Welcome to The Weobley & Staunton Benefice

As we move toward the end of the Lent and anticipate the events of Holy Week, we encounter a gospel reading (fifth Sunday of Lent) that both startles us and points to the mystery of Easter Sunday. This is John chapter 11, in which Jesus raises Lazarus from the tomb. We see the figure of Lazarus, emerging from the dimness of the tomb, swathed in bandages, stumbling forward slowly into the light of day. He shuffles forward from death into life, foreshadowing Jesus’ own resurrection on the horizon. ‘Unbind him’ Jesus says ‘and let him go’.

The event is a disturbing one, both for Jesus followers and for his critics, because it defies the ways in which the witnesses would have perceived (and imagined) the world and the operation of their faith. While the Jews of Jesus day believed in a bodily resurrection, this was something regarded as happening at the very end of all time. Jesus’ miraculous raising of a man from death demands a veritable reimagining of faith itself, as it brings the eschkaton (last things) into the realm of the present. The theologian Judith Wolfe observes that a life of faith is not merely a way of making sense of the world. It is also a way of acknowledging the nonsensicality of the world: neither to deny nor prematurely to resolve it. * Our temptation, as those who crave the security of certainty, is always to try and resolve the contradictions around us. But all Christian theology is oriented to a future which is not yet realised and continually climbs upward to seek a better view of a new creation which lies beyond our imaginative or practical control. Ultimately, even Jesus was baffled by the events that unfolded around him on the way to the cross, and it was only in the most earnest moments of prayer that he was able to find a way forward.

Our journey of faith is always a practice of unbinding. God continually asks us to unwrap and leave behind our preconceived notions, our false expectations and the limitations of our imaginations in order to embrace the beauty and mystery of the life to come.

Rev’d Philip

Four years ago, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine hit the headlines, a small crowd of us gathered around the preaching cross in Weobley and prayed for the Ukrainian people and for peace. Four years on, we are still praying.

At a special service held in a Norfolk church last Sunday, a minister noted “Ukraine drops off the face of our news when something else happens in the world. We forget about it. Yet the people of Ukraine don’t get that luxury. For them, the war is the only news, and it brings fresh horror each day” (Iain Grant, Assistant Curate at St Peter’s Sheringham).

There are times when we are sorely tempted to give up hope and to stop praying for situations of violence and conflict, especially when we witness the ascendency of the ruthless and power-hungry.  However, the apostle James tells us that “the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” and Paul reminds us that we should never neglect our meeting together and praying for each other (James 5: 13-17 and Hebrews10:25). The ongoing situation in Ukraine and in Russia calls out for our prayers more than ever.

The Diocese of Europe, together with USPG, launched an appeal last year for the support of Ukrainian refugees which is still running. If you would like to make a donation to this appeal in this season of Lent you can do so at:

https://ukraine-fund.uspg.org.uk/

You may also find this Church of England Collect prayer useful:

Almighty God,
from whom all thoughts of truth and peace proceed:
kindle, we pray, in the hearts of all, the true love of peace
and guide with your pure and peaceable wisdom
those who take counsel for the nations of the earth
that in tranquility your kingdom may go forward,
till the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Amen

Rev’d Philip