John Davies - Notes From a Small Vicar

Three good men of Mossley Hill

The news of the passing of Bob Metcalf on Boxing Day brings to three the number of good men of Mossley Hill of whom those who knew them prayed confidently this year, ‘rest in peace - rise in glory’. Bob, a former Archdeacon of Liverpool and Rector of Holy Trinity Wavertree, Nick Beattie, Lay Reader of Holy Trinity and Reader in Education at Liverpool University, and Ernest Broadbent, father of a great friend of mine and lifelong stalwart of Elm Hall Drive Methodist Church.

It was when Bob lived on Menlove Avenue that I first got to know him, he the Archdeacon of Liverpool, me a nervous ordinand and later rookie deacon and priest. As he took me through the legalities and practicalities and financial implications of my most major life change to that date, he did so with an approachability and effortlessness of manner which put me at my ease, in a way which few senior clerics, then or since, have been able to do. I was later grateful to count Bob and Rachel as friends, through our Holy Trinity connection and my friendship with their daughter and son-in-law Ruth and Andy Pryce, but Bob was the rare sort of man who made everyone who met him feel they’d been befriended. He was efficient, effective, in his ministry, but most of all defined by a pastoral heart which always put others first, and which Ruth - now herself in training for ordination - has inherited.

I blogged about Nick Beattie back in July: ‘remember[ing] most his enthusiasm for life, for people, for conversation, manifested most of all in his frequent, warm smiles. His faith was open, generous and embracing of all that affirms human flourishing across boundaries, the sort of faith which thrills me’. And although Ernest, who passed away in Eastertime, was not as titled and decorated in civic life as these other two good men of Mossley Hill, he was just as much a paragon of the Christian life lived modestly and well. With Ernest’s gentle practicality, Nick’s bright inquisitiveness and Bob’s warm humour, heaven has been greatly blessed this year. We miss these three good men of Mossley Hill but it is our quiet delight to trust that we will see them again.

Christmas Day - Living the Word

We spend our days waiting for a word:

‘Yes’ words like:

You’re pregnant

You’ve got the job

The money is in the account;

‘No’ words like:

It’s terminal

You’re fired

We’re out of stock….

Words change everything ...

'And the word became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth...'

- from my talk today, Christmas Day - Living the Word. Blessings of the season to all my reader(s).

 

Mapping out the Saviour's territory

Google Maps won’t help you - if you want to trace the road from Nazareth through the West Bank  hill country down to Bethlehem, the likely route which Joseph and Mary took. Google Maps does offer you a choice of lengthy detours on Israeli highways - swinging widely westwards on route 6, the Yitzhak Rabin Highway, or eastwards on route 90, hugging the border with Jordan, but both routes only take you as far as Jerusalem; a few miles further south, Palestinian Bethlehem seems out of bounds. The obvious route down the middle is Highway 60, but this is offline, outside Google’s remit, for south of the Arabic Israeli city of Nazareth it crosses into Palestinian territory, and clearly it’s a problematic road, a contested route. ...

But, why dwell on the present troubles in occupied Palestine in a night which is meant to be about tidings of comfort and joy? Only because those very tidings of comfort and joy were born in a Palestine which was every bit as conflicted as today; only because the journey which Joseph and Mary took from Nazareth to Bethlehem was shaped as fully by the demands of the occupation forces as the journeys which Palestinian couples take on that route today. The tidings of comfort and joy of which we sing are not a fantasy delivered in a dream-like state of consciousness; the gospel of Jesus was forged in the harshest of environments; the good news of the kingdom of  God which Jesus promoted addresses - with generosity and hope - the most extreme situations with its eyes wide open to the realities of our world today. ...

- from my Christmas Eve midnight talk, Mapping out the Saviour's territory. 

Pregnant with the possibilities of God

... Here today, I propose, I am in the role of the angel Gabriel - the messenger, bringing God’s news - and you are Mary, receiving it. The news is this, if you will believe it: that you are pregnant with God....

- from my talk today, Pregnant with the possibilities of God. 

Christmas is really for the children?

... Now, Steve Turner was right when he said that Easter is ‘not good for people of a nervous disposition’, with its ’whips, blood, nails, a spear and allegations of body snatching,’ with it ‘involving politics, God and the sins of the world.’ But he overlooks the reality that the Christmas story contains many of  these elements too - politics: we can’t ignore the the reason why the couple had to make the journey to Bethlehem - the Roman emperor taxing the people of the land; blood: we shouldn't sideline the genocide of Herod, which made refugees of Mary, Joseph and their newborn child; the sins of the world: the innkeeper’s lack of hospitality towards a heavily-pregnant woman should be more than just an amusing aside in our nativity plays. ...

- from my Advent talk, Christmas is really for the children? in which I revisit a favourite poem of my youth, of the same title, by Steve Turner.

Advent Waiting: Leo’s New Heart

My friend and inner-city-priest-in-enforced-retirement Revd Robert Gallagher has been emailing me lately about his 16-year old grandson Leo who - completely out of the blue - last month suffered what the medical people called 'critical heart failure’; and two weeks ago he and his family, at his bedside at the University Hospital of South Manchester Critical Heart Unit were told by the Consultant Surgeon that the medical team proposed a Heart Transplant: the only alternative they could see to complete heart failure; giving Leo a life-expectancy of 14 to 16 years, maybe up to 20, with the proviso that Medical Science might well move on during those times. Since then, fluctuating between deep mental darkness and thankfulness for the gift of life, Leo and his loved ones have been waiting for a heart. His latest email, received today:

We were awaiting a heart for Leo, last Sunday, when Cerys, his Mother, phoned at 11.30pm to say Whythenshawe had a heart and Leo would be going into surgery soon. We followed her up the M56, and ended up sleeping on The Waiting Room floor until we would be called.

He went into Theatre 10.15 that morning, Monday, with a whole entourage of bed, life-support-machines, nurses, 'odd jobbers', and Family to wish and kiss and love him with versions of 'see you soon' (not '.. at the other side') at the Theatre doors. We had hourly reports from a bright and clear Nurse.. That there was no tension beyond the usual: That there was a good and positive and confident atmosphere: That no serious issues had been met save again the usual and in the best place to be met … in the heart-transplant surgical-theatre. Over in eight hours, and Leo back in his room for 6.30pm. His new heart was a third the size of the old which had been inflated by deterioration.

Rajamiyer Venkateswaran,Surgeon, came and talked with us: That it was a “beautiful” trans-plant: That the heart would take its time settling in: That the right-ventricle needed support 'for the moment' from a pace-maker: That some of the tubing entry places septic, being dealt with by drugs and for which the rib-cage was being left open 'for the moment' (tho the chest closed with swabs and 'tape'): That Leo would be sedated for two or three days: That he deserved the Rest: That he is doing very well: That there will be 'downs' and 'ups'..

The Donor's organs had gone all over the country, the heart and the lungs coming to South Manchester Clinical Cardiothoracic Surgery Unit. We met the Family of the Recipient of the Lungs in The Waiting Room, Wife and Son, from Nr Cardiff S.Wales, absolutely delighted with their Man's surgical outcome. The comment was made, 'we're now related'. And, Aahh, the Donor had given Life to the two we knew of .. 'Does she/he know it?'

The Doctor returned to Leo the following day in his room cubicle to close the rib-cage.

Thursday Evening, Leo awoke and gave Cerys, his Mother, a Smile,.. and his GrandFather, the 'Finger', 'tho we were warned of him hallucinating. .. He began writing notes of questions, about the 'over-concern for a new heart', about the need to be sedated, and about still 'for the moment' the tubes, wires, drugs, dialysis, and tracheo.

The time we spent in The Waiting Room enabled us to meet other Families visiting their Beloved Ones. A Muslim Aunt and Sister to a Patient's Mother, told by the Hospital they could not save their Neice/Daughter on Monday, gave vent to their hysterics, and turned to their Prayer in earnest, until by Wednesday and Thursday, there was much improvement, with the Doctors saying,.. 'Whatever you were doing, keep doing it'. But others had Fear and Broken Hopes etched upon their Faces. We chose to be careful with the smoldering delight upon our faces and whenever we were asked after our GrandSon, who for his age and his transplant had become a bit of a celebrity.

Today and yesterday, with his tracheostomy, no speech, and very little i-pod words, Leo was in a bit 'downer' .. 'as promised'.. his Mother thought it Fear.

Helpless, with not the apparent skill care and know-how of excellent Nurses ('tho Cerys is catching up), at his bedside, just being there most of the time, felt enough. Endeavouring to hold him and ourselves in Love, as the only place to be. God knows what hinterland he is coping with.

~ Mrs Hilary and the Revd Robert Gallagher, his GrandParents.