St Wilfrid & Presentation, Haywards Heath Epiphany 2020

 

God has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6b)

The radiance of Jesus lightens the mind, warms the heart and energises the will.

Just as dynamite contains within itself potential energy that can be released to give light, heat and a surge of momentum so it is with Jesus Our Lord.

Epiphany is the origin of this forward movement in the church calendar which today commemorates the first manifestation of Christ to the nations in the person of the Gentile kings.

Christianity goes forward today by radiant energy as we come again and again before Jesus in word and sacrament and in the hearts of his faithful to see minds and hearts and wills irradiated.

As Fr. Bull, one of the great Mirfield Fathers put it, the glad tidings of Christianity are in what Jesus Christ did for men and in the abiding energy of that work.

We gather at the eucharist this morning to be caught up afresh into the radiant energy of Jesus which so shines from today’s scripture. Arise, shine for your light has come says Isaiah you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice. 

As we start a New Year this great Feast of the Epiphany invites us to seek a fresh illumination from the truth that is in Jesus (Ephesians 4:21), a fresh warming of our hearts by the Sacred Heart and a fresh energising for active service from the working of his great power (Ephesians 1:19b).

All of this will flow from the radiance of Jesus, what the Apostle calls the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6b). 

As dynamite is ignited to release its potential energy into light, heat and momentum so our faith ignites the radiance of Jesus to light up our lives and through us light up a world desperately in need of that irradiation.

I want to suggest that this ignition process has three dimensions – intellectual, devotional and practical. 

As we start a New Year there is an intellectual challenge to lay hold afresh on Christian basics so we better answer for our faith. I wonder when you last read a book about the Christian Faith.  Or even the Bible itself? If someone asked you why you thought Christianity was true would you be able to argue for the truth of the resurrection? 

Just a few questions to get us thinking about what’s called apologetics - not apologising but working at thinking through our faith so as to be able to give a better ‘apologia’ or reasonable defence for believing as Christians.

The radiance of Jesus lightens the mind. It also warms the heart to an overflow of love.

A radiant Christian is more than someone buzzing with ideas about Christ. There’s something out of this world streaming through them. To gain the radiance of Jesus we need to be exposed to his radiant love. Christian friends, holy priests all of these help – but nothing can replace our own individual business with God. Welcoming the radiance of Jesus into our hearts is a life-long struggle because of our fallen nature. We need a regular time of prayer, a discipline of self-examination and confession, a resolve to intercede for others, to give a proportion of our income to God’s work and so on. You have a chance to review and renew your devotion as a New Year unfolds. Going on a retreat once the COVID restrictions lift – ask one of our priests if you want to know how you can arrange one. 

The radiance of Jesus lightens the mind, warms the heart and then, lastly, it energises the will.

Where would our study and prayer be if it never led us into action, to be part of what Fr. Bull called the abiding energy of the once-for-all work of Jesus Christ?  We are here at the eucharist to gain that energy. 

To go back to the physics analogy, just as the potential energy in an explosive is released to give light, heat and a surge of momentum so all Jesus attained through his life, death and resurrection is given to be celebrated and released so as to give power and direction to our lives. Send us out in the power of your Spirit to live and work to your praise.

How have we acted to transform our environment to be more as Christ would want it since last we met at the altar? How have we acted in recent weeks to change the world around us for Christ? Inasmuch as the radiant energy of Jesus is in us, we find ourselves raiding the kingdom of fear with love, encouraging those who are down, forgiving those who come against us harshly and providing for those in need from our own resources. This energy carries our lives forward to work for the kingdom of this world (to) become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ (Rev 11:15). 

For such energising of will, warming of heart and illumination of mind we lift our hearts to the Father in this Epiphany Eucharist. 

Ardingly College Epiphany Mass 8th January 2020

As we think about Epiphany this evening two words come to mind – spiritual journey.

The spiritual journey of humankind as we enter a new decade. The spiritual journey of the wise men to Jesus and their offering at journey’s end. Linked to this the Church’s spiritual journey through her Seasons as Advent and Christmas give way to Epiphany and head towards Lent and Easter.

This brings me on to share about another spiritual journey. It’s just a few inches - fifteen inches…

There was a Rabbi in Cracow, Isaac son of Yekel, who dreamed one night there was a great treasure under the bridge at Prague. He set off at once for Prague, but when he got there found a heavy guard on the bridge. The Rabbi had no choice but to explain his dream to one of the guards. 

When the guard heard the story he burst into laughter. ‘How crazy can you get? Suppose everyone went off after their dreams? Why I once dreamed there was a treasure hidden in a house in Cracow. It was in the house of a man called Isaac, son of Yekel, but do you think I was going off to Cracow because of my dream? 

Rabbi Isaac returned to Cracow. He had treasure at home and didn’t need to go to Prague.

So it is with the spiritual journey. If we want spiritual riches we’ll better find them by opening our eyes to what we’ve got already than by journeying the world over.

The truth of Christmas is about God coming down to our level to dwell in human hearts. If people want to journey to God today they need move inches and not miles. Fifteen inches, to be precise, down from the head to the heart, where we find God. 

Too often our capacity for doing things and going places works against what’s most important – a short journey, always possible, to rest in God, to contemplate the one who made us and offers himself to us continually. The mindfulness exercises we’re encouraged in at College take us some of the way to this, but mindfulness isn’t thoughtfulness, and generating thoughtfulness is what Chapel is all about.

Once we recognise God’s thoughtfulness, his love towards us, something reaches that 15 inches down from our heads into our hearts to motivate them into overflow showing consideration towards him and our neighbour.

How can I best speak of this key spiritual journey because, though its 15 inches, I’ve spent years travelling it and I’m not fully there!

With a doctorate in Chemistry and diploma in Theology my learning comes out of my ears, or rather flows endlessly between my ears in a restless mind. Thoughts can be like monkeys, for ever jumping from branch to branch, distracting us from the treasure found in the stillness of the heart. When the mind can be stilled, and lowered, into the heart - there is salvation. The Kingdom of God is within us.

Accomplishing this short journey within means taking time day by day to reflect, to sit in God’s presence and indeed our own presence. There we find hunger and longing, hurt and inadequacy, pride and fearfulness. None of these melt away on the spiritual journey but they can be owned and offered to the Lord who meets us just as we are. 

‘Drop thy still dews of quietness till all our strivings cease, take from our souls the strain and stress’ we shall sing later on.

The journey within takes courage. There’s so much that would keep us on the surface, so much to literally plug into with the recreational options available to us, manifold apps and activities we can choose to fill up our lives! 

The inner journey takes courage and it takes time, time to be. The writer Pascal said most of humanity’s problems derive from our inability to sit still in a room. 

How do you rank here? As you stay put somewhere on your own? Will you manage better after this eucharist? Please God you will! To spend 5 or 10 minutes a day with God  - 2 to 3 minutes with the Scriptures, 2 to 3 minutes in heartfelt worship and prayer for others, including our College - what a difference if we made that the flavour of our spiritual journey in the coming decade!

The wise men recognised God’s love sent to the world in Jesus. As we own that love day by day we own ourselves to be made thoughtful in the depths of our heart. Speaking of the Epiphany journey T.S.Eliot wrote: ‘And the end of all our exploring – will be to arrive where we started – and to know the place for the first time.

Wise men and women still journey to God but they don’t move anywhere. Let’s have a moment of quiet stillness now to practice what’s been preached.

St Bartholomew, Brighton Epiphany Family Mass 6.1.18

As I reflected on today’s Feast two words came to my mind – spiritual journey.

Firstly the spiritual journey of humankind as we enter together a perilous New Year with all the tumult of Brexit. As I drove down this morning from Haywards Heath I thought of the spiritual journeys of Sussex folk. How blest we are that our life’s journey has brought us to such a beautiful county and city!

Then, secondly, there is the spiritual journey of the wise men to Our Lord and their offering at journey’s end. Linked to this is the Church’s spiritual journey through her Seasons. We travel through Advent and Christmas into Epiphany and the green of ordinary time. Our journey continues with the purple of Lent and Holy Week, the white of Easter and Ascension, the red frontals of Pentecost and then back to green. We do well to familiarise ourselves with the liturgical seasons which are given to serve life’s spiritual journey.

This brought me to the final thought of another much simpler spiritual journey.

It is of but a few inches - fifteen inches…

The story goes that there was once a rabbi in Cracow, Isaac son of Yekel, who dreamed one night that there was a great treasure under the bridge at Prague.

He set off at once for Prague, but when he got there found that there was a heavy guard on the bridge. The rabbi had no choice but to explain his dream to one of the guards.

When the guard heard the story he burst into uncontrollable laughter. ‘How crazy can you get? Suppose everyone went off after their dreams? Why I once dreamed that there was a treasure hidden in a house in Cracow. It was in the house of a man called Isaac, son of Yekel but do you think I was going off to Cracow because of that dream? In any case, half of Cracow is called Isaac, son of Yekel.’

So the Rabbi Isaac returned to Cracow.

The rabbi had treasure at home. He did not need to go to Prague.

So it is with the spiritual journey. If we want spiritual riches we are more likely to find them by opening our eyes to what we have already than by journeying the world over.

The truth of Christmas is about God coming down to our level to dwell in human hearts.

If people want to journey to God today they need move inches and not miles.

Fifteen inches, to be precise, down from the head to the heart. That is where we find God.

Our restless minds distract us, move us away from the treasure to be found in the stillness of the heart.

When the mind can be stilled, and lowered, into the heart - there is salvation.

The Kingdom of Christ is within us.

Sometimes this discovery is made through pain.

I remember once hearing a Theology lecturer, Tom Smail, speak about the way his relationship with Our Lord had most deepened through what he described as God’s shock treatment.

Tom was almost bald.  I remember the joke he told at his own expense. I’m bald he said because the Lord keeps bashing me on the head to lower my religion from my head down into my heart!

It could be you feel the Lord is having a go at you this morning. If you are in pain where is that silver lining? Don’t waste your sorrow - God is surely there somewhere in it if you will but listen for him!

Sometimes painful experience helps make us more fully what we’re meant to be.

This is the essence of the spiritual journey, a journey with Jesus and to Jesus but also by its nature a journey into greater self-possession.

As New Year begins how do we at St. Bartholomew’s move forwards effectively in our spiritual journey?

We have every reason to do so – we want our new priest when he is appointed to be caught up into a dynamic, forward moving parish and not faced with an uphill struggle!

I suppose I have answered my question with the story of Rabbi Isaac.

The spiritual journey we’re called to is primarily the 15 inches one down from head to heart.

Accomplishing that journey within means taking time day by day to reflect, to sit or kneel in God’s presence and indeed our own presence. There we find hunger and longing, hurt and inadequacy, pride and fearfulness. None of these melt away on the spiritual journey but they can be owned and offered to the Lord who meets us just as we are.

The journey within takes courage. There is so much that would keep us on the surface, not least the multitude of recreational options available to us, the manifold activities we can choose to fill up our lives!

The inner journey takes courage and it takes time, time to be.

Was it Pascal who said that most of mankind’s problems derive from our inability to sit still in a room?

Just maybe 15 minutes a day - 5 minutes with the Scriptures, 5 minutes in quiet worship and 5 minutes in intercession, prayer for others, including our parish - what a difference if we made that the flavour of our spiritual journey in the coming year!

‘Jesus loves us as we are’ it is said. As we own that love day by day we own ourselves, our souls and bodies and make them more and more fully a living sacrifice to be united with his perfect Offering in the Mass.

Speaking of this sort of spiritual journey T.S.Eliot wrote these great lines: And the end of all our exploring – will be to arrive where we started – and to know the place for the first time.

Wise men still journey to Jesus but they do not move anywhere.

Whatever we do in 2019 as individuals or as a Church may we be the Church better by being Christians better so that the depths of Christ may resonate from our prayers and our worship and our lives here at St Bartholomew’s!  

Be still and know that I am God!

Epiphany 4.1.15 Incense

The wise men knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew 2:11 As the wise men offered worship at his birth, so Christians have for centuries burned incense in worship. 

What is Incense?  Incense is made from various aromatic resins and gums taken from trees and other plants. When burned it gives off scented smoke. In church it is normally burned in a censer or thurible. Because it is difficult to burn on its own, it is burned along with charcoal.

Why use incense in worship?  At the heart of worship in the Temple at Jerusalem was sacrifice. The sacrificial offering was usually a living thing such as a lamb or bird, but the fruits of the earth were also offered, including incense. In the Temple there was even an altar specially set aside for the burning of incense. With the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in A.D. 70 the sacrificial worship of the Old Testament came to an end. The necessity for much of it had already been brought to an end, several years before, by the all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ on the Cross.

Why did incense continue in Christian worship? Our human need to offer thanksgiving and sacrifice to God remains. In our daily lives, Christians have the opportunity to give the best of themselves back to God in the service of each other. St Paul reminds us that we are like incense.  We Christians are to be a sweet smelling  savour as we live surrendered like incense to God.  (2 Corinthians 2:15)

O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness …with gold of obedience and incense of lowliness, kneel and adore. As incense makes for a special atmosphere in Church the surrendered lives of Christians are to have something very special about them, drawing the curiosity and heart searching of those who share our life. Incense is of course a symbol of rising prayer.

One of the elements of good liturgy is the use of colour and movement provided by the use of colourful vestments, processions and the like. Singing and chanting which stimulates the sense of hearing. The use of incense enables even fuller participation in the liturgy by stimulating the sense of smell. It also provides colour, movement and sound as the thurible is swung and its chain 'chinks' and 'tinkles'.

Another aspect of Christian worship is honouring God’s royal presence. Macmillan horse smells. Used in processions before dignitaries. Compostela. In the Eucharist the use of incense draws attention to the royal presence of Christ among his people.  "Incense owns a Deity nigh", The Bible is censed to honour Christ in his word.  The Sacrament receives signal honour as his Body and Blood.  The congregation are greeted with incense to honour Christ among them.

In the Book of Revelation the burning of incense appears to be an important part of the worship of heaven. In ch.5 v.8 we read of "golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the Saints".

This whole book is symbolic, and was never intended to be taken as literally accurate. Many commentators, though believe that the writer of the book was strongly influenced by the worship, or liturgy, of his own church. When we burn incense we remind ourselves that our prayers, like the incense, ascend to the throne of God and mingle with the prayers of the Saints in heaven

Which Churches use incense? Most of Christianity use, or have used, incense in worship. All the Eastern Orthodox Churches burn incense at most of their services, or liturgies. In the 'west' the Roman Catholic Church burns incense at many of its services. The Church of England used incense throughout its history, until the mid 1600's, when it fell into disuse generally. From that time, though, it continued to be used in worship in isolated churches such as York Minster, and since the mid 19th century its use has spread and increased. In the Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy gold, incense and myrrh are offered on the Feast of Epiphany.  The incense is taken to be burnt in Church.  There is quite a waiting list I’m told.

Where’s the spiritual challenge here? At Epiphany we talk about the manifestation of Christ to the nations which is symbolized by the visit of wise men from afar. The manifestation of Christ in our own age we call evangelism, spreading the good news which is a matter of handing on the fact of God’s love shown in the historical Jesus. It is also a matter of manifesting Christ  personally, which is through our person, through the manner of our living. We are called not just to speak about Christ to the world but to be Christ in the world by our prayer and care and all that we are. 

As the incense grains have been consumed on the charcoal we’re meant to see our lives lost to God and neighbor in the sweet smelling savour of costly service.

Lord, as the wise men offered you incense, help us to make of our lives a fragrant offering to You. We ask this in the holy name of Jesus. Amen.

Epiphany sermon on Hope 5th January 2014

I want to look with you this morning at hope.

Where there’s life there’s hope is a Latin proverb.

If it were not for hope the heart would break runs another proverb.

Hope is the struggle of the soul, breaking loose from what is perishable, and attaining her eternity wrote Herbert Melville.

God has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ wrote St Peter (1 Peter 1:3b)

Hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us wrote St Paul (Romans 5:5)

I am a man of hope, not for human reasons nor from any narrow optimism, but because I believe the Holy Spirit is at work in the Church and the world, even where his name remains unheard wrote Joseph Suenens.

These last ten days I’ve been curled up with Robert Harris’ Pompeii which Anne and I obtained after our visit last year to the British Museum Pompeii exhibition.  In his No 1 bestseller Harris paints a brilliant word picture of ‘a luxurious world on the brink of destruction’ as days run through August 79AD in the Bay of Naples to the day Mount Vesuvius exploded. His book was excellent company through our power cuts and through my cold.

In 1938 excavations in Herculaneum, like Pompeii covered by lava, uncovered a small cross imbedded in a wall on the second floor of a tenement. This is among the earliest evidence for the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to the centre of the Roman Empire.

In this tiny room the words I read from Peter and Paul, martyred 13 years before in nearby Rome, would console an early believer facing death by suffocation. Hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us…. the God who has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What is hope?

Wikipedia – the internet dictionary says it is the state which promotes the desire of positive outcomes related to events and circumstances in one's life or in the world at large. This state Wikipedia describes of desiring positive outcomes is less than the Christian vision about obtaining the ultimate good things of God. As Wikipedia itself narrates: Hope in the Holy Bible means a strong and confident expectation and it goes on to quote St Paul in Romans 8:24-25: For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

According to the Holman Bible Dictionary, hope is a "trustful expectation, particularly with reference to the fulfilment of God's promises. Hope is the anticipation of a favourable outcome under God's guidance... the confidence that what God has done for us in the past guarantees our participation in what God will do in the future.

There are three key or theological virtues in Christianity, faith, hope and love and it’s the neglect of the centre one that’s got me to address hope this morning as a fundamental element of our Christianity.

Hope in Christianity is no shallow optimism. This Sunday marks our entry into 2014 and a year’s commemoration of the First World War which did more than anything else to shatter the Victorian optimism that stemmed from the industrial revolution and the progress it brought. The Great War was at the start of a century of wars that ended with the Cold War, a century which saw loss of Christian hope and rise of totalitarian ideologies and cynical indifference to religion.

This Epiphany Sunday is a reminder of how Christianity stands or falls on vision, and the communication of vision, vision of God allied to a hopeful vision of humanity, and how the last century in the western world has seen a failure in this communication. A century ago you would only just squeeze folk in to St Giles even with the Victorian extension. Today, need I say more? And yet there are some signs of the tide turning the way of Christian faith.

I wonder how many villagers got to thinking at Christmas about the real Christmas, due to the hardships we all shared ten days ago? When you’re cold and hungry it gets you thinking ‘what’s the point?’ and clearly a good number saw a point in climbing the hill to Church. How many I wonder put faith in God here, prayed to him with us in the harsh circumstances we all shared?

This is the day that the Lord has made says the Psalm writer. If faith says today is God’s hope says tomorrow is God’s – that is my simplest definition of hope: faith for the future that’s to be worked out in love, the greatest of the three, because faith and hope steel the nerves to forget self and deliver love today and tomorrow.

A year or two back at Epiphany some of us picked up the second verse of Isaiah Chapter 60 which you heard in our first reading this morning as having a very special resonance for St Giles: For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.

I wonder if that verse doesn’t still have enormous relevance as a word from him this 5^th January 2014? The loss of hope around us is a thick spiritual darkness. We believers, lit up this morning by the Epiphany star, are called to act and speak and be one with the Lord who rises upon us and whose glory appears over this village symbolised by the nightly illumination of our spire and its daily pointing up to him.

This eucharist brings us to kneel before Jesus Christ, not veiled in flesh, as he was to wise men, but as he is to us this morning, veiled in bread and wine in the Blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood.

The Lord is here – his Spirit is with us - Hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us…. the God who has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Epiphany 6th January 2013

This morning I’m speaking to the third prong of our Mission Action Plan revised at October’s PCC after a series of meetings reflecting on the July vision day. The MAP’s on the notice board and its one line header is in the news sheet:  St Giles Church has a mission to grow in faith, love and numbers.

Our putting mission on the MAP has the three dimensions of growing in faith towards God, growing in the expression of love to the world and growing the numbers of our Christian fellowship here at St Giles.

On Christ the King at the end of November I explained action the PCC has got raised up to help us grow in faith in months ahead. I mentioned the Unbelievable? course that’s now started. I mentioned the electronic discipleship resource on the church website with Christian discipleship resources. Issue 2 is published today. Do sign up to receive it if you can. I’m grateful to Jan for what she’s written there.

On Advent Sunday I detailed action PCC has planned for us to grow in love encouraging ownership of the outreach we do as a church. In doing so I gave recognition to how individual exercise of loving service at home and in the workplace has priority and needs to be balanced with our involvement in church activities like running the website, choir, toddler group or village lunch. I reiterated the challenge Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, has issued to his growing diocese: are you consumers or citizens? Are you here to build God’s kingdom, to work for world transformation through the spread of faith beyond these walls, or are you settled in something of a consumerist mentality whereby going to St Giles fits alongside going to Sainsbury’s or to the Theatre?

I’d re-iterate that challenge on this Feast of the Epiphany. Only by getting more members active in mission can we hope to grow in numbers.

Deacon Gerard Irvin made a similar challenge to his folk at their St Stephen’s Day Mass last week. He asked all present to take some responsibility for church growth by identifying someone half their age and praying for them every day for a year.

This suggestion is like the first sentence on our MAP which lists these actions already attained over the last year: Prayer for numerical growth especially on Saturdays, door-to-door visiting by priest  to connect with lapsed worshippers, “Back to Church” Sunday 2011, re-light the candle baptism Eucharist 2011, putting up posters around village for All-Age Eucharist Sunday, Harvest, Holy Week, etc.

A more recent action listed on the MAP schedule took up a suggestion at the July vision day: Move Friday Eucharist to 10.30am to generate new church-community interface/socialising in post-assembly coffee putting church more on people’s map. I have to say we haven’t seen too many church members at that coffee session to meet parents.

The last achieved action under growing in numbers is Taking Advent day by day out to the parish for evangelistic benefit which was Chris Wheatley’s idea and again we might have seen more support for these events we credit Chris for putting so much energy into organising.

The purpose of this sermon is to encourage us to allow Epiphany to come alive in our hearts and in the hearts of those around us.

Epiphany – manifesting God - isn’t Fr John or Chris’s work but God’s work and ours – ours i.e. all of us. For St Giles to grow in numbers that include 12 to 50 year olds committing their lives to Our Lord, the Pied Pipers to lead them in isn’t me or Chris but all of us.

Each one reach one may be a good motto for 2013. Reaching out, cutting into spiritual apathy with the two scissor blades of prayer and invitation. I know there are a good number of folk who’d come to Church if someone would ask them. From March Birch Grove church members are kindly organising Sunday lifts to Westall residents and others may want to take a leaf out of their book. Who in your acquaintance, or down your street, may be open to an invitation to attend St Giles? Like next Sunday’s 50 min all age eucharist?

The MAP mentions under ‘growth in numbers’ the evangelism focus at Wednesday week’s 16th January St Giles night with Simon Allaby brainstorming on less scary evangelism.  You might like to attend this first ever training session on evangelism in my time as parish priest. On the MAP there’s also Developing evangelistic (alongside community/youth) use of Martindale from 19th January opening.

St Giles Church has a mission to grow in faith, love and numbers.

My two New Year wishes are for the Martindale to become an effective mission focus serving to bring new folk into the orbit of God’s love and for 2013 to see Christian leadership emerging from the 12 to 50 year age range. This would serve connecting across all age groups by St Giles core leadership which currently includes some remarkable seniors – like me!

In my July 2012 Rector’s Letter I paid tribute to Peggy Diss quoting Walter Wink: 'The future of the world lies with the intercessors and connectors.' In my years as Rector I’ve met few as loving and prayerful as Peggy. Her prayers – and Ursilla’s – are with us as we plan action to grow in numbers. Very many of us have got that gift of connecting – building friendships. We’ve also got potential to seek God and, from prayer, the best directing of our energies and those in our orbit. ‘More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.’ (Lord Tennyson). Our spire points up to a God whose possibilities, exceeding our imagining, are released on earth through prayer.

'The future of the world lies with the intercessors and connectors.' Will you help change the future of the world through St Giles by being the intercessors and connectors we so badly need to see the body of Christ built up in this place?

Each one reach one – by scissor blades of prayer and invitation – so Isaiah’s prophecy of light coming into spiritual darkness may be realised among us in Horsted Keynes: Darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. (Isaiah 60:2) So be it!