Back in January this year, in my third week of being your vicar I was fortunate to be able to attend an overnight residential at Rydal Hall. The speaker was Rev Richard Briggs, at one time a lecturer at Cranmer Hall, Durham, where our paths first crossed. He focused on the Old Testament (his area of expertise), and there was much to take away from the two days. But it was the discussion on Psalm 137 that left me with the most to think about.

For those of you who can’t immediately identify or quote the psalm (and I had to look it up as well!), it might help if I remind you that it was a psalm made famous by Boney M, who topped the British charts with it in 1978. The original psalm was written while the Israelites were captives and slaves in Babylon, and poses a very real question for the people of God at the time: “How shall we sing the Lord’s song, in a strange land?” That question really resonated with me, and it continues to do so.

 Given that it was so early in my time in the Leven Valley Benefice, I had gone to the residential hoping for inspiration on where to lead the three churches which were so new to me. And although we are not being forced to live here against our wills (at least, I hope we’re not) the idea of being outsiders seems to ring true. Nationally, our society seems to be getting more and more secular, with less and less people attending church, and yet those of us who are left are still trying to ‘sing the Lord’s song’ as we worship and move forward together.

Our challenge, as the church in this place, is how we continue to sing our song. In the original psalm, the singers are asked to entertain their captors by singing a song of their homeland. Their response is at once heartfelt and anguished, even as they continued to sing out their praises to God. But unless things have gone wrong, the church today is not often asked to ‘sing a song’ for the people anymore. Yet we still have a song to sing, and our strain needs to be louder.

 I have come to realise that we are not strangers in a foreign land, but instead our individual members have links and relationships across our villages and communities. The church may be seen as alien by some, but it still has a message of hope, and a stern duty to get that message heard.  The church shouldn’t be waiting for an invite to sing that message, but showing just how much our songs mean to us by our whole demeanour.

 Which leaves us with a question to think about: how are we going to sing the Lord’s song in this place we call home and in these strange times we live in?

I hope to meet you all in the coming months/year as I find my way around.  We are here to serve and help you all where we can, whether you believe in God or not.  August this year brings our Bicentennial, 200 years of working with and in the community, we’d like to celebrate that birthday with you.  

If you have any ideas on how we could create something for the community to get together and enjoy ourselves please share your thoughts we us

 Thank you for taking the time to read my note to you, we all have busy times these days so me and my team here appreciate it. 

 With every blessing,

Marcus

Vicar to the Leven Valley Churches.

 Marcus can be reached on ….. or levenvalleyvicar@gmail.com