Some Summer Holiday comments and questions from a four-year-old:

·         When is it going to be the end of winter?

·         Why do wind socks get up early?

·         I've got tummy ache - I can't move anything except my eyes!

·         Why are butterflies beautiful?

·         What do people have on their websites?

·         Are the flies scared of me?

·         Can you go through the gap between the lightning and the thunder?

·         Look, they've put the sunset up again!

·         Why does funeral have fune with it?!

·         Why is it just the way it is?

I Believe …  revisited

An interesting exercise is to sit down and think about your lifestyle and your aspirations and trying to stay within the space between the two consider what are your beliefs in as far as they have / should have a practical implication for the way you live.  Write them down.  Put them away from a while, and then go back to them at a later date.  Here is the list I made a few weeks ago:

I believe in …

… living simply.
… building a secure, happy and fulfilling family life.

… developing my skills & interests, knowledge & understanding.

… keeping fit and competing.

… living in a good relationship with the 'natural world'.

… contributing to the wellbeing of others.

… everyone having good food, clean water and personal security.

… treating people with justice.

… responsible freedom of choice.

I BELIEVE

At the all age service on 4^th July I put up a number of 'I believe …' posters around the Church and asked people to walk around, consider them and do the following: If the agreed with the statement, tick the poster; If they disagreed, put a cross on it; If they were unsure or the statement didn't produce a response either way, to do nothing.  Here are the statements - why not try for yourself before looking at the responses made by members of the congregation.

I believe …

… in God

… in Fate

… that Jesus walked on water

… Wayne Rooney walks on water

… everyone should have clean safe water

… that the coalition was right to invade Iraq

… in justice for the world's poorest

… in an eye for an eye

… in forgiveness

… in the young people of Worsbrough

… it's all the parents fault

… in life after death

… when I've nothing left God takes over

… in all the colours of the rainbow

… in myself

The following pages show how the congregation responded (I have used 'Y's instead of ticks).  The length of the gap between to two answers represents the people chose not to respond for whatever reason.  The total number of participants was 44.

I believe …

… in God

   YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

… in Fate

XXXXXXX                   YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

… that Jesus walked on water

XXXXXXXXX­­­                                         YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

… Wayne Rooney walks on water

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX                                   YYY

… everyone should have clean safe water

      YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

… that the coalition was right to invade Iraq

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX                                          YYYYYY

… in justice for the world's poorest

                 YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

… in an eye for an eye

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX                  YYY

… in forgiveness

           YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

… in the young people of Worsbrough

XXXXX                        YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

… it's all the parents fault

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX             YYYYYYYYYY

… in life after death

XXX                          YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

… when I've nothing left, God takes over

      YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

… in all the colours of the rainbow

                               YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

… in myself

XXXXXXXX                      YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

It's interesting to consider the different 'types' of belief statement:

I believe in all the colours of the rainbow

At least one person took this to mean a literal belief that the colours exist and make the rainbow.  Others interpreted it as meaning that we should celebrate and embrace the wealth of difference there is within the human race.  There may have been other interpretations and for some it may have meant nothing.  The same expression of belief may mean very different things to different people, even within the same faith tradition.

I believe Jesus walked / Wayne Rooney walks on water

Those who didn't agree with this for Jesus presumably took it to mean a literal physical fact.  Those who did agree with this for Wayne Rooney presumably took it as a metaphor for his skill on a football pitch.  How are we to decide which way a statement should be understood?

I believe everyone should have access to clean safe water

Whether or not you believe Jesus walked on water what difference will it make to the way you live.  If you believe the statement about safe water (or justice for the world's poorest) you should try to make your belief a reality, as far as you are able, otherwise why profess to believe it?  Sometimes seeing is believing.  In other ways, believing is seeing: I believe in this, so I'm going to try my hardest to see that it comes about.

I believe in myself / the young people of Worsbrough

It's perhaps a little hard to define what this actually means.  But this kind of belief (or its absence) surely has a huge effect on how things will go for the people in question.

I believe in God

I've written in a recent magazine on this subject suggesting that this simple statement can carry a broad range of meanings: what is meant by God?  What characteristics does God have?  What power does God hold and how does it operate in the affairs of our world?  It is interesting that many who expressed belief in God also expressed belief in Fate.  I wonder how those two beliefs relate to each other for different people who hold them both.

I believe that our beliefs should be worked out fresh for ourselves - not second hand or adopted by default.  Each person should wrestle with them for him or her self and then try to be true to them.  

'Startling Stars'

Last Sunday (16^th May) our Church Choir went "on the road" to sing Compline at St Luke's Church, Grimethorpe.  I decided to join them but I thought I would go "off road" on my bike.  It seems a long way round in the car and by making use of some of the many dismantled railway tracks, I thought a much more direct and interesting route could be taken. 

I set off at about 4.45pm on a glorious afternoon, along Kingwell and up behind St Thomas's to cut through Bank End.  I was surprised to see a huge blue tent pitched at Maltas Court and also that more people weren't out on their front gardens enjoying the sun.  I cut through the snicket from Monkspring to White Cross Lane - I always get speed up past the farm because there's sometimes a huge dog there with an intimidating bark!

Along the small road past the idyllic setting of Swaithe Hall; slowing up for a handsome ginger cat which stood in the gap where the path suddenly narrows - it took a few steps and vanished into the undergrowth.  Here Cork Lane sinks down between hedges and under leafy trees forming a secret tunnel that is only just navigable.  Last time I went through I was amazed that joyriders had managed to get a car in there before burning it out.  Luckily it has been removed now but at what expense and effort? 

Away to the right there are acres of rapeseed, vibrantly coloured and heavily (though still just pleasantly) odorous.  I had recently looked across at this great swathe of yellow from the top of Mount Vernon Road.  In contrast, the fields near Round Green were deep red, making the huge sweep of the Dale look like a giant arena where Barnsley were playing Norwich.

On again past what looks like a disused chicken farm and over the remains of the canal;  what a shame that we are not able to see narrow boats plying their way up here as far as The Wharf.

I turned left along Wombwell Lane, passing an odd little footpath sign marked "Geological Marine Band Display” (any explanations?).   A bit further, opposite Tesco I got onto the railway track and after going over Stairfoot turned right onto the branch that goes north beside Grange Lane with Views of Monk Bretton Priory.  Next came a beautiful stretch where the railway track sweeps in a great curve above the meandering River Dearne.  With the ubiquitous May Blossom and a herd of cows statuesquely chewing the cud, it is as scenic a spot as you could wish for.  I was just revelling in all this when I nearly had to ride into the verge to avoid being mown down by two off road bikes and two quad bikes travelling at speed.  The din soon passed, but for the next half mile or so the air was full of fumes and dust.  Before it had cleared I had to be on my guard again - luckily I heard the sound of air rifles (being shot across the track) before I was left to the mercy of whether they had noticed me coming or not!

Leaving the track at Wood Nook, I went along a lane to reach the outskirts of Cudworth and Ring Farm where the magnificent Police Horses were out in the paddocks.  Then it was on the roads briefly before finding the track that leaves Cudworth in the direction of Grimethorpe.  To start with it was lined each side with about every item of household rubbish you can imagine.  But soon I was away from it all again, though only briefly before reaching the devastation of Ferry Moor Land Reclamation Site - rusted steel rods twisting out of half smashed concrete beside pools of water that is just a bit too green to be natural.  Now it was across the bypass and up the hill to find St Luke's where the choir were just getting set up in good time for the 6 o'clock service.

The priest, Father Peter, introduced the service, telling us that the office of Compline is one of the oldest services of the Church, going right back to the early Church itself.  Once the monastic system had developed, with the services of Mattins in the early hours through Lauds, Prime, Sext, None, Terse and Vespers (Evensong), Compline was the final service, "completing" both the day and its cycle of prayer.  Fr Peter had himself lived as a Friar in a Franciscan community for 25 years, singing Compline every night.  Now, however, only his dogs join him for the service on a regular basis and they don't sing, so he says the office instead!  The dogs were present in Church for this particular service, prompting some of the Choir members to ask for a "church dog" too.
The Choir sang beautifully.  The priest followed the service with Benediction and described our visit as "a startling star" in their centenary celebrations.

On leaving the Church, it was one of those really ambient evenings where everything that can absorb the sun's heat is radiating it out again, carrying the scents of blossom and cut grass with extraordinary intensity.  Shirts were off all over the place and someone had carried a settee out into the park, thronged by youngsters.  I decided to go home by a different route along a little track and lane almost to Great Houghton before plunging down through a magnificent beech wood to join another track into Little Houghton.  A tarmac path crossed the river and took me to Darfield.  Here and there the tarmac was worn away to reveal the cobbles of what must have been a much older surface.  It’s quite enchanting to ponder all the little routes like this which must have been so important before we whizzed everywhere in cars.  Unfortunately the path also provided good access for the systematic dismantling and theft of stone from a wall which runs alongside it.

Through Darfield I found another little path along the river that eventually got me to the Dove Valley Trail.  After avoiding another posse of air riflers (one again shooting in a dangerous manner across the track) I was able to get a last burst of speed up to return towards Worsbrough Bridge and finally up Vernon Road and home. 

Now that all the choir have their new robes, perhaps we should save up to buy them each a bike too.  The journey certainly added to my enjoyment of the worship.  Or maybe next time they are out and about you should join them.  If there are no spaces in cars I can always offer a “seater”.

A whole different Ball Game?

In your opinion, which of the following 5 statements is most similar to the sixth statement? Or, if you are not happy with any of them, think up your own football analogy (or any other for that matter) which is a better 'match'.

1.      Can you be a footballer if you don't believe in grass?

2.      Can you be a footballer if you don't believe in goals?

3.      Can you be a footballer if you don't believe in balls?

4.      Can you be a footballer if you don't believe in the team?

5.      Can you be a footballer if you don't believe in competition?

6.      Can you be a Christian if you don't believe in God?

You may think that the answer is a very obvious 'NO'.  But that is to beg rather a large number of other questions:

What do we mean by 'a Christian'?

If we mean 'someone who believes in God' then the answer to 6 is obvious.

However, many people's normal use of 'Christian' means something like: a person who leads a good life - who is thoughtful, honest, unselfish and generous to others.'  You don't have to believe in God to be that.

Another definition of a Christian, perhaps the most literal one, is: a follower of Christ'.  Sounds promising, but suddenly we are confronted by a host of other puzzles to solve: the four gospels and St Paul all give us differing interpretations of who Jesus was and it's quite possible that they all differ from how Jesus understood himself.  So how are we to interpret him 2000 years later?  And what is the relationship between 'Christ' as worshipped and spoken of by 'the Church' and Jesus of Nazareth, the first century Jew?

The distinctive thing about Jesus was not that he believed in God.  He obviously did, but then so did your average first century Jew.  The distinctive thing about him (in my opinion) was his radical reinterpretation of God's 'kingdom' (as he called it) and therefore his radical reinterpretation of God.  The religious people of his time thought he was going much too far to the point of blasphemy - one of the reasons he ended up on a cross - one that we should never forget.  So, going back to question 6 …

What do we mean by God?

The Almighty - who, as almighty, is presumably behind everything that happens in this world, the evil and the good?

A kind fatherly figure who is there for us and bails us out when we need him (but for some reason occasionally goes off duty while innocent children are suffering!)?

An idea (within our shared consciousness - in other words our language) which holds our highest aspirations?

A way of speaking of the 'Life Force' or the sheer wonder of existence.

The depth dimension within each one of us - our real potential?

The struggle for justice - overturning corrupt power and liberating the oppressed?

The list could go on, but is perhaps best ended with a Chinese proverb:

If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him."

In other words, if you think you have finally found the divine - Beware.  It is not the divine that you have found - it can only be an idol which if you embrace it as the final answer will only lead to your ruin.  Our religion is a journey and never a destination (in my opinion!).

Popular forms of religion often seem to have a lot in common with popular forms of superstition.  That is to say that for all their piety and expressed belief, they are actually more about us and our need for security and meaning than anything else.  True belief needs at least a healthy dose of atheism to purify it of all the dross that so easily accumulates. 

Where does all this get us?  It gets me to a point where I want to echo the advertising for the launch BBC4: "Everybody needs a place to think."  I don't want the Church to be a place where we find 'Truth' in an easy to open package.  Instead I want it to be a place where there is space, for everyone who wants it, to think through the questions and issues that are most important to them; where they can do so with the help of the best of the resources available in the Christian tradition and in the company of a community of people who are going to give them honest and loving support.

I hope this article will have provoked some thought and if so I hope they are thoughts that you will pursue.  And I would be interested to hear what you think - whether you think along the same lines I do or not.

For Better or Worse

Don't you hate it when your regular supermarket goes and changes round all the aisles?  I mean, why do they do it when it causes so much confusion and no obvious improvement?

In my childhood we often went on holiday to Scotland.  It was a vast and rugged wilderness in contrast to the homely island of Jersey.  It seemed to take ages to get right up into the Highlands, often travelling on single track roads with some long reverses to the passing places and frequent pauses to avoid the black faced-sheep. 
In our VW Dormobile Camper Van it was sometimes quite a hairy experience, but that just added to the wonderful sense of adventure and remoteness which was what it was all about.

Last time I went to Scotland (on our honeymoon) there were a lot of new roads on the major routes.  The passage had been eased by levelling and blasting so that you can sail along on your way without thinking.  The odd little wiggles of 'old road', scattered disjointedly on either side, gave you just the odd reminder of days gone by.  To me it was an 'improvement' that destroyed part of the spirit that I wanted to remember.

It saddens me when I'm reminded how many species of animals are being brought to the brink of extinction with many of them going further and plunging over the edge.  Modern life has a lot to answer for. 

But perhaps that is a bit of a distorted picture of how things are.  Hasn't it always been the case that species have been dying and new species have been evolving in response to the changing conditions of the environment?  If all the species that have ever existed were still present now (including of course the dinosaurs) then things would be more than a little crowded and probably not very pleasant!

When it seems like all change is for the worse, perhaps we need to look again.  It may well be that everything we hold dear is vanishing.  But maybe those things are irrelevant for the next generation - not because young people in general have no sense of respect or value but rather because a new matrix of value is emerging that is equally valid and more relevant for the times.  Sure enough if your eyes are so trained to see only the old ways then the new will just look like chaos.  But if you put aside your suspicion of chaos (or better still learn to surf it) perhaps all kinds of new patterns will reveal themselves.

So for instance if you're afraid of change in the Church ask yourself the following question: Would you rather the Church becomes extinct when you do just so long as it never changes; or would you rather take the risk of seeing it free to repeatedly die and rise again just as it always has done?

Opening Up

Sometimes I get the feeling that I'd like to pack in being a Vicar.  (After all, I'm only a fairly normal bloke and still quite young).  In fact for a significant time last year I decided that the time had come. But what with one thing and another, things seem to have fallen back into place and for now at least I suspect that we shall be around for a while yet!

Having thought seriously about leaving and having come back from the brink so to speak has made me appreciate even more the good things about living in Worsbrough.  Here are just two of them: We can walk out of our house and within a few dozen yards be looking out on a view as striking as any you could wish for.  We have a good school for our girls almost literally on the doorstep.

Jemima has been attending the pre-school for 2 months now and absolutely thrives on it.  Imogen is into her second term at nursery and starting to really settle in and gain in confidence.  We have found one of the easiest temptations to a parent - to bombard a child with questions as soon as you pick them up from school: What have you been doing? Who did you play with? Did you drink your milk? Bang! Bang! Bang!  I suppose it's only because you care so much as a parent that you forget so completely how tiresome it was to be pestered in such a way by your own parents.  The effect is often to silence a child completely.

I'm a great believer in questions - there is nothing more important but it's also important how you pose them.  They can be tools for liberation but can also feel like instruments of control.

I'm trying, with Imogen, to use the phrase I wonder.  "I wonder if there were biscuits for snacks today." - appearing not to mind whether she is even listening or not.  Almost every time she is in there like a shot confirming or better still putting me right.

The great thing about the view in Worsbrough is the sense of openness and space that it brings.  Good questions bring the same sort of freedom.  I get disillusioned with the Church when it seems to be a closed shop, when it's doctrines seem designed to control and manipulate the way we think.  However, on my good days I'm committed to believing that it doesn't have to be and mustn't be that way.

It was a year and a half later that I finally did move on!

The grass may be greener - but so might you

We wanted to get from Ibarra to San Lorenzo.  According to the guidebook the only way was by train (for train read converted school bus that runs on railway chassis on the tracks) and you have to get there early in the day and fight for your ticket.  As it happened when we did get there the train was just pulling into the station but would not be leaving again for another 3 days at least.  Gunnar, the German I had met in Quito, had 3 months travelling but I only had 3 weeks so couldn’t afford that kind of wait.  News then arrived somehow from somewhere that a bus was about to leave.  Bus? But we thought there was no road.  A new one.  Is it finished?  A non-committal look and mention of “landslides permitting”.  Oh well, it’s supposed to be an adventure so we piled in with all the locals.

We anticipated a spectacular journey.  Ibarra is at 2210 metres on the Andes plateau in the north of Ecuador and San Lorenzo is 193 km away at sea level.  Most of the drop occurs on the first half of the route.  You move from the relatively barren landscape of the high altitude páramo through the tropical cloud and rain forests down to the mangroves swamps of the coastline.

The bus was full by the time we set off but of course that didn’t stop it filling up further as we began our descent.  Our rucksacks were jammed onto our laps and people and the occasional farm animal seemed to be pressing in from all sides.  It was going to be a long day especially as none of the locals seem to wear deodorant.   When the bus really was full, newcomers started climbing up onto the roof.  We were trundling along at a conservative speed, slowing now and then to avoid a landslip, so I started to envy them their vantagepoint – not only the fresh air and extra elbowroom but also access to the fantastic views that were now opening up on all sides.

I was lucky.  When we arrived at a bridge that was a bit shaky, we passengers were asked to get out and walk across to reduce the risk of the bus plunging into the ravine.  I took my chance and clambered up amongst the assorted cargo.  Gunnar decided to remain below.  My fellow dare devils greeted me with a smile and soon the wind was blowing through our hair, the sun shining on our faces and all was right with the world.  Of course grass is always greener and when a double mattress was hoisted onto the front of the roof, I envied those who claimed seats that were luxuriant compared to the rather harsh comfort of the roof rack at the back.

Before long though (an hour or two say – time is relative on such journeys) more people started to leave the bus than embark.  Finally I was in heaven when I was the only remaining passenger on the roof and I claimed the mattress all to myself.  Seldom can such amazing views have been enjoyed from such a unique and privileged position.

At least that’s what I thought ….

                                                                                …. until …

….. slowly but unmistakably ….

….  the driver’s foot began to descend on the accelerator. 

I hadn’t given it much thought at the start of the journey – when I was still indoors – that the driver had quickly consumed a couple of bottles of dodgy looking beer – well everything is a bit more relaxed in a place like that!  Now I began to wonder.  At slow speed the potholes had been avoided or felt as slow lurches.  Now they had the effect of launching me several inches into the air.  Luckily the mattress had been lashed on with a couple of ropes and I hung on to these for dear life while the rest of me performed what must have been a very impressive series of trampoline stunts.  I closed my eyes and prayed …

The thought that kept me going through the long ordeal was the passport control point somewhere ahead where I knew we would finally have to stop.  So it was that I lowered myself back onto terra firma.  My hair and clothes were full of dust and I’m sure I must have looked like a wide eyed ghost.  I think the driver knew exactly what he had been doing and I made sure I didn’t catch his eye as I disappeared into the bushes behind the bus.  


The trip to Ecuador was made in 1997.