LETTER FROM THE VICARAGE - NOVEMBER 2024

We reproduce here the monthly letter from our Vicar as it appears in our parish magazine, the Parish News.

Letter from the vicarage

Dear Friends,

My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. (John 15. 12-14)

One hundred and ten years ago World War One began, the Great War as it was called, the war to end all wars.... within four years of conflict it is estimated that over twenty two million died and twenty three million were wounded, both combatants and civilians. At the conclusion of hostilities, the world would be reshaped politically, with the old order of dominant empires declining and fading away, like the Austro- Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, with new empires like the Soviet Union taking their place on the world stage. Peace, of sorts, would hold sway in western Europe for twenty years until the rise of fascism in Spain, Italy and Germany which would, with a militaristic Japan, cast another long shadow across the history of the world.

This year Remembrance Sunday falls on November 10th and we shall be remembering the fallen of both World Wars and conflicts that have erupted since. At St. John's Kirdford, the service begins at 10.50am where the names of the fallen will be read out and the two minutes silence observed. Wreaths will be laid at the Lychgate following the service. At St. Peter's Wisborough Green, the service will begin in Church at 10am and then we shall process to the Village War Memorial on the Green for the two minutes silence, and the reading of the names of the fallen. If the weather is fine, refreshments will be offered on the Green following on from our act of remembrance. I do hope you will be able to join us at either of the services and remember the sacrifice of many who left these villages all those years ago to stand up for freedom in the face of oppression and tyranny.

Sadly, our world is still torn apart by the ravages of sin, with conflicts impacting the lives of both young and old, in Ukraine, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The work of the United Nations, and many medical and aid agencies trying to alleviate the suffering and misery that war brings, is often hampered by those fighting, believing they are on the 'other side.'

The words of Jesus, quoted in John's Gospel, often referred to as the 'upper room' discourse, given to His friends on the night of his betrayal, speaks powerfully of a sense of love and solidarity in the face of evil and violence. Within a few hours, Jesus would be deserted by his friends; beaten, tried and condemned to death. Nailed to a cross, because of a charge of blasphemy, when the carpenter from Nazareth dared to call God his Father, “I and the Father are one.” John 10:30. Yet, death did not and still does not have the final word. Three days later, at the resurrection, those who deserted Jesus, shook with joy, rather than trembling with fear!

Clive