Parish Magazine

for

The Four Ways Mission Community

St Paul, , St James the Apostle, with The Holy Name, Gunn, St Peter, West Buckland & St Michael, East Buckland

March 2021

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The Mission Community of St. James, Swimbridge with the Chapel of the Holy Name, Gunn, St. Peter, West Buckland, St Michael, East Buckland and St. Paul, Landkey Patrons: The Bishop of Exeter andy NewsletterThe Earl Fortescue Trust (Patronage suspended)

Priest-in-Charge: The Reverend Shaun O’Rourke, The Rectory, Swimbridge EX32 0PH DearTelephone Brothers 01271 and S830950isters, mob 07914361905 email: [email protected] Reader: Mr Christopher James, 6 Tree Close, Gunn, . EX32 7PA 01271 831075 Reader: Mr Peter Rozzell, 5 The Babbages, Bickington. EX31 2LN 01271 373033 Reader: Josie Foster, The Old Manor, Manor Road, Landkey EX32 0JL

St. James the Apostle, Swimbridge Churchwarden: PCC Sec: Sarah Muirhead Treasurer: Janet Patton 01271 831065 Electoral Roll: Mary Fardon 01271 344629 Organ/ Choir: Janet Patton 01271 831065 Bell Ringer: Chris Ley 07890331478 C of E Voluntary Aided Primary School: Head Teacher: Website: www.swimbridgeparishchurch.org

Chapel of the Holy Name, Gunn Deputy Warden: Bryan Hawkins 01271 830597 Treasurer: William Crosbie-Dawson 01271 831141

St Peter, West Buckland Churchwarden: Pat Witheridge 01598 710512 PCC Sec: Gail Barker 01598 761149 Treasurer: Ally Ayre 01271 830011 Electoral Roll: Liz Overall 01598 760314 Bell Ringer: Peter Crook 01598 760437 Deanery Synod: Pat Witheridge 01598 710512

St Michael, East Buckland Churchwarden: Diane Tearall 01769 579031 PCC Secretary: Charlotte Smalley 01598 760248 Treasurer: Rosalie Priscott 01769 572943 St Paul, Landkey Churchwardens: Hazel Price 01271 831259 and Mike Foster 01271 831334 PCC Secretary: Charles Waldron 01271 831414 Treasurer: Ann Rumble 01271 346463 Organist: Robert Loveridge 01271 371372 Deanery Synod: Hazel Price and Eric Price 01271 831259 Website: www.landkeyparishchurch.org

MOIMM Committee Secretary: Paul Ellis 01598 760534

Magazine Editor: Maureen Hawkins Taddiport, West Buckland, EX32 0SL Tel: 01598 760287 e-mail: [email protected] Please Note Material for the Magazine should be submitted to the Editor by the 1st of the preceding month.

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Services

While there are no services in our churches Revd Shaun will livestream Sunday services from St Paul’s.

These are available to view on Zoom, please send Shaun an email (revd,[email protected]) to request the link.

Services, including daily Morning Prayer, continue to be accessible on Revd Shaun’s Facebook ‘Mission Prayer Programme’ page.

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March 2021 Newsletter

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Welcome to our newsletter, unfortunately our newsletter is not as full as it normally is as many contributors are finding it hard to find material to put in nowadays. It seems that we don’t have any events to advertise and we don’t have any projects to talk about and everyone is staying in and keeping well so there is not much happening.

And to be honest you may be right. We don’t have much going on in our communities right at this moment in time, but we do have a future to look forward to. We are in Lent and preparing ourselves for Jesus’ return from the wilderness where He was preparing for His ministry and His passion.

The resurrection leads us all from death to new life with Him; it is the cornerstone of our faith. We are a resurrection church; we are ready to meet death with Christ and rise with Him. This is our belief; this is our creed and that extends not only in our own faith life. Moreover, it extends into everything we do within our Christian tradition. Old things die and new things are born to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the world. In a way it feels like our churches have died while they stand mostly closed, cold and bleak, but they are just buildings; the church is and always has been the people. You can be church in your living room, you can be church at the beach or deep in the countryside, you can be church in the heart of busy cities, on the bus or in your car. Church will never die while one person believes and lives their life in reflection of Christ, and in doing so we share in His resurrection.

We worry about stone and metal, we worry about preserving tradition when what we are charged with is simply this, to pass on the good news of Christ to all we meet and all whom we know. After this period of time of lockdown and shut down we must do something amazing. We have to resurrect with Jesus into a new vibrant life, one which will bring change and news ways of doing things. Sadly, around the country many church buildings may be lost and if we don’t want to lose ours we have to prove to ourselves that they are being resurrected to

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succeed, not to stay as they are. Success is not how the building looks; it is to look at who is in them. If that is healthy the building will be also.

Being a Christian is about sacrifice to others. It is about giving way to our own wants and likes and about passing on the mantle to the next generation and the next and the next forever.

So I ask will you join with Christ in His resurrection? Will you be part of that new awakening when the sun breaks and the darkness and the tomb is rolled away? Will you rise with Him? And if the answer is “yes” how will you serve your God and your community? How will you help make the church grow? How will you pass it on to the next generation?

We are desperately hoping to open all our churches for Easter and beyond, bringing back open churches on a Sunday filled with God’s people. I hope that you can share in that resurrection and be part of it once again. Our church needs you. Together we will move into the future together.

Please don’t forget that you can join us every Sunday for the time being live from Landkey Church via Zoom or livestreamed through Facebook. Please let us know if you need any help accessing these services.

May God who is ever with us, shine His light, bless us with His spirit now and into the future.

With every blessing,

Fr Shaun

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News from St Michael’s East Buckland

HOME SCHOOLING; WHAT A PRIVILEGE

It’s that time again to write about the news from St. Michael’s and the East Buckland community but lockdown means we see no one and we have nothing to report. It is awfully sad not catching up with people for a chat in person.

This morning, listening to the phone-in on the radio, the hot topic of the day was the announcement that children would not be back at school for another six weeks. Parent’s concerns for their child’s welfare and their own struggles with online teaching and the imposition of it all came from many callers.

It made me start to think how my own parents may have coped and I came to the conclusion that not being academic themselves, it would have been a struggle for them. Although Dad takes great pleasure telling people that he went to West Buckland and delays for a moment before going on to say, the village school which closed in 1948. I think they would have looked on with relish that having children at home for six weeks meant having another pair of hands to help out.

I didn’t mind school too much. I liked meeting up with friends and playing sport, but I thought that at the end of the day sending me home with school homework was a bit of a cheek. As far as I was concerned when I got home, I changed clothes and went outside to see if there was anything I could do. My Uncle Fred came to work at the farm every day and was a font of knowledge and always made time to give me cricket tuition.

Mum and Dad were busy people but working alongside them was a real learning curve and pleasure. Living in a time of mend-up and make-do was an education in itself. Even when things weren’t broken, Dad liked to take them apart to find 10

out how they worked and I was as intrigued and interested as he. Watching and listening I would become involved in farm life and as soon as my feet could touch the pedals, I was driving the tractor.

Mum was just as busy as a housewife, taking in paying visitors and tending the garden but found time to play. The Rayburn in the kitchen, which was her cooking device, would eat logs till the cows came home so learning to split logs and carry them in was more than useful.

My parents couldn’t teach me languages, though I was to hear some new words when things didn’t go to plan! Many subjects were off the curriculum but common life skills were on the agenda. All that time spent watching and learning was the education for a life to come.

Stay home, save lives.

Roger Ridd

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6 Good Reasons to Visit our Churches… when we can.

What have our churches got to offer - even in these difficult and uncertain times?

Sometimes our churches are locked but I am certain that there are moments when we can call in and I know that there are one hundred good reasons for looking in but I thought that I would start with five and hope that some of these will persuade many of us to look in even if only for five minutes.

1. First and foremost, in these terrible times when the number of people who have died of the Covid virus has gone over 100,000, this is a certain moment when we need to pray and think - maybe for a long time!!

2. Over and above that a Church is a place to pause and think, a place where we can reflect on the past or plan the future, or perhaps a place to shed a tear or to resolve to ‘start again.’

3. Parts of our churches are very old and in fact older than almost all other buildings in our villages. So, when you step inside you are following in the footsteps of many thousands of people who dressed in a multitude of different styles - Tudor, Georgian, Victorian. Edwardian or Twenties have walked in here before you. So pause and wonder at history!

4. If you can, enjoy a cup of tea or coffee; have a chat and all being well buy some fresh produce.

5. You can use the Post Office for all your postal needs - from car tax to withdrawing cash or even buying a birthday card.

6. AND hopefully soon we shall all be able to enjoy a Service on maybe different days - watch your noticeboard for details.

Paul

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News from St Paul’s Landkey

A slightly more “real” welcome!

Services at St Paul’s continue to be suspended, but the virtual ones have become more “real" in recent weeks. Revd Shaun has been streaming Sunday services from the church and these have been available to view via Zoom. The ability to see other people joining in has given these services a greater feeling of communal worship that can be achieved just by watching them separately.

A liturgy for Holy Communion was prepared by Peter Elder (thank you, Peter) in digital format enabling participants to better follow the service.

Not everyone is comfortable taking part in services this way but we do, equally, welcome anyone who would like to do so. The link to the following Sunday’s service is usually available on the website a couple of days beforehand.

Until we judge it safe for real services to resume, we will continue with the “enhanced reality" virtual ones!

Services, including daily Morning Prayer continue to be accessible on Revd Shaun’s Facebook “Mission Prayer Programme” page.

With news being a little sparse at the moment while we await further guidance from the government about the progress in controlling the pandemic, my “Making Sense of the Bible” article takes a little more prominence than usual. This month, I examine how a familiar version of the Bible came in to being, a subject which I have enjoyed researching and am pleased to share with readers.

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Easter

We hope that we will be able to celebrate Easter, possibly with an outdoor service similar to the carol service which proved popular last Christmas. More on that in due course.

Annual Meeting

Churches are required to hold their Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) by 31st May this year. Provisionally, we plan to hold ours by the end of April, with a date to be decided soon. It could provide an opportunity for us to discuss with the wider parish how St Paul’s can best meet its spiritual and pastoral needs as we emerge from the pandemic.

A hint of spring?

While we were out walking recently, taking our daily exercise allowance, we came across some daffodils in bloom near Harford. They provided an attractive splash of colour in the grey of the winter that we have been going through and it was reassuring to feel that nature continues its annual cycle even during the pandemic. I have included a photo.

Making Sense of the Bible – a new version

Readers of last month’s article may have noticed that I did not mention by name the version of the Bible that was being discussed, but probably realised what it was. I was, of course, referring to the King James Version of the Bible, often referred to simply as the KJV. In this month’s article, I will examine how this version was created and the effect that its publication had on the English language.

If there is one person who can be identified as the instigator of the KJV, it is John Rainolds who persuaded King James that a new version of the Bible could help to resolve the religious tensions of that time. We had reached this part of the story in last month’s article so perhaps it would be fitting now to continue by discovering a little more about the man who was to become known as “the father of the King James Bible".

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It seems that, once again, there is a connection with the creation of an English version of the Bible. In an earlier article, we saw how Myles Coverdale, who was closely involved with the translation of both the Great Bible in 1539 and the Geneva Bible, was Bishop of Exeter from 1551 to 1553. It is likely that he would have known the Rainolds family who were wealthy farmers living in the village of Pinhoe, just two miles north of Exeter at that time. They were a respected Catholic family of which John was one of six siblings, five brothers and one sister.

The brothers were clearly talented, as all of them went on to study at Oxford. Their uncle, Thomas, was vice-chancellor of the university. The story is told that John was an ardent Catholic when he first went to Oxford, while his elder brother William was an equally committed Protestant. Each was concerned for their sibling’s spiritual welfare and tried to convert the other to his own way of thinking. And they were both successful: John became a Protestant while William converted to Catholicism! William went to France where he worked on a Catholic translation of the Bible which became a respected reference for the King James translators.

John, meanwhile, was becoming a renowned scholar in his own right. He studied at Corpus Christi College, graduating BA in 1568 MA in 1572, then DD (Doctor of Divinity) in 1580. His studies centred on languages and he impressed Queen Elizabeth with his translation of a work by Plutarch which he presented to her in 1572. He became a Greek Reader after attaining his MA and was also recognised as an authority on the Hebrew language.

Among many leaders of the establishment, Rainolds' Puritan views were popular, being in keeping with the prevailing doctrine at that time, as we learned in last month’s article. The respect in which he was held had its limits, though. Elizabeth regarded him as an extremist and, during a visit to Oxford in 1592, cautioned him to, “follow my laws, not run before them".

As an aside, it is interesting to note that the term “Puritan" was often used as a form of insult. Puritans preferred to be known as “The Godly".

Despite Rainolds’ strong Protestant leanings, he was sufficiently respected by the new monarch for his suggestion that there be a new translation of the Bible to be taken seriously. Following that famous Hampton Court meeting in January 1604, work on the new version began. 10

By 30th June of that year, King James had approved a list of 54 revisers, and of these, it is believed that 47 took part. They were divided into six groups, or Companies, each to work on a separate section of the Bible. These were: The First Westminster Company for Genesis – 2 Kings; The First Cambridge Company for 1 Chronicles – Song of Solomon; The First Oxford Company for Isaiah – Malachi; The Second Oxford Company for the Gospels, Acts and Revelation; The Second Westminster Company for the Epistles and, finally, The Second Cambridge Company for the Apocrypha.

John Rainolds worked in the First Oxford Company which comprised nine scholars. The translators worked from home, communicating with their overseer, Richard Bancroft. When the translation had reached the “draft" stage, they met before a Revising Committee at which any corrections or amendments could be suggested. The location for these meetings, which took place over several months in 1610, was Stationers’ Hall on Ludgate Hill in London, near St Paul’s Cathedral. This was an area known to have been associated with printing. The scriptures were read aloud and a member of the committee would intervene only if there were a revision to be made. There were a number of phrases or words which presented a challenge to the translators. Should they, for example, use the word “love", or the alternative “charity" which was favoured by Catholics.

The principal resource material for the translators was the 1568 Bishops' Bible. However, other versions were also referred to. When John Rainolds first suggested the new translation, his argument to the king was that, “Those [Bibles] which were allowed in the reign of King Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth were corrupt and not answerable to the truth of the original.” It is notable that he didn’t mention the Geneva Bible which all present at the Hampton Court conference would have been well aware of. He knew that James disapproved of the annotations in this version and any reference to it would have weakened his case. Nevertheless, the Geneva Bible was still popular and was used as a source for the new translation.

The translators toiled strenuously for the next seven years on a work which was to further enrich the English language, following the example of the Geneva Bible. They could scarcely have realised at the time that their work was to become entwined in the language of English speakers for generations to come, including ours. In our everyday lives we use phrases which we may seldom realise originated from the King James Bible. For example, “The Salt of the 10

Earth” - Matthew 5:13; “Go the extra mile” - Matthew 5:41; “Bite the dust” – Psalm 72:9; “A wolf in sheep’s clothing” – Matthew 7:15; “To put words in someone’s mouth” – 2 Samuel 14:3 – and many more. Of course, the translators were not the first to be treading this ground and it is estimated that between 80% and 90% of the text of KJV can be attributed to the man who began the quest for an English language version of the Bible translated from the original Hebrew and Greek. That man was William Tyndale who was the subject of a previous article.

Credit is due also, of course, to the original Hebrew and Greek writers who skilfully created the first scriptures.

The frontispiece to the 1611 King James Bible, courtesy of Wikipedia.

Finally, in 1611, the work was finished and the first editions of the King James Bible could be read by the public. They were devoid of the annotations which James found troublesome in the Geneva Bible and there were no woodcut

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illustrations. The introductory pages paid homage to the monarch, in contrast to the approach taken by the Protestant translators who were keener to dedicate their work to God.

Given the esteem in which the KJV is still held, over four centuries after it was completed, it would be reasonable to assume that it received immediate acclaim when it was first published in 1611. Surprisingly, it didn’t. This was partly because the Geneva Bible was still so popular. In 1610, fifty years after its first publication, printing was in full flood with 120 editions having been produced in that time. James himself did not seem wildly enthusiastic either, declaring that he “didn’t mind" it. In order to give the Bible that bore his name a fighting chance, he banned the sale of the Geneva Bible but this had only a marginal effect on sales. Printing errors didn’t help, either: one of the Commandments in the 1631 version declared, “Thou shalt commit adultery", a slip for which the printers were fined £300!

It wasn’t until after the monarchy was restored in 1660 and the Geneva Bible was seen as being too closely associated with the Puritan cause that the public began to take the KJV to their hearts.

Both the Geneva Bible and the King James version are fine works which have made a lasting contribution to the understanding of the scriptures among the English-speaking world. It was politics, though, which has enabled the KJV to stand the test of time.

References:

BBC Radio 4 four-hundred-year King James Bible anniversary podcasts, 2011 www.kingjamesbibletranslators.org www.tyndale.org/tsj21/daniell.html

Wikipedia and other for cross-referencing

St Paul’s website: www.landkeyparishchurch.org

Charles Waldron

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Holocaust

Tomorrow(27th Jan) is Holocaust Memorial Day, when once again we remember the awful genocide of Jews and other peoples whom Hitler decided had no right to exist.

The Nazis began their persecution of Jews as soon as they took power in the early 1930's, stepping up the severity during the war years. As more territory was taken, so more Jews became victims of the ghettos and concentration camps being set up all over Europe.

In January 1942 gestapo chief Reinhard Heydrich produced a document outlining the plan for the systematic destruction of the entire Jewish population of Europe - the so called " final solution " for Europe’s eleven millon Jews.

Some years ago I visited Auschwitz , considered the worst of these camps, where the average life expectancy was only three months. It is wisely kept open as a museum, as a visible monument to those who suffered and perished, but also as a reminder of the depths of inhumanity of which we humans are capable.

My visit coincided with a special commemoration day, and I met an elderly camp survivor who didn't speak English but could never-the-less be understood. I still have his photo and sent him a copy at the time.

Especially poignant were mountains of suitcases, human hair, spectacles and personal possessions of those sent to the gas chambers, who were duped into thinking they were going for a shower.

Terrible though all this was, as in all human tragedies, the spirit in us is also capable of rising higher, and even overcoming the worst evil and degradation.

There are countless stories of people whose courage and fortitude have left us shining examples of victory over adversity. However, the sadness is that we don't learn, and so persecution and genocide continue to be rife throughout the world.

There is a dramatised TV series running at the moment of the Diary of Anne Frank, and thousands have been moved by books written by Corrie Ten Boom and others who risked their lives and livelihoods harbouring Jews from capture.

After the war, Corrie was giving a talk, following which a former guard of Ravensbrook, where she had been incarcerated, came and confessed the atrocities 10

which he had perpetrated. She struggled to find the will to shake his hand and forgive him but in her own words:-

"…….as I took his hand, mechanically, woodenly, a most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while in my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness anymore than on our goodness that the worlds healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives along with the command, the love itself."

Rev John Ewington

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St James Swimbridge

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The Holy Name Gunn

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News from St Peter’s West Buckland

We are still no longer able to hold normal Services and the Church is only open for private prayer during Post Office hours, noon to 1.30pm on Tuesdays. We are awaiting news of when we may be able to get back to some kind of normality, but probably not before Easter. In the meantime Shaun is doing a Service each Sunday from Landkey Church at 10.30 am and this week we are hoping for an enhanced connection. As it becomes increasingly unlikely that we can have a Service or even any kind of meeting for Mothering Sunday we hope to distribute primroses to mothers in the Village.

March 1st St. David (Dewi) Patron Saint Wales AD 601. He is credited with the resurrection of a dead child and the restoration of sight to a blind man. A famous miracle was the formation of a hill beneath him as he preached to a large crowd so they could see and hear him more clearly!! The traditional Welsh dish of cawl is served and the daffodil is worn on the day as a symbol of Spring and new birth.

5th March Piran, Monk, Patron Saint of Cornwall c AD460. He was born in Ireland and died at Perranzabuloe and was buried at Exeter Cathedral. He was the Patron Saint of tin miners. St. Pirans day is usually marked by parades and flag waving, perhaps not this year. This day is also marked as Women's World Day of Prayer.

14th March Mothering Sunday also known as Refreshment Sunday and marks a break from the Lenten fast.

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17th March Patrick, Bishop of Armagh, Missionary, Patron Saint of Ireland c 460 of Romano-British origin. Celebrated by parades special food and dancing. Wherever people of Irish heritage have emigrated, particularly in America there are huge celebrations. He used the Shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity and it became his symbol.

21st March Lent 5 Passion Sunday. The beginning of Passiontide for the last two weeks of Lent which ends on Holy Saturday.

25th March Commemoration of the Incarnation to the Virgin Mary, also known as Lady Day.

Sunday 28th March Palm Sunday The celebration of Jesus's entry into Jerusalem when palms were strewn in front of him. Today we have special Services with processions and the blessing and distribution of small palm crosses, to remember the day. Summertime also begins - hurrah!! Stay safe and well.

Pat Witheridge

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