Letter from the Rectory - June 2023

Dear Friends,

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Summer brings many joys, some shared, others not.  The game of Cricket tends to divide the population – a minority of us love it, others have no interest whatsoever.  The latter are often confused about the rules. The following may not help.

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The Rules of Cricket: 

You have two sides. One is out in the field, and one is in. 

Each person that’s in the side that’s in goes out, and when they are out, they come in, and the next person goes in until they are out. 

When they are all out, the side that’s out comes in, and the side that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in out. 

Sometimes you may get people still in and not out.     

When both sides have been in and out, including the not outs, that’s the end of the game. Howzat!

Whatever one’s view of the game, cricket is not exempt from some of the contentious issues of our day. I read that the laws of cricket devised by the MCC have been amended: they now refer to ‘batter’ rather than ‘batsmen’, to ‘third’ not ‘third man’ and to ‘nightwatch’ rather than ‘nightwatchman’. 

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A growing trend in Western society in recent years has seen differing opinions being held with such strong conviction that any alternative view can be dismissed out of hand, on occasions aggressively so: in many settings, we appear to have lost the art of disagreeing.

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Our attitudes much depend on our starting place.  Christians are encouraged act in a Christ-like manner in all things.  Writing to the Church in Philippi, St. Paul says, ‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than ourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.’

Such advice may appear to be a council of perfection divorced from reality, but developing a greater degree of understanding and tolerance towards those who hold different views to our own would be better for the health and wellbeing of all. 

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James Campbell