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There has been much discussion about the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Many have blamed the management of BP and will want to ensure that they are made to pay. There has also been great sympathy for the people of that states bordering the Gulf who have lost their livelihood and, of course, all of us have  groaned in despair about the terrible destruction of the environment and the damage done to eco-systems which will take years and years to recover.

It is remarkable how the impossible can happen. I am sure that the management of BP believed that they had covered all the bases and that they were a company that could cope with any incident. They were concerned with safety and the protection of the environment. Yet eleven people lost their lives and untold damage has been done to sea life and the coast. Just as the volcanic ash from Iceland brought the airways to a grinding halt, so this has brought offshore drilling to a stand still. It is good to recognise our limitations and to have time to reflect and draw on our resources as we seek to overcome a hitherto unforeseen difficulty.

Getting angry with BP is an easy option for the President of the United States. What he would be a little more reluctant to admit was the part the people of the USA played in the disaster. Mr. Obama has been unable to persuade the American legislature in the Senate and Congress to deal with the threat of climate change and to limit the consumption of fossil fuels, by introducing a dynamic program of lower- energy and renewable energy development. BP is actually doing what the people want and as someone has written recently “the chain of responsibility does not stop with the CEO but goes all the way from the bottom of the ocean to the ignition keys and temperature dials of American car-, home-, and office-owners”. Oil remains for some time to come the essential lubricant for all our economies and the pressure to find new oilfields and to extract the riches from increasingly inaccessible parts of the earth will continue. Companies will seek to remain responsible but the threat to the environment is ever present while the profit motive places limits of safety measures.

What I did not realise until I read a recent edition of The Church Times was that the crisis in BP affected my work and finances personally as it does thousand of others. Most pension funds hold an interest in the company in their portfolio. The Church Commissioners are no exception. Since British shareholders receive about a sixth of their annual dividend from BP, I shudder to think how the financiers are going to make good the loss. Like all pension funds there is already a sizeable shortfall in our pension funds and this crisis is bound to worsen the situation. I can see the temptation to pass on the problem to parishes and demand that they pay even more to the central funds of the church. If the loss of dividend income forces pension funds to sell other holding to make good the loss the effect on the market could be even more depressing for the wider economy.

There are some Christians who will see this as an opportunity to proclaim greater faith or dependence in God. His name is after all “The Lord will provide”. I am sure that there is a validity to this, but only if we recognise that with God’s economy we are an interdependent family. All over the world we have brothers and sisters on whose resources we can rely, just as they can trust our generosity. It is, however, reasonable for followers of Jesus to seek the security of a regular income and safe investments. Charities and Churches need to be able to pass on their inheritance to future generations and maintain their significant work in this generation.

What this all indicates is that the world is disfigured and that no matter what planning and precautionary activity we undertake, bad things will happen. What we need to concentrate on is how the world could be different, to see the distant horizon that we want to reach so that we can begin to live in a way that brings a better reality nearer. That, I believe, has something to do with the Kingdom of God. The good news is that as we wrestle with these issues we are engaging with something that really matters, rather than so much churchiness which is a hindrance to the advance of the Kingdom.

Ted Goodyer

July 2010

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It is a time to stand looking out into the garden, to open the curtains and see the flowers forming and the plants growing. The garden is full of interest and variety. Perhaps because of the cold winter and the delayed spring everything in the garden seems particularly eager to reveal its beauty. The bulbs, particularly the bluebells, have been a magnificent show and the blossom on the fruit trees has been more profuse than usual. I think there have been enough bees about to pollinate and the frost had cleared in time and so we are hoping for a bumper crop. The best part of gardening is wandering about and looking and enjoying what is there, before frantically trying to keep the weeds at bay. New life emerges and there are many surprises.

In church this month, between 10 and 12 June, there will be a flower festival celebrating “the terrible beauty” of the world. We associate flowers both with those moments of joy and celebration, and the aim of the festival is to emphasise the songs of joy, but they are also present in times of sadness and pain. I think the festival will reveal both, allowing us, as we go from one arrangement to another, time to offer up to God our praise and pain. A number of different organisations from within Gosport are joining our own flower guild and our two churches to put on a show that should not be missed. Please support it and tell all your friends.

There is an important message to proclaim. The church is a place for the whole community and we are open to all who seek to enjoy life and live it to the full. It is a space where, in all our riches, we can turn away from the busyness of life to be still and reflect on our experiences and our love of creation.

There are some strands of Christianity which give the impression that it is wrong to love the world and that we should flee from its contamination. So in the flower festival we are affirming that we live in God’s world, that it is basically good and that God loves it. What we are encouraging one another to do is to enter more deeply into life. In Hymn of the Universe, Teilhard de Chardin writes:

Purity does not come from separation but in a deeper penetration into the universe…..Bathe yourself in the ocean of matter, plunge into it where it is deepest and most violent, struggle in its currents and drink its waters. For it cradled you long ago in your preconscious existence and it is the ocean that will raise you up to God.”

I am sure that as we enjoy the creativity of the flower festival we will become more aware of what comes to us and rejoice in it.

Saturdays in summer are associated these days with weddings. On Saturdays you will near the bells ringing out and one beautiful party after another celebrating their love. I have used a quotation from Dostoevsky to encourage couple to love life in all its fullness. The passage comes from The Brothers Karamazov.

Brothers do not be afraid of contact with sinful men. Love man even in his sin, for that love is like the divine love – the highest of all. Love all God’s creation – the whole of it, every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love each thing you will perceive the mystery of God in all. Once you perceive this, you will begin to understand it better every day; and you will come at last to love the whole world with an all embracing love.

Brothers, love is a great teacher; but we must learn how to acquire it, for it is got with difficulty. We buy it dearly, slowly and with much labour. Everyone can love occasionally – even the wicked can do that, but we must love not for a moment but for ever.

There is in this an appeal to withdraw, to reflect and to evaluate our approach to life. There is a depth to be explored, not just the surface to be skimmed. If we are to begin to approach life like this, we shall be greatly enriched in the long summer days.

Ted Goodyer

June 2010

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