Dear Friends,
The last few months have been
busy in the Benefice. Community events and special services have taken place in
St Mary the Virgin Edwardstone, St Bartholomew’s Groton, St Lawrence’s Little
Waldingfield and All Saint’s Newton Green. We undertook a walking pilgrimage of
14 miles around our five churches. Then a few weeks ago, we had the most
amazing day as St Mary’s Boxford flung its doors open wide and welcomed our
Bishop to lead our Patronal Festival (the day which commemorates our Patron
Saint, St Mary), new people were Baptised and Confirmed as Christians in the
Anglican Tradition and we held the Annual Church Fete. Hundreds of people
wandered through and we hope were able to get a tiny glimpse of the Church’s
hospitality sitting at the centre of our communities and our lives.
People often ask me, “why are
you an Anglican Christian?” (or words to that effect). There are lots of very
good answers that I could give to this question: because Christianity makes
sense and adds that missing bit of philosophical truth to modern scientific
endeavour; it offers stability and balance in an otherwise unsettled world; it
provides a stable pillar of morality to individual and national life, the
Anglican Church is a sanctifying presence at the heart of the nation. All these
are valid and true. Nevertheless, I think a recent interview on Radio 4 offers
something equally profound.
‘What
would you do if you weren’t afraid?’ is
the title of a new book by Michal Oshman, discussed on Radio 4’s Women’s Hour.
Now, Michal is no stranger to success having held senior international roles at
both Facebook and TikTok. Yet in her book she reveals how she has spent most of
her life hiding anxiety and fear bred into her by surrounding culture. Therapy
did not help, if anything it made matters worse, causing her to keep revisiting
childhood experiences over and over again. She wanted to move forward, not
backwards. So at 38 she began exploring what she calls the multiple ‘isms’, Buddhism,
Taoism, Hinduism… Her family were Jewish, yet early on she felt no curiosity
towards Judaism because society had impressed upon her that to explore that
would be regressive. In our society we are led to believe that everything must
be shiny and new; different from what our forebears held dear. Nevertheless, it
was only after she began re-familiarising herself with the wisdom at her roots did
she begin to feel a sense of wholeness, stability and belonging, and with it a calmness
and purpose not based upon success or worldly influence.
It
may seem a strange thing to say, but I think I am a Anglican Christian partly for
similar reasons. It embeds me into the Judeo-Christian tradition of our
ancestors and draws me deeper into a timeless wisdom and truth. A wisdom
and divine connection that has guided
and sustained the lives of countless Christians before me. Its rhythms
have brought structure and purpose to otherwise directionless lives and
continue to do so. Through its
balancing of Tradition, Scripture and Reason, the Anglican faith connects me in
the present to the past and the future. It forces me to take seriously my place
in a mysterious and complex ecosystem of existence. It reminds me that I cannot
neglect spiritual morality nor the importance of community for too long without
there being consequences for me and others. Too often, the things we
pursue in modern life do not bring us satisfaction, connection or grounding.
Christianity teaches me that if we nurture our whole selves, body and soul,
then we will become something quite beautiful. Christianity offers me that hope
and purpose, even if through my own failings it often seems just beyond my
grasp.
When we offer bread and
wine on the altars of our churches each Sunday, we do so as a communal act on
behalf of the whole parish and benefice (not just those attending). The joys
and pains of our community are offered up in prayer, we reflect on God in the
life of Jesus, we are fed by his body and blood, and we go out to share that
life with others.
I am an Anglican
Christian, because the Church is a blessing to us and our communities and I
recognise that in order for it to continue we have to commit our time and
attention to it. If any of this resonates with you, why not pop in,
re-familiarise yourself with the faith of our ancestors and start your journey towards
belonging and purpose today?
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