Dirty Church

Dear friends,

However you care to describe it (Scruffy Church, Grubby Church, Messy Church?) Checkendon Church needs some tender loving care right now in the sprucing-up department. Please join me this coming Saturday from 10am-12noon for a spot of hoovering, mopping, polishing, dusting, tidying, pruning, sweeping, weeding and edging. All ages and stages are very welcome! Please bring your choice of implements to assist you. Many hands make light work, and many friendships are cemented with a shared task.

Worship Services for Sunday 26th April

9.30am Holy Communion at St John’s Stoke Row with Revd Kevin Davies

11am Short service of Holy Communion at St Peter and Paul, Checkendon with Revd Kevin Davies. Followed by the Annual Church Meeting.

Midweek zoom service: Wednesday Evensong at 5.00pm  410 935 129

Nature Notes

It is “peak bluebell” right at this moment – don’t forget the teas in Checkendon Village hall on Sunday afternoon. The Whitehall Lane displays both at the top and the bottom of the lane are spectacular and fragrant this year, possibly as a result of the wet winter. Make time to stop and stare, and reflect on God’s gift, freely given.

The pear blossom is coming now hard on the heels of the cherry flowers, with the apple trees lining up to be in bloom by the end of the month. The late varieties of narcissi (for example White Marvel or Leite) are coming to an end, while the scarlet tulips in the front bed are regal and velvet. The fritillaria (“William Rex”) in the back bed have been worth of their top billing in the RHS magazine this month, but their glory is now fading and they will soon die back to disappear underground for the majority of the year. A photo taken a week or so ago is below. The soil around them needs to be fed if they are to repeat the performance, though.

The broad beans are nearly at the stage where the netting and iron cloches covering them will have to be removed, as they are outgrowing their protection. The cages and netting will be soon needed to make the strawberry enclosure, anyway, as the first strawberry flowers are out, at risk from the late frosts. When a  strawberry flower has been frosted its yellow centre will die and turn black, and the ongoing flower will prove fruitless. Fruitfulness in Scripture is a regular benchmark for judgement. “By their fruits you shall know them,” warned Jesus reminding us that his followers need to “walk the talk” rather than just pay lip service. St Paul spells it out for Gentile Christians perhaps less familiar with the (life) gardening advice of the Hebrew Scriptures – “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.” (Gal 5.)

For now, we continue to feed the birds, although we are going to be following the RSPB’s new advice to stop do so at the end of the month until October. There is a new awareness that bird tables and feeders can be vectors of disease, and in particular a parasite which has seriously affected both chaffinch and greenfinch populations. Perhaps you will have noticed an unusually fat chaffinch, and wondered at it. We saw several affected birds last year, and, as hard as it will be to not see all the species who visit the bird table, we don’t wish to be party to spreading a fatal condition to some. It will be a chance to listen more attentively to the birdsong.

May the Lord bless you and keep you. Remember that Jesus said: “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid. Believe in God. Believe also in me.”

Your Rector, Canon Kevin

Bonus Question: Which of the types of church listed above is actually “a thing”?