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Rector's Letter May 2006 Dear Friends, A friend of mine always used to say, “I know what I think; don’t disturb me with the facts”. Usually when I was about to point out the total illogicality of her thinking on a particular subject, in my normal helpful fashion. Funny how people resent such assistance, isn’t it? As we have passed from Lent, through Holy Week to Easter and from winter to spring, it was the thought of disturbance that was interesting me. I have this theory, totally unbacked by any scientific evidence, that one feels most comfortable in the season in which one was born. I’m an autumn child; spring often seems a little threatening to me. Eliot’s oft-quoted phrase (in fact so oft-quoted it’s become something of a cliché) rings true for me – ‘April is the cruellest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead ground’. I was trying to think why, apart from my theory, I should be disturbed by spring. It’s so beautiful. I went for a walk with the dog the other evening and it was amazing how changed everything was. There were people walking for the joy of it: young couples out (young men’s fancies turning quite obviously in that direction); one family were having their evening meal outside. Youths were making their way with eager steps to the Laighhills with their bottles. The birds were singing and the flowers and blossom a sight to behold. I think my unease has to do with my feelings that now spring is here I’d better get to work. Strange, because I’m an active soul who doesn’t go in for much hibernation during the winter and I love gardening. It also has to do with my past feelings about Easter, too. I always got so much spiritually out of the services, rituals and reflections around Lent and Holy Week, but Easter Day never seemed to quite live up to its promise. It just never worked for me. I had experienced the joy of the resurrection at other times but not, for some inexplicable reason, on Easter Day. But then, reading the Gospel accounts, they do not speak of overwhelming joy but of fear, bewilderment, excitement, disturbance – the joy and the understanding take time. Birth is painful; new things upset our comfortable assumptions. The joy of Easter is not to be found by pretending the horror of all that has gone before is no longer there. Jesus when he appears to Thomas still bears the marks of crucifixion. A false jollity is empty of any real joy. Spring, Easter – they are disturbing times, but most of us need a good dose of disturbance from time to time. Janice |