From the Rector -What’s good about Good Friday?

That’s the question my children ask me – and then of course answer it themselves!  “It’s because Jesus died and then came back to life on Easter Sunday”, they chime.  So it’s called ‘Good Friday’ because something good came out of it.  But if it’s as functional as that why do we pay such attention to Good Friday, and not ignore it, waiting instead for Sunday’s celebrations, when the whole sequence of events from Jesus’ entrance to Jerusalem to the meeting between Mary and the risen Lord can be seen together?

Indeed it is crucial that all the events of Jesus’ life are seen through an understanding of where his ministry led him and in particular, how he was raised from the dead.  But we can, however, meaningfully look at aspects of his life, including his death.  According to the Christian tradition Jesus’ suffering at Calvary atones for the sins of the whole world.  Through Jesus’ death we are all given the opportunity to be ‘at one’ with God.  But what does this mean and how does this work?

In Mel Gibson’s amazing film of Holy Week, we see the excruciating pain that is heaped upon Jesus leading up to his death.  He is not only physically, brutally, tortured before having to drag his cross through the streets of Jerusalem to be nailed on to it and bleed to death, but is also humiliated and portrayed as a complete and utter failure.  His friends desert him and he is left alone to die the criminal’s death.  As we see the film, or take part in the service of ‘Stations of the Cross’ we project onto Jesus our feelings of guilt, shame, weakness, fear and the rest of them.  We don’t know what Jesus was feeling – but he must have known the same feelings and certainly he experienced agony.

But there is an emphasis in Gibson’s film upon the suffering as though we are redeemed primarily, or indeed exclusively, through Jesus’ ability to suffer the pain of the beatings and cross for us.  The atoning sacrifice of Jesus seems to be reduced to an act of physical endurance.  The really important aspect of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice gets slightly squeezed out.  Because, what is crucial is Jesus’ total submission to the will of God, the Father, and, although this leads to the suffering on the cross, it is the abandonment of self-will in Jesus that is primary.

Thus what is good about Good Friday is the remembrance of the way in which Jesus managed to open himself to the Spirit of God so fully, so completely and utterly that he relinquished his own wilfulness, his egotistic nature and chose obedience to the divine will.  In turn Jesus’ death was turned into new life by God.  Thus we see that we too can be redeemed and transformed into newness of being, if we too chose the path of self-abandonment.

Now, please note a significant caution here.  The obedience required is absolute but is not blind.  Jesus learns to discern the will of the Father over a period of years.  He is not blindly obedient to human structures and authority, but to God, whom he invites us to call Father, because only the heavenly Father is all-loving.

So this Holy Week, please be ready to celebrate Good Friday and the atonement that we see in Jesus, and pray for the strength to take on the same ego-death and obedience to the will of God

God bless you and all you love this Easter tide.                                                                               David

The Great Fire Blitz

We read last month of the destruction of the Mother Church of Southsea, St Paul’s, during what was to be called the Great Fire Blitz of 10 January 1941.  This then is the story of that Friday night blitz.  Some 300 German bombers dropped 25,000 incendiary bombs, plus High Explosive (HE) bombs, which caused 28 major fires and 2,314 minor ones.  Water mains were broken in the bombing so that the fires blazed on unchecked, lighting the city up as if it were broad daylight and giving the bombers a perfect target.  The destruction was awesome with the shopping centres of Kings Road, Palmerston Road and Commercial Road virtually destroyed.  Our own Tom Gomersall, who was in the Royal Navy throughout the war, remembers walking down the centre of Commercial Road with the buildings on either side of him burning fiercely.  Apart from St Paul’s Church, five other churches were destroyed, as was the Eye and Ear Hospital, off Elm Grove, and a part of the Royal Hospital, which stood on the site of the current Sainsbury Store adjacent to Commercial Road.

Other buildings destroyed included Clarence Pier, the famous Hippodrome Theatre and three cinemas, the Dockyard School, which  provided the Royal Navy with the cream of  Naval Constructors (designers of warships), the Central Hotel, the Royal Sailors’ Rest (of  Agnes – ‘Aggie’ – Weston fame), and the Connaught Drill Hall, home of the Territorial Army in Portsmouth.  The Hall was opposite the Portsmouth News Building which escaped serious damage.  More about the “News” next month.  To make matters worse during the Blitz, the generating station received a direct hit from an HE bomb, cutting off the electricity supply to the city.

Undoubtedly, the greatest loss was the Guildhall.  It had taken four years to build at a cost of £160,000 and was opened in August 1890 by the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII.  It was a magnificent building and housed a wonderful collection of paintings which perished in the blaze.  The building was hit by three showers of incendiary bombs, followed by a direct hit from an HE bomb which brought the roof down.  The Lord Mayor, Councillor Denis Daley, left the Guildhall only minutes before it was bombed.  Flames poured out of the 200ft Tower for more than 24 hours and it was weeks before the interior was cool enough to be entered.  When it was, officials were astonished to find that the Archives and Corporation plate, including the Bodkin loving cup dating from 1525, and the mace presented by the Mayor in 1658, had all survived in the muniments room beneath the Tower! 

The deeds of heroism that night are legendary, with firemen, doctors and nurses, the ARP, police, servicemen and civilians performing extraordinary acts of bravery.  Civilian casualties alone were 171 killed, 430 injured; many suffering from serious burns, and 3,000 people were left homeless.  The killed were given a public funeral at Kingston Cemetery on 17 January with coffins draped with the Union Flag and carried by servicemen.  The Bishop of Portsmouth (Dr F Partridge) gave the graveside address.  He began by saying, “We are a proud people today, proud in the best and highest sense.  We have been called by Almighty God to make our sacrifice in the name of our common humanity, our decencies of life, our homes and all they mean.  We have made our sacrifice; we hold our heads high and restrain our quivering lips.”  Present at the funeral were many dignitaries including the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, without their robes of office which had been destroyed when the Guildhall was set ablaze, the Commander-in Chief, Admiral Sir William James and Major-General T L Hunton of the Royal Marines, Eastney.

On 6 February, King George VI, and Queen Elizabeth, toured the city and were amazed at the courage and fortitude of the people they met, given the scale of the destruction.  Walking alongside the Lord Mayor, the King was moved to say “You are a splendid people; we are very proud of Portsmouth.”  To which the Lord Mayor replied, “I am proud of Portsmouth, too.”  The people of this city should also be proud of a very remarkable Lord Mayor and I will be writing about him later this year, so watch this space!                                                                    Roger Bryant

Choir

Our choir will be singing “Stainer’s Crucifixion” at St. Mary’s, Portsea, at 7pm on Good Friday 6 April.  All welcome to attend.

 

Moses and the Red Sea

Nine-year-old James was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday school. "Well, Mum, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his army build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely. Then, he radioed headquarters for reinforcements. They sent bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved."

“Goodness, James, is that really what your teacher taught you?" His mother was startled.

"Well, no, Mum. But, if I told it the way the teacher did, you'd never believe it!"

From the Registers – March

22^nd         Funeral of Doris Colliver

Candidates for Confirmation

This picture appeared in the ‘Hampshire Telegraph’ on Thursday 15 October 1970 showing candidates for Confirmation at St. Faith’s Church pictured before the service at which the Bishop of Portsmouth, Dr. JHL Phillips officiated.  Do you recognise anyone?

The picture is appropriate as on Sunday 18 March 2007 (Mothering Sunday) we had children receiving their first communion as they had been attending communion before confirmation classes – a change from 1970.  The children were Amelia, Amy, Eleanor, Elizabeth, Emily, Felix, Heather, Hermione, Imogen, Isabella, Jack, Jake, Jasmine, Kirstie, Max, Sam (L), Sam (R) and Sophia.

The Choice

This is the beginning of a New Day; God has given me this day to use as I will.

I could waste it or, grow in its height and be of service to others.

But what I do with this day is important because I have exchanged a Day of my life for it.

When tomorrow comes, today will be gone forever; I hope I will not regret the Price I paid for it.  Anon

St Faith’s Church Youth Club Activities in 2006

In the second full year of the Young Believers Club, we had a wide and interesting range of activities and much fun (and some spiritual learning) was had by all.  Through the year we had 18 clubs, held fortnightly on Sunday evenings, through the school term periods.  Clubs normally ran from 6 pm to 7.30 pm.  Attendance averaged out at around 18 youngsters per session, up 3 from 2005.  Gender was split three-quarters girls, and a quarter boys.  Ages ranged from 9 to 14, the majority being in 10 to 11 range.

The children enjoyed a number of activities.  We did Beetle drives, games evenings, a farm walk (courtesy of  the Hedley’s again – many thanks), a quiz night, a Billy Line walk,  pancake making (and eating), as well as enjoying the facilities inside the Church Hall, namely table tennis, football (with a sponge ball!), table football and latterly, snooker.

Some of the more special activities we organised and ran were hosting a Mothers Day Cream Tea Sunday, rowing with the Langstone Cutters and a tour of Chichester Harbour on a special flat-bottomed, solar powered boat.  We also had a great Line Dancing evening where parents provided some interesting and often very funny moves.

On the more spiritual side, as well as having a few discussions on various topics, the children prepared and acted out a short play based on Lent for the Lent Family Service.  We also had a lovely talk and photo presentation from the Fluck’s on their trip to Ghana.           Martin Poliszczuk

Jonah and the Whale

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.

The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small.

The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.

The little girl said, “When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah”.

The teacher asked, “What if Jonah went to hell?”

The little girl replied, “Then you ask him”.

Langstone Cutters Blessing & Launch

The Langstone Cutters Rowing Club (LCRC) boats – Gladys, Mabel, Millie & Lottie – were blessed by Fr. Charles on Sunday 11 March at their first launch of the year.  The LCRC raised £1,346 for the Rowans Hospice for sponsorship in rowing the London Thames Great River Race where they won 3 trophies. 

Further photographs can be found at http://stevesagrott854.fotopic.net

Prayer for the Future

We cannot merely pray to you, O God, to end war;

For we know that you have made the world in a way

That man must find his own path to peace

Within himself and with his neighbour.

 

We cannot merely pray to you, O God, to end starvation;

For you have already given us resources

With which to feed the entire world

If we could only use them wisely.

 

We cannot merely pray to you, O God to root out prejudice,

For you have already given us eyes

With which to see the good in all men

If we could only use them rightly.

 

We cannot merely pray to you, O God, to end despair,

For you have already given us the power

To clear away the slums and to give hope

If we could only use them justly.

 

We cannot merely pray to you, O God, to end disease,

For you have already given us great minds

With which to search our cures and healing,

If we would only use them constructively.

 

Therefore we pray to you instead, O God,

For strength, determination and willpower,

To DO instead of just pray.

To BECOME instead of merely to wish.

Joan Medley

God is Watching

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch.  At the head of the table was a large pile of apples.  The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray:

“Take only ONE.  God is watching.”

Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies.  A child had written a note:

“Take all you want.  God is watching the apples.”

St. George’s Day – 23 April

Very long ago in a lonely cave near Coventry dwelt a wise Lady of the Woods.  She was a wicked enchantress, who by her cunning had stolen away the new born son of Lord Albert of Coventry, and carried him off to her cave.

There she kept him for many years, and though she hated all that was good and noble, she had a great love for the child George, and wanted him to become a powerful knight.  So he was taught all that a knight should know; but he was not happy and longed to ride away and do good deeds, though he did not tell the wise lady of the woods of this, for she wanted to keep him with her always.

One day she took him to the castle of brass, and having told him who he really was, she gave him a wonderful horse, Bayard, a splendid suit of armour, and, best of all, a magic sword, Ascalon, which would never fail him.

St. George was now all the more eager to escape from the witch’s power, and at the first chance, with the help of her own magic wand, he imprisoned her in a great rock and rode hastily away on his adventures.

His journeys led him at last to the land of Egypt, and being weary, he asked shelter for the night from a hermit who lived in a small hut by the wayside.  “You may rest here, and welcome,” answered the hermit.  And St. George entered.

After laying aside his armour, he noticed how downcast the hermit seemed, and said, “Why are you so sad, Holy Father?”

“Good reasons have we to be troubled,” replied the hermit.  “And sad indeed is my story.  In yonder town of Silence there is great distress, for in the dark waters of a lake near by dwells a terrible dragon.  Its scales are as hard as brass, its wings are like flames, its front paws are as strong as a lion, in its jaws are teeth of iron, while from its nostrils comes thick poisonous smoke.  Soldiers have been sent to kill it, but are driven back by its fiery breath.  Indeed, all ways of destroying it have been tried in vain.  Each day for years the fearsome creature crawls swiftly across the marshy land towards the town, and each day two sheep have been sent out from the gates to feed the monster.  These it has devoured greedily and then disappeared into the lake again.  At last when all the sheep and cattle were gone, the King assembled his people and said ‘We have nothing left to give this cruel dragon, save ourselves; for if we do not provide a meal the whole town will be destroyed by its breath.’  So each morning they cast lots, and he on whom the lot fell went forth from the gates alone.  And now the King is in some trouble, for the lot has this day fallen upon his own daughter, the beautiful princess Sabra, and tomorrow she must be sent forth.  Pity, indeed, is it that one so fair and so beloved should meet so cruel a death.”

“Let me but rest awhile,” said St. George; “then show me the valley where the dragon comes, and I will fight the monster.” 

The next morning the Princess dressed herself in her best robe and, bidding farewell to her father and the people, she went forth bravely and alone from the gates.

As she drew near to the dreaded place her heart failed her, and with tears that she did not see that someone was approaching.  Suddenly there was the sound of hoofs and, looking up, she beheld a knight in shining armour on a white charger coming towards her.  “Why do you weep, fair maid?”  he asked.  And she told him of the fearsome monster that was even then on its way.

“Fear not, gentle maid,” said St. George; “for by the help of God I will slay the dragon and free all your people from its power.”

Quickly he lifted the princess on to his horse and took her to a place of safety.  Then, turning once more towards the marsh, he saw the dragon approaching.  It rushed straight towards him, making a noise like thunder and sending out fiery breath.  St. George charged at it, but his spear glanced off the creature’s back.  Again and again he struck, but no wound could be made.  Then he and his horse were felled to the ground, but as the dragon raised itself over him, the knight drove his spear under its wing and wounded it.

The fight was by no means over, however; for hours they struggled, and at last St. George thrust his sword into the dragon’s mouth, and the creature fell dead at his feet.

The King and his people, thinking the princess had been devoured, mourned her death, when suddenly they heard a great shout and, rushing to the watch-towers, they were amazed to see their own princess  alive and safe, and by her side an unknown knight dragging the lifeless body of the dragon.

At first they feared to open the gates, but when St. George cried, “The dragon is dead,” they were almost beside themselves with joy and threw them open to welcome their deliverer and their princess.

So ended the fight of St. George and the Dragon.  Many more adventures he had and many enemies to overcome, yet he was always ready to protect the weak and to be the champion of the helpless.  He suffered many hardships, and for seven years was imprisoned for the sake of the beautiful princess Sabra, and at last he was able to take her with him to England, where they were married and great joy was theirs to the end.                                                                                                 

World Religions

The 2007 Friendship Book contains the following: When asked for a principle by which to conduct life Confuscius replied, “Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you.”  In this context Prophet Mohammed said, “He is not a believer who does not love for his brother what he loves for himself.”  While in Sikh scripture we are urged to “treat others as thou wouldst be treated thyself”.  Both the Torah and the Bible contain the words: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”  Varied as the world’s religions might be, it seems that we’re more alike than we may realise.

Think on These Things – Part 1 of 3

This was written some six years ago for my two daughters’ religious education.

“Logos”, the principle of Law or Reason, for Jew and Gentile alike, represents the ruling fact of the universe, the starting point of all things.  It exists as it always did – in the beginning, at the root of the universe, and is the controlling power of the whole universe.  Greeks and Hebrews agree”

“God is spirit and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth”.  It is impossible to exhaust the wealth of this great declaration, the most fundamental proposition in theology.  God is not the totality of things – the All.  He is Spirit – active energy, alive and purposive, but free from time and space limitations which are characteristic of matter! (Archbishop William Temple)

“A creative intelligence has created laws which govern life”.

“Every change in mind or matter is the result of the application of law governed forces”. (Harry Edwards, very successful spiritual healer)

It seems perfectly obvious and sensible to me that everything in the universe is governed by laws, otherwise everything could change its nature willy nilly at any moment and there could be no science, no medical treatments which are based on things staying unchanged and there would be universal chaos.  The vast floods that drown thousands in India, and the terrible typhoons and hurricanes, are all the result of natural forces acting in accordance with the laws that govern them.  If they were somehow halted out of sympathy for people involved there would be chaos, because we would never know when the laws were being followed and when they were not.

There is only one universal substance, basic electric energy, formed by sub-atomic particles.  EVERYTHING, including us, is made of this invisible substance.  When the particles combine they become atoms of a particular nature depending on the number of electrons or negative electric particles revolving round their nucleus or protons (positive electric particles) within them.  Each atom has a nucleus and one or more electrons whizzing round it at very high speed, all still invisible.  These atoms can be “worked on” to change their atomic rate to slower speeds and as the speed decreases the invisible energy gradually becomes visible, first as a mist, then if decreased further it becomes liquid, and then solid matter.  Think of the invisible atmosphere on a hot day.  If the temperature falls it becomes visible as mist, then as thick clouds, if further reduced it becomes liquid and falls as rain, more and it forms solids – snow, hail, or ice.  Vast areas of energy have been “worked on” by Divine thought power to produce great planets and everything on them, including us, as we are all made up from atoms.  And everything is strictly governed by laws.  Einstein famously discovered and proved that basic energy and matter are indeed interchangeable.

Now there MUST be an over-riding authority controlling all this, because controlled it is, and to control all this throughout the entire endless universe this authority must be present throughout the universe all the time and therefore can have no limitation of size or time, and must be invisible.  If he was visible everywhere he would block out all light!  But he must have intelligence, in order to control everything and make these changes, plus other qualities which we’ll come to later.  And from intelligence comes the power of thought, which is the only method of action by which this “authority” originates changes.

Now for some reason this “authority”, which has become known as God, decided to create on this tiny planet a multitude of forms of life, and one species uniquely he made “in his own image and likeness”, not in appearance, but in having like him creative intelligence, thought, and an awareness or consciousness of abstract and invisible things.  He didn’t want robots or automatons, so having the power of thought we also had free will, with which we could be aware of and acknowledge this “authority”, or reject it and believe we were the rulers of everything.  We can be in constant touch with this Authority because this great Spirit, invisible but present constantly throughout the universe is also present in the mind and thoughts of each one of us.  If we reject this and don’t believe it then there is no point of contact and no benefits are felt.  But if we do believe it and trust in it then it can calm and strengthen our daily lives.  No force is used.  It is as if He is saying “This is the truth, please accept it.  It is up to you”.

Because we possess love and personality we believe God also has these, because the “created” cannot have more basic qualities then the “creator”.  In the same way that a computer, however clever, can only use the powers put into it by its maker or operator.

We having powers of thought and awareness, God could make his thoughts and wishes known to humans, but in the early days only through especially sensitive individuals (prophets) and he concentrated especially on the Jews, presumably anticipating that they would become so well versed in his ways and wishes that they eventually would cooperate with him and spread his message round the whole world.  But then he decided that the best way to teach humans how to gain greatest happiness and fulfilment from their lives is to become one of them, and in various stages through the Old Testament he gives signs and messages that he will do this, and do it in such a way that it will be remembered and remarked upon for all time down the generations.

“Behold” he says through Isaiah, “I myself will give you a sign.  A virgin shall conceive and bear a son”.  Not just a young woman, as some people say the passage can be translated as, because that would be no sort of sign, it happens every day everywhere, certainly not remarkable let alone outstanding for all time.  So then God had that thought.  All thoughts are mental words and in due time this thought or word of God was placed in the mind of a virgin, with the result that a boy was born to her which they named Jesus, which means “God with us”.  He was, and still is, a part of God himself, he and God are one and the same, except that while he was in his human manifestation he could only be in one place at a time.  But he could spend all his adult life teaching and showing humans what God was like.                                                                                                       John Smythe