Letter Page

May 2012

Dear brothers and sisters,

Having accomplished his work on earth, Jesus ascended into heaven; returning to his Father in order to establish his kingdom. Before his death, Jesus prepared his apostles for the work ahead saying; "In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day, you will know that I am in my Father and you in me, and I in you. Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom my Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you." (John 14: 19-20, 23, 25-26)

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit did, as Jesus promised, descend upon each apostle like a tongue of flame and each was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to “speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them ability”. (Acts 2:4). This heralded the beginning of the apostles’ ministry.

Jesus’ call to ministry isn’t restricted to his apostles; his Holy Spirit isn’t exclusively available to the twelve (Matthias replaced Judas Iscariot); the Father’s word isn’t for their ears only; and ministry isn’t restricted to those ordained! Of course we give thanks for those who lead our churches, especially we thank and praise God for bringing Helen Gardner and her husband Peter to us and we pray the Holy Spirit will fill and bless Helen as she prepares for the next chapter of her ministry and takes up post as Vicar on 6th August 2012. But Jesus calls each of us to ministry; he will give each of us his Holy Spirit; and the Spirit will fill each of us with gifts according to our Father’s will.

This is not to say that we should all rush off to be ordained or train as Lay Readers; but we do all share in ministry as members of the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit directs and empowers believers in their missionary tasks, bearing witness to Jesus Christ and preparing the hearts of men and women to respond to him in faith. Many acts form local ministry; providing a listening ear, leading worship, visiting the needy, leading Junior Church, acting as stewards of our beautiful churches and grounds, stepping up to take a role on the PCC and many other activities. All we have to do is be open to the Holy Spirit, receptive to God’s will, and faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ. The opportunities for each of us to play our part in furthering Christ’s church within our benefice and across the wider NCG will present themselves; be prepared just as the apostles were prepared by Jesus, and be willing to say ‘yes’ (within your capabilities) when asked.

Eric Richardson, St Giles, Totternhoe

April 2012

Dear Friends,

We are coming to the end of the 40 day period of fasting, penance, and prayer of Lent. This Holy Week we look towards the most important festival in the Christian calendar - Easter. On Good Friday, we remember the crucifixion and death of Jesus and on Easter Day, we celebrate His resurrection from the dead, giving new life to us all.

Evidence of celebrating Easter goes back to the 2nd Century when early Christians gathered, often in somebody's house. Over the centuries, Christians in different parts of the world debated on when Easter should be celebrated according to which calendar they followed. In 1582, the Western Christian Church adopted the Gregorian calendar, while the Eastern Orthodox Church retained the Julian calendar.

While we may observe Easter on different days, the meaning of Easter is the same to us all - new life. On Easter Day, we will break our fasting and enjoy an Easter feast with family and friends. Easter customs vary across the Christian world, but decorating hard boiled eggs is common practice to us all.

This is a prayer taken from a Greek Orthodox Pascha service:

Christ is risen from the dead,
Trampling down death by death,
And upon those in the tombs,
Bestowing life.

Happy Easter to you all,

Peace,
Peter Walker-Croft
St. John the Baptist
Stanbridge.

March 2012

Dear Friends,

At the time of writing we have just been through a cold spell with some snow, this of course caused all the usual chaos on the roads and railways. My sister has just e-mailed me from Russia, she has been on the trans Siberian railway, the temperature was minus 38°C  with ice an inch thick on the INSIDE of the train windows. Everything is relative - if they had our temperatures, they would be saying "isn't it mild for the time of year"

Spring is round the corner, The Daffodils are coming up in Tilsworth Churchyard, there are lambs in the fields and the birds are starting to build there nests and the days getting longer. The term spring is also used more generally as a metaphor for the start of better times; it is seen as a time of growth, renewal, and new life being born. A few years ago, my father died and we had to go to the registry office to register the death. As we went through the door, a couple were coming out carrying an obviously new born baby. I was quite touched by this, it made me realise that life goes on.

Lent is the time when Christians prepare for the greatest of our festivals - Easter The Christian church no longer imposes a strict fast. Lent is a time when some Christians try to overcome their own faults because they believe that it was man's sin which led Jesus to be crucified.

Some Christians try to follow the example of Jesus in the Desert by giving up luxuries and practising self-discipline. And they try to put aside more time to prayer and religious acts so that they can really let God into their lives.

The last week of Lent begins with Palm Sunday which celebrates the day Jesus entered Jerusalem and the people laid down palms at his feet.

Lent of course ends at Easter when Christians remember the death of Jesus on the cross and then celebrate his rising from the dead.

Blessings to you all

John Wilkins

All Saints Church, Tilsworth

December 2011 

Dear Friends,

As we write this letter we are approaching the season of Advent, yet the predominant talk is of Christmas and the worry of how many weeks to go. Advent is a time when we look forward with great expectation of the joy to come, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Children love to open their Advent calendars, we hope not just for the chocolate inside.

Looking forward sometimes makes us reflect on the past, to the times when as children, just like today’s children, we would hang up our Christmas stockings. Christmas households were very different then we did not have television but relied on our radio to bring us the Nine Lessons and Carols from Kings Chapel, Cambridge. We always went to church on Christmas morning as a family.
We always had family living in the same area, so visits were easy, nowadays people have to travel, often great distances to visit their relatives.

In the Benefice this year, even though we are in an interregnum, due to the kindness of visiting clergy, we are able to hold Christmas services in all three churches, please see times elsewhere in the magazine. We would love to see our churches full to capacity.

We ask, during this time when we are without a spiritual leader and working together to keep our churches alive, for your prayers.

Advent, Christmas and New Year blessings to you all.
Peter & Francis.

November 2011

Dear Friends,

I began thinking about this letter during the wonderful spell of Indian Summer weather that was such a joy after our disappointing summer. When you read this it will be a month on, the last traces of summer finally gone, and autumn well and truly here, with Halloween, Bonfire Night, Remembrance Sunday and most importantly for us - All Saints' Day.
At this time of year, when I think of our lovely little ancient church, I imagine the hundreds of parishioners, some of them village legends, who have toiled up the church path to Sunday service and festive occasions, over the years. All Saints' Day is a time of remembrance, we think and pray for loved ones long gone, and for those who have died in recent months - the memories still raw and painful to recall.

This is also an appropriate time to remember past interregna! This is a time of some uncertainty for our benefice. We have yet to have our meeting with the Bishop who will prepare us for the vacancy.

I know that some people are contemplating the forthcoming months with apprehension and some anxiety, but my memories of previous vacancies are happy ones. Thanks to well organised and dedicated Church Wardens and PCC members, the support of parishioners and the visiting Clergy who became good friends, those months were good times, we grew to know each other a little better, and enjoyed great fellowship across the Benefice.
I'm sure that we will look back on this vacancy with satisfaction and pride on a job well done.

My best wishes to you all.
God bless you and all the saints that you have known. 
Dianne Tong.

October 2011

Dear Friends,

It is a beautiful late summer’s afternoon, the sky is blue, the sun is shining and there’s a gentle breeze blowing thorough the trees – but by the time you read this Autumn will have arrived in all its glory. The summer break will be over, children will have returned to school, students to college and University for their new academic year. Many, embarking on their first term, a new chapter in their lives.

Autumn, a season of change, one which I consider to be one of the year’s loveliest; there is a harmony and peacefulness in those misty early mornings and as the leaves change colour and burn brightly in the fading sunlight we capture every moment and keep those memories in preparation for days of winter approaching.

It is not only nature experiencing a new season, a period of change; it is also a new season for us, one that will bring a period of uncertainty. Our parishes are now experiencing an ‘in-between-state’, an interregnum, a vacancy. Our Vicar, Janet, has retired and left the Benefice and we had the opportunity to say our goodbyes at services held in Totternhoe, Stanbridge and Tilsworth. The final farewell service for family, friends and colleagues at Tilsworth was truly moving and inspirational, full of love, warmth and affection. Our parish lunch at Totternhoe was wonderful, lots of good food, drink and most importantly, fellowship. This gave Janet and the community an opportunity to chat and say   farewell in a relaxed atmosphere.

There was sadness as we said our goodbyes, which is inevitable and right; Janet’s work within the Benefice has been a ministry of total commitment, full of love, enthusiasm and creativity and on many occasion spontaneity. She has brought us together and made us aspire to continue the ministerial work within our parishes to the glory of the Lord. We will continue to keep Janet in our prayers as she faces the new challenges in her life and we will keep her close to our hearts, always.

Life will not be the same for us but we must embrace the new challenges and remember how important it is to continue as a Benefice with stimulating worship in our churches and extend a warm welcome to visiting clergy and all newcomers.

There’s a whole team of people committed to ensuring the life of our churches will run as smoothly as possible in our in-between-state and between us we will try and keep everything shipshape until we once more have someone to take over the helm.

We must continue to pray together for the ongoing life of our churches and ask for the Lord’s guidance in the months ahead.

Our faith will hold us together.
God’s Blessings
Helen Brown, Church Warden, St Giles, Totternhoe.

July 2011

Dear Friends,

This will be my last letter as the vicar of the good ship Totternhoe-Stanbridge & Tilsworth. (TST) I leave for personal reasons and the decision to resign has now become one to retire just a few years earlier than expected. So please permit me a short trip down memory lane. Well, a long one really in terms of letter length but just a very few memories out of so many over the years! 

I first drove over the Dunstable downs at sunset one Thursday evening in ‘1980-something’ when I was a tutor teaching pastoral theology on what was the St Albans Ministry Course. It took my breath away then, and it still does. I was a lay person and was training men and women for ministry. Little did I know it would be the place of service for my future ordained ministry. I have actually worked for the St Albans Diocese for nearly 24 years but only just about 9 of them have been as Vicar here. I wrote the course ‘Seeking the Way’[STW}. Three dioceses used it but it was St Albans who wanted me to lead it and so I did for over a decade and am pleased to say it is still an important theme in the discernment of vocations in St Albans. I went on to train potential Deacons and Readers for several incarnations of the ministry course alongside ‘STW’ for 12 years.   I left the ordination of my last batch of third year students Michaelmas of 1999 and drove straight to Westcott House, Cambridge, to start my own training 4.30 pm the same afternoon. I remember sleeping in a lay-by on the way over as the winding up of my life as lecturer following the call to be an ordinand had been a two week whirlwind that had taken its toll. My ordination at St Pauls Cathedral in July 2000 made a deep impression on me. It has been wonderful to be your priest too. 

My spell in three parishes in the outskirts of Cambridge convinced me that rural ministry was what I was called to. After a few years in Notting Hill I was absolutely sure! TST near those beautiful Dunstable downs was tailor made for me. I applied for only this post and got it: one happy Vicar joined you all in 2002. I was convinced this post was where I could begin to pastor for a long stretch. When the organ broke down at the institution; we all relaxed and I felt right at home. I began to love you from that day. 

 I recall some great periods of worship: wonderful open-air Easters including one in the snow!  And, a recent Christingle with every child that wanted getting a part 17 shepherds, 14 stars, 8 angels and lots of sheep; a Mary playing Mary and Jo playing Joseph and little Logan as baby Jesus. I will not forget his Mum’s face when I invited her to lend us her Down syndrome babe as Jesus. She beamed from ear to ear and it was an entirely special Nativity scene. I also look back to recall my Mum sitting and waiting for me after services patiently praying. Naturally, I recall Brian’s and my splendid Wedding Mass with wonderful music last year. I also recall a wedding mass with an orthodox flavour which I loved researching and leading. I love creating liturgy, plunging a baby naked into the font and packed churches for good village funerals of those we love and see no more.  We have three church buildings that have been redecorated, re paired and restored over these years. 

My spell on General Synod, whilst with you all, was an eye-opener and gave me opportunity to speak up and be there for seminal counts concerning Women Bishops but mostly it gave me opportunity to help with work on revising Ordination services, continuing liturgical work done long before on Funerals and Eucharist. My book on Baptism will be finished when I leave parish life even if it is never published I will have time to complete it! Three parishes demands ones all and having Brian this last year has been a great support. He has involved himself with everything and wormed his way into your hearts too. 

Then there are the many fundraisers: fabulous meals: safari and otherwise, quizzes and auctions of slaves and our regular Harvest auctions. One very good memory is of two people bidding up the last pot of marmalade one year at Church House. It went pound by pound up to a record £17.00 for the jar. When the loser backed out the winner took the jar he had bought and promptly gave it to the loser happily coughing up the pounds. Giving reality to the spirit of what we are at: helping church funds and having a good – generous-time together too.  I remember fetes, children dancing, strawberries and cream, pantos and a rose queen. Some great memories and there are many more. I recall a very special Week of Guided Prayer which gave up 3 people feeling called to test vocations. Kerry is still training as a Reader but the other blossoming vocations to roles in our parishes have been equally important. Some great days. 

I remember seeing children from Stanbridge Lower School with our short-lived but successful after school club ‘Open the Book at Tea Time’ acting out their own bible play, directed by them too, for the rest of the school. Open the Book is still important in Totternhoe where I enjoyed a spell as governor.

Our Sunday school team at Totternhoe have put on some splendid and original Nativity plays. We have had some good Messy Church sessions and the one for the NCG was very special. I have had the privilege of working with some great people some sadly no longer with us. I know when I came here the priest was doing much of the service and mission work; now the lay teams we have grown will maintain the work we have begun but under new leadership. 

Elsie Winn has proudly said she has outlasted 4 Vicars! Ah she remembers it well! I have served three Bishops! I have come to love you and now leave you because you deserve more than I can give at present and will hold you all: villagers, worshipers and colleagues, in my prayers for the rest of my days. God bless you all.  Forgive my trespasses and remember only that which we have done for the glory of God and the good of God’s people here and over the TST and the wider North Chilterns Group of parishes. 

Wonderful people, come to my party this first Saturday in July at St Giles Hall with good food and dancing to celebrate more than just 10 years as a priest [as was intended a year ago]: it’s the first, rather early, ‘goodbye’ - and a first wedding anniversary too. Simply call the vicarage to reserve a place and bring something to share on the night. 

A service Thursday August 18th is planned to be my final service so friends and colleagues can come and say farewell.  All of you are welcome, as ever.

Your outgoing, rather sad Vicar, Janet Spicer