REFLECTIONS


These pieces are written each month by members of our clergy team.

September Leader

The Ancient Roman Calendar, traditionally credited to Romulus, consisted of ten months, the Romans celebrated the start of their New Year in March, making September the seventh month of their year. September was named from the Roman word Septern meaning seven. After September we then have October, named from the Latin word for eight, November from nine and December from the Latin word for ten. When the Roman calendar was changed to a twelve month calendar, September then became the ninth month in the year, but its name was kept anyway. September is derived from the number seven, and interestingly seven, in Biblical language, symbolizes the number of perfection, rest, and new futures. God is described in the book of Genesis as completing the work of creation in six days and then resting on the seventh day. Therefore seven is associated with rest, completion and a new future.

I mention all this because the month of September this year is proving to be anything but restful! Let’s just take one weekend! The weekend of 6th September sees us mark three important occasions. Firstly there is our parish Confirmation, that delightful time in the life of St Giles when we celebrate the gift of faith and discipleship amongst those who have decided to deepen their faith and commitment to Christ. Secondly, this year marks the 150th anniversary of the time when St Giles Farnborough finally broke free from the Benefice of St Martins Chelsfield and was allowed to be an independent parish in its own right. Lastly, on 6th September we will be celebrating the Feast day of St Giles, our Patron Saint. These three events will be marked by lovely services, beautiful music, wonderful flowers, talks, friendship, cake, wine and thankfulness, as we gather together to celebrate our wonderful church both its people and building.

In addition to this we anticipate that the refurbishment of the Centre will be entering into some of its final phases and we then look forward to having a lovely meeting place for the life of our church. Moving forward we will look forward to Harvest, All Souls Remembrance Sunday, Toy Sunday, and finally Advent Sunday which marks the beginning of a new church year. In between all this activity St Giles will always and primarily be a place of rest and peace, where we can find rest for our weary souls. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that St Giles is always celebrated in the month of September, the month of seven and seven is the number of rest and peace.

Matthew

Reflection:

Welcome to this month's Bulletin.  Today we have just one verse from Matthew's Gospel to reflect upon.  What are we to make of this  illustration that Jesus uses to describe the Kingdom of God?  Let's look at the treasure buried in the field.  In Jesus's day there were no banks as we know them today, people buried their valuables in fields, especially when they feared invasion, or they were going away for a long period of time.  That is why today people with metal detectors can sometimes unearth collections of ancient coins buried in random places.  Similarly in the above illustration a man walking through a field stumbles upon some buried treasure, rather than tell everyone he shrewdly re-buries it, sells everything he has, buys the field and lays claim to the treasure all for himself, job done!  

Jesus takes this man's clever and ruthless drive for wealth and asks us to apply it to the spiritual life, for Jesus is telling us that the Kingdom of God is like buried treasure and that once we find it we should want to possess it above everything else.  First, what is the Kingdom of God?  God is love and his reign is the reign of love.  We are called to be loving people, to love God, to love ourselves and to love others.  Jesus's death on the cross allows us to love God and to receive God's love, because our sins have been washed away, they are no longer a barrier between us and God’s love. With this in mind, the treasure in the field is God's love.  It is not always obvious, it has to be searched for, but it is there and when we find it there is a light bulb moment.  ‘Ah’ we say to ourselves, so this is what life is really about, it's about love and I will be most happy, fulfilled, at peace, forgiven, enriched and joyful when I love God, serve Christ and belong to a loving Christian community.  This is the treasure and it's worth relinquishing anything that might distract us from owning it - sin, material possessions, wrong priorities, pride etc.   

Treasure is time with family and friends under the umbrella of God's love, it's a walk in the countryside knowing that all you see is a gift from God.  Treasure is feeling the Lord's forgiveness when your sins have left you in despair. Treasure is the warm welcome of your fellow Christians and their love and concern for you and you for them.  Treasure is trusting your loved ones to God's love and having hope in the face of death.  Treasure is Midnight Mass and a Church full of Easter flowers, it's holding a baby and hearing a child say 'Amen'. Treasure is the privilege of serving Christ and following him. I could go on. Where's your treasure?  

All of this treasure is a lovely gift  from God, it is free to us and worth everything for it lasts to eternity. How important it is to work out for ourselves, in the shortness of life, what really matters, what is ultimately of value and making sure that we know it, recognise and own it.

In 1848 gold was discovered at Sutters Mill in California, this triggered one of the biggest gold rushes of all time.  People sold everything they had to purchase wagons and tools to go West.  300,000 flooded into California from as far away as China, Europe and South America.  The vast majority of them never found any gold, only destitution.

Matthew

ABOUT 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