Reflections Blog

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Thank you to everyone who purchased a church quiz sheet this autumn. This years quiz was all about TV programmes from any decade since the 1950s. Clearly this years quiz was too easy as there were 11 correct entries returned!

I put all the entries with the correct answers into a bucket and Mary, my wife,  picked out the two winners.

First prize goes to Jane Veasey, yes this was genuine and not a fix!!

Second prize goes to Malcolm Todd.

Congratulations to both our winners.

Look out for another quiz next year.

I would like to thank St Ippolyts Village Stores who sold the quiz sheets in the shop.

For all those who were unable to complete the quiz the answers are as follows_

Please note that our next service following Christmas morning Holy Communion will be at 09:30 on 1st January 2017 at St Marys Little Wymondley when there will be a joint Benefice Holy Communion. The Wednesday morning 11:00 Holy Communion will recommence in the New Year on 4th January 2017.There will be no Wednesday Morning Holy Communion on 28th December 2016.

Happy New Year everyone

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IT’S CHRISTMAS !

By the time you read this, the Church’s season of Advent will have begun.  It is a season of expectation and preparation, as the Church prepares to celebrate the coming of Christ in his incarnation.  Or at least, that’s how it should be!! 

The reality in our modern world is that Christmas has been commercialised and most of our preparations and expectations are focussed on buying food and presents for families and friends on Christmas Day.  No matter how much we might wish it otherwise, I’m sure many of us often feel that Christ is squeezed into a corner of Christmas, somewhere between the extra shifts at work for those of us who work in the retail sector, the children’s school festivities, the arrangements to catch up with family, the dusting off of the decorations, the festive food buying and so on.  Having just been given a list of services for our Benefice by my churchwardens, I also feel that this year Christmas is going to be a whole new ball game!!! 

There is also another side to Christmas.  Whilst the commercial world fills the shops and streets with must-have products, tinsel and lights, many in our communities struggle to afford even the most basic of necessities like food, warmth and shelter, and face a stark choice between going without or getting into debt.  Single people, both old and young, can find themselves faced with the prospect of spending Christmas alone without family or friends and for some that makes this season far from the joyful occasion it should be.

So how can we put the Christ back into Christmas?  How can we engage both with the world we live in today and also set time aside to focus on the ‘reason for the season’ - Jesus Christ, who came into the world to give us hope and to shine a light through the darkness of the world that will guide us to eternal life?

Personally, I find the ‘apron’ method to be a good one!!!  Let me explain!  Rumour has it that a certain Susanna Wesley, the mother of John Wesley (the founder of Methodism) and of his hymn-writing brother Charles, had a method of finding time alone with God despite having 19 (yes, 19!) children.  When Susanna wanted to pray she would put her apron over her head wherever she was and that was a signal to her children that she was spending time alone with God and that nothing, other than a life or death situation, should interrupt her!  Now just in case you are thinking that I routinely wander around blinded by my pinny, I don’t quite do that!!  When life gets chaotic and I find that God is getting squeezed out by ‘stuff’, I seek out a tiny patch of space...maybe in my car, or putting the rubbish out (my kids NEVER join me there!) or even in the only room in the house with a lock on the door (you KNOW what room that is!!) and I just stop for a moment or two and ask God to help me focus on what’s important.  It is amazing what God can do in a few seconds!!

A wise Priest once told me that our expectations are often met so if we expect to see Christmas overtaken by the commercial sector then that will probably be the case.  If, however, we expect to encounter God right in the midst of all the busy-ness of this world then that too is exactly what will happen.  So I challenge us all to find a new way to engage with Christ this Christmas, to find time alone with God and allow him to renew in us a sense of hope and expectation that goes beyond the tinsel and the turkey and illuminates a path that will allow each one of us to reflect Christ’s light into the world we live in.

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year.

        With love - Ginni

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Over fifty members of our community enjoyed a wonderful  Christmas Community Lunch at the Bull at Gosmore today. St Ippolyts and Gosmore Parish Council sponsored the event but the real heros were Kim and Charlie of the Bull who treated us all to a splendid lunch of Soup,Turkey with all the trimmimgs and Christmas pudding. Father Christmas even popped in to say "hello" and give everyone a present.

A big thank you to Kim and Charlie and their staff plus all the members of the parish Council who came along to help out. 

Our churchwarden Michael thanked everyone for all their hard work, it certainly was an excellent Christmas Lunch.

The 2016 St ippolyts Church Crib Festival held on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th December has been another brilliant success with a steady stream of enthusiatic people wanting to see our wonderful display of nativity cribs. This year we had on display over 160 cribs from all over the world. Visitors enjoyed the splendid variety of cribs and stayed for tea and cake.

Thanks to everyone who helped over the weekend by either lending their cribs, baking cakes, stewarding, serving teas, selling raffle tickets etc etc.

All money raised goes to our church funds.

More photois in the gallery of this web site.

Our annual crib festival is this weekend Saturday and Sunday, 3rd & 4th December, between 11:00 and 17:00 each day

PLEASE NOTE THAT BECAUSE OF THE CRIB FESTIVAL THIS WEEKEND THE SUNDAY PARISH PRAISE (4TH DEC) WILL BE AT THE ST IPPOLYTS PARISH HALL AT 09:30

Looking through old documents 6 certificates have been found. These show that a St Ippolyts Choral Society won the North and East Herts Challenge Cup in a competitive music festival in 1932, 1933 and 1935. Copies of all the certificates can be seen in our gallery.

Could we have another choral society or just a group that likes singing? Interested, speak to Revd Ginni.

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LIFE IN TRIPLICATE

This month has been something of a learning curve for me and one of the things I have learned is that, when you have three churches and parishes to look after, there are times when everything happens in triplicate!!  I am writing this following my third Harvest Festival of the month, each of which I have thoroughly enjoyed.  However if you add that to the three Care Home Services all with a Harvest theme and the many repetitions of ‘We Plough the Fields and Scatter’, the words of which I am now so familiar with that I could sing them in my sleep, you may understand why I’m glad it’s all over!!  I can only imagine what Christmas in triplicate will look like!!

The Picnic on the Green at Great Wymondley and the Harvest Lunch at

St. Ippolyts were both great events and it was good to be able to chat with so many people I hadn’t had a chance to meet before.  My thanks go to all of you who worked so hard to arrange and cater for these events - and clear up afterwards!  Special thanks go to those at St. Ippolyts who gathered up and distributed the massive haul of harvest offerings that the school children brought in at their Harvest Festival Service.  The non-perishable produce went to the local Food Bank which I know they will be grateful for, so thank you all for your generosity.

Another thing I have learned is that whilst I have come to terms with the fact that I was last in the queue when God handed out singing voices, there really is no truth in the saying ‘practise makes perfect’ as the dear residents of the local care homes will testify!!!  Rosemary Stratton from Little Wymondley stoically agreed to accompany me on my visits to Wymondley, Sloe Hill and Gosmore Care Homes in the attempt to bring some harmony to my singing but I rather feel that she has bitten off more than she can chew - have a read of her article to find out more!!  Our exploits in the care homes, whilst hilarious, have made me question how much longer

I can torture my parishioners before taking action so I have a cunning plan!

Can you sing?  I am looking for relatively willing volunteers who would like to join an informal singing group, the more the merrier, with a view to occasionally joining me on my visits to care homes and other events which happen around the benefice.  I’m not looking to ask for a heavy or even regular commitment from anyone but if we could get a group of people who love singing together from across the benefice then not only would our care home residents benefit but it would also be a great way for us all to get to know each other and have fun.  Interested?.....email me!!!

With love - Ginni

On Monday 7th November, the Bishop of Bedford, will be spending the day in our deanery. In the evening there will be a celebration event from 19:30 at St Paul's Letchworth. All the churches in the deanery are invited to come along to celebrate all the good things which are happening in our deanery.

It would be great to have a good representation from our Benefice - it will be fun (honestly!), there will be decent nibbles (Rev Gonni's words) and alcohol and even more important it will make our new vicar look good if lots of people turn up!!. (do we have to waer a badge saying we are from this Benefice?). If you would like to join  Revd Ginni please add your name to the list at the back of of our churches.

Revd Ginni