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Buckden Roundabout
April 2017
Thought for the month
Dear Friends,
Life is a bit like… Well, it’s sort of… I mean that’s the thing about life, it’s…
I am beset by imminent clichés. But the thing about clichés is that they become clichés because they are often said. And they
are often said because they express something that is often encountered in the experiences people have.
So – life is a bit a like a roller-coaster. One minute you are full of hope and expectation, spreading your palm leaves in God’s
path and having a whale of time worshipping and belonging and feeling good. Then you are suddenly down in the dumps, trudg-
ing away from God with your head down and your heart in your boots, wondering how God could have let things get in such a
sorry state and unable to believe they can get better. Only a week separates the Palm Sunday Donkey Derby from the Emmaus
10K unFun Run.
They say that into every life a little rain must fall. If it didn’t, then life would be very dull. “I could settle for dull” I hear you say.
But you can’t settle for dull, because life won’t let you. Life won’t let you settle at all. You can make like the ostrich, of course,
and bury your head in the sand and invite life to go and play elsewhere. But life won’t. It will play where you are. If your head is
in the sand it will play leapfrog. If you are looking around you, it will play hide-and seek. In any event, it will play havoc.
So – life is a bit a like a roller-coaster. You will soar; you will plummet; you will coast; you will roll. And you won’t stop until the
ride’s over. Question: How do you make God laugh? Answer: Tell him your plans.
But, confusingly enough, life also is not like a roller-coaster. In a roller-coaster you just sit there and it happens, and you eventu-
ally get back to where you started. Some people live their lives that way, it’s true. But it doesn’t have to be like that. God does
laugh at our plans, but he is laughing with us, not at us. We know our plans are likely to go astray; that life will interrupt them.
God knows that, too.
God wants us to have plans — and not just for the laughs. But God wants to work on our plans with us. God wants joint plans.
God wants to live in partnership with us. That’s why God joined the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. God wanted to help
them see a bigger, brighter picture. God shared a vision with them. If we are prepared to look, God will share a vision with us,
too.
It won’t get us off the roller-coaster, but it will make it a lot more fun!
Paul
Weekly Prayer Roster
Each week during the year the Churches, in their prayers, remember the residents of particular streets in the village, those who
work in the parish and village organizations. Those to be remembered this month are:
2nd April
Scouts, Cubs and Beavers, Guides, Brownies and Rainbows, Playgroup and Day Nursery, Bucca-
neers after school club, Buckden Towers Youth Retreat Centre
9th April
Mayfield, Springfield Close, The Osiers, Stirtloe
16th April
Vineyard Way, Burberry Road, Swan End, Lark End, The Library and its librarians
23rd April
The churches of the village: St Hugh’s, St Mary’s, Buckden Methodist Church, also Offord and
Perry Baptist Churches, members of home groups from these and other local churches, minis-
ters and all who make our churches welcoming and worshipful places
30th April
Church Street, Mill Road, The Barns, The Old Flour Mills
Church News
Children’s Society Box Holders
Many thanks for your generous contributions to the Children’s Society. At this year’s box opening we counted the great total of
£1,630.31. Well done everyone. Jo Mcgregor.