RECTOR’S LETTER

Dear Friends and Parishioners,

When I was at school I had rather a lot of trouble learning French grammar. But some words were always easy to remember: the folies bergère at Paris, where les mademoiselles performed le can-can. And of course there are those words that have become part of our language: restaurant, café, parliament. And there are phrases too that mean more to us in French than their English equivalent would. What about raison d’être? The reason to be, it means in English. But it means more to us than that, doesn’t it? Raison d’être can mean our purpose, our motivation, our distinguishing mark.

In the calling and response of the Disciples we discover that the raison d’être of the Christian is the willingness to hear the call and to forgive.

We who are members of the kingdom of heaven are people who have been called and have been forgiven. This community to which we belong owes its very existence to the forgiveness made possible by the Lord Jesus’ death, for we are the people for whom Jesus died.

And there’s another French word that comes into use here. You’ve heard the expression ‘noblesse oblige’. ‘I do what I do because I’m obliged to do it’. It’s my duty! And so we are obliged, it is our duty – to forgive any personal wrong that has been done to us. This means we must always be conscious of and never get tired of forgiving others.

How can the forgiven be unforgiving? It’s an impossibility. We should think of ourselves as a society – the society of the forgiven. But this society will have no purpose if we who are forgiven are ourselves unforgiving. May I wish you every Spring delight as new growth and new life burst forth.

Yours very truly,

Ian Whittle, The Rectory, Langham 01328 830246