“I ♥️ NHS” badges were once a thing – “I love the NHS”. We all did during the pandemic. Now we look on fearfully, because the NHS is on its knees. Because it hasn’t been loved, not in the way it has needed.
It’s Valentine’s Day month, so a good time to think about what, as well as who, we love. And let’s use an old-fashioned word that fits here more than we’d think – ‘hallowed’. Whilst the word originates from ‘holy’ – the ultimate pinnacle, as it were – it also means more generally ‘respected, important, revered’. So, borrowing from a …
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Reverend David’s February Notes – Hallowed Heights
Reverend David’s January 2023 Notes – rooted for the year
We emerge from the haze of Christmas, blinking in the light of reality into the dawn of a New Year. We emerge probably bearing new family memories of Christmas. Shared family time may have strengthened or strained us, family a haven or battle-field, or somewhere in between.
Big or small, near or far, living or deceased: family gives us roots, whether by blood, marriage, blending or adoption. We may be grateful for those roots, or forever tug at them, but we have them.
No more so is this true than our parents. Wherever our personal parental …
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Reverend David’s December 2022 Notes – A Tough Tinsel Time
Covid Christmases were tough. For many, though, this year will be tougher – a lack not of intimacy this time but income. Budgets squeezed, rent and mortgages up, public service provision down, foodbank use escalating even before the current crisis, inflation carving into everything. Even the supermarkets have sensitively toned down their dream-inflating Christmas TV ads.
And yet, are tougher times closer to where Christmas began? “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good …
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Reverend David’s November 2022 Notes – A community treasure
In reflecting last month on the life of Queen Elizabeth II, I drew on a fairy tale about an unbreakable thread laced as a daisy chain to appear unassuming. What other such threads give us continuity in our changing and turbulent world?
Marking Remembrance Day is one such. Some will gather at war memorials, and most of us will wear a poppy. Sacrificed lives are reverently remembered. But Remembrance Day is about our future as much as our past. We hold out our hopes that the vulnerable values of peace and freedom fought for will continue.
Welsh …
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Rectory notes Oct 2022 – Queen Elizabeth
“She was a silver thread through my life.” So said a woman on the Mall interviewed on TV after the late Queen’s death, capturing a common sentiment. And silver became gold, then platinum. A thread which felt it really could go on forever.
As many have expressed, the unbroken presence of Queen Elizabeth over 70 years has given invaluable continuity to our lives. She was simply always there.
An old fairy tale tells of a thread that was unbreakable, but was laced as a daisy chain to appear ordinary and unassuming. Queen Elizabeth had no …
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Reverend David’s September 2022 Notes – Whisky Galore
A big thank you to Becky, Ruth and Leah for covering this magazine slot so admirably these past three months of my sabbatical. You’re stuck back with the Vicar now.
In having the privilege of taking such time out, I’ve observed other things that take time. Making whisky, for example! Whilst you’re reading this, rainwater is slowly filtering through peat and rock in far-flung places en route to becoming whisky, or resting for years in oak barrels. (Surprisingly, perhaps, the photo isn’t from my Scottish travels but from Brighton!)
I’ve …
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Rectory-ish Notes – August 2022
John 15 v 5: I am the vine; you are the branches
Connections are so important, as we learned from the pandemic. Breaking links with family, friends, community and work was a tough blow, and even though living in beautiful East Devon was a blessing during that time, we all suffered.
At church recently, we have been exploring new ways to connect with God, for example, gazing on the beauty of nature. Have you ever stared at a flower for twenty minutes, and really noticed the stunning intricacies? Whether you consider yourself a spiritual person …
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Rectory-ish Notes – July 2022
Hello, Ruth here, following on from Becky with the Rectory-ish Notes while Dave is on Sabbatical. I do hope Dave and Dawn are enjoying weather as good as ours has been (at least in June) during their much-deserved break. May God bless you, Dave and Dawn.
Do you ever find yourself in a situation for which a straightforward solution is missing? My husband and I are in just such a situation. Partly because of our own choices, partly because of circumstances outside our control, we find ourselves in difficulty (I’ll spare you the details). There …
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Rectory-ish Notes – June 2022
As I sit to write this article, we are in the throes of exam revision and preparation in our house. Those of you who are parents of older children I’m sure can relate to the conversations revolving around the quality and quantity of revision!!
And as you read this now, we are well and truly in the thick of the exam period. Whether GCSEs, A Levels, Finals or end of year exams, 1,000s of children up and down the country are taking exams. I’m sure each of us can think of family or friends who are currently in this situation. For some, these will …
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Reverend David’s May 2022 Message – Sea, Sand and Sabbaticals
On May 1st, I will set my Out-of-Office and answer-machine, press the Pause button on my parish life, and step into a 3-month sabbatical. It will feel strange. “We’ve got rid of the vicar for 3 months!” you may think.
In the summer of 2006 I stepped into a Waterstones bookshop in Brighton. We were holidaying in Sussex. My eyes were drawn to a vividly pink book, engagingly titled “Everything Bad is Good for You”. It was a wonderfully positive book about contemporary media culture, and reading it reawakened something in me, a fresh love for life …
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