Nether Heyford Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul

Dear Friends.

For many years, I worked for Somerfield Supermarkets, as part of the finance team overseeing distribution operations. I was involved in the operation of a number of warehouses, alongside hundreds of delivery vehicles, and over a thousand semitrailers. I remember that as soon as Christmas and New Year were behind us, the warehouses would fill with Easter Eggs, which would then be sent out to the stores by the palletful – however late Easter might be that year. Nothing has changed since I left the distribution industry to go to theological college; our shops and supermarkets are still full of chocolate Easter Eggs, which seem to get ever more elaborate – and expensive – as the years go by.

Easter Eggs remain an enduring symbol of the season. Alongside chicks, Easter bunnies and daffodils, they are images of new life, as spring takes hold. There are signs of this new life all around us, as trees and flowers bud and burst into life, and spring lambs gambol in the fields. The arrival of sunshine, warmth and blue skies lifts our spirits, as we look forward to the summer months. February’s unusual heat wave reminded us of that, and the return to wild and windy weather in March has been most unwelcome.

For Christians, all these symbols of new life remind us of the resurrection of Jesus. After the sombre reflection of Lent, and the emotional roller-coaster of Holy Week, we rise on Easter morning and celebrate; the stone has been rolled away, the tomb is empty, Jesus is risen! Alleluia!

Strangely, according to Mark’s Gospel, the women who discover the empty tomb don’t respond with the joy and gladness that marks our Easter celebrations. Instead, they flee from the tomb, terrified and upset, and tell no-one what they’ve seen (Mark 16:1-8). What is there to be afraid of? Perhaps it’s because in the risen Jesus, God is on the loose, and can no longer be contained by the ‘box’ his opponents – and we? – try to put him in. God is on the loose, and those who try to control him with religion should tremble. For just as the burgeoning new life of spring is beyond our control, so too is God, crucified, risen, alive and at work in our world. So, as we celebrate the resurrection, I pray that we might imagine the unimaginable: the creator God, bursting out of the tomb, out of all the constraints we try to put on him, and striding boldly into our lives, inviting, challenging and calling us to share his abundant new life with the world around us. And I pray that you will have a joyful and a peaceful Easter.

Yours in Christ,

Stephen – 01327 344436

On Good Friday, 19th April, we will be having a Walk of Witness around Nether Heyford, starting at St Peter & St Paul Church at 2 PM, arriving at the Baptist Hall for hot cross buns and refreshments at about 3 PM, and then having a Good Friday service at 4 PM, in the Baptist Chapel on the village green. As we make our way around the village, we will pause at various points to hear about and reflect on some of the events of that first Good Friday afternoon, as Jesus made his way through Jerusalem to his crucifixion.

The Streets we shall be praying for during April are: Bugbrooke Rd and Wakefield Way in Heyford, Bliss Lane and the Nursery, Meadow Farm Close and Brington Rd in Flore, Main St in Church Stowe and Manor Farm, The Old Coach House and Manor Cottage in Brockhall.

Nether Heyford Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul

Dear Friends

As a child, I remember I had a large, furry teddy bear, imaginatively called Ted! Ted had been pre-loved, handed down to me from another family member, and he was a little worn. If I was lucky, when I turned Ted upside down, he would emit a low growl, but that didn’t always happen, as his growler was a bit hit and miss. Nevertheless, Ted was much loved, and a constant companion through my childhood years.

Maybe you or your children (or your grandchildren) have a similar soft toy. Loved when it first arrives, perhaps as a gift from a favourite relative, the soft toy becomes a firm favourite; a regular honoured guest at the pretend tea party, a travelling companion on every family outing and holiday, and always there at bedtime. Over time, of course, such a much-loved, well-used soft toy begins to show signs of wear. Its once vibrant colours become a little grubby, its fur becomes threadbare, its seams split, and stuffing leaks out. Quick running repairs with a needle and thread, plus occasional visits to the washing machine perhaps keep the toy together and clean. Even so, ragged, grubby and patched up as it might be, that soft toy is greatly loved. Other toys and dolls might come and go, but like my Ted, the special soft toy remains the favourite, the real focus of affection.

As human beings, we’re rather like that ragged, grubby soft toy. We are all of us flawed, wounded, broken and hurt, whether by the things that happen to us in life, or our own missteps and wrongdoings. The Christian season of Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday, 6th March, is a chance to pause and reflect on our own raggedness, and take some time for self-examination and self-denial. And it’s an opportunity to clean up our act, and make some running repairs, maybe giving up some unhelpful habits, and taking up others that will renew us as we go on with our lives.

But it’s worth remembering that God knows us in all our raggedness, and he loves us anyway. The Bible tells us that we are made in God’s image, the crowning glory of his creation. Raggedness is not our identity, nor is our destiny. God loves us just the way we are – ragged and careworn as we may be – but he loves us too much to leave us that way.

Yours in Christ,

Stephen – 01327 344436

The Streets we shall be praying for during March are: Close Rd, The Pound and The Peak in Heyford, The Avenue and The Glebe in Flore, The Old Dairy Farm in Upper Stowe and the outlying farms around Stowe and the Mews Houses in Brockhall.