Tower and Town, May 2016 (view the full edition)Clergy Letter: ChangeChange Noel Coward once said that "No-one likes a change except a wet baby." There is also the old joke of "How many Methodists (or Anglicans, or Catholics...) does it take to change a light bulb? Change!!!!!! Yet life is full of change. We see it in the passing seasons, especially at this time of year as new life bursts out as winter passes again. New life can be seen in the fields and even sitting in the middle of the road. A baby rabbit had a near miss as I drove back from Aldbourne recently. We see change in children growing up. My youngest nephew delights in the fact that he is taller than me. In our own lives we experience change, some good and exciting, some sad as well. In our society we also see many changes. Sometimes it feels as if things are changing so fast we can't keep up. Yet - there is a wonderful sense of excitement in changes. They mark our growth as people, helping us to develop our potential as human beings. New experiences bring wisdom and maturity that enable us to cope. As the Church continues to celebrate the Easter season and anticipates the great festival of Pentecost, we celebrate an event that changed the lives of Jesus' disciples and has changed the world. As life has changed with the passing centuries so has the Church and it will continue to do so, just as our own lives change with the passing years. Do we embrace the changes with excitement and eager anticipation or do we just want to pull up the drawbridge and hide? For me change is what makes life exciting, even when I yearn for things to be simpler. A broken pencil was so much easier to fix than a computer which has a creative approach to its spell-checker, or the sat-nav that allows you to explore strange new roads that were not always designed for modern cars. As the world around us changes with the season and the pace of events, we may find at the heart the security of God, Creator and Lord. One last thought. A scientist was asked if there was a specific term used to describe organisms that were not constantly changing. After a brief pause he replied, "Yes - it's dead." Enjoy the changes - they can be a great adventure Heather Cooper |