REFLECTIONS
These pieces are written each month by members of our clergy team.
October Leader
Monday 13th October in the Church’s Calendar, Edward the Confessor is commemorated. Driven from England by the Danes, and spending his exile in Normandy, the story goes that Edward vowed that if he should return safely to his kingdom, he would make a pilgrimage to St Peter's, Rome. But once on the throne he found it impossible to leave his subjects, and the Pope released him from his vow on condition that he should found or restore a monastery to St Peter.This led to the building of a new church in the Norman style to replace the Saxon church at Westminster. The Abbey at Westminster was consecrated on Holy Innocents' Day, 28th December 1065. Edward was regarded as a saint long before he was officially canonised as Saint and Confessor by Pope Alexander III in February 1161. A Confessor is a particular type of saint and applied to those who suffered for their faith and demonstrated their sanctity in the face of worldly temptations, but who were not martyrs.
Edward was the patron saint of England until being displaced by St George in the fourteenth century. The flag for St George and England has, as we all know, a white background with a red cross. Its meaning combines Christian symbolism, as it is a depiction of the cross on which Saint George was martyred, with a strong sense of English national identity. The flag's origins trace back to the medieval Crusades, where the red cross was a symbol for English knights and was officially adopted by King Edward III in 1348.
At one time as Rector of Crayford, our very fine church building had a tower dating from 1475 and at some point acquired a flag pole. During my time we flew the St George’s flag only at Major festivals - Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and for our patronal festival [St Paulinus 10th October]. I think in those days, you could purchase the flag with a small motif displaying the diocesan coat of arms - in our case Rochester. All very gentle and parochial. Then at some point in the late 1970s it became a flag to be brandished by some English soccer hooligans and right-wing groups. It should be remembered that it forms a part of our Union Jack or flag, consolidated in 1801 with the Act of Union. This flag depicts the patron saints of England [St George], Scotland [St Andrew] and Ireland [St Patrick ]. At that time Wales was part of the Kingdom of England.
Well, over the past few weeks, as I have driven around various parts of the borough, I have found myself passing whole roads with the flag of St George flying from nearly every lamp post. From the height, it’s clear to me, that whoever has been responsible must be using quite a long ladder!
The cross is a key symbol of the Christian faith and at the baptism or christening service, it is often ‘marked’ on the forehead in oil by the parish priest, who then goes on to say: “Do not be ashamed to confess the faith ... and remain faithful to Christ.” Being faithful will require that we follow his example of loving one another as he has loved us. Not always easy but always worth striving for. Our country’s framework is based on Christian laws, norms and values. Remember that when you next look at the St George’s flag.
Paul Wright
Gracious God, you sent Jesus into our world not to condemn it but as an act of love. Help us to find ways of bringing that love into our troubled world that all may live in peace and enjoy a safe and contented life. Amen
Reflection:
Our Patron Saint Giles would probably be the last person to worry about a church hall, or any building for that matter. After all he was reputed to have been happiest living in a cave or out in the open surviving on nuts, berries and the milk of a deer. So there may have been some wry smiles in heaven when we chose our Patronal Festival as an auspicious time to launch our St. Giles Centre Refurbishment Appeal.
The past year has not seen us inactive, Architects have been employed, plans drawn up, engineers, surveyors and contractors consulted and last year we raised over £30,000. The challenging news is that we will need to find £186,000 to refurbish the Centre, the good news is that we raised and have had promised £126,000. This means that we now have £60,000 remaining to find.
You may wonder why on earth this section of the bulletin, which is supposed to be about spiritual matters, has been hijacked by info on the Centre - shouldn't this stuff be in the Notices? Well for me the refurbishment of the Centre is a spiritual matter and what we do with that building is important to the cause of God’s kingdom and the reach of the Gospel, let me explain. In the Gospel John 15: 1-10 Jesus uses the analogy of a vine to emphasise the connectedness of life and faith. Jesus is the vine and we are the leaves and the branches. As long as we remain connected to him we will be alive, fruitful and connected. If we are disconnected then we shrivel and die away. Churches need to be firstly connected to Jesus and then they need to be connected to each other and then connected outwards to the community in which they are situated. This interconnectedness between Christ, his followers, and the local community, always brings mutual flourishing and productiveness. What is produced is friendship, company, socialisation, compassion, care, growth, knowledge of each other, happy memories, support, and so much more. Someone once said to me that they dreaded weekends because they could spend the whole time not speaking to anyone and once they even took a bus ride just to find some company! This should not be happening, loneliness is a modern day scourge sometimes made better by modern technology but oftentimes made worse.
Part of church life is togetherness and socialisation and currently at St. Giles we have nowhere to foster this. The current Centre is a very depressing place to even spend five minutes in, weeds in the car park, broken tarmac, rotting timber, musty and mouldy kitchen, and horrible toilets all make it about as appealing as a wet weekend in Hainaught.
Just imagine a refurbished Centre, brightly lit, modern, newly painted with nice toilets and a new kitchen which will allow us to serve meals and refreshments. Think how this will allow us to set up activities and groups which bring people together. A hall that the local community can use, a hall where we can continue to offer bereavement support groups, a hall which allows us to welcome families and children to a modern facility - need I go on? All of this helps dent the world of loneliness and isolation, all of this builds community and a sense of belonging. A good hall contributes to the collective mental health of the community; it will form part of the nourishing soil that the vine of Christ is planted in. To be honest I hate fundraising and over the years I have had to do a lot of it. Clearly I didn’t read the small print in the vicar job description. Nevertheless, fundraising for the Kingdom can be a sacred duty, a way in which the love of Christ can be manifest at a given time and place. Many of the things that we love and value today were bequeathed to us through the generosity and work of our forebears. Let us now do our bit. I hope and pray that we will raise the necessary funds to refurbish our Centre to the benefit of all of us. Bless you and thank you.
MatthewABOUT ST. GILES CHURCH
Monthly Bulletins
It has now been 5 years since we started sending out our monthly Bulletin as a result of the Covid pandemic and I know from various feedback that the Bulletin is very much appreciated. Going forward I remain very committed to making sure that all of us who love St. Giles are kept informed not only of what is going on at our Church but encouraged in the understanding and practice of the Christian faith.In the future we will continue to write to you but every other month making sure that our bulletins coincide with the important occasions in the Church's year. Our next Bulletin will be sent out in July.
Matthew Hughes, May 2025