My letter this month is in two parts –
each dedicated to something special which is happening this month.
The General Election.
Have you decided how you are going to vote in the General
Election? It may be that you are a member or supporter of a
particular political party and so always vote the same way. On the
other hand you may be a ‘floating voter’ - someone who is prepared to
choose whoever seems to have the right approach at any particular
election. You may be confused by the claims and counter claims of all
the various parties and not yet have made up your mind or perhaps you
are disillusioned by politicians in general and are not planning to
vote at all.
It isn’t my business as your parish priest to tell you how to vote -
Christians will rightly have widely different political views. It is,
however, my duty to remind you to bring your Christian faith to bear
when making your decision. And what I can do is suggest how this
might be done.
The Scriptures and Christian Tradition both assert the need for rulers
who will uphold law and order but also insist that they must exercise
fairness and justice to all under their authority and should create the
conditions for human flourishing.
And so as Christians we should certainly be concerned that the policies
of the party we vote for are best placed to bring justice and fairness
to every person in our country, and are not simply concerned with the
sectional interest of one group or another. This approach is based on
faithfulness to such Biblical values as that everyone is made in the
image and likeness of God and so deserves to be treated with respect
and dignity and that as human beings created by God we are all truly
members one of another.
That said, we will also need to be satisfied that the party we are
voting for is competent to run the country and will to the best of its
ability provide a stable economic framework without which true justice
and fairness is impossible. Wealth creation is important as well as a
fair distribution of resources – the possible immorality of living in
debt has to be balanced with the need for a good health service, proper
benefits for those in need etc.
How might we apply these principles to the particular policies of the
parties? Here are two examples:
1. The possible extension of the ‘right to buy’ to
homes owned by housing associations. Is this proposal an excellent way
of helping aspiring families to own their own home and so improve their
lot – or could it rather be seen as nothing less than the theft of the
assets of charities who have worked hard to provide social housing and
quite possibly lead to fewer homes being available to those who really
need them?
2. Proposals for a ‘mansion tax’ and to restore the
50p income tax band for the highest earners. Would these proposals be
good ways to ensure that the wealthiest members of society contribute
more to the common good or would they simply result in wealth creators
deserting the country?
Each of us must make up our own minds about issues like these before
deciding which party to vote for. What we must surely not do is to base
our decision purely on our own interests but try to think of the good
of society as a whole and the demands of our faith.
HOLY TRINITY 150th ANNIVERSARY
Trinity Sunday Weekend 30th / 31st May
At the end of this month we will celebrate the first of our two big
150th summer events. On Trinity Sunday – the patronal festival of our
parish church – Bishop Andy will celebrate and preach at a service of
Sung Eucharist with Confirmation.
Two candidates will be Confirmed during the service, another will be
Baptized and Confirmed and we are also expecting to receive one person
into the Anglican Church and that another will renew her baptismal
vows. During the service a new banner for our 150th Anniversary, made
by Barbara Yates, will be dedicated by the Bishop.
Afterwards there will be a reception in the Hall during which John
Horsfield’s new history of Holy Trinity Church will be launched and
copies will be available for sale (no doubt the author will be pleased
to sign your copy!).
Throughout the whole weekend (Sat 30th / Sun 31st) a special exhibition
will be held in the church organized by Ann Rimmer, under the title
‘Christ our Cornerstone’ which will tell the story of Holy Trinity
Church and what goes on in it today.
All in all this promises to be a busy and exciting weekend and I hope
that everyone will want to be involved in one way of another. It will
be a great way to prepare for the most important day of all – the
actual 150th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone on July 5th
1865.
Patronal Festivals are always important occasions in the life of any
church – and even more so in an important anniversary year. Like a
birthday, patronal festivals are a celebration of the life of a church
and they remind members of the church of the particular saint or
mystery of the faith to which the church is dedicated and which helps
to shape its life.
We are very privileged to have as our dedication nothing less than the
being of God himself – the God who has revealed himself to us as
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. The
building which followed on from the laying of the cornerstone in 1865
speaks powerfully of the holiness and transcendence of the Holy Trinity
and the many angels depicted in the church remind us of the worship of
that God constantly offered by the company of heaven and echoed in our
worship here on earth.
So in our 150th year we celebrate our patronal Festival with especial
joy and with the determination that our building – and even more
importantly the people who worship within it – will continue to witness
to the glory of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Most Holy and
Undivided Trinity to the men and women of this time and long into the
future.
With my best wishes and prayers,
Fr.
John
