church letter

“Hmmm, now where did I put that…”?

You never know when a trip down memory lane will strike. It may be during one of those very necessary spring cleans - it may be happening right now! Some of us can be great hoarders: “I’ll keep that just in case”. With me it could easily be a newspaper snippet, may be something from The Church Times, which, I believe, just may come in useful for a sermon idea sometime. Fine, and it gets filed away. The trouble is that these things have a habit of breeding and eventually you just know something must be done. The trouble is that, as you clear, so you read and remember what was going on at the time, both personally and in your Church life and the whole process lengthens and some things you cannot bear to part with.

Greetings cards containing notes from relatives, some at important moments in our lives. Memories may be there at times of Baptism for the children, may be even our own messages of hope for God’s presence with us as we journey on. As you continue the rummage you get lost in precious memories, written notes in old familiar handwriting, the black and white photograph with curled edges …. ‘Now, just who is that’, you wonder. And it all seeks to pull us back to another time.

Most recently, my trip down memory lane took the form of an old wooden chair, now housed in my study. It’s just a chair, no special branded name, but it’s always been a part of things you see. Great Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles - they all sat on it, some in their Salvation Army Uniform with their cheery disposition and kindly way.

Our faith is a living faith, one which is lived out in the communities in which we move. But we reached this point aided by those who have gone before us and guided by a certain light. The glow we feel inside as we travel down memory lane is driven by a certain warmth, very much to do with relationships, our desire, our longing, taking that line from The Lord’s prayer, “Thy Kingdom Come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”.

As I write, we are in the middle of the nine days between Ascension and Pentecost and that line is uppermost in our prayers. Surely though, not just for nine days I hear you say!

And my reply … absolutely not – “Give us this day our daily bread” is the line before and as those in our memory prayed for us, so we now pray that same prayer both written on paper, but also on our hearts, such that it can never be lost or thrown away.

With every blessing to you all

Rev’d Tim

Church Contacts

Associate Priest: The Revd. Tim Wood – Tel. 01488 669261; Mob: 07927352847; Email: revtimothywood@gmail.com.
Benefice Administrator: Alex King, part-time at the Benefice Office – Tel. 01635 226 064; Email: wbboffice@gmail.com.
Churchwardens:
Inkpen: Gerald Atkinson (tel. 668375).
Combe: David Russell (tel. 668229), Katherine Astor (tel. 668284).

Inkpen graveyards on-line

For anyone wishing to view the details of Inkpen's graveyards, including burial details, grave stone inscriptions and the location of the graves, please click here.  Inkpen Burial, Marriage, Baptism and Birth records covering the period 1607 to 1837 can be found on the Inkpen history website, here.

NEWS FROM ST. MICHAEL'S

You will read later in the Bulletin a tribute to Peter Bell who died last month. Like me he was a son of the clergy and we had much in common. He contributed significantly to the spiritual life of our church over the last 20 years and for the last four years, before he left the village, he was my co-churchwarden. So, from much discussion and many conversations over the years I feel sure that he would like to leave us, as far as I can, with these thoughts, for us to ponder on.

Most of all perhaps he could not bear the thought that all of us are "miserable sinners living in perpetual fear of God." Rather he accepted the views of Palagius (c. 354 - 440) who stood for free will and insisted that man's moral nature was basically good. In consequence sin was a wilful act against God. And, that being so, we had a responsibility to voluntarily choose those actions that would promote our spiritual development. He saw the life of Christ as our example and the grace of the Holy Spirit as our aid.

A Service of Thanksgiving will be held here in St. Michael's later this year. Peter, may you rest in peace and rise again in glory.

Moving to the practicalities of managing our village Church we have our Annual Parochial Church Meeting in the Church Room on Tuesday 22nd June starting at 7pm. This amounts to a review of the previous year and the election of officers for the coming year. All may attend but only those on the Church Electoral Roll are entitled to vote. For further information on this, contact Elsa Atkinson who is the Electoral Roll Officer on 01488 668375. This meeting is followed by a meeting of the Parochial Church Council which discusses matters of present and future concern. For this you are very welcome to come and listen but not to take part.

More on the history of St. Michael's next month.

Gerald Atkinson. Churchwarden.

church services

Inkpen

Holy Communion at 8.30am on 6th June,
Parish Communion at 9.45am on 13th June and
Compline at 4pm on 20th June.

Combe

Holy Communion at 11.15am on 20th June.

Inkpen Church is open for individual prayer each Wednesday from 10am to 4pm. All are welcome. For all services, please visit www.walburybeaconbenefice.org.uk Other than those given in News from St. Michael’s these can be found on this Walbury Beacon website.

catholic services

Our Lady of Lourdes, Priory Road, Hungerford RG17 0AF Parish Priest - Fr Zbigniew Budyn 01635 40332

Sunday Mass – every Sunday at 9.00am
Weekday Mass - every Wednesday at 10.00am

For further information contact Paul Burrough 01488 668882 Mobile 07836 292976 Email paul.burrough@talktalk.net

OBITUARIES

Peter Bell

Peter Lendon Bell died peacefully on Wednesday, 19th May, aged 81. He lived in Inkpen for many years but recently moved to Devon to be with his daughter and family. A service will be held in Inkpen Church later in the Summer – date to be confirmed.

A victorian view - now and then

The images of St. Michael's past and present are shown here