MONTHLY UPDATE FROM SIMON

September 2025

Dear Friends

Here’s one of the great chicken and egg conundrums:  what comes first, faith or understanding?  Do you first take a leap of faith, believing that it will lead to a greater understanding of life?  Or do you first try to work out what life is all about, and only then make some kind of faith commitment if it seems reasonable to do so?

Someone who addressed this question was the 11th century monk and Archbishop of Canterbury, St Anselm.  Anselm was a philosopher and theologian, and after much thought and prayer he concluded that faith must be our starting point: it is on the basis of faith that we are led to knowledge and understanding – not the other way round.

He wrote: ‘Neque enim quaero intelligere ut credo, sed credo ut intelligam’ (‘I do not seek to understand in order that I may believe, but rather, I believe in order that I may understand’).  And ever since then, the phrase ‘faith seeking understanding’ has been used by those who identify with his approach.

I find it helpful.  I’ve come to believe that the way we know God is by first committing ourselves to him and then allowing our understanding to develop.  It’s like learning to swim: you can only do so by getting in the water and trusting its buoyancy.  If we try to live by faith, we gradually discover more of God’s mystery and his love.  Faith is foundational; understanding is its fruit.

Similarly, it is by looking at the world through the lens of faith that we are helped to make sense of it.  We learn to see God’s hand at work in acts of compassion and self-sacrifice.  We begin to recognise his presence in things of beauty, goodness and truth.  We are enabled to see that death is not the end, and that life and love will triumph, despite so much ugliness and pain.

So, Christian discipleship has two stages.  First it involves taking faith seriously and trying to place it at the centre of our lives.  For some people, such as those who have a dramatic conversion experience, this is something sudden and overwhelming.  For most of us, it’s a life’s work.

But the second stage is just as important.  It’s about applying our faith: using it to deepen our understanding both of God and the world in the way suggested by St Anselm.  Using it to shape and inform our minds.

Some of you have suggested us having an informal monthly discussion group to help us do this.  Nothing high-brow or exclusive: just an opportunity to discuss whatever topics we choose in the light of our faith, in the hope of deepening our understanding – if only a little.  It’s a good idea, and I’m proposing that we start this month, taking Anselm’s words as our title: ‘Faith seeking understanding’.

We’ll aim to meet in the Law Room for an hour or so on the third Wednesday of every month at 6pm – starting on 17th September.  The sort of topics we might choose could be prayer, the Bible, caring for creation, peace-making, forgiveness, the Parables, and so on – but we can follow our instincts.  I’ll try and start things off each month, perhaps with a passage of scripture and a short prayer, and it will be lovely to welcome anyone who’d like to join us.

With my prayers and best wishes

Simon

Faith Seeking Understanding

Join us in the Law Room at 6pm on Wednesday 17th September for an hour or so of relaxed and open-minded discussion.  17th September happens to be the anniversary of St Hildegard of Bingen, a remarkable twelfth century visionary and polymath, so perhaps we could talk about the influence of Christian women and also share some of Hildegard’s insights about creation.  All welcome.

Holy Cross Day – 14th September

Early in the fourth century, when the persecution of Christians had come to an end, pilgrims began to travel to Jerusalem and visit the places associated with Jesus’ life.  Among them was Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, and while she was overseeing excavations, she is said to have uncovered a cross, which many believed to be the cross of Christ.

A basilica was built on the site of the Holy Sepulchre and dedicated on 14th September in the year 335; ever since then that day has been a day for reflection on the power and meaning of the cross.   As St Paul said, ‘The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.’

This year Holy Cross Day fall on a Sunday and will be the focus of the Eucharist that morning at Elsted.

Looking ahead…

We shall celebrate our Harvest Festivals as usual at the start of October.  Harting’s will be on Sunday 5th, Elsted’s will be on Sunday 12th.  It will be lovely to welcome you all to church, and we invite you, as usual, to bring gifts for the Foodbank.

We will also hold a Service of Animal Blessing at Harting on the afternoon of the 12th.  Full details in next month’s Parish News.