Page 22 - 1.News and Views Spring 2025 for Jim.

The following is a severely culled extract from a letter written by Colin Hodgetts, in his
New Year message to the Othona community. The complete letter was offered by Pat Yates.

I have sent no Christmas card this year. I make no apology because there are deep reasons. Despite a
general understanding that, when contemplating the Christmas stories, we are dealing in myth,
there seems to be an unconscious return to a default position of treating them as history. But the
only historical detail we can be sure of is that, at some point in the early years of the new
millennium, in a place whose location is unknown, to parents whose biography is at best sketchy, a
child was born who grew up to be known as the healer and religious revolutionary, Jesus of
Nazareth.

His birth is celebrated at the time of the winter solstice despite the fact that the early Christians did
not celebrate birthdays, regarding the practice as pagan. Their main celebration was a re-enacting of
the Last Supper that Jesus had with his disciples, breaking bread and sharing a cup within the context
of a meal. Midnight Mass is a ritualised version of that practice...

… Contemporary Jewish archaeologists and historians have shown that the Exodus story is a myth,
not history. This could be very upsetting for contemporary Jewish communities celebrating Pesach so
I bought a copy of “The Jewish Study Bible” and discovered that Jewish scholars are quite up to
speed with the differences between history and myth in the Torah …

….(First) I must deal with God, whom most people treat, whether believer or unbeliever, as a person.
I have been reading the systematic theology of the German/American theologian and philosopher
Paul Tillich who argues that God is not a being but being itself, or the ground of all being. As we also
share in being, we are not apart from God but part of God. Or, as Albert Einstein put it, “Try and
penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the
discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible, and inexplicable. Veneration
for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion.” . ..

… This has inspired a poem/song:
The only eyes with which God sees are your eyes and my eyes. So keep them open, taking in all that
goes on around you and in the wider world.
Hear, see and speak, hear, speak and do.
The only ears with which God hears are your ears and my ears. So keep them open, taking in all that
goes on around you and in the wider world.
The only words that God can speak are your words and my words. So only say things that uplift and
help the people round you and in the wider world.
The only deeds that God can do are your deeds and my deeds. So do those things, upright and pure,
that help the people round you and in the wider world.
We cannot say that God has eyes, has ears, hands, or voice box for God is neither “he” nor “she”. We
do not have the language to speak of God at all. Boxing Day, 2024

Othona is an open and inclusive Christian Community drawing on a wealth of other inspirations,
welcoming people of all ages, abilities, backgrounds and beliefs to our two centres on the quiet
coasts of Essex and Dorset. Through sharing in a daily rhythm of work, worship, study and play, we
seek to learn how to live together and learn from each other. In community we explore the
relationship between faith and life and encourage one another in caring for the world and its people. It
is a place of welcome and acceptance whoever you are providing simple accommodation and good
food at a low cost. Eds.

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