The Valley walk / Pilgrimage 2015 - The Emmaus Road

What a joyful weekend this has been - as Alan, our Rector, said: - you would be a very rich person if you could bottle and sell the spirit that was in the valley as we walked from church to church and then met again for 'a pilgrims' mass' (or morning service) on Sunday.

We walked with 36 people from the church of St Mary with St Alban which is in Teddington. The youngest was 5 and the oldest was 85 years and they completed the 11 mile walk between our valley churches.



Our two vicars getting to know each other.

We walked and chatted, exchanging stories with each other and our visitors, and got to know each other. We stopped at each church and listened to bible readings (Luke 24:13-34) that told of the events on the road to Emmaus. There was a coffee stop at Winterborne Stickland, a lunch stop at Winterborne Whitechurch, where sandwiches had been prepared for our visitors and a wonderful tea waiting for us at Milton Abbas. A huge thank you to all of you who helped to prepare these - we couldn't have done it without you.

The bells rang out for VE day as we arrived at Winterborne Stickland and again at Whitechurch - adding to the atmosphere of the day.
  Walking this walk with visitors, certainly helped us to see the beautiful valleys with fresh  eyes and  to appreciate what a very special place we live in.



Emily D'Silva planted the idea many months ago. Teddington usually had an annual pilgrimage - and there has been a valley walk for twelve years. For the thirteenth year, it was a great idea to bring a spiritual dimension to our walk by joining with Teddington on their Pilgrimage and also raise money for two charities that are supported by people in our benefice - Trust and Doublejoy.


Some of our visitors stayed with members of our churches and new friends were made.
We joined together on Sunday morning for morning worship and the singing was tremendous!
Already talk of a return visit was being heard in the aisles!

It was a great weekend, sharing fellowship, food and worship together whilst exploring our beautiful countryside and churches.

Many thanks to the D'Silva family, Father Joe and Alan for all their organising and making this weekend happen!

“And as ridiculous as it may sound, sometimes all any of us needs in life is for someone to hold our hand and walk next to us.”
― James Frey, The Final Testament of the Holy Bible    

The Valley Walk

I am an immigrant campaign

These Posters Celebrating Immigrants Are Appearing All Over The UK

The “I am an immigrant” campaign was organised to promote the contribution made by immigrants ahead of the general election.

posted on April 10, 2015, at 1:42 p.m.

Jim Waterson

BuzzFeed News Reporter

1. Posters celebrating the contribution of immigrants to Britain have begun appearing across the UK. 

The posters will be sited at hundreds of railway and tube stations across the UK in the run-up to the general election, following a successful crowdfunding campaign which raised £54,000.

2. They aim to show the positive contribution immigrants make to the country. 

The campaign is backed by left-wing groups including the International Organisation for Migration, plus trade unions such as Unite and the NUT.

They believe there is an unnecessary fear of immigrants in the UK that politicians are exploiting.

3. The campaigners asked for immigrants to volunteer to be on the posters.

                          

View this image ›

NoXenophobia

Easter Services in Milton Abbas and the Winterborne Valley Churches

Holy Saturday



Easter baskets to be blessed

A quiet service in the bare, simple surroundings of St Catherine's Chapel, led by Rev'd Jimmy, gave us the opportunity to reflect on Hades or Hell. There was much to think about and St Catherine's Chapel provided a wonderful setting for Holy Saturday



 
 This was followed by a new tradition for us.
Monika and Sean brought Easter baskets filled with food that would be eaten on Easter morning.
Monika talked about this Polish custom of Swieconka and how the priest would come to the house or church and bless the baskets. It was lovely to learn about a different Easter tradition and be able to taste some of the foods that were in in the baskets as Monika had prepared a 'taster' tray .
 
 
 
 
Rev'd Alan blessed the food in the baskets and sprinkled the baskets with holy water - and us!
 
When we lived and worked on Dartmoor - each Eucharist service in one rural church, began with the congregation being blessed with holy water  by the vicar. It could be very wet some days - the service sheets were at risk of becoming quite soggy. We never did find out why that tradition started.
 
Then the  candles were extinguished, St Catherine's chapel was locked up until the next time and we all headed home to prepare for Easter day.
 

The Last Supper - St Mary's Winterborne Stickland

 Matthew 26:
 17On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?’
¹⁸ He replied, ‘Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, “The Teacher says: my appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.”’ ¹⁹ So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. ²¹ And while they were eating, he said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.’
²² They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, ‘Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?’

Jesus replied, ‘The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴ The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.’
²⁵ Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, ‘Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?’
Jesus answered, ‘You have said so.’



²⁶ While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’











 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. ²⁸ This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹ I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’

Holy Week - So what?

Time is flying by and we have started the journey towards Easter Day with a well attended Palm Sunday service in Milton Abbas led by Rev'd Jimmy and Rev'd Alan. They counted at least 69 people in church that morning from all the Benefice Churches. We were able to take the opportunity to thank Rev'd Marion Miles for her ministry in our benefice and celebrate over twenty years of her ordained ministry.

It was also the first outing into a parish church, for 'the Band' who have been accompanying the Sunday evening 'Mary's@6' service in Whitechurch Parish Rooms. Dulcie and the Milton Abbas choir led the service and The Band were able to play for a couple of songs in the middle. Maybe we will be hearing more from them.

The Holy Week reflections started yesterday in Winterborne Stickland (Mark 11:1-11) with Rev'd Jimmy asking three questions - 'Why Jerusalem?' 'Why death' 'So what?' 
On Tuesday, the journey leads us to St Mary's Turnworth and Mark 11:12-33. Then on to St Andrew's in Houghton for Wednesday and Mark:14:1-11.

On Maunday Thursday the journey takes a different path. We meet at the Parish rooms Winterborne Whitechurch for a Tenebrae service.  Tenebrae is Latin for Shadows.
The purpose of this service is to recreate the emotional aspects of the passion story. The betrayal, abandonment and agony of the events and it is left unfinished because the story isn't over until Easter Day. Lit by candles, around the table we share the elements of the Passover Feast, Communion one to another, and the service of Easter Readings, hymns and the gradual procession into darkness.

On Good Friday why not walk from Houghton to Stickland - remembering the events of Good Friday but knowing that this is not the end of the story. So there will be coffee and hot cross buns and conversation for all who join us there at 10.30. A reminder of the last Supper will be laid out in the church for all to see. There will be a hunt for silver coins - why silver coins and how many will we find? And some craft activities for children.

This is followed by  a more reflective service at 11.30.When a tree is cut through you see the ring pattern that runs right the way up and down the trunk. Good Friday is a slice through history that allows us to see the pattern of God’s love stretching forwards and backwards to infinity. Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap; at a crossroad so cosmopolitan that they had to write his title in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. At the kind of place where cynics talk smut, thieves curse and soldiers gamble.....

This lead us to Easter Saturday when we meet at St Catherine's Chapel in Milton Abbas woods for a short service followed by the Polish Custom of Swieconka where we will bless an Easter basket of food.The foods in the baskets have a symbolic meaning:

• eggs - symbolise life and Christ's resurrection
• bread - symbolic of Jesus
• lamb - represents Christ
• salt - represents purification
• horseradish - symbolic of the bitter sacrifice of Christ
• ham - symbolic of great joy and abundance.

On Easter Sunday - every church will have its own service to celebrate the Risen Christ.