Rector's Letter March 2007

Dear Friends,

What has been striking me quite forcibly this month is contrasts. It all started with a journey to London. Going down the motorways and stopping off at various ‘watering holes’ along the way, I became enthralled by the total change of accent of the staff at each stopping place. The motorways and many of the eating-places are all so similar, and yet you just have to tune in to the accent to know where you are. I hope standardisation or globalisation never robs us of this variety of speech that changes, often quite dramatically, over comparatively short distances. 

We stopped with my youngest son, who stays halfway between Blackheath and Lewisham. The first day we walked into Blackheath and the second into Lewisham – now there’s a contrast. Turn a corner in London, or I suppose in any city, and you pass from leafy suburbs with fine looking houses, into areas of poverty and deprivation, in seconds. I don’t pretend to have answers to the social ills of our nation and world, but these are contrasts that do not seem healthy. Some of our poorer areas do have a certain life and energy about them, but there is also an underlying sense of threat and danger. I would think this applies the world over, between neighbours, districts and countries – the greater the contrasts, the greater the likelihood of civil unrest and wars. We used to visit Scandinavia a lot when our eldest son lived in Sweden – their societies seemed much more egalitarian and settled. I wouldn’t have said they were particularly boring, although this is perhaps the impression given.

When we went to find Southwark Cathedral for the MU service, I glanced up and saw a few ladies crossing a road. “Oh,” I said, “there are some MU members. We’ll just follow them.” I’d never set eyes on these particular ladies before, so how did I know they were the ones to follow in a busy London street? Somehow they just stood out in contrast with those around them. 

Our faith is full of contrasts, never more so than at Easter. We pass through the serious, but I hope not miserable time of Lent, the false joy of the Palms, to the blackness and despair of Good Friday, and then to the real joy of Easter. The Christian year mirrors our lives’ journeys, with their twists and turns, their joys and sorrows, the contrasts that a day or a moment can make. 

Through all the contrasts of life, our faith is our one constant; whatever our mood or physical circumstances, God is there for us. The accent of our worship, and the places where we worship might present huge contrasts, but the Father of Jesus whom we worship stays the same, though our understanding might change on an almost daily basis. 

Janice

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