The Vicarage Blackmore Essex
CM4 0RN
Dear Friends,
19 Christmas 83
Starting this 27th Christmas
Letter from Blackmore Vicarage with last year's letter before me, the
expression "Promise & Fulfilment" comes to mind. The promise of
two months sabbatical leave for a visit to North America in 1983 had a
wonderful fulfilment in August and September. Beginning in Ottawa on 2nd August
I moved by car, plane, train and ferry all the way across Canada to Vancouver.
Except in Ottawa, I passed from home to home and carry treasured memories of
Bernie and Ruth Aldridge, Bill and Rosemary Rognvaldson, Herb and Hilda
Wheally, Liz Miles and Rick Wilson, Tony and Joan Griffiths, and lastly, Logan
and Lily Miles. All treated me with kind hospitality, each stay was memorable.
A month in Canada was followed by a month in the States which ended with a stay
on Long Island, New York as guest of Adrian and Christine Alley.
It proved no handicap not to
have friends to contact in the States. My clerical collar brought many
contacts. People were friendly and easy to talk to. A meeting of eyes and a
smile led to a lovely meal with two charming ladies and a night tour of Hollywood
and downtown Los Angeles. A New Yorker met on a five day tour proved an
engaging companion. We met again in New York before my flight home.
There is insufficient space in
this letter even to outline the scenic wonders that met my eyes but the Rockies
in Canada and the Grand Canyon in the States stand out as the most impressive.
You can imagine my sense of gratitude to my parish for making this holiday
possible and for raising £900 to cover the round trip air fare. Also for the
way church officers and others cared for the parish during my absence. The
major responsibility fell upon my good friend the Rev. John Fleetwood aided by
Joan, his wife. In both Stondon Massey and Blackmore the congregations
appreciated the ministry and pastoral care of this retired colleague who lives
in Blackmore. Everything was in apple-pie order when I returned.
The Anglicans and Baptists
continue to work together with young people. Staffing is a perennial problem.
Our Baptist friends are putting a new floor into their church and meanwhile are
holding their services in Blackmore Parish Church. A theological student is
serving as a trainee pastor to the Baptists for a year before going to
theological college. He is a welcome addition to the Baptist Team. The jointly
held fortnightly prayer meeting is growing. The fortnightly bible study has
become three house groups, which we hope will increase in number. The Mothers'
Union is a small group but the Young Families Group is flourishing and now
supports a monthly morning communion. Blackmore Wives has revived with an expressed
desire to be church related. The Family Service each month is attended by the
newly formed Scout Cub Troop as well as by the Brownies and Covenanters.
In May, my duties as official
escort to Mrs Joan Hobbs while she was Chairman of Brentwood District Council,
came to an end. I found it an interesting, instructive and rewarding experience
and in some ways I miss it.
Because of my absence in North
America I was not able to organise Gift Days in our two parishes but whilst I
was away Blackmore held a Flower Festival featuring September Saints which was
well attended and much appreciated. Days later Stondon Massey held its annual
See Stondon Church Exhibition. Despite rainy periods the exhibition was well
attended and the stalls well patronised. We are fortunate in having two such
lovely 12th century churches as the Priory Church of St. Laurence and St. Peter
& St. Paul in which to feature the occasions I have described. Mention of
the three Christian communities in our united benefice is a reminder that
distinctive traditions and firmly held convictions in respect of doctrine do
not hinder a loving and mutually supportive relationship in the Church's
outreach to the community.
That last word brings me
naturally to speak of our two senior citizens clubs. One meeting at the Ex
Servicemen's Club seems to be in danger of closing whilst the Jericho 60+ Club
is a growing and going concern. Our Blackmore Primary School and the P.N.E.U.
School at Stondon are going well. The Deputy Head at Blackmore is leaving to
take up a Headship at Broxbourne so we shall need a replacement. The Blackmore
Players continue-to entertain with three productions a year. The stage setting
and acting seem to me of a high order. The Stondon Singers who specialise in
the music of William Byrd have had an encouraging year. They were asked to sing
Evensong in Ely Cathedral not long ago and their music was appreciated. The
usual village events took place, the Village Fayre Weekend and the Bonfire
& Fireworks Display on Guy Fawkes Day.
As I write these lines we are
in the Autumn of the year. Trees are beginning to look threadbare and they
picture to me the autumn of life. In two years time I shall move from being a
septuagenarian to becoming an octogenarian. A number of people who were
meaningful friends have surrendered their mortal lives during this year past
and I feel the poorer and lonelier for their going. It has to be that way or it
would signify that those friendships were not what friendship should be. One
wonders whether our world is not itself in an autumn experience. There is so
much that suggests decay, breakdown and a summer passed. At a human level and
in the realm of the spirit our world is a battlefield. The cry on every hand is
for peace. The Bible itself echoes the cry. Jeremiah accused the rulers of his
people saying, "They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying,
'Peace, peace, when there is no peace'." It is wonderful for the Christian
who hears the voice of God when he reads the Bible and hears too, Jesus saying
"Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do
I give. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." World
peace begins in heaven, in the heart of Jesus and on earth it begins in your
heart and mine when Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, lives there.
I began with the expression
"Promise and Fulfilment". In the closing message of the Bible, the
Revelation, the Lord Jesus makes a promise. "I will make a new heaven and
a new earth." Patching up will not do. The old must be completely done
away with. Something altogether new and free from the self-destructive elements
of the old. It has begun already for those in whose experience the Christ has
already established the "Kingdom of God within you". The promise is
in process of being fulfilled but we look for a complete and unending
fulfilment in a time still future, for our long-suffering Creator God is giving
men time for a change of mind and an amendment of life. This letter will go to
those who are dear to me by the ties of nature and friendship. Some may need to
use the time given by God in his patience for such a change of mind, for such
an amendment of life.
I send my affectionate regards
and good wishes for Christmas and the New Year.
Montague H. Knott
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