AUGUST 2019 MESSAGE Cricket World Cup Winners
I had little chance of not finding enjoyment in the game of cricket. A
grandparent who was groundsman, captain and a player for over 40 years
for Downe Cricket Club in Kent and his sister a county cricketer.
The primary school I attended had a cricket team which played regular
matches with other schools and after school I was able to join a local team
that played weekly friendly matches. I was first taken to a cricket match in
the summer of 1966 watching the England team beat the West Indies at the
Oval. (The West Indies had won the other 4 test matches!)
I enjoyed coaching cricket teams as a teacher and for me the perfect
summer job was doing cover as a cricket commentator at the Northampton
County Ground. All in all, I can feel very grateful for this wonderful game
and now sharing in the delight over our recent World Cup victory.
During the World Cup I enjoyed reading Moeen Ali`s newspaper articles.
He has written and talked about how the players have as a team come to
better understand each other`s faiths and beliefs and to respect each other.
This openness and willingness to understand better and to respect the other
person seems to me a very important message for our time.
Philip Davies
JULY 2019 MESSAGE The “Pet Service 4pm Sunday 14th July
Our most informal service in the Church is our Pet Service. We have hymns, songs and readings and include the opportunity for pets to be blessed and thanked for their companionship.
It is Saint Francis who is particularly remembered for the way in which he recognised a connection between people and the living world. A connection that is both life-affirming and essential to the thriving of eco-systems and for a healthy planet.
Never have we been more aware of how important it is for us to make decisions and choices that recognise the stewardship of the earth is a responsibility not just of governments and institutions – but also of ourselves.
So in our service, as well as the thanksgiving for pets, we also re-commit ourselves to doing all that we can to share the earth’s resources better, reduce the energy we use, and to respect the living world around us.
Philip Davies
JUNE 2019 MESSAGE Our Church Services
Our current pattern of Church services are mainly services of Holy Communion either at 9am or 10.30am and we also have a monthly afternoon service of hymns and readings.
I am very grateful for the ongoing help with our services of retired clergy, particularly Michael Wilson, David Bond and Keith Denison. They ensure June offers us a five Sunday month and that means four services in Collyweston. Pentecost is to be celebrated on Sunday 9th June at 4pm with our afternoon service, and within this the opportunity to celebrate the re-admission to office of Church Wardens, Deirdre and Peter. The admission is an annual event but does not usually take place in our Parish Church. We will also be joined by other Church Wardens from around the Benefice.
All are very welcome.
Philip Davies
MAY 2019 MESSAGE Four gardens and a desert
Our March evening service took the theme of “Four gardens and a desert” with seasonal hymns and readings.
The desert being the wilderness where Jesus spent time at the early part of his ministry. The gardens being those we read about in the Bible: Eden, Gethsemane and the garden of the morning of the resurrection. And the fourth garden being what we think of as our garden space. A space that we find where we can reflect and consider the living world, our place within it, the environmental challenges facing our planet, to reflect on our own best hopes and aspirations; a place to find the words and the actions that enable qualities of compassion, generosity of heart and kindness to flourish and for the religious person also to encounter God, to cooperate with God’s loving purposes.
I am writing this looking forward to our season of Easter services which will continue in May with the Benefice Communion on Sunday 5th May at 10.30am in Kings Cliffe, and conclude with the Ascension Day service at St Nicholas Bulwick on Thursday 30th May at 7.30pm.
In between, there is Christian Aid Week, a time to assist in the raising of funds for the vital humanitarian work that this charity undertakes with its partners around the world.
Philip Davies
APRIL 2019 MESSAGE Easter 2019
You are very welcome to Easter Day service at 10.30am, Sunday 21st April. The hope of new life at Easter has and continues to sustain people in their living especially when facing times of suffering or disorder.
The Easter narrative in John’s Gospel, of the encounter in the garden between Jesus and Mary Magdalene is at the heart of what the first Christian communities came to base their faith upon.
Although rarely spoken of by Jesus in the Gospels, the story of the Garden of Eden remained significant as a way of thinking about people living in exile. In exile from living out their own best aspirations and in exile from community where compassion, generosity of heart and loving kindness were key to life.
Jesus is understood by the Gospel writers to have overcome the barriers that bring this exile through his commitment to God, his love of stranger and enemy as well as friend, and by the laying down of his life for others.
The major themes that we are reminded of each year in Holy Week in the services on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday when there is a service of Holy Communion at 8pm in Kings Cliffe Church, and on Good Friday with a service of hymns and readings at 2pm in St Nicholas Bulwick.
– Philip Davies
MARCH 2019 MESSAGE “From a Desert to a Garden”
The coming of Lent in March begins a season in which we are invited to reflect on and consider our priorities, our hopes and aspirations and on changes and adjustments that we may decide to make to our pattern of living.
In the Gospels we read about Jesus spending time in the desert. He learns more about humility, about living lightly, about being compassionate and how acts of kindness can make so much difference to the lives of others.
Throughout Lent there will be a series of gatherings to think about how people can try to live this way today and on the challenges that living this more human way can bring. Alongside this we will draw upon Mark`s Gospel, the ways in which that Gospel explores what it means to say that by living this more human way, “the kingdom of God has come near”.
The first session will be at the back of King`s Cliffe Church at 8pm on Thursday 14th March. Tea and coffee served from 7.45pm. All are welcome.
And our afternoon service in St Andrews Church, at 4pm on Sunday 10th March will also have the theme “From a Desert to a Garden” with seasonal hymns and readings. All are welcome.
FEBRUARY 2019 MESSAGE “Faith and Belief in the Workplace”
This year I am planning a Lent course that will consider the place of faith and belief in the workplace. To look at a variety of situations and consider what difference the perspective of faith and belief might bring.
It would help in planning to listen to the experience of those across a range of ages and experiences and to include those in education, health and social care. However, I would think we might also look at a whole range of work and life experience and to that end I would be glad of the contribution to the course of all those for whom faith and belief in the workplace is or has been a consideration.
I would think that we will want to talk and think about a range of moral issues, social issues and issues of personal spirituality and journeying. Is-sues about early life, schooling, the journey into work, work and life balance, preparing for and living in retirement and thinking about end of life.
Please let me know if you might be able to contribute to these meetings with some personal experiences, thoughts or reflections. I am thinking of running the course from mid-March to mid-April.
Philip Davies 470314 philip.davies1605@gmail.com
JANUARY 2019 MESSAGE
I am writing this in the middle of our season of special Advent and Christmas services. The Christingle Service in Bulwick has reminded us of the work of the Children’s Society and its ongoing work in supporting young people with practical support, counselling and care.
The singing of Silent Night at carol services, a reminder of those simple words and a beautiful tune that continues to inspire.
Carol sung in the trenches during the Christmas Day ceasefire of 1914 by German soldiers, responded to by British soldiers singing The First Nowell, and then the joining together of voices for O Come All Ye Faithful. A moment that, decades later, veterans continued to recall as a glimmer of hope amidst the chaos that was all around.
A carol which Simon and Garfunkel made a recording of in the 1960s, alongside the words of the 7 O’clock News. Words about the main issues of the day: war, division and the resulting suffering. Placed together and giving for me a striking insight into the meaning of Reincarnation. The word that is used to describe Jesus living amongst us. Jesus giving a way of living that does not avoid reality, but a way that looks deeper into what is going on. Not offering a way out of facing life’s challenges, but finding a way that can steer and help us make our way through the challenges our world, our country and that we as individuals face.
Philip Davies
DECEMBER 2018 MESSAGE “Christmas 2018”
From 1823, with the writing of the poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas”, and its images of Father Christmas, described in the poem as St Nicholas, there starts to emerge a presentation of Christmas that we might recognise today both holding the tradition of generous giving, but also the culture of a festival that has become consumer-driven and heavily marketed.
Charles Dickens captured the aspect of generous giving through the difficult lessons that led Scrooge to be changed for good. In his Christmas poem, John Betjeman articulates a desire to hold on to the message of hope for all amidst the frantic indulgence of Christmas time. Would he be so optimistic today?
So much of the advertising now associated with Christmas focuses on specific feelings or emotions that hold us enthralled by an instantaneous fix of happy or nostalgic thoughts or both. But they usually go no deeper. And they do not consider the religious festival that is based on the prophesies of old testament times, of peace to all people, and written about in the gospels as identifying the significance of there living amongst us one who is described as a saviour, the light of God’s love present with us even in the bleakest of times.
Whatever life may have been like for each of us this year, and however we look to the year ahead, the Christmas message, unplaced from the media hype, is I believe both authentic in the message of good news that it brings, and inspiring, in the way it reveals the loving kindness of the God of all creation, whose love can be shown and lived out by the way we respond to the hope the birth of Jesus sets before us.
Philip Davies
NOVEMBER 2018 MESSAGE
“Coming up for air”
This is the title of a novel by George Orwell, written in 1939, in which the main character, a middle-aged man, is becoming fearful of the growth of fascism across Europe. The man had lived through – although not been in active service in – the First World War. Having “won” some money, he decides to spend it by re-visiting the village that h e had grown up in before that war. He hopes to find the hidden pond he had not fished, but that he remembers was full of fish.
He goes back, hoping to capture something both lost and unfulfilled. He is deeply disappointed to find the village much changed, the people both as fearful as he is and also they are mistrustful of him. The pond has long since dried up.
This November 11th, we will honour and remember those who have died in conflicts since 1914. We do this on the 100th anniversary of the Armistice that began to bring an end to the conflict and brought leaders together to make peace. Was it a good Peace? Why did the terms of that Peace fail to provide the foundation for people to live peacefully?
The nostalgic return of the man in George Orwell’s novel reminds us that the reality of a situation is not something that should be looked back upon through rose tinted glasses, and that we learn nothing if we bury our heads in despair or ignorance.
Those who would make peace at the end of World War Two understood and learned from the mistakes of their predecessors. Since then, other conflicts have ended with people considering the wider context of making a Peace, and making reparation that is not done in such a way to be purely punitive, but instead opens the way for future reconciliation.
The question “how can we make a good Peace, a Peace that lasts?” is as relevant as ever.
Philip Davies
OCTOBER 2018 MESSAGE
“Coming together midweek for prayer and reflection”
There are regular Sunday opportunities for worship throughout the year in each Parish Church across the Benefice. Mainly these are services of Holy Communion but also services of the word, evening services, carol services and special services for significant times like on Remembrance Sunday. Currently there are fewer opportunities for more informal gatherings for prayer and reflection. To this end, we begin in October a twice monthly midweek evening gathering.
The format will include time for quiet and prayer, and for readings and music. Each gathering to last about 30-45 minutes with tea or coffee to follow.
I am looking to hold the first of these at 8pm on Thursday 4th October, then Thursday 18th October, then on Monday 5th November and Thursday 22nd November and then Monday 3rd December; (dates have been amended from those previously given) in Kings Cliffe Church. In time, I hope that once established we could also hold these gatherings in other churches across the Benefice.
Connecting the Christian story with daily life can be a challenge and I hope that these sessions, by giving time and space for reflection, for raising questions and having open conversation, will be a support in enabling that story to be meaningful, encouraging and relevant to the lives we lead.
Philip Davies
SEPTEMBER 2018 MESSAGE
“Greenbelt Festival 2018: Acts of the Imagination”
Celebrating its 5th year at Boughton House, Kettering, will be the 2018 Greenbelt Festival over the weekend of Friday 24th to Monday 27th August.
I have made visits to this Christian arts, music and ideas festival since it moved to its current Northamptonshire home and enjoyed challenging presentations by John Bell of the Iona Community, Mona Siddiqi, a regular Thought For The Day contributor and last year a feisty autobiographical talk by Jack Monroe. She will be speaking again this year, along with Pussy Riot, and there are also the many craft stalls, excellent world food outlets and music venues such as are a part of any summer festival. There is something for everyone, including young children, and last year I noticed many teenagers and young people enjoying the varied programme of events.
Some camp on site for all or part of the Festival and each day there are day tickets. There are cheaper tickets on the Friday, and concessionary tickets are available each day. Each day there are many services held which reflect a wide breadth of Crhstian traditions from around the world.
Archbishop Justin Welby led the Big Tent service on the Sunday morning in 2016. The Bank Holiday Monday has been the day that I have attended with a full programme starting at about 11am. The setting is magnificent and the venue easily accessible every day by car. Full details can be found at http://www.greenbelt.org.uk.
Philip Davies
AUGUST 2018 MESSAGE The benefits of the Benefice
The word “Benefice” is the one we use to describe our group of six village churches, which are linked by myself as Parish Priest, David Teall as Reader, by our office and administration, by the pastoral care of all within our communities, and by our pattern of church services which seek to provide a variety of regular Communion services and other services particularly for seasonal worship.
We came into being as a Benefice five years ago, although all the villages had been working alongside groups for a longer time. I think there are many benefits of working in this way. We can have regular services, according to need, in each of our villages and have opportunities to come together to be part of a bigger gathering, either at our monthly Benefice Service or for special occasions like a Confirmation service. Thanks to the regular support of retired clergy, we have those leading our regular services who have become familiar faces to our communities. This is also the case for leading the services that mark significant events: baptisms, weddings and funerals.
Within the Benefice we have groups that meet, which are of interest to people in all the villages. The women supporting “dress a girl” in Bulwick come together from different villages and other opportunities for this include the ladies’ group in Easton on the Hill, the women’s fellowship in Kings Cliffe and the pre-school Twiglets group. Bell ringing and choral music also gather people from different villages. And we can support social and fundraising events in each village.
We now look to the future of our life as a Benefice making sure that we have appropriate ministry and opportunities for worship in place to meet the future needs of each community.
Philip Davies
JULY 2018 MESSAGE Any Dream 
The Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat includes the song “Any Dream Will Do” and there are many references in the musical to Joseph’s dreams. The musical is based on and built around the biblical stories of Joseph in the book of Genesis.
When it comes to the dreams of Joseph, the question we are left with is what can we do with a dream? Dreams in the bible are usually very significant. In the story of Joseph, we read how he annoys his brothers with the details of a dream in which symbolically as both bundles of wheat and as the stars in the sky, they are described as bowing down to him.
Later when in prison he interprets the dreams of a baker and wine carrier, to one, a message of release, to the other, of being killed.
As he matures, the interpreting of dreams by Joseph becomes a sign of his wisdom and in correctly interpreting Pharaoh’s dream about the seven fat and skinny cows, as meaning times of plenty and then times of famine. He rises to a position of power. He is the adviser who prepares the country fully for the famine. Tim Rice’s lyric, “The first recorded rationing in history was a hit”.
Towards the end of the biblical story, Joseph and his brothers are reunited and the description in the Genesis narrative of their reconciliation is striking and moving. He and they have learned a great deal about life, about coming through difficult times, and about accepting one another in a loving way without resentment. Taking a dream seriously can and does make a difference. It was something the civil rights leader Martin Luther King understood and is remembered when in 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, he delivered that famous speech.
Philip Davies
JUNE 2018 MESSAGE A “Friend” to the Parish Church
We are very fortunate to have magnificent Church buildings in each of our Benefice villages, and to know that they are valued by so many in our communities. In addition to regular services, we try to have our Churches open each day and we keep up a programme of maintenance and repair, funded by donations and fund raising. Church buildings have a survey report every five years and we have recently had one of these. For parishioners and those with a link to each community, we are available for baptisms, wedding, funerals and memorial services.
Concerts are held in our Churches, and although we have limited refreshment servery facilities, refreshments can be served after services, concerts and meetings. Most of our Churches have areas for children and we are very aware of meeting health and safety requirements and providing access for all. We like to work closely with environmental groups to develop the natural environment that our Churches and Churchyards can embrace.
There are many tasks that volunteers already support us with in the maintenance of our Churches, but we do now need more help to assist with regular maintenance tasks and with fund raising, especially in relation to the pursuing of grants for improving facilities in the Churches. Offers of help will be welcome and it would also be helpful to know if there is support for the establishing of a “Friends to the Church” group.
Please contact myself, a church warden or the Benefice office.
Philip Davies (470314)
MAY 2018 MESSAGE Easter and beyond
The documentaries “Grenfell Minute by Minute” and “Manchester 100 Days After” both gave insights into the unfolding of a tragedy. The viewer being able to understand more about what happened through footage taken live as the tragedies unfurled; and through interviews with survivors, bereaved families and with members of the emergency services. The documentaries considering what happened both immediately following and then in the days and weeks that followed.
The purpose of these documentaries was not primarily to consider in depth the issues that were behind what happened or to consider long term implications; the main purpose was to inform and enable the viewer to better understand what happened and the human consequences of these tragedies.
When we read the Gospel accounts of the arrest, trial and killing of Jesus, we do not have access to such documentary material, although we may try to piece together what most likely happened to Jesus in that last week of his life, including his challenge to the temple authorities, the religious elite.
We can also think about the thoughts and feelings of those closest to Jesus, those who stayed with him in his time of trial and those who did not, and those who witnessed that they had seen him after he had died leading them to believe that he had been raised, and of those who did not see but also believed that he had overcome sin and death and given a hopeful path for humanity,. based of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Philip Davies
APRIL 2018 MESSAGE Losing and finding faith
If we lose faith in someone or something, then the reasons for this might be complex. It could be the result of accumulating factors and events that have been building up over time. There might also have been a tipping point because of a specific breakdown of trust.
I think the loss of a religious faith can be thought of in this way and that this can be true for individuals as well as for a society. There is no doubt that greater scientific knowledge and modern patterns of thinking have contributed to the consensus that Christian faith is irrelevant and on the decline.
Christianity as a belief system needs to address this and consider in thoughtful ways about how its understanding of the world could be contributing more to people’s desire to learn about human origins and to pose the difficult questions about human life.
On a more personal level, I think most of us find that we are ill-equipped both mentally and emotionally for many of the challenges that life can bring. This can include both how we live with loss and how we live with failure. Our culture is not helpful in allowing time for proper reflection on either of these things, or enabling us just to acknowledge, this is how life is.
Easter starts by doing just that. The death of Jesus is acknowledged, the apparent failure of what people had hoped from him is made clear. But alongside this comes also the recognition that death does not have the final word in defining who we are, and that failure might not only be learnt from, but that a better person can emerge when new beginnings become possible and start to open out for us.
These will be some of the things we can affirm when we gather for our Easter Day services.
Philip Davies
MARCH 2018 MESSAGE Living out the Hope of Resurrection
This year our Lent course will consider how we can make meaning of the resurrection of Jesus and how the hope within the Easter story can be lived out in shaping faith in a loving God and in lives that are lived to bring hope to all. There will be opportunities for any questions to be raised, and the course materials should provide us with plenty of food for thought and discussion.
We will be using a newly produced ecumenical course which has the title “On the Third Day”. The contributors are Paul Vallely, Roman Methodist Conference; Tom Wright; and Libby Lane, Bishop of Stockport.
The introduction to the course materials says this:
“The resurrection is the Big Story that turned a little protest movement into a world-wide religion. How can we today recapture the way that this ricocheted around the world? How can we be an Easter people?”
The first session will be in the CHAOS room in Kings Cliffe Church at 8pm on Thursday 8th March. Tea and coffee served at the back of the Church from 7.45pm. All are welcome.
Philip Davies
FEBRUARY 2018 MESSAGE Confirmation Preparation
The sacrament of Baptism is the way in which entering the Christian way of living is marked. This can often take place as a baby or as a small child, but it is a decision older children, teenagers and adults also might decide to make.
Alongside Baptism is the sacrament of Confirmation and this is particularly for older children, teenagers and adults. It is when a person decided that they would like to confirm their following of the way of Jesus. The Confirmation Service is taken by a Bishop and he or she asks for the local church to prepare the confirmation candidates so that they understand more about the Christian faith and about the receiving of communion. Sometimes a candidate is also baptised at the same service, and so can also be prepared for this.
There will be a Confirmation Service with Bishop Donald, the Bishop of Peterborough, on Sunday 1st July at 6pm, for those who wish to be confirmed this year. Please let me know if you would be interested. I will be organising some preparation sessions from March onwards. These sessions will include plenty of opportunities to ask questions and to think with others about what it means to be a Christian.
Philip Davies ( 470314 philip.davies1605@gmail.com )
And, also in March, a Lent Course: “On The Third Day”. How can we be an Easter people? How can the ‘then and there’ of the Resurrection be a ‘here and now’?
JANUARY 2018 MESSAGE When our God came to Earth
The Christmas carol “When our God came to Earth” is a very striking reminder of how the message of incarnation is made real by people by people living out God’s love for all, an intentional love to transform human living. The carol ends “Let us sing Mary’s song, bringing hope, righting wrong, heard with fear by the strong, poor and humble raising. God of justice praising.”
The hymn below by John Bell and Graham Maule takes this message further:
When God Almighty came to earth, he took the pain of Jesus’ birth
He took the flight of the refugee, and whispered humbly: “Follow Me.”
When God Almightly went to work, carpenter’s sweat he didn’t shirk,
Profit and loss he didn’t flee, and whispered humbly: “Follow Me.”
When God Almighty walked the street, the critic’s curse he had to meet,
The cynic’s smile he had to see, and whispered humbly: “Follow Me.”
When God Almighty met his folk, of peace and truth he boldly spoke,
To set the slave and tyrant free, and whispered humbly: “Follow Me.”
Philip Davies
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
DECEMBER 2017 MESSAGE John 1.1-18
Below is part of this passage from the Bible, written about 50 years after the death of Jesus. It will be read at some point in churches all over the Christmas period. I think it is one of the deepest reflections on the significance of Jesus and of who the writer believed him to be. The writer shows an awareness of what others had written about Jesus, and of the depth of the Jewish scriptures. It indicates some first-hand knowledge from those who had met and known Jesus and asks us all to think about what Jesus’s life meant – and how we might respond to it.
“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being with him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of the people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. John the Baptist testified to him and cried out, This is he of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me. From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth comes through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only son, who is close to the father’s heart, who has made him known.”
Philip Davies
NOVEMBER 2017 MESSAGE Never give up
In May, 14 of us from our villages spent a week living as part of the Iona Community. Amongst those we spent time with was Doreen “Dora” Nyamwija from Uganda. Dora returns to Uganda this month to get married and has written a book Never Give Up about her life so far. In the introduction she writes this:
You do not have to change the whole world in a day, but you could make a difference. For me this means that:
- We should not wait until we are able to feed all the hungry children in the world, but we can start now, by sharing the food we have with each other.
- We should not wait for immigration and border laws to change, but we can start now by opening our own homes to friends and to strangers.
- We should not wait for the whole world to stop discrimination, hatred, violence, oppression – but we can start here and now through loving and accepting ourselves and our neighbours.
- We should not wait to serve God in heaven, but we can start here and now through serving those we meet in our daily lives.
- I can start from doing whatever I can, and sometimes along the way, even what seems impossible could be achieved.”
Dora also raises money to build accessible toilets for children with disabilities in Uganda. I have details if you would like to have more information about this.
Philip Davies
OCTOBER 2017 MESSAGE Opening up and exploring the Parables
A small group of us met for the first session in September and we thought together about why Jesus told parables and who they were intended for. In particular, we thought about the parable in Matthew 20.1-16 about the landlord and the workers in the vineyard.
This parable seemed to give hope to those on the margins, those left behind and by contrast it was firmly directed against the teachers of the law and the religious leaders who did not embrace God’s loving kindness in their living.
We also looked at the ways in which in musicals like Godspell, in hymns like “When I Needed a Neighbour” and “The Wise Man Built his House upon the Rock” we can listen to and sing about the message of the parables. We noticed this verse in John Bell’s hymn based on the story of the prodigal son, the father and the older son, “I Will Arise” and voiced by the older brother.
“I will arise and bury my envy,
Stretch out my hand to the one I have scorned;
I will lay down the resentment I harbour:
All will be well and all will be one.”
The next session will be on Tuesday 10th October, 7.45pm in King’s Cliffe Church.
All are welcome.
Philip Davies
SEPTEMBER 2017 MESSAGE Opening up and exploring the Parables
In the Parables in Luke Chapter 15, we find three stories of people who are searching for something or someone who is lost and in each the motivation of the seeker is that of someone who believes the best in others, who recognises the value of loving kindness and who seeks to overcome reconciliation.
The parables of Jesus can be thought of as like a hard ball or a stone hitting the surface of water. With the splash of the impact comes a rippling out effect. The meaning we give to these parables coming both with the initial impact of hearing the story and then the rippling out of different layers of meaning.
The dates for the first 3 sessions will be:
- Tuesday 12th September
- Tuesday 26th September
- Tuesday 10th October … all at 7.45pm in King’s Cliffe church
As we seek to find meaning within the stories that might reflect something of our own experiences, we will use the creative arts to help us think and reflect more deeply on the layers of meaning within the stories. All are welcome.
Philip Davies
AUGUST 2017 MESSAGE The Parable of the two sons and the prodigal father
Jesus told a number of parables that were built around the context of the consideration of significant human relationships.
In the parable about a father and his two sons we are left to think about how each of the two sons responded to the generosity of the father and of their living within the unconditional love that he had for them both. In brief, we read about a younger son who demands of his father: “Give me the share of the property that falls to me,” and who takes his share and quickly loses the lot. Who later decides on this course of action: “I will arise and go to my Father and say to him, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son, treat me as one of your hired hands.” And then, when he returns, we find the father running towards him, embracing him and laying on a big party for him.
Meanwhile the older son has continued to work hard each and every day in the fields, and so we perhaps understand his resentment when the younger son returns to such a joyful reception.
The father will not dwell on the younger son’s remorse and has little time for the older son’s resentment. He loves them both, wants both of them to know this, and seeks to bring them together. There is no catch or trap to his show of love for them both and he wants them to know the same joyful love that he has for both of them.
Philip Davies
JULY 2017 MESSAGE Parables, continued
In Luke Chapter 15 we find three parables about searching for something or someone who is lost. In each of the stories Jesus asks us to consider God in a particular way; as being like a person with responsibility for a home who has lost the equivalent of the weekly rent money and who tidies, cleans up and searches until the money is found; Goad as like a shepherd searching for a missing sheep; and God as like a parent who has unconditional love for their child and who waits for the child to come back.
In each of the stories we find the person who searches as someone who takes ownership and responsibility for a past decision, as someone who believes the best in others, who is forgiving and always seeks to overcome the causes of division by finding a way to bring about reconciliation.
The parables of Jesus can be thought of as like a hard ball or large stone hitting the surface of water. With the splash of the impact comes a rippling out effect. The meaning we give to these parables comes first with the initial impact of the story and then the rippling out of layers of meaning. Martin Luther said of the Parable of the Loving Father (also known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son) that it contained within it the whole message of the Christian Gospel.
In the Autumn I am intending to run 6 sessions based on this Parable, using art, poetry and music to consider more fully and deeply its layers of meaning. Next month I will include a reminder of the story.
Philip Davies
JUNE 2017 MESSAGE Parables
During my life as a parish priest, both here and previously in Kent, I have in most weeks prepared a school assembly. The format of these includes a hymn or song, a prayer and an activity based on a bible story or a moral or spiritual theme. This summer for assemblies I will be returning to the stories told by Jesus, the parables that we find particularly in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
The word parable has within it the Greek word meaning ballistic, literally a story that explodes and surprises us with its message. With a General Election upon us, we might particularly notice how the story of the Good Samaritan speaks boldly of the priority of loving our neighbour and thinking about who that neighbour might be; the story of the Sower and the Seed, about making sure we look to plant seed in good soil for ourselves and for future generations; the story of the rich man and Lazarus in which the rich man is found to have lived his life without noticing the inequality around him, failed even to give help to the poor man living nearby.
In a similar way, we find in Matthew Chapter 25 the parable of the Sheep and the Goats, which considers God’s kingdom of equity, justice and peace being found in the priorities people have made in their way of living. The people ask: “Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink. And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you. And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you.” To which the reply is given: “Truly I say to you that as you did to one of the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.”
Philip Davies
MAY 2017 MESSAGE From May to September
We are noticing the lighter early mornings and the longer hours of daylight and this can bring with it a more hopeful outlook in the valuing of our rural landscape and in the enjoyment of the activities and events that the summer months provide.
We have a bumper year of weddings taking plae and being prepared for in our churches this year. The organisers of the summer village social events have already begun their preparations.
At the beginning of May, a group of us will spend a week in Scotland as part of the Iona Community; doing, talking and reflecting on the value of shared life in community. Some of this we can report back on at our Joint Churches PCC meeting in King’s Cliffe church on Monday 15th May. May is also the month when our church wardens, elected at Annual Meetings in April, will be sworn into office at the Archdeacon’s Visitation.
We have an additional Benefice Service at 7.30pm in All Saints Church, Laxton, on Thursday 25th May for Ascension Day, which will be led by Bishop John Flack.
And May also sees fundraising events for Christian Aid and a big fundraising event for King’s Cliffe church with the Plant Sale and Garden Party at The Walnuts on Bridge Street on Sunday 21st May from 2-5pm.
Philip Davies
APRIL 2017 MESSAGE Picturing Easter Hope
Caravaggio’s painting “The Supper at Emmaus” is usually on display at the National Gallery in London.
No other painting has ever truly made me stop and stare and feel that the artist is really drawing me into the subject matter. Artists use techniques to do this and here I think there are two. First, the figure of Jesus in blessing the meal, has his hand reaching out in a way that is opening, inviting and inclusive. And second, the three other figures in the paining are all positioned in such a way as to reveal themselves as eager spectators to what it is that Jesus is doing and there is space in the right foreground for the viewer to be similarly drawn into what is going on.
Closer observation of the painting enables the viewer to see the tattered clothes worn by one of the figures; the artist suggesting the presence of the risen Jesus is good news especially for those in need. And for the view almost to touch the hand of the figure whose arms are outstretched like a cross, as he considers how the man nailed to a tree is now bringing blessing and hope.
In our Church services from Palm Sunday, through Holy Week and Easter we will hear the story of the Passion of Jesus, consider the mystery of what these things mean and in heart and mind seek to encounter the compelling and active love of God that reaches out from the risen Christ to all.
Philip Davies
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MARCH 2017 MESSAGE Picturing Jesus
Many of us will have a picture of Jesus in our mind. The drawings from the Ladybird Bible Stories are one early image that I have and perhaps also of Robert Powell acting the part of Jesus in the film Jesus of Nazareth. The Jesus encountered in the Gospels is the picture of Jesus that we will seek to encounter during March in the showing of a film that takes the complete text of Matthew’s Gospel and dramatises it in the landscape of first century Palestine.
The first part of the film will be shown on Tuesday 14th March and then again on Thursday 16th March at 8pm. Viewings for the subsequent two parts of the film will follow on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
After each part of the film is shown, there will be time to talk about and to consider and talk together about what we have seen. Each session ending by 9.30pm.
Mothering Sunday 26th March
Our service of thanksgiving for Mothering Sunday will be an Afternoon Family Service at 4pm. All are welcome and there will be refreshments served after the service in church.
Philip Davies
FEBRUARY 2017 MESSAGE The Gospel of Matthew
During each year, a different Gospel is followed in our Church Sunday readings and this usually forms the focus of the sermons. This year we are following the Gospel of Matthew.
Throughout Matthew’s Gospel we get a sense of people living with conflict and doubt, unsure of how the faith they have will continue to guide them in uncertain times. Always the writer brings us back to considering God’s mercy and loving kindness shown by the life of Jesus, and that because of this God’s people can through their following of the way of Jesus be salt and light for each other and for the world.
The Lumo Project has taken the complete text of Matthew’s Gospel and dramatized it in a film that reflects well the context of the Gospel and the landscape of first century Palestine. My intention is to show the film in 4 parts during March. It takes us from the Incarnation through the teachings of Jesus and the healings and other miracles, and then to the trial, crucifixion and resurrection. Each of the 4 showings will last for about 45 minutes and end with time for conversation and discussion.
Please let myself or a Church Warden know if you would be interested in attending. The dates, times and venues of the showings will be confirmed at a later date.
All are very welcome.
Philip Davies
JANUARY 2017 MESSAGE Living the Questions
Throughout the Autumn a group of us met in King’s Cliffe Church on Thursday evenings to think about faith and belief, to bring our questions and talk about and consider these questions together.
We started by thinking about the living world and the origins of the Universe. Then we considered relationships and how God might be found relating to the world. We also had discussion about human struggled and suffering and where God might be found within this as a source of help.
Our final two sessions led us to consider more about what our concepts of God might be, to look at the significance of Jesus’s life and how we interpret the four Gospels. The resource “Living the Questions”, a DVD mixing short presentations and conversations has provided a helpful starting point for participants’ questions and for the discussion that followed.
The next “Living the Questions” will be in King’s Cliffe Church on Thursday 5th January, 7.45=9.15pm. Coffee is available from 7.30pm.
We will think about the meaning of Christmas and consider this question: “The First Christmas: What Really Happened?”
All are very welcome.
Philip Davies
DECEMBER MESSAGE
At the end of November we begin the Church season of Advent. This year at 6pm on Advent Sunday November 27th there will be a Benefice Service of Advent Carols and Readings in King’s Cliffe Church with the Benefice Choir. The service will focus on key aspects of faith including that of the hope of light shining within darkness and despair and of the cry of people for justice and peace being heard by God.
We continue to prepare to receive the message of Christmas through the presenting of the Christmas story in words and music at a carol service or in the acting of the drama in a nativity play. The Carol Service in Collyweston will be at 4.00pm on Sunday 18th December. We will hear then the words of the prophets speaking out against the consequences of complacency and self-interest and we sing Christmas carols that tell how lowly shepherds were the first to comprehend that the coming of God’s kingdom was to be found in the birth of a baby. A baby born in poverty away from the glare of media or the hype of celebrity.
We should also be very grateful that in the thirteenth century St Francis helped to give us a way of visualising the birth of Jesus when he made the first Christmas crib and in addition to Mary, Joseph, Jesus and the shepherds surrounded them with the living creatures, sheep and cattle that give an understanding of the Christmas message being important for all creation.
Whatever life may have delivered for us this year and however we may be looking to the year ahead, the Christmas message, unpacked from the media hype, is both simple in the message of good news it brings, and inspiring, in the way it reveals the loving kindness of the God of all creation, whose love is lived out in the way we respond to the hope that this new birth sets before us.
Philip Davies 01780 470314 or office@kingscliffe.church
NOVEMBER MESSAGE Special services this month
November will include acts of remembrance for the fallen in our parish churches. This year in particular there will be time for reflection on the hundredth anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.
At the end of November, we begin the church season of Advent. This year at 6pm on Advent Sunday (November 27th) there will be a Benefice Service of Advent Carols and Readings in King’s Cliffe Church, with the Benefice Choir.
The service will focus on key aspects of faith including that of the hope of light shining within darkness and despair; and that of the crying out by people for justice and of the cry being heard by God.
Reflection on and thinking about these themes can help us with our preparation for the Christmas celebration of the birth of Jesus, by giving a context to the meaning of the Christmas message.
Philip Davies 01780 470314 or office@kingscliffe.church
OCTOBER MESSAGE Iona Trip 2017
The Iona Community is made up of people from all over the world who seek to grow in their faith and understanding, by talking and listening to others and drawing inspiration particularly from the Celtic traditions of Christianity.
Each year hundreds of people spend time in community together on the island of Iona, coming from all over the world and living alongside the residents, mainly voluntary, community. People eat together, talk and walk together, including the day pilgrimage around the island that includes taking in St Columba’s Bay.
In the Abbey itself, restored during the 1950s, daily services are led by members of the community using contemporary words and songs that above all reflect the community’s focus on seeking justice and peace for all people. Wild Goose Music and the work of John Bell are particularly prominent, along with music from the worldwide Christian community.
A 6 night/7 day fully inclusive stay in the Abbey accommodation is £389, in shared twin, 4-bed or family room accommodation. Limited single room s are available but these can also be found in a range of different priced accommodation on the island. Travel to and from Iona is best by train, bus and ferry. With advance fares this should not be more tha £100 return fare per adult.
There has been sufficient initial interest for me to begin the planning for taking a group next year, either in early May, late June or in July or August. Please let me know by 15th October if you would like more information about going.
Philip Davies 01780 470314
SEPTEMBER MESSAGE Living the Questions
If 200 years ago
some religious practices and rituals
were getting in the way,
how did people
come to see Jesus as the Way?
This question, many others and those that participants will bring should provide a rich and varied tapestry of thinking, talking and learning together for “Living the Questions”, a series of presentations with opportunities for conversation, questions and discussion, on Thursday evenings in King’s Cliffe Church.
Weekly sessions beginning
Thursday 29th September
7.45pm-9.00pm
Hot drinks available from 7.30pm
All very welcome!
Session One: Why do religions have creation stories? How are the narratives in Genesis significant for Christianity?
Session Two: The Bible: inerrant or to be interpreted? Finding God’s story, God’s peoples’ story, my story.
Session Three: What are our pictures of God? Jesus and his way of relating Himself and people with God.
AUGUST MESSAGE Living the Questions
Who is God?
Can we have faith in a loving Creator?
Would I call myself a spiritual person?
Is there a soul?
If 2000 years ago some religious practices and rituals were getting in the way, how did some people come to see Jesus as The Way?
These questions, many others and those that participants bring should provide a rich and varied tapestry of thinking, talking and learning together for “Living the Questions”, a series of presentations with opportunities for conversation, questions and discussion, on Thursday evenings in King’s Cliffe church.
Weekly sessions beginning
Thursday 29th September
7.45pm-9.00pm
Hot drinks available from 7.30pm
All very welcome!
JULY MESSAGE Living the Questions
I remember the Head Teacher of the school that I attended agreeing to meet with Sixth Form students to talk about his Christian faith. He gave the title “Why I Am an Anglican” and spoke only to this explaining it was because he was born and bred an Anglican. As for the question “Why I am a Christian” that he would not be talking about that.
We felt a bit let down because I think the expectation had been that he might talk to us about how his faith impacted on his life, the changes through life and how a faith might make a difference to taking decisions and actions.
For myself, being open to God’s love at all times and responding to it in all situations provides the framework for my faith and coming with this the challenge to live out this faith, including living with all the questions that it brings.
The resource “Living the Questions” comes out of the progressive tradition in Christianity and I find it a very helpful way of considering what religious faith is, how it is linked to human spirituality and how, by exploring open questions, a Christian faith can be both challenged and grow and become more meaningful. Running the course in the autumn would be possible and in planning to do this, it would be helpful to have initial expressions of interest either by phone or email.
Philip Davies 01780 470314
JUNE MESSAGE Moving on…
Karin will be taking up a full-time post as Vicar of the Parish of Cherry Hinton in Cambridge in September. She has been part of our team ministering in our villages for five years., first as Curate and now as Associate Priest and she has combined all of this with her responsibilities at Uppingham School.
Karin’s outward going and warm personality will be greatly missed and many people have benefited from her ministry amongst us. We want to say thank you to her on Sunday 3rd July. Karin’s final service will be in King’s Cliffe Church at 10am that morning and the service will be followed by a glass of fizz and some light refreshments. We will also be making a presentation to Karin that morning and donations towards a gift can be given to church wardens in each of the villages.
Philip Davies
APRIL MESSAGE Remembering William Law of King’s Cliffe
Saturday 9th April 2016
William Law was a very influential Christian thinker and writer. He was born in King’s Cliffe and is buried in the Churchyard. The charity he established with Elizabeth Hutchinson continues to day to be of significance for the village school and for local almshouses. Law’s books are still in print, 250 years after his death.
We are welcoming Dr Alan Gregory, who has published on William Law, to be with us for these special celebrations on Saturday 9th April:
- 2.00pm Meet in the church for a tour with Sue Trow-Smith and friends, of local William Law sites including the Heritage Centre on Bridge Street, King’s Cliffe.
- 3.30pm Cup of tea and cake at the church – followed by –
- 4.00-5.00pm Dr Gregory will talk about the Nature and Historical Context of the Spiritual Understanding of William Law, including time for questions. The church choir will also sing some pieces.
Reverend Philip Davies
MARCH MESSAGE Easter Hope
Amidst the violence of so much of our world, be it terrorism, war or gun crime, the violent and cruel death of Jesus could seem like one more senseless act of human torture. Religions well understand human nature and the capacity for violence, and most religions have found ways of containing this violence, usually through some sort of system of sacrifice or scapegoat.
The Christian story begins from a different perspective. Jesus spending his time with those who are suffering, particularly from disease or exclusion from society. He enters their world and helps them find healing of body and spirit and a way back to living fully once more in community with others.
Then he himself becomes a victim of the jealousy, rivalry and selfishness of others. On the day called Good Friday, he is tortured and put to death by crucifixion, suffering in this way because of his living as he did alongside those in greatest need, doing the things that he did to transform human lives and saying what he said with a vision that challenged the complacency of the religious and political leaders of the time.
On the Cross in Luke’s Gospel we find Jesus forgiving those around him, and with Jesus are Mary and Mary Magdalene who capture something of this turning upside down of religious ways that can make victims disappear rather than raise one up who will continue to make more real the hope within. On Easter Day we will gather in each of the Churches of our Group to proclaim that Jesus is Risen. This is the hope that comes from faith that Jesus overcame all fear to bring new life and a new beginning.
Philip Davies
FEBRUARY 2016 MESSAGE A New Year Prayer
This prayer comes from the Iona Community:
Turn again, good God, and give us life
That your people may rejoice in you.
Make me a clean heart, good God,
And renew a right spirit within me>
Give me again the joy of your help,
With your spirit of freedom sustain me.
The small island of Iona sits off Mull on the west coast of Scotland. St Columba made it his base when exiled from Ireland and so beginning the spreading of Christianity across Scotland. Later the abbey he established became a Benedictine monastery, only to fall into ruins during the sixteenth century.
The current Iona Community was the inspiration of George McCloud in the 1930s and is made up mainly of volunteers of people of all ages from many parts of the world, including students and young people and others looking to give a short period of their life to live in community and to work in the kitchens, shop, café and other activities including hosting visitors, also from all over the world.
The full time staff, on the island, in Glasgow and elsewhere bring particular skills that include music, exploration of major contemporary issues, creative worship and administration that give the 21st-century Iona Community its own distinctive voice.
In 2009 a group of us spent a few days on Iona and it really seems time to plan another similar trip, perhaps this Autumn or next Spring. Please let me know if you might like to come.
Philip Davies
JANUARY 2016 MESSAGE A birth and a beginning
Listening to 11 year old Caitlin describe how she had acted as an impromptu midwife when her Mum suddently went into labour helped bring home to me that it is the birth of a baby that is at the centre of the Christmas story.
The conversatin Caitlin had had with the emergency services had been recorded so we could hear Caitlin describe what was going on, hear her Mum in labour and the calm voice at the end of the phone giving helpful guidance. “Can you see anything?” “Yes, the baby’s head?” “Right, keep your mum warm and find some towels to wrap baby in.” All, thankfully, went well and a week later being interviewed on breakfast television was Mum, the baby and Caitlin recalling what had happened, a story that family will no doubt re-tell for a long time.
Like the Christmas story, it reminded me that in the course of everyday life people can do extraordinary things for which they might have felt unprepared but that with some instinctive positive thinking, a willingness to ask for advice and a degree of calmness under pressure, good things can result.
It also made me think about how much my faith might enable me to notice that this is often the case and so to recognise the hand of God in everyday life. If the Christmas story of the birth of a baby 2000 years ago to a migrant couple, who cannot return home, is to impact on me, I need to notice what this story might be saying about God’s hand being at work in the world. And to suggest that hope can be found by the way in which people and nations respond to human need, by showing instinctive generosity and hospitality to the most fragile and vulnerable so that they can have hope and be given a new beginning.
Philip Davies
DECEMBER 2015 MESSAGE Love Came Amongst Us At Christmas
Love is at the centre of the Christmas message and we look forward to welcoming you to special services throughout Advent and Christmas. Details of services are on the card that was delivered with your copy of Collyweston News this month.
The past year will have brought changes for all of us, and included for some experiences that will have been life changing. There is a need for us all to live each day as that day comes, in a way that we can recognise, and notice the changes that are around is, in the natural and living world, in the lives of those around us and, through the media, in what is going on in the wider world.
For some, the words of the poem “I have no time to stand and stare” can be very true and the lead-up to the season of Christmas can make this feel even more apparent. But we know that time is a precious thing, so that noticing what is going on is so important and how sometimes we need to adapt to changing situations and sometimes not be moved by changes especially when others selfishly and thoughtlessly try to impose these upon us.
Taken as a whole the Christmas narratives found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke show us that people living 2000 years ago also h ad to face the consequences of change. a mother and the birth of her first child, a father needing to move the fragile young family from place to place, and a climate of fear because of oppressive regimes and dreadful acts of terror. All of these we find in those Christmas narratives.
People on the move has been a major focus of attention over the last 12 months and how governments and communities respond to this will continue to be a focus in the coming year. Jesus was a baby born to those who had to quickly flee from terror but who would find a place for family to call home and to live well. This baby that is recognised as a gift of love to the world first needing the love of others to survive and to grow.
Finding love big enough in compassion and selflessness; the love asked of us for others, especially for those most without hope.
Philip Davies
SEPTEMBER MESSAGE From the Rectory – Reverend Karin Voth Harman
Hello to all of you in the village whom I’ve not yet met… I’m Karin, your Associate Priest, working with the Vicar, Philip Davies, to cover 6 villages at the top of Northamptonshire. Philip’s enjoying a well earned sabbatical till 1st November, so I get the chance to introduce myself and hopefully to see many of you at various occasions – Harvest, Christenings, Sunday Services – over the next few months.
I’ve been based at King’s Cliffe church for four years now and have focused on building up the church’s work with families. Every Tuesday afternoon in term time I lead a play group for small people and their carers called “Twiglets” in King’s Cliffe Church. We started up on 1st September at 2.00pm and anyone with a child who won’t nap in the afternoons is welcome to join us! I’d love to start a second “Twiglets” in Collyweston or Easton on the Hill; but need a little team of people to help. If you’re interested, do get in touch.
I also work with the Underground Centre in King’s Cliffe, where we will be starting a “Messy Church Breakfast Club” at 9am on the first Saturday of each month, beginning 3rd October. Anyone wondering what to do with young children on a Saturday morning is welcome to join us for a bacon butty breakfast, crafts, games and songs. Messy Church is a free, very informal and very fun way to introduce your children to the basic Bible stories… and it’s been popular throughout the country. Come and find us at Underground (underneath the King’s Cliffe village hall).
We’d love to offer more church based activities for kids in Collyweston – we just need volunteers to work with us, as we clergy are stretched very thin. If you’d like to help get your village children off to a good start spiritually, then please do get in touch. I’d love to speak with you about what might be possible! My email is karinvothharman@gmail.com or text on 07971 936253.
You can also send your email address through, if you’d like to be on a mailing list for children’s events in the wider group of churches. Or you can ‘like’ the King’s Cliffe All Saints and Saint James Church page on Facebook to receive the same information.
September is the real start of the year for all of us who live with children, or remember the deep rhythms of childhood. Shiny new, sharpened like they will never again be sharpened, pencils sum up this time of year for me. What will they draw this year? What stories will they write, what puzzles will they solve?
In our village there will be new beginnings for many of our children, as Underground re-opens – freshly painted, re-floored and re-modelled. After heroic efforts to keep everything going while in exile, culminating in hugely successful trips and fun days all summer long, Underground returns “home” this month. And opens a new venue in Oundle, and continues to work in Thrapston.
In King’s Cliffe, the Church will partner with Underground to start a new venture called “Messy Church Breakfast Club” on the first Saturday morning of each month, from October. Messy Churches are growing exponentially all over the world, and are popular with families of all kinds. If you’d like your child to have some exposure to Christian stories and ideas, but feel that Sunday morning doesn’t work so well for you, do consider coming along to Underground on Saturday 3rd October at 9am. A bacon butty breakfast will be served during the first half hour. Games, crafts, and a short time of singing and stories will follow. All are welcome to drop in!
Another date to flag up is Thursday 17th September, when there will be an open meeting at King’s Cliffe church (8pm) to discuss how we can best address the spiritual needs of our children and young people. We’re eager to get feedback on groups like “Twiglets” and “Chaos” and to consider what else we might do to help the young. Please come along to share your ideas; we’re hoping for a very diverse and opinionated focus group, including people who’ve never come to church.
Most of the key organisations which support children in our villages – the school, Underground, and the Church – are undergoing times of transition and growth. Please join in to ensure that our villages become the best places in Britain in which to raise children!
Associate Priest, Reverend Karin Voth Harman
AUGUST MESSAGE Collective worship in schools and religious education
It is over two years since I finished working with the Peterborough Diocesan Board of Education where my work was particularly to advocate on behalf of and to work with others in making provision for worship in school assemblies and Religious Education in the classroom. Both Collective Worship and RE are compulsory in all maintained schools and when done well, I think they make a tremendous contribution to children’s learning and to their spiritual development.
We have two Primary Schools in our Benefice and both take the provision of Collective Worship and RE very seriously. I enjoy regularly contributing to school assemblies, trying to find ways in which the Christian tradition and bible stories can speak to the lives of children today and help them to make meaning of the world in which they are growing up. Common values, respect for the views of others and to consider life as more than just the day to day, with a wider perspective that can be motivated by the living out of faith-based values. In both schools there are themes such as courage, justice and hope that provide the framework for the daily focus of school assemblies.
I am also asked to contribute to RE lessons and groups of children regularly visit the Churches. I remember the wonderful discussion when we hot seated an empty chair with all the questions the children wanted to ask if God were sitting in that chair.
The County RE Syllabus, in line with statutory requirements, includes the teaching about Christianity in every year group, the learning about 5 other major world faiths – Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism and Buddhism – before children reach the age of 14, and considers also the perspective of those who do not have a religious faith, including a Humanist perspective.
I believe the background of this good RE gives children important skills and knowledge and a wider understanding in preparation for their adult lives in our complex and changing world.
Philip Davies
JULY MESSAGE The poetry of John Clare
Two recent memorial services have included the reading of poems by John Clare: All Nature Has a Feeling and Nature’s Hymn to the Deity which includes the phrase, “..insect and bird and tree and flower, the witness of every hour are pregnant with this prophesy and ‘God is with us’ all reply.”
In the Lion Book of Christian Poetry, compiled by Mary Batchelor, I found and enjoyed this poem by John Clare (1793-1864) Home Pictures in May which captures his sense of the finding of God within nature. (And while daffodils now seem to bloom a little earlier in the year, the robin remains a very popular bird..)
The sunshine bathes in clouds of many hews
And morning’s feet are gemmed with early dews;
Warm daffodils about the garden beds
Peep through their pale slim leaves their golden heads.
Sweet earthly suns of spring; the gosling broods,
In coats of sunny green, about the road
Waddle in ecstasy; and in rich moods
The old hen leads her flickering chicks abroad,
Oft scuttling neath her wings to see the kite
Hang wavering o’er them in the spring’s blue light.
The sparrows round their nests chirp with glee
And sweet the robin spring’s young luxury shares,
Tootling its song in feathery gooseberry tree
While watching worms the gardener’s spade unbares.
Philip Davies
JUNE MESSAGE Christianity and the visual arts
Tucked away in the Easter television schedules was a dramatisation of the life of Jesus based on the Gospel of John. It followed the whole Gospel word for word, with the voice of a narrator, as the actors through mime and movement conveyed the action and dialogue. I found it one of the most thought provoking and engaging of all the filmed dramatisations of the life of Jesus.
There was an intensity to the gathering of Jesus and the disciples in the Upper Room with the washing of their feet, the teaching about the new Commandment to love one another and the conclusion when Jesus commissioned the followers to be his hands and feet in the world. Another striking moment was Peter’s denial of Jesus, captured through the eyes of the servant girl questioning him.
The experience of watching this drama unfold was memorable because it drew you in and asked for a response.
I think for many people the creative arts, as well as the finding of special places or landscapes, can often unlock a spiritual experience of the holy and that, when combined with the telling of the Christian story, heart, mind and spirit can respond to the presence of God to help make meaning of life and experiences.
This was certainly the vision of Neil MacGregor, then Director of the National Gallery, who in 2000 created the exhibition “Seeing Salvation”. It included artwork mainly from the Gallery that showed the Gospel Narratives about the Birth of Jesus, the Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Jesus, and recognising a contemporary world where image is so much a part of life. There was also a focus on the face of Jesus and how in a secular age people might respond to this.
There are more details of the filmed dramatisations of the Gospels at www.lumoproject.com. Entry to the National Gallery is free.
Philip Davies
MAY MESSAGE Moving forward together after Easter
How do we respond to the Gospel writers’ narratives about the resurrection appearances of Jesus?
I think we start be recognising how in the narratives fearful, confused and broken men and women find hope and a new beginning. Peter, Mary Magdalene, Thomas and the others are met in their place of need and given courage to believe that Jesus is not to be fund amongst the dead but is alive.
All 4 Gospels are written with this uppermost in the writers’ minds and everything in the Gospels, which were all written between 20 and 50 years after the death of Jesus, convey the hop that Jesus the light shines within darkness, that he overcame all that leads to despair and bitterness, and lived a way that showed people how the love of God can be lived out.
I think that the resurrection narrative that holds these things together is the one when 2 people are joined on their journey to Emmaus by a stranger, who the narrative later reveals to be Jesus. This stranger talks with the people about the big picture of how people had recognised for centuries God’s commitment to the creation and humanity and that this had been most considered by the prophets who wrote of people responding in different ways to there being something greater than the toil of life, and something important which encouraged people to hold on to selfless love in relationships and in community living.
This resurrection narrative ends with the recognition of Jesus in the breaking of bread and this way of meeting with Jesus has continued to be the focus of the witness and worship of the Church. During Lent we were reminded of this and encouraged to think more deeply and more honestly about how we together show and live out God’s love for all.
Philip Davies
APRIL MESSAGE Could we start again please?
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical Jesus Christ Superstar is touring again and while the main aim of the show is to entertain, I always find that it offers much to think about as to the meaning of Jesus’s life. “Who are you? What have you sacrificed?” and “Did you mean to die like that?” are in the lyrics of the title song. In fact the whole idea of Judas asking questions of Jesus, and trying to find ways in which Jesus could have been a leader but in a way that does not take him to the Cross, gives the whole show a unique slant on exploring the meaning of Jesus’s death and how his death has been interpreted.
The musical ends with Jesus dying on the Cross and does not explicitly consider the meaning of resurrection. But it does present the disciples and followers of Jesus as people seeking and searching, and finding hope and a new beginning through their faith in Jesus.
In the musical, Mary Magdalene sings of her love for Jesus because he has given her life meaning by raising her as a person from living on the edge and being exploited by others. In the Easter Day Bible narrative in John’s Gospel, it is Mary who is the first to encounter the risen Jesus in the garden. Later in the Gospel we read of Peter who had publicly denied his friendship with Jesus, being restored to a position of trust and leadership and given the task of seeking the lost and caring for the broken. “Could we start again please?” sing Mary and the disciples in the Rice/Lloyd Webber musical.
The message of Easter Day is
“Yes. We Can.”
Philip Davies
MARCH MESSAGE Science and Religion
The recent death at the age of 99 of Professor Charles Townes, the inventor of laser technology, is a reminder that science and religion must work more closely together.
Charles Townes won both the Nobel Prize for Physics and the Templeton Prize for contribution to world religions – and he saw the 2 disciplines of science and religion as 2 sides of the same coin, needing each other to enable understanding and meaning in life.
He wrote: “The goal of science is to discover the order in the universe, how it works and to understand through it the things we sense around us including our fellow human beings. This order we express as scientific principles or laws, striving to state them in the simplest yet most inclusive ways.
“The goal of religion may be stated, I believe, as an understanding (and hence acceptance) of the purpose and meaning of our universe and how we fit into it. Most religions see a unifying and inclusive origin of meaning, and the supreme purposeful force we call God.
“Science is the pursuit of understanding about the order of the universe; religion the pursuit and acceptance of its meaning in the universe.”
The laser technology that developed as a result of Charles Townes’s work has found widespread medical application, in particular laser eye surgery, domestic use with the microwave oven, and Townes was the NASA technical adviser for the Apollo space programme.
He grew up on a farm, was encouraged as a child to explore everything around him, and his passion for science and his Christian faith shaped his search for meaning with the desire that all people should work together for the common good and learn to live and act courageously, as a result of the consequences of the making of new discoveries.
Philip Davies
Our thoughts and prayers to the family of Mrs Hazel Moore-Orton who has recently died.
FEBRUARY MESSAGE
Often there are stories about Jesus which involve large crowds. Each story has a meaning and tries to show an aspect of faith and belief. When Jesus is baptised he comes forward from a large crowd of people who have responded to the call of John the Baptist to turn from sin and turn to God. A turning away from selfishness, from resentments and from all the things that prevent people from living fully, accepting people as they are and loving with compassion.
When people took to the streets of Paris recently in great numbers that had not been seen since the liberation of Paris in 1944, people walked together to show respect for those who had died and to make a case for peace in response to the brutal killings that had taken place. The French President and other leaders of nations were just part of this large crowd of people of many faiths and of none, and at the centre were the family, friends and colleagues of those who had died. There were no speeches; instead, the act of coming together said everything.
The Bible verse at the end of the Baptism of Jesus speaks about Jesus being a beloved son in whom God is well pleased. From sharing in the lives of others and being a part of the daily lives of all people, Jesus is then identified as beloved of God and one in whom God’s favour abides. Only through living alongside others, sharing fully in life in all its fullness, with joys and disappointments, with hopes fulfilled and when hopes are shattered, can Jesus step forward and show the way of God. Not as one beloved because of being separate but as one in whom God is well pleased because of his being at one with all humanity.
The Paris crowd of people, world leaders and those most affected by the death of loved ones, helped me think again about the way shown by Jesus in his being within great crowds to show God’s love and to help people think more about living out God’s mercy and love more fully.
Philip Davies
JANUARY 2015 MESSAGE… Millennium Development Goals
These were the ambitious and agreed millennium goals at the centre of the United Nations aim for living sustainably and we have reached the year in which the targets were hoped to be met.
- to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- to achieve universal primary education
- to promote gender equality and to empower women
- to reduce child mortality
- to improve maternal health
- to combat HIV/AIDS and Malaria and other diseases
- to ensure environmental sustainability
To achieve the above with a global partnership for development.
In spite of war, global recession and the outbreak of diseases such as Ebola, there has been progress to achieving some of these goals, most especially in there being greater access to clean water and more children than ever attending primary school. But there is much more that still needs to be done. 2015 will see the goals return to centre stage for review and for reassessment with an agenda that is now likely to include the ending of poverty and hunger, improving health and education, making cities more sustainable, combating climate change and protecting oceans and forest.
So as we begin 2015 a reminder also of the Millennium Prayer.
Dear Lord, Our Father, to a world of darkness, give us your light;
In lands of war and prejudice, grant us your peace,
In a world of despair, give us hope,
In a world of hatred, show us your love,
In a world of arrogance, give us humility and faith.
Give us courage to face the challenges of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless and healing the sick.
Empower us to make a difference for the better to your world and to protect your creation.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
DECEMBER MESSAGE… Waiting, Seeking, Questioning
We look forward to welcoming you to the special services throughout Advent and Christmas. Details are here.
Recently, I have been enjoying Grayson Perry’s Channel 4 series “Who Are You?” I think the reflection below about Advent parallels the sort of way, through artistic representations, that he helped people understand more about themselves at times of change.
An Advent Reflection
You keep us WAITING, you the God of all time,
Wanting us to wait for the right time n which to discover
Who you are, who we are, where we might go,
Who will be with us and what we must do>
So thank you for the waiting time.
You keep us through our HARD QUESTIONS with no easy answers,
Through failing when we hoped to succeed
And making an impact when we felt quite useless,
Through the patience and the dreams and love of others,
And through Jesus, and His coming to be amongst us.
So thank you for the QUESTIONING time.
You keep us LOOKING, you the God of all space,
Wanting us to seek in every different place for signs of hope,
For those who are without hope,
For visions of a better world which will appear
Among the disappointments of the world we know.
So we thank you God for the LOOKING time.
Philip Davies
NOVEMBER MESSAGE… The Charter for Compassion
Karen Armstrong, writer and expert on World Religions, has recently opened up the debate on the causes of violence and tries to engage with this through considering the way that religions are essentially built around peace and hope. To this end she and others have launched a campaign to further understanding between different faiths called “The Charter for Compassion“.
I was recently asked how and why the Holy Spirit is important to the lives of Christians and I found myself thinking about this message of compassion and peace. I wrote the following as a starting point.
I see the Holy Spirit in God’s creation, in the living world, and in the expanding Universe; the life breathed into creation that is the variety and uniqueness of all living things. The life that I am a part of and for which as a person created in the image of god comes the responsibility of good stewardship.
I think about the Holy Spirit in relation to human knowledge and understanding, the challenge of living out what we know and what we are still finding out, and that this knowledge can be used wisely by living in a way that shows kindness to others and seeks justice for the poor, so that all people can be the best they can be.
I respond to the Holy Spirit in my following of Jesus, the life he led and his teaching, the way he died and his rising from the dead so that like his first followers I try to live out the love of God that Jesus showed as a way of life and hope.
Philip Davies
OCTOBER MESSAGE… The Parable of the Sower and the Seed
Vincent Van Gogh painted many biblical scenes including some of the parables of Jesus. In one of these we see a figure striding purposefully through a field, expansively scattering seed in all directions.
From the story that Jesus told, let’s consider that the figure is the Sower and that the is to represent God and that in telling the story Jesus is asking us to think about the vastness of God’s love, the generosity of God’s love. Giving a sense that God loves all people without any favour; scattering and sowing always and everywhere and that a word that might help to describe this way of loving is “gratuitous”; openly and generously gratuitous.
In the Gospels we find Jesus described as the particular word, the special and unique way of showing how God’s love really is. So in the parable of the Sower, let’s consider Jesus as the seed; the seed that is thrown into the reality of everyday life, the seed that lands in different places and situation, the seed that is broken and dies, the seed that can bring life and restore life.
A seed that can point us again to the generosity and openness of God’s love; Jesus showing this in his life, particularly in his relationships with men and women, especially his drawing back into community those who were isolated or excluded. A seed that can open up faith and belief not by clever persuasion and not through fear but like the very small scattered seed, out of weakness and vulnerability. A seed that lands in the hearts of men and women so that it can grow by abiding in their hearts and minds and flourish in human lives lived for others.
The parable of the Sower and the Seed: a story that shows people how we can be and how we can show God’s love through living lives centred on love, joy and peace, through faithfulness, self-control and patience, through kindness, goodness and gentleness.
Philip Davies
JULY MESSAGE… The Creative Spirit
The creative arts are well represented in our local communities, artists, musicians and those involved with theatre. We also have people who express their thoughts through writing poetry. Putting into specific words, feelings and responses to all sorts of situations.
The Gospel writers had the task of putting into words the experience of Jesus; resurrection and to show how the followers of Jesus responded to the recognition that they were to share in the work of bringing new life and restoring hope. Artists, dramatists and poets have continued to try to capture this.
In her book Seeking the Risen Christa, the feminist theologian Nicola Slee considers the impact of being raised up and particularly the ways in which people respond to facing personal suffering, serious illness in themselves and in others and in responses to serious accidents and tragedy.
She writes: “Wherever there is a lifting up from the mud and the gutter;
And a holding of tissue destroying mortality close to the heart and lungs;
Wherever one weakened hand reaches across intolerable pain or loss to touch another who does not speak the same language;
Wherever the imperative of care endures despite any difference it can make…”
And so the poem continues inviting the listener to include their own experiences of “wherevers” and of lifting up, of compassionate touch and of reaching out to others in love.
We might add our own “Wherever” and by doing so I believe draw closer to the experience of those who suffered with Jesus and who through the experiences of resurrection found they could face life again by responding to human need in others and who could live with, and bring, Hope.
Philip Davies
MAY MESSAGE… The Benefice Services
There are a number of opportunities for us to worship together for Holy Communion as a Benefice in the coming weeks.
Sunday 4th May at 10am in King’s Cliffe when Reverend Karin Voth Harman will preside and preach.
Ascension Day at 7.30pm Thursay 29th May in Collyweston when Rev Philip Davies will preside and preach.
Sunday 1st June at 10am in King’s Cliffe when the preacher is Canon Sam Radall, Peterborough Diocese Ecumenical Officer and previously the Bishop of Bradford’s Officer for Church in the World.
On these occasions, there are not separate services in each of the villages in the Benefice. This enables us to experience worshipping together with others in our group of churches. At the Sunday Benefice services there are children’s activities and a choir. We hope to have similar services in the other villages in the coming months.
Our main priority of course is to maintain a regular pattern of worship in each village and to provide worship that best meets the needs of each community. To this end we need to be thinking about the services that currently do this well, including the special services at major festivals, and also to think of ways in which our services can be made more accessible to the whole community.
Good links with schools in the Benefice are greatly helping this. In the past year about 50 assemblies have been led by the Benefice team and there have been regular special school services in church. The planning for reorganisation of the education system also continues and we need to think about and pray for this, and for all those most affected by it, especially the children and the staff.
Philip Davies
APRIL MESSAGE… We very much look forward to welcoming you to our service at 11am on Easter Day. The hope of new life and new beginnings made real in the celebration of Jesus raised from the dead.
The journey to the Easter celebration will have continued in our Church services through Lent and Holy Week. The Benefice service gives us an opportunity to worship together and there are separate children’s activities provided.
The service on Palm Sunday reminds us how the crowds welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem before his betrayal and suffering. A Palm Cross is given out to everyone to help us reflect on personal suffering and also on the suffering in the world; suffering that Christians believe Jesus shared in and that he showed a way through, to find hope.
On Maundy Thursday at 8pm there is a Communion Service in King’s Cliffe Church to mark Jesus’s final hours with his friends and his giving of the bread and wine as a way for them and us to remember his giving of himself for all to have fullness of life.
On Good Friday there will be a service at St Andrew’s at 2pm. An opportunity to reflect on the Cross through music and readings led by Reverend Karin.
Philip Davies
Collyweston village website 