08 May 2022

Praying with the Psalms in Easter:
8 May 2022 (Psalm 74)

‘Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?’ (Psalm 74: 1) … sheep grazing on the Curragh of Kildare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I am back in Stony Stratford after visiting London yesterday for a church service and a dinner. Today is the Fourth Sunday of Easter. Before this day begins, I am continuing my morning reflections in this season of Easter continues, including my morning reflections drawing on the Psalms.

In my blog, I am reflecting each morning in this Prayer Diary in these ways:

1, Short reflections on a psalm or psalms;

2, reading the psalm or psalms;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Psalm 74:

Psalm 74 is the second psalm in Book 3 in the Book of Psalms, which includes Psalms 73 to 89. In the slightly different numbering scheme in the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, this is psalm is numbered as Psalm 73.

This is the third of the ‘Psalms of Asaph.’ These are the 12 psalms numbered 50 and 73 to 83 in the Masoretic text and 49 and 72-82 in the Septuagint. Each psalm has a separate meaning, and these psalms cannot be summarised easily as a whole.

But throughout these 12 psalms is the shared theme of the judgment of God and how the people must follow God’s law.

The attribution of a psalm to Asaph could mean that it was part of a collection from the Asaphites, identified as Temple singers, or that the psalm was performed in a style associated with Asaph, who was said to be the author or transcriber of these psalms.

Asaph who is identified with these psalms was a Levite, the son of Berechiah and descendant of Gershon, and he was the ancestor of the Asaphites, one the guilds of musicians in the first Temple in Jerusalem.

Asaph served both David and Solomon, and performed at the dedication of Solomon’s Temple (see II Chronicles 5: 12). His complaint against corruption among the rich and influential, recorded in Psalm 73, might have been directed against some of court officials. The words used to describe the wicked come from words used by officials of the cult or sacrificial system.

Several of the Psalms of Asaph are categorised as communal laments because they are concerned for the well-being of the whole community. Many of these psalms forecast destruction or devastation in the future, but are balanced with God’s mercy and saving power for the people.

Psalm 74 is a Maskil of Asaph or contemplation, and a community lament, voicing the pleas of the people in their exile and captivity in Babylon.

The theme of Psalm 74 revolves around the opening verse, which asks: ‘O God, why do you cast us off forever?’ The psalm, which forecasts destruction, comes across as a cry out to God, asking when salvation will come and when God will save the people from the depths of their despair.

Amid the cries of despair, a voice of praise to God comes through.

Psalm 74 had echoes for the community of the people during their captivity in Babylon. The enemy had damaged everything in the sanctuary and destroyed all the places of worship.

Asaph, one of the three temple singers assigned by King David to the Temple, wonders why God’s anger has allowed this invasion or this destruction to happen.

This psalm may divided into four sections:

1, The opening verses of this psalm (verses 1-3) implore God to remember God’s people ‘who you acquired long ago’, ‘your heritage,’ and to remember Mount Zion, ‘where you came to dwell.

Verse 1 portrays the image of the people as God’s flock, ‘the sheep of your pasture.’

2, The psalm continues (verses 3b to 11) by describing the destruction of the Temple by the enemies of God.

3, Then, in verses 12-17, the psalm recalls and praises the might of God.

4, The psalm ends (verses 18-23) by imploring God to remember Israel and to come to the aid of the people.

The enemy is not named, but may refer to King Nebuchadnezzar. According to the Targum, the reference is to Antiochus Epiphanes.

With Bishop David Hamid at a USPG conference in High Leigh … he introduces this week’s theme in the USPG Prayer Diary

Psalm 74 (NRSVA):

A Maskil of Asaph.

1 O God, why do you cast us off for ever?
Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago,
which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage.
Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell.
3 Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.

4 Your foes have roared within your holy place;
they set up their emblems there.
5 At the upper entrance they hacked
the wooden trellis with axes.
6 And then, with hatchets and hammers,
they smashed all its carved work.
7 They set your sanctuary on fire;
they desecrated the dwelling-place of your name,
bringing it to the ground.
8 They said to themselves, ‘We will utterly subdue them’;
they burned all the meeting-places of God in the land.

9 We do not see our emblems;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is no one among us who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name for ever?
11 Why do you hold back your hand;
why do you keep your hand in your bosom?

12 Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the earth.
13 You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You cut openings for springs and torrents;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you established the luminaries and the sun.
17 You have fixed all the bounds of the earth;
you made summer and winter.

18 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and an impious people reviles your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals;
do not forget the life of your poor for ever.

20 Have regard for your covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.
21 Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Rise up, O God, plead your cause;
remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.
23 Do not forget the clamour of your foes,
the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.

Today’s Prayer:

The theme in this week’s prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is ‘Celebration in Casablanca.’ It is introduced this morning by the Right Revd Dr David Hamid, Suffragan Bishop in Europe:

‘It is not very often in the Church of England that we have to expand a church building in order to accommodate a growing worshipping congregation. That is precisely what has happened in Saint John the Evangelist Church in Casablanca.

‘Saint John’s has been home to Anglicans and other English-speaking Christians since 1906. In recent years the numbers of Christian migrants from all over the world has increased. In response, a plan was developed to build a community centre and extend the church building to almost double the capacity for attendance at services.

‘Among the growing sector of the congregation of Saint John’s are Filipino migrants. This year, Father Virgilio Fernandez, a priest from the Iglesia Filipina Independiente who is serving here with the support of USPG, has been appointed as the locum priest in Saint John’s to assist with the care for this community.

‘The dedication of the church extension was celebrated in September 2021. A civic ceremony welcomed political, diplomatic and ecumenical dignitaries and gave thanks to the collaboration from the Moroccan authorities. Celebrations continued with a Christian liturgy for the re-hallowing of the Church, the blessing of new stained-glass windows, baptisms and confirmations.’

The USPG Prayer Diary this morning (8 May 2022, Easter IV) invites us to pray:

Miraculous God,
you make the impossible possible.
May we continue to have hope in
you and in each other.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

United Reformed Church in
Newport Pagnell has roots
in 17th century dissent

Newport Pagnell United Reformed Church can be seen through an interesting arch on High Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

During my visit to Newport Pagnell earlier this week, I visited both the Parish Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and the site of Tickford Priory, now Tickford Abbey. But SS Peter and Paul Church also has a past association with the United Reformed Church, which I came across when I saw it through an interesting arch on High Street, Newport Pagnell.

Newport Pagnell URC began life as a Congregational Church in the 1660s and today it is part of the United Reformed Church, which has brought together English Presbyterians, Congregationalists in England, Wales and Scotland, and members of the Churches of Christ, through unions and mergers in 1972, 1981 and 2000.
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In all, the URC has over 100,000 members and almost 800 ministers throughout the United Kingdom in 1,600 congregations.
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The church in Newport Pagnell dates from 1660, when the Revd John Gibbs (1627-1699), a Puritan minister during the Cromwellian era, was ejected as the Vicar of the Parish Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul after he refused Communion to people he regarded as undesirable. He had known Baptist sympathies, although his followers identified with the ‘Independents’ or Congregationalists.

Gibbs was the son of a Bedford cooper, and he was a close friend from childhood days of John Bunyan (1628-1688), the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, who was part of the Cromwellian garrison in Newport Pagnell.

Gibbs studied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, graduating BA in 1648. Two years later, he succeeded the Revd Samuel Austin, who was ejected by the Cromwellians as Vicar of Newport Pagnell in 1650. Gibbs was at the forefront of the social and political upheavals in the mid-17th century and an active supporter of the Parliamentarians or Cromwellians.

In the theological atmosphere in Restoration England, his preaching was unacceptable even before the great ejection of 1662. Gibbs was then licensed as a Presbyterian preacher in 1662, and a number of former parishioners started to meet with him in William Smyth’sa barn at the back of the site of the present church building.
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Gibbs was influential in dissenting church circles, and he was jailed on several occasions. He was an opponent of infant Baptism and many of his contemporaries regarded him as an Anabaptist.

The new church was formed on ‘Independent’ or Congregationalist’ principles, and it predates almost all Congregationalist churches in Engand that began to develop from 1662 on. Gibbs continued his ministry in Newport Pagnell until he died on 16 Junein 1699. He was buried at the parish church in Newport Pagnell.

The first purpose-built chapel on the site was built three years later, in 1702. A beam from the barn can be seen in the remains of the chapel that was demolished to make way for the present church building.
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The Revd William Bull (1738-1814), a key figure in the history of the church, was ordained in 1764, when he succeeded the Revd James Belsham as pastor of the Independent Church in Newport Pagnell. Bull was a friend of the hymnwriter John Newton (1725-1807), curate in nearby Olney in Buckinghamshire for 16 years, of the poet and hymnwriter William Cowper (1731-1800), and of many prominent of the Clapham Sect, including Zachary Macaulay, Thomas Babington.

With Newton’s support, Bull founded the Newport Pagnell Theological College, also known as the Academy, in 1782. He frequently preached in London chapels at the invitation of Lady Huntingdon.

The Revd William Bull, who died in 1814, was the minister in the church for 50 years until he died on 23 July 1814.. He was succeeded by his son, the Revd Thomas Palmer Bull, who died in 1859. William Bull’s grandson, the Revd Josiah Bull, also ministered in the church, so that these three generations of the Bull family had a ministry in Newport Pagnell that spanned 105 years.
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Newport Pagnell Theological College closed in 1859. By then it had trained over 100 ministers. The remaining students and funds were transferred to Cheshunt College and later Westminster College Cambridge.
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As the congregation in Newport Pagnell grew, alterations and extensions were made to the chapel. The present church was built in 1880-1881 and designed by the London-based architect Sir John Sulman (1849-1934), who emigrated to Sydney in 1885, where he became one of Australia’s most prominent architects.
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The church is built of red brick in Flemish bond with Bath stone dressings, and it has a south-north orientation rather than the traditional, liturgical east-west orientation. There are memorials to the Revd John Gibbs, the Revd William Bull and his successor the Revd Thomas Palmer Bull.
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Other tablets and memorials commemorate Thomas Hackett, a student at Newport Evangelical Institution, who ‘died unexpectedly’ in 1821; Jones Milas (d 1852), secretary of the British and Foreign School Society; and Arthur George Percy French.
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Apart from a fire in the roof in 1979, the church remained largely unchanged until a major redevelopment of the building that began in 2006.
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Today, the church describes itself as an inclusive church wherein which all are welcome. The Revd Jo Clare-Young has been the minister since January 2022. The regular Sunday service is at 10:30 every Sunday morning.
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The present church was designed by the architect Sir John Sulman (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)