We’re having a party on 11th February to show that we love our church – come and join the party, we were going to have balloons and cake and the opportunity to ask any question you want to ask during the sermon. Please put it in the diary and make it a priority.
Religion poses many questions that have troubled theologians through the ages. “Is there a God?” “What is the nature of God?” “What is the Trinity all about?” “Why is there a sheep on a skateboard at the front of St Marks?” [1]
A partial answer to this last imponderable was that we had a well-attended talk last night (4th Feb.) from Dave Tomlinson, promoting his latest book, “Black Sheep and Prodigals”. As for the others, and similar questions, Dave’s main theme was concerned with avoiding black and white answers. Most of us do not experience the blinding light of revelation on the road to Damascus. At best we may experience an unreliable, intermittently flickering bulb, more often off than on. Indeed, it’s a good idea to be wary of those who purport to have all the answers. This instantly creates a divide: you can’t belong to our club unless you believe what we do.
Dave was at pains to stress that none of us have exclusive access to “The Truth”. We should encourage doubts and tolerate dissention, for that is how new insights may emerge.
We had forty minutes or so of these and many other thought provoking ideas, followed by an extensive question and answer session. I’m not going to deal with all the ideas here – buy the book, it’s the one we will be using for Lent discussions anyway!
Dave finished his talk by quoting my other favourite writer on religious topics, Karen Armstrong, “Jesus did not spend a great deal of time discoursing about the Trinity, or original sin…. He went around doing good and being compassionate.”
Or, to paraphrase Dave:- there is little point in asking what Jesus would do if he was around today – discover Jesus within yourself and act on it!
“Live passionately, believe sceptically, Love extravagantly”
Bob Shatwell 5th Feb 2018
[1] It’s to look as equally cool as the sheep with sunglasses, grazing nearby.
On Thursday mornings 10:30-12 at St Mark’s there will be an opportunity to come and be creative – do some drawing or painting. All the materials will be provided as well as some coffee and cake! We are starting on 1st February, and then it will be every week – just turn up.
Lesley Crawley
Come to church on Mothering Sunday – 11th March and say a prayer for your mum – or bring her along if you can, and give her a posy. All Age Services in the Parish at 9:30am at St John’s, Hale, 11:00am at St Mark’s Church, Upper Hale and 11:30 at St George’s, Badshot Lea. The 10am service at St George’s will be a regular Communion Service with added posies.
This year we are combining Valentine’s Day with a celebration of being church on 11th February. There will be balloons and cake, and during the service there will be a bit of fun with a quiz and during the sermon slot we will have a “Ask the Vicar anything you like” opportunity.
We will have envelopes for everyone who comes along to church with information about your church and your parish that you might not know! Lots of opportunities to find out more and ask the questions you always wanted answered! So please come along on 11th February and pick up your envelope.
We would love everyone to get involved – if you would like to decorate the churches or create a quiz about your church or make some cakes or anything else you are very welcome!
Lesley Crawley
Dave Tomlinson, author of ‘How to be a Bad Christian’ will be giving a talk on his new book ‘Black Sheep and Prodigals’ at St Mark’s Church, Alma Lane, Farnham, GU9 0LT on 4 February at 6:30pm. After the talk there will be a book sale and signing.
The animals will hopefully come in two-by-two on Sunday 14th January at 3pm when St Mark’s Church in Upper Hale hold their pet service. The service, which will allow people to give thanks to God for the animal kingdom and have their pets blessed will be followed by a Bring-and-Share buffet tea.
The three churches in the Parish – St George’s, St John’s and St Mark’s – are now, officially inclusive. We belong to Inclusive Church.
For those who are unfamiliar with this – as I certainly was a couple of years ago – it means that we as churches have signed up to the following statement of faith:
“We believe in Inclusive Church – church which does not discriminate, on any level, on grounds of economic power, gender, mental health, physical ability, race or sexuality. We believe in 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.”
It means we appear on a website https://inclusive-church.org directing people to churches where they may feel welcome whoever they are.
But isn’t that all of us? Aren’t we all welcoming and inclusive? We hope so, but the more I have thought about true inclusion, the more I have seen it as something we often fail at. I am a prime example. I’m great at coming up with ideas of how we can make ‘those people over there’ feel welcome. Great, I want to include them, it’s just that by my attitude I am dividing ‘them’ from ‘us’, forgetting that we are all the body of Christ. It’s not a case of ‘us’ being a body and ‘them’ being another body. We are the body. You can read more of my thoughts on this here.
Inclusive church is about finding out who might want to come to church but feels unable to. It may be something physical such as access or not being able to follow the service easily. It may be because someone is struggling financially and feels embarrassed about not being able to contribute. It may be because someone is bisexual and has picked up the idea that they are wrong in God’s and society’s sight. I can remember how as a new and totally overwhelmed mother I felt unable to be part of a local church – it was just too much.
There can be a host of reasons why we may feel unwelcome in a church and often Christians are as insensitive, prejudiced and downright judgemental as anyone else, so excluding people from a place where they should feel welcome and safe.
However, we can try, we can learn – and I am planning to run some Inclusive Church events in the next year to help us with this – we can listen to others, we can pray and we can listen to God. Then we may realise that we are one body. Then we may grow in faith and love.
Stella Wiseman
I’m not sure how best to describe it. Words like “plague” or “ infestation” don’t seem quite appropriate, and anyway, are probably sacrilegious. “Visitation” is probably safest if I want to avoid divine retribution.
Basically, St Mark’s is full of angels.
It all began a couple of months ago. We had our mini arts and music festival (“Arts at St Marks”) in October. After this was cleared away, the church looked a bit bare. Lesley S then came up with the idea of filling the place with angels during Advent. Shortly after that, Alison R hit upon “Realms of Glory” as a title for the theme. I announced it for a few weeks during November and then it happened. The angels started to fly in…
The first ones to arrive were a trio from Margaret. I’d previously announced that I’d like some to be flying above us, suspended from the cross ties below the ceiling. These seemed perfect for the job, so on the Monday morning, with the ladder firmly secured in place, I draped my old climbing rope over the tie and hauled the first angel up. This produced a certain silence from Lesley and Margaret. It really didn’t look like an angel. It looked quite scary. The juxtaposition of the ladder, rope and body also looked like we’d just lynched our first victim.
Just then, one of the mothers from Surrey slings came in and said, quite accurately, that it looked like one of Harry Potter’s dementors. A certain amount of hysterical laughter followed.
As we didn’t want people to go away with nightmares, we found a more benign location, on the wall behind the keyboard, where they look suitably angelic and not at all threatening.
However, this was just the start. We had a whole load more angels arrive from Hale Beavers and then the floodgates opened. They’re everywhere. Each time I go up to the church more have arrived. They’re on windowsills, dangling from the projector screen and almost everywhere else. We’ve even got a life-size (?) one standing by the entrance to welcome visitors to the church.
The overall effect is quite remarkable. Combined with the wall hangings, the Amnesty “Candles of Hope” paintings around the chancel and the traditional Christmas decorations, the place looks vibrant and an exciting place, where things are happening. Our thanks and congratulations to everyone who has contributed. It has turned out to be an exceptional tribute to people’s creativity, sense of belonging and pride in the church.
There is much nonsense talked about the spirit of Christmas. However, in some small way I think we can see an example of it here.
Bob Shatwell
For Advent this year we are “Exploring Faith through Art” – a time of looking at some artwork on the themes of the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Flight to Egypt and discussing how it informs our faith. There will be refreshments, discussion and a chance to try doing some art for those who want to. It is at St Mark’s Church, Alma Lane, Upper Hale, GU9 0LT on three Mondays 4,11 and 18 December 19:30-21:00
To find out about either of these events contact Lesley revd.lesley@badshotleaandhale.org or 01252 820537.
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 