Summer 2026

VIEW FROM THE HEIGHTS               

Summer 2026

“This is a large work I’ve called you into, but don’t be overwhelmed by it. It’s best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance.”

Matthew 10: 42 TMSG

Greetings!

And Happy Summer!

This is an intense summer! Joy-filled celebrations of America’s 250^th (congratulations, USA!); football fever worldwide (well done, all players); and extreme heat in much of the Northern Hemisphere (must try harder, people!)

 The failure to take better care of our climate, in no way diminishes our other successes and celebrations. But we need to pay more attention to God’s good Earth.

And make sure that those most affected by climate change are provided for.

The Bible has its own climate heroes. When the last Ice Age came to an end (@10,000 BCE), the Black Sea and Mediterranean basins endured devastating floods. Men like Noah (most likely many like him) did what they could to protect animals and preserve biodiversity.

In a later era, Joseph stepped up to help Egypt when drought and famine threatened. He arranged for both long-term food storage and the construction of a large reservoir.

High Priest Simon the Just (219-196 BCE) likewise insured Jerusalem’s water supply by digging a cistern “like the sea in circumference” (Sirach 50: 3).

Scripture saints conserve at scale! Jesus also addressed food and water security, but his focus was local and personal. “Help trees survive”, he advised (Luke 13: 6-9).

And be ready to offer food and drink to those in need.

We must all do our bit to save and share and protect vital water resources. Jesus’ mandate to give a cup of water can mean digging a well, or eliminating pollutants, or suing polluters!

Sometimes, Jesus’ words mean no more and no less than what he first said:

 “Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty.”

During Bengt’s surprise (but not serious) visit to the English Accident & Emergency Dept.

we encountered enough kindness for many sermons. (Most of you have heard one already). Mattie, the autism support dog who was there with her human, was a focus of loving care. She licked every patient and every relative/friend in the waiting room.

No one there was going to do without her support!

And every waiting relative and friend returned the favour. Each of us made sure that Mattie’s water bowl was regularly filled with fresh water. Licking is thirsty work!

As is living. Yet, according to water.org, 2.1 billion people — 1 in 4 — lack access to safe water. This impacts the health and livelihood of more than one-third of our global population. The water charity reminds us that,

“Access to safe water can turn problems into potential —

 unlocking education, economic opportunity, and improved health.”

Clearly, our world needs more Josephs and Simons!

It is not in our personal remit to construct reservoirs, or artesian wells, or safe plumbing systems, but we can all contribute. Donating to a clean water project or lobbying against/ shopping against a water polluter support the distribution of “cool cups of water”.

Giving water to a thirsty animal, or a person stuck outside in the heat, or a tree whose roots are trapped by tarmacadam, are other ways to fulfill Jesus’ mandate.

When he said it, he meant it!

Wishing you a summer of relaxation, refreshment, and rehydration!

Blessings,

Brenda

June 2025

VIEW FROM THE HEIGHTS               

June 2026

Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear.

Let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.

James 1: 19, 21 The Message

Greetings!

Yesterday, we celebrated Pentecost. The high point of our service was Thomas, Grace, and Mrs Momah singing “Washed in the Blood” – in English and Igbo. It was brilliant!

The blending of languages and the bonding of cultures is at the heart of Pentecost.

And the message of Pentecost is at the heart of Christian teachings:

The Good News of God’s love is for all people from all ethnos.

When Spirit came in power to Jesus’ disciples, it was to bring the gift of multilingual communication. Speaking and listening in the languages, accents, and cultural idioms of others: to share God’s love and heal fractured humankind.

In his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV emphasized how important this is. He writes:

"War is not only fought, but also culturally conditioned through simplistic narratives, a friend-or-foe mentality, disinformation and fear."

Simplistic narratives cause division and conflict.

Spirit-inspired narratives connect people and communities.

Spirit-inspired speech gives voice to God’s love.

It is authentic and affirmational.

When I grew up, accents were everything. The crispness of the consonants, the shape of the vowels, determined a person’s whole life. My headmistress sent to me to elocution classes to lose my South-East London ones. She said that I would never get into a London teaching hospital speaking as I did.

I followed her advice and learnt to say garage vs. “garrige”, cold with an “l”, and “Rome” with only 2 syllables. (Versus 3: Row-ah-um)

Speech classes worked! I trained as a nurse at one of London’s best hospitals.

And eventually studied preaching with Peter Gomes, one of American Baptist’s greatest preachers. Recently, however, I’ve found myself going back to South-East London speak. I never quite mastered “Rome” – now, I don’t try!

In grammar school, I learned to “code switch” to the middle class via my diphthongs and triphthongs. Now, I’ve switched back!

It’s partly nostalgia for my childhood community. But it is also a rebellion against the current obsession with poshness & wealth.

Well, we have to do something…

Blessedly, Spirit does not demand posh accents or the “right” language.

But she does try to improve our speaking styles: emphasizing our love words, eliminating syllables of scorn, retraining tetchy tongues.

Spirit does silences too…

All at once, a strong wind shook the mountain and shattered the rocks.

But the Lord was not in the wind.

Next, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

Then there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

Finally, there was a gentle breeze.  

(Or “a soft whisper” or “hardly a sound.”)

1 Kings 19: 11-12 C.E.V.

Sending you gentle blessings and soft whispers of God’s love,

Brenda

May 2026

VIEW FROM THE HEIGHTS               

May 2026

“Pursue the goal of peace  with everyone—and holiness as well.”

Hebrews 12: 14 C.E.B.

Greetings!

Driving to church last week, I began listening to an NPR broadcast about hate groups. As my anxiety & blood pressure increased (!), I had the gradual presence of mind to change to classical music.  Marvellously, CRB was playing Ralph Vaughan Williams, “A Lark Ascending.” Its haunting beauty was immediately calming. My pent-up angst morphed into worry about larks.

Vaughan Williams wrote his best-loved opus in July 1914. On the eve of the humanitarian, ecological, and financial disaster we call, “The First World War.”

“A Lark Ascending” is a testament to peace - and nature unharmed by human conflict.

Even though he was 42 years of age, the composer enlisted. He served in the thick of battle, including at Ypres. After the Armistice, works such as the “Pastoral Symphony” were his lament, and his protest against, the horrors he had witnessed.

Edward Elgar was similarly impacted by WWI, albeit too old to enlist. Best known for his pre-war Imperialist marches, Elgar’s music became more contemplative and introspective after 1918. The 1919 “Cello Concerto” is a meditation on grief and struggle in E minor. It is one of the greatest works for the instrument. (Listen to it played by Jacqueline du Pré.)

Music has the power to transform hearts and minds. As do all the Arts. From poets to painters to photographers, great artists movingly convey the horrors of conflict and destruction, and the blessings of peace.

Which brings me to politics! I wonder whether we ask the wrong questions of our representatives in government. We inquire about their fiscal policies, their [supposed] faith beliefs, and their attitudes to families, foreigners, and formalised othering.

What if, instead, we questioned their taste in music, and fine art, and literature?

A reader of Wilfred Owen would not quickly rush us into war. Dickens’ fans are, by definition, compassionate to the poor. Elgar’s “Cello Concerto” played by du Pré, is at once a plea for peace, a call for rights for the differently- abled, and a demand that governments support scientists in their search for cures for terrible diseases as MS.

A cello concerto, an echo of lark song, a portrait of “Gassed” soldiers,[1] and of children held in detention[2] …

Pretty soon, we could save the whole world.

May you be blessed by good books and beautiful music.

May you be blessed by God’s peace.

Brenda

Tina Datsko de Sánchez, “Poem 30”, Dancing Through Fire

Remember, dear ones, peace is a choice.

Even amidst crashing waves of grief, pain, despair

stands a lighthouse with a glowing beacon,

warm as sunlight, pouring out love.

Swim for it.

Even amid the cacophony of worry, frustration, anger

a clear true note shimmers.

Tune your ears to peace.     

---

[1] John Singer Sargent, 1919

[2] Charles Dickens, “Oliver Twist”, 1838