Dear FriendsWhen thinking of the month of May a tune comes to mind from the film Camelot (by Lerner & Loewe): "It's May it's May, the lusty month of May", meaning vigorous and robust, as in the burgeoning forth of spring. Another line of the song is, "That lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray".This musical is based on Sir Thomas Malory’s 15th-century Le Morte d'Arthur, which in turn inspired T.H. White's The Once and Future King, and the popular musical. King Arthur and Queen Guenevere are the king and queen in this land and of course Camelot is a mythical castle and court where, "The crown has made it clear the climate must be perfect all the year". That's because, "A law was made a distant moon ago here July and August cannot be too hot. And there's a legal limit to the snow here", never mind that "the rain may never fall till after sundown" and "by 8, the morning fog must disappear".No need of weather forecasts there then. A complete fantasy. A different world order.We do have a once and future king who was the first to make it clear and decided the rules for the weather by setting the seasons and the natural world to work together. He set down Day and Night, now we have daylight and night light too. Our bodies find it difficult to adjust to living at night but do so because we have artificial light. And should we go blissfully astray, once we acknowledge this, he will gladly welcome us back into the fold.As with many relationships, Arthur cannot understand Guenevere and becomes frustrated, but he is told by a wise old man that the best and only way to understand her is to love her and love her even more. This is what our God does with us; he never stops loving us when we test him or lose trust in him.When his crucified body took our wrong doings, and our disasters were nailed under his outstretched hands, he opened up for us a brave new world. It will not always be springtime, and the snow will take no heed of timetables and rules, but the light will always be there even shining in the darkness.Bye for nowRuth Bond LLM
On Saturday May 30th at 12 noon we have the third in our excellent series of talks at Barton Village Hall. 'Climate Change. How worried should we be?' Professor Andrew Friend will be answering this question for us. Tickets £15 to include a light lunch and drink. Tickets from Anne Coulson.We also have a number of other exciting events in Barton:Monday May 18th our APCM, St Peter’s Church at 7.30pm. All welcome.Friday May 22nd Lordsbridge Pilgrimage starting from Barton at 7.30am! See www.lordsbridge.org Monthly Mailing.Sunday May 24th at 4pm Choral Evensong at St Peter’s Church.Other forthcoming Services at St Peter’s Church, Barton are listed on our Events page.Other local church dates for your diary in May:Friday 8th May - The Cann Twins Concert, Haslingfield 7pmMonday 11th May - 5.30pm at Haslingfield Choral Evensong with Claire RobertsonThursday 14th May - Ascension Day Service at Harlton at 7pmSaturday May 16th - 6pm Compline at St Peter’s Coton with Claire Robertson sung by the Cambridge Early Music Consort.Monday 18th May - 5.30pm Evensong at Haslingfield with Claire RobertsonFor other interesting events coming up in local churches in the Team, do also see the www.lordsbridge.org Monthly Mailing.With Eastertide blessings and love and thanks for all you do,ClaireGod of MissionWho alone brings growth to your Church,Send your Holy Spirit to giveVision to our planning,Wisdom to our actions,Joy to our worship,And power to our witness.Help our church to grow in numbers, In spiritual commitment to you,And in service to our local community,Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
We had a very exciting Holy Saturday Churchyard clean up where a grass snake was discovered as ivy was taken down from a decaying tree! Thanks to everyone who came to help, including the flower team who made the church look so splendid for Easter.My thanks to our wonderful ministry team members who led our Holy week services. Revd Corin presided at Palm Sunday, Revd Charles from the Eversdens joined me on Maundy Thursday and gave a beautiful sermon on Jesus washing the disciples feet, and Ruth Bond LLM led a poignant Good Friday service. My thanks also to our organists, Robert, Chris, Nicky and Jeremy who play such an important part in our worship, and our great bell ringing team.Just before Holy Week began we had a fascinating talk by Jezo aka Jeremy Bond who shared with us how he grew up in Barton, and the twists and turns of his exciting stage career. This was followed by an excellent lunch, and more talks will follow this year.Our next fundraiser for St Peter’s Barton will be my concert at Haslingfield with my twin sister on two pianos on Friday 8th May at 7pm – 8.30pm. Proceeds from tickets sold at Barton Post Office will go to St Peter’s Church. More information and tickets (£15, £8 students and £1 for children under 13) available from www.canntwins.com, performance tab.For other interesting events coming up in local churches in the Team, do also see the www.lordsbridge.org.With Easter blessings and love and thanks for all you do,ClaireRevd Claire Robertson, Team VicarGod of MissionWho alone brings growth to your Church,Send your Holy Spirit to giveVision to our planning,Wisdom to our actions,Joy to our worship,And power to our witness.Help our church to grow in numbers, In spiritual commitment to you,And in service to our local community,Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
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
