Three Valleys Benefice Announcements Benefice Calendar Churchwardens' Facebook page Safeguarding Policy Document 2018 Information Sheet Arrangements for opening churches Videos of Benefice Churches Help needed - Agricultural & Rural Chaplaincy Menu Home Contact Us Ministry Team Services Lessons for Common Worship Forthcoming Events Mothers Union Recent Events Your Wedding Baptisms Links Archival Material Benefice Profile 2017 Benefice Accounts About Our Churches Batcombe Beer Hackett Bishops Caundle Bradford Abbas Caundle Marsh Chetnole Clifton Maybank Folke Glanvilles Wootton Hermitage Hilfield Holnest Holwell Leigh Pulham Ryme Intrinseca Thornford Yetminster Home The Sinai Desert Water I well remember at school in September looking out at the glorious sunshine we never had in August and wishing I was still on holiday. In Dorset we are rarely short of water, we take it for granted and during the summer often have too much of it! Water is of course vital to life and we very quickly feel ill if we can't get it and know we won't live long without it. It is absolutely essential to our lives. The ancient Jewish people were also acutely aware of this and they also knew all about the torment caused by being derived of it in the desert. To die of thirst in the blazing sun of an arid desert is one of the most unpleasant deaths imaginable. It is not surprising then that this very unpleasant imagery began to colour the Jewish ideas of Hell. In fact, the Old Testament imagery of Hell is often more of thirst without relief in a hot arid environment rather than the later mediaeval description of a fiery furnace. Even the parables of Jesus in the New Testament sometimes build on the idea of unquenchable thirst. I find the idea of a raging thirst without relief a much better description of Hell than the one we have today because, far from Hell being a place where bad people are put, it becomes a state of being where the unquenchable thirst is the need for God which is forever unsatisfied because our own desires and wants get in the way. Indeed, as a counterpoint to the unquenchable thirst, the descriptions in the Bible of God's interaction with us is often characterised by terms like 'living streams' of water. You can almost feel the relief this represents. It seems to me that all too many people today recognise that they have a thirst and need for God but for some reason they continually forbid themselves the opportunity to quench it and far too many of them suffer a tormented thirst as a consequence. Tony Gilbert Team Rector Three Valleys Team Ministry For details of future services, please go to the Services page; for reports on what has happened, please go to the Recent Events page and look at the Forthcoming Events page too.] For up-to-date arrangements, as we receive them, please go to the Arrangements for opening churches page. See the Three Valleys Team facebook page as well for more information and to watch live-streamed services. Three Valleys Facebook ************************** A PRAYER FOR ALL THOSE AFFECTED BY CORONAVIRUS Keep us, good Lord, under the shadow of your mercy. Sustain and support the anxious, be with those who care for the sick, and lift up all who are brought low; that we may find comfort knowing that nothing can separate us from your love in Christ Jesus our Lord. ************************** For a morning and evening liturgy, published by Lambeth, to be downloaded for use at home, please click here ************************** The Reverend Tony Gilbert and his wife Nicola Home Back to Top © Three Valleys Benefice 2021