For me this is the key fact of the Christian Faith – for without it Christianity is just another set of ideas that doesn’t really change anything. At one of the ‘Happy Octopus’ meetings earlier this year I was asked what reasons I could give for firmly believing in something that seems so far from our everyday experience; to which my simple answer was: “nothing else seems to me to fit the data”

Let me develop that a bit:
That basic data that we have is in the gospels: one recent academic puts it like this;
"the stories exhibit, ..., exactly that surface tension which we associate, not with tales artfully told by people eager to sustain a fiction and therefore anxious to make everything look right, but with the hurried, puzzled accounts of those who have seen with their own eyes something which took them horribly by surprise and with which they have not yet fully come to terms" " (N T Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God p 612)

Further

• Nobody expected this - everyone knew that dead people don't come to life again, and nobody expected the Messiah to even die, let alone rise. [Let’s remember this was not a backward age of gullible peasants – it was the age of the Roman Empire and all it’s economic, cultural and engineering feats]
• When other so-called Messiahs were also executed [e.g. Simon bar-Giora in AD 70] - no one went on to say that they really were the Messiah or that he was raised from the dead ...
• The disciples' actions following the Crucifixion. To quote from a Christian theologian called Origen (AD. 185 - 254), "a clear and unmistakable proof of the fact I hold to be the undertaking of his disciples, who devoted themselves to the teaching of a doctrine which was attended with danger to human life, a doctrine which they would not have taught with such courage had they invented the resurrection of Jesus from the dead; and who also, at the same time, not only prepared others to despise death, but were themselves the first to manifest their disregard for its terrors." (523)
• Visions of the deceased are relatively common both then and now but nobody then says such a person has been raised from the dead.
• The Gospel accounts - varying words used in the descriptions but the same story is there - You’d really expect inconsistencies to be ironed out if it was simply propaganda.
• And then the question as to what actaully happened to the body of Jesus if not raised.

I've just finished reading through Acts with its account of the spread of the Christian message in those early years and it has been compellingly noticeable how time and time again when the apostles are challenged about their faith they go back to the resurrection and what it says about Jesus [e.g. Acts 4.10 – 12; Acts 10.39 – 42]. Perhaps it’s because of what it says about Jesus that it’s so important - as the voice at the Transfiguration said ‘This is my Son... listen to him’ (Luke 9.35).

As Easter approaches may we all be renewed in confidence about our Faith

David Wilson
01935 862328 email: thevicar@fastmail.co.uk www.7churches.org.uk  

April 2011
 A Rambling Rector... 

Easter Day: 24th April this year, 23rd March in 2008! As many will know it’s all to do with the date of the Jewish Festival of Passover – which gives us the exact date for the Crucifixion of Jesus on ‘Good Friday’. [The simple standard definition of Easter is that it is the first Sunday after the Full Moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox (which is assumed to be March 21)]

But I wonder if you have ever thought what the title ‘Good’ Friday implies? If Jesus was simply a great teacher then presumably the response has to be something like – what a sad day, this profound leader is no longer here and his ideas rejected. But ‘Good’ surely implies something was achieved that day that was more than that, more than the death of another Jew at the hands of the Roman authorities. It’s another marker, as the 400 anniversary of the ‘King James Bible’ is celebrated, of how the very fabric of Christian Faith is woven into our everyday life ... 

With kind regards to all
David Wilson

The Rectory, 7 Cedar Fields, West Coker. Tel. 862328 E-mail: thevicar@fastmail.co.uk

www.7churches.org.uk 

March 2011  

How do we grow as Christians?   With Others ...

To start 2011 in the Church News I’ve sought to draw attention to the means of growth Jesus refers to in Matthew 6 – and if you’re familiar with that passage you may well ask – where does ‘other people’ come into that, is not what Jesus is saying exactly opposite when he speaks about giving, praying and fasting as ‘secret’ affairs?

BUT the key phrase is surely Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them. Even in these sayings comes the Lord’s Prayer with its plural address (Our Father, .. give us ...etc) let alone the fact that Jesus regularly attended the synagogues and prayed himself in the presence of the disciples (cf. Garden of Gethsemane).

Yet what has so often happened is that passages like this are seized upon to back up our own desires and preferences such as the very Western idea that faith is a very personal and private thing and not a  concern or sphere that anyone else should be involved in.

This is simply not how the gospels and indeed the New Testament sees it - most of the epistles are written to congregations, the ‘you’ that you find in most of the letters is plural and not singular, ‘you’ rather than ‘thou’.

From NT times to John Wesley’s class system to Christian groups today men, women and children have found growth and help in the presence and support and challenge that meeting with others brings.

LENT is a time often used to provide a launch pad for this and across the Benefice there are going to be weekly groups seeking to provide such a garden for spiritual growing.

They are going to be weekly meetings starting in the week beginning 13^th March on:

Tuesdays at 10am at 1 Manor Farm, Gooseacre Lane, West Coker (home of Pat Ricketts)

Wednesdays at 2.00pm at Dawes Farmhouse, E Chinnock (Keith and Pamela Lewis)

Wednesdays at 7.45pm at Gooseacre Farm, East Coker (linked with East Coker Christian Fellowship)

Thursdays at  7.30pm (tbc) at Coker Wood Cottage, Pendomer (David & Anthea Lovelock)

Thursdays at 8pm at Welhams, East St, West Coker (Jackie and Alan Gormer)

There may also be another venue at East Coker linked with St Michael’s

The course being followed is produced by ‘York Courses’ – their material has been widely used over many years by many different and varied Christians – this years is entitled ‘Rich Inheritance: Jesus legacy of Love’ To quote from the leaflet: “Jesus didn’t write a will. He left no written instructions. He didn’t seem to have a plan. At the end, as he hung dying on the cross, almost all of his followers had abandoned him. By most worldly estimates his ministry was a failure. Nevertheless, Jesus’ message of reconciliation with God lived on. It is the central message of the Bible. With this good news his disciples changed the world. How did they do it? What else did Jesus leave behind – what is his ‘legacy of love’? This course addresses these questions through 5 headings: An empty tomb; a group of people; a story; a power; a meal.

The course comes with a CD giving input from the various speakers and a course booklet to help facilitate our thinking about the subject.

I do hope that each member of the Benefice will at least give thought to being part of one of the groups whatever the final response!

David Wilson

01935 862328 email: thevicar@fastmail.co.uk www.7churches.org.uk

February 2011
A Rambling Rector...

It apparently appears very likely (via a Kew gardens expert) that the Yew tree in the church yard at West Coker is well over 1000 year old - further examinations are still to take place - but as someone also said to me `that blows my mind' to think that it's been there all that time and `seen' so many different things and stages of history... perhaps there's a little reminder there to us that it's not necessarily the new or `modern' or `instant' that is always the most important; and perhaps it may be that the most worthwhile things in life tend to take time to grow and develop and in that time put down strong roots that will bear the future? Perhaps that's something the quote below also has to say to today's world?

With kind regards to all

 David Wilson

www.7churches.org.uk 

"And another thing. Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion, it is not the desire to mate every second minute of the day, it is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every cranny of your body. No, don't blush, lam telling you some truths. That is just being 'in love', which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two. But sometimes the petals fall away and the roots have not entwined. Imagine giving up your home and your people, only to discover after six months, a year, three years, that the trees have had no roots and have fallen over. "

From Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres (p281) 

 January 2011  
How do you want to grow?

Whether we like it or not we are all growing and changing day by day, year on year - for in our world what is not growing is either dead or inanimate! But often we don't seem to give much thought to that except in our New Year’s resolutions that last usually but for a moment...

Jesus refers to this area of how we grow and resource our lives for growth in Matthew 6 where he refers to what are sometimes called 'spiritual disciplines':

Giving - with its outward aspect to the way that we live, not just about what I want out of life but what I can share with others, be it money, time or other support.

Praying - with its focus of dependence and seeking after God

Fasting - with its reminder that our desires for food and the like need discipline and being kept in their proper place.

In particular I would like to encourage and stimulate you, if you don't already, to make good use of the Christian books that are widely available. I have come across many Christians in the past who seem only too willing to spend a great deal of time with novels and magazines but less willing even to attempt something that might help them to grow in their faith and knowledge of God. The local library is a good source as is the Christian bookshop in Park Street and of course all the Internet opportunities these days. I suggest a few basic titles to get you thinking, though appreciating that we all relate to different styles and subjects and what helps one may well not help another ...

New books: The Shack (W P Young), The best idea in the world (M Greene), Simply Christian (Tom Wright)

Classics: Mere Christianity (C S Lewis), Knowing God (J E I Packer), Freedom of Simplicity and Celebration of Discipline (Richard Foster).

I am always happy to suggest or lend out the books I have.

Of course Lent is often seen as a time with a particular focus on growth - Ash Wednesday is 9th March and we are hoping to arrange Lent groups around the churches following a course called "Jesus’ legacy of love" - I would be grateful if folk could be thinking whether they might be able to offer their home as a place for one of these groups - it would be good to have them spread over the benefice with a variety of daytime and evening meetings.

May 2011 be a year of growth for you as an individual and ourselves as churches in this area.

 David Wilson

01935 862328 email: thevicar@fastmail.co.uk

December 2010
December Messenger Article
A Rambling Rector...

It was good to be able to share in the various Remembrance services in the Benefice back in November -but I wonder if you've ever thought about how important the fact of "remembering" is to our everyday lives?
Just to take a simple and perhaps silly example: when I come to a door I need to remember that to open it. I must look for a handle and then having found it to remember to operate it in the right way...
Now we are coming up to Christmas and all sorts of things can flood into our memories: good times in the past or sadness that a loved one is no longer with us... but ultimately one purpose is to remind us of something that is really important to life and how we live it (and quite distinctive to Christianity - all religions are not the same - as indeed adherents of each will tell you!) namely that "God so loved the world..."
God comes first to meet us and only then invites us to come to him and there is something quite revolutionary about that... Almighty God first seeks us out and doesn't just wait for us to try to find him!
May I wish you a happy Christmas and encourage you to renew your memory and understanding of the heart of Christmas by sharing in worship where ever you may be over the season.

Christmas – it brings so many thoughts to our minds...the happy things: time with family, extra special food, presents but also the sad times: the first Christmas without a loved one, facing the unknown at a time of illness, loneliness when everyone else seems to have someone to care for them – but amongst all these things I can’t help feeling that we have often forgotten what it’s really about. We bemoan the commercialisation of Christmas but then in our own circumstances ‘Christmas’, and what we think it should be, becomes, so its seems to me, almost an idol.

Let me give an example of what I mean: a few years ago Christmas Day fell on a Sunday – now the church where we were then always had an evening service every Sunday but the automatic conclusion was, of course as its Christmas Day we won’t have one that Sunday. It seemed to me then and still does, that it was a case of not remembering that at Christmas we celebrate not firstly families and so on but God’s love for us in the birth of Jesus – and so how can it make sense for us to offer fewer opportunities to worship this God in public on such a day? [Just to let you know that I put my ‘money where my mouth was’ I was over at the church that Christmas evening to hold a short reflective service]

Now I use that purely as an example – there are no rules in Christian Faith as to how often you ought to go ‘to church’ (nor indeed how long a service ought to be to be a ‘service’!) and it may well be that there are good Christian reasons for not doing so at times but it does seem to me we do need to consider how the way we celebrate Christmas shows what we really believe it is about.

You see, we may bemoan the ‘commercialisation’ of Christmas but does the way we celebrate it give substance to our words? Is God and his purposes and will for our lives at the centre of our celebrations?  Is that shown by making public worship central or making it disposable or an optional extra if it doesn’t fit in with the cooking or presents? What about what we spend our money on and the presents we give to family and friends – what gift(s) might God want us most to give him? [Things like we see in the Old Testament Festivals where families and clans gather in worship, offer costly sacrifices, make provision for those in need and have a thoroughly good time with food and wine! E.g. Deuteronomy 16.14, Nehemiah 8.10, Isaiah 25.6]

I appreciate that these are not easy things to think about – far easier to just ‘go with the flow’ and not think about it – but if I think there is any reality rather than fantasy about Christmas then it seems to me I must.

May the way we celebrate this most wonderful time of year show how much we appreciate the gift God has freely given to us and his world!

David Wilson

November 2010
The Bible today... 

I often find it very difficult knowing what to write in this space! (if anyone would like to suggest a particular topic they would like me to say something about them please do let me know)

You might ask then how do you decide what to say Sunday by Sunday? Well, with that there are the set readings for the day and that provides a starting point. So what am I going on to write about this month and why?

Well, one of the readings for the Sunday of the week when I'm writing this (and which I won’t be using on that Sunday as we are away) speaks about the importance of the Scriptures and it is that I want to use these few words for.

When we first came here one of the things that came to my attention in one of the parishes was a copy of the ‘Book of Homilies’ - I knew about them but had never read or seen a copy even though they are an important part of the Church of England's doctrine and understanding. [The Homilies are written down talks or sermons on particular subjects that were often read in church if there was no one licensed to preach a sermon - a bit like the CD talks I have provided for West Coker and East Chinnock!]

In the one on the Holy Scriptures this quote is found:
"Let euery man, woman, and childe, therefore with all their heart thirst and desire GODS holy Scriptures, loue them, embrace them, haue their delight and pleasure in hearing and reading them, so as at length we may bee transformed and changed into them. For the holy Scriptures are Gods treasure house, wherein are found all things needefull for vs to see, to heare, to learne, and to beleeue, necessary for the attaining of eternall life".

The scriptures are key for Christian growth and life and if we don't feel we are growing in faith then the first question that needs asking is what place does the Bible actually have in our life?

I don't pretend that is always straightforward or easy but it is a fundamental part of Christian life. The modern view that says “we have moved on from these old writings” is, to my mind and understanding, profoundly mistaken. After all what replaces it? Simply our own ideas or someone else's...

I take strength from the amazing witness of thousands, even millions of people down the ages who have found in the scriptures something more than just words but a means by which Almighty God himself communicates with, comforts and strengthens us.

Just think of what comes from such familiar words as “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want...” or “Cast all your cares on him for he cares for you” or “Come to me all you that are weary and heavy laden”...

May we all make good use of the resources God has gifted to us.

David Wilson

October 2010
Sunday and worship - a corporate faith – part 2(!)

In the last newsletter I wrote about the place of public worship in principle and then at the united Benefice Communion in August I tried to explain a bit of how the Communion service itself works in hopefully helping us achieve those ends. I summarised them as: "they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers" (Acts 2. 42) and "not neglecting to meet together, but encouraging one another and provoking one another to love and good deeds" (from Hebrews 10.24 & 25)

This month I‘d like to link that in to our current life as a group of 4 different churches/parishes (and I’ve been intrigued as to how different each is with their own particular ‘personality’!).

So how do we decide our own personal patterns of worship? Now to many that is obvious: “I attend where and when is most congenial to me and my outlook (or not to attend if what is going on in ‘my patch’ isn’t what I like)”.

The problem with this is that it forgets the basic principles that the scripture gives us ( see above) and thinks only about ‘me’ and secondarily that because it is all about ‘me’ any sense of joining in with something simply because that is what ‘we’ as a church do is lost.

We have a spread of different services across the Benefice with, largely, the services at the same time of day each Sunday (which always seems a help wirt domestic schedules..) but those services vary considerably in their content – again something, which in itself is positive because just as churches vary as distinct ‘entities’ with their own developed ways of working and worship so we as individuals often find one way of expressing our public worship of God more helpful than another.

On this theme one thing I would like to encourage us to consider more is moving around the various churches in the grouping – perhaps particularly the services which are not at the normal regular times – I think of the monthly 8am Communion services on the 3rd and 4th Sundays, our only evening service (6.30pm) on the 4th Sunday, the mid week communion on the 3rd Wednesday (10am) and the bimonthly 4pm Sunday Communion.

I must admit I always find it rather nice to come across folk in ‘unexpected places’ and if anyone ever requires a lift please let me know!

David Wilson
01935 862328 email: thevicar@fastmail.co.uk 

 A Rambling Rector
October 2010 Chinnock Chimes

Frances and I have just returned from a break in Cornwall and Devon – and while at Falmouth I did something I’ve not done for years – and that was to go into the sea in this country! It was an overcast day but blowing a relatively warm wind and I was pleased I’d gone in.

However once I was out and drying off I became aware of how ‘sticky’ I felt – I don’t know if I’d forgotten the feeling from before but there it was – I presume it was the salt, or at least I hope it was...

It got me to thinking about how our surroundings do affect us and was reminded of the poem Children Learn What They Live [By Dorothy Law Nolte, PhD © 1972] the first line of which goes: ” If a child lives with criticism, a child learns to condemn”

But it’s surely not just applicable to children for it seems to me we are all susceptible to what we take in and perceive from around us.

Next year is the 400th anniversary of the so-called ‘King James Bible’ and consequently a reminder of how much our society and culture owes to that book (I was struck afresh recently by how much some of the earlier parts form the background of many of our basic laws on things like murder and property responsibilities as well as more modern parallels with ‘Health and Safety legislation – e.g. making sure flat roofs have a parapet!)

For Christians the Bible is not just something in the past but a means for re-centring our very lives on what is ultimately true – God and his will and purpose for the world – and that is why Christian worship of whatever denomination usually has firmly at its centre the public reading of the Bible – a means of seeking to ‘wash off’ all the accretions that can creep up on us and return us to an even keel ... (apologies for the mixed metaphors)
With kind regards to all
David Wilson

The Rectory, 7 Cedar Fields, West Coker. Tel. 862328 E-mail: thevicar@fastmail.co.uk

PS. To those who responded to my enquiry about a group to think about some of the big questions of life and this world the first one in Hardington (inc Pendomer) is now arranged for 7.30pm Tuesday 5th Oct at Rookery Cottage, Rectory Lane, courtesy of Jim and Audrey Adlam and the first one in East Chinnock & West Coker on Tuesday 12th at the Rectory, also 7.30pm.  

  September 2010
 Sunday and worship - a corporate faith

Last month I shared some musings on what the Church actually is and its significance. I want to develop that this month in thinking about public worship, coming to church and Sundays. I say  'musings' because I am thinking about this afresh in my own life with the change of circumstances in coming here - namely that no longer is there an evening service weekly in our parishes and neither many around in the area either! As part of my regular Sunday routine has involved worship on a Sunday evening as well as a morning for as long as I can remember that's quite a difference!  

So here are some basics that are informing my thinking:

For the first Christians Sunday would have been a normal working day but they recognised there was something special about this day as it was the day Jesus rose from the dead and so seemed to make a special effort to meet together specifically on that day (Acts 20.7, 1 Cor 16.2). Jesus himself regularly attended the synagogue (Luke 4.16 although that was of course on the Sabbath/Saturday).

What did they come to do? Well that might be summarised by "they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers" (Acts 2. 42) and "not neglecting to meet together, but encouraging one another and provoking one another to love and good deeds"  (from Hebrews 10.24 & 25) 

There's something here that is more than what many of us think of as "coming to church" and relates to the vitality of our life as individuals and as part of the body of Christ.  

Within this the celebration of Holy Communion has a particular part to play as the words from the licensing service remind us of: 

At the Holy Table a parishioner says:

Let us hear the words of St Paul:

“The cup of blessing that we bless,

is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ?

The bread that we break,

is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?”

Presenting bread and wine, the parishioner continues:

Receive this bread and wine,

All       and lead us as we celebrate the breaking of bread.

Some interim conclusions:

• Gathering together as Christians is a fundamental part of who we are and what God calls us to be.
• Those times of gathering together are therefore something important and so must be something of a priority in our lives.
• How and when they may happen is not something we can lay down universal rules about but we need to recognise that there's something special about the first day of the week in acknowledgement of what God did on it through the resurrection.

Maybe there are other times and venues when and where we can join together in the spirit of Acts 2 and Hebrews 10 (see above) - indeed I have wondered about having an occasional informal get together on a Sunday evening here at the Rectory... 

As ever I'm always very pleased to hear any comments, thoughts or  suggestions as we seek to live as God wants us to.

May God himself continue to lead and bless us in our corporate life together.

David Wilson

01935 862328 email: thevicar@fastmail.co.uk

A Rambling Rector... 

With kind regards to all

David Wilson

The Rectory, 7 Cedar Fields, West Coker. Tel. 862328 E-mail: thevicar@fastmail.co.uk

August 2010 
Prayer and the church...

I wonder what springs into your mind when you hear the word "church”? If we were to take a survey there would no doubt be quite a variety - from the idea of a building, to the particular people who meet in it, or perhaps someone might also refer or to it as "the body of Christ"... 

It seems to me that how we answer that question is quite fundamental to what we do and how we live as members of the "church" in the 4 parishes of our benefice.

For example, if we, and others in our community simply see the "church" as simply another community organisation or grouping then that will lead us in one particular direction, if, on the other hand, we see it from the point of view of the first Christians (who, of course, were closest to Jesus and his teaching,) we find some truly remarkable things said about the church: 

In Ephesians 3v10 we read "so that through the church, the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known ..."

This is all a far cry from what we often assume is the case, particularly in these times of declining church attendance (though that itself is not quite as straightforward as is often pointed out - since coming here some people have told me about how much smaller the congregations were in some of our churches 30, 40 or 50 years ago!). 

This church is not about a building, though they may meet in one, nor is it about an organisation, though there may need to be one but about a people whom God desires to use to bring about his purposes in his world! 

I don’t pretend to understand all that implies but I do take it to mean that those who are part of the ‘church’,  the people of God are, far from being on the margins, actually central to what is really going on in this world! 

This month from the licensing service I would draw our attention to the part that ‘Prayer ‘ played in the service... because here is one of the key ‘tools’ God has granted us 

At the Priest’s stall  a parishioner says:

               Let us hear the words of St Paul: “Pray in the spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication for all the saints.”

Presenting a copy of Common Worship, the parishioner continues:

               Receive this book, source of our worship and prayers,

All            and faithfully bring before God the needs of this community entrusted to you. 

I hope that by the time your receive this copy of Church News you will have seen the provisional little weekly ‘In Touch’ sheet I have been trialling around the Benefice – its aim is to help us take Sunday into the rest of the week by providing a simple little prayer help and information... 

With my prayers for us all as we seek to serve God together in these parishes. 

David Wilson 

A Rambling Rector... 

I’ve always been fascinated by the rose named ‘Rambling Rector’ but I’ve never, to my knowledge, seen one out of a book (if anyone has one please let me know so I might be able to come and see it!) but I thought it might provide a tagline for the article! 

A recent letter to the Guardian [10 July 2010] goes like this:

So "the church risks looking absurd" (Editorial, 9 July). What? An organisation that takes a multi-authored, much-edited book of iron-age Middle Eastern mythology as a guide to ethical conduct? That claims that a man ... was born to a virgin, performed a series of magical acts, then was tortured and executed ...then came back to life and "ascended into heaven"? This organisation "risks looking absurd"? Say it isn’t so! Nick Gotts, Aberdeen. 

Many may sympathise but I’d suggest that ‘absurd’ is not necessarily the same as ‘untrue’- as a Christian with a scientific background the aspect of ‘truth’ has always been absolutely key to my understanding of the Christian faith – right back to its genesis in me at the age of around 14 . 

On the face of it it seems absurd that once (according to the Big Bang Theory of the origins of this universe as I understand it) that the mass of the whole universe at its beginning was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand – but when I begin to understand that most of what we think of as ‘matter’ is really empty ‘space’ it begins to make a [little] more sense! 

Last month I shared with you my conviction that “(though I know others will disagree!) that God's revelation of himself in Jesus Christ provides the ultimate key and direction for the whole of life in all its myriad details and complexities.“

I wonder if there’s room for another village group where those who are interested in such fundamental questions about life could informally meet to listen and learn and explore with one another? Please let me know if that appeals to you. 

With best wishes 

David Wilson 

A New Ministry Begins

 As I write my first contribution to “Church News" I would like to begin by thanking you all for the warm and genuine welcome you have extended to Frances and myself - it has been very much appreciated!

My thanks also to those who have shouldered the extra responsibilities of the long vacancy which does, despite (or perhaps because of!) the extra work, seem to have been a time of growth and progress and have laid good foundations for the future of  what is planned for the two benefices of West and East Coker. Frances and I am entering a new experience of church life with these current four parishes rather than just the one (vastly greater area, considerably fewer people!) and are looking forward to all that lies ahead.  

From my own personal understanding of ordained ministry the regular public worship of church and parish is a fundamental key to their healthy lives - it is, as it were, our "shop window" to others. We must never forget that as churches we are all about "God" and not, primarily at least, about ourselves or others - that flows out from that. (Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22^.37-40) 

After the open air service at Pendomer (and how nice for that to be the first service with you) one of the comments someone passed afterwards was about renewed confidence and that is something I see key to my role as an ordained minister.  

We take in so much during the week from our TV news, papers, daily conversations and interactions that are simply based on personal opinion rather than any objective standard of truth and so I see a considerable part of my role as "keeping the truth of God and his presence and love 'alive'.” 

A prime focus for that is obviously the regular services but it is also important for me to get to know you on a personal level, insofar as that it is possible. So I shall be hoping to visit as many people as possible and am always willing to have suggestions and invitations.  

At the licensing service I was particularly struck by the inclusion of the presentation of oil and the words from James 5: 

Let us hear the words of St James:
  “Are there any among you sick?
  They should call for the elders of the Church 
  and have them pray over them 
anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.”
Presenting a jug of oil, the parishioner continues:
Receive this oil for the healing of the sick,
All: and as a true pastor bring comfort, reconciliation and wholeness in Christ. 

For me it was a reminder of the resources God offers us in Christ and I would encourage us in that. 

With my very best wishes in Christ 

David Wilson

The Rectory, 7 Cedar Fields, West Coker, BA22 9DB, Tel. 862328  

E-mail: thevicar@fastmail.co.uk 

Church Matters 

One thing that has really struck me since moving to the parishes of East Chinnock, West Coker, Hardington Mandeville and Pendomer is the various newsletters - all the information that is provided in them and the care and time that must be taken to produce and distribute them - so "thank you" from a new comer to those involved - it really helps to get a feel for the area and what's going on!  

It's a privilege therefore to be able to contribute to them but I must confess to being a little unsure of exactly how to approach it as the various church officials are more up-to-date with the general church news and happenings than me, certainly for the moment.  

So in this first note I thought I might say a little about ourselves: Frances and I have spent the last 25 years or so in Cheshire, most recently at Winsford (where most of the country's road salt comes from) and other urban areas so coming to this part of the country is a great change. We have three married children who live in Poole, Jersey and Twickenham with 2 grand children at Poole - it is especially nice to be that much closer to them all.  

We are enjoying gradually meeting and getting to know folk around and are looking forward to being able to contribute to the life of the community from the Christian perspective, being convinced (though I know others will disagree!) that God's revelation of himself in Jesus Christ provides the ultimate key and direction for the whole of life in all its myriad details and complexities. So with renewed thanks for the warm welcome we have received and this opportunity to share with you at East Chinnock I offer you my prayerful good wishes now and for the future. 

David Wilson

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