REFLECTIONS


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

November Leader

As we prepare to mark Remembrance Sunday, I am reminded of a training session I attended recently in London entitled ‘Faith Security Training’. The training was for leaders of Christian churches and other faith leaders and was delivered by a former army officer on behalf of the Home Office. At this training session we were reminded that there are five different ‘threat levels’ with regards to national security. Currently we are actually at the second highest level, ‘Severe’, which is one below the highest level ‘Critical’. I must confess that it came as a surprise to me to learn that we were at the second highest level. We may be aware of various conflicts around the world that feature in the news, including the current conflict between the US and Iran, or between Israel and Palestine, or Russia and Ukraine. However, we may not always be aware of how much these ongoing international situations have an impact on the security of our own nation and on the actions of our own government, security services and police forces. The ‘threat level’ that has been decided by the security services will determine the exact uniform and military equipment carried by a soldier in South East London, standing outside Woolwich military barracks. Events in the Middle East can have a direct effect on decisions taken in Bromley Borough. The training brought home to me how much the fate of our own nation is tied in with the fate of the world. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, when he addressed Riverside Church in New York City in 1967 with his famous sermon ‘Beyond Vietnam’, reminded the congregation that ‘We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny’.

Perhaps one of our reflections this Remembrance Sunday can be a reflection on that idea of ‘mutuality’. The sense that the conflicts of the past, in particular WWI and WWII, as well as conflicts on seemingly faraway borders, continue to have an impact on our own lives here in a corner of Greater London in 2026. At the same time, as we reflect on our ‘mutuality’, we can also draw some reassurance from our identity as members of Christ’s body here on earth. As churches around the world mark Remembrance Sunday, I am reminded of St Paul’s teaching in the letter to the Ephesians. In Ephesians Chapter 1, Paul describes how Christ is the head ‘over everything’, and he goes on in the final verse of that chapter to describe the church as Christ’s body, ‘the fullness of him who fills everything in every way’ (Ephesians 1:23).

This sense that the different gatherings of the church around the world are all part of the ‘fullness of Christ’ may be an encouragement to us. The description of an ‘inescapable network of mutuality’ also applies to a global church where prayers said in Myanmar unite with prayers said in Margate, and the broken bread shared in a church in Bethlehem in some mysterious way forms part of the one bread also broken in a church in Bromley. The church is itself an inescapable network of mutuality that serves, in Christ’s words, to be the salt of the world. The light carried by the church offers hope in a world so often affected by the darkness of war. Our two minute silence on Remembrance Sunday unites with the silence of millions of others around the globe who, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, also pray that one day ‘nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more’ (Isaiah 2:4).

Stephen

Collect for Rememnrance Sunday

Almighty Father, whose will is to restore all things in your beloved Son, the King of all: govern the hearts and minds of those in authority, and bring the families of the nations, divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin, to be subject to his just and gentle rule; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

Reflection:

Welcome to this month's Bulletin.  Today we have just one verse from Matthew's Gospel to reflect upon.  What are we to make of this  illustration that Jesus uses to describe the Kingdom of God?  Let's look at the treasure buried in the field.  In Jesus's day there were no banks as we know them today, people buried their valuables in fields, especially when they feared invasion, or they were going away for a long period of time.  That is why today people with metal detectors can sometimes unearth collections of ancient coins buried in random places.  Similarly in the above illustration a man walking through a field stumbles upon some buried treasure, rather than tell everyone he shrewdly re-buries it, sells everything he has, buys the field and lays claim to the treasure all for himself, job done!  

Jesus takes this man's clever and ruthless drive for wealth and asks us to apply it to the spiritual life, for Jesus is telling us that the Kingdom of God is like buried treasure and that once we find it we should want to possess it above everything else.  First, what is the Kingdom of God?  God is love and his reign is the reign of love.  We are called to be loving people, to love God, to love ourselves and to love others.  Jesus's death on the cross allows us to love God and to receive God's love, because our sins have been washed away, they are no longer a barrier between us and God’s love. With this in mind, the treasure in the field is God's love.  It is not always obvious, it has to be searched for, but it is there and when we find it there is a light bulb moment.  ‘Ah’ we say to ourselves, so this is what life is really about, it's about love and I will be most happy, fulfilled, at peace, forgiven, enriched and joyful when I love God, serve Christ and belong to a loving Christian community.  This is the treasure and it's worth relinquishing anything that might distract us from owning it - sin, material possessions, wrong priorities, pride etc.   

Treasure is time with family and friends under the umbrella of God's love, it's a walk in the countryside knowing that all you see is a gift from God.  Treasure is feeling the Lord's forgiveness when your sins have left you in despair. Treasure is the warm welcome of your fellow Christians and their love and concern for you and you for them.  Treasure is trusting your loved ones to God's love and having hope in the face of death.  Treasure is Midnight Mass and a Church full of Easter flowers, it's holding a baby and hearing a child say 'Amen'. Treasure is the privilege of serving Christ and following him. I could go on. Where's your treasure?  

All of this treasure is a lovely gift  from God, it is free to us and worth everything for it lasts to eternity. How important it is to work out for ourselves, in the shortness of life, what really matters, what is ultimately of value and making sure that we know it, recognise and own it.

In 1848 gold was discovered at Sutters Mill in California, this triggered one of the biggest gold rushes of all time.  People sold everything they had to purchase wagons and tools to go West.  300,000 flooded into California from as far away as China, Europe and South America.  The vast majority of them never found any gold, only destitution.

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