Letter from the Rectory - May 2025

Dear Friends,

For many people, life today is very busy with competing commitments and demands upon our time.  Lots of us rely on making to-do lists, often at the start of the day.  Some days are more productive than others; it’s common to get to the end of a day full of activity yet having not done some of the things we really wanted to do.

Recently I read an article by Simon Guillebaud who runs a Christian charity in Burundi.  In it he suggested that it is easy to confuse ‘activity’ with ‘productivity’.  It’s easy to allow non-urgent matters to distract us.  How often do those seated around the table answer a phone call whilst in the middle of a meal or conversation when it’s almost certain that the call isn’t important. Sometimes, Simon suggests, we actually need to do less so as to focus on what matters most.

Beth Clark, an author and publishing consultant, wrote, ‘I’ve noticed something about people who make a difference in the world: they hold to the unshakeable conviction that individuals are extremely important, that every life matters. They are willing to feed one stomach, educate one mind and treat one wound. They aren’t determined to revolutionize the world all at once; they’re satisfied with small changes. Over time though, the small changes add up. Sometimes they even transform cities and nations, and yes, the world.’

As Rick Warren, the leader of a huge Baptist Church in California, put it, ‘Without a purpose, life is motion without meaning, activity without direction and events without reason. Without a purpose, life is trivial, petty and pointless.’  With his beliefs as an active Christian, he adds that, ‘Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose life has no meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance or hope.’

Not everyone reading this will share those views.  However, choosing productivity over activity, saying no to distractions and making the best use of our time must be good if you live a busy life.  I once went on a course where we were encouraged to divide a piece of paper into four quarters headed: ‘Urgent not important’, Urgent and important’, ‘Non-urgent and important’ and ‘Non-urgent and not important’ and to place the day’s tasks in one of the four boxes: it’s an interesting exercise.  St. Paul wrote, ‘Be very careful how you live … making the best of every opportunity’ in Ephesians 5:15-16.

James Campbell