Journal: visiting a new old place

This morning started with heavy frost and the sort of beautiful blue skies that Winter often provides as I climbed out of bed and made my way to a new place of worship for an 'early' Book of Common Prayer (BCP) Communion. The morning may have been cold but the welcome, and the building, were warm - and that's always a blessing!

Today's service was a straightforward BCP service in which we reflected upon The Presentation and Jesus coming into contact with Simeon and Anna. The people alongside me were keen to make sure I had what I needed to get through the service and as I was about to leave the altar rail a hand grabbed me to let me know that we stayed where we were until everyone was communicated.

When the service was done I had a quick look around the building (and having been pointed to 'something of interest' I paid an interesting tomb a bit of a visit before mooching for a few minutes before heading for the door, only to find myself engaged with by one of the people who'd been at the service and offered tea and toast!

What made this nice was that I got to chat to people, and the local dogcollar too, and learnt much about the building and the changes, glimpses of the ministry and the 'messy church' like children's work to be engaged with the following week (please pray for those running it and those who might come to St Hilda's). The pews in the place had gone and they'd installed effective heating and the warmth of the place bore testimony to that - But the sacred space that this building is and the rubbing shoulders with saints past was made special by rubbing shoulders with those present.

I can honestly say that this has to be one of the best church visits I have made for ages.
The building was welcoming and obviously cared for,
The liturgy was straightforward and thoughtfully presented without deviating or distracting us from the particular form that is BCP.
The Church made real in the living stones alongside me was engaged and welcoming - the offer of tea and toast was earnest and hard to pass up as the person asking me, having ascertained that I was merely passing though, didn't walk away as they realised I was a scalp but persevered as if they valued the fact that I was family.

So I stayed for tea and toast and engaged in making koinonia a reality - and am sure that the next time I'm in that place I'll be visiting again. And until I do thee will be prayers offered up for the work of the Church in that building that doors would be opened and lives changed by its ministry, history and the work of the people there. A real bleeding and great start to my day.

And the day continued to be just as good - a new addition to the family engaged with, and the in-laws looking good, and the new family unit being everything one could pray for - Lord, bless them and surround them with your love and your presence. Sadly though time was such that before it got going the road to Tamworth beckoned and we had to depart.

Lord for our families, for new life (and for old life too) I can but thank you. Keep us united and help us to see the strength and value that each one of us bring to, and the importance that thee is in, family.

Thank you for the places of worship, and the welcome, warmth, and family that is to be found within their walls - bless the family of St Hilda's and strengthen their arms that the battle might be won in that place.

Thank you for my own places of worship - help us to look to You and stay authentic, tolerant, selfless and open-handed. Help us to not see the fault in others but to see the feet of clay that impede us in our journey through this life, and thus enlightened, bless those who might otherwise be cursed by our own folly.

I pray for the day ahead and the opportunities a new week will bring - help us to do nothing in our own strength and to pray, consider, and obediently go forward - in Your name and for Your namesake.

Bless our families, biological, ecclesial, and gathered by means odd and otherwise and make us a blessing in them also.

For the bread today, the forgiveness and the presence of you love I give you thanks and looking expectantly to another day, bless you for all You are to me, and in me.

Jesus, I thank You for the cross and the ability to proclaim that You are risen indeed!

NUOTC - Poppy

Especially for someone especially special:

NUOTC

Northumbrian University Officer Training Corps

More poppy avatars

Today; having been asked to add a few cap badges, I thought I'd better paste them here:

Blues and Royals

11 Hussars (Cherry Pickers)

Ride To The Wall

Devon and Dorsets

Poppy Avatars - Updates

I've been asked for a few more poppies which will appear here as they are put together:

Staffords

Wearing a poppy with pride

It's time for me to point people towards the (ever growing) collection of poppy images that can be used as avatars on Facebook, Twitter and so many other places.

There are all poppies with cap badges, branches and even cadet forces too and by using them during the time when we remember those who have gone. we do this especially through the observance of All Saints, All Souls, Remembrance Sunday, Armistice Day and other events; marking the passing of those who have departed this life and paying our respects to them. It is in the doing of this that we echo Binyon's words 'We Will Remember Them' in a tangible and obvious manner.

So for those who would like a poppy with a badge all you need to do is:

Google Vic the Vicar + Avatar + the name (i.e. Royal Signals or ATC or hussars) and you should find the badge you want.

If you cannot find the badge then add a comment to this blog and I will add it to the collection as quickly as I can.

A new addition to the poppies this year has been one for those who wish to honour the dead (by the way - 'Glorious' means they are in glory - it is not glorifying war) and draw attention to the lives lost through the actions of the Islamic State (IS) - because 'Never Again' means exactly that:

Please wear a poppy to support those who have served the cause of peace and justice throughout the years and have served to protect our land and uphold, and observe, the various conventions that protect the weak and oppressed.

Honouring the dead - Not glorifying war

Today I will have occasion to stand in silence with men, women and children as we remember, and give thanks for, those who have given their lives in conflict - peace being the prize they sought and death being the price.

We will remember those who, as civilians, have had lives, homes and lifestyles marred and taken away - and pray that wars will cease and justice, mercy and humility become the prevailing conditions within across this globe.

We will pray for those who have served and for those who serve, remembering those who find themselves on operational tours, those preparing for tours and the families and friends they leave (or will leave) behind.

We will pray for those members of NGOs and other organisations who leave the comfort and security of home to work for a better world; for those who work for peace.

Today is not a day when war becomes glorious - for it never has or will be (as those who promote the myth would know had they had the courage to serve or the integrity to dialogue honestly) - but a day to remember those who have 'gone to glory' (for that is what 'glorious dead' means. Today is a day to commit ourselves to bringing about the peace others have given their lives to win.

Please take a moment today to visit your local cenotaph or war memorial and pay your respects - visit your local church and be one of the many voices that pray for peace, remember the dead and commit to living a just and equitable life.

Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

The words of John 15 above talk of the reasons we honour the dead and the reason that so many of us do so in the name of a man who did exactly what the verse says for us all.

May we learn to make the peace of the world a reality and may the peace of the risen Christ be with us all today. 

Remembrancetide - a season to remember

From pumpkin to poppy the season that is Remembrancetide is a cornucopia of emotions and a place of much misunderstanding and confusion.

In my mind the season begins with 'All Saints', which is also known as 'All Hallows', (Nov 1) - where, as the name suggests, all the saints are remembered, reflected upon and given thanks for - and moves on to the next day (Nov 2) 'All Souls' where, as again the name gives a hint, we remember all those who have gone before.

But of course, as is often the case, I'm just a little out of kilter with the Church calendar for Remembrancetide begins with All Hallow's Eve (Oct 31) - 'Hallowe'en' - and the season known as Hallowmas, the three days of All Hallow's Eve, All Hallows' and All Saints. I guess Hallowe'en, not featuring in my calendar is the source of my error.

Here we are with remembering at the forefront of the Church's being:

We remember the saints (All Souls / Hallows) giving thanks for their example and lives - Nov 1

We remember all those who have gone, especially the recently departed, commending them to God's grace, love, care and mercy and giving thanks for their lives - Nov 2 (All Saints)

We remember those who have died in conflict (combatant and civilian), thinking of service and selfless commitment, peace not war - Nov 11 (Armistice Day)

And on the nearest Sunday to Armistice a Day we also keep 'Remembrance (Sun)Day - where our nation focuses its attention on the 'Empty Tomb' (Cenotaph) in Whitehall and on local memorials, Halls of Memory and monuments as we remember the dead and pray that war will will cease and peace be ours.

So there you have it a nutshell - Pumpkin to Poppy - Remembrancetide

Poppy Avatars -Some late additions

Here's a few late additions to the collection. Please remember to support eh Poppy Appeal (and encourage others to do so too!) - Thanks. This page will grow as I satisfy the requests form others, but thus far we have...

So here we have the Rifles, the Ulster Defence Regiment, Royal Army Physical Training Corps, Hertfordshire and Beds and Herts Regiments, Argyle and Sutherlands

Argyle and Sutherlands

Physical Training Corps

The Rifles

Beds and Herts

Hertfordshire Regiment

Ulster Defence Regiment

Poppy Avatars (2)

RAVC

RLC

Royal Irish

Int' Corps

Another Page of cap badge poppies - more on the way as time permits.

Thank you for the encouragement and support

(If you use them perhaps you might like to drop some coins in the Poppy Appeal collecting box when you buy your Poppy!)

Light Infantry/Rifles Generic

RGBW

15/19 Hussars (King's)

Oh no - white poppies and more bilge!

I was thinking that perhaps this year the annual reiteration of the 'white poppy, they died in vain' tosh that Jonathan Bratley trawls out at remembrancetide might not be on the menu, but as echurch points out, I was wrong!

From the white poppy, because the red poppy is a political symbol and a statement of national pride through to the same old, same old tosh about 'dying in vain' this man continues to peddle his wares and sadly does this as a Christian, which (as I found yesterday from others who mentioned the bloke) does less, and says the wrong things, about Christians and Christ! Still at least he left bomber command alone (didn't he?)!

I am happy for the man to say stuff, just a shame it appears to be more about his pacifistic, and apparently humanist, views than about Christ or Christian viewpoints at so many levels (and on so many issues). Still, let's get a few things straight:

Remembrance does not glorify war.

Remembrance is not blind to the loss of life and the amazing ability that one has in war to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Remembrance does not gloss over the futility of war but prays for peace and remembers those who went. It honours those, often scared, ordinary people, who pulled off some extremely courageous acts (including climbing into the aircraft of Bomber Command and setting sail across an Ocean where death lurked beneath the surface).

The poppy derives its existence from the battlefields of the 1914-18 conflict, it is not a political image, neither is it a jingositic icon - it is a reminder of those who served, and died, in conflicts near, past and present.

Northern Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan and many other theatres of conflict were (and still are) about peace, they were about freedom. Because it wasn't explicitly Mr B's freedom (or mine as I've never lived in Northern Ireland) does not remove the reality that freedom was an issue. Of course, perhaps we should concede points and rights to those who wish to act wrongly so that Bratley can keep his pacifistic hands clean. Guess as long as it isn't in his backyard he'll be happy for that and will continue to speak as he (yawn) does because he's has the right to do so - a right that was won by people who served (and flew bombers too!).

For those who I know who have been offended by the man's words I would like to apologise and point out that he speaks merely for himself and does not represent the mainstream Christian view as I understand it (thank the Lord!).

Pax