Saint Mark's Church Wellingborough Blog

Holidays and Holy Days

2010-07-01T05:59:00.002+01:00

The clue's in the name, really. Before they were standardised and reduced in number the country kept many, many holidays. Literally - holy days. As well as the "national" days, like Easter and Whit Monday, there would be local ones - in parts of Northants, St Catherine's day was always popular as she was the patron saint of lace-making. People would make "Cattern Cakes", and jump over a candle while trying not to catch fire. You had to make your own entertainment in those days! And if people could get a day off they were only too grateful, and would accompany it with too much drink. Maybe that's one of the reasons the holidays started to be reduced. That and the march of the Industrial Revolution, which needed people predictably at work and not taking odd days off all over the place.

And of course, going to the seaside for a holiday didn't really work before they invented the railways. Not unless you were rich or royal - it was George III who made Weymouth popular, but not that popular because no-one else could get there.

Today we take holidays - mostly - when we want to, and drive or fly or get a coach or train, and stay for a week or two. And we don't have "factory weeks" any more because we don't all work in the same factory or the same industry. When I was a kid in Dunstable, the whole of Vauxhall Motors and Bedford Trucks would take the same week off. But today most workplaces want us all off at different times, so we have "cover". You don't suddenly catch Tesco's or a call centre closing down for a week.

And yet despite all those changes, the basic need is the same. It's a human need and it's expressed in the first two chapters of the Bible - after a hard week's work, God rested.

It's easy, in a 24-hour world where the Internet means the shops are never closed and you can watch "Keeping up Appearances" at 3am if you feel like it, to forget about rest. But it lies quietly there, as a basic human need. That's why God designed a Sabbath - to give us all a break. That's why we take holidays. To rest, to refresh, to unwind, to reconsider things we've not had the time to think of all year - to breathe fresh air and lift our heads up from our computer screens and see the world.

If you're going away, have a good holiday. You've deserved it.

Revd Gary

2010-06-13T20:53:00.003+01:00

Today's sermon - based on the Lectionary readings for Proper 6

“If this man were a prophet he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him – she is a sinner”
Saint Luke has the amazing skill of being able to convey an enormous amount of information about someone in a very few words. In today’s reading we meet three main characters. Simon in whose house the story takes place, Jesus, the invited guest and an un-named woman, the uninvited guest.
Simon was a Pharisee. A member of an elite group of religious leaders who saw it as their duty to make the Law of Moses relevant to the people of the day. They realised, just as we do today, that Laws written several hundred years previously needed explaining to the current generation. The problem was that their solution to this situation was to put in place even more rules and regulations to protect the Law of Moses and to ensure that the every day man (or woman) in the street could not actually get near enough to any of the old Law to be in any danger of disobeying them by accident.
Although this made them unpopular with many in society and left them open to accusations of hypocrisy, it also meant that some of them were open to new ideas. This probably explains why Simon had invited Jesus to eat with him in the first place. The majority of Pharisees would have refused to have anything to do with Jesus, but there were some who would have at least been prepared to give Him a fair hearing. There may also have been an element wanting to be in the limelight as Jesus was considered a celebrity. In any event Simon proves himself to be a somewhat inattentive host. He does not offer Jesus the opportunity to wash His feet when he arrives and does not greet Jesus with a kiss – considered a normal greeting among men at the time.
In Jesus’ day there was not the same sense of privacy as we have to day. Most people would have left their doors open during daylight hours and it was considered perfectly acceptable for uninvited friends, beggars or even just the plain nosy to wander into a house at mealtimes. The seating arrangements would have consisted mainly of couches on which people reclined to eat so it was not difficult for the un-named woman – who most likely was or had been a prostitute - to come and stand by Jesus’ feet.
She had brought with her a jar of expensive perfume. Matthew, Mark and John’s version of this encounter put the price at 300 denarius (the equivalent of about £4000 today and most likely her entire life’s savings) with which she presumably intended to anoint Jesus but emotion got the better of her and she began to cry.
It was at this point that her actions overstepped the bounds of social propriety as she firstly let down her hair and then proceeded to touch Jesus in what was considered to be a very intimate way. By now, no doubt, the eyes of all the room were focussed on what was happening. Some in amazement, some in mild curiosity and some, like Simon, in absolute horror.

“If this man were a prophet he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him – she is a sinner”

Everything Simon thought he knew about Jesus has just be proved completely wrong – or at least he thinks it has. Here is this man, someone His followers are claiming is the Son of God, the new Messiah and He is allowing himself to be touched by a woman and a sinner in an entirely inappropriate way.
What he does not understand, what he cannot understand is that Jesus knows exactly who and what kind of woman this is who is touching Him but that it doesn’t matter!
Simon was unable to see past the outward appearance of the woman and her actions, whilst Jesus was the complete opposite. Once again He turned the accepted norms of society upside down and provoked far more questions than He appeared to answer.
Jesus knew that the woman’s actions were born out of her enormous gratitude that her sins, which were many, had been forgiven. She no longer felt like an outcast in society. She recognised that, although in her own eyes and the eyes of those around her she did not deserve to be forgiven, she had been. Consequently she was able to walk into the house of a greatly respected Pharisee with her head held high and offer her thanks to Jesus.
Jesus then confuses Simon even further by knowing what he is thinking and, just like Nathan speaking to David, using a parable to illustrate His teaching.
Jesus’ next comment is one which has caused a certain amount of confusion. Unlike when David has displeased God and needs to pay a price for his sin, the woman has no price to pay. She is not being forgiven because of her actions – her actions are an outpouring of her gratitude because she has been forgiven.
Jesus’ comment “Your sins are forgiven” was an observation not an absolution.

When David arranged Uriah’s death so that Bathsheba would be free to marry him once her thirty days of mourning were over, not only had he turned his back on God, but he had broken at least three of the ten commandments as well.
When Nathan was sent by God to speak to David and show him the error of his ways, David was quick to grasp the unfairness of the story but, as is so often the way with us all, he needed to have it pointed out to him that he was the baddie in the piece.
Once he had accepted responsibility for his sin – which is the first step towards obtaining forgiveness – David was able to ask for God’s forgiveness secure in the knowledge that he would receive it once a sacrifice had been made. Under the Old Covenant with Moses and his descendents a price had to be paid by the sinner. David had to watch his son, the result of his adultery with Bathsheba, suffer and die in order to redeem himself.
We are in a slightly better position than David was. We are part of Jesus’ New Covenant. There is no need for us to arrive at church on a Sunday morning leading a goat, nor do we have to start splashing blood around the altar or burning handfuls of grain.
Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice of Himself on the cross has paid the price for our sin from the moment of His death until the end of time.
However we should be warned. Jesus’ sacrifice is not a gilt edged “get out of jail free” card.
True, forgiveness is ours for the asking.
True, we will be forgiven as often as we need it.
True, every time we are forgiven, our slate is wiped clean and our relationship with God is restored.
But, and there is always a but, we must not, we cannot continue in our old ways with the attitude “well, God will forgive me anyway so I don’t really need to try”. That is not how the covenant works.
I’d like to end with a quote from Joyce Meyer, who is an American evangelist I was introduced to by my daughter
“The grace which we, as Christians, have received through the spilling of Jesus’ blood and the gift of the Holy Spirit is not an excuse to sin, it is the power not to have to.”

2010-05-03T20:20:00.000+01:00

The Next Step - as promised!

It has often been said, and quite rightly too, that Christian discipleship is a journey. Each one of us is at a different place on our journey, we have been travelling for different lengths of time, we walk at different speeds, we are carrying different loads, but the one thing we have in common (apart from the final destination) is that we all need to take the NEXT STEP.
This can be quite a challenge. Sometimes the path before us is wide and flat, the going is easy and we are joined by many fellow travellers. At other times the path is steep and narrow, it is difficult to follow and we feel as though we are the only one struggling along it. Occasionally we cannot see the path at all and we come to a complete standstill, unsure of what our next move should be. Wherever we are there is always something new to learn, another challenge to face, the NEXT STEP to take.
As with any journey, our Christian discipleship will be easier if we have somebody else walking along side us. We have Jesus, we have the guide book, we have the desire to move forward but it is wonderful to have somebody to share the experience with. Somebody we can share things with. Somebody who will lend us a hand when the going gets tough. Somebody who will sit down beside us when we are too tired to move forward and wait. Somebody who will make sure we do not fall by the wayside. Somebody who will help us to take the NEXT STEP, and the next and the next.
To that end I will be starting a new nurture group on 12th May at 7:30 in the Vestry.
Initially the group will meet on a monthly basis and we will aim to study a range of aspects of Christian discipleship in greater depth than is possible during a confirmation course or Bible Study session.
Our first theme will be Jesus – well it seems like a good place to start! We will be looking not only at what the Bible tells us about Him, but also at other historical sources and what they can add to our understanding of Jesus the man.
Future meetings will include such themes as Reading the Bible, Prayer and whatever else you want.
Everyone is welcome to come along. It doesn’t matter how “old” or “young” a Christian you are, feel free to come and join us and we will take the NEXT STEP together.

Katharine.

Pentecost (Magazine Article)

2010-05-01T13:59:00.001+01:00

“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.”

Pentecost is a reminder that we can’t tell God what he’s going to do.

I love the thought of how the disciples were getting on, up to the day of Pentecost. They were a busy little bunch – worshipping in the temple, appointing a new apostle to replace Judas – for all the world as if they had a vacancy on the PCC they needed to fill.

The irony being that “apostles” are people who are sent out. And although Jesus had sent them out, they hadn’t actually gone anywhere.

Maybe left to themselves they would have gradually merged into the Jewish community again, an odd little bunch with their stories of a living Messiah, but with nothing particularly different to show for their stories.

But God wasn’t going to leave them there, was he?

At Pentecost the Holy Spirit takes that group of 120 people, and shakes them up. From that small devout group, within one generation, the story of Jesus was going to reach from India to Rome. The Acts of the Apostles is the book of the work of the Holy Spirit, and how he made a new Kingdom of God that undercut and ran through the kingdoms of the earth before those earthly kingdoms had really even noticed..

There’s a lot of human frailty in the Acts of the Apostles. There’s Mark nipping off when the going gets too tough – and the argument between Paul and Barnabas about whether to have him back. There’s the argument between Peter and Paul over how the Church should welcome Gentile believers. There’s the argument in Ephesus; there’s the argument between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. In fact, all round, there’s a lot of arguing goes on. But by the end, Paul has taken the Gospel to Rome – in human weakness, as a prisoner, but in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Since then the Church has got powerful from time to time. It has run countries. It has made the rules. It has demanded respect rather than shared the Gospel. That time has run out in our country. Although sometimes we look back wistfully to the days when people automatically respected the Church – it’s not the normal way of things.

Maybe now, when the Church is in human terms weak, when we can’t trust in our own strength – maybe now is the time to start listening to the Holy Spirit again. We tried to trap him in the structures of the Church; we tried to tie him up in the Bible. We’ve tried to encase him in the words and reasoning of clever men and women. But when all’s said and done, he’s still the Spirit of God. And the wind blows where it will.

Pray for the fullness of the Spirit. Look out for the blessings of the Spirit. Seek for the gifts of the Spirit. And when you’ve received them – look out! Because it means God has something for you to do as well.

Slideshow of Bishop Donald's Installation

2010-04-26T19:45:00.000+01:00

A slideshow of Bishop Donald's installation, with very small glimpses of St Mark's people, is available here.

Installation of Bishop Donald

2010-04-21T21:07:00.000+01:00

For those who didn't attend (or those who did) - there are some images of the events at Peterborough Cathedral, and Bishop Donald's sermon, here.

Installation of Bishop Donald

2010-04-20T14:22:00.000+01:00

The Peterborough Evening Telegraph carries a report of Bishop Donald's installation.

Cycling round the Lake for the Helicopter

2010-04-20T14:16:00.000+01:00

This Sunday I'll be missing from church. This is partly because it's my Sunday off, but also because the eldest is going to be cycling round Pitsford Reservoir in aid of the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance.

It's a very worthwhile cause, and they came in very handy to a friend and workmate when someone decided to drive down the wrong side of the road between Harlestone and Church Brampton. If you want to support Josh you can go to his "just giving" page.

Josh is planning to cycle twice round the reservoir - which is about 15 miles. George and I will be going round the once, to offer moral support! We'll be praying for good weather and no sudden showers of ash.

* I was missing from church last Sunday as well! This was because I was drafted in as replacement at All Hallows.

More introductions

2010-04-16T19:26:00.000+01:00

Hi, my name is Katharine Reade and I am a Licensed Reader. I have worshipped at St Marks for about eighteen years since my eldest son started Beavers and had to attend Church once a month. I have been licensed for almost a year.

The picture shows me leading a Harvest Service last October and has actually been used by the diocese in some of their literature about what Readers do!

Like Gary I will be posting my sermons and other thoughts as they occur to me.

Look out for details of The Next Step coming soon.

God Bless Katharine

Oh - this is my first ever blog!!!

Advance Notice - Stewardship

2010-04-15T20:57:00.001+01:00

Quick reminder - Paul Adams, the Diocesan Stewardship Officer is coming to talk to us after the service on 25 April about the challenges involved in meeting the Parish Share and other running costs for the year ahead.

There will be a letter for everybody in the church to take away - but don't worry, if you're not there on the 25th we will make sure you get one!

St Mark's Church - a quick introduction

2010-04-14T09:34:00.000+01:00

I'm Reverend Gary Alderson, and welcome to this new venture - the St Mark's Blog.
I'm curate of St Mark's. The vicar is Revd Mandy Cuthbertson.
That's me in the picture - not Mandy. But you've probably guessed that already.

St Mark's Church has been meeting and worshipping since the 1960s, on the Queensway estate in Wellingborough. Like other estates in this part of the world, many of the families on the Queensway come from London originally. Although many of the people also come from the West Indies, Nigeria and other parts of the world. And for those of you who don't know where Wellingborough is, it's 70 miles north of London, 40 miles south of Leicester - oh and 10 miles east of Northampton. In the past the industries around here were boots & shoes, iron and steel and railways. But because of where we are, these days we're a transport hub and home to various retailers, of whom the biggest is probably Booker Cash and Carry.

St Mark's church has a huge range of activities going on - you can get an idea here. And particularly if you're not feeling like you can bother making breakfast on a Saturday morning, or you fancy a full English for a change, I can recommend you make your way to San Marco's cafe in the Church Hall. Open 10-12.

Jesus, the Disciples and a Locked Room

2010-04-10T20:52:00.000+01:00

This is about the nearest I ever get to a complete sermon script. Tomorrow morning I will print this out, make some short notes from it, and then preach something that hopefully will bear a resemblance to it.

John 20:19-31 – Jesus, the Disciples and a Locked Room

It’s easy to understand why the disciples were locked in, that first Easter Sunday evening…. Just 2 days earlier their leader and Lord was crucified. Mixed-up stories, confusion, missing body – what’s going on? If Jews suspect Jesus’ body stolen – where will they be looking?

But in Jesus’s presence, everything is now changed:

He restored them - “Peace be with you.”
He sent them out - “Just as the Father sent me, so I send you”
He empowered them: "[He] said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

He restored them

“Peace be with you”. A standard greeting – still a greeting in Hebrew and in Arabic – as simple or common as “hello”. But also a blessing – and a restoration that they certainly needed. They had been fallen asleep when they should have stayed awake. They had fled when they should have stayed. They had deserted when they should have stood firm. They were now terrified. They had failed. They had let Jesus down and, as the old saying has it – they had let themselves down.

But Jesus – no condemnation. No need – they’ll have brought all the condemnation on themselves. A common sensation? OK, some people can change God’s will & God’s laws to scarily agree with our own ideas of what’s right and wrong. But many of us – probably far more - can come down too hard on ourselves. If seen the film or, better, read the book Cold Comfort Farm – the family belong to the Quivering Brethren. Group that actually enjoys getting together to be told how evil all their deeds are, and how they’re all going to hell. And sometimes we can be like that – but without the enjyment. We have ourselves to judge ourselves.

I remember a long discussion a group of us - not Christians, and neither was I at the time - had many years ago with a girl who'd had a really rough life. And she was trying to pour scorn on us - as "posh" students - because she knew far more about life than we did, and she was real and street whereas we were just idle and pampered. And then she suddenly stopped, and realised, and said - actually, I won't tell you what she said, as it was pretty rude. But the summary was, she realised what a mess she was in. Underneath the bravado she'd judged herself really hard. And she had nowhere to go. And I didn't know then - but I do know now - that actually there is somewhere to go when you judge yourself hard. Go to the cross - and see that God knows all about being judged hard.

God doesn’t want us to loathe ourselves. He's gone through too much to let us do that. When we’ve recognised our failings, Jesus will come into our lives and say – “Peace be with you”. And the best peace we can have is when Jesus is with us.

He sent them

Trouble is, it’s not enough to just stand there enjoying the peace. God’s peace isn’t like our peace. My peace is being sat half-asleep in the conservatory on a rainy day, enjoying sound of rain and knowing I’m warm and dry. God gave us a Sabbath day to rest – but when we’re rested there’s stuff to do. There’s a world to share.

“Just as the Father sent me – so I am sending you”. How did God the Father send God the Son to the Earth? In humility. In urgency. With a message. With a mission that ended in a cross – but then with a mission that started again with an empty tomb and a glorious resurrection. Sounds scary? Good.

The old hymn called for Mission “From Greenland’s icy mountains, from India’s coral strand;” but today mission’s different. When Jesus says “Go”, where do we need to go? India? Kenya? We can “go” all those places in different ways – through money we give we can be there almost instantly.

But we can “go” to this estate full of God’s people – but some living in challenging circumstance. We can “go” to our neighbours – to our friends – to the people who we know need to know about Jesus.

But sometimes the hardest place to "go" is where you are known. The oddest place for me to wear a dog collar isn't in church - isn't in Peterborough Cathedral - isn't walking down the street in a strange town - it's with my own family, who know what a wally I am already without me wearing a dog collar to prove it. The hardest place to be a Christian - is where you are truly known, and by people who aren't Christians.

We can’t “go” in our own strength. Which is why the third thing Jesus did is so important.

He empowered them

The third thing Jesus did – don’t you just love a three-point sermon? – was give them the Holy Spirit.

He breathed on them and said “receive the Holy Spirit”.

You can go anywhere. But without the Holy Spirit you won’t do any good. We can spend months planning campaigns for mission, you can spend ages studying what you should say to you friend to persuade them to be a Christian. But without the Holy Spirit you won’t really be doing anything.

The Holy Spirit is God at work in you today. He gains a hold on your heart through prayer – through reading the scripture – and through you wanting God to work in you. His power grows in you through study, and through communion. And some of that work he does is on you – bringing holiness into your life, showing up those corners that aren’t right, and then assuring you of God’s forgiveness. And some of that work he does is through you – partnering with you in doing Jesus’s work, Jesus’s mission in your family, in your street. Among your friends.

And the Fourth Point is

So Jesus blessed them. He restored them. He sent them out in the power of the Holy Spirit. And when Jesus came back a week later – they were all still there. With the doors closed. And now they’d even persuaded Thomas to stay with them – the only one who was brave enough to be out and about the previous week.

It took a much bigger shock to get them to move out in the power of the Spirit, to start the mission for real. The shock of Pentecost.

We don’t know how long it will be – but when Jesus comes back, where we will be? Safely protected from the world, in a room on our own, with the doors shut? Or out continuing his mission? Sent – just as the Father sent him?

The Great Commission - In John?

2010-04-09T18:18:00.000+01:00

As we head towards the 2nd Sunday of Easter, I've been filled with the traditional preacher's dread - "Doubting Thomas. What can you say about Doubting Thomas?" - as the reading is this passage from John.

But in a conversation with a director of Wycliffe Bible Translators, I found a new way of looking at this reading - instead of looking at Thomas so much (who was the only disciple brave enough to be out and about that Sunday, don't forget) - look at the other disciples, and the commission that Jesus gave them when he breathed on them.

You can find some explanation of this angle here. And I hope to look at it some more by the time Easter 2 gets here. Not least that having received the Holy Spirit, and having been sent by Jesus.... they just left the doors locked!