Author: stmelangell_l5nfea



’In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan.’ From today’s Gospel, Mark 1:4-11.



“ A cold coming we had of it. Just the worst time of the year. For a journey and such a long journey.” T.S. Eliot, The journey of the Magi.

This week, I had to make a journey from the East Midlands back to Wales but storm Henk was causing huge problems. Many places were already flooded by the River Trent with more rain to come and so I started with a hopefulness that I would be ahead of the further downpours. However, within ten minutes of setting out, a flooded road meant that I had to take a detour through Derby and onto the A38 rather than the planned M50.  A further diversion was both simple and quick but then a notice of a road closure with no diversion set up was a surprise which threw me. My satnav kept telling me to turn around, which I couldn’t do due to the closure, and at one point, it directed me to take the M6 to Birmingham. That was the opposite direction in which I needed to travel and I began to think I would need to go back and set out again the next day when the flooding had subsided. However, a slip road onto the A5 meant that I began to travel towards Telford, although in a very circuitous way. I persevered although my journey took me over twice as long as normal – I was cold and tired but also relieved that I did get back eventually at a time when so many found themselves stranded or flooded out.

At least I knew where I was trying to get to but, in this season of Epiphany, my journey made me think of that of the Magi who travelled for much longer without being sure of where they were going. Matthew’s Gospel relates that they turned up in Jerusalem, presumably thinking that a new king would be born in the seat of power, thus alerting King Herod and leading to the massacre of the innocents. Having found their way to the Christ child, they then went back by another route. This applied to the Holy Family too, who had to flee as refugees to Egypt – did they know where they were going or have contacts there? The perseverance and willingness to change plans of those in the Biblical narratives are reminders that those characteristics are much needed today, too.

The Gospel today records the baptism of Jesus, traditionally thought to have been on 6th January, as an epiphany because of the words, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” With the descent of the dove as a visible sign of the Holy Spirit, so Jesus the adult is revealed as one of the Trinity, a revelation recorded by St John Chrysostom in the fourth century thinking of his day: “It was not when he was born that he became manifest to all, but when he was baptised.”

Whatever we may think of the Epiphany stories and their origins then, there are times in our lives when we may be clear where we’re going, sometimes confused or even lost as we seek the way ahead. The revelations these times bring to those who seek the light as well as the way ahead may be helpful as well as challenging, often in much smaller but significant ways than we may realise as we play our part in the stories unfolding around us today:

“The epiphany was simply tucked away for consideration after we were back…. Sometimes a revelation comes with a flash of heavenly light and a booming voice – and sometimes it is jotted in a sun-bleached spiral notebook.” JA Lockwood. 

With my prayers; pob bendith,

Christine, Guardian.



‘When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened…. “ And they departed praising God.’ Luke 2:15-21.



’With its relentlessly recriminatory tone, it’s often more mope opera than soap opera … It’s more eggshell than bombshell.’ Review of Omie Scobie’s book Endgame.

Traditionally, Bethlehem has been a focus of the Christmas celebrations around the world but, this year, a nativity scene was erected there in rubble and surrounded by razor wire as a tribute to the children of Gaza. The town where the Light dawned two thousand years ago was mostly in darkness and, apart from church services, Christmas was effectively cancelled due to the ongoing warfare. 

It’s tempting to think that the Nativity is only about light and hope which can so easily be eclipsed but, in reality, the baby and his family quickly became refugees fleeing to Egypt as King Herod ordered all male infants under the age of two to be killed by his soldiers. The bloodshed and Massacre of the Innocents then has a fearsome link with what is happening today when so many civilians have been killed, wounded and traumatised in the terrible suffering being inflicted. Jesus lived then – but so many others did not. How can there be hope?

The baby Jesus lived but he was later put to death as an adult in the most ghastly way by soldiers also obeying orders. On Good Friday, it seemed that death had finally claimed him and darkness seemed to overcome the light when an eclipse took place as he died. Yet, on Easter Day, his resurrection brought a new beginning and fresh hope – though it was the scars and marks of his suffering that Jesus carried on his body that showed his frightened disciples that it was not a ghost but really him before them. More than two thousand years later that same love and hope can still live on – unless we choose to extinguish them. 

We, too, can carry seen and unseen scars of the suffering we’ve been through and our lives can sometimes become more mope opera than soap opera as Scobie’s book indicates. But the shepherds – people sometimes scorned in those days – had a choice whether or not to do as the angels told them. Luke tells us that they did go to find love incarnate in the unlikely setting of a manger and that they returned praising God. Did they all go or did some stay to care for their  sheep? Did meeting love in that way make a difference to their lives? We shall never know.

What is known is that many, many prayers were said for peace this Christmas the world over and 2024 will present opportunities for each of us to make that peace a reality. The angels sang of peace on earth, goodwill to all – that seemed unlikely on Good Friday and may seem unrealistic now. But one of the choices before us is to enable mope opera and soap opera to become hope opera – if we allow it to. The shepherds chose to respond to the invitation of the angels to discover love, hope and faith afresh – and, in a nutshell rather than eggshells or bombshells, will we as 2024 dawns?

With my prayers for a hopeful New Year; pob bendith,

Christine, Guardian.

Today’s reflection is the joint message from Christian leaders across Wales, followed by Bishop Gregory’s Christmas message in Welsh and English.

Despite the chaotic circumstances in so many situations, may  Christmas still bring its blessings and the New Year fresh hope.

With my prayers; pob bendith,

Christine, Guardian. 

The Anglican Archbishop of Wales, Andrew John, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff and Bishop of Menevia, Mark O’Toole, and the Moderator of the Free Church Council of Wales, Simon Walkling, are issuing a joint message which acknowledges the tensions and tragedies in the world today and invites people to church to reflect and pray for peace.

The news has been full of the terrible tragedy unfolding in Gaza after the awful terrorist attack on Israel. Thousands of children killed in a war they did not choose. It seems a long way from the Christmas adverts here and the pressure to be merry. It is understandable that the church leaders in Jerusalem have invited Christians there to forego any unnecessarily festive activities and stand strong with those facing affliction. They see it as standing in support of those continuing to suffer, just as Jesus did by being born as a baby in Bethlehem two thousand years ago.

Jesus was born in a land occupied by the Romans. He was born away from home because of an imperial census. There were family tensions around Mary being pregnant and Jesus was laid in a feeding trough because there was no room at the inn. Herod killed the boys in Bethlehem to get rid of the threat to his power. All these are part of Christmas, along with our joy at God’s love and the traditions which help us celebrate.

This Christmas we may be aware of tensions in families, and the difficulties of making ends meet. This year we remember the wars in the land of Jesus’ birth, Ukraine and other parts of the world. We also remember that this year was the centenary of the Wales Women’s Peace Appeal which took a petition to America about joining the League of Nations to promote ‘Law not War’. It was a message signed by around 60% of women in Wales and went from home to home and hearth to hearth, showing what the co-ordinated work of ordinary people could achieve.

We need peace in our world. We may want to be free of tension in our families. We may long for five minutes of peace for ourselves in all the Christmas preparations. Why not come to church to find space to reflect and make time to pray for peace this Christmas? We are praying for joy and hope for us all.

Bishop Gregory’s message:

“Mae’n stori hyfryd, ond…”

Mae pawb ohonom yn gyfarwydd â stori geni Iesu – y stabl, y bugeiliaid, y doethion a’r seren.   Ond pa wahaniaeth mae hi’n ei wneud heddiw?   Mae Cristnogion yn credu ei bod yn dangos ymroddiad llwyr Duw i’r ddynoliaeth ac i’r blaned neilltuol hon ymhlith miliynau. Oherwydd credwn fod y dyn, Iesu, hefyd yn Dduw a ddaeth yn un ohonom ni, a byw bywyd go iawn â’i holl bleserau a phroblemau.   Credwn i Dduw ddod atom yn faban, oherwydd ei awydd i gydsefyll â merched a dynion.

Ydi hi’n fwy na stori neis?   Rydw i’n credu ei bod, oherwydd os yw’n wir, ac rydw i’n argyhoeddedig ei bod hi, yna mae’n newid realiti yn sylfaenol.   Mae Duw wedi rhoi arwydd pendant ei fod yn dymuno i ddynoliaeth lwyddo, tyfu y tu hwnt i’n dioddefiadau, a goresgyn drygioni yn y byd hwn.   Wrth ddarllen am erchyllterau a gyflawnwyd ar Iddewon neu Balestiniaid, am y driniaeth arswydus a gaiff pobl dlawd neu ffoaduriaid, gallwn ddweud nid yn unig bod Duw yn dymuno gweld cyfiawnder yn teyrnasu, ond ei fod hefyd yn ymroi i roi’r nerth a’r dewrder i bobl i sicrhau newid.   Ar hyd y canrifoedd, mae stori’r Nadolig wedi rhoi’r ysbrydoliaeth a’r anogaeth i filoedd i sefyll dros yr hyn sy’n iawn, ac i weithredu mewn cariad.   Bydded hyn yn wir am bob un ohonom sy’n fodlon gwrando ar gân yr angylion.

“It’s a nice story, but …”

We all know the story of the birth of Jesus – the stable, the shepherds, the wise men and the star. What difference does it make today? Christians believe that it demonstrates God’s total commitment to humanity and to this one planet amongst millions, because we believe that the man, Jesus, was also God becoming one of us, living a real life with all its joys and problems.  We believe that God became a baby, so much did he wish to be in solidarity with women and men.

Is this anything more than a nice story? I believe so, for if it is true, and I for one am convinced, then it radically alters reality. God has given a decisive indication that he wants humanity to succeed, to grow beyond our sufferings, and to overcome evil in this world. When we read of atrocities inflicted on Jew or Palestinian, of horrible penalties being rained down on the poor or the refugee, we can say that God not only wants to see justice established but is committed to giving the strength and courage to people to enable change. Down through the centuries, thousands have found in the Christmas story the inspiration and encouragement to stand up for right, and to act in love. Let this be true for each of us willing to listen to the song of the angels.

Today’s reflection is from Christopher and Ruth, worship leaders who took the service today.  

Middle Eastern hospitality required that journeys and visits were marked by the giving or exchange of gifts. Monarchs, statesmen and religious leaders still bring and receive gifts when they meet other leaders in other countries. If you are invited to a party or to a friend’s house it is usual to bring a gift and perhaps to take one away. But if we are to accompany the Magi on their journey towards Jesus, we have to stop and wonder: what does gift giving really involve? 

Gifts are words and emotions in concrete form. They embody the idea that you have thought about the other person and your friendship, love, esteem or gratitude for them is reflected in the form of gift you offer. You might take something you have cooked round to a new neighbour, to show you recognise that they might need something while they get their kitchen up and running; you might take flowers and wine to a dinner party to thank the hosts for the effort they have taken to feed you; you might take magazines or soap or fruit to a sick person to show care for them and to embody the hope that they will get well.You may want to give food or money to the foodbank because you care for those who do not have enough.

I’ve been wondering how the Magi decided what to bring to Jesus, and also when they did their deciding. You can take the view that they turned up at Bethlehem within a week or two of the birth, if not on the day, though if so they must have started long before. I personally like the idea that the star first appeared at the time of Jesus’ conception. Or you can take the view that the star appeared at the time of Jesus’ birth, in which case they would not have made it for Epiphany only a fortnight later. Either way, did they decide independently what they would give and when to leave and then happened to meet up in Jerusalem? 

I prefer the idea that they all came from the same area and had for some time been in the habit of meeting to watch the stars, to pray and to share any insights they may have received. Clearly they were prophetic, and it may not have been the first time they had pictures or dreams. Zechariah kept having visions where an angel said to him “what do you see?”. It is common still that if someone asks for prayer the one praying can have a picture of something which seems strange but actually means a lot to the seeker.

You can imagine the scene in Caspar’s housegroup; 

(C) “Hey Melchior, did you see that new star which rose last night for the first time?”

(M) “Yes I did, and I’m sure it must have a meaning of some sort. Balthasar, you are good on old prophecies, can you think of anything?”

(B) “Yes I did read somewhere that a new star would herald the birth of a king”

(C) “ Well I first saw it over towards the West, pretty well over Judea.”

(M) Lets all pray about it and see if we have any insights to share next week”

(Next week).

(C) “I’ve been praying about that star. I had a dream about a great king full of power and gleaming like gold”

(M)” I too had a dream. I saw a man on his knees praying, and it seemed that his prayer released a sweet smell all over the world.”

(B) “I’m not quite sure, but I think this is from God. I saw a dead man, very badly injured, but surrounded by people whom he had loved and who loved him. Then I saw the same man come alive, and his love spread around the world.”

(C) “ The fact that we’ve all seen something shows this is really significant. I suggest we start out to travel and see what it is. We should take gifts, maybe each of us the gift appropriate to his vision for the destiny of this great and holy personage.”

So of course we know the rest of the story. Gold to signify kingship, incense to signify prayer and priesthood. Despite the hymn, I believe that myrrh has greater implications than just burial: it also has aspects of love. Esther was anointed with it for 6 months before being presented to King Xerxes. The Song of Solomon fairly drips with it.

So can we learn from the Magi the right principles for choosing Christmas presents? Perhaps not always just what the recipient put on their list? Perhaps, after praying for them, something to reflect God’s love for them and purpose for their life. Of course, it is not only or most importantly material gifts; any conversation, even online, can and should be an exchange of gifts. Spend less, love more!

Reflection for the Second Sunday of Advent.

An oracle concerning the animals of the Negeb. Through a land of trouble and distress, of lioness and roaringlion, of viper and flying serpent, they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that cannot profit them.  Go now, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, so that it may be for the time to come as a witness for ever.

Isaiah 30: 6, 8. 

Why does anyone begin a journey? Some people will just set out into the unknown, buy a ticket to anywhere, just for fun and adventure, but most people have a motive, an idea where they will be going and why and what they will find when they reach their journey’s end. Since the time of Jesus many map-makers have given us intricate and exciting pictures of where we could go, where we could explore, and today we live in the era of the GPS and the Satnav where journeys are plotted out for us. Human beings have even made the journey to the moon. 

The ability to journey is a remarkable feat of the human imagination; an ability to project into the future and aim for a vision of something which has not yet come to pass: a meeting, a holiday, a new place to live or work or settle a family. Many journeys are anticipated with pleasure and excitement; others are the forced result of natural disaster, war, or persecution.

That ability to imagine a future is an important part of Christian mission. Without it, we are stuck dealing only with our current context, what we see and experience around us. But God calls us into our own future, to be prophetic about what the world could be and look like. 

The Magi then, looked up and out and imagined that what they might find at journey’s end would be worth the trouble and toil of those travels. But they didn’t just decide on a whim. In St Matthew’s gospel they come to ask for ‘he that has been born King of the Jews’. They already have in their minds a hope and an expectation. That is why some commentators have suggested that the Magi were priests, because the Zoroastrian religion in Persia had a tradition that a Messiah would be born in Judea. So this tells us that God’s mission, the missio Dei, involves not only the vision of a new future for human beings, but that that vision is for all human beings, even those outside the faithful. Indeed, it may even be those outsiders who hear and respond to God’s call most effectively, – an uncomfortable point Jesus makes to his hearers in Luke 4.

So the Magi began a journey, a spiritual journey, to find the person of their religious prophecy, a person born to be a king, a person who would change the world. 

In Advent, we too are on this journey. God continues to call us to set out to meet him in Jesus Christ. How will we prepare for and set out on this journey?

In our churches and fellowships, the journey of the Magi is often all too brief. Perhaps they travel from one side of the church to the other to join the figures at the crib, or maybe they hide behind the stable for a little while. But it’s hard to get across the sheer scale of the journey St Matthew hints at.

Christian traditions have tried to give us a sense of this vast undertaking. St. Matthew only tells us that the Magi came from the ‘east’, from the direction of the sun rising. One tradition has it that the Magi were scholars and that their names were Caspar (or Gaspar), Melchior and Balthazar and that they came from India, Persia, and Arabia. Imagine coming to Jerusalem all the way from India!

Christmas cards give us a very unrealistic picture of the journey of the Magi as we see them happily swinging across a smooth sandy vista lit by starlight where all is calm. Isaiah however, gives us a much clearer picture of the hazards of travel. The Magi would almost certainly have had to use camels to cross the desert and would have needed access to water. They would have had to carry and to find food, perhaps from traders on the desert routes or in towns and villages. Perhaps they were seasoned travellers, used to carrying articles for trade, but even if they were, the journey would likely have taken months, through uncertain weather and difficult terrain, so they must have been very determined and very driven. The journey was hard and dangerous and anyone crossing such a distance must have been aware that it could cost them their lives. 

Yet St Matthew says that they continued on their journey inspired by a star. 

As we journey through Advent towards the birth of Christ the Saviour, perhaps we can find some of this determination and vision. Yet we cannot sugar-coat what it might cost us to make the journey, what it might mean to find Christ. The journey in Advent, as in the journey of life, asks us the uncomfortable question: are we ready to meet God?

The Magi are usually shown as riding camels. Travellers of that time had to take animals with them to carry loads and provide transport and they too needed food and water along the way. How important is it that both human beings and animals together made the journey to find Jesus? Are there animals which have been important in your life’s journey? How have they helped you? 

   The Bishop of St Asaph has asked for his Advent message to be circulated and so it forms today’s reflection for the First Sunday of Advent. It comes with my prayers and greetings as Year B begins this day: Happy New Year!

Christine, Guardian.

Advent Message 2023

Bishop Gregory

Hello and warm greetings for the season of Advent. On this, the first Sunday in the Church’s year, I’d like to speak to you about our common life as the Teulu Asaph, the family of St Asaph.

In the Gospel according to Saint Matthew there is a passage,both stern and solemn. It’s one that we know quite well but perhaps not in its fullest sense. It comes from Matthew Chapter 18: 

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”  And he called a child, set him in front of them and said, “Truly, I tell you, unless you turn around and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself and becomes like this child, will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in my name, receives me.”

And then he says: 

“If anyone causes the downfall of one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Alas for the world that any child should be made to fall. Such things must happen but alas for the one through whom they happen.”

We’re not surprised, are we, by Jesus’ readiness to remind us of the importance of children. But we have to take seriously his stern warning, that God is especially concerned with the wellbeing of children and that the little ones are especially important to the Kingdom of Heaven.

I think this passage speaks to us in several ways.

Firstly, we are living in a world which is deeply troubling. Itmay be that we’re thinking about the children of Ukraine or the children of Gaza or the children of Israel; it maybe that we’re thinking about the children of refugees. They are all important in the eyes of God and we need to prioritise our concerns: to speak on their behalf, to advocate for their safety,to open the world’s hearts to be hospitable to them. 

But it’s also important for us in Church that we are safe place for children and for vulnerable adults. Safeguarding is not always considered a topic about which people think easily or comfortably. Safeguarding is sometimes seen as a chore. DBS checks can be nuisance. Hearing about safeguarding,undertaking the training, can something seem unnecessary.

However, the truth is that safeguarding is important to the Church because, just as Jesus cares for the little ones, the Church must be a safe place, a place where the vulnerable can come and find safety. So, if you’re asked to do safeguarding training or if you’re asked to make the church more consciousof the safeguarding policies of the Church in Wales, this is not really a chore. This is about enabling the Church to be sensitive to the issues: to be aware of the risks, to be able to spot someone who might need the support and help of the Church. 

The third thing, of course, is that we need to be a community that puts the values of children first, in the way that Jesus did. I’m immensely proud of the work our diocesan team does with our 50 church schools. I want to celebrate that work: the work in which we discover what it is to share the excitement of learning with a child, and a world where we learn from them what it is like to delight in the world and in God. It’s on that note, of caring for children, of building their future and becoming a safe church, and working for the Kingdom of Heaven that I want to end this Advent message. 

A blessed Advent and Christmas to all.

“The king will say to those on his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.” Jesus in today’s Gospel Matthew 25:31-46.

“Thou art God; no monarch Thou throned in easy state to reign;

Thou art God, Whose arms of love aching, spent, the world sustain.” W H Vanstone on Christ the King, reigning as crucified Lord, in his poem Morning Glory, Starlit Sky.

Today’s Gospel is the last of three parables about being ready and being judged. In the first, about ten bridesmaids, five of them decide there is no rush and don’t have their lamps ready whereas the other five do. When the bridegroom is delayed, they all sleep but then word of his imminent arrival comes at midnight. Those who aren’t ready ask the others to give them some of their oil but they won’t as they need it themselves. While they are away getting more oil, the bridegroom arrives and the five who are ready go in to the wedding banquet with him, the others being shut out. They are unprepared and had decided there was no need to rush – even though they have been asked and agreed to be bridesmaids. Their judgement is poor and they are shut out of the banquet because they aren’t ready.

The second parable is that of the talents, where two servants double the money their master has entrusted to them but the third simply buries it in some ground for safe keeping. He wasted the chance he had to increase what he’d been trusted with by making no effort to do so and made his master angry in the process, who judged him to be wicked and lazy. 

The third parable is about the nations being separated like sheep and goats which, very often, looked similar and grazed together. Matthew makes it clear that this is being done by the king from his heavenly throne and that the selection will be based on how well they have cared for those in need, the sick and the imprisoned. Those being judged seem to be taken aback and unprepared for what is happening but any practising Jew would have known of the expectations to care for others as well as themselves. This king, however, is the one who came as a helpless baby needing human care, the one before whom the three kings of the Orient knelt in homage and the one whose crown was of thorns and his throne a cross when he was crucified. He is not a tyrant but one who, living as a human, knew what it was to be a refugee, an object of scorn and an outcast, being tortured, taunted and crucified with the crown of thorns a mocking acknowledgement of his kingship. His judgement is not from afar or remote, but from his own experience at the hands of the humans amongst whom he lived – those hands into which he still entrusts himself in holy communion today.

As the church year draws to its close and Advent begins next week, these three parables are still a reminder to his followers that the servant king calls us now as then to be ready and prepared for his coming again in glory even though it is not known when that will happen. Meanwhile, there is much to do and many to care for – will our readiness and judgement be better than those in these parables? As we think of the grandeur of the coronation of King Charles III this year, of the guests who attended from all over the world and of the glorious regalia he wore, it’s a foretaste of the kingdom of God that King Jesus with his crown of thorns identifies with those in need and calls us also to do this, reminding us that we do it to him too. To be a follower of Christ the King is to be a messenger of those kingdom values too because, as Jesus’ words today remind us, we also have the possibility of inheriting the kingdom too – if we’re active and ready like the wise bridesmaids, the two servants and those who are chosen when the time comes. So, are we ready and, this Stir up Sunday, are your Christmas puds ready too?!

With my prayers; pob bendith,

Christine, Guardian.

”Well done, good and faithful servant.” Jesus in Matthew 25:14-30. 

Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful. John Wooden, basketball coach.

These words of Jesus in today’s Gospel are sometimes used at the funeral service of someone who has worked hard throughout their life and has been regarded as a good example to other churchgoers . The difficulty with these words is that they originally refer to the use of money rather than gifts or time and the master sounds like a harsh man, as the third servant tells him.

Leaving on a journey, the master selects three servants and gives them five, two and one talents, or bags of gold, according to their ability. The first man doubles his five talents to ten and the second increases his two to four. However, the third man just buries his single bag in the ground – a valid way of keeping money safe in those days. When the master returns, he is pleased with the first two servants, telling them they will be put in charge of more things and that they should share his joy at what’s happened. Yet, when the third man tells the master that he was afraid of him and only buried his bag, that angers the master who is cross with him for not even getting interest on the gold by taking it to the bank. That was not allowed according to religious law and so the servant’s assessment of his master is right – he is unjust and gathers from others what he has not sown. Telling him that is not the best way to succeed, however, given the circumstances and so the servant is thrown out and his gold given to the one who already has most. He does not help himself, as do the others, and so is punished for not using the little he has, though even one talent was a significant amount of money. 

The same is true of us – nowadays, talents has come to mean gifts as well as money and we are not given gifts in equal amounts but are expected to use what we have. In the same way, the servant wasn’t condemned for not reaching the same returns as the others but because he did nothing with what he was given. His example reminds us to use what we have been given and not to waste gifts, time or money. 

In the parable, the servant making a return of two talents is praised equally with the one who made five more and they both give back to the master what they have made. It’s a reminder that we are entrusted with things that are not ours but can be used to work towards what God asks of us in his world and that, when we do this, we can take our place amongst the faithful and trustworthy workers on whom God relies. The return of the master is certain – but when he will come back is not.

This is the third of three parables where Jesus is telling his followers that they are living in difficult times and must persevere with what is asked of them meanwhile. In those challenging circumstances, the first two servants are faithful to that but the third is lazy and afraid to take a risk, even though his master had done so by giving him the gold in the first place. In the straightened and uncertain circumstances being faced today, which might be true of us, too?

With my prayers; pob bendith,

Christine, Guardian.

As a former chaplain to the Royal Marines Association in Nottingham, I’ve been watching the TV programme Celebrity SAS – Who Dares Wins, where the recruits are subjected to the challenges of selection for the Special Air Service. During the final programme, when treatment not allowed by the British Army is used, one of the staff mentioned his own experience of interrogation when he constantly heard the refrain boots, boots, boots, boots, so I looked it up. It’s from a poem, Boots, by Rudyard Kipling and imagines the repetitive thoughts of a British Army Infantryman on a forced march during the Second Boer War in South Africa, which ended in 1902. How amazing , then ,

to hear its use  with the SAS today:

We’re foot—slog—slog—slog—sloggin’ over Africa—. 

Foot—foot—foot—foot—sloggin’ over Africa —

(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up and down again!) 

There’s no discharge in the war!

Seven—six—eleven—five—nine-an’-twenty mile to-day—

Four—eleven—seventeen—thirty-two the day before —

(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up and down again!) 

There’s no discharge in the war!

Don’t–don’t–don’t–don’t–look at what’s in front of you.

(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again);

Men—men—men—men—men go mad with watchin’ em,

An’ there’s no discharge in the war!……

We—can—stick—out–‘unger, thirst, an’ weariness,

But—not—not—not—not- not the chronic sight of ’em—

Boots —boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again,

An’ there’s no discharge in the war!

I–‘ave—marched—six—weeks in ‘Ell an’ certify

It—is—not—fire—devils, dark, or anything,

But boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again,

An’ there’s no discharge in the war! 

There’s no discharge in the war – or from the war either. That was true for Kipling with the death of his son John who was killed in action at the Battle of Loos in September. At first, he was reported missing and Kipling and his wife went to the Western Front looking for him, visiting hospitals and dropping fliers about him. John’s body was never found and, like so many of the hundreds of thousands of parents whose children were killed in action, the Kiplings were left with no place to grieve. So, he joined the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and he it was who chose Ecclesiasticus 44:14 ‘Their name liveth for evermore’ which is found on the Stones of Remembrance in larger war cemeteries. He also suggested Known unto God for the headstones of unidentified servicemen and the inscription The Glorious Dead on the Cenotaph in London. For him, in the loss of his son, there was no discharge in the war.

Neither was there any discharge in the war for local lads Privates Edward Jones and Richard Lewis, who were gassed during WW1 and survived it but died of tuberculosis afterwards, or for Private Thomas Lewis who died of influenza on Armistice Day 1918. Nor was there for Private William Lewis who served with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in the Middle East and survived the first and second battles of Gaza but died in the hand to hand fighting in the battle of Beersheba, where he is buried. There is no discharge in the war for the families and friends of those who mourned their loss either.

So it is in Gaza today where the warfare from three thousand years ago resonates in the ongoing conflict. In the Old Testament, in 1100 BC, Gaza – which means strong city – was the place where the strongman Samson was imprisoned and the scene of many battles; just as the Palestinians now inhabit this area, so their name is derived from a Hebrew word meaning land of the Philistines, the people so often at war with the then Israelites. Ashkelon, where so many journalists are reporting from, was a base for the Philistines and also the site of the last battle of the First Crusade. Across the years, then and now, as Kipling writes there’s no discharge in the war. 

That was true also for Sergeant Maurice Enser, who served with the First Army in Algiers in 1943. He wrote of a communion service held in a hut one Sunday morning by the Padre Captain Barrett: “We started the service. After a short time we heard the shelling start. When the service ended he said, “You had better take what cover you can……” Mr. Martin and Captain Barrett, the two officers went into a corner and I dropped into a slit trench with another soldier. The next minute a shell dropped. There was dust and cordite everywhere and I could hear moaning and groaning. I went over and Mr Martin was dying. Captain Barrett was in a bad way, his legs were shattered. Stretcher bearers came and took them both away so I went and found my Company Commander and he said,”Go back to your position. You are now in charge of your Platoon.” Poor Maurice, no words of comfort for what he’d just experienced, not even a cup of tea or a rest! “I hurried back to tell them and one young man named Paxton asked if we could have a bit of a service for them, so we did. I know Paxton was pleased about that. In the event he was killed in my presence two weeks later. I had no opportunity to have a bit of a service for him – I was taken prisoner at the time. But 54 years later I was with my wife in Belper and we saw a war memorial. I went up and had a look at it – and Paxton’s name was on it.”

Maurice did his duty at the time with the Sherwood Foresters but struggled with PTSD throughout his life as a result of what he’d been through. When I knew him, he was still having nightmares about it all and he was well into his seventies. For him, too, there was no discharge in the war. And, as we remember the sacrifice made by so many for the freedom we sometimes take for granted, and witness the resonances of it on the streets of London this weekend, for us too there is no discharge in war as we live with the consequences of it. We also face battles in our day as well as hatred and violence; we may be wounded at times by events or find ourselves hurting others – but although the resonances of warfare and division live on, so too does hope, love, faith and perseverance. As we pause awhile together to remember today, so our various journeys through life will shortly resume and we shall have opportunities ahead to make a positive difference and to live the lives others laid down for our sakes. So, make sure you’ve got ready your boots, boots, boots, boots, boots!

With my prayers; pob bendith,

Christine, Guardian.

“You will hear of wars and rumours of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place…. For nation will rise against nation.” Jesus, in Matthew 24:1-14.

“War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always 

 an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.” Former US President Jimmy Carter.

The reflection last week focused on time and one of those who replied to it wrote:

Ecclesiastes 3:7-8. Thee is a time for everything. Now is a time of war. A struggle between good and evil…..the fight will be to face down evil. In this context and that of the warfare in Gaza and Israel, Ukraine and Russia, the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel are a reminder that wars, like famine, disease and earthquakes, are part of history and human experience no matter when we live. They don’t necessarily mark the start of the end times but, as atrocities continue and there is no sign of hostilities ending, fear is growing today that the fight to face down evil in our time may yet intensify and spread. Such ongoing destruction and enmity – where could all this lead?

Although the Temple was at the heart of Judaism for nearly a thousand years, Jesus foretells its destruction when he leaves it for the last time in today’s reading. The building is huge and beautiful but he warns his followers that no stone will be left unturned, which became the case at the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. As Roman soldiers besieged the Temple, a fire began and the many gold decorations in it melted into the cracks between each stone. To retrieve the gold, soldiers were then ordered to take the stones apart and the Temple was completely destroyed, as Jesus had predicted. 

Jesus makes other predictions as he speaks to his disciples: not only of wars, famine, disease and earthquakes but also torture, death, betrayals, false prophets, lawlessness and love growing cold. But, into this despair, he also prophecies endurance and the good news of God’s kingdom being proclaimed through the world. As his foretelling of the destruction of what was the Second Temple came true, so Jesus’ other predictions should also be taken seriously but be tempered with his reminder to “See that you are not alarmed; for this must take place.” He warns his followers that what he speaks of must be expected and they should not let anyone lead them astray. 

The same challenge applies to his followers today as we Remember, remember the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and plot and other insurrections that have also been part of the history of the United Kingdom, with the King just this week acknowledging the acts of violence committed against Kenyans in their struggle for independence from British colonialism. As the Kingdom season of the church’s year begins, that challenge is encapsulated in what Bishop Gregory asks of us all:

Please do three things – pray, campaign and donate. Pray for a just end to war, write to those in authority asking them to be active in the cause of justice and make a donation to those organisations which can make a difference in bringing relief, or working for justice…… The solution to the problems of the Middle East may still be beyond us, but we need to practise what we preach, and be reconcilers, healers and enablers in the neighbourhood which God has given us for our work. 

With my prayers; pob bendith,

Christine, Guardian.