Minister’s Message – February 12, 2023

I wonder if you’ve ever come across the word “thoughtcrime”? If you haven’t, let me tell you that it was coined by George Orwell for his famous book “1984”, a suggestion of what a repressive regime like Stalin’s in Russia might look like if it came to Britain. “Thoughtcrime” was one of many words that were part of “newspeak” – a heavily edited and highly political form of English which sounded rather like the old-fashioned language used in telegrams. In “newspeak” complicated ideas were reduced to short statements which sounded clear but in fact deliberately concealed truth and misled their hearers.

Minister’s Message – February 5, 2023

Jesus often got into trouble for law-breaking. No, he wasn’t caught breaking into someone’s house, he didn’t ‘innocently’ (ahem) avoid paying his income tax, he wasn’t pulled over for driving a chariot at 60 mph in a 30 mph zone, he didn’t get into a drunken brawl outside the Nazareth pub at closing time … in fact we might suppose that he was a model citizen. But he was still a law-breaker because he made a point of mingling and eating with folk who society thought were beyond the pale, unashamedly touching sick people who were deemed to be unclean, and repeatedly doing (and, even worse, encouraging his disciples) to do acts which were classified as “work” on the Sabbath day of rest. He even tried to rewrite the legal traditions that had evolved over the centuries, with his words, “You have heard it said … but I say to you”. Clearly Jesus was a dangerous radical hellbent on ditching the rules and regulations which governed everyday life. As far as the lawyers were concerned, his teaching would leave ordinary people confused or even rebellious and simply couldn’t be tolerated.

Minister’s Message – January 15, 2023

Emperor Joseph II, who came to the throne in 1765, is regarded as one of the greatest rulers of Austria. Following the principles of the Enlightenment, he reformed the education system and sought the best scholars and scientists for the universities. He introduced a universal Code of Civil Law, abolished serfdom, and tried to alleviate rural poverty. He improved the public health service, reorganised the army, balanced the monarchy’s finances, permitted all religions to be practised freely and granted freedom to the Press. His emancipation of the Jews gave new vitality to cultural life and he transferred theatre management to the actors. Although Joseph’s foreign policy was less successful, this was very much a “golden age” for his country. Yet this is the epitaph he ordered to be placed on his grave: “Here lies a prince who, despite the best of intentions, was unable to carry out his plans”. A man who achieved so much ultimately felt that he’d been a failure.

Minister’s Message – January 8, 2023

They weren’t kings. We don’t know their names. There may or may have been three of them. It’s possible that they rode on – or led – camels. But what we do know is this: they weren’t Jews, they came from the East, they brought valuable gifts, and – eventually – they were able to present them and pay the homage befitting a new crown prince. And then, having, we are told, “returned home by a different route”, the Magi vanish from the pages of the Bible, never to be heard of again. So what have I forgotten? Oh yes: they followed a star.

Minister’s Message – Christmas Day

I wonder how many of us watch the TV show “Who do you think you are?” If you’ve never seen it, let me tell you that it’s an ‘ancestry; programme in which celebrities examine their family histories. Not every episode is interesting but some are absolutely fascinating; I particularly remember one about Stephen Fry; he may appear to be a quintessential English gentleman but his maternal grandparents were Slovakian Jews who in 1927 were ‘head-hunted’ to come to Britain and run the new sugar factory in Bury St Edmunds. That saved their lives as many of their relatives later perished in the Nazi death camps. I wonder how many of us have traced back our own family histories and, if so, how far we’ve managed to get: a century, two centuries, or even more?

Minister’s Message – Christmas Eve

Over the last few years the “Songs of Praise” TV programme, the BBC Classical Music Magazine and the Classic FM radio station have all run opinion polls, trying to find out which Christmas carol is Britain’s favourite. I suspect that the outcome of these surveys has a lot to do with who’s being asked, but the results are surprisingly consistent. One carol that is always at, or near, the top of the list is “In the bleak midwinter”. And many of you will agree with one enthusiastic writer who asked, “Does any other carol get to the very heart of Christmas as understatedly but effectively as this?” and went on to declare that “Christina Rossetti’s poem is nigh-on perfect as a carol text”.

Minister’s Message – December 18, 2022

The news has been filled recently by what we might call small-scale tragedies. Among other sad happenings there were the fishermen who drowned when their boat collided with a ferry off the coast of Jersey and the would-be migrants who died when their dinghy capsized in the English Channel. The island of Jersey itself saw the devastating gas explosion which demolished a block of flats in the early hours of one morning and killed nine people. We heard about that house fire in Pembrokeshire where a husband and wife perished, of the two small boys apparently murdered in east London, and the revellers killed and injured in the concert crush in Brixton. And, of course, we were all shocked by the deaths of the children who fell through the ice on the lake in Solihull – an appalling story, albeit tinged with heroism.

Minister’s Message- December 4, 2022

“Voices in the wilderness”.

In autumn 1931 the great Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi visited Britain. His passion for independence, his advocacy of fair trade and support for the poor were already known, and the visit was a personal triumph, widely reported in the media. During Gandhi’s time in Britain he met national figures such as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lloyd George and Charlie Chaplin, and visited centres of learning and culture such as Oxford, Cambridge and Eton. True to his ideals, he also went to poor places including London’s East End and the mill towns of Lancashire, still in the grip of Depression, where he was received with enthusiasm. The one person who refused to meet Gandhi was Winston Churchill, who sneeringly called him a “rebel fakir”.

Minister’s Message – Remembrance Sunday

Growing up in the late 1950s at a time when people in Britain – we were told – had “never had it so good”, I used to look forward to Remembrance Sunday. Instead of meeting for Sunday School in the rather dreary church hall with its own peculiar smell, we joined the crowd that gathered around the War Memorial across the road. Prayers were said, wreaths were laid, we observed the Two Minutes’ Silence, the Last Post was sounded, we wore our poppies with pride, and we all had a cup of tea afterwards. Strangely enough I don’t remember singing any hymns: perhaps that was left for the indoor service in church; nor can I remember it ever raining!