4 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Parish</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> — <strong>December</strong> <strong>2024</strong> Please mention <strong>The</strong> <strong>Parish</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> when responding to this advertisement <strong>The</strong> French Horn, Sonning. Quality. A continuing commitment to wonderful food and wine. 0118 969 2204 www.thefrenchhorn.co.uk 135 DECEMBER 2O24.indd 4 13/11/<strong>2024</strong> 10:14:39
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Parish</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> — <strong>December</strong> <strong>2024</strong> 5 <strong>The</strong> vicar's letter D e a r F r i e n d S, One of the most prominent British painters of the Victorian era was Holman Hunt. He lived for a time on Thames Street in Sonning and frequented the Bull Inn. He was also often to be seen sat at the lock chatting with friends. His most famous work is ‘Light of the world’. It was based on the depiction of Jesus from John’s Revelation, where Jesus says 'Behold I stand at the door and knock.' Jesus is portrayed, standing outside a door, holding a lantern, waiting to come in. Deliberately, no handle is to be seen on the door, for only the individual inside can open the door of their heart. <strong>The</strong> clear message is that Jesus will never impose himself. He waits to be welcomed. <strong>The</strong> original painting is hung in Keble College, Oxford, and when they started to charge people to see it, Hunt decided to make a larger version for St Paul’s Cathedral. Many years later, the painting went to be cleaned and when the restorer removed the frame, there in script at the bottom, painted by the artist, was this prayer: 'Forgive me Lord Jesus that I kept you waiting so long'. I read of this in an extraordinary book, 'Amazed by Jesus’ by Simon Ponsonby, that Westy lent me recently. I was so taken by it that we have bought the adult Confirmation candidates a copy. I have never read a Christian book quite like it; a real page turner. He brings Jesus of Nazareth to life and there was a sense that Jesus was brought near as I read it in one afternoon. As Advent begins and we await the celebration of Christ’s coming at Christmas, I recommend this book as a means of drawing closer to the Saviour. For most people, at best, there is only a passing encounter with Christ during this season: that is if he isn’t completely eclipsed by Santa and tinsel. Yet Simon writes, 'To truly encounter Jesus is to be knocked sideways, astonished, overwhelmed. Mild interest means you have not met him.' JESUS AWARENESS MONTH I understand that it was decided, by whomever, that November was to be an ‘Islamaphobia awareness month’. I have written before of my feelings on this seemingly endless creation of new awareness days, weeks and even months. Call me a cynic, but I question some of the motivations of those who push these causes, and wonder if they achieve much at all. No matter. If you can’t beat them, join them. So, I hereby declare the month of <strong>December</strong> 'Jesus awareness month'. <strong>The</strong> Lord of history has knocked on the doors of all our hearts. How long will we keep him waiting? C S Lewis, another fine Christian writer from the last century, wrote in his book ‘Mere Christianity’, something that makes perfect sense to me: 'I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.' St Paul's Cathedral version of 'Light of the World' by William Holman Hunt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord! Warm wishes, Jamie 135 DECEMBER 2O24.indd 5 13/11/<strong>2024</strong> 10:14:40
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