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John Betjeman’s famous Christmas poem begins with advent and describes well our
own experiences today – indeed doesn’t that last line sound like a couple of places
perhaps up near Cookham (actually they are colours of water paints!).

The bells of waiting Advent ring,
The Tortoise stove is lit again
And lamp-oil light across the night
Has caught the streaks of winter rain
In many a stained-glass window sheen
From Crimson Lake to Hookers Green.

The preparations for Christmas are well under way with lights blazing in the streets,
shopping trips being made, mince pies on sale since August! Those poor people in
their vans delivering our online shopping must be worn out…and I wonder whether
all the cable-related roadworks will be finished in time? Of course, daily life goes on.
Amidst all the preparations, those of us who are in a job still have to work, those
retired must play golf (???), those who are poorly must fill in their e-consults, and the
kids have the nativity plays to rehearse!

But advent, the time to prepare for Christmas, hopefully also gives us time to
contemplate the meaning of the season. Many, by the sounds of the fireworks, have
already celebrated Diwali which reminds us of the triumph of light over the darkness,
the bringing in of the harvest and divine gifts to us as mortals. But Christmas isn’t
just about plenty of wonderful food, piles of presents and a few days off work.
Christmas is when Christians celebrate the birthday of Jesus – a man revered
across different religious traditions, a man who fought for the rights of the outside, of
the poor, of the meek. A man who challenged the authorities and wandered the
length and breadth of what we might call today Israel/Palestine with his group of
friends. A man who would show how much he loved us by dying on a cross on Good
Friday and rise again on Easter Day.

One of the amazing things about Jesus was how often he spent time with people
around the meal table. His enemies called him, rather unfairly, a glutton and a
drunkard (Matthew 1:19). He didn’t just have meals with his friends, but also with tax
collectors (do you know the story of Zacchaeus), with his friends (???) in the Jewish
leadership, at weddings and village celebrations. Indeed, his established the
traditions around church services as a time to eat bread and drink wine. He even
said that where two or three believers are gathered today, he is there among them.
Why not pop in over Christmas and have a chat about that with us?
Perhaps, as well, if you are facing a lonely Christmas, you might pray that Christ will
be known to you whatever Christmas brings. Many churches and many other places
around Maidenhead will be offering hospitality this Christmas. Hopefully, there is
space for all to celebrate and to remember that Jesus came to bring hope and joy
and peace to all humanity. As Betjeman finishes his poem:

And is it true? And is it true,
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window’s hue,
A Baby in an ox’s stall ?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me ?

…And is it true? And is it true,
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window’s hue,
A Baby in an ox’s stall ?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me ?

Merry Christmas

Pete Phillips, Minister at High St Methodist Church and St Marks Crescent Methodist
Church.

Do you remember that old Fawlty Towers episode when Basil tells everyone in the hotel not to mention the war because they have some German guests as residents? The problem is that none of them, Basil especially, can then get the war out of their heads. Comedy ensues. Ministers of churches are often told to be political but not party-political. So, it’s bad practice to support one party from the pulpit. Don’t mention the vote! But that’s not to say that the church and people of Christian faith and other faiths are not political. It could be argued that religion is, at its core, about caring for our neighbours and seeking to live in harmony both with them and with the world in which we live. Religion is about us reaching out beyond ourselves to make connections with others, to support those in need, to bring healing into our broken world.

Across that world, we have seen a gradual shift away from that concept with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, alongside China’s aggression in Hong Kong and the South China Sea, and the Houthi aggression in Yemen. War has made a come back – although did it ever disappear. The horrors which have followed on from Hamas’ atrocious attack on Israeli citizens last October have horrified the whole world. The tensions and disruptions caused by such wars ripple out across the world, causing economic deprivation and hardship and yet more political upheaval. Indeed, the shift in European politics a harder line against those in need, against the neighbour, against refugees, could all be seen as a defence mechanism in the face of war.

Religion is at its core about love for our neighbours, care for those in need, living in harmony with the world around us. Such concepts reach beyond political party designations and reach deeper into who we are as human beings. Perhaps it gives us a guide about who or what to vote for in our own general election. But it needs to act as a guide for how to be better humans, here in Maidenhead.

Revd Dr Peter Phillips

High St Methodist Church, Maidenhead

In her song “Feeling Good”, Nina Simone declares: “It’s a new dawn, it’s a new life, and I feel
good.” For many of us approaching the new year this year, we may not feel as optimistic.
Our world is riven by wars and international stress. As I write this, the Israel/Gaza war
continues – a war most likely precipitated by Irano-Russian training/support for the terrorist
organisation controlling Gaza, Hamas, as a way to deflect the global community from the
longer and now entrenched war in Ukraine. The horrors inflicted on the people of Israel on
October 7th will stain humanity for ever. Indeed the stains of war will stain humanity – war in
Ukraine, Yemen, Syria, Gaza, South Sudan, Somalia. The political tensions still in
Afghanistan, the South China Sea, now in South America too. We are at a difficult period in
the life of our modern civilisation. Difficult times, both on the world scene and at home with
homelessness, rough sleeping and waiting lists on the rise. Our own council faced with
massive debt as central government has sought to balance the books.

After all the pomp of Christmas, the angels, and shepherds, the wise men, Jesus and his
family found themselves on the road to Egypt, so Matthew’s Gospel tells us, fleeing the
wrath of the government. The saviour of the world seeking refuge in a foreign and
unfriendly place before returning north to Nazareth where he would grow up. Indeed, we
hear a good deal of Jesus walking the roads of Palestine, raising the dust, with his disciples
in train. It wasn’t a very settled life for him and eventually the Romans would kill him as a
rebel leader, a pretender from the North. Wars, refugees, rebellion. Part of the Christian
story and part of what Jesus came to bring to an end – the Prince of Peace.

There’s a poem by Minnie Haskins which lots of us will have read before – about putting our
hand into the hand of God to offer us a safe way into the future. God knows, we all need
some help and may God be there for all those who reach out to him in whatever
circumstances they find him this New Year.

Last year my Christmas message began with asking what Christmas in Palestine, 0 AD might have been like. This year, I am wondering what Israel/Palestine in December 2023 AD will be like. The news has been full of war – the horrendous terrorist activity of Hamas and the brutality of the Israeli response. But, of course, Jesus was born into a similar kind of political situation. The Romans ruled Syria/Palestine as an occupying force fighting a terrorist-like opposition. One of the classic Roman arguments about Jesus and the disciples were that they were a bunch of thieves and murderers from up north in Galilee who deserved to die.

This clashes massively with the idea of Jesus, the baby born in a manger, as the one who brings peace. After all, it’s even part of the angels’ chorus – “Peace on earth and good will to all”. Jesus’ name means “one who saves’ rather than “one who blows things up” and we remember his life as a time of healing, helping the poor, providing for the needy. Indeed, even on the cross, we are told he gave comfort and wise advice to the people crucified on either side of him.

Jesus, a Jew born in what is now the West Bank. Jesus who travelled across borders to proclaim the good news of peace and liberty. Who made it absolutely clear that peacemaking was what brought blessing. Who seemed to know well that the doctrine of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth simply leads to a world of sightless, toothless idiots. So perhaps this Christmas we need to focus on the peace that Jesus brings. To offer peace to our neighbours, to those we meet through work or at school. To see peace as the greatest gift we can bring to the Christmas celebrations.

Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is the reason for the season! We would love to see you at any of our services over the holiday period – you’d be truly welcome.

God bless us all this Christmas

Pete Phillips, Methodist Minister

1 Corinthians 12:12-27

The Church is something which is communitarian – made up of many parts. It’s not a blob, not one mass; not a voice, but plural voices. Each part is special and has a part to play in the making up of the whole. Indeed, Paul goes to some lengths here to make the point that the less public parts are just as important as the more public parts. The role of the person who serves us tea is no less important than the preacher; the one who prepares the powerpoint, no less important than the one who broadcasts it; the one who sings their praises is a quiet voice at the back of the church hall, no less important than the one who is given a microphone.

But the point Paul is stressing in this passage, is that we need to own up to being part of the body and not going solo. He talks of an eye or an ear going off on their own and asking how would that one part survive without the rest. Crazy idea – eye sitting on the floor – it needs the rest of the body to be an eye. Isolationism doesn’t work – we can only be a body by all of our body working together to assist the other parts. A dissected body is a dead body.

But being together means that we share experiences. If one part suffers, we all suffer. If one part rejoices, we all rejoice. Being part of the body means we share the experiences of the other parts, we join in community with one another. Power of the Whatsapp Group, with fellowship groups, with prayer groups. An opportunity to share together in our joint experience of being a Christian community.

This feast reminds us that the body of Christ isn’t just an earthly thing – we join with all the saints, with the hosts of heaven, with the heavenly court. We join with the saints who have gone to glory and with those who praise God on the earth. We are part of a larger body. High St is just one organ in something much much larger and indeed universal. We believe that we join here with the saints who have gone before. We join here with the church around the world. We join here with those in freedom and those who are locked in jail for their faith. We are one with them as we share bread together. One with the worldwide body of Christ across all ages.

Pete

A New Year is here… but with some of the same problems of 2022. We still have a cost of living crisis, soaring energy bills, continued Russian aggression in the Ukraine, and a rather persistent COVID pandemic which is also bringing with it lots of colds and flus which we’re no longer resistant to. Surprisingly, Theresa and I managed to come down with COVID on the week before Christmas, following a long day of four services. Since then, I’ve been testing regularly hoping to get back to work to take Christmas services, feeling rough and concerned about how Christmas would pan out. COVID isn’t a thing of the past, it is a present and real danger especially for those who are elderly and frail.

Every New Year I reflect on words written by Minnie Louise Haskins and used by King George VI in his 1939 Christmas broadcast:

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’
And he replied:
‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.’
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

It reminds me a bit of Dylan Thomas’ poem which begins “Do not go gentle into that good night… Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” But Thomas’ lines are so tragic. A raging against the inevitable. A sense that darkness, death, evil cannot be conquered. A futility at the heart of our being. A raging at a darkness which overwhelms all things.

Haskins, on the other hand, turns to the man who stood at the gate of year and asks for light to tread out into the darkness – light rather than rage, something to dispel the darkness, something to show us the way. The man replies with the offer not of impersonal light, but the promise of putting our hand into the very hand of God. She follows his guidance and is led towards the light, towards the East, towards the breaking of the new day.

A New Year offers us so many choices, resolutions, commitments. Haskins poem reminds me that whatever the new year brings, I am always better going forward holding onto God than raging against the shapeless darkness. In stark contrast to such impotence, Christmas has reminded us that ‘God is With Us’, that Jesus has promised to be with us to the end of the age and into eternity. He is the Shepherd, the one who provides and offers healing. He is love in person.

At High Street, we want to live that love. To welcome all. To share God’s love with all who come through the doors. To represent the very best of human kindness in all we do. To share the love of God with Maidenhead in all we do in the church and in our online ministry (search for us on YouTube). That’s the commitment we’ll be making in our Covenant Service at the beginning of January and living out throughout the year.

You’d be welcome to come and join us. Whenever you want to, onsite or online. We’d love to share some of our understanding of the God who offers you his hand to lead you into the year that stands before us.

God bless,

Pete Phillips
Revd Dr Peter Phillips,
Minister, Thames Valley Circuit.

Hello!

I can’t believe that I didn’t notice that the blogpost wasn’t updated since May. I mean, I am involved in promoting digital ministry. I am on social media quite a bit, read the church’s WhatsApp prayer each day. But I suppose I don’t go onto the website all that often at all. But it’s our front door to the digital world and so here I am.

My name is Pete Phillips and I am the new Methodist minister at High Street. Theresa, my wife, and I have lived in Maidenhead for a whole year now while renting the manse and preaching on the Circuit plan while Theresa continues her work for Durham University’s Centre for Catholic Studies and I was working at Premier Media and Spurgeon’s College and enjoying the warmth of the South East and being much closer to our children and especially our granddaughter born last autumn. But we were also caring for Theresa’s mum in Cornwall and she sadly died last February. A year of ups and downs…

But from 1 st September 2022, I became the minister with pastoral charge of High Street Methodist Church, alongside my academic work in Digital Theology, New Testament and Greek at Spurgeon’s College in South Norwood, London. Theresa continues with her work at Durham. The kids continue to thrive in what they do…life goes on.

Although I guess we are all embroiled in the cost of living crisis which means life goes on but it’s harder and harder to thrive. One of the big issues facing us as a church this winter will be our own fuel bills. Although the government has set a business rate which will cover charities, this still means a 400% increase on our fuel bills for the church, which means we need to be careful about heating (wear an extra layer when you come to church) but also offer more opportunities for people to come and keep warm while we have other meetings in the building. So, look out for our Warm Welcome Opportunities.

We’re into a strange version of harvest when we give thanks for all the provision God has given us and yet also worry about whether people in our own community have enough to live on. All our harvest produce collection went to Foodshare to help people ensure they have food on their table. But we’re also restarting our monthly Friday Lunches for those who’d like to join us alongside our monthly Friendship Club and Breakfast Church on the first Sunday of each month. We’re here for you!

High Street Methodist Church believes in God’s blessing for the community of Maidenhead. We are praying that we might be a place to plug into the blessing, to thrive as a Church but also to encourage our community, our high street, our town to thrive as well. We believe in a God who stands for the poor, the refugee, the widow and the orphan. We believe in a God who encourages love and compassion – a God who welcomes all.

Why not come along and join in some of services and see what we are doing. See how we are living out our pledge to “To act justly, to love loving, and to walk humbly with our God.”

You’ll always be welcome here.

Pete

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

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

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