Welcome to The Weobley & Staunton Benefice

I’m writing this just over a week after Sir Keir Starmer’s dramatic, emotional resignation speech outside 10 Downing Street.

This came at the end of weeks of feverish speculation in the media about how long he could remain as Prime Minister and about who would replace him – before the poor chap had even announced he was going! Now we can all look forward to weeks of speculation about what his replacement – expected to be my fellow Mancunian Andy Burnham – will do when he takes over as the Leader of the Labour Party and the Prime Minister of this United Kingdom.

Personally, I can’t begin to understand why anyone would want to be PM – particularly at the moment – but it seems as though Mr Burnham is pretty keen on the idea as he’s clearly been formulating his ideas, plans and strategies for some considerable time - ideas, plans and strategies that he’s been keeping fairly close to his chest to date, but with which he will inevitably have to go public before very much longer.

In the meantime, the Great British Media is going into overdrive with in-depth analysis of his gifts, attributes, failings, shortcomings, personality, popularity and history – and huge amounts of guesswork about what exactly Andy will do and what he will be like as our next Leader when he is duly elected, appointed, anointed (whichever it will be) in succession to Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak, and Keir Starmer.

As things stand, Andy Burnham will be our eighth different PM in sixteen years! And we used to laugh at the Italians changing leader every few weeks…

In the First Book of Kings in the Old Testament bit of the Bible, we find the account of what happened when God’s People got a new leader. There wasn’t any kind of election, of course, (I don’t think God is that much of a democrat) but the time had come for a new king to take over the reins.

It was going to be a tough act to follow because Great King David was arguably the best      leader the people had ever had, but it was now time for his son, Solomon, to take David’s place. Solomon immediately recognised the enormity of the task ahead and took himself off to a holy place to talk it all over with God. In a vivid dream, God asked Solomon what he needed and Solomon replied:

O Lord God, you have made me king in place of my father David, but I’m too young for this task and I have no idea how to do it. So what I need from you, Lord – more than anything else – is wisdom.  Without wisdom I will never be able to rule your people.

The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom above all else and said to him:-

Because you have asked for the wisdom to rule justly, instead of a long life or riches or victory over your enemies, I will give you more wisdom than anyone has ever had.

The rest, as they say, is history. Solomon ruled over Israel for forty years. His wisdom is still remembered and celebrated thousands of years later. We still talk about The Wisdom of Solomon today – it’s the stuff of legend.

Now I’ve no idea whether Andy Burnham is likely to ask for God’s help with the task ahead – or whether wisdom would be his first request if he was to do so. But we, as Christians, can - and should - pray for him as he prepares to take office – whether he would be our choice of leader or not. We can - and should - pray, above all else, for wisdom for our new PM and for all our leaders…Lord knows – they need it.

Stephen 

The writer of Ecclesiastes notes that ‘For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.’ As the time has come for Penny and I to depart the benefice, so I am reflecting on how time is a teacher. The variety of seasons in our lives can teach us to seek God’s presence in the ups and down, joys and sorrows, arrivals and departures.

I leave knowing that I’ve not been able to achieve all of the goals I set for myself at the outset of my incumbency (let alone the aspirations within the parish profile), but also with the knowledge that mission action plans can never be fully realised. As we age, we discover both our limitations and the liberating awareness that God is at work in all kinds of surprising ways, often behind the scenes, thus challenging our plans and extending our vision. One of my favourite quotes about human designs is from the Danish inventor and poet Piet Hein:

Our choicest plans

have fallen through,

our airiest castles

tumbled over,

because of lines

we neatly drew

and later neatly

stumbled over.

Another piece of learning for me in my time here, has been that people - while they can at times be demanding, frustrating, weird or obstinate - can also be endearing, helpful, good-hearted and essential in terms of getting things done in the church and community. I am deeply grateful for the support provided so constantly by our team of PTO clergy, by the many lay volunteers within our parishes and by Sam Phillips, our Benefice Administrator. Without this level of support, I would not have been able to effectively lead or minister to seven churches. The body of Christ has many parts; all different and all vital to the proper functioning of the whole.

Finally, old Father Time teaches us that there is more to time than just it’s passing. While I have been busy in my role as priest, with each hour often crammed with ‘things that must be done’, I have also taken time to observe the beauty of the passing seasons in the surrounding fields and forests and hills of Herefordshire. The apparently endless rhythm of yearly cycles which sustains creation, and the way in which human beings are born and flourish and eventually wither and die - all of this invites us to consider that earthly time and space are set within a much larger and more mysterious frame. The writer of Ecclesiastes notes that “God has set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” We sense something of this in our concepts of eternity or infinity, but our little minds must pedal like crazy to imagine what this looks like.

The singer Bruce Cockburn in his song ‘Mighty Trucks of Midnight’ captures concisely for me what it means for us to accept the limits of earth-bound time and learn the art of letting go:

I believe it's a sin to try and make things last forever

Everything that exists in time runs out of time some day

Got to let go of the things that keep you tethered

Take your place with grace and then be on your way.

Thank you for your support and care over the past five years. May God’s abundant love and grace continue to sustain you and the churches of the Weobley and Staunton Benefice.

Rev’d Philip