NEWSLETTER

April 2002 From the Revd. Hugh Trenchard, Vicar. Dear Parishioners, Humour is, perhaps, our greatest gift in getting us through the various things that hurt or fracture our daily lives. It is doubly sad to see or hear the sarcastic tone of pitiful imitators of those whose humour is either self directed or if it. is at others it only makes uplifting fun and never seeks to belittle others. There have been a number of examples recently which spoil the very purpose of humour. The first was Mr Woodman's joke from Shirenewton's pulpit about a request to God for a new highway which was at first turned down but on hearing the alternative:"l would like to understand women", God replied "how many highways do you want." This is an example of the age old "put women down" humour which usually betrays the true character of the perpetrator. Another example was the pathetic attempt at a humorous put down of Delia Smith by Mrs Kinnock at a World Womens' Day lunch. Far from being a put down of one cook she managed to paint a picture of "Mrs Everyday" as a semi-sensible, unthinking twit. All this from the world, sorry, European, expert on all things who when she began her career, read her university lecture notes in the classroom, instead of teaching, and even then had that touch of sarcasm if anyone challenged or questioned the highly selective (or could it be opinionated?) interpretations of history which were the substance of the lessons. I put this so strongly because we are approaching the supreme festival of Easter, the celebration of the gift of total life brought about by total suffering. Humour is one of the key gifts which testify to the fact of resurrection because when ever we truly laugh we admit our own reality and that of those who have gone before us. Far from a put down, humour must always embrace, welcome and ignore the problem while facing it with warmth and celebration. When I was a young choir boy, we had a Lay Reader who with the mother of all stammers, except when he took Evensong, preached or read the Scriptures. By day he could barely be understood yet he joked and marvelled that there were times of clarity which he ascribed to God. We celebrate life given afresh, renewed and restored through pain and death but by a real God who most certainly is not with out humour for He chose Peter, Judas and even me. The God whose first sign in Canaan was to make sure the party went on. His gift of resurrection starts now and He wants us to make sense of this gift in a real world with exuberance and joy and never with a grudging sarcasm. Happy Easter, Hugh Trenchard Vicar.