The Parish Magazine of St James’s Church, Cambridge April 2010 Issue No. 39 60p Newborn lambs at Wimpole Home Farm In this Issue: Poem: ‘Seeds ’ Phil Gorman—New Lay 2. Words from the Vicarage; 9. Queen Edith; Pastoral Assistant My Faith Wimpole Home Farm 6. Children’s Page 3. Tribute to Alan Morgan 10. Coffee Morning; 7. Darwin and the Fuegian 4. Supporting charities 2; Crossword Mission Bible study group 12. Church Calendar 5. Font without a Church; 8. Bishop Anthony Farewell; 2 CROSSPIECE Words from the Vicarage Many of us have been longing for Spring as the of faith. lingering cold weather has dragged on. It has af- fected our moods and energy levels. These last When we get to Easter our outer circumstances couple of weeks the sigh of relief has been audi- are unlikely to have changed much since the be- ble everywhere, as the air has began to warm up, ginning of Lent. If we focus on that, Easter may the sun has been shining and spring flowers are well be an anti-climax. But we need to remember beginning to bud. We are looking for signs of that ‘faith does not change the external world; spring and our spirits lift when we see them. instead it changes the way we perceive it, and it The longing for the cold winter to end has been is from change in our perception that external paralleled with a longing for the season of Lent change happens’. (Gerard W. Hughes). In the to come to an end: the season of prayer and fast- Easter gospels we meet Mary coming to the gar- ing with its focus on the cross and the suffering den, crying when she finds the tomb empty – and of Jesus. In church, we express the sparseness of then not recognizing Jesus until he speaks to her. Lent by removing all flowers and decorations We have Peter and John running to the tomb – from the sanctuary and omitting the alleluia from John eventually walking in, seeing and believ- our services. ing. On the road to Emmaus the two disciples are talking to Jesus, but don’t recognize him until he This issue of Crosspiece will be distributed on breaks bread with them. They all have different Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week, the rich- experiences of Jesus after his resurrection– but, est, deepest and most intense time in the Chris- when they meet Jesus, it takes them all a while to tian year. In our church services we follow Jesus recognize him. The same is true for us. on his journey to the cross and contemplate the mystery of his suffering and his love – not just to At the end of the winter we long and look for relive a past event, but in order to recognize God signs of spring. At the end of Lent, we long and in the present. We are invited to reflect on our look for signs of new life. May God help us to lives in the light of Christ’s death and resurrec- see! To see the new shoots in our own lives and tion. This Lent we were blessed by members of the life of our church. the congregation sharing their faith stories with And may the joy of the risen Christ fill your us during our Sunday Eucharists - one of them hearts as the Alleluia is sung again in our church is printed in this issue, and we hope others will and in churches around the world. Happy Easter! follow. Listening to each other’s stories gives us encouragement and helps us on our own journey The Revd Jutta Brueck My Faith by Hatty Harris The Editors are pleased to reproduce this Address, given by Dr Harris to the St James’s congregation on Sunday 21 February, as the first of four Lent addresses this year by lay members of our Church My faith is an elusive and for exploring, questioning, stretch- changeable quality. Sometimes it ing, doubting and rediscovering a is like a silver fish, leaping and fragile faith. I have listened to dancing in the sunlight; when I put many eminent theologians, worked out my hand to grasp it, it turns and played with colleagues and stu- into a slippery eel and slithers dents of all faiths and none, experi- away into the mud: out of sight and enced the pastoral care of parish out of reach. clergy, leant upon the support of you, a wise and tolerant congrega- I am most fortunate to have spent tion and, when all words fail, music over 30 years worshipping at St. is at hand to say the things that are James’s Church and within Cam- beyond speech. bridge: a wonderful environment (Continued on page 3) CROSSPIECE 3 So I am not good with miracles: a literal approach My background is very conventionally Church of to miracles may hinder me more than help. But England, with a good secondary school that gave within the Bible I find expounded with a beautiful me a solid background in Old and New Testa- and ancient wisdom, wonderful stories that illumi- ments and the 1662 Prayer Book, on which I have nate simply and clearly the most profound and leant ever since. School gave me the introduction difficult truths. I fully embrace the power of to an approach to the Bible that says “Who wrote myths to enlighten and reveal the core meaning of this? And what were they trying to say? And to faith. whom?” Many years later, I joined Eric Hutchin- son’s classes for the Bishop’s Certificate here in Sometimes it can feel rather lonely being a the Focus Christian Institute and like many mem- doubter, a questioner. I can stand in church – es- bers of St James’s found there a faith transformed pecially an unfamiliar church – conscious that and founded upon rock rather than sand. Eric was everyone around me seems to understand what quite simply an outstanding teacher of the Chris- they are doing and saying: it’s only me who is in a tian faith and I was extraordinarily fortunate to muddle. So my attention was caught a few find myself among his pupils. months ago by a radio interview with the well- known crime writer, P.D. James, now in her I was, until retirement, a molecular biologist. All eighties. She was being asked about her faith and my working life I’ve been overwhelmed with as- replied: “As I get older, I believe less and less, but tonishment at the amazing, unbelievable, yet sci- that which I do believe, I hold to more firmly”. I entifically demonstrable marvels of the physical take that quotation as my text for today. reality of the natural world. In comparison, mira- cle stories can seem unnecessary and less to be For I do believe in the supporting presence of a wondered at than the scientific. Isn’t creation per- loving God in every aspect of life: in the birth of fected through the imperfect processes of Darwin- a baby at Christmas, and even in the darkest ian evolution? Isn’t it extraordinary that we have depths of the crucifixion on Good Friday. evolved from the simplest life forms to be the _________________ thinking, sensitive, creative humans that we are? A Tribute to Alan Alan Morgan retired from his post as full of encouragement to the young in- Organist and Director of Music at St strumentalists in the choir and included James’s in January. After nearly ten their talents whenever possible. He years of working together it seemed spent a lot of time and effort arranging unthinkable that we would no longer music to compensate for our unfortu- have him in front of us to inspire and nate lack of tenors. We all enjoyed the cajole us into producing the best sound regular parties he so generously gave at possible in whatever it was we were his home. We miss him and wish him practising. As most of you will know well. It was typical that he should our repertoire was ever expanding under his lead- choose as a final hymn on his last Sunday as Mu- ership. Soon after he arrived the children of St sic Director “I‘ll go in the strength of the Lord”. James together with the choir produced a wonder- The words were very apt and we all loved singing ful performance of “Joseph” under his guidance. it as our final tribute. We wish Alan well in his This was followed by three major concerts at vari- retirement. ous times, latterly in conjunction with his U3A Lesley Payne choir. Apart from these “extras” Alan always put his heart and soul into every Sunday Service, choosing suitable hymns and anthems in many varied styles and making sure our Psalm singing Crosspiece is pleased to welcome our new Acting was up to scratch. His Carol Concerts were al- Organist and Director of Music Jonathan Griffiths, ways memorable, each one seeming to surpass the who joined us recently. Jonathan is currently Or- standard of the previous one. Alan was always gan Scholar at Emmanuel College Cambridge 4 CROSSPIECE Supporting Charities 2 : Sue Wilson , Church Treasurer,. Eds. — Sue continues describing charities supported by St James’s Church For this second report, we’ll tell you about two about £4,000 comes from parishes in the diocese charities from the Home church category, (in 2008 it had 24 parishes making donations) so EDCFSW and the Church Army. As in our last you can see how valued our contribution is – we report, we are telling you about one very small even get a mention in their accounts! and one much larger charity.