Life at St. James-the-Least, The Rectory
My dear Nephew Darren,
Quite frankly, I thought that you had at least a degree of common sense, even if it would need tracker dogs to find it. When a dishevelled stranger arrives on your doorstep, claiming to be a representative from your insurance company, why do you
believe him?

And when he asks about the location and contents of the church safe, it might not have been unreasonable to wonder if all was as it seems.
I do think that to give him the keys to the vestry and the safe combination number while telling him you would call back in half an hour after doing a baptism visit, was hardly the wisest of decisions. You may as well have helped him load the contents into his van. Being innocent as a dove is commendable, but being as wary as a serpent does have its advantages. Thank goodness that at least your Communion vessels are not silver. Instead they consist of singularly shaped pottery cup and bowl that not even the thief would touch.

As I recall, dear Mrs Sprogg here at St. James the Least of All made them
while she was learning her new hobby last Spring. (I was not surprised when, having finished the cup and bowl, she decided pottery was not her vocation, and turned to pig rearing instead.) But in the meantime, she wanted a home for her extraordinary creations. She tried
to slip them past me, into St. James. And I diverted her by saying that YOUR parish would be charmed to be the recipients of such munificence. I believe I even went so far as to say that her earthenware creations would be objects of wonder to your congregation. (If not objects of sheer astonishment.)
Your letter of thanks was much appreciated, although she was a little disappointed with your rapid refusal when she later offered to make you a ten foot clay figure of Jesus. I saw the nearly completed work: it was a Picasso in pottery.
No, you must learn to spot a con man at a hundred paces. You may have tramps there, but we have gentlemen of the road here – and I owe one of ours a debt of gratitude. His tip for the 2.30pm at our local racecourse enabled us to acquire the splendid new nave chandelier – although explaining the source of the money in our parish magazine needed careful wording.
I am obliged to concede that judging someone by their dress is not always easy. I was once confronted by an appallingly dressed man on the doorstep, who looked lost. Before he could utter a word, I gave him a broom and told him to sweep the leaves in the Rectory drive, while I made him a sandwich and a mug of tea. It was only when I took them out to him as he was quietly working that I discovered he was
the Duke of Wittering, come to examine the tombs of his ancestors in the church.
Once I pictured him in marble, lying prone with his hands together, I could see the family likeness. Most graciously, he said that using a broom had been a novel experience. I refrained from suggesting that using a comb may be another skill he could usefully acquire.
Your loving uncle, Eustace

What is God calling you to do?

What is your vocation?

You may think that you don't have one, that vocations are the sort of thing that only clergy have. But if you think that, you're wrong. God calls each one of us. The question, though, is to what? writes Stephen Ferns.

First and foremost, God calls us to change: to become more Christ-like. We are called to live out our lives in response to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That process began in our baptism, but it continues through prayer, through the reading of the scriptures and through the receiving of Holy Communion. One of the constant themes in the New Testament is that lives touched by Christ were
changed. What is true for the characters of the New Testament is true for us. As we encounter and respond to Christ we cannot help but be changed. But while we are called to change, we are also called to be more deeply ourselves.

God never calls us to be something or someone we're not. God always calls us to what we are capable of becoming. It may be that there are parts of us which are underdeveloped or which rarely see the light of day, which need to be allowed to flourish so we can be our true selves.
It may be that we have hidden gifts which need to be discovered or it may be that there is something that we have secretly always wanted to do but have not had the courage or the time to try. Whatever it may be we need to find an outlet which will allow us to feel more excited about life or indeed to feel more alive.

St. Irenaeus wrote that 'the glory of God is a human being fully alive'. Through the dual process of becoming more fully ourselves and of becoming more fully Christ-like the will of God is fulfilled and the glory of God seen. That is what Vocations Sunday is about. You have one life. For God's sake and for your own, live it.                   

Vocations Sunday is 12th May

Bishop Robert's Easter Message

In the Church's liturgy there is the greatest dramatic distance between Good Friday
and Easter Sunday. Good Friday recalls the arrest of Jesus. Peter's betrayal, the trials before Pilate and Herod, the braying crowd, the scourging and crucifixion.
These are all events which depict the darkest aspects of human nature and which are expressed in sombre reflection and meditative music. Easter Sunday is a complete contrast centring on a garden tomb, a stone rolled away and the presence of angels impelling us to declare with organ and trumpets: 'Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son: endless is the victory thou o'er death hast won'.

But Easter doesn't simply cancel out Good Friday. It's not as if God somehow switches on a light that turns night into day, so that fortunate Christians can now live in a peaceable world where love and grace simply dissolve human sin and failure.

Instead, what we see in the pages of the New Testament, are the implications of Easter Sunday being progressively and challengingly worked out in the lives of individuals and communities. The church is born as people work out an answer to the question: 'What does it mean that the crucified Jesus is now alive with God and
also present with those who follow him?'

Holy Week this year has for many of us been dominated by images of Notre-Dame de Paris being consumed by flames – a church which is a literary, cultural and religious symbol for the whole of France. But not just for France; for Notre-Dame is a treasure of European Christianity. In those flames we saw and felt a piece of European civilisation being destroyed. Of all the many images we have seen of the fire, there was one which particularly grabbed public attention. It depicted the interior of the building, strewn with rubble and ashes with the huge empty cross suspended above the altar. Strangely – was it a trick of the light? - the cross shone out through the dust and smoke with apparent luminescence. It was an image which conveyed the hope of Easter resurrection amidst the ruins of Good Friday.

Mercifully, no-one was killed in the great fire of Notre-Dame. But that fire put me in mind of another fire: the Grenfell Tower disaster of June 2017. A far cry from the architectural beauty of Paris, Grenfell was built in the unlovely 1960s brutalist style. Home to less well-off families from all over the world, the Grenfell fire killed 72 people, and was one of the UK's worst modern disasters.

One less well-known response to Grenfell is the 'Cornwall hugs Grenfell' initiative. Inspired by a verse from the psalms and the urge to do something to help, its founder, Esmé Page, had the idea of putting a Cornish holiday on the horizon of every Grenfell resident and fire-fighter family: 'a time to rest, a time to let the beautiful Cornish countryside bless these people and work its gentle magic'. Beyond the natural beauty, traumatised Grenfell residents have had the opportunity to experience the kindness and care of individuals and families from very different circumstances and varied backgrounds to their own. Of those who survived the fire,
29% have now been to Cornwall through the project. None of this undoes the terrible deaths in the recent past. But it gives comfort in the present and hope for the future.

None of us is entirely exempt from the pain and anguish that characterise the human condition, and some people experience huge suffering. The empty cross testifies to God's action in overcoming the sinfulness and failure of humanity. It points the way to new life and new hope. And these are given form in initiatives like 'Cornwall
hugs Grenfell'.
Whatever your own circumstances, I hope you and those whom you love will find love, joy and hope at this Easter season.

Daily Prayer
Lord our God,
we thank you for the help you have given us so that we can stand before you, rejoicing in the certainty of faith.
We thank you for guiding and leading our lives and for letting us see a goal ahead. Be with us in times of silence when we seem to be alone. Keep us strong and steadfast through all the turmoil of life. Help us to remain unshaken, for you walk with us holding us by the hand.                   Amen

Let us pray together through May...

Heavenly Father, We pray / give thanks for:-
1. continual prayer for guidance and wisdom from the Holy Spirit for the politicians
and leaders in the UK and EU during Brexit negotiations
2. give thanks for the recent gentle rain, the smell, the sound, the sight of it
3. for victims of terrorists – especially those in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday
4. for terrorists – turn their hearts, Lord, to seek your peace
5. 'I will exalt you, O Lord, because you have lifted me up' (Psalm 30 : 1)
6. for the safety of all who work at sea
7. give thanks for time to pursue your hobbies
8. for those who work long hours away from home and family
9. for the restoration of St. John's – the work - its financing – its completion
10. Lord, may we find joy in our Christian journey whatever trials we face
11. may we realise how great is Your faithfulness
12. 'He revives my soul and guides me along right pathways for his name's sake'
(Psalm 23 : 3)
13. for Bishops Robert and David in their constant travelling for the Diocese
14. pray for all who are working to support and improve community living
15. those whose sight is impaired, who cannot see loved ones, or all Your creation
16. may the justice of God inform our thinking
17. may we bring joy to others by sharing in the hope of Christ
18. give thanks for Christ, the living Word of God – our strength and redeemer
19. 'Praise, O praise the name of the Lord Alleluia! ' (Psalm 148)
20. give thanks for family and friends – naming them one by one
21. for the poor - bless all who work for the relief of poverty and need
22. Lord, heighten our sense of responsibility for, and accountability to, one another
23. give thanks for neighbours – their kindnesses
24. for all who work to enrich the lives of children, protecting them from evil
25. that there may be an end to greed, arrogance and distrust that lead to enmity
26. 'May God give us his blessing,
and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him.' (Psalm 67:7)
27. for deep fellowship in the communities we belong to – pray for those who do
not feel part of them – help us to reach out to them
28. for young and old people – may we be open to learn from another
29. reflect on aspects of your life for which you are most grateful .........
30. ....... may we fully utilise your resources and enable others to do the same
31. Lord teach us to pray: we want to praise you for all that you are .........
Lord, thank you for talking to us in our prayers
may we listen and act
amen