Barnes in Common

the magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
May/June 2007

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Pastoral letter

from Jean Boulton-Reynolds, Holy Trinity Church

At the end of April we celebrated Christmas again! My daughter has recently returned from a year-long round the world trip and wanted to make up for the family Christmas she had missed, so out came the Christmas tree, up went the decorations, the family came to stay and we all sat down to a traditional Christmas dinner to welcome her home!

Her trip has taken her through the Americas and into the Far East via New Zealand and Australia and I was fortunate enough to be able to meet up with her in Thailand for a fortnight in that wonderful country. One of the things that struck both of us was how hospitable people were.
I began to wonder if this was an effect of approximately 95% of the population being Buddhist. More precisely, whether the hospitality displayed was an effect of the majority of the population adhering to the same beliefs and values system.

Hospitality has always been a hallmark of Christianity. From Abraham welcoming the three strangers [Gen 18] to St Peter telling his readers to, 'Be hospitable to one another without complaining' [1 Pet 4:9], the bible is replete with examples and instructions about how to be hospitable. Sadly the Christian Church has not always been good at displaying hospitality - too often in our zeal to stand up for the nuts and bolts of our beliefs we trample on others beliefs even when the target of their belief is the same God. This weakens the Church universal and diverts resources from our mission in the world.

Our recent Churches Together Lent study 'Set All Free' has been a timely reminder to us to reflect on these things and recommit to a hospitality which welcomes and embraces the stranger. It has challenged us to honestly think through the mistakes of our Christian past and how we actively go about receiving and offering freedom.

Here in Barnes CTiB offers us the chance to show our community the reflected love of our God. Whenever we take the opportunity to work together or meet together in God's name we are saying to the world, you may read about disagreement and fracture within the Christian church but we can rise above that. We share a core faith in the same God and have a shared desire to bring that faith to others. On Sunday 24th June at 4.00pm in Lowther School we shall be doing just that through our Celebration of Barnes service. We look forward to seeing you there.

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