Purim, Joy in the darkness

Purim is the Jewish Festival, also known as a ‘Carnival of Happiness’ and it begins this evening (March 6^th) until tomorrow evening (March 7^th.)

It is based on the event in the Book of Esther and to understand it fully, a reading of that book would help you. There are only 10 chapters, none of them very long.It is set in the Persian Empire in the 4^th century BCE. The Empire extended over 127 lands and Jewish people were spread across most of it.

The story goes that when King Achashverosh was disobeyed by his wife, Queen Vashti, he decided to replace her. He ordered that the beautiful girls of the Empire should parade before him. The new Queen he chose was Esther but she was a Jew so she had to hide her nationality.
At this time, the new Prime Minister of the Empire, Haman, began to exercise his power. All in the land bowed to him by order, except the Jewish Leader Mordechai. (He was the guardian of the new Queen, Esther but this wasn’t known.)
Haman was so furious and angry with Mordechai that he persuaded the King, on some pretence, to have all Jews in the Empire destroyed.He cast lots to decide the date and this became the origin of the feast because Purim means ‘lots’ in ancient Persian. (They cast lots)
In the face of widespread destruction, Mordechai persuaded Queen Esther to enlist the aid of the King.
It transpired that Mordechia had already been influential in foiling a plot against the King by two rebels. So the King wanted to reward, rather than kill Mordechia. Esther told him to gather all the Jews in the city of Shushan, where the Royal Palace was, and spend three days together, repenting, fasting and praying to God. Then Esther invited the King and Hanam to a feast. During the festivities, she revealed that she was a Jew and accused Hanam of attempting to destroy her people. Mordechia was feted by the King and Hanam was hung on gallows he had built to get rid of Mordechia.
He was appointed Prime Minister in place of Hanam.

It’s a marvellous story and you can ‘read all about it’ in the Book of Esther.

Purim is the Festival at which the Jewish People celebrate this and they do it particularly in 4 ways.

The reading of the Book of Esther (the Megillah), once on the night of Purim and once the following day.
By giving money gifts to at least two poor people.
Sending gifts of two kinds of ready-to eat-foods to at least one person (who may be in need)
And to have a festive meal

The atmosphere is lively and full of fun. It is customary for children especially (but adults also if they desire) to dress up in costumes. This is because the role of God is hidden in the story of Purim (and in fact even the name of God is missing from the Megillah).’

There are special foods including a three-cornered pastry stuffed with sweetmeats and poppy seeds. It is called Hamantaschen after Haman’s favourite three-cornered hat though in Yiddish,it is called ‘Haman’s ears”
Central to the feast is Joy. It is based on deliverance from death and evil intent and that is something to be joyful about.

The late Jonathan Sachs pondered on this. They had escaped an act of genoside, the first one of more to come. Was the appropriate emotion joy? Ought it to have been relief? How does this festivity sit with future persecutions of the Jewish people? How does Purim seem against the background of the holocaust? This is what Jonathan Sacks has to say:

“We who live after the Holocaust, who have met survivors, heard their testimony, seen the photographs and documentaries and memorials, know the answer to that question. On Purim, the Final Solution was averted. But it had been pronounced. Ever afterward, Jews knew their vulnerability. The very existence of Purim in our historical memory is traumatic.
The Jewish response to trauma is counter-intuitive and extraordinary. You defeat fear by joy. You conquer terror by collective celebration. You prepare a festive meal, invite guests, give gifts to friends. While the story is being told, you make an unruly noise as if not only to blot out the memory but to make a joke out of the whole episode. You wear masks. You drink a little too much. You make a Purim spiel.
Precisely because the threat was so serious, you refuse to be serious – and in that refusal you are doing something very serious indeed. You are denying your enemies a victory. You are declaring that you will not be intimidated. As the date of the scheduled destruction approaches, you surround yourself with the single most effective antidote to fear: joy in life itself. As the three-sentence summary of Jewish history puts it: “They tried to destroy us. We survived. Let’s eat.”

Humour is the Jewish way of defeating hate. What you can laugh at, you cannot be held captive by.”

In our present world, where so much tragedy is befalling so many people, in Ukraine, Turkey, Syria, even the Holy Land, and so many other places, perhaps there is a vital message here for all of us.

Jonathan Sacks again:

How do joy and humour help us deal with tragedies, both in our personal and national life?

I learned this from a Holocaust survivor. Some years ago, I wrote a book called Celebrating Life. It was a cheer-you-up book, and it became a favourite of the Holocaust survivors. One of them, however, told me that a particular passage in the book was incorrect. Commenting on Roberto Begnini’s comedy film about the Holocaust, Life is Beautiful, I had said that though I agreed with his thesis – a sense of humour keeps you sane – that was not enough in Auschwitz to keep you alive.

“On that, you are wrong,” the survivor said, and then told me his story. He had been in Auschwitz, and he soon realised that if he failed to keep his spirits up, he would die. So he made a pact with another young man, that they would both look out, each day, for some occurrence they found amusing. At the end of each day they would tell one another their story and they would laugh together. “That sense of humour saved my life,” he said. I stood corrected. He was right.

How can humour be the ultimate defence against those who wish to take away our freedom and destroy us?
That is what we do on Purim. The joy, the merrymaking, the food, the drink, the whole carnival atmosphere, are there to allow us to live with the risks of being a Jew – in the past, and tragically in the present also – without being terrified, traumatised or intimidated. It is the most counter-intuitive response to terror, and the most effective. Terrorists aim to terrify. To be a Jew is to refuse to be terrified.

A people that can know the full darkness of history and yet rejoice is a people whose spirit no power on Earth can ever break.

Terror, hatred, and violence are always ultimately self-destructive. Those who use these tactics are always, as was Haman, destroyed by their very will to destruct. And yes, we as Jews must fight antisemitism, the demonisation of Israel, and the intimidation of Jewish students on campus. But we must never let ourselves be intimidated – and the Jewish way to avoid this is marbim be-simcha, to increase our joy. A people that can know the full darkness of history and yet rejoice is a people whose spirit no power on Earth can ever break.”

There is so much about this that we can learn to good and powerful effect. It touches so much on the events in our world today. It is also central to the Christian Lent and Holy Week journey . There, too, joy comes out of seeming destruction and yet love triumphs through Cross & Resurrection which is itself the epitome of joy, deliverance and celebration. It reminds us that by whatever religion we pray to God, the joke is always on Satan and those who follow evil.

[Mr G]

World Wildlife Day

*The foxes of Latton visit their Patron, St Francis. Photo by Lynn Hurry*

World Wildlife day

World Wildlife day was held on March 3^rd.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, wrote this:

On World Wildlife Day, we reflect on our responsibility to protect the magnificent diversity of life on our planet. And we recognize our abject failure.
Human activities are laying waste to once-thriving forests, jungles, farmland, oceans, rivers, seas, and lakes. One million species teeter on the brink of extinction, due to habitat destruction, fossil fuel pollution and the worsening climate crisis. We must end this war on nature.

The good news is that we have the tools, the knowledge, and the solutions. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which has helped protect thousands of plants and animals. And last year’s agreement on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework marked an important step towards putting our planet on a path to healing.

As this year’s theme – ‘Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation’ – highlights, we need to work across governments, civil society, and the private sector to turn commitment into action. And we need much bolder actions now to cut emissions, accelerate renewables, and build climate resilience.
Throughout, we need to place the voices of local communities and indigenous people – our world’s most effective guardians of biodiversity – front and centre.

Today and every day, let us all do our part to preserve natural habitats and build a thriving future for all living beings.

António Guterres Secretary-General, United Nations

As we know, there are huge issues affecting Planet Earth right now and much of what we face feels overwhelming. However many feel a sense of responsibility and a desire to work for a real change. Some of us recognise that we are stewards under God for the well-being of creation. For too long the understanding from the Book of Genesis that humankind have dominion over all the earth, has been interpreted has given us a God-given right to dominate all creatures on the earth and to exploit creation for our own ends. ‘Dominion’ means, rather, Stewardship and Responsibility. Ultimately it involves Accountability to God even if there are many who don’t accept that duty.
Some of us may think that whilst we accept that responsibility, there is very little we can do. How can each of us make any difference?

I am always heartened by this little story:

A little sparrow laid on its back with its legs in the air. Another sparrow walked past and asked the sparrow on his back what it was doing. The little one replied that it had heard that the sky was going to fall in and thought that it should try and help hold it up.
The other sparrow laughed and said, “You’re only a little sparrow with little legs. How can you hold up the whole sky?
The sparrow laid on the floor with its legs in the air, said:
“I know, but one does what one can.”

Whenever we feed the birds in our garden, nurture our plants, take care of our domestic pets, feed and water wild animals and little but significant things such as that, then we are ‘doing what we can’ and it makes a big difference.

Sqirrel helping herself to Vicarage not quite ripe strawberries! Photo: Lynn Hurry

Heavenly Father,
You have taught us, through your servant St Francis,
That all creation is your handiwork.
Grant us your grace that we may
Exercise wise stewardship of this Earth;
Tread lightly upon it;
And cherish its resources;
That our children may enjoy its riches, throughout all generations,
And your name be glorified through all that you have made.
Amen.

Rt Revd David Walker
Bishop of Manchester

God’s Gypsy

*these stunning Daffodils are the work of my artist friend, Kay Gibbons. They remind us that the Daffodil is the National Flower of Wales and an emblem of St David (Dewi) , Patron Saint of Wales*

Today, March 1^st, the Church celebrates St. David’s day though perhaps not as boisterously as some Welsh may do! He is, after all the Patron Saint of Wales.
I once had a memorable visit to St. David’s, the highlight of which was a cliff-top walk which led to St. Non’s Well (St. Non was David’s mother). The well is reputedly where David was baptized and today it is still flowing gently and pilgrims strew flowers on its waters.

David himself was very fond of water – the only liquid he drank, except the wine of the Eucharist. He and his followers were known as the Aquati because of this. Perhaps, too, David’s affinity with water stems from the legend which surrounds his birth. He is said to have been born in the midst of a terrific thunderstorm!
St. Non, David’s mother, was the daughter of a local chieftain and she is said to have been made pregnant (perhaps even by force) by Prince Sant of the royal house of Ceredigion. Some say he was King.
Whatever the circumstance of the pregnancy, Sant seems to have tried to make amends by renouncing his kingdom after David’s birth and following the life of a hermit.

As a Christian leader David has been described as an athlete of the spiritual life who pressed himself to the limits of human endurance. However, what he expected of himself he did not demand of others whom he treated with deep compassion, especially the poor and the sick.
On his deathbed, his monks gathered around him and he spoke his final words to them and it is these which mark him out as a man of holiness whose heart was touched by God. This is what he said:

Brothers and Sisters, be happy and keep your faith and your belief, and do the little things that you have heard and seen me do.”

The little things which characterized David’s own approach to life were (a) to respect others and have a deep care for the poor; (b) to live in lowliness, which can be read as meekness and humility and thus live a life of simplicity, never expressing oneself arrogantly and (c) be at home to others. This is about practicing the deeply held monastic ideal of hospitality in which Christ is recognized in everyone.
Not a bad thing our world today, where so many are ill-treated, isolated and ignored. Loneliness is one of the great diseases of our time and hospitality which recognizes people’s worth as carriers of the image of Christ ,would do much to relieve this.
These little things are undergirded and fed by prayer and by being present for the breaking of bread at the Eucharist; and reading scripture; He also set great store on hospitality.
One of David’s early biographers with a personal knowledge of him said that he was constantly feeding a multitude of orphans, wards, widows, needy, sick, feeble and pilgrims.

Drawing on the example David set, a modern writer on Welsh Spirituality, Patrick Thomas wrote:

“In any community apparently insignificant acts of habitual kindness and self-forgetfulness which display a fundamental respect and love for others can generate stability, unity and wholeness. On the other hand, acts of unkindness or contempt, however superficially trivial, can quickly lead to the disintegration of a society as feuds develop and are fuelled by an unwillingness to forgive.”

Insignificant acts of kindness which takes us outside ourselves is at the heart of what David meant when he spoke of doing the little things.
These ‘little’ things are the bedrock on which faith is built. Neglect of them leads to spiritual deprivation. Attention to them leads to faith expressed joyfully. It is the little things we do in Christ’s name which matter most.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta expressed much the same thing when she said that she and her sisters didn’t do great things but rather little things with a great love. St. David would have approved of that.

Encouraged by St David we might practice a truth that whenever we open the door to our hearts and show genuine love, acceptance and joy towards others, we can be sure of one thing – God will slip into our lives and make himself ‘at home’ with us.

*St Non’s Well where David is said to have been baptized*
*Photo Mr G*

A poem about St. David of Wales,
by David James Jones, who uses the Welsh pen name Gwenallt.

St. David

There is no barrier between two worlds in the Church.
The Church militant on earth
Is one with the Church triumphant in heaven,
And the saints are in this Church which is two in one.
They come to worship with us, our small congregation,
The saints our oldest ancestors
Who built Wales on the foundation
Of the Crib, the Cross and the Empty Tomb.
And they go out as before to travel their old ways
And to evangelize Wales.

I have seen Dewi going from shire to shire like the gypsy of God,
With the gospel and the altar in his caravan;
He came to us in the colleges and schools
To show us the purpose of learning.
He went down into the pit with the coal miners
And shone his lamp on the coal face.
He put on the goggles of the steel worker, and the short grey overall
And showed the Christian being purified like metal in the furnace.
He brought the factory people into his disreputable Church.

He carried the Church everywhere
Like a body with life and mind and will,
And he did small things and great.

He brought the Church into our homes,
Put the holy vessels on the kitchen table
With bread from the pantry and wine from the cellar,
And he stood behind the table like a tramp
So as not to hide from us the wonder of the sacrifice.
And after the Communion we had a talk round the fire
And he spoke to us of God’s natural order,
The person, the family, the nation and the society of nations
And the cross which prevents us from making any of them into a god.
He said that God had made our nation

[Gwenallt]

Desert Tale

Desert dunes sand in milky way stars night sky

Today, on the first Sunday of Lent, we have been thinking of when the Holy Spirit sent Jesus into the Desert. He was alone with His Father for 40 days and 40 nights. During this time he fasted and spent time in conversation (prayer) and silence with His Father.
His faith and resolve was also tested and he endured Three Temptations by Satan who offered him ways to become a dominant power in the world but enslaved to Satan. Temptations which were resisted and dismissed by Jesus

In Lent we are encouraged to spend time in prayer and stillness with God. Through this our hearts are made more pure, our faith more resistant to temption and our love for God more rich. The richness of such love is refined in the way we behave towards others.

So here’s a Desert Tale to help us to think a little more about this.

In his book, Letters from the Desert, The Little Brother of Jesus, Carlo Carretto tells of a journey in the Sahara that he made soon after becoming a monk.
He arrived at a place just as the sun was setting and the temperature plummeted.
It is a fact that the Sahara is known as a ‘cold country where it is very hot in the sun’ and because of this he carried two blankets.

He arrived at a village where he noticed an old man shivering with cold.
Carlo thought that he should give the old man one of his blankets but he thought of the night ahead and the cold that was descending. He knew that he really ought to have given the old man a blanket but when he drove off in his jeep the blankets were still with him.
Eventually he made camp under a great rock that would give him shelter from the wind.
He wrapped himself in both his blankets and eventually he fell asleep.

And he had a dream. He dreamt that he was lying under the very rock he had camped under. In the dream the rock moved and a great boulder fell on top of him. It did not kill him but he was no longer able to move his body.
He opened his eyes and saw the old man shivering before him. Now, he didn’t hesitate, The blanket was no longer any use to him so he tried to stretch out his hand to offer the blanket but the stone made even the smallest movement impossible. The blanket mocked him and reminded him of his lack of charity.

He wondered how long he might have to remain under the rock and God then spoke to his heart:
” Until you are capable of an act of perfect love.”

Heavenly Father,
your Son battled with the powers of darkness,
and grew closer to you in the desert:
help us to use these days to grow in wisdom and prayer
that we may witness to your saving love
in Jesus Christ our Lord.