Health and Wholeness, Inclusion, LGBTI+

Everyone is welcome

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This is just a reminder that EVERYONE is welcome to the churches in our parish. God does not discriminate. God loves and welcomes all of us, whoever we are. Sometimes the church doesn’t appear to offer that welcome, particularly to those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, non-binary or intersex, but all are welcome in this parish, and we work to challenge discrimination and exclusion.

Our inclusive values mean that we extend this challenge to all areas of discrimination and we belong to Inclusive Church, a network of churches, groups and individuals uniting around a shared vision:

“We believe in inclusive Church – a church which celebrates and affirms every person and does not discriminate. We will continue to challenge the church where it continues to discriminate against people on grounds of disability, economic power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, or sexuality. We believe in a Church which welcomes and serves all people in the name of Jesus Christ; which is scripturally faithful; which seeks to proclaim the Gospel afresh for each generation; and which, in the power of the Holy Spirit, allows all people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus Christ.”

We will get it wrong. If you feel excluded or discriminated against, tell us. But let’s work together to offer God’s welcome.

 

Picture by Cecilie Johnsen on Unsplash.
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Some of the Sermon on the Mount!

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This Sunday in church we are reading Matthew 5:13-20.  Here are some thoughts which will form the basis of my sermon.

I am particularly interested in vv17-20.  There seems to be some form of contradiction in these verses.  Jesus tells us that he has not come to abolish the law, and seems to make dire threats against those who teach otherwise.  And yet Peter abolishes kosher law (Acts 10:9-23) and Paul argues that following the law is a problem (Galatians 5:4-6).

There are some logical solutions to this!

“For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished”… If Jesus incarnation, death and/or resurrection have caused heaven and earth to pass away, or if they have caused all to be accomplished…

What “law” is Jesus talking about?  Traditionally “law or the prophets” refer to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, and the prophets writings.  However, this includes Leviticus which contains the kosher laws.  If we look at the vv that follow this weeks reading then we may see that they are a commentary on the 10 commandments.  Or on the commandments which Jesus is about to give – where he interprets the 10 commandments in a harder, but more loving way.

Alternatively we might see the law as Jesus expounds it in Matthew 22:34-40 as fulfilling the law and yet at the same time as undermining the “law” as taught by the Pharisees which created additional laws, just to be on the safe side!  God’s laws were broad principles.  Jewish laws defined the principles in fine detail.  After all the passage ends: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Another approach is to look at who Matthew is writing for – which is the Jews.  If you are writing to the Jews, it would be sensible to emphasise the continuity with Judaism with its emphasis on the Law and Prophets – Jesus is not doing anything that does away with the Law and the Prophets – even though later disciples do.

Why this questioning?  Personally I find a conflict between the Two Great Commandments and some of the others (I am not arguing for us to ignore the 10 commandments – perhaps even to extend them to not coveting our neighbours husband!).

A couple of the commentaries I read say that this is the hardest passage if scripture to interpret (trust me to pick it!).

If this passage worries you, what you have to do is figure it out for yourself – although you can also accept that you can’t make sense of it.

Baptism

A baptismal welcome

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We love a baptism and we’ve celebrated quite a number recently, welcoming children and their families into the church. Baptisms take place at all three churches – St George’s, St John’s and St Mark’s – and always in the main service as baptism means becoming part of the whole church and the congregation is an important part of that.

Recently we also had a special celebration of thanksgiving for the baptism of little Lewis who was baptized in Romania but whose family wanted a service here in Farnham too. Baptism families are given a candle to mark the occasion and Lewis’s Romanian one was pretty impressive. Lesley Crawley even prayed in Romanian.

On Sunday Maximus was baptized and, at five years old, was able to declare fervently that he wanted to be baptized and later lead the congregation out of the church, holding his candle before him.

Welcome all.

Pictured top: Families and godparents with Lesley after the thanksgiving for Lewis (far left) and baptism of Lillie-Rose (centre).
Below: Maximus is baptized.
Lewis’s Romanian baptismal candle.
Art, Church Buildings, St Mark's Church

How to record a church

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St Mark’s Church is welcoming new visitors every month at the moment – a group of ‘recorders’ who can be seen walking around inside the church making careful notes and taking pictures in order to ‘record’ the church.

The idea is to record everything inside – the windows; memorials; ironwork; textiles; the Kitty Milroy murals and other decorations; ‘Emily’ the organ; the woodwork; stonework; and documents – and to produce a report which will essentially give a snapshot of the church in 2020.

The recorders are members of The Arts Society Farnham, and are led by Margaret Popovic and Alison Boydell. They chose the church after reading in the local press about the nationally important murals painted by Kitty Milroy a century ago, and about Emily the Edwardian organ who has just been restored.

“St Mark’s is a lovely, very individual community church with wonderful paintings,” said Alison. “It will take us several months to record it and then we want to move on to St John’s.”

For an online look at St Mark’s click here, then click on the ‘Google Sphere’ links on the page

Christingle, News Releases, St George's Church

Celebrate Christingle

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There will be a Christingle service at St George’s Church on Sunday, February 2, at 11.30am and everyone is welcome.

Christingle services take place any time between the beginning of Advent and the festival of  Candlemas on February 2.  The idea of the Christingle – where the story of God’s love and care for the world is told through the symbols of an orange, red ribbon, fruit and sweets and a candle – goes back almost 275 years to a church in Germany. These days it is usually associated with The Children’s Society which exists to help children suffering from poverty, neglect and danger in the UK.

The St George’s Christingle will take place at Worship for All, a weekly Sunday service at 11.30am which is particularly suitable for families with children.

 

Picture by Richard Gillin on Flickr.
St Mark's Church

Emily and NHOA – the perfect match

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Emily, the St Mark’s Edwardian organ, will be up to her old tricks again on Saturday afternoon (January 25) when members of NHOA, the North Hampshire Organists’ Association, give an interactive demonstration of how an organ works and play some of their favourite pieces on her. As NHOA has proved on previous occasions, Emily is a perfect match for them.

NHOA is holding its AGM at St Mark’s at lunchtime and then will open the doors to the general public at 2pm for an organ concert and demonstration. Everyone is welcome, it will be quirky, fun and free.

Pictured above are members of NHOA showing just what goes on inside an organ.

Children and Youth, Christmas, Inclusion, News Releases, Social Events, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

Special atmosphere and Santa at SHIP party

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Families from Sandy Hill met Santa Claus and showed off their dance moves at a party at St Mark’s on the Monday before Christmas (December 23).

The families, from the Sandy Hill Inclusive Partnership (SHIP), enjoyed a party which included table tennis, pool, art and craft, music and dance provided by the performing arts school Boogie Pumps, and, of course, a visit from Santa Claus who brought gifts for all the children and their parents too.

“It was a really special atmosphere,” said Francis from Boogie Pumps, who led the children in a dance session involving hoops, pom poms, baby sharks and a lot of energy and enthusiasm, while the general consensus among the families was that it was “awesome” and “we’ve been spoiled!”.

More than 100 presents were provided for the children following the annual Farnborough Business Park Christmas Gift Drive, collecting brand new toys, clothes, vouchers, make-up and jewellery for some young people. Members of St Mark’s, St John’s and St George’s churches had also donated enough presents for the SHIP adults to take home a bag of gifts each too.

A big thank-you to everyone who gave so generously, and to everyone who helped put on the party, including Waitrose who provided some of the food. It was great fun and a lovely start to Christmas. We are looking forward to other events with SHIP in the new year.

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It’s Christmas!

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Have you exceeded the speed limit?

Have you cycled on the pavement?

Have you ever knocked on someones door and run away?

Have you activated your burglar alarm without nominating a key holder who can turn it off in your absence?

Have you sung happy birthday to a friend in public without a copyright license?

All of the above are against the law.  Congratulations if you have answered no to all of them!  But…

Have you driven a car before 1976 without a bale of hay?

Are you a man born before 1943?  Did you keep up your longbow practice?

That is the problem with the law – there are so many, including the ones you don’t know about that it is impossible to keep them all.

So what has this got to do with Christmas?  What we are celebrating is the coming of God to earth, but more than that, we are celebrating a whole new way of being right with God.

Lots of religions, and I only haven’t said all except Christianity because I don’t know about all of them, believe that you get right with God by doing the right things, by keeping the “law”.  This was certainly the case with 1st Century Jews who not only had the 10 commandments, but the 613 laws of Moses and others that the pharisees had created to ensure that none of the others were broken – except it wasn’t possible to keep all the laws.

Jesus was born to bring Good News to the world – the good news being that it wasn’t keeping the law that made us right with God.  Instead God loves all of us – whatever we have done – being right with God depends on God – not us.  If you look at the Bible – the only people that Jesus has no time for are those who tell everyone that you have to behave – having created laws which people find impossible to keep, and which they cannot keep themselves, despite perhaps appearing to do so.

Now at this point you might well point me towards a lot of those Christians you hear on the radio telling you about the all the “laws” that you have to keep.  All I can say is that I fundamentally disagree with them.  Unfortunately the press like conflict and the extremes of the Church of England get more press time than the centre.  This parish and the three churches in it are members of Inclusive Church, an organisation whose vision is, in part:

We believe in inclusive Church – a church which celebrates and affirms every person and does not discriminate. We will continue to challenge the church where it continues to discriminate against people on grounds of disability, economic power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, or sexuality.

God is not a God who is watching over you, trying to catch you doing something you shouldn’t – adding up the pluses and minuses like some Santa figure trying to figure out if you are “naughty or nice”.  God is a God who wants us all to have life in all its fullness – to live this life in a way that is fulfilling and life giving.  That is the Good News that Jesus was born to bring to us – isn’t that something worth celebrating?

However, this isn’t some excuse for us all to do whatever we want.  If God wants us all to have life in all its fullness then we cannot enjoy our life in such a way that others ability to enjoy theirs is impacted.  If we insist on overheating the planet because we want our creature comforts, then others homes get flooded; if we want to pay less in taxes then those without the ability to earn sufficient to live will suffer; if we refuse to look after refugees, and others less well off than ourselves, then what for their life in all its fullness?  The Jewish scriptures, based on law, defend the rights of the widow the alien and the orphan – how can we basking in God’s love do less?

Of course, if you believe in a God who is trying to catch you out then you will find that a different set of priorities are necessary and you might start telling people how they should behave to be right with God.

No wonder Jesus birth is seen as Good News – now we can all live the lives that he calls us to – lives that allow us and everyone else to enjoy life in all its fullness.  No wonder we are celebrating the incarnation – God with us.  If you aren’t already part of it I invite you to join this journey of faith and to share in the Good News.

Christmas, News Releases, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

Celebrating on the way to Bethlehem

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The villages of Badshot Lea, Hale and Weybourne were visited last Friday evening (December 20) by a host of angels, as well as a crowd of shepherds, sheep, kings, musicians, donkeys and a young couple in search of a place to rest and give birth to a baby.

They were all taking part in A Journey to Bethlehem, a re-enactment of the Christmas story in which two groups walked from St George’s and St Mark’s to St John’s, playing music and singing carols on the way. Along the two routes they met angels, shepherds, inn keepers and kings and followed a star – and two donkeys, kindly lent for the occasion by Folly Oak Donkeys – until they reached a stable constructed outside St John’s where baby Jesus was lying in a manger.

This was followed by a celebration in the church in which children recounted what they had seen on the journey and Cllr Alan Earwaker, Farnham’s Deputy Mayor, joined everyone in singing carols and playing the kazoo, before the evening ended with prayers, hot chocolate, mulled wine and mince pies.

“This was the first time we had tried A Journey to Bethlehem and what a wonderful celebration it was!” said Lesley Crawley. “It was lovely to see children and adults alike dressed up as some of the characters we read about in the Bible at Christmas, and to see everyone having such a joyful time. We are living in an age of division and anxiety and the story of God coming to earth in the form of a child, born into poverty in an occupied country, is one that can bring us hope and light. We wish everyone that hope and light this Christmas.”

St Mark's Church

Hangnail – a human issue

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Many thanks again to the fantastic group of University for the Creative Arts students who were filming downstairs in the St Mark’s Community Centre earlier this month.

The film, Hangnail, examines that very human issue insecurity and deals with Toby (played by Julian Salmon), a man on a date whose anxiety and fear of failure take him over to the point when he literally tears himself apart. We caught up with Location Manager Izzie Gough after the end of the filming to ask her more about the production.

“George Lowe, who wrote and directed the film, saw it as a metaphor for the breakdown of a person,” she said. “It’s rather gross with all the special effects – fake blood etc – but it is a way to look at insecurity.”

The film is a ‘B Project’ – a five-minute film which UCA Film students create in their final year at the university, prior to producing a final graduation film. “The B Project films tend to be our passions because we can do more than one role and we have more freedom. They are also usually have smaller crews than the graduation films but this one had a lot of interest and the crew is large.”

As well as Izzie, Julian and George, Hangnail has been put together by Dylan Stevens (colour grader and extra); Stefan Gutierres-Yildirim (first assistant director); Josh Matthews (editor/continuity); Steve Adams (sound); Magdelana Rak (director of photography); Hannah Clayforth (first assistant camera); Katie Puddifoot (gaffer); Erin Morgan (grip); Olivia Loader (special effects); Callum Marshall (costume); Cristina Iorgulescu (prop/art department); Nicola Rhodes (production designer); Mariya Lilova (producer);

Izzie added: “Thank you for all your help and hospitality with the film. I know it’s a weird one and the content may have been questionable to the Church [no – it’s about humanity and our weaknesses, so right up our street!] –  it is great that the parish is open and accepting. I really think that your openness to our film and the set dressing made the difference between us being able to make a ‘student’ film and us being able to make a great one!”

It has been our pleasure (and the downstairs cloakroom looks better than it did before!). The film will be out next year and we look forward – with some trepidation because of the fake blood and guts! – to seeing it.

Pictured above: Julian Salmon being filmed by Magdelana Rak; Magdelana Rak (holding camera) and Hannah Clayforth; It’s not real blood, honest – Callum Marshall.

Serving the Villages North of Farnham: Badshot Lea, Hale, Heath End & Weybourne