Weekly Bulletin for St Mary's and the Villages

Collect

Almighty God, who through your only–begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us 

you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help we may bring them to good effect; through….

Additional Collect

Risen Christ, 

your wounds declare your love for the world and the wonder of your risen life: give us compassion and courage to risk ourselves for those we serve,

to the glory of God the Father.   

Today: Easter 5
Principal Readings 

Acts 7.55-end Psalm 31.1-5,15-16* 1 Peter 2.2-10 John 14.1-14   

Barton

8.00 Said Eucharist
9.30 Parish Eucharist 

6.00  Evening Prayer

Monday

Bank Holiday
Wednesday

9.30 Eucharist (St Mary's)
Thursday

2-4 Sewing Bee (St Mary's Hall)

Easter 6
Principal Readings 

Acts 17.22-31 Psalm 66.7-18 1 Peter 3.13-end John 14.15-21

Barton

8.00 Said Eucharist
9.30 Parish Eucharist (Trinity Altar)

11.00 Together@11

6.00  Evening Prayer

Reflection: Concerning Earmuffs

I don’t know whether you’ve noticed the increasing number of people wandering around town wearing what look to be studio headphones? I admit to having used a music player in the gym – anything to distract me from the uncomfortable nature of what I was doing on the apparatus – but wandering around plugged in alfresco never really appealed. I suppose it keeps out traffic noise, but it keeps out the birdsong as well – and the reduced awareness of one’s surroundings probably doesn’t do a lot for road safety either. But the world’s shut out for a while, and all we can hear is what we’ve chosen to hear, be it Mozart or Metallica.

Which brings us neatly to this morning’s reading from Acts.

The story of the martyrdom of Stephen doesn’t perhaps get the outing we’d expect over the year, since (as we know from the Christmas carol) ‘The Feast of Stephen’ is also Boxing Day, and perhaps only in the most refined of London circles does his day get kept with more than a cursory nod.

Nevertheless, we all know the story – it introduces us to Saul/Paul among other things, gives us a bit of information about the office of deacon in the very early Christian Church and so on. But it also tells us quite a bit about keeping within our comfort zone.

Stephen’s accusers and murderers place their hands over their ears to shut out what he’s saying. If we’re generous, we might say it’s because they believe what they’re hearing is an insult to God, and they want to keep in God’s good books by not having it pollute their eardrums. They want their beliefs kept pure.

If we’re more realistic, if we’re honest – what they’re doing is shutting out the outside world in an effort to avoid being taken out of their comfortable ‘we’ve got everything sorted’ bubble. In a more sinister version of wearing world-cancelling headphones, they choose to shut out anything which might disturb their assumptions and presuppositions. Stephen’s words are unwelcome, and so they cover their ears and shut him out. Eventually, they’ll make sure that they can’t hear him by silencing him once and for all. 

Just a moment’s thought shows how dishonest to themselves they’re being. They’d not cover their ears unless they already knew what was coming. They  know that Stephen has news for them which is threatening, their ‘I can’t hear you’ pantomime is a bit of play acting. They can’t un-know what they already know - but they can have a game of make-believe which hopes the world outside will go away and stop bothering them.

Fast forward a couple of millennia and things haven’t changed much. Knowing how Facebook and the rest carefully tune their recommendations to suit our browsing habits, the news that an ever-increasing number of people get their news from social media is a worry, exposed as they are only to those who agree with them already. My feed suggests the whole world is pro-Europe, anti-Trump, and immoderately interested in mediæval bloodshed. 

Everyone seems to prefer living in an echo-chamber of their own certainties rather than wonder if they’ve got the whole picture. Oliver Cromwell’s plea, ‘I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken’ would get short shrift in the land of TikTok. 

It happens in Church circles, too. 

Church history is full of attempts to drive out any hint of divergent thinking – not just in the traditional bogeymen like us and the RC’s, but in splinter-groups and purity movements both inside and outside the traditional churches. ‘Heresies’ (whatever they are) are Underdogs, and therefore Glamorous and Romantic, but looking at most of ‘em, I’m glad they didn’t catch on! 

Back in my student days, the leaders of a large Christian society tried hard to make sure members only read ‘approved’ stuff by like-minded believers. I knew a Christian Bookshop advertising everything from Christian driving instructors to Christian plumbers– encouraging that suspicious ‘us-and-them’ view of those outside the fold.  There are still Christians out there who do their best to avoid even considering the truth-claims of biology (evolution), geology (age of the earth), psychology (human sexuality) and sociology/anthropology (gender roles and so on).

If we proclaim that ‘God is truth’ and take seriously Jesus' words about being Truth, then we probably need to set an example to the world by refusing to cover our ears to things which might disturb our neat and settled universe. Christians follow the Truth, but we know we don’t have a monopoly on it – so we can’t go along with that widespread belief that only one little group - our own - has anything worthwhile to say.  

More: maybe we need to become more confident in questioning a world which seems to want everyone to live undisturbed, unchallenged lives, in suspiciously simple like-minded bubbles. 

We may not manage to do it with the wit and wisdom of King Charles in his speech to the US Congress – but encouraging the world around us to have the humility and courage to hear what others are saying, to allow cherished ideas to be challenged, reshaped and informed, is an important part of who we are as Christians.  Today's alternative collect prays that we have 'the courage to risk ourselves for those we serve' - leading the way out of the echo-chamber looks like a good place to start.

For our prayers

Church:

The Church in North India 

Christians in the Middle East. 

Our keeping of Eastertide. 

World: 

Those in authority. 

Gaza, Iran, and all the lands of the Middle East. 

Ukraine, Sudan, Mexico. 

Peacekeepers and Peacemakers. 

Those leading in the protection of our planet 

and the resolution of the issues surrounding migrancy. 

Candidates and electors in the Local Government elections

Our Community: 

Parish cycle of prayer: 

Churchwardens, PCC and church committees.  

Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: 

The Charity sector 

The world’s half-forgotten troubled lands:

Afghanistan, Myanmar.

Those in need. 

All who are fleeing war, poverty or climate change. 

People living under the shadow of fear, deprivation or illness; 

the anxious, the lonely and mourners. 

Those struggling to make ends meet. The homeless. 

Those in hospital or who watch with them. 

Especially, please pray for: 

Those on our Parish prayer boards

The Departed. 

Notices.

NB, please, that tonight’s 6.00 at St Mary's is Evening Prayer, not Evensong as previously planned.

West Lindsey Open Churches

The weekend of 9th-10th May is the first of the two Open Churches weekends this year – a chance for a pleasant excursion around the Lincolnshire countryside. Not all churches by any means are easy to visit, so if (for example) you want to compare our royal coats of arms/hatchments/rogues’ gallery with that at (say) St Edith’s, Coates – here’s your chance.

Please note that Canon Liz is on annual leave from Monday to the end of the week, and thus unavailable.