Quintessentially

 July 2026

Dear Friends

What makes England England?  Evensong?  I doubt that was your first answer but maybe it would have appeared in a longer list of our nation’s valued features and traditions.

The English service of ‘Evening Prayer’ goes back to the 16^th Century and the Book of Common Prayer crafted by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer but based on earlier Latin services.  The service can be ‘said’ without music but in ‘Evensong’ the timeless words of the service and readings from the Bible are interspersed with psalms, canticles and hymns set to beautiful music.

In the hope that such services will once again be a regular and much-loved feature of our villages we are initially arranging two services of Evensong in the peaceful setting of St James Church Burton at 6pm on two summer evenings: Sunday 19^th July and Sunday 16^th August.

In ‘Choral Evensong’ virtually all the singing is by a choir while the congregation mostly listen.  But our services of ‘Sung Evensong’ will give more opportunity for you to join in with well-known hymns with the choir singing some pieces too.

So, this is a warm invitation to you to step away from your busy life for a while and come to our ‘Village Evensong’.  All ages are welcome, including children.  Come and sing, or come to listen.  The services will last around 45 minutes.  No need to book or pay.  No dress code.  There is a small amount of parking in the church car park at Burton for those who need it – just drive through the churchyard gates.  But if you can walk down from the village that will be helpful.

If you are interested in singing in the choir for either of these services please text or ring Ali Burrows on 07741 458587.  There will be two choir practices on Tuesday evenings for each service.

“Evensong’s long evolution brings with it a powerful sense of connecting present with past, of tapping into something much greater than ourselves.”

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Painful Truth

June 2026

Dear Friends

The side of my jaw is numb all the way to my ear and I’ve been warned not to chew on that side for two days.  Yes, I was at the dentist this morning having a filling replaced.  Why do we subject ourselves to such pain?  My mouth hadn’t been hurting at all, until the dentist got to work!  But of course I trusted the dentist’s judgment when she told me that there was some decay that needed to be treated, even though I was unaware of it.  Disease is a bad thing, but not knowing that you need treatment is more serious.  Even while I was suffering the pain of treatment I did find comfort in knowing that a skilled practitioner was doing me good.

Complaining sticklers (aka ‘Pharisees’) followed Jesus everywhere grumbling about what he was doing and saying.  They strongly objected to him eating at the home of a tax collector (notorious for cheating and for collecting taxes on behalf of the hated Roman invaders).  And they grumbled that the other dinner guests were ‘sinners’ who had openly flouted moral standards and laws.

But Jesus said that he hadn’t come to treat people who were well.  Doctors and dentists focus their efforts on those who are sick, and Jesus claimed to be a doctor for our souls with the power to treat our deepest disorders.  “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  (Mark 2:17)

Christian congregations are not places for people who are good and who want to shine up their gold stars.  They are for those who know they are sick and are willing to entrust themselves to the painful but effective treatment of Doctor Jesus. 

The Pharisees, of course, did not need such treatment.  They were good people, at least in their own eyes, ‘who never did anyone any harm’.  Maybe if they hadn’t been so quick to dismiss Jesus he would have been able to tell them about their undiagnosed disease and counsel them to come to him for a cure.

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

A Living Legacy

 

May 2026

Dear Friends

If you have sons or daughters then you probably hope to leave an inheritance for them.  Although we know that the love, discipline, guidance and support that we give our children is the best kind of inheritance we would still like to leave them good things and financial help.  But that can be hard to do:

Our car may be full of rust holes by the time they get it.  Our curtains are already faded and the chairs worn.  Changing tastes mean that they may not appreciate the crockery we were given for our wedding.  Inflation is shrinking the money we have in the bank.  And let’s not get started on inheritance tax!

If you’ve had the heart-breaking task of clearing out your parents’ house then you know that so many of the things that were at the heart of their home could have had no destination other than the skip.

Peter begins his first letter with great excitement over an inheritance that can never perish, fade or tarnish.  This inheritance springs directly from Jesus’ resurrection – God gave to his Son a resurrection body that is like ours yet magnificently no longer subject to disease, decay and death.  And He promised that all who turn away from senseless rebellion and turn to His Son will be guaranteed the same future and the same resurrection bodies.  And where does God keep such an inheritance?  Not in a leaky garage, a dusty loft, or in a depreciating currency but in the place that is beyond the reach of the curse that afflicts everything in our world, safe in heaven with Him.

From there, like a precious heirloom emerging from safe storage, the full and glorious inheritance of all Christ’s disciples will one day be revealed along with a renewed earth no longer subject to frustration.

Peter’s letter to the Christians across Asia Minor will be the focus of our Sunday services in May and June – why not join us?  We guarantee a warm welcome.  Come and hear about an inheritance like no other, that is for you and your family.

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Shaken

April 2026

Dear Friends

Since December we now all know what an earthquake feels like (albeit a small one) and how worrying it is to think that your roof is falling in or your neighbour’s house has exploded. 

Most people are glad to get off boats and planes and get their “feet back on solid ground”.  But those who experience big earthquakes say that it is deeply unsettling when the ground is no longer solid and no place of safety remains.  So the shaking of the ground can stand as a symbol for any sudden, unexpected or overwhelming disruption to our lives or to the world.

There are two earthquakes recorded in the Gospels. 

The first happened at the same moment that Jesus, crying out in a loud voice from the cross, gave up his spirit and died.  “The earth shook and the rocks split”  Matthew 27:51.  We don’t need to believe that God ‘interfered’ in the normal movement of tectonic plates to produce an earthquake at just the right time – we just need to accept the Bible’s claim that no atom moves without God’s command, He “rules over all”  Psalm 103:19.  God shakes the world that rejects and crucifies his Son, giving notice that judgment is coming for the stubborn and unexpected rescue for the trusting.

The second earthquake happened 3 days later (according to their way of reckoning) at dawn on the first day of the week.  “There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.”  Matthew 28:2  What else but a violent shaking of solid ground could convey the enormity of what was happening, the splitting of history into BC and AD.  The reign of death that brings such misery to all was giving way to a new era in which all who trust in Christ are assured that they too will stand triumphant on the other side of death.

The three sad days are quickly sped;
he rises glorious from the dead.
All glory to our risen Head.
Hallelujah!

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Culture Review

March 2026

Dear Friends

‘Culture’ can refer to the music or art that a group of people like.  More broadly, it means the way that a group or society behave, and the things that they believe and value.  Sometimes we rejoice in the culture – when someone’s honesty leads them to make a big effort to return to us something that we lost.  Sometimes we despair – at destructive and selfish acts that seem to be deep-rooted.  (And, of course, we get much more easily worked up by bad behaviour in others than by our own self-centredness.)

Culture flows from worship.  If you want to understand the culture of a group then think about what or who they worship.  What are they devoted to?  Who are the ‘gods’ they are living for?  What do they spend their money on?  Who are they looking to for happiness and security?  What do they serve?

Culture flows from worship.  Even the word ‘culture’ comes from a Latin word that means to cultivate, honour or worship.

The prominent church building in our village tells us what previous generations thought about the worship of the villagers – that it ought to be directed to the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who created us and died to rescue us.  That there is space to spare in our church on Sundays despite the large increase in population tells us that most of us have been directing our worship and our hope elsewhere.

So my question is, How are the gods of our age doing?  Are they delivering on their promises?  Are they producing a culture that we can rejoice in, or not?  What effect is the worship of other ‘gods’ having on our children and grandchildren?  What our village worships will determine what our village becomes.

If you are starting to think that our trust has been in the wrong place, and you would be willing to hear again the command of the God of the Bible that we have ‘no other gods before Him’ then please consider coming along to one of our First Steps services, and bringing your family along too.  We promise to make every effort to help and encourage you to take what may be your first steps in a whole new direction.

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Starting the Journey

February 2026

Dear Friends

‘Journey to Rome’

There may still be some places left on our Holiday Club organised by Burton and Holme Churches and taking place at Burton Morewood School on Thursday 19 and Friday 20 February 2026 from 9am to 5pm each day.  £6 for 2 days to cover snacks and lunch.

Our enthusiastic leaders and helpers are getting ready to welcome children (from Reception to Year 6) for a packed two days of Roman and Italian-themed activities and Bible teaching led by Sue Aranzulla who has many years’ experience of organising similar events.  We’re also inviting parents, carers and other family members to Aperitivos at 4pm on the Friday to enjoy a taste of the culture the children will have experienced.

To book please go to www.burtonandholmechurches.org

First Steps Services

Are you or your family interested in coming to church but feel that would be as big a step for you as it would be for me to join a Scuba diving club – I’ve never been to such a thing and I have no idea what that would be like!  Starting on Sunday 22 February the last Sunday service each month will be a ‘First Steps Service’ – when those who regularly join us for worship will be especially ready to welcome children, young adults and older adults who have not attended church very much, or at all.  The service will be like our regular Sunday gatherings but shorter (about 50 minutes) and we’ll make every effort not to baffle or embarrass but to be clear and welcoming.  We encourage you to bring children of all ages and not to worry about noise or fidgeting.      

Our first ‘First Steps’ service will be at 10am on Sunday 22 February in St James Burton and we will be inviting all children and families from the Holiday Club to come too.  You will be very welcome.  For all who are able to stay the short service will be followed by a ‘Holiday Club Round-Up’ over refreshments.  And then a warm invitation to everyone to stay for a light lunch which we will provide.

Future ‘First Steps’ services will alternate between Burton and Holme.  If you join our mailing list (use the link at www.burtonandholmechurches.org) then we’ll email to let you know when and where they will be.

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Incredible?!

December 2025

So a young unmarried woman, claiming that she was still a virgin, gave birth to a baby boy in the chaos that Caesar inflicted by commanding everyone to travel back to their home town for a census  – and her fiancé believed her?!  And not because they were ignorant people – they all knew full well where babies ordinarily come from and Joseph was ready to split from his unfaithful fiancée over this.  But he and others came to accept that God, the Creator of all, didn’t need the seed of any man to create a baby within Mary.

The thing is, this is not the part of the account that most challenges our earth-bound assumptions.  Those who tell the story go on to explain that the arrival of Mary’s son was like that of a traveller from another world – his body was new but he himself was older than the hills, for he made them: “without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3). 

He was, it was said, none other than the eternal son of the living God who was on a mission to rescue many from our senseless rebellion against our Creator and bring us to kneel before him as our Lord and to accept his undeserved gift of complete forgiveness and a radically new life.

And when the authorities caught up with Jesus, found a way to condemn him with their lying accusations and had him brutally executed, his disciples claimed that he only stayed dead for a couple of days.  Not merely resuscitated, God “exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow … and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord …”  (Philippians 2:9-10).

It's enough to make you string up bright lights around your home, buy in the best food you can afford for a celebration meal, hand out presents to those you love, and to sing at the top of your voice:

Christians, awake, salute the happy morn,
Whereon the Saviour of the world was born;
Rise to adore the mystery of love,
Which hosts of angels chanted from above;
With them the joyful tidings first begun
Of God incarnate and the Virgin’s Son.

Happy Christmas!

Graham Burrows

Strength that Sacrifices

November 2011

Dear Friends

What are men for?  The answer given by Rob Munro, our bishop, while on an October visit to our congregations, was that men are to be “strength that sacrifices”.  That is, we are to be strong in every way (not just physically) so that we can stand against all that is evil.  And when there is a price to pay, and suffering that can’t be dodged, we are to be ready to step into the line of fire to protect those we love.  How did the bishop know that is our calling?  “Because,” he said, “that’s what Jesus did.”

Those who were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life and work tell us that he always chose to serve and not to be served, that he rebuked his disciples for worrying about their own needs instead of serving others, and that he courageously stood up to the powerful Jerusalem leaders who were exploiting widows.  And, knowing that his execution was the sacrifice that was needed to save others from their sin, Jesus told the mob that came for him in the middle of the night to let his friends go free and to get on with arresting him.  “Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (Jesus in John 15:13)

Of course both fathers and mothers should sacrifice for their children, and self-sacrifice is essential to all love.  But a healthy nation will be one that is not ashamed to especially encourage its young men to be strong, strong in the fight against all that is evil, and strong in their willingness to shoulder the responsibility to sacrifice themselves for others.  “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her …”  (the apostle Paul in Ephesians 5)

On Remembrance Sunday we will remember with sadness and gratitude the years in our history when the ultimate sacrifice was required of so many hundreds of thousands.  Churchill thought that this selfless courage had turned dark days into “great days — the greatest days our country has ever lived”.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them.

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Breaking Barriers

October 2025

Signs warning some types of people not to enter.  A fear of being defiled by those who behave differently or eat different foods.  Derogatory names for other people groups and pride that ‘we’re not like them’. 

I’m talking about the deep divisions in the 1st Century between men and women, slave and free, and supremely between Jew and Gentile - the temple in Jerusalem had walls and warnings to keep certain groups out of the central areas.

But I could have been speaking about our 21st Century world, where deep divisions still lead to disdain, angry messages, shouting and threats, sticks or bullets.

If we despair of an end to all this we should remember the remarkable reconciliation seen in the 1st Century in fledgling congregations of believers in Jesus Christ.  The tensions didn’t disappear overnight; the New Testament records several disputes between Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians – in one case fuelled by the hypocrisy of the apostle Peter!  And down the centuries there have been many examples of Christians failing to treat each other as brothers.

But the New Testament also shows the Gospel message itself defusing the hostility.  The Jewish believers learnt that they were not rescued from God’s judgment by their keeping of Old Testament laws but only by putting their trust in the death of Christ on their behalf.  And the Gentile believers learnt that they were reconciled to God in exactly the same way.  There could be no boasting from either.  And so, standing together in prayer, sitting under the authority of God’s Word preached, breaking bread and sharing the cup on exactly the same terms, the great dividing wall of the day was torn down, along with all other divisions that spring from human pride.

Today this can still be seen in local churches where fellow servants of Christ kneel, sit and stand together with others from completely different walks of life and parts of the world.  In the DNA of the church is hope for true peace.  Christ’s ‘purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace’ (Ephesians 2:15)

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

When can I retire?

September 2025

Dear Friends

When I arrived in Holme and Burton 12 years ago and began to get to know the villages and the congregations I discovered that a man called Medwin Sherriff, already in his 80s, was doing a lot of things in Holme.  Nobody seemed to know how long he had had these roles but the time was measured in decades rather than years.

That applied to him serving on the Parish Council, and as Chairman of the Parish Council, but also to his editing of the Holme Parish Newsletter, a mix of church news and other village news – the rough equivalent for Holme of ‘Burton News’ in the other place.  Medwin told me that he’d been asked to edit the newsletter by a vicar who was so far back in the history of the church that (as a newcomer) I’d never heard of him.  Medwin had edited the newsletter, year after year, ever since.

We’ve got very used to the idea of retirement – both from paid jobs but also from unpaid roles.  Sometimes we have to stop, but we can also just reach a point where we say, “I’ve done my part, someone else can do this hard work now!” 

The Bible certainly teaches us that work has been frustratingly difficult right from the fall of man onwards, but Jesus also tells us that work is fundamentally good because he knows that God, his Father, is always at his work (Jn 5:17).

Medwin seems to have understood that very well, as he continued labouring to the best of his ability, in the service of others, and encouraged and supported by his wife, Molly, until he really couldn’t work anymore.

Medwin Sherriff died at home on 17 July, aged 94.  His funeral was held at Holy Trinity Holme on Friday 15 August.  I thank God for Medwin, for his steady energy and hard work, and for the great encouragement and help that he was to me, and so many others.

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

When hope returns

August 2025 

Dear Friends,

“We need hope … For a person to have no hope just sucks the blue out of every sky” (Max Lucado).

We all want to be sure that the things we are doing today are going to make our lives, or the lives of those we care about, better.  If we don’t have that hope, why do anything at all?  “Hope is a spark inside you that brings a smile to your lips, a light that shows on your face, a feeling that lifts your head and pulls you forward.”  That’s why dashed hopes are so hard to bear and why hopelessness is so destructive.

The word on the street is that some young adults are discovering hope in one man, a man that their great grandparents knew well but who was buried under an avalanche of ‘liberating’ ideas, experiences and new ways of living in the 20th Century.  The promised liberation was elusive, but some of the children and grandchildren of those whose lives were engulfed by cruel despair are once again finding hope in Jesus Christ and his radical call. 

‘Hope Explored’ is a brilliant and clear explanation of the things that our culture has forgotten – the hope that Jesus offers – and the evidence for thinking that this is not just wishful-thinking nonsense but a “joyful expectation for the future, based on true events in the past, which changes everything about my present”.

‘Hope Explored’ is an informal three-week course.  It’s for anyone who wants to find hope, peace and purpose in life, whatever your age or circumstances.  The next group of explorers will be meeting on three Wednesday evenings beginning on 6th August.  It’s not too late to join us and you will be very welcome.  Do please ring, email or text me if you want to ask more or to let me know that you are interested in joining us. 

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Under His Wings

July 2025

Dear Friends

Take your dog through a field of sheep at this time of year and listen to the noise as lambs are quickly recalled to the safety of their mother’s side!  This desire to protect offspring is seen across the animal world and we feel it too.

When danger comes near, parents instinctively search for their little ones and wrap their arms around them.  When children go missing, or when they begin to treat their parents as ‘the enemy’, the deeply-felt longing is to be able to hug them once again.

God thinks like that too.  He speaks of ‘finding’ his child Israel in the desert and shielding and caring for him like a eagle spreading its wings over its young. (Deuteronomy 32:10-11)

And Jesus was the same.  When he thought about how the people of Jerusalem had distanced themselves from him and his Father he wept for them.   "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34 19:41)

What could draw us back to our Creator when we know we have distanced ourselves from him?  Does this powerful image of our heavenly Father’s grief over his missing children and his longing to gather you up again move you?

And if you’ve never felt that God was a Father to you then take a look at the astonishing Bible account of Ruth.  She was from the people of Moab who were no friends of God’s people.  Tragically widowed as a young woman she decides to count the people of her Israelite mother-in-law as her own.  Boaz, who eventually marries her, declares: “May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge." (Ruth 2:12)

It was a homecoming to a home and a Father that she never knew she had!

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

At the Top

June 2025

Dear Friends

What would you say is most needed for a country, or a family, to thrive?  Hard work and enterprise?  Law and order?  Compassion and kindness? 

These are all good in their proper place but we’re wrong to assume that we human beings can fix our problems on our own, without reference to the God who designed us and runs our world.  That would be like assuming that any problems with our car can be fixed from the driving seat without lifting the bonnet.  The problem, and the answer, goes deeper.

If God has more than a little to do with our thriving or not-thriving then I suggest that our most-needed list should be topped by these:

First, Grace.  In the Bible this means not ‘graceful’ but rather the undeserved kindness of God.  He gives or withholds (as he chooses) – rain, crops, business success, family happiness, good government, military strength, health, sanity, and life itself.  Since every breath we take is a gift from God it follows that no person, family or nation can survive or thrive without our Creator’s gracious giving.  No man has ever given to Him but every man receives all he has from Him.

And second, Faith, which is not the ability to believe in unfounded myths but simply means ‘trust’.  Faith is the conviction that God is trustworthy and so we can rely on every word of his Word, the Bible.  We like to think that we live in a scientific age where we have personally proved all facts but in reality nearly everything we know comes from the testimony of those who we trust.

Faith is the natural partner to grace.  God gives; faith is the holding out of our hands to receive.  Faith takes us from grumbling to gratitude, from self-justification to confession of our faults, from self-sufficiency to dependence on God’s provision, from pride to humility, from disobedience to obedience, from worry to trust.

Even if you’ve never done this before why not ask God to give what you need, and to give you the open hands of faith to receive his gift?  Ask for yourself, for your family, for our nation.  Jesus tells us that God his Father loves to give good gifts like the best of fathers.  (Matthew 7:7-11)

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

A Great Boon

 
June 2025

Dear Friends

Later in May we are holding ‘Boon Days’ at both churches to which you are warmly invited.  I had never heard of this term until we moved here 11 years ago.  I knew that a ‘boon’ was something very helpful in life but not that ‘boon day’ meant a day of work without pay, including those days when neighbours got together to help each other out.  Farmers told me that there was a tradition of helping each other with tasks that needed many hands – boon days would be held in turn on different farms and they would all go to help each other.  Those were special days because working together is better than working alone.

So our church boon days are an invitation to come and help look after the village church and, especially, the churchyard.  We ask for help because we know that many value these historic and beautiful spaces in our villages, and because the buildings and churchyards are available to the whole village, for worship and prayer, for weddings and funerals, and for the burial and remembrance of much-loved relatives. 

In England each local church has to provide the funds and manpower to look after its own building and churchyard – that is why a fee is charged for every burial (whether full or of ashes) and for introducing memorial stones or for adding an inscription to an existing stone.  Your payments help us to maintain the churchyards while the rest of the money comes from the gifts of our congregation members and sometimes from generous legacies.  Mowers and their fuel and maintenance are expensive, as are the services of professionals like tree surgeons.  Our churchyards are looked after by a small number of volunteers who work very hard to maintain these large areas with all the challenges of mowing around graves and walls.

Our Boon Days run from 10am – 1pm on 17^th May (Burton) and 24^th May (Holme)   All help is welcome even for a short time.  If you can bring gardening equipment that is helpful but we also have some available.  It is an encouragement to those who usually maintain the buildings and grounds when a good number of us give a few hours to tackle the parts that they cannot reach.  Be a boon!

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

A Good Day?

April 2025

Dear Friends,

“What is wrong with the world?”  If I asked you all this question I would receive a large assortment of answers!  Whatever you think of the Bible, its ancient answer does make sense of the world that we live in:  

We are created to be God’s ambassadors, his agents in his world.  What’s gone wrong is that we don’t want the job.  We would rather serve a different ‘god’, one who doesn’t restrict us or expect us to serve him, a ‘god’ who leaves us free to pursue comfort, wealth, approval, success or self-indulgence.  We might say our family is all that matters to us, or the good of the nation or the planet, or we might be fully committed to an ‘ism’ – they can all be ways of serving the goals we choose.  

Our hymns are ‘I did it my way’ and ‘No-one tells me how to live my life’ but a whole world of people pursuing their own agenda leads to the darkness that we experience – irritation, selfishness and loneliness through to hatred, violence and war.  Darkness with glimpses of light that make our hearts ache with a deep sense that life should be better than this.  ‘Do whatever makes you happy’ does not make us happy.

And the relationship that is most damaged is with our Creator – we want life and all his other gifts but not his authority over us.  How could we complain if swift judgment followed?

How amazing then if our Lord should don our garb and wade in to take our mess on himself.  “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.”  That tree was the cross from which Jesus cried out as he allowed God’s wrath at our sin to fall on him, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!”

Thorns – a symbol of creation against us – were made into a crown and pressed into Jesus’ head.  Iron – a gift in the rocks from our Creator – was shaped into nails to kill him.

And that terrible day became known as ‘Good Friday’.

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Wise Dominion

March 2025

Dear Friends

Human beings are unique among the creatures of this world because we are made in the image of our Creator.   We are God’s self-portrait in his art gallery (see my February letter).

But what does this mean?  Physically, we have eyes because God sees, and hands because God builds, helps and rescues.  Morally, we understand that not everything that we could do is something we should do – like our Creator we know there is right and wrong.  We are also like God because we are made to rule over his creation, to have dominion over the earth as his representatives.

Some people believe that the world would be better off without mankind: “Leave it to its natural state, don’t disturb nature, reduce the number of people on the planet, make as little impact as you can!”  But that’s not a Bible view; if we are to rule we must make an impact.  We are certainly to rule wisely, with respect and love for all that God has made.  But not timidly.

The world is a hostile environment for men and women (Genesis 3:17-18).  Even with a vigorous and skilful use of the resources of our planet it is not easy for mankind to grow enough food; it is not easy to protect yourself and your family from cold and heat, floods and droughts; it is not easy to avoid disease, disasters and death.  Life for many was, and is, a struggle for survival.  To get beyond that and to have time and money for things like healthcare, sport, music and travel required us to be ‘benevolent lords’. 

When we take charge of our environment in this way we are mirrors reflecting the power and glory of our Creator and obeying his command: ‘God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."’  (Genesis 1:28)

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

The Repair Shop

February 2025

Are you saying I’m an animal?

Well, animals eat, sleep and communicate like us.  We’re classified as mammals and have hearts, lungs, muscles and DNA like theirs.

But we walk on two legs!            

As do gibbons and kangaroos.

We have opposable thumbs.

And so do gorillas and koalas!

What about our brain?  It’s so large!

Yes, but the same size, in proportion to our body, as the brain of a mouse.

OK.  But what about our ability to think in complex ways, and about abstract ideas and morals, and even to wonder why we exist at all?  

Human beings seem to be uniquely able to do all that, but those who can’t, like newborn babies and brain-injured patients are still people, aren’t they?

So is there something that unequivocally distinguishes us from animals?

Yes, but not in our biology.  It’s in something our creator said: “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness …” (Genesis 1:26).  Everything that God has made tells us something about him, but men and women are like mirrors reflecting a clear image of our maker.  All the paintings in the art gallery tell us something about the artist but human beings are this artist’s self-portrait.  That’s why your life matters so much.  And the lives of every other person.

Did God really say that?

Jesus believed that God did, and so did Jesus’ apostles (Matthew 19:4  James 3:9).

We humans do some ugly things. Can we really be made in God’s image?

The likeness is spoilt by our high-handed rebellion against our creator.  We have slashed the painting in the gallery.  Now Jesus alone perfectly shows us what God is like.  His mission is to restore you and me to our intended glory.  He has the power to take off our old warped self and reclothe us once again in the true likeness of God himself.  It’s the greatest Repair Shop in the world. 

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

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

 

 

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

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