John Davies - Notes From a Small Vicar

Nobody has lost hope - but the search must resume today

Our service of prayer for the missing yachtsmen was very well attended last night, at All Saints West Camel, and we welcomed the BBC and the Western Gazette for their coverage of the situation. The Gazette later quoted me as saying that "Nobody has lost hope. We have come together to show our solidarity with the families and that we share their sense of helplessness. We hope that the authorities will be able to renew their search." The silence from the US Coastguard and UK Foreign Office this morning means that decision has yet to be taken. Response to the online petition has been strong but it still needs a few more signatures - if you've not yet done so please consider doing it now...

Western Gazette: Missing sailors: "Nobody has lost hope" - vigil for Cheeki Rafiki crew held in West Camel.

Change.org: Restart the search for the missing Cheeki Rafiki crew members.

Full text of Service of prayer for the missing yachtsmen and their families, All Saints West Camel, 19 May 2014 [pdf]

 

Stephen - the gaze of the protomartyr

The killing of Stephen: you can imagine it as a scene in a Hollywood biblical movie. An angry crowd jostling around the victim at their centre; shots of some of them bending to the sandy ground to pick up rocks and stones; close-ups of rocks being passed from hand to hand; Stephen at the centre being pushed, sworn and spat at - the viewer's prior knowledge of the story making them expectant that at any moment now Stephen is about to become the protomartyr - the first of Jesus' followers ever to be mobbed and killed in a similar fashion to the Lord himself. As the crowd raise their hands ready to stone him to death, the camera closes in on Stephen's face, the focus softens, the soundtrack fades from angry mob to heavenly harps, and the awestruck man framed there exclaims adoringly, 'Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!' [1] 

Today's talk is about the gaze of Stephen, and about us: on whom we fix our gaze, and how that makes us the people that we are. ....

- from today's talk, John 14 - Stephen - the gaze of the protomartyr 

At the Sheep Gate - Saved from Sacrifice

Sheep have always been used as sacrificial victims - the scriptures are full of the blood of those creatures, led through the one-way gate to their death.But Jesus said, "The gatekeeper opens the gate for the shepherd, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out" ... "Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture."

Jesus reverses the sacrificial system, and saves the condemned ones - from my talk today,  John 10 - At the Sheep Gate - Saved from Sacrifice.

Walking the M62 in a South Somerset pub

I love Charles Hurst’s philosophy, ‘the gentle art of strolling’, cultivating the practice of walking ‘a good English mile in an hour’. The M62 is 105 miles long. Mimicking Hurst, I took two months to walk it. That averages at 1.7 miles per day.

- it was nice to revisit my 2007 odyssey for an after-dinner talk at the Queens Arms, Corton Denham last night: Celebrating the Ordinary: Walking the M62.

 

Journeying with Jesus

What was the longest journey you have ever made? 

(For me it was a 20-plus hour flight to Japan last May for my stepson’s wedding in Tokyo).

What was the most frequent journey you have ever made? 

(Probably the 15-minute train journey from Waterloo to Liverpool for many years as a commuter, and evenings and weekends too).

What was the most important journey you have ever made? 

(Maybe the drive to the church in a vintage Rolls Royce, with my Best Man to my wedding; or perhaps the bus ride to the Bishop of Liverpool’s house to receive his blessing for me to begin training for the ministry).

We are all travellers … our life mapped out in significant journeys, regular journeys, always on the move... We are all travellers: and God travels with us. 

The Emmaus Road story is one of my favourites - easy to talk about in Sutton Montis and West Camel today:  Journeying with Jesus.