My apologies. Fr. Rodney and Fr. Robin will be broadcasting their service live THIS EVENING (Sat at 7pm CET). It will still be available all day on Sunday on the usual Facebook page – Just click this link – https://www.facebook.com/rodney.middleton.940, where you can also view the live stream this evening.
I have also just read that La Fustera is having a service on Ash Wednesday at 12noon. Please do attend if you are able.
Here is the link to Fr. Marcus’s video for Valentine’s Day. https://youtu.be/vFUu-uon5Jg (see below)
The current impacts of the pandemic mean, among other things, that 5 of our weekly services are suspended and just 4 of our Sunday services will operate as usual this week. El Campello, Albir and Gandia churches are all closed this Sunday, and both our midweek services (Alfaz and Javea) remain suspended.
Our services will take place in Calpe, Javea, Denia and La Fustera, at the usual times, but do please check with the local warden if you plan to join us, to ensure that there are no space constraints.
For everyone unable or not yet ready to attend church in person, Fr. Rodney and Fr. Robin will be broadcasting a communion service live on Facebook at 10am (Spanish time) on Sunday. It will then be available to view as a recording at any time after 11am. Both the live service and the recording can be accessed on Fr. Rodney’s Facebook page. Just click this link – https://www.facebook.com/rodney.middleton.940.
ASH WEDNESDAY EVENSONG
We are all invited to join the Diocese in Europe Service of Evening Prayer taking place online on Wednesday 17th February at 1930cet/1830gmt.
Rev’d Sam Van Leer (Acting Archdeacon of NW Europe) will lead the service.
Bishop Robert is the preacher.
The liturgy includes an invitation to light three candles at the start of the service and extinguish them at certain moments during the service.
There is unlimited capacity to join the service on YouTube via this link https://youtu.be/S79rMG_zEWA. The service will be available to view on demand on YouTube and on the Diocesan Facebook page on the following day.
A glimpse of Glory
My Dear Friends,
I hope you are having a good day. The sun is shining here in Calpe, (well it was when I wrote this yesterday) and I am feeling good!
On Sunday in church we will have the following Gospel reading:
Mark 9.2-9
Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
This ‘Transfiguration’ was a glimpse of glory given to Peter, and the ‘Sons of Thunder’ – James and John to give them some sense of brightness before the dark clouds of the future threatened.
They were up there on the mountain and became aware of the radiance of Jesus and the presence of Moses and Elijah. In Jesus they were aware that all that Moses and Elijah hoped for was fulfilled. Like Moses, Jesus would bring people to the freedom of the Promised Land. Elijah, the greatest of the prophets, and Jesus revealed all that he stood for. The people had longed for their coming again.
But there was more. As God had appeared to Moses in the cloud, now he was present in the mountain. And the voice ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him!’
They had received a glimpse of the Glory of God, but they had to descend the mountain and make their way to Jerusalemfor the events of Holy Week.
We have this reading just before we begin Lent.
It set the disciples up with a strength to try and face the unknown future with the trauma and uncertainty that held. They were certainly empowered and moved by it, and not surprisingly wanting to hang on to it. But that is not the way with glory.
Back to us today. We face an uncertain and traumatic experience of the future, and we long for God to give us some strength – to reveal himself, and let us know he is who we believe him to be. And we look. And we wait. And we pray. And we read our scriptures………….
But there is no manufacturing of the Glory of God. It does not come to us on demand or even on request. But rather we spot it most unexpectedly, usually when we are engrossed in something else.
Or we may not even spot it at all.
I have been blessed with a few ‘Religious experiences’ during my life, and they were never sought and always not what I was looking for. And they never happened on an ordinary Sunday Morning Service.
One was as I watched a post mortem in the Royal Free Hospital where I was working. I was asked if I wanted to see one, and it became the source of my most powerful experience of the wonder and Glory of God. I just felt I knew that God was the very essence of creation. We are designed and made, we are not just some random accident.
My second was as I sat at the bedside of a dying parishioner. Her family and I sat for four hours, and we held her hand, and I read the scriptures, and we chatted and cried, and I anointed her as she died, and we all felt the presence of God who welcomed her home.
The third was when I was out for a curry. It was not my turn to drive, so I was offered a beer, but for some strange reason I stuck with coke!!!
Just as we finished our meal I got a call to go to the bedside of someone who was dying.
Somehow I felt that God was involved in me not drinking. That was not so much about the Glory of God, but his presence.
The fourth that I would like to mention is when I had to preach at the funeral of the Babes in the Wood murder victims. Karen Hadaway and Nichola Fellows.
The sermon I preached was not the one I had prepared! Words came unexpectedly out of my mouth, so much so that I had no idea what was coming next. It genuinely felt ‘Inspired’ and I am sure God revealed something of himself to me through that experience.
Of course we have experienced the wonder and beauty and awesomeness of God at many times during our lives, and they have helped frame our faith.
But what about now, when we are looking, pleading for something or someone to give us strength and hope to carry on, so that we can get through this together.
A sign of his love and presence would help us all so much. But people ask me, and they say I can’t see him. I can’t hear him. I have never had one of those Mystical Moments, those Mountain Top experiences that make it all seem so real.
Well as I said, we cannot manufacture them, and they don’t come on demand, and truth be told, we may not recognise them if they came.
But here is an idea.
My friends the Monks at Alton Abbey spend their life being ‘Religious’. They do ‘Church stuff’ all day every day, and go to their chapel five times a day. But it is when they retreat to their cell, their own simple space, and be still, and oh so quiet, that they will hear the voice of God.
Sometimes we are too preoccupied, or looking too hard, and demanding some sort of proof and we miss those moments of Glory that God gives to us. Sometimes we just don’t have the eyes to see, or the ears to hear, and the Glory passes us by. Sometimes we are crying out for a glimpse of God, but we are wanting it so much on our terms that we fail to accept the mystery that surrounds us.
But sometimes – just sometimes, something happens and deep inside we know that we are in the presence of God and we can say ‘Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.’
Take a moment to pause from your worries, and think back to some glorious moment that you have experienced, when God seemed very real. A moment of untold beauty, the birth of a child, the feeling when life really did make sense. That moment when you climbed the mountain. Treasure it, and hang on to the feeling it gave you.
My Friends, be still and know. Be quiet and content, and allow your anxieties to drain from your mind, and create some space afresh, so that you can feel the God who dwells in your heart.
Bless you, Bless you, Bless you,
As ever,
Fr Marcus
Good Afternoon my Friends,
I hope you are all feeling Merry and Bright!
Today Sandra and I completed our walk in memory of all those who had died with Covid.
100,000+ people, and we walked 100Km.
It was a very moving experience, so let me just put it into context.
Sometimes when we hear about really big situations there is a feeling that we need to respond, but words can seem somehow inadequate. Whatever we say isn’t going to make it alright, and none of us know the extent to which some people are struggling with their loss and grief and anxiety.
I didn’t just want to say how grim it all is, but that all will be well. That would be insensitive.
So rather than words, Sandra and I wanted to show that we stood alongside folk whoever they were and whatever they were going through. Our walk wasn’t going to fix anything, or change the course of events, but at least for us it would give space in which to focus our emotions.
100kms is not really a big deal. Lots of people regularly walk much further than that. We didn’t even have to carry much. Just a packed lunch and some water and a map. But the distance was significant, as was the things we chose to do.
On each journey we had intentions in our mind. Every day we thoughts of those who had died, but we also had in our minds at least one of the following:
Honour of those who grieve,
Thanksgiving for those brilliant folk who have cared for loved ones and strangers,
Gratitude, for those who have recovered,
Admiration for those key workers who have supported us all and kept as many things flowing as possible,
Praise of our NHS
Love for everyone who continues to work so hard to stop the spread of this virus.
We had biodegradable ribbons with names and those intentions written on them. We tied them to suitable places throughout our walk. We built cairns on the beach and tucked them between the rocks. We picked flowers and tied them with the ribbon and left them at exiting memorials. We added them to prayer flags, we hid them in trees and hung them by rivers. We left them on bridges, in old derelict buildings and attached them to bamboo growing by the river.
Did it change anything? Probably not. Will it have helped people? Not specifically? Will the virus still spread? Yes.
So what was the point?
Well, I can only speak for myself, but it gave meaning and depth to those emotions that had filled so many of us. We were affected by the loss of so many people, and 100, 000 metres of walking helped us realise what a big thing that was. But we were also able to spend time, walking in silence and thinking of all those other intentions. The honour we gave to those grieving souls was real. We really are full of thanks for those involved in caring, and inspired by those who have shown such devotion to strangers.
Many more people have recovered, and we need to put that into perspective. Most people get through it, and with the roll out of the vaccine, more and more people will thrive.
I lost count when I was trying to ‘Admire the key workers’. There are so many, and so often unseen or unheard of. The internet doesn’t just work all on its own, and where would we have been without that?
And the NHS in the UK, and the Health service here, and everywhere – those people – we can’t praise them enough, and we will never take them for granted again.
Finally the journey gave us the opportunity to walk alongside (so to speak) all of our brothers and sisters who are missing out on doing the very things that they love in order not to spread the virus.
With every step we missed our loved ones and with every breath we wished them well and with every mile we longed for a better future and a brighter tomorrow.
We did our best. What else could we do?
Walking doesn’t fix everything, but it is what we do side by side.
With love,
Marcus and Sandra x
Good afternoon,
We have received this information sheet from the British Embassy. If you have already received it, I apologies for sending it again. Please feel free to pass it on.
Take care and stay safe.
To our wonderful congregations
We are all aware that Lent is very near. Some of us will be considering our usual Lent disciplines. Pushing away the second box of chocolate hobnobs or even refraining from opening the Cava.
However, I have heard Father Marcus suggest that another approach is that instead of stopping something, we consider starting something, particularly something positive.
My suggestion is regular Prayer.
The Church of England have long supported this, in the form of Morning and Evening prayers. However I know that many of us, including me, struggle with praying regularly. Can I therefore draw to your attention the attached 2021 Chaplaincy Prayer Guide. The link is at the bottom of this message.
Some points for your consideration –
it’s envisaged that this guide will be of use in encouraging those of us who are new to regular prayer, it is therefore short and simple to use. You may agree that most change stems from personal change ,therefore the main prayers are for the development of the prayer in order that we may more positively impact upon the World.
It’s recognised that not everyone reads the Bible, therefore included are known Bible passages hoping that this will encourage us to look up the passage and explore the Bible.
Some of us prefer personalised prayer but lack direction, therefore included is the 5 finger prayer technique intended for daily use, also included is a reminder of people and organisations who we might include in our prayers.
I can do no better than finishing with a quotation from the Guide –
“Every time we pray, our horizon is altered, our attitude to things is altered, not sometimes but every time, and the amazing thing is
….that we don’t pray more.” Oswald Chambers. 1874 – 1917
God bless
Tony Cooke (Reader, Costa Blanca Anglican Chaplaincy)
To view Fr. Marcus’ new message click the link – https://youtu.be/8G7aJ9xT8mM
The current impacts of the pandemic mean, among other things, that 5 of our weekly services are suspended and just 4 of our Sunday services will operate as usual this week. El Campello, Albir and Gandia churches are all closed this Sunday, and both our midweek services (Alfaz and Javea) remain suspended.
Our services will take place in Calpe, Javea, Denia and La Fustera, at the usual times, but do please check with the local warden if you plan to join us, to ensure that there are no space constraints.
For everyone unable or not yet ready to attend church in person, Fr. Rodney and Fr. Robin will be broadcasting a communion service live on Facebook at 10am (Spanish time) on Sunday. It will then be available to view as a recording at any time after 11am. Both the live service and the recording can be accessed on Fr. Rodney’s Facebook page. Just click this link – https://www.facebook.com/rodney.middleton.940.
The general increase in cases of the virus, and the severe impact on our local hospitals is a real worry. Please stay safe and do everything that we can to protect ourselves and others.
Day one of our Memorial Walk, 22km whizzed by, with thoughts about all those who have died of Covid, and Thanksgiving for the brilliant folk who have cared for loved ones and strangers.
Sandra and I will crack on tomorrow.
In the meantime, I was chatting the other day to my brother the Archbishop of York. The Most Reverend Stephen Cottrell.
Well he is not really my brother, but he is in clergy terms, and when I say chatting, he was addressing Synod via Zoom, and I was sitting Virtually at his feet.
But I think he is my brother. He started off talking about his love of walking, and his Camino experience. Like me.
He had planned to walk the Portuguese Camino last year, but it was cancelled. Like Me.
He used words like Beautiful and Wonderful and Attractive as he spoke about Jesus. Just like me!
He was very wise and poetic – so that is where the similarities end.
I loved listening to him, he was truly inspiring, and it made my heart sing as I picked up his sense of hope.
He spoke about the same thing I did during my video last week, about the message of the Gospel being totally inclusive, and encouraged us to see a wall, and knock it down, or see a boundary and cross it.
The main thrust of his message was about how we evangelise during a pandemic, and he spoke about how the beauty, goodness and light of Jesus can be reflected in us, and when it is we become attractive.
Of course much evangelism is about conversation, and much of that conversation is about listening. Perhaps the idea is somehow to enable others to dip their toe into the water of faith, or to explore the territory of belief.
The Archbishop spoke very enthusiastically about how we can learn to be creative with our use of the digital media as we embrace Zoom and Youtube and our online worship, and it was so encouraging for us to feel that we are certainly on the right track with all of this.
I was having such a great time, I don’t know how it could have got any better. But our Afternoon speaker, the Very Revd Jeffrey John, the Dean of St Albans, spoke, and he too mentioned conversation. And he said ‘A proper conversation is one during which no one is trying to win’!
How brilliant is that. It completely tied together the whole message of not just our Synod, but the whole concept of Faith sharing and evangelism.
This is how it makes sense to me. We walk alongside folk, whoever they are, wherever they are going, and we get to know them and learn to love them, and let the Beauty and Light and Goodness of Jesus be reflected in us. And then those folk may want to walk alongside us, and dip their toe in the waters of faith.
There was so much more, but that is for another time.
Bless you, Bless you, Bless you,
Buen Camino,
Marcus
The Earth is charged with the Glory of God,
and then I blinked and missed it.
And in that split second I lost sight of the Joy that surrounds me.
I missed the awesome wonder and beauty of creation
and focussed instead on what I can’t do.
No bars. No Restaurants. No social gatherings.
No hugs. No singing, no dancing, no gigs, no festivals.
No flights home, and no time with my family. I miss them dreadfully.
I, Me, Me, Mine.
What about my feelings. What about my plans. What about what I really really want to do.
Come on God. I am sure my wants and desires fit with your great plan.
It was a long blink.
And then I went for a walk, up the great hills behind our house. And I sat and watched the sunset, and I knew that the sun had gone down where my family live. I wonder if it was as beautiful there.
And I had a conversation with God. A good one, where no one tries to win.
He asked after my loved ones, and I said they were fine. In fact that were beautiful, and they tell me they love me.
Then he asked how my tummy was. Was I hungry?
Of course I wasn’t. It was evening, and I had my tea earlier, and it was delicious.
He checked on my house, and my friends and my health and the people I live amongst.
He asked about my life, and my travels and my faith and whether I ever felt alone.
I replied that I was lucky, and that all was good, but sometimes I felt separate from the ones I love.
So he simply said – ‘Well who are you chatting to now? And you are not lucky, you are blessed.
I blinked again, and this time I lost sight of that self imposed misery. I knew in my heart that God always walks alongside us, and that the earth is indeed charged with the glory of God.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
(Living the Gospel during the pandemic)
My Dear Friends,
This is the time that we would normally be away at our Archdeaconry Synod, but as you can imagine, it is different this year. Synod will take place via Zoom, and rather than being together in a hotel, we are all sitting at home glued to our computers.
I am writing this on Monday, the actual business of Synod starts tomorrow, (Tuesday) but I need to get this done, which means I have not yet heard the joy and wisdom that will come from our speakers. And what a great line up we have this year. Bishop David, The Right Rev Robert Innes, Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe, our lovely Ven David Waller Archdeacon of Gibraltar, Italy and Malta, and the Archbishop of York: The most Revd Stephen Cottrell, plus a whole group of wonderful clergy and laity who undoubtedly will enthuse, inspire and excite us as we walk together through this theme of Living the Gospel during the pandemic.
The actual title of Synod is, ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock’ and for me that is such an incredible reminder of the constant initiative of Jesus to seek us out.
It is so easy for us to see all of the negatives going on around us, figures so high that it seems too big to fathom, divisions within and between nations, and a media system that regularly leads us to think that The End is Nigh!
But in the midst of all this, if we have eyes to see, and ears to hear, we can Behold Jesus standing close by, knocking and seeking us, to offer his presence, his love, his comfort and his strength.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that it is all alright really, and everything will be fine. I am not even saying that having a faith makes all the pain go away, but what I am saying is that there is still love to be had and shared. Still Joy to be found and lived, still incredible things happening that will change the world, and still a God, who will never leave us.
Some of the incredible things that have happened are that is such a short space of time, scientists and researchers have discovered and created a number of vaccines, and they are being produced and distributed in their millions. This is such a big deal and I am in awe of the way that this is happening. Some of us may need to wait a while, but how amazing that people have achieved such progress already.
Other brilliant things include the huge number of people who have logged on to online services, and pages with religious content. There is, without a doubt, a thirst for things spiritual, and churches across the world are doing a great job sharing their messages and services.
Add to that the opportunities that some have had to spend some extra time reflecting on those big questions about meaning and purpose.
For those of us who have the gift of faith our title for synod is so powerful ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock’.
Maybe during this time God could be speaking to us. Maybe he will use some of our extra time or concern to remind us of his love or his presence. Perhaps he is calling you to a deeper understanding of the things and people that you hold dear.
Is this a good time to review your priorities, or consider your calling, or to contemplate any changes in your life that could be made? Perhaps this is the best time ever to listen to what God has to say.
When I watch the news, like you I am bombarded with stories of pain and division, splits and loss, but I am also aware of the great sacrifices that some folk are making for the good of all, and the huge concerns that many people have for the wellbeing of others.
Do you know what? I think God is standing at our door, knocking.
Bless you, Stay safe, look out for one another,
As ever,
Fr Marcus
The current impacts of the pandemic mean, among other things, that just 4 of our Sunday services will operate as usual this week. El Campello, Albir and Gandia churches are all closed this Sunday, and both our midweek services (Alfaz and Javea) remain suspended.
Our services will take place in Calpe, Javea, Denia and La Fustera, at the usual times, but do please check with the local warden if you plan to join us, to ensure that there are no space constraints.
For everyone unable or not yet ready to attend church in person, Fr. Rodney and Fr. Robin will be broadcasting a communion service live on Facebook at 10am on Sunday. It will then be available to view as a recording at any time after 11am. Both the live service and the recording can be accessed on Fr. Rodney’s Facebook page. Just click this link – https://www.facebook.com/rodney.middleton.940.
The general increase in cases of the virus, and the severe impact on our local hospitals is a real worry. Please stay safe and do everything that we can to protect ourselves and others.