Tag: Jesus

Full of God

Raymond Raynes, a former Father Superior of the Community of the Resurrection
Mirfield, once asked a group of young people he was teaching:
“Can anyone tell me what a saint is?”
A young lady on the back row shot up her hand and said, “Yes, Father, a saint is a dead Christian.”
Fr. Raynes thought that to have to be dead in order to become a saint was rather depressing.

A more positive answer is that of Archbishop Alban Goodier who wrote:Let us remember that to become saints we have only to be what God wants us to be;
To do what God wants us to do;
To forget ourselves and never forget God.
In order to achieve this we need:
Perfect simplicity with regard to ourselves,
Perfect contentment with all that comes our way,
Perfect peace of mind in utter self-forgetfulness.
And all this becomes easier the more we realize the absolute goodness and greatness of God.

Today is the feast of St. John the Baptist and any examination of his life shows us that in every sense of Archbishop Goodier’s description of a Saint, John the Baptist ticks all the boxes.

God wanted John to be a person of prayer, of zeal, of conviction and of action and he was all these things.God wanted him to be a voice crying in the wilderness of a self-centred and self-preoccupied world that people were to prepare themselves for the coming of God amongst them as the Saviour. He would deliver people from all that prevented the love of God growing in their hearts and who would return them to a rightful relationship with Him through repentance – a turning of their lives back to God.
John fulfilled all of God’s hopes.

He never sought anything for himself except to serve God. So he could say to his disciples about Jesus . ‘Look, there is the Lamb of God’ and, later, when his disciples told him that Jesus was also baptizing and everyone was now going to him rather than to John, he replied simply that Jesus must increase whilst he, John, decreased. He showed forgetfulness of self whilst never forgetting who was God.
When John came briefly onto the centre stage of the sacred drama which would bring Jesus to lead and love His Father’s people into the Kingdom, John was happy with His work as Fore-runner or as the other John put it more beautifully, The friend of the bridegroom.
He attracted the crowds and had close disciples but when the time came he faded quietly into the background. Eventually he was arrested and thrown into prison because of his outspokenness towards the sin of the King, Herod.

Then he was beheaded.

And throughout all that happened to him, he was at peace because he was full of God.
He recognized the greatness and goodness of God.
It was God that John Proclaimed. It is what made him a saint.
One of the special Eucharistic prayers for Saints days tells us what a saint is called to be and once again, John the Baptist fulfils this role perfectly.

In the darkness of this passing age
They [The Saints] proclaim the glory of your
kingdom.
Chosen as lights in the world,they surround our steps as we journey on
towards the city of eternal light
where they sing the everlasting song of triumph.
In communion with angels and archangels
and all who have served you on earth
and worship you now in heaven,
we raise our voices to proclaim your glory,

The connection between the saints in heaven and us on earth who are also called to sainthood is that in God’s scheme of things, we are all one, at least in destiny if not yet in substance.
St Paul often referred to God’s people as God’s holy ones or saints and thus reminds us that sainthood is about holiness.
Holiness is not something we can buy off the shelf or award ourselves, or even earn through trying to gain pious brownie points. It is a gift of God which is His alone to give. It comes to us through the grace he pours into us. We can call that filling us with God. We can call it becoming saintly.

Archbishop Goodier, said that Christ came not to call saints but to MAKE saints and often he does this out of weak, sinful and unpromising people.
Saints are not only models of holiness for us to imitate, they are reminders that God’s grace can outshine every human flaw.
Despite all our worst efforts God simply loves us into holiness and that is both comforting and encouraging.
And, just as the example of good people around us help to encourage us in our life of faith, so the saints who have travelled this often rough and rocky road can be a great help.

St. John the Baptist brings us in touch with the unique examples of holiness which he shows us in his own life.
He turns our vision towards God because that is what his life was all about. To to be inspired by him, to share his vision is surely an excellent reason to go along with him as a special heavenly friend. Our friend and as John said, the friend of the bridegroom (John 3: 29) The one who has an intimate closeness to Jesus himself.
And that closeness is brought home to us in a particularly spectacular way in the event which precedes John’s birth, which we know of as the Visitation.

After The Blessed Virgin Mary accepts God’s will that she is to be the mother of Jesus, she goes off to spend time with her cousin Elizabeth, who also is involved in a miracle of her own. Her barren womb is now fertile, by God’s decree, and in her womb is being formed the future John the Baptist.
St. Luke tells us that as Mary greeted Elizabeth the child in her womb leapt for joy. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She proclaimed, Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
This moment led St. Anselm to begin his prayer about St. John the Baptist, with these words:

St John, You are that John who baptized God;
You were praised by an archangel
before you were begotten of your father;
you were full of God before you were born of your mother;
you knew God before you knew the world.

Anselm’s words are tremendous and absolutely vital if we are to understand something really fundamental about saints and about holiness and about ourselves.
I have already drawn attention to the fact that Christ makes us saints and that holiness is a gift from God.
Now – St. Anselm tells us precisely what that means.
John the Baptist he says, was, full of God and that he knew God before he knew the world.
St. Anselm says something very profound.
Saintliness is all about God and God’s action in our lives.
It’s about recognizing God at work within us, filling us with Himself. It’s as if God is filling the womb of our soul and we are carrying him as he leaps for joy within us.

And if we are full of God we shall indeed know him and this knowledge is far greater than anything we shall acquire in the world. Being full of God is something we should long to be.

[Mr.G. Nativity of St John the Baptist. 2026]

Wait for the Lord

5 years ago today, my dear friend Joyce Smith died suddenly and we have missed her ever since. So today I am posting one of her delightful contributions to this blog. The photos were all her own and this was centred on a Kingfisher and on her patience in waiting to see it. The final comment is about the joy and gladness of God given to all who seek Him, as Joyce certainly did.

My friend Joyce Smith has sent me this lovely tweet in 2021.

“This little kingfisher posed for about 15 minutes at Fisher’s Green. We might have been looking for the elusive bittern, but the kingfisher certainly made the trip worthwhile!”

We live in an ‘instant’ society where we want immediate action, results or answers. This is true in Christian terms too. Many prayers are filled with demands or browbeating of God. But in our relationship with God there is a need for us to be patient. Had Joyce failed to be patient she might have missed the Kingfisher. The ‘elusive bittern’ is a joy to come on another day. The Kingfisher kindly offered an alternative view. It must have sensed a bit of disappointment because it stayed still, posing for about 15 minutes. Long enough to enjoy its colourful presence. Long enough to remind us that sometimes it is the things least expected which bring us joy and enlightenment.

The Psalmist tells us to be still and wait patiently for God to drop by.

There is a Taizé song, Wait for the Lord, sung often in Advent, but appropriate to think about at any time when we long for God or for a sign of his presence.

The Taizé song tells us that God’s day is always near. His presence is close to us but we must prepare our hearts to receive him and clear away all the things that might get in the way and stop us meeting Him. His ‘Glory’ is rightly portrayed often as an amazing display of God’s holiness which is a shewing of God’s presence. It’s posh name is from the Greek, Theophany. An obvious example is the Transfiguration of Jesus on the Holy Mountain. A spectacular event but personally it is when we see God not with our eyes but in our hearts where God reveals himself in a special way. It may be an awesome thing but it is a source of rejoicing because, as the Taizé song and Joyce’s kingfisher tells us, those who seek and wait for God will be rewarded with joy and gladness.

Wait for the Lord, his day is near
Wait for the Lord, be strong take heart
Prepare the way for the Lord
Make a straight path for Him
The Glory of the Lord shall be revealed
All the Earth will see the Lord
Rejoice in the Lord always

[Joyce Smith & Mr G]

People of the Spirit

A thought on Pentecost Sunday

Gifts given freely

Edith joined a house group I was leading one Lent. The Course was about Prayer and in one session we were encouraged to pray aloud for people and things that concerned us. We were given a week’s notice and just before we were due to meet again, Edith sent for me. She told me that she would have to miss the next session.
She had an anxious and slightly guilty look so I probed a bit deeper. She was scared of praying aloud because she had nothing to pray about. ‘You see, I’m not very spiritual’. I think what she meant was that she wasn’t very pious.
She thought that people had to put on a very posh or sugary voice when they pray believing that you have to speak to the Almighty in a certain way. Edith was too down to earth for that.
So I asked her how her daughter was. She was going through an horrendous divorce. Edith told me all her anxieties and how she hoped God would strengthen her and be with her and the children and so on and so on. At the end I said to her, ’say ’Amen!’’ She asked me what I meant. ‘Well’, I told her, ’you’ve just been praying about your daughter for ten minutes so you might as well say ’Amen’. Edith was no fool and she got it right away. ‘I have, haven’t I?’
‘Now come to the group and do it there again, amongst your friends.’ That is exactly what she did and everyone present promised to pray for her daughter. I saw a life lit up with new joy.

Edith didn’t join the rota for the intercessions. She had a much more important job in the church. She made all the purificators and corporals and albs and surplices. She was an amazing seamstress and everything she made for God’s service was made prayerfully. Every stitch carried it’s own moment of praise. ’It’s important to give God the best’ she would say. ‘After all, look what he’s given to us in Jesus. He’s given us so much love and grace. We must give our all to God!’

Of course, as she reminded me, she wasn’t spiritual!
Yet she gave her all to God and that day when she prayed aloud in that Lent Group, she gave a bit more. And it made her happier than ever. I might just have forgotten to say that she not only made our albs and other linen, she also washed and ironed them! She lots more vestments for the Church—but she wasn’t spiritual!

As we Christians celebrate Pentecost, it’s people like Edith who come to mind because she is an example of those Christians who just use their gifts happily for God and actually don’t realize that they are doing anything more than returning to God the love they have received from Him.
They never think about themselves. They lose themselves in the service of God and others.
I think Edith was one of the most spirit-filled people I’ve ever met.

[Mr G. Pentecost Sunday 2026]

Mr Brock introduces himself

Badger in Latton Garden. Photograph by Revd. Lynn Hurry

The badger was a night time visitor in her garden and Introduces herself.

“ I try not to show my face too often. It isn’t always wise or safe.
As you see I have a rather distinctive face. It’s the broad white stripe that gives it away!
I am told that it serves a purpose. It’s a sign of my knowledge and insight into matters not easily accessible to other animals on earth.

One of my special attributes is my strong jaws. This is very useful because it makes it easier to chew and also, when required, to snap and bite at those other animals who like to throw their weight around.
A much more useful thing is that my jaws help me to habit the mysteries of the Word’, which is a pretentious way of saying how I reveal the ‘magic of storytelling.’

When needed, I give away generously to people, a magical word which is the way I guide people who are looking for beauty, encouragement and a more open mind especially when they seek a differing direction and purpose in life which otherwise deludes them.
I use the word, story’ in a sense of helping others to listen to that inner voice whereby God speaks. I am part of that spirit-filled creation which leads people to embrace courage and independence and so cultivate a tenacity which shows the importance of holding on when running away and hiding would feel much safer.

Drawing from my own characteristics and a tendency to dig deeper into the soil of the earth, I am able to show other members of God’s creation how to embrace untapped potential and take that journey all of us must take if we are to become our true selves under God.

I have this story to tell from the heart of my being and it has inspired a number of important people to use me as a character in their writings.
The late eighteenth century poet, John Clare, wrote of me in a poem entitled Badger. At a time when many humans were cruel to animals, he took my tenacious character and wove it into a poem which emphasizes endurance and resistance rather than then being a victim.
Beatrix Potter, in her Tale of Mr Tod, was less kind of me, speaking of my curiously, earthy voice in a dismissive way. She called me Tommy Brock
By then, I was being referred to as Broc which actually was my Celtic Name and really only meant ‘grey.’.
That nice Mr Graham, who wrote the delightful book, Wind in the Willows, called me a “wise and kind badger” though he did say that I could be bossy at times, by which he meant that I was forthright!

Things are not always what they seem and humans are not the be all and end all of creation. Each of us animals have insights, hopes and loves to offer as we share in shaping Creation. Each of us is made by God and we are Icons of His presence in the world. We are all filled with God’s Spirit and signs of the totality of His loving being. Increasingly we need to see that truth and treat Creation and the Created order in a new and more grateful way, all of us as part of God’s story of pure love.

Many the gifts, many the people,
many the hearts that yearn to belong.
Let us be servants to one another,
making your kingdom come. (Bernadette O’Farrell)

[Mr G, a visiting Badger and The Revd.Lynn Hurry]
30th April 2026