Minister's letter

August 2022

Click for the Vicars letter from July 2022

Take time to slow down and find peace

Dear Friends,

David and Helen have gone off on their well-earned and much-needed sabbatical, and will be back in full action at the start of October. The cat is away ...

No, jokes aside, I'm not replacing David, nor is it my wish to, and neither am I changing anything about the church and what we do there. But I am here for you as your priest and as someone who is immensely interested in the life of this village and this benefice. My ear is always open, should you wish to talk, or have an enquiry or a suggestion to make. I can be reached by email to rev.ylva@gmail.com, or by phone 01233 820100, or mobile 07766 711957. Or come and find me in church on a Sunday morning or in Benenden's, where I tend to serve coffee for a couple of hours at the start of the week.

Summer is a time of leisure and refreshment for many, and I hope that you will have some of that, too. The Bible tells us that God leads us beside still waters and takes us to green pastures (Psalm 23). That is absolutely right, but we ourselves have to accept the invitation. God is not forcing us to slow down and enjoy the tranquillity and rest that he offers us, He is merely holding out the hand and giving us a chance.

When you read this, some of us will have been on our Benefice Summer Pilgrimage to Bodiam at the end of July. There we will have walked beside the River Rother, taking in the sights, sounds and smells of summer. I was very fortunate to be taken along another part of the Rother early one morning in June, accompanying Charles Trollope as he surveyed the birdlife by the river. That morning was, for me, all about what the Psalmist describes; slowing down and immersing myself in the landscape, in the life of animals and plants, and finding rest and refreshment for my soul. Nothing dramatic happened, we saw the odd rarer bird, but mostly ordinary creatures and plants crossed our path, and the mist cleared as the day warmed. It was beautiful and special without needing to be spectacular.

The possibility to slow down and rest is something that we need to cultivate, to practise. So is the ability to enjoy things that are ordinary, common and plain. The human psyche is geared up to crave fireworks of excitement, but we actually thrive on much smaller delights. One of the prayers from the religious Iona Community says: "All that is spectacular, all that is plain have their origin in you; all that is lovely, all who are loving point to you as their fulfilment." God is a God of all aspects of life and we can find and connect with Him (or Her?) in our everyday life. We just need to give ourselves time, and peace, to slow down and notice all that He has provided for us.

Revd Ylva Blid-Mackenzie, Curate