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A large, Perpendicular Gothic church,
serving the
Parish of Thirsk in the Diocese of York
The Benefice of Thirsk
Rector: Rev Richard Rowling |
St Mary's Church Thirsk: Food for Thought
August Thoughts : I have of late occasionally taken to buying myself - on days when I feel I may have some time - a newspaper. My selection seems to have been rather a scatter gun approach with only a few guidelines applying to which paper I buy on any given day. Cost it seems is the most fundamental criteria, but getting the balance right is tricky. Too cheap and it’s a comic not to say bordering on the obscene.Too expensive and I carry it around for days until it’s completely read and I eventually give in and dump it in the recycle bin - infuriatingly still not having completed the crossword!!
I like a paper on Saturday because it will have a television page with it. I buy it on Saturday because it’s cheaper than the paper on Sunday – this brief insight into my parsimonious Psyche even as I write this piece interests me because, I’ve realised I never refer to the television pages during the week as my wife and I from a semi comatose “slouch on the couch” merely flick through the programme guide on the TV – my reason for buying a paper on Saturday has disappeared!!!
However the other day whilst perusing my middle of the road, not too expensive, not too cheap newspaper; I found myself reading an article by a woman journalist who accompanied a regiment on operations in the Helmand province of Afghanistan some three or four years ago and has returned from a recent visit to the same area. Of course this is of particular interest to me as we at St Mary’s pray every day for the 4th Regt of Artillery and its Chaplain Revd. Colin Bell and his family. We can only imagine the conditions the regiment face. Most reports I read simply deal with facts. The human condition/element seems almost entirely absent – this piece was not like that.
This journalist, who is very brave and very empathetic, was unapologetic and demonstrated her compassion and humanity. I found that very hard to resist. She had on her first visit to Helmand accompanied an Infantry unit who had engaged a fortified village killing numerous residents. This killing had included women and children and she had been haunted by the vision of the small bodies of the children wrapped in linen lying in the courtyard awaiting burial.
The soldiers negotiated compensation with the village elders - this was mans work. The journalist found herself seated next to the mother of the dead children. Without any words she sat with her, held her and cried with her. She and the mother were the only ones who were allowed to show any emotion. Soldiers did what they had to do and affirmed the site was a legitimate target. The elders, as is the custom, requested and worked for negotiated remittance.The journalist never having held a gun or targeted an insurgent for the three years following the incident felt responsible somehow. Even she could not explain it, it defied reason – she hadn’t been a combatant. Her second visit was an attempt to exorcise the ghosts of the previous encounter.
I believe that every act of compassion, every act of sympathy and love, is the fundamental core business of being human; of being Christian – to love your neighbour is a fundamental Christian doctrine and a command from Jesus and God of our obligation to our fellow inhabitant of this planet. I believe that in the events described by the journalist in Helmand there were no winners; only losers, but the very fact this article made it to print, found its way into my conscience means that the little bundles will not be forgotten until indeed I am.
I have very mixed emotions about the war in Afghanistan and am fully aware of the rational that surround the reasoning for our involvement, but now we are there our soldiers must be given every possible advantage they need to get this job done and get them home to their families and loved ones as soon as is possible. I have served as an infantry man myself and I fully support and honour those serving in our armed forces – but the consequences in personal terms of this legacy will not be known for a long time – perhaps through no fault of their own until all the young men and women are old; and the ghosts of youth rob the old consciences of peace.
Revd. Graham Bowkett
| July Thoughts : Recently I was un-friended on Facebook [the computer cyber community] by someone I had known since my teens. In fact this was no ordinary friend. We had served in the same Regiment in the Army and been in the same Company and Section in Northern Ireland – we had been friends man and boy for over twenty years. I cannot pretend it did not hurt. I reflect perhaps I should have not been surprised by this outcome. It came after a short intellectual tussle over philosophical as well as theological differences.
These differences proved un-resolvable. Essentially I was un-friended because I am a Christian and hold a Theistic understanding of the world, and my existence in it….and he didn’t. In fact he held that Christian doctrine and those of Abrahamic tradition threaten world security; yes world security!! Meaning that essentially all religions to him are culpable mind viruses designed to control and fracture society, not mend them.
I soon grew weary of the argument, but we could not even mange an agreement to disagree. His attitude is that any resistance to a total abandonment of faith meant simply I was parochial and medieval, his approach was totalitarian - Religion put simply, according to him, is the cause of all the worlds’ troubles.
Is it not a sign of the times that you can be un-friended for being Christian? I spent many, many hours thinking about what this all meant. I asked myself and God why in the light of shrinking congregations, financial pressures and why in the United Kingdom where an almost unilateral indifference to Christianity seems to be pervading – Why do any of us bother? I asked myself and God on quite a few occasions why someone else more robust and cleverer than I could not be persuaded to do His bidding – what use was it all?
Of course luckily there are many, many cleverer, robust and dedicated Christians than I, in Holy Orders and not, and although I may have felt a little battered and bruised, I still felt pity [but recognise he wouldn’t want it] towards my ex-friend. What I wondered could have made him so totalitarian in his attitudes, so, so ……….obnoxious!
I cannot imagine my life without Faith and Hope and Love; I cannot imagine life without meaning, because without meaning, Love cannot survive life – it will die and have no meaning. Albert Camas, the French Existentialist, wrote “without a master the weight of days is dreadful”. He points to the unavoidable conclusion that without God, not the other way round, freedom and responsibility is too heavy a burden for human kind. True Christian understanding is liberating and invigorating. True religion is above the squalid attempt by humans to devalue creation the world and the creatures we share this planet with, a creation way above our possible intellectual understanding. Pride, self reliance and arrogance have no place in my world – and even though at times it is difficult – I acknowledge I do not have all the answers - I pray that through Love, love of my neighbour, love of Jesus and love of God, meaning, harmony and salvation are mine and yours….. Perhaps not so much has changed- see Psalm 17: -
Hear, O Lord, my righteous plea; Listen to my cry.
Give ear to my prayer –It does not rise from deceitful lips.
May my vindication come from you; May your eyes see what is right;
Though you probe my heart and examine me at night,
Though you test me, you will find nothing;
I have resolved that my mouth will not sin.
As for the deeds of men;
By the word of your lips
I have kept myself from the ways of the violent.
My steps have held to your path; My feet have not slipped.
They close up their callous hearts
And their mouths speak with arrogance.
They have tracked me down, and now surround me,
With eyes alert, to throw me to the ground
They are like the lion hungry for prey
Like a great lion crouching in cover.
| Our Curate's Comments for June : Curate’s Comments
Just before I disappeared into the luxury of pre-ordination retreat at Wydale Hall, having looked at the programme I was to follow – silent reflection upon God, prayer and then silent reflection upon God and then prayer – then silent reflection……you get the idea. I decided I would sneak a book along with me that had no religious or ethical overtones, its only qualifications were to be that it was bubble gum reading, I could carry it in a small suitcase and that it didn’t involve any swooning, romance narratives that would induce any type of narcolepsy, or nausea.
In the book shop I picked up a blue book, with the title “Alone in Berlin” written by bloke called Hans Fallada. Not an author known to me but after a quick look at the back of the cover, a rather blokey type of story set in Berlin in the war etc…yep that will do, promptly bought and ensconced in the suitcase.
It turns out this is a rather good book. It appears in the last three months this book has sold more than 100,000 copies. Written by Fallada straight after the Second World War it is essentially a story about an ordinary couple living in Berlin in the early part of the war. They mount a personal and highly dangerous rebellion against the Nazi regime by leaving post cards in public places denouncing Hitler and his henchmen.
It is a story of resistance, humour and Hope. Hope against an evil and evasive system that grips with fear and subjugates through terror. The main character Otto consoles himself that his resistance is essential personally because by doing so he “Stayed decent”. The story is brilliantly written and the tension, worry and fear hold the reader page after page.
Why do I mention this book? Well because this novel demands a reflection above all on the conundrum “What would I do?” a question that is as relevant and real to our times as it was to Fallada’s. Is injustice ever permissible in the service of a just cause? Do you hide and keep your head down? Try not to come to anyone’s attention, least of all the authorities. How do you preserve humanity and decency – do you stand up and shout for justice and equality, the protection of the vulnerable or the marginalised? Or not? Or hope someone else does on your behalf!
Things are not simple, and it’s not simply an argument between right and wrong, good and evil. Things can often seem morally complex and far removed; moral lines are easily blurred and just as the case in Germany, many of its people at the time guilty of complicity in their support of the 1000 year Reich.
Although of course if you didn’t fancy spending a couple of quid on this book, packed with moral conundrums, intrigue and at the end bloody murder by the evil state, pick up your bible and read any of the synoptic Gospels – here we have all the same essential formula, and in fact Fallada who in many places seems to be denying religious ideas and doctrine, refers to it rather a lot especially when things are at their bleakest. The synoptic writings offer us a narrative of victory over oppression and evil. They give us the story of victory by Jesus through his passion and the liberation of sin and guilt for all of humankind, and the freedom that by His death he has bought us.
We are charged to stand up and demand rights for all, demand equality and to seek justice. We are charged to proclaim the Gospel, and to live and work for the kingdom. We must stop morality being turned on its head and we must say no to violence, corruption and evil wherever it is encountered. To be a Christian makes you vulnerable and powerful, for to be so makes you Christ like; fear of what is right has no place in Christian understanding, we are Christians; we are in this world working for the Glory of God for the Next – and we shall fear no Evil.
Psalm 26 v1 - The Lord is the source of my light and my safety, so whom shall I fear?
We must not shrug shoulders or turn away – we must be bold, and with enthusiasm remember that all humanity is one under God, their pain must be our pain, and resistance to policies that marginalise or discriminate must be challenged and held to account - proclamation of Hope, morality, legality and Humanity is our business, our faith and our struggle.
| Our Curate Reflects : It is amazing looking back over the last year [ish] that I have been in the parish, how much I have learnt and how much has changed. However much I thought I could plan or anticipate what life in parish ministry would be like, it soon became obvious that despite my best effort to “be in control” I was always going to lose. One of the biggest shocks to the system is that Ordination does a number of very funny things, although I suppose one might have reasonably be expected to guess some of them – after all I did get three years training before I came to Thirsk!
Firstly and probably the singularly biggest change is that you are in a public office; not just a notion of what that means - but Public, where you live, how you live, your telephone numbers, e-mails, all sorts of aspects of your life change, all open and published on the internet, in books, on boards. The hours you work certainly take on a more fluid and diverse nature, and to a certain extent no longer belong to you. It is all very odd. Of course one of the strangest things to get used to is wearing a clerical collar. I can only imagine it’s the closest I will ever come to being famous. In some quarters it helps, when knocking on a door for instance the dog collar is definitely a help, but on the other side of that coin is the suspicion, and misgiving you definitely perceive in some people; even simply walking down the road can attract a myriad of reactions, and not only from young people- in fact they usually only look the most perplexed – although this perplexed look on many may be in fact a permanent feature and it is I who have failed to recognise this fact. Quite often even mature people simply do not know into which box to put you; some have even been a little hostile. Although one member of the congregation who saw me out running one day commented that seeing the Curate in Lycra was likely to scar her for the rest of her life – although I do not entirely know what she means by this.
One of the greatest and most amazing things about being a Deacon this year has been the time I am permitted simply to sit and pray, to be and to worship God, to study and to provoke myself into asking big questions and looking to answer them in rational, realistic and useful terms. I have attempted to do this in my sermons, some I have enjoyed writing and delivering; others have been a far more arduous affair. But all of them have allowed me to grow, and with the assistance of members of St Mary’s I have been encouraged and prompted into further reflection and thought. I am sure some of you feel the same way about my sermons, I hope they have encouraged you to think about what it means to be a Christian, but some will probably think they were just arduous………
Following on from that another oddity of ministry is that people do listen to you, even though from experience in my own family, they feel I often talk in riddles and skirt around issues. I have been told it seems the more I learn the less I seem to know!!! So I have taken great care over the last year when pronouncing my opinion to say it quietly, in the hope no one hears; that way I keep my delusional opinions in tact and unchallenged - and my self esteem firmly in the ascension.
I was reading a piece the other day about a Priest who had for many years contemplated becoming a chaplain in the Army, he underwent all the tests and medical examinations only to find he could not proceed due to asthma. He talked of the process of reflection that went on in him as the process proceeded, he admitted he was required to confront his fears, the biggest of which was; the fear of not being brave enough to be an Army chaplain, this notion of being brave and what that meant was a real struggle for him. He considered what being a chaplain in the army might be like, he ran through many scenarios in his head about the situations that he might see or be called to be involved in if he was to be successful. After he failed the medical he concluded that he would be unlikely to ever truly find out. The priest reflected long and hard and concluded that his imagination, even when applying all his intellectual ability was simply not enough to truly understand what these situations might demand. The only real way was to walk in the shoes of a soldier, of a chaplain. I reflect before coming to Thirsk parish I simply did not know what to expect, what I might be involved in, what I might see or do, or even how I might be received. I am walking in the previous curate’s shoes - well at least living in his house; I am walking in the shoes of numerous clergy over the centuries brought to serve this parish; and what a great privilege that has been.
A year in I am grateful to so very many people, some of whom will not light candles, some of whom do not turn off mobile phones in services, some of whom take issue with my sermons, my pronunciation, my singing – as I approach my Ordination into the priesthood, I thank everyone whom I have met, worked and prayed with, especially those who have made me laugh, who have been my friend, helper and collaborator and mentor on this my journey with the pilgrim people of St Mary’s Parish church. May God make His face to shine upon you.
| Readings for Sunday 8th August Psalm 33. Genesis 15, 1-6. Hebrews 1,1 1-3, 8-16. Luke 12: 32-40
: As a young soldier; I was lucky enough to be posed to Denmark – only for two months, but I will admit I was quite exited by the prospect. I was at that time employed as a driver of the Saxon armoured personnel carrier – A hateful unstable monster that frankly was only just fit for purpose. Of course as the warrior’s driver there were perks, one of which was that I stayed with the vehicle at night. My colleagues all dug shell scraps or trenches; I slept on the back benches of the Saxon – out of the rain, in the relative warmth and comfort of a big mental box.
The battalion was to move under very strict regimented order, the order devised by the MTO and officer in charge of the Motor Transport section whom my memory seems to have morphed into a Napoleon type figure; although this is probably an injustice - if I was being charitable, and had never met him. Anyway company was lined up after company. A Company to lead then B company my company, then Y company then Z – strict speed limits; spacing, timings etc nothing left to chance.
We set off from Tidworth at about six in the morning. By Devizes only some 10 or 15 miles away I stopped at a junction just off the centre of the town to see what can only be described as a scene from the Wacky Races. Land Rovers were speeding through the centre of the town followed by a Saxons from the wrong company; 4 tonners haring with canopies flapping - crisscrossing the little Wiltshire town centre; going in all directions !! The mighty atom had exploded! There in the middle of the town was the little MTO waving his arms around as if trying to semaphore a great battle ship that was miles away.
Having got to Denmark, I found myself on another ferry between one of the Islands, I think there are three. But we had been driving for what felt like days; we were told do not sleep, we were to be on the ferry only a few hours, we were to stay awake and remain with our sections in the public area of the boat only.
To cut the story a little, all the vehicles with their sections all got off the ferry, and just as the MTO was going to do his American cavalry wagons roll bit, a lance corporal in charge of the vehicle in front shouted that his driver was missing. A general discussion occurred about how had they got the APC off the Ferry then? When just over the din of the ferries horn; as it was just leaving the dock side, you could hear the shout coming from the back of the boat – it was private Adamson the lost driver; who had not stayed awake but had gone and found a nice warm comfy cabin to nest in and promptly fallen asleep.
I cannot repeat the exact language of the MTO, a little uncalled for, but I will say Adamson was in the deepest of doo doo. The whole battalion stayed on the dock for 3 hours until the ferry brought him back. We were all punished for it as we drove for another 7 hours to a base that was 20 miles away. I think we must have driven around the island 15 times. In my mind during this time on the dock; as the events unfolded the MTO clutched his chest and promptly expired, but I don’t think that actually happened…I think I just wished/imagined it.
Our Gospel today warns that we must stay awake, and await our masters return. The way Jesus develops the story retains a strong sense of urgency, casting His followers as the servants waiting for their master – who it seems has been away enjoying himself at a rather long dinner party. But as the story unfolds the picture becomes clearer; that actually it is focused upon two themes. Firstly the sense talking about the coming again of Jesus, but more frighteningly the wider sense of a time coming when humans will be summoned by God – and the time coming for which we need to prepare to meet our maker and God. Everything indicates that if you are ready you should not fear, but those who are idle and do not prepare will be punished. But it is difficult to know how to prepare.
The reading today focuses only on the telling of the parable, but immediately after Peter asks Jesus if this is story is applicable to them the disciples; or only to the others – it is made obvious that it is especially applicable to them. This for the disciples poses a serious test. If they relax, assuming they as Jesus followers are therefore saved – things will come upon them before they are ready. And this remains so for us.
Tom Wright in his commentary concludes that this narrative is also looking at a far more focused fight between Good and Evil in Jesus’ own lifetime as well as after the challenge being issued to remain totally loyal in the face of all opposition. God’s kingdom will demand a complete re-ordering of priorities – a crisis is coming – Jesus seems to be envisaging a coming time of terrible conflict between good and evil; and the coming of a great devastation for Israel in general and Jerusalem in particular. – We have been warned a crisis is coming!!!
This passage is used often at ordination and commissioning services – when those being commissioned are being prayed for it makes a poignant illustration of the awesome responsibility being undertaken – and one which the master and servant picture illustrates brilliantly – but it is equally applicable to all Christians, all who have faith, all of Gods creation.
The answer to the question’ Am I a faithful servant?’ can only be answered by asking yourself this question. As the master approaches are we going out to a stranger or an enemy...... or a friend? We would hope God finds us at harmony with ourselves, that we have done everything we can to be dutiful and diligent servants. We all will face a day of reckoning and ignorance will not be a sufficient defence. Humble love of our Master, the humble Love of God, will help us take responsibility when the Master comes.We cannot assume we as Jesus’ followers can find ourselves a nice little cabin to nest down in, because who knows you may not get a knock on the cabin door, and be left on our own; as the quay side disappears into the distance.
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