The Ordinary The church has now entered the long season of ‘ordinary time’ with its liturgical colour of green. This season will see us through the summer and well into the autumn. After the wonder of Christmas, the solemnity of Lent, the sadness of Good Friday, the joy of Easter, and the flames of Pentecost, it’s now, just... well ordinary! It does seem a little strange to have a dedicated period of ordinariness in the church calendar, a kind of default season with no particular theme. A kind of ‘space’ gap. Life can be like this too, with its highs and lows, but mostly with things just ticking along. For many living through difficult times, the ‘ordinary’ can be yearned for. Ordinary can be restorative and balancing. It can open up time for contemplation, and if you are a person of faith give space to see God in the small, the everyday of our lives, in the beauty of the colours of summer and autumn... Here’s to the ordinary. A Summer Smile... With apologies to those who have heard this joke before or have recently lost a duck... A woman takes her duck to the vet, which upon examination the vet sadly declares to be dead. Outraged, the woman tells the vet he doesn’t know what he’s talking about and challenges him to prove that her duck is, indeed, dead. The vet sighs but then opens the door of the surgery and ushers in a black Labrador who puts his paws on the table and sniffs the duck from head to toe. The Labrador looks dolefully at the vet and slowly shakes its head and leaves the surgery. The vet then brings in a large tabby cat, which he places on the table beside the duck. The cat also sniffs the duck from head to toe and also looks up to the vet and shakes its head. The vet removes the cat and then says to the woman, “There you are, I told you it was dead”. He taps a few keys on his computer and says, “That will be £150 please”. The woman, clearly shocked, says “£150 to tell me that my duck is dead, that’s outrageous”. “Well” said the vet, “if you’d taken my word for it, it would have only been £20 but with the lab test and the cat scan it’s £150”!! Summer Smiles and Blessings to you, Nikki
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I love chocolate! So describing the mystery of the Trinity (the three aspects of God) as like plain, white and milk chocolate, all being chocolate (God) but all still individual in appearance and taste, works really well for me, but apparently using this analogy might be heretical! But somehow I don’t think God minds, I am sure God smiles at our human attempts to describe the indescribable nature of God! Traditionally the Trinity is described as ‘God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit’. I like how the Inclusive Language Lord’s Prayer from New Zealand speaks to the wider nature of God and our relationship response to it: Eternal Spirit, Earth-Maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver Source of all that is and all that shall be, Father and Mother of us all, Loving God who is in heaven: The hallowing of your name echo through the universe! The way of your justice be followed by people of the world! Your heavenly will be done by all created beings! Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth. With bread we need for today, feed us. In the hurts we absorb from one another forgive us. In times of temptation and test, strengthen us. From trials too great to endure, spare us. From the grip of all that is evil, free us. For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever. May it be so. Amen. Nikki www.raddesley.com We have sun! Or at least we did when I wrote this! May is a lovely month as the flowers continue to bloom, the days get longer and we carry with us the joy of Easter. God’s amazing love for us has been clearly demonstrated and we wait for the celebration of Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit came after Jesus ascended, believers began praising God in many languages, languages that they had not learnt. I am sure this symbolically emphasises the unity God desires for us to have with one another. As St Paul writes “There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” All are one in Christ. There are no outsiders, none that are lesser than ourselves. In Christ there are no excluding boundaries, let us not be the ones to create them. May the Holy Spirit empower us with love for our neighbour, and with neighbour being the whole circumference of the globe. Amen Nikki “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” Mother Teresa Have you been Confirmed? If you would like to be or are not sure if you have been or not (I wasn’t until a few years ago!) Do contact me. Bishop Stephen is coming to Dullingham in September so you can be confirmed locally. The Easter Story I grew up in a Christian tradition that took every word of the bible literally (pretty hard to do as parts are contradictory!) and to question God was deemed disrespectful. I now hold a rather difference stance seeing literal truths (the love of God for all and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus) and relative truths (to the era, to the situation) within the bible. I also think God positively likes being questioned: "He can handle it"! Just look to Jesus’ Parables; they positively encourage thought and challenge. And then we have Jesus’ questioning words on the cross to God ‘ Why have you forsaken me?’ as he carries the sins and hurts of the world distancing him from God and it is painful literally and emotionally. During the Lent course questions arose about Jesus’ death one being ‘If Jesus knew he was going to die and let it happen when he could have stopped it was this in fact a form of suicide?’ To my mind Jesus foresaw his rejection and crucifixion but also the final outcome of the hope and reality of his resurrection. Death and sin are overcome, there is hope earthly and eternal for us all. So rather like a soldier on a battlefield, or a parent who pushes a pram out of the way of a car, death might be probable, but life is given in self sacrifice. Out of purpose, out of love for others. Jesus dies so all might live. The taking of one’s own life can come from impossible pain of self and for hurts of the world which become too much to bear. An eleven year old once asked me ‘What happens when those who take their own life die?’ I said I believe Jesus has felt their pain, knowing that life had been hard for them and welcomes them with open arms. More simply I could have said ‘I believe Jesus runs to meet them’. It is in the vulnerable that we meet Jesus and Jesus meets us, right there at the foot of the cross. Not in power and strength but in gentle, amazing, everlasting love. That to me is the Easter story. Easter Blessings to you all, Nikki If you have been affected by anything I have said please do speak with me, a friend, or the Samaritans who are available 24 hours a day on 116 123 or https://www.samaritans.org
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Revd Nikki MannNikki is the Priest in Charge of the Raddesley Benefice (which consists of 6 churches) in Cambridgeshire Archives
April 2021
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