Lest we forget

Dear friends

In our services this Sunday, we’ll be remembering all who serve, and all who still suffer because of war.  At Checkendon we are holding our annual Remembrance parade service, with the brownies, cubs, and scouts taking part. Revd Romey is preaching, and there will be a new name on the honour roll of the fallen from Checkendon and Stoke Row. Sgt Peter Burrell was an Observer in a Bristol Blenheim light bomber shot down near Arras in 1940, trying to defend France against the German invasion. His parents had recently moved from Hammersmith to Stoke Row. He was nineteen years old. This will be the first time since the war that his name will be read out and remembered here. Do join us. There are poppies for sale at the back of Checkendon church and in Checkendon School.

On Friday evening (8th), in Ipsden Village hall at 7pm, there is an opportunity to hear the story of “Lulu”, the Stirling MkIII four engined heavy bomber which crashed in Poor’s Field, Hailey, in 1943, killing all seven members of the crew, being the single greatest loss of life in one day in any of our parishes across the Team in both world wars. This story, almost forgotten, has been brought into the light again by the researches of David MacSwayne, (and others), whose uncle was among those lost that day. Do come along to hear David, and the incredible story that he has uncovered. Proceeds from this event are kindly being donated to St Mary’s, Ipsden.

Worship Services for Remembrance Sunday 10th November

9.30am Remembrance Service at St John’s, Stoke Row with Mr Peter Ferguson

10.55am Remembrance Service at St Peter and Paul, Checkendon with Canon Kevin Davies and Revd Romey Poston. With the parade of uniformed organisations, honour roll, last post and presentation of colours.

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

Other service options for elsewhere in the Team can be found on the Langtree Team Ministry Churches website. Don’t forget that you can support both Checkendon  and  Stoke Row churches via dedicated and secure online card donation pages. Just click on the link. It is very easy! Thank you for your support.

A close call

Isaac Asimov, one of the great American sci-fi writers of the 1950’s and 60’s, wrote a rather prescient short story in 1955 called The Franchise. He looks ahead to a time when the results of elections are decided by computer – all our choices being (mostly) already predictable by the machine. All that is needed is one or two final pieces of information in order for the machine to decide whether the Democratic Party or the Republican Party presidential candidate will be the winner. So just one voter is needed. An “average” Joe, in an “average” town will be asked questions by the computer, and the answers, together with biometric data (“how Joe is feeling”) will be added to the vast array of national statistics and previous voting pattern analysis to produce the result. The story is about the contrast with rather humdrum 1950’s “home life and work” and the sudden thrust into the limelight by being chosen to be “The Voter”. The premise – of a machine deciding the Presidential Election outcome – seemed, at that point in time, to be far fetched enough to be firmly within the genre of science fiction.

Today, almost three quarters of a century down the line, with Siri and Alexa listening to our every word, and A.I. turning heads if not the very wheels of the bus, we are nearly where Asimov left us. We are told that the US election result is a foregone conclusion in all but seven of the US States, and in some of these it may come down to just “a hall full of votes”. The number crunchers (people who talk with machines…) tell us it is all on a knife edge. A few more years, maybe, and we can just ask Google. “Hey Google, what more do you need to know in order to tell me the result of the US election?” This, of course, assumes that Google itself is impartial about the result and does not manipulate the numbers. And there, indeed, is the rub.

The key certainty is uncertainty, whatever the outcome across the water. In the froth and bubble, toil and trouble, may you know God’s peace, and Christ’s light. The peace that passes understanding, and the true light, which enlightens us all.*

Your Rector, Canon Kevin.

*Philippians 4:6-7 and John 1:1-9