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church : rectors letter : march 2003  Added
22/05/03 Reproduced from Glenside News : March 2003 "Dear Friends "Sorry Bryan, but you're too old", said the voice down the telephone line, and I felt a mixture of sadness and relief. "It's a young mans game" my friend went on, "you and I wouldn't last ten minutes". At the time of this conversation I had been out of the Army seven years, was still on the reserve list and was asking the Chaplain General if he planned to call me up. I must confess to being glad that he didn't, only a fool enjoys being involved in a war. So after chatting over old times for a bit we both hung up and my contribution to the first Gulf War was to remember those who went in my prayers and in prayers in church, particularly the Chaplains, many of whom I knew personally. And now here we are again, twelve years on and perhaps doing it all again, of course there has been no phone call this time, I've been off the reserve for eight years, neither do I personally know those involved, but that won't prevent me again remembering them before God. Prayer is a very personal thing and not something most people find easy to partake of. I remember at the time of the last Gulf War a vivid picture on the front page of a newspaper. It showed a soldier kneeling at prayer in the sand of the desert, putting himself right with his God prior to the day of battle. And I say HIS God deliberately because during 35 years in this profession I have come to believe God appears in a different guise to each and every one of us. I knew very well, during my time in the Army, that a soldier's concept of God was very different from mine, but that never worried me, after all, I also was convinced that there was only one God. The difference of course is that each of us approaches him differently, some no doubt less sure of his existance than others, it's very fortunate that his ability to respond lies in his nature and is not dependent upon the depth of our faith or knowledge. I'm even tempted to suggest that He will hear the soldiers plea more clearly than mine, his doubtless being simple and straight from the heart, mine being qualified by the theological strings and baggage I attach to it! This is what Jesus probably had in mind when he told us to approach God as a child would its father, for a child in need doesn't come with all the answers ready to hand as we often do, it comes with simple trust. That, said Jesus, is how we should communicate with God. Good men are supposed to be thrown up in a crisis, and that applies to church men as well as Generals, but I must confess no one has really stood out this time as far as the Church is concerned. Most of the speakers I've heard seem to have simply been saying, lets hope it won't happen and indeed, let's hope it doesn't. But what if it does? Have the Church leaders nothing to say? At the time of the last crisis the one who came to the fore was Dr John Habgood the Archbishop of York, a great scholar and in the eyes of many what we call a cold fish. Yet he was the man who bridged the gap to ordinary men and women. He said on the radio for those wanting to pray for their loved ones, what I've been trying to say, that God's ability to understand and act is not reliant upon our ability to communicate with him. He said that even words were not necessary if we find them difficult, for God, if he exists, surely knows the thoughts of our hearts. He showed a gentle common touch I greatly admired. He also spoke about the war itself, 'Truth' he said is not pragmatic, if its right at the beginning it continues to be right, disasters and the wind of public opinion don't change it. The moral and politcal justifications for going to war aren't changed by such occurences, for they belong to the very nature of war itself. And he concluded that once you choose this course of action you must see it through or you give an open invitation to future aggressors. What you must do is ensure your motives are true and pure before you start, and that advice, relevant to the last war, also applies now. " The Rev Bryan Bennett Castle Bytham Rectory |
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