Talking About Revival

Many of us say, glibly, “We’re Bible-believing Christians.” But are their limits to this belief? 

This morning, shortly after the fourth decade of the Rosary, when contemplating Jesus’ baptism, I began to wonder about the descent of the Holy Spirit. 

Of course I believe that Jesus was full of the Spirit. Just look at what he achieved, but when reading THIS, I hit a buffer: 

 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory." Ephesians 1:13-14

Is St Paul referring to ME? 

I always knew it to be true. The amazing gift of God’s own Spirit, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity is too wonderful to comprehend. Maybe I’ve just untied the bow and peeked at Glory, hastily retreating into the commonplace:this God-being is too much for me! 

“Think again!” A whisper from somewhere, or Someone else. “What if the commonplace, is where we meet?”

“Let’s give it a go,”  I said, aloud.

So We went weeding. It was hard work, and exasperating, this attempt to eliminate the ivy that was strangling the sage. But there was something different. Having invited God to be present, made it more purposeful somehow. You’ll know what I mean.

“Let’s go to Linda’s for coffee!” Ray returning from an errand was up for a treat. 

And that’s when it happened. Threads that were disparate and disjointed in time and place began to weave themselves together. I spoke to Linda of meeting with Di and Emma at The Ark Cafe, of praying for the town, for the world, for Revival. Linda spoke of the Vinyard Church in Gloucester, and I remembered. I have seen revival. How could I not have known? 

1985, Wembley Conference Centre “Signs And Wonders Conference.” I attended as an Evangelican Anglican from St John and St Matthew’s Church near Rainham in Essex. Day One, The keynote speaker and Vinyard Church founder,  John Wimber stands up and reads from Matthew 21. (Jesus to two disciples) 

“Go to the village ahead of you, and you will immediately find a donkey tethered with its colt. Untie them, and if anyone says anything, tell them, The Lord needs them.”

 After one of the shortest bible passages read that week, Wimber closed his bible with a snap, and delivered the shortest homily on record. Five words that changed the lives of hundreds of people that day:

“Jesus wants his church back.” 

There was a shocked silence. Then the Holy Spirit descended and all heaven broke out.

Grown men and women, lay people and ministers from every denomination fell to their knees sobbing. People all round me dropped to the floor, some were shaking, others screaming. There was laughter too, and behaviour that looked awfully demonic to me. Wimber’s  team moved quietly through the mayhem, praying with, and ministering to, the crowd.

I was praying too. “Please God, don’t let anything like this happen to me!”

I was, frankly, terrified. This was not like any Christian gathering I’d been at before. 

Intrigued too. The following day much the same happened. Once again, I prayed just as fervently, “Please God, don’t let this happen to me!” I was safe. 

The last day of the Conference , I prayed a third time,” God, why isn’t anything happening to me?” 

He came! Not with raucous laughter or incontrollable sobbing, but a deep, deep,  peace that filled me from head to toe. Wave after wave of it. 

“I give you what you need, not what you fear.”  

There were miracles of deliverance and healing that day, and the days that followed. Right in front of me, a man fell to the floor and shook for a long time. I felt rather uncomfortable because some very sceptical people from my church had come that day, and I was worried they’d be,“ put off.” (They were …) Eventually the young man stood up raised his hands and shouted, “I’M FREE!” I felt the gentle chiding of the Lord, “What would you have chosen for this man, many years in therapy, or an hour with me?” 

I didn’t know it then, in fact I only realised it today, when recounting this story to Linda forty YEARS after it happened. I was present at a revival. I was privileged to see first-hand, the power of God through the descent of the Holy Spirit. 

Then everything returned to normal. The commonplace became the norm. But as I learned today, too, that’s just as it should be. He’s still here, sanctifying the  everyday, present in all we do. It’s all miracle. 

Amen

Post Script:

One of the gifts God has given me is that of encouragement. This poem is for you: 

I am thinking of you, whoever you are

And holding you lightly

Here- just under my heart - in the

Place reserved for God  

Wow!

I expect that comes as a surprise! 

But it shouldn't: daughter, cousin, friend,

Anyone, everyone,

You are all precious.

I guess what I am finding words to say

Are those we would - if we were wise -

Whisper, or shout,

Or  pass along, like salt over dinner: 

"You, whoever you are, are loved.

And held, quietly,

Beneath the heart of God

And here, if lightly,

In my hand."

Be FREE. 

And The Greatest Of These Is Love

 Very little remains with me from my High School days, which let's face it were sixty long years ago. Sitting in the space beneath the Domestic Science Block teaching an innocent the facts of life, aged eleven. Promotion to the B Stream, aged thirteen.  At fifteen,  being given detention for not knowing my Times Tables, Hightlight of my sixteenth  year? Shocking my teachers by doing well in my O Levels. Lower Sixth, my Folk Group Year. Singing "Blowing in The Wind,” behind Sally Fearn, lead, and only, guitar, for "The Ribbettes" at what must have been our only gig. Winning a cup in Gloucester Regatta at eighteen:small things, of no interest to anyone now, but here recorded for an indifferent posterity.  Enjoy!

Headmistress Hilda Mortimore is no hero of mine. Her focus was on the girls of the professional classes. Working-class girls like me, were consigned to Domestic Science and Secretarial Courses. Our destiny was to work in an Office and marry the boss. I bucked the trend. so much so, that on gaining the necessaries to apply for Teacher Training College, she sent for my parents and told them not to send me, because they would need my wage. Futhermore, I have the distinction of being the only student NOT to gain admission to Rolle College Exeter on her recommendation, because she didn't give me one. 

Am I bitter? Never. Not then, not now. Her unshakeable disbelief in me sent me to Yorkshire, where I made a lifelong friend in Viv Goldman,  - and met my husband. With a loving and supportive family and unshakeable faith in myself, I met my career goal, that of becoming the Headteacher of a Village School (Take a bow, Miss Read) and began the life journey that brings me to exactly where I want to be: the matriarch of an amazing clan. 

I do, however, owe Hilda a debt of gratitude. It was her habit at the beginning of every term to read the same passage from the New Testament. St Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter Thirteen. "I may speak with the tongues of men and have angels, but without Love I become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal..."

St Paul knew that love makes the world go round. Amazing to think that the most profound and lasting lesson I learned at High School was written 2,000 years ago and quoted three times a year by the least impressive educator I ever met: 

“Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. "

Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], 

Love believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].

Love never fails [it never fades nor ends]. 

But as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for the gift of special knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part [for our knowledge is fragmentary and incomplete].

10 But when that which is complete and perfect comes. that which is incomplete and partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; but when Ibecame a man, I did away with childish things. 

12 For now [in this time of imperfection] we see in a mirror dimly [a blurred reflection, a riddle, an enigma], but then [when the time of perfection comes we will see reality] face to face. Now I know in part [just in fragments], but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known [by God]. 13 And now there remain: faith [abiding trust in God and His promises], hope [confident expectation of eternal salvation], love [unselfish love for others growing out of God's love for me], these three [the choicest graces]; but the greatest of these is love.*

Happy Valentine’s Day! 

Amen 

(*Amplified® Bible Copyright © 2015 by

The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631)

Letter to Matt Bishop MP

Monday 27 January 2025

Dear Matt Bishop,

My son in law , aged 44, worked in the tech industry before suffering a massive stroke that left him paralysed down one side, and unable to speak.. He works within his capacity, but still requires benefits. I’m deeply shocked at Rachel Reeves distinguishing him from “ordinary” people in receipt of social security because he is disabled. 

His humanity, and that of all of us, I suspect,  is now reduced in your governments view, to his/our capacity to work. This despite the fact that full employment is not the aim of a capitalist economy, as you know, but THAT was an issue addressed in my last letter to you, (August 2024) to which I received no reply. 

It’s scandalous that instead of prioritising support for the disadvantaged and vulnerable, this government is doubling down on the austerity policies that has I/5 of the people of the U.K. living in poverty, and has resulted in more than 330,000 unnecessary deaths. More to come, I suspect.

 

Poverty levels within the Forest of Dean are high, and I’m inviting you to lobby Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer on the behalf of the poeple of the Forest of Dean, and everyone like my son-law, being driven deeper and deeper into anxiety and depression by what can best be described as Labour’s, “ War on The Poor.” 

It ought to be a Labour Goverment’s priority to rebalance the economy (through taxation if that’s the only means it thinks it has) in the interests of ALL its citizens, not just the top 20%.

If Labour doesn’t change tack, yours will be a one-term legislature, and deservedly so,m.

 

Below are links to both the Philip Alston’s 2018 UN Commission Report on Human Rights on poverty in the UK ( with a summary) and the Lord’s Report on deaths caused by austerity. It is to the shame of all politicians that nothing has been, or is being done, to address the findings of either report. Are 330,000 deaths, not enough? 

OCHR Report:

https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Poverty/EOM_GB_16Nov2018.pdf

Summary:

The report is a statement by Professor Philip Alston, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, following his visit to the United Kingdom in November 2018. 

Alston highlights the dramatic rise in poverty and destitution in the UK, affecting 14 million people, including 4 million who are more than 50% below the poverty line and 1.5 million who are destitute.

He criticises the UK government's austerity measures and social security policies, which he argues have led to social calamity and economic disaster, especially impacting children, single mothers, people with disabilities, and the working poor.

Alston also points out the government's denial of the severity of the situation and the resistance to change despite evidence and recommendations from various sources. 

House of Lords Report on Austerity/Related Deaths;,

https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/mortality-rates-among-men-and-women-impact-of-austerity/

And here is House of Commons Data are poverty figures for the Forest of Dean: 

The Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, UK has high rates of poverty, especially among children.

Poverty rates for children:
In 2020, 14% of children in the Forest of Dean lived in poverty
In 2023, a fifth of children in the Forest of Dean lived in relative poverty

Poverty rates for households
In 2021, the most deprived areas in the Forest of Dean were Cinderford, Coleford, and Mitcheldean, Drybrook, and Ruardean
In 2022, one in seven households in the Forest of Dean were in fuel poverty

Factors contributing to poverty

Income deprivation

Employment deprivation

Health deprivation

Disability

You were elected to the House of Commons to represent working people. Let’s see some evidence that you take these issues seriously. Let’s see a more urgent response than “waiting for growth,” we’ve been waiting 40 years for Reeves’ neoliberal economic model to bear fruit for working people. 

Never materialised. 

Time’s up. 

Yours sincerely,

Mary Francis 

Row,Row,Row Your Boat …

11:39 Dec 10m (Tues) 2024

The seat under me is a smooth granite slab on it is witten the motto, “Go out there and now faster.” I quite like the idea, but "faster isn’t  my thing these days. 

I was eighteen, when following  two years of somewhat haphazard training, I rowed bow for ‘Gloucester Ladies in

the final of the "Ladies Coxed Four” event. History  records that I rowed in the victorious team. There is even a photo in the Gloucester Jounal (July 1969) of me, oar aloft, celebrating.

History Lies.

We were second. We lost by a canvass. 

The guys, annoyed that the Captain of Gloucester Ladies had rowed for Stourport, (the actual winners) sent the photo-journalist in our direction, and, mea culpa,  nobody asked any questions.