The Sunday Archive: The Pilot, September 1994 – Part 5

The Sunday Archive: The Pilot, September 1994 – Part 5

From Martin Inman
Hospital Chaplain

WHEN we pray for healing, whether for our-selves or for others, what do we want?

Michael Mayne, the Dean of Westminster, suffered for quite a while about ten years ago from that mysterious syndrome known as ME. It can be a most debilitating illness. For a time it seemed to him in his weakness and pain and perplexity that it could be life-threatening. After his recovery he wrote this:

"It was during the long period of convalescence that I first began to ask the most obvious, yet the most elusive, question of all: when I pray for healing, what do I really want? And one day it came to me with startling clarity that what I wanted most of all was not simply to be healed physically, but to learn the lessons of my sickness. I wanted that last year to be redeemed, to be a valued part of my journey."

To some that may sound a little too neat, especially to those who know the greatest depths of bewilderment and anxiety, uncertainty or grief. Yet in speaking of his desire that the year of his illness should be redeemed, Mayne was not suggesting that all our lives can have a happy ending. Christ achieved redemption by the manner in which he met the full force of human sin and its consequences and the manner in which he faced the anguish of Gethsemane and the desolation of the cross. This redemption is about reacting to what is negative and destructive in such a way as to draw good out of it.

Dennis Potter, the playwright who died recently, was lying in a hospital bed some years ago with that crippling skin disease Psoriasis wrestled with the question of how good can be drawn out of the negative and the destructive. In other words he asked how the time of the illness could be redeemed.

The answer which he found himself coming to was in terms of that response to the world, natural to us all as children but then lost, of wonder at its beauty and order, of giving attention to the present moment and learning to live in it. In his illness, during long spells in hospital, Potter began to concentrate and pay attention to what was happening to him and in him and in front of him. By learning to inhabit the present in this way he found that "the actual sting of the moment became a point of such unexpected clarity that I could use it, if not as a window, then certainly as a widening chink of light through which I could look." He was learning to face something other than his own beleaguered self.

"I understood then," wrote Potter, "that God is not an unctuous palliative a or super-pill or a sugary abstraction, but someone present in the quick of being, one's own being, and in the present tense itself, in existence as it exists, in the fibre and the pulse of the world, and in the minute-by-minute drama of an ever-continuing, ever-poised, ever-accessible creation.

"I understood that because I paid attention. I do not yet understand but can only describe in the most tentative way something else which I know I feel. Which is that the world is being made right in front of us, and we stand always at the edge of this creation, and in living out our lives give back piece by piece what has been given to us to use and work with and wrestle with.

We shape our own lives and find our own humanity in the long passage from premonitions and innocence through the darkness of mortal distress, carelessness and apparent absurdity into the light that we know is there if we have the patience and the courage to be still, to concentrate — to be alert."

It is, I believe, that attention to the present moment which bespeaks confidence and trust in God, come what may, which is the true healing of the human spirit.



ST MARY
From TONY HART Rector

MANY richly deserved tributes have been paid to Giles Howard as eighteen years of service as Almoner ended this year. A combination of wise counsel, practical expertise and personal charm, friendliness and generosity have been used unstintingly in the service of the church and parish. He is seen above, in a photograph by Richard Dorey, receiving from the Rector on behalf of the congregation a cut-glass punch bowl, etched with a drawing of St Mary's Church. Mandi Cadoret, wife of St Mary's Verger, Brian, looks on. The ceremony took place before a crowd of about 160 at the church barbecue in the Rectory garden on 17th July.

AU REVOIR. Three ministerial colleagues have moved on in quick succession recently. Michael Stear has wave-pierced to a parish in Weymouth; Terry Hampton is to take a break from parish ministry in Israel; . and Michael Nicolle plans to luxuriate in one of Jersey's quieter (!) parishes (no — retired clergy are always in great demand and extremely busy). All will be greatly missed by their own congregations and parishes and, indeed, by the whole Island. Having been baptised and nurtured in the Faith as a boy at St Paul's and been at school with both Terry Hampton and Michael Nicolle, I feel a triple sense of loss. We at St Mary's wish them, together with Angela, Rosemary and Gwen and their families, every blessing in the Lord and the greatest of good fortune as a new phase of life opens up for them all.

PATRONAL FESTIVAL AND GIFT DAY (Sunday 11th September). When we look back over the past year and begin to count not our complaints but our blessings few of us will fail to be overwhelmed at our good fortune. Living in peace and relative affluence compared with so many millions of ordinary people in the world should engender the desire to offer thanks to God. Our special Day of Thanksgiving in this Parish is traditionally the Sunday following St Mary's Day (8th September) and all parishioners, members of the congregation and friends are invited to join us at worship. The Family Eucharist is at 10 o'clock and is followed by Mattins (Book of Common Prayer, said) at 11.15. In the evening, Choral Evensong will be sung at 6.30 pm led by the choirs of St John, St Peter and St Mary.

On the material level, we need to find over £18,000 for the annual "Quota" paid to the Diocese, plus at least £10,000 to cover the normal running expenses of St Mary's Church. Thanks to your generosity and despite being the smallest Parish in the Island numerically, we managed to pay our way last year and trust that we can look forward to another good response to the Gift Day Appeal on 11th September.

SUNDAY SCHOOL begins the new term in Church at 10 am on 11th September when children, parents, grandparents and friends are invited to join in the Family Service. On the following Sunday (18th) there will be a Family Picnic beginning at mid-day at St Brelade's. Further details from Claire Jepson (483312), Eira Wykes (862162) or Vivienne Dorey (863858). Sunday School meets the following week (25th) at 9.45 am at St Mary's School.

HARVEST THANKSGIVING will take place on 2nd October with Holy Communion at 8.30 am, Harvest Family Eucharist at 10 am and Songs of Praise at 6.30 pm. The Harvest Supper will be held at the Parish Hall at 7.45 pm (tickets from Richard Dorey, 863858).

MOTHERS' UNION. Congratulations and thanks to those who helped at the Deanery Overseas Sale at Church House on 15th July, and to Sharon Knight in particular. St Mary's stall raised £201 of the grand total of £1,064. The day was rounded off most satisfactorily with a very pleasant Annual Dinner at Weston's Bistro. The next meeting takes place on Monday 19th September at 7.30 pm in the Rectory Barn Loft when Holy Communion will be followed by a speaker on the International Year of the Family.

REGISTERS

HOLY BAPTISM. 10th July, George Francis

Fisher Clifford; 14th August, Lucy Fleur

Baudains, Daniel John Le Vavasseur dit Durell.

HOLY MATRIMONY. 5th August, Nicholas John Kershaw and Karen Lesley Michel.

ST MARK'S
From
CHRISTOPHER BUCKLEY Vicar



AS I write, in the first week of August, the main part of the building work inside the church has been completed and the redecorating of the interior has commenced. After this the carpet, which has already been chosen, will be laid throughout the church. Then the nave altar and communion rails, which are currently being constructed, will be ready to be put in position. The work has gone well inside the building, but there were problems when water was found to be pouring through the roof during the early part of June, resulting in several thousand pounds worth of repairs that had not been budgeted for. This problem was tackled immediately, for it occurred at the time that Messrs Hill, Norman & Beard were working on the refurbishment of the organ and water damage to the instrument had to be made good without delay and the roof itself made watertight. Fortunately our insurers met the cost of repairs to the organ and the instrument was back in one piece and sounding superb for the 24-hour Hymn marathon over the weekend of 16th and 17th July. That weekend was a great success and we received the support of many people from all over the Island. As well as enjoying a wide range of church music, including some pretty lively keyboard playing in the early hours of Sunday morning that "Jelly-Roll" Morton would have been proud of, nearly £500 was raised for the refurbishment fund. Grateful thanks are due to Ruth Adams for her work in organising the event and to the numerous choirs, soloists and musicians who supported us.

Looking ahead, on Sunday 15th September there will be a special service at 10 am to celebrate 75 years of continuous Guiding at St Mark's Church. If you were ever a member of the 5th Jersey St Mark's Guide Company do try to come along on that Sunday.

The actual 150th Anniversary of the church falls on Thursday 13th October and at 8 pm on that day there will be a special Eucharist, in the presence of the Lieutenant-Governor and Lady Sutton, at which the Celebrant and Preacher will be the Right Reverend John Perry, Bishop of Southampton, who is very kindly travelling to Jersey especially for this occasion. Do make a note in your diary to be with us on that special evening.

The week of celebrations start on Saturday 8th October at 5.30 pm when we will be able to enjoy a glass of wine whilst viewing the exhibition of paintings by Jersey artists and the floral displays that will be a special feature of our week's events. There will be a Songs of Praise on Sunday 9th October at 8 pm and on the Tuesday evening (11th October) at 8 pm there will be a Magic Lantern Show presented by Mr Darner Waddington.

The week ends with a Concert on the Saturday evening, 15th October, featuring, among others, the Holmchase Choir and the Harmony Men. The church will be open throughout the week and it will undoubtedly be a week to remember. Be sure to mark your diaries now!