Network May 2021 190421 1830.Pmd
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Saint Andrew’s NETWORK Histon magazine Pentecost 2021 May edition Viewpoint The shape of the month Review & Preview From Nazi Germany to Impington The pull of the East Eight centuries a centre for the community Community noticeboard Rwanda update from Manasseh ‘. and they were filled with the Holy Spirit’ (See Review & Preview, ‘Cover photo’) Viewpoint St. Andrew’s Vicarage, Church Street, Histon, Cambridge CB24 9EP. 01223 320425 I am writing this on the day of the funeral of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, so perhaps it is only natural that I should reflect on his influence on my life. The truth is I’ve never met him. I’ve been in the same room as him, and once went to a celebration of his birthday in the House of Lords, but we’ve never shaken hands or spoken a word to each other. I have been the very happy beneficiary of the facility he set up at St George’s House in Windsor Castle, spending several pleasant weeks there discussing theology, politics, philosophy and the national interest with the great and the good (without ever being quite sure how I got the invitations!). Canon James Blandford-Baker What I know of Prince Philip has come second hand and through institutions that he set up. Since his death, though, much has come out about the Prince’s influence and activity in all sorts of fields; it has been fascinating to re-evaluate my non- relationship with him and wonder if meeting him in real life might have been a quite different experience from what I previously supposed. I suspect that all sorts of people will have revised their opinion of him in the light of these newly articulated narratives of his life. I often meet people today who are quite keen to tell me why they aren’t followers of Jesus Christ; it is the lot of Vicars to receive such speeches! One of the great failings of contemporary culture is that people reject others summarily without actually engaging with them or seeking to understand them. Most of those who reject Jesus are rejecting a caricature of him which is far from the Jesus described in the Bible by people who knew him. We cannot meet Jesus in person today but that doesn’t mean we cannot know him—after all, during this pandemic we have discovered new ways of getting to know people without meeting them. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection in the Bible are among the best attested facts of history. As with our perceptions of Prince Philip, my experience of Jesus is that just as you think you’ve got him sewn up, you discover he did or said something that isn’t what you expected at all. One of those ‘somethings’ is that Jesus never rejected people out of hand or accepted they couldn’t change or be transformed. That is worth taking time to ponder. The shape of the month Please see foot of page All regular activities are grouped together at the end of the Diary. Arrangements for online services and activities subject to review Every Sunday Service, available from 8am on YouTube1 Worship in church at times to be confirmed Bible study, 7–8pm on Zoom2 Children and For details of weekly groups for children and young people, please contact: young people Tim ([email protected]) or Clare ([email protected]). May Sunday 2 Fifth Sunday of Easter Monday 3 May Day Bank Holiday Tuesday 4 Planning deadline for June edition of Network magazine PCC meeting, 7.30pm on Zoom Wednesday 5 Choir coffee, 10.30am on Zoom Besom prayer meeting, 2.30pm on Zoom Prayer Central, 7.45pm on Zoom2 Friday 7 Deadline for Electoral Roll revision Sunday 9 Sixth Sunday of Easter Monday 10 Final copy date for June edition of Network magazine Wednesday 12 Prayer Walk: meet 12.30pm opposite Park Primary School Thursday 13 Ascension Day Sunday 16 Seventh Sunday of Easter Sunday after Ascension Day Monday 17 Saint Andrew’s Café fully reopens: Monday–Friday 9am–4pm; Saturday, 9am–2pm Wednesday 19 Choir coffee, 10.30am, Saint Andrew’s Café Prayer Central, 7.45pm on Zoom2 Friday 21 Publication of June edition of Network magazine, from 2.30pm, 29 Home Close Sunday 23 Day of Pentecost (Whit Sunday) Wednesday 26 Prayer Walk: meet 12.30pm, Firs House Surgery Sunday 30 Trinity Sunday Monday 31 May Bank Holiday REGULAR WEEKDAY ACTIVITIES Tuesday Little Stars (for small babies), 10–11am, Stable Room lawn3 Tuesday Fellowship, 2.30pm by Zoom/phone (details: Cicely Stevens, 560977) Wednesday Essence, 9.30–10.45am on Zoom2 Thursday Morning Prayer, 9.30am on Zoom2 Friday Job Club, 10am on Zoom (details: www.jobclub.hisimp.com) Shine (under 5s), 10–11am, Stable Room lawn3 Saturday Morning Prayer available from 8am on YouTube1 1Search on YouTube for ‘St Andrew’s Churches, Histon and Impington’. 2Contact the church office for links to Zoom sessions. 3See church website, Shine fb page or @Shine.StAndrewsHiston for updates Church websites standrewshiston.org www.standrewscentre.org.uk In this edition This month we are privileged to be given insights into many people’s stories. We asked Volker Heine, a world leader in theoretical physics, to tell us about his most unusual start in life. George and Judith Adam share their faith journey and experience of life in Malaysia and China. Rwandan Manasseh tells us why his family is now in Germany. As restrictions lift, we report on many activities that are coming to life—although much remains uncertain. Review & Preview Saint Andrew’s Office: 320420 or email [email protected] Worship plans for May As we emerge from the latest lockdown, St Andrew’s has begun meeting again for worship in accordance with the COVID-19 regulations. At the moment this is at 11am on a Sunday morning and all are welcome to attend, though you will need to book in with the church office (320420, [email protected]) as, due to social distancing, numbers are restricted. Please follow us on Facebook, check our website (http://standrewshiston.org) or call the church office to find out the latest details about services; these are likely to change as the restrictions are gradually released. We would love to see you! James Blandford-Baker Tuesday Fellowship Tuesday Fellowship leader, Cicely Stevens, writes: since February Zooms ahead! we have been getting together again for our meetings at 2.30pm each Tuesday, either on Zoom or by telephone. We average ten members. I asked some of them for their reactions. Elizabeth Blair: I am happy to be on Zoom with the ladies of the Fellowship. It is fun to talk to them and we have a good laugh, as when we were in lockdown we didn’t see anyone. It is lovely to talk to others about the week we have and any problems we have. Margaret Wood: all our members had been so bereft on Tuesday afternoons since lockdown. We so enjoyed our get-togethers, and our meetings were always cheerful and friendly. Although now on Zoom, not everyone can manage this—so may the restrictions end soon, please! Our new curate, Ruth Chamberlain, spoke to the Fellowship recently, but meeting her in person will be great. Eileen Pearson: Nigel Evans has been a tremendous help, setting us up and giving tech support. He has now stepped back, and we seem to be managing well! Some of us are able to use Zoom on- line, so we can see and hear each other, but the rest of us are able to join using our phones. We start with a short service led by Cicely Stevens and we take it in turns to find readings to share. It has been lovely to reconnect and have a focus in the week for worship and encouragement. Huge thanks to Nigel and Cicely! Magazine distribution Warm thanks go to Win Weeks for delivering Network magazine to Melvin Way over the last ten years. We are most grateful to Iain Davidson for taking on this round in addition to Pease Way. Cover photo This is one of a pair of banners displayed in the church at this season of Pentecost when we celebrate God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, both to empower his first disciples (see Acts chapter 2) and now to enlighten and strenthen us as his followers. From Nazi Germany to Impington I was born in 1930 in Hamburg, Germany in a middle class family. The Nazi times impacted me even as a primary school child when I was up in front of the Headmaster for not singing the national anthem lustily enough! At age seven or eight my mind was pondering for the first time the words about greater Germany reaching from the river Maas (in France) to the Memel (in eastern Poland!). He threatened me with his cane, which came as such a shock that I wet my pants all over his floor! The outbreak of World War II came in the wrong week for our family, catching us in disarray. My parents had been travelling to New Zealand (NZ) to see whether my father, a lawyer, might find a Volker Heine job there. Just as they arrived, Father briefly had to fly back alone to Germany for urgent business matters but was trapped there by the start of the war. Luckily we four children, aged three to fifteen, were in Holland and could sail to NZ—dodging the U-boats! We were not re-united in NZ till 1947 when I was already spending my summer holidays earning money for my university years.