Welcome to St Swithins Church

By The Rev Matt earwicker

Villages - April 2024...

Dear Friends

It’s Easter again. The highest point in the Christian year. Christmas might have the bigger parties, but it is Easter which Christians have always considered the turning point in the history of the world (even if St Bede understandably felt that our years should be counted from the birth of Jesus, not his death). Because Easter marks both the lowest point in human existence—when humanity was willing to kill the creator of all that exists, animate and inanimate—and the starting point of hope for the future. It is the point where God shows how much he is committed to making this work.

That’s a challenging phrase, isn’t it - “make it work”? It reminds us that some important decisions—even though we feel relatively certain we are making the right choice—require effort even after the decision is made. Whether that is a business deal with a new supplier, a tricky family situation, or some other commitment that stretches our resources, we want it to be successful, but that will only happen if we throw ourselves at it. At which point what really matters is the reason or reasons why we made that decision.

When I was a teenager, my school day began with getting up at 5.45 to get to the station to catch a train that took about an hour, and then walk a mile to school. The school day finished at 6.05pm, and I would be home just before 8, ready to eat, do some homework and go to bed. And I imagine that many of you have had similar times in your lives, whether the reason was school, work, family or something else. The point is not that I think I’m amazing for doing it, but rather that it never bothered me because I loved my school time so much (well, most of it, anyway - I never enjoyed cross country running). It wasn’t will power, nor fear of my parents that got me up in the morning, but a desire to make the most of the amazing opportunity I had.

And it’s similar with God. The Bible teaches us that Jesus didn’t die out of a sense of duty, nor an exaggerated desire to prove himself, but because the reason mattered to him so much: his love for all humanity. God didn’t look at his creation and think, “well, it’s a mess, but it’s all I’ve got, so I’d better make the most of it.” Jesus famously says that it was because God loved the world so much that he sent his son to die for us.

Easter is a time of joy as spring returns, hopefully with a little less rain in store for us this year. The lengthening days, the blossoming flowers and the fresh food to eat raise our spirits. But the greatest joy of all is that it is a time when we remember that God truly does love us all and is willing to do whatever it takes to make that relationship work. And that lifts my heart even more than the sunniest day.

“May Christ, who out of defeat brings new hope and a new future, fill you with his new life.”

With every blessing, Matt

By Bishop Stephen Lake ~ Bishop of Salisbury

December 2024

December is not the best month for a birthday, believe me, I know. Having a birthday in December has always been a bit of an anti-climax for me, especially when one is a member of the clergy and there’s another carol service to do. Birthday cards get mixed up with Christmas cards and bottle gifts get saved for Christmas itself. Consequently, I’ve never been that bothered to celebrate my birthday and have been happy for it to go largely unnoticed, that is, until coming into this job only to find the date gets published in The Times each year!

And yet, for us all, young and older, the passing of another year is always a milestone, whether we party or deny the passage of time. In December as Christians, our focus is on the greatest birth of all. Advent prepares us and is a useful time of reflection upon true meaning and how the darkness of our world does become shattered by light. Imagine this dark time of year without the coming birthday of Jesus.

And yet, as we celebrate with lights and parties and gifts, our world feels very dark in these days. There is no escaping the terror of war, even if we only watch from afar as the plight of hostage and civilian goes on and on in the lands in which our Saviour was born. The largely comfortable in our world – that’s most of us here – struggle to imagine the plight of the Ukrainian or the Palestinian, the homeless person or the marginalised. And we know, for many, Christmas only exaggerates a time of loss and loneliness.

So the only real focus for us all in December, the only place where present is also presence, is the birth of Jesus Christ. Emmanuel, God with us, the almost unbelievable reality that God chooses to be born among us as one of us, as a human child, and still we tell that true story today. For me, this fact is why I believe. Reality in history means real God in real time. One who knows, one who loves, one who lived for us. The incarnation – the birth of love.

Whenever your birthday is I send you every blessing. In December, we celebrate the birth of the Word made flesh, the Light of the World and the Prince of Peace. To Jesus our Lord, on my birthday and every day, I pray, many happy returns!

The Rt Revd Stephen Lake, Bishop of Salisbury