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CHURCH NEWS
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:
6th December
Village shops, and those who work in them; businesses based in the village, hotels, inns, and
those who work at home; homemakers, carers, the unemployed and underemployed, and all
visitors to the village
13th December
Clubs and societies, their leaders and members, volunteers, and the team that produces and
distributes the Buckden Roundabout
20th December
Cranfield Way, Cranfield Close, Weir Close, Smith Drive, Lucks Lane, Morris Close
27th December
Buckden Surgery: the doctors, nurses, receptionists, pharmacists, health visitors and mid-
wives; those we know who are in hospital, the elderly, disabled and housebound
STUDY LUNCH
The regular monthly study lunches continue on Monday 14th December 2015
Thought for the month
Christmas is still three or four weeks away and we are already suffering from an overdose of Christmas food ad-
verts and everything else associated with the commercialisation of the season. It’s a relief to get to church on a
Sunday for a bit of respite.
Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in the stable in Bethlehem. The Chris-
tian Calendar gives us a period of time to prepare for the solemnity of Christmas with the four Sundays of Advent.
During Advent we are given the opportunity to reflect on the scripture readings, mainly from the Old Testament,
which recall that the chosen people of God, the Israelites, were waiting, for several millennia, for the coming of the
promised Messiah, Jesus Christ. Towards the end of Advent we move on to recall the visit of the Angel Gabriel to
Mary to ask her if she would be the mother of the Saviour and how Mary and Joseph had to make the long jour-
ney to Bethlehem at the later stages of her pregnancy.
I remember when I was working in a rural area of Guatemala it was possible to prepare, during Advent, for the
Feast of Christmas without the distraction of Christmas adverts etc. Though in the towns and cities it was rather
different the commercialisation was catching up – even to spraying snow in shop windows. It does not snow in
Guatemala! I appreciated being able to celebrate Christmas without all the razzamatazz. In the villages the peo-
ple celebrated with the ‘Posada’, which re-enacted the search by Mary and Joseph to find room in the inn, by go-
ing to a different house each evening before ending up at the church on Christmas Eve. For Christians the Feast
of Christmas is key to our faith as it marks God becoming man and dwelling with us.
May you all have a blest Advent Season before you enjoy the celebration of Christ-mas with your family and
THE MIGRANT CRISIS
I love living here in Buckden where I feel supported and cared for. I would be heartbroken if I were forced to
leave this village, family and friends.
Can we, as a very caring village community see our way to support a family who have, indeed, left everything and
risked everything to find a life free from fear? It is just an idea but one that I hope will be supported by you all – if
each household in Buckden gave 50p a week (more or less as we each can afford) we could rent a house for a
family from Syria and have enough left over to help them settle down, find work and bring up their children in
peace. There is a similar model being used in Canada, as well as a UK Government initiative looking for sponsors
of families.
I do not have the skills or experience to drive this idea forward but I wonder if anyone reading this does? Some
have responded since this was printed last month, but none with the required skills to take this forward. Please
contact me (around 5 p.m. is a good time to catch me) if you feel you can help.