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| Fen Drayton Church, November 2007 |
Easter 2008
(New Series 14.1)
One of my many failings is that I find it very difficult to throw things away - particularly local magazines and other interesting documents. Well, you never know when you might want to refer to them again!
The other day, I was sorting through a pile of old copies of Fen Drayton News, Swavesey Meridian, Small Printer, Ely Ensign, Acorn Archive and many more - at least in the hope of recycling any duplicate copies - and it struck me how many of the magazines went in for a new design every few years.
Why? You don’t fix what ain’t broke. But then I thought: perhaps the editor had changed, or the technology. Or perhaps they just thought it was time for a change!
By contrast, The Fisherman has looked very much the same for fourteen years or more. And it struck me that what we do in church from year to year hasn’t changed a lot either - and this at a time when everything else in society seems to be changing at an ever-increasing rate.
But God hasn’t changed. Nor has his love for us - nor our need to worship him. The story of Jesus is still the same today as it has been for the past two thousand years: his life in ministry, his death on the cross, his rising to new life on Easter Day.
I know some parts of his story are not very popular these days - many of us would rather not think too much about the parts which are painted in a deeper hue. In particular, some of us would rather skip over any mention of Christ’s struggles with temptation and with his opponents or dwell on his sufferings and his death. Today we only want to stress the positive, whatever comes over as ‘success’. So perhaps we would want to give the stories of Good Friday and Easter a makeover as well.
But this wouldn’t be honest and it wouldn’t be true. A made-over Christ who never had to struggle with evil and didn't suffer on the cross wouldn’t be of any use to anyone.
And after all, Easter always was a time for new beginnings: new life is promised for all when Jesus overcomes the death of Good Friday. On balance, the stories of Holy Week and Easter project a very positive message - one full of new hope for us all.
In the end it’s us ourselves rather than the Easter message of the Christian faith who need to undertake an Easter makeover.
John-David Yule
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| The churchyard of St Andrews, Swavesey, November 2007 |
Last summer a branch fell from one of the Cedars of Lebanon which line the churchyard path at St Andrew’s, Swavesey, and damaged the churchyard war memorial. It is expected that the war memorial will be repaired shortly.
This is not the first branch to fall from these trees, nor is it the first to cause damage to the memorials in the churchyard. All the cedars show signs of where branches have fallen in the past.
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| Cedar of Lebanon in Swavesey churchyard |
The Council has been advised that no guarantee can be offered for the continued safety of the oldest of the Cedars of Lebanon and that the three largest trees should be removed and replaced with new specimens.
It will be very sad to have to say ‘goodbye’ to these old friends but there seems to be no prudent alternative. For a few years, the churchyard will no doubt look very different. But the natural and cultural landscape is constantly changing. These trees were new once and their replacements will in the course of time no doubt proved to be worthy successors.
It seems that we will have the earliest Easter this year that any of us will ever experience again - Lent has followed hard on the departure of Epiphany.
Easter is traditionally a time at which all confirmed Anglican Christians receive holy communion in celebration of our joy at the Resurrection and the Vicar/Rector is always happy to bring the sacrament to those who are housebound in their homes.
If you or someone you care for would like to receive holy communion at home this Easter (or at any other time), please ring 01954 231903 or send a message to vicar@honeyhill.org.
The Christmas Carol Festivals at Conington and Swavesey were enjoyable events with good congregational support at Swavesey and a record attendance at Conington.
Two anthems were prepared for the Lenten season and we plan to sing two items on Easter Day.
The music for the Ely Choirs Festival has arrived and rehearsals have commenced. The congregation is warmly invited to join the singers for this festival on Saturday 17th May at 5.30pm.
Keith Lofts
For centuries the churchyards of our parish churches have provided a suitable final resting place for the mortal remains of those who have died in our villages. It is fitting that they should be places of peace and rest and even beauty.
In order to facilitate the management of our churchyards so as best to fulfil these purposes the highest legal authority in the diocese, the Diocesan Chancellor, publishes regulations for churchyard memorials that local parishes are obliged to apply. These typically concern the size, design and materials to be used for different kinds of churchyard memorial.
For instance, for over 20 years it has been specified that no new grave should be marked out with kerb stones or be covered with chippings, and that although crosses may be made of particular types of wood or iron, that only certain kinds and colours of stone may be used for memorials.
Any kind of churchyard memorial, even a flower vase, needs permission and a fee may be payable. Often the vicar or rector is allowed to give permission for a proposed memorial, but in some cases, the decision must be referred to the Chancellor of the Diocese himself.
If anyone has any questions about looking after graves or churchyard memorials or the Chancellor's regulations, please get in touch with the Vicar/Rector on 01954 231903 or at vicar@honeyhill.org.
Christian Aid Week this year is from 11th to 17th May and includes The Day of Pentecost (Whitsunday). So as we celebrate the gift of God’s Holy Spirit, it is fitting that this year’s Christian Aid Week theme is ‘Empowering People’.
Please give generously.
There is to be a Flower Festival at St Mary’s, Fen Drayton, over the weekend of 21st-22nd June.
Come and see beautiful flowers, imaginatively arranged, in wonderful setting of this mediaeval church. Refreshements and cakes will be available. Proceeds are for St Mary’s Repair and Restoration Fund.
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| Lent Group 2008 (at Conington) |
When The Fisherman first went on line eight years ago, few people had broadband connections and it was important to keep file sizes as small as possible in order to keep telephone costs down. To allow users to decide for themselves how much bandwith to use, it was appropriate to structure the site using a larger number of small files.
Today, many more people do have broadband connections and although many still do not, the balance may be swinging in favour of using less elaborate file structures and perhaps larger individual files.
From this issue, therefore, the online version of The Fisherman will comprise just one file which will have any pictures or illustrations embedded within it. There will no longer be a separate ‘colour supplement’ section.
Those who wish to keep their downloads as small as possible should please see if it is possible to turn off picture downloads in their browser.
Earlier issues of The Fisherman can still be found by clicking here and the old colour supplement files here.
The Fisherman backlist
the colour supplement backlist