The Huge Bag of Worries

by Jun 24, 2019

Luke 8:26-39

The Healing of the Gerasene Man

We have a picture book that was given to us when we were getting ready to leave Cambridge. Our daughter was very young and had been picking up on our anxieties around moving. It’s a book about dealing with anxiety. Perhaps the book was given for us. The book is called the Huge Bag of Worries.

In the book a child is chased around by a huge bag of worries. The bag is like a large gym bag. She tries to lock them in a cupboard, she tries to ignore them, but the bag follows her around. In fact at times it feels like it is tied to her ankle, slowing her down and tiring her out. She thinks about talking to her parents, but they seem to have so many worries of their own. Or she thinks they wouldn’t believe she has anything to worry about. Her brother and her friends claim to have no worries themselves (though if you look closely you can see they too are hiding their own bags of worries). The whole time her bag keeps getting bigger and bigger. 

Eventually she feels completely lost and alone – with no idea how she is going to deal with this bag. Then the nice lady from next door spots her sitting on a wall with her bag of worries and comes to speak to her. At first, when the neighbour starts to open the bag to see what is inside, the girl tells her not to, because all those worries will look so awful. ‘Nonsense’ the neighbour says, ‘whenever you have a worry you need to take it out, name it and show it to somebody else. The last thing a worry wants is to see the light of day’ Many of the worries disappear, some the neighbour sends packing – because they belong to somebody else, and some she offers to deal with. The last couple, which are the sorts of worries we all have to deal with, were much more manageable to the girl. Getting them out in the open made all the difference. 

Today’s Gospel is full of useful imagery Luke highlights it to get the underlying point of the message across. It starts in the land of the Gerasenes. The first man Jesus meets when he arrives is this man described as having demons.

He is clearly very sick – possibly suffering from a mental illness. He is exposed, living outside of town in a tomb,
often chained and shackled. He is oppressed and powerless – cast out by his people. He immediately recognises Jesus for who he really is. And Jesus asks him his name. The answer – Legion – for us today is synonymous with horror films which base themselves on this rather disturbing narrative.

But in the day there is no doubt that people hearing this story when it was first put to paper would have associated it with the oppressive legions of the Roman army – there is a record from a Jewish historian of a slaughter by Roman soldiers in the country of the Gerasenes – so perhaps it is that kind of brutal oppression which torments this man.

Perhaps it is a huge bag of things which play on his mind.
Anxieties which need to be named and brought out into the light of day. So that they lose their hold over him. Perhaps he simply needed to be heard. And then these worries would simply vanish, or run away, even be drowned by the overflowing of love which Jesus extends simply by treating this man as a person worth listening to.

Naming things can be such an important part of dealing with them. Leading Children’s day camps as a youth I learned the importance of knowing the children’s names when you needed them to listen to you. Calling ‘come here’ has much less effect than: ‘Solomon come here.’ Anybody waiting for a diagnosis, or struggling with an illness will know how much of a relief there is when the condition can be named – even if there isn’t a cure – somehow it becomes recognised, as do it’s impacts. Of course not all anxieties go away simply by naming them, just like not all illnesses have a cure. Sometimes we can be too scared of being judged to share our worries with another. Worried that something we have done is so horrible, and what might happen – but finding somebody to name it to – even if it is only to God – can be such a relief. This is where I think confessions can be so healing – not necessarily to a priest, but to somebody who can say ‘you are ok’ or even ‘you are forgiven’.

Once the man has been healed the townsfolk come out to find this outcast sat next to Jesus, fully clothed in his right mind. Being clothed and seated are symbols for him being in authority over himself again – no longer overwhelmed or oppressed. And he is in right mind – right relationship, with himself, and right relationship with God. No longer is he defined by what tormented him. Now he is defined by his relationship with Christ.

A couple of years ago the press discovered that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby’s father was not the person he thought it was. The press was keen to make this into a big thing and see how the Archbishop would respond.

I heard him speak about how he had found out hours before and how his press team were circling round to advise him and he said simply, ‘first and foremost my identity is that I am a follower of Christ, who my father is, well that is secondary.’ So it became for this Gerasene man.

In a way everything gets turned on its head and the townsfolk don’t like it – the one who was outside the city, the one who was the outcast, is now the one sitting with Jesus in right relationship with God.

Jesus sends out the disciples and us, to offer healing – to name the ills and problems in our society – so that they can be transformed. Helping others to find healing by listening to them. It turns things on its head and can be destabilising
but brings us in relationship with the God who declares the last will be first and the servant will be the master. And a baby boy will lead us into eternal life.

The Reverend Robin Sims-Williams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Services

Sunday Mornings

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

Weekday Services

Morning Prayer Monday through Wednesdays at 9.20am
Said Eucharist on Wednesdays at 11.00am

Please note that Public worship has been suspended, you can therefore participate in these services via Facebook live stream

Before the Foundation of the World

  Ephesians 1: 3-14 Before the Foundation of the WorldI want to tell you the truth about everything in the universe and then explain why that matters for your life together at All Saints and in Child’s Hill. I want you to imagine two great arches, one inside the...

read more
Being Mother Church

  Luke 2:33-35 'And a sword will pierce your own soul too.'Happy Mothering Sunday. The day when, historically, servants would be released to travel home to see their mothers and to worship God at their mother church. Today we give thanks for our mothers, and all...

read more
Anger, Discernment and Action

  John 2:13-22 The Cleansing of the TempleI can remember as a child having a horrendous temper. I think I was a relatively calm person normally. But every now and again I would boil over with emotion. There was one occasion, when overwhelmed with furry at being...

read more
Oh the Temptation!

  Mark 1:9-15 'The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness'I wonder what temptations you find hard, what things do you do mindlessly that you know you shouldn’t do? Or what things do you find it difficult to remember to do? Perhaps you have been told...

read more
All Saints’ Church Child’s Hill Logo
Privacy Notice

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.