Previous articles
July 2010
The Vicar/Rector writes:
The Truth is out There??????
There is a lot of interest in Science Fiction – A scan through the Sky channels reveals that there are normally several Sci-Fi dramas or sitcoms on at any one time. Star Trek, Babylon 5, Red Dwarf, Third Rock from the Sun – but bigger than any of these is the X Files, (I especially enjoyed the early ones!) which has enjoyed enormous popularity on both sides of the Atlantic. There is much that could be added to this about our interest in the realms of the unknown. We are now entering the “Crop circle” season, even though we may suspect that at least some of them are hoaxes. People sometimes ask me about “Ghosts,” out of curiosity. Although I probably haven’t had a lot of experience with this sort of thing compared to some clergy, and don’t want to encourage an unhealthy interest in it, it always seems important to do my best for the person asking the question.
It’s important to always look for the natural explanation. When we lived at High Beach, my son, a teenager at the time, burst in through the front door one dark night, saying that he had seen a ghost in the forest, which he described as like a moving column of light. I had seen the phenomenon myself on occasions, which was caused by distant car headlights shining through the trees, in misty conditions.
A Methodist minister in Liverpool, David Wilkinson, is a member of the Royal Astronomical society He has written and broadcasted on the relationship between science and religion, and has lectured on such matters as “The X files, aliens and God.” He says that there is strong scientific reason to suggest that we are alone in the in the galaxy, and finds evidence that we have been visited by alien spacecraft “Unconvincing.”
It’s important to keep an open mind, though. Many people, including myself, have seen or experienced things that are not easily explained. Our quest for the truth isn’t well served by trying to push such things aside. There is much that we don’t understand about the universe, about our world, about life itself. Stephen Hawking is well known for his valuable work on the birth of the universe. Even if he succeeds in proving how the universe came about, he admits to still being left with the question “Why?”
All that we don’t know and understand can produce a thirst for knowledge, or fear of the unknown – or trust in God. David Wilkinson said “Even if we find that there are little green men from Mars out there, it wouldn’t be a problem for God. He is right of course – according to the Christian perspective, such creatures would be a part of creation just like ourselves, and would be under God’s dominion.
For those who are really seeking the truth, Wilkinson said, “There is more hard evidence that Jesus was made flesh and dwelt among us than there is for little green men and UFO’s.” A well known Jewish historian, Josephus, lived in first-century Palestine. He was a Pharisee, and not a Christian, and yet he wrote “About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man He was a doer of remarkable deeds, and a teacher of such people as gladly received him. When Pilate, hearing him accused by men of the highest standing among us had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not cease to do so. And even to this day the tribe of Christians who are named after him, has not died out.”
A final thought: If the truth is “Out there,” as with the well-known X Files quote, then there is little to comfort us in that. It could make us feel all the more lonely and vulnerable in the vastness of the universe. For people who have found the love of God and come to trust in him though, the truth is both “Out there” and “In here” – in their own hearts and lives as well. I was asked to do an assembly at Great Totham primary school recently, and the hymn chosen to be sung on that occasion included the verse:
“There are hundreds of planets, thousands and millions,
Way out in space each has a place by God’s decree;
There are hundreds and thousands, millions of planets,
But God knows every one and God knows me.”
Wildwatching News
Jays seem to be getting less shy at the moment, and generally more active and obvious. That could mean that numbers are increasing. With a body colour of warm greyish pink, black moustache, electric blue wing patch and striking white rump above the tail, they were thought by W.H. Hudson to be the ‘British Bird of Paradise’. We had one in our garden recently, for the first time. As the summer progresses into autumn, they will bury large numbers of acorns in the ground. At least some of these will grow into oaks. This habit will be celebrated at Harvest Festival in at least one of our churches this year.
Wrens are more often heard than seen, but a young family, newly fledged, were quite conspicuous near to the water treatment plant at Great Totham recently. They were once thought to be female robins, as the two were often seen together, ‘Cock Robin and his Jenny Wren,’ but they are, of course quite separate species. I was quite excited at seeing my first ‘Winter Wren’ in Vancouver a few years ago – until I realised it is exactly the same species that we have here, under a different name!
Another elusive creature is the Goldcrest, out tiniest British Bird. They are slimmer than the Wren, and only about half the weight. They were hard but not seen on a recent ‘Second Thursdays’ walk, by Goldhanger Creek, where they were calling in some dense undergrowth. Their calls are a high-pitched si si si, barely audible to the human ear.
Tree Creepers are similarly difficult to find, but are more common than we might think. Their cryptic colouration means that they can blend into a tree trunk very effectively. It’s only their mouse-like movements that give them away as they corkscrew around the trunks of trees, seeking out tiny insects. I saw one at Marks Hall recently, at Robin’s Grove, which I gather is a hotspot for them. They can be found nearer to home than that, though with a considerable slice of luck – potentially anywhere where there is a patch of woodland. Tree Creepers have apparently formed an attachment to huge Wellingtonia Conifers from California – the bark is just the right degree of softness for them to nest in. not all of our human meddling with nature has proved to be disastrous!
Also at Marks Hall was a very bold Heron, on a low perch just above the largest of the lakes. There are many huge Goldfish in this lake, far too big to be potential prey to the Heron. Goldfish were originally and olive-brown colour, and natives of Eastern Europe and Asia. Among the Goldfish were Carp which could have been natives of this country, or at least Western Europe, including at least one Mirror Carp, with huge scales on its back. All members of the Carp family have been domesticated for thousands of years, and are found in a variety of forms.
According to ‘Springwatch’ small birds of some species suffered a decline in numbers because of the exceptionally cold winter. That won’t come as a surprise. It’s worth looking out for Coal Tits, ( I mentioned a pair seen at Braxted Park in last month’s article), and Long-Tailed Tits in this area, both of which among those to have suffered. Hopefully, Long-Tailed Tits at least will bounce back fairly quickly.
Second Thursdays: Thursday 8th July. Meet at Goldhanger church at1.45 for 2.00pm as usual. All welcome.
June 2010
The Vicar/Rector writes,
“The people who live in darkness will see a great light. On those who live in the dark land of death the light will shine.” Matthew 4 v l6.”
This month brings the longest days of the year –about seventeen hours of glorious sunshine, we hope. It also brings the shortest nights. Our pagan ancestors celebrated this victory of light over darkness by lighting fires in a symbolic attempt to control and retain the heat and light of Midsummer.
The Judeo Christian tradition also sees light in very positive terms, but at the expense of giving darkness a hard time of it. There are dozens of references to darkness in the Bible, mostly portraying it in a negative sort of way, as with the verse from Matthew’s Gospel above. There are many other scriptural examples to chose from, Including in the first book of Samuel where the wicked “Disappear in darkness.” Also, Job speaks of the day he was born in terms of “Gloom and thick darkness, and in Ecclesiastes we can read that “the fool walks in darkness…”
Add to that our childhood fear of the dark: Those strange shadows on the bedroom wall, the creeks and noises that houses make in the quiet after dark, and the imaginary terrors and “Spooks” lurking in dark corners … Many adults prefer the light summer evenings to the dark winter ones, although personally I try to make the most of all times of the year. It’s very understandable, though, when people say, following the death of their spouse, that they dread the long winter evenings when they will be on their own.
Africa used to be regarded as “The dark continent” in Victorian times. In other words, it was perceived as a continent of “Primitive savages” who were lost in the grip of pagan belief and witchcraft. The perception continued that Africa was in desperate need of civilisation, and of those brave Christian missionaries who would risk their lives by taking the Light of Christ into the darkness. Although I rejoice in the light of Christ being taken to Africa and to all parts of the world, I think it’s recognised today that in some ways indigenous peoples are more advanced than we are. I’ve written before about being privileged to have attended the annual Semiahmoo Salmon Festival in British Columbia. The Mayor of White Rock spoke at the festival of the admiration he felt for his First Nation friends, and especially for all that they have to teach us about living in harmony with the environment.
Darkness can be wonderful, both in the midsummer, and all the year round. This time of year we appreciate the wonders of life and growth all around us: The leaves and blossom in our gardens, and even the growing grass which has to be mowed, and the growing crops in the fields. This is only possible because of all the activity going on in the cool and darkness beneath the ground, though, as roots suck up water and nutrients.
For the unborn child, the warmth, safety, security and darkness of the womb makes it a wonderful first home. When my children and their cousins were in their teens, “Commandoes” was a game that could only be played after dark. The object was to get through undergrowth or long grass to a base, without being seen by the person who was “On” at the time, who used a torch to try to spot people trying to get to the base. Perhaps you have seen wildlife films on T.V. in which a female bear hibernates in the (Comparative) warmth of a snowdrift, from which she emerges in the spring with one or two cubs, born in the darkness of the den. Wonderful things can happen in the dark!
May we enjoy and celebrate the long days of this month, but also the short summer nights, which can be lovely and something to thank God for. The darkness is warm and friendly, and an invitation to sleep and refreshment after the long day. An open window brings in not only the sounds of a summer night, but perhaps the only chance of a cool breeze in hot weather. May end with a verse from the Bible which portrays darkness in a positive way, addressing God:
“- – - The sun knows it’s going down. You made darkness and it is night: Wherein all the beasts of the forest creep forth.” (Psalm 104 v. 19-20).
Wildwatching News.
Spring is well under way at the time of writing, even though the natural world seems to be several weeks behind this year, after the winter we’ve had. Yellowhammers can be heard singing in the hedgerows, and sometimes seen perching on a twig or wire. Church Road in Great Totham seems to be a good place to find them.
Their close relative, Corn Buntings, seem to become more common nearer to the estuary, where their key-jangling song can be heard. They are becoming rare or extinct in many parts of the country, but are readily found in this neighbourhood. They are thought to be the original “Bunting,” the first member of the family to be given the name. Male Corn Buntings are very promiscuous, and can be mating with up to six females at any one time, and eighteen throughout the course of the summer. Corn Buntings are like the House Sparrow in that they came to this country with out Neolithic and bronze-age ancestors. They were originally a bird of open grassland, and were unsuited to the blanket of primeval forest that once covered the British Isles. It was only when farmland was created that they were able to colonise.
My first Cuckoo of the year was a couple of days before the May Day bank holiday, when one flew across the road near to Great Totham Church. It was “Cuckooing” while in flight, as the males often do. Blackcaps have a very musical song, and can be heard in well-established woodland such as Bog Grove. Their cousin, “Bobby” Whitethroat, prefers the hedgerows and immature trees. The shorter, less musical song is often accompanied by a rapturous flight up from the song post, as if singing is too exciting to be just a static activity.
Delivering parish magazines to Osea Island provides a monthly opportunity to see what’s happening around the causeway. Turnstones often seem to be present in good numbers, at least for most of the year. In spite of being bright chestnut, black and white at this time of year, they can blend very well into the stones, mud and bladder wrack. They are very much a bird of the coast, and are rarely found very far away from it. Turnstones breed in the Orkneys and Shetlands, but mainly around the Scandinavian coast.
Little Owls seem to be busy near to Great Totham Church at present, and recent drive along Blind Lane in Goldhanger at dusk revealed the presence of an enormous Tawny Owl. This is a reminder that, together with Barn Owls, we have three species of owl resident in the neighbourhood. There are sometimes more- the first ever “Second Thursdays” walk was graced with a Short eared Owl, which had been resting on the sea wall at Goldhanger Creek.
Tawny Owls are the most nocturnal of the family, and only become active when it’s almost dark. Their name in Biblical Hebrew, “Yanshuph,” reflects this. The name is taken from the verb nashaph, meaning to breathe or blow, which refers to the cool, refreshing breeze of dusk in the Holy Land, after a hot day.
There are a few Swifts about at the time of writing – hopefully numbers will build up. House Martins seem to be present in quite good numbers at Roxwell, where Nina and I have bought a bungalow recently. We’ve also had Goldfinches in our garden there.
Hares seem to be very much in evidence at present on fields around here. It would be good to think that numbers are increasing, but on reflection they are probably more active at this time of year, and some of the crops are still low enough for them to be easily seen.
Second Thursdays. Thursday 10th June. Meet as usual at1.45 for2.00pm at Goldhanger Church. All welcome.
May 2010 Articles
Wildwatching News
The late winter was marked at Goldhanger Creek by a flock of at least 47 Twite. They are a small, fork-tailed finch. From a distance they look very boldly streaked, but with no obvious colouration. They are seed-eaters in winter, and especially like the seed-heads of thrift. They nest on the moors of Northern England, but a wintering flock on the east coast is more likely to have come from Scandinavia. There was also a Barn Owl hunting along the hedgerows, at least on the afternoon I was there in the gathering dusk, and a pair of Slavonian Grebes far out on the estuary.
It seemed poignant that the first Chiffchaff I heard singing was early on Palm Sunday, near to Great Totham church, and my first Swallow was early on Easter Morning, at Little Totham Church, where it was inspecting the nesting facilities in the porch. A Red-Legged Partridge (the ‘French Hens’ of the Christmas song), was an unusual sighting in Great Totham North recently. They usually stick to the fields, but like Pheasants they sometimes find their way into villages and gardens. Another Easter sighting was a solitary Lesser Black-Backed Gull feeding on a Rabbit carcass near to Great Totham Church. It wasn’t the only contender for the prize – Magpies were claiming their share as well. LBB Gulls are large, about the same size as a Herring Gull. They are a part of a large and complex family of Gulls, with representatives in many parts of the world.
There have been a number of sightings of Stoat, including one near to the Almshouses in Great Totham. There are so many Rabbits in the vicinity including around the football field that predators will inevitably be present. Muntjack Deer become active at dusk - there were two near to Bog Wood recently, and it’s quite easy to find tracks in mud almost anywhere around here. It’s not unusual to see Brown Rats on the fields either – but there is a huge, tailless one near the bottom of Church Road. Perhaps it had too close an encounter with a car or farm machinery, or maybe a predator.
A walk around the perimeter of Braxted Park revealed a surprising five Hares together, loping off into woodland. Also at that site was a pair of Coal Tits. They are a smart little member of the Tit family, with a black and white ‘Badger’ marking at the rear of the head. They are apparently in decline, making it all the more important that we have some in this area.
The April ‘Second Thursdays’ visit to Abberton was marked by a lovely pair of Yellow Wagtails at the side of the Layer Bretton Causeway. They were typical of the British Isles, having an olive-green head and a bold yellow eyebrow, but throughout Europe and into Russia the head markings vary quite dramatically: there are shades of grey, slatey blue, brown and black, with white or creamy markings. It is said – and I hope I never have to put this to the test – that if you are kidnapped and taken to a secret location anywhere in Europe, if you catch sight of a Yellow Wagtail you can tell from the head pattern roughly whereabouts you are!
Also at Abberton were a pair of Egyptian Geese, which seem to be getting well established in the area – and a lovely pair of Red-Crested Pochard from the Layer-de-la-Haye causeway. The drake was especially striking, with a bright orange head and red bill. They are likely to be escapees, although wild ones winter in small numbers throughout the southern half of England.
The Vicar/Rector Writes:
Letting go.
The Risen Jesus often disappeared quickly, after his followers realised who he was. It seems that he didn’t want them to become too dependant on his physical presence with them. Things had changed since before he died! The Emmaus Road account in the Bible, for example, gives a vivid picture of two travellers along the road who didn’t realise that it was the Risen Jesus who was with them until he had broken bread in their home – and then he disappeared from their sight! It was as if he wanted to replace his physical presence in their lives with the broken bread, very much pointing to the Eucharist, or Holy Communion.
More specifically, Mary Magdalene is told by the Risen Jesus not to hold onto him. It’s not difficult to imagine Mary, on that first Easter morning, overcome by the trauma of the past few days, lying on the ground and holding onto the feet of Jesus. She had lost him once, and was never going to let go of him again! Then Jesus gently but firmly spoke those words to her, “Do not hold onto me, because I have not yet gone back up to the Father.”
We are called to let go of much as we go through life, and as we face new beginnings. Young children have to leave dummies and cuddlies and the like behind at home, as they begin nursery or school – to say nothing of relinquishing time at home with mum or a carer. As they grow older, they get used to letting go of parents and home for longer periods of time, to go on a scout camp or stay with grandparents or whatever.
There’s a lot in parenthood about gradually letting go, as the kids grow up and expand their horizons. At any age, there is much that we have to let go of as we move onto pastures new: An old home, and old community, job, circumstances, church… If you’re anything like me, even letting go of an old car can be difficult, with all the memories of holidays and so on associated with it. There’s always the new one to look forward to, though!
And, of course, there is the letting go associated with bereavement. We never stop loving our loved ones who have died, and many people continue to feel very near to them. We have to go through the process of adjustment, though, which involves a degree of letting go. I’ve even heard accounts of people, on the point of death, who have had to ask loved ones to let them go, and not continue to pray for them to carry on living, or whatever.
There is also the question today as to how and when to let go of cremated remains. Some years ago, a couple I know married, and settled into their new home. Their mantelpiece was adorned, at the husband’s insistence, with a pot containing the ashes of his first wife! Their Vicar at the time was either more brave or foolish that I am, I’m not sure which – over a long period of time, he tried to persuade the man to have the ashes interred in the churchyard, and eventually succeeded.
Ascension Day marks the occasion on which Jesus’ first followers had to ultimately let go of his physical presence. This isn’t the end of the story, but rather the looking forward to a new beginning. He had promised that the Holy Spirit would come to them, and that they would not be left comfortless. The vacuum in their lives left as Jesus departed from them would be filled with the power from on high, who would inspire them to be witnesses to him in Jerusalem, Judea, and to the ends of the earth.
May I suggest that in all circumstances and situations we face, it’s not only about letting go of the old, but about looking forward to the new as well.
Second Thursdays.
Thursday 13th May, 1.45 for 2.00pm at Goldhanger church. All welcome. We’re looking at the possibility of a “Special” one, perhaps in August – a visit to Osea Island for a number of hours while the tide rises and falls again. Please let me know if you might be interested.
April 2010
The Vicar/Rector writes,
New Life at Easter
How fortunate we are, here in the Northern Hemisphere, to celebrate Easter in the springtime! The spring flowers and blossom, the fresh new leaves coming on trees and bushes, birds singing…. It all speaks to us of new life. Summer is on its way, and winter is behind us. The theme has inspired many a song and poem.
The name Easter itself speaks to us from pre-Christian times of new life. Many of us will be familiar with the ‘Easter Bunny’, perhaps because of that very memorable episode of ‘The Vicar of Dibley’ or the tradition in some families of children searching for chocolate Easter eggs in the garden, mysteriously left by the long-eared, fluffy-tailed benefactor.
The Easter Bunny was, until fairly recent times, a hare. She was associated with spring equinox rites of fertility. According to the Venerable Bede, she was originally the Teutonic goddess Eostre, who took the form of a hare. What of her leaving eggs around for children to collect? That is easily explained when we remember that many species of birds nest on the ground – larks, lapwings and other waders, game birds, etc. People found eggs where they had seen hares, but not perhaps the mother bird which had flown or slunk away.
We don’t have to be experts on the origin of words to spot the link also with oestrogen, the female hormone. Here again, we find the theme of fertility, and the resulting new life.
Our familiar symbols of Easter today continue to give us a picture of new life: the egg theme again, the fluffy chicken leaving the broken, empty egg shell behind, having just emerged from it. In parts of eastern Europe Easter eggs are blown and the shells painted, sometimes very ornately. If there is any one flower that epitomises Easter in our culture, it is of course, the daffodil. We have the vivid imagery of the ugly, old bulb, lying ‘dead’ in the ground all through the ravage of winter, and the wonderful, fresh new life coming out of it, pushing up through the ground and bursting into flower.
In the Bible we can read that Jesus took on all that is wrong in the world, and befriended people who were downtrodden and friendless. His ministry had a bias towards the poor and powerless. He was arrested, and subjected to an unfair trial. He was illegally condemned to death by his own people, the Jewish religious authorities, but this had to be ratified and carried out by the Roman superpower of the day. The Roman administration was personified in that region by Pontius Pilate, who didn’t want to condemn Jesus, but neither did he want an uprising of the Jewish people on his hands, instigated by their religious leaders. Pilate ‘washed his hands of Jesus ‘, who was then flogged and crucified, dying a most horrible death. His body was placed in a stone tomb, and as was the custom, a large stone was moved into place to seal the tomb. All of this took place on the first Good Friday.
Christians believe that on the first Easter morning, some of his followers, women in the first instance, went to where he had been buried, and found he tomb to be empty. Then, beginning with Mary Magdalene according to St. John’s version of the events , his followers began to encounter the risen Jesus. They could see him, converse with him, even touch him. He met with them outside the tomb, in an upper room in Jerusalem, on the road to Emmaus, and on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
This is the ultimate in new life, emerging from death itself, our last and greatest enemy. Christians believe that we can all share in the new life of Christ, and look forward to celebrating it all, once again this Easter. If you would like to join us for one of our Easter services at church, you will be made very welcome.
A very Happy Easter to you all
Wildwatching News
A male Hen Harrier has been seen near the Blackwater at Goldhanger recently. It would have been unmistakeable – a pale grey bird of prey with black ends to the wings. Hen Harriers nest in high moorland areas, where they feed partially on Red Grouse chicks. For this reason they have been heavily persecuted by gamekeepers in the past – and probably still are to an extent, even though they are now very much a protected species.
Buzzards have also been busy again. There were four of them circling round together above Tiptree Heath recently. The close proximity to Braxted Park may have everything to do with it – it has been a good place for seeing Buzzards for a number of years now.
A couple of months ago I wrote that Long-Tailed Tits almost never come to bird feeders. It appears that I was wrong – or at least out of date with that! A decade or two ago they didn’t seem to be coming to feeders, but this is now changing. I’ve seen evidence for myself, including, for example, in a garden in Little Totham. Adaptability is the key to the survival of a species. This year their ‘traditional’ diet of tiny insects no doubt underwent a decline due to the cold winter that we’ve had.
A recent return to my old stamping ground, Epping Forest, was a good opportunity to see the Mandarin Ducks at Connaught Waters. They were natives of China originally, where they have suffered decline due to habitat loss. There are a couple of good populations in this country now, at Connaught Waters, and at Virginia Water in Surrey. Mandarins are a fine sight on a late winter’s day, especially the brightly coloured drakes. They nest in holes or nest boxes in trees. When he ducklings leave the nest, they have to jump out and land on the leaf litter below. The mother then leads them as quickly as possible to the nearest water. When we lived at High Beach, we had a mother duck and eight ducklings in our garden, on one very memorable occasion.
It seems that Mandarin ducks are a ‘successful’ introduction to this country, in that they aren’t displacing any of the native wildlife. This is often not the case. Grey Squirrels from the New World are an example that is all too familiar, due to them having displaced the native Red Squirrels. It’s a similar picture in many parts of the world: if you ever go to Vancouver, don’t mention Starlings! Since introduction from this country, they have spread aggressively right across the USA and Canada, and are now present in their billions. My last memory of Vancouver airport as I left to come home was the sight and sound of a vast flock of them.
Other unwelcome introductions to Canada from the Old World are blackberries (by the fruit industry), and Flag Irises. I spent a considerable amount of time trying to remove both of these from the A Rocha site during my time there. Incidentally, Grey Squirrels are just as much an issue in USA and Canada West of the Rockies as they are here. They are natives only to the east of the vast mountain range. In Vancouver, they are thought to be displacing the small Douglas Squirrel, of which I saw just one at the project site.
Back home, rainwater puddles in fields may turn up something unusual at this time of year. A Green Sandpiper was feeding busily on one near to Great Totham church recently, at the time of writing. Many of the wader species head north to breed in the arctic or sub-arctic, and rainwater puddles, as well as the estuary and the shores o Abberton Reservoir, provide a suitable place for stopping off to rest and feed.
Second Thursdays.
Thursday 8th April, 1.45 for 2.00pm at Goldhanger church as usual. This month we will visit Abberton Reservoir, where there may still be some winter visitors as well as spring migrants going through. If you are able to go and can have a car available, it would be appreciated. Sorry –no dogs on this one!
Southend half-Marathn.
Jonathan, Naomi and Bekki’s boyfriend Michael are doing the half-marathon on Sunday 13th June ,to raise money for the extension at St.Peter’schurch, Goldhanger. If you would like to sponsor us, please make cheques payable to St.Peter’s church, Goldhanger, and send to the Rectory ,or give to me in person. Forms are available at church or from me for gift aiding.
Jonathan.
March 2010
The Vicar/Rector writes,
Lent- and the light at the end of the tunnel
In times of suffering, we are very inclined to say, or at least feel, “Why me?” or “Why us?” Alongside the grief, anger, despair, or whatever we are feeling is the genuine puzzlement and inability to understand, expressed as “Why?” After all, God is all loving and all-powerful, as the Christian faith and before that the Jewish faith has taught for thousands of years. It’s impossible, on the face of it, to reconcile God being all loving and all-powerful with the fact that suffering comes our way sometimes.
There is also a deep-seated feeling in some folk that when we suffer it’s as a punishment for something we have done wrong. I hope I can deal with that one fairly quickly, or much better still, let the words of Christ deal with it: at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel chapter 13, he clearly says that two different lots of people who had suffered had not done so because of their own personal guilt. These were some Galileans who had been killed by the Roman Governor, Pilate, and eighteen people who had been killed when a tower in Siloam collapsed onto them. Unless there are obvious links between our wrongdoing and our suffering, “He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword,” as Jesus puts it, then there are no links. (What would make a good modern version of those words of Jesus’? “He or she who drives too fast will have an accident sooner or later?”).
There are no quick, easy or simple explanations to the problem of suffering. A new hospital chaplain that I’ve read about recently comes to mind. She had only been in office for a few weeks when she became ill herself with cancer. It was a shock to her, but it was some time before the reality came home. She who had trained to minister to others now found others ministering to her. Her whole world was turned upside down. As she lay in the hospital ward it was the cleaner who came to hold her hand, and reassure her. She thought at first that she needed to terminate her employment. Then she realised a deeper truth – that her ministry lay, at least for the time being, in being powerless rather than powerful. There was no better way of showing the love of God to her fellow patients than in being vulnerable herself, and in having to surrender herself completely to the love and care of God.
It’s a lesson that I’ve learned time and time again myself over the years, not the least of which was when Katie, the first of our two children who we lost at birth, died. At her funeral service I read a letter to Katie that I had written, pouring out some of my thoughts and feelings. At the time I wanted to be seen as the capable young Curate who was coping well with the sudden and devastating tragedy. (Don’t worry – I’ve changed quite a lot since then!) As I began to read the letter, it didn’t go according to plan. My voice began to wobble as the lump in my throat got bigger and bigger, and it took several deep breaths for me to be able to get through it at all.
I was told afterwards that there wasn’t a dry eye in the place! It wasn’t through my silly pride that Christ spoke at that service, but through my vulnerability as a bereaved dad.
The only thing that can make any sense at times of suffering is that Christ suffered as well. While still only about 33 years of age, he suffered wrongful arrest, and faced a kangaroo court, which led to him being flogged and crucified, a most horrible death. He suffered the mental anguish of knowing that he had to go through with it all as well, especially when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane prior to his arrest.
Christians observe all of this in the latter part of Lent, the season leading up to Easter. It’s observed not in a morbid or gratuitous way, but in a way that recognises that Christ took the suffering of the world, yours and my suffering, onto himself. If it’s possible to reduce it down to one word, it’s our need that he took upon himself – and dealt with it. It doesn’t end with His death, (and in him, our death), but Easter follows, the light t the end of the tunnel. Christians believe that suffering and death didn’t have the last word, but that he rose gain having dealt with it all – and that we can share in his having dealt with it all as well. The light at the end of the tunnel indeed!
Willdwatching News
With the winter we’re having, watching birds in the garden from the warmth and comfort of home has a certain appeal. In our case, that has meant Redwings and more Redwings. They started on next door’s Holly bush, which must be a female as it was loaded with berries, and after stripping that they moved onto our large Cotoneaster tree. It’s very noticeable that they started stripping the berries at the top of the tree, and are moving down at the time of writing. No doubt this is a strategy for avoiding predators, but hunger is forcing them to take more chances on the lower branches.
Along with Fieldfares on our local farmland, Redwings seem to be with us in good numbers this winter. I seems ironic that they come here from Scandinavia to escape the cold, until we remember that our minus two’s and three’s overnight are matched by much lower temperatures where they have come from.
Another feature of life in winter is that I often don’t get round to taking the dog for a walk until after dark. The hoarse bark of a fox can sometimes be heard, and if one has recently passed by where you’re walking, the distinctive musky smell also indicates its presence. Foxes sure do have B.O. – but we can only assume that they don’t find it unattractive themselves, especially in the winter months when mating takes place.
Another night sound is a loud, sharp series of clicks, almost like the sound made by knocking two pieces of hard wood together. When it comes to enjoying it all I can claim to be world class, but knowledge tend to lag further behind. I think that what I’ve described is the bark of the Muntjack Deer, also known as the ‘Barking Deer’, but until I’m able to witness one doing it I won’t know for sure.
The RSPB garden bird survey at Great Totham School produced a pair of Sparrowhawks, a female flying low through the school buildings, and a smaller male flying high. Also, a huge Grey Heron was seen through trees at the back of the school field – perhaps heading for someone’s garden pond! We have modified the behaviour of Herons, albeit unintentionally, by so many of us having garden ponds stocked with fish.
It’s a similar story with Cormorants, which are ever-unpopular visitors to our fisheries: left to their own devices, they are a maritime, coastal bird. By one means or another (over-fishing and global warming?) we’ve reduced stocks of fish in salt water, which are the natural prey of Cormorants. On the other hand, we’ve increased the volume of fresh water, at least in this area in the area, and increased stocks of freshwater fish. This has led to Cormorants adapting to the change.
A recent ‘Second Thursdays’ walk was marked by a male Kestrel which alighted on the south side of the tower of Goldhanger Church. It obliged by staying there for several minutes, giving stunning views through the ‘scope. We counted six species of waders on Goldhanger Creek, including Knot. There were a lot of these large, plump waders, which are very pale grey in their winter plumage.
Also present as a big flock of Skylarks, flying very high, and unusually large numbers of Reed Buntings in the rushes near to the Sailing Club. Both of these species are partial migrants – birds that nest here go south for the winter, to be replaced by others from Northern and other parts of Europe.
The first singing Chiffchaff will be heard this month, somewhere in the area. It’s the first of the warblers returning to breed each year, following the winter spent in the Mediterranean area. To my mind, it always marks the changing of the seasons, the beginning of spring.
Second Thursdays.
Thursday 11th March, 1.45 for 2.00pm. Meet at Goldhanger Church as usual. We might try something a bit more adventurous next month – watch this space!
February 2010
The Vicar/Rector writes:
While I was in Canada a few years ago, it was a privilege to meet some of the First Nation people, still often called Indians in conversation. The tribe which is local to where I stayed just South of Vancouver held their annual Salmon Festival in the middle of September, celebrating the bounty from the sea – five different species of Pacific Salmon in that region. The tribe is the Semiahmoo, part of a grouping of tribes called the Coast Salish which all speak a similar language. The Semiahmoo are a small tribe which has suffered, the misfortune of their ancient tribal lands being divided by the 49th parallel. In other words they are party in the USA and partly in Canada, with all the consequential administrative problems.
I will always remember the Salmon Festival, the singing, dancing and drums. It was an opportunity to meet folk from other guest tribes and nations as well, including Cree and Blackfoot. Brian, our cook at the A Rocha project where I was staying, has one Blackfoot ancestor among all of his European ones. He’s a very good birdwatcher with a keen eye!
I also spent some time in the Rockies. The First Nation people didn’t much like the mountains, preferring the plains to the east where they could hunt Buffalo, (Bison). Some half a dozen nomadic tribes used to use what is now Jasper as a stopping off point in summer. They couldn’t understand why a vast expanse of water, Medicine Lake, (Or Bad Medicine Lake!) could be so full in June every year, and almost empty by September. We now know the solution to the mystery: The glaciers melt a bit every year in summer, providing water to fill it. The whole area is limestone, though, and there are sink holes which drain the water away in a matter of weeks.
The various first nation tribes thought that the “Old Man” was the cause of the water disappearing. He is a sandstone outcrop at the top of the mountain bearing his name. Contrasting with the pale limestone, he looks very much like an old man’s face as he lies on his back. You can make out the chin, nose and eyebrow ridge, and stream-beds running down the mountainside below create the impression of feathers ion his head dress. As he was considered to be the cause of the “Bad Medicine,” the Indians always faced the entrances of their tepees away from him.
Moving to the forests of Northern British Columbia, let me tell you another aboriginal story, the legend of the “Kermode” Spirit–Bear. I have a lovely photograph, not taken by me unfortunately, of one of this rare and localised race of the Grisly Bear, which has the distinction of being almost pure white. The legend states that the Raven, their creator, made these bears white as a reminder of the time when the world was pure and clean, and covered with snowdrifts and ice-blue glaciers
It’s very interesting to reflect on how similar we are to the First Nation peoples of Canada. We aren’t familiar with the stories I’ve mentioned, but the thought processes that lie behind them are similar to our own. We too try to find reasons and explanations for all that we find inexplicable as we face life with all its complexities, as with the Old Man story. Also, as with the White Bear legend, we have a strong tendency to look back wistfully to bygone times, when we think that things were so much better than they are today. Perhaps in some ways they were, particularly for the First Nation folk before the white man came, but what powerful instruments those rose-coloured specs are, through which we look at the past!
How do we feel about life here today, at the beginning of this New Year and decade? Fed up about the Copenhagen summit just before Christmas because it amounted to very little in the end, and we guessed that would be the case anyway? Do we feel resigned to the General Election campaigning that lies ahead, with the main parties slagging each other off, and none of them having the integrity that we are really looking for? On the plus side, we too could hold an annual Salmon Festival in many parts of the British Isles and Europe, where pollution has been conquered and the fish re-introduced successfully.
Christians have always been in a position to be hopeful and optimistic, joyful even, about the present and the future. This is because the faith is about relationship with God, who is with us in it all and through it all. In him we can explore all that we don’t understand, or that causes us fear and concern, and we can know that he always answers our prayers in some way, shape or form. With Easter just around the corner once again, we can be reminded that Christ went through suffering and death, and that we can share in his victory even over these ancient enemies of our humanity.
May I wish you all a belated Happy New Year – and Decade!
Wildwatching News
Winter is the time of year when local wildlife watching really comes into its own, with birds coming onto garden feeders in greater numbers due to cold weather. There may be a greater variety of birds as well – Goldfinches for example in our locality. A Goldhanger resident had a good view of a Bullfinch in a Hedgerow lately, and was able to watch this shy bird for some time. Birds are less cautious and therefore easier to see in really cold weather, due to the fact that they need to feed as much as possible simply to stay alive. Being shy and missing opportunities to feed could easily mean death to a bird.
A large flock of Long Tailed Tits on trees in our garden was a lovely sight. They almost never come onto bird feeders. Different species of tits often band together in winter to search for food, as do finches.
Buzzards keep on turning up around here, with one seen from Goat Lodge Road in Great Totham recently. They like the interface between woodland and farmland as a home base, but can range over quite a large area looking for food. They are most likely to be seen in the middle of the day to make the best use of rising air thermals, however weak these may be at this time of year.
On the mammal front, a black Rabbit crossed the road in front of my car in Blind Lane, Goldhanger recently. It could have been due to domestic rabbits, (which are bred into many shapes, sizes and colours), escaping, but is more likely to be a natural occurrence – one of those genetic things. There used to be a population of black Rabbits near where we used to live in Epping Forest. In Watership Down, the Black Rabbit is an omen of death, but I’ve chosen not to interpret the one in Blind Lane in that way! At the other end of the spectrum, I’ll be looking out for Stoats that change, or partially change into ermine this year. There were one or two reported last year, and this winter looks set to be a colder one, which will help stimulate the change of coat from reddish brown to white.
Abberton Reservoir has come up trumps again, with another rare New World vagrant – this time a Spotted Sandpiper. I had to use my membership of Essex Wildlife Trust to obtain a special permit for access to the dam to see this one. Spotted Sandpipers look a lot like our Common Sandpipers, but the legs are paler and more of a yellow colour, and they show more in the way of barring on the closed wing. They breed more or less throughout the USA and Canada, and winter from the Southern states southwards. It’s anyone’s guess as to how this one got to Abberton, but the chief suspect will have to be one of the transatlantic storms of the autumn.
Also at Abberton are a number of saw-bill ducks, which prey on fish. These include Goosanders, which breed in Scotland and Scandinavia, and come further south for the winter. The really special ones are the Smew, which breed in Russia, and often seem to come in with the coldest of the winter weather, and disappear as it becomes milder again. There is usually some ice on the water when they are seen. I saw two males and a female seen from the Layer Breton causeway recently.
The contrasting seasons are a feature of our local farmland. This time of year, thrushes, Fieldfares and Redwings are found busily feeding on berries in the hedgerows, and flocks of finches in the game-bird cover. In a few weeks, spring will be upon us, and birds will be singing in the same hedgerows, as they come into bud and leaf. Let’s enjoy it all
Ruth Hatchett’s Appointment.
Congratulations to Ruth – she has been appointed Team Vicar of the Hollesley group of parishes in Suffolk, and will be licenced at Hollesley Parish Church on Monday 15th February at 7.30pm. Anyone who is able to maker the journey will be made very welcome. Her parishes will be Hollesley, Alderton, Bawdsey, Boyton and Ramsholt.
Lent Courses 2010.
This year we will use “When I survey – Christ’s Cross and Ours” by John Pridmore. Beacon Hill Churches Together groups will all be using this, beginning week commencing 21st February:
Mondays 7.30pm, URC Church, Great Totham North.
Tuesdays 7.30pm, Barn Church.
Wednesdays 10.45am, St. Bartholomew’s Church, Wickham Bishops.
Wednesdays 10.30am, Honywood Hall, Great Totham.
Thursdays 7.30pm, 43 Catchpole Lane,
January 2010
From the Rectory
‘For I know the plans I have for you’ declares the Lord. ‘Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’ Jeremiah 29 v 11
Well here I am, writing the magazine article for Jonathan, our Christmas production called Silent Night is well under way – I’m almost there with my guitar rendition of ‘Stille Nacht’ – if only Franz Gruber can be persuaded not to get faster and faster whilst he sings – as I can’t keep up!
When this piece is read it will be the New Year – 2010.How many times have you written 2009 instead of 2010? Will we say the year as twenty ten, or two thousand and ten? Will I get any ‘snow days’ this year? There is so much uncertainty at the beginning of a new year, more so than at any time I think. Three hundred and sixty five days until we’re at this point again!
Three years ago we were still at High Beach, Jonathan had just been offered the job here – our impending move was a secret as we had to wait for Jonathan’s CRB to come back ( we later found out that it had gone missing)! This delayed our breaking the news for several months, even though we had already begun to live down at the local recycling centre! There was so much uncertainty for us at the time;
What would Great Totham, Little Totham and Goldhanger be like? How would we manage to be at three different churches? Would we like the people? Would they like us? How long would it take me to get to school each day? How would we cope with having neighbours? Would we be too noisy – would they?
Nearly three years later we have settled in. Jonathan rushes round trying to be in three places at nearly the same time and my journey to school is perfectly manageable. Bekki has a job at Totham Lodge, Naomi is nearby in Wivenhoe and Matthew has moved with Liz and Zack to Loughton.
It’s not always easy to trust that God has a plan for us when things are changing, but looking back we can often see what was going on, it’s just a shame that it’s harder to trust when we can’t see the wood for the trees!
‘My grace is sufficient for you; my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12 v 9
The New Year can bring exciting changes for us or for others, even though it can sometimes be a struggle to see the point of much that we do during our day to day lives. It reminds me of a lad I had in my class last year. I had just explained the work to one of the groups and I noticed that Andrea was still looking puzzled. When I asked him why he hadn’t begun he replied ‘I’m still giggling with this – it’s too hard!’ I soon worked out that he meant he was struggling with the work! Andrea is one of the many Italians we have in school – occasionally words would get misplaced on translation!
I wonder what God has in store for us this year? Will we find it hard to trust that God really does know what is going on?
Trusting in God doesn’t mean that you will have an easy, untroubled life. When we lost our daughter Katie, followed by Luke 13 months later, it was hard to understand God’s part in any of it at the time, but photos of Matthew a Naomi holding their baby brother and sister were produced in a midwifery course book showing how families can be encouraged to share the grieving process. And the chaplain, who didn’t want to Baptise Luke if he had already died, changed her mind, when she realised that it wouldn’t bother God if Luke was alive or dead at the time of the ceremony, it was his parents who mattered and what they wanted was important. I like to think that future families have been helped by that decision.
Anyway whatever God has in store for you this year be assured that He will be with all of us and give us the strength to cope with the good and bad times .
Nina
November
The Vicar/Rector Writes:
This month we especially think of some of the greatest catastrophes that the world has ever known – the two world wars and all the other conflicts that our forces have been or are involved in up to this day. This is of course on Remembrance Day. The Church celebrates All Saints day on the first of the month also. This is a great celebration of God’s saints in every age and place – but it’s also, by implication, a recollection of times when the church has been persecuted, and also times in which Christians have persecuted and made martyrs of each other.
The human mind has always sought ways and means of getting the evils of the world under our control, so that we can live in safety, and in “peace and plenty.” In psychological terms, even being able to name some destructive force gives us, we feel, some measure of control over it.
Just before I came to this Benefice I took a sabbatical, during which I spent a week in the Rocky Mountains, at Jasper National Park. The First Nation people apparently hadn’t liked the mountains very much, preferring the Great Plains to the east where they hunted the buffalo. Some half a dozen nomadic tribes used what is now the town of Jasper as a temporary camp in summer. They couldn’t understand why the vast Medicine Lake could be so full of water in June every year and almost empty by September. This troubled them greatly. They understood it filling up in summer due to snow and glaciers melting, but the emptying is due to the geology – limestone with lots of sinkholes. To this day, no one knows where the water goes to once it has drained from the lake.
The First Nation people thought that the “Old Man” was the cause of the water disappearing. He is a red/brown sandstone outcrop at the top of a mountain near to the lake. Contrasting well with the pale limestone, it looks very much like an old man’s face, as he lies on his back looking up at the sky. You can make out the chin, nose and eyebrow ridge, and stream-beds running down the mountainside below create the impression of feathers in his head dress. As he was considered to be the cause of the “Bad medicine” of the lake, the Indians always faced the entrances of their tepees away from him, in an attempt to have control over the evil that he represented.
We may consider that European folklore also attempts to give us human beings authority over the raw forces of nature – the Little Red Riding Hood story, for example. What do we make of this story? It was certainly a warning to people, especially children, of the perceived danger and cunning of the wolf – but was it more than that? In psychological terms was it an attempt to keep one step ahead of the wolf by anticipating that, using its great cunning, it may even dress up as Grandma to deceive a child?
Today, the evils of the world are well represented by terrorism, which we are controlling by means of intelligence and military force, and illness, especially cancer, which we are attempting to bring under control by science. When I did the Cancer Research UK Great Wall of China trek a few years ago, my G.P. at the time assured me that in time a cure for all the various cancers will be found – but that something else will replace it then as the number one threat to our health in this part of the country. The Church is making a brave attempt to control swine flu at present. It’s doing this by banning the use of the chalice at communion services – to the anger and dismay of most of its members!
Folklore is still breaking through into our modern world, though. Gremlins are an interesting example. They are inexplicable electrical faults that assail anything from cars to computers to domestic Hoovers and kitchen gadgets. If all attempts to rectify the fault fail, blame the Gremlin! The name came into being in the Second World War, as a would-be explanation for inexplicable faults to aircraft electrics. I’m not suggesting that we’re daft enough to really believe in them of course! They are more of a sub-conscious thing – we feel that if we can give something a name, then the very act of naming it gives us some measure of control over it.
At this time of year we begin to look forward the Christmas once again. Again, the great words from the beginning of St. John’s gospel will be read, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” These words represent the Christian recognition that ultimately we, as human beings, are not able to control the raw elements of “Darkness” that so often threaten us. There is only one who can, the one who shines in the darkness and has never been put out by it, and never will be. We can join with him in overcoming the evils of the world.
Second Thursdays
This month we will meet as usual at 1.45 for 2.00 pm at Goldhanger Church, on Thursday 12th. All welcome.
Wildwatching News.
We’re having a good autumn migration this year, and it should continue well into this month.
I was driving back along Church Road in Great Totham recently, when I caught a glimpse of a large-ish black and white bird of prey flying across a field. A quick emergency stop later and I found, with my binoculars, an Osprey which had landed on the field. It remained there for a few minutes, keeping a watchful eye on the Crows which were paying it a lot of attention. It then flew off, roughly in the direction of Little Totham Church. It had a particularly noticeable black collar or upper breast band, making it a female or juvenile – probably the latter at a guess.
Ospreys nest in the Scottish Highlands, where numbers have built up considerably over the last decade or two. The nearest nesting site to here is at Rutland Water, where the Annual Birdwatching Fair is held. The nesting Ospreys are such a feature of the fair that at the A Rocha, (Christians in conservation) service, the invitation to prayer is – wait for it – “Let Osprey!” Most Ospreys from the British Isles winter in tropical West Africa. Migration down our east coast is regular – but you have to be in the right place at the right time to see one.
We’ve had a mega-rarity in the area as well, a White-rumped Sandpiper at Abberton reservoir. My photos of it are still in the camera, but I hope to have some good ones. The WRS is a tiny wader with a noticeable white band or “Rump” above the tail, which is visible when the wings are spread. The bird’s presence here is remarkable because they breed in arctic Canada and Alaska, and winter in South America.
A number of New World migrants turn up in the British Isles each autumn, having been caught up in huge Atlantic weather systems. Is it possible that the Sandpiper came over with Hurricane Billy?? We can only imagine what it must be like being a small bird in immensely strong winds, high above the vast ocean.
Also at Abberton recently there has been a Peregrine, often perched on one of the electricity pylons. From the perspective of other birds, they are the most dangerous bird of prey that we are likely to have in this area. Very often, the first clue we have that there’s a Peregrine around is the mass- panicking of all the other birds in the area.
Another unusual visitor to Abberton is a single Spoonbill. It has an all white plumage, a large, spoon – shaped beak, and is the size of a large goose. For all that, it can be surprisingly difficult to find among the ducks, waders, swans, cormorants, geese, you name it…
The causeway to Osea Island has again come up trumps. With ten species of waders including Greenshanks and Whimbrells seen easily from the car, it’s out-numbering even the causeways at Abberton at present. It was noticeable, though, that only one Brent Goose has returned to Osea at the time of writing. This compares to a couple of dozen or more at Mersea Island, where I had to do a visit recently. It seems that the Brents tend to gather more at the end of the estuary, and comedown towards Maldon in cold weather. Whatever the weather though, we can look forward to many more than just one in and around this part of the estuary, as Autumn gives way to winter.
October Articles
Wildwatching News
Summer holidays in Cornwall provided a good opportunity that may be overlooked here in the midst of day-to-day life. A pair of Sparrowhawks was very noisily tending their recently fledged young in mature trees on our campsite. At first I couldn’t understand why they were drawing attention to themselves so much at the nest site, but it was probably an attempt to deter the many Crows, Rooks and Jackdaws in the neighbourhood. We have seen a pair of Ravens in the area as well in the past, but not this year.
The Eden Project was a wonderful experience as always. Cacao trees, which I wrote about a few months ago, and pineapples growing out of the ground, the opportunity to start a fire by rubbing two pieces of dry wood together… and the Sulawesi White-eyes that no bird-watcher would want to miss, introduced into the Rainforest Biome. White-eyes are a family of birds with representatives in many tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world, and as the name suggests, they have a bold, white ring around the eye. They escape from captivity sometime – a Great Totham resident took a lovely photo of a Cape White-eye in Hampshire a few years ago.
Sewage treatment plants are always worth a look. The one at Wadebridge had Grey Wagtails feeding on insects on the concrete structures. It was easy to see Fallow Deer in the huge enclosure at Padstow – apart from the one occasion when I took family members with me to see them! There weren’t any black ones among them though, which are such a feature of our local Fallow Deer in Essex.
A ‘Sealife Safari’ boat trip down the estuary and into Atlantic coastal waters provided close views of Sandwich Terns, Gannets, Fulmars and Kittiwakes, and large numbers of Cormorants and Shags on the rocky Puffin and Newlands Islands. The skipper spotted a pair of Sunfish, which we were able to approach really closely. Superficially, Sunfish look like Dustbin lids with silver foil wrapped around them swimming about, with dorsal fins clear of the water. They are quite rare, because they used to be considered easy to catch, but are now protected. To have a pair of them swim under the small inflatable we were on was a once in a lifetime experience.
Other highlights included Mediterranean Gulls, of which I counted 31 on the rising tide in the Camel Estuary one afternoon. They are superficially similar to Black-headed Gulls, but bigger with a stouter, blood-red bill, and all white primary flight feathers on the adults. The Meds really stand out from the B.H.’s once you get your eye in! I’ve seen just one locally, on the estuary at Maldon.
Relaxing evenings were spent with a barbeque, looking at the moon and star constellations, and getting good views of Jupiter through telescopes. Jupiter has about sixty moons apparently – but we made a start by counting five of them! Tawny Owls were hooting occasionally in the background… It’s a wonderful world!
Back home, taking the car over the causeway to Osea Island to deliver parish mags is something of a local ‘Wildlife Safari’, which is an idea for one of the winter ‘Second Thursdays’. Nina and I counted seven wader species, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Curlew, Dunlin, Lapwing and a lovely Grey plover still in breeding plumage, a study in silver-grey and black.
The Vicar/Rector Writes:
The Truth.
“I am the way, the truth and the life.” John 14 v. 6
“You will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” John 8 v. 32
My Great-grandfather’s eldest brother proved to be a problem in family tree researches, because there seemed to be a discrepancy of some seven or eight years in his age. I have a copy of an emergency passport issued for him by the American Embassy in Germany on 20th April 1915, giving his age as 64 years. He was a merchant seaman and was in Germany at the start of the First World War, and due to his British Citizenship he was interned. When his true records came to light, it emerged that he was only about 56 years age at the time! He obviously added a few years to his age in order to obtain the emergency passport, and safe passage home.
What do you think about such “Manipulations of the truth?” We may consider that his action was justified because it prevented greater wrong –that of unfair imprisonment. What of sixteen year old boys signing up to fight in the Second World War, pretending that they were eighteen? We know it happened. We may admire their youthful, reckless courage, or we may identify more with what their parents, or at least some of them, went through as a result of what they did.
There isn’t much room for “Manipulating the truth” in the church’s ministry, however well intended it may be. As a Curate I visited an elderly couple. The man had been ill and was very weak and thin. It seemed fairly obvious that death wasn’t very far off for him. He asked me very frankly if I thought he was going to die, and on the spur of the moment I felt that the only thing I could do was to try to re-assure him that he wasn’t. He died on the evening of that very day.
Who was I trying to protect with that “White lie?”Most people know in their heart of hearts when death is approaching. Perhaps he wanted to talk about it. Perhaps I was afraid that his wife would be angry with me for upsetting him during his last hours of life. I bottled out! For all that, the widow and family were grateful for my ministry, and I took the funeral in due course. On reflection, my reply to the man’s question should have been “I don’t know.” This wouldn’t have been a lie. We don’t know what lies ahead, and sometimes people make remarkable recoveries. I should also have fed it back to him: “What do you think?” this would have enabled him to have talked about it if he had wanted to.
Perhaps the most subtle lies in our lives are the ones we accept about ourselves – such as “I’m a useless waste of space because I’m ill, or because I’ve lost my job.” There’s also the saying I remember well from childhood about people who lived at the “Posh” end of the village –“They’re no better than us!” If I’ve learned anything about psychology since, it’s that the saying was based on a deep-seated attitude or lie within the community that they really were “Better than us” after all.
A woman wrote to an agony aunt’s column about the way she related to men –it was as if she went around all the time with an “R” tattooed on the middle of her forehead, standing for “Reject.” She felt unworthy of a lasting relationship, and of course this lie that she had accepted about herself had become self-fulfilling. How did she come to believe that of herself? Was it due to her father or brothers, or former boyfriends? Sooner or later such lies within people lead to them hurting others as well as themselves. At least, in beginning to understand what was going on within herself, she was starting to find the way forward to the truth setting her free.
Jesus asserted that he was himself the embodiment of truth – and may his truth filter through to all levels of our being. Those of you who have read this far may be aware of lies you have accepted about yourself, or lies about about your place in your family or in the wider community. May you indeed know the truth, and may the truth make you free!
Confirmation.
There will be a Beneface Confirmation Service on Sunday 25th October, 10.30 am; at one of the churches. Preparation sessions for this will continue on the first four Saturday mornings of the month, 10.00am at Honywood Hall, Great Totham.
2nd Thursdays.
Visit to Lauriston Farm. Thursday 8th October, meeting at Goldhanger church at 1.45 for 2.00pm as usual. This will be another opportunity to have a guided tour of the farm. It’s many features include rare and diverse habitat, organic farming, and the remains of Roman salt workings. Please let me know if you are able to attend. There’s no charge, but there has to be at least four of us.
September articles
The Vicar/Rector Writes:
A few Thoughts on Healing – and Swine Flu.
Matthew 10 v 1 “(Jesus) called his twelve disciples to him, and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits, and to heal every disease and sickness.”
The healer’s art has been well recognised for as long as the human race has existed, from the Shamans of pre-historic communities to our own GP’s of today. And yet we are all healers to a greater or lesser extent. Jesus gave authority to heal to all of his disciples, even though none of them were specifically connected with the medical profession. St. Luke, the trained physician of the New Testament, didn’t come into the picture until a later date. Some people have a special gift, a special calling to heal, and make it their profession – but the rest of us have a share in it as well.
I will never forget the action of one of our elderly neighbours in Birmingham, when our first cat developed an extremely nasty, life-threatening sore on one of his paws. Nina and I were on holiday at the time, and on our return listened in amazement to her account of how she healed our “Aristotle!” She had boiled up a poultice of comfrey which was growing in her garden, and applied it to the wound. We had our jokes about her riding a broomstick, etc.; but were very grateful to her because it worked! The cat’s paw was completely healed, using knowledge that was undoubtedly thousands of years old.
At the end of St. Mark’s Gospel, when Jesus sent his followers out into the world to “Proclaim the gospel to every creature,” he gave a series of signs which will accompany those who believe. One of the signs is that in his name they will lay hands on folk who are ill or in any kind of need and pray for them. Please get in touch if you would like to request this sort of ministry, or indeed, seek out the ministry of the Healing Rooms at the Barn Church. Whereas I can’t guarantee that people will rise up and be perfectly healthy straight away as a result, as with Jesus’ own healing miracles, it is at least an important part of the healing process. It is a means of letting the love, care and healing touch of Christ himself into the area of sickness, disability, or need.
Healing skills are not restricted to the purely physical or course, but recognises the close inter-relationship of the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of us all. The words of Jesus when a paralysed man was lowered through a roof to him come to mind: His first words to the man were “Son, your sins are forgiven.” What a strange way to greet a man with a severe disability, but when we think about it deeper the questions begins to form: What was the relationship between the man’s sin, his feelings of guilt about it, and his physical condition? Did he have an investment in continuing to be ill rather than being healed?
Healing, in the broadest sense of the word, goes way beyond the physical healing of individuals. A few years ago I attended a day conference on the healing of communities. There were some remarkable stories, some of them spanning many years, such as the ex-mining village in which the church seemed to be somewhat isolated from most of the wider community. The present Vicar couldn’t understand why, until he discovered that, decades ago, the church had been the domain of the pit-owners, and the miners and their families went to a daughter-church which had since been demolished.
There was also the illustration of the power of a sincere apology, this time from a community in Northern Ireland. The Anglican Church, clergy and laity, issued a public apology to the effect that they were truly sorry about their part in the persecution of Catholics in the town, which had happened many years previously. Even though the persecution was nothing to do with the present generation, the apology led to a rapid thaw in relations between people of the two denominations.
There is also a sense in which we can speak of ‘The healing of the nations.’ Who would have thought from the standpoint of, say, thirty years ago that the Berlin Wall would have been demolished, and the Eastern Bloc dismantled? Who would have thought that there would be peace in Northern Ireland? Dare we believe that the Israelis and Palestinians may be able to live in harmony some day, or that hostility between India and Pakistan can be resolved?
A few years ago Margaret Hassan, Director of Care International, was murdered in Iraq. She was a remarkable woman who dedicated her life to the poor and disadvantaged in Iraq, especially children. She helped more than 17 million people, and everyone who met her was touched by her personality and compassion. The difference she made will carry on for decades after her martyrdom, which is how the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster described her death.
May we all be healers! From our prayers for the nations of the world to caring for a sick relative or neighbour, or from being a “Flu friend” to being one who brings peace and reconciliation, we all have our part to play.
Wildwatching News.
It’s possible to see plenty of wildlife from the car around here, which is a good thing considering the busy-ness of life today. A strange shape crossing the road just the other side of Wickham Bishops turned out to be a Stoat, dragging or carrying a dead Rabbit. As with many predators, Stoats have a strength-to-weight ratio many times greater than our own. The Rabbit could have been perhaps six or seven times the weight of the Stoat, although both animals have a considerable range of sizes and weights to which they can grow. The Stoat was characteristically shy of the car, and scarpered up the bank leaving its prey at the side of the road – only to return to it fairly quickly I guess.
A Grey Partridge posed nicely at the roadside at Five Lakes Country park while I was passing recently. It was presumably a male, as the black inverted horseshoe shape on the belly was especially prominent. Unlike the more common Red-legged or French Partridges, Greys are native to the British Isles. It seems, to an extent, to be the “Done thing” to preserve them at local shoots by avoiding shooting them, but this was by no means always the case. When they were more common, Grey Partridges were considered a great delicacy. According to Stephen Buczaki, though, in his book “Fauna Britannica,” Henry VIII issued a decree in the year l536 that Grey Partridges, along with Pheasants and Herons, be preserved in a large area surrounding his palace at Westminster. Conservation is by no means a new idea!
Incidentally, the much loved TV “Springwatch” series provided a clue to the identity of my “Mystery animal” of Drammen, Norway, that I mentioned a couple of months ago. The animal was Badger-like in shape, size and behaviour, but had a distinct brown colouration. One of the Springwatch articles included an Erithristic Badger filmed in our own beloved Essex, clearly showing the reddish brown colouration, and the head markings that are less bold than on an ordinary Badger. It’s one of those genetic variations that can be found throughout the realm of nature. That’s another mystery solved – perhaps!
A large Badger was seen near to Great Totham church recently, by a local who was out for an evening walk with his dog. One evening when I was there with my dog, a Little Owl was perched on one of the poles, and doing its best to ignore the Swallows that were swooping at it, trying to drive it away. Those same Swallows can be seen mobbing even a Sparrowhawk or Kestrel in the same vicinity. They have great confidence in attacking raptors, no doubt because of their superb agility in the air.
At Wildlife Club at Great Totham School recently, one group saw a Sparrowhawk with prey in its talons flying over the school grounds, and a Kestrel. Other groups had to make do with the regular Jackdaws and Collared Doves, which are both special enough in their own way.
The end-of-term visit to Abberton Reservoir was marked by a large Common Lizard in the car park, and a female Marsh Harrier flying overhead – both of which happened before the children arrived, unfortunately. However, we did see, from the Leyer Breton Causeway, some of the nesting Common Terns. Among the Geese there was a single Barnacle and a number of Egyptian Geese, and some funny-looking hybrids of Canadas and Greylags, which will presumably be infertile as is normal with hybrids.
The Autumn, which is arguably the best season for wildlife watching, is now upon us…
Second Thursdays. Thursday 10th September, 1.45 for2.00pm at Goldhanger church. All welcome.
A Confirmation service will be taken by Bishop Christopher on the morning of Sunday 25th October. Preparation sessions will be held on all of the Saturday mornings in September and October, beginning on 5th, 10.00 am at Honywood Hall. If you are interested or know anyone who might be, please discuss this with me.
August
Parish Magazine Article by Nina Pearce
Being a Christian in the classroom.
It was a dull Monday morning, just before the Easter Holidays when a girl in my class announced, “If mum hasn’t had the baby by Wednesday, she’s going into hospital to be seduced.”
That and many more ‘malapropisms’ have kept me in the classroom for more than 30 years. But what difference does my being a Christian make? How does it keep me on top of the undoubted pressures a modern school brings?
When I first started teaching in a Birmingham girls’ comprehensive in Smethwick all those years ago, I found that my faith helped me cope with the non-exam year 10 group I had to take for Library studies every Thursday afternoon. It doesn’t take much imagination to picture those girls giving me a very hard time every week. They weren’t interested in books – they could hide among the library shelves and throw things, make noises and be generally awful. I had no real means of coping with the situation. Help arrived in the form of another teacher who quickly showed me another side to these girls. She had taught them since they first arrived in the school and knew them very well. I confess that they probably knew very little more about books by the end of the year but the lessons became what is now called PSHE or citizenship and we had many fruitful discussions. I know that what I learnt about disaffected young people has helped me many times in the classroom today.
When teachers and pupils knew that I was going to be a vicar’s wife, most of them were amazed as I didn’t then fit the ‘accepted mould’ of what they thought a vicar’s wife should be like! (I never did learn how to make cucumber sandwiches or arrange any flowers!) It did, however get everyone talking, even if they berated the Church and Christians for not doing things properly or for causing problems which left very negative feelings towards Christianity. I have always hoped that I have helped in some small way to redress the balance positively towards the church.
Nowadays, because of Jonathan’s job, being a Christian precedes me into school. With it come the pressures of my faith being displayed to all. It can help a great deal with the problems children bring into the classroom – there are many worries which cause pupils to behave in unacceptable ways and part of my job is to help and understand what is going on.
I fully believe that without my being a Christian I would find teaching a much harder job. It is not just that I feel more able to cope, because I can give my worries and concerns to God – often after prayer the answers will come through another person. I remember struggling to understand a difficult pupil who seemed to go out of his way to cause disruption to the lessons. I couldn’t see a way forward except to exclude him every week from my lesson – except he would then find a way to be near my classroom and throw things at the window. Talking with another teacher I discovered that he loved drumming and wanted to be in a band. I then gave him the responsibility of looking after our brand new drum kit, providing a rhythmic accompaniment in assemblies and then to start a group in school. He just needed someone to trust him and to give him responsibility. I can’t say that he became a model student after that, but he was able to stay in my lessons and became more cooperative. I also learnt that the best way to approach a ‘stroppy’ child is to make your voice quieter and to not get drawn in to a confrontation situation.
I have learnt and am still learning a great deal about teaching many types of children. It was the only job I ever considered as a child. Even though the Geography teacher at my Secondary School told me that if I didn’t pay more attention in her subject I would never become a teacher. Well I’m still hopeless at Geography, but I am a teacher.
I cannot say that I’ve got it all sussed as a teacher. There are still times when the marking and planning stretches out before me, the house looks a mess and I’ve forgotten to deal with the child who looked at another one in the ‘wrong’ way and said ‘your mum!’ (which is apparently the worst insult ever for primary children to say to each other!) It has always seemed to me that just as we say ‘Sorry’ to God when we have done things wrong so I say ‘Sorry’ to children when I’ve done something wrong to them. If I ever feel that I know it all then it is probably the time to get out of the classroom, disconnect my interactive whiteboard, and bury my laptop!
Until then, I’ll go on teaching children like the boy who was very proud that his baseball cap had what he thought was a rude word printed on it. What it actually said was ‘SOX’!! Ah well back to school tomorrow! What did I do with year 4’s homework?
Nina
2nd Thursdays
13th August 2pm Goldhanger church
Dogs welcome
Jonathan