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the
church : rectors letter : november 2002
Reproduced from Glenside
News : November2002
"Dear Friends
The Remembrance Sunday Service will, ..., be at Careby this year,
it is a service I both love and hate. My dislike stems, I suppose,
from all my years in the Armed Forces, and brings back memories
of people I knew who are no longer with us. Like most human beings
I prefer happy memories. But at the same time I value it, it reminds
me how fortunate I am and how indebted we are to others. I think
it is the silence I find most moving, it always reminds me of some
words from the Psalms where the writer speaking on God's behalf
declares, " Be still and know that I am God". It is not
easy being quiet in this modern world, most people complain that
there are not enought hours in the day, it's almost as if busyness
is next to Godliness in our modern society.
Have you noticed that even when we have a spare minute we start
looking for something to fill it, I sometimes think we must be mad!
So instead of grasping the opportunity by sitting down and just
'being' for a moment, we instantly start planning next years holiday,
deciding if we can justify the new car, or perhaps calculating if
the pension will stretch to a new lawn mower this year. And then,
when we finally exhaust such topics, we switch on the television.
This usually only has one effect, it totally numbs the brain. Modern
man would seem to be afraid of the silence. but what is the point
of all this endless activity? Is it really a means of enhancing
our lives or is it a way of avaoiding the eternal question, i.e.
what is life all about?
According to the Bible all that we have and are comes from God and
in countless places it encourages us to find time to listen for
his voice, for he speaks to us in so many different ways. but we
cannot do that whilst we are in the midst of frantic activity, even
when, as I'm sure is often the case, such activity is composed of
'good works'. We can only do it if we're prepared to listen and
that means being still, for stillness can be a very profound activity
which requires a deal of effort and even planning. Stillness and
listening are important elements in Christian Tradition, they are
part of what we know as prayer. Thus priest's, before their ordination,
spend a week on what we call retreat, most of it in silence , trying
to ascertain what God's will might be for them. Jesus did the same
thing in the wilderness before embarking on his ministry two thousand
years ago.
But this is not the common concept of prayer, is it? All too often
our approach to the Almighty is far more agressive, we tend to treat
him as a sort of heavenly butler who is there to serve or wants
and needs. So we have a crisis in our family or a problem that seems
too great for us to bear, and so perhaps we pray. We give God our
shopping list, tell him how to solve our problems and expect, or
perhaps hope would be a better word, he will get on with it. And
then of course, as ususally is the case, nothing happens, we say
God is a sham and we give up on religion. And I'm as guilty as everyone
else, I can stand alongside all those people who say God doesn't
answer prayer, I've been there, got the t-shirt! But then, thankfully,
I've always managed to come back to reality, or my training has
reasserted itself if you like, because I know deep down this isn't
what has happened. For God hasn't given my answers, that's the reality,
and I havn't looked or listened for his.
"Be still and know that I am God" was how I began and
I end with it. it is in the stillness that we can listen for God
and perhaps come to see that he does answer our prayers more often
than we know, not least by being with us in those times of need.
It is also in the stillness that we can perhaps perceive something
of the wonder of his love and healing power, for he is not a God
who demands attention, he too waits in the silence, for us."
The Rev Bryan Bennett
Castle Bytham Rectory
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