BUSHEY PARISH MAGAZINE - FEBRUARY
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
BUSHEY PARISH MAGAZINE Enrol now for our Lent Course—see page 5 FEBRUARY 2021 60 pence
God in the Arts
Forty days and forty nights
The Revd Michael Burgess continues his latest series with a look at Christ in
the Wilderness - Scorpions by Stanley Spencer.
On February 17 this year, we enter the season of Lent - those 40 days
when we follow Jesus into the wilderness and prepare ourselves to
celebrate His Easter victory. In the last century, the English artist Sir
Stanley Spencer (1891-1959) planned to create a series of 40 paintings,
each depicting one of those 40 days in Jesus’s life. In the event, he only
completed nine, among them Christ in the Wilderness – Scorpions, from
1939. It is currently held in a private collection.
Spencer lived and worked in Cookham, beside the River Thames in
Berkshire. The village and the surrounding countryside were the
setting for many of his paintings and the local inhabitants his models.
Through their everyday life, he was trying to glimpse and convey the
transcendent. “Angels and dirt”, Spencer called his approach - the
divine seen in the ordinary. So, in a painting of Christ carrying His
cross, Jesus has the face of the local grocer.
Another villager modelled for Jesus in the wilderness. He is a strong,
hefty, broad figure - a great contrast to the Christ of stained-glass
windows who often seems too good to be part of our world. Here is
real life: a large man filling the canvas with his head, his hands and his
feet. This figure of Jesus comes as a shock: a very human model,
ordinary with nothing handsome or special about him, apart from his
tunic which seems to sprawl and undulate like the hills around. Here is
a Jesus born into this world and one with this world.
There are two focal points in the painting – the neat little scorpion in
the hand and the massive, unkempt head, contemplating each other.
One is life in all its hefty reality; the other is a tiny creature able to
snuff that life out with one swift flick of its tail.
Jesus is shown pondering the life and ministry called of Him by God – a
life and ministry that will take Him from the countryside into the towns
2
and villages and also to the death of
Good Friday. Will He find the
strength and renewal to embrace that
ministry during His time in the desert?
During Lent, as we follow Jesus, we
seek to live for God. That may mean
dying to all that separates us from
God.
He has a ministry, a calling for each of
us. As we contemplate that calling in
this season of Lent, we may find it is
This is a monochrome detail from the
one that leads us through these 40 original painting ©Stanley Spencer. You can
days to life and Easter life – we may see the full image in colour online at WikiArt
find it a journey that calls us to die to www.wikiart.org/en/stanley-spencer/christ-in-
the-wilderness-the-scorpion
self to find our God.
Not all our churches are declining
Although many of the 228 Christian denominations in the UK are still
losing members, around half of them – overwhelmingly the smaller
ones – are registering some gains, according to the 2021 edition of
UK Church Statistics. The assessment predates Covid-19, but the
findings are still relevant in analysing trends.
Of the denominations, 39 per cent account for 82 per cent of total
Church membership and all are declining in numbers. On the other
hand, some 50 per cent of all denominations have been showing
growth, albeit small.
That so many groups of Christian churches are growing amid general
decline is significant. What is helping that growth? The evidence
suggests it is largely due to people coming to the UK from abroad,
whether as immigrants, refugees, asylum-seekers or students. Some
of them are from countries with strong Christian traditions, who
worship at so-called “Diaspora Churches” reflecting their national
heritages. Examples include Iranian, Latvian, Romanian, Sri Lankan,
Syrian and Turkish churches.
3
Ministry Team
Rector of the Parish of Bushey:
The Revd Guy Edwards 0208 950 1546
rector@busheyparish.org
Guy’s usual rest-day is Monday (Tuesday when Monday is a Bank Holiday). Please
do not contact him then except in a serious emergency.
Associate Rector: Fr Tim Vickers 01923 464633
with responsibility for St James’s tim.vickers@busheyparish.org
Usual rest-day: Friday
Parish Curate: The Revd Andy Burgess 07539 409959
Usual rest-day: Monday andy.burgess@busheyparish.org
Ordinand: Kat Page 07980 746243
chriskat_97@live.co.uk
Lay Leader of Worship: Christine Cocks LLW@busheyparish.org
CHURCH WARDENS
wardens@busheyparish.org
Both posts vacant. The Rector takes on the roles temporarily
PARISH ADMINISTRATION
Parish Administrator: Jacqueline Birch 020 8421 8192
Church House, High Street, Bushey office@busheyparish.org
Parish Finance Officer: Sinead English 020 8421 8192
Church House, High Street, Bushey finance@busheyparish.org
PCC Secretary: Martyn Lambert secretary@busheyparish.org
The Parish Office on the first floor of St James’s Church House is open as follows:
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9.00am-3.00pm; Wednesdays, 9.00am-2.00pm.
Safeguarding Officer: Fiona Gray 07902 511392
Parish website: www.busheyparish.org
webmaster@busheyparish.org
Where to find us online— see page 32
4
Lent course
The Psalms – prayers for today’s church
An ecumenical course for discussion groups in five
sessions, written by Stephen Cottrell, now Archbishop
of York. Ideal for Lent, yet not Lent-specific.
We will be holding a Lent Course this year using accessible
material from York Courses.
The psalms of the Bible address problems we still face: violence, injustice, anger –
and bewilderment. Why do the wicked prosper? Where is God when we suffer? In
this course, Stephen Cottrell reflects on the psalms in general and five psalms in
particular.
Five Sessions:
Session One Know that the Lord is God (Psalm 100)
Session Two Out of the depths have I cried (Psalm 130)
Session Three How long, O Lord? (Psalm 13)
Session Four You spread a table before me (Psalm 23)
Session Five Unless the Lord builds the house … (Psalm 127)
The course booklet, written and introduced by Stephen Cottrell, includes a good
selection of questions at the end of each of the five sessions, designed to stimulate
wide-ranging discussion. Each group needs one copy of the course audio and group
members will benefit from having their own personal copies of the course booklet.
In addition, many groups find the transcript, which sets out the words as spoken on
the recorded material, invaluable.
Other participants on the course audio are the Dominican Friar Fr Timothy
Radcliffe; Revd John Bell of the Iona Community; the Bishop of Dover Rt Revd
Rose Hudson-Wilkin; and Revd Dr Jane Leach, the Principal of Wesley House
Cambridge.
We will hold the sessions on Zoom. You can join in on Monday mornings, Tuesday
evenings or Friday afternoons (or mix and match):
Mondays,10.00am: February 22, March 1, 8, 22, 29.
Tuesdays, 8.00pm: February 23, March 2, 9, 16, 23.
Fridays, 2.00pm: February 19, 26, March 5, 12, 19.
Please contact Jacqueline Birch in the Parish Office or the Rector to register, so we
can order the right quantity of course materials.
Our Wednesday evening Devotions each week in Lent will also be based on the five
psalms in the course. There will be printed material available to those who do not
have or wish to use internet connections. Again, please contact Jacqueline or the
Rector if you want these materials or know anyone who would like them delivered.
5
From the Rector
The Bible’s story of Israel can help
free us to understand…
“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in
vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers
take counsel together against the LORD and his anointed,
saying ‘Let us burst their bonds asunder and cast their
cords away from us’.” (Psalm 2).
It has been a rough start to 2021, with further bad news on the Covid
front and the great strain placed upon our health service (and on our
whole national life) by the present very high rates of infection, as well
as by the angst and stress that arise from being in lockdown for a third
time.
As I write this article, the world has just witnessed another piece of
catastrophically bad news in the attempt of Donald J Trump, his White
House team and the extreme-right thugs who are the most ardent and
dangerous of his supporters to disrupt United States democracy. My
sincere hope and prayer is that, by the time you read this, an
administration committed to rules-based open government through
democratic processes may be firmly established. I hope, too, that the
Biden administration will have made a good start to the decades-long
task of healing the US and hauling a great nation back into partnership
in a rules-based Western democratic order. From where I stand in
early January, that looks like a mammoth, but also indispensably vital,
historical task.
Having been rather too absorbed in this big story, I was jolted back
into a re-engagement with my main business as a local parish priest by
the sad passing of Ian Binks, a cherished member of St James’s choir,
from Covid. We give thanks for Ian’s life and long contribution to the
life of St James’s and send our condolences to Cathy Binks.
The next day, I was visited by one of our local homeless people, who
appeared in the cold dressed in flip-flops and a track suit, with no coat,
hat or even socks. I am thankful that, through the good work of
6
Watford YMCA, she has shelter and is at least off the street at night.
However, her vulnerability and need were severe.
At times like this, the words of the prophet Micah are relevant: ”He
has shown you O Man (please read this inclusively: “He has shown you O
Woman”) – “He has shown you O Human, what is good – that you should
act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God”.
Christians are never exempt from the discipline (or denied the
privilege!) of simple, down-to-earth acts of kindness and compassion,
and ministers like me have to go on doing their ordinary and mostly
unglamorous jobs in extraordinary times. These practices, the
working-out of faith in response to whatever comes to our door, are
important to you and me, as well as to those we are called to serve.
They help us to stay grounded in profoundly anxious times.
That said, I do want to contend for Christian faith as being robust
public truth, with far-reaching implications for public life, as well as for
religious life, prayer and practical compassion.
I have an utterly compelling love/hate relationship with that complex,
often dark, unwieldy and difficult-to-understand library of books we
call the Old Testament. Actually. I don’t like the terminology. I
would rather call it “Jesus’s Bible” (which it is) or “The Hebrew
Bible” (which indicates the language it is written in, the civilisation in
which it is rooted and our sharing of this library with our Jewish
neighbours). It is also, as someone has only half-jokingly pointed out,
“The Senior Testament” and “The Chronologically Privileged
Testament”.
It most certainly needs study and careful handling to extract the good
from it in a way that speaks to our world now, but it is not “old” in
the sense of “past it”, “superannuated”, “merely metaphorical” or
“irrelevant to contemporary life”. It is a brilliant, gritty, visceral and
disturbing set of texts, which repays attention to the detail of the
stories and the vocabulary. We read it, and (if we can suspend
7
some of our questions and difficulties for long enough to stay with
it) we find at the same time that it reads us.
The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament bears witness to a God who is
personally engaged with individuals, but whose personal dealings
belong in a framework of concern for justice and healthy society.
The Hebrew Bible is full of stories, practices, laws and institutions for
maintaining a healthy and life-giving relationship with God and with
one another. It embodies an ethic of fairness, transparency,
environmental responsibility, restraint of violence and the
accountability of kings. And it is concerned with making the means of
a thriving life available to all - especially to those who have been
enslaved and oppressed.
That’s what Israel’s distinctive faith and ethics are all about and,
though the details can’t be uncomplicatedly transferred to modern
life three millennia later, they are a wellspring for the imagination, a
stimulus to healthy values and a call to a deeply transforming
relationship with God. These Hebrew stories, songs, poems, laws,
proverbs and prophecies are also amongst the deepest roots
nourishing the liberal democracy so precious to most of us and so
threatened in the years of the Trump administration.
Of course, there are other things in Israel’s laws and practices that
are deeply troubling and which it is difficult/impossible to square with
the purposes of a loving God. I’m often disturbed by Old Testament
stories, laws and poetry. I don’t have all the answers to the
problems that the text gives to a sensitive reader. Sometimes what I
believe about God departs from what the Old Testament author
believes God is like/what God does/what God has said.
Frankly, I have to take my leave of some passages. But even violent
ethnic-cleansing passages, profound sexual inequality, acceptance of
slavery and other troubling parts of Scripture have a useful function –
which is to remind us of the darkness of the human heart and of the
corruptibility of human institutions (including religion). In the third
8
millennium, we are not nearly as far from the dark side of ancient
Israel’s experience as we fondly imagine.
But it’s not just ideas and principles that are at issue here. What the
Hebrew Bible can help us to understand (experience!) is that God is
truly and actively engaged with the world, through human beings -
always calling us to relationship, always forgiving sins, always igniting
faith and hope and always re-calling the nation on its progress to
justice and mercy.
In the New Testament, this activity of God towards a renewed,
peaceful, kind, fair and hopeful world is distilled and taken up into the
life of Jesus. Following His crucifixion by the powers of His time and
His resurrection, it also becomes the hope for the rest of the world,
the folk whom the New Testament knows as “the Gentiles” - ie us,
the vast majority of those reading this magazine.
The millennia since Jesus have also seen plenty of cruelties and
injustices, voracious empires and violent tyrants. But the gospel of
Jesus and the story of Israel both point to a God who is never
deflected from His purpose, who is never dismayed by the
incompetence, untruthfulness, violence or bad faith of those who
concern us most. Psalm 2 pictures God both laughing at the
pretensions of bad kings and His judgement on them:
“He who sits in the heavens laughs: the Lord has them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying
I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.”
The original king whom
God sets on Zion is King
David, but Christians can
legitimately understand
this as referring to Jesus,
risen and ascended.
For me, this is a profound
source of hope. Both
9
Israel in the millennia before Christ and the Church ever since
preserve a faith which lifts our eyes beyond the rising and falling of
empires to one whose purposes for humanity are enduringly good.
God is engaged with, and not remote from, the troubles of our time.
Unlike us, He is not anxious about what is happening. Reading the
story of Israel, and reading the Psalms in our daily worship, can help
to free us to understand and respond to current events with calm,
courage and a more-hopeful perspective, even when there are grave
evils to be addressed in the “big picture”. – Guy Edwards
Book review
Living His Story:
Revealing the extraordinary love of God in ordinary ways
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2021
By Hannah Steele, SPCK, £7.99
.
The Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2021, Living His Story,
explores evangelism as a way of sharing God’s love with people. How
can we convey the love of God to our neighbours in a post-Christian
world that has largely forgotten the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
Hannah Steele uncovers liberating and practical ways of Christ’s
teaching afresh. With warmth and encouragement, she shows us how
we can live Jesus’s story in our own lives simply by being the people
God made us and allowing others to be drawn to Him through our
natural gifts.
Living His Story is a Lent devotional that will change the way you think
about evangelism, show how ideally suited it is for the world we live
in and fill you with confidence in sharing God’s love with the people
around you.
Set out in six sessions to take you through Lent, the book can be used
as a single study for individuals or small groups to prepare for Easter.
It will help you find space to see evangelism from a new, practical
perspective.
1011
Candlemas: Presentation of
Christ in the Temple
In bygone centuries, Christians said their last
farewells to the Christmas season on
Candlemas, February 2. This is exactly 40 days
after Christmas Day itself.
In New Testament times, 40 days old was an important age for baby
boys; it was when they made their first “public appearance”. Like all
good Jewish mothers, Mary went to the Temple with Jesus, her first
male child, to “present Him to the Lord” As a new mother, she was
“purified” at the same time. The Church celebrates the occasion with
its Festival of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.
So where does the Candlemas bit come in? Jesus is described in the
New Testament as the Light of the World and early Christians
developed the tradition of lighting many candles to mark this day. It
also became customary for churches to bless their year’s supply of
candles on this day - hence its alternative name.
The story of the original “Candlemas” is told in Luke 2:22-40. The
account contains Simeon’s great declaration of faith and recognition of
who Jesus was - the Nunc Dimittis, which is now embedded in the
Office of Evening Prayer in the Western Church. But in medieval
times, the Nunc Dimittis was mostly used only at Candlemas, during the
distribution of candles before the Eucharist. Only gradually did it win a
place in the Church’s daily prayer life.
Church Action on Poverty Sunday
On Sunday February 21, you can join churches around the UK in
prayer, giving and action on behalf of those who are struggling with
poverty. The day has been specially designated by the Manchester-
based ecumenical charity Church Action on Poverty to focus attention
on its campaign for a society “founded on compassion and justice,
where all people are able to exercise dignity, agency and power”. For
free resources to encourage prayer and fund-raising, go to:
www.church-poverty.org.uk/sunday/.
1213
Shrove Tuesday: Who’s for pancakes?
Why do we have pancakes on Shrove Tuesday (or Pancake Day, as
many of us call it today)? What is Shrove Tuesday? And why, at least in
Covid-free times, do thousands of people feel it rewarding to race
along a street somewhere tossing pancakes from their frying pans as
they go?
Well, the answer to the first question is that it is the day before Lent
begins. For well over a thousand years that meant it was the last chance
to enjoy meat, fat and other tasty dishes until Easter Day. The “Lent
Fast” was widely and strictly observed. The food in the larder wouldn’t
keep for six weeks so it had to be eaten. With all these rich foods no
wonder the French call it “Fatty Tuesday” (Mardi Gras).
So, what have pancake races got to do with all this solemnity? “Shrove”
is an old word for “forgiven” and in those days, to prepare for the
rigours of Lent, people would confess their sins and seek forgiveness –
not quite what you want at a party. The answer is quite simply enjoying
yourself while you can! So on Shrove Tuesday this year (February 16),
let’s have some fun and make it last as long as possible.
The most convincing (and amusing) explanation for pancake races is
that they were intended to outwit the sexton, the church officer who
rang the curfew bell to mark the start of Lent. He (it was always a man
back then) was reluctant to do it while the race was unfinished, so the
revelry caused by dropped pancakes at least postponed the inevitable.
Since the Reformation, Lent has not been so rigorously observed in
Britain, but people still resolve
to “give up something” for the
six weeks or so it lasts.
Sundays have always been
exempt from the fast, but
make the most of those
Shrove Tuesday pancakes.
They may well not reappear
until April 12 this year!
14Ash Wednesday: Mourning our sins
Lent begins with Ash Wednesday (February 17 this year). But why
“ash”? The reason has to do with getting things right between you and
God, and the tradition goes right back to the Old Testament.
In those times, the Israelites often sinned.
When they finally came to their senses and
saw their evil ways as God saw them, they
could do nothing but repent in sorrow. They
mourned for the bad things they had done. As
part of this repentance, they covered their
heads with ashes. For the Israelites, putting
ashes on their heads and even rending (tearing)
their clothes was an outward sign of heart-felt
repentance and acknowledgement of sin. (See
Genesis 18:27; 2 Samuel 13:19; Job 2:8, 30:19;
Isaiah 58:5; Jeremiah 6:26; Jonah 3:6).
In the early Christian Church, the yearly “class” of new converts had
ashes sprinkled over them at the beginning of Lent. They were turning
to God for the first time and mourning their sins. But soon many other
Christians wanted to take part in the custom, and to do so at the very
start of Lent. They heeded Joel's call to “rend your hearts and not your
garments” (Joel 2:12-19). The occasion became known as either the
“beginning of the fast” or ‘the day of the ashes”.
The specified short prayer, or collect, for Ash Wednesday stresses the
penitential character of the day. It encourages us with the reminder of
the readiness of God to forgive us and to renew us.
The Bible readings are often Joel 2:1-2, 12–18, Matthew 6: 1-6,16 – 21
and Paul’s moving catalogue of suffering, "as having nothing and yet
possessing everything" (2 Corinthians 5:20b - 6:10).
The actual custom of “ashing” was abolished at the Reformation,
though the old name for the day remained. Today, throughout the
Church of England, people can receive the mark of ashes on their
15foreheads if they wish, but it remains optional. Certainly, the mark
reminds men and women of their mortality: "Remember that you are
dust and to dust you will return..." (Genesis 3:19).
The late-medieval custom, revived in Bushey and other parishes, was
to burn the branches used on Palm Sunday in the previous year to
create the ashes for Ash Wednesday*.
In full, the collect for Ash Wednesday says:
“Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing that you have made
and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent: Create and make in
us new and contrite hearts that we, worthily lamenting our sins and
acknowledging our wretchedness, may receive from you, the God of
all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ
your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of
the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. “
*If you have any palm crosses left from 2020, please let Fr Tim know, so
they can be collected and burnt for use on Ash Wednesday. We need them
by February 1.
Book review
Holy Habits: Following Jesus
Seven weeks of material for Lent
By Andrew Roberts, BRF, £6.99
A welcome addition to the Bible Reading Fellowship’s growing
collection of “Holy Habits” resources, Holy Habits: Following Jesus,
provides seven weeks of material for Lent. Although written before
the outbreak of Covid-19, many of the applications, questions and
take-home ideas are highly relevant to the pastoral needs, challenges
and opportunities created by the pandemic.
In his introduction, Andrew Roberts writes: “No one can know with
any certainty the range and scope of challenges that will be present
when you use this material, but I believe that whatever they are, the
life and example of Jesus and the way He responded to the challenges
He faced will always be of utmost value in shaping our lives as we seek
to follow in His footsteps.”
16FRIENDS OF BUSHEY MUSEUM
send their best wishes to all readers of
Bushey Parish Magazine. We look forward
to seeing you again as soon as
government restrictions allow.
Meanwhile, please visit our website for a virtual
tour of the Museum
www.busheymuseum.org
Opening hours (when permissible):
Thursdays to Saturdays 11.00am-4.00pm
Bushey Museum & Art Gallery, Rudolph Road WD23 3HW
17Stories behind the stones: 4
Architect to the wealthy of
Victorian Stanmore
For me, this headstone (pictured right) is the
prettiest in St James’s churchyard. It is very
unusual and very decorative in an Arts and
Crafts style, with its inscription “Love never
faileth”. The name on it has intrigued me for
many years. That name is Brightwen Binyon.
But who was he?
Brightwen Binyon was born at Headley
Grange, Victoria Park, Manchester on May
30, 1846, the son of Edward Binyon (1791-
1855), a sugar refiner and tea dealer, and his
wife Jane (1805-1890). Brightwen was Jane’s maiden name.
The boy was educated at a Quaker Friends’ School in Kendal. Then,
from 1863, he trained as an architect under Alfred Waterhouse,
designer among much else of the Natural History Museum in London,
and eventually gained membership of the Royal Institute of British
Architects (RIBA). In 1871, Brightwen left Waterhouse and travelled
abroad to Egypt and Palestine, before returning later the same year to
begin practising as an architect in Ipswich. His first client on his own
account was the Duke of Hamilton. Brightwen was very successful in
competitions, winning six out of the eight he entered. His winning
designs included Folkestone Public Library, Ipswich Corn Exchange and
Sunderland Town Hall.
He also designed chapels, such as Burlington in Ipswich, and many
private buildings, among them a mansion at Wonham in North Devon,
for Mr J R Holland, then MP for Brighton. Locally, Brightwen was
responsible for The Grove on Stanmore Common and for developing
the Stanmore Park Estate on behalf of the hotelier Frederick Gordon,
one-time owner of Bentley Priory.
Brightwen was hired, too, to alter and enlarge Stanmore Hall for the oil
mogul William Knox D'Arcy. William Morris & Co prepared special
18wall-hangings for this project, featuring figures designed by Sir Edward
Burne-Jones, famous for his stained glass.
On September 18, 1879, Brightwen married Rachel Mary Cudworth
(1853-1949), daughter of the railway engineer William Cudworth, at
the Friends’ Meeting House in Darlington, Co Durham. After the
wedding the couple lived at 5 Henley Road, Ipswich. Brightwen had his
office nearby, at 36 Princes Street.
The successful architect was also an accomplished artist, a member of
Ipswich Fine Art Club from 1875 to1903 and a regular contributor to
its exhibitions. In 1881, he showed eight water colours, including
Ipswich Dock and The Toad Rock, Tunbridge Wells. In 1883, he exhibited a
further nine. He was talented enough to have paintings exhibited at
the Royal Academy between 1887 and1895.
After being in practice for more than 25 years, Brightwen retired in
1897. Four years later, the records find him living at Brantover,
Wolsey Terrace, Walton-cum-Felixstowe with his wife (aged 41), four
children and three servants, including 33-year-old Thomas Jeffries,
described as a masseur and mental nurse!
In 1903, Brightwen (left) resigned from the Ipswich art
club and moved to Fairholme in Grange Road, Bushey,
where he died on September 21, 1905. It is not entirely
clear why he relocated to this area, but his previous
associations with Stanmore may have been a factor. The
1911 census shows Rachel Binyon living at Haydon
Ridge in Merryhill Road, Bushey, but by the time of her
death, aged 96, she had moved to Bedford. She was buried alongside
Brightwen in St James’s churchyard on April 13, 1949.
The Binyon family had some notable connections. Brightwen himself
was the second cousin once removed of the poet Laurence Binyon
(1869-1943), whose work For the Fallen is recited in St James’s and
many other churches on Remembrance Sunday. Brightwen and Rachel
had four children, among them the artist and modeler Mary Sims
Binyon (1882–1976) and Olive Binyon (1888–1971), mother of the
world-renowned conservation architect Sir Bernard Feilden (1919–
2008). – Ann White
19Follow a new pilgrim path
In the south of England, a new pilgrim
path is emerging. Winding across
downland, weald and seashore for
250 miles, the Old Way from
Southampton to Canterbury is
derived from the oldest roadmap of
Britain, the Gough Map, dating from
about AD1360. Summerhouse Hill on the Old Way
This ancient pathway has lain dormant for years. But it has been
recently rediscovered by the British Pilgrimage Trust (BPT), which used
the Gough Map’s key waypoints (corresponding to settlements such as
Southampton, Chichester, Arundel, Battle and Rye) to create a new
pilgrimage route with ancient roots.
Alongside the Old Way development, the BPT is reintroducing another
ancient – and similarly dormant – tradition. Until the English
Reformation in the 16th Century, the offering of “sanctuary” hospitality
along a pilgrimage route was common practice. Monasteries throughout
the country would have had a room or building reserved specifically for
travellers, who would rely on these sanctuaries to make a pilgrimage.
When pilgrimage was banned in 1538 and monasteries were
demolished, both practices – making pilgrimage and providing sanctuary
– ceased, lying fallow for hundreds of years.
It is natural, then, that with the re-emergence of pilgrimage in the UK,
the provision of sanctuary should become common practice once again.
The BPT has worked with 13 churches along the Old Way, each of
which will offer overnight sanctuary to pilgrims in exchange for a
donation (£5-£10 per pilgrim per night) to the church concerned. This
Sanctuary Project will be launched in spring 2021, Covid-19 permitting.
The BPT is looking for more churches, along the Old Way and in other
locations across Britain, to take up the scheme. It is a great opportunity,
not only enabling people on lower incomes to make pilgrimage, but also
bringing a new type of visitor and a new revenue source to participating
churches. To find out more, visit britishpilgrimage.org/sanctuary
20Book review
Jars of Clay:
Peace for the anxious soul
By Catherine Haddow, 10Publishing, £6.99
Globally, we’ve never been more anxious. Statistics for those seeking
help for anxiety are rising rapidly and countless people feel isolated and
alone. Maybe you’re one of them.
If so, then this timely and helpful book on anxiety is for you. Chartered
psychologist and experienced counsellor Catherine Haddow speaks
truth to calm fearful minds and hearts.
Catherine explains how anxiety operates in our bodies at a physical and
spiritual level. She then unpacks how the treasure of the Gospel can
alter our experience of anxiety, pointing to how God’s promises
penetrate our struggles. Ultimately, deep and lasting peace can be
found, not in a process, but in the person of Jesus, who meets us in our
fear and brokenness.
21Derek Shaw (1931-2020), RIP
Derek Shaw passed away just three days before
Christmas. He’d fought a long battle with Alzheimer’s and
an even longer one with severe hearing loss. Margaret,
Derek’s wife of 63 years, cared for him at home almost
to the end, which came after several periods in hospital
and just one week in The Chase care home.
Margaret recalls that she was a mere teenager working in
the greengrocers in Bushey High Street (now St James Restaurant) when a
visiting painter and decorator left his tool bag on the floor. Margaret duly
tripped over it and had some choice words to say to the culprit.
Nevertheless, a romance blossomed and, at the tender age of 18, Margaret
married him. Derek was seven years her senior and at that time they had to
get written permission from both her parents because of her age. They went
on to have two children, Derek Jr and Helen.
Derek had started an apprenticeship with Field & Hemley (now Hemley, the
funeral directors) aged 15 and was called up for National Service some three
years later. He was posted to Malaya (as it then was), where an explosion
meant the start of his hearing loss. Service completed, he returned to Field &
Hemley and worked there until he retired at the age of 67.
Derek was a faithful member of St Paul’s Church for many years. At our
jumble sales, he manned the bric-a-brac stall with Roy Hotchkiss and we often
felt the pair would have made a good double act. Bric-a-brac would crash to
the floor with Derek not batting an eyelid due to his deafness. On one famous
occasion, Derek sold Roy’s hammer. A heated exchange of views took place -
it wasn’t so much that the hammer had been sold, but that Derek had “only
got a quid for it”.
Derek stunned us all at every Christmas Fair by turning up with trays of
home-baked cakes, fresh-cream meringues, fabulous bread pudding and a
Christmas cake, which we would raffle. He revealed in passing that his dad
had been a master baker! Derek also made bird-tables and grandfather
clocks, most of which he donated to fund-raising events, and he quietly
carried out little maintenance jobs at St Paul’s whenever he saw the need.
Derek was a character and will be greatly missed! – Marion Golding
Ian Binks, RIP: We are sad to note the death of Ian Binks, for many years a
stalwart of St James’s Choir. We will publish an obituary next month.
2223
Leave our vulnerable fauna be…
The National Trust has urged the public to stay away from certain
areas during this spring’s breeding season for birds and animals. The
NT hopes to repeat the effects of lockdown last year, which helped
some of our more-vulnerable species.
Peregrine falcons and grey partridges were among those to benefit
from the absence of humans. So were little terns. The colony at
Blakeney Point in Norfolk had a bumper season, with more than 200
chicks fledged, the highest tally in 25 years.
The Peak District saw bigger numbers of curlew and on the Llyn
Peninsula, in northwest Wales, more stoats, weasels and rabbits than
usual emerged from the woodlands of Plas yn Rhiw. Meanwhile, the
ruins of Corfe Castle in Dorset became home to peregrine falcons
and a cuckoo arrived in Osterley, west London.
Even Dartford warblers were on the move from
their heartlands in southern and eastern England,
some appearing as far away as Shropshire.
Roadside refuge for birds and bees
Here is some good news: all new major roads in England will in future
come with wildflower-friendly verges that could boost the numbers of
birds and bees.
Highway England says “vibrant road verges” will be created as
standard on new roads, using low-nutrient soils to be seeded with
wildflowers or left to grow naturally.
A staggering 97 per cent of our meadows have been destroyed since
the 1930s due to modern agricultural techniques, removing what was
a vital habitat for insects and other pollinators. Now the country’s
238,000 hectares (589,000 acres) of road verges are officially being
seen as a means to provide an alternative home.
The government has pledged to build 4,000 miles of new roads across
the UK by 2025.
24Thomas Bray: Founder of the SPCK
Thomas Bray, whom the Church remembers on
February 15. was once called a “great small man” -
with good reason. This diminutive 18th-century English
clergyman, who lived from 1658 to 1730, not only
helped to establish the Church of England in the US
state of Maryland. He was also founder of the Society for the
Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SPCK) in 1698 and the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (USPG) in 1701.
Those are long names for societies whose aim was to get Christian
books and resources into the hands of those who desperately needed
them. For the early 18th Century was not an easy time for poor
clergymen; books were expensive, and many in the ministry had few or
none to guide them. So Thomas, who had been educated at Oxford,
joined with other clergy friends to help them.
After a trip to assess the needs of the young Episcopal Church in
Maryland (he was sent by the Bishop of London), Bray became rector
of St Botolph’s, Aldgate in London in 1708. From here the served his
parish and, through the SPCK, eventually established 80 parish libraries
in England and a further 39 in the British colonies. The SPCK and USPG
worked by asking learned authors to donate copies of their books and
by appealing to merchants associated with foreign plantations for
financial help in establishing the libraries.
Thomas Bray’s life has affected hundreds of thousands of people over
three centuries. Not only was his work in America the first major
coordinated effort to establish libraries in the New World, but the
SPCK is still one of the leading Christian publishing houses in the UK.
As if all that was not enough, Bray also worked to enable poor debtors
to emigrate to better lives and to support homeless children in getting
care in England. He helped feed prisoners at Newgate prison in London
and joined the political fight against slavery. He also backed outreaches
to Africans and Native Americans in their home countries. When he
died in1730, thousands mourned him. A great small man indeed!
25How to handle temptation
“I can resist everything but temptation”, Oscar Wilde famously
quipped. The comment is a timely reminder during Lent of Jesus’s
experience in the wilderness, when “He was led by the Spirit...to be
tempted by the Devil”. Temptation is a test of obedience, of whether
we do things our way or God’s way. After 40 days of fasting Jesus was
tired, hungry and vulnerable. Like Him, the Devil will attack us at our
most vulnerable moments, especially during this pandemic.
The first temptation was to turn stones into bread: Jesus’s
ministry was not about meeting His own needs: it was about being
nourished by God’s word. “We do not live by bread alone but by
every word that comes from the mouth of God”, it says in the Old
Testament book of Deuteronomy (8:3). Like Jesus, we are called to
make God our priority and trust Him completely.
The second temptation was to put God to the test: Jumping off
the Temple pinnacle would have been a dramatic way for Jesus to gain
popularity, but this is not God’s way! “Do not put the Lord your God
to the test” (Deuteronomy 6:16). We too need to learn this lesson!
The third temptation was to worship Satan: Finally, the Devil
took Jesus to a mountain to offer Him worldly power. In contrast, His
calling as Messiah was marked by suffering and honouring God.
“Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only” (Deuteronomy
6:13). This is often our experience in living for God.
Jesus stands with us in our temptations. As we claim the promises of
Scripture, we will find strength in the power of the Spirit and the
victory of the Cross. – Paul Hardingham
It’s all in the spelling...
G = God
R = Ran
A = Alongside
C = Carrying
E = Everything
26Hall Hire
The Parish of Bushey has three halls
available for your party, meeting or
function as Covid-19 restrictions
permit. All have kitchen facilities.
St James’s Church House Hall
High Street WD23 1BD
Email churchhouse@busheyparish.org
St Paul’s, John Stobbart Hall
Bushey Hall Road WD23 2EQ
Jill Macey: 07736 680501 or
jillmacey48@gmail.com
Holy Trinity
Bushey Mill Lane WD23 2AS
Gill Onslow 01923 464839
27Help Fairtrade to help stricken farmers
It has been a terrible year for farmers and workers in the global south.
In 2020, on top of the pandemic, they had to deal with the growing
impact of climate change: more droughts and crop diseases, locusts,
floods, fires and heatwaves. No wonder their harvests have shrunk.
Yet with the help of Fairtrade, many of these producers of food,
drinks and cottons can be equipped to meet more everyday needs and
to deal with the challenges facing them.
Fairtrade Fortnight 2021 takes place from February 22 to March 7.
Why not visit www.fairtrade.org.uk to see how you can send support.
Time to provide homes for garden birds
Our birds are short of nesting holes and no wonder. Gardens, parks
and woodlands are much neater than they used to be, while modern
homes offer few crannies for nest-building.
National Nestbox Week, which takes place from February 14 each
year, aims to encourage us to put up more nestboxes and to consider
planting shrubs or trees with fruit that birds eat. These can make all
the difference to birds struggling to survive, especially blue tits, great
tits, house sparrows, robins and starlings.
The British Trust for Ornithologiy (BTO) offers a variety of ideas for
building and placing nestboxes. Go to: https://www.nestboxweek.com
As smart as a—raven!
Ravens have been found to be among the cleverest animals in the
world. The largest members of the crow family, they can score as high
in intelligence tests as chimpanzees.
Ravens can remember where food is hidden, use tools to get at it,
follow human faces with their eyes and understand what people mean
when they point. All in all, researchers at Germany’s Osnabruck
University praise their “general, sophisticated cognitive skills”.
2829
The Children’s Page
30Herts Musical Memories regretfully announce that
we are temporarily closing our groups. If you are a
group member please keep in contact with us on
020 8950 5757 or email:
admin@hertsmusicalmemories.org.uk
and we will let you know as soon as we are able to
resume normal services. If you are isolated and
need further support at home please call
Herts Help 0300 123 4044.
31Light a candle of hope each Sunday
From Sunday January 31, we are inviting everyone
participating from home in our 9.30am online Eucharists
to light a “candle of hope” at the beginning of the service.
The idea is to create a shared experience that goes
beyond simply watching.
Parishioners without internet access can join in, too. We’ll be
supplying them with a short liturgy to go with the 9.30 candle-lighting,
so they are not excluded from our remote act of worship. We’ll
deliver the hard-copy liturgy to non-internet people we’re aware of. If
you know anyone else who’d appreciate it, please tell the clergy.
Where to find us online
Parish of Bushey website:
www.busheyparish.org
Parish of Bushey Livestream Facebook page (FB):
https://www.facebook.com/busheyparishlive
YouTube channel
We have a YouTube channel for our services and reflections. Search for
"The Parish of Bushey" and subscribe. It's free.
St James’s FB
www.facebook.com/st.jameschurchbushey
Holy Trinity FB
www.facebook.com/HolyTrinityBushey
St Paul's FB:
https://www.facebook.com/StPaulsBushey/
Dial a Sermon: The Parish has a phone number where people can listen to a
sermon each week: 0208 0162 445. Please pass it on to anyone you know who
does not have internet access.
32St Paul’s Church, WD23 2EQ
Pro-Warden Mrs Marion Golding 07787 538232
Organist Dr Martyn Lambert 01923 221979
Stewardship Officer Mrs Marion Golding 07787 538232
Hall Bookings Jill Macey 07736 680501
jillmacey48@gmail.com
Holy Trinity Church, WD23 2AS
Pro-Warden Mrs Gill Onslow 01923 464839
Rock Solid (Sunday School) To be announced
Organist Various
Stewardship Officer Mrs Gill Onslow 01923 464839
Hall Bookings Mrs Gill Onslow 01923 464839
onslowg@ntlworld.com
Parish Magazine Editorial Team
Please send all items by the 5th of the month preceding publication
to: magazine@busheyparish.org
Mrs Sue Baxter 07793 323571
Mr Michael Groushko 01923 467773
Advertising Liaison: Mrs Ingrid Harris
ingridharris51@gmail.com
Bushey Parish Magazine is published monthly, in hard copy (price 60p) and
free online at www.busheyparish.org under “News”.
33St James’s Church, WD23 1BD
Pro-warden Annie White 020 8386 1135
Bell Ringers Mr Stuart Brant 01923 330999
Tots Praise To be announced
Church Flowers To be announced
Community Outreach To be announced
Finance &
Stewardship Group Ms Felicity Cox 07973 517812
Organist & Choir Mr James Mooney-Dutton jmd@busheyparish.org
Director of Music
(Choir practice Fridays 8.00-9.00pm in church and as announced*)
Parish Breakfast
Team Mrs Catherine Brant 01923 330999
Sacristan To be announced
60+ Monday Club Mrs Caroline Harper 020 8420 4838
(Two Mondays a month in Church House 3.00-5.00pm, Jan & Aug excepted*)
Planned Giving Officer Greg Batts 07799 693284
gregory.n.batts@gmail.com
Church House Hall
bookings * churchhouse@busheyparish.org
* Suspended until further notice
34For more information about the Foodbank please contact Mia
Handley, Foodbank Manager, on 07483 260 440 or email:
foodbank@redtrustbushey.org
35Services in the Parish of Bushey—February 2021
(provisional schedule: online only)
At the time of publication, it was assumed our churches will remain closed
throughout February and that all our services during the month will be
streamed via our usual platforms (see page 32 for where to find us online).
Please consult our weekly pew-sheets, emails and social media for any late
changes to these arrangements. People without internet access can get a
copy of the relevant liturgy to follow each Sunday service in real time if they
wish. Please ask one of the clergy.
Sunday February 7, Second before Lent
9.30am: Parish Eucharist from St James’s
Sunday February 14, Last before Lent
9.30am: Parish Eucharist from Holy Trinity
Wednesday February 17, Ash Wednesday
8.00pm: Evening Eucharist from St James’s
Sunday February 21, Lent 1
9.30am: Parish Eucharist from St James’s
Sunday February 28, Lent 2
9.30am: Parish Eucharist from St Paul’s
Regular midweek services (online only)
Monday – Friday, 9.00 am Morning Prayer
Wednesday, 8.00pm, Bushey Devotions
Thursday 9.30pm, Compline
Private prayer (suspended)
We regret that our churches are closed for private prayer until
further notice.
36You can also read
