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Philip Anderson writes …… in the Jul 2008 Magazine
This year a remarkable and unprecedented level of interest has been attached to the American Presidential election campaign. You needn't have been particularly politically interested to be aware that this year's vote was set to be unusually significant for the USA at home and abroad. The country has been through choppy waters in recent years. But what has struck many observers is how the political process, for all its flaws, has regenerated itself in America this year, and brought to the fore two candidates who were written off at the outset as outsiders, even mavericks. The cynicism of disaffected voters, and political insiders alike has been challenged by the great desire for change manifest in the groundswell of support perhaps especially for Mr Obama.
This year it is 40 years since the murder of The Rev'd Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. He was at the forefront of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, a preacher more than a politician, whose Christian oratory inspired black Americans to rise up against the shackles of oppressive mistreatment. Martin Luther King was a Christian to his roots, not as some would suggest, a political agitator using the pulpit for his own ends. He went on only because he felt that God was guiding his steps, though he could not see the way. Threats came his way from early on in the movement's campaign, he was afraid, but he persevered.
Freedom is the hallowed goal of our democracies – the idea that our freedoms are hard won has been repeated often of late. But clearing the deadwood of unjust or oppressive laws is only the beginning, the groundwork, of building a free society. The dreams that inspire us cannot come from laws. And here the Church, whether free of the state, as in America , or its old spouse, as in England , has a prophetic and vital duty to further freedom. The Gospel story, not the Ten Commandments, is what sets hearts and minds alight. And it still reverberates with power - inspiring individuals and people together to aspire towards nobility, repent of wickedness, and move towards a way of life that delights and finds joy in the society of our neighbours – loving them as ourselves, and set free by that obligation.
Yours ever
Philip Anderson 
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Peter Cowley writes …… in the Jun 2008 Magazine
Dear Friends,
Well this is one letter I never thought I would have to write! But how wrong can you be! If you had asked me four years ago what I would be doing in June 2008 I would not have thought that it would be preparing for Ordination as a Deacon in the Church of God . I had felt that God had a plan for my life but I had only had Ordination as a vague possibility for me. Yet here I am only days away from being ordained as a Deacon at the Cathedral on 29 th June at 10.30 am . Much less that I would be serving my title at Prescot Parish Church and St Paul 's.
God's call is I believe for all of us and that there is a vocation for every Christian that begins at Baptism and continues for all life and beyond. We do not know what the call will be but we should be open to God's calling for whatever it may be for you. For me it was a call to the police force as a cadet and constable, which was not for me in the end. Then came a time of wondering and the call to the ministry as a Church Army Officer, which has lasted for over thirty years in various places and jobs from Liverpool to Bristol to Barnet and finally to Prescot and Widnes. I have had a varied ministry and met many people in many interesting situations. Yet the only way I have discerned God's call is by knocking on the door to see if it opens if it does, then through I go, if not then try another door. I am not a person who has flashing lights and buzzers going off to show me the way. I feel that it should be the prompting of the Holy Spirit that shows the way and that affirmation will come from other people also seeking to know what is God's will for me and them in that situation. I began to seriously consider what my vocation change was to be when the Church Army started to re think its ministry and I felt that I was also called to change at the same time - but to what - I was not sure.
So a friend suggested I test my vocation and see if I was called to be ordained. I talked to my then Vicar, David Leslie in Widnes , and he encouraged me to explore my vocation. Then one thing lead to another and in May 2006 I went on a Bishop's Advisory Panel at Shallowford House near Stafford and was amazed to be recommended for training. After this came two years on The Northern Ordination Course, with lectures, essays and time away from home being trained and formed, as well as placements in a rural parish and a mental hospital. This has led to this point of Ordination and a new chapter in my, and my families, life.
I would like to thank you all for your prayers and support especially John, David Philip and Jeff in so many ways for all the encouragement I have had from you all. I hope now to be able to serve you all as a deacon and priest in the love of Christ and for his glory.
Yours in Christ,
Peter Cowley 
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David Rose writes ….. in the May 2008 Magazine
The Church celebrates Pentecost, or Whit Sunday as it was more commonly called, on 11 th May this year – that is 50 days after Easter. The word Pentecost means ‘50 days'. In the Jewish faith it was the fiftieth day after the Passover, and was the festival celebrating the first fruits of the corn harvest and, later, the giving of the law through Moses.
Whit Sunday is of course the Church's birthday when we give thanks to God for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles soon after the resurrection of Jesus. The name Whit, or White, probably refers to the white robes worn by those newly baptised, because Pentecost has, from the earliest days of the Church, been recognised as an occasion associated with Baptism.
It was on the day of Pentecost that the Apostles were “Baptised” with fire following the sound of a rushing mighty wind, symbolising the gift of the Holy Spirit that transformed their lives. No longer did they need to hide behind locked doors for fear of what might happened to them but from then on they boldly proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus risen from the dead as the early church came into being.
Today, no less than then, the church needs and relies on the Holy Spirit to transform us, both individually, and collectively, that we may effectively proclaim the good news to those of our own generation.
In our Baptism service we pray that, “within the company of Christ's pilgrim people we may be daily renewed by his anointing Spirit”.
We simply cannot afford to allow the flame of the spirit to be extinguished if we are to pursue an active and effective ministry here in Prescot.
We are all called to undertake God's work. It is his calling to each and every one of us. How we respond is in our own hands but it is only by God's grace and through the power of the Spirit that we can succeed in the transformation of our society in the manner of those first Apostles.
David Rose 
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Philip Anderson writes ….. in the April 20087 Magazine
It seems as if we've been deluged with religion these last four months or so with Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter all running as close together as they can, with hardly any time in between to pause for thought. No sooner had we stopped singing Christmas carols at Candlemas, than we began to turn to Forty Days and Forty Nights. And now the marathon still continues through April as Spring comes and takes us towards Whit; as I write this, watching heavy sleet fall outside the window of St Mary's House, it feels more like the bleak midwinter.
With the rigours of Lent behind us one of our most important tasks at Prescot in the next months is to prepare those who are to be confirmed for that very important rite of passage in Christian life. We have been invited to the Cathedral in early June where we will join with hundreds of others from across the diocese in declaring our common faith in the good news Jesus brings. At the heart of our meetings with both adults and young people being prepared to be confirmed will be teasing out what Jesus' story means. We've just rehearsed its most important events in this sweep from Christmas to Easter, and entering into that unfolding drama does draw us closer in our relationship with God. It is true that every year something new emerges from the Passion story, for example, that engages the imagination and acts as a moment of revelation.
So please pray for those Prescot people preparing to open themselves to the grace of God in confirmation, and if you are an adult who is keen to rekindle your own relationship with God, or to accompany the adults as they embark on theirs, feel very welcome to join the adult group. This will include those who are already confirmed members of the Church. If there's one lesson that this marathon of feasts and fasting does remind us it's that nobody is a Christian alone – it's a shared work in progress.
Wishing you every blessing this Easter season
Philip Anderson
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John Taylor writes ….. in the March 2008 Magazine,
We know – do we not? – why the tomb was found empty on the first Easter Day. Mary Magdalene, Peter, John and the other Mary did not. They were still living with the awful memory of Good Friday. That was the day when their world came to a stop; it was the end of life as they had known it. If we can enter into their deep gloom, then we shall be able to catch something of their sense of confusion when they looked into the tomb and found it empty. They were completely lost .
Wrapped in her grief and shock, Mary Magdalene stood outside the tomb weeping. In her grief she fails to recognise Jesus standing there. As far as she is concerned he is dead; but the only thing that is dead is her idea of Jesus. The man with whom she walked, laughed and talked is far more than just a friend, his Resurrection shows him to be the Christ, the Son of God.
The Easter story is not just about looking back, but it is about looking forward to a new relationship with Christ. We are not to be forever looking back to repeated action replays of the past, but we are taking part in a new game altogether
Mary recognised Jesus when he said her name and her immediate reaction was to cling to him. Jesus asked Mary to relax her grip, to let go. She had to learn that the Resurrection meant that Jesus was alive and in the future he would be alive in her, that his Spirit would be present in her and in the life of all his followers for all time.
For Mary Magdalene despair turned to victory and sadness to joy. This is part of the Easter message we all do well to remember. When we begin to feel overcome with the strains and stress of life, when we start to be swamped by the sorrows and losses of our human condition, and fall into despondency and even despair; faith in the Living Lord will have the power to lift us above the darkness and dread.
In the Resurrection, we are brought again in to the living hope, of that immortal
inheritance which God promises to those in whom Christ lives.
The Lord is risen, he is risen indeed! Alleluia!
John Taylor 
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David Rose writes ….. in the February 2008 Magazine,
The familiar words of the Lord's Prayer are to be the subject of our Lenten Course this year. For Christians those words trip off the tongue without any difficulty. We have probably said them daily since we were young children. But all too often, perhaps, we recite them without giving any thought to their meaning and for what we are praying.
In the first place simply by addressing God as “Our Father” we are demonstrating our sense of belonging to him as members of his family, which is something that we actually share with each other. That is such an important starting point because Jesus himself invites us to “abide in me as I abide in you”. To be at one with God is the most precious gift that anyone can possess and the Lord's Prayer declares that mystery to be real and it goes on to assure us of how such a close relationship can prosper.
The prayer reminds us that we are dependent on God, who will sustain us in this life, as he provides us with nourishment for our physical well being, as well as the security through which his forgiveness is able to strengthen our relationship with him.
These are but a taster of the real treasure we possess in the words of the Lord's Prayer.
Whether or not we are able to attend the discussion groups this Lent, it would be a good idea for each of us to make it our Lenten task to give some real thought to this prayer that Jesus himself taught his disciples to pray, for it is the very heart of our faith. Maybe we should take time over it, using minutes instead of seconds, to pray each petition and to reflect on its meaning.
David Rose
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John Taylor writes ….. in the January 2008 Magazine,
The Church devotes the first day of January to the Feast of the Naming of Jesus; perhaps it was hoped this would bring a blessing over the coming year. However that may be, the concern whether secular or ecclesiastical is with new beginnings. New calendars on the wall, a new year number on our newspapers and magazines and the thought of a new start in many other ways for all of us. It is also at the very start of life that a child receives his or her name.
‘Jesus' is the Latin form of the name which in Greek was spelt ‘Jesous', which is itself the Greek form of the original Hebrew name Joshua. The name Joshua is taken to mean ‘The Lord Saves'. So, in St. Matthew's Gospel (1.21), an angel tells Joseph that he is to call the child, with which Mary is pregnant, Jesus, because ‘he will save his people from their sins'.
In the Old Testament it was Joshua who led the Israelites across the Jordan into the ‘Promised Land'. The early Church fathers drew parallels between Joshua, leading the Hebrew people through the river in to a new life, and the Lord Jesus who brings the Church – the new Israel – to new life through the waters of Baptism into the heavenly inheritance.
Jesus, a Jewish male child, was given his name at his circumcision eight days after his birth and it is in that name, which means ‘The Lord Saves', that we will entrust ourselves, and those we love, through the coming year; not matter what this year brings.
The Old Churchyard
The maintenance of the churchyard has been a major problem for many years. With the help of Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council we have been able to have the churchyard strimmed and tidied during the winter months. This year it is also intended to level the uneven ground at the Manchester Road end in order to make maintenance far easier.
A Happy New Year to everyone
John Taylor
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Philip Anderson writes ….. in the December 2007 Magazine, | |
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A long period of anticipation seems to have come to a disappointing end for Prescot. The hopes pinned on being granted £25 million by the National Lottery to help build a Shakespearean theatre in the town have been stalled. But we mustn't allow ourselves to sink into despondency. A lot of very valuable work has been done in publicising Prescot's history and place in the culture of the world through its important connexion with Shakespeare; a great deal of thought has been given to the future of the town, and the best ways of reviving our cultural and commercial life. Rather than depending on a single enormous grant from the perhaps morally questionable National Lottery we may have to think of ways in which to celebrate Shakespeare's work ourselves. Could the performance of one of his plays be an eventual aim at the Prescot Arts Festival? The people of this town are surely enterprising enough to think of ways in which we might continue this exciting project; we shan't be passive in expecting other people to do the work.
Anticipation of another kind comes to mind in Advent. We are approaching 2000 years over which the Church has been waiting for the return of Christ, but we haven't been sitting on our hands in between times. None of us would be getting ready to celebrate Christmas if the early Christians and faithful people of every successive generation hadn't passed on the Gospel in the centuries of waiting. The whole of Christian history has happened in the cosmic ‘in-between-times' after Christ's ascension and the end of time. We do not know the hour, and we do not know the means by which God will fold up history and bring us face to face with himself in Jesus the carpenter from Nazareth, but it is a most important thrust of our faith that we do hold to the hope that these things shall happen, and live our lives as people who expect to meet our God in the flesh.
We have inherited great riches – of faith and culture. Good custodians are called not only to preserve but also to propagate and promote. If the plays of the Bard touch and reveal universal human truths how much more so the story of Christ. Behind tinsel and turkey are the truths that attract us year-by-year, peace, humility, goodness and love shown in Christ to be the message of God.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas
and every blessing for the New Year,
Philip Anderson
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John Taylor writes ….. in the November 2007 Magazine, |
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The second of November is All Soul's Day. This is the day when the church traditionally remembers the faithful departed; that is, ordinary Christian people who, unlike the major saints, have no special day commemorating them. In remembering those who have gone before us we are led to reflect on our own mortality. Such reflection is not always a comfortable pastime!
When St. Francis of Assisi was told by his physician that he was soon to die, we are told that he stretched out his hand and cried aloud with joy, ‘Welcome, sister Death!' In his last hours he added this verse to his famous writing ‘Canticle of brother Sun':
‘Praise be my Lord for our Sister, the bodily death,
from which no living man can flee.
Woe to them who die in mortal sin,
blessed be those who shall find themselves in thy most holy will.
For them the second death shall do no ill.
Francis could write of ‘the second death' because he felt that he had died to this world on the day he leapt down from his horse to embrace a leper. It was on that day he believed he had entered into eternal life. For it was on that day he ‘ found himself' in God's will and in that will he eventually died. As Christians we dare to say, that being in God's will so many years ago, Francis still is today.
What we are saying is that where a bond is forged in this life between a human soul and its Creator, where bonds of life unite a human soul to the source of the life that is eternal, then that relationship is such that bodily death cannot sever it. We believe that those who live within God's will on this side of death remain in that will beyond death.
So, we say with confidence, we believe in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life ever lasting.
Every good wish,
John Taylor
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Philip Anderson writes ….. in the October 2007 Magazine,
Qin Shihuangdi is a name that is unpronounceable and means nothing to almost all of us, and there's a nice irony in this – he is a man best remembered by people in the West for something he might never have foreseen. He was the first Chinese emperor, and this month in London the biggest exhibition in a generation opens at the British Museum – the arrival of some selected representatives from the famous Terracotta Army which guards Qin Shihuangdi 's vast underground tomb. He lived centuries before Christ, and yet his achievements may shape the century we are beginning as much as many more famous historical figures. He created China . He bound together for good a patchwork of little warring states into an empire that today looks set to rise to great prominence; modern China still stands on his traditions of a common script, a common legal and bureaucratic tradition, and a ruthlessness in defending the Chinese motherland – for it was he who built the first Great Wall of China to keep barbarians at bay.
And yet, in the last forty years the magnificent ranks of ceramic soldiers, chariots, horses and archers who were buried around his tomb have seized the imagination of people throughout the world since they were uncovered in the 1960s. And while his face is lost to history these underlings, the dumb infantry of his army for the afterlife, are instantly recognizable. His tomb has never been opened, and accounts describe how it is surrounded by symbolic seas and rivers of mercury, and a whole landscape in miniature of his domains, encircling his grave.
Part of what makes the Terracotta Army so impressive is that no two soldiers are exactly alike, the expressions are different on every face, and they are dressed in the various regional costumes of China – they are individuals in spite of the their seeming uniformity, massed as they are in perfectly ordered rows. Today the Communist system is evolving in China into something very different from what it was in the 1960s under Chairman Mao, when the Terracotta Army was unearthed. Some freedoms have been extended, but the country remains regimented in other ways. Qin Shihuangdi 's legacy endures – and religious freedom is regarded with particular suspicion. Christianity is doubly suspect for the Chinese authorities, and so faces persecution and government meddling to this day. It is suspect because it is an international faith, with links beyond the borders of China and its control. It is also suspect because Chinese Christians are aware of the radical consequences of their faith in ways that some of us perhaps tend to take for granted. The message of equality before God, of the dignity of the weak and poor, and of God's overarching sovereignty are threatening concepts for a totalitarian state. But it would be a travesty to take the authorities at their word, and agree that Christians bring to China an alien world view. As the handiwork of those ancient sculptors shows, Chinese culture has a different face from the bombast and discipline of its first emperor. There is another tradition which is humane, which glories in what makes people distinct and individual, and which has given humble foot soldiers a place in history that their earthly master has failed to attain. That tradition is the fertile soil from which Chinese Christianity grows, and as in ancient Rome , persecution will prove to be its own worst enemy in the long run. It is right that we continue to remember the persecuted Christians of China in our prayers, and remind our politicians to speak out on their behalf, but their story is not a tragedy. They rejoice in the power of the Lord who broke free of his tomb, our only hope for eternity.
With all best wishes,
Philip Anderson
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David Rose writes ….. in the September 2007 Magazine,
As the summer draws towards its close, the daylight hours lessen, and autumn beckons, it seems strange to be thinking of new beginnings, new hopes and aspirations, new initiatives, and yet, that is exactly what we have to do!
Mums and Dads will give a cheer, or maybe simply a sigh of relief, as the long school holiday ends and the children return to school. Nerves have been fraught with the incessant demands of how to occupy the youngsters, not helped this year with so many rainy days to have to contend with which have limited many outdoor activities.
However, a new day dawns and new opportunities abound. Some of our young people will be returning to continue their education in new schools, colleges or maybe universities, whilst others will be starting school for the first time. Some may have left to start new jobs in a completely new environment.
Life moves on and we must adapt to each turning of the way whilst knowing that our Lord is with us at whatever stage of life we happen to be.
A text from Lamentations Chapter 3 should bring comfort and strength for the future:-
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.”
These words inspired John Keble to write that well known hymn “New every morning is the love”, a favourite of mine. In that hymn Keble recognises the real hope that change brings. He speaks of “new perils past, new sins forgiven, new thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven.”
What are the opportunities that abound in our life? Do we fear for our future or do we see it as a challenge that in the strength of the presence of God in our lives we can prosper? Can we really look more positively towards the future?
Surely we can! In the confidence that we are not alone in the journey of life.
David Rose
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Peter Cowley writes ….. in the August 2007 Magazine,
I was watching a re run of Songs of Praise about the top ten hymns as voted for by the viewers of the programme. The list was an eclectic mix of old favourites like “Guide me O thou Great Redeemer” and “Love Divine”. But the hymn that struck me as it was sung was:
“ Be still, for the presence of the Lord,
the Holy One, is here;
come, bow before him now,
with reverence and fear.
In him no sin is found,
we stand on holy ground.”
By David Evans.
It was that it was a relatively modern hymn that I had been to a seminar given by David Evans once. Nor was it the tune that made me think.
The words did it. I was struck by the contrast of the meanings. The first line “Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One, is here;” God is here with us as we sing the reminder of Gods Presence is a some what sobering thought. Have you ever stopped in church or at home or where you are and thought….God is here now!
Can you think of an occasion when you have felt particularly close to God? Yet it would seem natural to be able to recognise Gods being there in church say on a Sunday morning. As we meet to celebrate the Eucharist as we meet to listen to God speaking to us in word and sacrament through prayer to share in the bread and wine, the emblems of the body and blood of Christ.
This hymn goes on to say:
“Be still, for the power of the Lord
is moving in this place,
he comes to cleanse and heal,
to minister his grace.”
This is the contrast that made me think, it is by being still that we can feel the presence and the power of God where we are that matters. If we are running here and there and don't give God a look in then we can loose sight of what we are doing and why we are doing it. So if you can in the service or where you are try to be still and let God and see if the hymn can be right in what it is saying.
Peter Cowley
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