Hillside Parishes Magazine
Hillside Parish MagazineJuly 2009From the Vicar – July 2009 I spent some time this morning looking at some photographs which a granddaughter has prepared for her grandparents’ Golden Wedding celebrations. As well as photographs of the wedding in 1959 there are pictures of the family as it has grown over the years and also snapshots of church and village life. It’s always a privilege to be able to share in these kinds of memories, to see people that I’m getting to know now as they were then, and to see all the changes that have taken place in that time. Not surprisingly perhaps, the “Happy Couple” now look a lot like their parents did fifty years ago. Fashions and hairstyles have changed a lot too – for women and for men! The earlier photographs are all black and white, as colour photography only became popular in the 1960s and 70s. But perhaps the most striking thing for me is the way that these pictures have been reproduced for the display at the party. Almost all of them have been scanned into a computer and reprinted on an inkjet printer, reminding us of how the whole science of photography has changed and “gone digital”. We no longer have that agonising wait as we take our exposed film to the chemists for developing, followed by a second trip as we take the negatives back again for extra copies and enlargements. (Apologies to anyone under twenty five who may find it difficult to understand what this last sentence means!) For our digital cameras now give us instant photographs, which we can then edit and print at home to our heart’s content – once we have mastered the technology. And most of us carry a mobile phone that will double up as a digital camera, subject to the same condition. (“Just keep still, until I remember how to turn this thing on.”) So in the space of fifty years, as we have grown and changed physically, almost every other aspect of our lives has changed as well. Much is better, some is worse, almost all is different. But most of the time we are able to adapt to the changing world and have learned to live successfully with new ideas and different ways of doing things. But are we able to say the same about our faith during this time? Have our prayers and our understanding of God been developing in the same sorts of ways as the rest of our lives? Has our church life been able to keep pace with the rapidly changing world so that new generations can understand its relevance and feel at home? In the Old Testament account of the Exodus, God releases the Children of Israel from their slavery in Egypt and then leads them on a journey through the Wilderness for forty years. God is always travelling before the people, as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, leading and encouraging them towards the Promised Land, urging them on to explore new experiences and new opportunities. In a similar way, in the New Testament, the Star leads the Wise Men to Bethlehem so that they may find the stable and worship the Infant Jesus. So could it be that, through the experiences of our everyday lives, God is beckoning to us, encouraging us to take some risks, to try some new and different things? Might God be encouraging us to “go digital” with our faith, not just by using email or by having the hymns on PowerPoint in church, but in much deeper ways. By making sure that what we say and do is compatible with the rest of the world that we live in, that we continue to learn new things and are prepared to upgrade our ideas so that church is able to connect with our children and our grandchildren in meaningful ways. That doesn’t mean that we should chase every new idea and follow every fashion at the expense of the treasures of the past. But in a world where things are changing very quickly indeed, unless we are able to learn new ideas and to embrace different ways of doing things as well, our faith and the life of our churches is going to seem ever more out of touch and irrelevant. We probably all have some traditional photographs around the house and many of us will have an old-style camera in a drawer or in a cupboard. But although the results are the same, we now we take our photographs in a different way. We need to be bringing that adaptability and willingness to learn into our spiritual life, as we continue to follow God’s lead into a new and exciting future. Beckoning God:- Make us restless until we journey forth to seek our rest in you. May we trust your leading as you fire our imaginations and teach us new things. Fill us with wonder, that we may learn more about you day by day And discover your purposes for us. With my prayers Ian Houghton
The magazine of the parishes of Boltby, Borrowby, Cowesby, Felixkirk, Kepwick,
Kirby Knowle, Knayton, Leake & "The Siltons". Also circulated in
Upsall, Thirlby & Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe. |
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©Thirsk.net |
