The Best Laid Plans

by Mar 14, 2019

Luke 4:1-13

Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness

About two months before Iris was born my friend and I went on the last of our great hiking trips to the Pyrenees. Whenever we went on these trips we would take weeks, choosing the destination, planning the routes, deciding which equipment we would take, and how we would get there. Of course before we could even make those decisions we needed to agree what we were looking for, what we hoping to achieve,  and what we could realistically accomplish. Like with organising any holiday or even a group outing,  it was important that as we planned the route we were aware of one another’s limitations and preferences. It was also important that we didn’t try to bite off more than we could chew in some attempt to prove ourselves.

 

 

 

On that last trip, when we were nearing the end,  we were descending. We were tired and struggling with the path we were on, it was slow, winding and uneven. We decided it would be quicker and easier to simply walk in a straight line and meet the path on the other side of the ridge. Our arrogance and our desire to take a shortcut got the better of us, so we ignored our planned route and broke away from the path, hoping to pick it up in the woods on the other side.

 

I don’t think we ever found the planned path, instead we found ourselves having to scramble and slide down the side of the mountain, through the woods, hoping we would meet a path before we found a cliff edge. 

It is so easy to be tempted to take the easy way out, to become arrogant and lazy when you are tired and hungry.  Today’s Gospel comes immediately after Jesus’ baptism, and immediately before he begins his ministry. Jesus goes into the wilderness to fast, to contemplate, and to make some difficult choices. He must decide what his role is going to be, what he is willing to do to bring salvation and win over the world. He needs to decide if he will seek human authority as a powerful earthly ruler,
or if he will be the servant who is willing to sacrifice himself for the world he wants to save. 

Most of the time temptation is about doubt and insecurity. My friend and I doubted our planned route in the Pyrenees and were tempted to make a foolish alteration.  Like the doubt in the goodness of God sewn by Satan in the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden,  Jesus being tempted to turn the stones into bread is built on a seedling of doubt.
Each of the three temptations, the temptation to take the easy way out by making bread from stones, the temptation to take earthly power over people, and the temptation to put God to the test, are about sidelining God and God’s plan for Jesus. They are each about choosing a route ahead which is not about service and sacrifice as exemplified in the cross, and which ultimately leads to Christ’s resurrection. Jesus is tempted to use his divinity to take the easy route, exercising a violent and oppressive rule over the world. Rather than being the one who comes to give wholly of himself for the sake of all creation. Having made these choices, and challenged himself that they are the choices he is choosing to make,  he is then able to proceed with his mission. When the crowd tempts him by proposing to make him a king after the feeding of the 5000, he is able to walk away. And when he is tempted by Peter to turn away from Jerusalem, he knows he cannot. When he is tempted in the garden of Gethsemane, asking the Father to take the cup away from him, he knows he must and will go ahead with God’s plan.

As individuals and as a society we have to make tough choices about our values. And then be prepared to hold to them when we are tempted to turn our backs on them. Some of those values work their way out in what we do as a church for our community, in the way we support each other, or what we do by volunteering and supporting other charities. Some of those values work their way out through the way we organise ourselves in Government. As Christians, we need to stay faithful to the values we have set for us by Christ. Even though those values can be pretty radical,
and ever so challenging. Christian values as demonstrated in Jesus’s choices in the wilderness; values of servanthood, of sacrifice, of compassion and humility. Even if at times our country and our government’s values fall short of those.

For example, I would argue that the taking away of the citizenship of an ISIS Bride demonstrates a way in which  the values our nation holds are not in line with our Christian values. It is an example of us as a nation taking an easy way out. Idolising power which we don’t really have.  Snapping our fingers and taking away somebody’s citizenship makes them no less human, no less deserving of our compassion or of justice. Denying our responsibility to them, and our responsibility to the rest of the world, by simply denying that they are our citizens, denying our responsibility to support their children. All these are about choosing a simple way out which is not built on values of servant hood or compassion, a way which idolises our own power.

In this time of Lent we are called to spend time discerning for ourselves where God is calling us, and where we are being tempted to put ourselves or the world before God and God’s plans for us. Whether it’s the way we speak up for others, or the way we care for our neighbours, or the way we welcome others into our midst. So let us pray for the wisdom of God to guide us in all that is good and all that is right in the sight of God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Reverend Robin Sims-Williams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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8.00am Said Eucharist
10.00am Parish Eucharist with choir and Sunday School

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Privacy Notice – General

Your personal data – what is it?

“Personal data” is any information about a living individual which allows them to be identified from that data (for example a name, photographs, videos, email address, or address). Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information. The processing of personal data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR) and other legislation relating to personal data and rights such as the Human Rights Act 1998.

Who are we?

This Privacy Notice is provided to you by the Parochial Church Council (PCC) of All Saints’ Child’s Hill which is the data controller for your data.

The Church of England is made up of a number of different organisations and office-holders who work together to deliver the Church’s mission in each community. The PCC works together with:

  • the incumbent of the parish (that is, our priest-in-charge);
  • the bishops of the Diocese of London; and
  • the London Diocesan Fund, which is responsible for the financial and administrative
    arrangements for the Diocese of London.

As the Church is made up of all of these persons and organisations working together, we may need to share personal data we hold with them so that they can carry out their responsibilities to the Church and our community. The organisations referred to above are joint data controllers. This means we are all responsible to you for how we process your data.

Each of the data controllers have their own tasks within the Church and a description of what data is processed and for what purpose is set out in this Privacy Notice. This Privacy Notice is sent to you by the PCC on our own behalf and on behalf of each of these data controllers. In the rest of this Privacy Notice, we use the word “we” to refer to each data controller, as appropriate.

What data do the data controllers listed above process?

They will process some or all of the following where necessary to perform their tasks:

  • Names, titles, and aliases, photographs;
  • Contact details such as telephone numbers, addresses, and email addresses;
  • Where they are relevant to our mission, or where you provide them to us, we may process
    demographic information such as gender, age, date of birth, marital status, nationality, education/work histories, academic/professional qualifications, hobbies, family composition, and dependants;
  • Where you make donations or pay for activities such as use of a church hall, financial identifiers such as bank account numbers, payment card numbers, payment/transaction identifiers, policy numbers, and claim numbers;
  • The data we process is likely to constitute sensitive personal data because, as a church, the fact that we process your data at all may be suggestive of your religious beliefs. Where you provide this information, we may also process other categories of sensitive personal data: racial or ethnic origin, sex life, mental and physical health, details of injuries, medication/treatment received, political beliefs, labour union affiliation, genetic data, biometric data, data concerning sexual orientation and criminal records, fines and other similar judicial records.

How do we process your personal data?

The data controllers will comply with their legal obligations to keep personal data up to date; to store and destroy it securely; to not collect or retain excessive amounts of data; to keep personal data secure, and to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and to ensure that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data.

We use your personal data for some or all of the following purposes:

  • To enable us to meet all legal and statutory obligations (which include maintaining and publishing our electoral roll in accordance with the Church Representation Rules);
  • To carry out comprehensive safeguarding procedures (including due diligence and complaints handling) in accordance with best safeguarding practice from time to time with the aim of ensuring that all children and adults-at-risk are provided with safe environments;
  • To minister to you and provide you with pastoral and spiritual care (such as visiting you when you are gravely ill or bereaved) and to organise and perform ecclesiastical services for you, such as baptisms, confirmations, weddings and funerals;
  • To deliver the Church’s mission to our community, and to carry out any other voluntary or charitable activities for the benefit of the public as provided for in the constitution and statutory framework of each data controller;
  • To administer the parish, deanery, archdeaconry and diocesan membership records;
  • To fundraise and promote the interests of the Church and charity;
  • To maintain our own accounts and records;
  • To process a donation that you have made (including Gift Aid information);
  • To seek your views or comments;
  • To notify you of changes to our services, events and role holders;
  • To send you communications which you have requested and that may be of interest to you. These may include information about campaigns, appeals, other fundraising activities;
  • To process a grant or application for a role;
  • To enable us to provide a voluntary service for the benefit of the public in a particular geographical
    area as specified in our constitution;
  • Our processing also includes the use of automated systems when you visit our website including cookies to help improve your experience when browsing our website and personal identifiers from your browsing history to enable us to assess the popularity of the webpages on our website, further information about our use of cookies is available on our website (https://www.allsaintschildshill.com/cookie-policy/)
  • Our processing also includes the use of CCTV systems for the prevention and prosecution of crime.

What is the legal basis for processing your personal data?

Most of our data is processed because it is necessary for our legitimate interests, or the legitimate interests of a third party (such as another organisation in the Church of England). An example of this would be our safeguarding work to protect children and adults at risk. We will always take into account your interests, rights and freedoms.

Some of our processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation. For example, we are required by the Church Representation Rules to administer and publish the electoral roll, and under Canon Law to announce forthcoming weddings by means of the publication of banns.

We may also process data if it is necessary for the performance of a contract with you, or to take steps to enter into a contract. An example of this would be processing your data in connection with the hire of church facilities.

Religious organisations are also permitted to process information about your religious beliefs to administer membership or contact details.

Where your information is used other than in accordance with one of these legal bases, we will first obtain your consent to that use.

Sharing your personal data

Your personal data will be treated as strictly confidential. It will only be shared with third parties where it is necessary for the performance of our tasks or where you first give us your prior consent. It is likely that we will need to share your data with some or all of the following (but only where necessary):

  • The appropriate bodies of the Church of England including the other data controllers;
  • Our agents, servants and contractors. For example, we may ask a commercial provider to send out newsletters on our behalf, or to maintain our database software;
  • Other clergy or lay persons nominated or licensed by the bishops of the Diocese of London to support the mission of the Church in our parish. For example, our clergy are supported by our area dean and archdeacon, who may provide confidential mentoring and pastoral support. Assistant or temporary ministers, including curates, deacons, licensed lay ministers, commissioned lay ministers or persons with Bishop’s Permissions may participate in our mission in support of our regular clergy;
  • Other persons or organisations operating within the Diocese of London including, where relevant, the London Diocesan Board for Schools and Subsidiary Bodies;
  • On occasion, other churches with which we are carrying out joint events or activities.

How long do we keep your personal data?

We will keep some records permanently if we are legally required to do so. We may keep some other records for an extended period of time. For example, it is current best practice to keep financial records for a minimum period of 7 years to support HMRC audits. In general, we will endeavour to keep data only for as long as we need it. This means that we may delete it when it is no longer needed.

Your rights and your personal data

You have the following rights with respect to your personal data:

When exercising any of the rights listed below, in order to process your request, we may need to verify your identity for your security. In such cases we will need you to respond with proof of your identity before you can exercise these rights.

  1. The right to access information we hold on you
    • At any point you can contact us to request the information we hold on you as well as why we have that information, who has access to the information and where we obtained the
      information from. Once we have received your request we will respond within one month.
    • There are no fees or charges for the first request but additional requests for the same data may be subject to an administrative fee .
  1. The right to correct and update the information we hold on you
    • If the data we hold on you is out of date, incomplete or incorrect, you can inform us and your data will be updated.
  1. The right to have your information erased
    • If you feel that we should no longer be using your data or that we are illegally using your data, you can request that we erase the data we hold.
    • When we receive your request we will confirm whether the data has been deleted or the reason why it cannot be deleted (for example because we need it for our legitimate interests or regulatory purpose(s)).
  1. The right to object to processing of your data
    • You have the right to request that we stop processing your data. Upon receiving the request we will contact you and let you know if we are able to comply or if we have legitimate grounds to continue to process your data. Even after you exercise your right to object, we may continue to hold your data to comply with your other rights or to bring or defend legal claims.
  1. The right to data portability
    • You have the right to request that we transfer some of your data to another controller. We will comply with your request, where it is feasible to do so, within one month of receiving your request.
  1. The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time for any processing of data to which consent was sought.
    • You can withdraw your consent easily by telephone, email, or by post (see Contact Details below).
  1. The right to object to the processing of personal data where applicable.
  2. The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Transfer of Data Abroad

Any electronic personal data transferred to countries or territories outside the EU will only be placed on systems complying with measures giving equivalent protection of personal rights either through international agreements or contracts approved by the European Union. Our website is also accessible from overseas so on occasion some personal data (for example in a newsletter) may be accessed from overseas.

Further processing

If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Notice, then we will provide you with a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, we will seek your prior consent to the new processing.

Contact Details

Please contact us if you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or the information we hold about you or to exercise all relevant rights, queries or complaints at:

The Data Controller,
All Saints’ Church
Church Walk, Child’s Hill
London, NW2 2TJ
Email: [email protected]

You can contact the Information Commissioners Office on 0303 123 1113 or via email https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/ or at the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

If you have any question regarding our privacy policy, please contact us.