop a hill on Iona)