As I was driving across Dartmoor early in November I drove past a pub with a large banner outside boldly declaring Christmas Season. My immediate reaction was, ‘but we aren’t even halfway through November, we haven’t got to Advent yet!’

It is so easy to think of December as the Christmas season. After all, town centre Christmas lights are usually switched on in November, the shops have been selling Christmas goods for weeks and Christmas dinner menus run throughout December in our local restaurants, but in the Church calendar the Christmas season begins at Christmas and most of December is the season of Advent.

How can we make space for Advent, a time of reflection and waiting, waiting patiently for the Nativity? It’s such a busy time as we dash from shop to shop, write cards and send presents, plan our parties and celebrations and look forward to spending quality time with our families. I love carol services, Crib services, Christmas tree festivals, concerts, Nativity plays, pantomimes and parties and, of course, the joy and excitement of my grandchildren as they wait for ‘Santa’, but in all our busyness it is so easy to forget why we are celebrating. Somehow we need to make space for God. We need to give God quality time too; after all without the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, whose birthday we celebrate at Christmas, there would be no parties, no presents, no Christmas dinner and certainly no carol services.

To make space for God, some of us within the Mission Community are spending a day quietly reflecting at Buckfast Abbey. I love spending time there and the drive across the moor is all part of the day. It’s part of the journey, a sort of pilgrimage. The time of quiet, whilst enjoying the countryside (unless the mist is down) is time well spent, preparing for a special time with God, our God who is delighted when we set aside time to be in his presence.

It was on a short visit to the Abbey that I passed the pub declaring the Christmas season. I wanted to go into the Abbey church and sit quietly in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel but first I enjoyed looking at one of my favourite trees. I love the Monterey Pine growing in the centre of a flowerbed between the church and the restaurant in the grounds of the Abbey. There is a notice from the head gardener in front of it which intrigues me, it begins like this:

The area has been re-designed to prevent compaction of the tree roots (Monterey Pine).

The notice then goes on to list the types of bulb that are planted in the flowerbed, flowers that won’t choke the roots of the pine. The roots need space to provide sufficient nourishment for the tree to flourish.

It reminds me of Jesus’s parable of the sower where only the seed that fell on good ground grew up to bear fruit. That’s a parable about the word of God and how, so often, we fail to listen to it. Sometimes we take no notice. Other times we are delighted by what we hear, but then times get difficult and we forget, or become distracted by all the other things that are going on which get in the way. That’s why it’s good to make an effort to give time to be with God, to strengthen our roots, to allow him to nourish us through the word of God and refresh us with spiritual living water. St Paul in his letter to the Colossian Christians wrote:

Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Col 2:6-7 (NIV)

 Our lives need to be firmly rooted in Jesus. It’s important to give him quality time, so sometimes I like to go somewhere special so I can really focus. The monks of Buckfast Abbey offer the space and peaceful setting I need to become more rooted in Jesus and I am pleased they are also seeking to provide the right environment for their Monterey Pine to flourish too!

In the run up to Christmas please make space for Jesus; it’s time well spent.

Hazel Butland (Reader)

‘I call you friends’ – this was the title of the Ordination retreat held at Sheldon. The text for the retreat was taken from John 15: 9-17.  I share with you a small part of our retreat.

We were shown a copy of an icon which dates from the 8^th century of Christ with Abba Mena (there are many prints and the icon can be viewed on line). The original icon is hanging in the Louvre in Paris. The French, however, title the icon ‘Christ and His Friend’.

The text from John’s Gospel reads ‘I do not call you servants any longer because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because  I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my father’. (John15:15)

The icon depicts Christ with his arm around the friend.  The friend is Abba Mena; he can be seen to represent each one of us. Jesus does not face his friend, rather he stands alongside him; he accompanies him, sharing the burdens of his life. ‘Christ no longer calls us servants but friends’.  The second striking thing about this icon is the position of the eyes. Christ has an eye on his friend and another looking out. This gives us an insight on how we all need to have one eye focused on Christ and one looking out to those in our care, to our neighbours and friends.  As John 15:12 reads; ‘This is my commandment that you love one another’.

The icon shows Christ holding the scriptures; God’s word, the word that tells of the love between God and humanity. We are like the friend in the icon who is holding a small scroll which is rolled up, God’s loving plan not yet fully revealed. Another fascinating detail of this icon is that Christ is depicted without feet. The friend has feet; it is we who are being sent out.  ‘As the Father has sent me so I send you’. (John 20:21)

There is a silence (as in all icons) to be discovered in this icon; both Jesus and his friend’s mouths are closed. The friend, however, is drawn with very prominent ears. We are the listeners of Christ; the silence in the icon is a prayerful silence.  Prayer is the very essence of our relationship with God.

I am writing this piece in early October; however, it will be read in November when churches across our Mission community and throughout the country will be commemorating the ending of World War 1 one hundred years ago. As we remember and pay our respects to all those who went to war, to the horror that they endured and to the many thousands who did not return home, like the icon, as we have one eye focused on Christ and one on our neighbour, so we pray for peace and reconciliation in our world today.

Lord strengthen our hearts, hands and minds to work together for peace; to see you in one another, and to seek your kingdom above all things, that your will may be done, and your kingdom come, through Jesus Christ, the Lord of Lords and King of kings. Amen

(Church of England resources)

^{The Very Reverend Dr Christopher Hardwick, Vicar of Tavistock, Gulworthy and Brent Tor writes:}

^{Healing into Trust}

 ^“Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Bethzatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids – blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.” (John 5:2-9)

We can picture the scene at the pool in Bethzatha, and the desperately plaintive cry of the man by the pool: “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up”.  This is the cry of someone who is deeply alone, who has had no friend to help him for 38 years – we see how easy it is for suffering, and sickness, and weakness, to marginalize and isolate people.  But why does Jesus choose this particular man, above all others at the pool, to heal? Perhaps he is more seriously ill or has been there longer.  Or perhaps it is this person who reflects something of Jesus’s own destiny.  In a world where everything is given to the quick and the strong, surely this man, who cries out of darkness and desperation “I have no one”, reflects the fallen and broken world with which Jesus finally identifies when he cries from the Cross “Why have you forsaken me?” In the world of rivalry and competition around that small healing pool in Jerusalem, we see someone on the margins of life – without hope, and in need – yet overlooked by those around him. There is always someone before him.  But into this situation comes Jesus.  And Jesus heals him, and in doing so breaks the vicious and remorseless logic of competition and marginalization.  Now the last shall be first.  It is pure gift.  In this healing miracle we glimpse the intimacy of the God who is close to us and who brings hope to all who suffer.  This intimacy and healing is pure gift, and it is closer to us than anything we can imagine.

Jesus brings healing and wholeness to a person who seeks his help.  But how do we understand God’s healing in our own lives?  In a very real sense our lives are a mystery.  We can be hurt, we can suffer, and in so many different ways.  In the story we have heard it was when the waters were “stirred up” that the sick were healed.  Here the earlier translation of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible is better, for there the verse reads: “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is troubled” (RSV Jn 5:7).  Similarly, in our own lives, it is often when we are anxious or troubled that we can be healed – even though we do not know the way in which God will do this.  Jesus asked the man by the pool “do you want to be healed?” and he indicated his willingness to be helped – his willingness to place his trust in Jesus – and he was healed.  In a similar way when we, or those for whom we pray, are troubled or suffer in any way, we are invited to place our trust in Jesus, to seek his help and his blessing – to let his love into the most painful places of our lives – whether in body, mind or spirit.  It is then we may begin to experience healing.

But what does this really mean? We may feel in some way that God has let us down, that we have been forsaken, that God really isn’t at work in our lives.  With all the pressures and pains of life a God who cares for us, who nurtures us, who heals, who wants us to be fully perfected, may seem very distant – and difficult, if not impossible, to believe in or trust. I think we need to begin with an affirmation.  We need to affirm that God not only creates us, but sustains us throughout our lives.  We need also to affirm that we live in God’s world, in his kingdom, and that Jesus is alive and active.  In the language of the church, we need to affirm that Jesus Christ redeems us – that he will make us perfect in a way that we cannot now fully understand.  It is at this point in our thinking that our reasoning and rational thought are left behind, and faith takes over.  Because what lies ahead for us is a mystery.  Our healing, our being made whole, our perfection, is a healing into trust.  Trust in God.  Although we may not always realise that we are slowly changing, God nurtures us and sustains us.  As we journey in his kingdom he is perfecting us – in mind, body and spirit.

This is our hope; it is our healing into trust.

Chris Hardwick

What a summer we have had. Some like it hot and they have surely had it these past few months, but the sky is rather ‘grey’ as I write this so change could be on the way as we move into autumn, but perhaps we shall be blessed by an ‘Indian Summer’.

Some of you will know that Joy and I have recently returned from a short stay in India, near Chennai, better known to many of us from our old school atlas, where much was coloured in pink, as Madras. We were there for the beach wedding of Joy’s adopted nephew, and the backdrop of the Indian Ocean made it especially special and to be remembered, together with cows strolling along the beach! A very different society with such extremes and still much poverty, but Joy could see considerable change had taken place since her last stay there nearly twenty years ago, but change for 1.4 billion people is not that easy to hasten along.

We in this country are used to the changing seasons and enjoy that change, most of us having a season that we love best; which is yours, I wonder? When I spent ten years teaching Physics in Cyprus the changing seasons were not so obvious, and a summer of 45°C in Nicosia was best avoided, with a flight back to Tavistock and then needing the central heating! But what of the changes and uncertainties in our lives?

Moving into September presents changes and uncertainties for many people. New beginnings for our children as they may move on to a different school or start higher education or work for the first time. New uncertainties for some of us of the ‘older generation’ as we retire, or as we begin to experience changes in our health or find ourselves alone or more dependent upon others. Last week I attended three funerals on consecutive days, and at times like that we come face to face with the fragility of our lives.

So how do we face these times of change and uncertainty? For those of us who have a sure faith and hope in the one true and living God, although these situations may not disappear, we have the promise that we shall not pass through those ‘troubled waters’ on our own but have the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus, to be with us. And we also have the fellowship of our Christian brothers and sisters to walk beside us along our pilgrim path, and we can all pray for one another.

Remember the advice given by Solomon when writing those beautiful proverbs (3v5), “Trust in the Lord with all your heart”, and also that special invitation and promise of our Lord Jesus (Mtt 11v28), “Come unto me all who labour and are heavy laden, and you will find rest for your souls”.

God has adopted us, who have put our faith and trust in Jesus, as His children, and He has also given to us a sure hope, a hope of eternal life, together with a mansion that Jesus has gone to prepare for us in His presence (John 14), and the promise of new beginnings when all things shall be made new (Rev 21v5).

Let us then take comfort and join in the beautiful nineteenth century hymn by Edward Mote:

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;

All other ground is sinking sand.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,

Oh, may I then in Him be found,

Clothed in His righteousness alone,

Faultless to stand before the throne!

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;

All other ground is sinking sand.

With such a hope set before us, brothers and sisters, let us enter the new season coming upon us with a confidence and comfort that we are not alone, knowing that we are special to God our Father, and that we can become a blessing to those around us even through the changes and uncertainties that we may have to face.

Take care, or if you can, as Bishop Robert has said, “Take risks for God”.

My love to you all as we work together and seek to advance our Lord’s kingdom.

Reverend Mike Loader, Assistant Priest, Tavistock, Gulworthy and Brentor.

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

William Henry Davies (1871-1940), who wrote as W H Davies, was a Welsh poet and prose writer who is best known for two works, his early ‘Autobiography of a Super-Tramp’, which detailed his life as a hobo in the United States from 1893 to 1899, and the short poem ‘Leisure’, which appeared in his “Songs of Joy and Others” in 1911.

‘Leisure’ is only fourteen lines long, and is comprised of seven rhyming couplets

The repeated ‘no time’, which appears in every couplet, rings like a bell in this carefully crafted poem which takes the reader through a catalogue of occasions on which the excuse of ‘no time’ prevents one from enjoying life to the full.

The second to fourth couplets refer to the natural world and have most relevance to the rural reader who is likely to encounter boughs, woods and streams in the course of their day. They are salutary reminders that the privilege of living in the countryside is largely wasted if one does not pause and allow its sights and sounds to do their work on one’s feelings and emotions.

The fifth and sixth couplets take the principle of ‘standing and staring’ to the highly recommended pastime of people-watching.

The title of ‘Leisure’ is an interesting one, because the poem is a call to create leisure by taking the decision to ‘stand and stare’. Davies wrote these words more than a hundred years ago and they are even more relevant today than when he penned them. Most people seem to be ‘full of care’ most of the time and many complain that they have no time for leisure. However, few would disagree with Davies’s conclusion that their life is impoverished because they do not make the effort to switch off and absorb the world around them.

We are now in the height of the holiday season and I do hope we all have given ourselves time to take a break even if we are not going away on holiday. We live in a most beautiful county which gives us that opportunity to stand and stare, to take time to see what is really going on around us and to enjoy God’s creation in all its beauty.

My husband, when we have taken a short flight and fly below the clouds, says this is what God must see, beautifully tended fields with not a weed or a thistle in sight, animals enjoying their pastures, trees and gardens showing themselves at their best, the sand and the sea sparkling as we pass over, tiny houses full of people leading different lives, and the buildings of our towns and cities portrayed at night by light pollution.

Jesus took time to stand and stare, took time out from the busyness of life and the clamouring of the people. Many of his parables and teachings were taken from observing what was going on around him and we often read that Jesus took himself to a quiet place to pray or to set out on the sea to get away from the crowds to find a time of rest and recuperation.

We all need to take time to stand and stare, switch off our phones for at least a week, tell ourselves to switch off our I-pads and computers, have conversations with our nearest and dearest, enjoy a meal with friends without any distractions, but above all we need to find time just to be and make contact with our inner self and with God.

A month ago I was in Dubrovnik, a beautiful place with delightful people who have had more than their share of troubles in the past. It was a sweltering day so I left my friends to find peace, tranquillity and a cooling breeze by taking a short trip in a small boat with ten other people around the islands. I was so looking forward to the space this short time would give me. I smiled at my fellow passengers and settled back to enjoy the peace and tranquillity. A gentleman to my left started to talk to me; he was an American on holiday and we started to talk about the world situation. For some reason I asked if he was a Christian and the flood gates opened; he had many troubles on his mind and this holiday was to be a time to ‘stand and stare’ and to find God. Other people in the boat listened into our conversation, and before long prayers for all different reasons were being said around the boat. We had all been given that time of leisure, that time to ‘stand and stare’ and pray together in the most beautiful of settings. We all hugged each other as we left the boat to go our different ways. God had been in our midst and we had found him.

This summer take time to ‘stand and stare’ and see what happens. Thank God for the many blessings he gives us day by day, find within your leisure time that time to commune with God and pray, and you will find that God is in all that we see and hear around us.

Love to you all

Reverend. Sue (Assistant Curate)