Vicar’s May letter

Dear friends,

If you are reading this sometime during the first weekend in May, then Sian and I should be away at a Harley Rally near Western Super Mare. I don’t get to as many Harley events as I would like to these days. Just too busy. Not complaining, just observing. But this rally is one I particularly like and have been to a few times.

The first time I attended was not such a great experience though. The trip down was uneventful enough, but riding through Western, with my hotel in sight, the bike started making a strange noise. The strange noise quickly developed into a horrible noise and soon enough the bike stopped making progress and just made noise. I turned it off. I left it for a while to cool down and then tried to start it again. It made a horrible noise, but wouldn’t start. I tried it again a time or two. Same results. I pushed it to the hotel, which was about 200 yards away. This is a heavy bike with some luggage on board. I was hot, bothered and more than a little worried.

I ended up calling the RAC who recovered the bike to my friendly local mechanic. I waited for news. News was not good. The engine was in need of various replacement parts and a total rebuild. He recommended a new engine for about the same cost. I looked at a variety of engines and eventually bought a slightly bigger and significantly more powerful engine, which at least made me feel I was getting something for my money.

For those of you interested in such things, the new engine was 1650cc (or 100 cubic inches as generally measured in America) and delivered about 100bhp and 120ft lb of torque. The engine is a V twin (as are all Harley engines) and the cylinders have both a bore and stroke of 4 inches (making it a ‘square’ engine, giving excellent reliability and longevity compared to a normal ‘long stroke’ engine of the same capacity). Being a Harley enthusiast and something of a geek, I loved the numbers. 4x4in cylinders, 100ci, 100hhp, 120ftlb. Wonderful. Why would I not do that?

50,000 miles later, the engine hasn’t missed a beat. The extra power is nice and the torque is awesome. The bike is better than it was when new; it is as though this was how it was meant to be all along. Harley are making slightly different engines now, but this seems to be where the original design of my engine would have got to if they had not gone in a different direction. The new engine made the bike better, more complete, more ‘finished’, more fit-for-purpose.

So, given that this is a Church magazine rather than a Harley magazine, what has this got to do with anything? Well, towards the end of May the Church celebrates Pentecost, when the disciples received the Holy Spirit. They were changed from men who were hiding away afraid for their lives to men who challenged the authority of the Jewish religious leaders and the might of the Roman Empire and went on to change the history of the world. The presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives made them better men, more complete, more ‘finished’, more fit for God’s purpose. How would you like that sort of power in your life? God’s Holy Spirit is available to us all. We just have to ask! Why would we not do that?

God bless