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Vicar
Revd. Preb. Trevor Farmiloe CurateRevd. Peter Hogarth |
Telephone: 01935 826113
E-mail : prhogarth@talk21.com |
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Vicar's Monthly Letter |
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January 2004 Dear Friends, For the past few weeks we have had the joy of receiving lots and lots of what we call Christmas Cards. Yet they are not just about Christmas for they usually all come with a dual message, one about the peace and joy of Christmas, and the other about health and happiness for the New Year. I believe this seasonal greeting is something good and positive for it tends to remind me that God's involvement with the world is not just something "religious" but is part of my everyday life. God came into our world in the person of Jesus Christ in order that he could identify with us by sharing our humanity. Which means that when we talk about God we can't possibly be talking about a divine being who is distant and remote from us. You see, it is so easy to think that the God bit is Christmas and the secular bit is New Year. New Year is about new beginnings, resolutions and promises but that is exactly what God is about. It isn't very often you will hear me quote from the Book of Revelation, I make no secret of the fact that I find it one of the most difficult parts of Scripture. However, there is one phrase from Revelation that comes to mind and it simply says "Behold! I make all things new" . As we enter into this New Year how can we make it truly "New?” What could be different about this Year compared to any other? I wonder if the answer lies in the understanding that we live in a community and there is a sense in which we not only have rights within that community but we also have responsibilities. None of us are as independent as we like to think we are, it is surprising how much we rely upon others. I often hear it said that our community isn't like it used to be - whatever that means. Comments will be made like: there is no spirit left in the village; the community no longer does things together; there is no common purpose; people no longer work to achieve things for the community; and worst of all, we have lost our sense of pride. Perhaps people down through the ages have always made similar comments: we all tend to have a rose tinted view of the past. Yet we only have to look around us and we see a lot of things going on within our community and a lot of good people involved in making our villages special. What has all this got to do with "Making all things new?” Those of you who attended the recent meeting when the Parish Plan was presented for Martock and the surrounding villages must surely have gone away heartened by the belief that there is a great future ahead of us as a community. All it needs is belief in ourselves, a real commitment to each other and, of course, a lot of hard work. The God of Christmas is also the God of the New Year. He sent his Son to make "all things new" and he did that by being involved in people’s lives, sharing their hopes and dreams, standing by them and supporting them in times of failure and disappointment and being totally committed to the people he felt called to serve. Maybe we are all being asked to follow the example of Jesus as we live out our lives in our community. The God of New Year could be asking us to own that phrase for ourselves "Behold! WE make all things new." The "Christmas Cards" we received and sent had a message of health and happiness for the New Year. That wish could be a reality as we work together for the health and well being of the community in which we live. May God bless you all |
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Dear Friends, Has Christmas got out of control? There is the story of the couple who, seeing the poster outside the local church advertising the Christmas services, and inviting people to attend, were heard to say, "Would you believe it, even the church is trying to cash in on Christmas now." We hear some horrific stories about people running up massive debts at this time of the year. We also hear of families that are under pressure simply because they are forced to spend time with each other for a two week period. We also hear stories of the tragedy of the "office party" which gets out of hand. Then there is the person living on their own who just hates the thought of Christmas for it only seems to reinforce their loneliness. We wonder what is it all about? Have we somehow lost our way? I guess you are all reading this and under your breath you're just saying, "Bah Humbug - that Vicar just wants us to stop enjoying ourselves." Far from it, Christmas is a festival -a time for fun- a time for rejoicing- a time for giving. All I am asking is please just think what Christmas is really about. My old Dad used to tell me about his Christmases when he was a young boy. He would say what was in his stocking, and it was a stocking not a whacking great pillow case which wasn't big enough. Christmas dinner was really special. My Granddad worked on a farm so there was an extra big joint of beef. And an absolute must was to attend church on Christmas Day as a family. Next day it was back to work or whatever was the normal routine. I always used to think, poor old Dad he didn't have much of a Christmas when he was a child. Or did he? For him Christmas was wonderful, magical , something he really looked forward to in simple uncomplicated anticipation. We can't turn the clock back but we can make sure we don't get too sucked in by what is fast becoming a secular festival. If we are not careful we have done all the celebrating beforehand - Christmas Day becomes an anti-climax. God came into this world in human form to bring about peace and justice, to bring fulfilment and happiness to people's lives, to bring freedom to people captivated by all that imprisons them. He came to champion the cause of the poor and the hungry and the destitute, to offer compassion and healing to the suffering. He came for you and me in order that we could properly live rather than just exist. The "faith" Christmas is not a load of sentimental nonsense. It is concerned with an earth shattering event which can not only change people's lives but also the world in which we live. Wow! it really is a time for rejoicing. Remember Jesus came for you and me. Often I hear people say that Christmas is just for the children - it's their time really. I know what they mean, but it simply ain't true - it's for the big kids as well - for all of us. May God bless you all ( and see you at church sometime over Christmas!) Trevor Farmiloe |
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November 2003 Dear Friends, Jean and I recently enjoyed a week's holiday when we stayed at Kenilworth. It is a part of the world we had never visited before and we enjoyed every moment visiting places like Warwick and Stratford. We seem to have a saying in our family, "If there is a way of doing things wrong then we will manage to find it". That most certainly applies to driving and almost every time we found ourselves in heavy traffic we would also find that we were in completely the wrong lane to get to our destination. Why drivers have to hoot to tell you what you already know is beyond me! Another thing we got wrong was our visit to Coventry Cathedral. Never having been before we missed the main entrance and approached the Cathedral through the ruins of the old. On reflection I think we may well have done things right, for a change, perhaps the only way to fully appreciate the new Cathedral is to see it as part of the old which indeed it is meant to be. I expect most of you have visited the Cathedral at some time, after all it was built 40 years ago, so what I am writing is nothing new. Like you, no doubt, I was affected both emotionally and spiritually by the experience of the visit. I was glad to read later in the Cathedral Guide the following, "To move from the bombed ruins into the new cathedral building is to walk from Good Friday to Easter Day". Throughout the visit I was struck by the awfulness of war, the suffering, the destruction, the hate, the evil of it all. And yet all around me was the symbolism of peace and reconciliation of hope and new life. In my simplistic way of seeing life I could not help but think that today's world leaders need to be "sent to Coventry". There is a generation now who are in positions of authority and leadership who have never experienced the horrors of a world war. Perhaps a few hours spent pondering on the message which the Cathedral offers would be time well spent. The whole experience will still be fresh in my mind as we again prepare for Remembrance Sunday this month when we honour the memories of those who gave everything in times of conflict and we bring before God our prayers for peace. And I am left with the question "When will we ever learn?" Every so often we hear somebody say; "Isn't it time we moved on and stopped the ritual of an annual Remembrance Day?" Personally I don't think we should ever stop remembering because in our remembering there is just the faint chance that conflict on that scale will never happen again. Yet that threat appears to always be just around the corner for we human beings have such short memories. Somehow we seem incapable of cottoning on to the messages which come loud and clear at places like Coventry:- Forgive those who wrong you, be reconciled to your brother and sister, live in peace with one another, live as children of God. OK they may not be easy commands to fulfil but we ought to try. That is the very least we owe to those whom we will remember on Remembrance Sunday. Maybe it is a message which applies not just on a world scale but also to our own private lives. Jesus died and rose again for each one of us as individuals. We are invited to share in that new life through forgiveness, peace and reconciliation in our own relationships. May God bless you all Trevor Farmiloe |
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Dear Friends, Every year we have a sponsored bike ride in aid of The Historic Churches and Chapels Fund. Of the money we raise our own church keeps half the sponsorship the other half goes to a trust which provides grants for urgent repairs to church buildings. Now as with many of these kind of events it is expected that the Vicar should lead from the front! Last year I had an excuse for not cycling as I was still recovering from a broken ankle. This year everyone was eager to hear what sort of excuse the Vicar would come up with this time. Two days before the planned ride the Vicarage garage got broken into, my mower was stolen for the third time in 5 years, and guess what else disappeared? Yes, you've guessed it - my bicycle! However, a very kind person saved the day and offered to lend me his bike. What a kind gentleman! I couldn't refuse such a generous offer, could I? Time was too short to come up with some other plausible excuse so I had to take part in the ride which incidentally always turns out to be good fun anyway. I am sure I've got this business of making excuses down to a fine art after all I have been practising it for years. God wants me to do something which I am not particularly keen on doing - the excuse I make is that I haven't got the time and yet I find the time to do the things which I enjoy doing. I wonder if I am speaking just for myself or is it fairly typical of the human condition. There are many things we know God wants us to do and we come up with all kinds of excuses. We say we are too busy , we haven't got the time or it will cost us too much and so on and so on. I think Jesus recognised this side of our character. In the Bible he told us a story about the man who gave a large dinner party and when he invited the guests they all made feeble excuses as to why they couldn't attend . You can read the story in Luke 14.16 -24. On another occasion he was asked by a rich man, "What must I do to receive eternal life?" Jesus, after establishing that the man was basically a good person who had kept all the commandments then suggested that he gave all his possessions to the poor. The story ends with the man not even making an excuse but walking away with head bowed - Jesus had asked too much. Perhaps it doesn't do us any harm to occasionally consider what God wants us to do and ask whether the excuses we are making are genuine. At the same time it is very rewarding to look around us and see those who are responding to God's promptings. Every single day I am struck by people around me who do jobs where there is no glamour, no glory, no particular thanks involved. People who go out of their way to help others, people who give without counting the cost. People who love because they cannot help but love. Thank God for such people. They are the ones who without realising it have accepted the invitation to the dinner party - which is the Kingdom of Heaven. It doesn't matter how many sermons you might listen to or how many Vicar's letters you might read. If you want to see what the Kingdom of Heaven is all about then look out for these unsung heroes who are all around us simply getting on with what God is asking of them without making excuses. May God bless you all Trevor Farmiloe |
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September 2003 Dear Friends, A little while ago I arrived home to find that Jean had completely re-organised the lounge. The television, the cabinets, the coffee table and, would you believe it even my favourite armchair was in a different place. Of course, I had to have my moan about not being able to find anything any more but I have to admit that after a while I became quite used to the new layout. I can see there are advantages and feel comfortable again in what has now become my familiar surroundings. Even though my armchair is in a different place to what it used to be I can still manage a long hard “Paddington Stare” if somebody is found sitting in it. The point is that changing the room round actually made a difference. In a small way it was like a new start. If we don’t make little changes occasionally then life can be a bit dull to say the least and we run the risk of becoming quite boring. The Christian church is often accused of being boring - of not moving with the times, and yet when it does make the odd change there will inevitably be some who feel uncomfortable and harp back to that which is familiar. I can understand that attitude, for in a world which is so rapidly changing, there is something safe and secure about a church which appears not to be going the way of the world. When we look back there have been many changes which have taken place within the life of the church especially within the last 25years but there are more to come. The important thing is that change is not done for change sake but in order to respond to God’s promptings. You see, I believe we can continually make small changes which give us a new vision and a greater understanding of God’s purpose without ditching the basic principles which are so familiar and important to us. Just like me hanging on to my old armchair when things around me have undergone a change – even a transformation. In fact there is a sense in which the church never does change. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that it is continually evolving. Evolving in order that it speaks to the generation of the day. Evolving as humanity understands more of the hidden depths of God. One of the ways in which we see the church evolving is through its ministry. We are extremely lucky to have only two parishes and yet be served by a number of priests. We are unique because in recent years Curates have come here for training. We are also extremely lucky to have the expertise and experience of two retired clergy who are willing to help out whenever they are needed. Spare a thought for many villages who no longer have their own priest but have to share that Ministry with 4, 5 or 6 other parishes. There are two reasons for this change one is that fewer people are being called to become priests and secondly even if they were the Church couldn’t afford to pay them. However, what is God saying in all this? Is he not saying something about all of us being his representatives in our community and ministering to each other. Oddly enough that is something which you don’t have to be ordained to do - come to that you don’t necessarily have to be seen in church every week either. May God bless you all Trevor Farmiloe, Vicar. |
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Dear Friends, Whoops!, I am glad I spotted the error before it went to press as I inadvertently missed the “r” out of “friends”. Believe me I have never once thought of any of you as “fiends”. I will blame my mistake on the hot weather because as I write this we are in a middle of a scorching heat wave. No doubt by the time you read this letter the heat wave will be over and we will be back to gloomy days.. Yet in the middle of this glorious weather people are moaning about how hot it is and how they can’t stand this kind of weather. Am I mistaken or were they the same people who, a little while ago, were complaining about all the rain and before that were moaning about the cold? As the saying goes, there is no pleasing some folk. Mind you, I must admit temperatures touching the 90s can be a bit much when we are not used to it.. I cannot help but think how lucky we are in this country. There is a lot to be said for the variety of weather and of seasons. By what I have heard and seen of places like Africa there are just two seasons “hot and very hot”. Yet we, in this country, have sun, rain, frost, wind, snow and on the odd occasion we have even seen it all in one day!! To me, our changing weather is a constant reminder that God is with us at all times and in all situations. When nothing appears to be going right, what we might call the gloomy and overcast days, God seems to be at a distance and has no relevance to our lives and seems not to be interested in our situation. Yet on the warm summer days it is a question of “God being in his heaven and all is well with the world” These are the days when we seem to have little worries, life is great and God appears to be caring for us as we expect a loving Father to be. Perhaps the truth is that when things are going well we don’t actually find we have much need for God so we just kind of assume he is there . On the other hand when we are facing difficulty and we look to God for some kind of comfort and support we have difficulty in finding him. Which, I guess, just goes to show that we need to be in constant touch with God through prayer on a daily basis. We cannot just assume he is there for us neither should we have to search him out. His presence should be felt and known everyday whether it be hot, cold, overcast or rainy. The secret is to treat God as you would a true friend. Be there for each other sharing the fun and laughter, all the good times - and at the same time know that you will be there for each other whenever there is a need. Is it the BT advert that says about a friend “It’s good to talk” May God bless you all Trevor Farmiloe Vicar |
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July 2003 Dear Friends, Once again the debate as to whether we should take on the Euro as our currency has raised its head. Despite what advantages there may be there remains a strong lobby of people who fear we, as a nation, would lose our identity if our £ sterling disappeared. It seems strange that we haven't cottoned on to the fact that we are already fast losing our identity not necessarily to Europe but to America. Not least, this is happening in our use of language and in our everyday conversations. More and more "Americanised" expressions are creeping in so much so that we seem to be almost obsessed with some phrases. There is one phrase in particular which just lately I have heard on more than one occasion in the course of a day. The phrase is "I thought I would just touch base". Perhaps it isn't American, if not, I apologise. I wonder where it came from? It conjures up for me the idea of "touching base" in a baseball game where you are safe and secure if you have made it to "the base" - to the fixed station. Or perhaps it has something to do with "base" being mission control the place which is ultimately in charge of a particular venture into outer space. Whenever the astronauts contact Mission Control they "touch base". It could be that its original has no connections at all with my explanations may be you know where it comes from. Jean and I often have a little giggle with these modern phrases and it is not unusual when we eventually sit down together after a busy day to say something like "It's good to touch base". Of course, there is an element of truth in the phrase, for there is a sense in which my base is my home where I feel content and secure, where everything is familiar, where I can relax and where I am in contact with the people upon whom I rely and who mean the most to me. No doubt you are all saying to yourselves: the Vicar is going to put some religious angle to this in a minute, so I won't disappoint you. Perhaps this idea of "touching base", having something to do with being safe and secure in Baseball and also being in contact with Mission Control in outer space, speaks to us about our life of faith. If we are to grow spiritually and become fully human then we need to be constantly in touch with base. There is a danger that God is simply there only to be used when we need him which is most certainly not the case. It is so important that we find time each and every day to simply be with God. After all he created us , he loves us, we are very special to him. He is our base, our home, it is with him where we truly belong and find our peace and security. He is also our Mission Control. I guess he must feel we are lost to him if no contact has been made for a long time. Yet the great joy is that he never gives up on us - he is always there for us. It is in precisely those valuable moments of contact we have with God that we find there is meaning, direction and purpose given to our journey of life. Have you touched base today? May God bless you all Trevor
Farmiloe |
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Dear Friends, “It’s alright for you Vicar you only work one day a week!” Every member of the clergy has at one time or another been at the receiving end of that comment. Of course, no one believes it, or do they? Presumably the one day is meant to be the Sunday which in fact, oddly enough, is often times the easiest. All the preparation work has been done in advance and Sunday is the delivery of that work. It sounds easy but in fact Sunday can be emotionally draining because any priest worth the candle will give a great deal of themselves in the leading of Church worship. I guess the perception is that the Priest instead of having Monday morning blues, like others, would be seen to be dragging himself around in a daze on a Sunday morning moaning to himself about the need to put his nose to the grindstone for the start of yet another week. That is not the reality at all. Would you believe it I actually enjoy my work, because being a priest is not just a job it is a way of life, often referred to as a vocation. And when you are doing what you feel you ought to be doing with your life you are obtaining a sense of real satisfaction and fulfilment. Yes, there are many aspects of the priest’s job, like any other, which is difficult and if you could escape from some parts of it you would. But these moments are greatly outweighed by the privilege of sharing in people’s lives. However we are not all called to be priests, but we are called to serve and come alongside other people in their more difficult moments or even to help celebrate with them when things are going right.. We tend to think that vocational employment describes only the sort of job which is involved in the caring industry. So we say Doctors, Nurses and Teachers are all in vocational jobs. I would want to say that there is, or should be, this sense of vocation in each one of us. Our employment whatever it is, or our non-employment, or our retirement are all vocational because what we do with our lives affects other people . Perhaps it is no different than it has ever been but I wonder how many people are getting real satisfaction out of their working day. How many folk are working just for the money? Just a thought, but I wonder how much society would change if our emphasis was more on how much other people benefited from our work rather than how much we earned. I guess it is this business of giving and receiving – the more we give the more we receive. And the real satisfaction and fulfilment in life is the knowledge that you are in some small way giving to others. Ultimately isn’t that what life is all about - giving to others? Isn’t that what Jesus came to show us and teach us ? Our common vocation (calling) in life is to give of ourselves to others and how we respond to that vocation will determine what kind of community we live in.. May God bless you all Trevor Farmiloe |
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May 2003 Dear Friends, It’s May already, we’ve enjoyed some wonderful fine days this spring and we look forward, hopefully to some more good weather to come. In the church we have just been through a busy time with the commitment to remembering and celebrating the passion narrative and then celebrating the wonderful festival of Easter - the heart of the Christian Faith. My thoughts have been turning all the more to children and young people in our church and our community. Inevitably the size of our village dictates that we cannot offer the range of facilities and amusements that are available to young people in the larger towns. However, it must be a commitment of our community to support our young people and provide what we can for them. It is a continual concern of mine, not least with my responsibility for our youth club and my position in the church, that serving our young people should be our priority. We must provide a safe nurturing environment in our community for the young and make our church a welcoming place for all. There is at the moment an active review of facilities for young people in Martock. The youth club and the M3 committees as well as the Parish and District councils are working together in reviewing the facilities we provide and hope to provide in the future. We need your support in this. We should remember that two thousand years ago, in a society where children had little status (for most did not live to adulthood), Jesus made time for children. Do we really love our children today and make them a priority in our lives and our community? We should. The schools and the facilities that nurture our young people in our community should be the most important. In what ways are we helping and supporting our teachers and those who work with young people? As citizens committed to our community, children and young people must be at the heart of our priorities. As Christians we are called to serve others, as such the nurture and care of the young in the Christian faith should be our priority. Where, I wonder, did we put most of our time, money and energy last year? Let us pray that this year the response of the community to nurturing and supporting our young people will be something of which we may be proud. Wishing you all God’s Blessings Peter Hogarth, Curate “God our
father, we pray for our young people growing up in an unstable and
confusing world. Help us to show them that following your way gives more
meaning to life than the ways of the world, and that following you is
better than chasing after selfish goals, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen” |
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Dear Friends, Can you recall your old school reports? I am not quite sure of the format nowadays but in my school days at the end of the term there was a page with the list of all the subjects. Alongside each subject were four columns one for the mark achieved in class work another for the end of term exam results the third was for the position in class and the final one was for the subject teacher to make an appropriate brief comment. In my case the marks may have varied but the comments in the last column were all pretty consistent. Time and time again it was the usual "Could do better if he tried" or "with greater concentration he could achieve good results" or on the odd occasion it was "he shows promise in this subject". My teachers never actually gave up on me. All the way through my school days there was this hope, this belief, that if I would only put my mind to it I could achieve better things. Our faith also is based on hope - hope of better things to come. Oddly enough though, the hope of our faith is not based upon how good we are at the subject or how hard we try. It simply depends upon our response and our trust in a God who also stands by us and believes in us. The hope of new and better things is something which God gives to each one of us - all we have to do is trust him. At the moment of writing this letter (perhaps events will overtake us) there are two things uppermost on my mind one of which is also doubtless dominating your thoughts and prayers. Will we be at war with Iraq within the next few days and if so what will the outcome be for the world as a whole? When we are faced with situations like this when things seem so uncertain and we are unsure who to trust what can we do.? One minute we are thinking perhaps this politician is right or maybe it is this one who has the right solution but of one thing we are really certain and that is any armed conflict must be the absolute last resort after all else has failed. Have we reached that stage? I don't believe any politician or diplomat can give us satisfactory answers. Ultimately there is only one in whom we can trust and that is God himself. When things look black and we see the mess that mankind is capable of in our world not just in Iraq but in countless areas of tension which constantly exist then perhaps our thoughts ought to be directed to another dimension. So we come to the other thing which is obviously on my mind at this moment and that is the events of Jesus' life which we will in some way act out or remember in Holy Week and Easter. The story of that week leading up to the tragedy of Good Friday is a frightening reminder to us of the evil that can be unleashed by just a handful of fanatics. Even today we will recognise some of the titles we place on the leading characters in the Holy Week drama, mention will be made of oppressors, religious zealots, traitors, the greedy and the power crazy. Yet, at the heart of Holy Week and at the heart of any war, whether justified or not, there is the figure of the innocent who suffer. On that first Good Friday we are told the crowd, after watching the crucifixion, went home beating their breasts. Perhaps that should be our response to the violence, the oppression, the fear that dominates so many lives in many parts of our world. Yet Good Friday is called Good Friday because there was a victory. Love could not be destroyed no matter how much evil and hatred was thrown at it. God in Jesus suffered the worst form of cruelty and death and yet never gave up on any one. "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" the most loving words ever recorded. Because God never gives up on us so he also has great hope for us and that is the message of Easter. No matter how much the news concerns us, no matter what black cloud may be hanging over our personal life there is a chance of a new beginning. New life is God's hope and promise for all of us and we don't earn it we simply receive it by putting our absolute trust in him. May God bless you all Trevor Farmiloe |
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