December—January 2021 Churchchurch && Villagevillage Newsnews
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BrininghamBriningham BeneficeBenefice CommunityCommunity InIn TouchTouch December—January 2021 ChurchChurch && VillageVillage NewsNews THE BRININGHAM BENEFICE BRININGHAM St Maurice STODY St Mary BRINTON St Andrew SWANTON NOVERS St Edmund HUNWORTH St Lawrence THORNAGE All Saints www.brininghambenefice.org.uk Rector: Churchwardens: (01263) BRININGHAM: 862785 Miss Sylvia Took 860057 Mrs Karen Siddall BRINTON: Mrs Esme Bagnall-Oakeley 860247 860247 Mr Jeremy Bagnall-Oakeley HUNWORTH: 713306 Mrs Charlotte Crawley 861114 Ms Lucy Woodall STODY: 862247 Mrs Nicola Baker Mrs Morag Lloyd 860407 Advertising rates for the SWANTON NOVERS: ‘In Touch’ magazine: Mr Roger Langston 860163 1/8 page: £25 per annum THORNAGE: 1/4 page: £50 per annum Mr Joe Ashley 862298 1/2 page: £100 per annum Full page: £200 per annum Editorial Team: Invoices and receipts will be sent. BACS payments or Teresa Anderson at; cheques accepted. Contact: [email protected] [email protected] Views expressed in ‘In Touch’ are those of the individual contributor, and do not always reflect the official doctrine of the Church of England, nor necessarily the views of the Rector. Items for inclusion in the February magazine are welcomed and should be submitted by Thursday 14th January please to Email: [email protected] 2 3 Prayer Although this was published a fortnight ago, we at In Touch believe it is relevant for this edition. 4 5 The Christmas Census Every ten years in our country all the adults are asked to fill out a form and send it to the government so that they can work out how many people live here and what their jobs are and so on. It’s called a ‘census’ and the next one is due to take place in March 2021. But did you know that the first Christmas also involved a census? Just over 2000 years ago it was the Roman king Caesar Augustus who wanted to know how many people lived in all the countries that he ruled over. But they had to do more than fill out a form to be counted. They had to go back to their family’s home town. For one young couple this meant travelling from Nazareth in Galilee to Beth- lehem in Judea. That was a journey of about 90 miles. What’s more Mary had just been told by an angel – a messenger from God – that she was going to give birth to a very special baby, someone God had been promising for hundreds of years to send into the world. Mary’s husband Joseph had also had a message from God. In a dream an angel told him that they should call this baby ‘Jesus’ because ‘he would save his people from their sins’. ‘Sins’ are wrong things that we all sometimes do. We don’t know exactly how Mary & Joseph travelled to Bethlehem. It may have been by donkey and it must have been a difficult journey. We do know that when they arrived it was so busy that they couldn’t find a comfort- able room to stay in. After all they weren’t the only ones who had to visit the town at the same time. That night, Mary gave birth to a baby boy but there was no cot or bed for him. They had to lay him in a feeding trough which animals like cows usually ate their meals of hay from! There was no baby-grow either. Mary wrapped him in simple strips of cloth. And just as he had been told, Joseph named him ‘Jesus’. The name ‘Jesus’ means ‘God saves’. 6 So was it just an accident that Jesus was born in Bethlehem? His parents lived in Nazareth and would later return there, where Jesus would grow up. Well remember that God had been promising to send this special person into the world for many years. He made those promises to certain peo- ple who wrote them down for others to read. People who wrote down God’s promises were called ‘prophets’. Those promises include many details about Jesus’ birth. For example, about 700 years before Jesus was born, God had told a prophet called Micah that the one who could save his people would be born in Bethlehem. Yet Caesar Augustus knew nothing about that when he ordered his census! God had used even that Roman king to make his prom- ise come true, exactly as he’d said it would. The Bible tells us that God always keeps his promises. Jesus did come. He was born in Bethlehem. And he did ‘save his people from their sins’ through his perfect life, death on the cross and rising again from the dead. In fact God has a sort of a census too – a list of all who belong to his family by believing in the one he sent whose birth we remember at Christmas. You can read more about the birth of Jesus in the Bible, in Matthew chapters 1 and 2 and Luke chapter 2. QUIZ TIME! 1. What’s do we call it when people are counted? 2. How did God tell Mary & Joseph what would happen and what they should do? 3. Where did Mary & Joseph have to travel to? 4. Many years before, who wrote down the name of the place where the promised one would be born? 5. What does the name ‘Jesus’ mean? With your parent’s permission, email your answers to the questions – along with your age and address – to [email protected] and we’ll deliver a special prize! And if anyone would like a free children’s Christmas story booklet, or a free copy of the New Testament, simply send a request to the same email address. Matthew Pickhaver 7 Editorial As we approach the end of 2020, the common feeling among us is what a strange experience this has been. For some, the lock-downs, particularly the first one, proved to be in some ways a happy time; but the current one feels subtly different and all the more irksome for that. Many people are worried about Christmas and how to make it work in difficult circum- stances. However, there are some reasons to be cheerful. We are hearing promising news of vaccines becoming available - though there is still some way to go before promising news becomes a certainty. As well, the weather so far has been relatively kind (if wet) and don't forget that after 21st December the days start to become longer. Wishing you a safe and happy Christmas from all at In Touch. Teresa Please see the article on page 33 on the sad news regarding Glynis Williamson. Norfolk Life Did you know …. The label on a Duvet, when sown on the edge, goes to the side of the bed when making up the cover. No more having a second go ! 8 Poem for the Month Forward by John Smart—Thornage For my December offering I have chosen a startling metaphysical Poem. Robert Southwell (1561-95) was a Jesuit priest and martyr. 'The Burning Babe' is his best known poem. AS I in hoary winter’s night Stood shivering in the snow, Surprised I was with sudden heat Which made my heart to glow; And lifting up a fearful eye To view what fire was near, A pretty babe all burning bright Did in the air appear; Who, scorchèd with excessive heat, Such floods of tears did shed, As though His floods should quench His flames, Which with His tears were bred: ‘Alas!’ quoth He, ‘but newly born In fiery heats I fry, Yet none approach to warm their hearts Or feel my fire but I! ‘My faultless breast the furnace is; The fuel, wounding thorns; Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke; The ashes, shames and scorns; The fuel Justice layeth on, And Mercy blows the coals, The metal in this furnace wrought Are men’s defilèd souls: For which, as now on fire I am To work them to their good, So will I melt into a bath, To wash them in my blood.’ With this He vanish’d out of sight And swiftly shrunk away, And straight I callèd unto mind That it was Christmas Day. 9 Norfolk Life This Month’s Guest Recipe Norwegian Cinnamon Loaf This months recipe is from Gro Butcher—Thornage Ingredients: 125 gr butter 500 ml milk about 2 tsp yeast 100-150ml castor sugar 1 tsp cardamom, if you can't get ground cardamom, take the seeds out of pods and grind them 1300 ml plain flour 10 Method: If the yeast needs reactivating it needs to be done in some of the milk, warmed up. Melt the butter and add milk and warm up to 37 degrees. Mix 2/3 of flour, sugar, cardamom in a mixer or by hand. Then mix in the liquid, butter and milk, milk and yeast. Add more flour until the dough stops sticking to the bowl, but should be soft and very play- able. If you have a Kitchen Aid machine just leave it mixing for 5-10 minutes. Once well mixed form into a ball and leave a bowl, covered with club film until doubled in size, an hour or two depending on room temperature. Once doubled in size turn it out on a floured surface. If the dough is sticky a little more flour needs to be added. Roll the dough into a rectangular shape as per photos. Spread soft butter all over, be gener- ous, and then sprinkle with sugar (good to use brow sugar) and cinnamon. If you want to make a big loaf, fold one long side in 1/3, then the other side on top of that (so you have 3 layers) Cut the long rectangle into 3 strips and plat them into a loaf.