Michael Elfred's blog

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light

Submitted by Michael Elfred on Sun, 12/25/2011 - 08:18

I would like you to imagine the following scene – this actually happened last week in a school in Purley. A little boy aged 7yrs suddenly burst into his class room wildly waving his arms about and enthusiastically announced, “Breaking news, Santa Claus doesn’t exist!” Well you can imagine the result, 27 sobbing, inconsolable infant school children. My natural reaction on hearing this tale was a desire to say to Malachi, for that ironically was the child’s name, what do you mean Santa Claus doesn’t exist? Now my reason for wanting to do this is twofold – firstly, I have a pathological hate for dogmatic statements and feel obliged to immediately and forcefully put the opposite point of view. Secondly, I happen to believe that myths have important things to tell us and although they may not be factually accurate, though usually they have some basis in fact, they are actually conveyers of truth. I would therefore have to point out to our errant conveyer of ill news that Santa Claus is in fact based on someone who existed, St Nicholas, a fourth century Bishop, who was in part responsible along with a lot of other Bishops for the creed we say during our worship and who was also particularly generous to the poor of his day. I would further suggest that embracing the faith he helped to articulate in the writing of the Creed and emulating his generosity is not a bad idea. So in that sense Santa Claus did exist and still exists as an image and a spur to faith and Christian action.   Not that that would probably be of any comfort to the sobbing infants of class two who would probably, like Malachi, have a rather more concrete take on the subject.

 
Of course young Malachi is not unique in his desire to debunk commonly treasured Christmas myths and practices. Philip Stubbes a 16th Centenary Protestant Minister wrote the following about Christmas.   'More mischief is that time committed than in all the year besides ... What dicing and carding, what eating and drinking, what banqueting and feasting is then used ... to the great dishonour of God and the impoverishing of the realm.'  In the year 1644 Parliament actually past an act banning Christmas celebrations as it was regarded by the Puritans as being a wasteful indulgence which threatened basic Christian beliefs.   Needless to say the idea didn’t catch on and Christmas with all its excesses re-emerged at the time of the Restoration of the Monarchy. 
 
At the risk of being a bit of a Malachi myself I feel obliged to point out that for the first four centuries of its existence the church didn’t make much of Christmas. There was little agreement on when Christ was actually born except everybody accepted that it was almost certainly not on 25th December. In the fourth century the Church took over an already existing Pagan festival which contained all the kinds of excesses the Puritans, centuries later, opposed and attempted to convert it, along with the pagans, to Christianity; one has to say with only limited success. Pagan overindulgence is with us to this day. That said, what links the pagan festival and the Christian festival is a common idea - the idea of light overcoming darkness. Long before the Christian takeover, people realised that the days became shorter and shorter until the third week in December and thereafter the days began to slowly get longer. Thus it was believed that the Sun gradually died as winter deepened and was then reborn reaching its full strength in summer. Pagan rituals involved magic the aim of which was to encourage the sun to regain in strength. In a clever play on words the Church used this sun ritual imagery to announce the rising of the Sun of Righteousness, Jesus Christ.
 
Of course light overcoming darkness is also a Biblical theme. Isaiah proclaims, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in the land of deep darkness – on them light has shined.” (Isaiah 9: 2) Isaiah goes on to predict the coming of a child who will have great authority and will be called “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Now of course Isaiah was addressing the political situation of his own day but the authors of the New Testament, seeing beyond the immediate situation that the prophet spoke about, applied his words to the birth of Jesus. For St Luke and St Matthew the child referred to by Isaiah is none other than the child “wrapped in bands of cloth, lying in a manger”, as the angels announced to the shepherds; the child to whom the Wise Men are led by a star. As the glory of God illuminated the night sky with the angelic announcement and the appearing of the brightest of all stars so this child was born to illuminate the hearts and minds of countless individuals throughout the ages; in fact potentially everybody. St John in the prologue to his gospel does not give us stories about shepherds and kings or for that matter a miraculous virgin birth, rather he talks, like Isaiah, in terms of darkness and light. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  (John 2: 4-5) John goes on to say, “The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.”  (John 1: 9) 
 
Now we can find ourselves, figuratively speaking, in darkness for a multitude of reasons. Like in the days of Isaiah darkness can envelop us due to external circumstances. Darkness can also come as an internal reality when we refuse to acknowledge our true state of being. Whether it is external circumstances or internal denial or a complex mixture of both that is the cause, the outcome is much the same – we can feel as if we are staggering around in the dark not being able to see the way forward.   Darkness is a powerful image indeed. Physically speaking being in a darkened room, particularly a room with which we are unfamiliar can be a frightening experience. We can blunder around bumping into things not knowing what they are or what they might possibly be for if anything. We experience danger and its associated fear and often unwanted injury. However if we find the light switch and turn it on we start to see clearly, after perhaps being initially dazzled for a moment or two.   Things become clear - oh, that thing I barked my shins on is a coffee table, that thing I fell over is a chair! Now I can sit down and enjoy a coffee. 
 
Sometimes of course it is not as easy as that to find the light switch which, when activated, will illuminate our lives, but St John points us to where it is located. “The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.”  (John 1: 9) St John seems to be saying that the reality, the light which was seen in history in the life of Jesus, is also within in you. The light which is potentially within everyone was openly manifest in the life of Jesus for all to see.   If this is true it follows that, if we care to look, the answer to our own darkness, however that darkness may manifest itself, is to be found within us.  Of course not everyone chooses to acknowledge this and if this is true of you and me then we run the risk of remaining in spiritual darkness, going round and round and getting nowhere fast, bumping into things of which we are fearful.  Many today see the Christmas story as similar to tales of Santa Claus, good for children but having no reality in a harsh world.    I would contend with all who would want to treat the Christmas story thus for at the very least the story of the infant Christ, who is for Christians the light of the world, is the story of an archetypal figure pointing to the divine possibility within us all. The image of the divine child indicates a new beginning: a potential that can grow to maturity from a fragile start, the merest flickering of a light which can become a mighty illuminating flame.
 
So this Christmastide there may be no magic solutions and instant remedies to the ills that beset you and the world about you. You cannot summon the sun to rise again as the pagans of old attempted to do in the Winter Solstice.   But there is an enduring and sustaining hope.   The breaking news is not bad news. The light lies deep within you waiting to be expressed. May we all discover and acknowledge the divine spark within each of us this morning. May we allow the light of the internal Christ to illuminate our circumstances and our very selves. May that flickering flame, by God’s grace, show us the way forward in the coming year, leading us to reverse the darkness within us and around us so that we may ourselves be found to be sons and daughters of God.    

Remembrance 2011

Submitted by Michael Elfred on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 18:14

 At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 the guns finally fell silent on the Western Front and the Great War, the First World War, came to an end. The total number of military and civilian casualties is not exactly known but a conservative estimation is that fifteen million died and over twenty million were injured, making it one of the most deadly conflicts in human history. Many went to their deaths bravely believing that this war would end all wars. Twenty one short years later this hope was shattered when once more our country was at war with Germany.   Estimates again vary but somewhere between fifty million and seventy million died in this conflict. Since the end of the Second World War there has only been one year, 1964, when British soldiers have not died in a conflict somewhere in the world. It would appear that human beings have, up to the present, found it impossible to settle their differences without resulting to violent means and if we are realistic it would appear that the hope of this situation changing is, at very best, a distant dream. 

 
I was born two years after the end of WW2 and so knew nothing of it firsthand but my childhood was filled with listening to my parents’ memories of the Blitz (my maternal grandparents were bombed out of three houses in the East End of London); seeing the bombsites as I travelled by bus to see my Grandparents in East Ham; and playing with my father’s gas mask and fire warden’s tin helmet which were still kept under the stairs. In the post war years of the fifties and sixties I grew up in the uneasy peace resulting from the standoff between the two super powers which emerged after WW2, Russia and America, as they aimed their ever increasing arsenal of nuclear weapons at each other, Great Britain being as it were, “Piggy in the Middle”. I well remember the Cuban Missile Crisis and coming home from school at lunch time wondering if we would all still be around for double maths in the afternoon. Perhaps it was this that first made me politically aware but around that period I started sporting a CND badge on my school blazer. My eagle eyed Headmaster soon noticed and accosted me in the lower corridor. “Elfred, what is that on the lapel of you blazer?”   “A ban the bomb badge, sir”, I replied rather hesitantly. “You shouldn’t be worrying yourself about that kind of thing at your age boy; you should be more interested in playing cricket.” “Well Sir if they drop the bomb there won’t be any cricket pitches left to play on.” I can’t quite remember his reply but suffice it to say I thought it politic to wear the badge under my lapel from then on. Later I came to the realisation that if my parents’ generation had fought and won the war perhaps it was the job of my generation to strengthen and sustain the peace. I felt that I could do this in my own small way by striking up a friendship with a Pastor and a Congregation in Germany and this is how the relationship with the Church of the Resurrection in Mainz began that many of you know about and in which some of you have shared.
 
In that strange reading from the Book of Revelation (Chapter 4) which formed our second reading this morning the author gives us an image of fantastic beasts that are “full of eyes”; in other words these beasts are all seeing, nothing escapes their gaze. When I first got to know the German Church in some depth what impressed me was their determination to own that they had, for the most part and there were significant exceptions, got it wrong when Hitler came to power in the 1930s and they were determined not to allow such an error to occur again. In the years just after WW2 the Lutheran church started a conference called the “Kirchentag” which meets every other year with the express purpose of looking at what is happening in Europe and beyond and calling people, particularly young people, to have their eyes wide open. Since the early 1980s it has been my privilege, often accompanying Pastor Stefan Class from Mainz, to be involved in this event.
 
In our own country I have been enormously encouraged by the fact that Remembrance Day itself and the Sunday nearest to it, Remembrance Sunday, have been kept with, it would appear, renewed interest and reverence. There was a time some years ago when I thought that the decline in interest might prove terminal. I would suggest that today has two main purposes. Like the Fantastic Beasts of Revelation we need to have eyes in the back of our heads. What do I mean by that? Well firstly it is our God given duty to look backwards at our recent history and to remember what happened. To look back with thanksgiving for those millions of men and woman who sacrificed their lives or were injured, to secure our future freedom, a freedom free from tyranny. Secondly, we need to have eyes in the back of our heads with regard to the present and the future, to see that tyranny in one form or another does not creep up on us and catch us unawares. In our reading from the Prophecy of Daniel we heard how the prophet sees what will happen in the world and is overcome by the vision: “O, my Lord, by reason of the vision pains have come upon me, and I retain no strength.” Perhaps, when we look at the conflict ridden state of our world today we might have a similar reaction. But let us take to heart the word of the Lord to Daniel – “And he said, O man greatly beloved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.” (Daniel 10: 16 – 19)
 

Living Stones at the Heart of the Community

Submitted by Michael Elfred on Thu, 07/07/2011 - 20:11

 

The author of the first letter of Peter describes our Lord Jesus Christ as a “Living Stone” and goes on to suggest that those who have come to believe in Him should also see themselves as living stones. The idea of living stones is an interesting one but perhaps not immediately obvious if you want to apply the image to people, stones after all are inanimate objects which are solid and hard to the touch; however when they are crafted together into, say a building, then they take on a new aspect. Buildings develop atmospheres depending on what they are used for – some buildings can feel rather dangerous while others have a warmth about them which promotes wellbeing and security in those that enter them.   The same is true of people: some can seem hard, cold and untouchable whilst others exude humanity and empathy. I would suggest that it is the latter to which the author of 1Peter is referring when he encourages believers to be “living stones”. 
“Living stones” I would suggest makes a good slogan for us at the Good Shepherd as we move towards our Centenary Year. In fact I would like to borrow this New Testament description and extend the slogan to read “Living Stones at the Heart of the Community”. I think this sums up well what we are trying to do in a twofold celebration of the first hundred years of our congregation which falls next year. Our Church and hall sit geographically at the heart of the village and are very well used every day of the week. The atmosphere of our red brick church building is warm and inviting. The Congregation and the various organisations affiliated to the Church have a wide age range. So we might legitimately describe both buildings and congregation as “living stones at the heart of the community”.
In the natural world stones build up over a long period of time and in various ways, and the same has been true of our buildings and our congregation. It is our job to ensure that both continue to develop, not just for our own use, but for the good of future generations.  With regard to the Building – as you know we are raising money at present to extend the church by the addition of a Lady Chapel, plans for which can be seen on display in the church. This will cost approximately £200,000 – the “Centenary Fund” at present stands at just over £62,000. At the Annual Parochial Church Meeting this year I did a PowerPoint presentation to illustrate the cost of this project to each of our 115 adult regular worshippers. Taking into account the money already raised at the time of the APCM it worked out at something like £13.79 per person per week to complete the task by the end of the Centenary Year. Things have moved on since the APCM and the figure stands at £11.50. Now obviously not everyone could afford to give that much to the appeal (though some no doubt could – if you can, there are standing order and gift aid forms reproduced in this edition of the magazine) and there may well be people beyond the hard core of the congregation who would be interested in lending support - one of them might in fact be you!  Any help you could give would be gratefully received.
As well as giving directly there are many other ways in which you could help. Here are a couple of examples. Bring friends and neighbours to one of the many excellent social events we run. Using your talents - come up with a viable means of raising money yourself and let me know what you propose (the PCC may well agree to fund it initially). A few years ago when we were raising money for the new roof we had a talent scheme where I distributed £10 to people in order for them to use it to raise more. One person, for example, bought £10 worth of oranges and made and sold marmalade – that’s the type of thing I had in mind – use your imagination. Lastly, if you know a business or company that supports money raising ventures pound for pound let me know.   This would be particularly useful with regard to the sponsored bike ride from Mainz to Tadworth by a team from the Church which is due to take place in October.
In terms of building up our community a number of events will be put on in the next eighteen months the first of which is “A Market of Possibilities” due to be held 20th August. I have invited local business and voluntary organisations to come to the church and advertise what they are involved in.   There is an amazing variety of things happening in our village and this might well prove to be a way of celebrating and promoting that. If you are involved in an organisation and would like to promote it on that day please let me know as I am sure a good number of things will have slipped through my net and I don’t want to leave anyone out who would like to be involved.
So let us make every effort to live up to the slogan and be “Living Stones at the Heart of the Community”.
All the best and thanks in advance – Fr Mick

What’s in a name or being Good Shepherds

Submitted by Michael Elfred on Thu, 07/07/2011 - 20:10

 

On Sunday 15th of last month at our Patronal Festival I was inducted as Vicar of Tadworth having been Priest-in-charge of the Church of the Good Shepherd for the last ten years. To remind those who were at the service and to inform those who were not I would like to publish the sermon I preached on that occasion rather than writing a letter – I hope you find it helpful.
 
Unless you are familiar with the finer points of the vagaries of legalities of the Church of England, or unless you have been an avid reader of the PCC Minutes over the last ten years, you may wonder what all the fuss is about. What difference will it make for me to be called Vicar rather than Priest-in-Charge: what’s in a name? Well in one sense it will make no difference what-so-ever!   My day to day work in partnership with the staff and congregation will go on the same as it ever has. The issue is rather one of perception than expended effort. Let me explain what I mean. Sharon and I were in the Cathedral on the morning of Maundy Thursday a few weeks ago when our New Diocesan Bishop, Bishop Christopher, preached to the clergy of the Diocese who had come to renew their priestly vows. During his sermon he said that he felt that as Bishop of Southwark he had the privilege of working with some best priests in the Church of England. I found this statement extremely affirming and was grateful to him for his words. I gave up a living and its freehold to come to Tadworth because I felt it was the right thing to do; however the consequence of this was that I became a Priest-in-Charge of a suspended living, suspended in order to review the future nature of the parish. Over the last ten years we have gone through a lengthy process of examining the rights and wrongs of forming a team with four other parishes and when this was not felt right for the promotion of the mission of the wider church it was felt right that the incumbency should be restored.   I also see this as an affirmation not just for me personally but rather for the congregation. It is an affirmation of the work and growth of the congregation over the period of the review. From that point of view the name is important.
 
During this service I have reaffirmed my commitment to work in this parish for the promotion of the gospel; the furtherance of the Kingdom of God; and to aid in the growth of your understanding of what it means to be a Christian today. That, if you like, is my side of the bargain. But in the words uttered a few moments ago I challenged you to be part of a joint effort. Let me remind you of the words from the first letter of Peter which were read to us: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2: 9) Here the author is pointing out that the gathered congregation is a royal priesthood – in other words mission is always a corporate affair and never a one man band. 
 
At this present moment in time the corporate nature of our endeavour as a congregation in the village of Tadworth could be seen as manifested in two ways. Firstly we provide a place for the gospel to be proclaimed; the sacraments of the faith celebrated; and worship to be offered to God. Whenever school children visit the church and ask me what the church does for the community I point out firstly that we provide this building, a holy space. Holy spaces which have been consecrated by continual worship and prayer, as this one has for nearly a hundred years, are very important. At the moment, as you know, we are working towards improving this holy space with the addition of a Lady Chapel in celebration of our hundredth birthday. 
 
 In addition to a holy place, a place set aside for the things of God, we provide a holy community, i.e. people set aside for God who can reach out to others with compassion.   This doesn’t mean we are a holy club for saints who have made it; saints in a Biblical sense are not that, rather they are, to put it in the words of Nelson Mandela, “sinners who keep on trying”. The name of our particular holy space is very important. The idea of dedicating a church building to a saint is that those who meet there might aspire to being saintly themselves. We are dedicated in the name, not of a saint, but rather of the Saviour Himself as He is described in St John’s Gospel – “The Good Shepherd”. So we are all to be good shepherds.
 
A strange coincidence occurred in the week whilst I was contemplating what to say to you today. It appeared to be one of those coincidences that deserve the title “providence”. I received an email from a retired priest who had picked up from our website that we were keeping our Patronal Festival today. He sent me a copy of the sermon he intended to preach this morning at a church where he is helping out during an interregnum. In the sermon he describes a young man in the RAF in the early 1950’s who was given a second home whilst on leave by the churchwarden’s family of a Church in, what he describes as, “leafy Surrey”. This young man came in contact with this particular church because the then vicar had sent clothes to the young man’s ailing father to help with the upkeep of his younger brothers. The young man was brought to this our church and he said this of the experience – “It was not the Dedication of the church that made it truly a Church of the Good Shepherd for me, it was that family of Good Shepherds.”  This retired priest adds most movingly (but perhaps you have guessed this already) – “That young man is now an old man, and it is he preaching to you now”. Fr David Webster goes on in his sermon to define what a good shepherd is: “They are marked out by their concern for the unwell, for those whose life is a struggle for many reasons, for the disadvantaged, the lonely, the depressed, bewildered and anxious. They are marked out by their generosity, not just with money but with time, their patience, their understanding, their openness, the transparent goodness of their lives, their cheerfulness.”
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I hope that Fr David’s words act for you as Bishop Christopher’s words acted for me a few weeks ago. We have been Good Shepherds in the past and there are many who act as good shepherds within our congregation and beyond today. I have been here long enough to know that is true though often it goes on largely unnoticed and unsung. So what is the name of the task for the future? I would suggest – “More of the same”. And we do this in the name which St Paul tells us, “is above every name” the most important name of all for, “at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
 
All the best – Fr Mick
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