Newsletter, September 2009
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‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the Harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.’

I was nearly mown down by a tractor the other day – driving far too fast into the village – it was enormous, almost as big as the houses on Church Terrace. It was still not quite as big as the combine I drove behind into Olney though – a far cry from the reaper and binder I used to walk behind when I was a little girl, helping to make stooks out of the sheaves of corn. It was all hands on deck in those days – I suppose the difference now perhaps, is that modern machinery makes fewer hands necessary.

The quotation above, however, from Mark’s gospel, is not about corn – nor yet about all the other goodies that are filling the gardens at the moment – it is about people. Jesus had been out and about into the villages and towns when he said this - healing, teaching, ‘proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness’

There is a lot of disease and sickness in the village at present – not the sort that needs Tamiflu or a visit to the much maligned NHS – it is the sort of disease that results in obscene graffiti, smashed windows in the village hall, flowers uprooted and even attempts to burn historic memorials in the church porch. This is real sickness – real disease and it needs healing before it spreads. I was taken to task over my letter in last month’s magazine by someone suggesting that I might want to ‘hug a hoody’ and that I was condoning bad behaviour. Not so – I hope I was saying that if we give children a sense of their own worth from an early age then the sort of disease we are now witnessing will be eradicated.

But this has implications for us all. Jesus says there was disease because the people were without a shepherd – they needed real care. Not the ‘gentle Jesus meek and mild’ brand of Christianity – but the real tough love sort that is prepared to go out and preach the gospel of love for God and neighbour. We need more people to do this, on a daily basis where they live and work. We need more people to work at it formally too – to help with our Little Lights and Bright Sparks for example – and to go on into the wonderfully rewarding work with older children. At present I am sure most of our village youngsters are lovely, law abiding and responsible, but disease has a habit of spreading and sometimes it takes hold before we realise. I like to think of the Christian message as a sort of vaccine – preventing the spread of sickness before it has chance to start.

Since I arrived in the village I have baptised almost a hundred babies – all these are candidates ripe for the harvest. Some are already safe in the barn – but as we approach the time of the harvest of the land once again, can we give some thought to how we can harvest souls and make our society whole once more? For this harvest it really needs to be all hands on deck!

Yours in Christ

Jo

All children starting school and those returning to school

Young people starting University

Young people who have no purpose in life

Our Harvest Thanksgiving this year will be on Sunday 27th September. Although it is a fourth Sunday the services will be as follows:

11.00am Parish Eucharist and Harvest Gift Service

6.00pm Choral Evensong

This will be followed at 7.30pm by Harvest Supper in the Village Hall. It is an exciting thought that we shall be following mediaeval tradition in bringing our gifts to church to give thanks then going straight on to enjoy the fruits of the Harvest together! Sandra Nightingale will be selling tickets as usual – to reserve them, please call her on 01234 881453

The church will be decorated for Harvest Festival on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th September. If you would like to help, please contact Anne Claypole White (881661) Contributions of flowers, berries, Autumn foliage and produce would be greatly appreciated. These can be brought to the church on either of the two given days. Thank you.

Bank Holiday Monday, 31st August, will be your last opportunity this year to enjoy a cream tea at the church. 3:00-5:30pm. So do come along and join us.

If you have any containers or baskets suitable for bulbs for our stall, please leave them at the back of the church or contact Pat 881281 or Gill 720615. We will need to start planting in early October!

God waved a large, majestic hand

And gave us sky and trees and land.

God gave us birds to chirp each morn

And stout, young rows of bright green corn.

God gave us forests in whose shadows deep

Deer keep watch as their children sleep.

God gave us clouds of fluffy white

To shield us from the sun’s bright light.

God gave us homes to keep us warm,

To keep us secure and safe from harm.

In short, God gave us all he could;

God gave us all things great and good.

Unknown

Without fresh water the standard of living in some parts of the world is still appalling.

‘Everybody is ill, it is very common. This is our problem, even though it is dirty we use the water for drinking.’, says Sofia, who lives in Ethiopia. Every day Sofia has to walk for six hours to collect water for her family – even though she knows the regular sickness her family experiences is due to the water they drink – ‘it tastes like cow dung’ she says.

This year the Bishop’s Harvest appeal is ‘Give water for life’. He writes

‘In the scriptures water is a potent symbol of God’s life giving grace. Please give sacrificially so that together we can demonstrate God’s love in a practical way.’

Some years ago we supported water charities by collecting pennies to make the taps run in church! We were able to connect several villages in Africa to a mains water supply – helping both food production and hygiene in the area. We should like to do better this time!

We hope to raise money for this by having a Harvest ‘Raffle’ of the gifts brought to church. It will be a bit different from last year because the boxes will not be ready for the Harvest Supper. At the Supper – or after the Harvest Services – you will be able to buy a ticket for a Harvest box of unseen goods for a suggested donation of £5.00 or more. The boxes will be made up in the week following the Harvest Thanksgiving and each given a number - the boxes will be distributed in the order tickets are drawn. They will be delivered to your home.

If you wish to help the Harvest go further, you will be given opportunity as you buy your ticket to say you want your box to go to BECHAR (Bedford Concern for the Homeless and Rootless) – this is a day centre in Prebend Street.

The next coffee morning will be at 10:15am on Saturday the 12th September at "The Chimes", 25 Norfolk Road, by kind invitation of David and Jenny Allender. There will be a bring -and -buy -stall for which contributions, especially of cakes and produce, would be very welcome.

He cannot have God for his Father who has not the Church for his mother.

St. Cyprian

Do you ever feel like the person who exclaimed, "God put me on earth to accomplish a certain number of things, and right now I’m so far behind, I’ll live forever!"?

Janet Cockings and Gill Betts will be providing Coffee and tea at this two day event on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th October. Celia Hanbury has very generously said that all the money we take may be shared between the Church and the Village Hall. Any contributions of cakes and biscuits or assistance on the day would be very welcome. We are likely to be catering for quite a large number of people so please contact Janet 881419 or Gill 720615 if you can help.

The McMillan Coffee Morning for Cancer Charities is on Friday 25th September in the Village Hall

The Beds and Herts Historic Churches Trust are holding their annual sponsored bike ride on Saturday 12th September. The aim is to raise money riding or walking to local churches. It is a fun day for adults and children. You can make it as long or as short as you like. All Saints Turvey will be open to walkers and bikers from 10am to 1pm. Further details and sponsorship forms can be obtained from Rod Petty (tel. 881619).

Get on your bikes and ride for FAST!

Sheila was born in Bedford, her mother who stayed at home to look after her and her sister had previously worked as a secretary for a shoe firm who sent designer shoes to America. Her father was a master pastry chef and worked for various local firms before specialising in making pork pies that were so famous they were sent all over the country! Sheila attended Goldington Road Infants school and then went to the High School. She always wanted to be a carpet designer, that is until she was told it would take at least 20 years! so she decided to change plans and work for the local library instead.

Austin was born in Eastbourne to parents who kept a small hotel. Before taking on the hotel his father had been a professional Huntsman and his mother had worked in some of the larger Country Houses as cook. Austin grew up with an older brother and sister. Austin went to local schools and then to Eastbourne Grammar. He was going to join Eastbourne Library when France fell, and he and his mother were evacuated to Bedford as they had family near here. He got a job in Bedford Library instead where he remained for the rest of his working life.

Austin was in 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards tank crews from 1942 (D-day etc.) After the war he was in Egypt, Palestine and Jordan before being demobbed in1947. Not one to be idle, while Austin was at the war, Sheila helped in a canteen above the Methodist church that gave out tea and sandwiches to soldiers from Holland, Poland and America. Sheila also trained with the Red Cross and later did Red Cross duty at Boxing matches, one of which had the English Soldiers fighting against the German Prisoners of war! that must have been something worth watching. She also helped out at the blood transfusion unit at Bedford Hospital. After the war Austin returned to his job in Bedford Library, and yes you guessed, met Sheila who was by then working there. They married in Bedford Methodist Church in 1950 (the site of the new library) and next year will be celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary!

After the boys grew up, a friend told her help was needed at Putnoe school. Sheila took on this job and later trained at Bedford College for 3 years for her teaching degree. Sheila knew the Rev. Butler’s (Turvey rector at the time) wife who taught at Lavendon school. She was leaving her post as they were moving and Sheila literally stepped into her job, very convenient. The couple had wanted to move out of Bedford for some time and as luck would have it their present home went up for sale. They moved to Turvey in 1968 to the house Sheila had always liked, she says she used to pass it often while travelling on the bus to visit her grandparents in Northampton and said she would like to live there one day. Their boys David and Andrew were then old enough to catch the bus to school. Their elder son David lives in Bedford and works at Borough Hall. He enjoys music and writing. Andrew is a library manager at Stafford and also a composer.

In her teens Sheila belonged to a group that ran the Methodist youth club and an Evangelical youth group. Sometimes they went out to take services in the surrounding villages and once she had to write a sermon for the chapel service in Carlton Road (no longer a chapel) and also sang solo at the same service. A co incidence that one day in the far future she would end up living in that same village.

Sheila’s hobbies include gardening, painting and weaving although she tells me that she cannot do as much of the garden now. Austin enjoys classical music, opera and songs from the shows as well as photography. When chief Librarian of Bedford and District he ran a series of musical quizzes that proved very popular. He also arranged a lot of music, art, film and literature exhibitions. Sheila entertained some of the more famous visitors (Christopher Fry, Sir Malcolm Arnold, Ray Harryhausen etc.) at Turvey - a very interesting time, she says.

Soon after moving to Turvey Sheila became a member of the Church of England and they love going to church here, usually to the communion services. Sheila was very sick about 18 months ago and hospitalised for many weeks. She says that she had lots and lots of people all over the country praying for her recovery and is a great believer in the power of prayer support. I think many of us will agree.

Come I this day to the Father,

Come I this day to the Son,

Come I to the Holy Spirit powerful;

Come I this day with God,

Come I this day with Christ,

Come I with the Spirit of kindly balm.

God, and Spirit, and Jesus,

From the crown of my head

To the soles of my feet;

Come I with my reputation,

Come I with my testimony,

Come I to Thee, Jesu

Jesu, shelter me.

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