Review

St Matthew's Review Summer 2009

• Holy Week and Easter
• May Fair
• Treasures in earthen vessels - the Annual Congregational Meeting
• What it's like to be a Server
• Prophetic Voices
• My wonderings on the Lent Course 2009
• The Moral of Being a Warden

Holy Week & Easter

Holy Week at St Matthew’s was spent in prayer and meditation under the guidance of Fr Stuart.  On Maundy Thursday we recalled the Last Supper where Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, and journeyed to the Garden of Gethsemane where we shared the opportunity to wait with Christ until midnight.

Good Friday’s liturgical reflections on the meaning of suffering led us to the heart of the Easter mystery, preparing us for the celebration of new life on Easter Day. The silent entry of the priest and servers, the church devoid of any decoration, the prostrating before the altar, all reinforce the sense of loss and emptiness that the disciples must have felt on that day. At the heart of the service the Passion Gospel was sung by three people standing in front of the altar rail. After the Veneration of the Cross, instead of the Reproaches, the choir sang a calm, reflective piece by Keith Duke, ‘On the Holy Cross I see’ which begins with a solo flute and then a solo voice before the choir enters. After the receiving of the reserved Sacrament the service ended as it had begun, in silence.

Forty-five members of the congregation gathered in icy darkness round a bonfire listening to the dawn chorus before moving into the candle-lit darkness of the church.  As the sun rose, the church was lit and there was a burst of music from the organ and the First Mass of Easter began with its message of hope, love and new life symbolised by the massed display of white and gold flowers.  As we all renewed our baptism vows, the baptism of Delia Porter was a specially valued gift for the life of the church.  Afterwards breakfast was shared by the congregation; croissants and ‘bacon butties’ were gratefully welcomed by all as we wished each other a joyful Easter. 

At a celebration Mass for All Ages which followed at 9.30am, we celebrated the First Communion of Kerry-Ann and Daniela Woods, Imogen Busa, Nicholas Hands-Heart, Dominic Easterbrook, Henry and Isobel Gilbert, Kuba Pawloski, Sebastian Easterbrook, Ryan Moss and Simon Berry. 

The Llewellyn Easter was different.  We celebrated Easter Morning in a small grey stone church in mid Wales, its ancient circular Celtic graveyard brilliant with daffodils and primroses set in a ring of hills riddled by old mine workings of lead and silver, dating from Roman times.  An old mineworker told me that as a child he saw an old sealed chamber broken into in one of the workings.  The men saw benches and a table for a few seconds before they crumbled into dust as fresh air rushed in.  The metal tools on the table remained and they were Roman.   The road past the church, translated from  Welsh as the road of the Holy Cross, linked the Cluniac monastery of Strata Floride to the seven churches of the parish and led to the drovers’ road on which ore and sheep were taken to England.  The hatchments, stained glass and memorial tablets, the empty pews of the private chapel, were the reminder of the local aristocrat, enriched by his tolls on ore crossing his land.  Now his mansion is empty.  There used to be a little choir but one Easter it was in disgrace, having discovered and eaten all the Easter eggs which were to be visual aids in the sermon.  This Easter, however, we were fewer and too old for Easter eggs.  The hymns in Welsh and English were sung lustily, and the retired priest – filling in the gaps in an interregnum in a parish with seven churches – spoke of the joy of Easter, the rebirth of life, pointing to the sheep and lambs in the fields, and assuring us that, after attending morning service, there would be no sinning if we were to play football later in the day.  So rejoicing in the dispensation, we twenty or so elderly villagers wished everyone a Happy Easter and went into the sunshine of an empty landscape.

Gwyneth Llewellyn

May Fair

Our May Fair was blessed with sunshine so we celebrated inside and out. The bunting and the bouncy castle in the garden were a colourful invitation to the many children who came to have fun together. It was difficult to recognise our faithful attenders behind their new personae of terrifying pirates, frightful ghosts and delightful little whiskered and be-sequined animals thanks to the skills of clever face-painters. The children worked hard to help the stall-holders to market their wares and themselves ran their own raffle.

Lunch was excellent, organised by Ian and his helpers and enjoyed by his many customers. There were colourful and attractive stalls around the church. Varied craft products, flowers, plants, jewellery and delicious cakes testified to the skills of church members. The event brought together many old friends and neighbours from the local community. People gave the goods generously and bought appreciatively. The bookstall and the tombola should keep us all happy till the next Fair. Malcolm’s choir (joined by the Rector, her husband and another St Mary’s Choir member) sang madrigals from the organ loft, a joyful hymn to Spring which caught the happy mood of the occasion.

We are all grateful to those who worked so hard and created such a joyful occasion. Our thanks especially to Janet McDonough for her serene and capable organising which resulted in a tangible sum of money - over £1600 – and an intangible sense of community service.

Gwyneth Llewellyn

Treasures in earthen vessels - the Annual Congregational Meeting

Laurence was a minister in Rome in the third century, a time of oppression and persecution by the secular Roman authorities. When the Roman Prefect commanded the church to hand over all its treasures, Laurence assembled the people of God, and presented them to the Prefect. ‘These are the treasures of the church,' he said.

In some ways, I tend to think the idea of a vicar’s report at the Annual Meeting is rather presumptuous. Sometimes people are simply told what they have been doing over the past year, perhaps they are then told what they should be doing or what big, important plans the vicar has for them in the coming year. I decided not to play that game this year. Instead, at our Annual Meeting I asked parishioners to identify the ‘treasures’ of our life together in the St Matthew’s Community. What have been the peak experiences of the past year? What has helped you to grow in your relationship with God? What have you enjoyed? Where have you been challenged? These are some of the things people bravely and generously came up with:

When Laurence presented his ‘treasures’ to the Roman Prefect he was laughed at and ultimately murdered. There will always be those who will not – or cannot – recognise the riches that God has given to us. That should be of great sadness to all of us, for it is the people in whom Christ lives that truly are the most precious treasures of our church and when we fail to value them, we fail to value Christ.

Of course, looking at the above box of treasures could make us seem like the ideal community. We also spent some time at our Annual Meeting getting our hopes and dreams together for the months ahead. Where are we hoping for change and development in the coming year?

In reality, these too are treasures that must already exist within our community, otherwise no-one would have been able to identify them. The task for the committee and the whole congregation in the year to come is to take them out of the box, polish them up and use them in the service of God.

Fr Stuart

What it's like to be a Server

I enjoy being a server at church and I always get something out of it. I felt a mix of surprise and excitement the day Father Stuart asked me to be a server. It was a big surprise! I enjoy the different jobs I do whilst serving. I carry the candles, ring the bells and carry a cross (only sometimes). The list goes on and on but I mostly enjoy Taper 2 since I don’t have to do that much, only ring the bells and carry the collection!

I’ve had many experiences through serving – whether it is sadness from the funerals, seeing my teachers and friends cry, or the humorous jokes Father Stuart makes. So far, in addition to weekly services, I have served at 2 funerals, 1 anniversary Mass, 1 Easter Good Friday.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank some people as I would not be serving without them:

• Father Stuart for asking me to serve.
• John, William and Ruby for their advice and support.
• Jean Porter for her encouragement and support.

Since starting serving I feel my relationship with God has improved. I pray more regularly and have a bigger role in the church community. I am praying a lot recently with the worries of SATs and starting Secondary School and it’s nice to know that Father Stuart and God are always there for me or for anyone else for that matter.

Sam Nicholls

Prophetic Voices

Only six sessions on alternate Saturday mornings but we certainly covered a lot – we read and listened to passages from the Books of the Prophets, shared and discussed our understanding or sometimes lack of it, and were enlightened and educated by Fr Stuart’s geographical and historical accounts which provided much needed context for the words we were reading.

The first session explored the origins of prophecy and the typical attributes or characteristics which might help us to identify someone as a Prophet. Frequently the Prophets of the Bible were people of humble origins such as shepherds and fishermen, people who often did not believe that they were capable or qualified to deliver God’s word. Invariably God would appear and talk to them through amazing visions or dreams where God would be clouded in mystery, bright lights or wild flames.

Moving on to look at the Prophets of the 8th Century BC such as Hosea, Amos and Isaiah, we were met with overwhelming doom and gloom. Israel was already divided into a northern kingdom (Israel) and southern kingdom (Judah). The Prophets spoke out, criticising sinful practices and idolatry of other gods, and how God would bring judgment upon them. Through their messages you could almost feel God’s anger and pain.

In the early 6th Century BC, there was still doom and gloom and the Prophet Jeremiah warned of oncoming destruction if the nation did not repent. Had God really had enough? Was His mercy really at an end? Certainly you would think so by what followed: the destruction of Judah including the Temple and the exile of God’s people from their Promised Land into a life of slavery.

In comes Ezekiel. Ezekiel, a priest living with the Jewish exiles in Babylonia, had visions of God appearing like a man, yet glowing and dazzling with fire; and of angelic beings with four faces, wings, hands and wheels within wheels that contained all-seeing eyes. Wow! What a mystical and symbolic vision! What did it mean? Well, this led to a very lively penultimate session around Fr Stuart’s breakfast table. In essence it seems that Ezekiel was trying to tell people that God is everywhere, even in exile. This was a significant change of view - people no longer needed to go to the Temple to pray or even to be in the Promised Land to be near to God; God had not left them.

At this point it was intriguing to be reminded that God created us in His own image. So, had God changed His mind like we often do? Certainly the story from Jonah suggests as much – God saved the people from Ninevah when they prayed to be saved, even though He had sent Jonah to warn the people of their destruction because of their sinful ways.

However, perhaps it was not God who was changing His mind but the Prophets changing their interpretations of the messages God was sending them. Other views were changing too: both Jeremiah and Ezekiel taught that children would not be punished for the sins of their parents as previously believed; rather each person would be responsible for their own actions.

As we looked back at later passages from the Books of the Prophets, it emerged that actually they all offered hope; hope that one day the remnants of God’s people would be returned to the Promised Land. Isaiah reminds people that God is a God of mercy, grace and compassion; God will not allow Judah to be completely destroyed nor will He allow all of His people to be destroyed; remnants will be saved just as Noah’s family and pairs of all animals and all birds were saved on the Ark when everything else was destroyed. Ezekiel also gives hope of a restoration through his vision of God breathing new life into dry bones; perhaps also a reminder of the creation story. The beginnings of this restoration are seen as King Cyrus of Persia came to power and allowed the Jews in exile to return to Jerusalem.

Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel all foretold of a Messiah. Isaiah spoke of a virgin birth and a Messiah who would reign in a time of justice and righteousness. He also foretold the suffering the Messiah would endure in order to pay for our sins and give us salvation.

It was interesting to ponder what reactions the Prophets would have received in today’s world. Would people take note or would those in authority simply cast them to one side and refer them for psychiatric help?! Where are the prophetic voices of today?

Throughout the Bible, and the Books of the Prophets are no exception, there is vivid imagery and no end of parables. Even with geographical and historical context they are open to individual interpretation. Several people related scenes and stories relevant to current situations and asked questions such as, ‘Has anything changed?’. ‘Is history repeating itself?’. Some of the earlier sessions left me with brain ache; and a feeling of having been let down by how badly people, then and now, can behave towards each other. However, the penultimate session left me feeling spiritually uplifted and I believe this was largely due to the mere process of sharing and reflecting on the words of the Prophets and hearing new ideas and opinions being aired. Does it all now make sense? Perhaps not, but of one thing I am sure - my faith.

Thank you, Fr Stuart, for another inspiring and enlightening course!!

Delia Porter

My wonderings on the Lent Course 2009

Having missed all of Advent due to being home alone with two small boys for a month I was really looking forward to the Lent Evenings. I arrived to the first session in a flurry. I have not been disappointed. The feeling I felt in the sessions has remained with me for a few weeks now so I have put pen to paper, or rather finger to the laptop!

Can you imagine thousands of years ago sitting around a campfire with a group of 10 to 15 people and listening to stories about man’s faith in God? Not the stories from the Old Testament – it wasn’t written down then. But experiencing hearing them as they may have been originally told and passed down the generations.

This is where we were transported by Father Stuart’s gentle dramatisation of The Great Flood. “I know that one – about Noah and the Ark” I hear you say. True, you probably do. But have you ever wondered deeply about it? This was the invitation after hearing the story – to wonder! I realised in my wonderings that I needed to inhabit Noah’s world and so I replayed it using the wooden, stone and glass materials Father Stuart had used so beautifully.

What was it about Noah that allowed him to hear God? If God talked to me – would I hear it? – let alone actually change the whole course of my own and my family’s life based on what I had heard. What is it in my life which is blocking me in coming closer to my God? Ultimately for me it must be about faith. Noah had so much faith in his heart and mind that he acted in a manner which everyone else would have thought was crazy! Build a big boat! Fill it with lots of animals! World wide flooding!

I have thought - no, felt - for a while now that life on the Ark would have been quite peaceful and harmonious. I’ve yet to find anyone else who feels this too. Chaotic, noisy, smelly, tense, is what I am told. But I can’t shake the feeling. After four weeks I have finally heard my God within me and it is crystal clear now. Noah, his family and every single animal on the Ark would have felt God’s Love and Presence continuously throughout that very difficult, frightening period. They had the knowledge that it would be alright in the end if they just waited and remained faithful. And of course it did. The rain stopped. The waters dried up. Sin was washed away and their lives were saved. My head is spinning about it but at the same time very strangely calm.

It seems to me that Lent is all about faith and testing that faith by waiting for the resurrection of Jesus. I once said very naively to Father Stuart if I could just believe that Jesus died and then came back to life I could believe everything else in the bible. I wonder if I got it the wrong way round. I need to grapple with the deep truths of the Noah’s Ark story and the others that were heard over the Lent course to have faith in the ultimate miracle of my God’s love for me.

But it’s just a story, I hear you cry! Yes it may be “just a story” but I really struggle to write it off so simply – although I cannot offer an explanation as to how kangaroos travelled from Australia to the Ark. God valued their lives and I love him for that!

I fear writing this has told you far more about me than the Lent course. This was not my intention. I wanted to learn more about God’s stories, not go a journey of self discovery. But I wonder if it was Father Stuart’s intention…..? I’ll have to wonder about that....

Rachel Padmanathan

The Moral of Being a Warden

Let me tell you a story. It begins at the end of my journey as warden of St Matthew’s Church and ends with the revelation that there is actually a moral to the tale I’m about to tell you.

You may be surprised to learn that churchwardens, just like most serious criminals these days, are required to serve a minimum sentence of three years, before they are finally eligible for parole. So now that I’ve reached the end of my time in captivity, my thoughts have turned to the question of the legacy I’ve left behind for generations of churchgoers to come.

It’s a sure bet that my predecessors Alex and Olga, who experienced some of the most confrontational times ever seen in this church, will be remembered for their courage and for putting the “war” back into being a warden. It’s also very likely that my current fellow-warden Janet will be remembered as the warden who was adored by so many people, simply for being herself. So what about me, how will I be remembered?

There are certainly some occasions that stand out for me in my time as warden and as a committee member and even as a member of the congregation. For example in the beginning I was a genuinely enthusiastic warden and I enjoyed meeting fellow wardens, the rural dean, the archdeacon and even a couple of bishops. The trouble is that it wasn’t long before my enthusiasm was severely tested. I had vowed to attend each and every church committee meeting so that I could fully contribute to all of our important decisions. However instead of discussing issues that really mattered to us all, we spent two mind-numbing years discussing parking in the church grounds! That’s right, for two full years, month after month after month, I sacrificed my social life and quality time with my family to discuss cones, bollards and chains.

There were many other occasions when again I was called upon to give up my free time to carry out my duties as warden. Over the past few years I have organised DIY and gardening parties and dealt with the police, the fire brigade, insurance companies, lightning conductor inspectors and even tearful priests.

On one occasion I was called away on a Saturday afternoon because the fire alarm in the church hall had been screaming out mercilessly for a number of hours. Normally it would have been a quiet and peaceful day in the streets of West Wimbledon, so I hurried to do my best to silence the noise. However on my arrival I was met by a steady stream of irate and condemning neighbours who chose this opportunity to complain to me about everything connected with the church. I must admit that I left the scene feeling extremely shocked at the level of verbal abuse aimed at St Matthew’s, but also astounded that people who had consciously chosen to live near a church in the first place could subsequently complain about the noise levels of the bells ringing on a Sunday morning.

Thankfully there have also been many occasions where I have felt that it was an honour and a privilege to serve as a warden of the church. I’m proud to say that in my term as warden I played my own small part in coordinating the Jubilee celebrations, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the church building. It was certainly a bold step to give away £20 in cash to each and every person who attended our Sunday morning services and a lesson in faith to people like me, who needed to learn to place more trust in the integrity of our friends and neighbours.

However my favourite day as warden was on a recent Mothering Sunday when I shared the intercessions with my young son Joshua. He was standing close to me at the front of the church, balanced on a chair so that he too could reach up to speak into the microphone. I remember reciting the words of the prayer that we had written together the previous day and feeling a profound sense of love for this young man standing there beside me. As we prayed together we looked over at both his mother and mine, sitting in the congregation beside each other, and together we told them how much we loved them, while praying in the church we love and standing before the God we love.

So it seems the moral of my story is that although the journey of a warden is certainly one of commitment and sacrifice, it has also proved to be an opportunity for growth. I was surprised to find that my three years had simply flown by and that I had loved it as much as I have. And for that reason I recommend it to you all. It seems that the legacy I leave behind after my term as warden will not be one that will remain within the church after all, but one that has already found its home inside me instead.

Charlie Thompson