Tadcaster Benefice

How is your physical health? How is your mental wellbeing? How is your faith?
 
Due to the pandemic it feels like we have been treading water for so long in so many aspects of life; and I suggest treading water is more tiring than swimming forwards.
 
The momentum of movement helps us travel.
 
During some confirmation preparation today I spoke of how the early Christians were called ‘people of the way’ before they were called ‘Christians’. We often speak of faith as a journey and I would suggest that living faith is something that flexes as we encounter new situations.
 
I’d love to encourage you today that, whether we can leave our homes or not, God always invites us to follow him and flex our faith. In whatever situation we find ourselves we can journey and deepen our understanding of God’s love and mercy as we follow God’s leading.
 
Our faith tends to grow in one of four ways:
 
We can draw on God’s word in the Bible to give us insight and hope; or we can ground our faith in the prayers and creeds of our Christian tradition, especially in times of turmoil; or perhaps we will stretch our faith as we engage our reason in thinking about a topic and inviting God into the mix; or perhaps we need to still ourselves long enough to experience the joy and peace of God in our hearts, no matter our circumstances.
 
Faith is a journey and when we step out in faith and rely on Scripture, Tradition, Reason and personal Experiences of God then we will find our faith life is energized. We do well as we follow Jesus. Let’s choose not to tread water but to go for a refreshing swim!
 
Rev Lucy

​We are now post ‘freedom day’. But what does freedom look like?
 
Shopping without masks?
Having food and water enough for the day?
Reconciliation?
Singing in churches?
Visiting loved ones in care homes or prisons?
Belonging to a place that is not torn apart by war and fighting?
Large parties?
Staying at the bedside of someone we love who is sick?
Travelling?
Dancing in nightclubs?
Not having to strive for a sense of identity?
Going to school uninterrupted?
Having a voice?
Escape in a dinghy?
Having two vaccinations?
Hugging family and friends?
Playing contact sports?
 
I rather think that we are free as we receive God’s free gift of his love and eternal purpose in and through relationship with his son Jesus. All the above are expressions of our human longing for relationship – with one another and I suggest with God.
 
Freedom is not a selfish matter of doing what we please and when we want to! In these new times of freedom we will need to go gently with one another, as people respond differently to these new times without restrictions.
 
A last thought: let us work also for those basic human freedoms too – the freedom to live without fear of war or oppression or lack of food and clean water. This work may be in the form of prayer; it may be in donating to charities; it may be in informing ourselves about global situations and being a voice that speaks out for the needs of those in need.
 
Jesus says: I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 10:10
 
Rev Lucy
 

Thought for the weekend - Right to repair

My attention was taken this week with the right to repair rule that has been given legal backing and which now requires manufacturers to make spare parts available for 10 years for washing machines, TVs and fridges. This will increase the life cycle of these products and effectively make it cheaper for us to own them. Importantly too it requires companies to manufacture justly, operating to standards of fairness and increasing responsibility towards the lifetime cost of a product. This has important beneficial impacts for the environment and it deals a blow to the previous ‘built-in obsolescence’ practice, whereby manufacturers deliberately built appliances to break down after a certain time, encouraging customers to buy new products. 
 
This ruling puts the needs of the environment and the needs of the customer before the wants of business to make money at any cost. This will do away with the extravagance of throwing away things that otherwise could be repaired and restored. This news comes with the strapline: fix it not fling it and harkens back to my grandparent’s mindset of mend and make do. This seems wholly fair and right, given our need to safeguard resources and cut down on carbon emissions.
 
As I reflected on this item of good news I was reminded of a verse in Micah that I think acts as a mantra for living well after God’s ways:
 
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8
 
We live well when we live justly with one another. Justice and integrity is the foundation of trust because it seeks fairness for all and puts the shared good of all above individual concerns.
 
We live well when we look out for the needs of one another, working together and acting with kindness. Being kind looks for the deeper good in situations and may cost us our preferences, our time and energy, or even money. 
 
We live well mostly as we walk humbly with God. God is from everlasting to everlasting and he holds all things. Independence from God might sound attractive to some but if we are not living for God then we tend to live for personal gain at any cost. God’s ways are higher than ours and we know true freedom when we humble ourselves before God and allow him to lead us into the flourishing he longs for us all. What is more, God loves to walk with us - we don’t have to feel the burden of doing life solo.
 
As I finish, and returning to the idea of right to repair, let me tell you from experience that God is the master craftsman who has in his gift the desire and skill to transform and restore brokenness within us and within our communities. God gave his Son Jesus to draw us close, so that he can mend and smooth and rejuvenate us in his love.
 
I’ll finish with some lyrics from a song by Philippa Hanna called New for Old. They speak of Jesus’ sacrificial love that sees our eternal worth, looks to mend us and never gives up on us. We are always worthy of repair!
 
He blows the dust from off the surface
Traces each and every line
And with scarred and weathered fingers
Holds it up towards the light
He knows exactly what he has to do to bring it back to life
Nothing is worthless for the one who sees the gold
New for old
 
Rev Lucy
​

I probably learned to ride a bike around the age of 7. Back in my day there were no balance bikes, instead we started off with wonky stabilisers before getting to the point of giving cycling a go! I remember it was my dad who taught my brother and I to cycle. I remember being outdoors in a large space off road. Dad stood behind me, holding onto the back of my seat. He would coach me about looking forwards, maintaining momentum, ie “keep pedalling Lucy, don’t stop!”
 
At an appropriate moment, Dad would let go of the bike but still be running behind. The next stage, unbeknown to me, dad would stop running and instead shout encouragement from a distance away. Of course the first couple of times that happened I invariably fell off! Slowly and with lots of coaching and praise, I found the confidence and skill to ride my bike on my own. 
 
In a minuscule way this memory of my dad speaks of the father heart of God. If we believe we are made in God’s image, then acts of love and kindness, times of encouragement and teaching so that we know new freedoms, these are small reflections of the wonderfulness and awesomeness of God, who is Love.
 
Thinking of my learning to ride a bike as a mind picture, God encourages us to keep pedalling and to try new things. God goes behind us to steady us if we wobble. God teaches us to trust in his voice, as he instructs us in the ways we should go. God celebrates with us as we grow in confidence and skill. God is also there to comfort us and tend to a scrapped knee along the way. God loves us with the heart of a father who wants good things for us his children.
 
Let me wish all fathers, and equally those who act as a father figure to others, a very blessed and happy Father’s Day. May we celebrate you for your many gifts: provision, love, care, counsel and laughter. Happy Father’s Day!
 
Rev Lucy

​Does social media give space for truly saying sorry? That’s the question I’ve been pondering, initially prompted by the recent suspension of England cricketer Ollie Robinson. To give a little context as an older teenager Robinson had tweeted a racist and sexist comment some eight years before. These were found and shared on the 2nd June this year, the first day of the opening Test match against New Zealand. Robinson sincerely apologised for his immature and wrong comments. His apology was noted but the England and Wales Cricket Board are pursuing disciplinary measures and Robinson is currently not playing. 
 
My thought for the weekend is not limited to this one instance, but touches on the broader issue of once something is put on the web, it can be really difficult to remove it. Children at school are taught, quite rightly, that public comments on Instagram and Twitter are public, and therefore care and discernment are needed when posting. Society is in real time working out how previous behaviours can be reconciled with maturing attitudes, especially when remorse and regret are expressed. At what point does redemption and forgiveness for past sins come into play on the social platform?   
 
Robinson is not on his own - shortlisting panels often do a web search on prospective job applicants and stray tweets can backfire, even if they are irrelevant or perhaps not true. Sam Wells, a vicar, theologian and world renown public speaker on ethics summarises things such: ‘everything is up for comment, nothing can truly be trusted, and communication is speeded up and expanded as fast as it is devalued. The Babel that became Pentecost has become Babel again’. *
 
Strong words. But the Church of the future will undoubtedly be a hybrid community of in person gathering and online meeting. Writing in 2016 Wells recognised then the positive ways technology can enable church to reach those isolated and house bound - as now evidenced in our pandemic times. Back in 2016 he commented, ‘Christians should be engaging [with social media] as quickly as 500 years ago they realised the power of the printing press to spread the words of scripture’. *
 
What about my initial question, given that the church emerging from the pandemic will be hybrid in nature? Does social media give space for saying sorry? Perhaps Church online will model forgiveness as we show the reconciling, love of God and how coming to God in confession is an act of grace on God’s behalf. I’m excited that the Christian concept of saying sorry and bringing to God our regret and shame is always a healing experience, as Jesus deals with sin at the cross and sets us free. Yes there are always consequences to sin, and yet we are made right before God because of God’s reparation in Christ. To experience grace makes us people who want to pass on that grace to others. It softens our hearts and makes us people who make peace and are quick to forgive. Our faith also shows us ways to live with love and integrity and points us away from destructive comments that ostracise and devalue others. Let’s keep praying that God will go before us as we connect people online with the loving, forgiving, gracious love of God and pray that people will know freedom and flourishing of God’s way of living.
 
Rev Lucy
 
* How then shall we live? Christian Engagement with Contemporary Issues, Samuel Wells 2016
 

Love remains
 

 
 
Separation seems particularly cruel in times of suffering, as separation goes against human instinct to protect and comfort and it can exacerbate fear and anxiety. We are made for relationship with others. The sadness of being apart has made me reflect on the nature of love and in thinking of love, I naturally have thought about God. 
 
The Bible speaks of the enduring, eternal nature of love in 1 Corinthians 13 with these beautiful words: ‘Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Love never ends.’ 
 
Love is not limited to time, or space. Nothing can contain love or divert it away from those in our hearts, not even death. As some suffer the pain of not being with ill relatives this does not dilute their love. As we have spent time apart from our loved ones because of lock down, this has in no way diminished our love for one another and friendships are not made less. 
 
I have come to realise that the brokenness of the world is never overcome to the point of desolation because of the enduring beauty of God’s love. For those who are suffering physical, emotional and spiritual pain let us remember the perfect example of human and divine love when Jesus died for us on the cross. Jesus knows what it is to suffer; he knows what it is to give all of himself to the point of exhaustion; he knows what it is to experience separation from God; he knows what it is to experience death. If you are wondering about where God is in your personal and private pain, be assured that Jesus draws alongside us in our very place of weakness and fear and he speaks words of life and love over us.
As Psalm 23 puts it: ‘even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me.’ Jesus weeps with us and holds our hand and this helps us cope.
 
We cannot fully understand suffering, and especially why some are healed whilst others die. And yet words from 1 Corinthians comfort us: ‘Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.’
 
For those who are tired and finding things difficult I pray that you know the love of God at this time. We at Tadcaster Benefice are here to support you in prayer and acts of kindness. Do be in touch.
Rev Lucy

I’ve been thinking a lot about PCC meetings. I’ve had 3 APCMs this week, so unsurprisingly matters of the business side of church have been on my mind! All churches are ancient buildings and necessary work is costly. Money is something we tend not to like to talk about but financial generosity does enable the life and work of our churches.  
 
What I have come to realise in a fresh way is that being part of a church is all about the spiritual and the material coming together and overlapping. Physical things matter to God. Material things are useful to mission. Our church buildings offer a scared space, soaked in centuries of prayer and worship. You cannot look to service the spiritual needs of a church congregation and totally disregard the duty of care that trustees of a PCC have towards the upkeep and safeguarding of our physical church buildings. Neither can we on the PCC exclude matters of faith and ways of growing in relationship with God and focus spending all our money on the bricks and mortar, or limecrete versus cement! The material and the spiritual hold together and are not binary issues.
 
Theology helps us understand this in a deeper way as we look to God. God is a creator God. He takes matter and draws out of it beauty and enlivens it with eternal significance. God created the material world and he calls us to steward and uphold creation. Jesus too embodies our Christian incarnational faith. Jesus became a man and lived amongst us. He brings together things of God and material things of the earth in such a way that our humanness is inextricably fused with God. We speak of Jesus making a way for us to be close to God, by his life, death and resurrection to life. Jesus shows us what it is to live reliant on God and at Pentecost Jesus sends us his Holy Spirit. This is God with us and in us. We cannot be closer to God than after the coming of the Holy Spirit, who lives in our hearts as we trust and turn to God.
 
Please join us as we pray and trust God for our spiritual needs and our material needs. It is not wrong to approach God in prayer and ask for physical provision. Our churches all need to be taken care of. We need an increase of money for projects across all our churches. Please consider making an increased donation to the life and work of your church. Please pray too for an increase and deepening of faith in every one us. Let us rely on God this Pentecost as we pray ‘your kingdom come, your will be done.’

​Rev Lucy

To lose something is not a great feeling. Rushing in the morning and not finding keys is annoying. Losing an important document for a meeting is stressful. Losing a loved one, either to illness or death, is a deeper level of loss, and bereavement leaves us extremely sad, hurting and disorientated.
 
To lose one’s faith is all of the above because faith isn’t a thing, rather it is a relationship with God and a trust in the person of Jesus. Losing faith is in effect a form of bereavement and brings with it all the emotions of being separated from the One who loves us with an everlasting love.
 
Over the last couple of days I have been reminded to pray for those who have seemingly lost their faith because of the pandemic. Thy Kingdom Come, a global prayer initiative, asks us to pray for people to come to faith for the first time and importantly it encourages us to pray for those who have walked away from God, for whatever reason.
 
Suffering is often a key trigger for people turning their back on God and we have seen much suffering over the pandemic. Some cannot put a loving, powerful God who is always good alongside suffering in their own lives or suffering that exists in the world. Covid19 has merged personal and wider pain and loss, and for some this has shaken their faith. 
 
Many years ago, I remember feeling physically attacked as my faith was rocked and shaken to its core. I felt lost, as if I had nothing upon which to stand and it was scary and upsetting. Weeks earlier someone had prayed with me, as part of a prayer event at my church. He shared a picture of a tree that was being buffeted and bent almost to breaking point by a violent wind. But he reassured me that the tree stood firm because of the deep complex roots under the ground. This was such a help to me in my time of personal anguish. I am so grateful that God went before me and gave me a picture to hold onto in that strange time.
 
Yesterday I listened to Rick and Kay Warren, founders of Saddleback Church in the US, as they spoke of clinging onto the goodness of God in times of personal tragedy. They shared wise words: life is hard, we were never promised that life would be easy and pain free, but we are promised that Jesus has overcome the world and Jesus is our ever present help in times of trouble. They counselled us to press into the presence of God, likening it to when friends rallied around them after the suicide of their son. These friends offered them love without words, they encircled them and stayed with them in their grief and this ministry of presence helped them enormously. How much more then will we be helped as we keep looking towards Jesus, who knew suffering and pain. Jesus promises us hope because he takes the broken things and restores them into something wholly wonderful.
 
Let us be encouraged or perhaps offer encouragement to someone else. Faith is often gritty and raw, but our hope in Jesus will never disappoint. When we feel depleted, let’s look to Jesus who completes us. Like the image of the labyrinth; even if you feel distant from God right now, turn and face him with eyes of a searching, hurting faith. Better to be looking towards Christ from afar, than to be close to the centre looking away.
 

​Rev Lucy

​Earth Day took place on Thursday 22nd April. It is a modern day environmental protection movement that is just over 50 years old. Earth Day promotes conservation and restoration projects and the church joins in with prayer and action. Did you know that over 1000 churches in our country are taking positive steps to put their theology into practice by partnering with A Rocha International? They work towards becoming an Eco Church, receiving either a bronze, silver or gold standard award. This is achieved through their worship and teaching, the way they care for their buildings and in their community interactions and personal lifestyle choices.
 
But what about the biblical teaching on taking measures to safeguard and treasure the earth? In Genesis humanity is created to ‘rule’ over the animals and creatures of the earth:
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
There has been much misunderstanding about the Hebrew radar meaning rule or have dominion over. Some have misinterpreted this, deducing that we humans have the right to misuse and exploit the earth and its treasures for our own gain. This is unbiblical and wrong. The word radar calls us humans to contribute to the work of tending and gardening our planet. We are invited to actively partner with God in taking the world forward in how we look after the environment and cause nature to flourish.
 
In the Ancient Near East only kings were deemed important enough to be quasi god-like. Everyone else existed as slaves to serve the King, who was considered almost divine. Genesis refutes this view and uses kingly royal language to describe all humans – we get to exercise kingly privilege over the earth on God’s behalf.
 
Another word from Genesis 2 that expands on our calling to safeguard the environment is abard, which means to cultivate or to draw out potential from the raw materials around us, for the flourishing of the local and global world.
 
We need to use our prayers of confession to realign ourselves with God’s call to treat the world justly. Then after prayerful consideration, we need to choose what to do individually and as a church to bless our environment. Let’s get praying and see what God is inspiring us to do!
 
Rev Lucy