Month: July 2024

Some people find prayer easy; I am not one of those. Sometimes there are situations or people I can focus on, but without these, I struggle. At least, I struggle with prayer as a shopping list, but there are other ways and reasons to pray. One of my inspirations is the poet and priest R.S. Thomas, who words have often inspired me. This poem tells of how he found prayer a way of simply being with God, moving us from “the snake-haunted garden”, the Garden of Eden, our current world, to the “tall city of glass”, the New Jerusalem in the book of Revelation, the place where God dwells.

Not as in the old days I pray,
God. My life is not what it was…
Once I would have asked healing.
 I go now to be doctored…
to lend my flesh as manuscript of the great poem
Of the scalpel. I would have knelt
long, wrestling with you, wearing
you down. Hear my prayer Lord, hear my prayer. 
As though you were deaf, myriads  of mortals have kept up their shrill
cry, explaining your silence by their unfitness.

It begins to appear
this is not what prayer is about.
It is the annihilation of difference,
the consciousness of myself in you,
of you in me…I begin to recognize
you anew, God of form and number.
There are questions we are the solution 
to, others whose echoes we must expand
to contain. Circular as our way
is, it leads not back to the snake-haunted
garden, but onward to the tall city
of glass that is the laboratory of the spirit.

Rev. David Poyner

In many different spheres, leaders have recently been in the news. Let’s start with the most important; Gareth Southgate has stood down from being manager of England; after 8 years at the helm, he wants a change. Then we have the changing of the guard in Government; I have been struck by the gracious exchanges between Keir Starmer and Rikki Sunak as they adjust to their new roles. Then of course there is how they do things in the USA; the hatred that led someone to try and kill Donald Trump (and, let us not forget the person who was killed and the people injured) but perhaps signs Mr Trump may be adjusting his style and the warm words to him from President Bidden in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

There are many different ways of being a leader. Traditionally Jesus is said to personify “servant leadership”, humble and leading by example at cost to himself. This is certainly true, but Jesus had a number of leadership styles, depending on the circumstances. Any effective leader needs to use a number of styles, as the occasion demands. But equally, the leader will have a preferred style; for Jesus, this was servant leadership leading to the cross.

I was talking to a colleague in the week about the recent coronation, when  our symbolic leader was confirmed in office. He spoke of how one of the most moving part of the ceremony was after Charles and Camilla were crowned, after all the pomp and ceremony, their first act was to kneel at a communion rail to receive bread and wine. The crowned monarch, our liege lord and his consort, paid their homage to the servant king, their strength as leader. 

Rev David Poyner

I don’t think I ever watched Dr Michael Mosley on the TV. I did note the circumstances of his death, which seem to have been due to a tragic miscalculation on his part whilst walking. As a hill walker now in his 60s, that had an uncomfortable resonance with me. What I did not expect was the real sense of sorrow and loss that many people seem to have experienced at the death of someone who I had always thought of as just another TV presenter.

Reflecting on this, I think there are several lessons I can learn from this. Firstly, it is not to underestimate the influence of small acts on peoples lives. Dr Mosley’s signature TV series was “Just one thing”; the idea that a simple change can really make a difference to our life. I’m not going to start taking ice-cold showers, but I may try brushing my teeth standing on one leg. Behind this is a bigger idea; that single, simple changes can make a real difference.

We do not need to heroic acts to improve either our own lives or the lives of those around us. Look for fair-trade goods when shopping; supermarkets now stock these because enough people decided they would buy them.

I was also struck by an interview with Dr Mosley’s widow; how he was a shy man who would have been surprised at the reaction to his death. In all probability, he never really knew the impact his series of small acts was having on people; the TV presenter has no personal contact with the viewers who watch her/his programme. But that impact is real. We also will never really know the impact doing just one thing may have on others. It is enough that we do it. And for me, to leave the rest to God.

Rev. David Poyner

I had not heard of Simon Boas until a few days ago. He is an aid worker, living (as I write) with terminal cancer; he has written a book “A beginners guide to dying”, which will be published in October, although by then he expects to be dead. He was interviewed on the radio very recently. He was in good spirits, even though he was about to move into a hospice for the final phase of his life. As far as I know, he would not describe himself as religious, but his words chimed with me . He read a quote from “Middlemarch”, by George Eliot, a description of one of the characters in the book;

“The effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistorical acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”

It speaks of how we influence people without being aware of it; the fleeting acts of kindness which we quickly forget but have meaning for the recipient. You do not need to have any religious belief to see this (Eliot herself had a complex attitude to Christianity), but with my Christian spectacles on, this is also about working with the Holy Spirit, the divine presence that is everywhere around us, seeking opportunities for us to let her/him work in our world. We are agents of that spirit, whether we realise it or not.

Rev. David Poyner