Rev’d Vicci Davidson’s ‘Thought for the Week’

Friends

I got back off leave on Saturday to a week of excitement around children and young people. On Sunday, preaching at Burnham, we were blessed with three families, each coming in with their children and young folk, and since it’s not always easy to get everyone up and out on time on a Sunday morning, I had the rare but wonderful experience of what felt like more and more children walking up the aisle to take their seats through the first part of the service. We had a ball with six enthusiastic and knowledgeable budding theologians after several weeks with no children at all.

Then on Monday until Thursday, we were running a youth project at Windsor for 5 -11-year-olds and what great fun that was. 32 children came in every day to sing, dance and act from 10am to 3pm and I know that they would want to thank the team that made that happen: Elanor, Mark, Pat, Marion, Trixie, Jane, Ade, Pauline, Miles and of course, yours truly, who had an absolute blast putting on a show in four days. I had forgotten just how exhausting this age-group can be, but we had a lot of fun! In amidst all of this, there was also a wedding, a funeral, two meetings and a coffee morning. And they tell me August is a quiet month in the church!

It feels so busy and so modern, and yet so much is the same as it has always been. Parents have always brought children to church, or synagogue or to be blessed by the itinerant preacher who is prepared to tell off his followers for turning them away. There have always been weddings and funerals, meetings and gatherings (even if there hasn’t always been coffee!) In these difficult times, it is worth remembering that these price hikes and worries, concerns about global stability and trade, wars and rumours of wars are and have been since before the time of Jesus, the very stuff of life. Yet whether we lean on Genesis 50:21 when Joseph promises his family in a time of universal famine, “Do not fear. I will provide for you and your children” or on Isaiah 41:10 “Do not fear, I am with you; do not be afraid for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” or on Matthew 6:34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today” the one thing we know is that God loves us yesterday, today and tomorrow.

God bless,

Vicci

Rev’d Vicci Davidson’s ‘Thought for the Week’

Friends

It was my last chairing of a Church Council at High Street this evening and I am very aware that we are finally moving towards “normal” – whatever that may look like in the Thames Valley Circuit. I will go back to having three churches (plus some oversight of Colnbrook and Poyle), two ministers with whom I have enjoyed much laughter will be sitting down and a whole new team will be starting on the 1st of September. It’s exciting, and although it is tempting to quote Isaiah whenever anything new happens, 43:19 seems particularly apt as we move towards the new Connexional year: “See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

At this time when we are seeing a return to normality, even if it is not normality as we would like it to be in some ways (rising costs and failing resources are not what we were looking forward to!) still there is hope that God is doing a new thing, and he may even be doing it here in our churches, where our numbers are going down and yet so much that is good is coming up.

In Isaiah 43, God is promising to rescue Israel from the Babylonian exile, reminding them that he has previously rescued them from slavery in Egypt, and looking forward to the time when he will indeed do a new thing with the birth of Jesus. God gave water in the desert when the Israelites fled from Egypt, he will give water now and Jesus will offer streams of living water – the Holy Spirit to resource and strengthen his people in the future.

What can we look to in our lives and the life of our church that speaks of what God has done in our past, what he is doing now and what we believe he can and will do in the future? We have the hope that what is happening right now will indeed give us streams of living water, because we can see his Spirit at work in our lives, in the lives of our friends and family and in the history of the Church throughout the ages.

God is doing a new thing, and new things require change, and all change can be frightening. But he has sent the comforter, he has promised to lead us by still waters and through green pastures and our help does indeed come from him. May you have a blessed summer as we look forward to all that he will do for us and with us in the coming year.

God bless,

Vicci

News - Exciting Holiday Club at Windsor Methodist Church!

Exciting Holiday Club at Windsor Methodist Church - Sing, Dance, Act - here's your chance to put on a show in 4 days. 

Monday the 22nd to Thursday the 25th of August

10am - 3pm

Windsor Methodist Church

We will provide squash and biscuits, but the children will need to bring packed lunches. 

6-11 year olds 

Book by emailing rev.vicci@mail.com

We will put together a devised show "A Sunny Afternoon in the Library" which will be performed for parents and loved ones at 3pm on Thursday.  It will last between 30 and 45 minutes.  

The cost is £10 for the week (ie £2.50 per day)

It is possible to miss a day, as each day will have a different focus, but it is designed to be a four day package.  

This club is run by experienced, professional theatre teachers and ex-theatre teachers, who are all DBS checked and have received Safeguarding Training from the Methodist Church.  There are 24 places in total and they are going fast, so it is recommended that you sign up quickly. 

God bless

Vicci 

Revd Vicci Davidson
Burnham, Cookham Rise, High Street Maidenhead and Windsor Methodist Churches
Superintendent Minister - The Thames Valley Circuit of the Methodist Church

Just passing by! Notes of the late Rev’d Dr Selwyn Hughes on Luke 10: 25 - 37

‘A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.’ (v 31) “I have always thought that our text for today is one of the saddest verses in the whole of Scripture. The priest in Jesus’ story passed by in stolid indifference and watched the man who had been assaulted by robbers go through agony. He did not seem to care.

That same attitude – the attitude of not caring – seems to be increasingly common in our contemporary society. Recently, while watching television, I heard a journalist comment, ‘We have many crises in our world but one of the greatest is the crisis caused by the lack of care.’ So how should we Christians live out our lives in a world where there is little care for one another? We should keep on caring. To allow other people and their attitudes to determine our own conduct is unchristian.

Shakespeare, as you probably know, wrote some words that are in harmony with Scripture; ‘Love is not love that alters when it alteration finds.’ Brotherly kindness – true brotherly kindness, that is – does not change no matter what changes there are in others. It was said of John the Baptist that he was a ‘voice …. calling in the desert’ (Matt. 3:3). Someone has remarked that the difference between a voice and an echo is that a voice is proactive and an echo is reactive. Are we echoes or are we voices?

Years ago a missionary doctor from the USA went to China. While attending typhus cases he himself was stuck down and ravaged by the disease. Yet when he heard that a coolie woman would die if she did not have a Caesarean operation, he bade his colleagues carry him to the operating room and operated on her as he was dying. Perhaps the coolie woman never knew about this and maybe she did not care. But he cared - and that is enough.

A prayer:

‘O God, help me to bring to all my relationships an attitude of care and concern that will help lighten other people’s loads. Save me from just passing by. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

Jesus sends out the seventy-two …

‘the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field

Rev’d Vicci Davidson’s ‘Thought for the Week’

Friends

Rather than my usual “thought for the week” I thought I would share one of the hymns I wrote while on sabbatical two years ago.

Holy Spirit once sent from Heaven to earth

Answering a prayer Jesus made for us

He overcame death, fear and sin

And sent his Spirit to remain with us.

(Chorus)

In the Father’s name, and the Son’s great love

The Spirit comes to live in us

Greater than the earth and the heavens above

The Spirit comes to remain with us.

We will never be left to work alone

When we ask the Spirit to enter in

Comforter and support, and friend of peace

Helps us share our worries, takes the guilt of sin.

(Chorus)

Come live in us today and fire our hearts

Let us know the new life Nicodemus knew

Waken up your Church and the life within

Let us learn a new way to remain in you.

(Chorus)

God Bless,

Vicci

Rev'd Vicci's thought for the week

Friends

I visited St Mary’s Hitcham for the first time today.  We held our Churches Together in Burnham meeting there and it was lovely to see this little 12th century church rising up to greet me as I drove down the hill through wooded back lanes.  Such places remind us that the faith has persevered, survived and indeed thrived through plague, fire and misfortune before and will do so again and the prayers of the faithful have permeated the very walls of the sanctuary. 

I feel something of that prayer permeation when we meet fortnightly for prayer in the Cornerstone Chapel where prayers have been spoken for far fewer years than the 850 or so that St Mary’s has been in existence, and where until the 1990’s it was merely the vestibule to the church proper.  Yet still, there is a sense of the presence of God in that place where prayers are offered on a regular basis. 

There will have been something of that in the Temple in Jerusalem – even more so since there had been nowhere else where it was permissible to offer sacrifices since the time of King Josiah in the 6th century BC.  How terrible, how offensive it was for Jesus to talk about the temple being pulled down and rebuilt in three days; how significant and frightening it must have been when the curtain to the Holy of Holies rent in two when Jesus was crucified, and how utterly horrific was the sacking and destruction of the temple in AD70.  Yet these three things combined hold within them some of the most powerful understandings of our faith: that God is in his temple, and that the temple is the world; that Jesus is God and thus also God’s temple, and that he was killed and rose again after three days; that any man-made obstacle, be it curtain or wall, that stands between God and the people has been removed by the willing sacrifice of Christ made once for all upon the cross.

As the weather improves and we are able to walk abroad more frequently, let us give thanks for our buildings as we pass them.  Buildings that allow us to meet and learn of God but which can never contain him who is to be found in the highways and the byways, the market place, the school, the city and the village.  One God, world without end.  As we enter Ascensiontide, we remember that Jesus rose from death and ascended into Heaven, but we remember also all that he left on earth as we look forward to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

God bless,

Vicci

Rev’d Vicci Davidson’s ‘Thought for the Week’

Friends

After two years of lockdown and working from home where I tend to potter around in bare feet, I find that I am not enjoying wearing my high heels as much as I used to. My feet have lost the habit of it, and the fashion for white trainers with brightly coloured suits is one that I shall reluctantly embrace this summer. I see on the streets of London that others too have arrived at the same conclusion, but it reminds me of the importance of comfortable feet and here towards the end of the Easter season, that when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, it was more than an act of humility and service.

Jesus was doing something that was usually done by a servant, but it was usual to have it done, because tramping the dusty roads in open sandals left the feet dusty and irritated. Indeed, when Jesus’ feet are anointed by Mary at Bethany and people start to rebuke her, Jesus points out that the host has overlooked this simple foot-washing courtesy. In our time, what service can we perform that is normal and necessary but that might in fact be overlooked?

Jesus is reminding them that it is easier to tell someone else to do something than to do it ourselves, but that if we do not seek to serve, we can never hope to lead. Leadership within the Church is always servant leadership, and yet it is so difficult to get the help that we need in these days. Are you able to serve your fellow congregants by taking on some of the work of the day? Am I able to organise things to take on more, or support more?

Above all, Jesus calls us to think of the needs of those who are with us in the work before our own needs. We are not told whether he was weary or frightened as he set out to wash those long-ago disciples’ feet, but we know that by later in the evening he will ask God to remove the cup from his lips if it is possible to do so. He will have inevitably been wrestling with many thoughts and yet he is able to trust that these people who have been drawn to him and whom he has called will follow through – in spite of Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial. They will as a group announce the coming of the Son of God and of the Kingdom of God and their faith, empowered by the Holy Spirit, will be enough to change the world.

Whatever we are called to do for the church and for the community in the coming months, let us too be worthy of such trust.

God bless,

Vicci

Rev'd Vicci's thought for the week

Friends

As we start to see the impact of the rising cost of living, we may be struggling to make ends meet, or have friends or relatives who we suspect are so struggling.  Meanwhile, almost every day, I seem to get an offer in my email box for a credit card or bank loan and encouragement to solve our immediate problems by taking on longer term ones sometime in the future is endemic in the way consumer countries create finance in our current systems.

Throughout history, there has been criticism levelled at the Church because of what is perceived as a “pie in the sky when you die” approach.  An approach that says: “We don’t need to worry about now, however awful, because eternity will be lovely”.  Somehow, the people preaching this always seemed to be doing okay.  More recently, an alternative has been offered – that of the prosperity Gospel theologians (if I can dignify them with such a name!) who believe that financial blessing and physical wellbeing are always the will of God for us and that faith, positive speech and donations to religious causes will increase our own wealth – although it often seems that only the leaders get wealthy.  

Neither of these theological positions is true.  Instead, Jesus came that we might have life in all its fullness, and that life is intended to be lived not on a multi-million pound yacht, but in community with others.  We look to those around us and when we spot a problem that we can help with, we make the offer and when we can do nothing, we give moral support and do what we can.  Our faith entitles us to God’s love (which belongs to all of humanity anyway) and forgiveness of sin (which we all need) and a promise that “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”  It most certainly does not entitle us to wealth beyond the dreams of avarice. These next few months are not going to be easy.  The government hopes to get through it by increasing work opportunities and encouraging employers to pay more for skilled workers so that after a brief period of discomfort, the quality of life will go up for everyone.  As is always the case, even if the plan works, there will be those who are left behind.  As each of our churches questions its own calling in the aftermath of covid-induced losses, we should perhaps listen carefully to those who are brave enough to share what is going on for them in these difficult times.  It may be that we will find within these stories the next steps we need to take as church and as community. 

God bless.  Vicci

Rev’d Vicci Davidson’s ‘Thought for the Week’

Friends

I wonder if you remember learning this little poem when you were children?

“Whether the weather be fine, or whether the weather be not

Whether the weather be cold, or whether the weather be hot.

We’ll weather the weather, whatever the weather, whether we like it or not.”

I suppose it was invented to help with the ongoing perplexity of English spelling where we have more than a few homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently).

In our Christian lives of worship, we may also find something similar. For example, we all think we know what we mean by the word “worship” but for some people it must incorporate half an hour of singing at the beginning with a highly professionalised worship band and technical set up and for others, it means an organ, a great choir, an introit, anthem, sung blessing and five hymns and then for still others it’s about taking the best of both those traditions and using a bit of both in ways that speak to the skills of our own congregation - which is what we try to do at Windsor.

However, although words like “weather” and “whether” and “been” and “bean” have different meanings according to the spelling used, worship is always about giving of ourselves to God. Whether we do that through modern singing, old hymns, a mixture of both, words, visuals, standing or sitting, ultimately, it’s about God and it is our hope that what we do Sunday by Sunday pleases God and allows us to meet with him in a special way.

Perhaps our private prayer life has become dry or stale, perhaps we are wrestling with something that makes faith seem a little too far away to grasp, perhaps our prayers hit the bedroom ceiling and come right back to us. The hope is that any blockage in our personal relationship with God is broken through on a Sunday when, meeting corporately, we can lean on each other and give God the glory. This Sunday, which is the Sunday School Anniversary, we will be having an All Age Service which will be fun and interactive, whilst still being worship. Doubtless we will recall that the Sunday School is the church of the future. Once upon a time, we too were the church of the future and the faith that you have held to, Sunday by Sunday has brought us to this time and place. I give thanks for it.

God bless,

Vicci

Rev’d Vicci Davidson’s ‘Thought for the Week’

Friends

Earlier this week I went to see “Dirty Dancing”. The musical based on the 1980’s film released in the summer I was 18. As school finished and we set off on our own adventures as young adults the film resonated in all sorts of ways. Certain moments have become iconic: the girl who, bowled over by the sheer attractiveness of the male lead can only think to say: “I carried a watermelon” and is then embarrassed all over again by the sheer banality of her words; the moment when Danny reappears at the end of the film and says: “Nobody puts Baby in the corner” and then the wonderful, visual imagery of the great lift in the final dance of the show – the one they have practiced and failed at throughout the evening. We applauded enthusiastically as each remembered moment was faithfully reproduced on stage and as the soundtrack to our youth poured over us, I will not have been the only one who felt a little jolt of nostalgia and wistfulness for the exuberance and self-belief of our younger selves.

That’s what this time of year is supposed to be like. The great re-telling of the familiar story. The betrayal, the forgiveness, the washing of the feet, the “Do this in remembrance of me” and “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” and “Eloi, eloi, lammas sabaccthani” and “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.” We should hear these words told in the old, old story and want to applaud, weep and hope, remembering once again the time when we first heard the story. And on Easter Sunday we should be bowled over by the sheer excitement and energy of the resurrection.

We have become so familiar with this most wonderful of stories, that we forget to be excited and enthused as each line comes along, as each act unfolds. Perhaps also, when faced with fears for the future of the church to which we have given so much, we forget that ours is a resurrection faith. It has been a terribly sad time for the Circuit, and particularly for the Windsor section, as Old Windsor and Eton Wick ceased to meet, and yet as the members of these beloved congregations move their membership to other churches in the circuit, they bring resurrection hope with them, strengthening and uplifting the fellowships which they join. Inevitably we fear that our numbers and our abilities to speak the Good News are dwindling. But we have a faithful God, we are a resurrection people, and the faith we profess and the love we share holds out hope for the years to come. Happy Easter.

God bless,

Vicci

Rev’d Vicci Davidson’s ‘Thought for the Week’

Friends

I wonder what you do with your palm crosses each year? In the church, traditionally, they are kept until the following Lent when they are burned to make the ashes for Ash Wednesday. Small children open them out to make swords, some people use them as book marks and I knew one lady who kept a large vase filled with them and added to a year at a time. They remind us of how quickly the “Glory, Hallelujahs” turned to “Crucify him”. They can perhaps also remind us of how much that is a part of human nature. How often have we seen an England football team go out to play in the world cup with opinion pieces on a particular player in all the papers. Such and such an one will change our luck and we will win the cup they trumpet. Then a penalty is missed, an over-zealous tackle is punished and suddenly we are told that the previously lauded player is actually a terrible person. No-one has anything good to say about them and they are pilloried in newspapers of all political persuasions. All too quickly it seems, we are ready to turn and rend our heroes of yesterday.

It is not unusual for people to acclaim and then destroy, particularly if the acclaimed one does not perform in the way they want. It is rare for people to die for someone else. In his letter to the Romans, Paul says this: “Very rarely will someone die for a righteous person, though for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

As we journey through this last week before the death and resurrection of Good Friday and Easter Sunday, it is tempting to leap ahead. We are surrounded by shops wanting us to grab the hot cross buns, simnel cakes and chocolate eggs right now and then use Easter itself as an excuse to go back for seconds. But if we succumb to that temptation, we are making the mistake of jumping from Palm Sunday and it’s “Hosanna to the Son of David” straight to Easter Sunday. And without the pain of the crowd turning, of Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial, of Pilate’s handwashing, and the soldier’s whipping and the nails driving into flesh and bone and wood; without the washing of feet and the injunction to “love one another as I have loved you”; without the last supper and the requirement to “do this as often as you eat it in remembrance of me” then Easter Sunday is trivialised. Yes, we are an Easter people, but it is our recognition of what came before that makes the celebration all that it is.

God bless,

Vicci

Rev’d Vicci Davidson’s ‘Thought for the Week’ & Details of meeting to discuss Ukraine situation and our response

Friends

As I write, the talk in the Davidson household is largely around Will Smith. Is it or is it not okay to hit someone for disrespecting your wife? Everyone on the news and on social media has an opinion, and my own family is no different. For those of you who missed this riveting piece of scandal from the Oscars the salient points are as follows: Will Smith, who is a very well-known American actor, was at the Oscars, waiting to see if he had won the Oscar for which he had been nominated, when the compere made a joke at the expense of his wife who has alopecia. Will jumped onto the stage, slapped the man around the face and said, “Keep my wife’s name out of your mouth.” The compere has declined to press charges and the two have made up. Will Smith went on to win the Oscar and in his acceptance speech, whilst apologising to the audience for having caused the disruption, said that he felt he was put on this earth to protect the women around him.

And what would Jesus do?

That’s a difficult one if we look at his story. On the one hand “He gave his back to the smiters and his cheeks to them that plucked out the hair. He hid not himself from shame and spitting” and on the other hand, he over-turned the tables of the money changers in the temple and set about them with a whip saying: “It is written ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’ but you have made it a den of robbers.’” Scholars tend to see his anger as being focused on the fact that the sellers of animals and the money changers were making it very difficult for people to actually get to God. Jesus it seems was meek and mild when it came to himself, but not so much when it came to others.

For me, the most interesting thing in the whole sorry incident was that fellow actor Denzel Washington told Will Smith: “At your highest moment be careful, that’s when the Devil comes for you.”

For what it’s worth, my own belief is that physical violence is rarely the right answer. However, in our own lives where we are less likely to be thumped, but where people, accidentally or on purpose, can say quite hurtful things, it is worth our while to reflect that the Jesus response is both “turn the other cheek” and also, “do not be the one to get between God and another person.” As we seek to grow our own congregations it is worth wondering whether we are sometimes less encouraging than we could be, less kind than we should be.

God bless, Vicci

Message from Rev’d Vicci - Regarding an invitation on 13 April

Friends

We have continued to watch with horror the unfolding situation in Ukraine and the churches in the Circuit have responded through donating goods which have been sent to Ukraine and the Polish border, with donations via All We Can and I know in other ways as well. However, we are now moving to a new phase in the conflict and I know that many of you are wondering about how and whether to engage with the government's plan to host refugees from this war. I have spent the last two weeks researching this and discussing with a number of colleagues in the District the Connexional response and how we can help. Anne, Margaret and I all have experiences of some of these issues from different wars and conflicts which we also bring and so we would like to invite you to attend a meeting by zoom on the 13th of April at 8pm. This meeting will start with a briefing on the response, the rules, risks and opportunities and we will then move into break-out rooms to discuss further, before returning to the main group to decide what actions we want to recommend to the Circuit Meeting in May, if and what actions we want to take earlier than that, and the best ways to do that. These break-out rooms will be facilitated and so it will be helpful to have an idea of numbers so that we know how many facilitators we will need. Please RSVP to Circuit Secretary.

Rev’d Vicci Davidson’s ‘Thought for the Week’ & Ukraine donation update & Pancake Event - good news!

Friends

Throughout my life as a Christian, I have been encouraged to ask myself the question “Where was God in that?” or “Where did I meet with God today?” I have tended to think of it as a comforting question; a question that acknowledges that some days feel quite ordinary, perhaps even a little bit boring, and some days are horribly difficult, but if we ask the “Where was God in that?” question and are able to answer it, then “our fears may be dispelled, our loneliness eased and our hope reawakened” as the Methodist Worship Book puts it.

But perhaps I am wrong, or at least, not altogether right. Perhaps the question is not “Where was God in that so that I may feel comforted?” but “Where was God in that so that I might join him in action?”

As we look around us now at a world reeling from the effects of two years of global pandemic, war between Ukraine and Russia, rapidly rising energy prices, to say nothing of the cost of fuel at the petrol station, increases in food bills and so on, we see people of all faiths and none rising to the challenge to join in with those who are seeking to help. Food banks, baby banks, work among the homeless, the housing of refugees from Ukraine, or working with refugees and asylum seekers from other situations and other wars fill the time, effort and thoughts of a startling number of people. How do we identify where God is at work and join in? And how do we join in when many of our congregations are feeling worn and over-stretched? We may feel as if the last mountain-top experience was a very long time ago and that we have been travelling through the valley of the shadow of death for far longer than we care to think about.

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” Now is the time to come, not when we have got through it all and feel at peace again, not when we know that “all will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well” but right now, while we feel weary and burdened and fearful. It is time for us to regather ourselves as individuals and as the church family, to meet together, to pray together, to seek God and to find out where he is and what he is doing so that whether he is leading us further into the valley, or out onto the mountains, we need not ask the question “Where was God in that?” because the answer can only be “Walking beside us.”

God bless,

Vicci

Donations for Ukraine; feedback received 20 March “The donations have been delivered to the Hub of “British Ukrainian Aid” charity in London. Monday 21st it will be loaded onto the lorry to Ukraine. We want to say thank you to all and everyone who contributed to the donations. We all hope that it will be of great help to the people in need there.”

Further good news re Pancake day fundraiser with our friends at St Edwards for Christian Aid Emergency Projects in Ukraine, Afghanistan & hunger in Africa. It has since reported the final money raised was £688, plus a generous donation of £200, so nearly £900! A BIG THANKS to everyone who helped and who attended.

Rev’d Vicci Davidson’s ‘Thought for the Week’

Friends

In “High-Flying Geese” by Browne Barr we are told the following story: A child who was late returning from an errand explained to her worried parents that she had come across a friend who had dropped her beloved china doll and it had smashed to pieces on the sidewalk. “Oh,” her father said, “You stopped to help her pick up the pieces.” “No,” the child answered, “I stopped to help her cry.”

Over the last three weeks, we have been stopping to help the people of the Ukraine cry, and for those of a generation that can still remember the Blitz, old emotions are being re-released by pictures on our television screens of bombed-out buildings and rubble-strewn streets. We haven’t just stood in solidarity metaphorically either. We have donated money and goods to organisations, particularly in Poland and Moldova where refugees are either passing through or remaining and of course the Ukraine itself. Meanwhile we hear that we have not, through lack of ability or political will, been able to help all those we had hoped to from the wars still raging in Syria and Afghanistan. Humans it seems, are not a peaceful people.

For we who are Christians, following the one whose name is “Wonderful, Counsellor, Almighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace”, the call to peace is strong, but also difficult. “Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end” we are told in Isaiah chapter 9, and yet we struggle to follow in this way, not because we don’t think that peace is a good thing, but because it is an impossible thing. We have tried. We may know people who have refused to fight; we may have looked at countries that have successfully remained neutral; we may wonder what price that has demanded.

We cannot simply say that we think that peace is a good idea, we need to consider how peace can be achieved. We should pray, we should where possible act, we should speak to our children about our diplomats as if they are the super-heroes of the modern world, as perhaps they are, and imbue in them a desire to follow in such footsteps. And when we, like the little girl in the story above, take time out of our lives to help others cry, we should remember that after we have cried, it is necessary to get back up. Like Elijah in the desert cave, we need to listen for the still, small voice, and then we need to get up, go out and follow.

God bless,

Vicci.

Ukraine - what can we do to help?

The great sadness facing the Ukraine - A message from Rev’d Vicci As we watch the unfolding of the horrific situation in the Ukraine many of us are wondering what we can do to help. Some of you will already have responded and others will be wondering what is the best way to respond. As in many other difficult and dangerous situations across the world, the Methodist charity “All We Can” is working in partnership with people on the ground to do the best we can in all the ways that we can. Churches and individuals who wish to support their work in the Ukraine can find more detail here:

https://www.allwecan.org.uk/ukraine-emergency-appeal/

God bless,

Vicci

or

The Government is offering to match personal donations through the Disaster Emergency Committee which is working through partners from major charities eg Save the Children, Unicef, The Red Cross and others.

or

Locally…….

The Clewer Scouting & Guiding Association are leading the initiative for the people of Windsor and surrounding areas
by working closely with Slough Polish Association. we are arranging a collection for the people of Ukraine who have fled to Poland
The items we are collecting are:
Toiletries (inc sanitary products, nappies)
New clothes for children & adults
New shoes for children & adults
NO food please
Drop off is at the Clewer Scout & Guide Hall, Maidenhead Road, SL4 5EY
Please drop off outside the hall, there will be a bin for drop off and we will be monitoring and visiting the hall evert couple of hours and move the items inside
Any time from 9am Wednesday 2nd March to 5pm Friday 11th March
The Polish Association will be driving these items to Poland on Saturday 12th March, hence the deadline of 5pm Friday 11th March
Many thanks for your support and please feel free to pass on and spread the word.

Circuit information from Rev’d Vicci

As part of our preparation for Easter this year, the various choirs of the Thames Valley Circuit will be coming together to present Stainer's Crucifixion, an oratorio with congregational hymns, as a Circuit service on the evening of Palm Sunday. Also known as Passion Sunday, we often focus on the Palms and not the Cross on the Sunday before Easter, and it is hoped that this special service will redress that balance. Stainer's Crucifixion is one of those works that many of you will have sung during your lifetime, and if you would like to join with the High Street Choir (weekly on a Friday), the Windsor Choir (fortnightly on a Wednesday) or Thames Valley Voices (fortnightly on a Tuesday) in order to be part of the Circuit Choir on Palm Sunday, please contact Pippa, Vicci or Anthony for details and music.

God bless,

Vicci

Rev’d Vicci Davidson’s ‘Thought for the Week’

Friends

“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Perhaps by the time you read this, the sun will be peeping through again, although at the moment, apart from a brief respite on Thursday, my weather forecast app is predicting rain all week. We had a promise of spring last Saturday. The sun was out, the sky was blue, and although it was still quite chilly there was that freshness that hinted at better weather to come.

In the same way, we have been in and out of lockdowns and semi-lockdowns and the decision taken by the government to try now to live with the virus is understandable, but perhaps also somewhat worrying. Stress levels, depression and anxiety are high across the country as people wonder what the future holds.

Yet we have been here before. The country and indeed the world have faced bubonic plague, tuberculosis and Spanish flu, to mention but a few, and out of these have come stories of survival, of perseverance, of heroism and of medical evolution.

We can perhaps take comfort in this as we look at our churches and wonder about dwindling membership and lack of interest in a life of faith in the wider community. The whole Biblical account from Creation onwards is a story of ebbs and flows. The people defy God, as with Adam and Eve, the building of the Tower of Babel and various events in the desert Exodus, and they ignore God, both in the lead up to the Flood and the various events and times challenged by the prophets in between David and the birth of Christ (about 1500 years). Subsequent to that first heady Pentecost, the Church has continued to rise and fall, and Methodism grew up as a movement to spread Scriptural holiness across the land because it was needed and not just because John and Charles Wesley thought it would be a good idea.

Matthew 24:35 tell us that Jesus said: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” As we journey towards another Lent, another Easter and another hope for a more normal summer, we also journey in the knowledge that however confusing, worrying and stressful these times are, God is with us.

God bless,

Vicci

Notes by the late Rev Dr Selwyn Hughes based on The Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 5 v 1-13

“How happy are those who know their need for God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs!” (Matthew 5 v 3). The reason why the principle of humility is presented first is because unless we come to grips with this then the others are beyond our reach.

From there I go to the fourth law of the kingdom, which is this: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (v 6).

The message contained in this statement is that each one of us needs to have a healthy spiritual appetite for the things of God, which is developed through prayer, reading His Word, and living by the principles of His Kingdom.

One of the very first symptoms of spiritual ill health is avoidance of our daily Quiet Time and study of the Bible - things which are vital to our spiritual growth and development. When our relationship with God through prayer and the reading of His Word is intact then every other relationship is affected by it. I know of nothing that cultivates a spiritual appetite more than spending the first minutes of the day with God in prayer and in the study of the Scriptures. When I have a Quiet Time then I experience a quiet heart, but when my Quiet Time goes then my quiet heart goes with it.

Some Christians struggle with this matter because although they know a daily Quiet Time is essential for their spiritual development, they lack the will-power to make time for it. It’s rather like someone rapidly losing weight because of the lack of appetite and being unable to remedy the situation because they just do not feel like eating. Doing what is necessary, even though you don’t feel like it, is important not only to physical health but to our spiritual health also. Sometimes people say to me, “But I don’t feel like praying or reading my Bible every day.” My advice to such people is this: do it anyway. It may seem mechanical, but as you persist you will find it becoming medicinal.”

Prayer:

Father, forgive me if I skimp the time I need to spend alone with You. Help me be a more disciplined and dedicated person. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Grace abundant: notes by the late Rev Dr Selwyn Hughes based on Romans 5:1-17 ‘

How much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace ….. reign in life ….’ (v 17). We cannot know what situations and circumstances we will face in the year that lies ahead, but one thing we can know is that, whatever happens, there is grace available to sustain and support us. Often, we try to live our lives in our own strength, but our reserves of energy, determination and patience soon run out. We can feel as though we’re ‘running on empty’. Yet we can take hold of God’s grace, which is flowing freely towards us, giving us everything we need to live life to the full.

Over the years I have noticed that Christians often fall into two categories: those who appear to be thriving and those who are merely surviving. Maybe you have noticed this yourself – some people just seem to travel faster along the journey of Christian discipleship that others. We may grow old at the same rate, but we do not all seem to grow spiritually at the same rate. Some people, even though they have been on the Christian pathway for 50 years or more, appear to travel at a snail’s pace, while others have covered the same distance in five. Why is this? There are many possible answers, but I am sure that one of the major reasons is this: they have appropriated for themselves what our text for today describes as ‘God’s abundant provision of grace’. They have opened themselves to God’s grace and thus they stride along the Christian pathway at speed. They are walking free, unhindered by the world’s distractions.

Has there been a slowing down in your spiritual life lately? Do you feel constricted and restrained? Then tell Jesus now that you want to get back in the race again, moving forward with the most ardent believers you know. Decide now to walk free in the coming year.

Prayer:

Yes, Heavenly Father, I long with all my heart to move forward with the most ardent believers I know. I don’t want to just amble along the path of Christian discipleship. I want to move at speed. Please help me to do so. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Community Youth Worker - job advertisement

An exciting new opportunity has opened up in the Thames Valley Methodist Circuit. Looking to start after Easter, reporting to the Superintendent Minister. The prime focus of the role will be to engage with families and young people across the circuit, which covers Maidenhead, Slough and Windsor. This is a part time appointment, averaging 20 hours per week, to include running an after school drop-in club for year 7 and upwards from 3.30pm – 6.00pm term time in Maidenhead, and supporting a Toddler Group in the Lent Rise Church in Burnham one morning a week. The successful applicant will have a real understanding of being with young people and helping them to be the best they can. They would be self-motivated and able use their imagination and local knowledge to set up and run holiday activities across the Circuit. Full details of the Role and Person specification can be obtained from Pauline Poole, Circuit Administrator. tvmc6off@bt connect.com or 07875 717730

Closing date for applications: 15 February. Interviews will be held first week of March.