Dear Brothers and Sisters

During my time in the Army I experienced the odd hair raising moment. (In those days I still had hair to raise!) One of my scariest experiences was in Basra in Southern Iraq in the Spring of 2005. I had recently arrived in Iraq at the start of a 7 month operational tour and was being taken to the airport to fly north to what would be my home. The personnel transporting me were going home the next day and they had, as we say in the Army, ‘switched off.’ All they could think about was their impending leave, seeing family and friends. They paid no attention to what was going on around them. We were driving through some hostile territory but they were far away by the side of a swimming pool, drinking beer and having fun. It was a short, 15 minute ride, but I can still remember the anxiety of being ‘looked after’ by individuals who had already gone home in their own minds. I saw this from time to time throughout my time in the Armed Forces, familiarity bred contempt and towards the end of a tour there were always some who ‘switched off’ who forgot to carry out basic checks, who stopped bothering with the drills that are part and parcel of military life. Sometimes they got away with it, sometimes they, and those around them didn’t.

This week I found myself ‘switching off’. I had just come in a visit and I gave my hands a very quick rinse off rather than washing them properly. And then I realised what I had done, that quick rinse wasn’t adequate and I couldn’t remember the last time I had said the Lord’s Prayer whilst washing my hands (to time my 20 seconds). That realisation pulled me up short.

We have had so much exciting news recently haven’t we. Our newspapers tell us that the new vaccines will be with us in weeks, we can be with family over Christmas and life will be back to something like normal by Easter. That is all wonderful, but we have to get there first. Even with all this wonderful news for the future we need to keep safe today. Though the Government’s latest information campaign seems to hark back to the Public Information films of my childhood their message is still vital; Hands, Face, Space. We protect others, we protect ourselves, by following public health guidance.

Thank you to everyone who has donated food for our local foodbanks. My study looks like a small cash and carry just now. There is still time to donate and you can either drop off at the Vicarage or I can collect. Some of you may find it more convenient to make a donation to a local foodbank. If that is the case you can support Otley Foodbank by sending a cheque made out to:  ‘Churches Together in Otley (Otley Food bank)’  to Margaret Turner, 3 Pegholme Drive, Otley, LS21 3NZ. To support Ilkley Foodbank cheques are payable to; ‘Churches Together Ilkley’ and send the cheque to 123 Bolling Road, Ilkley, West Yorkshire LS29 8PN. If you want to support Foodbanks throughout the country please go to www.trusselltrust.org The Trussell Trust run Foodbanks throughout the country (including the one in Harrogate) and you can make an online donation  on their website.

As of next Sunday we can worship in our churches again. There will be services at Farnley (Holy Communion) at 11am. And Denton (Evensong) at 2.30pm. We are still waiting for detailed Government guidance as to what else we can and cannot do but I hope to have that information by next Tuesday.

This Sunday we continue to worship together in Spirit.  I will use the Service of the Word at 10am. on Sunday in the Vicarage, using the readings for this Sunday. Please join in with me if you would wish or use the service material at a time that best suits you.

There are lots of other alternatives for worship on Sunday. The National Church of England Service continues to be online and other services can be accessed via radio and TV. Locally both Otley and Ilkley parish churches have services available on YouTube. The Daily Hope phone line can be accessed on 08008048044. For those with smart phones the Church of England Time to Pray app is still free to download and use.

Many of you found the Church of England’s ‘Prayers for use during the coronavirus outbreak’ booklet very useful during the last lockdown. I still have some available. Please let me know if you would like one. 

I hope that you are finding the Prayer for the Nation material I sent out a couple of weeks ago useful. We are asked to continue using these prayers at 6pm until the 6th of December. It is good to have a focus for our prayers each day and to know that we are praying at the same time as others across the land.

Finally, here is the last outing of my Movember moustache. I look more like a Perthshire famer by the day. I hope it has amused some of you. Charlotte certainly hasn’t been.

God bless you all.                                 

Stephen