REFLECTIONS


These pieces are written each month by members of our clergy team.

July Leader

A number of people will be going on holiday when the schools break up in July. For those of us who are retired, we can take advantage of not being tied to the school holidays when it comes to making a choice about ‘getting away.’ Some will travel great distances while others will just have a break nearer to home. The idea of having a holiday of course is not new to us, especially those of us born after the second world war. Having a break whether abroad or at home is an important part of a good lifestyle balance and one of the challenges today with the technology that we have at our disposal means getting away is not as clear cut as it used to be.

I remember as a child we would drive off first thing heading for Holyhead in North Wales and for my father and grandfather that would be ‘it’ in terms of work. Even upon arrival there would be no contact with those back at home and we would focus on our leisure time for want of a better word, even if sometimes it meant simply visiting the relatives we haven't seen since the previous year. Jesus talks about the need for resting and he provided good examples of ‘getting away’ - sometimes to a lonely spot. I am conscious today that people will be away from work and their home but with the laptop and mobile phone keeping them linked. Through the technology we have at our disposal it means that we don't really switch off. This can be a real challenge for people who are not on holiday but simply at home, so that during the evening and at weekends they will be checking emails and texts.

In 1842 a campaign group called the early closing association was formed. It lobbied the government to keep Saturday afternoon free from work in return for a full day’s work on Monday. Across the country a growing leisure industry saw the new half day Saturday as a business opportunity. Train operators embrace the idea, charging reduced fares for day trippers to the countryside on Saturday afternoons.

The word ‘holiday’ comes from the medieval idea of holy days that were held to mark important religious festivals in the church's calendar. Then, everyone would participate in the religious festival, and no work would be done on that particular day. Christmas Day, Good Friday and Easter day were the three most important holy days during the medieval period. Apart from religious festivals, the changing seasons of the agricultural year provided times when less work was required for example in winter, and the period after harvest in late August and early September was traditionally a time of celebration. It was the Victorians who created an official holiday for workers when they introduced the August bank holiday act of 1873.

For a good number of people, ‘getting away’ is not an option. They must work to pay the bills. They need to be around 24/7 to care for a relative or friend. The mental health issues they face do not enable them to consider such an option.

Whatever our lifestyle or situation, we should try to encourage each other, to find that space, so that we can be at peace within ourselves. Perhaps just an hour on a Sunday, attending the local church, could be a good start.

Paul

Gracious Lord, help us to appreciate the time that we have each day and to make good use of it. Help us to make that space for rest and refreshment, so that our lives can be a blessing for our sake and for those we meet. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

Reflection:

Sunday 31st May sees the Church celebrate Trinity Sunday.  On this day we acknowledge the belief that is unique to Christianity, namely that God has been revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Not three Gods, but one God, in three persons. This belief did not originate in a theological college, or at a conference of Bishops, but rather it emerged amongst the disciples through their experience of being with Jesus and their later experience of the Holy Spirit.  

Most of the writers of the New Testament were Jewish and they had been brought up to believe that God was one.  However, as they spent time with Jesus and witnessed his miracles, his Crucifixion and Resurrection, they came to realise that Jesus was the Son of God and God incarnate on earth. Take for example Thomas's response when meeting the risen Christ:  

‘Thomas said, my Lord and my God…’  (John 20: 28)  

Or Jesus’s response to Philip:  

‘Philip said to Jesus show us the Father and we will ask no more.  Jesus said to him, anyone who has seen me has seen the Father….' (John 14: 8)  

From these and many other passages the church began to understand that Jesus was Divine and had been sent by the Father to redeem and save humankind.  Jesus identifies with us in our humanity and saves us in his Divinity, for one human being cannot save another human being from sin and death, only Jesus Christ can accomplish that.  After Jesus's Ascension into heaven the Holy Spirit was poured out into the hearts of the believers and has been continuously poured out into the hearts of all those who believe so the presence of the risen Christ is now available to all people, at all times, across all history.  As it says in the above passage:  

‘Here is the proof that we dwell in Him and He dwells in us: He has imparted His Spirit to us'.  (1 John 4: 13)

Let us unpack this a bit more.  In our above passage from the first letter of St John, John declares that God is love.  In all the different descriptions of God, this is the ultimate name that Christians have for God.  God is love.  Now, if we know God as love then we have to think about what that means.  God in love with himself would be an expression of egotistical and sterile love.  God just in love with the Son would be an exclusive and excluding love, but the love of three is an open and balanced love.  The Father loves the Son, the Son in return loves the Father and the language of love between them is the Holy Spirit.  In other words God is relationship, a relationship of perfect balance and mutual respect.  A relationship that creates, sustains, saves and shares Divine love with the created order on earth.  A love that wants to lead people away from things which are not of love, namely sin, to a deeper experience of God’s love and presence.  A love that is relational and also one. And because this love is Divine then when it dwells within us we are given the eternal life that cannot be destroyed by death, although our bodies are.  As Jesus said to the woman at the well:  

‘In fact the water (Holy Spirit) that I give you will be a well of water springing up to eternal life.’ (John 4: 14)  

Through the presence of the Holy Spirit within us we can know and participate in the Divine love and moreover we are commanded to share this love amongst other people.  In this sense the doctrine of the Trinity forms and underpins the very basis of Western civilisation.  For the notion of love, not just a private affair, but as a societal value has led to the establishment of human rights and the rights of the individual.  It has led to an emphasis on creativity and self expression, and moral right and wrong.  Above all, it has over time, shaped a responsibility for others in society, especially the poor and disadvantaged.  It could be argued that it is the belief that God is love and our need to love others which has shaped the emergence and assumptions around the Welfare State.  God as relationship shapes the ideals around how we should relate to our fellow humans.  Without a notion of love for others we could have had a society where people just fend for themselves.  Even at times in history where Christian countries were cruel and indifferent to the suffering of others, there were always people of faith who championed the way of mutual love and care.  This way of mutual love and care stems directly from the belief in the Triune God as John writes:  

'God is love. Beloved let us love one another for love is from God and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Those who live in love, live in God and God lives in them'.  (1 John 4: 8)  

We all know that love is the most important thing in the world and we desire to love and to be loved.  That is because we are made in the image of the Triune God, the God of love.

 Matthew

ABOUT ST. GILES CHURCH


Monthly Bulletins

It has now been 5 years since we started sending out our monthly Bulletin as a result of the Covid pandemic and I know from various feedback that the Bulletin is very much appreciated.  Going forward I remain very committed to making sure that all of us who love St. Giles are kept informed not only of what is going on at our Church but encouraged in the understanding and practice of the Christian faith. 

In the future we will continue to write to you but every other month making sure that our bulletins coincide with the important occasions in the Church's year.  Our next Bulletin will be sent out in July.

Matthew Hughes, May 2025