The Rev Dr Steven Martin writes . . . .

If you are planning to go on an exclusive luxury cultural heritage weekend in Magaluf, or are hoping to visit your long-lost (but recently-found) cousin in Clacton-on-Sea next April, then cancel your travel arrangements AT ONCE. Tear up that holiday brochure; put that portmanteau back on top of the wardrobe.  Tavistock is the place to be on Good Friday, 14^th April 2017.  Why? you ask (…Clacton is very nice at that time of year…).  Because we shall be staging the Tavistock Passion: an epic, outdoor, dramatic presentation of the trial, crucifixion and triumph of Christ on the cross. It will be an event not to be missed. The performance will begin at 11am in the centre of Tavistock and everyone is invited to take part or join the audience.

Plans are coming on apace. If you would like to get involved, there are lots of jobs to do and many opportunities to be a part of this exciting community project. You could let loose the inner thespian and audition for a part or join the chorus, or you could help with the music and join the choir or play an instrument in the band. Alternatively, you could help to make the costumes, scenery and props, or join the publicity team, or prepare the refreshments at rehearsals, or be part of the stage management team—there are many jobs to do and we need people with all sorts of skills.

The aim of the project is to present the Easter story as a thought-provoking piece of drama, so that whoever takes part or watches the performance is given an opportunity to engage with it however deeply they wish, at whatever level they feel able. In his first letter to the church he had established in Corinth, St Paul wrote: ‘When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified’ (1 Corinthians 2:2). The story of the cross is the greatest of all mysteries; it is a story which needs to be simply and directly told to all people, because it is not only Jesus’s story, but is our story too. The passion and resurrection of Christ, God incarnate, is a demonstration of the Spirit and God’s power to transform the failure of death into an endless victory—a victory which is ours too, thanks to the limitless mercy of God offered to us through the cross.

Graham Greene once argued that drama in British culture began with the church. The medieval church began the mystery play tradition, and devised colourful, engaging, dramatic presentations of scenes from the Bible to take the story of creation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ out onto the streets.  This is what we hope to achieve with the Tavistock Passion.

I am very keen that both Christians and non-Christians have the opportunity to take part in the Tavistock Passion, because it is not simply a lofty tale for the initiated, but a universally compelling story of betrayal, revenge, tragedy and the power of the love of God to transform death into life. It is a story which everyone should be familiar with regardless of where they are in their understanding of God, because as St Paul realised, ‘knowing Jesus Christ and him crucified’ is key if we are ever to begin to contemplate the limitlessness of God’s mercy and love.

Why, you may ask, am I writing about Passion Plays and Good Friday in the August edition? Auditions and rehearsals are being planned and will start in the autumn, but as wise old Solomon said, ‘time is a very shadow that passeth away’, and all that (Wisdom 2:5). My reason for writing now is to invite you to consider how you can be a part of the Tavistock Passion by offering your time and skills to the project (in any of the ways described above). If you would like to be a part of the Tavistock Passion 2017, please let me know (via Tavistock Parish Office, or 01822 611148).

Even if you are not able to help, or are too worried about losing that deposit you paid for the Magaluf escapade or disappointing your long-lost (but recently-found) cousin in Clacton, and will not be in Tavistock next Good Friday, please support the play by praying for its success, because projects such as this only come to fruition if they are ruthlessly organised and covered in bucket loads of prayer.

Dear Friends,

As children at school, we were given a flag one morning and led out onto the pavement to wave to the Queen as she arrived to open a new bank in Birmingham city centre. Being a child I imagined the Queen was already very old, but 60 years later the Queen is still very much alive, but the bank has been demolished and replaced with a glitzy hotel!

Like many people I have been very touched by the different celebrations we have all been encouraged to join in with over the past 3 months to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s 90^th Birthday. I just wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on her life, and to quote  from some of her speeches, as her total commitment and dedication to service is founded upon a simple trust and firm faith in God.

She is now the longest reigning monarch in British history. At 90 she is still working more than 40 hours per week. She has a staff of 1200 but still insists on feeding her own beloved corgis! (I like that idea).

She is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and chooses to attend church weekly and prays daily, but never tells any of her family to go to church.

As a child she was educated at home and studied constitutional history and law and the religion of the Anglican Church. Six months before her Coronation in 1953, she asked the people of the UK and Commonwealth to pray for her:

1953 (aged 27) ‘Pray that God may give me wisdom and strength to carry out the solemn promises I shall be making, and that I may faithfully serve Him, and you, all the days of my life.’

What is the secret of the Queen’s remarkable consistency of character and extraordinary contribution to the nation, the Commonwealth and the global community?

2002, (aged 76) ‘I know just how much I rely on my faith to guide me through the good times and the bad. Each day is a new beginning. I know that the only way to live my life is to try to do what is right, to take the long view, to give of my best in all that the day brings, and to put my trust in God…I draw strength from the message of hope in the Christian gospel.’

She has often used the Christmas broadcasts to affirm her faith:

2014, (aged 88) ‘For me the life of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, whose birth we celebrate today is a source of inspiration and an anchor in my life. A role model of reconciliation and forgiveness, he stretched out his hands in love, acceptance and healing. Christ’s example has taught me to seek to respect and value all people of whatever faith or none.’

Two years earlier, in an address to faith leaders of the United Kingdom at Lambeth Palace in 2012, the Queen confirmed that the Church of England has a duty to protect the free practise of all faiths in this country. Rabbi Jonathon Sacks, a former Chief Rabbi who met the Queen several times, reflected that Jewish people value the Queen because she makes them feel, not strangers in a strange land, but respected citizens at home. Indeed the Queen’s strong faith in Christ does not lead her to exclude people of other faiths but to embrace them.

I have read that her favourite passage in the Bible is the Parable of the Good Samaritan. She says it reminds us of our duty to our neighbour. We should try to follow Christ’s clear instruction at the end of the story: ‘Go and do thou likewise’.

This month perhaps is a good time to take stock and see how we can put our faith into action with the same dedication as our Queen. Age, it seems, is no longer a barrier to work but an opportunity to become just that bit wiser, and like our Queen there is the opportunity to serve one another in the name of the Lord.

Blessings,

Sally

Reflections by Revd. Mike Loader, Assistant Priest

It was so lovely to come back home to Tavistock some four years ago after fourteen years teaching abroad in Jerusalem, Kenya and Cyprus, but there is one big thing that I miss so much, the clear blue skies. I expect that could also be true for many of you as well, even if it may have been after just a couple of weeks away on a Mediterranean holiday. Exposure to the clear blue sky seems to elevate our souls and raise the spirits.

We have just spent some weeks together celebrating Passiontide, Easter and the Ascension, the most dramatic six weeks of human history. A time when God reset the story of human life upon this earth and gave to us the great hope of life with Him for evermore. A hope of sharing with the Holy Trinity the realised dream of eternal life in a transformed body and in a transformed universe. Now that hope should be enough to raise anyone’s spirit.

I remember during my two years in Jerusalem at the end of the nineties walking the few miles from the Old City and up the steep path to the top of the Mount of Olives. There I entered a small ‘chapel’ that commemorates the Ascension. Can you imagine the mixed emotions that those earliest of disciples must have experienced when standing there with Jesus. Perhaps they were even joined by the friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus from the village of Bethany just a short walk further on. They had hoped that Jesus was the one to deliver Israel (Luke 24v22), that he was the long promised Messiah. But what had they seen instead?

Jesus had been crucified, their hopes dashed and they had fled and deserted him (Matthew 26v56). Then on that first Easter morning the unbelievable stories of the women began to circulate among them; ‘He is not here but risen’ (Luke 24v6) was the message given by the Angels.

Then the disciples began to gather again on that first Easter evening, and probably in that same upper room in which they had shared the parting Passover meal with their Lord on the Tuesday evening (a study on that chronology is well worth while). But fear was still in their hearts as we read “the doors were locked for fear of the Jewish authorities” (John 20v19).

You can imagine that what happened next is of special interest to me as a Physicist. Jesus appears in their midst, not as a ghost but in a resurrected body and says “Peace be with you” (John 20v19). “Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord”.

Such swings in their emotions in such a short period of time. “He really is alive; it is just as He told us, after three days I will rise from the dead” (Luke 18v33). And what an amazing privilege we have in sharing with those chosen disciples that same hope of living a resurrected life with our Lord. But even more than that.

Forty days later came the Ascension and the promise that, as Jesus was going to the Father’s side, He would send us the comforter, the Holy Spirit (Acts 1v4). All the disciples had to do was to have patience and wait. And that is the same for you and me in our discipleship and walk with Jesus today. Many times we have to have patience and wait on God’s timing in our lives. Our emotions may have to pass through many changes, but we too have that same promise that can be realised in our lives, the promise of the presence of the Holy Spirit. We are not just an Easter people, we are a Pentecost people.

The Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord Jesus has given to us a new peace and joy as we live in a transforming relationship with our Lord, and as we continue to exercise our faith and trust in Him. May our lives show that transformation to our families, friends and neighbours who have yet to walk with Jesus on the road to Emmaus or encounter Him on the road to Damascus.

May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus help us to drink abundantly of His life-giving Holy Spirit.

Pentecost 2016

“Pentecost is a moment when new-birth occurs”

When Jesus’s followers found themselves separated from him, whether immediately following the crucifixion or later after the resurrection, his absence threatened to become a crisis. The promise of the Spirit who would “guide them into all the truth and declare to them the things that are to come” did not come immediately as they might have expected.  They were frightened and confused people. But suddenly, all that changed. The promise was realized in a way that far exceeded their expectations. New life for the Church. New life for individuals within the Church. New life through the Spirit of God. The meaning of Pentecost became clear.

The book of Acts dramatically describes the coming of the Holy Spirit as an event that breaks down the formidable barriers created by different languages and cultures. The Holy Spirit enables not only common language but also new speech and conversation about the love of God for all humanity.  This is new life – sudden and unmerited. That’s the reality of Pentecost and it’s vividly described: a heavenly sound like a rushing violent wind, flames of descending fire, transformed speech, and ears unstopped to hear.

Pentecost is a moment when new-birth occurs. Jesus’s followers receive the Holy Spirit. This is very similar to the beginning of creation. Now, the disciples are filled with God’s breath of life and are transformed from a broken-hearted, confused and frightened group into a powerful and effective community that shares confidently all that God has done, and is doing, in their lives.  The inclusiveness of the moment is vividly captured by people from all kinds of ethnic backgrounds and cultures who heard the disciples speak about God’s great deeds of power. What happens at Pentecost is no inner mystical experience, but an outpouring of God’s energy that touches every life present. Like a mighty wind it affects everything and everyone around. When Jesus spoke of the promise of the Father which was going to descend on the world, he was speaking of the way in which the gift of the Holy Spirit would enable us not only to be a new kind of being, but to see human beings afresh and to hear them differently.

The coming of the Holy Spirit brings new life – sudden and unmerited: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be made whole” (Acts 2:21).  So let us not be confused or afraid – let us open our lives to God’s Spirit who will fill us with God’s love and set our hearts free and on fire for him.

With every blessing              

The Very Revd Dr Christopher Hardwick

Vicar of Tavistock, Gulworthy and Brent Tor

Dear Friends

Since whole of April falls within the great 50 days of Easter it is entirely appropriate to remind ourselves of the joyful truth of this season – Alleluia, Christ is Risen – He is Risen indeed, Alleluia. However, in an increasingly secular society, there are a lot of good folks who say, is that so? Yes, we all cry!

But, how do we know? The fact that there have been Easter eggs on the shelves since Christmas and which have now disappeared might not be the most persuasive answer. A quick look at the evidence from the Gospels gives us some clues, but it’s not as crystal clear as we might first think.  Luke has a marvellous phrase to express the disciples’ reaction when the women returned from the empty tomb and told them what they had seen: ‘These words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them’. Although Luke goes on to illustrate how the disciples become aware of the reality of the resurrection.  In other words he shows how resurrection changes the lives of the disciples.

If we look to Mark we find quite a bizarre ending; instead of having an enthusiastic band of disciples fired up and setting off to win the world for Christ, we have a group of speechless, terrified women running for their lives.  It’s as if Mark breaks off in mid-sentence to have a coffee and never returns to his book. For centuries, people have thought that the proper ending to his gospel must have been lost and so others have tried to round things off and give it a satisfying conclusion – but we should not be taken in by this.

But Mark’s abrupt ending is far from accidental.  Instead of recording the resurrection, he leaves it to his readers to experience and live out the amazing truth for themselves. So questions remain and there are loose ends.

Mark and the other evangelists have given us an unfinished story – a story that continues. What happens next is for the reader to find out, to experience in his or her own life. This is how his open ended account works – his story becomes our story.  In a sense the next instalment is for us to write.

It’s for us to experience the Risen Christ, who went ahead of the disciples and who goes ahead of us.  For the disciples fear turned to joy, despair gave way to hope, death was turned to life, a new beginning dawned, living in the light of the Risen Christ.  The resurrection was real and changed everything for them, as we read in other books in the New Testament, and the fact we’re here in our Mission Community celebrating the Easter Season affirms this.

The resurrection is real, but we experience it in different ways: sometimes it is clear, sometimes more tentative, sometimes we sense it only after much struggle.  We may need time to absorb the extraordinary truth that overturns all expectations.  But, there can also be setbacks to our faith, doubts or fears can set in, through the trials of life there can be times when the experience seems far off.

The experience of the resurrection will always be personal, unique to each one of us, and it invites us to make a response. A good starting point is to ask the question “What does God want me to do here and now in this place?”  Collectively we’re called to embrace and follow the Gospel in our daily lives so that we make a difference in our community and beyond.

Individually too, perhaps the first thing we can do is show God’s love to those whose paths cross our own, so that they can experience it through us.  But to do this we need to deepen our own desire to love and serve him through prayer and worship.  This in turn may lead us to feel and explore whether we are being called to serve in more formal ways in the Church, and remember, the Fourth Sunday of Easter is Vocations Sunday.  So, what is God calling you to do?

With every blessing

 The Revd John Higman

Rector of Mary Tavy and Peter Tavy