Dear Friends,

Those who were unable to attend the Vicarage Barbecue missed a real treat. As you will probably read in this magazine the theme was a tribute to Elizabeth Turner and her award of the MBE.

The highlight of the evening was the result of a busy searching of the whole village and auditioning for a line up of the village’s most beautiful ladies! with the best possible singing voices! The resulting chorus line then gave a wonderful rendition of “Rule Britannia” with specially written words. What we hadn’t realised was that whilst they were singing a massive pane of glass in the Vicarage lounge was shattered. Could it have been the result of these ladies hitting the highest notes or was it just coincidence? Later we had to make contact with the Diocese for its safe removal and replacement. The property department of the Diocese were insistent in me giving an explanation of how such a large and expensive pane of glass could be broken. This information was obviously needed for Insurance purposes. After giving my suggested explanation I don’t think that they honestly believed a group of nine ladies could hit such notes as would shatter glass at 20 paces! After all, in the past, Concorde had flown over many times and its sonic boom had never inflicted such damage! But then they had never experienced the power of “The ET9”

Well, of course, the truth is that the frame had possibly moved as a result of the hot weather causing the glass to bend and eventually shatter but I reckon my explanation makes a better story. In the event the entertainment on the evening gave a great deal of pleasure to the gathered crowd and no harm was done at all.

I think there is a kind of moral behind this story that any action we take or any words we use can either do good and give pleasure or do harm and cause damage. The actions and words of Jesus came from a loving heart. A heart which could only see the good and the potential in others, a heart which only wanted what was best for his fellow human beings, a heart which believed that wholeness of body, mind and spirit was the basic human need. We are called to follow that way of life to do good and not cause harm, in other words, sometimes to think hard before we speak.

We look out on our world in these troubled times and feel that we have no effective voice – we can do nothing to change or alter the situation. Yet I think we underestimate the power of good actions and thoughtful words. We underestimate the power of following the teaching of Christ and taking the Christian path. Try as we might we cannot find one single flaw in Christ’s teaching about our relationship with our fellows. The difficulty is in us putting it in to practice. Yet if we could all follow the way of Christ, if we could all sing the same tune then the power released would be enough to shatter any barriers which separate human beings from each other.

May God bless you all

Trevor Farmiloe Vicar