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Ministry Letters for Laxton
The Alan Dale Bible and Religious Education
From:
Philip Davies
Parish:
Bulwick and Blatherwycke
Parish:
King's Cliffe
Parish:
Laxton The Alan Dale Bible and Religious Education
Alan Dale trained teachers to work in schools and in particular he tried to support them as inspirational teachers of religious education. To this end he produced a translation of the Bible which he hoped would increase knowledge and give more confidence to teachers in teaching children about the Bible, especially if the teachers and the children had little knowledge about the Bible. Still today, more than 40 years after its publication, it has a sharpness and clarity of style, and it offers great detail in its overview and in the background that it provides to each book of the Bible.
It is helpful then to remember that the law requires that children in schools in England and Wales should receive religious education and that this “should reflect that the religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian while also taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain.” (1988 Education Act). The responsibility for a religious education syllabus rests with the local education authority who in partnership with churches, faith communities, teachers and local councillors are required to provide a Locally Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education. Northamptonshire recently published a new syllabus called “Growing Together” which is now being introduced in our local schools. It builds on the breadth of study of religions of the previous syllabus and also offers exciting and creative ways of strengthening children`s skills of enquiry and thinking.
Many challenges face religious education teaching in schools at the present time, partly because arrangements for teaching RE in the new academies have not been made sufficiently clear and through a shortage of specialist teachers. Inspection of religious education in schools reveals much that is good when a school firmly puts RE at the centre of its priorities with school governors having a particular role in ensuring that this is the case and that the subject is adequately funded and well led.
Philip Davies
Looking Back and Looking Forward
From:
Philip Davies
Parish:
Bulwick and Blatherwycke
Parish:
King's Cliffe
Parish:
Laxton We will look back on the old year with different thoughts and feelings, for some of great joy and for others of great sadness. Reconciling ourselves to moving forward is not always easy and we carry forward the experiences we have been through as the people we have become. The new year is before us all and in the depths of our cold English weather and the short days of sunlight, we can make decisions and resolutions to help us move forward in a good way.
I hope the Church services in January will support us. This January we begin a new pattern of services in the churches of our Benefice.
First Sunday will be a Benefice Service of Holy Communion at 10.00am at King’s Cliffe, with hymns, an address and CHAOS activities for children during the service.
Second Sunday will bring 2 morning services. Holy Communion with hymns and an address at 9.00am in Laxton and Holy Communion with hymns and an address at 10.00am in King’s Cliffe. In the afternoon at 4.00pm there will be a Family Service at one of the Benefice Churches which will be announced. In January and February it will be held in King’s Cliffe and in March in Bulwick.
Third Sunday will bring 2 morning services. These will be Morning Worship and Family Communion. In January Morning Worship will be at King’s Cliffe at 10.00am and Family Communion will be at Bulwick at 11.00am. There will be activities for children during both services.
Fourth Sunday will be 10.00am Family Communion at King’s Cliffe with CHAOS and 6.00pm Evening Prayer at Laxton.
Look out for notices about special services on a Fifth Sunday. In January this will be 10.00am Family Communion at King’s Cliffe with CHAOS and a Deanery gathering at St Peter’s, Oundle at 6.00pm for Evensong.
Philip Davies
Welcome, welcome, welcome Jesus
From:
Philip Davies
Parish:
Bulwick and Blatherwycke
Parish:
King's Cliffe
Parish:
Laxton Welcome, Welcome, Welcome Jesus
The Mexican custom “Las Posadas” sounds fun. A cross between a safari supper, with eating each course of a meal at a different venue, and trick or treat, with the hopeful expectation of children receiving sweets.
“Las Posadas” starts Christmas early on the 16th December with processions of children and adults journeying from house to house with some dressed as characters from the nativity, Mary, Joseph, an angel, a shepherd. They ask for hospitality at every home that they call on but at first will receive playful excuses to reflect “No Room at the Inn” as they are turned away. But the travellers keep going until doors are opened and the whole procession is let in. They are welcomed with food, drink and a celebration, some real hospitality.
The “Las Posadas” journey gives space to reflect on the world in which we live; those who journey to find work, to make a better life and who are far away from friends and family. The turning away brings home what it means to be treated harshly, to be rejected or to be completely ignored. But the end of the journey is about welcome, about generous hospitality, about being a special guest.
Our special Christmas services across the Benefice will seek to reflect a great welcome and generous hospitality, as we welcome the birth of the baby Jesus, and celebrate in faith that God is indeed with us to bring love and peace to all.
Philip Davies
From the Rectory
From:
Philip Davies
Parish:
Bulwick and Blatherwycke
Parish:
King's Cliffe
Parish:
Laxton Thank you
September and October have seen our harvest suppers and thanksgiving services. They have been well attended, the suppers sold out, and in the services we were given many things to reflect on and to celebrate, including an “apple jive” dance by children at the Endowed school. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the events, to the services and to the decoration of our churches for harvest.
From Matthew to Mark
Each year at our main services we follow the Gospel readings from a different Gospel. This year we have been following Matthew and from the end of November the passages will be from Mark`s Gospel. Mark`s Gospel is very concise and immediately sets out what it is about. Perhaps it is the most challenging of the Gospels because of the impact of the questions it presents and the responses it invites. Spending a year in the company of this Gospel will give us a wonderful opportunity to consider the good news of Jesus and how this can impact our lives today and the world today.
And as we leave Matthew`s Gospel, a passage from Chapter 25 from a translation called “The Alan Dale Bible”
“I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a foreigner and you took me home with you; I was in rags and you gave me clothes; I fell ill and you looked after me; I was in prison and you came to see me. Believe me - when you helped the least of my brothers and sisters, you helped me.”
Philip Davies
William Law Commemoration
From:
Philip Davies
Parish:
Bulwick and Blatherwycke
Parish:
King's Cliffe
Parish:
Laxton William Law Commemoration
A weekend of special events to commemorate William Law is now behind us. It has given us a greater insight into the man, his faith and how he lived this out, especially in his good works for the common good in King`s Cliffe. There was much local interest and this was earthed by visiting the Law landmarks. Our two local schools were represented at the events and there was representation from the large William Law CofE Primary School in Werrington.
Some closing reflections for further thought from Law`s “The Spirit of Love”
“God, as considered in himself, in his holy being, before anything is brought forth from him or out of him, is only an eternal will to all goodness. The creation of ever so many worlds or systems of creatures adds nothing to, nor takes anything from, this immutable God. He always was and always will be the same immutable will to all goodness. So that as certainly as he is the creator, so certainly he will be the blesser of every created thing, and can give nothing but blessing, goodness and happiness from himself, because he has nothing in himself else to give. It is much more possible for the sun to give forth darkness than for God to do or be, or give forth anything but blessing or goodness.”
Words of wisdom from a man who our Bishop reminded us followed a daily pattern of prayer centred on Jesus Christ and about who Dr Walker, a great admirer of Law, asked of us to consider his “tremendous sense of the divine majesty.” Philip Davies
Reading the Bible Today
From:
Philip Davies
Parish:
Bulwick and Blatherwycke
Parish:
King's Cliffe
Parish:
Laxton From the Rectory
Reading the Bible Today
The 400th Anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible is big news and there are many related events to support this anniversary. Listening to some of the King James readings on Radio 4, I was struck by how incredible it must have been for people to hear these words for the first time and how so many of the phrases have become a part of public life and people’s vocabulary.
Newer translations have made the Bible more accessible and in recent times the “Good As New” version has helped us contextualise the meaning behind the words. Biblical scholarship has transformed the way in which we can interpret the texts and this is opening up the Bible within our contemporary understanding of the world. For Christians it means drawing closer to Jesus, the carpenter from Nazareth, and being able to perceive just how radical his message of hope really was and remains.
We can look out for special events locally during 2011 that will focus on the Bible. Further afield the Modern Church Conference this year will have the theme “Can These Dry Bones Live? Reading the Bible Today.” It takes place at the High Leigh Conference Centre, Hoddesdon, Herts, from 12th to 15th July. Some excellent speakers in pleasant surroundings and very reasonably priced. (I have more details).
At the heart of the Christian faith is a belief that when we listen, think about and discuss the words of the Bible we can draw closer to God. That is why in every service in our Churches we listen to passages from the Bible and seek to grow deeper in understanding their meaning and application for our lives and for the communities of which we are a part. That is more important than ever before in helping people to grow in faith and to bring hope in our complex, challenging and busy world.
Philip Davies
In Thanksgiving
From:
Philip Davies
Parish:
Bulwick and Blatherwycke
Parish:
King's Cliffe
Parish:
Laxton From the Rectory
In Thanksgiving
On December 11th there was a service of thanksgiving in King`s Cliffe Church for the life of James Richard “Jim” Brown.
Jim loved the Church and it was the Christian faith that shaped his life. He had been a member of the church choir since he was ten and he served as a church warden for 47 years. Jim was a keen bell ringer and made many friends through this. On the day of his funeral service special peals of bells were rung throughout the day.
Church music was dear to Jim and gave expression to his faith. He was a member of the Peterborough Philharmonic Choir and enjoyed singing in Peterborough and other Cathedrals. He liked the hymn “O Thou Who Camest From Above” by Charles Wesley and the words of that hymn are good to reflect on.
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1. O Thou who camest from above, |
3. Jesus, confirm my heart`s desire |
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2. There let it for thy glory burn |
4. Ready for all thy perfect will,
|
Philip Davies
Christmas Begins With A Baby and Leads Us Where?
From:
Philip Davies
Parish:
Bulwick and Blatherwycke
Parish:
King's Cliffe
Parish:
Laxton From the Rectory
Christmas Begins With A Baby and Leads Us Where?
With the theme “God in Ordinary, God in Our Daily life.” Dr Phil Hanlon, Professor of Public Health at Glasgow University, offers a picture of human development.
We begin in chaos, as babies; slowly we learn a world of order with rules, answers, boundaries, a world which socialises us and gives us security; then as we enter adult life we discover that world is too small for us, it doesn`t do justice to the complexity and scope of the world outside and so we enter a phase of questioning. Perhaps then we arrive at a fourth stage and Dr Hanlon offers four characteristics of this stage:
- A real inner life, of reflection and prayer, an inner reality which allows us to be ourselves and not be blown about by every whim and fashion of the moment.
- A commitment to care and social justice.
- A mellowness of spirit, which enables acceptance and allows us not to be too puffed up by our successes or too cast down by failure.
- Finally a willingness to enter into life in the communities we are a part of, where our goals and needs and ambitions and aims are always tempered and balanced by the reality of others in those communities.
Hanlon offers a picture not a straightjacket. I think that his fourth stage connects with a Christian understanding of living as the people of God. Again such a way of living is not something people simply achieve or make for themselves. It is something which grows through our experience and our encounters over the years. It never stops evolving as we meet new experiences, new struggles, new truths, new challenges, new encouragements on the way.
Maybe not a bad way to think about how the message of Christmas that begins with a baby, can lead us forward.
Philip Davies
“Words For Today” - Bible Reading Support
From:
Philip Davies
Parish:
Bulwick and Blatherwycke
Parish:
King's Cliffe
Parish:
Laxton “Words For Today” - Bible Reading Support
Finding a few moments each day to think about and reflect on a bible passage is a great opportunity to connect the narrative of the bible with everyday life and experiences. Many people find support for this through daily bible notes.
“Words for Today” provides a lively, fresh and often adventurous approach for engaging with the Bible. Writers are drawn from all over the world and from different traditions; biblical scholars, artists, poets, Jewish scholars. Their different perspectives challenge the reader not only to reflect but also to act in the light of the readings.
Pete Tobias` notes are based on the book of the prophet Micah; “The structure and nature of the societies in which we live are dictated by our leaders. Power is a dangerous and difficult phenomenon, for those who wield it often become mesmerised by the ability they have to manipulate others. How important it is that we remind ourselves that those who lead us and speak for us are, in fact, just like us, ordinary people who breathe and eat and bleed, just as we do. And it is even more important that we remind them of that also!”
Pauline Webb`s notes reflect on old age and Psalm 90; “Though we live in an age where, for many people in the West, life expectancy extends beyond “threescore years and ten”, those of us who have lived beyond that age may echo the psalmist`s regret that longer life does not mean that we keep the strength and vigour of youth. Yet however much old age may change us, it cannot change the nature of the God whose love has surrounded us throughout our lives. We cannot know what life beyond death will be like, but we do know that here in this world our life continues, not only biologically through our genes but also spiritually through those who inherit the values by which we live. What will your best legacy be to your family, friends and community?”
To receive a copy of “Words for Today 2011” please send a cheque or cash for £8.50 to me at the Rectory, King`s Cliffe.
