St Thomas' Brampton and St Peter's Holymoorside, Chesterfield
Rector's Letter February 1983-January 1984
Our vision statement: Sharing the love of Jesus
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February/March 1983

Gill and, I send our warmest thanks to all of you who kindly sent us Christmas cards and greetings - too many to acknowledge individually,- but each deeply appreciated. We hope that you enjoyed a peaceful Christmas and send you our good wishes for the coming year.

As I pointed out in my Christmas sermon, not everybody will have had a happy Christmas: people like the citizens of Ballykelly, in Northern Ireland, who spent the season burying and mourning their loved ones shattered to death in the bombing at the Droppin Well Pub.

The T.V. and the newspapers bring us daily reports of violence in one form or another: and there is nothing new in that. But one sort of crime which does seem to be on the increase is the bettering of old women. The TV pictures of the old lady who had to have a hundred stitches in her head after being attacked in her home filled us with revulsion not only because the sight was so gruesome but also because the crime seemed to have no motive ether than the sheer lust for violence. We are full of condemnation for the attackers and compassion for the victim.

Yet another old person may be knocked to the ground, kicked, and is sent to hospital with broken legs; but that case goes unnoticed. Why? Because this victim has been abused by his - or more likely her - own family. And who would suspect the concerned, middle-aged relative waiting in Out-patients ofgranny-battering?

Everybody has heard of the unfortunate phenomenon of baby-battering; but only recently has it come to light that old people are at risk in the same way. According to an article in The London Times Mervyn Eastman, a leading researcher in London, has given hs opinion that more old people are abused than are not.

This claim is, of course,impossible to prove. Old people are untikely to make complaints against their children on whom they depend; and no one is likely to ask an apparently anxious relative, 'Did you push your mother down the-stairs?' Nor does an observation made in a London borough necessarily hold good in Chesterfield.

There is however, cause-for concern; and it could be that there are some old people in Our own district who are being treated violently by relatives. Caring can be distorted into harming. And who are these people who are knocking around the old folk? Are they especially cruel and callous? By no means. The majority are good hearted people who have been worn down by the dependents' infirmity. They have just been taken beyond the limit.

Such folk may carry a pent-up load of guilt. No one would presume to ask a caring relative 'Do you bash your grandmother?' But if the question is asked, 'Do you ever feel like hitting her?' then the answer may be, 'Thank God you've asked me that; some¬times I feel I could kill her.' The dam of pretence has been breached, and the flood pours out: guilt, resentment, anxiety.

The fact is - and this is the point I want to make by writing on this theme - that there are parts of ourselves that we don't like; and we pretend to ourselves as well as to others that they are not there. 'Confession is good for the soul' is more than a pious thought; it is a principle for healthy living. The relative who has at last been able to admit to feelings of hatred towards an old person will discover a new wholeness of personality and be able to cope much better with the burden of caring.

In Christian language, God made me; he knows everything that's in me, and he accepts me as I am, the discordant bits as well as the mellifluous bits; and I must do no less. To pretend to God is not only ridiculous but disastrous. To accept myself as I am, discords and all, is to allow his spirit within to draw everything into closer harmony - and set me free.

Vyvyan Watts-Jones

From the February 1983 edition of the magazine

April/May 1983

What is the church for?

It would be fascinating, and instructive, to hear and study all the various answers that might be given to that question by readers. lt's a question that must constantly he born in mind by practising members of the church and especially by those in positions of leadership. It is only too easy for the church to lapse into an attitude of complacency, and to assume that so long as the wheels are turning -services are being held, congregations are reasonably healthy in numbers, and the accounts are not in the red - all is well. And that's the dangerous condition.

If there's one warning that comes loud and clear from the pages of the Bible it's a warning against self-satisfaction. The church must constantly examine and re-examine itself, asking some hard questions about its life and work. Are we putting first things first? Are we spending our time, our money, our energies aright? Are we sufficiently dedicated as individuals?

Re-assesment
The church in the diocese of Derby is now engaged in a project called Christians Respond. This is really an exercise in re-assessing the life of our churches to see whether we're really 'on the ball' . Each church has been asked to consider a list of ten possible aims, to put the list in order of priority, and in particular to decide which two aims are of the greatest immediate importance.

An open meeting of St. Thomas' Church Council was held, and a careful scrutiny was made of all the options. Is the most pressing task of the church to promote unity with other churches or, perhaps, to bring a Christian voice to Community affairs? Which is more important at the present time: to set up opportunities for education in Bible knowledge, or to bring our giving of money into accord with New Testament principles?

Priorities
After careful discussion of all the possible aims, members placed them in the following order of importance:

(1) To establish fellowship where people come to trust each other, grow in prayer, share, study, enjoy themselves and eat meals together, so that the members of our Church can beeorne a truer expression of Christ's life.
(2) To be a healing community that cares for people in need.
(3) To worship God in ways that are attractive to more people, and related to daily living.

Making Progress
Having decided the church's most important aims, members had to consider the next questions: to what extent are we tackling our first two aims? What have we achieved so far? What action is needed to make further progress?

A further meeting was held which was attended by the Bishop of the diocese and three lay¬people from other parishes, and together members took a cool look at the situation. It was all very well to write down a series of aims but what actually needed doing immediately in order to achieve these aims? The answer emerged as members considered the question in the context of the church's present situation.

The first step must be to challenge each other to a heightened level of personal dedication. What does God want of me - now? That is the question that each church member must ask himself. 'Am I taking my proper part in the life of the church? Am I seriously offering my gifts in the service of the church and of the community?'

The next step
To explore this question, committed members of St. Thomas' church are to be invited to a special event at church on Friday, 13th May. A buffet supper will be preceded by a short service. Then together we shall consider the questions. What does God want of me?

There is only one prayer that church people can really pray for their church. It is the prayer first used by the church in China many years ago:
'Lord, revive your church, beginning with me'.
Let that be the prayer of every serious church member as we prepare for this event.

Vyvyan Watts-Jones

From the April 1983 edition of the magazine

June/July 1983

By Gill Watts-Jones

For some years St. Thomas' people have been aware that there is an enormous need to care for those who are bereaved. We made two abortive efforts to establish a visiting team, and a few brave souls came along to some training sessions. The Clergy prepared a book of names and addresses of bereaved families. Somehow we never got off the ground. It was too daring a step into the unknown for the few interested lay people.

This month, as I write we are about to hold an event in which we examine our response to the call of God. We shall be asking Christians to look at themselves and commit their gifts and talents to Christ's work. We shall, as part of this venture, be beginning a bereavement visitors' group, with adequate training in September. The gift of being able to get alongside those who mourn comes from God. All who care, whether committed Christians or not, can do this work.

The qualifications are very simple: to be able to sit and listen; to understand and speak when appropriate; to retain confidences; to be able to show love and be at ease with grief and suffering and not be embarrassed at tears; to be prepared to visit as often as necessary, may be over a period of years; to receive the anger and bitterness of the bereaved person; to be open to a short training course; to be happy to meet regularly with other lay visitors so that support, advice and sharing can take place. It does help if you have experienced some sort of bereavement yourself.

The organisation of the project will be simple. When the Clergy are called to arrange a funeral they will tell the family that a lay visitor will call, unless the mourners specify that do not want this. The lay visitors will be allocated people in their area. They will call with a card with their name and address and phone number and suggest a time to visit. The whole 'thing' will take off from there and will be different for each person because everyone is unique in his experience.

Although we are all unique, we all experience much the same pattern of bereavement but in varying degrees. Without being aware of it, most of us have been 'bereaved' in many different ways throughout our life.

If we have learnt to weather this well we shall possibly understand ourselves and cope better when a 'full' bereavement - the death of a loved one has come into our experience and life. In childhood children grieve over the loss of pets and toys. Parents grieve when their children start school and again when they leave home. How many mothers weep at a wedding?

We must be allowed to grieve and not 'swallow' the pain. We need help to grieve. This grief may take 2-5 years to work through. The pain not acknowledged can bring in its wake disastrous physical effects.

When you read this article perhaps you will realise that you could join our team of visitors, if that is so please contact one of the Clergy or me.

Gill Watts-Jones

From the June 1983 edition of the magazine

August/September 1983

When conscription for the Armed forces was introduced before the last war, it is said that an announcement was issued by the Government in the following terms: "All males over the age of 18 must register for National Service at their local Employment Exchange, with the following exceptions : the blind, the mentally defective, and Ministers of Religion". Needless to say, I intend no disrespect towards blind people or the mentally handicapped. I quote the announcement for its unintentional irony : it seems to suggest an opinion about the Clergy which many people actually hold, that parsons are not quite like other normal people.

Clergy and Laity
Sometimes when I have been on holiday, dressed in mufti, someone has asked about my occupation and I have invited people to guess. After they have suggested everything from solicitor to salesman, I have told them that I am a clergyman. You should see the incredulity and the confusion on peoples' faces. They regard a parson as a weird species and feel deceived because they have unwittingly been exposed to a specimen?

I for my part, feel pleased that I have passed successfully as just another layman; because that, in an important sense, is just what I am. The word 'layman' comes from the Greek 'laos' meaning 'people'. It is used in the New Testament to describe the people of God, the Church. And that means all of us, clergy included.

The Body
In the past, the Church of England has depended too heavily on the clergy. Even today, we sometimes hear people, referring to a man going into the ministry, say 'He's going into the Church' - as if the clergy were the Church. The New Testament gives no support to this attitude. It gives us a model of the Church which is well known and helpful. "You are the body of Christ", writes the Apostle Paul to his Christian friends.

In other words, the Christian Church is the means by which Christ lives and works in the world. A human body consists of a great number of limbs and organs united in an organised whole. Every organ has its part to play in the life and work of the whole body; no part can exist without the whole. The arm may do much of the body's work; but apart from the whole body it is useless. The body cannot achieve its full potential unless every part is functioning properly.

Each member has unique function.

The work of the Church cannot be left to the clergy for the same reason that the arm cannot be the whole body. The old notion that the clergy are the experts in everything and the people qualified to do all the Church's work must go. 'We are the body of Christ, and individually we are limbs or organs of it'. Every lay member has a special function in the Church; each is gifted to contribute in a unique way to the life of the Church. And the Church cannot achieve its full potential unless each member has recognised his/her gifts and put them to work in the Church.

Ministry to the sick
Sick visiting, for example, is a job which was thought in the past to be a task which only the clergy were qualified to do. Now we have come to realise that the various gifts which are needed for ministry to people who are ill are not confined to the clergy. A lay person may be wonderfully gifted in this ministry, while a particular clergyman may not be good at this work.

A team of about a dozen lay people, with representatives from each of the three churches in our parish, has now been set up to visit people in hospital. All who live in the parish are visited without regard to religious affiliation.

Lay Ministry
More and more pastoral work is now being undertaken by the laity in our churches. The preparation of young people for confirmation, the visiting of those in hospital, the visiting of families in preparation for infant baptism : these are a few examples of the ways in which the gifts of church members are being put to use. An article in the last issue of Spearhead described how we hope to involve lay people in the ministry to the bereaved. Several members are now training as lay preachers.

'We are the body of Christ'

Is the Parson really necessary?
So what exactly is the function of the clergyman? If a right understanding of the Church demands that the laity take over more and more of the work, is the parson really necessary? The answer is 'yes'. Even those Churches which reckon to have no ordained ministry find it necessary to appoint members to special responsibility.

It will not be possible to dispense with the minister this side of heaven, for the simple reason that divinely ordained people are needed to enable the church to be the church - to help people to realise their gifts, to contribute them to the whole Body, to be the community of love.

Candidates for Ministry
More men are needed for the ministry, and more women too (it is good to see that a husband and wife have been ordained to serve together at SS Mary and All Saints' Church). But when did the parish of St.Thomas, Brampton last provide a candidate for the ordained ministry? And when is it going to provide another?

Vyvyan Watts-Jones

From the August 1983 edition of the magazine

October/November 1983

Gill Watts-Jones' writes as the Rector has been in hospital

This is written from my personal experiences, in the hope that others will feel the call to serve the community in this way.

Hospitals scared me. So when the opportunity came in the social placement, as part of my training, to experience hospital life, I chose St. Luke's Hospice, where I would have to face the fear of both hospitals and death. From then on I began to grow.

When Vyv, my husband, had a suspected heart attack, we both had our first personal experience of hospitals (apart from a short and rather traumatic two days for me some years earlier). I had to brave the place - its smells, equipment and its frightening, awesome "stark coldness" even when stifling hot! I found it wasn't these things. It was efficient, loving, if a bit impersonal.

One thing emerged clearly. There are good and bad visitors. The good visitors are quiet and gentle; don't ask too many questions; don't stay too long and are prepared to listen; to be silent or to talk and to be able to read the patient's needs.

While Vyv was in for the second time for a major operation, he found himself needing to sleep at midday. It was surprising and not a little annoying to be rudely awakened by a visitor. It was not easy to be polite let alone pleased!

On my visiting rounds I have begged that sleeping patients might be left to enjoy their sleep, but it seems that hospital staff feel compelled to waken these poor folk. This is when a "visiting card" has its uses. The patient has been thought about and he knows it and that is enough!

From our experiences sprang the conviction that all who are members of St. Thomas' parish, whether practising Christians, members of another denomination or whatever, are deserving of our love and interest.

Both Vyv and I are members of the Chaplaincy team of the hospital and we sought their support and advice. We were aware that alone it was quite impossible to see each sick person in our parish. The task was daunting, demoralising and almost impossible. Vyv, as a clergyman is regarded as an honarary member of the hospital staff. So why not-create a team of laity to represent him? We saw the appropriate staff in each hospital. They were most cooperative and showed us the ropes, introducing us to the ward staff and to the Admissions Office at Walton, the Royal, Scardale and now Penmore.

A group met to prepare themselves, talk and pray and read some suitable literature. Each was given a badge. A suitable time was chosen to avoid visitors, doctors rounds etc.

We meet on the first Thursday of each month at the Rectory' at 3.15 to share experiences, to pray and support one another. Two teams, on a rota basis, go one to the town hospitals, leaving the Rectory at 1.10 p.m. (no car is necessary) and the other at 3.45 p.m. to Walton, on Thursdays. We still have vacancies especially for Walton.

We visit the sick, elderly, mentally ill, the new mums, but folk can choose what type of visiting they wish to do. We all have our special gifts. The elderly love to see the familiar face. Those with mental sickness long for love and support and real empathy.

When visitors first begin they can go with someone already practised at it. Whatever we may learn is confidential and we sign an agreement of confidentiality. We go as the priest's represent¬atives, the church in action caring. We do not go to preach but to show that St. Thomas' people care for all in need, for each human being.

We have a dream that this caring should extend to every street in the parish wherever there are sick or elderly. We would like to see patients returning from hospital visited and any needs they have, cared for. Where transport is necessary we should like to be able to provide it. Perhaps to take patients to day care centres or to take relatives and friends to see those sick in hospital. Already a small scheme is operating to take the elderly (who maybe have been years in hospital) out for a run and tea. This can give such pleasure and joy and only demands a few hours, a car and some loving care occasionally at week-ends.

Gill Watts-Jones

From the October 1983 edition of the magazine

December 1983/January 1984

From the Clergy

Reputation 1
Christianity 0

The gospel according to St. Luke records the first public words of the Ministry of Jesus on being uttered in the synagogue at Nazareth, his home town. Jesus was asked to read the Scripture for that day -a portion from Isaiah 61.
"The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord".

Having read these words Jesus astounded the congregation in the synagogue by announcing:
"Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing".

The people did not understand what he was saying, but the events of the next three years showed how right he was in his prophecy. Today, some 2,000 years later, the Scripture is still being fulfilled.

The way in which the Scripture is being fulfilled is, however, slightly different today. For rather than Jesus doing his own work directly amongst people, he, the living God, is doing the work through his people. The people of God are the Church - you and I who own Jesus as our Lord. We are called to minister to the captives, the poor, the blind, the oppressed.

We must take pains to understand what Jesus meant when he said that the Scripture was fulfilled. The words of Isaiah were an illustration; our ministry is not only to those who are imprisoned, who are without money, sight or liberty. The people about whom Jesus speaks are quite likely reasonably well¬off, healthy and, in their own eyes, free. Jesus is referring to people who do not understand the Christian message, who do not see the Love of God, who are caught up in their own pride, arrogance, and sinfulness.

We, the Church, are called to go out to these people to bring them home to God. This is a missionary activity which is part and parcel of our spiritual lives. Most people when thinking of missionaries are reminded of the old-time African evangelists who are characterised in cartoons., typically by being boiled in large cauldrons by cannibals. That is a joke view of mission, but it does underline the risk that is involved when one stands up to "proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord".

Today we Christians in Brampton do not run the risk of the cannibal's pot but we do sometimes have to face the pain of scorn, mockery and misunderstanding. We too, should understand what we are doing as Christians. There is a great trap awaiting us if we get our priorities wrong. There are some who regard the church as the bastion of the establishment and feel that the church's reputation is of paramount importance. The church's reputation for what? For comfortable, easy WORDLY society? Or for standing up and proclaiming God's gospel of Love?

Let us not get too snug in our reputable church. There are many people in the world, even in Brampton, who have severe personal problems. We, as Christians, should be prepared to meet with the unlovely in our community and offer them the hand of Love. This may mean that we could get hurt - certainly our pride could be dented. It may mean that we could be taken fora ride - our purses and wallets may suffer a little.

It may mean opening our homes or church buildings to people who would not normally darken our door. It may mean cricism from the 'world', thereby denting our reputation.

It is far better to be doing the work of Love, helping people to be released from the captivity of a sinful world than to take pride in a 'good' reputation in that same sinful world. Later in the synagogue Jesus said 'Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country'

From the Clergy

From the December 1983 edition of the magazine

Rector's Letters 1984