Rev Chris’ Blog

Thought for the MonthReverend Chris Judson

Join me each month as I ponder life with all the highs and lows we encounter along the way.

I hope you enjoy my blog whose aim is to raise a smile as well as give food for thought.

As always, I would love to hear from you, so please contact me 01278 781147 or c.judson@btinternet.com

God bless you,

Rev Chris

Rector for The Huntspills & Mark


April 2024 “Hope”

What do you do when you hit rock bottom? When everything is so bleak that you can’t see the way forward? When it feels as if you are totally powerless and lost?  ‘Rock bottom’ is that point where things just cannot go lower than they already are, ‘Rock bottom’ will look very different for each of us – as we look across The World we can see it taking many different forms. For some it will be about poverty, hunger and insecurity – as homes are destroyed and refugees are birthed through acts of aggression and retaliation. For others it will remain more hidden, involving entrapment of the mind and spirit, with a variety of battles and challenges. In one sense, talk of ‘rock bottom’ may not always be helpful, as it may leave some of us waiting until things cannot possibly get any worse before we seek help to change direction. But for many, that ‘rock bottom’ place is familiar – either for ourselves or others.

A wounded man, nailed to a cross is surely the ultimate symbol of complete failure and deep suffering – how could anything get any worse?     ….nowhere lower to go…rock bottom for all involved? And yet this is not where the story ends. On Good Friday, along with Jesus and his disciples, we engage with losing everything, letting go of all that we hold onto and becoming completely empty. On Holy Saturday we stay with that emptiness and space, uncomfortable though it is, so that on Easter day we can emerge into the light of his glorious resurrection, and be ready for God alone to fill our emptiness with his love, joy and peace. This is what gives us HOPE – enables us to face even the darkest of times, and yet still Hold Only Positive Expectations. Jesus has faced the worst and shown us a way through – even through death to future life.

The UK’s Eurovision Song Contest entry in 1977 was Lynsey de Paul & Mike Moran singing ‘Rock Bottom’. Their solution seemed to be to ‘rub it out and start it again’ – for which they received 121 points, and ended up in 2nd place! Jesus’ death and resurrection enables his followers through every generation to do that – to ‘rub it out and start it again’. There are no depths to which we can fall that he does not understand, nothing that we can ever do that will make God turn away from us and love us less – for he loves us completely, forever, come what may. No matter how low we go, Jesus offers us hope – for today, and for all the times that lie ahead. In his struggle against apartheid, Nelson Mandela knew all about hitting rock bottom – physically, mentally and emotionally. He came to realise that “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” So whenever we fall, let’s trust God, do all that we can to put things right, and step forward – albeit with little steps to start with.

May God bless you this Easter with his love, joy and peace, and fill your heart with his hope!  

Rev Chris   


March 2024 ‘Julian, Alison and Mum’

On the Fourth Sunday of Lent (10th March, this year) we celebrate Mothers’ Day/Mothering Sunday.  There are many different meanings behind this celebration. Some track back to the idea of people working in service being released to return home to their own mothers, half way through Lent. Some focus on Mother Church or Mother Earth. Others recognise that this celebration falls about nine months before Christmas and hence celebrate Mary, Mother of Jesus, and the angel’s visit to seek her co-operation in bearing Jesus. Simnel Cake also plays its part!

The moment I mention celebrating Mothering Sunday I know that I am on dangerous ground, as the potential to ‘get it wrong’ is immense. Some have lost, or never had a Mum. Others have had difficult experiences relating to a Mum. Some have faced the pain of not being able to become a Mum, and others have experienced heart-break through their being a Mum. It is important to be sensitive to all of these things, and more besides, but if that means that we side-step the opportunities this day gives us then we may find we have missed a chance to heal and to grow as well as to celebrate the good received from Mums, or others who have mothered, and from being a Mum or mothering others. As a child-less woman, whose own Mum died a few years ago, I hope that you will join me in seeking to embrace all that this special day brings.

One of the things that helps me to do this is that although we tend to refer to God as our Father, Julian of Norwich also spoke of God as our Mother. More recently, Allison Woodard in her poem ‘God our Mother’ offers us a refreshingly real description of what being a mother is all about – and how closely this describes God. Here’s a small section: “To be a Mother is to weep over the fighting and exclusions and wounds your children inflict on one another; To long for reconciliation and brotherly love and – when all is said and done – to gather all parties, the offender and the offended, into the folds of your embrace and to whisper in their ears that they are Beloved. To be a Mother is to be vulnerable – to be misunderstood, railed against, blamed for the heartaches of the bewildered children who don’t know where else to cast the angst they feel over their own existence in this perplexing universe.”

Her poem finishes with: “To be a Mother is to be a Touchstone and the Source, Bestower of names, Influencer of identities; Life giver, Life shaper, Empath, Healer, and Original Love.”

This year, whatever your own experiences around Mother’s Day, may you know for yourself the amazing love of God – who cannot love you any more, nor will ever love you any less, no matter what you do…..because God (who is mother to us all) loves you completely, just as you are.

God bless you as you journey through the growing time of Lent and arrive at the joy of Easter!

Rev Chris