June 2020
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THE VILLAGER IS THE JOINT MAGAZINE OF THE FIVE PARISHES OF THE HARLAXTON GROUP - ST ANDREW DENTON, ST MARY & ST PETER HARLAXTON, ALL SAINTS STROXTON, ST JAMES WOOLSTHORPE-BY-BELVOIR AND ST CATHERINE WYVILLE WITH HUNGERTON Weekly Worship Sunday Praise is held online via Zoom and on Facebook every Sunday at 10:30am Morning Prayer is also held online on Facebook Live Monday to Saturday and on Zoom every Wednesday at 9:30am
Points of Contact email: theharlaxtongroup@gmail.com phone: 01476 594608 The Ministry Team Vicar: Rev’d Stephen Harrop (House for Duty Priest in charge with PtO) Retired priests with PtO: Rev’d John Bruce, Rev’d Peter Hopkins. Rev’d Alan Littlewood Diocesan Readers: Lesley Devine and Shelia Finch (Rtd with PtO) Churchwardens: Denton: Jil and Keith Hiley 01476 870501 Harlaxton: Peter Chalk 07880 745814, Roger Scott 01476 979172 Stroxton: Betty Madge 01476 530296 Woolsthorpe: Patrick Randell 07578 394223, Deborah Owen 07578 343320 Wyville: Marion Webb 01476 870374, Hilary Westropp 01476 870489 The Villager Magazine Compiler: Rev’d John Bruce - jcb.churchmail@gmail.com Treasurer: Peter Chalk (Harlaxton Group Funds) - pchalk37@gmail.com
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The Vicar Writes During the lock-down, God has given us glorious sunny weather to enjoy the garden, or walks in our lovely surroundings. Now we can go out and meet with 5 other people. It will be at least another month before the churches can be open under strict limitations.
You can't beat a team, and we thank God that he has provided us with a good team working together. One thing we have missed during this period is our sharing in the Eucharist or Holy Communion. I do look forward to presiding at the Eucharist which, as a priest, this is one of the many functions I perform.
The churches have continued online during this lock-down period, and we have become acutely aware that the Church does not consist of the church buildings, but of us: The people who are members of the universal Body of Christ.
My sincere apologies go out to people who's weddings and baptisms have been postponed, due to the lock-down. Your day will come.
It has also brought us together, rather than worshipping separately in different locations, we have been brought together as a group, also welcoming people from Barrowby and Great Gonerby, as well as people from Spain and the USA. The “attendance” has been more than the combined attendances in our separate churches. We have been conscious of our unity as Christ's Church in this place.
I sympathise with people who have had a graveside funeral for their loved ones with few people there. A memorial service will be offered for them in due course. The migratory birds like swallows, martins & swifts are here so the natural World is still carrying on regardless of our pandemic. Let's enjoy the summer: enjoying our beautiful surroundings and wildlife.
This period has also highlighted the gifts of our ministry team of priests & readers, and the technical acumen of Peter Chalk, John Bruce and Roger Scott, who have enabled our worship and prayer to continue.; also the members who read and intercede in our services.
continued overleaf … 3
As I have already mentioned, the Bishop has decided not to renew my license, so I am now “House for Duty”, which means I am doing the same job, without being paid.
Comment from the Complier Due to the current pandemic all parishes have been advised by the Church of England to cease producing paper copies of their parish magazines as there is the possibility that distributing them could actually be a means of virus transmission.
I have been very encouraged by the overwhelming support of parishioners, who appreciate my ministry here. Thank you for your support, which I appreciate.
There is also the difficulty of physically distributing the copies even if we did print them. Many of our distributors are themselves self-isolating, and could be for some considerable time.
Meanwhile, I am looking forward to viewing a house in Cheadle Hulme, in the near future, which is near Stockport, where I hope to retire, from where I can visit my grandchildren more easily.
So the decision was made to publish it as an online publication through the Group’s website, and if thought necessary for neighbours of those not online to print a copy and pop it through the letterbox, but only if requested and absolutely necessary.
I look forward to seeing you on Zoom or Facebook live for our regular services. Please keep checking the Harlaxton Group website for any updates and changes. Stephen
Looking Forward
Mend and make do
As we look forward to the coming months none of us has any real idea how things will begin to get back to ‘normal’, whatever that is! My opinion, for what its worth, is that I hope we have learned much about neighbourliness and sharing doing these trying times and that we continue along that road.
— According to handicraft expert Kirstie Allsopp, a missing button was the number one reason why 350,000 tonnes of wearable clothing may end up in UK landfill this year. But that was before lockdown. Now you have time to make do – and mend! Rescue and reuse your clothes. After all, it saves money and the planet. 4
Lockdown Lingo
or born during coronavirus quarantine. They might also become known as “Generation C” or, more spookily, “Children of the Quarn”. Furlough Merlot Wine consumed in an attempt to relieve the frustration of not working. Also known as “bored-eaux” or “cabernet tedium”. Coronadose An overdose of bad news from consuming too much media during a time of crisis. Can result in a panicdemic. The elephant in the Zoom The glaring issue during a videoconferencing call that nobody feels able to mention. E.g. one participant has dramatically put on weight, suddenly sprouted terrible facial hair or has a worryingly messy house visible in the background. Quentin Quarantino An attention-seeker using their time in lockdown to make amateur films which they’re convinced are funnier and cleverer than they actually are. Covidiot One who ignores public health advice or behaves with reckless disregard for the safety of others can be said to display “covidiocy” or be “covidiotic”. Also called a “lockclown”. Goutbreak The sudden fear that you’ve consumed so much wine, cheese, home-made cake and Easter chocolate in lockdown that your
Are you fully conversant with the new terminology? Coronacoaster The ups and downs of your mood during the pandemic. You’re loving lockdown one minute but suddenly weepy with anxiety the next. It truly is “an emotional coronacoaster”. Quarantinis Experimental cocktails mixed from whatever random ingredients you have left in the house. The boozy equivalent of a store cupboard supper. Southern Comfort and Ribena quarantini with a glacé cherry garnish, anyone? These are sipped at “locktail hour”, ie. wine o’clock during lockdown, which seems to be creeping earlier with each passing week. Blue Skype thinking A work brainstorming session which takes place over a videoconferencing app. Such meetings might also be termed a “Zoomposium”. Naturally, they are to be avoided if at all possible. Le Creuset wrist It’s the new “avocado hand” - an aching arm after taking one’s best saucepan outside to bang during the weekly ‘Clap For Carers.’ It might be heavy but you’re keen to impress the neighbours with your high-quality kitchenware. Coronials As opposed to millennials, this refers to the future generation of babies conceived 5
ankles are swelling up like a medieval king’s. Antisocial distancing Using health precautions as an excuse for snubbing neighbours and generally ignoring people you find irritating. Coughin’ dodger Someone so alarmed by an innocuous splutter or throat-clear that they back away in terror. Quarantime The gap between mouse wiggles so your boss thinks you're working. Wuhandkerchief, for grannies Every time she sees a picture of a new grandchild she can't visit. Quarantins That dozen tins of tomato soup you bought in march but can't face eating. Mask-ara Extra make-up applied to "make one's eyes pop" before venturing out in public wearing a face mask. Covid-10 The 10lbs in weight that we’re all gaining from comfort-eating and comfort-drinking. Also known as “fattening the curve”
A Lockdown Poem from Virginia Leverton’s sister Vicky Welch.
Provided by Peter Hopkins
For those who did not sway
Well, here we are in lockdown So let us all give thanks, For Doctors, Nurses, NHS Whatever roles and ranks. The sacrifice they make for us will get us through our plight, The very least that we can do Is clap on Thursday night!! What can I do in all of this??, A question that now stands I've tidied all my cupboards And washed my pots and pans. The gardens are so tidy With no sign of a weed, In fact the birds are organised,They line up for a feed. Despite the very sad times We are so truly blessed, A rainbow in the window Will show there WILL be rest. And when all this is over Will know their Friend and Saviour
Thank you Peter, this gave me such a good laugh, but it was the last one that seemed to fit the bill best for me! Compiler
Was just a prayer away By Vicky Welch 6
Pentecost - A diffuser from The Ven. Dr Justine Allain Chapman, Archdeacon of Boston
My lockdown treat is a diffuser. Adding water and some essential oil, such as lavender, my room is filled with a smell which promotes a peacefulness. My diffuser changes colour on a cycle, so it is relaxing to watch, and I feel restored by the wafting aroma. I’ve enjoyed using my diffuser and in these last weeks it has made me think of the stories of the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost. Jesus had breathed peace on the disciples, and told them to wait in prayer for the promise of power. So we find the disciples, locked in a room, still fearful of what they would meet outside, and praying for the Holy Spirit to help them. And then God’s spirit came and a sense of being anointed with flames and hearing the rush of wind. They went outside knowing that change had come. It was time for them to connect with other people, speak their language, and witness to love overcoming the power of death, to God bringing resurrection out of crucifixion. This pandemic has locked us inside for weeks and we wonder about when we can live freely again, connect with others. I’ve become much more attuned to nature and appreciate the Pentecost stories which describe experiencing God as fire, wind, earth and water. All those elements have forceful and gentle aspects. Pentecost begins with God soothing, easing and freeing the disciples form fear. They are freed from fear of arrest, free to connect with others after time locked inside. They gained confidence - which is a word which means, with faith faith in God and in themselves as people now not just following as disciples, but being sent out as apostles. My diffuser resonates with the gentle, cleansing and powerful properties of water, which at our baptism makes us Christ’s and starts us off in faith. Its cycle of colours reminds me that the seasons come round and yet we mark particular times. We are not free today to go outside, connect, celebrate, meet. There will have been many Pentecosts in the past where it hasn’t felt as if our lives - body and soul - have come together and been blessed by God with a new start and fresh purpose. Just as there have been other times when it has been like that and we’ve been grateful, celebrated, full to overflowing - and that is a different date we keep 7
in the year. Today we mark that a full sense of God’s blessing when everything comes together is real in our lives, whether it is for today or another time.
God's Love His love is like a gentle breeze, That brushes my cheek and travels with ease. His love is like the open sea So wide and deep and flowing free. His love is like the prettiest flower That brings such joy in a dismal hour His love is like the sun's warm rays, Brightening even the saddest of days. His love is like a crystal stream That sparkles with the sunshine's gleam. His love is like a warm embrace Making our troubles fade without a trace. His love is with a love so true That we can't help but love him too.
Jesus promised that ‘out of the believers heart shall flow rivers of living water‘ (John 7:39). Rivers have direction and purpose. They carry goods, support life and in the natural systems of our world return to their source and out to the sea. Perhaps you might consider yourself as a river, with a landscape to pass through, a direction, a journey onward and out which the season of Pentecost can reveal. Where will you go from now? You may feel that it is inner freedom you long for. Jesus said: Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me, drink (John 7:37). Bring what you long for, what you fear, before Christ for his peace.
So when we take our daily exercises and walks and meet people we know or don't know well enough, we can smile and say hello and know we'll be walking with God, and be thankful that we are able to do that. From Adrianne Taylor
So I invite you to do something today for Pentecost - which won’t be bursting from lockdown to celebrate with others - but could involve water. It could be watering plants, bathing, a consideration of the gentle moving of God amidst us. I’ll enjoy my diffuser.
A little irreverent laugh! We can all do with a laugh at the moment, and while this video is a bit irreverent, let’s be grateful we don't have anybody like this! (you’ll need sound on!)
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Mothers’ Union
The Other Wordsworth … I wandered lonely as a cloud Two metres from the madding crowd When all at once my name was called To enter Waitrose hallowed hall.
We may not be holding our monthly meetings but we are still here. Sad that we are not meeting each other but glad that we are all keeping safe and well. Lincoln Diocese Trustees meet regularly via ZOOM, lots of things to discuss and decisions to be made. Sadly the Diocese is saying ‘farewell’ to their Diocesan Secretary at the end of this month. Unfortunately we are not able to keep her in this position because of the ‘Lockdown’. Our Diocesan Constitution is being change by just one word, we pay to have our accounts ‘audited’ but if we change this word to ‘examine’ we will save the Diocese money that we need to carry on our work in this Diocese. MUe is also suffering, because we are not meeting and not having our Summer Council, sales are way, way down so our money from Mary Sumner House at the end of the year will not be very much. More news next time. Christine Bruce.
This was the pensioners’ special hour. I’d gone to get a bag of flour. But I forgot, when through the door, What I had gone to Waitrose for. The Waitrose staff are extra kind. I told them it had slipped my mind. They asked what else I had forgot They clearly thought I’d lost the plot. I phoned my wife again to ask. She reminded me of this special task: “I need some flour to bake a cake with all that cream you made me take.” “Ah yes I recall” I had to lie. I dared not ask what flower to buy But then I saw them next the tills a bunch of golden daffodils! From a friend of Roger and Janet Scott YOUR BELLS NEED YOU!
Kevin and Liz Carter are looking for budding Bellringers. Please give them a call if you’d like to learn this fascinating hobby - they will be only too willing to impart their knowledge and have you join their team of dedicated campanologists. Call 01476 568097, or email kevin.carter24@btinternet.com 9
From across the Pond
If I were preaching … Pentecost 2020 A Pentecost Haiku
Tongues of Fire
Peter all a’giddy And on fire with the Spirit Misses the main point.
Tongues of fire Red and orange Light up the souls with Red hot passion Of all who seek Grace and Justice But blinds the souls With cold hate Of all who seek only Power and Wealth
Pentecost Red and the Flames of the Spirit reminds us of the struggle of the people who seek Justice and Grace in their every day lives. They seek to live and love in a world that does not always appear to see them nor even care, except as a commodity. When they have gone as far as they can and the fire that once burned in their souls is but a cooling ember, any spark can reignite the flame. Like the murder of a Black man. Then the seething anger of centuries seeks an escape, and like tongues of fire, it burns brighter and hotter. The anger turns to rage and the rage to action. Then pain piles upon pain like drifts of snow in a winter’s storm. Violence begets violence and the red flames of rage becomes rivers of blood. From this then all the pent up anger and rage for Justice and Grace becomes the fuel for a deeper and darker and even more sinister oppression. And the flames of Justice and Grace are snuffed out once again, only to retreat into the depths of the souls of the oppressed, until they re-emerge to burn even hotter. And so it is as if the Prophet Joel saw end result of today’s oppression of those who seek justice and freedom; those who have visions of equality for all peoples, visions of freedom from economic and social slavery, visions of a planet freed from the abuse of its inhabitants. 10
When young and old alike seek Grace and Love but get only Hate in return. Then the earth will be filled with “blood, and fire, and smoky mist. (and) The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood.” But it does not have to be if we seek, like Rabbi Yeshua teaches, to burn with the red and orange flames of Love and Grace. If we seek to work for the good of all and not for the Powers of this world. If we seek to serve all in the name of Justice and Equality and not for the Exploitation of people and the earth. All this is possible if we wish to make it so. The questions through time have always been: Do we wish to make it so? And then are we willing to actually do it? Pentecost prayers are only empty wishes until we act on that for which we pray. May the flames of Pentecost Love and Grace burn within you on this and all days. Rev’d Canon Patrick Généreux Theologian, Commentator, Writer
IN MEMORIAM John Crane Ernie Doughty Jim Foster Hazel Grinter
Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace, and rise in Glory
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THANK YOU HARLAXTON! Ken Pryce has been advised by his Doc to take as much exercise as possible. He says “I walk 5 km a day, but have to stop occasionally for a rest. I am amazed at the kindness of so many people in this village that stop and ask after my welfare. Coronavirus seems to have brought out the best in so many people. Grateful if you include just a few words of thanks from me to so many kind people.” He also says he that after a very enlightened RAF Education Officer had given him and others, a lesson on the horrors of the 2nd World War - the officer’s view then was that the fire-bombing of Hamburg & Dresden, where only old people, woman and children were killed came close to being war crimes. It inspired Ken to write the following poem … Civilisation Moves Over The Land Heralds are sounding, down in Hell Somebody’s ringing the Lutine Bell Ships are sinking two by four Princes shouting, “It’s time for war” Warriors meet on the Persian plain Hero’s die but not in vain Mankind goes forward, new dreams planned Civilisation moves over the land Centurions marching in foreign fields Civilisation goes forward as mankind yields Armies plunder, kill and destroy Politicians playing with their favourite toy Saladin rises from his sandy dust Christ has to go, that’s a must Art is decadent, love is banned Civilisation moves over the land Cossacks mounted far in the East Khengis Khan is having a feast What’s this new joy mankind has found Cossacks will burn it down to the ground The Medicis and Borgias all want to be Pope Got to have war, got to have hope Churches are burnt, but Leonardo is grand Civilisation moves over the land
Spanish warships, sailing far out to sea The inquisition is right but England is free Men die bloody, against the Mast The toys have multiplied quick and fast Freedom arrives in a brand new place The dynasties are dead, men have lost face But Indians are told as they fight for their land Civilisation moves over the land Blast furnaces roar, bullets are made Bloody’s the Somme, a triumphant parade Kings are finished, new freedoms abound But bodies are lying all over the ground The Panzers are coming, the earth is on fire Princes in hell play on their lyres But for this mighty Emperor, playing the band Civilisation moves over the land Trumpets are sounding down in hell Hero’s are telling, just how they fell But one man sitting there all forlorn Says, my son, I was never born Alawites, Sunnis and Shia Alike Each say, only, their prophet is right Still again, bodies, all cover the ground Civilisation moves over the land 12
HARLAXTON COMMUNITY LOTTERY The winning numbers and names for the MAY 2020 draw are: No. 038 - 1st Prize £50 - Elizabeth Allison (Harlaxton) No. 027 - 2nd Prize £25 - Denise Butler (Harlaxton) No. 114 - 3rd Prize £10 - Frances Warner (Harlaxton) If you would like to be a part of this lottery scheme then please let either Sheila Finch or Peter Chalk know, and they will let you have more information about joining. Brief Details £9.00 a month by direct debit buys you one share in the scheme. The odds of winning will be 200:1 or better. There is no limit to the number of shares you can buy. At each public draw, three numbers are drawn. Cash Prizes!!
Monthly cash prizes £10, £25 and £50 Quarterly Cash Prizes £100, £250 and £500 Yearly Christmas Cracker Draw £250, £500 and £1000 (Prizes are paid directly into your nominated bank account.)
THANK YOU CONTRIBUTORS A warm thank you to all those who have contributed to this temporary ONLINE EDITION of the VILLAGER. As this is an online edition, it is quite possible, in the next two or three days to add more articles or information, so if you have anything you would like to add to this edition, please let me have to at the latest by midday on Friday 5th June, thank you. CanI remind you also, to please keep checking the website for updates - these happen all the time. Do also take a look at the weekly video reflections from our Bishops, they are well worth it - www.harlaxtongroup.org.uk/public/bishops.php
www.harlaxtongroup.org.uk theharlaxtongroup@gmail.com 13
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