From the Vicarage

A 5-session course beginning Thursday, 1st July 2021, via ZOOM

How do questions about identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage fit within the bigger picture of the good news of Jesus Christ? What does it mean to live in love and faith together as a Church? Christians in Devon are being invited to “listen and learn together” by running the Church of England’s Living in Love and Faith course looking at these issues.

Living in Love and Faith (LLF) is a five-week course supported by a wide range of recourses prepared by the national church. The resources include a book, study guides, podcasts and a powerful series of real-life personal story films. The course book (see details later) begins with an invitation from the Bishops of the Church of England to embark on a learning journey. The course aims to help us think more deeply about what it means to be human and about how to live in love and faith. All around us we see changing understandings of human identity, changing patterns in relationships and families, changing sexual attitudes and activity. What does it mean for followers of Jesus to walk in love, faith and holiness today? Each of the five sessions explores a particular topic. An opening reflection about learning together is followed by two sessions of teaching, time for discussion, and a Bible study. The sessions end with an invitation to reflect on our learning, bringing it to God in prayer. The Church of England website says:

“The hope is for people in Church of England churches across the country to use the LLF resources to study and pray together. The resources are designed to encourage and enable engagement and learning in a variety of settings. This church-wide learning together, listening to one another, and listening to God is part of discerning a way forward for the Church of England in relation to matters of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage. The purpose of the resources is to enable the Church of England churches across the country to participate in a process of learning and praying together as part of discerning a way forward in relation to matters of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage.

The Church of England is keenly aware that issues of gender and sexuality are intrinsic to people’s experience; their sense of identity; their lives and the loving relationships that shape and sustain them. We also know that the life and mission of our Church – and of the worldwide Anglican Communion – are affected by the deep, and sometimes painful, disagreements among us which have been debated and discussed on many occasions over the years.

These divisions have come into sharper focus because of society’s changing perspectives and practices, especially in relation to lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and intersex people. The Church wants to understand what it means to follow Christ in love and faith given the questions about human identity and the variety of patterns of relationship emerging in our society, including marriage, civil partnership, cohabitation, celibacy and friendship.

The LLF resources explore these matters by studying what the Bible, theology, history and the social and biological sciences have to say, and by telling the real-life stories of followers of Christ with diverse experiences and convictions. 

We hope that people in worshipping communities across the country will get involved and use the resources to learn together. That is why there is a range of resources in a variety of formats.

We believe that the Holy Spirit will be active among us as we pray, study and deliberate together to discover Christ’s call to the Church today. We do this with a deep sense of hopefulness for a future in which Christians can follow Christ together joyfully, fruitfully and with integrity.”

All the resources can be found at https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/living-love-and-faith. The course book “Living in Love & Faith” is also available from Church House Publishing.

If you would like to take part in the course (Thursday, 7.00 pm via ZOOM), then please email me at vicar@tavistockparishchurch.org.uk and a ZOOM link will be sent to you. The course dates are:

Thursday 1st July 2021
Thursday 8th July 2021
Thursday 15th July 2021
Thursday 22nd July 2021
Thursday 29th July 2021

If you would like to know more before our course starts then Bishop Jackie is introducing LLF at an open meeting of the Deanery Synod on Tuesday, 15th June 2021 (7.00 pm onwards), via ZOOM, to which everyone is invited. If you would like a link to this meeting then please email inman.anne@gmail.com (Deanery Secretary) or me, on the address above.

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Personal News

As many of you will know from the announcement made at our Annual Parochial Church Meetings, I am to retire on the 31st October 2021, having been Vicar of Tavistock, Gulworthy and Brent Tor since January 2015. My final service will be held in Tavistock Parish Church on 17th October 2021 at 9.45 am to which everyone is very welcome. Following a career in finance and banking, I was ordained in 1992 and I have been very fortunate to minister as a priest and serve churches and people in a variety of places. It has been my joy and privilege to do so. After 45 years of work, I have chosen to retire this year, and whilst it is, understandably, a time of mixed emotions, I feel the time is right. I know I will miss you.

With my love and prayers

Christopher Hardwick
Vicar

From the Curatage…

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

I love that Easter response that bursts out of us on Easter morning, having not let an Alleluia pass our lips for the whole of Lent. But we have been saying it now getting on for a whole month, and it maybe loses its sparkle or freshness. Are we still supposed to be enthusiastic about the resurrection?

Well, according to the church calendar, yes. Easter is a season that lasts 50 days – which means that, writing this at the end of April, we’ve still got a few weeks to go – until the Ascension, which we celebrate this year on 13 May. And I wonder whether, this year in particular, we are more in need than ever of grasping the joy and magnitude of the resurrection? And I wonder whether it took Jesus’ disciples all of those fifty days – the sight of a scarred body that they’d last seen hanging on a cross appearing out of nowhere, walking and talking; the meals on the beach, walking together, the hugs and touches on the shoulder, the conversations about scripture and what it all meant – all that life together, to fully understand what had happened? To begin to believe that the trauma and finality of the crucifixion and death of Christ was not, beyond all rationality, the end of the story. To begin to live beyond the grief and fear that they had experienced. I wonder whether it was only after those fifty days of community, of reassurance, that the disciples were ready for Jesus to ascend to the Father, had the confidence and assurance to go out and proclaim the Good News of Christ’s resurrection?

And I wonder whether the same might be true for us? Whether we might need the whole 50 days of being reminded, again and again, every time we go to church and worship together that Christ is risen – he is risen indeed – and for that to draw out the Alleluia! from us. Especially after this last year, with its restrictions, and anxiety, and frustration, and boredom, and loneliness. To believe that there can be resurrection after the metaphorical deaths of this pandemic.

In saying this I don’t want to distract from the very real grief that those who have lost loved ones over this last year will be feeling, whether they died from Covid or for any other reason. Their deaths, and the limitations on loved ones saying goodbye, are a tragedy, and cast a shadow that will not disappear, though it may change or ease over time.

Nevertheless, our Christian hope is that the resurrection is true, that nothing is beyond God’s power to bring new life from things and places that we were sure were dead – even when we aren’t quite sure we’re ready to believe it. Even when we’ve laid to rest the idea that we might go out shopping again, or meet up with friends, or go away, or visit family, go out for a meal, or even go back to church. It might take a little bit of time for us to believe that these things are worth the risk again – and that is ok. We have a God who knows that it takes us time to believe and hope – maybe the 50 days of this season of Easter. But in the fulness of time, as people continue to be vaccinated, and cases drop, and restrictions ease, and we begin to believe that there is life after the pandemic, I’m looking forward to seeing you out and about, and having coffee and a chat. Because Christ is still risen – he is risen indeed! Alleluia!

From the Vicarage ….

There is no other day to compare with Easter Day.  It stands out from all the conflicts and turmoil of our broken world.  Early on the first Easter morning the power of God was revealed to a disbelieving world. Death is conquered – Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.  It was an event which not only altered the past but also shaped the future.  Nothing can be the same again. This is what makes Easter the greatest occasion for the Church and for the world. All our hopes for the future stem from this one event in our history.  Easter announces that there is a way forward out of darkness. Easter assures us that transformation is possible and that change can take place in our lives.

“Alleluia, Christ is Risen!” But how do people come to believe this is true?’  As a priest, I am constantly surprised by the sheer variety of stories people tell about what has led them to say: ‘I believe’ when they hear the Easter story.  The stories are enormously varied: some people find life and meaning in worshiping together, and that has persuaded them; some have experienced release from a problem or burden in their life that they have tried to shake off for ages – and then suddenly it has happened.  Some people have stories of disasters, lives torn apart by tragedy – events in which nobody could find any meaning – and then suddenly light comes out of darkness – a door opens to a different and brighter future – and all out of some great suffering or seemingly meaningless catastrophe.  There are some who bear with them the pain and memory of a recent bereavement, and I think this will be particularly true this year as a result of the ongoing pandemic, for which there are no quick or easy words of comfort.  What there is, is the Easter story and the promise of new life, and that is central to the Christian faith – it speaks of new life.

St.John records that the experience of one of the twelve disciples, Thomas. Thomas had not been with the other disciples when they told him they had seen Jesus, he could not believe them.  He was asking of them, and of himself, the question that millions have asked after him: Did Jesus really rise physically from the dead?  “Unless I can see him and touch him,” he said, “I will not believe.”  We make a huge mistake if we simply dismiss Thomas as a man of little faith.  He was not.  I do not think we can blame him for not accepting the disciples’ story without a shred of evidence.  Thomas had seen Jesus die. He, like the other disciples, was frightened, disheartened, and disillusioned, and he was unwilling to accept the word of others.

The scene is vividly described.  The doors of the upper room where the disciples were was locked, and Jesus came and stood among them. He said to Thomas, “Reach out your finger, and see my hands.  Reach out your hand and put it into my side and believing.”  This was the moment of transformation for Thomas, for, in this moment, and, without touching Jesus, he understood the truth. Jesus had risen from the dead. To believe in the resurrection is to trust that God has caught us up into living a new life in a transformed world.

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead affirms that death is not the end for us. There is a life beyond our mortal life in this world. Our existence is not limited by the cycle of birth to death. Easter is a turning point which invites us to live in an entirely new way that goes beyond the limitations of this world. We are challenged to become part of a new creation, inspired by the life of God. But, life depends on how we look at it. It can be seen as an empty tomb, full of bitterness and confusion, or it can be seen as full of joy and hope. The challenge for us is to appreciate God and to see his plan in the ordinary everyday events which surround us, and to place our faith and trust in the ultimate goodness of his purposes. The challenge is to open our hearts and minds to the risen Christ by allowing ourselves to be sent into the world to proclaim the Good News of this new life and new creation to all people.

Call our Father, we thank you for the joy of this Easter. May all who celebrate the resurrection of your Son experiences his power in their lives. We make this prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

With more hours of daylight, the joy of spring, enjoy Easter, and please stay safe and well.

With every blessing this Eastertide.

Christopher Hardwick

From the Vicarage

Holy Week

Palm Sunday commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The crowd proclaim Jesus as their king for he seemed to have come as the fulfilment of his earthily mission. This is the beginning of Holy Week and it is both a day of glory and of impending tragedy. For Jesus, it is the beginning of the last week of his earthly life, a week of violent contrasts, which will end in grief and glory. The Gospels describe the sight of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey with people waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna”. But soon, those palms will be formed into crosses and the cheers of the crowd will turn into jeers calling for Jesus’ death. Throughout the passion, if is helpful to focus our attention on Jesus who appears as a person absorbed in prayer, as he facers each new moment of impending tragedy.

Before his resurrection Jesus has to experience pain, suffering and death on a cross. In the garden of Gethsemane, he is deeply troubled, and he sweats blood as he prays for the Father to remove the suffering from him. Betrayed and taken prisoner, he is mocked, blindfolded, beaten and spat upon, while a convicted murderer is set free. He hears Peter deny him and the apostles forsake him. His sense of abandonment is increased by the desertion of his friends. At Calvary, he is crucified between two thieves and dies as a common criminal. Mary stands at the foot of the cross with a handful of others, remaining faithful to the last.

This is the most solemn and sacred week of the Church year and during it we are invited to take the road with Mary and those few friends who followed Jesus to Calvary, and we are invited to be prayerful by his side. Holy Week highlights the peak moments of Jesus’ love for us and gives us an opportunity to look at our lives as well. As we do this, and enter as best we can into Jesus’ passion, the work of the cross will touch our lives so that we may be changed and come to know God more deeply. The sufferings of Jesus, and the sacrifice Jesus makes on the Cross for us, have become a source of strength to countless people throughout the ages. They can be a source of strength for us when we too face times of suffering or difficulties in our lives.

During Holy Week we are given a glimpse into the mystery of suffering and the outpouring of God’s love that surrounds us on so many sides. When we are confronted with the primary Christian symbol of the cross, we are given the assurance that decisive actions have been taken for us and that there is a God of love who journeys with us.

With my love and prayers

Chris Hardwick