Rev. Albert Gayle
Senior Steward: Mrs Lynda Naylor
Dear Friends
How often have you felt on the outside? Perhaps you have felt outside your circle of friends from time to time. Perhaps you feel that you are never at the centre of anything.
Well you are in good company if you felt on the outside. Jesus was born outside; he lived outside; he died outside. He was never found inside where it was safe and comfortable. Jesus was an outsider. He went to outsiders all the time. He made it his mission to be with outsiders. He did not have much time for the establishment because the poor, the old, the outcasts, the vulnerable were always having the life squeezed out of them. They were always on the outside.
In Shakespeare’s King Lear, we recognise the story of a vain and
foolish King who had to experience life on the outside before he could
appreciate what life was really like for his subjects.
Lear was like most kings, enjoying the privileges of royalty: fine clothes,
wine, food and not really knowing what life was like for his subjects. But
he was stripped of all these things by his two daughters and driven outside. It
was while he was on the outside on the heath in the dark and in appalling
storms that he came to his senses.
King Lear was not alone on the outside. His heart-broken court
jester was at his side. Edgar, the victim of the power-struggles
in Lear’s palace, appeared from a hole in the heath, disguised
as a mad naked beggar. Also there was Lear’s loyal servant,
Kent, whom Lear had angrily banished. But Lear did not recognise
him because he was in disguise. Even though he had been treated
badly Kent swallowed his pride and continued to wait on his King.
All these people were outside because circumstances conspired against
them. They were not quite themselves but together they endured
the worst that the wilderness could do to them. The wilderness
brought out the very best in them. They started to care for each
other. Lear was noticing how most people lived. He realised
their pain as they struggled in the harsh conditions of life. He
had his eyes opened.
As we watch these people in our minds eye do we see our church with people
whose lives are broken? Do we see a different kind of King Lear
who was not banished from heaven but emptied himself of all but love
so that he could bring healing and wholeness to his world. But
our King too was to be broken. He endured suffering and failure
and scorn and darkness but he was the one who said that ‘anyone
who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.’
There are many people who struggle in our world, some who are pushed
outside to endure the harsh elements and the catastrophes that life throws
at them. But they can overcome because there is hope as after the
darkness of Good Friday comes Easter joy.
Happy Easter
Albert Gayle
Highgate Methodist Church came into being in January 1977 as a result of the amalgamation of Fairfield and Pellon Methodist Churches, and the buidling of the new church commenced the following summer.
The movement of population 'up the hill' from the town has meant that the church has had to move with its people. The church has been designed and built by Lanner Ltd of Wakefield.
The church building was extended in 2007 and offers now a large community room with a well equipped kitchen (which can be used by members of the community, if interested go to the Contact and bookings site).
One very special "feature" of Highgate Methodist Church is its organ - made by an organ enthusiast, Reverend David W. Cooper, who built it using elements of the organs from Pellon, Fairfield and other sources. As he proudly states in the brochure explaining this unusual project: "it is a do-it-yourself job that worked".
