Incase you didnt know… celebrating the Jubilee at Little Paxton

Ive been a busy old Paxtonvic these last few days what with the various joys of vicaring here and there.

And it did all seem a long way off, but tomorrow in our village of Little Paxton the Jubilee celebrations begin.

At 11.00am pupils from Little Paxton Primary School and residents from Paxton Hall care home will help to plant an 8′ native oak ” jubilee” tree on the grass verge of Gordon Road and High Street. A brass plaque will be unveiled simialr to the one recently installed to celebrate the tree planted for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. At 11.30am another plaque will be unveiled outside the village hall to dedicate and rename the recreation ground ” The Queen Elizabeth 2nd Playing Field”.

I think that is all rather fine and Im very sorry I cant join in as I will be involved with a funeral service in another part of the Deanery.

On Saturday the bells will ring out as a team of ringers attempt the first 1/4 peal on the newly refurbished bells. It will last about 45 minutes and will consist of 1,260 chnages. The ringers cant stop during the attempt and it will be a mighty achievement to mark the Jubilee celebrations in the village. The quarter peal will commence at 10.00am and will be led by George Bonham, Tower Captain at St Marys St Neots.

Our local band of ringers will be joining with ringers from across  the country on Sunday afternoon at 3pm when they ring the bells for the Jubillee celebrations.

Back to Saturday at little Paxton and the 1950s themed tea party begins at 4pm on the playing field.

It has been organised by the parish council with the hlpe of village organisations. All sorts of entertainment is lined up including a paper magician, a disco and children’s races. Party food will be served at 5pm in the village hall. Little Paxton Colts Football Club is organising a kncok out penalty competition from 5pm – 6pm and the Cricket Club is running kwik cricket from 6pm – 7pm.

From 7pm – 10pm there will be dancing to Fun Time Frankies.

Its a huge credit to this amazing village that so many organisations have got together to makie the Jubilee party happen. Considering we have only just had the Scarecrow festival and in July we have PaxFest its really good that so many people are willing to make the Jubilee weekend a success. I will do my best to implore the powers that be that the sun should shine!

On Sunday at our 10.30am Family Service in school, there will be a…… Jubilee theme but also a visit from one of the leaders of the Emmaus community in Waterbearch.

If anyone wants to venture further afield into St Neots there are plenty of activities going on in town from Friday onwards. It includes a Funfair in Regatta Park and a childrens Big Lunch in the Market Square from 12pm to 3pm. There is also an amazing Duck Race organised by the Parkinsons Association  from 3.15pm on Sturday. A host of ducks will be launched from beneath the bridge and float their way downstream with winners tickets on their little backs!

On Monday at 10.00pm in Regatta meadow the St Neots Beacon will be lit – one of many beacons to be lit across the UK.

Phew… just reading about it all is enough to get exhausted.

Definately time ffor a rest before the Big Week-end.

 

 

Model Railway Open Afternoon at Little Paxton – May 12th 2012

Anyone who loves watching model railways will find a delight in Little Paxton tomorrow when Mrs Pauline Keatley will be opening her garden again to display her Gauge 1 model railway layout.

It was the creation of her late husband David and since he passed away Pauline and her family have kept is running and very kindly allow the public to enjoy it from time to time.

You will find the railway in Boardman Close near to the church and the afternoon along with the trains will run from 2-5pm.

There will be cakes and a book stall and refreshments and all proceeds will be going to the Little Paxton Church For Tomorrow Project: CHUFT

CHUFT is steaming ahead now with the floor nearly completed along with the underfloor heating in the nave.

 

Happy Birthday to Paxtonvic

Yes, Paxtonvic is three years old and has had £95,294 views as of NOW! with 758 posts.

Thank you to everyone who drops by and I’m pleased if anyone finds the blogs helpful.

 

Paxtonvic is nearly three years old.

Paxtonvic was born in May 2009 and it has had 92,605 hits during that time.

Thank you to everyone who drops onto the site, c 150 folk every day. I supose there is quite a ” library” of material on it now and if it helps people in anyway then I’m really pleased.

Thanks too for the comments people send. Rarely they are unpleasant and usually very encouraging. Keep popping on!

Annette

 

New pictures of the Little Paxton Church For Tomorrow Project – The Church begins to take shape!

Phase Two of our Church For Tomorrow Project began in March 2012. This followed some busy weeks when our faithful volunteers stripped out the church creating a wide open space for the re-ordering to begin. We have tried very hard to keep track of where everything is…. a lot of it in my study annex and the larger items up in the chancel or in a parishioner’s garage.

First of all the floor had to come up and many tonnes of rubble and dirt were carted away to skips. More had to be taken away than we anticipated as there were so many areas of unstable rubble and sandy soil underneath.

March 2012 looking west towards the north porch.

Plaster had to be removed from the walls up to a height of c 6′ approx. We found the outline of ancient  windows at the west and east end of  the south aisle.

Outline of an ancient window at the west end of the south aisle.

Very surpringly we also found evidence of some medieval wall painting though the black and red patterns seem to be directly painted onto the stones.

Wall painting fragments within a rectangular shape.

For a few days the church felt very sad and it was hard to believe it could ever be out back together again. But Easter came along and the message of resurrection and new life was celebrated once more… …and now the interior is really taking shape.

Bakers of Danbury lads at work replastering the north wall.

Having dug deep to clear out the unstable materials, the work commenced April 23rd to create a new floor surface. First comes  concrete layers.

Concrete laid April 23rd/24th followed by insulation April 25th

In just a few days you can begin to believe that by mid July the main work will be finished. Im August the new carpet will be laid and the new oak chairs will arrive. There is still a lot of electrical and heating work to be done. We have a new gas supply and there will be insulation put into the roof. Hundreds of Victorian pamment tiles were recovered from under the damp carpet. They have been cleaned and will be relaid around the perimeter of the inner walls.

We can’t thank Bakers men enough. They have taken great care with all they have done.

It certainly is a job well done!

During the excavation of the floor, we found several old items from the past. A piece of clay pipe, some very thin fragments of glass and a German jetton ( a computing token) maybe from c 1580. Here is Adie holding it up:

I will post some more updates as the work progresses.

Sunburst at Diddington

Saturday April 21st  2012 late afternoon at Diddington on the A1 near to Little Paxton.

All of a sudden the sun came pulsing through a bank of  dark cloud and I just caught it on my mobile phone.

 

Click on the picture and a bigger image will come up.

The juxtaposition of the cloud and sunshine remind me that so often life is a rich  mixture of sunshine and showers, darkness and light and that one needs the other to define the other.

Parachute games

 

Love the bright  colours of this parachute and the games we played with the children on Good Friday. Thanks to Ely Diocesan resource centre for lending it out.

An Easter homily.

Never too late to post an Easter homily!

I hope all paxtonvic readers are having a blessed and joyful Easter season.

I started off with some essential facts about Easter eggs and even had a dance with Nick our ALM around some hard boiled eggs on the floor ( an old Easter Day custom they say!) I believe in the Eastern Orthodox tradition it is customary to start with a joke of some sort…

Why on Easter morning of all times am I starting my sermon with a joke? Well, in the Eastern Orthodox Church  Easter  is traditionally a time to tell jokes. Easter, you see, is the time when God got the last laugh on darkness, fear, ignorance and death.

However, we could be forgiven for thinking that if our shops are anything to go on, Easter is really all about chocolate eggs and bunnies,  pretty spring flowers, fluffy soft toy chicks and getting on down there for Easter Monday sales when there is 50% off the kitchen you have always wanted. One supermarket has been reported as having had  a notice up saying – Buy an egg  and celebrate the birth of Jesus!

For some of course belonging to  faiths other than Christian, Easter would not have any relevance, though many  do have a celebration of some sort  with the coming of the spring. We must not forget our Jewish brothers and sisters who will be celebrating their Passover Festival in mid-April.

However, even if it mostly happens behind closed  doors ( but not for those who have an early morning sunrise Easter celebration) there are   millions of  people across the world in an upbeat frame of mind  this  Easter Day singing something  about Jesus being alive.  What on earth can this mean?  A dead man in a tomb coming back to life?  Surely its just a little bit of human fantasy in a world of such contrasting fortunes?

Why does this man Jesus – who  died a criminals death 2,000 years ago in Palestine and it is claimed rose from the dead – attract such attention still today?  What is this “ Jesus is alive today?” story  all about? It’s hard not to see it as a joke, a fantasy joke designed to take our minds off reality.

But then maybe in some ways it is a joke that we celebrate today. In the sense that we are telling a story where the tables were turned on our usual take on reality.

That first Easter morning, nothing is as it seems to be.

St John tells us that Mary Magdalene, whilst it was still dark, whilst she was still consumed we can imagine with grief and confusion, arrives at  Jesus’ tomb.  She may have got there ahead of other women whose intention was to anoint his body with spices. Mystery number one: the stone had been rolled away.

In shock and fear, she went runs to two of Jesus’ disciples and tells them what she has seen.

Could they believe what this woman had said? Surely she was delirious, grief still had the better of her. They run to the tomb, each in turn look inside – there were the linen cloths that had been Jesus grave clothes rolled up neatly. They saw, we read and believed, yet did not understand – and went back home.

Poor Mary is left alone, bewildered and crying. She looks inside for herself and sees two angels there who ask her why she is crying. “ Because they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have put him!” she replies.

Then – so mysterious yet so tender – she turns and sees a man and maybe it is still her grief which prevents her from seeing the truth. She thinks it is the gardener and pleads with him to tell her where Jesus is.

The risen Lord simply speaks her name “ Mary”.

The Greek that follows is interesting – for he says to her do not continue to hold on to me because I have not yet gone back up to my father. In her exuberance she had clung onto him for a while before realising that although this was her beloved Rabboni – Teacher, in his new life he was different from before, although  in essence just the same embodiment of God’s love.

There followed, for all the gospel writers, many other appearances of the risen Lord to his followers before  the day called Ascension Day when  he disappeared from their sight. It was shortly after that, 50 days after Easter at Pentecost that his spiritual presence with them became an abiding and powerful reality.

Do we really believe that Christ rose from the dead?  What  happens in our lives if we really believe?

I believe resurrection is a reality. It is not simply an event that took place two thousand years ago that we look back at today with wonder and awe.

I believe resurrection is a  principle. It is the way God works.  Resurrection means that there is a spiritual power all around us that Christians call the Spirit of the Risen Lord Jesus .  The Lord is here  “ His Spirit is with us” we shall say again in a few minutes.  Do you believe that?  Do you feel it?

For me, it  means that:

1) Whatever we might be going through, or might have gone through so that we still bear the scars, or whatever fear the future holds for us – Christ’s risen life will sustain us.

2)Whatever earthly hell millions of people might be travelling through, often through no fault of their own.: the principle of Christ’s  resurrection life will ultimately bring healing, and our prayers are a vital part of that ever present possibility

3)Whatever sin,  burden,  guilt or resentments we may be harbouring, Christ will take those away if we earnestly seek his healing.

4)Whatever up hill battle we  might be facing or black hole of uncertainty – the principle of resurrection life – new life in Christ- is always there to  nourish us – not least through death. It  gives  the firmest  assurance of hope possible. It  steadies  us when fear takes a hold and  rejoices with us when the sun is shining.

5)Resurrection for me means meeting with Christ’s spirit in other people, seeing him at work in the unlikeliest of places – and when everything may on occasion seem bleak – hoping that all shall become well in Gods own time and in Gods own way.

We are all invited to drink  from the waters of Christ’s resurrection life. Today and every day of our lives.

The way that the spirit of the risen Lord works in our lives and in our churches and in our communities will take as many forms as there are people and places and worshipping groups. There will often be surprises on the way – there certainly were for Jesus’ followers and at first they weren’t always seen as pleasant or welcomed. Yet whether in life or in death, his followers were so sure of Christ’s presence with them, they were enabled to live out the most incredible acts of Christian witness.

I wonder what each of you would ask of the risen Christ this morning? What might new life mean to you?  A  renewed sense of  comfort and solace from his presence? A new awakening to a sense  of God calling you? A time for seeking more patience, more reflection, more guidance as to a future path to take?  New energy to do good things?

I wonder what your understanding may be of new life in our church here and in our Benefice. We had 60 or so  plus children and adults  at our Benefice Workshop on Friday – loads of energy and enthusiasm from the children and their carers, How good it will be to encourage that interest in the Christian story and follow up with regular activities that people of all ages can join in with. Our church in Little Paxton village is currently undergoing a transformation and we look  forward to the new every day ministry we hope to offer based in an ancinet building with a modern mission.

What paths may Christ be encouraging us to walk down next?

I wonder how we may gain a renewed sense of commitment to the communities we live in? Faith isn’t just about what we do in our homes and in our churches, it has a lot to do with how we live our lives in community and enrich our neighbourhoods. So many of you have or still do play a vital part in the life of your local community.  And sometimes it is so good  to look beyond the confines of our village and towns to connect in real ways with those who may be rich in spirit but desperately poor in material ways which compromises their dignity.

Jesus is Risen! He is risen indeed – Alleluia! It was no empty cry – no joke – for those first Christians – it was a vigorous  cry of conviction and jubilation as more and more of them saw  Jesus alive. When the time came for his resurrection body to  disappear from their sight,  His Spirit abided with them fully at Pentecost – His Spirit lives with us now.

He is loose in the world. He’s there for you – for all of us- today and every day.. Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!   New Life.  Peace. His Risen  Spirit making all things new.  That’s the Easter message. Alleluia!

 

Ten Little Churchmen ( or women) !

Ten Little Churchmen

Ten little Churchmen went to church when fine,

It started raining – then there were nine.

Nine little Churchmen stayed up very late,

One overslept, then there were eight.

Eight little Churchmen on the road to heaven, One joined a rambling club, then there were seven.

Seven little Churchmen heard of Sunday ‘flicks’,

One thought he’d like to go, then there were six.

Six little Churchmen kept the place alive,

One bought a television, then there were five.

Five little Churchmen seemed loyal to the core,

The vicar upset one, then there were four.

Four little Churchmen argued heatedly

Over all the changes, then there were three.

Three little Churchmen sang the service through,

They chose a hymn they didn’t know, then there were two.

Two little Churchmen disputed who should run

The next ‘social evening’, then there was one.

One loyal Churchman knowing what to do,

Got a friend to come to Church, then there were two.

Two sincere Churchmen each brought one more,

So their number doubled, then there were four.

Four sturdy Churchmen simply couldn’t wait

Till they got four others, then there were eight.

Eight eager Churchmen at Communion every week

Soon encouraged others troubled souls to seek.

All the seats in church are filled, not an empty pew.

Oh God, supply the grace and zeal in our Parish too.

 

* Thanks to my oldest school mate Mary for sending this to me. She found it when out walking in the countryside in the Coltswolds and visited some churches. She found the poem in one of them.

A short homily for Lent 5 ” The ” Star Thrower”

Its been a long time since Ive blogged but here is a little homily I just discovered based on a story about a man and starfish.

I first put it together in 2003 when I had been incorrectly diagnosed with a major illness and faced surgery. Thankfully all was well  and no treatment was needed but I shall never forget how it felt to be told very bad news and I hope the experience made me better able to empathise with people I meet who have to face major treatment and uncertainty.

I will post the original version now although I did shorten is considerably for a Holy Communion homily this morning.

Hopefully more blogging soon!

A READING FROM HEBREWS 5:5-13

 So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”;  as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”  In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered;  and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,  having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.  About this we have much to say that is hard to explain, since you have become dull in nderstanding.  For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food;  for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness.

This is the word of the Lord

Thanks be to God.

A READING FROM JOHN 12:20-33

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. {21} They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” {22} Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. {23} Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. {24} Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. {25} Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. {26} Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour. {27} “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say–’ Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. {28} Father, glorify your name.”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” {29} The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” {30} Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. {31} Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. {32} And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” {33} He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Collect for Lent 5.

 Gracious Father

You gave up your Son

Out of love for the world;

Lead us to ponder the mysteries of his passion

That we may know eternal peace

Through the shedding of our Saviour’s blood,

Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

SERMON: “The Star Thrower”

Bless thou, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts that they be  of profit to us and acceptable to thee, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

There is a story in a book called the UNEXPECTED UNIVERSE about a man called the Star Thrower  and it goes like this: On a beautiful tropical beach occasionally the tide and the surf would be just right, and they would combine, and cause a lot of shellfish to be cast far up onto the beach.

Some of these shellfish were very beautiful, and so after they were cast up on the beach  professional collectors and sellers would descend on the beach and swoop up all the shells to take them home where they would boil them and clean out all the flesh of the animals inside them and then sell the shells to tourists.

Some of the shells were very valuable for they were very rare, and a lot of money could be made by a diligent collector. One morning, after the moon and the wind had been just right, and many shellfish had been tossed up on the beach, a man was seen at the far end of the beach all by himself, picking up starfish one by one and throwing them back into the sea.

Curious about what he was doing with the starfish while so many other people were busy collecting the shellfish someone went over to him and asked him if he too collected things on the beach. “Only like this”, he replied, “I collect only for the living” And throwing another starfish back into the sea he said – “See, one can help them…”

I think that this story has a lot to say to us about Jesus and about ourselves.

Jesus was rather like a starfish thrower. He spent  the  years of his public ministry moving about among all sorts of people – of all shapes and sizes and conditions.   Maybe we can compare ourselves to the stranded  starfish longing for the ocean from which we have been tossed. Instead of taking what he could from the ocean, instead of seeking to enhance  his own life, he paid attention to those in need  and He came to restore wholeness to those who lay helpless and stranded  upon the sea of life for whatever reason.

We have now entered Passiontide in the Church’s Year –  Palm Sunday will soon be with us  and we focus these days when  on Jesus’ great sacrificial work on the cross. His great self-giving in love – which Christians believe somehow restores lost humanity to the ocean of God’s love.

Jesus’ work was at great cost to himself. He never collected the securities of life we are so used to – money,  a place to live, a family, a secure future and retirement pension. As he said to a man who thought to follow him “ Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the  Son of  Man has no place to lay his head”.

Jesus renounced everything for the sake of bringing life to those around him – his family, his home, and finally his very life he lay down.  We can measure the cost of his love for us and the inner turmoil he had to face by recalling  what for me are the most powerful words of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane on the night before he died. He spent the whole night in prayer, but it still wasn’t over for him and he had to endure the physical agony of crucifixion and the emotional and spiritual agony of believing that God had deserted him.

Lying deep at the heart of the Christian faith is the conviction that Jesus did this so that others might live, so that others might know the blessings of God, so that others might be returned to the ocean of God’s love.

Some might say – this was a tremendous thing for Jesus to do for us – but we are not Jesus- we are not God – how can we be expected to give up everything to follow him?

How are we to respond to what he did for us? How can we be starfish throwers?

The power of Jesus, the love of Jesus, the compassion of Jesus, the joy and sorrow of Jesus, are all available to us – for the asking and for the wanting, if we follow him. If we are willing to walk as he did in the way of God.

Jesus said – unless a kernel  of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single seed. But if it dies, it produced many seeds. The man who loves his life in this world will lose it, but the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

It is so easy to be like those the author of Hebrews was writing about – while we ideally should be teachers and livers out of spiritual truth, we end up needing to go over and over basic Christian truths. And how desperately the world needs almost to relearn the basics of love and forgiveness and justice amongst peoples and nations.  Jesus knew the inner law of God – the law which states the more we seek for ourselves, the more attached we are to the life we have, the more we fail to see other peoples needs and understand them, the more we avoid the harder, more wholesome routes in life. The more unhappy and restless we can be – and nearer to a spiritual darkness.

Jesus knew that by caring for others, by putting the needs of others ahead of his own desires that many around him stranded in life would be found. But he also knew with a conviction that was unflinching that he would be raised up – not just on a cross of suffering but on a cross of glory as well.

Its easy in a world with so many conflicting values, so much violence and mistrust, to miss the beauty that there is, to miss the simple and genuine opportunities to reach out to others, to take time to spread kindness, to accept other people as they are.

There is a very real sense that in reaching out to others, in living a life which is focused on increasing the amount of love in the world, we lose our preoccupation with self and experience a living out of eternal love and life.  When we stop looking to see what we can get out of life – like the shellfish collectors – and focus what we can put in – like the starfish thrower – we are living out God’s law of love.

I like the idea of being a starfish thrower. I like to hope that much of what I do is motivated from a wish to put into life as much and hopefully more than I have taken out.

Perhaps not  suprisingly,  over the last few days I have been very self preoccupied as I await the results of tests which will determine whether and to what extent I may shortly need some stomach surgery. Its an anxious time for me and those close to me. I don’t take kindly to being potentially immobilised for several weeks – its not in my nature to have to stop and slow down to crawling point and rest.  I wonder though what God may be able to teach me through this journey? Not, by the way, that I think God has caused this problem, but that out of it there are many things for me to learn.

One thing that  seems  to be coming through loud and clear is that although we are called to follow the example of  Jesus’ self-giving, this must not be at the cost of our own health. How can we give if we do not properly look after ourselves?   I  think  there can be a danger in an over emphasis on Christian self-sacrifice so that  it becomes unhealthy.

Taking time out for ourselves, to eat properly, to get exercise, to have quality time with the people who matter to us, to take time out to be with God – in the garden, in a book, in church, in encounters with others is crucial.

I’ve  not been the best person at taking time out for myself. Now I am going to have to whether I like it or not. And I am going to have to trust other people to do things just as well as I think I can. Isn’t there something about letting go of just a little bit of pride and a feeling of being indispensable?

The again, I think I am going to have to learn better to take. Strange this – doesn’t it go against  Christian teaching – and the whole thing about self-sacrifice? I love the prayer of St Francis of Assisi – make me a channel of your peace.  All about self-giving and putting others before yourself.  But all of a sudden, I am seeing that taken too far we can end up burnt out and stranded like the starfish.

Its all about balance isn’t it? I think I am finding I need a more balanced life between giving and receiving , between putting self first and putting self last. And that if we pay sufficient attention to ourselves in a healthy and appropriate way, we are then so much better able to be starfish throwers rather than stressed and unhappy shell collectors.

I am very grateful for and will continue to appreciate all the help that many folk are offering. I hope very much in the next few months that lots of people will come forward to offer to try out various things church wise which they never have before – maybe read a lesson, lead intercessions, learn to ring bells, look out to visit someone who may be lonely, perhaps join in with a  local study course, be creative at a church fete/festival, simply be around the give invaluable assistance at events – and we have to admit it is always the case that financial giving remains crucial to all the positive work we have achieved with our buildings. I’m sure that God does love a cheerful giver!

Being a church starfish thrower – enriching the life of the church – I believe is our mission. But this must never be at the expense of our own  well-being. I’m sure that with careful thought and prayer both caring for  ourselves and caring for others go together hand in hand.

April 6^th 2003