From the Vicarage - November

November is a Remembering month.

The Remembering of All Saints; All Souls and All whom we have loved and see no longer - 2nd November (this year 2nd Nov at St Oswald’s).

The Remembering of World Wars, past conflicts, sacrifices made and lives lost - 11th November, and Remembrance Sunday (this year 9th November at the Memorial Hall). The Remembering of Guy Fawkes, the gunpowder plot and a time of political and religious unrest - 5th November.

Remembering is a complex but significant human attribute. Remembering can be something in which we indulge ourselves as we look back with pleasure on times and events which have brought laughter and joy into our lives. Remembering can also fuel our pain, when there are difficult or unhealthy memories we cannot erase or will not allow ourselves to leave behind. Remembering can be the faculty we most fear losing as with the disappearance of memory so much more about who we are, and how we relate to others, can be taken too.

I recently read some words written by the Irish poet Pádraig Ó Tuama, whose work and reflections I dip into from time to time. He related how, in the Irish language

classes of his childhood, no composition was thought to be complete without the

inclusion of at least one ‘old saying’. Hence, he and his classmates spent time

memorising and reciting seanfhocail (which translates as “old words,” or “proverbs.”) One of his favourites, translates as “from the stone of memory the future springs forth”. It is perhaps unsurprising that a poet finds the words pleasing – capturing, as they do, that vital link between the past or ‘dead’ (stone-like) thing which we remember and the living actions of the future (springing forth). Our remembering of the past informs and shapes the future. But Ó Tuama is not wholly convinced that the future is shaped only by how the past is remembered. He wants to add a further dimension – the dimension which bridges past and future – the present. “The future hasn’t unfolded yet…” he writes, “…anything can happen.”

But certainly, we are in the present now. I sometimes think that the future is shaped on a moment of courage in the here-and-now…” As we navigate this season’s

remembering-times, you will find in this magazine mention of occasions to which you are warmly invited, here at St Oswald’s or in other community places. Of course, some will choose to keep these days in their own way. Whichever it is, I encourage us each to remember the poet’s reference to ‘a moment of courage in the here-and-now’. A moment seems such a fleeting thing but courage comes from a deep

place. In this present time, some will be wearied by personal or shared grief. In this present time, many are burdened by a growing mistrust in the systems and

processes around us.

In this present time, violence and conflict and unrest blight our world and nation. In this present time, political, religious and cultural differences tear communities apart.

In this present time, or moment, what is the courage which we, individually and

collectively, need to find in order to shape our future and the future of our

communities and world for the better? Will we dig deep, and find it?

Love & Prayers

Carolyn

The Reverend Carolyn A James