VICAR'S LETTER
December, 2009
Dear
All
Welcome to the second of the Vicar’s Letters, when we have no Vicar! I am sorry that I can’t be with you in church at the moment; I have a severe problem with my hip, which needs attention. I can only walk a few steps without fear of it collapsing, as it has several times just lately. It couldn’t be at a worse time when we need more staff, not less, but you can’t choose when you are ill, of course. I miss you all very much.
By the time you read this, we will have had Remembrance Sunday and all the usual services, British Legion parades to various cenotaphs and the Festival of Remembrance at the Albert Hall on television. Sadly the number of veterans still alive who actually took part in WWII continues to dwindle, and many of the events held this year will be the last because there simply are not enough old servicemen left to make them viable.
This is, of course inevitable, but what makes me really sad is that we are still, right up until the week I am writing this, having to mourn and commemorate British servicemen and women killed in action overseas. In Isaiah it says:
They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
The West and the East continue to forget this vision from Isaiah and we, as Christians must continue to remind our leaders of it. One day, it may happen, but I wouldn’t hold your breath if I were you. In the meantime, pray for our service personnel and all those charity and United Nations people, who are involved overseas at this time, that they may return safely to their loved ones.
Also by the time you read this, the season of Advent will be upon us. The word comes from the Latin adventus, meaning coming. It is the time when we look forward to the celebration of Christ’s birth at Christmas.
Once again, consumerism is rife, with the shops already full of every possible thing one can think of to purchase at Christmas time, much of it gaudy and inappropriate, much of it inordinately expensive. I urge you to celebrate this Christmas as simply as you can manage. Enjoy yourselves, of course, but remember what it is we are celebrating – the birth of a small child on a bed of hay, in a stable full of animals, behind a pub in Bethlehem – Our Lord and saviour!
I have also been thinking about the interregnum we have just started on, and how difficult it will be without Roger, how long it may take to find someone who suits us, and how we might find it to get along with someone new. We must be careful that we choose someone who suits as many of our congregation as possible (it is, of course, impossible to suit everyone) and not just a small coterie who make a lot of noise. I have seen many a Parish disintegrate because they chose the wrong incumbent by taking their eye off the ball, to use a popular phrase, and letting a minority faction have far too much influence.
So what sort of vicar (priest in charge, he or she will be called) do we want? ‘A carbon copy of Roger’ will, almost certainly, be the answer from most of you! Well, dream on, is all I can say, priests like Roger are the exception rather than the norm, and we simply won’t get another one. The other big question is will we accept a woman? We are not particularly Anglo-Catholic, but I know that the idea of a female priest does not sit well with them.
Let me nail my colours to the mast immediately – I would be delighted to see a female incumbent at Streatley, and some of you will know that this is a complete reversal of my view when women were first ordained. This is because I have met so many brilliant women priests, that I now feel that it must be God’s will!
Now, do we want a young priest with a family? Do we want an experienced priest with grown up children or youngsters at university? Pray for those who will be closely involved in the decision, that they might make the right decision for all of us.
Roger has been with us a long time, as you know, much longer than is the norm these days. With the living suspended in the majority of parishes, a Priest in Charge will probably be offered a seven year contract, and then may move on to pastures new. An ambitious young priest who has his or her eye on becoming a Venerable, or a Right Reverend (an Archdeacon or a Bishop) will probably want to show that he or she has experience of different types of parish and, probably, some time at the Cathedral, with a job as Precentor or the like.
Long incumbencies are, therefore, becoming less the norm, but I can tell you about one even longer than Roger’s. My paternal grandparents lived most of their married lives in Ashford, Middlesex, and worshipped at St Hilda’s, a church built between the wars (never finished actually, the beautiful spire that should have been added, never materialised!). They were what was probably called the backbone of the church, taking on many jobs over the years. Dad was in the choir before he went to work in London, and was then called up in September 1939 (from TA Camp, but that’s another story for another day).
The Priest who was there when they died in the 1960s was one Father Stephen Blood, who went there, after six years as a curate in Greenford and Forest Gate, as Curate in Charge, and then became vicar in 1973. He then did not retire until 2000, a total of 39 years at St Hilda’s!
The reason I am reminded of the story is that he retired to this Diocese and, at age 81, still has Permission to Officiate, and is still very active, taking services around the West Herts area on most Sundays. By chance, I answered the main telephone to Diocesan Office on Tuesday and it was Father Blood, and before I put him through, I asked if he remembered my grandparents, which he did, very fondly, telling me that they had named a new ciborium the ‘Harold Upton Ciborium’ in Grandfather’s memory in recognition of all he did for the church.
So, in fifteen years time, if you see a white haired old priest tottering around somewhere in the Diocese on the way to take a service at one of the churches, be kind to him, and help him on his way – it might be Roger!
Love to all
Ron