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EDITORIAL
What do the following have in common? Acoustic guitar, conventional warfare, film camera, handwritten, live performance, fixed-wing aircraft. Yes, you are all quite correct, you clever Parish Pump readers.
They are all retronyms: terms coined as a modification of a referent originally used alone, to distinguish them from a later contrastive development. (If you say so, gov’nor.)
Or to put it another way, once upon a time if you wanted to write a letter you dipped your pen in ink and drew your letters on a piece of paper. For thousands of years this process was simply called ‘writing’. The along came Mr Remington and his mates: suddenly there was ‘typewriting’. So the first sort of writing had to be re-defined, and called ‘handwriting’ to distinguish it from the new sort.
And so it was with local time (time was time until we started to travel long distances and found there were lots of different times), and whole milk, and Roman Catholic, and silent film, and hard copy, and World War One, and the East Indies, and natural blonde, and organic farming, and George HW Bush, and tap water, and analogue watch, and goodness how many more.
There are so many things to which we have got used, old friends on which we have grown to rely that suddenly are no longer unique and dependable certainties. Now they are just one in a class, and we have to learn to call our friends something extra to differentiate them from the interlopers. Our own history is being re-written as we live it, and we go with the flow or we sink.
Nevertheless there is something annoying about having to ask for ‘tap water’ in a restaurant when all you really mean is water. From a tap. Of course.
Occasionally the bitten bite back. Tennis was tennis, and had been ever since Henry VIII whacked the ball about at Hampton Court, until in the 1870s Major Wingfield detected (very wisely) that his first choice of name, sphairistike, lacked that essential something, and so renamed his new game ‘lawn tennis’. Alas, after 400 years, the older tennis had to become ‘real tennis’: another retronym was born. So demeaning was the forced addition of that defining adjective, that the real tennis players let it be known that the ‘real’ had in fact been there all along, that it was a corruption of ‘royal’ and an allusion to the courtly history of the game. Almost certainly balderdash, but advantage the tennis players, say I. Every power to their elbows.
Richard Martin
PARISH & BENEFICE SERVICES
Thursday 1st May — Ascension Day
7.30pm Holwell Benefice Communion HM, EJ
Sunday 4th May — Rogation Sunday
12noon Broadwell Benefice Family Rogation Service HM, NUW, EJ
6.00pm Kencot Parish Communion NUW
Sunday 11th May — Whit Sunday
9.00am Alvescot Holy Communion EJ
9.00am Broadwell Holy Communion HM
9.00am Westwell/Holwell Holy Coln ion NUW
10.30am Filkins Family Communion EJ
followed by walk and picnic
10.30am Shilton Family Communion & baptism NUW
11.00am L Faringdon Matins HM
6.00pm B Bourton Evensong NUW
6.00pm Kencot Evensong HM
Sunday 18th May — Trinity Sunday
9.00am B Bourton/Alvescot Family Communion & Baptism HM
9.00am Holwell Holy Communion NUW
10.30am Broadwell/Kencot Matins AP
10.30am Kelmscott Family Communion NUW
10.30am Langford Parish Communion HM
6.00pm B Poggs Benefice Choral Evensong HM
Sunday 25th May — Trinity 1I
9.00am Kencot/Broadwell Holy Communion EJ
9.00am Shilton Holy Communion 11M
10.30am Alvescot/B Bourton Parish Communion I IM
10.30am Filkins Parish Communion I’.1
11.00am L Faringdon Parish Communion NU
6.00pm Holwell/Westwell Evensong I I M
6.00pm Langford Evensong NUW
Combined services are held in the first-named church
There is also a Communion Service at Black Bourton every Wednesday at 10.00am
CELEBRANTS & SERVICE LEADERS
AP Arthur Pont EJ Liz Johnson
HM Harry Maclnnes NUW Neville Usher-Wilson
BENEFICE SERVICES 2008
Date Benefice service at 10.30am
1st June Kelmscott
6nd July Alvescot
3rd August Holwell
7th September Kencot
October Harvest Festivals 2”d November Westwell
7th December Langford
THE LECTIONARY
Thursday 1st May - Ascension Day (G or W)
Acts 1. 1-11 Psalm 47
Ephesians 1. 15-end Luke 24.44-end
Sunday 4th May - Rogation Sunday (W)
Acts 1. 6-14 Psalm 68.1-10, 32-35
1 Peter 4.12-14, 5.6-11 John 17.1-11
Sunday 11th May - Whit Sunday ®
Acts 2.1-21 Psalm 104.26-36,37b
1 Corinthians 12.3b-13 John 20.19-23
Sunday 18th May - Trinity Sunday (G or W)
Isaiah 40.12-17,27-end Psalm 8
2 Corinthians 13.11-end Matthew 28. 16-20
Sunday 25th May - Trinity II (G)
Leviticus 19.1,2-18 Psalm 119.33-40
1 Corinthians 3. 10, 11, 16-end Matthew 5.38-end
JESUS ASCENDS INTO HEAVEN
And he sayde vnto them: ‘It is not for you to knowe the tymes or the seasons which ye father hath put in his awne power, but ye shall receave power of the holy goost which shall come on you. And ye shall be witnesses vnto me in Ierusalem and in all Iewrye and in Samary and even vnto the worldes ende.’
And when he had spoken these thinges whyll they behelde he was take vp and a cloude receaved him vp out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly vp to heaven as he went beholde two men stode by them in white apparel which also sayde: ‘ye men of Galile why stonde ye gasinge vp into heave? This same Iesus which is taken vp fro you in to heaven shall so come even as ye haue sene him goo into heaven.’
Then returned they vnto Ierusalem from mount olivete which is nye to Ierusalem coteyninge a Saboth dayes iorney.
From Acts 1. William Tyndale’s first English translation of 1526
THE RECTOR’S LETTER
Dear Friends
I remember seeing a poster outside a church which simply carried the words ‘Why pray, when you can worry and take tranquillisers’. Not a bad statement, but it rather suggests that the only purpose of prayer is to keep you free from anxiety, and there is rather more to it than that. We live in a day and an age when many wonder whether there is any point in it at all. It gets relegated to the level of throwing salt over your shoulder, or keeping your fingers crossed. When things are quite obviously beyond your control, the only thing to do, some would say, is to resort to prayer as a way out of a difficult situation. It may bring you ‘luck’. The story was told of two men in Northern Ireland, who got caught in the crossfire between some IRA and UDA terrorists, and one said to the other ‘Can’t you pray for us?’ And the other replied ‘Well I can only think of one prayer and it isn’t very suitable.’ ‘Never mind that’ said the first, ‘Just pray!’ So he began ‘For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly thankful.’
But prayer is in fact one of the most natural activities for most people in most cultures through most of human history. It seems to be an instinctive response to life’s gifts and troubles, and it tumbles out before we’ve had time to stop it. It is a universal instinct which deserves respect. It easily gets distorted and neglected. Because it cannot be measured in terms of results or achievements, it gets put into a low priority, and yet it is interesting how it keeps on coming to the fore again.
A salesman told me recently about his experience after a heart bypass operation when he had been in a coma, and had felt as if he was surrounded by people giving him support. When he came to, he found that he had been sent thirty two cards from friends saying things like ‘We have been praying for you’ or ‘Our church has had special intercessions for you’. ‘I am not a religious man,’ he said ‘but I would certainly like to learn a bit more about all this. There really is something in it’.
The truth is that prayer isn’t a cash machine to produce payment on demand; it’s a relationship to nurture and enjoy. Without spending time in the presence of God, we can’t help living independently of him. Once in his company, he not only puts a new perspective on our lives, but shows us how we can do things that exceed anything we could imagine or ask. We get beyond the level of magic formulas, the reciting of prayer lists, the penny-inthe slot machine mentality of ‘if I pray hard enough and long enough, God will have to do it’! Instead, God begins to get us into harness with himself, so that he can open up his purposes to us, change our ambitions and fill us with longing to see his kingdom come.
Pentecost is all about this. A bunch of ordinary disciples found that they were so taken over by the Spirit of God, that their relationship with God came alive in a way that they had never dreamed was possible. They found themselves revelling in his company, and entering a dimension of life that they hadn’t even realised existed. And as we celebrate the festival again and go on our Rogationtide walk, it is an opportunity to enter the same experience as they had, and take a few daring steps forward in this realm.
Harry Maclnnes
ROGATION.
On the first Sunday in May (This year the 4th), as has become the custom in this benefice, we shall celebrate Rogation. The word comes from the Latin rogare, to ask, and, particularly in the country, where agriculture and ‘growing’ pursuits are so important, we shall ask God’s blessing on the land and especially the farms and gardens and begin to look forward to that other great country festival, Harvest Thanksgiving in September and October. Originally it was associated with pre-Christian festivals but, as with other occasions like Christmas, it has been taken over and used in a Christian context.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries itwas often the custom to ‘beat the bounds’ of the parish (right) as a kind of educational exercise in local geography, but I remember it from my boyhood very differently. The vicar of the parish, aptly named Rogate, who, in my case was my guardian, Ken Mathews, and some of you may remember him when he lived in Westwell, led, what was to begin with, a
small party, with a cross bearer, _ _ _
first to the farthest farm, where we would be met by the farmer and his family and, possibly his labourers, and escorted to the farmstead, where a hymn was
sung and a blessing on his farm pronounced. Then, accompanied by the farmer, we would continue to the next farm, where the same ritual would take place, and so on, till all the farms had all been visited and blessed. The last,
Home Farm was near the village itself and there we would all have tea, usually around a hundred or so people, and then all repair to the church for evensong. Memory fades but I can’t remember any rainy days and it was a very unifying occasion.
Nowadays, as here, farms have been amalgamated and to walk round all the farms in the benefice would be impractical, but what we do, on foot, horseback, bicycle or car, gathering first at each of our churches, we make our way, as much as possible by footpath or bridleway, to the most central church at Broadwell and have a short (half an hour or so) service starting at 12noon, with dogs under control very welcome. Then we have a picnic lunch together, a barbecue will be provided for those who might wish to bring and grill sausages etc, close to the Church, where the Goodenoughs welcome us. Horses can be tethered nearby, but please contact June Goodenough beforehand for instructions as to where. (Tel: 01367 860326)
It has been a lovely occasion in the past and a great get-together, so I do hope you will make the effort to come. Please contact your church wardens as to when and where to meet, and, obviously, if you intend to ride horse or bike or car, your times will vary. From Westwell we need to start at 9.30am. Kencot might be able to leave a little later.
Neville Usher Wilson
CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
At our meeting on 7th May, we shall welcome the Rev Peter Goodhall of Carterton again as our speaker. He is a wonderful friend and support to our group, for which we are all most grateful. Please do join us on this occasion if you are able to, in the Methodist Chapel Schoolroom, Filkins at 2.45pm, with a cup of tea afterwards.
Marjorie Barstow
BIBLE STUDY GROUP
Our studies of Mark’s Gospel continue, and the dates for the summer months are: Mondays 12th May, 9th June & 7th July
All our meetings are held at the Vicarage in Filkins at 7.30pm. If you would like to join us, you are most welcome. Please phone me on 01367 860846.
Liz Johnson
SHILTON BAPTIST CHAPEL
The Servant King John 13, 1-17
I was very privileged to have taught in the same junior school in Stratton St Margaret for over 35 years. I loved getting alongside children, encouraging them with their learning, and being a small cog in a big machine that helped prepare each one of those children to face, with confidence, the big ‘unknown’ world of adulthood that lay beyond the safety of the school playground. Teachers must be adaptable to any crisis that may arise during the school day, whether they are
facing a class of over thirty children at various stages of intellectual development, or facing a playground full of excited children letting off steam when it is your turn for playground duty.
As each summer term drew to a close, many of the older children who would be moving up to the local secondary school in September used to ask each member of staff for their autograph before they left us. Most of them would sign their name with a ‘best wishes’ or ‘good luck for the future’ and write the date. Every time I was asked I always wrote the same message alongside my name: ‘No act of kindness is ever wasted’ a simple but heartfelt truth that I came across in a cloakroom, on a small poster, held up by one drawing pin, in my first teaching practice school up near Newcastle.