Welcome to Weobley & Staunton Joint Benefice

I remember a voyage taken once on a boat in high seas, feeling sea-sick and hoping to catch a glimpse of land. But the roll and pitch of the boat, the height of the waves, and the misty conditions prevented us seeing the distant contours of the Isles of Scilly as they were picked up on the boat’s radar. In our gospel text Jesus speaks to his disciples about difficult sailing ahead; of ‘distress among the nations, confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves’. He paints images of a world in conflict and destruction, but with all of this being a prelude to an even more powerful event, the arrival of God’s redemption.

In the season of Advent we are called to watch and wait as our church pitches and rolls through a stormy world; as we hang on to the railings of our faith. We do not watch in vain. Jesus assures us that ‘when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near’.  In the turbulence of the present, the approaching coastline may seem far-off, even invisible. But we have a captain who knows our destination and is steering us calmly into port.

Rev’d Philip

In Sunday’s gospel reading, Jesus emerges from the temple building (Mark 13). One of his    disciples, possibly seeing the temple for the first time, says ‘Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!’  Jesus replies, ‘Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.’

Jesus’ reply rings true on two levels. First as a prophecy of the destruction of the temple by the Romans in AD70. Next, it seems to challenge the idolatry that often springs up around the worship of buildings. In his speech to the Athenians, Paul says: “The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands” (Acts 17: 24). Paul is not claiming anything new. The readers of the Old Testament were told by the prophets and the psalmists that God’s dwelling was with his people - in right actions, prayers and worship - rather than in places of stone and mortar.

Our human temptation is always to attach the sacred to something concrete, without            consideration for the transience of things. There will come a day when our venerated church buildings crumble into dust, yet Christian worship will not. A former dean of Salisbury used to stand regularly by his deanery door, look over at the cathedral and say ‘O great cathedral, the day will come when the Lord has no more use for you.’  While this idea might seem heretical to those attached to the church as a place, it makes perfect sense in terms of orthodox theology. The church is God’s people: we are its living stones, and God is always active, reconstructing his church with each generation. Are we prepared for this?

Rev’d Philip