Dear Friends,
WHAN that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,
So begins one of the finest works in English Literature, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. In modern English it might be translated somewhat prosaically:
When April with his sweet showers
Has pierced to the root the drought of March…
There is something rather wholesome about the month of April with its gentle showers and warm sunshine bringing everything to life. It is a real springtime of the year when the deadness of winter blossoms forth. It’s surprising that the opening speaks of the drought of March. March has traditionally been associated with wind and rain, but this year the summer has seemed to come early and temperatures have soared. Evidence of Global Warming we say. It maybe, but perhaps there have been times in history when weather didn’t follow the traditional patterns.
The Pilgrims on their way to worship at the shrine of Thomas a Beckett in Canterbury entertain themselves by each telling two stories. Some of them are ribald, even by modern standards, but others are moral tales. They tend to poke fun at the Church and other highly regarded institutions.
There is an irreverence which we have to learn to deal with before we can see the truth below the surface. They have a serious point to make.
This is true of much humour. Jokes can make us laugh, but sometimes we make many a serious point in jest.
We can say things in funny stories which we can’t say in straightforward language.
The stories of the New Testament, though not funny or humorous are often saying things which straightforward language is incapable of saying.
A composer played a piece of music he had written for a friend. His friend asked what it meant. The composer turned to the piano and played it again. In other words, it is what it is, you can’t explain it in words. A famous artist said that if he could say something in words, he wouldn’t paint.
Perhaps this is something of what the Resurrection of Jesus is all about. We can’t translate it into words. We have to accept it as it is. It speaks to us about new life, the death of death and gives us hope for the future. And it does this at the springtime of year, when April’s sweet showers strike at root of March’s drought.
With every blessing this Easter time.
Geoffrey
From the Parish Registers
Blessing of Matrimony
Colin and Jean Jones at St. Peter’s Cookley 10th March
Funerals
Raymond John Hutton (Stourport) at Wyre Forest Crematorium 6th March
Ronald Rey (Wolverley) at Wolverley Church
and Wyre Forest Crematorium on 7th March
Dorothy Coley (Halesowen) at Stourbridge Crematorium 21st March
Philip Stanford (Wolverley) on 11th April
There is an irreverence which we have to learn to deal with before we can see the truth below the surface. They have a serious point to make.
This is true of much humour. Jokes can make us laugh, but sometimes we make many a serious point in jest.
We can say things in funny stories which we can’t say in straightforward language.
The stories of the New Testament, though not funny or humorous are often saying things which straightforward language is incapable of saying.
A composer played a piece of music he had written for a friend. His friend asked what it meant. The composer turned to the piano and played it again. In other words, it is what it is, you can’t explain it in words. A famous artist said that if he could say something in words, he wouldn’t paint.
Perhaps this is something of what the Resurrection of Jesus is all about. We can’t translate it into words. We have to accept it as it is. It speaks to us about new life, the death of death and gives us hope for the future. And it does this at the springtime of year, when April’s sweet showers strike at root of March’s drought.
With every blessing this Easter time.
Geoffrey
From the Parish Registers
Blessing of Matrimony
Colin and Jean Jones at St. Peter’s Cookley 10th March
Funerals
Raymond John Hutton (Stourport) at Wyre Forest Crematorium 6th March
Ronald Rey (Wolverley) at Wolverley Church
and Wyre Forest Crematorium on 7th March
Dorothy Coley (Halesowen) at Stourbridge Crematorium 21st March
Philip Stanford (Wolverley) on 11th April
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