The Vicarage, Blackmore, Essex
CM4 ORN
19 - CHRISTMAS - 74
Dear Friend(s),
This brings my greetings and
as I address the envelope you fill my thoughts and become the subject of my
prayers. A number of happenings have made this Year of Grace 1974 a memorable
one for me. It will be a pleasant exercise to record subjects which I hope will
prove newsworthy and of interest to you.
Let me begin with what lies
nearest my heart, the parish and in particular the Church in the parish. We
began the year with the Bishop of Chelmsford's "Call to Mission"
challenging us to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of the Diocese by renewed
commitment to Christ for the extension of his Kingdom. The Jubilee Year was
marked by a visit from the Archbishop of Canterbury, who spent Thursday 13th
June at Chelmsford meeting clergy and laity and the Diocesan Great Family Day
held at Debden Airport on Saturday 13th July. The rain fell continuously but far
from being a wash-out, some 7,000 people from all parts of the Diocese met in a
family spirit which found expression movingly in the service of Holy Communion,
where more than 5,000 remembered our Lord and Saviour in his own appointed way.
From the wider sphere of the
diocese to the narrower one of the parish, the visit of the Rev. Dick Rees for
an effort in Christian outreach under the Title Contact '74 was a highlight for
Blackmore. It was not a case of numerous conversions although two or three made
a profession of commitment to Christ. The Anglican and Baptist Churches have
found a greater unity. Individuals have experienced a deepening of their faith
and a sense of urgency and renewed purpose marks the Church in Blackmore.
Although our community is a happy one and much blessed materially, there are
who have a great and often unrealised need of Christ.
Looking at the Parish Record
for the year there have been comings and goings. Familiar faces have passed
away and new faces vibrant with life are in our midst. The newly-weds are
adjusting to their changed circumstances and are, I hope, finding rewards the
bonds of marriage. A charming girl from the parish married a young man, a fine
Christian of the Roman Communion. I shared the marriage service jointly with a
Roman cleric and a moving service it was. What a change in relationships from
those which obtained but a few short years ago. Work amongst the young
continues encouragingly and our Lay Reader is Co-ordinator of the whole
age-range, Junior Church, Adventurers and Covenanters. Bible study and prayer
meetings look as though they are being better supported since the parish
mission. The Parish Gift Day brought heavy showers with driving wind. I was on
the green in the village from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. under a large garden umbrella;
another I turned about according to which way the wind was blowing the rain.
But it was worth it. Parishioners were generous. They brought £257. I had a
marvellous hamper lunch and even got my picture in the paper.
Our Young Wives Fellowship
thrives as does the Women's Institute. The Blackmore Players, our local amateur
dramatic group, put on an amusing one act play at the Parish Harvest Supper and
is currently rehearsing the Pantomime, to be presented soon after Christmas.
The annual Donkey Derby and Country Fair was a successful occasion and the
weather was fine. Involvement with the children of our community as a school
manager is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding aspects of my life. Our
local school is a County Primary so when the children reach ago eleven they go to
senior schools outside the parish. We have a good team in the School Head, his
Deputy and the Staff, both teaching and others.
A first time ever experience
was a trip to the Holy Land in a party organised by the Rev. Dick Rees. We were
away during the second half of June. The first week was spent seeing the sights
in the south of Israel whilst we were based on the Pilgrim Palace Hotel just
outside the walls of the old city of Jerusalem. The second week we stayed at
Caesarea on the Sea of Galilee and from there saw the places of interest in the
north. The Israelies themselves offer as much interest as the land. For
Christians the land and people are inextricably linked and the movement of
events only emphasizes the fact. The Israelies have purpose and a will to
succeed. We began to see it in the thoroughness with which we were screened at
London Airport. Then in the effective way in which the land is being made to
thrive. I was also impressed by the taste and skill with which sites and
structures of historic interest are being preserved. I am left with a longing to
go again.
On a personal note I would
like to record my gratitude to God and my parishioners for continuing kindness.
I am kept busy and houses are open to me so that what might be the loneliness of
my situation is eased. My late wife's only surviving sister died in early
October. This was my last link with the family generation into which I married
and the loss brought its own poignancy. The onset of angina involved me in one
month's enforced rest in the spring and later an injured knee cramped my style
considerably. However, at the time of
writing, I feel fine, thanks to the medics and to drugs.
During the eighteen years
throughout which these Christmas Letters have issued from Blackmore Vicarage
there has not which brought two General Elections. The populace seems uncertain
and divided and our politicians unable effectively to govern. There is no
outstanding leader and in the picturesque language of the Bible our nation is
like sheep without a shepherd. Too often one gets the impression that sections
of the community secure their own interests because they are strongly placed to
do so. We voice a concern for the needy but - after the meeting of our own needs.
Panic buying and hoarding are indications of this. Biblical and secular history
seem to indicate that when nations experience period of peace and material
prosperity, spirituality declines and the people tend to become selfish, soft
and lacking in fibre.
The world of nations is knit
so closely because of instant communication and speed of travel that isolation
is impossible. The major nations with their tools of war and the power to destroy
each other with suspicion, and form their own satellite power blocks. Smaller
belligerents are equipped by major nations and their fields of battle become
the proving grounds of sophisticated weaponry which the major nations may one
day use against each other. Strangely, smaller nations sometimes advantages
from this state of affairs. Can one imagine the Arab nations being able to hold
the world to ransom in respect century ago. But with an oil-sufficient U.S.S.R.
to defend the interests of the Arabs the oil dependent West must grin and bear
it. Two other factors will have a
material bearing on our world as the Twentieth Century moves to a close,
pollution and oecology. The poisoning of our environment and man's unthinking
disturbance of the balance of nature could well exact a heavy price and that
sooner than we think. Yet, in spite of so much gloom, I am glad to live in this
age. It seems to me that there never was a time when to know Christ as Saviour
and to live in his service, was more rewarding. The Bible-taught Christian is
not taken unawares by what he sees taking place around him.
A friend gave me a nicely
bound copy of The Living Bible and I have found blessing in reading it through
the year. As I bring my letter to a close and remember again that God was
manifest in flesh when the baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem, I am led to quote
from St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, as rendered in The Living Bible:-
"Salvation is not a
reward for the good we have done, so none of us can take any credit for it. It
is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ
Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping
others. Attitudes and thoughts must all be constantly changing for the better.
These are difficult days. Don't be fools; be wise; make the most of every
opportunity you have for doing good. Don't at thoughtlessly but try to find out
and do whatever the Lord wants you to."
In sending my affectionate
good wishes for Christmas and the New Year I pray that God's intent for mankind
may be fulfilled in you and me.
MONTAGUE H. KNOTT.
1 comment:
Monty is right about the state of the world then and now..and the environment!
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