News LetterBrigstock with Stanion, Lowick and Sudborough

Sunday 19th April 2020 Second Sunday of Easter

Dear Friends

I am writing this from Alan’s computer after mine appears to have had a catastrophic malfunction! Technology’s great isn’t it – til it’s not! But I am aware that the loss of all my files whilst annoying isn’t half as important as the situation the country finds itself in.

The weather is so beautiful just now and having brief opportunities to sit outside in the sun is so therapeutic. I have been aware over the last few days of a beautiful array of tulips which were given as bulbs to Alan and I last year as an early Christmas present. I think I have noticed and appreciated them so much, partly because I am at home so much more! But also because this year we haven’t been able to go and buy pansies and other annuals for pots so they have been the main splash of vibrant colour.

One afternoon this week I phoned three people from our churches one after the other. As we chatted about many different things I was struck by the strong faith of each of them and I felt really privileged that they were members of the churches that Alan and I are responsible for. They could admit their concerns about not knowing how long we would be in this situation but at the same time know their faith in God would help them get through it. It was after these conversations which so greatly encouraged me I looked down out of the upstairs window onto some of the tulips. I noticed how their heads were lifted right up to the sun with their petals wide open to maxmise the blessing they would receive from it. I also realised how they do this instinctively and that when we know that Jesus is part of our DNA then so can we. We don’t have to know all the answers or even all the questions we can just instinctively hang on to the thread that connects us to our creator. We can ask him to hold and support us even if we feel the need to kick and scream, protest or just cry out against the situation we find ourselves in at the moment.

My prayer for us all this week is that we all see the Son more clearly as we raise our heads and know that he is with us offering his hand.

May the peace of the Lord be with you.

A PrayerKeep us good Lord, under the shadow of your mercyIn this time of uncertainty and distress.Sustain and support the fearful, and lift up all who are brought low;That we may rejoice in your comfortKnowing that nothing can separate usFrom your love in Christ Jesus our LordAmen

And from St Patrick’s BreastplateChrist be with me, Christ within me,Christ behind me, Christ before me,Christ beside me, Christ to win me,Christ to comfort and restore me.Christ beneath me, Christ above me,Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,Christ in hearts of all that love me,Christ in mouth of friends and stranger.

My fondest wishes Rev’d Heather

Please Pray for: The Sick: Wendy Adderley.

This Weeks Mind: LLija Vukorrat 1996, Eileen Millar 1998, Caroline Curtis 1980, Frances Short 1986, Madge Pullen 2000, Gladys Clow 1992, Myrtle Brown 2013, Joan Gray 2018

Parish NotesRector: The Reverend Heather Lowe Associate Minister (Church Army): Captain Alan Lowe, Telephone: 01536 263550Address: 14 Willow Lane, Stanion, Northamptonshire, NN14 1DT

Reader – Jackie Makepeace Telephone: 01832 358978

Churchwarden Contact telephone numbers:Lowick – Sarah Vogele-Hake 01832 358704 Sudborough – David Sparks 01832 730039

Brigstock – Carl Hector 01536 373410 Stanion – David Lafferty 01536 200175

Benefice Administrator – Allison Porter email: beneficeoffice5@btinternet.com or telephone 01536 373509

Benefice website: https://www.harpersbrookanglicans.org.uk

News Update:

The videos we have put together in recent weeks will soon be available to backview on YouTube. We realise that some of us have found them difficult to access at times and so if you go to the link below and click SUBSCRIBE, you can view them and others to come at your leisure.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSF7745DRm8eiwpdh0TDEAQ?view_as=subscriber

Giving. Please be aware that each of our churches has a Just Giving page. This means that if you normally give via the cash collection, you will be able to do that through this means instead. This would be appreciated as our income has dropped during the current crisis. (On our website click on GIVING and then the appropriate church.

I just wanted to say a huge thank you to Heather, Alan and everyone else who has contributed to keeping our worship alive. I have thoroughly enjoyed the online services and gained so much spiritual calm from them over the last few weeks. Keep up the good work and know that it is very much appreciated.

Allison

Easter Lilies – Thank you to Steph Beckett for the Photographs

Easter Lily is the traditional flower of Easter and is highly regarded as a joyful symbol of elegance, beauty, spirituality, hope, and life. ... The flower retells the resurrection story with its life cycle. These snow-white flowers symbolize new life and hope.

A Message from The Reverend Michael Whawell.

Dear Friends,I do miss my occasional trips to Brigstock et al. Maybe the next time Heather asks me if I can take a service, I’ll be able to join Mr. Humphries with a gleeful ‘I’m free’.I hope you might enjoy a snippet from my favourite Easter poem - better still if you can listen to it in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ setting. Glorious music.With love and prayers.Michael

Easter (1st Verse)

Rise heart: thy Lord is risen. Sing his praiseWithout delayes,

Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewiseWith him mayst rise:

That, as his death calcined thee to dust, His life may make thee gold, and much more just.

Poetic Thoughts From a Shielding by Jackie Makepeace

Desert Island Poems

Let me explain! We have a family creative challenge running. Each week new subjects are chosen and we challenge each other to express them in some way, story, picture, sculpture, cake, whatever. Then, at the end of the week we share our efforts via our Whats App group. A couple of weeks ago our subjects were Sea, Ships and Sharks. My artistic skills are low, that’s putting it kindly, but I had a memory of a poem I studied in junior school, probably what would now be year 3 or 4, which painted a word picture of some ships. Here it is

Cargoes John Masefield.

Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir,Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,With a cargo of ivory,And apes and peacocks,Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.

Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,With a cargo of diamonds,Emeralds, amythysts,Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.

Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,With a cargo of Tyne coal,Road-rails, pig-lead,Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.

I was surprised that it transported me back to that classroom in Mansfield, where I also learnt how to remember which was left and which right (face the front, windows left, door right)., I did that in my

imagination for years! That sent me thinking of other poems, which I associate with different times in my life so I thought I would share. We moved to Corby so my year 6-memory poem takes me to Beanfield Junior School, a building that couldn’t have been more different to the Victorian building with outside toilets I had come from

Out Out by Robert Frost

The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yardAnd made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.And from there those that lifted eyes could countFive mountain ranges one behind the otherUnder the sunset far into Vermont.And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled,As it ran light, or had to bear a load.And nothing happened: day was all but done.Call it a day, I wish they might have saidTo please the boy by giving him the half hourThat a boy counts so much when saved from work.His sister stood beside him in her apronTo tell them ‘Supper.’ At the word, the saw,As if to prove saws knew what supper meant,Leaped out at the boy’s hand, or seemed to leap—He must have given the hand. However it was, Neither refused the meeting. But the hand!The boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh,As he swung toward them holding up the handHalf in appeal, but half as if to keepThe life from spilling. Then the boy saw all—Since he was old enough to know, big boyDoing a man’s work, though a child at heart— He saw all spoiled. ‘Don’t let him cut my hand off—The doctor, when he comes. Don’t let him, sister!’So. But the hand was gone already.The doctor put him in the dark of ether.He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath.And then—the watcher at his pulse took fright.No one believed. They listened at his heart.Little—less—nothing!—and that ended it. No more to build on there. And they, since theyWere not the one dead, turned to their affairs.

The next ones recall parenting young children, one of Rachael’s early favourites;

Down the stream the swans all glide Spike Milligan

Down the stream the swans all glide;It's quite the cheapest way to ride.Their legs get wet,Their tummies wetter:I think after allThe bus is better

And one of Richard’s; Washing Day by Anne English

A washing machine, a sploshing machine Splish Splash Splosh Whenever I use my washing machine It splishes and sploshes all over the floor It splashes and sploshes as far as the door. I get into muddles and step into puddles, I don’t think I’ll use it any more!

There are others, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the Lion and Albert, too long to print, and various odds and ends. Psalm 46, which co-incidentally is part of my’ Bible in One Year ‘study for today (Wednesday) and I always find comforting, comfortable. One last one, then it’s your turn. I last heard it at the funeral of a friend’s mum, but it has other memories too:

The Bright Field R.S.Thomas

I have seen the sun break throughto illuminate a small fieldfor a while and gone my wayand forgotten it. But that was the pearlof great price, the one field that hadtreasure in it. I realize nowthat I must give all that I haveto possess it. Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering afteran imagined past. It is the turningaside like Moses to the miracleof the lit bush, to a brightnessthat seemed as transitory as your youthonce but is the eternity that awaits you.

If you would like to add to the weekly notices or to have this sheet emailed to you can contact Allison Porter 07933 804432, beneficeoffice5@btinternet.com. Entries need to be with Allison by Thursday evening to ensure they will be included in the next News Letter. Written consent is required if you want any personal details to be included.

Answers to Just for Fun 3, TV/Film Nurses and Vicars – Name Them and The Programme

1. Jack Frost played by David Jason2. Steve Arnott played by Martin Copston in Line of Duty3. Constable Kevin Goody played by James Dreyfus in The Thin Blue Line4. PC George Dixon played by Jack Warner in Dixon of Dock Green5. Detective Inspector Viv Deering played by Joanna Scanlan in No Offence6. PC Plod from Noddy7. Chief Robert T. Ironside played by Raymond Burr8. Cast of Hill Street Blues9. Sergeant Bob Cryer played by Eric Richard in The Bill10.Sergeant Catherine Cawood played by Sarah Lancashire in Happy Valley11. Detective Inspector Jack Regan played by John Thaw in The Sweeney12.PC Paul ‘Jacko’ Jackson from Police Interceptors13. Sergeant Oscar Blaketon played by Derek Fowlds in Heartbeat14. Special Constable Craig Tinker played by Colson Smith in Coronation Street.

Well done if you got them all.

Just for Fun 4– TV Shops name the programme. (Answers next week.)