Archive 2 at St JAMES

Open Air Service 2007      click here

Guy Wilson talk at 150th Anniversary  

20 August 1857 was a good day. God smiled on Birstwith. The weather was fine and the new church was filled with between 4 and 500 people for its consecration by the bishop of Ripon. Mr Appleyard the organist played and the choir of Bilton - we didn't have one of our own - sang lustily. About twenty other local clergy attended, led, of course, by the Vicar of Hampsthwaite. The new peal of bells rang out and, the local paper reported that after the service "about 100 friends and visitors partook of a sumptuous luncheon in a commodious tent in front of Swarcliffe Hall, to which ample justice was done."

So you might think that nothing much has changed in 150 years. Things then were very much as they are now. But you'd be wrong. Things were very different then. It was an age of candles and oil lamps and solid fuel stoves to cook on, an age of wooden ships and horses and carts and unmade roads. There was no electricity, no divorce. There were no football clubs, not until later in the year.

There were no cars, no planes, no televisions or radios or computers, no recorded anything except words on the printed page. How different things must have been then. I wonder what those people who crowded into this church 150 years ago were thinking about during the service. I mean we get used, don't we, to bringing our thoughts and concerns into church with us. Rightly we bring the world's troubles to our services and pray to God about them. Less rightly, if we're honest, sometimes the thoughts we bring with us just take over and we wake up and find we've missed half the sermon. Sorry, bishop. And we get so used to our world and our troubles that it's difficult for us to get into the minds of the people who sat here 150 years ago. We're used, aren't we, to certain sorts of stories in the newspapers and on the television and radio - the concerns of our age:

Stories, for instance about

More troops heading east

Yet another human rights abuse

Terrorist plots and attacks against major cities

Excessive drinking leading to anti-social behaviour and crime

The increasing size and cost of the prison population

A passenger ferry sinking on the other side of the world with massive loss of life

Another child knocked down and killed on the roads

A terrible natural disaster

Unseasonal storms and floods - the increasing violence and uncertainty of the weather

And finally, along side the stories we are used to there are all those adverts. The ones I especially hate are those for new technical gadgets we just must have and that will change our lives.

So typical of our time aren't they, all of them. Well, yes, but actually all of those stories and the advert came not from the media of 2007 but from the papers of 1857. Let me explain.

More troops sent east

In May 1857 the Indian Mutiny broke out. Troops were sent to India to restore order. And at the same time we were at war with China trying to open up the country to free trade and opium. And at the same time we took military action against Iran, then called Persia, because of its desire to expand into Afghanistan - sound familiar?

Yet another humans rights abuse - The weekend before the consecration of this church the Harrogate Advertiser announced a series of lectures by a Signor Gavazzi who was campaigning "against the inhuman atrocities still perpetrated in some parts of Italy under the banner of Romish persecution….. "

Terrorist plots and attacks. In January 1857 there was an attempt to poison the entire European community of Hong Kong by putting arsenic in their bread.

Excessive drinking - leading to anti-social behaviour and crime

The Advertiser of 15 August carried the sad tale of John Clayton, a retired Harrogate chemist. He had pleaded guilty to drinking a bottle of wine at the Harlow Carr hotel and then leaving without paying for it. He was sentenced to 3 months imprisonment

The increasing size and cost of the prison population. In the same issue the Advertiser fulminated with very modern sounding logic "It will be admitted by everyone that the number of prisoners increases each year… and one mighty reason for this is the increasing comfort of our gaols."

A passenger ferry sinks on the other side of the world with massive loss of life

On the very day we were celebrating here the passenger ship The Dunbar, built in Sunderland, sank while trying to enter Sydney harbour in a severe storm. 121 people lost their lives - the biggest maritime disaster in Australian history

Another child is knocked down and killed on the roads. The week before the consecration the Advertiser carried news of the inquest into the death of Thomas Appleyard, aged 3, crushed under the wheels of a dray

The natural disaster that rocked the world in 1857 was an earthquake in Tokyo on March 21 that killed over 100,000 people

And as for unseasonal storms and floods - On 15 August the Advertiser reported 10 days of dreadful thunderstorms:

"Towards the close of last week the rain fell so heavily at intervals that the brooks and rivulets all around were swollen to an alarming extent and the floods swept down the roads and streets like mountain torrents."

Well, that could have been written about the week before last, couldn't it?

And finally, those adverts - Well, the week before the consecration the Harrogate Advertiser ran an ad for a new device that would supercede the knife - it was called The Patent Pencil Sharpener.

You see, despite all the changes in the world nothing really changes in the newspapers. And why? Well, it seems to me that the reason is that human nature doesn't change. The things that interest us, horrify us, amuse us are the same as the things that interested, horrified and amused people 150 years ago. In fact the people who sat here 150 years ago were just like us.

And why is that so important? Well, perhaps it may help us to understand that what Jesus Christ said about our human condition two thousand years ago is just as relevant now as it was then. Times change, societies and countries change, technology changes, styles change but human nature doesn't change. The people who sat here 150 years ago had just the same sort of worries and concerns, hopes and dreams as we have. Their's may have been a different world but under the skin they were just like us.

And, as an endnote to prove the point - I wonder what your favourite Christmas song is, not carol but song? Mine must be Jingle Bells, it's so full of Christmas cheer isn't it? But, did you know that Jingle Bells was first published and sung in 1857. Our church is as old, and as young, as Jingle Bells. Amen to that.