Genius loci

5th January 

The Road Goes Ever On and On.

The Road goes ever on and on, Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can. (JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings)

In a way this wintery part of the church year is all about journeys: the visit of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth,  the wearisome trek taken by Joseph and Mary, first to Bethlehem and then into Egypt, and of course the long road travelled by the Three Kings who followed a bright star across mountains and desert to find the Christ child and present him with their gifts.

To travel a road can be really hard but also deeply enjoyable. Indeed, as recent re-discovery of pilgrimage tells us, journeys, the sights, meetings and dangers that we encounter can  change us so that we return  somewhat different to how we were when we set out.  As Gandalf, the wizard in  J. R. R. Tolkien saga the Lord of the Rings, reminds us : ‘It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.’ People have always known this and many of the adventure stories we tell, both ancient and new, are really ways of exploring such interior transformation.

We can also tell stories about missing such adventure. In one such Epiphany story there was a fourth king, Artaban, who got distracted on his way by stopping to help others and so arrived too late to see Jesus and give him his gift. After years of searching the Fourth King finally found Jesus, just as he was on the road to crucifixion and death.  Sadly, Artaban accepts that he cannot ever reach his saviour. The story has a good ending though because all of the acts of kindness that Artaban has done on his journeys are known and remembered and he hears a voice from heaven saying, ‘In as much as you have done it for one of the least of these little ones you have done it for me’. His long search is recognised and his gift is finally accepted. 

As Epiphany draws close perhaps it’s time to think about setting off on our own journey into the strangeness and wonder of the new year, ready to take new roads, ready to get lost in the right causes, ready to be changed and always searching for the God who loves us. 

16th September 

We enjoyed the Heritage weekend at Littlebourne Barn and St Vincents Church on 7th and 8th September. 

Church 12

9th September

We have had some lovely poems shared with us by the wonderful Wendy Blanchett from during Lockdown and we will be sharing them over the coming weeks.

poem

22nd August 

We have been given a beautiful painting of Wickhambreaux Church by Kent artist Keith A. Wells by the family of the recently departed Eileen. 

Eileen purchased the paining of the church because it was where she was married and the family has offered it to the church in her memory.

pictureladderwedding

Eileen Rose Ruck

23 March 1931 - 10 July 2024

Eileen was born on 23 March 1931 in the village of Littlebourne to parents Fred and Lilian Cornwell. She was named ‘Eileen Rose’ and the family lived in Jubilee Road in Littlebourne and then moved to Grove Road in Wickhambreaux.

Eileen’s father Fred was born in Littlebourne and worked as a cow hand at Lee Priory. He became a well-known regular at The Rose Inn at Wickhambreaux. There is a bench in his memory outside the pub which was installed by regulars after his death in 1989.

Eileen’s younger sister Rita was born in 1936. The two sisters had an idyllic countryside childhood. Her father was a gamekeeper and her mother was a farm worker. They kept chickens in the back garden and had an extensive vegetable patch and a greenhouse full with tomatoes.

Eileen attended the local Wickhambreaux primary school and the nearby Sturry secondary school.

After leaving school, she worked in local farms mainly doing apple and hop picking.

She also often cared for the young sons of the local farmer, Mr. Twyman. It was here that she met Ronald, her future husband, who was working on a nearby property as a builder’s labourer.

Eileen and Ron were engaged in 1950 and married at Wickhambreaux church on 4 August 1951.

They lived together with Ron’s parents in Military Road in Canterbury to save up for a deposit on a house. Eileen occasionally earned more than Ron as a farm worker as she was paid ‘piece work’, a set fee for the amount of fruit picked each day.

Eileen, like so many women of her generation, worked hard to put the family first throughout her life. She and her husband Ron provided their children Kevin and Sally and grandchildren Cheryl, Jamie, Shona and Joshua with unconditional love and a safe environment to be themselves.

1st August 

Thought for the month!

August-  Gold and Purple.


August by an emperor was given his great name.


It is gold and purple, like a Hall of Fame.


(I have known it rather cold, and wettish, all the same.)


                                                                                         January Jumps About by George Barker


 


The eighth month of our calendar which we call ‘August’ was named, as the rhyme tells us, after an Emperor and a famous one at that.  Gaius Octavius Caesar (known as Octavian) was just eighteen when his great uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44BC.  Although Caesar’s heir,  the young Octavian had to make some ruthless decisions and navigate great dangers, in order to survive the bitter struggle for power that broke out after his noble relative’s death.


Perhaps the best known example of this is the bloody battle between Octavian and his one-time close ally and friend, Marc Anthony. In an extraordinary story of love and power, Marc Anthony left his wife, Octavian’s sister, and married the spectacular Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, becoming step-father to Cleopatra’s son by Julius Caesar, the young Ptolemy XV, known after his father as ‘Caesarion’.  Feeling threatened, Octavian led a fleet to Egypt and in the eighth month of the year he defeated Marc Anthony in a great sea battle.


What followed has been told and retold as tragedy and drama for centuries, perhaps most famously by Shakespeare, though the film with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor is also quite good! In short, both Cleopatra and Marc Anthony committed suicide and on the principle  that ‘two Caesars are one too many’ Octavian ordered young Caesarion’s execution.


Octavian went on to consolidate his power and to establish an empire in which he and his descendants had ultimate power over the lives of millions.  Four years later he was granted the name ‘Augustus’ meaning ‘revered’ or ‘deserving honour’ and in 8BC, in honour of this consolidation of power, the eighth month was named after him-‘August’.


More than 500 years later, when Rome was a wreck and the great Empire of Augustus a distant memory,  Pope Gregory the Great, sent Augustus’ name sake-Augustine, to the distant shores of Kent. It was a mission of hope for all that Roman Christianity believed in and wanted to survive. Central to this was the belief that power should not be ruthless, that the lives of all people, rich or poor, were of immense value and that the world should be ruled through what Gregory called ‘the bond of love’. Such values would have been foolish to Augustus and his age but in this month of August 2024 I think they’re something we should re member and hold onto.


15th July 

For Those in Peril on the Sea

Last week I took some time to visit my home town of Deal and to take a walk along the coastal path there. The day, at last, felt like summer and the sea was mild and blue. Even so, something like a shadow flitted through my mind because the thought occurred that people would set off on boats from France on a day like this and hope to safely make the crossing. I prayed that there would be no one lost.

Later that evening the news announced a different reality. Four more people had drowned in the calm waters off Boulogne that day, tipped into the sea from a boat crammed with people.  At least twenty people have died so far this year in this way including two 7-year-old children. Such terrible and unnecessary deaths are a source of grief and worry to the world.

Sea Sunday

July the 14th was Sea Sunday- a day when Christians across the world remember those who work and face dangers on the sea: those who sail in conflict zones, those who sail in storms and dangerous seas, those who risk their lives for others.  We also remember those who are our brothers and sisters who die on the seas in desperate efforts to escape from poverty, violence and fear.

In the Gospel of Mark, we read about a furious storm that threatened to sink the fishing boat that was carrying Jesus and some of his friends across the lake of Galilee.  The boat was at risk of breaking up, the waves pounding in over its sides. Meanwhile Jesus, exhausted, slept unawares on a cushion in the stern. It was only when the disciples called to him in terror' teacher, don't you care if we all drown?' that he woke up

Then, Mark writes:

'He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm' .

 

A Prayer for ourselves when we feel helpless, for those who have died and those who are fearful at sea, for those who work to save them and for all of the storms we may face in our lives to come:

Lord Jesus who woke from sleep to calm the storms and to tell the winds to stop their howling.

be the calm centre of our souls, watch over and protect all who are in danger and help us to wake up when we hear their call.  Amen

 

Read an Anglo-Saxon Poem, the Seafarer

https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/English/Seafarer.php

 

Look at this painting from the Methodist Art Collection-Maggie Hamblin. Good Friday, Walking on Water

 https://www.methodist.org.uk/faith/the-methodist-modern-art-collection/browse-the-collection/good-friday-walking-on-water-2006-maggi-hambling/

1st July 

green