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Barrowden Village Website |
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Church |
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St Peter’s Church, Barrowden |
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There was an interesting programme on the radio the other day about whether you are inclined to be a pessimist or an optimist, you know the type of thing, is your glass half full or half empty?
According to the person being interviewed, who had conducted research into the matter, there is an 80% positive bias in human beings towards being an optimist. However, when asked what she observed about the British participants in her survey she concluded that the British are in denial of this and won’t admit it because it is thought to be culturally unacceptable, whereas our American cousins are much more inclined to embrace a positive outlook on life.
My analysis of the Angell household concludes that two of us clearly have good pessimistic British genes and two have the jolly American variety, I’ll leave you to decide who is who!
You will probably instinctively know from your family and friends who falls into which camp. Pessimism sometimes seems to be the dominant bias when people consider the future of the church. They often talk of falling numbers, failing finance, freezing buildings, faltering vocations, indeed the only thing that seems to be on the up is the average age profile of the congregation!
Whilst all of these issues are a challenge to all our parishes, I want to inject a little realistic optimism. (Which some might say is the proper definition of pessimism.) We have seen some new people join us over the past year or two, all of our parishes paid all their bills in 2011, and we are trying to make some of the buildings warmer. If church weddings are any indication of the place of the established church in the heart of the nation, then we are doing very well with 10 weddings on the books for 2012 and probably at least one in each of our five parishes. In one of our five parishes we have had the first person confirmed for nearly 30 years! Added to this there are the plethora of positive attitudes and actions of many parishioners that go unnoticed week by week.
Of course we can never be complacent about the future life of the church in our villages but we can take some inspiration from the season of Lent which we are about to enter on Ash Wednesday. You could argue that the self-denial and austerity of Lent plays straight into the hands of the pessimists, and indeed the disciples of Jesus seemed to have rejected the 80% positive bias in their humanity as they followed Jesus through his arrest, trial and crucifixion. I suppose they could be forgiven for it would have taken someone with a near 100% positive bias to have believed it would all work out in the end. The truth is it did, and the pessimistic disciples were transformed into optimists for the future life of the church! Lent takes us on that journey again; contemplating failure in the run up to Good Friday, but at least we, unlike the disciples, know that Easter Day will follow.
So, for the pessimists amongst us, whose glass is only half full, may we be surprised to find it is overflowing by 8th April and for the optimists whose glass is already half full, why not help fill the glass of one of your pessimist friends! Geoff Angell, Priest in Charge
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February Edition |
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Last updated: 1st February 2012 |
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Geoff’s Newsletter |
