Sunday, 1 December 2024

Food for Life

December 2024

Are you eating well?  A lack of time, poor health or anxiety can all interfere with eating but even when we’re taking in plenty of good food Jesus says that we can still be severely under-nourished!  Quoting from the Old Testament he reminds us that “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)  Are you getting plenty of that food?  Meals keep us alive and can bring great pleasure, but they cannot give us the abundant life that Jesus offers.  Only by feeding on God’s Word – that is, the Bible – can we encounter Jesus, who is called ‘The Word’, and receive from him food that endures to eternal life. (John 6:27)

But where do you start with the Bible?  It’s a big book and we can easily get lost in its thickets.  Knowing that many people have found a Bible reading plan to be very helpful in providing manageable portions to be consumed and enjoyed daily, I have written a new plan especially for our villages.  The Westmorland Bible Reading Plan, as it is now known, gives readings for each weekday.  It divides the Bible into four sections and allows you to choose which you will consume first.  Every chapter in the Bible is included so after four years (or sooner if you read more than one section at a time) you will have read every word in the Bible.  Read alone or read with family or a friend.  It will work with any Bible translation, it’s a simple A5 leaflet (large-print also available), it’s free of charge and the plan begins on Advent Sunday, 1 December.

King David discovered that God’s words were sweeter than honey. (Psalm 19)  Why not help yourself to some of this sweet and satisfying food?  You can pick up copies by popping into the church (always open Friday and Saturday 10am – 4pm, and for services) or send me a message with your name and address and we’ll deliver one to your home asap.  Come, let’s feast together!

And we also guarantee you a very warm welcome to any of our Christmas services and events.  Details are on our church website.

Happy Christmas!

Graham Burrows

 

 

Friday, 1 November 2024

We will remember them

November 2024

Dear Friends

At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.  We will remember them because they gave their own lives for the sake of others. 

We will teach our children to remember them because generations are linked, as twigs and branches are joined to the limbs, trunk and roots of the tree; even though our children were not alive in either World War they can truly say these people died for me.  When we say ‘we will remember them’ we intend that they will be remembered long after we have gone; we place an obligation on our grandchildren and great grandchildren, even on those yet to be born, not to forget.

We remember too God’s kindness to us as a nation.  We make no claim for our own innocence when we say that God brought down some nations and raised up others.  We take nothing away from the bravery and sacrifice of our fathers and mothers when we say that it was the Father of the Lord Jesus who gave us victory and peace and prosperity.

The people of Israel were commanded to keep alive, down through the generations, the memory of all that God had done for them.  “I will utter hidden things, things from of old – what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us.  We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done” (Psalm 78).  Because they feared the rise of “a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him” they placed an obligation on their children to teach those yet to be born about the Lord and his deeds.  It is a tragedy when a nation forgets its heroes and a greater tragedy when a nation forgets its God. 

Whether young or old you are all warmly invited to join the villagers who will be gathering around the war memorials in our villages at 10.50am on Sunday 10 November.  And you will be equally welcome at the Remembrance Sunday services in the church (10am-10.50am in Holme, 11.10am-12.00 in Burton).

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Tuesday, 1 October 2024

Switching the Labels

October 2024

Dear Friends

We’re now well into the new academic year and, in schools and universities, students are busy studying our world - everything from ants to whales, from the behaviour of electrons to the motion of stars, from the chemical processes in leaves to the shock waves of a thunderstorm. 

But what do they think they are looking at?  A fascinating and beautiful world shaped by mysterious and unchanging forces but without ultimate meaning?  Or the work of a craftsman who is outside his creation, and who has an eternal purpose for all he has made?

Does it matter? 

If there is no Creator then perhaps it doesn’t matter whether we realise that, or whether we take comfort in myths about God.  Everything will disappear one day anyway.

If there is a Creator then scrubbing him from our studies of his world is a big problem.  There is a basic injustice to removing or falsifying the artist labels in a gallery.  We’re also denying students the most valuable benefit of their studies in science, maths, geography, music or art: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge” (Psalm 19:1-2)  And this speech is not dry information about the ultimate power in our universe, it is a letter from the One who made us in love, who knows the purpose of our lives and who has entered his world in his Son to restore us to Himself.

When the Cavendish laboratory was built in Cambridge in 1874, a Bible verse was carved into the oak entrance doors.  In that building men would discover the electron, the neutron and the structure of DNA.  The second Cavendish lab was built in 1973 and the same verse was inscribed above its doors:
“The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein”     (Psalm 111:2)

Cavendish III has just been built in Cambridge and will open next year.  I understand that Psalm 111:2 will once again be displayed - a reminder that everything that is studied is a work of the Lord, the great God who has revealed himself in his creation, through his son Jesus Christ, and in the pages of his eternal Word, the Bible.

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Sunday, 1 September 2024

Open to All

 

September 2024

Dear Friends

This letter includes the announcement that I promised in July. 

A small number of volunteers do a herculean job regularly cutting the grass in the churchyards of Holme and Burton and maintaining our old church buildings.  Thank you to everyone who is involved in any way!  But the use of church and churchyard is not, of course, restricted to a few – they are intended to be for the benefit of everyone.

Our churchyards are always open and many people go there to visit family graves or because they enjoy these green and historic spaces within our busy villages.  It is always a pleasure to see people enjoying the ‘Church Garden’ in Holme beside the stream.

Church worship services are public meetings and are open to all.  Most weeks we have the privilege of meeting visitors or those coming for the first time and we guarantee that you will be warmly welcomed.  Our services will probably seem familiar to most and I don’t think you will find it hard to just come along and see what happens.

Since 2016 Burton church has been open to visitors from 10am – 4pm each Friday and Saturday and I am pleased to announce that Holme church is now open too, every Friday and Saturday 10am – 4pm.  The door will be unlocked and you are welcome to go in and explore the building or to use the quiet to think and pray.  Many thanks to the volunteers who open up the churches each week.

St James Burton is Grade 1 listed and the earliest parts date from the 12th Century.  Holy Trinity Holme was built in 1839 as the village grew following the arrival of the canal.  Both buildings are full of interesting features and are well worth visiting.  In both churches there is a folder containing a map and index of churchyard gravestones for those looking for particular graves.  Holme Church also has a reference copy of Geoff Pegg’s excellent, ‘The Lives Beneath Our Feet’ which recounts the lives of many who are buried in the churchyard.

We welcome messages in the visitors books or direct to the churchwardens, whether concerns, suggestions, questions, thanks or offers of help.

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Thursday, 1 August 2024

Clock Work

August 2024

Dear Friends

Do you ever wonder what powers the clock on the church tower?  Some clocks with hands and faces of great age are actually driven by recently installed electric motors, but not the Burton church clock!  The mechanical movement proudly displays its maker’s inscription: ‘John Smith and Sons, Midland Clock Works, Derby, 1912’.  There is no electricity involved (except for the light bulb in the room!) 

Every week, one of the volunteer clock winders from our village climbs the steep stairs to the first floor ringing chamber where the clock movement ticks in time with the swinging of the heavy cast iron pendulum bob.  They then get a good workout as they turn the handles that  wind the cables onto the drums and haul up the two heavy cast iron weights to the floor above.  Over the course of the week these weights slowly descend nearly 30 feet back to the ground floor powering the ‘going’ mechanism that drives the hands and the chiming mechanism.  On the hour, every hour, it is this second mechanism that springs into action pulling on a cable that passes through holes in the floors to the top of the tower to strike a hammer against the largest of the bells to sound out the hour.

The clock keeps remarkably good time but, being over 100 years old, it is not surprising that she will sometimes lose a few minutes or get confused as to which hour she should be chiming.  On a still night with the bedroom window open I can clearly hear the chiming from our home in Glebe Close and I imagine that is true for a good number of houses in our village.  Of course, we’re surrounded by devices that tell the time and no longer need a church clock but I hope you agree that this kind of mechanical masterpiece ought to be kept going for as long as possible.  Thank you to all the current clock winders for your willing service: David Johnston, Richard Evans, John Page, Paul and Mary Bullimore.

“But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’  My times are in your hands” (Psalm 31:14-15)

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Picture: The clock face in 2016 – repainted and regilded before being reinstalled on the east wall of the restored tower.

 

 

 

 

Monday, 1 July 2024

On His Majesty's Service

 

July 2024

Dear Friends

On 4th July we have an opportunity to elect Members to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.  Some of those who are elected will know that they should serve those who elected them.  Some may talk more about wanting to serve the cause of justice.  And some (secretly) may be hoping that their time as an MP will serve their own egos and personal ambitions.  But ultimately, they all have a responsibility to the Lord Jesus Christ, even those who think they have no connection to him. 

Why do I say that?  2000 years ago, the apostle Paul stood in the centre of Athens, surrounded by grand public buildings and temples to various gods, and declared that the God who created each Athenian had “set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.  He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).  Each citizen would need to give an account of his life to the risen Jesus.  And rulers would certainly not escape this reckoning, quite the reverse, for Jesus had said, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded.”  (Luke 12:48)

Very few of those who lived within the Roman Empire had any role in choosing who governed them; they couldn’t vote to change their emperor!  But Paul did urge them to pray “for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”  (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

Paul’s prayer tells our MPs what they should do – they should aim that those who are godly and holy (by Jesus’ standards) will be able to live peaceful and quiet lives.  And they should aim for those who reject such goodness and purity to not have peace and quiet.

This prayer also reminds us how the Bible will shape us as voters – teaching us not to vote for those who just give us what we want in life, but to look for candidates who will make life peaceful for anyone who obeys God’s laws.  And not forgetting to keep praying “for kings and all those in authority”.

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Saturday, 1 June 2024

How can we help?

June 2024

Dear Friends

Our church was built for the whole village, and I was appointed as a minister to everyone, not just those who gather on Sundays.  Of course, anyone is welcome to come to our services, events and the groups we run for those enquiring about Christian faith (a warm welcome guaranteed) but here’s five other things you may wish to know:

Visiting you
I am available to talk about anything that I might be able to help you with.  If you’ve got questions, or you’d just like to talk, then do get in touch.  We also have a small team who regularly visit those in any kind of need.  If that’s you, or someone you know, please ask.

Visiting the church
Churches should be places where anyone can find quiet to think or pray.  Burton church is open 10am - 4pm every Friday and Saturday for anyone to visit and we’re working to get Holme church open too.  Watch for an announcement!

Baptisms (aka Christenings)
Baptism is a sign of the Lord Jesus’ willingness to forgive and wash clean from all guilt.  The ‘candidate’ is received into Christ’s family and confirms that Christ is his or her Saviour and Lord.  (For a child, parents and godparents answer for him or her.)  I’d be delighted to meet you and discuss this.

Weddings
Church weddings openly acknowledge that marriage is God’s gift and the vows are made before Him.  If you are not previously married and have lived here at any time for at least 6 months (or you have another ‘qualifying connection’) then you can be married in the church.  If you have been married before then a church wedding may be possible, but we need to talk.  A Church of England wedding costs £712.

Funerals
Anyone who lived here, or had a connection to the parish, can have a church funeral service and burial in the churchyard.  I also take services at the Crematorium for those who would like a Christian funeral service there.  We inter ashes in the churchyard under a simple stone tablet.  A funeral service in church, with burial, costs £719 (not including grave-digging or other charges paid to the funeral director).

If you would like to know more, please get in touch with me.

Sincerely

Graham Burrows