September 2025 – Newsletter
I’m delighted to be writing my first letter as your new Priest in Charge. First of all, I would like to thank each and every one of you for making me feel so welcome in my first few weeks with you. A special thank you to all the church friends and extended family who came to celebrate my licensing on the 19th of June.
One of the unexpected joys of moving to live in St Matthews Vicarage here in Buckley has been the garden. My first joy came at the size of the garden – and the fact that it is securely enclosed. My dog, Pippa, loves spending time outside, and it is a delight that I can now let her wander freely in and out as she pleases. The garden is large enough that we can play fetch with the ball and she can run zoomies to her hearts-content.
The second great joy of the garden has come in the unexpected produce I can now harvest and enjoy. Earlier in the season I enjoyed rhubarb, blackcurrants and gooseberries, and now I am enjoying a bumper harvest of apples. From talking to many of you, I know that some of you are also enjoying a bountiful harvest from fruit trees.
As I talk about my garden I am reminded of the blessings we enjoy from God. Although not all the world we experience is safe and secure, God offers us all places of sanctuary where we can rest and reenergise, where we can be free from demands upon us and we can simply be ourselves.
For each of us, those places will be different. They may be our homes, or another place we enjoy. They may be somewhere in solitude or in the company of others. Wherever that place is, it is important to not just enjoy and make the best use of the sanctuary, regularly allowing ourselves to be renewed there, but also to be thankful.
The spiritual practice of thankfulness was introduced to me by a tutor at theological college, who gave me a copy of this book. Despite the cover it is not a children’s book, although it does begin with a story about some children. In WWII many children were left orphaned or homeless. Due to the trauma many were unable to sleep, until someone had the idea to give them a piece of bread to hold. The bread meant that they could sleep securely knowing that they would be able to eat tomorrow.
The book goes on to describe the spiritual practice of thankfulness – also known as the Examen. In essence, the practice of the examen is to spend a few minutes each night before sleep, recalling the part of the day you are most grateful for, and then to recall the moment you are least grateful for. We then consciously experience the gratitude for the blessings we have received, and look for where God was at work.
As we think about the blessings we are given, the moments of sanctuary we have and about being consciously grateful for them, we must also remember those who do not have sanctuary, or have much less to be grateful for. In the week that I write this, I think of the famine declared in Gaza, with an estimated 40,000 people starving, and also of many disabled people in this country living with the insecurity of not knowing if their PIP payments will continue – to name just two examples.
Friends, we have much to be grateful for. Whether the practice of the Examen suits you, or expressing your gratitude to God in another way, gratitude is an important spiritual discipline to practice.