Rector's Letter September 2006

Dear Friends,

Well, here we are again: another magazine letter to be written, to say nothing of a sermon and innumerable other matters to sort and prepare. So what am I doing? Displacement activity. I’ve watered the plants, tidied the desk (a considerable displacement that; perhaps I should say I’ve located the desk). I hate untidiness but have no skills for keeping things tidy. I could say it’s a cross I have to bear, but as someone replied to a man who said his temper was his cross to bear, “That’s not your cross, it’s your wife’s” – so perhaps it’s David’s. Quite. Untidiness around me gives me an untidy brain, so before I do any serious work I have to tidy up. Does it clear my brain? Well, we also all have our illusions – let’s just say, decisively, yes and no.

But to return to the displacement activity: I have all the sympathy in the world with Francis Drake and the story (I couldn’t guarantee its veracity) of his waiting to fight the Spanish Armada till he’d finished his game of bowls. How can I write a sermon when I haven’t got the game of patience out on the computer? Isn’t that the whole point of computers anyway – a huge resource to prevent you getting involved in anything too serious, like cleaning the house or talking to another family member? Why don’t we (I suppose I shouldn’t speak for others but I don’t think I’m that odd, at least in this particular,) just get on with what needs doing and not procrastinate? I find myself bribing myself: if you answer all those emails or clean the bathroom, you can have a cup of coffee. How sad is that? Once I have actually completed a job I always think I should have a break rather than get quietly on with the next task. The only exception to all this is working in the garden; I can go on and on and on without even thinking I need a rest, a meal, a diversion. Yet years ago I made a conscious decision not to ‘over-garden’, as I didn’t want to get to the end of my life and to have people say as my one achievement in life,  ‘Well, she kept a nice garden’. Different if you’re in the Gertrude Jekyll or Vita Sackville West or Percy Thrower sort of class.

What worries me with these matters is this: if I can act like this, what about our leaders? I don’t claim to be strong on politics, but some of the decisions made on the world stage so often seem to me to be pure madness – in no one’s best interests. Do you think it’s because they’re having an ‘off day’ or want to finish, say, a jigsaw puzzle, that they just don’t bother to think things through? It’s a very worrying thought. Perhaps they’re no cleverer or wiser than the rest of us.

It’s such an overwhelming relief to have faith in God. I bet he didn’t bribe himself with a cup of coffee before getting on with the plants and animals. Though perhaps he should have taken a rest before creating us. But no, faith in God does also lead us to faith in humanity. Jesus reveals what humanity has the potential to become. We can be perfect in Christ – even if in ourselves some of us (no, let’s be honest, all of us) are far from perfect.

Janice

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