From the Revd. Hugh Trenchard, Vicar.

Dear Parishioners,

First a little cheer-you-up. This was passed to me the other day and came from www.ifrance.com.
An Atheist was taking a walk through the woods, admiring all that the 'accident of evolution' had created. "What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!" he said to himself. As he was walking alongside the river he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. As he turned to look he saw a 7 foot grizzly charging towards him. He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing. He ran even faster, so scared that tears were coming to his eyes. He looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer. His heart was pumping frantically and he tried to run even faster. He tripped and fell to the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw the bear right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him. At that instant the Atheist cried out, "Oh my God!" Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest went silent. Even the river stopped moving. As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky: "You deny my existence for all these years; teach others I don't exist; and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?" The Atheist looked directly into the light: "It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps you could make the bear a Christian?"
"Very well," the voice said. The light went out. The river ran again. And the sounds of the forest resumed. And then the bear dropped its right paw, brought both paws together and bowed its head and spoke: "Lord for this food which I am about to receive, I am truly thankful..."

The elf Legolas, the dwarf Gimli and the man Aragorn were travelling many miles at great speed. They pursued a group of foul orcs, the enemies of all that is light and good, who had captured their friends. En-route they encounter a group of riders, who challenge them. The leader of the riders is amazed: "Here is an elf, a dwarf, and a man, three distinct races, on a common quest; what is more, elves and dwarves are ancient enemies, yet here they are travelling as friends."
The context is the Lord of the Rings. The Dark Lord has arisen, and is growing more powerful by the day. All he needs to complete his victory is a gold magic ring in which much of his ancient power is stored. The powers of darkness are mighty but in such times all lovers of freedom and goodness must unite against the common enemy or the world will die. Old enmi ties must be set aside and fellow travellers must be companions and friends.

We live in such dark times: the latest spate of bombings, m Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Jerusalem, the suspension of BA flights to Kenya, the continued distrust within Europe all breed unease and fear. It was in just such times that the Good news of Jesus Christ was I written down for us in the pages of the New Testament. We are called as Churches, as Communities and as individuals to resist such fears and depression by re-earning just what unity is truly about. We are challenged as never before in our history to not only build bridges but to hold out the hand of uncondi tional friendship across the barriers or race, creed and colour and to cele brate the good that really unites us and never surrender to the evil suspicions that will tear us apart. Jesus' picture for this was the Vine, the branches and the fruit. While it is an obvious picture of unity and meaningful production, it carries right within it the essence of the real sacrifices that true unity implies. Grapes are eaten, pressed and drunk. Not only the dead branches are removed and burnt but the productive ones must also be pruned. This is a profound picture of a self giving community whose sole purpose is to provide the very best for the world.
The bear in the joke got it wrong. We are called to remove the bringers of fear and darkness and the only way we will do that is hold out the hand of acceptance and fairness in religion, in politics and in trade, fair and honest trade. The only cost is our future and that of those who come after us.

With every good wish,

Hugh Trenchard

Vicar