February, 2010

Dear Friends,

As we prepare to say a sad farewell to Revd Camilla and Chris and Benjamin on Sunday, we shall soon be moving towards the season of Lent. Elsewhere in this magazine you will find a copy of the Bishop’s pastoral letter that will be read at services on the Sunday before Lent. We are particularly asked to participate in the parish Visitation which means meeting together in groups of parishioners to strengthen our sense of fellowship and commitment in the Church, the Body of Christ. Our membership of the local church will be established as we sign the new Parish Electoral Roll which comes into effect at Easter and makes us eligible to vote at the Annual Vestry Meeting, which takes place at St. Cadoc’s Church on Thursday 22nd April at 7 p.m.

During the last week we have had both a very encouraging and supportive meeting of our Parochial Church Council and an excellent parish lunch organised by Revd Elaine to whom we are again indebted for such an enjoyable occasion. These may not be the best days for the Church in this country, but we have at least some grounds for hope for the future in this parish. Here as elsewhere in this diocese, good things are happening and sometimes we need to celebrate them.

Some people talk as if the Church’s faith had been undermined by modern science stemming from Charles Darwin courtesy of Richard Dawkins. What they say is correct about science but wrong about theology. Scientific truth is not the only kind of truth and science does not have all the answers as so many scientists will agree.

The Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, in a recent article asserted "Better is a world built on love, not Darwinian struggle". He writes of his belief in the meaning of life. He believes that "the search for meaning is definitive of the human condition, for we are the only life forms yet known in all the vast universe capable of asking the question "why?" From this, Sacks believes that the momentous consequence is that the meaning of any system lies outside the system. The internal workings of any system do not explain the place the system holds in human lives. The meaning of the Universe lies outside the Universe. God is the leap of transcendence that for the first time conceives of a reality beyond the Universe. This alone has the power to redeem life from tragedy and meaninglessness.

"If the Universe" says Sacks, "was brought into being by One beyond the Universe, then it was created by a being who desires to bring things into being. The simplest way of expressing this is: God created the Universe in love. For it is love that seeks to bring new life into being. It is love that makes space for the other. God’s love made space for the Universe and for that astonishing sequence of events that produced us".

Your friend and Vicar

Arthur Edwards