VICAR'S LETTER
17
Sundon Road
Streatley
July, 2008
Dear
All
One of the more strangely named parts of the church is the Nave. The word comes from the Latin noun 'narvis', meaning 'ship'. The ship in question is Noah's ark. The connection lies in the thought that as Noah's ark provided a place of refuge at the time of the flood, so the church provides a place of refuge amid the storms of life. At times this has been literally true. The church, as the only stone building in the village, was the place where the villagers took refuge when they were threatened or under attack. But in a less literal sense it still contains a measure of truth. The church continues to provide a haven of peace, community, and idealism in what at times can seem a disordered, heartless, and self-centred world.
The disorderedness of the world is something we are aware of at every level. There is global disorder in the form of ideological conflict and physical wars. People are oppressed. People go hungry. The climate seems to be changing with the threat of dire consequences for many. There is disorder within our own society. Of our weddings this year, one has been postponed and another has gone ahead despite knife attacks on the bridegrooms. There is disorder in family life as the old stability of marriage tier life increasingly breaks down. There is disorder in our personal lives, where an ever-increasing intake of sedatives bears witness to the stress we feel ourselves under. In the face of such disorderedness and the fearfulness that it brings with it, the church offers a haven of peace. It speaks of continuity in a changing world. We are but the latest generation in a line stretching back over 800 years who have worshipped God in this place. It offers the orderliness of its worship. It offers space and time for reflection on the way things are and on what we can do to make things better. It offers a place where in quiet prayer we can share our burdens and find new strength.
Many factors have combined to effect what a recent newspaper article called "the cull of community". Increased mobility (at least until the onset of the credit crunch) has served to unsettle communities and to break up those extended family networks that did so much to hold communities together. The move in school selection away from catchment area and towards parental choice is weakening the link between schools and the communities they were created to serve. Lifestyle changes - some forced, some chosen - have had their impact. When, to pay for the mortgage, both parents are forced to work, and often at some distance from where they live, this affects the level of local neighbourliness. It also accelerates the trend to a more private lifestyle. In such circumstances family life becomes precious. Against this trend, the church offers a haven of community. To join a church is to become involved in a community life. It is to join a group of people who worship together. It is to join a group of people who work together both to raise the (sometimes frightening) amount of money we need to sustain our church and its work and to try to be of service both to our own community and the wider world. It is to join a group of people who play together - parties, picnics, treasure trails, meals, concerts etc. It is to join a group of people who look out for each other and (by and large) enjoy each others company.
Human beings have always been self-centred, but today we seem to have developed a society that both sanctions and encourages such an outlook. It is sanctioned by a philosophy that having dispensed with God can find no other purpose in life than personal fulfilment. It is sanctioned by an economic theory that puts ruthless competitiveness above all other values. It fosters corporate and personal ambition (see the outcome of the recent series of The Apprentice) and rewards (sometimes obscenely) personal success. The church does not buy into that culture. It looks to co-operation rather than competition as the way forward for nations and individuals. It regards whatever gifts an individual has been blessed with as representing an enhanced capacity to serve rather than an opportunity to enhance personal fulfilment. The church buys into a culture that takes its lead from Jesus of Nazareth who washed his disciples' feet and gave his life for the benefit of all. It seeks to turn the world upside down. In place of the traditional pyramid with wealth and power flowing down from the few at the top to the many at the bottom, it champions the inverted pyramid in which the more you have been given the greater your obligation to be of service to those who have less.
No church is perfect. We are all, as Cardinal Hume used to say, wounded people. No church is going to live up to the ideals it has been set. But in so far as it is even striving to fulfil those ideals, it can offer to those who seek it in the midst of a disordered, fragmenting, and Increasingly self-centred world, a haven where peace, community, and the ideal of service are still valued and upheld.
All best wishes,
Roger