Newsletter 11 October 2020
Dear friends
Once again, we have had an interesting week.
We have witnessed further restrictions being put in place from Wales to Scotland nationally and from Greater Manchester to South Yorkshire more locally. We clearly need to take steps to control the spread of the Coronavirus. It is however very difficult to balance the need to control it with the economic effects of some parts of our society who rely almost entirely on the presence of people in the businesses to make a living. I have great empathy with these businesses as to some extent we at the Minster have been a victim of the lockdown.
That said I can’t help but think that the sanctity of life is far more important than any economic consequence that we may face. We continue to witness the pain and heartache that not only losing a loved one as a result of the virus brings, but also not being able to say our goodbyes in the manner that we would wish. Life without a doubt remains very hard and challenging. We must therefore continue to pray that a vaccine is found quickly and that the measures currently being taken to prevent the spread of the virus are effective.
This week I have been involved in some filming taking place at the Minster so that Kirklees can put together an authority wide Remembrance Service, which will be available online in time for Remembrance Sunday. Guidelines issued by the Royal British Legion have said that none of the usual commemorative events that we have come to associate with remembrance will take place this year so as to ensure people do not gather together. The filming we therefore did this week will be edited into filming that was done also at Huddersfield Parish Church. I will let you have the online link when I have it.
In the meantime, just to say that we will be holding a Remembrance Service on Sunday 8th November at the Minster, however places will be limited to 50 people in church. There will also be a service at Holy Trinity that morning, however places there are limited to a mere 15 people. If you wish to attend, please ensure you book your place well in advance. The concern I have for that morning is that we will have people turning up for the service and expecting to be allowed into the Minster. If there is some remaining space then that will not be a problem, but once we reach 50 people, we will not be permitted to allow more people in!
The other thing in the news this week has been the provision or seeming lack of provision for children who receive free school meals with food during the school holiday period. Let me be clear from the outset, no child should have to go hungry. One of our plans for the Minster Refectory once we have reopened is to work with local schools and see if we can provide meals for children and families in need. It is therefore pleasing to see that a number of food outlets have thrown their support behind the likes of Marcus Rashford’s campaign to provide children with food who receive free school meals during holiday time when the Government voted against the proposal.
Again, I do not believe it is a straightforward issue. I heard from a reliable source that the vouchers issued to families during the summer holidays were not being used for the purpose for which they were intended! I find that really sad to think that some children were not getting the food they were entitled to. Sadly, this has become the way of the world in many things. You only have to consider the £2 billion that has allegedly been claimed falsely through the Job Retention Scheme by unscrupulous practitioners or the billions of pounds that have been fraudulently embezzled by those who have applied for Government grants and loans to which they are not entitled.
For many I feel sure, it leaves them wondering what our world is coming to. But then as Christians we have a greater hope. Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and the promise that one day he will return we can know that God sees what is happening in his world and in his time will respond. In the meantime, we are called simply to abide in his unending love for us.
This week in our continuing journey through my reading of ‘Seeing Jesus from the East’, Ravi Zacharias talks about the message of Jesus and how people receive it. He begins by pointing to the fact that Jesus uses stories (parables) to get his message across to his audience. The idea of storytelling is typically an eastern thing, one which I think we’ve lost the art of here in the western world. That said, the new Archbishop of York, Stephen Cotterill, used story very effectively at our recent online clergy study day.
Zacharias recollects a British comedian called Alan Bennett who once said, ‘You know, Life, it’s rather like opening a tin of sardines. We are all of us looking for the key. We roll back the lid of the sardine tin of Life, we reveal the sardines, the riches of Life, and we get them out, we enjoy them. But, there’s always a little piece in the corner that you can’t get out’. There’s a truth here isn’t there. We are all looking for the key of life, but we won’t get it all until we understand the full story.
It’s funny though how we often remember stories better than most things. With Jesus however, he goes that bit further. He knows our story. He knows your story. He knows my story. He knows us. He knows you and he knows me. But our story must be relevant to our audience. The reason I say this is because Zacharias explains that in the western world, we tend to package up things that we want others to buy in the hope that they will appeal. Instead he suggests that in doing so we ignore the struggles and needs of the people we are appealing to. He says that we need to understand the story of others and then we can speak into it, just as Jesus himself knows our story.
Take for example the story of the woman at the well in John 4. Jesus knew her story. He told her everything about herself. In so doing he brought the conversation down to her specific need and the hurt with which she lived. The woman questioned Jesus on why he would associate with someone like her. He on the other hand was only interested in her story.In the same way I think we are surprised when we come face to face with God and find that he knows us and wants to forgive us regardless of our story. This is the story of grace beyond our understanding. This is the story of grace that we all need to hear and know.
Please may I remind you that next Sunday, 1st November (All Saint’s Day) we will be holding our Annual Parochial Church Meeting at the Minster at 10-30am in the context of our main worship service. There will therefore be no services at St John’s or Holy Trinity next week. We hope to be able to have a live Zoom link running alongside the service/meeting at the Minster and I will be sending out a Zoom link and all the paperwork soon. If you would like to be at the meeting in person then please remember to book your seat. In the meantime please also pray about whether God might be calling you to serve in one of the ways where a vacancy in role exists in the church (Churchwarden at the Minster and St John’s, PCC Secretary, PCC Treasurer, Electoral Roll Officer, Parish Safeguarding Officer, Deanery Synod Representative).
For now, may God bless you in the week ahead.
Simon <><
