Dear Friends.April is a month when people are drawn to pilgrimages.One of the most famous pilgrimages, which took place in April, inspired Geoffrey Chaucer to write The Canterbury Tales. His celebrated work describes how twenty nine people from all walks of life met at an inn and started on a long journey to visit the shrine of St Thomas a Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. It has some wonderful descriptions of the characters, the stories they related on the journey and some iconic descriptions of the month of April.For Chaucer, April is the time when the "yonge sonne" (young sun) fills the world with fresh life, prompting us all to leave the house and embrace its warmth. Even after all these centuries, the poet’s description of flowers, showers, and small birds singing "with open ye" remains a beautiful picture of this month. There is a sense of promise in this season that forces even the most reluctant among us to look up and notice the birds - the "smale foweles" - making melody.If you would like to embark on your own mini pilgrimage this April, do join us on Good Friday, 3rd April, at St Peter’s Church Barton, at 11am. We shall be on a spiritual pilgrimage remembering Jesus’ suffering and death on Good Friday, before our Easter Sunday pilgrimage to church to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection at the 9.30am Communion Service on 5th April, followed by an Easter Egg Hunt around the St Peter’s churchyard.Wherever you are this Easter, have a wonderful time,With blessings,Claire
Who was the John who wrote this powerful Gospel? What is his special message about Jesus Christ, the Light of the World? And what significance does his Gospel have to our lives today?"Written with energy and clarity, this short book achieves what many longer ones do not in its penetrating reading of John’s Gospel, careful, imaginative, demanding and exciting. Paula Griffiths makes this inexhaustible text fresh and arresting again for us."Bishop Rowan WilliamsCome and hear Paula Griffiths, retired priest in the Saffron Walden and Villages Team Ministry, talking with Revd Claire Robertson about Paula's recently published book. Enjoy the opportunity to ask questions and to buy a signed copy.Free entry to this event at the New Vicarage, Haslingfield on Thursday 12 February, 3pm- 3.45pm. Places are limited to 30 and booking is essential. Please email revdclairerobertson96@gmail.com. Followed by book signing & light refreshments. There will be a retiring collection for St Peter’s Church, Barton. The Mystery of John: Reflections on the Fourth Gospel (published by Instant Apostle). Price per book £13.99, with payment by cash, cheque or online bank transfer.
