Tadcaster Benefice

God thoughts - Sanctuary
 
I wonder for Mother’s Day how many mums get the gift of some ‘me’ time or maybe even some pampering, such as a sanctuary spa voucher!
Last Saturday, some 21 of us enjoyed a Benefice Sanctuary Day. Much in the same way that a spa day allows you to retreat and treat yourself, so this spiritual detox gave us space to retreat from the frustrations of the pandemic. We entered into God’s sanctuary, a space of prayer and contemplation with God. Kevin and Anne Roberts from ReSource led us gently, following Jesus’ example, as he sought time to be with his Father.
 
To begin we considered when Jesus entered into the home of Peter’s mother in law, took her by the hand and healed her of her fever. We considered how Jesus extends to us his same intimate, personal and powerful touch. Jesus wants to heal us from our dis-ease of body, mind or spirit. What ever has been taken away Jesus longs to restore, filling us with the fullness of the presence of God.
 
The day of reflection was interspersed with silence, music, images and short homilies on different Bible passages. We made space to welcome. God’s Holy Spirit and we listened. Through the words of the living Lord to Ezekiel we then surveyed our metaphorical dry bones, those things we had lost and the dried up experiences of many in the valley of the shadow of Covid-19. As the day progressed we left our private thoughts and engaged more in shared discussion about our churches in relation to the pandemic. We lamented those in our church family who we have missed. We called out our loss of sharing Holy Communion. 
 
After a time of lament we turned our attention to the early church that also underwent sudden change due to its pandemic of persecution. It helped us frame our discussions around how God redeems us and loss is often won over by considerable gain. God can take something old and renew and transform it in such way as to endue it with a new purpose and direction. The early church lost its settled way of being, broke out of Jerusalem and became an itinerant church. Kevin shared a startling photo of a young ash tree growing within the split carcass of a dead oak tree. This was a metaphor for something new growing in place of something less dynamic and falling away.
 
Towards the end of our time we thought about how when we resume worship in churches this won’t be ‘going back’ to what was over a year ago. We recognised that Jesus invites us to travel into new ways of being church. We spent time with two questions:
 
What do you think your own church may need to learn from this enforced suspension of ‘normal’ church life?
 
Is this an opportunity to think of changing things? If so, what might this include?
 
Answers were wide ranging. We delighted in the fact that we were church with no walls. People outside the church have been able to engage with what we do online and in fact studies show that 40% of people are much more favourable towards the positive role that church can play in society. We were thankful for the online experience that has enabled a mix of old and new worship styles and has allowed people who couldn’t come to church for health reasons to still engage. We wondered about a hybrid way of worshipping that encompasses physical in person worship alongside some online presence.
 
Perhaps you can ponder the same questions? These are interesting times. Let’s wonder and pray into where God is leading us.
​
Rev Lucy

Do you like reading maps? Do you have a good sense of direction? I am less intuitive when driving without a Satnav in a new place, but thankfully others in my family are much better than me at this!
 
How about being the one charged with mapping a journey – is that something you aspire to do? From those working in government, in businesses, in churches and in the ordinary family chat around the dinner table, we are all involved at some level in deciding how to move things forwards.
 
This week Rishi Sunak has been tasked in providing a financial roadmap to help us start to build back from the fiscal impact of Covid-19, with the 2021 Budget. Decisions have been made to try to balance supporting the vulnerable and to enable the economy to grow. As ever, when leading groups of people into change, some will not feel especially supported by the decisions made. We’ll all have different opinions. At Morning Prayer on Thursday we particularly prayed for those who might feel left behind by the budget announcement.
 
Moving out of lockdown, maps and blueprints into new spaces have been very much on my mind. As I mused on the topic of moving forward in my own context of church leadership I naturally turned to see how Jesus called his first disciples. He asked them to make changes to their normal and follow him into a new experience.
 
In Matthew’s gospel Jesus says to Matthew, “follow me”, and Matthew gets up and follows.
9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ 12 But when he heard this, he said, ‘those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’
Although Jesus’ call is initially compelling the passage shows that Jesus then sat and ate and obviously spent time with his new followers, talking and listening. I reflected further that Jesus’ love is always relational and so as we inch forward to the new we too need this to be as part of a conversation. Dialogue with one another but especially prayer conversation with God will be key in how we take the old and make of it something new.
 
 As we journey from originally what was, or more recently what has been, we need to travel together, in its broadest sense. The motive for decisions has to be one of drawing old and new people together around our worship of God, not leaving people stranded. Notice also how Jesus is constantly expanding his circle of connection as he includes those considered as ‘outsiders’ into his care. He speaks of his mission as being like a doctor who tends to the needs of the sick. This sets our compass of travel – as we work out how we move forward as a church community we must have in our view those who need to know the healing love of God. With love as our motive, even if we cannot please all people all of the time, we will set well our direction of travel.
 
Thinking back to the budget, how will we start in person worship at our four churches with the resources of money and people and clergy we have to hand? Perhaps in a similar way to the 2021 budget we may need to delve further into our reserves to enable later flourishing.  These reserves might be financial, but I’m thinking more about how we will need to reach into our reserves of patience and forgiveness and especially prayer as we discern together our roadmap forwards.
 
I am excited to see where our journey after God will take us. Jesus takes the old and makes of it something new. God never discards but his love always transforms. My prayer is that we too will see God’s transforming hand at work across our benefice.

​Rev Lucy

It is sometimes easy to ignore God in times of difficulty and trial, yet research points to an increase in people who are praying. I was reminded recently of C S Lewis’ book The Magician’s Nephew. In the story a boy called Digory looks at the feet of Aslan, (God in the story), and asks for some magic fruit to make his dying mum well. Aslan fails to say yes or no to Digory’s prayer. Understandably this upsets Digory. The second times he prays, he looks into Aslan’s eyes and sees that ‘great, shining tears stood in the lion’s eyes.’ For me prayer helps me to turn and look at God and know that he is with us in all things and that he loves us. Over the next couple of weeks in our morning zoom services we are going to focus on prayer - why we do it, how we can pray and what to do when prayers seem unanswered. If this sounds interesting do tune in.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York are inviting us all to stand together in praying for the nation during February. At 6pm people of different faiths and of none are invited to light a candle and say a prayer in whatever way they choose. A time of silence or spoken prayer helps us to remember those who have died, to remember that God is with us in our suffering, to pray for the vaccines and signs of hope that things will gradually get better.

​If you would like to do this, but don’t know what to pray, how about you find a copy of psalm 23 and read it through slowly. It speaks of God being with us when we feel isolated or alone. If we feel tired or confused God makes us lie down in green pastures and near refreshing waters. When we worry God restores our soul and sense of wholeness. If we are sick or afraid God walks alongside us and in our difficulties God promises us hope, as he sets a table before us. In all our troubles God gives us the promise of life beyond death.

Rev Lucy

Our thought for this weekend is brought to us by Tricia West, one of the Readers in our Benefice.

The humble snowdrop peeps out into the world just as we are hoping to experience the last throes of winter. They are the first heralds of spring. Something of beauty; so precious and small, yet steely enough to burst through ice, snow and earth as hard as iron. For centuries, the Christian tradition has seen in the snowdrop a sign of hope and new life, and also something bitter-sweet. Their beauty is fleeting and fading. When each flower raises its head above the earth there is no fanfare, no great trumpeting of spring like the loud and confident daffodils. The snowdrop emerges somewhat forlorn, bowing her pale head.

They were once commonly known as Candlemas Bells, and one folk rhyme tells us that, ‘The snowdrop, in purest white array, first rears her head on Candlemas Day.’ They were often planted around churchyards and at vestry doors, and this simple flower, because of its life cycle, chimes in with the churches’ festival of Candlemas.
The festival falls halfway between the winter solstice and spring equinox. Also called the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, it falls 40 days after Christmas and signals the end of the season of Christmas and Epiphany and the beginning of our move towards Lent and Easter. Candlemas marks the turning away from the birth of Christ to consider his suffering and death. But it also gives us a hope of what is beyond.

When we celebrate Candlemas at a church service, our reading tells us about two very old people, Simeon and Anna. They are nearing the end of their lives and have been waiting for years for the day when they will see the Messiah, Jesus. It’s as if they have been stuck in an eternal winter. Perhaps they had begun to wonder if God’s promises would ever be fulfilled. Then into the Temple comes someone so small, pure and full of light that they can hardly believe their eyes. A child, like a tiny flower, just a few months old. In this child there was light and life; this child was so full God’s spirit that, through him, even in the darkest moments, hope would emerge and love would overcome everything. As Simeon and Anna stood before this child they were transformed.
Within the festival of Candlemas we find our own stories of loss and longing and grief. In the dark days of winter, we yearn for the light to once again dispel the darkness that hangs over our world today. We wait for the spring, hoping for new life and new beginnings.

The story of Simeon and Anna, and the story of the Candlemas Bells, gives us hope that as we stand before the Christ Child, we too see fragile beauty breaking through, a glimpse of brilliant light in the darkness. A hope that means that we can offer the whole of our lives, seek God’s blessing and trust in God’s promises as Simeon and Anna did. For every winter that we face we will be given strength, like the snowdrop, to emerge from the hard earth and know the love of God calling us back to life again. 

​Tricia West

United we are stronger. There have been so many different reminders of the positive power of drawing together this week - President Joe Biden’s inaugural speech; this week’s prayer focus on Christian Unity; evidence of flood defence teams in our area springing into action. Globally, nationally and locally the world is made such a better place when people share a common desire to unite rather than to divide. 
 
Joe Biden called his country to unite around dignity and respect for all peoples - all races, creeds and cultures. Reverend Father Leo Jeremiah O’Donovan continued that love’s path is to give more of itself rather than take power for itself. Love motivates us to put others’ needs before our own. Amanda Gorman encouraged unity and togetherness with the beautifully crafted words of her poem and Biden reinforced her spoken message with a commitment to act, and a desire to rejoin the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organisation.
 
Churches too have been setting this week aside to pray for unity across denominations. Jesus prayed that we would be united to God and with one another, just as he and the Father and the Holy Spirit are gracefully united. The essence of relational unconditional love, which brims with a desire to love passionately, heal divisions, care for the most vulnerable and seek justice for the forgotten and voiceless, is the love that is God. 
 
The mystery and beauty and otherness of God inspires us to embrace the fullness of divine love as we live in community with one another; when we build one another up, preferring the needs of others before our own but in the self same moment being cherished in the same way. In this place of generosity we work together, motivated and empowered by a love outside of our own. My clumsy description of God the Trinity is put more elegantly in Richard Rohr’s book called The Divine Dance: Face-to-Face-to-Face, Community, Love for the Other and Love for the Other’s Love, Self giving, Loving, Singing, Laughter, A fourth is created, Ever-loved and loving.
 
We have seen love in action in the community this week. People have cherished the lonely, they have given practical help to those in need and solutions have been sought for the good of our communities in the face of the threat of flooding. The respect and kindness shown is just beautiful.
 
Out of many one! It sounds easy and yet the reality is sometimes that we hold onto what we have for fear of losing it. Yet, our resources are always larger if we throw what we have into the mix and especially as we invite God in prayer to work in and through us. 
 
Rev Lucy

​Yesterday I was working on my computer and after a while I looked outside my window and there was a blanket of snow! It was a beautiful surprise! It felt like a gift, and I heard myself say, “Oh how lovely, thank you!” Now I don’t think my words were to the particulars of a weather system that aligned in such a way as to form snow! My thanks came from a deeper place. I was thankful to God for yet another expression of beauty and for the joy of being alive.
 
Generosity comes from a place of trust and thankfulness. Christian generosity comes from an overwhelming gratitude for all that God has done and is doing and will do for us in the gift of his Son Jesus.
 
John 3: 16 - God loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.
 
God loves. He gives. He shares life with us. He communes with us, and guess what, we also flourish when we love and give and share and create beauty around us! 
 
The best way I can think of describing Church is a place of utter generosity and a place of thankfulness. The church receives God’s grace in and through Christ and as a worshipful response the church gives itself away. The church in any given place is not just a building. It is not just a group of people who are growing in love of God and love of one another. It is not just a place of prayer and sanctuary. It is not just a hub of celebrating key life moments - weddings, baptisms or funerals. It is not just a place of belonging and friendship, of laughter and tears. It is not just a place of grace and reconciliation. The church is all of the aforementioned but so much more to add! The church exists to serve not itself but its community.
 
We do not enjoy talking about money, but neither should we shy away from an honest discussion. Church finances across the benefice have been affected by the pandemic. Speak to your church treasurer about this and find out more details!
 
I want to frame being generous with the picture of that blanket of snow that I started with. Generosity sometimes needs the right conditions and it may be that we are not in a place where we can give financially because of our own financial constraints. If that’s you, then it is important for you to hear a message of thanks for who you are and what you bring to church in other ways - your time, your ideas, your kindness, your prayers. The list of ways of being generous is endless! The best way we can grow in generosity is to grow our relationship with God.
 
But some people will be in a position whereby they can pray about increasing their giving. Some will be able to consider their monthly gift to enable the mission and ministry of the church. Again please speak to your church treasurers - they’d love to talk to you I’m sure!
 
Our buildings are beautiful but old and they need quite a lot of money spending on them. Might you want to give a one off donation to the fabric of our ancient places of worship? People in our communities need a listening ear and maybe practical help. Might you be the one who can give some time to pastoral care? People are lonely. Might you be the one to give time and energy into creating a space for friendships? Many younger families do not yet know God’s love and care for themselves. Might you share your story of being found by God?
 
My role is sometimes described as ‘cure of souls’. My compass of care includes the spiritual well-being of people in the benefice. I take this aspect of being ordained seriously and so I pray that we might know God’s closeness in all we do. I pray for those I am getting to know in the churches but also for the many strangers I do not know who live and work in the locality. I trust God knows and he cares and he generously wants to reach out everyone with his love. Please join me in praying for a release of God’s loving generosity in our villages and in Tadcaster.
 
Rev Lucy
 

​We took our Christmas tree down last Sunday. It always is a bit sad to see the house less twinkly but maybe like me you’ve just started to notice that the days are ever so slightly getting longer. Our Christmas decorations give us light, colour and warmth in the darkest and coldest time in the winter solstice. But once the natural light circles round again, we can pack away and store our lights, baubles and tinsel. They’ve done their job!
 
As an evergreen, Christmas trees also represent life and growth at a time of year when most plants are hibernating. By its very greenness the Christmas tree reminds us that spring is coming. If you’ve seen the Narnia films, or read C S Lewis’ books before that, you will know that the lion Aslan breaks the wintery spell of the white witch. Aslan enables things to grow, life to flourish and darkness to give way to light. C S Lewis wrote his stories as metaphors for our Christian faith in Jesus.
 
There is no denying, our present times are dark in that our NHS staff are under extreme pressure, people are dying from covid19, many are struggling with loneliness and there are so many disruptions to businesses and schools and ways of being community, including meeting physically in churches. The vaccine is a wonderful light in all this darkness. The roll out of this life-protecting jab gives us hope, and we probably all know people in our community who have already received theirs. 
 
But as I watch the news and see first hand the suffering around me, I am most thankful for my faith in God’s goodness. Jesus is the hope that dispels fear in me. It’s helpful that Christmas dates to 25th December. Not because that was Jesus’ probable date of birth, but because we celebrate God coming into our darkness as the Light of the world.
 
I’m currently reading a book called God on Mute by Pete Grieg. It is a great book for our current times because people are wondering where God is in this pandemic. Seasons of unanswered prayers can damage our relationship with God, but this book explores how we can walk through pain and lament and still hold onto the truth that God is for us.
 
Grieg’s book explores Jesus’ own journey of suffering and unanswered prayer; Jesus experienced the feeling of disconnection from God as he prayed on Maundy Thursday before his arrest, on Good Friday as he was horribly crucified and on Holy Saturday when nothing seemed to be happening. But then on Easter Sunday hope breaks in, light fills a grave and Jesus overcomes death by rising to new life.
 
Christmas is a key moment - it’s like before Jesus came we were groping around in the dark; but now born as one of us Jesus illuminates things for us. We see from love’s perspective how much God cherishes us and how Jesus daily makes a way for us humans to know closeness with God, no matter what our circumstances.
 
So, whether like me you’ve cleared all signs of Christmas away, or you are still hanging on to some decorations, let’s be thankful that in a small way they help us celebrate the birth of Jesus coming into our lives as the Light of the world.

Rev Lucy

​ I am with you and will watch over you, wherever you go. (Genesis 28:15) 
What a promise God makes to Jacob in Genesis. 
 
On Tuesday, at the first of our advent reflections, a group of us started to ponder the issue of distance.
 
Jacob in the story was in a very fragile place - family upset and sibling breakdown, an unknown future, journeying through unfamiliar territory - and yet in the very mess of Jacob’s reality God showed up. Before his journey to Harran his father Isaac had prayed that the favour of the Lord would be with his son, as with their forefather Abraham. Our Bible study highlighted how praying prayers of blessing over one another and our communities is really life giving.
 
In the space of an hour’s discussion we unpacked the beautiful imagery of a ladder stretching from earth up to heaven and we saw in the heavenly angels ascending and descending a sacred yet ordinary place of communication with God. Jacob was in awe that in his confusion he was in fact standing at the gate of heaven and that God was standing right alongside him. 
 
As they communicated God made Jacob a wonderful promise to guide him and protect him on his onward journey and fulfil all his promises to him. Jacob woke from his dream and upturned his stone pillow and made of it a pillar, which he then consecrated with oil. We considered how Jacob deemed that place as holy - a time of communing with God. Can we similarly look back at markers of encounter with God in our lives?
 
This led us to discuss how prayer affirms us, and even if our requests seem unanswered the truth that God hears us and promises to always be with us offers us strength and hope.
 
Of course the notion of distance has become so prevalent in our current experience. As we talked we recognised that the pandemic has caused many of us to struggle with fears of abandonment and being forgotten, isolated in our homes. We distance one from another even when we meet - keeping 2 metres distance and forgoing the physical touch of a hug or a reassuring hand on our shoulder. Even as we do our best to meet virtually, we can feel removed from what we know and love, particularly services in church.
 
We were encouraged to express our hearts desires and to be very honest with God as we talk to him in prayer. We touched on groaning prayers and wordless prayers that connect our very selves with the love of God for us. This conversation touched on some deeper points, but a lot of fun too!
 
Finally we turned our thoughts to how we might reflect God’s light in the darkness of the pandemic. We were challenged to think of who in our communities may be isolated and how we might reach out to them.
 
In our distance, in our confusion, in our places of breakdown and unfamiliarity let us hold fast to the truth God loves us and God promises to be with us. We remember that in Christ God’s promises are yes and amen.
 
 
Rev Lucy
 
 
 

Thoughts for the weekend
 
‘The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.’
 
Excuse me for starting my thoughts for this weekend with a line from the carol O little town of Bethlehem. I can only blame team planning for Christmas that’s been happening over the past couple of weeks! 
 
But seriously how can the hopes and the fears of all different people across all the years be met in the person of Jesus? Isn’t this the most ludicrous statement, and yet if true, isn’t it the most enabling and freeing truth in the world!
 
This particular melodious line is an earworm. I’d like to suggest that as we reflect on what the carol says about Jesus, we find an antidote to the fear driven divisions and sense of hopelessness that we see playing out in our wider society and especially in America post the election.
 
Listening to a podcast by John Mark Comer, he says that in America, on the right and on the left, people are arming themselves due to the fear of not being in control. It is perhaps a byproduct of humanity that as we develop ‘lifestyle enclaves’ and as we enjoy the company of those who are similar to us, we can start to fear and distrust the other. The US is a very divided country and the rise in gun sales indicates a worrying unease. Sadly none of this is new.
 
As a church leader I do not want this reflection to be in any way politically slanted. I remember saying quite early on to someone in the benefice that my public role seeks to unite and signpost to God’s ways, and in this sense I remain apolitical. So let me focus on a passage from John’s gospel for some pointers. 
 
In John chapter 18 Jesus is taken to Pilate to stand trial before his death. The religious leaders in Jerusalem feared Jesus and the effect he was having on their people. Pilate questions Jesus using language, full of spin and he tries to trick Jesus into compromise; and yet Jesus proves something of a conversational ninja! Instead of being drawn on division, in verse 36 Jesus indicates why the hopes and fears from across time itself can find fulfilment in him alone:
 
Jesus answered, ‘my kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ 
 
Let’s sit with this idea for a little. Politically if you will Jesus tells Pilate that he belongs to another kingdom without geographical borders. Time and time again, through the pages of the New Testament Jesus teaches that the truth of living under his righteous rule has to do with peace, non-violence and unity across politics, economics, gender, sexuality and ethnicity. 
 
Jesus walks a pathway of peace and this was very alien to Pilate’s worldview, as it is to a lesser extent to ours. However Jesus wants us to know that true freedom lies in following him. Of course we need God’s help, because it is really challenging to act differently in a world of division!
 
This message drives home when we think smaller - so not so much national politics but how about doing life as a church family. How do we disagree well? How do we put other’s needs before our own? How do we keep our focus united on sharing God’s best for our wider communities, and for our congregations? With God’s help and as we live out our faith we will learn reconciliation as we choose to love our enemies, uproot contempt from our inner voice and as we grow into people who forgive one another. A week on from Remembrance, I hope this is food for thought.
 
Rev Lucy
​