The call to God’s service can be long, sometimes unwelcome but ultimately extraordinary. I thought of that when I was on one of my regular visits to London a weekend or two ago. With time on my hand, I went for a wander just beyond Cannon Street station and headed to the area known simply as ‘Bank’ where the Bank of England is based. To get there you have to pass the ancient church of St Stephen Walbrook. There has been a church on the site since around 700AD, but despite the Great Fire of London and the Blitz, a church on the site survives to this day.
Something else is remarkable about St Stephen Walbrook. It is the place where that magnificent organisation The Samaritans was formed. Its origins go back to 1935 when the Rector of the church, one Rev Chad Varah was an associate curate in Lincolnshire and had conducted his first ever funeral, that of a 14 year old girl being buried in unconsecrated ground who had killed herself because she had started menstruating, but she thought, due to lack of any sexual education, that she would instead die a slow, painful and shameful death. Chad Varah made a promise to that girl’s soul :” I stood at the end of the grave and I said, little girl, I never knew you, but I promise that you have changed my life…”
The years progressed and he became aware of others with suicidal thoughts and the need for somewhere for desperate people to turn to- a kind of ‘999 for the suicidal’. He recalls saying to God “ Then I said to God, be reasonable! Don’t look at me…I’m possibly the busiest person in the Church of England…It’d need to be a priest with one of those city churches with no parishioners…”. And yes you know what happened next! After returning from a holiday, he received a telegram offering him the Rectorship of St Stephen Walbrook- exactly what he knew was needed-how could he resist?
So, his little organisation was set up in 1953 in the crypt of St Stephens – the number of the phone line was MAN 9000, and following publicity, a newspaper coined the service ‘Telephone Good Samaritan’- and the name stuck. Its aim was very simple “to befriend the suicidal and despairing”. It has now grown from one phone number and line to a service that now operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, has over 200 branches in the UK, more than 20,000 volunteers and services in 40 other countries. Its aim now includes “..providing emotional support to anyone in emotional distress..”, and its service is still desperately needed.
Each year over 5,000 people commit suicide in England and Wales alone- and of those, 74% are men. In just one year the Samaritans had over 5 million calls of assistance to them by telephone, email, letter and now face to face.
And what about the Rev Chad Varah? He was an amazing man- not only did he set up the Samaritans and established its ethos, he also had a sideline of co-creating and co-writing the classic children’s comic The Eagle (Dan Dare Pilot of the Future) and its sister title Girl (Kitty Hawke and her All Girl Crew, anyone?). When he retired from St Stephens, Walbrook in 2003 at the ripe old age of 92, Chad was the oldest incumbent in the CoE……
I was thinking back to last Christmas where our attention naturally turned to the Nativity Story that we all know and surely love, but there is an aspect to it that is frequently overlooked. Something that Mary, Joseph and the Magi (‘wise men’) all share and that is the incredible journeys and sacrifices that were undertaken to see the Baby Jesus, “..the child who has been born King of the Jews…” (Matthew 2:2).
We know from Luke that because of a census the pregnant Mary and Joseph travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem- a journey of around 90 miles. Bearing in mind Mary was probably in the third trimester of her pregnancy it would have probably taken them around 7 days to walk through the Jordan River Valley, Jericho, past the Dead Sea and onto to Jerusalem and finally Bethlehem. It would have been a very challenging journey not just because of Mary’s condition but that it is quite literally uphill all the way and they would have journeyed through hill country. Where would they have rested, or ate, or slept? Being an unmarried mother then, they may have struggled with people giving them aid on the way, requiring them to ‘live rough’.
Around the same time another, even longer journey, was taking place. The Magi, traditionally thought to be three wise men namely Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar, were travelling from “..the East…”, and that may have been Babylon, now part of modern day Iraq. That was a journey of around 600-900 miles and conservatively probably took 5-6 months to complete- no easy journey then or now. We know from Matthew that by the time the Magi reached Bethlehem, Jesus was no longer a baby but a child living in a house where they bowed down to honour and praise Him with fine gifts.
That though was not the end of the travelling because the Magi had dreamed what would happen to them if they returned to see King Herod, so they left to return to their countries by other routes- so that was probably another 5/6 months on the road. It was another journey that Jesus, Mary and Joseph had to go on as they were warned that Herod would kill Jesus if he found him and told to flee to Egypt -a trip of 250 miles. When Herod died they then returned and settled in Nazareth- a trip of around 500 miles.
The amount of travelling and the discomfort people endured is really breathtaking – the Magi effectively traveling for around 12 months, Jesus, Mary and Joseph effectively commuting from Nazareth to Bethlehem, from there to Egypt and then back to Nazareth-quite astonishing!
However, the travelling had the greatest goal and reward of all- the safe protection, birth, parenting and honouring of the Son of God, the Messiah-our Saviour. I hope you all had a blissful Christmas one and all!
One of the interesting facets of the Bible to me are the sacredness and mystical significance of certain numerals that come up time and time again in passages, to signify something of particular significance which have a deeper meaning we need to understand.
Perhaps the most obvious example is the number ‘12’. You will find it mentioned almost 200 times in chapters as diverse as Genesis, Revelation and Daniel. But why the number 12? One general accepted theory is that 12 in Hebrew culture signified perfection and wholeness in the Government and community and represents a complete divine arrangement.
Jacob, later named Israel (meaning incidentally ‘May God Prevail’), had 12 sons which represented the 12 tribes. Revelation talks about 12,000 people from each of the tribes converting to Christianity at the end of times. Leviticus tells us there were 12 unleavened cakes in the Tabernacle, where there were also 12 silver plates, bulls, bowls, ram and lambs. The book of Daniel has 12 chapters and talks about “blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of 1,335 days”. Add 1, 3,3 & 5 together and you get…12.
Going into the Gospels, we again see the importance of the number 12. How many disciples did Jesus choose? – why 12 of course! It was also at the age of 12 that Jesus first spoke in the temple when he and his family travelled to Jerusalem for the Passover. At the feeding of the 5,000, Matthew records that there were 12 baskets of leftover food.
The New Jerusalem or Celestial City as described in Revelation consists of 12 gates manned by 12 angels. Each gate is named after each of Israel’s 12 tribes. The walls are described as being 144 cubits thick or 12 x 12 and the city being 12,000 furlongs square.
The modern secular world to this day still recognises the importance of the number 12- a day consists of two periods of 12 hours, there are 12 months to the calendar year and just over 12 lunar cycles of the Moon.
We will of course be looking forward shortly to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas, something Christians have been doing since the 6th Century, and of course you are expected to take down your Christmas decorations no later than……..twelve night, which tradition tells us was when the Wise Men visited the baby Jesus.
So 12 is a really important and significant number in both our spiritual and secular world-from the beginnings of biblical time to the end days.
Call me weird but I have had a thing about gravestones and memorials- as a youngster I would walk around churchyards and memorials fascinated and often quite moved by the people who have been honoured. I don’t think it is morbid mainly because the memorials were inscribed to be read so we can commemorate their memory.
Anyway, I was in Christchurch, Dorset and whilst I was there I attended one of 'Talking Pictures TV's' (TPTV) regular Film Festivals (TPTV for those who have not heard of them, is the UK's most watched independent TV channel, and they focus on TV and film from the 1930s to 1980s or so-a great watch). I digress but whilst I was there I visited Christchurch Priory, in Dorset, an 11th century building that goes back to the time of Edward the Confessor. There are many such memorials within the setting, but one sculpture that really stands out is the one to Harriet Harris who in 1815 at the tender age of just 32 died.
Her memorial as you can see above is of her tenderly cradling one of her children on her lap, her head resting gently on his while her two older boys, their arms around each other, are at her knees, tenderly reaching out to her.
We know little of her life, but the elegant prose inscribed in her honour tell us an awful lot:
‘Gifted by nature with uncommon beauty of person and countenance, possessing manners equally dignified and engaging, she never allowed herself to be influenced by the flatteries and allurements of the world. She enjoyed with rational cheerfulness those hours which she could spare from the performance of her domestic duties. So deeply impressed with the feelings and confidence of a true Christian was this pious and excellent woman: so fully prepared was she at all times for another world, that the sudden and unexpected approach of death could not disturb the sweet serenity of her mind, nor did one repining word escape her through 14 days of acute suffering, she calmly gave up her soul into the hands of the Creator, quitting all she loved with these words: “I have had my full share of happiness in this world”’.
What an example of the way to live your life and more importantly ‘to go into that dark night’ not as poet Dylan Thomas suggested “ rage, rage against the dying of the light”, but to gracefully and serenely go on one last adventure of this world and into the waiting hands of God.
As I say, we know little about Harriet Harris, but she sounds to have been a remarkable woman and a true Christian. What an example for us to follow....
