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Purity of heart is to will one thing, said the Danish theologian Soren
Kierkegaard. I write these words near the beginning of Lent, a season in
which we try even more seriously than usual to order our desires under
the overarching desire for God. Since our desires are continually
stimulated, manipulated and exploited by powerful forces in the world,
Lenten disciplines of even moderate asceticism are strongly counter-
cultural and have seldom been more valuable in promoting true spiritual
life.
It has been a particular delight for me that the daily lectionary this Lent
has us reading through the prophet Jeremiah. Few other biblical
characters exemplify such a single-minded longing after God and his
purposes. For 40 years, Jeremiah faced the political situation of his day
with utter realism. He helped his people navigate their way through one
of the most disturbing times in their history the huge discontinuity and
disruption marked by exile in Babylon. Against the false prophets, who
disseminated an easy message of business as usual, Jeremiah is
unflinching in proclaiming that God is faithful, but that a very different kind
of hope and a so far unimagined future lie on the other side of a painful
judgement. I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, to give
you a future and a hope. You will seek me and you will find me when you
seek me with all your heart. (Jer. 29:11).
kingdom of God. They had, we know, been in the habit of discussing the
various positions of honour they could expect. But Jesuss death seemed
to be the unexpected end of their hopes. And Jesuss resurrection - a
new spiritual body - was quite outside the rational categories that had so
far been available to them. So the shape of the hope that opens up before
the disciples on Easter Day is quite different from anything they had
previously known. And, not surprisingly, the new resurrection order
dramatically changes the character and capacities of the disciples too.
Europe. There is, as yet, little in the way of genuinely convincing and
inspiring ways forward. We feel ourselves to be in a kind of Holy
Saturday, with old hopes having gone and a new vision yet to crystallise.
If that is our situation, we can take courage from Jeremiah, who assures
his readers of a future and a hope that lie, not in the immediate present,
but on the other side of exile. For Christians, faith is the assurance of
things hoped for and the conviction of things not yet seen (Hebrews
11:1). And so, in the purposes of God, Easter bursts upon us in
unexpected ways with the promise of a future that we cannot yet specify.
Whatever the vagaries of human history, the seasons of the natural world
are a tangible reminder of the faithfulness of God. Each year, the flowers
grow and the trees blossom. As I write this, my daffodils are just starting
to show the first yellow of Spring. I am reminded that amidst the sad
Lamentations of Jeremiah (which are traditionally read on Good Friday),
the prophet can nonetheless declare: The Lords compassions never
fail, they are new every morning: Great is your faithfulness!
In closing, I want to thank all our clergy and lay people who will be
involved in the preparation and conduct of worship for Holy Week and
Easter. I wish insight and skill especially to those who will be
endeavouring to communicate the Easter message in ways that will
connect with regular churchgoers and visitors alike. I hope and pray that
people will turn to meet the risen Lord in the welcome and worship we
offer.
For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone
who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. For God did not send his
Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its Saviour. [John Chapter 3 verses
16-17]
The Good News of the Gospel. The Gospel is as St Paul says in Romans 1:16,
the power of God for salvation. To understand Pauls meaning, we may use
another term. Paul speaks in Acts [20:24] of the gospel of the grace of God.
What is this grace. Grace is not a thing a heavenly gas, a pseudo-substance,
which can be passed to and fro or pumped down pipelines. The word grace id
a shorthand way of speaking about God himself, the God who loves totally and
unconditionally, whose love overflows in self giving in creation, in redemption,
in rooting out evil and sin and death from his world. [Tom Wright] Pauls gospel
reveals God is all grace, all love.
In Passiontide, Holy Week and Easter we are invited to look anew at the
meaning of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. It is the
demonstration of Gods grace.
What has all this to say about the meaning of our lives today? As this article
is written the terrorist attack in London has just happened. In Africa men,
women and children are dying of hunger. It is a famine partly brought about
by war. Many of the victims are innocent bystanders.
Easter is an invitation to face the darkness to stare into the empty tomb where
death is supposed to be an end. The resurrection does not deny the power of
destruction or evil. The resurrection looks it in the eye and goes beyond it to
a new life. Easter surprises us with the whispered hint that there is more to life
than death and there is more to death than destruction.
We know that we have Bishop Knights Crozier in our possession but who exactly was
this man? His complete name was Henry Joseph Corbett Knight. He was born on 22nd
June 1859 in a poor clerical family, the son of the Rev. John Lister Knight. In 1911 he
became the 6th Bishop of Gibraltar and remained in this position until 1920 when he died
in Hitchin (Hertfordshire) at the age of 61.
According to Geoffrey Rowell, while the young 19 year old was at St. Catherine , he led
the austere life of a model reading man. He slept in an attic on the Library staircase,
without a fire except in the coldest weather; and nothing ever kept him for an hour from
his allotted time of daily reading.
But where do the paths of Bishop Knight and Corpus Christi cross? It was after becoming
Rector of Marnhull and Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Salisbury that Henry Joseph
Corbett Knight returned to Cambridge as a Fellow of Corpus Christi (thus the Knight-
Corpus connection} where he remained until his elevation to the Episcopate.
(to be continued. Part 3 - Omar Ramsden and Alwyn Carr: The Silversmiths)
_______
The Diocese of Gibraltar: a sketch of its history, work and tasks ... With map and
illustrations Unknown Binding 1917 by Henry Joseph Corbett Knight
The Temptation of Our Lord; considered as related to the ministry and as a revelation of
His person by Henry Joseph Corbett Knight
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Table of Contents
Introduction
How Jewish Was Jesus Galilee? by Mark A. Chancey
Ports of Galilee: Modern drought reveals harbors from Jesus time by Mendel
Nun
Why Jesus Went Back to Galilee by Jerome Murphy-OConnor
Jesus Baptism: Three Views
Did Jesus Replace John the Baptist?
The Galilee Boat2,000-Year-Old Hull Recovered Intact by Shelley
Wachsmann
Dating the Pottery from the Galilee Boat Excavation by David Adan-Bayewitz
How Old Is the Galilee Boat? by Israel Carmi
Synagogue Where Jesus Preached Found at Capernaum by James F. Strange
and Hershel Shanks
Has the House Where Jesus Stayed in Capernaum Been Found?: Italian
archaeologists believe they have uncovered St. Peters home by James F.
Strange and Hershel Shanks
How to Read the Plans
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'The Hiding Place' is a shocking story of what had happened to Corrie ten
boom and her family when they had sheltered Jews during WWII in their
native Holland. Stories of the concentration camps and what happened
in them had slowly penetrated into ordinary society by the 70's. Corrie's
book, published in 1971, did not dwell on the horrors, but they were real
enough. Her story was about the day to day walk with Christ that she
and particularly her sister experienced in these brutal work camps and
flea-ridden overcrowded dormitories. With their miraculously
preserved Bible they managed to share faith and encouragement with
their fellow prisoners. Betsy died there from disease and
exhaustion. Later Corrie was released. She was 52. After the War and
her convalescence Corrie was called by God to a ministry of forgiveness
and reconciliation. She travelled within Holland and Germany and then
tramped the world with the message.
Elizabeth Lochhead
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Old age and a life on my own brings many opportunities - perhaps too
many to lie as the poet did in vacant or in pensive mood. Its not of
daffodils by the lakeside that my thoughts wander, but to the early years
of my life, with my family in England.
What joy when I started work and received my first salary, Money to
spend! By the end of the month though, it was time to draw in my horns
as my wise old mother used to advise! Even today, I gaze at the array of
colourful potted plants that the little shop at the end of my road has on
display outside, and I have to say to myself time to draw in your horns,
Margaret!
Margaret de Maria
Editors Word
Dear Readers, I have several articles that have been submitted and not
included, I apologise if yours is one. Rest assured that I will publish them
at the first opportunity.
Aileen
The Malta Anglican April 2017 Page 13
The Return.
Chapter 1.
In the Chad desert we had supplied a French couple with more petrol that they
needed, and urgently advised a wheel repair at the next garage, still some
distance away.
In the Congo we had visited a cheerful village dance, and on crossing the
Equator had celebrated with some fellow travellers and locals, as tradition
demands. Such had been the incidents of the journey to Uganda by this route,
but we could not guess what awaited us on our different route home.
We would also be passing from countries where Christianity is only about two
centuries old, to some, like Ethiopia and Egypt, where the Church dates back to
the first century AD. (Mark the Evangelist was Bishop of Alexandria, and
vigorous evangelisation spread from there, and continued to do so for
centuries.)
Moving through Kenya we found it, on the whole, the leader of East Africa in
agriculture, commerce, and improvement of communication. Many miles of
The Malta Anglican April 2017 Page 16
roads were properly levelled and drained, even if years would probably go by
before they were surfaced with tarmac.
On the way in we had visited a friend from our home church of Saint Matthew's,
Sheffield, who was a teacher in Homa Bay,on the shores of Lake Victoria. He
had a neat bungalow with a garden, and the town was pleasant and quite
developed. (Now having about 8 hotels!) Clearly Kenya was moving on, despite
its very large and non too prosperous population of many different tribes.
We began our move northwards after buying supplies and carrying out some
routine vehicle maintenance. We were soon at Lake Nakuru, admiring the
1,000s of pink flamingos feeding in the lake. The next day we passed the famous
Thompson's Falls, a cascade of 200 feet, which is most impressive. The
countryside was rapidly becoming mountainous, with the peak of Mount
Kenya(5,199m.), (17,000 feet), rising above the bamboo forests.
We drove as high as tracks allowed up the mountain and parked the Landrover
and continued to climb on foot as high as we could to get the best possible
view of the summit. We estimated we had reached about 13,000 feet, but saw
it was clear a full ascent was a lengthy and difficult endeavour and would have
needed specialized climbing equipment.
We spent the night on the mountain,and awoke to find the landscape covered
in frost! The engine would not start, so we coasted downhill till it did!
Leaving Nanyuki for Isiolo I found a rather bad haircut, but also found I could
buy Spanish wine in the town. Now we were heading into the more arid region
of northern Kenya, the Marsabit desert. I think the spruce and neat town of
Marsabit was largely due to various missions, long established there.
The desertic region stretched up to Moyale on the Ethiopian border. Trees were
few, but I did see the only elephant on the whole trip eating from one!
We passed the frontier posts routinely, which were well organised,and started
up the not very well organised Ethiopian roads!
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It has been another quiet month on Gozo. We celebrated Shrove Tuesday late in
February with a well-attended pancake lunch and seven of us are attending the Lent
course which is being ably led by Susan Warner. We are meeting in a different home
each week where we do the study and then share a simple meal. We are finding Meg
Warner's book "Abraham" thought provoking, engendering some interesting
discussions.
Mothering Sunday (on a Wednesday) was celebrated during the Mother's Union
Corporate Communion and our thanks go to Val Turner for the beautiful freesia posies
we all received. We are looking forward to Holy Week and our Easter services and all
the Easter processions in the villages on Gozo.
We were pleased to make a contribution of 500 to the English-speaking Catholics, who
also use the Seminary Chapel, towards buying two new air conditioners. We are ever
grateful that we are able to hold our Wednesday services there.
Pancake Day
We all had a great time and raised 160.00 for Chaplaincy Funds.
Big thanks to Dagmar and John I am looking forward to next year already!
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