Hillside Parishes Magazine

"No man can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him: and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6v44.

How do we come to the Father? A story worth telling is worth repeating, especially if it highlights the English shyness that prevents us sharing or encouraging or finding our faith. Such is the advantage of being away sometimes and hearing the story of others.

Ali Butt has a carpet stand of Oriental, Turkish and Afghan carpets (he commissions them from the latter and 8ft x 6ft takes about 6 months to make: I hope to do a visit with him and in passing see how Tim’s Fund is getting on). Each and every carpet is a work of art and tells a story, with its own symbols and natural colours. Very often the last item to be valued in a house, or even overlooked, is a carpet - yet they keep their value. I digress. Ali is a good Muslim who appreciates the prayers at the start of each day of The Great Yorkshire Show and he feels included. He has invested money in property which he rents to University leavers on their first job.

One of his tenants was failing to pay his rent. Indeed, he was drinking too much and smoking expensive grass. Ali summoned him, not for a dressing down, but for a man-to-man talk. The tenant was out of sorts, angry with himself and the more so with his boss. Ali advised him to go to Church, to listen, to find space and peace and cultivate a better spirit. The lad went the next Sunday and the next day returned refreshed, excited and full of praise. It was all of that. He had never been before. Moreover, they had given him some money. Yes, they had passed a plate round and he had helped himself to a useful £20. Ali was aghast. "You put money IN the plate not take it out. Go back and put it back next week." The lad did so - he has continued to attend Church.

Firstly it took a complete outsider to point someone to the reality of making space for God in his life. Once there, God has continued to draw him and something of the Spirit has begun to work in him. We often need that outside agency to prompt us or point us in the right direction, yet anyone may be an agent of the Holy Spirit.

Secondly it is encouraging, and we should take it more seriously, that other faiths respect our church and the part it plays in our way of life, yet regret how little regard we have for it ourselves. That is why often Church Schools are so popular with those of other faiths because they stand for something - yet our own stupid political correctness often diminishes the efficacy of what the school is really all about. We bend over backwards to tolerate everybody else and their faiths but we place no faith, no value, no trust, no importance, in our own faith.

The sharing of our faith as something that makes us tick is often read as a weakness or as being unsure about it. We need to be more confident - to pray, to speak out, to encourage, and of course to listen. Just as our grief one day enables us to comfort someone else, the next even as others comforted us at the time, so our witness today spells hope for another tomorrow. When the word of God is to be noised abroad may you produce more success stories. Best wishes, and good holidays!  TH

SNAPSHOTS - 4. Once in Four Years (or, What Some Scholars do in Some Long Vacations) - Anthony’s students? That’s another story! (July HPM).

In the holiday month of August - a month during which the boys firmly insisted on No Study, but pure relaxation for Anthony - we would be travelling. Usually in the early years in Hull we made tracks to the West of Ireland. Later on, when Anthony was invited to join the Society for New Testament Studies, which was a world-wide body with a strong European branch, one year in four interrupted this pattern. His first experience of the S.N.T.S. was at a German university, where, amongst other discoveries, Anthony found that scholar’s wives were welcome (at their own expense); often a social programme of visits was laid on for them. So, when the next venue was announced - Toronto - I was one of the English party; a nephew of mine lived in Niagara Falls! Such visitors were welcomed at the President’s inaugural speech, but after that we were free to explore, often helped by local friends. In Toronto, we were taken to see the first Gallery, in its beautiful setting, where the work of Canadian-born artists, The Group of Sever, was displayed - Canadians showing their own country and surroundings in wonderfully colourful ways. (At that time, on the flight back to Manchester, I reflected on what my mother’s reaction would have been if she realised that her daughter could be dining in the company of 500 other people 30,000 ft. above the North Sea at 2 o’clock in the morning! Today, commonplace, but as a child I had often gone with my father to Croydon Aerodrome and seen some of the early ‘planes there - the generation of Amy Johnson’s aircraft, and her epic journey!)

Four years later, we found ourselves looking down on the bare peaks of the Alps as we flew to Rome. And August proved to be a wonderful time for looking at Roman buildings which were usually too hemmed in by traffic to be properly seen. St Peter’s, of course, never closes. Rome’s residents had left for the sea or the hills to escape the worst heat. We too saw the difference in climate when a party from the conference went to Ostia and trod part of the Appian Way, both associated with Paul’s last journey.

Our French hosts underestimated expectations when Paris was the next venue! The catering arrangements were left in the hands of an elderly, saintly Father who had gone no further than the student’s canteen - in all innocence, and not realising the expectations of many that the French experience would outdo all previous arrangements! And, with the wealth of treasures that Paris possesses, Versailles was a disappointing choice for a large section of the assembled scholars.

You don’t necessarily associate scholarship with coal mines, but we were all offered a vist - and to go underground! - when the next meeting of S.N.T.S. took place in Durham. My mother had worked as a deaconess in that area, and had the highest opinion of the men who worked in the mines. Now I jumped at the chance - possibly my only chance - to see what the descent into the mine, and the workings, would be like. I was also hoping to meet again the Methodist scholar who had challenged me and launched me in lay ministry many years before. He had been at two of the previous S.N.T.S. meetings, but this time it was the news of Dr Pask’s unexpected death that greeted us .......

When you pick up a commentary on some part of the New Testament (and I hope you sometimes do) think of the careful and devoted work that has gone into its preparation. Make sure, too, that your choice reflects the scholarly as well as the devotional strengths of its author. We know so much more today about the whole world of Roman Palestine, that confirms the emergence of Jesus as a dazzling miracle. MIRIAM HANSON

Thank you all ....
the Coffee Morning at Mr and Mrs E.Almond’s on June 10th £363 raised for church expenses.
the Wine Party at Marderby Grange on June 30th  £977 raised for the N.S.P.C.C.
Many thanks to all who helped and came !