From the Registers

Blessing of Marriage. Saturday 8th June at St Wilfrid, Kirby Knowle. Susan Leaf, only daughter of Mr and Mrs Leaf of Kirby Knowle, to Mr Adrian Baldwin of Northallerton.

Funerals.
Monday 17th June, Felixkirk. Gill Allen, after a brave struggle with cancer. Gill had a granny flat at Aspen Grove Farm, with her daughter and family. Our best wishes to her children, Caroline, Charlie, Peter and James - and to their families.
Friday 21st June, Felixkirk. Margaret Walker, 88, widow of Brigadier Johnnie Walker late of Mount St John, the last member of the Walker family to live there since the 19th Century.
Baptism. 30th June at Cowesby. James Gillies, infant son of Richard and Sophie. By the Rev.Dr.Liz Hoare.

A Welcome to 'Liz'!!
The Rev Dr Elizabeth Hoare, formerly Chaplain, Bishop Burton College, and Archbishop's Adviser for Spiritual Direction (York) to be Part-Time Asst C NSM, The Hillside Parishes - Cowesby; Felixkirk w Boltby; Kirkby Knowle; and Leake w Over and Nether Silton and Kepwick (same diocese).
from The Church Times, June 2002.

July 2002 - Culture and Multiculture
How much do we appreciate and safeguard our national identity and our own values? We are a multicultural society, or so we are told, but I do find, as a practising artist, that I want to stick with our own traditional culture as I inherited it - or, rather, joined it. It is easy to accept new things for the novelty value alone and the change they offer, but some things in the arts and music I find quite alien. I enjoy them in their own context but not over here. The Jubilee celebrations opened our eyes to all sorts of different formats: how many will become permanent? There is a tendency, in this instance, to become like the E.U. where ideas are not properly digested and then become set - for example, the mountain of 2nd-hand 'fridges (as glimpsed on BBC News, 20th June) that cannot be disposed of because of legislation from Brussels ......... 
It was amazing how the Le Pen rise and fall in France has woken up that country, and others. Lax attitudes to the hordes of asylum seekers will at last be reviewed. It is not a new problem. Look between the lines of the Old Testament! How did the Canaanites, the Jehusites, the Moabites, the Hittites et al all live together? Later generations of others and the Jews were carted off into exile. Across the world over the centuries - and into those to come - the minority communities that have settled and prospered, because they work their own networks first, have been massacred, evicted, plundered and removed by their hosts. What hosts? Armenian amongst the Turks, Jews in Russia (or York in the 12th Century), Huguenots, because Paris was worth a mass to Henry, and so on. The clashes are not only cultural, but political and ethnic: the ethnic cleansing of our own recent times appals us, but still happens amongst communities around the world. By preaching "Be vulnerable" Jesus did not minimise the risks.

Roly Bain talks of similar erosion of values and identity amongst his own craft. The ancient and traditional identities of the August clown, and his opposite the white face, are fused into one, in the States in particular. Rather than make proper use of the contrast between the two, the pull between tragedy and comedy, that particular culture wants the best of both at the risk of losing all. The tensions and symbols are thrown away in the interests of merely "having a good day", of living for the moment. It speaks for itself.

One of the mainstays of Christ's teaching is the hope of tomorrow and the reality of the world to come. We may turn our other cheek with difficulty, we may - to summarise Paul - forego all we own in this world. But somehow the still small voice still penetrates through the annihilation and destruction to be a clarion call of truth about the realities of the world to come. It is hard to live in this World as we would hope to in the next, but try we must. Try Hard, and Good Luck!

TH

Some Contemporary Thoughts
For once I agree with Cherie Blair when she says the Palestinians are left with "no hope" other than suicide bombing (June 19th 2002: as I write, 20th June). We now witness a type of apartheid in Israel combined with a variation on the Berlin Wall - as Israeli security forces ring fence areas of the West Bank. The Israelis seem to be the 54th U.S.state and they certainly have the U.S.President and the U.S.economy by the balls. With only 4 years in office and at a time when the President is too mindful of the Jewish vote to do anything radical. As the U.S. Government offers tax relief on Israeli bonds the Jewish brokers are only too willing to write receipts for double the amount given! I cannot see a solution emanating from the far side of the pond until actions are taken regardless of the cost in votes: which action would have to be unilateral between Republicans and Democrats alike.

So whilst there is a good deal of spin to lose her words and dismiss her comments and observations as amateur and unpolitical, let us consider another aspect of the irony of America fighting terrorism. Both the U.S.A. and the State of Israel were spawned by acts of terrorism against the British Government of the day, with Ariel Sharon one of the younger key players at the time. Since then, the so-called land of the free has been only too happy to raise and to send funds to the I.R.A. for arms. Often enough, when with the peace-keeping forces, we found ourselves as the Aunt Sally in the middle - when both sides, as we kept them apart, couldn't strike at eachother. The phrase "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called Sons of God" has a very particular ring about it. I worry that if Israel is not forced to show real restraint then there will be an international backlash against her.

So, there is America deploring terrorism yet fuelling the apartheid, segregation and illegal settlements that ignite it. In the 14 years since I last went to Israel the situation has not improved. Even then the papers were comparing the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians to that of the Whites to the Blacks in South Africa. The more extreme commentators said that it was sad that Israel meted out to others the same treatment that they had received in Germany. In other words, how they had grown up and developed as a nation was influenced by what they had escaped but also experienced. As the parent who was battered and beaten as a child brings up children in the same way, so the State of Israel has treated their own ethnic minority.

What do we learn from all this? The Bible story seems to continue with many a Jew as blind to the Messiah now as then. Just as Cyrus was seen as a messianic figure by Isaiah so was Schindler seen 1500 years later when he helped Jews avoid the concentration camps. We also learn lessons about how we start and nurture people, whether as a nation or if our own children. They do as they were done to. This is the mould that Jesus came to break. We are called not to do just as we are done to, but more. We know what God did for us; can we do it for others in Christ's name? Let us help others find hope. Break the mould. Toddy Hoare.
PS I am not anti-semite!

PPS - I disagree with Cherie Blair! Enough said, but any comment welcome! Ed.

 

MEETINGS
Rather than impose meetings which no one is asking for, we would like to invite you to suggest what you would like from the Church in the Hillside Parishes. Possible ideas might include: a contemplative prayer group parenting classes marriage enrichment grandparenting classes personal prayer guiding
Please contact Liz Hoare at the Vicarage!
Thursday 19th September, 8 p.m. Leake Vicarage. Our next Bible Study evening will be looking at the theme of LIGHT. Future dates will be decided then and published in the October H.P.M.

MandDET The Trustees of MandDET would like to thank all those in the Hillside Parishes who contibuted towards the "Claire Cook Memorial Walk" on 4th May 2002, either by participating, or by sponsoring one or more of the 64 participants. Thirteen people completed the 10-mile circuit while 51 completed 5 miles. It was a lovely sunny day and the views and countryside along the route were looking at their best. At the time of writing we have received sponsorship money and firm pledges of over £2500.
It is anticipated that next years "Claire Cook Memorial walk" will be on Saturday 3rd May 2002.

CHRISTIAN AID The splendid amount of £355 was raised in Borrowby for Christian Aid Week. The main event was a very jolly Coffee Morning - held outside on a beautiful summer's day - kindly hosted by Mrs Helen Bowron. We, the organisers, wish to thank everybody who supported that Morning and all who donated so generously through the envelope system. As usual, there is a special thanks to the Walking Group and other friends from outside the village who also came.
We are most grateful to all the people who donated to the Bring & Buy or helped in any way!