Diocese of Oxford

Letter from Churchwarden Martin Dines

September is a month for which I have bitter/sweet memories.
I used to (and still do) love August. It was/is a long month of relaxation, holidays and sunshine. As a child I was allowed to roam the fields behind where we lived. And, at 9pm my mum would call us to come in (after repeated requests earlier in the evening) when we were in the middle of playing football in the twilight on our local cricket pitch! “Just one more goal, mum!”
As a parent, our holiday coincided with school holidays and my love for August remained as we visited many different places with our children: we hired a bungalow on the Isle of Wight, we camped in France, we had Birthday Big Camps with extended family to celebrate adjacent birthdays in August. Lots of lovely memories.
And so, you can see that the impending arrival of September heralded an end to our shenanigans and a return to the ‘normal’. New clothes were ready for the coming term, replacing much loved shoes and trousers which bore the scars of the previous school year. Books and pencils were lined up like soldiers ready to advance into the new academic year.
A sort of ‘tension’ surrounded us as the hitherto relaxation was replaced by routine. That was the ‘bitter’ side.
The ‘sweet’ side was the exciting part!
A new school or an elevation up into the next class was a new adventure. New friends to make or ‘old’ friends to reunite with. New teachers to meet with. New responsibilities to take on. And, of course, winter sports. My love of rugby meant that starting in September was an absolute joy. As the weather turned, it was less painful to tackle or be tackled in the mud – and worse for my mum who had the task of washing thick cotton rugby shirts.
We are so lucky to have our memories of good and not so good times. From childhood we store up our encounters and this shapes our lives and our interactions with each other.
‘So, teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart’ – Psalm 90:12
It is with a ‘wise heart’ that I now look upon September and live each day with the joy of ‘the new’ and a thankfulness of days gone by.