Easter Decorating
We will be decorating the church for Easter on Saturday 15th April from 9.30am. All will be welcome to bring their flowers to arrange in the church and pre-arranged baskets are also welcome. Coffee and Hot Cross Buns will be served. Please don’t forget to remove your arrangements when the flowers have faded.
Frances Williams, Carol Scott and Joan Pinkstone
TAKING TIME OUT
I must admit that I sometimes find it difficult to write these articles for PAX. Clare, your ever patient and forgiving editor, gives me plenty of notice and yet still bites her tongue when I again fail to make the submission deadline. The trouble is, I never know what to say. I have to think ahead to what will be relevant by the time your magazine reaches you but my brain is still trying to cope with the things I forgot to do yesterday!!
So, there I was early this morning, sitting at my dining table with fingers poised over the keyboard, and staring out into the garden desperately wracking my pre-coffee brain for inspiration. The subject had to be Easter really, didn’t it? Easter equals resurrection, new life......I had to find something remotely inspiring to say about new life. As I watched the newly opened daffodils swaying in the sunshine and listened to the birds strike up their morning chorus, my thoughts started to form and I began to think of how, in moments like these when we actually stop and notice the world around us, we can find signs of new life, signs of renewal, every single day in our ordinary lives. Even my dogs seemed to have picked up my reflective mood as they basked quietly on the lawn, their noses sniffing at the air around them.
Our morning musings were short-lived however and we were catapulted forcibly back into the realities of everyday life by the arrival, at speed, of my slightly psychotic cat Milo. Previously skulking undetected under a large bush, Milo launched himself across the lawn and up the large tree in the middle of the garden, hell-bent on extinguishing any sign of new life that may be tweeting within its branches. Fortunately for the birds and unfortunately for the dogs, Milo isn’t known for his stealth-like qualities
and the next few seconds consisted of a flurry of fur and howls
as Milo leapt for a bird on a high branch, missed and fell unceremoniously onto the dog whereby he steadied himself by sinking his claws into Toby’s hind quarters!! Something akin
to a Tom and Jerry cartoon ensued as the other two dogs also took flight and the four of them charged around the garden massacring daffodils as they went.
How quickly life can change. And how much we can miss out on if we fail to appreciate what we have in the here and now and focus instead on what may or may not happen tomorrow. Our lives are busy, full of things to do, deadlines to meet, challenges to overcome. We often put aside the things that remind us of what it is that gives our life meaning, thinking
we will do that when we have more time but in doing so we miss out on so many wonderful moments and fail to live our lives as fully as God intended us to do.
This season of Lent gives us a chance to press the pause button. As the church and our faith encourage us to refocus on the life, death and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, we also have before us the hope, the new life, that his resurrection on Easter Day offers for all who follow him. A chance to begin again, to walk a new path, every time we seek God’s direction for our lives.
My prayer for all of us this Lent is that we will each take a few moments every day simply to live in the present, to stop and look around us and appreciate the world we live in and the life we live. To remind ourselves of what is important
and who it is we are called to be.
And as for me.....well, I seem to have had my time to pause this morning ......I’m off to rescue the dogs!!
With love - Ginni
There are envelopes at the back of all three churches for donations towards the cost of Easter Lilies. If you wouild like to make a donation in memory of a departed loved one, then write their name on the envelope and place the envelope where indicated. At St Ippolyts Church this is in the wall safe adjacent to the South Porch door. A list of names will be placed on the altar and read out on Easter Day.
The Jubilate Choir under its director John Edwards returns to St Ippolyts at 19:30 on Thursday 30th March for a concert, "On the Lighter Side" a collection of music including folk songs and songs from stage and screen.
Tickets at £6 from Mary Hooper (01462 457350) or Jane Veasey (01462 434254) to include wine and nibbles. The proceeds to St Ippolyts Church
Dear St Ippolyts,
You may like to know that Alleyne & I (John), were married at St Ippolyts 50 years ago tomorrow the 4th, by the reverend Erik Quinn, we now live on the Gold Coast, Queensland Australia, having emigrated in 1969, we have three children, 7 grandchildren & 3 great's! We have very fond memories of our wedding there,
Very kind regards,
John & Alleyne Rock
“The Annual Parishioners Meeting” (to elect churchwardens) and “The Annual Parochial Church Meeting of the Parish of St. Ippolyts” will be held in St. Ippolyts Church at 8.00pm. on Tuesday 28th March 2017. Everyone is welcome to attend but only those on the St. Ippolyts Church Electoral Roll may vote at the second meeting. The meeting
is the Church’s AGM and there will be a review of 2016 with reports from the churchwardens, our treasurer, and St. Ippolyts School, as well as the appointment of officers, sidesmen and independent financial examiners. To make the evening ‘go with a flow’ there will be wine, soft drinks and nibbles available.
The Church Electoral Roll is closed 15 days before the Annual Parochial Church Meeting and this means Monday 13th March. Please check on the roll, which is in
a file at the rear of the church, to see that you are registered and your details are correct. If you are not on the roll and wish to be, there are forms available at the back of church, which should then be handed to Nicolas Watson, our Electoral Roll Officer, or a Churchwarden.
We are looking for new members of our Parochial Church Council. If you are interested in playing a key role in the future of our church please consider putting yourself forward for election, it is not a particularly onerous task!
Michael Hooper
Donations towards the cost of Easter lilies can be placed in the envelopes provided
at the back of the church. If you would like to make your donation in memory of a departed loved one please write their name on the envelope. The envelopes should then be placed in the wall safe. A list of all the names will be placed on the Altar and read out on Easter Day.
Our second Jubilate! Choir Concert at St. Ippolyts Church will be on Thursday 30th March at 7.30pm. The programme will include folk songs and songs from stage and screen and the choir will be directed by John Edwards.
Tickets will be on sale from the beginning of March from Mary Hooper (01462-457350) and Jane Veasey (01462-434254) priced at £6 to include a glass of wine and nibbles.
There will be Lent Lunches in St. Ippolyts Parish Hall every Wednesday during Lent starting on Ash Wednesday, 1st March, from 12.45pm. till 2.00pm. A minimum donation of £2.50 would be appreciated (additional donations for second helpings). The proceeds will be shared between the USPG and the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Everyone welcome so do come along and enjoy our tasty homemade soups and fresh bread.
The Friends of St Ippolyts Church
Following my manic exploits during the Christmas period, I am pleased to report that life at The Vicarage has calmed a little over the past couple of weeks and I am starting to lose the ‘rabbit in the headlights’ look that I seem to have had since I joined the Benefice in August! I can’t believe that I’ve been here six months already and I’ve been reflecting on all that’s happened since I arrived, the expectations I came with and the reality of the life I now live.
If I’m honest, I didn’t know what to expect when I got here, but I was very scared!!! If the stories about parish life, as told by some of my ‘seasoned’ and possibly slightly sadistic, vicar ‘friends’ were to be believed, then I had better brace myself, develop a thick skin and learn to appreciate the therapeutic value of a large gin!
I’m pleased to report though, that the reality of being your vicar has been a wonderfully positive experience so far - and I haven’t yet resorted to gin!
One of the things I was most worried about when I got here was my much documented lack of singing skills. Whilst I am happy to make a joke of my ability to make ears bleed when I burst into song, the reality is that it is a very real challenge when part of your job is to lead others in worship. You can only lead when you know where you are going.....and believe me, my singing voice was never on the map in the first place!!! I did ask God more than once for a little bit of help, perhaps quietly hoping that I might wake up one morning with a voice like Whitney Houston or Katherine Jenkins, but I also know that God gives us what we need, not necessarily what we want!!
You can imagine my delight then when my plea for singers to help me yielded a great response. I now have a bunch of 16 singers who I have named the Melodic Miracles and who accompany me, in groups of 6-8, into 3 care homes every month for a short service of Holy Communion with hymns.
The newly formed Melodic Miracles met at The Vicarage in January to enjoy a social get-together and to plan for the next few months. Wine flowed and nibbles were munched and hymn books passed around and before too long, huge lists of favourite hymns were compiled.........and then they started singing! I think there may have been a correlation between the increase in noise volume and thedecrease in the quantity of wine but it was so lovely to see people from all three parishes working together and having fun.
The following week we headed off into the care homes where we were warmly greeted by the residents who told us that they had been eagerly awaiting our visit. One lady told us that she had been a member of her church for 43 years before she had had to move into the home and how she so missed her church family. She said that when we came it felt like we
were bringing church to her and she felt part of a worshipping community again. Others said that our visits made them feel that they mattered to the ‘outside world’. I don’t think that any of us realised the impact that the simple thing we were doing would have on both the care home residents and us until that moment. It was both a joyful and a humbling experience and, for me, an unexpected answer to my prayers.
So now that the Melodic Miracles have taken care of my little singing ‘issue’, what next? Well, the season of Lent begins on 1st March and marks a time when, as Christians, we take stock of where we are at in our lives, a time for reflection and change and a refocussing on Christ.
Traditionally the forty days in Lent were marked by fasting, both from foods and festivities, and by other acts of penance. The three traditional practices to be taken up with renewed vigour during Lent are prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self), and almsgiving (justice towards neighbour). However, in modern times, observers often give up an action of theirs considered to be a vice, add something that is considered to be able to bring them closer to God, and often give the time or money spent doing that to charitable purposes or organisations.
I think that, in light of my reflections on my first 6 months here, perhaps this Lent, I should give up worrying, add a renewed determination to trust in God’s provision for me........and give my ‘gin money’ to charity!!!
Whatever discipline you choose to give up or take up this Lent, my prayer for all of us is that we find the time to build on our relationship with God, to learn to ask for help when we need it and to trust that God will give us what we need.
With love - Ginni
CHRISTMAS REFLECTIONS
“How was your first Christmas in your new Benefice?” a friend of mine asked when I saw her last week. I thought for a moment before replying. What words could I use to describe the mad, crazy, tiring but lovely, last few weeks......? “Beautifully mental” I told her. “Completely bonkers but I rather liked it!” How else could I describe a ‘job’ that over a period of a week contained the following events?
a pub landlord greeting us in his dressing gown telling us there was no room at the Inn and singing carols in the smoking shelter - aka the stable - with baby Jesus dangling less than elegantly from Mary’s lap!!
I confess that I did wake up on Boxing Day looking rather like I had been hit with a sledgehammer but I was jubilant that I had survived and, with that wonderful thing called hindsight, I actually rather enjoyed it all! Bring on Easter!!!
And so some thanks ..... to all of you who helped me through. You know who you are!! The ones who encouraged, soothed, reminded, cajoled, bit their tongues, turned up, generally went the extra mile and most of all, gave me wine! Thank you - I couldn’t
have done it without you!
So now that the Christmas festivities are over, life has returned to normal, the New Year is here and our hastily made resolutions are already behind us, what now? Maybe it’s because I have just returned from a lovely break in the middle of Norfolk with no Wi-Fi, mobile signal or signs of human life, that I have had the time to think, but I am looking forward. The beginning of a new year always makes me do that.
The next season is spring and, with it, the promise of longer days and warmer sun. A time to take stock and to plan. I want to spend more time enjoying each moment. I want to notice things more rather than just rushing past them. I want to worry less, be
more organised, spend more time with my children, talk to God more. I want! Perhaps I would have more chance of achieving the things I desire most if I flipped the order a bit and put ‘talking to God’ at the very beginning!!
So often we rush through life with a mental list of the things we want to achieve and beat ourselves up when our plans don’t pan out in the way we had hoped. Our default mode is to try to do things in our own strength rather than seeking the will and guidance of our God who only wants the very best for each one of us. I wonder what would happen if we had the courage to talk to God first about what it is that we should be doing that would bring us the greatest happiness.
Perhaps I should make just one more new year’s resolution. Talk to God before I do anything. What about you?
With love - Ginni
To allow the Revd Ginni more time to speak to congregation at St Ippolyts after what are currently the 09:30 services at St ippolyts on those Sundays before she then has to rush off to Little or Great Wymondley, the PCC has agreed to change the start time to 09:15 on all of the 4 Sundays with effect from 1st March 2017.
The 08:00 BCP services of Holy Communion will not be affected
The next Bible Study Group meeting is to be held at Oakhurst and is about to embark on Genesis. The first meeting will be at 02:30 pm on 11th January followed by another meeting at the same time and place on 25th January. Contact Margaret Ednunds on Hitchin 452340 or Clare Larsen on Hitchin 453541
