From Our Rector
Father Martyn Griffiths is Rector of St Mary's church, and of our sister church of St Nicholas, Remenham. He is a former vicar of Preston and Canon of Blackburn Cathedral. Fr Martyn and his wife Anne moved to Henley in 2005.
Each month, Fr Martyn writes a letter for our Parish Magazine. Here is the current article.
October 2008
Bah, Humbug! It's the third week in September and I have just returned from my weekly "shop" - and what did I seen on the supermarket shelves? Only a big red sign saying "Happy Christmas" surrounded by chocolate boxes all wrapped up in Christmas paper, some of them describing themselves as "alcoholic"! Am I becoming just a grumpy old man? (Answers please on a postcard!)
It just seems that we tend these days to wish our lives away. And it's not just Christmas gifts appearing in September (actually I noticed that Harrod's Christmas Decorations shop opened in early August). I suspect that most of us do it most of the time. We can't wait for retirement, or we can't wait for next summer's holiday or ...
There is an ancient Christian tradition of "the consecration of time". Perhaps it's partly Celtic in origin (but what isn't claimed to be these days!), but it does remind us that time is part of God's creation. We find it almost impossible to think outside of time, in much the same way that we find it difficult to imagine anything outside space. For centuries artists have drawn and painted the glories of heaven and the horrors of hell - imagining both of them as places, up or down, confined in time and space. The scriptures speak in much the same way, from the first book of the Bible to the last. Indeed, S John's book of Revelation, or the Apocalypse as it is also called, speaks entirely in the terms of things happening in places and various times.
It is difficult certainly to imagine ourselves outside space and time - but that's what the Kingdom of God is really like. It is God's reign - which is why it can be, in human terms, as small as the human heart or as big as an entire nation.
So next time you're tempted to want to rush time, or to slow it down, or you're tempted to be in another place rather than where you are, have a thought for the greater Kingdom of which you are a citizen, much more important than any earthly kingdom in time and place - and thank God that his creation is not confined to 365 days a year or a particular spot on a particular planet hurtling through space - which is where we came in, I think!
Very interesting, as they used to say!
Love and prayers,
Fr Martyn