Methodist Recorder article.
‘Sharing the peace.’(1)
At our spring Synod the leader of worship invited us to share The Peace, but it would take longer than usual. Instead of just greeting those close to us, we would be able to go round further, speak to a far greater number of people, and the music group would be playing for this extended period.
Some who value Synod as a time for discussion and concentration on contemporary and vital issues, might have found this difficult, even irksome. We all have different temperaments and we react to things in different ways, but it struck me that here was something that many of us might find refreshingly creative: in attempting to share the peace with everybody .
Sharing the peace is a means of extending Christ’s blessing to those we know well and others not so well known. Whilst wandering around greeting others, we discover those preoccupied with problems. For them this sharing the peace may be what they need more than anything else- from familiar and fresh members of Synod alike.
On the strength of this thought coming to my mind, of giving a wider expression of sharing the peace, I shared the thought on Twitter .Over a 1000 viewers looked in on this. This interest has made me explore more about what sharing the peace is really all about.
It is particularly appropriate to share The Peace at a Synod taking place during the Easter season. When Jesus met the disciples after the Resurrection and greeted them with the words ‘Peace be with you ‘, it was a declaration of His presence amongst them. By us saying to each other ‘the peace of the Lord’ we are confirming our oneness in Christ. We can also be implying ‘May the risen Christ be with you now and in the days that lie ahead.’
‘The peace’ can be described as a form of prayer. It may not be specific as far as details are concerned about the needs of another person, but it is a form of saying ‘May the transforming power of The Lord be known in our lives.’ This transformation has its seeds sown at significant moments in our spiritual experiences. It is a transformation however that needs to be going on throughout our pilgrimage, perhaps best understood as an essential part of what John Wesley saw as aiming for Christian perfection. The Peace reminds us that we are members one of another. Part of our task, to quote Charles Wesley’s hymn, ‘all praise to our redeeming Lord who joins us by his grace’ is to look on further on into the hymn, where it says ‘he bids us build each other up, all gathered into one. To our high calling’s glorious hope we hand-in-hand go on.’ The corporate sharing of our faith is very much at the centre of what we believe and practice.
There are many words and phrases regularly used in worship which remind us of the need to remember that the presence of Christ is with his people whenever and wherever they meet. ‘The Message’ paraphrase of Scripture, and the children’s Bible, in recording the appearance of Jesus and his peace greeting to the first disciples in St Matthew’s Gospel, translate the words of Jesus as saying ‘good morning.’ William Barclay suggests that the original word that Matthew records Jesus as saying means ‘rejoice’ and that the person ‘who has met the risen Lord must live for ever in the joy of the presence of Him from whom nothing can part us any more.’
This ‘Joy’ is a valuable treasure to share when greeting each other, but this is not all. It is also about people who need constant renewal and forgiveness being strengthened, in order to fulfil the mission to which they have been called.
There are times when ‘the peace’ is a declaration bestowed upon a congregation by the presiding person, and the congregation makes a reciprocal response for the leader to be blessed. Our leaders do need to pray for the peace of God to be on the congregations they are leading. There is also a urgent need for the congregations to express their willingness to support the one who has been appointed the leader, either for the act of worship taking place or for the strengthening of her or his ministry; but there is also a strong case for us on every occasion that we meet to include in our worship our own individual response of spiritual support to those around us in this symbolic, and in many churches a tradition of a long-standing, of sharing our faith with others . It is an important part of our understanding of what we mean by ‘the priesthood of all believers.’
May we find our true sense of ‘togetherness’ in the ‘sharing of the peace.’ Dietrich Bonhoeffer recognised the importance of this in his book ‘Life Together.’ There are however many aspects to this theme relating to the sharing of our lives, our experiences, and the particular gifts that God has given to everyone of us, to share with each other. I would like us to look at some of these themes in the months ahead. Holy Scripture might well describe this process as the ‘perfecting of the saints’ but it also has a lot to do with our sense of mission in the world.
David Monkton.
Easter message (in #Methodist Recorder) ‘He is risen..’
In my first appointment I served as a Free Church Hospital chaplain. Not only were Methodists, Baptists and URC’s included in the chaplain’s pastoral care but also patients from many other religious groups such as Jehovah witnesses, and Orthodox Christians.
Early one Easter day when I visited patients to give Holy Communion, there was a Greek Orthodox woman who knew no English. She was confused, so to communicate with her I used a phrase learnt at college from the Greek New Testament. ‘Christos aneste’ meaning ’Christ is risen.’ On hearing this, her face lit up and she received the bread and the wine I offered her. I have never forgotten what a joyful effect these words had on her, and how pleased I was that my limited knowledge of the Greek language worked.
On Easter day preachers declare ‘Alleluia! Christ is risen!’ Congregations respond ‘He is risen indeed! Alleluia.’ We continue during the season of Easter expressing this triumphant hope and at other times of worship throughout the year.
When we look at the gospel records of the resurrection however we discover that in the first instance the women meeting at the tomb did not feel like this. They were after all in a state of shock; and St Mark’s Gospel, in its probable original form, expresses more than the others this sense of trauma, ending the gospel with the words ‘they were afraid.’
Quickly however assurance is given to the grieving women, who see two men standing by them in bright clothing who say ‘why do you seek the living among the dead. He is not here but is risen.’ Soon Jesus makes himself known. In St John’s Gospel Mary Magdalene first of all mistakes Him for the gardener. On the road to Emmaus Jesus converses with two of the disciples. He explains to them why all these things should happen to Him. It is later that Jesus shares food and fellowship with them in the ‘breaking of bread.’
Many Christians I believe when they are going through times of testing, persecution, and loss follow similar patterns. This comes from their understanding of what the Easter message is all about, as it was with the first disciples who were grievously traumatised by the crucifixion,times of sorrow can eventually be changed into times of great faith and courage.
Likewise when we lose a loved one, the sense of loss and adjustment can hurt terribly for a long time, but beyond our loss there is the resurrection hope, and the dimension of eternal life about which Jesus often speaks. The horror of this crucifixion in fact heightens a sense of what the resurrection means. We believe that God is able to transform life and death into something new.
‘I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly’ says Jesus. Abundant life and resurrection hope cannot be separated. Following Jesus will make demands upon us, but we also need to remember that ‘whoever loses his life my sake will find it’
There are many church congregations going through difficult times just now because of the loss of elderly members; but there is a challenge from the risen Lord for us to go forward with Him in spite of hard times. When we celebrate the Lord’s supper, this sense of Jesus being with us is as important as it was with the first disciples on the road to Emmaus, in the breaking of the bread.
Sometimes people think that after worship they should go away from church quietly and reflect on what had been said. This may be a valuable experience for some. After the close of worship however, the conversations that we have together ‘in Christ’ are important, because they also prepare us for the week that lies ahead.
In ‘The Message’ version of St Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus simply says ‘good morning’ to the women after his resurrection. This modern translation of ‘all hail’ is not as far-fetched as it sounds, because they felt that Jesus is with them in a very natural way. It reminds us too that we make a great mistake if we think religious conversation is all that has to go on after worship. It can well be an interchange of all kinds of thoughts. Sheer gossip, malicious thoughts, exclusive conversations and cliques have no place, but including others in fellowship and helping in their needs in the name of Christ is a continuing of His work.
The challenge is this. Are we willing to go forward into the future with Him. Are we willing to be led by the Spirit to serve the present age, and see God’s love expressed through Christ’s true humanity in the world today.
Some old patterns of serving Him have to go because they are like putting new wine into old wine skins. The gospel message is always new, always fresh, and always demanding something beyond what we have done and experienced before. The risen Lord’s delight is to see us following him through The Spirit who turns our nostalgic thoughts into visions and actions shaping the future.
This is our inspiration for today. Christ goes on before us. Through the Holy Spirit we are assured that Christ is with us. We are to rejoice in that hope especially as we share hospitality with Him, with others, and seek to do His will in the world.
David Monkton.
Paddington and Jesus:one of us.
While shopping in mid-November I saw a Big Issue vendor holding a copy of the magazine for sale with the headline ‘ONE OF US.’ In the background there was a picture of Paddington Bear and a quip in smaller type read ‘Paddington, and the new spirit of Christmas.’
‘There’s a theme for Christmas this year’ I thought. ‘Jesus too is ‘one of us.’ So I purchased the vendors last copy.
My first reaction, taking place on the bus journey home from Nottingham was to think of these words in a Christmas setting, linking the words with The message of the Incarnation. Of God in Jesus coming to live amongst men and women. ‘Jesus our Immanuel,’ Jesus ‘one of us’. God with us. Some words from the Carol Venite Adoremus came to mind where it speaks of ‘Son of the Father, now in flesh appearing.’
These and many other themes are used in the Bible and by theologians to describe what the coming of Jesus into human existence is all about. Today, we have to look carefully at what these words mean, and whether people understand their meaning. A reformation in the use of words as well as ways in which the Gospel is presented under the guidance of the Holy Spirit has to be going on all the time. If we think of the Reformation as being a one-off event 500 years ago we are making a big mistake.
When Jesus began his ministry the ordinary people we read, are pleased to listen to him because what he said made sense to them. In much of contemporary Judaism, religious rules and rituals had lost their way. Many were confused by what the religious leaders were saying; but here is the one who has come to show the way to eternal life. He doesn’t just say ‘this is the way’, but as St John’s Gospel reminds us he also saying ‘I am the way, the truth and the life.’ His own personality is God’s focal point and it is through him that one sees a vision of the very nature of God himself-living amongst men and women, ‘tempted in all things just like we are’, but without losing his integrity. The Birth Stories dramatise his coming into the world with tremendous effect, reminding us that the ‘Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.’ There is endless fascination and joy to be found in the Nativity Stories.
When I got home though I discovered the article in the Big Issue was reminding us of a weighty contemporary issue, with Paddington Bear in the role of a refugee or asylum seeker. First of all nostalgia of a different kind came to my mind, remembering the tremendous delight with which my children used to listen to my wife reading to them the stories of Paddington Bear-their faces lighting up with excitement, in a way in which some forms of children’s entertainment on television simply does not do. At the present time children are flocking to see the latest Paddington film My son, well past the age of listening to Paddington stories could not resist taking a photograph at the station shortly after the time when Michael bond the creator of Paddington Bear died, at the spot where the ursine sculpture is to be found.
Colin Yeo who wrote the cover feature in the Big Issue is an Immigration Barrister. He depicts Paddington Bear as a migrant British icon and outlines five ways in which Paddington’s arrival here could be likened to the problems that asylum seekers and other needy people have to overcome before they can enter this country. This is alongside many other difficulties and prejudices they face , especially those epitomised as ‘coming over here and taking our marmalade!’
Paddington, who this year was announced as UNICEF’s ambassador is being used successfully in schools to help children to see more clearly the issues that are involved by those who seek new places in which to live. One recognises straightaway that this is not always an easy situation to overcome, and Colin Yeo recognises that these issues are nowhere near as simple as many would like us to believe in either direction.
The 12 days of Christmas properly understood give us a comfortable length of time in which to reflect upon the generosity of God towards humanity in the coming of the Christ child into the world, and the ministry that he fulfilled for the well-being and saving of all mankind; but we often forget due to commercialisation, Christmas is preceded by Advent which stresses the need for personal preparation for receiving the Christ, who ‘was and is, and is to come.’
In our preparation for Advent we are called upon to consider how we are living our lives, and Paddington Bear, used in teaching role, can remind us that new voices in society originating from other places in the world are here to enrich our lives. Blindly exclusive outlooks eventually lead to the impoverishment of society and individuals, and stagnation.
Advent, a season of testing reminds that we all need to be assessed and judged. We are to help as many people as possible to find happiness and protection from evil forces at work in the world. It is all about loving God and our neighbours as ourselves. John Wesley reminds us of the importance of this sense of social holiness as we keep God central to our lives. In St Matthew’s Gospel the thought is expressed that when the Son of Man returns there will be a great separation between those who have ignored looking after their fellow men and women and those who have responded. Part of one verse reads ‘When I was a stranger you did not welcome me and take me in.’ Failure to respond towards those in need is failure to respond to Christ himself. St Matthew gives a stern warning of judgement on those who neglect the needs of others.
At Christmas time we give thanks for him who came as ‘one of us,’ that we might have abundant and eternal life and that we share that abundant life with everybody. May we share Christ’s likeness in our actions; and as we look after those who have become ‘one of us,’ come into a keener and fuller awareness of Jesus who came as ‘one of us’ too. We also say ‘Thank you’ to Michael Bond, for Paddington Bear.
Visiting Catalonia during referendum time.
This year’s holidays did not work out as intended. Instead of exploring mountain railways in the Pyrenees, we simply travelled to our destination in the Costa Brava via the Channel Tunnel and a long train journey from Paris to Figuera.
However we could not have done anything better. We were able to explore the beautiful countryside of Catalonia and visit Spain’s second largest city, Barcelona. It was my first visit. Because of the unrest and conflict over Catalan’s referendum during the previous week, it was uncertain whether we would visit this important and thriving city, but with only some 12 hours to go it was considered safe enough mingle with its citizens. It’s a city with character, and many impressive buildings. There is the sports stadium built for the Olympic Games, a famous Barcelona football team, every kind of shopping experience with many buildings of historic and administrative significance. The crowds of people admiring the work of Antoni Gaudi in the Cathedral of ‘the holy family’ made it very easy to forget the serious tensions created by the referendum.
What is happening Catalonia is a reminder to us of the great desire in many parts of the world to move away from centralised power. This is nothing new. Regional identities, can easily get lost and absorbed in larger groupings of people. But communities are always changing. It is very easy for us all to have dream ideas of the past of the communities in which we live: Brexit, and Independence for Scotland are indicators of the same kind of desire. During the 11 years that I served in the Shetland Islands for instance the Shetland movement was very much alive and striving to make Shetland independent. The feeling of distinct identity still has very significant part to play in Shetland life today.
We as Christians I believe need to recognise and respect the distinctiveness of communities, and the way they relate to each other. When we look back to the ministry of Jesus we find that questions of social identity were important even then. In the process of calling the disciples, Jesus meets Nathaniel who says ‘Can any good come out of Nazareth?’ He thought that Jesus came from an inferior place to his own, or it may have simply been local pride. Jesus sees beyond Nathaniel’s community comparisons, and recognises that there is something very honest and true about Nathaniel that needs to be valued.
Secondly Jesus recognises the sense of nationhood that belongs to the Jewish people. He wasn’t a rabid Jewish nationalist like Simon the zealot, but he did desire to see the fulfilment of Jewish hopes amongst the children of Israel. His own role as the promised Messiah was part of that Jewish dream of deliverance and freedom from captivity; but Jesus also had to say that ‘his kingdom was not of this world’. He saw himself primarily as the one who had come to fulfil the law and the prophets. All this was bound up inextricably with Jewish nationhood expressed through their religion.
Thirdly however, Jesus saw the importance of Roman law: the value of wider conceptions of law and order that some Jews at the time were unwilling to see, hard though this law could often be. When we read of the way in which Pharisees tried to trick Jesus into making a statement against the Roman authorities, he replies ‘give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and give to God the things that are God’s.’ He is not just giving a witty response to those in society are trying to catch him out, like Lord Soper in a former generation might have done in Hyde Park in response to a heckler, he’s saying something deeply profound.
His disciples are to recognise the importance of paying tribute to the wider allegiances expected in society, hopefully for the common good and cohesiveness; but he is also stressing the importance of giving all that we can in our commitment to the kingdom of God. Here the values are different , always consistent with compassion and fairness. They give no support to self-centred tribalism in whatever form it is found in the world.
There are however two other factors that are important as we see the overall importance of serving in God’s kingdom today. Modern communication and especially the use of digitalisation in the social media reinforces tremendously the concept of us ‘living in a global village’ where things that happen in other parts of the world can create a sense of imbalance and even horror. This has to be taken into account. The kingdom of God for which we pray is one in which there is to be fairness, kindness, acts of compassion and generosity which may not be laid down in any particular codes of behaviour. It will include care of the natural world which was meant for all of us to enjoy, and for all peoples to live with its abundance.
As we remember the dreams and the complexities that the people of Catalonia and Spain face, may we remember to look at similar situations in our own society, and pray more earnestly as The Lord’s prayer teaches us: ‘your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’
David Monkton. Published in Methodist Recorder 26th .Oct.2017
Pentecost in Worms.(Published in Methodist Recorder June 2nd 2017.)
The 500th anniversary of Luther and the Reformation has acted as a reminder to me of my first sabbatical, when Superintendent Minister in the St Albans circuit as it was at the time. My aim was to widen my experience of pastoral work and ministry in a German setting. The Protestant deanery of Worms made me very welcome, and at every level. I was invited to share in the life of the churches.
St Albans is twinned with Worms, where tradition has it that Martin Luther made his final refusal to recant his doctrines, ending with the conclusion. ‘Here I stand, I can do no other – so help me God.’ On the 25 May 1521 his teachings were formally condemned in the Edict of Worms, some four years after Luther had nailed his famous 95 theses on the door of the Schlosskirche at Wittenberg.
I arrived in time for an open-air celebration of Ascension Day. I’m not an academic German scholar, my basic knowledge of the language was from teenage school days school certificate, but as a student I had visited Germany on hitch-hiking holidays. My German grammar was not always brilliant, but at least, being a person with traits of an old Black Country accent, my pronunciation was reasonably convincing and I was asked to take some of the prayers in the service, which included several baptisms..
Klaus Fischer, one of the clergy with whom I stayed and shared ministry in his parish asked me if I would preach in German on the following Sunday. It was a tall order, but I agreed on condition that he helped me to prepare the message.
My sermon was, strangely enough inspired by something that happened on my arrival in Germany .
My host , who was waiting for me at the airport said that waiting was to him a kind of eschatological experience. The plane arrival charts said ‘ Es Kommt’ meaning that the aircraft was ‘arriving’ on time. Then later there was another notice saying ‘it has landed.’ To him, this was an illustration of what it means to encounter God.
In a rather curious way the analogy of an aircraft landing being likened the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples on the day of Pentecost, tied up in my mind too, especially with words from Acts of the Apostles, which begin by saying ‘when the day of Pentecost had come.’ Even the words ‘suddenly there was a noise from the sky, which sounded like a strong wind blowing’ also seemed to have an unusual appropriateness!
The preparation of my sermon was a combination of many lines of thought. The contents consisted of phrases that seemed appropriate from the German Bible, and phrases from well-known hymns in our own hymn book that we were translations of German hymns,.
The opening words of John Milton’s hymn, ‘the Lord will come and not be slow’, seemed to fit with the message, but even Klaus, whose knowledge of English was very good, found difficulty in translating the word ‘harbinger’ into German. At another point Klaus simply said to me, ‘I suggest you leave the script of your sermon as it is. It will make the congregation think!’
So I found myself on the day of Pentecost in a pulpit preaching in another language for the first time. It is a moment I have never forgotten. It was an exhilarating experience to express the gospel in another culture and language, and there was a sense of freedom in being able to do this. I felt that I had caught a glimpse of what the first day of Pentecost was all about.
But there was a a deep sense of oneness with the people there throughout the whole visit, especially a deep sense of empathy with the older people that I met. No-one there had any memory of an English clergyman in active Ministry ever being involved in their community life before. Time and time again, old men would come up to me and say how kindly they had been treated when they were prisoners of war in England during World War II, and how they were welcomed into the homes of many people in our country. It had left a deep impression on their minds. There was a great sense of fellowship, especially when celebrating the Eucharist alongside their minister, or ‘Pfarrer’ as he was called. There was something cathartic and healing about it all.
The Dean of the Catholic Cathedral also invited me to their mid-week mass. He welcomed me in the service and told his congregation that I was the superintendent minister of Methodist churches in St. Albans, and later in the service invited me to receive the sacrament which I did. A rare gesture, but deeply appreciated.
The fact that I was a superintendent Minister seemed to have a lot more status about it than it has in this country, in German Protestant churches is conveyed a distinct episcopal meaning. I appeared on local TV, was given a civic reception when I met the mayor Worms, and visited the former Jewish ghettos in Worms, where large numbers of Jews lived before persecutions began, something that the churches in Germany still felt very deeply saddened about.
The 500th celebration of the Reformation is occurring at a crucial time in European history. My hope and prayer is that we as Methodists, while believing in the full catholicity of all Christians, will nevertheless be thankful for the positive changes that took place in the lives of many Christians as a result of the Reformation.
At this time of political change, may we not forget the common ground that we have with Christians in Europe. Although we believe that ‘the world is our parish’, and that we have a responsibility towards every needy person in the world, may we not forget the situations of our near neighbours in mainland Europe. John Wesley was deeply influenced by German hymn writers, through all that contributed to the spirituality of the age, and especially through the Moravians whom he met. They played a very significant spiritual role in Wesley’s New Birth. This an essential part of our history as a Christian church. As Holy Scripture reminds us ‘We are members one of another.’ Let us remember that we are all being challenged to continue a Reformation in our own lives and in our churches too.
‘Visiting The Methodist Conference.'(Article published in Methodist Recorder- 21st July 2016)
Roger Walton was in my circuit when I was superintendent minister in St.Albans, so I was very pleased to receive an invitation to be a guest at his induction as President of Conference. It was really good to hear some fine preaching on the theme of Holiness by Roger, and an equally inspiring message from our vice president, Rachel Lampard; but there were also other reasons for extending my stay to three days. This year several ministerial friends who had worked with me had died. There were others whom I had been in college with whilst training for ministry, so I was able to go to the memorial service that takes place at the presbyteral session of conference and give thanks for their lives, ministry, friendship,support and witness.
On the Sunday I went to the ordination service at Wesley’s Chapel. The fact that Methodist Ordinations always take place at the same time, when we remember what Charles Wesley would call an ‘act of faith and love,’ is important. To be at the mother church of Methodism and reflect on something that has had such a deep significance on my life and ministry seemed to add an extra dimension to the visit.
It’s been twenty eight years since I have spent three days or more at our Methodist conference, and strangely enough conference was held that year in London. It also happens to be the fifty sixth year since my ordination. The latter half seems to have flown by very quickly.
The whole visit was inspiring and engaging. It was a time to meet many colleagues and friends from over all those years, even one from pre-ordination Ministry days in Coventry. The Westminster Central Hall was full downstairs for the Conference Service and the Reception of Ordinands, even although we arrived early. I have visited Westminster Central Hall many times for rallies and committee meetings, mainly connected with working in Shetland, but to the best of my memory, I had not sat up in the gallery since hearing Sangster during National Service days.
All through there was good, enthusiastic, Methodist singing with many different styles and accompaniment. Many denominations still admire our singing in spite of the fact that often the sizes of our congregations are considerably diminished. During the memorial service we sang some of our hymns unaccompanied. This I found particularly moving. This natural ‘a cappella’ style of singing has something contemplatively rich about it. It is also interesting to note that many community choirs that are becoming very popular, include this style in their very varied repertoires. My hope is that we will continue to treasure it alongside the many other forms of singing because it speaks to certain kinds of spiritual need in a way that no other does. There is the famous saying of St.Augustine, that says ‘he who sings prays twice’. It is probably true to say that the person who has many different styles of singing may have also learned how to pray in many different ways as well.
Another notable aspect of change is the influence of digitalisation on our conference. As someone who is involved in twitter, Facebook, and other community email groups, it was good to meet some members at conference, whom I had never spoken to face-to-face before. Amongst the ordinands, there were those whose contributions I have seen on twitter, and it was particularly interesting to see and hear in person, the Coptic Bishop Angelos who frequently adds inspiring thoughts in the same medium. There are still large swathes of our church that have not come to grips with the use of modern media. How much stronger we could make our church if we entered more fully into these contemporary means of communication.
We are living at a time when anything that is looked upon as an institution seems to be despised by society. The church itself is looked upon as a structural institution, but we have to remember that any cause which desires to share its message with the world has to have some kind of structure in order to pass on a message to others, and we need to recognise its vital significance and value.
The Methodist Church exists in order that people might serve God better, His world better, and grow into an intimate awareness of finding their hearts ‘strangely warmed’ in the process. We have a sense of connectedness that can still be very real. Fellowship and our sense of connectedness is about being ‘members of one of another’; but we also remember that Jesus is at the centre of our oneness too.
Don Quixote
(article published in the Methodist Recorder 23rd June 2016)
I had never read Don Quixote all through, but after reading a highly commended production by the Royal Shakespeare Company of ‘ The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote,’ by James Fenton, based on the novel by Miguel De Cervantes, I decided to visit the Swan Theatre at Stratford on Avon.
It was the day before the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth and death. Stratford was teeming with visitors from all over the world. This anniversary however also closely coincides with the death of Cervantes, looked upon by many as the originator of modern fiction. It was very fitting that Stratford should celebrate another European writer’s 400th anniversary.
Having read many books on chivalry, Don Quixote(played by David Threlfall) decides to embark on his own quest. Complete with a lance and sword, he decides to become a wandering Knight, ‘defending the helpless and vanquishing the wicked. Hopelessly unprepared and increasingly losing his grip on reality’-so the program for the performance reads and ‘he travels across Spain, accompanied by his faithful and equally ill suited Squire Sancho Panza. With each calamitous adventure they experience, the romantic ideal of Quixote’s earlier reading seem further away than ever.’
Cervantes life had been very different from that of Shakespeare’s. As a soldier, he lived through a time of severe religious tension, having fought against Ottoman attempts at supremacy over the Mediterranean waters and suffered crippling injury in warfare as a result. He had known poverty, exile, being kidnapped by Ottoman pirates, becoming a slave in northern Africa for five years and afterwards returning to his own country, where he worked as a purchasing agent for the Spanish Armada and a tax collector, only to be imprisoned on what appeared to be discrepancies in the accounts. His attempts at drama and writing poetry were unsuccessful, but he gained greater success as a fiction writer. His life somehow seemed to reflect the changing fortunes of Spain at that time, and through his experiences of life, he was able to grasp the way in which people in his day, wrongly perceived reality.
As one would expect the two and a half hour performance was superb, not only from the point of view of making you feel part of the event, but in the immaculate accuracy of the clowning drama in it. Naturally, much of the story had to be curtailed. A few of his most outstanding acts of chivalry , were included: the battle involving sheep and the Windmill tilting for instance; but also the way in which people in high society ridiculed him. A deathbed scene in this dramatisation where Sancho Panza speaks words of great encouragement and consolation to him are extremely moving.
Seeing good drama inevitably creates different inspirational points in the minds of an audience. I am not a frequent visitor to theatre, so I do not write with expert knowledge, but I came away really enthusiastic about all that I had experienced. I believe that the story of Don Quixote has a great deal to say to us today about the way in which people can look at the world around them with a lack of realism and as a result make many false assumptions and stupid mistakes.
During my doctoral studies earlier in retirement, it was suggested that I read Graham Greene’s book, Monsignor Quixote, a pastiche on the original novel. Many thoughts, I felt, touched on some sore points about the ministry of supernumeraries’ in the life of the church, and the same applies to the original book. It is very easy for us to drift into an unrealistic view of ministry and role in so-called ‘retirement’. We need to be reminded that it is important to stay in touch with present-day learning and trends of thought, otherwise we too can easily start ’ tilting at windmills’ and issues that are irrelevant to the present situation.
It also applies to every member of the church in retirement. We need motivation to do worthwhile things for society and the world as part of our Christian calling, and learn how to witness in a very different world from when we began our discipleship, if we are to be effective.
In the ministry of the third age, and in the fourth age as well, we need to be fulfilling very many needy roles in society, especially where lonely people are concerned, and how to live in a way that we share our eternal hope with those around us.
Don Quixote looked back to an age of chivalry. Looking back is not a bad thing, but it must never be made to look as if the past was faultless. We can pick up many good examples from the past, value them, and even imitate them. Our good intentions do matter, even if we do not always achieve them. We must never allow the saying that’ the way to hell is paved with good intentions’ from preventing us in going forward adventurously at all stages in life as far as we can. Providing we use our cognitive skills to the best of our ability we must never be afraid of the possibility that good intentions can lead us to do the right things. A good code of chivalry is not to be despised.
(For newspaper articles ‘google ‘ David Monkton. Nottingham Post.)
Nottingham Post Article published 25th May 2013.
Paper Headline POLICE NEED OUR SUPPORT IN THE FIGHT OF GOOD AGAINST EVIL IN OUR HIGHLY COMPLEX CHANGING WORD.
Beyond ‘reception’ in most police stations , a notice reads: ‘Police Personnel only. No public access whatsoever.’
It is a stark reminder that policing has to be conducted in an extremely confidential way. As a chaplain when you enter the ‘inner door’ you almost have the feeling that you’re entering a kind of ‘holy of holies,’ but in no way are you involved in the actual work of policing. One’s primary role is to relate to the police officers and civilian staff there.
A wave of the hand may be all that is possible while officers grapple with their work. With others a brief conversation may take place as a few moments of relief from the task in hand. The chaplain has to be very sensitive to the various pressures at work in different situations. Interruption could easily disrupt some vital listening clue; but there is bound to be some opportunity to drink a mug of coffee, or share some common concern, interest, or pressing personal situation.
As in so many other walks of life, a great deal of work is done at the monitor of a computer or by telephone with all the concentration that requires.
Policing finds itself having to come to terms with the digital age -involving a steep learning curve to make progress. Computer literacy is a ‘must’ in present day policing. There are individuals who struggle, and others who quickly make rapid strides in its use. Whether we like it or not, we cannot live, or work without it.
Even in the last 10 years the growth of electronic media has been phenomenal. It affects the way that we think, the way we keep in touch, and even the buildings we use. The criminal world also makes great use of it. Policing has a tremendous challenge to keep one step ahead of those who would defraud and damage society.
The day on which this article is being completed is a day which the Christian Police Association has set aside as a National Day of prayer for the well being of policing. We all need to remember the pressures on our police as they tackle and adjust to crime in a rapidly changing situation. It is part of the fight of good against evil in a highly complex world.
Article published April 2013.
(Paper Headline) PERSONAL TOLL OF YEARS OF CUTBACKS TO OUR POLICE FORCE
Over a 40 year period as a Methodist Presbyter I have worked many different kinds of British communities – in Coventry, East London, Saffron Walden, Lincoln, the Shetland Isles and St Albans. When I became a Supernumerary Minister the opportunity arose to live in Nottingham, and we have settled very happily here.
In the Millennium year I was asked to join an ecumenical team of voluntary police chaplains. It involves not only giving pastoral support to police officers and civilian staff, irrespective of religious beliefs, but also, I have discovered, a way of entering more fully into the ‘psyche’ of Nottinghamshire life. This task is fitted around a great variety of other pastoral activities but there is a sense of fulfilment in police chaplaincy, even if you feel you have only played quite a small part.
Policing is still overshadowed by cutbacks that began three years ago.
Privately when talking to officers and civilian workers they frequently have deep-seated worries about the future of their work. A basic role of the chaplain is simply to be there impartially and show empathy to those who are in distressing situations of uncertainty; but you cannot help noticing that cutbacks at every level create considerable changes in the way in which our police force is run.
Reducing staff in itself produces very unhappy, even unpleasant tensions if you know you’re likely to lose your job and others will stay. Obviously, greater loads are being placed on officers and the civilians who are employed in our Constabulary. The gifts and skills of many senior police officers are now no longer used in civilian roles under Constabulary auspices when they retire. These limitations can be to the impoverishment of all.
Outwardly these changes may not be noticed much by the public at the present time, but there is the fear that policing will be reduced to a purely functional role -(highlighted) rather than being seen as an integral part of public life, for the improvement of the greater good.
The role of the chaplain is frequently one of listening and ‘loitering with good intent.’ Listening with complete confidentiality, and assuring those who support us with their deep sense of responsibility to the public, of our spiritual support, but society as a whole must also keep a watchful eye on their needs.
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