Edition 267 “The Church in the Park – Growing in Faith, Hope and Love” JULY 2021 [email protected] A MESSAGE FROM DAVID Hello everybody, On 13.6.21, we announced the great news that Jane Burns is to be licensed to our two parishes in the autumn. Jane is currently curate at Finedon but lives in St Peter & St Paul Parish and was very much involved in it before her ordination. Jane is a 'Minister in Secular Employment': she has a full-time job elsewhere but is also engaged in parish ministry. Her new role will be rather unusual: she will be offering help to parishes in the Kettering Deanery in need of support. But her base will be our two parishes and she will be with us at least one Sunday a month. Jane will be licensed by Bishop John at All Saints Church on 31 October. We're delighted about this news. (See also David’s article on Confirmation later in the magazine) A MESSAGE FROM FR BRIAN My journey to ordination began one day in August, 1977, just a few days before my 40th birthday, when my late wife Hazel asked the question “Had I thought of going into the church?” It had been on my mind for a while but it was good to know that my family, including our daughters Zaneta and Andrea, would be supportive for what could be a difficult and uncertain period. At the time I was churchwarden at the parish of St. Peter, Calow near Chesterfield. There was an interregnum so I could not discuss this matter with my incumbent which is usually the first step. By a stroke of good fortune, the DDO {Diocesan Director of Ordinands} had written in the Derby Diocesan newsletter inviting anyone who felt called to the church’s ministry to contact him. A telephone call soon had me attending several interviews which resulted in the Bishop recommending me to ACCM {Advisory Council for the Church’s Ministry} for selection. I attended a three-day selection conference at Ecton, then the Peterborough Diocesan retreat house and conference centre and I remember being interviewed by an archdeacon, the headmistress of a school in Liverpool and a farmer from East Anglia who seemed to be impressed by gardening skills?? The letter confirming my successful application, arrived on Maundy Thursday, 1978 advising me to make contact with several theological colleges which were recommended for mature students. I opted for Lincoln where housing would be provided for students with families and we moved there at the end of school term in July. For students of my age, the training was a two-year course, without final exams but with copious amounts of reading and writing of essays. For two years I studied Old Testament, New Testament, Theology, Ethics, Worship and Pastoral studies. It was a fascinating time for all of us and a joy to be so close to that beautiful cathedral. At the end of the two-year training I had to look for a parish that would take me on as a curate. After several false starts, I found accommodation at the Parish of Duston and on St. Peter’s Day, 1980 was ordained deacon by Bishop Douglas Feaver in Peterborough cathedral. I had to serve as a deacon for twelve months before I could celebrate communion, marry or baptise, and then, on the week after St. Peter’s Day, 1981 I was ordained Priest. I served Duston as a curate for three and a half years during which training continued with an experienced priest and P.O.T {Post ordination Training} with Canon Carnell, which became known as “Carnell Knowledge”. At the end of 1983 the bishop invited me to consider the parish of Spratton, a village of 1,200 people, but with the promise {or threat} of additional responsibility. I was licensed as Priest- in-Charge in February 1984. Additional responsibility soon followed, and I was licensed to the Parish of Creaton in July the same year. The church of St. Andrew was in a poor state of repair with a crumbling tower, inadequate heating and lighting and very little in the restoration fund. An appeal had been launched with little response until English Heritage took an interest, and, after much fund raising and some generous donations, the task was completed in 1990. In 1985 I had the assistance of a NSM curate and when bishop Bill Westwood introduced “pastoral reorganisation” it was decided that the parishes of Maidwell, Lamport, Scaldwell and Draughton should be added, temporally, to Spratton and Creaton. This took place in 1988, in 1989 the curate left for pastures new leaving me with 5 parishes which I served as Priest-in- charge for 13 years. In 1994 the bishop asked me to be rural dean for 5 years which was extended for another two years as a replacement was not forthcoming. This was an onerous task involving many meetings to deal with pastoral reorganisation. In 1998 bishop Ian Cundy invited me to become an honorary Canon of the cathedral and I was able to celebrate communion on a number of occasions {mid-week only} in that wonderful building, I even preached once at Evensong. The time for my retirement soon drew close but I was able to delay this due to Hazel’s illness until 2006, Hazel died in 2005. I moved to Kettering and soon found myself being used to cover interregna, beginning at Rothwell, followed by Irthlingborough, St. Marks Wellingborough, St. Peter and Andrew Corby, St. Michaels Gt. Oakley and several parishes in the Brixworth Deanery, I also took one or two services at All Saints after Fr. Ron had died. From the beginning of my retirement I attended St. Mary Magdelene at Geddington where I was able to assist the vicar. I also joined the choir until the vicar retired and it was time to move on. At this point I found my way to All Saints where Fr. Andrew made me welcome and I was able to assist him until his retirement when I then covered the interregnum until Fr. Tim‘s arrival. It has been a privilege to be able to serve the church in my retirement years and to be associated with All Saints for the last 8 or 9 years. Thank you all for your love and support. Fr. Brian Isaiah 61 vv1-3 Psalm 145 - response “I will exalt you O God my King” 2 Corinthians 5 vv14-19 John 20 vv19-23 The Christian Chronicle Faith – Defend or Reform? Welcome back to the Christian Chronicle. We left the last report in the summer of 1517 just as things were hotting up, and I don’t mean the weather! I anticipated stuff was about to happen but didn’t realise how soon – the big event came in just the autumn of the same year when a German priest and theologian really nailed it when it comes to creating a stir. I’ve actually jumped forward 10 years to 1527 so I can bring you all the fallout as well. I also need to tell you what’s happening in England, where King Henry VIII is getting quite a reputation – both good and bad. Martin Luther comes from a small town in central Germany and was educated at the University of Erfurt until, in 1505, aged 21, he was nearly struck by lightning. The event had a dramatic impact - he left university, sold all his books, and entered the nearby monastery just two weeks later. He was ordained priest within two years and, in 1508, the Dean of the University of Wittenberg sent for him to teach theology. He progressed quickly and became Professor of Theology in 1512. Luther was particularly vexed by the activity of Johann Tetzel, especially as Tetzel had the support of Luther’s own Bishop, Albrecht von Brandenburg, Archbishop of Mainz. It wasn’t just indulgences Luther objected to, but this was a big part. On the evening before All Saints Day, Luther wrote to the archbishop in protest, enclosing 95 theses titled “A Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences”; in line with academic debate process, and to push the matter home, he also nailed these theses to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg – the day before its patronal festival. Much of what Luther proposed had come forward before through the likes of John Wycliffe, Jan Hus and Peter Waldo, but it seems the time is now right because Luther’s action really stirred things up. The Archbishop didn’t reply to Luther’s letter but, having checked carefully for heresy, he forwarded the documents onto Rome. Pope Leo X had various people exam Luther’s text and question him at length before finally excommunicating him at the beginning of 1521. But Luther’s challenges caused difficulty in the secular world as well as in the church; so Luther had to face the Diet of Worms. That’s not some nutritional challenge or punishment - a Diet is a form of court of judgement held by the Emperor, in this case Charles V, and Worms is a German Rhineland town. Luther refused to recant his position and between the papal excommunication and the Imperial Edict from Worms he was declared a heretic and an outlaw. Luther challenged the absolute authority of the Pope over the church, particularly in relation to indulgences; he maintained that salvation was by faith alone and not related to good works or penance; and that the sacraments were a means to Grace. Luther also challenged the authority of the church with the stance that all doctrines/ dogmata not founded in scripture were invalid.