Newsletter, November 2009
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From the Rectory

If you turn right just inside the Lych Gate and walk to the far corner of the churchyard you will see that we have been clearing the undergrowth and a brick memorial has re-emerged. It has a flat table-like top with an inscription on it. Rumour has it that it is a memorial to cholera victims but the date and the writing on the tomb make me wonder if it is a memorial to something different – I wonder if the victims remembered there were perhaps from a plague pit.

The Black Death, which started as a bubonic plague before mutating into the more easily spread pneumonic variety, arrived in Britain in 1438 and by spring of the following year had spread along the coast and into East Anglia and the Midlands – our part of the world. The plague that began in London in 1665, the one that gave rise to the nursery rhyme ‘Ring-a- ring–a-roses’, also spread quickly to this part of the country and in the autumn of that year Cambridge University had to close down. Victims of plague were usually buried in a separate part of the churchyard in large mass graves known as plague pits and I have often wondered whether there might be one in Turvey.

On the other hand, the area of the village where the cross is now was known to be a dreadful slum before the Higgins family bought the village from the Mordaunts in the eighteenth century. There were damp and decaying thatched cottages pressed closely together, obviously with no sanitation and no access to clean water – an area where cholera would spread rapidly. I wonder if any local historians amongst you have uncovered any evidence in your research.

I stood reading the inscription on the tomb on a rather bleak October day with the leaves tumbling from the trees and the smell of autumn in the air. It reminded me that November, with its emphasis on remembering the dead, is just around the corner. It reminded me of the transience of all human existence but most strongly of all, it reminded me of Advent. Advent is a season of watching and waiting – engulfed in recent years by the anticipation of Christmas so that I often feel like a killjoy when I refuse to turn on Christmas lights and complain about carols before the event!

Advent is a time of looking forward in expectant longing for the coming of Christ’s kingdom – but it is also a time to remember that Christ comes not just as a baby in a manger but at the end of all time — at the final judgment. Advent is about preparing for that time – but the traditional Advent themes of death, judgment, heaven and hell are very often swept to one side. They are challenging and most people don’t like to be challenged!

As we approach Advent, please try to take time to read the inscription for yourself – and then perhaps use the passage below as part of your preparation for Christmas. It comes from one of the Advent services of repentance.

‘Today let us meditate on these four last things: death, judgment, heaven and hell. Let us examine our preparation for death and eternal life, in order that we may be strengthened in hope, moved to thank God for his grace, and inspired to deeper penitence and greater love. Amen’

Yours in Christ

Jo

I love the fitful gust that shakes

The casement of the day,

And from the mossy elm-tree takes

The faded leaves away,

Twirling them by the window pane

With thousand others down the lane.

I love to see the shaking twig

Dance till the shut of eve,

The sparrow on the cottage rig,

Whose chirp would make believe

That spring was just now flirting by

In summer’s lap with flowers to lie.

I love to see the cottage smoke

Curl upwards through the trees,

The pigeons nestled round the cote

On November days like these;

The cock upon the dunghill crowing,

The mill-sails on the heath a-going.

The feather from the raven’s breast

Falls on the stubble lea,

The acorns near the old crow’s nest

Drop pattering down the tree;

The grunting pigs, that wait for all,

Scramble and hurry where they fall.

John Clare (1793-1864)

Loving God, the birth of your Son Jesus Christ brought great joy to Mary and Joseph. We give thanks to you for everyone whose birthday we celebrate this month. May they ever grow in your faith, hope and love. We ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

Amen

Phoenix Cards Coffee Morning: Friday 13th November 10-11:30 a.m.

At the home of Sarah and Mathew Beecham, Lace Cottage, 3, Newton Lane Turvey. Please join us for refreshments and an opportunity to purchase Phoenix cards, gift wrap etc. in time for Christmas. The products are very reasonably priced and of a high quality. 10% of sales will go to church funds. Hope you can make it!

So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9-10

I just want you to know you are in my thoughts.

I trust the Lord will bless you and give you a very special day.

We are proposing to hold Study Groups in Advent once again with our friends from the community and congregation at Turvey Abbey.

These will be on Monday afternoons and evenings starting on 23rd November and running for four weeks until 14th December. It will be based on themes, such as humility, service and community and the extracts to read will be provided. Notices with all the details will be available shortly on the Tithe Table at church and in the porch at the Abbey.

December the 5th is only 5 weeks away! We need help to stock our stalls, this is a major fund-raiser for the church. Please help us to make it a success again this year. We need contributions of jams, jellies & chutney to stock our Preserves stall. Homemade cakes, biscuits & seasonal baking. The cake stall sells out & we wish we had more.

Jewellery sells well, please give anything you no longer need or wear.

New, unused and unwanted gifts (not ‘white elephant’ or anything electrical) make room for this year’s Christmas presents.

Lastly, the Choir are always glad of contribution for the Tombola.

Please contact Celia (881621) Pat (881281 or Gill (720615) If you can help in any way. Contributions to the Village Hall on Friday evening the 4th after 6pm please.

Services will be as usual apart from those mentioned below.

Friday 4th December: TLC Christmas Lunch. 12.30pm Village Hall

Saturday 5th December: Christmas Market and Bazaar. 10.30am – 12.30pm in the Village Hall

followed by lunch in the Manor Room

Saturday 12th December: Blessing of the Marriage of Lizi Petty and Jonathan Duplock. 3.30pm

Sunday 13th December: Christingle Service at 11.00am

Bedford County Branch RBL Carol Service in Church pm

Wednesday 16th December: Holy Communion at Barton Homes, followed by seasonal refreshments. 10.30am

Saturday 19th December: Carols round the Christmas Tree on Lancelot’s Piece. 5.00pm

Sunday 20th December: Nine Lessons and Carols in Church. 6.00pm

Monday 21st December: Little Lights and Bright Sparks Christmas Service and tea in Church 2.30pm

Wednesday 23rd December: Dress Rehearsal for Children’s Nativity Play 10.00am – 12.00 noon

Rehearsals for the play will be on Fridays throughout December between 3.45pm and 5.00pm

Study Groups will be on Mondays at 2.30pm and 7.00pm

The teas and coffees served at Celia’s Michaelmas Market raised just over £350, many thanks to all who contributed. The proceeds are to be split between the Village Hall and All Saints Church.

This is probably better known as the Shoebox Appeal and is organised by Samaritans Purse, which is an International Relief Agency.

Many of you will have been in Church last year, when a presentation was made at one of our 11.00 o’clock services, explaining that the request was for shoe boxes to be filled with items appropriate for children of three different age groups. Ages 2-4, 5-9 and 10-14, and identified whether they are for a boy or girl. These boxes would be the only Christmas presents that some children in other Countries would receive. I am very pleased to report that Turvey Church produced 22 boxes.

The boxes are delivered to Children in 15 different Countries, principally in Africa and Eastern Europe. Last year, our boxes went to Kiev in the Ukraine, and this year will go to Belarus. In total, some 1.3 million boxes were collected nationally.

Last year was the second year that Bedford became directly involved in this activity, and approximately 4,500 boxes were collected. This year, the total is hoped to reach 5,000.

The boxes are collected from Churches and Schools in the area and transferred to a warehouse in Bedford, provided free by Bedford Borough Council. There, the boxes are sorted and sealed, and separated into the different age groups. As a result of Bedford’s success, they have been allocated their own lorry, and the boxes will subsequently be transferred by juggernaught to their eventual destination.

I, together with two other helpers from the village became involved last year, and found it very enjoyable and rewarding. Let’s have another go this year, and see if we can beat last year’s total. If you would like to be involved for a short period during November, please let me know. One word of caution, it may be necessary to buy a new pair of shoes, in order to provide the shoe box!!

Mike Marshall Tel: 888898

Shoe boxes need to be deposited in the church by the 14th November

Ruth Rearden, profile by Cindy Woods

Ruth was born in Bath. Her father was a cabinet-maker and her mother stayed at home to look after her until the outbreak of the Second World War, when she was nine. She attended local schools until she left to go to London University to study history. She specialised in African history and worked for the Institute of Race Relations on the history of what was then the Belgian Congo. She spent seven years in Belgium, and while she was there studied theology in the French-speaking section of the Catholic University of Louvain.

It was in Belgium that she met Martin, who was the second young Anglican priest sent there by the Church of England for a year to study the new trends in Catholic theology after Pope John XXIII called together the Second Vatican Council. Relations were very difficult between Anglicans and Catholics in England in those days, so the Church of England had to look to the continent to discover the background to the calling of the Council, which the Pope had said would be a Council working towards Christian unity. Martin had to keep a diary during his Louvain year that was personally read by the Archbishop of Canterbury! Ruth and Martin were united in their commitment to Christian unity, but it took them a long time to decide to get married as mixed marriages between Catholics and Anglicans were strongly discouraged by both churches at that period. Fortunately in Belgium they were able to get married in 1964 with both Anglican and Catholic priests taking part, something that was not possible in England at the time. (It is standard practice for such weddings now.)

Ruth first met the Benedictine communities now at Turvey Abbey while she was in Belgium. They were also at Cockfosters in London and came to Turvey in 1982. They were founded in the 1920s with a particular interest in

Christian unity. Ruth was attracted to them because of this and by the Benedictine way of life, and became an oblate, trying to apply the wisdom of the Rule of St Benedict to her work and family life. In the 1960s she was an editor of One in Christ, a Catholic ecumenical review now published by the Turvey monks.

Ruth and Martin have a daughter Sarah who works in global education; she lives in Leeds and is married with two young daughters, Rosa and Grace. Their son John lives in Brighton and works at the Royal Sussex Hospital where he is a medical physicist and Ruth says he is a wonderful uncle to his nieces. John and Sarah were brought up in both churches and like many other interchurch children have found it enriching rather than confusing. Ruth says the churches are not yet comfortable with this however. When the children were young in the 1970s the family were living in Lincoln where Martin was Sub-Warden of the theological college.

In 1980 they moved to Sussex when Martin became General Secretary of the Board for Mission and Unity of the General Synod of the Church of England. Ruth became Sussex Churches Ecumenical Officer and worked around the children’s school day. Martin had a short spell as Rector in a Sussex country parish, but he was appointed General Secretary of the new body Churches Together in England in 1990. The children had flown the nest and Ruth and Martin moved into central London, where Martin could walk to work instead of commuting. Ruth had been Secretary of the Association of Interchurch Families since 1968, when she and Martin were founder members. It was set up for the mutual help and support of couples where one partner was a Catholic and the other a member of the Anglican or Free Churches. In the 1990s the Association rented an office in Interchurch House, which was the headquarters of Churches Together in England, and the job of Secretary became a full-time one.

After Martin retired they moved to Turvey in 2000 (they had often visited the Abbey before that). They were happy to find the Little School House right in the middle of the village, equidistant from both the Abbey and All Saints, which was symbolic for them of their commitment to Christian unity. Since Martin died in 2005 Ruth has continued to worship at both the Abbey and the parish church. The house is filled with happy memories of Martin, and the little garden at the back was his creation, and is an oasis of calm.

The next coffee morning will be at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday the 14th November at 1, Grove Court by kind permission of John and Julie Hughes. There will be a bring-and-buy stall for which contributions, especially of cakes and produce would be very welcome. We are now planning next year’s programme of coffee mornings. If you would like to act as a host, Anne Claypole White (881661) would like to hear from you! We hold the mornings on the second Saturday of each month except August and December. The Michaelmas Market at Hall Farm on the 9th and 10th October and part of the proceeds will be donated to church funds, so please do support it.

An enormous ‘Thank you’ to all who supported our ‘Buy a Box and Make the Water Flow’ initiative for Harvest! Together with a generous donation from a church family, we raised almost £700.00 to send to the Bishop’s Water Action Charity. Each pound will be matched by a £3.00 donation from the European Union. This means that Turvey is effectively sending over £2,000 to help provide clean water in parts of Africa where, at present, families are forced to walk miles each day to collect the water they need from rivers where the water is often contaminated.

In addition, most of you donated your boxes to BECHAR, the Bedford Concern for the Homeless and Rootless. I had to put the seats down in my car to get all the goods in – even then the boot was stuffed full! The cooks were particularly pleased with all the fresh stuff we were able to send – but of course the cans and jars provide a larder for the future! I have had a lovely letter of thanks from BECHAR. You may know that the reorganisation of local government in Bedfordshire means that they have had a big reduction in funding and are more than ever dependent on gifts from people like us.

Jo Spray

Our annual Service of Remembrance for those killed in two World Wars and in later conflicts will be held on Sunday 8th November. We meet at the cross at 10.40am for a prompt start at 10.45am. After short prayers and the laying of wreaths we shall proceed into church for our service and the observation of the two minutes silence at 11.00am.

On the evening of that day we shall hold our Requiem Service where we remember all those known and loved by us who have died – and those whose funerals have taken place in the parish in recent years. The names will be read out and there is an opportunity to light candles of remembrance. The list of names to be read is on the Tithe Table in church and will be available for checking until Thursday 5th November.

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.

All who are sick and approaching death

All who mourn

The work of the Royal British Legion in relieving the suffering of servicemen and their families

If you can’t sleep, don’t count sheep, talk to the shepherd.

Remember my affliction and my wandering…

And my soul is downcast within me.

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed.

For his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning:

Great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:19-23