The Rectory Window

Saw their faith (2:5) In 1887 Anne Sullivan was employed to teach a young girl, Helen Keller, who could neither see nor hear. Anne experimented with repeatedly spelling single words onto Helen's hand to give her the beginnings of a vocabulary. Helen managed to use this as a tool to label objects but did not understand it as a language for communication. Then one day Helen kept confusing cup and water and Anne, possibly in exasperation, took her to the pump. Helen takes up the story, 'She spelled w-a-t-e-r emphatically. I stood still, my whole body’s attention fixed on the motions of her fingers as the cool stream flowed over my hand. All at once there was a strange stir within me—a misty consciousness, a sense of something remembered. It was as if I had come back to life after being dead! That word “water” dropped into my mind like the sun in a frozen winter world. The world to which I awoke was still mysterious; but there were hope and love and God in it, and nothing else matt...

Above his head (2:4) A month ago today, a 7.0 earthquake hit Izmir, a port city on the Turkish mediterranean coast. In the heart of the city, apartment blocks collapsed trapping residents under the rubble. A race began to rescue survivors. After 65 hours of digging, a 3 year-old girl was recovered from the wreckage of her home. Having little hope that she is still alive, her rescuer called for a body bag or blanket with which to cover her still form. As he began to wrap her up, a tiny hand reached out and grabbed his thumb. On the photos, you can still see her little fingers holding tight as she is carried away to the ambulance. I imagine the paralysed man's friends pressing their ears to the roof of the house to listen for Jesus' voice to guide their digging. When they find it, they dig, not this time to rescue the one who is speaking, but to rescue the one whom they love enough to risk upsetting rather a lot of people, including the owner of the house. It is as if it is they ...

Carried by four of them (2:3) The proverb, it takes a village to raise a child, is thought to originate in Nigeria. It refers to the idea that children acquire a rounded personality from safe interaction with lots of different people, and not just their parents. Bertrand Russell went one step further, suggesting to one correspondent that her biological parents were the worst people to bring her up as they would share her innate prejudices rather than lead her to question them. As a child my parents took me on Christian holidays on which they led. They were always busy and left me to my own devices, allowing me to get to know lots of very different people, all in an entirely safe environment. It was a taste of heaven that has never left me. It took four men to carry the paralysed man to Jesus, maybe because they had only a sheet on which to bear him, but he had many more companions on the journey. It seems it takes a whole village to bring someone to Jesus so they can be made whole. Now...

No room left (2:2) The rockstar of the 18th Century revival was not John or Charles Welsley but one George Whitefield. His sermons attracted so many that even the largest churches were not big enough, so he moved outside. One such meeting, the largest recorded, saw 23,000 people gathering at Boston Commons. It is estimated that in his lifetime he preached to 10 million, all of whom had to travel to see him. This at a time of limited, slow and dangerous transport, no sound amplification and a scattered rural population one tenth of today's. Often his congregations were larger than the total population of the town he was visiting. All to hear the message of hope in Christ, simply and dramatically told. Today the story of Jesus, lover of the lost, giver of eternity, friend of sinners and lord of all, is welcomed around the world. Today as we invite the Holy Spirit into our lives the touch of God's love is available to us all. Today there is always room.

Come home (2:1) In David Goodhart's book The Road to Somewhere he argued that a key faultline in Brexit Britain lay between the somewheres - people rooted in a single community, and socially conservative in values - and the anywheres - people socially liberal in values, and geographically mobile. This idea had enough traction to cause controversy at the time, and it remains intriguing to think that may be more than just our political values are governed by what makes us feel at home. We might wonder as we put our next cross in a box, or find our next job, or decide on our next holiday, if home is what we leave behind, or what we take with us.  Unsurprisingly Jesus seems here to fit neither category, being both rooted and mobile. His home is not somewhere, or anywhere, because his home is in heaven. Is ours?

Stayed outside (1:45)  Rowan Atkinson tells a story about fame. He was standing in line in a car parts store when one of the other customers recognized him. Or at least was struck by how much he looked like Mr Bean. 'You're the spitting image of that Mr Bean. You could make money out of that, yer know!' Rowan owned up to being the actor that plays Mr Bean, but the man didn't believe him, and the more Rowan Atkinson claimed it was him the crosser the man got. In the end Rowan had to get out, fast, before he got into a fight. Fame for Jesus meant isolation. No longer could he mix freely, visit family or sit in the synagogue. Today, fame can make you money - just being famous leads advertisers to pay you to use their products. However, it still has many drawbacks. As Megan Fox puts it, 'Fame is being bullied by millions of people constantly'. Often we think loneliness is just about being alone, but let us not forget that loneliness can be felt as much, or more, by ...

As a testimony (1:44)  The Reverend Richard Coles is a Radio 4 staple. His sultry tones brighten up many a slumbering Saturday morning with warmth and light in equal measure. His establishment credentials are unusual, however, as it is his partnership with Jimmy Somerville in the 80s pop band The Communards , rather than his role as a country clergyman, that gives him kudos in radio world. Recently though he has been more public with aspects of his personal faith, explicitly talking about being filled with the Holy Spirit, not in the very visible way often desired (or disliked), but in a quiet inner depth of experience. Throughout the New Testament the infilling of the Spirit and its visible manifestation are seen as signs of God's activity. It is intriguing therefore that when Jesus wants someone to show his healing publicly he chooses a very traditional form: offering the sacrifice decreed by Moses. It seems that Christ wasn't fussed about the type of worship but about the so...