I was disturbed to realise that something that had been common place in my youth was missing, and I’m not talking about my hair!  Once ‘two a penny’ in suburban back gardens, the common house sparrow has flown off elsewhere.  Two of our parishioners who encourage a wide variety of garden birds to visit their garden now rarely see them.  Is it because of lifestyle changes, climate change or some other factors?  Whatever the reason, I think it is regrettable that these once frequent, simple and common birds are absent from our lives.  More worrying is the fact that it took me such a long time to notice.  But suddenly as I looked out of my study window on Easter Monday, I saw a pair of sparrows!

As I looked at them, I wondered if God had put them there for me to see.  The day before was Easter Day, when we celebrated Jesus’ rising from the dead.  Jesus is described in the Bible as the ‘first fruits’ of the resurrection, the beginning of a new heaven and a new earth that God is going to bring about.  Perhaps the return of two sparrows to the rectory garden is a simple reminder, a trailer or foretaste, of the renewal that Christ’s resurrection will eventually bring to our world.  Easter brings hope that all those who belong to Christ are restored to a relationship with God, and in time, God promises a new heaven and a new earth. 

Just when I thought the sparrow was becoming extinct, there was the evidence that it was still very much alive.  Three days after Jesus’ life had been extinguished, God brought Christ back to life, and over 500 people saw him.  God hasn’t abandoned our world, and he longs for us to cooperate with his purposes of bringing new life to the earth and its inhabitants.  We begin that process by receiving Christ’s gift of new life for ourselves, and then, under Christ’s authority, work to help restore God’s harmony in our world.  The Anglican season of Eastertide continues until Pentecost on 31 May, giving us time this month to reflect upon the far reaching significance of the resurrection and to respond accordingly to God’s offer of new life in Christ.

God bless

Adrian

 

If you didn’t have a chance to read the book recommended by the Churches in Ickenham for Lent, you might do well to pick it up in these weeks after Easter.  It is a gripping story, exploring how God is alive and active in the world, and what this can mean for a person even in deepest despair.

Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness.  Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend.  Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare.  What he finds there will change Mack's world forever. 

Mack finds surprises at every turn.  One by one his preconceptions are overturned, and he discovers what, for him, are totally new insights into his relationships, and the character of God. 

I would say that what is described so vividly in the book fits totally with the Jesus of the Gospels, but the way church life and organisation have developed has sometimes been at odds with this. 

While Jesus focuses on the quality relationships, much of church effort can be devoted to structures.  In my ecumenical role I had just been writing to churches about expectations and responsibilities, when I turned to where I was up to in the book and found those concepts challenged. 

In your case there may be other features which have become basic to your understanding of life, but you may find quite a different perspective through this book.

The book is called “The Shack”, because that is the place in this story, as it says in the subtitle, “where tragedy confronts eternity.”  It is written by William Paul Young and published by Hodder.  It is available at Christian Bookshops, including Maranatha in Uxbridge.

Bernie

 

Each Sunday at St Giles’ Church we pray for all the people who live or work in a particular road in the Parish.  During May we will pray for the following roads: 

May 3^rd           Willowtree Close

May 10^th          Woodland Close

May 17^th          Woodstock Drive

May 24^th          Windrush Close

May 31^st          Witney Close

If you live in one of these roads why not join us at our 8am or 9.45am services?  You will be most welcome.

 

Baptisms at St Giles’

Mar 29^th          Dean James Charles White

                        Christopher Steven George White

                        Juliet Karen Marshall

                        Gabriel Thomas Marshall

Cremations at Breakspear Crematorium

Mar 19^th          John Mullin, aged 83

Mar 24^th          Fred Green, aged 87

Apr 2^nd            Ralph Nancekievill, aged 90

Apr 7^th             Dorothy Ansell, aged 87 (followed by service at St Giles’)

Apr 9^th             Millicent Clarke, aged 82

 

There will be a special Memorial service at St Giles’ on Sunday 7th June at 3pm for those who are bereaved.  The names of the departed, whose funerals were conducted at Ickenham URC or by St Giles’ Church staff between the beginning of March 2008 and the end of March 2009 will be read out during the service. 

Revd Ken Tombs, Curate at St Giles’ Church, will give a short talk and members of the Pastoral Support Group will be present.  After the service, the congregation will be invited to have refreshments in St Giles’ Church Hall. 

Anyone who would find this service helpful is welcome to attend.