'Marking Dates and Days' - Weekly Reflection 19th April 2026

We always knew this day would come!

Today at St Oswald’s we said farewell to our Vicars, Alan and Jane Hulme who have been with us for just over six years. They now move into a well-earned retirement. *

The transformation of St Oswald’s over that period is amazing. They both felt a deep call of God to come to Rugby for a ‘period’ and bring healing and wholeness into St Oswald’s. For all sorts of reasons, the congregation at St Oswald’s needed deep healing and bringing back into life and love, not least a love for one another. The building itself was also in need of ‘healing.’  Over the last six plus years they have led us on a journey of transformation.  (Interrupted by Covid!)  One of their first tasks was to call the Church to repentance. We spent Lent in prayer and fasting with Alan and Jane making themselves available to hear any stories of hurt, anger or anguish. A Service of Reconciliation was held, and we moved into Easter with a firm grip and understanding that the past has been recognised, we have sought forgiveness and now it is time to move on and build for the future. Having dealt with the past, they then began to help us build a life of prayer, discipleship, fellowship and outward facing ministries. Always asking the question of anything done, why are we doing this and how does this connect to the life of Faith and helping people encounter God or to grow as a disciple of God. Nothing was, or is done ‘just because we have always…’  Things are tried, some work and grow, others don’t and are stopped or tweaked.  

They concluded their time with us this morning by giving us ‘Ten Top Tips for a Vacancy.’ One of which was to remember the past, but don’t stay there. To try and ban the phrase, ‘When Alan and Jane where here they did it like this,’ hence it becomes something written according to the Law of the Medes and Persians!  (See Daniel 6:8)

Apart from reflecting back on the time Alan and Jane have been at St Oswal’s, which coincidently has largely mirrored our own time here, we both arrived at much the same time, I have been reflecting on dates and time. 

A well-known phrase from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 comes to mind, ‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:’

Popularised for those old enough to remember by "Turn! Turn! Turn!", also known as "To Everything There Is a Season", a song written by Pete Seeger in 1959.  It became an international hit in late 1965 sung by the American folk rock group the Byrds. 

 (The song was originally released in 1962 as "To Everything There Is a Season" by the folk group the Limeliters.')

Those dates in our diary, for good or ill, for pain or for pleasure, they come, they present themselves, and then they pass, but always leaving some trace, as any reader or watcher of detective stories know.  

'Time, like an ever-rolling stream,

   Bears all its sons away;

They fly forgotten, as a dream

   Dies at the opening day.'

Last week I reflected on a little of my own journey of coming to embrace the Christian Faith. As I entered my teens I knew that no matter what I did, or where I went, or however rich or poor I might become, that one day, my name would be written on a little brass plaque on a coffin lid. Name, date of birth date of death.

This was one of the most abiding memories of my dad in his coffin. Shortly after my six birthday he was killed in road traffic accident at the age of 36. Following the custom of the time he was laid to rest in the front room of our council house. The coffin was left open and the lid propped up against the wall. That little brass plaque became a deep-seated memory that would come back to haunt me as I grew into my adolescent years.

That date will come, that birthday, that wedding date, that anniversary, that holiday. That dentist appointment or that operation or scan.  For good or ill these dates and days will come and go and leave their mark.

However, unlike the Law of the Medes and Persians, what kind of mark is left is not ‘set in stone’ (to mix metaphors). We, to a greater or lesser degree, can make choices.

Another of the ‘Top Tips’ spoken of today was to regularly read the Bible. In retirement I have come to appreciate the Scriptures and their depth of wisdom in a whole new way, largely through podcasts, especially from the Bible Project and Tom Wright but from other sources as well.

'Take a deep dive into the wisdom of Scripture.' 

That wisdom gained from reading Scripture can help us make good choices. For example, one of the overriding motifs of Scripture is that of flourishing. Both my own flourishing and the flourishing of the ‘other.’  Therefore, that is a question to ask, will what I am about to say or do (or not do!) bring flourishing? If you have time listen to this podcast of an amazing Christian entrepreneur who, informed by Scriptures, especially Jesus’ parables, has set up several companies that seeks the flourishing of everyone involved in the business at whatever level. https://open.spotify.com/episode/60ehAlo9ZzeuGTyBx5geN9?si=c1503b3329fc4265

As we experience the ebb and flow of life we might make this our prayer; ‘Our God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Be thou our guard while troubles last, And our eternal home.

https://youtu.be/N-hN740J6qA?si=vXEt4yVU8qVrNnOp

* Watch the Service on YouTube - 

https://www.youtube.com/live/Npx5aquvVFU?si=UcWTJkgcpGq8KYyT

'Walking the Way' - Reflection 12th April 2026

On Saturday last, April 11th,  'I Am Maximus' became the first horse since Red Rum to regain his crown in the Grand National, as Willie Mullins also became the first trainer since Vincent O'Brien in the 1950s to win three successive editions of the Aintree spectacular.

Another record was set by jockey Bruce Hobbs in 1938. Born on Long Island, New York, Hobbs became the youngest and tallest jockey to ride the winner of the English Grand National when successful on Battleship, a son of Man o' War, in 1938 just three months after his 17th birthday. Two weeks later, he won the Welsh Grand National on Timber Wolf. At the end of the 1937–38 season, during which he rode 35 winners, he became the first jockey to win three Grand Nationals in one year, lastly the Cedarhurst version.

Following the Second World War Bruce Hobbs began a career as a trainer, becoming a private trainer for John Rogerson at Letcombe Regis in Berkshire. In 1953 he moved to Newmarket, Suffolk and became assistant trainer to Cecil Boyd-Rochfort. In 1961 and 1962 he was assistant to John Clayton. In 1964 he moved to the Carlburg stable near Newmarket and became private trainer to David Robinson. Hobbs became a public trainer in 1966, basing himself at the Palace House stable where he remained for the rest of his career.

And in 1966 Hobbs signed up a young lad from Lancashire as an Apprentice Jockey.  This young lad carried the same name as a famous goalkeeper, Gordon Banks, and by a strange coincidence joined Hobb’s stable in the very same day when England won the world cup with Banks in goal.

What took me to take this somewhat unusual step wasn’t a deep love of horses, or of racing, or anything to do with the sport at all. Up until that point I had zero interest or knowledge about racing and the only thing that came close to riding a horse was a donkey ride on Blackpool beach!

What took me there was adolescent angst about dying, more particularly about dying unknown.  Not an untypical angst for teenagers to battle with as they grow up and begin to grow away from their parents. (In the ordinary course of things)

In short I hoped to become famous, so that when I died, as I was acutely aware that I would do one day, that my death would be noted and not be a mere little note in the obituary column of the local newspaper.  

At the age of fifteen and preparing to leave school I was underdeveloped and stood less that five-foot and weighed in at less than six stone.  When talking about what we would do when leaving school, it was my best pal, James Masters who quipped that I ought to become a jockey because of my size. That quip sowed the seed that eventually led me to traveling down to Newmarket, to Palace House Stables, so named because they were at one time the royal stables of Charles 11, a keen advocate of horse racing.

I never did become a jockey, famous or otherwise and after serving my five years as an Apprentice Jockey I left the racing game and began a raft of various other jobs, principally as a bartender in hotels in and around Newmarket.

God never really featured in my thinking or concern during any of this period. I had left school, St Anne’s Church of England Secondary Modern School, with a deep fascination with Jesus but a deep dislike for any form or organised religion and the Church.

That was to change in 1974 when I began to work for Spillers Food & Nutritional Centre as an Animal Technician. There, I was to meet David, a man like me in his mid-twenties. However David was a Christian, and a Christian of a type I had never met before, one who had a lively and active faith.  I began working there in March 1974 and by the winter of that year I had begun to look again at the Christian Faith and still have the Bible David gave me in November 1974.

It was reading that Bible that I read Colossians 3.3 – ‘For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.’

This proved to be a light-bulb moment, my Damascus Road, my enlightenment. On the 1st January 1975 I made a New Year's Resolution to become a Christian. 

My life, my true life, my God given authentic life, was not to be found in fame or fortune, but in walking with Jesus. It was not having my name in headlines but written in ‘The Lambs Book of Life.’   (See Luke 10.20)

Today at St Oswald’s we reflected on the Emmaus Road story, Luke 24.13-35.  We were encouraged to consider Jesus as the ‘master evangelist’ and consider the ways he acted in this encounter.  (To see the sermon visit - https://www.youtube.com/live/_1R7Jn85MA8?si=MClUAY8knRCfJfnY)

These are some of the key points on which we were invited to ponder.

What’s our story, what does Jesus mean to us, how did we come to encounter the risen Jesus.  Note in this story it was while these two disciples were ‘walking away’ from Jerusalem, It was when they were at their lowest, when they were downcast, befuddled and massively disappointed, all hopes and dreams shattered. Jesus joins them and walks alongside with them, ‘going away from Jerusalem’   - this is love ‘going out of its way’ for the sake of the other, to bring them Good News.

Jesus listened to their story and only then began to respond to their disappointment.  Listening is a key skill we can learn and develop.  A few weeks ago, I undertook the Prison Fellowship training for Bereavement Counselling.   (Bereavement especially for prisoners is broader than the death of a loved one) Listening was one key skill were encouraged to develop.  Not long ago Radio Four had a series called, ‘Across the Red Line’ Two people on the opposite sides of an issues were invited to sit across their opponent who was allowed to speak without interruption. There opposite number was then invited to reflect back what they had heard.

The other key thing we learn from the Emmaus Road story is Jesus’ knowledge of Scripture, his knowledge of the big picture. How good are we at knowing this bigger picture, how good are we at using Scripture to reflect back on what’s happening in people’s lives and in the world.

I am not taking here about selective proof text to be stuck on like some plaster, but knowing the stories, knowing the flow of things. Helping people sit into the deep wisdom to found in the Scriptures.

For example, in this past week my son and I were having a back and forth on WhatsApp about education (he is a teacher). We talked amongst other things about human flourishing, one of the primary reasons for education. This is a major motif of the Scriptures, our own flourishing, that is, what makes for the good life, (see Psalm 1) and what helps the flourishing of the ’other.’ 

I recalled hearing a story of lady who came from Uganda and secured her dream job in Switzerland. However, after she moved there with her young family she then moved back.  She didn’t want her daughters growing up in the atomised individualistic atmosphere of Western culture.  Practically she missed the support of her community. An African proverb says, ‘it takes whole village to raise a child.’   

Ponder this…

What is your story of meeting Jesus and are able you able to tell that story?

Have you found Jesus to be there at your lowest moments, bringing you encouragement?

How good are you at listening? Maybe with a friend try the exercise of listening and then reflecting back what they have just said.

How well do you know the Scriptures, the stories, the overriding themes and motifs?

How good are you at going out of your way to be with the ‘other’ and journeying with them?

For we know that a little bit of love goes a long, long way…

Ponder on your part in sharing God's love as you listen to this song.

https://youtu.be/auwgDr2BA7E?si=_hLtj2bFR9ZDqIJu

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Are we there yet?' - Weekly Reflection 'Holy Saturday' 2026

 

‘Are we there yet’ – who hasn’t heard that from the back seat of the car, or a bus or train. Usually from a young person, possible a child, or in the film Shrek, from a very annoying donkey!

Patience seems to be in short supply these days, especially on the roads. We have come to expect things to be done quickly. Interestingly a few weeks ago I was with a small group in the Church of the Ascension, the Orthodox Church in Rugby. Their ‘liturgy’ has changed little in the last 1500 years. Our hosts spoke about this feature of the Orthodox tradition that doesn’t go in for swift changes.

And so today, what name do you give this ‘in-between’ day, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. A priest friend of mine posted on Facebook a raft or resources, music, readings and prayers, which he referenced as Silent Saturday. The Orthodox makes much of Christ’s descent into hell and setting captive souls free, principally Adam and Eve, and then binding Satan and ushering in new creation. In the Western Church this was known as the ‘Harrowing of Hell.’ See What is the Harrowing of Hell?

A more common name for this day is ‘Holy Saturday.’  

For many others of course this is simply Easter Weekend or even Bank Holiday Weekend with little or no reference to the crucifixion, resting in the tomb or the resurrection. I would hazard a guess many in our prisons would hold that view, and possible aggrieved or frustrated that they cannot be with family and friends over the Bank Holiday Weekend.

For some of course they will adopt the Jewish calculation for the start of the day which begins at 6pm on Saturday, i.e. Saturday 6pm is the beginning of Easter Sunday. Many will be holding Easter Vigils and Resurrection Celebrations this evening.

Several other Christian Faith Communities will be holding a Dawn Service, complete with a New Fire, from which the special Paschal Candle is lit, often with great ceremony being taken into the darkened church with the call of, ‘The Light of Christ.’  From this candle all other candles are then lit, so the light of Christ spreads amongst his people. Coventry Cathedral has a Dawn Service with Baptism and Confirmation at 6am.

I like Dawn Services and have led and participated in very many over the years. My first experience was a large, lively Anglo Catholic Church in central London. I have taken part in Dawn Services on Bodmin Moor, by the River Tyne and outside Stafford Castle.

And today many Churches across the country will also have been a hive of activity preparing floral displays and other decorations, dressing the Church following its 'stripping' on Maundy Thursday. 

And it is here that I have an issue, it is here where I detect that cry, ‘are we there yet.’ Can we get on and begin the celebrations, we aren't comfortable with a dead Messiah.

Have you ever really pondered on the utter desolation felt by Jesus’ disciples?

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

 “What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.  The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.

All their hopes, dreams, expectations, gone and buried deep in a tomb behind a huge stone.

What I long for is for the Faith Community to sit into this despair for at least some time on Holy Saturday. Maybe in the morning, followed by a simple shared lunch and then together begin the decorations and preparations as we slowly turn the corner from despair to celebration.

Along with considering the despair of Jesus’ first followers we can also seek to sit in lamentation for the utter carnage currently engulfing our world.

In many, many places across the world a parent will have buried a dead child, a child for which they had hopes and dreams. Now, all gone, wiped out by bomb or bullet.

What about those in our prisons, or those who are homeless or poorly housed. Or children living in poverty. Or what about yet another death of a young person in London, shot to death by teenagers.

Can we not watch with those for whom all hope is gone, the pain is real and visceral. Must we simply jump from Good Friday to Easter Sunday and never sit in the pain and anguish of our world, even if for at least an hour!

Pain and suffering are not easy to live with, and we will often try distraction techniques, or plain simple avoidance.

St. John of the Cross, a 16th-century Spanish Carmelite friar and mystic, is renowned for his profound insights into the spiritual journey, particularly the experience of suffering

 “The evening news is the Dark Night of the Soul.”

“The evening news is the Dark Night of the Soul.” This is a more modern interpretation, but it captures the essence of St. John’s teaching. The constant stream of suffering and negativity in the world can be overwhelming and lead to a sense of despair. This is a collective “Dark Night” that we all experience to some degree. St. John would encourage us to respond to this suffering with compassion, prayer, and a renewed commitment to living a life of love and service.

‘Are we there yet?’

Jesus made the journey through pain and suffering and invites us to follow in his footsteps! 

'It is finished' - John Groban

https://youtu.be/M6qW8P70nUU?si=auIQzOuKISos5HO_