When the going gets tough!

The last few days have been pastorally difficult for me...

On Friday I had the real privilege of assisting with the funeral of a young women ( just turned 41) who lived on our estate.
The funeral was always going to be emotional but little prepared me for the fact that as I stood to read the eulogy I was faced with a massive amount of faces I recognised and know from our estate, Daniel's preschool, resident association and other Hoo contacts. It was a really amazing thing to see a community come together to celebrate the life of Karen.

The funeral was also made more emotional by the fact that Karen was a music  teacher at a secondary school and some of the girls choir came and sang 2 songs. The girls were absolutely amazing they were clearly terribly upset but held it together so well and I have never heard a choir sound so much like angels in my life.

After the emotion of the day I then went on to spend a damp and wet weekend in Aylesford Priory with my lovely fellow curates. All the training in the world doesn't prepare you for tragedy!

So today all I can do is pray for the family, for a husband widowed at a young age on his birthday and every year on his birthday will be reminded of what happened. Today I can only pray for 2 children who will never forget their mum but will grow up without a mum and who have to face everyday life when things will never be the same, And most of all today I pray for those friends, neighbours, acquaintences who are also suffering the loss of a friend.

The one thing I do know is Hoo rocks and am privileged to be a part of it.

Peninsula Times November

I am trying to write my latest article for the Peninsula Times and just wanted to sound it out here...see what you think

Peninsula Times November

I recently read an article that said:

“Halloween is also a sort of marker in the calendar, a turning
point in our year, when the fallen leaves and passing of a season are swept away by the pre-winds of winter and we brace ourselves for the uncertainties of a dreary dark winter. I’m reminded of this as I listen to Sting’s album, “If On a Winter’s night.”  

‘If Halloween is not for you, lighten your spirit! Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner. If this season tells us anything, it speaks to the need we all have for celebrations that brighten the dark times. ‘

 http://blog.beliefnet.com/redletters/2010/10/should-christians-celebrate-halloween.html#ixzz2gfZToRrG

Autumn is a strange time a year, a time of change and a time of darkness. In our country as in many others we put our clocks back to try and grab an extra hour of day light but the nights still seem to draw in very quickly as does the cold damp weather.

The darkness of the season is also perpetuated by the celebrations of Halloween and Bon fire night…what are we really celebrating any way or is it just a good excuse for a party?

I have never been a fan of the dark, metaphorically or literally! There just seems something sinister and altogether unnerving about it all. I am the one who hides behind the sofa during Dr Who , who used to have nightmares watching Scooby Doo and who could definitely not watching any given horror film, mock or real.

That is why I love this verse quoted from Sting, it reminds us that very soon the joyful occasion of Christmas is just around the corner. Surely it is better to celebrate the birth of the Saviour of the World rather than the capital punishment of a man from the sixteenth Century or  dressing up as ghosts and ghoulies remembering the spirits of the dead.

So as the darkness descends upon us, as the cold winter takes its hold, let us hold on to the fact that the Son is coming, the light of the world shines amongst us and we have nothing to fear if we put our trust in Him.