Rev. John's March Jottings
28 Feb 20
Water, Water everywhere and not a drop to drink!
Dear Friends
Water
The words of that well quoted line come from the “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The speaker is a sailor on a becalmed ship, surrounded by salt water that he cannot drink.
In many parts of the countryside and towns, floods have hit people and property hard. For those of us who have not been affected in such a devastating way, we cannot imagine what it must be like. No matter how much advance warning and modern technology there is to predict such things, we see how powerless we can be against such elements as wind and rain.
We all need help and protection at different times in life – dare I say, throughout all of our lives!
It was the Reverend Augustus Toplady in 1763 who wrote the great hymn ‘Rock of ages’:
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
let me hide myself in thee.
His father was a Royal Marine who died on duty soon after Augustus was born, leaving him to be raised by his mother. Augustus himself died at the young age of 38 from tuberculosis.
There is a common story about the hymn being inspired by, and even written from within, a rock cleft that Augustus once took refuge in during a storm. The particular rock is in Burrington Combe gorge in North Somerset, England, and it has a plaque on it with this claim to fame.
The words have been of comfort and strength to many over the centuries and still today in St Laurence and St John’s, Ansley. Why not join us this time of Lent leading up to Easter, to share in the peace amid our present storms and discover there is a Rock on whom we can lean!
Wishing you safety and calm in the storms of life,
Rev John
