I love a good murder mystery story. ‘It is the stuff of life!’ a fellow addict told me recently. Well, I wouldn’t go that far but everything from Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle to Dorothy L Sayers or J K Rowling make for good holiday or bedtime reading as far as I’m concerned. We have a couple more chateaux to visit before we come to the end of our short holiday here in the Loire, and both have ongoing stories of murder, mystery and sometimes even mayhem!

When we visited the Château de Chenonceau earlier in the week we were captivated by the story of the (understandable) ongoing rivalry between Catherine de’ Medici, the wife of Henry II of France, and the King’s mistress, Diane de Poitiers during the mid-16th century. Seized by King Francis I of France in 1535 for unpaid debts to the Crown, the château was given to Diane de Poitiers by King Henry after Francis’ death in 1547. Diane de Poitiers became fervently attached to the château along the river, and over the following years had a beautiful arched bridge built joining the château to its opposite bank and oversaw the planting of extensive flower and vegetable gardens along with a variety of fruit trees. After King Henry II died unexpectedly in 1559, following a duel (what was a King doing fighting a duel?), his strong-willed widow and regent Catherine de’ Medici took her revenge on Diane de Poitiers by forcing her to exchange it for the Château Chaumont. Queen Catherine then made Chenonceau her own favourite residence, spending a fortune on the château adding a new series of gardens and a grand gallery to the existing bridge that crossed the entire river. Quite naturally we wanted to follow up this story of mystery, intrigue (and possible murder?) by visiting Diane de Poitier’s new residence at Château Chaumont.

Château Chaumont was acquired by Catherine de Medici in 1550. Today, it is a beautiful place set high on a hill above the village of Chaumont overlooking the River Loire. We park at the top of the hill in the designated car park (we are glad we are visiting now and not in the height of summer when the château would be packed with tourists) and walk down through the beautiful grounds to the château itself. We are very pleased with ourselves in as much as since we are both ‘students’ (and have our student cards to prove it) we get a reduced rate for entry. The grounds are magnificent and the views amazing.

In 1550, however, Château Chaumont was not quite the place it has now become and was small recompense for Château de Chenonceau. Catherine de Medici did little to improve the place after she acquired it. History records, however, that whilst there the Queen entertained numerous astrologers, among them Nostradamus, before forcing Diane de Poitiers, to accept the Château de Chaumont in exchange for the Château de Chenonceau. Astrology in those days was very much considered a science – a way of divining the most appropriate way forward – rather than the kind of thing it has become for so many today. Julia and I have found that prayerfully seeking to know the mind of Christ, centring in on Jesus day by day, being guided by the teaching of the Christian Scriptures, and being sensitive to the presence and leading of the Holy Spirit, has been much more fruitful than reading your horoscope in the newspaper.

On our second to last day in the Loire we finally make it to the other château we want to visit, the one most local to us, the Château d’Amboise that we saw (from the outside) on virtually our first full day in the area and promised ourselves (like Jesus and Arnie) that ‘We will return!’ Built on a spur above the River Loire the château is very impressive rising, as it does, above the surrounding town. It turns out to be even more impressive when we get inside. Today we are early enough to go for coffee first. Our plan is to spend time looking over the château and then have a final lunch somewhere in Amboise. Once again, our student cards come in handy and we manage to save a few more euros that can now go towards the cost of our anticipated gourmet lunch!

Expanded and improved over time, more intrigue ensued when Château d’Amboise was seized by Charles VII of France in 1434, after its owner, Louis d’Amboise, was convicted of plotting against the king and condemned to be executed. However, the king pardoned him but took his château at Amboise as ‘compensation’. Once in royal hands, the château became a favourite of various French kings who developed it over the years. Other stories of murder, mystery and mayhem connected to this château abound. Charles VII died at Château d’Amboise in 1498 after he hit his head on a door lintel whilst playing tennis. Leonardo da Vinci came to Château Amboise in 1515 as a guest of the King, and lived and worked in the nearby Clos Lucé, connected to the château by an underground passage. When da Vinci died in 1519, he was buried in the nearby Chapel of St. Florentin which lay within the stone fortifications surrounding the property of the Château d’Amboise. After the French Revolution (1789–1799), the Chapel of St. Florentin was in such a ruinous state that the engineer appointed by Napoleon decided that it was not worth preserving and had it demolished. Some sixty years later (and 330 years after Leonardo’s death and original burial), the foundational site of the Chapel of St. Florentin was excavated and it a collection of bones were found together with an extraordinarily large skull, and fragments of a stone inscription containing some of the letters of da Vinci’s name. These were supposedly re-buried in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert, where a large floor-level marble stone bearing a metal medallion relief portrait of Leonardo da Vinci and the words LEONARDO DA VINCI seem indicative of his final resting place. Henry II and his wife, Catherine de Medici, also raised their children in the Château d’Amboise, along with Mary Stuart, the child Queen of Scotland who had been promised in marriage to the future French King, Francis II.

Most interesting to us (as Protestant-Christians) however, is what has become known as the ‘Amboise Conspiracy’. In 1560, during the French Wars of Religion, a so-called conspiracy by members of the Huguenot House of Bourbon against the House of Guise (that virtually ruled France in the name of the young Francis II) was uncovered by the Comte de Guise and stifled by a series of hangings, which took a month to carry out. By the time it was finished, 1200 Protestants were gibbetted, strung from the town walls, hung from the iron hooks that held pennants and tapestries on festive occasions and even from the very balcony of the Logis du Roy. The Court actually, eventually had to leave the town because of the smell of corpses. A so-called ‘Edict of Pacification’ was signed at Amboise in 1563, between Louis de Bourbon (who had been implicated in the conspiracy to abduct the King) and Catherine de Medici which authorised Protestant Worship Services (but only in chapels belonging to Seigneurs and Justices) and stipulated such services could only be held outside the walls of towns. Neither side was satisfied by this compromise, nor was it widely respected.

Read what you will into this cruel episode of murder, mystery and mayhem but Amboise never returned to royal favour after this and at the beginning of the 17th century, the huge château was all but abandoned. Following the French Revolution, and the later rise of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, a great deal of the château was eventually demolished. Towards the end of the 19th century, however, a major effort was made to restore what was left of the château and eventually it was made open to the public and remains so today – an absolute delight and well worth a visit should you ever be in the area.

Whilst we were at the château, and looking down from the walls at the lively little town below, we saw several locals visiting one of the restaurants opposite. Now it is always a good thing when in France to go eat where the locals eat – you can then be certain that the food there is top notch. So when we concluded our visit to Château d’Amboise we headed straight for said restaurant. It was packed but fortunately there was one table for two available, so they were able to fit us in. And what a wonderful meal we enjoyed – great food, flowing conversation (in French) with the locals, lots of laughter (especially at us photographing every dish before we consumed it), and great service from the owner and her staff. A fitting conclusion to a wonderful holiday in the Loire before we packed the car in readiness for a long drive the next day up to Boulogne (where we stopped the night) and then back to the UK via Calais and the Eurotunnel. With all the murder, mystery and mayhem surrounding Brexit we wonder if will we ever be able to make such a trip so easily ever again?

Jim Binney

We have come to the Loire primarily to visit some of the famous chateaux in this region of France … as well as enjoy some down time (after a somewhat hectic first few months in our new Pastorate at Abbey Baptist Church, Reading), and do some reading towards our doctoral studies at the University of Winchester. We know that we can’t visit all the chateaux because we are only here for a week, but Julia has a list of ‘must see’ chateaux that will give us a ‘taster’ for further visits to this part of France.

On our first real day here in Limeray we venture down the road to Amboise – we are not being too ambitious – there is an interesting chateau in Amboise, but we intend leaving that to our last day here. Having got up late we arrive in Amboise at just after 12.00 noon and look for somewhere for coffee. We find a nice restaurant where people are sitting outside drinking coffee and enquire if we too can have a coffee. We are given short shrift by a waiter who tells us in no uncertain terms that they are a restaurant not a café and directs us over the road to a somewhat lesser establishment (in his opinion) that will serve us coffee. I look at a couple sitting outside his restaurant drinking coffee and wonder why them and not us? I look at the various empty tables outside his establishment?  Perhaps this French couple have been there since 11.00 a.m.? Perhaps Brexiteers exist in France and not just in the UK? We can’t be bothered to argue and go over the road where we are given a warm welcome and enjoy a very nice cup of coffee. When we leave, we go for a walk around the town to get our bearings. We come back via the ‘restaurant’. The same couple are still there! The numerous empty tables are still there! What a plonker?

The following day we get up reasonably early … well early enough for us when on holiday … and head out to see the Château de Chenonceau. Julia first came here 50 years ago when she was 10 and recalls meeting a somewhat large spider (allegedly the size of a dinner plate) on the wall of the chateau kitchen. It is a remarkable chateau with an equally remarkable backstory involving Diane de Poitiers (the mistress of King Henri II of France) and Catherine de Medici (the wife of King Henri II) during the 16^th century. Its setting is magnificent, and we have a great (if somewhat tiring day) exploring the chateau and its grounds. Julia revisits the spider kitchen and discovers that there is now no spider but a huge boar’s head in its place!

The following day we have designated as a ‘rest day’ … an opportunity to do some reading as well as resting. In recent years, whilst on holiday, we have developed a pattern of ‘one day on, one day off’ so that we don’t attempt to do too much in the course of a holiday and return to the UK more tired than when we left! We have a plan for the following day, however, which is to revisit Blois and see the chateau there. This is not our only reason for revisiting Blois, however. Eight years ago, we stopped off in Blois for a meal on our way back to the UK after an extended two-month holiday in the south of France. We found a seemingly nice restaurant, in a pleasant square, not far from Blois’ famous stone bridge. I have to say that it was the worst meal I have ever eaten in France. The square was packed with diners but none of received any food (even though we were kept waiting for ages) because the chef had had a row with the manager and had walked out on the spot?! Needless to say, we got no dinner to speak of that night and swore that we would never go back to Blois again.

Time is a great healer they say so we decided to give Blois an opportunity to redeem itself. We enjoyed a wonderful visit to the Royal Château of Blois – with another great backstory of intrigue and murder – and then went in search of ‘our restaurant’. We eventually found it and went in for lunch!? We had a great time! We were warmly welcomed. Enjoyed some good conversation (in French). And had a great meal! Blois is now our new favourite place! Oh … I forget to mention … Julia also managed to buy a new bag while we were there!

Jim Binney

After an excellent breakfast at our rather posh hotel in Montreuil we are back in our car and on our way to the Loire Region of France. Our destination is the small village of Limeray on the banks of the River Loire about 10 km from the much bigger town of Amboise. Back in the 1970s just about everyone’s favourite TV show was Little House on the Prairie, an American western drama television series (an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s best-selling series of Little House books) about the Ingalls family who live on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s. Well we have rented our little house in Limeray where our intention is to spend a week resting, reading (background stuff for the doctorates we are working for with the University of Winchester), and visiting some of the wonderful chateaux that the Loire is famous for.

We have quite a long drive ahead of us, but we can’t get into our little house until 6.00 p.m., so we are in no rush. We take the scenic route rather than the motorway enjoying the beautiful French countryside. We are heading for Chartres where we plan to stop for lunch and then visit the famous Gothic Cathedral with its spectacular Labyrinth. We have been to Chartres before but have not been in the Cathedral for several years. We recall our first visit there with amusement. We were staying in a nearby campsite and drove into Chartres for dinner. We were tired and hungry after a long drive and rushed into the first restaurant we could find overlooking the Cathedral. I ordered steak and frites and made the mistake of asking for my steak to be medium-rare forgetting that to the French that means rare. Never ask for your steak to be cooked rare because that virtually means ‘raw’ by the way! I ate it anyway, washed down with a glass or two of red, and we had such a good evening that we somehow managed to leave the restaurant without paying the bill … only to be chased down the street by an understandably outraged waiter! Fortunately for us he understood that it was an unintentional error on our part and saw the funny side of it all. We not only paid the bill but gave him a good tip as well!

We arrive in Chartres later than planned but find a nice restaurant opposite the Cathedral that is still serving lunches. Fortunately, it is not the restaurant that witnessed the unpaid bill saga – that restaurant is already closed. We both fancy omelette and frites (this is a French speciality in our opinion) and really enjoy our lunch with the help of a fresh green salad and a glass of chilled white wine. After lunch we visit the Cathedral which is much larger, and more impressive, than I remember. There are various ‘treasures’ housed here but the thing I remember, and want to see most of all again, is the famous prayer Labyrinth set into the floor stones in the nave and recognised as one of the world’s most famous paths. Sadly, it is for the most part covered by wooden chairs, so it is not possible to walk it. Even so, it is impressive.

Surrounded in mystery, the Labyrinth is thought to be a representation of the spiritual quest of the pilgrim traveling to the Holy Land. Apparently, labyrinths like this began appearing in Europe during the 12^th century, mostly in Italy. The Labyrinth at Chartres is approximately 42 feet in diameter, and there are many theories surrounding its original construction. It was most probably constructed early in the 13^th century, but we can’t be sure exactly since no documents have yet been found, and an excavation in 2001 revealed nothing of any real significance. Nevertheless, pilgrims have been coming to Chartres to walk the famous labyrinth for thousands of years now, and the tide shows no sign of slowing. Although the labyrinth is partially obscured by chairs, it is traditionally uncovered every Friday from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. from the beginning of Lent to the end of October so that pilgrims can take time to prayerfully walk the Labyrinth. We are in Lent, but it is not a Friday, so the best we can do is stand in the centre and offer up a prayer or two.

We leave Chartres and complete the last leg of our journey to Limeray, only stopping once on the way to load up with groceries, etc. at one of those wonderful French hypermarkets. Our little house in Limeray is just what we wanted – quaint, rustic, set in the grounds of a small chateau where our hosts live, with open fires and plenty of kindling and logs. We soon have the fires lit and food on the table. The Ingalls family having nothing on us!

Jim Binney

We are in the car whizzing down the motorway from Calais towards Montreuil our first stop on the way down to the Loire Region of France. We know we are in France because we are driving on the wrong side of the road and A Secret History by The Divine Comedy is blaring out from the CD player. We are familiar with this road (I don’t know how many times we have driven it over the last umpteen years), but we still ooh and ah over well-known landmarks. A Secret History is always the first CD we play when driving in France – it has become a sort of tradition – we know all the songs and sing along to them as we drive. It must be something to do with the daft words, the jolly tunes, and an over-the-top sense of freedom that comes from being on holiday – just 10 days this time exploring some of the beautiful chateaux that the Loire is famous for.

We had a great Worship Service at Abbey Baptist Church, Reading, this morning. Julia let me out of my box so I could lead the service for her, freeing her up just to concentrate on the preach. It was good to be back in harness together again. Although we have fluctuated somewhat as to who takes the primary leadership role between us, this has always been something ostensibly imposed on us by the various churches we have served (since Julia was ordained), we have always seen ourselves as a team in which neither of us is more important than the other. We have always reckoned (given our respective ages, illnesses, weaknesses, etc.) that between the two of us the various churches have got one good one out of the sum of our various parts. We are being somewhat facetious of course in saying this – we have discovered that there is a very real synergy at work when we are freed up to work as a team. It usually takes some time, however, for the various churches to get hold of this concept of team.

We are heading for Montreuil for an overnight stop because we know the place and have visited several times before. Our friend Gordon once owned a mill house/restaurant here and we stopped with him several times in days gone by. We recall a great storm one night which necessitated all of us trying, unsuccessfully, to hold the roof slates of his barn on in the high winds for most of the night. The last time we were here was to celebrate my birthday a few years ago when we drove across to France just for the day and had an excellent lunch in a rather old-fashioned hotel. I think it was the only place open on that day – well it was November I suppose!

Julia has booked us in to a rather nice hotel in the centre of Montreuil and we arrive just in time to settle in to our room – we are given a free upgrade because there are not many people staying here tonight – and then go down to the bar for a drink before dinner. We decide to eat in the hotel restaurant because it is late, and we can’t be bothered to go traipsing around the town looking for a suitable eatery. The meal is excellent – escargot, beef bourguignon, cheese, coffee – and, although there may not be a lot of people staying the night in the hotel, the hotel restaurant is full.

As we are finishing our coffee the couple on the adjacent table to us strike up a conversation with us. They are Belgians who live in Bruges and are in Montreuil for the weekend. We know and love Bruges, so the conversation flows effortlessly. We ask our new friends what they do for a living? Monsieur Poirot (not his real name) immediately takes the floor and regales us with tales of his life on the high seas as an engineer travelling around the world. Madam Poirot’s job in an office seems quite mild in comparison. The fun really starts, however, when he asks us what we do for a living. We are treated to a diatribe from Monsieur about the evils of Catholicism. We have encountered this problem before – the inability of people in countries where the prominent religion is Roman Catholicism to distinguish between the words, ‘Catholicism’ and ‘Christian’ – so we now describe ourselves as ‘followers of Jesus’ rather than Christians. Monsieur finds it difficult to find anything about Jesus to be critical about. Julia (who knows a lot about these things) gently explains the importance of the Church in the history of Bruges over the years and its influence in making Bruges what it is today. Monsieur is impressed. Madame wants to know about our church in Reading and what we are seeking to do. We talk to her about the holistic nature of the Gospel message and how we seek to serve God and our community in practical ways (such as helping to provide overnight accommodation for the homeless during the cold winter months) as well as spiritual, although coming to know Jesus in a personal way is at the heart of our Gospel. The Poirots are evidently enjoying the conversation and treat us to another coffee, but eventually it is time for them to leave. Monsieur Poirot thanks us for our stimulating conversation but maintains he remains agnostic. Madame Poirot, however, whispers to me on the way out, ‘I too am a believer!’

After a full day, and an excellent meal, Julia and I ready for bed. We get up from our table and are about to leave when a group of four Brits on a nearby table call us over. ‘We couldn’t help but overhear some of your conversation’ they say, ‘please come and join us, we have lots of questions we want to ask you …’

We finally get to bed sometime after midnight! Who says people do not have a spiritual side to them and are no longer interested in spiritual things? It has been an interesting day to say the least. I am reminded of one the title of one of the songs on The Divine Comedy CD we were listening to earlier in the day – The Certainty of Chance!

Jim Binney

In March we enter the season of Lent. Lent is a period of six weeks, 40 days (not including Sundays) leading up to Easter (the most important festival in the Christian calendar). Lent starts on Ash Wednesday, March 6th– the day after Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) on 5th. It is known as ‘Ash Wednesday’ because many western Christian churches hold Services in the course of the day during which Christians are marked on the forehead with a cross of ashes (that come from burning the palm crosses from Palm Sunday of the previous year). This is a sign of ‘Penitence’ or saying, ‘Sorry to God’ for any wrong doing and marks the beginning of ‘Lent Fasting’. Lent comes to its climax during Easter Week, the last week of Lent, which is called Holy Week. During the 40 days of Lent, Christians remember the time when Jesus went into the desert to fast and pray, following his baptism, before beginning his public ministry and ultimately fulfilling his divine purpose in taking human form – his sacrificial death for us on Calvary’s cross before his triumphal resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday. During this time Jesus was severely tempted by the devil but was able to resist (Luke 4:1-13).

Lent is therefore seen, by many people, as a time for giving up things. It is one way of remembering the time Jesus fasted in the desert and is a test of self-discipline for us in the face of temptation. There are many foods that some Christians do not eat in Lent, such as meat or fish, fats, eggs, and milky foods. Some Christians just give up something they really enjoy such as cakes or chocolate or alcohol, so it feels like a hardship. People now may include a fast on television or social media or even their mobile phone. People also use Lent as a kind of ‘spring board’ to ‘take on something’ rather than just ‘give up something’. This may mean the breaking of a harmful habit such as giving up smoking and embracing a healthier lifestyle, or it could mean the taking on of other challenges. One example is the Church of England’s Lent Plastic Challenge.

As God’s people, we are to care for God’s good creation (Genesis 2:15). This is a vital part of God’s mission, known by the Latin term, the missio Dei, that we are called to participate in. The Anglican Communion’s Fifth Mark of Mission is ‘to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.’ We don’t have to be members of the Anglican Communion to buy into this – here is something that surely every Christian and church should take on board. Lent is a good time for all of us (whether Christian or not) to put this into practice in terms of our use of plastics.

Plastic is a wonderful substance but only if it is used wisely and recycled properly. Over 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced since the 1950s. That is enough plastic to cover every inch of the UK ankle-deep more than ten times over. Just 9% was recycled. 8 tonnes of plastic is dumped into the sea every minute. Globally, plastics have reached every part of the world’s oceans with the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ thought to be six times the size of the UK.

We need to be more aware of our plastic use and this challenge could help us make some lasting changes. Have a look at the link http://www.churchcare.co.uk/Plastic_Free_Lent. Here you will find daily suggestions to give up single-use plastics – to reduce the actions which damage God’s creation. These include the following: –

• Give up disposable cups and drinks in plastic bottles
• Avoid over-packaged convenience foods
• Choose natural cleaning cloths instead of synthetic plastic ones
• Carry round your own reusable bags
• Use non-plastic containers for food
• Use a razor with removable blades not plastic disposable razors
• Use bar soap instead of liquid hand soap
• Check labels of toiletries as some contain plastic beads
• Avoid wet wipes – they contain plastic fibres that don’t break down

These are just some simple suggestions and you may have others to make. The question is, this Lent, what lasting changes are you going to make? Are you prepared to look at plastics in a different way? Try and list three things that you are going to commit to changing.

Julia Binney

Rublev’s Trinity

Here is a picture of the famous icon by Andrei Rubelev, a Russian monk in 15^th century. The icon is based on a story from the book of Genesis called Abraham and Sarah’s Hospitality or The Hospitality of Abraham from Genesis 18:1-8. Here we read that Abraham ‘was sitting at the door of his tent in the heat of the day’ by the Oak of Mamre and saw three men standing in front of him, who in the next chapter were revealed as angels. ‘When he saw them, Abraham ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth.’ Abraham ordered a servant-boy to prepare a choice calf, and set curds, milk and the calf before them, waiting on them, under a tree, as they ate. In the background, Rublev painted a house (supposedly Abraham’s house), a tree (the Oak of Mamre), and a mountain (Mount Moriah). The painting is full of symbolism and is interpreted as an icon of the Trinity. But it is essentially a picture of hospitality.

In January, Jim and I were showing a woman we had met through the Reading Christian Network around the Abbey Baptist Church building. She runs a Christian charity and she is hoping to establish a Christian Arts venue somewhere in the town. We shared with her our vision for Abbey Baptist Church to develop as a Community Hub Church seeking strategic partnerships to build a place for ministry and care for the marginalised and needy. We feel that by taking part in the Bed 4 Night Night-Shelter scheme for the homeless in the centre of Reading for the months of January, February and March this year we have taken a step in the right direction. We also shared with her the fact that three other churches also meet on our premises on Sundays for worship and on other evenings for prayer. The lady then turned to us and said that she really felt that God had given Abbey Baptist Church a special Gift of Hospitality.

Hospitality can be defined as the practice of welcoming, sheltering, feeding and caring for those who come to our door. It is about building relationships, in an open, honest and generous way – with no thought of gain for ourselves. Hospitality is simply sharing what we have and who we are with whomever God sends. God sent us another church that we could bless at the end of February. Kharis Church has been planted from a large London congregation and meets at the central Salvation Army. The average age is 16. I met the pastor Rose Sintim at Reading College and at Churches Together in Central Reading. She needed a baptistery to baptise up to 11 young people. We offered her ours at Abbey Baptist Church and some of us had the blessing of witnessing five baptisms. It was a joy to offer this young church our hospitality and a privilege to be part of their embryonic story.

It is after all, as Jesus himself said, more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). Jesus modelled perfect hospitality. He did not just seek to meet physical needs, but he moved beyond seeking to meet the deeper needs of those who came to him (Matthew 15:32-39). The Apostle Paul exhorts us to show hospitality to others, Romans 12:13: ‘Share with God’s people who are in need. Practise hospitality.’ It is an important Christian virtue (see 1 Peter 4:9; 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8).

The most important gift of welcome simply says, I love you, I have prepared a place for you and you are welcome. Whoever anyone is, no matter what they have done, God’s heart is full of compassion for them and by his grace ours can be as well. We can share our hearts and lives with others, and may God touch people through us as we exercise the Gift of Hospitality, he has blessed us with.

Julia Binney

As many will know, Jim and I like travelling in France and we are attempting (slowly!) to learn the language. During our holiday last year, we met a chap called Bruno who was very fluent in several languages. According to him, with one hundred words you can make yourself understood in English but in French, with a hundred words, you can just about tell someone your name. Somewhat of an exaggeration but, it seems to us in our feeble attempts to make ourselves understood, it has some accuracy.

The French do like to complicate matters. This is the case with the word ressentiment. As many will know, it is the French translation of the English word resentment, but it is also so much more. In philosophy and psychology it is a concept that was of particular interest to the existentialist philosophers. For them, ressentiment is a sense of hostility directed at that which one identifies and blames as the cause of one’s frustration. This leads to a sense of weakness, inferiority, even jealousy that attacks the perceived source of this frustration. According to the journalist, Pankaj Mishra, ‘we are now seeing a tremendous increase in mutual hatred and a somewhat universal irritability of everybody against everybody else.’ It seems that frustration, blame, envy, humiliation and powerlessness are all on the increase and are seeping into every aspect of our political and societal life.

By complete contrast, our God is the God of love, mercy and inclusion who gives dignity and value to every single human being without distinction. He is calling his people, us, his Church, to deliberately and intentionally go in the opposite direction of this seemingly inevitable slide into ‘mutual hatred and universal irritability.’ God wants us to live in a way that has authenticity and integrity as his people. We need to see the world from God’s perspective, to have his values and priorities, building our lives on the sure and certain foundation of Jesus Christ.

In a section of Scripture known as the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-46), Jesus clearly outlines what God considers to be of eternal value. In this most challenging of passages, Jesus tells us to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe and provide for the poor, engage with people in need, in hospital, prison, or wherever. We are to help alleviate poverty and suffering in whatever form. Jesus, the One who is the King of Kingdom, shows us that this is how we serve him. In Matthew 25:40, Jesus says, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me.’ The Message translates this verse as, ‘I’m telling you the truth: whenever you did these things to someone overlooked or ignored that was me – you did it to me’. Jesus turns everything on its head. The King, the top of tree, is saying, actually you will find me at the bottom of the ladder, that is where I am, at the opposite end to worldly systems of domination, power, oppression and injustice that fuel the ressentiment around us. And this is our ministry, our calling, to care for the least and lowest, the victims of the system, those our ‘turbo capitalism’ has ‘left behind’ and left humiliated, powerless and silenced. Also included in this are the elderly, the weak, the infirm, the mentally and physically sick, those who just can’t cope, those in debt, the addict, the homeless, the helpless, the hopeless, the marginalised, the ignored.

Here at Abbey Baptist Church God has given us the opportunity to express this in practical action for the first three months of this year by being involved in the Reading Faith Christian Group’s Bed for the Night Project, Night Shelter programme (see https://fcg.org.uk). On Monday nights we are using the downstairs hall to house up to 18 homeless people. During the coldest months of the year, accommodation, food, washing facilities, help, support, friendship and advise are being offered every night of the week by many of the churches, social action groups and homeless charities in the town. It is a blessing and a privilege for us to be part of this loving, caring, practical ministry.  I believe God has endowed us at Abbey with a special gift of hospitality. All he has given us is to be shared and used by God for the extension and advance of his Kingdom in Reading and beyond. I wonder what other doors of opportunity will open up for us to express this and minister to ‘the Least of These.’

Julia Binney

There is a (hopefully mythological) story of some graffiti that appeared on the wall of a certain theological college which went as follows: ‘Jesus asked them, “Who do you say that I am?”  They replied, “You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma of which we find the ultimate meaning in our interpersonal relationships.” And Jesus replied, “Do what?”’

The Bible has lots to say about the inappropriate use of bad language, and for the most part Christians have understood much of this as to do with profanity? For myself, I think that there is a much more common, dangerous, and damaging use of bad language than uttering the odd swear word – it’s to do with our constant use of gobbledygook in worship, witness, prayer, proclamation of the Good News of what God has done for us in Jesus, and so on. The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘gobbledygook’ as ‘a language that is meaningless or is made unintelligible by excessive use of technical terms’. It is suggested that the word originates from the 1940s (in the USA) probably because when we speak gobbledygook, the reality is that we are simply imitating the nonsensical sound of a turkey’s gobble. When the Psalmist exhorts us to ‘Watch your language!’ (Psalm 141:3) he clearly has more in mind than vulgarity. He is concerned about the whole tenor of our language, words, conversation, etc.

There has been a lot written and said about preaching, teaching, witnessing and the like in recent years. In some quarters there has been a great emphasis on the importance of being theologically sound and true to the biblical record. In other quarters the emphasis has been on the need to know a certain anointing of the Holy Spirit, to be truly charismatic (in all the various meanings of that word) in order to be effective in these areas. I am ‘a bear of little brain’ but it seems to me that much of this stuff misses the obvious. Unless we are communicating our message clearly and concisely in language that others can understand, it won’t matter how sound our theology is, or how biblically accurate the message, or how charismatic we may appear to be, or what anointing we may claim to know – we will still be speaking gobbledygook for the most part.

I have long believed this language problem has been one the blights upon the face of the church (of all denominations and spiritualities) for many years and have tried, in my own way, to resolve this problem as much as possible both personally and in the various churches where I have served. The ongoing need, however, was brought home to me recently in several ways in a short space of time.   

I was shopping in our town centre recently where there was a street preacher giving it a good go, and I stopped and listened for a while. Now, let me make it clear right from the start that I am not against (what used to be called) open air work or street preaching – I have done it myself on occasions and used to enjoy (in my youth admittedly) going up to Speakers Corner in London on a Sunday afternoon to hear Dr Donald Soper (amongst others). On this occasion, however, I was the only one who stopped to listen even though the town centre was crowded with people passing by. I cannot fault the preacher for his enthusiasm (he certainly shouted loud enough) and he repeatedly quoted verses from the Bible (albeit as ‘proof texts’) to support his various arguments. The problem was the language. I understood what he was saying, but then I have been a Christian for nearly 60 years and have had the benefit of serious theological study for the last 50 years. Sadly, most of what he had to say was incomprehensible to ‘the man in the street’ because it was couched in what I call ‘Christian-speak’. Preaching at people is not the same as preaching to people. Endeavouring to communicate with non-Christians in this way must, at the very least, be done in a way that is both winsome and comprehensible. The real test of our effectiveness in terms of our preaching, teaching or witness is not found in reassuring ourselves that ‘I certainly let them have it with both barrels today!’ nor even in being able to say, ‘X number of people made a decision for Jesus today?’ but (I would suggest) in knowing that we did our best to speak clearly and warmly from the heart in a way that got to the heart of the issue. We must ‘wake up and smell the coffee’ when it comes down to communicating the good news of Jesus Christ. The UK is not a ‘Christian country’. Today, we live in a post-Christendom culture where most people are no longer interested in Christianity or church or the Bible … or sadly, even Jesus Christ. This is not to say that any of these things are irrelevant, indeed I would want to argue that they are more relevant than ever, but it does mean we have to work hard at getting the message across.

Personally, I believe we need to be more imaginative, as well as relevant, about the way we seek to communicate the Good News of Jesus in the market place. For example, making use of drama (in the style of the old miracle plays), story telling (in pubs and clubs), even buying into something like Prayer on the Streets where the vision is to take Jesus, and his church, out into the streets to pray for members of the public so they can experience the compassion and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

I suspect that one of the reasons why we are so rubbish as church at communicating the Good News to the general public is because we are not very good at communicating amongst ourselves within the church. Christian-speak, holy gobbledygook remains the order of the day in many churches. The spiritual gift of ‘speaking with tongues’ (Acts 2:4; 1 Corinthians 12:10) should not be a controversial subject in today’s church because the reality is that we have been speaking holy gibberish for years! Listen to the language used so often in sermons, prayers, testimony, discussion at church meetings, contained in church constitutions and covenants, and the like. If you can’t hear the weird words, phrases, and expressions we all too often use amongst ourselves then it is primarily because you have become so accustomed to this holy gobbledygook that you no longer realise how nonsensical much of it must sound to non-church people.

I was reminded of this recently as when we held our annual Covenant Service at Abbey. As part of this Service church members are asked to recite together a shortened version of the original covenant drawn up by the church in 1779. It was revised in 1938 and again in 1949 and slightly amended in 1979 but essentially the language remains the same as when it was originally drawn up. It is very much a document of its day – rather long, wordy, inward looking, couched in 18^th century jargon much of which (I suspect) makes it difficult for most of us to fully understand. Now let me make it clear that I like the idea of an annual Covenant Service in which those of us who have committed our lives to Jesus Christ, and to active membership in the local church, reaffirm those promises. The question of whether the first Sunday in the New Year is the right day for this we must leave to another time.

The point I am trying to make here is about the continued use of dated and largely incomprehensible language which is well past its sell-by-date in our churches. I love the theatre and have seen several plays by William Shakespeare, but I confess that I always try and read up on them in advance so that I get the gist of the story before I see the actual play because of the difficulty of understanding the language. I know that there are those who love Shakespeare precisely because the language is largely incomprehensible. They enjoy a play for the feelings it conjures up, the visual and sensory experiences it creates, even their own interpretation of the story being told that they have faithfully adhered to for years (which may or may not actually to be true). One suspects that for some people understanding the actual essence of the story Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote the play would be an absolute disaster. If you don’t believe me a quick internet search will convince you otherwise – everything from the Beatles and A Midsummer Night’s Dream to The Tempest and the 1950s cult sci-fi movie the Forbidden Planet, with lots more in-between. In much the same way too many of us professing Christians have become wrapped up in the deadly web of church speak … and if we are content to talk gobbledygook to one another what chance is there that we will speak anything other to those outside the church who really do need to hear the good news of Jesus?

Of course clear speaking is not the only thing required of us as Christians. We need to ‘walk the walk as well as talk the talk’ as someone once put it. Clarity of speech coupled with authenticity in life is a winning combination, however. As you would expect Jesus is our primary example in this. Matthew records in his account of Jesus’ wonderful Sermon on the Mount that ‘When Jesus concluded his address, the crowd burst into applause. They had never heard teaching like this. It was apparent that he was living everything he was saying—quite a contrast to their religion teachers! This was the best teaching they had ever heard’ (Matthew 7:28,29). No gobbledygook there then!

Jim Binney

A visitor to a class of seven-year olds was struck by the sad, worldly expression on the face on one little girl apparently labouring over a poem. Stopping by her desk he read her work:

yesterday, yesterday, yesterday
happiness, happiness, happiness
today, today, today
trouble, trouble, trouble
tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow
sorrow, sorrow, sorrow

Deeply moved by what the little girl had written, he asked what had inspired her to write such a beautiful poem like that. The little girl looked at him blankly and then replied that this wasn’t a poem … these were her spelling corrections.

Whilst many of us begin a new year with a determination to use it as a springboard to a brighter, more positive future, many others approach yet another new year in quite the opposite way. Their feelings reflect the little girl’s perceived ‘poem’ – the good times all in the past, the present rather complicated to say the least, the future full of dread.

So, how do you feel at the start of this new year? What might 2019 bring for you? There is so much uncertainty in our world and many face the future with fear and trepidation. We can have an over rosy view of the past and we can find the unknown nature of the future overwhelming, and both can bring a sense of inertia and stagnation in the present. How can we step into the future with hope and anticipate tomorrow with courage and positivity?

Herbert Butterfield, a British historian and philosopher of the last century, and a devout Christian wrote, ‘there are times when we can never meet the future with enough elasticity of mind, especially if we are locked in contemporary systems of thought. We can do worse than remember the principle which both gives us a firm Rock and leaves us the maximum elasticity to our minds: the principle: Hold to Christ, and for the rest be totally uncommitted.’

Minnie Haskins in her poem, God Knows, quoted by George VI in his 1939 Christmas Broadcast when the country was facing an uncertain future, points us in the same direction:

‘And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So, I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.’

As has been said, we do not know what the future holds but we do know who holds the future. The prophet Jeremiah, the writer of Lamentations, had been going through a tough time, ‘I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness … I remember it all – oh, how well I remember – the feeling of hitting rock bottom. But there’s one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: God’s loyal love never runs out, his mercies never run dry. How great is your faithfulness!’ (Lamentations 3:19-23 The Message).

When we hold on to Christ and look to God, we find the hope to face tomorrow. When we put ourselves into the hands of God, there is no safer place to be. We can step into the future with faith and the assurance that he is with us, he will meet the need and make the way forward clear and plain. As our Motto text for 2019 tells us, our God is the God of Hope: ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in him, so much so that you actually begin to abound in hope through the Holy Spirit whom God has given to us’ (Romans 15:13). That word ‘hope’ in the Greek (the language of the New Testament) is a much stronger word than our English word. It literally means ‘guarantee’, that is, it carries a sense of certainty concerning things working out for the best in the future. Thus, Martin Luther translates Romans 15:13 as ‘the God of the guarantee’. As Mary Bowley Peters aptly reminds us in one of her hymns:

Through the love of God our Saviour,
all will be well.
Free and changeless is his favour,
all, all is well.
Precious is the blood that healed us,
perfect is the grace that sealed us,
strong the hand stretched forth to shield us,
all must be well.

Though we pass through tribulation,
all will be well.
Ours is such a full salvation,
all, all is well.
Happy, still in God confiding,
fruitful, if in Christ abiding,
holy, through the Spirit’s guiding,
all must be well.

We expect a bright tomorrow,
all will be well.
Faith can sing through days of sorrow,
‘All, all is well.’
On our Father’s love relying,
Jesus every need supplying,
in our living, in our dying,
all must be well.

~ Mary Bowley Peters (1813-56)

Julia Binney

I am really looking forward to receiving my congratulatory telegram/card from King William in 25 years’ time (when I will have reached the ripe old age of 100). Five years ago, when I was 70, I had major heart surgery. The night before the operation I asked God for another 10 years of active ministry – not just life but years of active ministry. I hope that I will have another five years or so on top of that so that I can enjoy at least some years of genuine retirement with Julia. But, having already had five years of enforced retirement down in Dorset (a most frustrating time since I didn’t feel ready for retirement) I was raring to get going for God again. I believe God answered that prayer positively and, first at Knaphill (where I became very involved in the community, eventually being appointed the church’s Community Minister because the church thought it was better to have me inside the tent rather than outside the tent) and now here in Reading (where the church haven’t got a clue what to do with me as yet) I have found opportunity after opportunity to serve God and others surrounding me.

Life is a journey and, as suggested by the story of the two on the Emmaus road (Luke 24:13-35), a journey in which God himself walks alongside of us waiting for us to recognise him. When we walk this journey, unaware of his presence, life fails to make sense – we don’t know where we came from, why we are here, or where we are going. It is only when we bring Jesus into the equation that life begins to make sense. The Bible clearly teaches that we are all here for a reason – God has a plan, a purpose, for each one of us. As the Prophet Jeremiah reminds us: ‘I have plans for you, declares the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, plans to give you hope and a future’ (Jeremiah 29:11). The Apostle Paul follows up on this when he tells us that with God in the frame ‘everything ultimately works out for the best, for those who genuinely love God and determine to walk according to his plans and purposes’ (Romans 8:28).

Since being a Christian, and even being a Christian Minister, is a way of life and not a job so to speak, it is not something that we can ever actually really retire from in the accepted sense of retirement. We may step down from an active leadership role, or step back from being involved in a particular activity, because of age or infirmity or simply because we sense from God that he has something else for us – but there will always be a ‘something else’ even if that something else is simply to give ourselves to prayer and intercession. We all need to resist the temptation to compartmentalise our lives where God is concerned, for example by attending worship reasonably regularly on a Sunday morning yet living the rest of the week as though it belonged to us, or (as I have sadly known to happen) spending 40 years in Christian Ministry and then retiring at 65 and never going to church ever again?!

For me, every day is more exciting than the day before. Here we are, at the beginning of yet another new year, in a new church (well, new to us … Abbey has actually been around since 1640), and at the beginning of yet another adventure with God. I have spent my entire ministry going to churches who needed help, encouragement and the right kind of input that would help them recover from the lean years and move into a time of plenty. Abbey is much the same – a group of 30 or so, mostly elderly, believers who love the Lord but who recognise that unless something changes drastically over the next few years the church will cease to exist. Obviously, Julia and I (and our church members for that matter) believe that God’s plan and purpose for us at Abbey has exactly the opposite of that scenario in mind – otherwise we would not have come to Abbey in the first place. For us, therefore, beginning 2019 is beginning a new adventure – beginning this new chapter in the life of Abbey with the question: ‘How are you going to do it again, Lord?’ The one thing we can be sure of is not just that God will do it again, but that it will not necessarily be in the same way he has done it before. It will be a journey beyond the familiar for us all!

One of my favourite saints (if Baptist-Christians can have saints) is the Irish saint, St. Brendan the Navigator. Born in Kerry in 484, very little is known about his early life other than rumours that brightly shining angels hovered over the house when he was born. Ordained to the priesthood in 512 St. Brendan established several monasteries throughout Ireland. Of all the Irish saints, St. Brendan was the most adventurous. He loved travelling on the sea and was very skilled with the coracle (a small boat). On some of his earlier ventures, he visited Britain, many of the islands off the coast of Scotland and possibly even Iceland. He is best known, however, for his famous voyage, a voyage that lasted seven years and during which he travelled to Iceland, Greenland and maybe even America in search of the Island of the Blessed. The story of this voyage is told in a 9^th century manuscript called Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis (The Voyage of St. Brendan the Abbot) and is a good read full of the adventures Brendan encountered on his journey tackling large sea monsters and the like.  St Brendan died in 578 and he is known as the patron saint of seafarers and travellers. He serves as an example of someone who never lost his vital relationship with the Living God, nor his sense of adventuring with God.

Amongst the stories and sayings attributed to St Brendan the Navigator is the following prayer which we need to take to heart as we enter this New Year ahead of us with all its challenges, and possibilities. May God help us to also ‘journey beyond the familiar’.

Lord, I will trust You,
Help me to journey beyond the familiar and into the unknown.
Give me faith to leave the old ways and break fresh ground with you.

Christ of the mysteries,
Can I trust You to be stronger than each storm in me?
Do I still yearn for Your glory to lighten me? 

I will show others the care You’ve given me.
I will determine amidst all uncertainty always to trust.
I choose to live beyond regret, and let You recreate my life.

I believe You will make a way for me and provide for me, if only I trust You and obey.
I will trust in the darkness and know that my times are still in Your hand.
I will believe You for my future, chapter by chapter, until the story is written.

Focus my mind and my heart upon You, my attention always on You without alteration.
Strengthen me with Your blessing and appoint to me the task.
Teach me to live with eternity in view.
Tune my spirit to the music of heaven.
Feed me, and, somehow, make my obedience count for You. 

Jim Binney