Madeley Village

2022 is drawing to a close. And looking back over the last year it’s hard to take in all that has been happening in the life of our church and also the wider life of society. This time last year the Omicron Covid variant was growing at pace and we weren’t even sure if all the Christmas services would be able to take place. This year, such a thought hasn’t really registered with me. A year ago there were growing conversations about what to do with the incredibly generous Ikin bequest we received. Now we have a fantastic new addition to our staff team with Ruth Fish joining us in the summer as our Children, Youth and Families Minister. Our church life is different from a year ago.

Looking more widely into our society and beyond the world feels very different to a year ago. A war in Ukraine has led to the biggest invasion in Europe since WWII. People across the country have welcomed Ukrainian refugees into their homes. We’ve had three Prime Ministers this year. The war in Ukraine, the post-Covid recovery and broader other factors have led to a cost-of-living crisis compounded by what is already being called, “Trussonomics”. And this year we celebrated the Platinum Jubilee and then said a sad goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II in October. The final year of the Second Elizabethan age has been a turbulent one.

Whatever awaits us in 2023 one constant we can rely on is God: God’s presence, God’s love. Whatever the world throws at us over the next 12 months, let’s keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who was born and laid in a manger. Jesus, who lived and died and rose again. Jesus, the Son of God, our saviour. Amen.

Rev Tim

At the end of the month we will be entering that the church season of Advent. Advent is the season in which we traditionally wait… We wait… We wait for Christmas, but we also recognise that as God’s people we also wait for the return of Jesus Christ and the fulfilling of all things. Over the weeks of Advent we are pulled back and forth into waiting for the 25^th December and the waiting for God’s final fulfilment of all things.

Usually I journey through advent with the word “wait” itself a heavy weight (bad pun alert) on my lips. However, this year as we approach Advent the word that springs to mind is ‘longing’.  Longing carries with it the aspect of waiting found in the standing in the ‘not quite yet-ness’ of the moment and looking forward, but longing also carries with it the connotation at of a certain breathlessness, a desire to see the thing fulfilled.

As I think of Advent in terms of longing I’m not so much brought to think about Christmas and God’s great big plan at the end of time (though that longing is still there) but rather to the longing that the people would have felt ahead of Jesus’ birth, the people of God longing for messiah to come. Longing for messiah to come and then being surprised that the messiah came in the form of a poor refugee.

Over the last few years we’ve been waiting to be able to celebrate Christmas ‘properly.’ In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis I wonder how many people in our communities are longing to be on the other side of Christmas and all the financial expense it so easily entails.

Blessings,

Rev Tim

September brings with it the beginning of a new academic year and a new season. A new season in the life of many of our young people as they change schools or leave home to go to university or start work for the first-time. A new season when typically the leaves begin to fall and the colour brown takes over the colour green as the signifier of the season (though many lawns are currently very brown!)

In the life of our local C of E churches in Betley and Madeley we are also entering a new season. Early September will bring with it a number of changes. On the 8^th of September I will formally be “installed and inducted” as vicar after 20 months of being “priest in charge to be known as vicar”. The pandemic prevented this service earlier on in my tenure. Installation and induction does make me think of when we had the vicarage oven installed, though I think there will be less boiler suits and more liturgical robes involved in this installation. In the same service we will also be celebrating with Rev Dot Woods who will be joining us as Associate Minister in Madeley and Betley. All being well, we’ll also be formally commissioning Ruth Fish as our Children, Youth and Families Minister at the same service.

As the churches prepare to enter this new season of ministry it is exciting to look forward to this new chapter of the shared life of our churches and to all the opportunities this new season will bring.

Rev Tim

Online only, no August Magazine

As I write, the prime minister has stepped down. The process for the Conservative party to choose a new leader has begun. The candidates are making their speeches. Articulating why they should be the next leader and therefore, Prime Minister. Some candidates are seeking to build up their connection with the current Prime Minister. Some are distancing themselves. There is speculation. Pacts are being made. Alliances are being formed. Is it all Shakespearian, or perhaps Machiavellian, or perhaps heading towards Sun Tzu and the Art of War?By the time you read this there may well be a clear successor.

Back a few millennia ago in a land occupied by a hostile invading Roman force, Jesus enigmatically declared, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s”. Some powerful people had tried to trick Jesus, they’d tried to set him up for treason, get him to rally against the emperor. But Jesus took a coin bearing the face of the emperor and asked, “whose face and inscription is on this?” “Caesar” they replied sheepishly. Which is when Jesus responded with that killer line, “Give to Caesar….”

His unspoken point would have been all too clear: give to the world what is owed to the world. Give to the human authorities what is owed to the human authorities. But don’t get mixed up. Give to God what is God’s. Everything is God’s so…. Human authorities come and go, live and die, but God goes on and on and on….. Know on which side your bread is buttered.

Amid all the political speculation it’s comforting to know that God is God, always was God, and always will be God. Amen.

Rev Tim

Three reasons to be happy: 1. The sun is shining. 2. At the time of writing Covid-19 numbers are going down. 3. School holidays are soon to begin. It’s all looking good!

Three reasons to be apprehensive: 1. There are record temperatures being recorded across the world. 2. Covid-19 is still around and people are still suffering with it. 3. The cost-of-living crisis means that many families will be looking at the summer holidays with trepidation – how to feed the kids and keep them entertained.

The same three things. Different ways of interpreting what is happening.

As we approached the Platinum Jubilee there were times when I was asked something along the lines of, “Can you have a word with the big guy so that it doesn’t rain?” To which my response was inevitably something like, “well, God’s in a tough spot here, because while you’re praying for it to not rain, the farmers and gardeners might be praying that it will rain!”

But isn’t that often the way? Things are getting better for some, but others might be facing new struggles… Life carries with it complexities, and we find ourselves wandering through the thick of it. Throughout it all, the good and the bad, one thing we can take comfort in, is that God journeys with us through it all. That’s not to say that we should just stop moaning and get on with things, but that as we do go about our lives we can know that we’re not alone. And while that doesn’t mean the hardships will always pass, there is solace to be found in knowing that we don’t walk the road alone.

Rev Tim

This month we’re celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The Sunday of the Queen’s Jubilee weekend also happens to be one of the most important festivals of the church – Pentecost, when we remember the Holy Spirit descending on God’s people and we celebrate the birthing of God’s church.

Now at first look, celebrating 70 years of our monarch’s reign and a 2000 year old festival might not appear to go well together, leaving churches with a question as to what to do on that Sunday. But I think it all fits together really well.

Pentecost celebrates the birth of the worldwide church. And the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee marks an opportunity to give thanks for the Queen’s 70 years faithful stewardship of the Church of England as it’s ‘Supreme Governor’ – God’s appointed steward.

At Pentecost the flame of the Spirit burned brightly among the disciples and the Queen has carried that flame for 70 years. In June in both Betley and Madeley, the churches will host a number of baptisms, which is again fitting as in the baptism of children we give a lit candle to the parent’s as a symbol of the light of Jesus and the flame of the Spirit.

This is all liturgically perfect in my opinion. Pentecost sees the flame of God’s church burst forth, at the Platinum Jubilee we give thanks for 70 years faithful stewardship of the light, and in baptism we send out the next generation, baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and carrying the fire of the Spirit into the future. We have so much to give thanks for. Amen.

Rev Tim

This year from May to July, All Saints’ Madeley and St. Margaret’s Betley are planning on running an Alpha course on Tuesday evenings. Beginning on the 3^rd of May, Alpha makes space for people who are exploring faith to ask the difficult and challenging questions. We’ll be meeting on Tuesday evenings and hoping to tackle some of the key questions in relation to Christianity and faith in Jesus. We’ll be talking about questions like, “why did Jesus die?” “How can I make the most of the rest of my life?” and “How does God guide us?”

The course is particularly focused on those who do not have a faith and are looking for a place to explore that faith.

If this is something you’re are interested in finding out more about, please do get in touch! The course starts on the 3^rd of May with a taster session that will seek to address the question, “is there more to life than this?” – without wanting to give too many spoilers, as the vicar I’d want to chip in and say that the answer may well be, “yes, there is more to life than this!”

Rev Tim

In the build up to Lent I watched the television in disbelief to see images of Russian forces invading Ukraine. And in the weeks that have since passed, the images from the news have just got worse and worse. Shelling near nuclear powerplants, the Chernobyl site being attacked. News of millions of refugees. Protests in Russia. Sanctions across the world. And at the heart of it, people, people whose lives have been torn apart. Teachers making Molotov cocktails, lawyers holding machine guns. families being split up. Families grieving the brutal deaths of much-loved family members. Some countries opening their doors to refugees. Some doing less.

It all feels like a relic of the 20^th century is actively taking place in the 21^st century. And it is utterly tragic. Who knows what the state of things will be by the time you read these words in April…..

Lent is the season of the Church’s liturgical year when we are encouraged to reflect on our mistakes, on the way we live our lives and to begin to look towards Easter, when the death and resurrection of Jesus brings about a hopeful new future for humanity.

This year the need for hope feels more and more important than for a long time. And the hope we have in Jesus is once again, a timeless hope, a hope we can hold onto when all the world feels like sinking sand.

Peace.

Rev Tim