prayer cards

                                                                are always available at the back of our Church

Some useful Bible passages for those who serve others:

a thought for these times......

As we struggle to comprehend how the three Monotheistic religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism can possibly be ‘at each others throats’ with so much common faith-ground consider this:

Palaeolithic man was a 'hunter gatherer' emerging around 60,000 BC - the first to leave us evidence of burials, symbolic of a 'natural' religious instinct? From around 10,000BC evidence of agri/village life - settled communities engaged in agriculture, leaving us evidence of ritual burials and the marking of seasons with rituals a thinking about the earth and existence which appears to have been shared by whole communities both in thought and deed - no evidence of 'Priests' . The development of cities, in unconnected places yet almost in parallel, alongside the Tigris, Euphrates, Nile, Indus valleys and in China' brought 'culture'. Things held in heads, 'oral traditions', were written down for the first time, including religious beliefs and rituals; enabling the preserving and communicating of 'scripture'. Also a more commercial production of food and crafts made trading income available to employ' non-manual functionaries such as priests to work on 'scriptures' and conduct ritual.

The so called 'AXIAL' period around 6BC saw a most amazing series of spiritual developments in many continents. In Greece the lonian Philosophers seeking gifts of reason. In the Middle East the Hebrew Prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Ezekiel considering good and evil, the problem of conflict. In India, Buddha and the Upanishads seeking to interpret Hindu 'scriptures'. In China, Confucius and the Taoists. In Europe a mixture of interest in the Middle Eastern Prophets and Greek Philosophers. The Christ event appealed to Europe, many saw Jesus Christ both as the of the Hebrew prophecies and also one who helped 'spiritualise’ Greek; philosophy. The tensions, which are still around, arose when Europeans saw the Jews and anyone else as 'heretical' so the West became the focus for 'Christendom'. Islam came in the 7thC AD with Mohammed and the 'four Early Caliphs' and until
around 1500 AD the four major religions of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism existed as separate entities yet in parallel in distinctive geographical areas.

Until then Europe was effectively cut off from the rest of the world, from the economic, architectural and spiritual developments and insights of the other religious cultures. Sea power and the navigator/explorers broke Europe out of its isolation, 'visiting' North America, South America, Asia and Africa. They didn't 'discover' these places and cultures but rather 'uncovered' them. Europe sent its Christian faith, science, technology around the worldthroughout the 17th to 20th centuries. The perceived view of 'the west' is that our religious and national interests are separate whereas Islam holds its religion and national life in tension.

A recent survey lists 7000 religious movements throughout the world. ln 1900 17% of Christians lived in Europe, by 2000 64% of all Christians now live outside of Europe. In the 1960's West Indians arrived in Britain and were integrated, many found it hard to be welcomed into Christian congregations. Things have moved on apace, with an estimated 50 million people refugees, displaced from their own countries, many cultures and faiths now settling in Britain. The world has a wealth of mineral and human resources, it also has a wealth of 'transcendental' resources, globalisation now challenges us to seek a better understanding of one another and a more just sharing of our resources. Pray hard as we think though these present changing and challenging times and build on our common ground for God’s sake, we start with our neighbour ‘next door’ (literally!) and go from there”


alan hughes