Category: Thought for the Week

It has been another bruising week for the Church of England, as more revelations have emerged of abusive behaviour from vicars and calls for resignations. For the victims of abuse, the news must have been particularly hard to bear. Over the next few days, I will be standing in pulpits talking about good tidings in my Christmas sermons; some will see that as a sanctimonious act of hypocrisy. All I can urge is that people do not focus on the institution of the Church, do not focus on the person in the dog collar. Look instead at the one in the manager; a baby, helpless and vulnerable and see in that how God really works in the world. God does not use earthly power, God does not use human authority. God works only through love but that love will triumph, with or without the Church of England.

Rev David Poyner

This week, I have been attending a meeting of the British Pharmacological Society (BPS) at Harrogate. I teach and research pharmacology, the science of how drugs work and have been a member of the BPS for over 25 years. The society organises a large meeting every year just before Christmas; there are talks about matters of current scientific interest and there is also the opportunity for people to show their latest findings my means of posters. This year, my PhD student had a poster. Over the years my routine at the meeting has changed; once I avidly attended all the scientific sessions and sought out the big names in the field who I wanted to impress.  Now I am more inclined to linger drinking tea by the posters and chatting with old friends before retiring to a nearby tea room or pub. There has been another change; now, when I attend, I wear my clerical collar. I have occasionally got some strange looks, but I have never encountered any hostility. Instead, people who do approach me often want to talk about their own faith or are curious about mine. The dog-collar is obvious, but there are other forms of identity such as cross lapel-badge that achieve much the same thing. A symbol can be powerful.

Rev David Poyner

I was scrolling through a friend’s facebook page, looking for profound reflections I could pass of as my own in my next sermon and found this. There may be something here about encouraging us to think carefully about what we actually need, although the real reason I am re-posting it is because it made me laugh out loud. Thanks to the friend who may recognise this when he reads it…

An atheist was taking a walk through the woods.

“What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals”, he said to himself.

As he continued walking alongside the river he heard a rustling in the bushes.

Turning to look, he saw a 7 foot bear charging towards him.

He ran as fast as he could up the path.

Looking over his shoulder he saw that the bear was closing in on him.

His heart was pumping frantically and he tried to run even faster.

He tripped and fell on the ground.

He rolled over to pick himself up but saw the bear raising his paw to take a swipe at him.

At that instant the atheist cried out, “Oh my God!”

Time stopped.

The bear froze.

The forest was silent.

It was then that a bright light shone upon the man and a voice from heaven asked, “You deny my existence for all of these years, teach others I don’t exist and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?”

The atheist looked directly into the light.

“It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps, could you make the BEAR a Christian?”

“Very well”, said the Voice.

The light went out, and the sounds of the forest resumed.

And then the bear lowered his paw, bowed his head and spoke: “Lord, bless this food which I am about to receive and for which I am truly thankful, Amen”…

Rev David Poyner

The House of Commons have now voted to legalise assisted dying. The very fact that was  a free vote indicates the complex moral issues around this issue. Earlier this week, in a Thought for the Day, the Rev. Sam Wells gave a very balanced account of the different Christian perspectives around the issue; he presented arguments for both sides. Perhaps that is why I personally find it hard to come to a decision; in my ministry I have seen people suffer terrible, intractable pain at the end of their lives, but I also worry about the practicalities of what is being proposed; safeguards that seem to me to be very difficult to make work, people making decisions based on the lottery of how well end-of-life care works in different regions. And I have heard what I find are repugnant arguments based on the best use of resources. So, sitting on my fence, my only contribution is to give thanks that this debate has taken place on the eve of Advent. Advent is the time when the Church looks forward to the final coming of the Kingdom of God. In it, we talk a lot about hope. We have hope because, no matter what knots we tie ourselves up in, no matter what decisions we make, wise or foolish, God has the final word; love will always find a way to win.

Rev David Poyner

Earlier this week, I thanked one of our volunteers who helps tidy the church. I was struck by her reply; she described helping as a “pleasure and a privilege”. The work of the church relies very heavily on unpaid volunteers. This week, in addition to the volunteer cleaners at Billingsley, I have welcomed a group from “Caring for God’s Acre” who cut the church hedge in the snow, today a volunteer will have been at the church to set up heaters and switch them on before a funeral. This article appears on Facebook thanks to a volunteer. Tomorrow, I will attend a breakfast at the Down Inn, organised and run entirely by volunteers from Glazeley and Chetton. This is the main way we can reach out to members of the wider community who do not normally attend church. A volunteer will walk to the church to open it today. At Chelmarsh, today volunteers are ensuring that a funeral runs smoothly; tomorrow, a larger group will be in church all day serving soup and scones as it reaches out to the village. Volunteers at Sidbury are planning their Christmas service. Oddly enough, at Billingsley and Glazeley congregations are growing; Chelmarsh and Sidbury are at least holding their own. Service is not only a pleasure and a privilege; it is mission.

Rev David Poyner

I cannot remember the last time the BBC led their news with a story featuring the Church of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Unfortunately….

As I followed the news, I realised I knew some of the victims, from 40 years ago when we were students together. I had no idea what they had been subject to, although I was never very close to any of them. I have been reflecting on how we currently so safeguarding; I write this before chairing a PCC meeting where I had already been planning to run a safeguarding exercise, one I used at another PCC meeting I chaired last week and which worked well. Both the current and previous Safeguarding Officers employed by the diocese are ex-police officers. I do not think they are technically “independent”, but when they tell me something, I take action; I would not wish to cross either. From what I have seen of senior clergy, they also appear to me to share that same respect. But perhaps I have already said too much, too much in self-justification of the church and myself. I wonder if the words that really count are those recently written by a current Bishop, Guli Francis-Dehqani, who I respect; that history shows that when the Church is large and powerful, it has rarely acted at its best.

Rev David Poyner

The people of the USA have made their choice and we have had the speeches, both of victory and defeat. President-elect Trump has called for healing, but for me, the most profound speech came from the soon-to-be-outgoing President, Joe Biden. The result was clearly a blow for him; he had already been humiliated in that debate and now he had to face that his term in office had been found wanting by the majority of the US electorate. He spoke about accepting the will of the people; the virtue of humility. And he had a memorable line about how to disagree with grace; “we cannot only love our neighbour when we agree with them”. In that, he reconnected with the message of the parable of the Good Samaritan as told by Jesus 2000 years ago. More than ever, particularly this weekend as we commemorate the dead of over a century of wars, that message is one we need to hear. 

Rev David Poyner

I write this article on 1^st November, All Saints Day when the church remembers what might be called the “heroes” of faith, although some had darker sides to their nature. Tomorrow we have All Souls Day, when the focus becomes broader and we recall all those who have died in faith. I can relate to these better than to most of the saints and the occasion is particularly poignant for me; on Monday one of the most faithful members of one of our congregations died. At a time when the attendance at the monthly church service was down to two people, his continuing presence gave us hope that the church still had a future. In more recent times, when he was struggling with his health, the highlight of my Friday mornings would be my weekly visit to him, with his copy of the Times for the crossword. Over a cup of tea, we would dissect the week’s football results; as a Liverpool supporter he was generous to myself as a Manchester Utd fan. I wonder who was ministering to whom in our conversations? Some are uneasy about praying for the dead and, intellectually, I do not really understand this. However, most of prayer is a mystery, at least to me. Over the next few days I will be giving thanks for the life of John and praying that he rests in peace and rises in glory.

Rev David Poyner

November 5th approaches but Bonfire night with the burning of the Guy seems to vanished from popular culture. Some were always uncomfortable with what they imagined lay behind this, the burning alive of individuals, and sadly churches of all denominations once eagerly embraced this practice. There is a fine line between zeal and fanaticism; it has always been easy for some to delude themselves that they are doing the work of God, not committing murder. To some however, the zeal of those who were the victims of the burners also seems uncomfortable. The journalist and vice president of Humanists UK, Polly Toynbee, has described martyrdom as a “repugnant virtue”. There are individuals who seem to relish confrontation over issues that could probably be resolved more easily by talking; I have dealt with a few of those myself. But there are cases where evil needs to be named and confronted and this can be costly. On a recent trip to London, I was able to view the statues at the front of Westminster Abbey; twelve martyrs of the 20^th century who fell opposing dictators in the name of their faith. There is line from those going all the way back to Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who refused to compromise on what he believed to be true and so was sacrificed to a mob. These are not individuals practicing a “repugnant virtue”, they are people who recognised that sometimes truth was worth more than their own lives.

Rev David Poyner

Last Saturday I was at Chetton village hall for a concert by an Irish duo who go by the name of “Hooded Crow”. The hall was full, the music good, the company even better. This wasn’t a church service, I have no idea how many of the people who came would consider themselves to be Christian or even religious, but that does not keep God out. By a coincidence, the priest and poet/performer, Malcolm Guite, wrote a short piece in the Church Times along this theme. It was written after a colleague encouraged him to remember St Francis at one of his performances; the Rev Guite is a Franciscan and the poem is called “St Francis drops in on My Gig”.

I didn’t think I’d find you in this place

I guess you must have slipped in at the back

I’m lifting my guitar out of its case

But seeing you I nearly put it back!

You smile and say that it’s your local too,

You know the ins and outs of inns like this,

The people here have hidden wounds like you,

And you have bidden them to hidden bliss.

‘Francis I’ve only straggled after you,

I’ve never really caught your melody,

The joy you bring when every note rings true…’

But you just laugh and say ‘play one for me!’

This one’s for you then, on the road once more,

The first, the last, the hard-core troubadour.

(St. Francis drops in on my gig! | Malcolm Guite (wordpress.com))

Rev David Poyner