Very Ordinary Men

From the May Bathford Parish Bulletin

Dear Friends,

I want to tell you one of my favourite true stories; it concerns a school inspection - not in Bathford but in India of a school for poor and orphaned children run by a Christian Charity.

When the inspection was announced the governors, Head, teachers and children all prepared very carefully for the two crucial days; nothing was left to chance, they had a reputation to keep up.

The Inspectors duly arrived on a lovely sunny day. As they entered they were greeted by a small boy with an infectious smile sitting on a wall welcoming them. They were touched but thought no more about it at the time. The inspection went very well - even the Inspectors seemed very pleased. They had observed all the classes being taught, interviewed all the teachers and discussed future plans for the school with the Head and Governors. On the final afternoon they all met for a wash - up and preliminary report. Just before the discussion ended, the Chief Inspector had a sudden last question; there was just one thing he could not understand and it concerned the small boy on the wall. It did not seem appropriate that he was there. The Head smiled and much to the Inspectors amazement advised that the little boy was the most important pupil in the school. "You see", he said, "although he is severely handicapped, including deaf and dumb, he is the 'Welcomer' who greets the children as they arrive, often sad and anxious. His smile and wave is infectious and makes us all happy". The chief inspector commended the little boy in his report.

What is so moving and true about the story is that it reminds us that we can easily fail to recognise the value of another person because we are looking with a limited perspective. Many in our communitymight be overlooked, but God knows them - and of course, so do their families (for example those caring for a sick or elderly relative).

We have recently been celebrating the Ascension when Jesus returned to Heaven and the Coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to empower the disciples to carry on the work of the Gospel. On that first day some three thousand were baptised, the very beginning of the Church worldwide.

Those first disciples were just very ordinary men, not among the "great and good" but God knew what he was doing when he called them.

Best wishes,

Gerry Miller

Sabbath

From the May Bathford Parish Bulletin.

Dear Friends

As you read this I will be beginning a month of what is known as ‘study leave’. (I will be studying, I promise!) The prospect of this time and how to use it have caused me to think a bit about the whole idea of ‘Sabbath’. The word ‘Sabbath’ means ‘rest’. It is fascinating how there is universal medical consensus about the importance to our physical and psychological health of regular periods of rest; and there in the Bible’s account of creation we find ‘Sabbath’ - one day of rest in every seven. It’s almost as if a loving Father knows what is best for his children!

But the idea of ‘Sabbath’ is far richer than simply stopping what you normally do for a day a week. Nor does it mean cramming into that one day all the thousand and one things that need doing around the house and in the garden which we can’t do any other time because we are so busy at work! (I’m definitely guilty of this one.)

In the Bible’s account of creation the seventh day is the day of ‘rest’ - the day when all the wonders of creation are to be enjoyed in relationship with the God who made them. And, interestingly, in the way the Bible tells the story this seventh day has no end. In other words, this is the way things are meant to be; this is what it means to be human - living in God’s amazing world in relationship with him.

Of course, that’s not the way things are any more; and elsewhere in the Bible the ‘Sabbath’ is described as the day to remember what God has done to ensure world in relationship with the God who is our Creator and our Saviour.

Such are the pressures of living in this world that if we don’t take one day out a week to remind ourselves of these things and to enjoy them, it’s not just our physical and psychological health but our very identity as human beings that will suffer. ‘Sabbath’ is a gift from a loving heavenly Father. It’s one day in the week designed to help us live all seven days in the week as proper human beings.

I’m looking forward to my ‘Sabbath’. I recognise what a great privilege it is to have a month in which to study and reflect on what it means to be the child of a heavenly Father who is my Creator and my Saviour. I hope I will return better able to live and share these wonderful realities with the community in whose life I am privileged to share. I hope also that you will be able to find a ‘Sabbath’ time in your week. I know you won’t regret it!

I look forward to seeing you in June.

With my best wishes,

Tim Ling

Vicar At St Swithuns

What is St. Swithun’s for?

Tim's letter From the April 2008 Bathford Bulletin

If St. Swithun’s didn’t exist, would we need to invent it? What is St. Swithun’s for? What part does it play in the life of our village?

First of all St. Swithun’s exists to help us to worship God, drawing on the strengths of the past and incorporating some of the new approaches and wonderful new hymns of the present. An interesting balance to try and achieve!

But worship of God has to be real and Sunday is not meant to be an escape from the rest of the week. So we try our best to make our services relevant to life as we all know it.

But Sunday is not just for the already convinced. To worship God you have to know God and so we try our best to make our services accessible to those who are thinking about faith but not yet sure what they think about it!

And worshipping God is not just for grown-ups, it’s for children too. And so we run groups on Sundays for children from 0-14 (and for older teens on Saturday evenings) where they can explore the Christian faith in fun and exciting ways that make sense to them. At present we have over 50 children doing just that at least once a month.

But worship is about a lot more than church services and church is about a lot more than Sunday. So throughout the week we run a series of groups where people can come and explore the Christian faith together and how it applies to the lives they are leading.

At least once a year we run a course specifically for those wanting to explore what Christians believe. The next of these will take place in the autumn.

But Christianity is not just about understanding faith, it is about living faith and the church is not just about being an individual, it is about being part of a community.

And so a vitally important part of what a church is for is to be caring for one another. That’s why small groups are so good, because you can get to know a small number of people well.

That’s why we run a monthly men’s group and a monthly women’s group where people can enjoy being together, sharing similar concerns and supporting one another.

That’s why we run a monthly Parenting Course where parents can encourage and support one another. That’s why many church members are involved in visiting people in the parish.

But the church is not just about ‘us over here’, it’s about being a part of the community. That’s why we run a monthly service for Bathford’s more senior citizens in the Community Room. That’s why we put on a community lunch in the Parish Rooms for 5 weeks during Lent. That’s why we put on open air services in the heart of the village during the summer and hold a barbecue for the whole village. That’s why we pray regularly for every aspect of our community and its life. That’s why I’d love to hear from you if you think there are ways in which the church could be serving our community or if there is something you would like us to be praying for.

And church is not just about being part of Bathford, it’s about being part of the whole world. That’s why we support many practical projects in this country and throughout the world.

On Sunday, 20 April we are holding our Annual Meeting as part of our 10am service. Why not come along and find out more about your village church?

Gain the Perspective

Tim's letter from the March Bathford Bulletin

There is a surprising moment right at the very end of the film, ‘A Bug’s Life’ (you can see the level of high culture that exists in our house). The camera pans out and out and you see that the world of the ants in which the whole film has been played out is actually a tiny part of an area of scrub land in a park by a road on the outskirts of a major city with sky scrapers stretching away to the horizon. Only now do you see that there is so much more than their little world; only now do you gain the perspective to make sense of all that has happened.

The resurrection of Jesus is like the camera panning out and showing us that there is so much more to life than just this life. If this life is all there is, then it is frankly impossible to make any sense of so much of the pain and injustice that so many people experience. The resurrection of Jesus enables us to gain perspective on all that we experience in this life. The resurrection of Jesus is the light of the world to come breaking in to this world enabling us to see more clearly. The resurrection of Jesus offers a challenge to those for whom this life ‘works’ and who have ended up thinking that this life is all there is. The resurrection of Jesus offers comfort to those for whom this life does not ‘work’, who have known little but illness or sadness or disappointment for years and years. The resurrection of Jesus shows us the life of the world to come - a life in which people with resurrection bodies like his will finally enjoy life in all its fullness and in which there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. The resurrection of Jesus shows us that we are not foolish to think in this way.

The apostle Paul, who so knew what it was to suffer, once wrote these words:

‘For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.’

It is the resurrection of Jesus that shows us what we hope for and that can guarantee that our hoping will not be in vain.

Happy Easter!

Tim

The Good Shepherd

At the moment I am aware of a number of people who are facing really hard times in their lives. For many, their battles have been going on for a very long time; for some, they will not get any easier in the future. I am struck by the depth of care and love that others are showing to these people in their suffering. Indeed, some of them have said to me how they have been overwhelmed by the concern shown to them. Long-term suffering is, of course, extremely hard to bear and to make sense of. More often than not, no sense can be made of it at all; it is a mystery, to be endured not explained. And many of us, I know, are profoundly inspired and challenged by the way in which our friends do face their troubles or suffering with remarkable patience and endurance; and yet also with great honesty, acknowledging the exhaustion, the temptation to despair that the struggle with suffering so often entails.

In the season of Lent we remember particularly the sufferings of Jesus: not just the 40 days in the wilderness without food, but the suffering that characterised the whole of his life on earth and that culminated in his death on the cross. His was a persistent, long-term suffering: the sinless one, devoted to serving all whom he encountered, yet bearing the pain of insult, rejection and hatred year after year; all the while knowing that his suffering would not lift but only intensify; the gathering cloud of Calvary steadily growing over him.

For those whose daily walk is a battle with pain or trouble or despair, there can be deep comfort in the knowledge that he who said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you’, is one who knows what it is to suffer and to go on suffering; that he is the Good Shepherd who offers to walk with us through the darkest valley, his rod and his staff to comfort us.

But his experience of those 40 days in the wilderness also has much to teach us about how to deal with suffering and the temptations of mind and body that assail us because of it. Jesus met his temptations by standing on the solid ground of Scripture. He found strength and perspective in the words of God in the Bible. It is far from easy to do this when you are suffering; but then I don’t think anything is easy when you are suffering.

The apostle Paul, who also knew what it is to suffer, wrote of those same Scriptures, ‘everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.’ This is where Jesus found his hope, in the Scriptures. It was a hope that enabled him to endure the cross; it was the hope of Easter.

May God bless you this Lent.

Tim

The Finest Hour

Dear Friends,

‘Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world … will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age… Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’

The words of Winston Churchill to the House of Commons on June 18th, 1940.

This month we remember this ‘finest hour ‘and all those who contributed to it; an ‘hour’ which in reality stretched from 1939 to 1945. We remember, too, those who fought for freedom through the dark hours of the First World War; and we remember all those who have given so much, even their lives, in conflict in the cause of our freedom. We remember them and give our grateful thanks to God.

Several months later, in February 1941, with the need for American support in the war now desperate, Churchill spoke to the American people on the radio: ‘We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle, nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools and we will finish the job.’

They were given the tools and they did finish the job. It is this that we remember and give thanks for today.

And yet today, with on-going war in Iraq, with the continuing sacrifice of our service men and women, with the reality of the unseen war against terrorism, we know that the job is not yet finished.

What tools could possibly be sufficient to finish this job, to rid the world of war once and for all? Surely not the tools of war? If they were to have prevailed, would they not have done so by now?

The Bible reveals to us a God who has promised to finish the job. The tools He used were a wooden cross, a hammer and some nails and he turned them against his own Son.

The finest hour took place on the cross at Calvary when Jesus gave his life to defeat the forces of evil. The war is not yet over but the decisive battle was fought and won on the cross outside Jerusalem.

As we continue to wait for the Victory Day, the hour is often dark, the waiting costly. At those times, the words of Churchill on June 12th 1941 could really apply to us, encouraging us to continue looking to that cross on which Jesus died:

‘Lift up your hearts. All will come right. Out of the depths of sorrow and sacrifice will be born again the glory of mankind.’

With my best wishes,

Tim Ling, Vicar at St Swithuns

Worth another look?

Dear Friends,

A few years ago I went back to my old school to have a look round.

Everything looked smaller than I remembered it, especially the chairs!

Of course, nothing was smaller; it was just that I had grown.

There were a lot of familiar things, just as I remembered them: the art and technology block (where I discovered I was never to be an artist), the science labs (not my strong point), the games pitches (that’s more like it), the staff room (where we once kidnapped a teacher during rag week), the headmaster’s study (let’s not go there!).

I particularly enjoyed seeing the languages department where I took my first faltering steps in French. I wondered what my teachers would think if they knew I’d ended up being a French teacher; not to mention what my RE teachers would think!

And then there were lots of things I saw that day which weren’t there in my day: interactive white boards, DVD projectors, computer suites. I can think of some of my friends who might quite have liked school if they’d had all of this when we were there!

Anyway, all this got me thinking: what would it be like to go back to church if we haven’t been for a while?

Some people’s memories of church are pretty negative. But there have been lots of changes over the years. It might be worth another look.

For others, there are things about church that they used to love - much-loved hymns, familiar prayers. Many of these things are still there.It might be worth another look.

And what about the meaning of it all? Might this be worth another look? I mean, we carry on growing physically after we leave school and we carry on growing in our knowledge and understanding of many of the things we learn at school; but what about our spiritual understanding? Have I revisited spiritual matters as an adult? If not, might it be that things would look quite different today from how I remember them all those years ago? Is David and Goliath just an exciting story for children to act out? Or does it have something to teach us about the nature of reality, about what God is doing in the world? And have I gone back to look at it again, through adult eyes, to see what I think of it today? Might it at least be worth another look?

But even if I wanted to, where would I start? How can I go back after all these years?

Well, we’re making Sunday, 30th September a ‘back to church’ day - a chance for anyone who’s been wondering about giving church another try to do just that. Perhaps you’ve not been for a few months, a few years, a few decades. Why not come back to church and see for yourself what’s changed and what’s still the same? Why not come back and see what it looks like now compared to what it looked like then? Why not have another look?

With best wishes,

Tim

History is all about the future...

Dear Friends,

‘I had an amazing time on St. Swithun’s Day this year - even though for the first time the weather defeated us and we couldn’t hold the village service on the green!

First of all we celebrated St. Swithun’s Day. We gave thanks for those who have met together on the site of our St. Swithun’s for many centuries to bear witness to the love of God; and we also celebrated the Golden Wedding anniversary of a couple married in St. Swithun’s on St. Swithun’s Day fifty years before!

Then I went to the exhibition put on by the Bathford Society in the Parish Rooms. It was fascinating, showing the changing face of the village over several centuries: the development of the roads, buildings and businesses and wonderful photographs of Bathford residents past and (looking younger) present!

After that I popped in to the British Legion’s Poppy Appeal launch - a happy event and an important part of the work of the Legion in helping us remember those who gave so much during two World Wars.

It was a day for history! What struck me most was just how dynamic history is. Looking at the photographs and maps, reading the articles, listening to the stories, you could see vividly how the present always arises out of the past; how, if we are to appreciate today and make the right choices for tomorrow, we need to understand yesterday. In a way, history is really all about the future!

That was certainly the case when Jesus was around. His arrival on the scene had been prepared for over 2000 years of history. He saw himself as a part of that history, arising out of it. Of the Scriptures that recorded this history he said, ‘I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.’

Yet he also saw this history as dynamic, pointing forwards to the future. He said, ‘No one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined.No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.’ I have come to do a new thing.

For Jesus history was all about the future. It is our understanding of yesterday that equips us to enjoy the new thing that God has for us tomorrow.

This is why the Christian message, based in history, is always contemporary. It is our understanding of what God did for us in the past, 2000 years ago at Calvary, that equips us to enjoy the new things he wants to do for us in the future. History is all about the future because ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.’

Tim Ling

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Loneliness is the greatest scourge of modern British society

From the Revd Tim Ling, Vicar of St Swithun’s, Bathford

Dear Friends,

‘Loneliness is the greatest scourge of modern British society.’

And, we might add, ‘busyness is the greatest tyrant’.

Last month a group of the St. Swithun’s church family went away for a weekend together to a place called Brunel Manor near Torquay, just a few minutes walk from the sea. There were 100 of us, aged from just a few months to well over 80. We had the most marvellous time. The sun shone, the food was delicious, the beds were comfortable, the grounds beautiful, we had four excellent talks from the Bible, and the children thoroughly enjoyed games & activities in their groups.

But perhaps the highlight of the weekend was simply being together. There was time just to sit and talk to people you may normally only get to say a few words to; time to walk in the gardens; time to go off with others to explore the treasures of the Devon countryside on Saturday afternoon; time to linger over a cup of coffee after meals; time for a night-time walk to the beach; time to discover that others were much better than you at tenpin bowling. It was lovely to see families enjoying their children together round the pool or in the sea when we all went to the beach; lovely to see young and old sitting chatting together in comfy armchairs; lovely to laugh together.

And there was lots of laughing; not least at the Saturday night revue, where masses of previously undiscovered talent came to light: there was poetry reading (including poems written by the reader and a deeply poignant rendition of that lost classic ‘Nelson’s farewell to his mother’(!)); the Goons were brought memorably to life again; fathers & sons, fathers & daughters performed together; and we heard the piano played in a way that put the ‘honky’ into ‘honky-tonk’!

Don’t get me wrong; we are far from perfect at St. Swithun’s. After all, people are people and we’re all the same, aren’t we - we have our good days and our bad. And a weekend away is not exactly the real world, either.

But having said all of that, it struck me that this is what Jesus was on about. Being a Christian really isnt about religion. Jesus hated ‘religion’. What he was on about was relationships - transformed relationships: people enjoying being with God and people enjoying being with one another.

This is what Christianity is all about: an end to loneliness away from God, leading to an end to loneliness away from other people. (And we all know how easy it is to feel lonely even when we’re surrounded by people.) A restored relationship with God leading to restored relationships with others - being part of a new community.

Okay, so a weekend away isn’t the real world; but it gave us a glimpse of what Jesus is on about. It showed us something worth aspiring to, something worth being a part of, something that can be for anyone. The church: it’s not about religion, it’s about relationships, it’s about community.

Tim Ling

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Does it Matter?

Dear Friends,

So James Cameron thinks he has found the tomb that contained the bones of Jesus and is to make a film about it. Does it matter? It matters more than any other single thing in all the history of the universe.

Jesus said he would die to ransom people from slavery to life without God to enjoy life for eternity (starting now) in the presence of our soul-satisfying Creator, who has promised never to stop doing us good. He also said he would rise from the dead. If James Cameron is right then our only solid source of hope for the future is destroyed. The earliest Christians knew this. The apostle Paul wrote, ‘if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.’ But if Jesus is right, if he did rise from the dead, how can our lives go on as before, as if it didn’t happen?

So did it? Was the tomb empty on Easter Day? All we can do is consider the evidence. There are only four options.

1. The authorities stole the body. Having killed Jesus to stamp out his growing influence, why not then, as the explosive growth of the Christian church took place, produce the body and put an end to the whole thing there and then?

2. His friends stole the body. Would those who, days earlier, for fear of their lives, had denied him and abandoned him, begin to proclaim that Jesus was alive, and go on proclaiming it even though it was to meanimprisonment, beatings and even death, knowing where his body was?

3. Jesus was not dead, only unconscious, when they laid him in the tomb. Would someone who had endured a flogging that often killed the victim, then spent six hours nailed to a cross and been stabbed in the side with a spear really be able to remove a stone too heavy for several women together to move, overcome a squad of armed soldiers, and then meet with his disciples and convince them that he had actually risen from the dead to new, unending life?

4. God raised Jesus from the dead to new, unending life. This is what he said would happen. Before we dismiss it with integrity, we need to account for the empty tomb, the dramatic transformation in his followers from men hiding behind locked doors for fear of their lives to bold and joy-filled witnesses of the resurrection, and for the existence of a thriving, empire-conquering early Christian church.

So much is at stake over this one historical claim that whilst we don’t want to be gullible, neither do we want to reject it just because it is strange. If Jesus is who he says he is, we should expect strange and wonderful things to happen. He said he would rise from the dead; if he did, if it is true, then everything else he said is true as well. If he did what he said he would do, why would we then want to reject the beautiful, people-serving nature of his life; the people-affirming, life-giving nature of his words? Why would we want to dismiss from our lives the one who said, ‘I have come that they may have life in all its fullness’?

Happy Easter!

Tim Ling

It's not a time to give up chocolate, again.

Dear Friends,

I don’t know if you’ve been watching the series ‘Blair: The Inside Story’, looking back over the ten years of Tony Blair’s premiership. What a contrast between today and that May morning back in 1997 as he greeted thousands of (mostly young) supporters on the South Bank to the strains of ‘Things can only get better’.

I’m sure all of us can relate to that contrast. How many of us have not known in our own lives the sense of disappointment after the brightest of starts and best of intentions?

And it’s not just us. The people whom God chose and set apart to show the world what it means to be human and what a just and equitable society looks like, knew it too. After 400 years of slavery in Egypt the Israelites were finally set free to live out their calling as the people of God. The first thing God did was to lead them into the desert ‘to test them in order to know what was in their heart’. Spectacularly, and repeatedly, they failed the test. Bright hopes for a new dawn were shown to be empty hopes of a false dawn.

1400 years later, God did exactly the same thing to Jesus. On the eve of his public work, God led him into the desert to test him. And, unlike Israel, unlike our politicians, unlike us, Jesus passed the test.

As you read this, Lent is just beginning. Lent is not a time to give up chocolate, again. It’s not a time to resolve to be a better person, again. Lent is not a time for promises made to ourselves or pledges made to God. We all know where that leads. Lent is a time to take a serious look at the claims of the one person who offers us the prospect of a day when we can be human as we long to be and when a truly just and equitable society will at last be a reality.

With best wishes for Lent,

Tim Ling

Does it matter?

Dear Friends,

A few weeks ago the Chinese river dolphin became extinct. Does it matter? Each year an area of the rain forest in Borneo the size of GreaterLondon is destroyed and replanted with a homogenous crop of palm trees, grown for the palm oil used in all manner of Westernconsumables. Does it matter?

And even if it does, what right do we have to challenge this, given the massive deforestation in Northern Europe of earlier centuries? Theseand many others were the questions a number of us were grappling with on a course recently, looking at the environmental crisis now facing the planet.

The question that came closest to home for me was this: Is the Judeo-Christian tradition responsible for this environmental crisis? Certainlythere have been those who have taken the divine mandate given to humankind in Genesis 1 to ‘subdue’ the earth and to ‘rule overevery living creature’, as licence ruthlessly to exploit the earth’s resources for commercial gain.

Equally, the church’s record of opposing such practice has been very poor over the past two hundred years. So, yes, it seems to me that the Judeo-Christian tradition must take its share of the blame for the current situation.

But there is a difference between the Judeo-Christian tradition and the Judeo-Christian revelation.

Genesis I begins with the account of how God created the earth to display his own qualities. It goes on to reveal how God then created humankind in his image, as his representatives on earth. Immediately after this comes the mandate to rule the earth.

In other words, being made in the image of God means to rule the earth in such a way as to enable it to fulfil the purpose for which it (and we) were created - showing forth the power and beauty and wonder and goodness and kindness and generosity of God.

Ultimately, the creation, of which we are a part, is for God and not for us, and our use of it should reflect this fact.

So, if the extinction of a species or the devastation of a rain forest or the threat of global warming is caused by human greed then, yes, it does matter and, yes, we should speak out against it. The Judeo-Christian revelation compels us to do so.

Just because people have misapplied this revelation for their own selfish ends should not deafen us to the answers to our present plight it still contains.

With best wishes,

Tim Ling

Vicar, St. Swithun’s Church Bathford

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New Year Resolutions

Dear Friends,

The other day I came across some celebrity New Year Resolutions from three years ago, New Year’s Day, 2004 :-

Paula Radcliffe: ‘I want to stay fit and get ready for Athens’;

Tim Henman: ‘I’ve been injured and so I want to climb the world rankings again’;

Matthew Pinsent: ‘I want to savour Olympic Year and do all I can for the London 2012 bid.

As New Year resolutions go, these seem pretty good. They are optimistic, challenging and, in their own terms, very worthwhile aims for the coming year.

But looking back from the future, they make rather sad reading.

You probably remember what happened to Paula Radcliffe in Athens; Tim Henman couldn’t resist the march of time and he continues to fall in the world rankings; and even the euphoria of winning the 2012 bid has now been replaced by wrangling and recriminations over contracts and costings.

So as I look back at these resolutions from three years on, I find them deeply challenging. What am I aiming at in my life right now that won’t look a bit silly a few years from now? And how about at the end of my life? Which of my aspirations will still look as worthwhile then as they do now?

A man was reading the details of another man’s will in The Times. His friend asked him, ‘How much did he leave?’ ‘All of it,’ he replied. It’s an old joke but still true.

Jesus would say to us, ‘Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.’

He would say, ‘What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?’

Jim Elliott was a young American who with four friends went to South America in the1950s to try and bring the message of Jesus Christ to the Auca Indians of the Ecuadorean rain forest. They were murdered by those they were trying to befriend. He once wrote,

‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.’

That sounds like a good New Year resolution to me.

Happy New Year!

Tim Ling

Vicar, St. Swithun’s Church Bathford

Looking forward

When I was at school our RE teacher was always late to lessons and often never turned up at all. The longer we waited for him to come, the wilder behaviour in the classroom became. (Ideal preparation for being a vicar!)

Two thousand years ago, Jesus said that he was going to return one day to establish perfect order in the world. Unsurprisingly, by now behaviour in the classroom is pretty wild.

How can we take this seriously today? And if not this, why should we believe anything that Jesus says?

As you read this there are barely three weeks until Christmas Day and there is an enormous amount still to do to get ready. Those three weeks are going to disappear in a flash. But for any children you may know, every hour is going to seem like an eternity as they wait for the great day. The experience of time is very different depending on your perspective. Rather like children waiting for Christmas, the first Christians were already beginning to get impatient before the end of the first century, and others were giving them a hard time for it, saying, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?”

But God’s perspective on the timing of Jesus’ return is somewhat different: ‘With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.’ So perhaps a better question is not ‘When will it be?’ but ‘Am I ready for it?’ How do we know if we are ready for that day?

The first step is by asking ourselves, ‘Am I looking forward to standing in front of the One who knows everything I have ever done or said or thought?’ And, if not, ‘Have I thought much about why He came the first time?’

Advent is a great time to reflect on these things: to think about what there is to do to get ready, all there is to enjoy as we wait, and all there is to look forward to when the Great Day comes.

With best wishes for Advent and Christmas,

Tim Ling Vicar, St. Swithun’s Church Bathford

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A Surprise Travelling Companion

Dear Friends,

A couple of weeks ago a group of six dads from the school set off to Three Cliffs Bay on the Gower for a boys surfing weekend. An e-mail the night before to sort out transport had caused considerable amusement as to the identity of a surprise travelling companion when, arranging for someone to pick up Chris and Tim, an extra ‘t’ inadvertently appeared at the end of Chris’s name.

Anyway, off we went and we had the most fantastic weekend. Three Cliffs has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth, the weather was extraordinarily mild and sunny, the water remarkably warm (in wet suits!), the surf most definitely ‘up’, meals eaten outside unbelievably tasty, the fire on the beach under an enormous full moon quite unforgettable, and late night games of Perudo against (im) probably the best Perudo player in the world quite an education.

The surfing was excellent. We spent the best part of eight hours in the water all told, and although most of us got to know the bottom of our boards considerably better than the top, those few exhilarating seconds standing up were worth all the wipe-outs.

It was great to have time to chat over a beer or an excellent whisky; there was a huge amount of laughter … as well as a huge amount of potatoes. All too soon it was time to come home.

So, where is the “spiritual message” in all of this?

For me, it is simply that God loves to give us good things: every view, every meal, every good conversation, every friendship, God just loves to give all the time, whoever we are, wherever we are. As we were taught to sing at school: ‘All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above.’

I suppose what I’m saying is that our travelling companion did come along after all. He always does.

Thanks for a great weekend, boys.

Here’s to the next one.

Tim Ling Vicar, St. Swithun’s Church Bathford

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The greatest Economic Thinker of them all

From the Reverend Tim Ling, Vicar at St. Swithun's Bathford

Dear Friends, It is hard to celebrate the harvest with pictures of malnourished refugees in Darfur on our TV screens each night. How can we celebrate our plenty when there are so many who have nothing? There are no easy answers to such a complicated question, as all the efforts of the United Nations and the World Food Organisation show. One source of help that is rarely if ever referred to at such levels is the Old Testament. Can you imagine the look on Jeremy Paxman’s face if a UN official were to launch a policy initiative based on the Book of Deuteronomy on Newsnight? But perhaps it’s not quite as crazy as it sounds.

The Old Testament tells the story of how God took one nation and revealed to them what it means to live together happily in God’s world. Now, they weren’t very good at it and, of course, the world is a very different place today to that of 1500BC. But could it be that God took this into account when he decided to do things this way? Could it be that in the pages of the Old Testament are principles capable of guiding even today’s technological societies in how to live together more equitably?

There are certainly some radical policy initiatives in these pages. For instance, the people are told that all outstanding debts are to be cancelled every 50 years, the year of Jubilee. Imagine the effect this would have on slowing the ever-widening gap between rich and poor; imagine the benefits of not saddling the next generation with the consequences of their parents’ mistakes.

Elsewhere, the people are told, ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest … Leave them for the poor’. What effect would this have on the dominant economic wisdom of our day – the priority of the market, the relentless drive to maximize profits, the mantra that growth is good and the ruthless extinguishing of compassion from so much of public life?

Of course the issues raised here are complicated but might it not be worth listening a little more closely to the greatest Economic Thinker of them all?

With best wishes for a very happy Harvest time, Tim Ling Vicar, St. Swithun’s Church Bathford

P.S. We will be celebrating harvest in the Community Room on Monday, 9th October at 2:00pm. You are welcome to come along and enjoy singing your favourite harvest hymns.

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The end of one stage of life and the beginning of another.

As I write it is mid-August with many families away on holiday and the village fairly quiet, a time for teachers, parents and children to relax after a long term and recharge their ‘batteries’ in preparation for the challenges ahead.

The month of September is for many the end of one stage of life and the beginning of another. The very young are starting playgroup or primary school; the 11 year olds are moving on to secondary school; and the 16 and 18 year olds are dealing with the outcome of exams and many off to college or university or into their first jobs. We wish them all every success.

It is, however, very easy, particularly for a 71 year old like myself, to forget how significant, and sometimes traumatic, these changes can be; for example, for a year 6 pupil moving from being the most senior in primary school to becoming the most junior in year 7 in a secondary school, often tenfold in size; similarly, leaving home for the first time to go to college, university or work. It is, of course, not just young people but also their parents who are affected, particularly when their teenagers have all flown the nest and the house seems too quiet for comfort!

Archbishop Rowan Williams, who himself has a young family, writes movingly about the importance of letting our children enjoy their childhood and not rush to grow up too quickly as the best preparation for adulthood. An elderly wise monk put it this way ‘Try to love your children as Christ loves you then when you get it wrong they will forgive you because they know how much you love them’. And not least the Bible gives advice to our children ‘Obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honour your father and mother – which is the first commandment with a promise – that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth’ (Ephesians 6 verses 1-4).

Every success in your new school/ college/ university/ work/ home year.

Best wishes Gerry Miller Lay Reader at St. Swithun’s

Bathford gets things done!

What a fantastic day we had to mark the official opening of the village shop! It was great to see so many people there – from more than 90 years down to 9 week-old twins. The occasion had a real sense of community celebration about it and quite right too. Don Foster got it just right when he said, ‘Bathford gets things done!’ Thank you, again, to all those who have ‘got such a marvellous thing done’ and for the wonderful garden party in the afternoon at Sycamore House which was terrific as well and raised a tremendous sum both for the running of the shop and for Hope and Homes for Children.

The following weekend there was a great sense of community celebration again as we marked St. Swithun’s Day with a village BBQ at Church Farm and an open air service on the green. It was great to see so many people at both these events enjoying such amazing weather together.

With best wishes,

Tim Ling

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By Faith And Not By Sight

From the Revd Tim Ling, Vicar of St Swithun’s, Bathford

By the time you read this England may be out of the World Cup or they may be approaching a semi-final or even the final! As I write this I just don’t know. The evidence of the first few matches does not augur well for England’s continued progress but who knows? The answer of course is that no one knows; although there have been some fantastic attempts to find out. It’s 40 years since England won the World Cup. Then, Geoff Hurst was not the first choice striker; now, Peter Crouch is not the first choice striker. Peter Crouch was born (you guessed it) 40 years after Geoff Hurst! And so it goes on. If you look hard enough there are so many ‘omens’ like these that it must be a cast iron certainty we will win. But of course, it isn’t. We just don’t know. No one can tell what the future holds; certainly not me as I write this a few weeks before you read it!

The Bible teaches us that God does know what the future holds. It also encourages us to look back at the evidence of previous ‘results’ to see if we can find any clues for the future. What we find are not ‘omens’ but a God who is faithful. It is on the basis of his constant faithfulness that he invites us to continue to walk into the future ‘by faith and not by sight.’

With best wishes,

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Three-foot long chop sticks

From the Revd Tim Ling, Vicar of St Swithun’s, Bathford

A sumptuous feast, guests obliged to eat with three-foot long chop sticks, each desperately seeking to feed themselves, unable to get any of the mouth-watering fare near their mouths. A picture of hell.

A sumptuous feast, guests obliged to eat with three-foot long chop sticks, each feeding the person sitting opposite them. A picture of heaven.

A friend of mine used to be vicar of a town in the Midlands. Each week thousands of people spending thousands of pounds on the Lottery, desperately seeking to get rich quick, never getting anywhere near it.

He worked out that if each of them pooled together the lottery money each spent individually over the course of a year, the town would be able to afford a public library, a public tennis court and a range of other public amenities.

Co-operation is a powerful tool for increasing the sum total of individual and community well-being.

The sign over the new shop reads: ‘Bathford Village Shop: a Community Co-operative.’ It is wonderful that we still have a shop; it is fantastic to go in and see so many different members of our community serving behind the counter, getting to grips with the dreaded ‘till’; it is a joy to sense their enthusiasm. Perhaps the front page of the bulletin is a place to be able to say to all those who dreamed, planned, worked so hard and are now delivering the vision of a co-operative shop to go on serving our community, ‘Congratulations! Well done! and Thank you!’

And to say to Iqbal and Masuma, who have served us for so many years, ‘Thank you to you too and how lovely it is to have the new-look Post Office next door.’

Jesus once said,

‘I have come that they may have life and have it to the full … For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’

With best wishes,

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‘Think before you throw. There is no away.’

From the Revd Tim Ling, Vicar of St Swithun’s, Bathford

These are the words on a notice at the municipal dump in Bath. Rubbish is taken with increasing seriousness these days, and rightly so. But it hasn’t always been the case. For pretty well the whole of human history rubbish has been just that – rubbish, to be thrown away and forgotten about.

In first century Jerusalem the municipal dump was to be found outside the city wall. Here everything the city no longer needed or wanted was thrown away. Everything – including the carcasses of animals offered as sacrifices on the altar in the Temple. The sacrifices were the God-given way of procuring God’s forgiveness for wrong-doing. Once the sacrifice had been offered, the remains of the carcass were simply thrown onto the rubbish heap outside the city.

Jesus was crucified at a place very near here. The image is doubly evocative. At one level, he was despised and rejected, no longer wanted, simply thrown away. But ‘there is no away’; and, at another level, this ‘unwanted piece of rubbish’ was the God-given way of procuring forgiveness and peace with God for anyone who will accept him as such. Jesus’ death outside the city (outside the place where God was held to dwell) was God’s way of making it possible for anyone to come inside and to live our lives in his presence, as we were created to do.

‘There is a green hill far away,
without a city wall,
where the dear Lord was crucified
who died to save us all.’

Good Friday Walk and Picnic (with kite flying): Everyone is welcome to come and walk up our very own ‘green hill’ (Little Solsbury) on Good Friday. We’ll take a cross, have a five minute service on the top with others from Batheaston and then stay on for a picnic. If you have a kite, bring it with you so we can fly as many kites as possible! We’ll meet in the Batheaston car park at 11:30am.

Good Friday 2:00pm: a quiet service of reflection in St. Swithun’s ‘An Hour at the Cross’. Easter Day 10:00am: a Family Communion service, followed by an Easter Egg hunt! Everyone is welcome at these services.

With best wishes for a very happy Easter,

Tim Ling

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Free speech?

From the Revd Tim Ling, Vicar of St Swithun’s, Bathford

In the week when European newspapers were publishing caricatures of the prophet Mohammad, the Student Union at the University of Birmingham was banning the Christian Union from its campus for expressing views which have been those of Christian orthodoxy for two thousand years. This was one of those interesting coincidences of events. In the one case, Western society was standing up for the right to be able to give gratuitous offence in the name of ‘free speech’; in the other case, Western society was forbidding speech because it found what was being said offensive.

This raises some interesting questions about the nature of ‘tolerance’. Western multicultural, multi-faith society champions the importance of tolerance. It says that we must be prepared to tolerate the views of those who differ from us. And yet it will not tolerate those who say things it doesn’t like. Another way of putting this is to say that Western society abhors exclusivism - so much so that it seeks to exclude those who make exclusive comments.

This then raises the question of the relationship between tolerance and power. It is ‘the powers that be’ (those with the power to shape a society or an institution) who determine what is and is not to be acceptable in that society or institution, what is to be tolerated and what is not to be tolerated. It doesn’t take long to see (and the events of last month served to highlight) how deeply intolerant this is in reality. Very quickly the law of the jungle establishes itself – ‘Might is right’. It is the powerful who decide what goes and what doesn’t, what views are acceptable and what views aren’t. And, not surprisingly, the views that are deemed acceptable are those which accord with their way of seeing the world. This is not just intolerant; it is oppressive. The powerful oppressing the weak; the majority oppressing the minority.

Whilst this is distasteful, it is inevitable. Once a society abandons any objective reference point against which to measure views or statements; once the assessment of ‘truth’ becomes a purely subjective affair (what is true for me, what is true for you), then it is inevitable that it is the views of the powerful majority that will prevail. ‘Free speech’ alone as a ‘value’ is not enough to safeguard a healthy, respectful, tolerant society.

With best wishes,

Tim Ling

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35 ways to change your life in 2006

From the Reverend Tim Ling, Vicar at St. Swithun's Bathford

Back in January a magazine cover caught my eye. ‘35 ways to change your life in 2006’ it said. Well, I had to have a look, didn’t I? There were some sensible ones, like: ‘listen to your partner’; ‘eat properly’; and ‘slow down’; and there were some weird ones, like: ‘buy a Dermaroller’; ‘release your inner Judy Garland’; and ‘don’t use soap’. But the one that really got me thinking was, ‘get a New Best Friend’. It went on to say, ‘If your NBF has been there for more than three months, you need a new one.’ Wow! There’s a recipe for a hectic social life; and a great deal of insecurity, I’d have thought, as everyone starts wondering when their friends are going to get bored with them and move on to the next model.

It made me think of how God is described in the first part of the Bible, the Old Testament. He’s called the GOSL: the God of Steadfast Love. (Not as cool as ‘NBF’ perhaps, but much better for you!) No fewer than 29 times God is described in terms of his ‘steadfast love’ – by which is meant a love which never ceases and will never cease. When God makes friends with someone, he stays friends with them. In fact, the story of the Bible is the story of those whom God has made his friends constantly looking for an NBF and yet God remaining a GOSL to them.

When I was a teenager I used to dread Valentine’s Day. Would I get a Valentine card? And if I did, would she still be interested in me three days later, let alone three months? The GOSL is great to have around. There’s a stability that comes from knowing that he’s not constantly on the look out for a better offer. And the thing is, his steadfast friendship with us seems to lead to our steadfast friendships with others. Perhaps that’s what Valentine’s Day should be about: a day for renewing friendships.

I’m thinking of writing another article for that magazine: ‘One way to change your life in 2006: get the GOSL’.

With best wishes

Tim

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How are we to live in such a busy and uncertain world?

From the Reverend Tim Ling, Vicar at St. Swithun's Bathford

Looking back over the past year I imagine I am not the only one to be struck by all that has happened, both in my own life, the life of our community and beyond; and how much of it has been totally unexpected - some of it happy, some of it sad.

As I look ahead into the year to come I am already aware of a great number of things that are planned to happen: babies due to be born; babies to be baptised; couples to be married; the Co-operative Shop set to open. What will the unexpected events be. I wonder? And no doubt there will be sadnesses as well.

When we look at it like this, the future can appear quite daunting! How are we to live in such a busy and uncertain world?

The Christian answer is 'prayerfully'.

The Christian claim is that God is both sovereign- in complete control of the world he sustains in being by his mighty power; and loving - a generous and understanding Father to all those who will choose to depend on him.

As such, in a busy and uncertain world. Jesus bids us. 'Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Paul tells us, 'Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.' And Peter says. 'Cast all your anxiety* on him because he cares for you.'

Prayerfulness is the key to living in a world over which God rules as almighty King and in which he is ready to be concerned as a loving Father. If God were not sovereign, there would be no point praying, for how do we know he would be able to answer our prayers? If God were not a loving Father to all who turn back to him, there would be no point praying, for how do we know he would want to answer our prayers? But he is both and so prayer becomes an incredibly exciting adventure into the future!

I have found Martin Luther's words about prayer incredibly helpful:

'Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance: it is laying hold of God's willingness.'

I wish you a very happy and prayerful New Year!

Tim

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I think we lost something very precious...

From the Revd Tim Ling, Vicar of St Swithun’s, Bathford

I have recently returned from a trip to India. A friend of mine had invited me to go with him to teach a course at the Delhi Bible Institute. In addition to this we were able to do some sightseeing and to meet some wonderful people. If you have ever been, perhaps you will know what I am trying to say when I say that India is a land of contrasts and a country of extremes. It was inspiring to see what God is doing elsewhere in his world. I have come back with a bigger view of God and a renewed excitement for what he is doing in Bathford! I’m looking forward to holding an evening at St. Swithun’s in a few weeks time to talk about my trip.

Reflecting on my experience, I had a couple of more general thoughts. The first is, what a good idea ‘sabbath’ is. In the Bible ‘the Sabbath’ is not just a ‘day off’, nor is it a day when you can’t do anything remotely enjoyable. It’s a day to live consciously in the light of all that God has done for us – a day to enjoy the hugely varied blessings of living in God’s world in God’s presence. In this sense, of course, every day should be ‘sabbath’; but knowing what we are like, God has ordained one day in seven as a special day on which to remind ourselves of these fundamental truths – truths which refresh our bodies and revitalise our souls. To me, my time in India was truly a ‘sabbath’ time.

The second thought I had was just how well God knows us and how much he cares about us. He didn’t ordain the Sabbath because he is a kill-joy; he did it because he knows that we need it; he did it because he cares for us and wants the best for us. I think we lost something very precious when the Sunday Trading bill was passed. We always do whenever we disregard the way God has set up his world. My time in India reminded me that he really does know best, he really does care about every aspect of our lives and he really is worth listening to.

Best Wishes

Tim Ling

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