Reflections Blog

"Lent Lunches 2021 - St John the Evangelist, Shirley" >You are welcome to join us for Lent Lunches that will be held in the Parish Hall every Tuesday lunch time with the doors opening at 12.00 pm from Tuesday 20^th February to Tuesday 26^th March. There is a choice of a selection of three homemade soups which are served from 12.45 pm at £3.00 per serving and this includes fresh bread, butter or spread and a mug of coffee or tea. A donation is requested for any second helpings. The money taken for Lent Lunches will go towards Motor Neurone Disorder Society and USPG an Anglican Missionary Agency.

DECORATING ST IPPOLYTS CHURCH FOR EASTER

On Saturday 30^th March from 9.30 am at St Ippolyts Church all are invited to join Friends and bring flower arrangements and/or flowers in a vase to make the church look welcoming for our Easter Service. Donations are welcome to put towards buying Easter Lilies and this can be put in an envelope and given directly to Jane Veasey, Gosmore House, Newlands Lane, SG4 9BD or placed in an envelope titled 'Easter Lilies' and put at the back of St Ippolyts Church. 

Frances Williams, Carol Scott, and Joan Pinkstone

Friends' Coffee Morning is a lovely time for local friends and sometimes their families who are coming for a monthly catch up together enjoying refreshments and we are grateful for the variety of cake contributions and selection of biscuits too. All are welcome to join us and share some time together - particularly during these cold winter months. Our Next Community Coffee Morning is Wednesday 7^th February 10.30 am till Noon at the Parish Hall.

A thank you to Carl Watson for helping us each month with opening the Hall and with all our setting up and clearing away at the end. 

Frances Williams, Carol Scott, and Joan Pinkstone

LENT STUDY COURSE – A Way Through the Wilderness by Paula Gooder When faced with times of crisis or challenge, many people turn to self-help for support. But what about Christians – how can we find strength not merely in self-help but in God’s help? ‘A Way through the Wilderness’ is a five-session course which explores God’s promise to comfort his people as they struggle through life’s wildernesses. Canon Dr Paula Gooder is a writer and lecturer in Biblical Studies. Her passion is to ignite people’s enthusiasm for reading the Bible today, by presenting the best of biblical scholarship in an accessible and interesting way. She is currently the Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral. Beginning on Wednesday 21st February at 7pm – venue to be confirmed. The course should last no more than 90 minutes (including tea/coffee) and will be led by Reverend Ginni and Reverend Tricia.

Some years ago I was visiting a North African town sixty miles from Alexandria called El Alamein. Judy's father had fought in the battle in 1943 and we were able to visit the place. We went round the museum then paid our respects to those who lie in the huge cemetery nearby. When it was over, I stood beside the road and looked out across the desert beyond it. It was burning hot and utterly desolate, stretching hundreds of miles beyond the horizon. It occurred to me that it might have been like that when we read of Our Lord going into the wilderness to be tempted for forty days and forty nights by the devil. I have never visited the Holy Land and I do not want to because I prefer to hold the Bible story in my mind rather than seeing what it is really like now. But looking towards that desert brought this incident very close to mind.

This season of Lent which we associate with Christ in the wilderness begins with Ash Wednesday on February 14; it continues for the rest of the month and throughout March. I wonder what really happened in the wilderness. Jesus knew He had to perform His ministry; there was this inner compulsion that He could not resist. The question was HOW? I wonder if we could think of the temptation in the context of going into a quiet place to think things out rather than meeting a physical tempter. He had to prepare Himself spiritually for the task that lay ahead. But He was practical; He had to plan ahead. So, l envisage Him going into this lonely place to meditate.

The temptations took the form of what the psychiatrists call 'intrusive thoughts'. He is hungry and round stones look like bread rolls; He could change stones into bread and feed the hungry, getting a popular following who He could then teach. He sees a distant village with its huge synagogue; if He jumps from the top, He can float to the ground protected by the angels, thus getting a crowd because people love the sensational – again He can teach them. Finally, there is the ultimate temptation, that of compromise. Lower His sights a bit, connive with the Establishment, have lower standards, play safe. The temptations in the wilderness are therefore rooted in doing the wrong thing for the right reason. They need not involve actually appearances with a devil, but they are just as real.

Perhaps this may be a different way of looking at a much loved Gospel story in a different way, but if so, that is me (once again!) thinking outside the box and challenging the orthodox. If so, it may help us to take a different attitude to Lent. For just as Our Lord needed to go into the wilderness so we need our own periods of quiet to ponder; and just as Christ often withdrew for meditation so we need similar times just to think. Not necessarily formally but pausing for short times. Thinking about such things as spiritual priorities – or how we might deepen our awareness of God – or whether our spiritual discipline can be deepened – or in any number of other things. Silence can be the most life affirming thing, the most intense experience. 'What is life if full of care we have no time to stand and stare?' wrote the poet W.H. Davies. What indeed? 

So, my mind goes back to another very different wilderness, high above Buttermere in the Lake District fifty years ago, on the Sunday after Easter. Brilliant sunshine, total silence, and one of the most glorious views in England. God had never been closer than He was that day. We need our wildernesses; we need our wilderness experiences. We need to let God into our busy lives – and be still with Him.

With my love,

Paul   

Well done to our Curate, Tricia, for getting into the spirit of the Christingle Service today!!

We will be having our church Christingle Service in aid of The Children’s Society on Sunday 7^th January at 9.15am, followed by breakfast. All are welcome. 

Jenny Sheach

QUIZ NIGHT THANK YOU! 

Another successful Quiz Night where a grand total of over £1500 was raised to support St Ippolyts church.  This money will help to pay for the new path which has been constructed to create a safer way to the refurbished disabled friendly toilet. The organisers wish to thank everyone who helped on or before the evening and all the wonderful quizzers who turned up to support and enjoy the evening.

Church fund raising committee.

Special thanks to Mary, Jane, Michael Louis, Barbara and Andy for all you did! 

A big thank you to everyone who helped to make this years crib festival so successful raising over £1700 for our church. Special thanks to Barbara Thomas who orchestrated the event and to Mary and Jane for all they did. Finally thank you to everyone who came and supported our event without you we would not be able to raise so much money.

Look in our gallery for photos! 

CAROL SINGING 

Love singing carols? We will be carol singing around the Broadmeadow Estate on Friday 22^nd December, starting from 1 Ash Drive at 6.15. Everyone is welcome to join us, we are just a group of people who enjoy singing the carols, not a choir, so you don’t have to have the most perfect singing voice! Non singers are very welcome too (we need people to knock on doors!). All participants are invited to end the evening with a glass of mulled wine, a mince pie, and a jolly good natter. Proceeds are in aid of Breast Cancer now in memory of one of our stalwart singers Caroline Swindells.

Barbara Thomas

DECORATING ST IPPOLYTS CHURCH FOR CHRISTMAS

St Ippolyts Church will be decorated for Christmas on Saturday 23^rd December from 9.30am. The colour theme this year is silver, white with greenery and ivy and holly is always welcome too. There will be white candles and Frances Williams has kindly offered a Christmas tree for the Lady Chapel. Anyone in our local community is invited to help decorate St Ippolyts Church together with Friends and we look forward to seeing you.

Dear Friends,

'Peace on earth, good will to all men' – the message of the angels to the shepherds as they watched their flocks by night. Writing this in mid-November my eyes were drawn to a newspaper that said that there will be no Christmas tree or decorative lights in Manger Square in Bethlehem, the place which traditionally marks the place where Christ was born. The reason, according to the municipality is that this is 'in honour of the martyrs and in solidarity with our people in Gaza'.

 It's one of the saddest articles I have read. We may have different thoughts on the terrible tragedy that is Gaza. But the thought of the birth of Christ being associated with hatred and division is scarcely bearable. As 2023 ends and 2024 dawns the message of the angels has never been more pressing than it is at this time. God as man came to this earth as a figure of peace and unity. He came to draw everyone to Himself, and the symbolic place associated with His birth mocks that peace in the hatred felt by people there. And yet it sums up the world as a whole. For there is so much hatred and division in the world. It is particularly poignant that in this place of all places there should be such bitterness and division. But the icy tentacles of division reach out beyond Bethlehem. Gaza has driven the problems in the Ukraine more into the background for example but it is a running sore, and as with Gaza there seems no end in sight and peace (as I write) seems far far away, with all its violence and suffering.

Beyond it there is more hatred and mistrust. The re-emergence of anti-Semitism has been a by-product of the crisis in Gaza, and this is a stain on our country. So is racialism. Elsewhere there are areas of the world where there is little peace, even if it is seen as mistrust between nations and factions. If Christmas and the New Year is to be more than the chance for a bit of sentimentality and a bout of attempted gastronomic suicide, then it must represent a conscious working towards that peace and unity which the Babe of Bethlehem came to bring. And if you say that individuals cannot achieve anything, then large amounts of water can only come from many individual drops coming together to become a flood. 

Christ came to be the Prince of Peace. He also came as the personification of love and healing. Christmas is a symbol of that most basic form of love, a mother for her child. Mary represents love in its fullest form; without it Christmas just becomes a sentimental extravaganza. The Christ who is the symbol of love being received becomes the Christ who is the personification of love reaching out. Love for the world, but also love of each individual on earth. In love Christ comes down to earth. He is love incarnate. 

So love and peace together lie at the heart of Christmas in all its many aspects. The Prince of Peace is the Giver of Love. May these be God's gift to you at this Christmas time. May it also be a task for the coming year, to channel peace and love to others, a resolution for the New Year.

Sadly I cannot be with you again in the parish this season as I have promised to minister elsewhere. We as a family are then getting together for 24 hours as a family, with the seven sadly now only six. So, Jo and Liz my daughters, Paul my son in law, and Katy and Emily my grand daughters and I wish you personally every blessing for Christmas and very best wishes for 2024.

Paul

ST IPPOLYTS CHURCH FLOODLIGHTING SPONSORSHIP – 2024

St Ippolyts church installed the floodlights for the Millennium celebrations 23 years ago with the aid of a grant from the Floodlighting Trust.  They were first illuminated on Christmas Eve 1999, and they have been used every night since.  We now have mainly LED replacement lights that are more reliable, have better colour control and are cheaper to run. We have recently had to renew the two spotlights on the top of the tower that illuminate the cross with LEDs so we are now 100% LED floodlit.

With the current electricity costs the annual sponsorship needs to be £20 per week, we hope this will be enough and we have 52 weeks to fill.  You may sponsor as many weeks as you wish and you may wish this to be in memory of a loved one, to celebrate a birthday, a wedding, or anniversary etc.

The list giving the 52 weeks is normally at the back of church so please sign up early if you want a  particular week.

Please pay by BACS if possible to

St Ippolyts Church Finance Fund

Sort Code  20-41-12 

Account Number  00522899 

please ref Floodlighting .

Otherwise Cash or Cheques  made payable to ‘St Ippolyts Church’.

Roger Cox Tel: 01462 432445  Email  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  

ST IPPOLYTS CHURCH NATIVITY CRIB FESTIVAL 2^nd & 3^rd  DECEMBER, 11am – 5pm

For lots of people the Crib Festival is a very special start to the Christmas season, it really is a unique experience. As one of last year’s visitors said “I don’t know what I was expecting, but we were blown away by the whole setup. So many cribs and very well displayed. We had a lovely time looking at them all. Such a variety and great to read some of their back stories. We had a lovely time, and the tea and cakes were great too.”

The variety of the cribs need to be seen to be believed, 260 cribs last year and hardly a duplicate! They are made from an unbelievable array of materials – nescafe pods or banana leaves to name a couple and they come from all around the world from as far away as New Zealand and Alaska. However, what makes them so special are their “stories” about what makes them so important to the families that own them.

After wandering around and taking in the fantastic display some refreshments will be in order and we have our mini café serving hot drinks and fabulous, homemade cakes. You could also dress up as a “living crib” and take a photo for your Christmas cards! Entry is £4 but children are free.

Can you help?

Do you have a crib we could borrow for the weekend? If so, please contact Barbara.

Could you bake a cake? There are sign-up sheets at the back of the church (or contact Barbara) – due to lack of space we ask for specific cakes and it would be wonderful if we managed to get equal quantities of each variety! 

Could you spare a couple of hours to help man the event? There are sign-up sheets for this too or contact Barbara.

For more information please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 07443228468

You can see photos of previous years on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/nativitycribfestival

COMMUNITY COFFEE MORNING 

Our previous Coffee Morning was once again a lovely sharing time with 20 friends who joined together in the Parish Hall Committee Room. We enjoyed chatting with each and this was helped with a selection of cakes, biscuits, and some fresh warm cheese scones too. If you would like a lift to a coffee morning, please let Joan Pinkstone know 01462 457660.

Our next Coffee Morning is Wednesday 1^st November 10.30 am until Noon. We look forward to seeing you.

Frances Williams Carol Scott Joan Pinkstone

ST IPPOLYTS CHURCH FRIENDS

Friends are very grateful to St Ippolyts School families and to all who donated groceries which were given to our local charities. North Herts Sanctuary, Grove Road help to support a Sanctuary in Stevenage and a Sanctuary in Baldock too. Homeless people travel from various parts of the UK and the aim of the Sanctuaries is to give the right support enabling homeless people who come from all walks of life, to find work and accommodation and to give them a fresh start. Revd Ginni also has a food larder for our local community. 

Thank you to Friends who helped sort groceries into their various categories on Monday following Harvest Festival. Children from St Ippolyts School made up gift boxes to be taken to our local friends in the parish and these along with flowers were all gratefully received.
Frances Williams Carol Scott Joan Pinkstone

REMEMBRANCE

The Thiepval Memorial stands weeping amid the rolling country around the Somme. It has a strange starkness, almost unromantic in its austerity. On the gentle slope below it lie a large number of war graves, the grass immaculately kept as all the war graves are. The Memorial bears the names of over 72,000 Allied soldiers who died in the second half of 1916 but who have no known graves. The birds don't sing at Thiepval; they do not sing anywhere on the Western Front, so it is said. One summer afternoon eleven years ago I sat near that memorial meditating beneath a tree in the silence. I could have spent hours just sitting there, unable to grasp what it must have been like for those tens of thousands who fought amid the noise and the fear and the destruction. Alas,time was far too short; I could only remain there for twenty minutes before going on to mourn at other blood soaked places on that unforgettable four day tour.

A different war, a different war cemetery, a different continent, but the same sense of desolation. Just off a major road along the Egyptian coast road is the Allied cemetery at El Alamein, sixty miles from Alexandria. The terrain is different, with brown sandy soil instead of grass; instead of green rolling countryside there is desert stretching as far as the eye can see, still riddled with the detritus of war. Like other war cemeteries the graves are immaculately cared for in rows as though they were still on parade. 11,886 lie under the burning sun, to be grieved from afar for it is not easily reached except by special trips. Very different surroundings but the same sense of loss, the same sense of mourning.

A third very different cemetery, Hill 107 on the north Cretan coast above Maleme. The stones are flat and square and amid the profusion of low flowers the dead are buried in pairs. 4465 soldiers of the German forces lie there, the slope reaching out mutely towards the deep blue sea before them. The same silence, the same sense of loss, the same sense of mourning. Grief after all is grief because war is war and the young died before they reached their full potential. After all, I have yet to find one person from cemeteries where I have wept that was older than my two daughters; many were a third of my age or less. The inscription at the cemetery reads 'They gave their lives for their country. Their deaths should always be our obligation to keep the peace between nations'. A noble aspiration at a noble place, an unforgettable place to weep but also hope and reconcile. 

Three snapshorts of war. Each November we honour those who suffered and died all over the world (Judy's uncle for example was killed in Papua New Guinea in 1943). Remembrance is not about victory. It is not about celebrating. It is about remembering with sadness and with honour. Some may say that when the last veterans have died we should move on and no longer have acts of remembrance. But this is not the point. Remembering is also about the suffering of the world, not just those from our own nation and commonwealth. When I visited the German War Cemetery at Maleme all those years ago (while on holiday nearby) I felt the same sense of loss, the same need to honour those who lay there as I did at Thiepval or El Alamein and others that I have visited over the years. As we mark Remembrance Sunday this year we may remember those from other countries who fought and died, those civilians from other countries who suffered and died, those who were the victims of genocide. Mourn. In mourning use Remembrance to commit ourselves with others (who once were enemies but are now friends) to the cause of peace, healing – and reconciliation.

With love,

Paul

The Prize Draw will take place at 4pm.

Raffle tickets are on sale from St Ippolyts Stores, Hall User groups, Trustees, and other outlets.

1^st Prize: Christmas Hamper

2^nd prize: Shellfish Platter for 2 by Colchester Oyster Fishery

3^rd prize: A 30 minute back, shoulder and neck massage by Orchard House

4^th prize: A £30 Gift Voucher from Vanstone Park Garden Centre

5^th prize: A 3 course Dinner for 2 at The Bird in Hand

Please come along and support our fantastic parish hall.

Plus various other prizes!

Everyone is welcome.

Pax

We are trying to add more to our Pax magazine – it is a great way to connect with one another and to find out what is going on in our parishes. If anyone has anything they would like to share with our communities, please feel free to email it to me.  Thank you.

Pam Skeggs

DEADLINE

Material for the November issue of Pax should reach Pam Skeggs  by 15^th October 2023, please. Or given to Rosemary Stratton by 12^th October. Thank you.

Copies of the magazine are available from St Ippolyts Stores.

‘100' CLUB

September numbers, winners, and prizes 

No 35    Richard Thake    £20

No 72    Jenny Sheach      £15

No 66    Alan Hinks           £10

The draw was made after the Breakfast Service on 3^rd September.

Shelagh Cox