I hope you all had a good summer. We enjoyed a week in Normandy at the end of the school holidays. Whilst in France, we thought we would visit Mantes la Jolie, the town twinned with Hillingdon, which was about an hour and half by motorway from where we were staying. Both of our daughters have visited Mantes as part of a school French exchange and wanted to meet up with their partners at some point in our week away. We arranged as much as possible prior to leaving, including printing off four different route plans from the internet for various combinations of itinerary. This involved finding two different residential addresses. All was going well until, on entering Mantes, we were confronted by a yellow sign with arrows and ‘Déviation’ written on it! Our written list of instructions became scrap paper and we (that is Juliette) had to stop and ask two members of the Gendarmerie where ‘rue Victor Hugo’ was, and they didn’t know! They kindly donated their map anyway and we proceeded on our way. Finally we found ‘avenue Victor Hugo’, and asked a local resident where the ‘rue’ was. He didn’t know either. It wasn’t until our friend appeared from a house 20 metres away, that we knew we had arrived. Evidently, a few houses one end of the road are in the ‘rue’ and the rest in the ‘avenue’!
Losing our sense of direction on holiday isn’t that consequential. In fact it was quite an adventure! However, not knowing where we are going in life can be far more disconcerting. Last Sunday evening we read from Jonah Chapter 4 about the Ninevites, ‘who cannot tell their right hand from their left’, which reminded me of driving around Mantes la Jolie. The people of Nineveh were so far away from the things of God, they had completely lost their direction in life, and they needed saving from the destruction that was going to come upon them. Often it is not until things go wrong for us, our plans don’t work out, something unforeseen crops up, or even those around us don’t seem to have the answers that we realise that we need direction from the only one who really knows - God Himself. The people of Nineveh acknowledged that they had been living independently of God, and turned away from evil, so God saved them. The only thing we didn’t do, when trying to find our way, was to ring up our host and ask for directions. Often, we do the same thing with God -we neglect to get in touch with the one who knows the way in life.
With best wishes this autumn,
Adrian
P.S. Please note. On another matter, last week St Giles’ P.C.C. took a decision to cease running the ‘6.30 Special’ service from September, with a view to developing a new early evening service for all ages, with modern music and creative methods of communication and worship. The new service will be about 40 minutes long, and be on trial for 6 months during the second half of 2007. We hope this contemporary style service will complement our other joint evening services, which will continue on a monthly basis. If you have any comments on this proposal, please feel free to write, ring, or email me.
Baptisms
Aug.13th Megan Jessica Longman
27th Clara Dété
Jake Joseph Rothwell
Sept.10th Oliver Daniel Jagroop
Weddings
Aug. 19th Simon Kneuss and Natalie Lloyd
Sept. 8th Matthew Graham Hinchliffe and Samantha Aistrop
9th Darren Jonathan Newstead and Carol Ann-Marie Chapman
Jarrod Ricky Farrell and Kirsty Rosanna White
Cremations at Breakspear Crematoriums
Aug. 14th Joan Parkin, aged 83
22nd Gwendoline Stock, aged 82
Sep. 7th Geoffrey Freeman, aged 72
15th Emily Louise Stephenson, aged 98
Jackie and I spent our holidays this year visiting parts of Portugal, Spain and Morocco. We were informed by lectures, guides, and the places we visited, of the remarkable civilizations that had developed and flourished in these lands. We were reminded how much European civilization owed to Andalusia, that remarkable multicultural society whose Islamic rulers brought science, mathematics and ancient learning back to Western Europe. For much of the time Muslims, Christians and Jews lived together in peace and harmony. Scholars from all three faiths worked together distilling the knowledge of ages and creating the basis for our modern world.
There were also more intolerant and sectarian streaks that ran through this society as successive waves of Muslim revivalists sought to enforce religious purity on this open society. This in turn was followed by the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula and the terror of the Spanish Inquisition.
Alongside our journey into history we were constantly aware of the terrorist plot to blow up several trans-Atlantic aeroplanes, which was revealed just before we left London. Security was tight causing uncertainty, long delays and other inconveniences. The fighting in Lebanon, Israel and Gaza was also much in our thoughts as we explored the heritage of a more peaceful and harmonious age.
In Casablanca we visited the Hassan II Mosque, a magnificent building designed to surpass all other mosques except the one in Mecca (and possibly the one at Medina). Our guide was charming, informative and communicated the essence of Muslim worship without being strident or confrontational. He also took care to point out the Christian churches in Casablanca and refer to their history. We completed our tour by drinking mint tea near the bazaar.
Like many people, I feel anxious about the future of the world, the future of Britain and the future of Christianity. There are many threats and dangers but faith means putting one’s trust in the God who so loved the world that he gave his only Son, the Prince of Peace. I was glad to be reminded of a time and place where people of different faiths and races lived together in reasonable harmony, working together to build a better world. I am glad too that, amidst the oppression, terror and violence of the present conflicts, there are real signs of hope for a world where justice, peace and harmony can prevail.
Yours in Christ.
Tony
