From the Pen of Rev Steve
Recent copies of the minister's letters from Rev Steve.
These are reproduced from the monthly Newsletter.
August-September 2024: Like any extended family it has not been a year without difficulty.
During the month of August there are two significant events that I will have the good fortune to play a part in. The first of which is my parents diamond wedding anniversary on the 18th August. We will partake of a special meal at one of their favourite restaurants, gather for a family event at the house and mark it in the Sunday morning service at their local Methodist church. My brother, who is a local preacher, will be leading the service and I will preach and preside at communion. It seems fitting that we mark it in such a way as they have been actively involved in Methodism throughout their married life. They were both local preachers from an early age and 32 years ago dad became a Methodist minister.
In addition to the above significant moment at the end of August we will be travelling to Northern Ireland where our niece is getting married. Again it is my privilege to be conducting that ceremony and to seek God’s blessing on their marriage.
Like any extended family it has not been a year without difficulty, pain and suffering. So our gathering is not a sticking plaster over unhealed wounds. Nor is it an elixir masking the pain that has been felt. Instead the pain and loss are acknowledged and woven into the moments of celebration. The history of any family, and the immediate history of any particular year in part defines who we have become. So celebration is not isolated from pain, but all the same the celebration is allowed to happen. Indeed it is necessary that it does happen, because those accents and moments of joy can sustain you through traumatic times.
There is an oft used saying that notes: “better to have loved and lost, rather than never to have loved at all”. Well throughout the Christian church, and I think it is true of other religions as well, there have been those who have chosen to remove themselves from society, either forming religious societies whose primary purpose is prayer, or to become a recluse or hermit devoting themselves to the spiritual life. The Qumran community where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered are one group. The Desert Fathers are another notable group of hermits or ascetics that extracted themselves from society for a prayerful life. Indeed they heavily influenced the monastic movement of Christianity, where the monks' or nuns' private quarters (if they had any) were known as their cell.
Now I am not wishing to belittle groups such as these whose contribution to understanding throughout the life of the church has been significant. Yet certainly within the closed orders, their involvement and even knowledge of family joys and sadness would have been limited at best. Life though, when it is engaged in all its fulness, offers us a rich tapestry.
Furthermore when we can pause to remember in the joyous times and in the sad times we find that God’s presence is in the weave of the fabric. So when we pause to give thanks for mum and dad’s marriage and for our niece’s wedding, it will be knowing that in the fabric it is made up of sadness and joy, the warp and weft, and the Divine presence is accented throughout it all.
So I for one am thankful that I can experience these highs and lows, and am not cocooned away as a hermit…. Better to have loved and lost!
Every Blessing>
Steve
In addition to the above significant moment at the end of August we will be travelling to Northern Ireland where our niece is getting married. Again it is my privilege to be conducting that ceremony and to seek God’s blessing on their marriage.
Like any extended family it has not been a year without difficulty, pain and suffering. So our gathering is not a sticking plaster over unhealed wounds. Nor is it an elixir masking the pain that has been felt. Instead the pain and loss are acknowledged and woven into the moments of celebration. The history of any family, and the immediate history of any particular year in part defines who we have become. So celebration is not isolated from pain, but all the same the celebration is allowed to happen. Indeed it is necessary that it does happen, because those accents and moments of joy can sustain you through traumatic times.
There is an oft used saying that notes: “better to have loved and lost, rather than never to have loved at all”. Well throughout the Christian church, and I think it is true of other religions as well, there have been those who have chosen to remove themselves from society, either forming religious societies whose primary purpose is prayer, or to become a recluse or hermit devoting themselves to the spiritual life. The Qumran community where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered are one group. The Desert Fathers are another notable group of hermits or ascetics that extracted themselves from society for a prayerful life. Indeed they heavily influenced the monastic movement of Christianity, where the monks' or nuns' private quarters (if they had any) were known as their cell.
Now I am not wishing to belittle groups such as these whose contribution to understanding throughout the life of the church has been significant. Yet certainly within the closed orders, their involvement and even knowledge of family joys and sadness would have been limited at best. Life though, when it is engaged in all its fulness, offers us a rich tapestry.
Furthermore when we can pause to remember in the joyous times and in the sad times we find that God’s presence is in the weave of the fabric. So when we pause to give thanks for mum and dad’s marriage and for our niece’s wedding, it will be knowing that in the fabric it is made up of sadness and joy, the warp and weft, and the Divine presence is accented throughout it all.
So I for one am thankful that I can experience these highs and lows, and am not cocooned away as a hermit…. Better to have loved and lost!
Every Blessing>
Steve
From the Pen of Rev Steve
".... better to have loved and lost ...."