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St Agnes Birch-in-Rusholme with St John with St Cyprian Longsight
Church of England Diocese of Manchester
St Agnes Birch-in-Rusholme with St John with St Cyprian Longsight
Church of England Diocese of Manchester
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| December 2011 January 2012
edition of the Parish Magazine is available to download in full here. |
From the
Rectory
Previous months' letters
from the Rectory can be
found in the archives
here.
Rectory
Previous months' letters
from the Rectory can be
found in the archives
here.
Advertise
With 100 copies printed
each month the
magazine reaches local
people... find out how to
advertise in the Parish
Magazine here
With 100 copies printed
each month the
magazine reaches local
people... find out how to
advertise in the Parish
Magazine here
| The Parish Magazine |
December 2011/January 2012
Strange things in strange places...
I am enjoying watching the second series of ‘Rev’ which is currently showing on BBC Two. It is refreshingly
honest, real and in parts hilarious. I particularly like the subtle details in the background which perhaps only
makes sense to those heavily involved in church life. In the vestry, and so far unmentioned and not referred
to, is a large plastic light up Christmas candle with two angelic choirboys on either side. It is not very stylish,
looks hideously out of place and yet I suspect is typical of what you might find in any church vestry across the
country. If not the same gaudy oversized ornament, there will be something stored away which is only
brought out once a year and yet is loved dearly and a part of that church’s seasonal tradition. Every vestry
(including that at St Agnes’!) will house a similar strange object which makes sense mainly to those who are
in the know or who have experienced its use, understood its meaning or warmed to its presence.
It is not only vestries which house such curiosities. The Rectory and vicarage studies of clergy across the
country are as busy with left over jumble, empty cake tins, and a host of parish ‘stuff’ which may one day
come in useful. When I was a curate I loved just sitting in my vicar’s study and looking at the assortment of
things which lay around the room! It is amusing (and rather comforting) that I now find that my own study
often mirrors this chaotic and eclectic collection of parish life. And it is wonderful that it does.
The Church (and it would seem most beautifully the Church of England) stands out from most modern
institutions and companies in that it never comfortably fits into the planned, strategic and competitive world of
organisation. The neatness and order that endless planning and strategy courses try to bring to the
administration and offices of other organisations always seem to sit less comfortably with the feel of Church
life. It is as if the Church cannot be contained within neatness and order. It can only conform to a certain
point and then it needs to break free and simply be itself. It is very messy at times – in fact it is wonderfully
so! The fact that there are strange things in strange places is its greatest charm and charism. It is part of
what makes the Christian faith so challenging to some people as it turns expectations and conformity upside
down in order to free men and women from compliance with the world.
For me Christmas celebrates the greatest of these messy, unexpected delights, the strangest thing in the
strangest place: God in a baby in a womb in a virgin in her teens in a stable in a backwater... It would never
be part of any human strategic plan! Yet it was God’s greatest plan for humanity. And the strangest thing of
all? It has changed my life.
With my love and prayers for a blessed Christmas
Stephen
Strange things in strange places...
I am enjoying watching the second series of ‘Rev’ which is currently showing on BBC Two. It is refreshingly
honest, real and in parts hilarious. I particularly like the subtle details in the background which perhaps only
makes sense to those heavily involved in church life. In the vestry, and so far unmentioned and not referred
to, is a large plastic light up Christmas candle with two angelic choirboys on either side. It is not very stylish,
looks hideously out of place and yet I suspect is typical of what you might find in any church vestry across the
country. If not the same gaudy oversized ornament, there will be something stored away which is only
brought out once a year and yet is loved dearly and a part of that church’s seasonal tradition. Every vestry
(including that at St Agnes’!) will house a similar strange object which makes sense mainly to those who are
in the know or who have experienced its use, understood its meaning or warmed to its presence.
It is not only vestries which house such curiosities. The Rectory and vicarage studies of clergy across the
country are as busy with left over jumble, empty cake tins, and a host of parish ‘stuff’ which may one day
come in useful. When I was a curate I loved just sitting in my vicar’s study and looking at the assortment of
things which lay around the room! It is amusing (and rather comforting) that I now find that my own study
often mirrors this chaotic and eclectic collection of parish life. And it is wonderful that it does.
The Church (and it would seem most beautifully the Church of England) stands out from most modern
institutions and companies in that it never comfortably fits into the planned, strategic and competitive world of
organisation. The neatness and order that endless planning and strategy courses try to bring to the
administration and offices of other organisations always seem to sit less comfortably with the feel of Church
life. It is as if the Church cannot be contained within neatness and order. It can only conform to a certain
point and then it needs to break free and simply be itself. It is very messy at times – in fact it is wonderfully
so! The fact that there are strange things in strange places is its greatest charm and charism. It is part of
what makes the Christian faith so challenging to some people as it turns expectations and conformity upside
down in order to free men and women from compliance with the world.
For me Christmas celebrates the greatest of these messy, unexpected delights, the strangest thing in the
strangest place: God in a baby in a womb in a virgin in her teens in a stable in a backwater... It would never
be part of any human strategic plan! Yet it was God’s greatest plan for humanity. And the strangest thing of
all? It has changed my life.
With my love and prayers for a blessed Christmas
Stephen