Letter from the Rectory

Harvest Festivals have been important events in country churches for hundreds of years.  A chance for the community to get together and to give thanks for the work of our farmers who work tirelessly through the year.  This year the Harvest Service at St. John’s is on Sunday October 6th 

Welcome to a new year! Well…a new year for all teachers, and students in full time education. Welcome to September. I wonder what this month means for you? Harvest Festival? Buying back to school supplies, wonderfully empty beaches again, increased morning traffic, or the treadmill of another school term?

In May the UK recognised Dementia Awareness week. You may have seen adverts or programmes relating to it. As an Inclusive Church, something which has been voted on by our PCCs, the needs and care of every single person is our paramount concern. Somerset is statistically the county with the oldest population in the UK, and this is certainly something we experience in Church attendance. 

“It’s been a good year for the roses,” sang George Jones, and then perhaps more memorably Elvis Costello. Gardeners might tell you it’s been a good year for lots of flowers – my lupins, Astrantia and foxgloves are particularly healthy.

Welcome to June! It’s one of the best months in this country with the natural world reminding us of its beautiful presence all around us.

A few creative folk have been talking to an artist who is also a priest in the Bath and Wells Diocese about a creative project. The idea is to use themes and stories from Milborne Port and its residents, and to display these creatively in the Church. 

As gardens and allotments awake in Springtime, I wanted to turn our thoughts to the humble trellis. Why? Well, Richard Carter in his excellent book Letters from Nazareth, a Contemplative Journey Home explains the spirit of prayer using the image of a trellis. I highly recommend this book, which is a beautiful collection of letters written about all aspects of Richard’s life of faith. 

The month of March begins with St David’s Day, deep into Lent, and it ends on the glorious Easter Sunday, 31st March. In the middle, Mothering Sunday, Holy Week, and the schools beginning their Easter Holidays. What a lot in one month; it reminds me of the Crowded House single – ‘Four seasons in one day’. Just as with the month of March, so those reading this may be in very different places. 

And now for something completely different…

Lent 2024: Reading the Psalms using The Message Translation

The Psalms have, for millennia, formed the bedrock of liturgy. They are full of wisdom for life, inspiration, cries of anguish, joy, and they display an ongoing, real relationship with our loving Creator. 

For millennia, monks and nuns, cathedrals and other faithful people have recited the Psalms every day. Cathedrals will still say or sing all 150 Psalms every month. Years ago, some of the monasteries said all 150 each DAY! 

The singing of Christmas Carols this Christmas was for me both comforting and disturbing. Those of us who have been embedded in the faith from the time of our baptism until Christmas 2023 are deeply moved and comforted when we sing the words “Yea, Lord we greet thee born this happy morning.” However the words “Peace on earth” sung against the background noise of the wars in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza, these  wars in the land of Jesus, the Holy Land, unsettled me.

The world has opened up to me. Yesterday I was fitted with two hearing aids which I am getting used to. When my ear itches I go to scratch it but find that it is full of plastic. I have discovered that the clock ticks, that scratching my head makes a row, that I can no longer pretend not to hear my wife asking me to do something. I can proudly answer the real question and not the one I think I heard.

A visiting friend recently commented on how friendly this community is. It can be nice to be reminded of that, particularly when we are so used to living in a place.

October is a month which is bookended with giving thanks. We begin the month giving thanks for the Harvest, and Creation, and we end the month giving thanks for those we have loved who have died.

As I write this the world is burning. Unbelievably high temperatures, lists of countries battling wildfires, animals on land, in the air and in the sea dying.

At the July Deanery Synod meeting we were treated to a delightful talk by the Rev Helen Drever on Art in Churches. She took us through the history of God the Creator giving us creativity, and human beings displaying their response to God through art in Churches and as a part of worship since time began.