LETTER FROM THE VICAR

July and August are the months of high Summer when the year tips over into its second half. Usually it is a time for holidays, relaxation and hopefully some much needed personal space. And so Summer can be an opportunity to uncover our constant need for recreation: using the word in its best meaning of renewal.

The longing to be made new runs deep within us and is a primary motivation for both worship and prayer. But, if we face the truth, worship and prayer often become frayed at the edges because too often they are crowded into a weekly timetable which is overloaded with other concerns and priorities. Perhaps summertime can provide time, space and renewed energy to do some thoughtful sifting and sorting out.

One glorious summer day, a few years ago, I went to Mells in Somerset to visit the place where the famous poet Siegfried Sassoon is buried. Those familiar with Sassoon will remember how in conversation he usually veered from one extreme to another. He could be virtually tongue-tied with unfinished sentences hanging in the air and such stilted hesitation that no one really understood what he was saying. On other occasions he could be so talkative that no one else could get a word in edgeways! Doctor Rivers, who nursed him after he was invalided out during the war, said of him, “he had a penchant for monologue rather than dialogue”.

The phrase stuck with me. Sometimes it is something similar which frustrates our worship and our prayers. Either we stumble and mutter to little consequence or we say far too much and finish up getting nowhere. During the long days of summer, it might be worth sitting quietly for a while to ask ourselves which happens more frequently to us, especially in prayer - monologue or dialogue? Certainly for worship and prayer to be fulfilling and satisfying we have to train ourselves to move away from monologue and into a deeper and deeper appreciation of dialogue. It can be hard discipline when a daily hazard for every Christian is to settle for talking to ourselves instead of waiting on God and the perennial temptation for the Church is to become self obsessed instead of being open to the movement of the Spirit.

Once we spot these temptations, though, we might also notice that, however sorely these things must try the divine patience, God’s forbearance is total. He never interrupts our chatter and self concern, as it were. The way of revealing God’s self is much more likely to be through silence and stillness and in moments of watching and waiting. That always sounds odd in a world where activity and achievement are so over-valued. However, remember that just as summer leads to harvest so true worship and prayer lead to new insight and a deepened sense of God.

After a long struggle, Sassoon came to faith and in a note he wrote alongside his poem Renewals he says, that then his most often repeated words were from the psalms – Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10). Familiar words to hold onto and treasure for all who need a little space in the next few weeks.

In striving for that space, the holiday season will find many of us visiting and worshipping in unfamiliar buildings. Cathedrals or simple village churches, ancient, modern or 'just Victorian', smelling of flowers, or damp or polish. Each of them is there for us, each of them speaks of God with its own voice. Pay attention to the messages of your senses, and give thanks for the quiet of that particular sacred space. As visitors, we miss the traditions of home, the warm support that comes from worshipping among friends. But it is good to have a break from regular responsibilities, from other people’s expectations of us. So, if you get the opportunity this summer, “be still and know…” We might even learn something new or hear God in new ways. I do hope you get a chance to get away and enjoy a holiday and feel renewed by it.

Will