December 2022

8 Buckden Roundabout December 2022 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 organisations. Those to be remembered this month are: 4 th December School Lane, Buckden Primary School (pupils, teachers and teaching assistants, governors, vol- unteers, midday supervisors, all support staff) 11 th December Scouts, Cubs and Beavers, Guides, Brownies and Rainbows, Playgroup and Day Nursery, Buck- den out of Schools Scheme, Buckden Towers Youth Retreat Centre 18 th December Longhall Road, Viking Way, Mercia Close, Angles Drive, Penda Court 25 th December Mayfield, Springfield Close, The Osiers, Stirtloe Thought for the Month It is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed; the night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of dark- ness and put on the armour of light (Rom13:11 - 12). A wonderful time of Advent is here. A time of waiting for the coming of the Lord. The coming is understood in a double sense. First part of Advent is a period of waiting for the second coming of Jesus, at the end of times. Jesus will come as a just judge. And the period from 17 to 24 December is dedicated to the direct preparation of our hearts for the historical coming of Jesus in the mystery of incarnation. There are three key figures of Advent who lead us to the en- counter with Jesus: prophet Isaiah, St John the Baptist and Blessed Virgin Mary. We can learn from their attitudes in the Scripture readings during the liturgy. St John Paul II described this period as follows: Advent is syn- onymous with hope: not the vain waiting for a faceless god, but concrete and certain trust in the return of him who has already visited us, of the "Spouse" who with his blood has sealed with humanity a pact that is an eternal covenant. It is a hope that stimulates vigilance, the characteristic virtue of this special liturgical season. Vigilance in prayer, fostered by a lov- ing expectation; vigilance in the dynamics of concrete charity, aware that the Kingdom of God comes close whenever peoples learn to live as brothers and sisters. Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpret- ed is, God is with us. (Matthew 1:23) May Infant Jesus who became God with us, bless each one of us on Christmas and throughout the New Year. Fr Krzysztof Stawicki CMF, St Hugh ’ s Catholic Church, Buckden Buckden Learning Group Update During the Autumn term, BLG sched- uled two courses. Firstly, a 2 week short course in Sep- tember on Zoom with a Yorkshire based tutor who specialises in courses about art. The course was called ‘ Impressionist Women Artists ’. 14 members learnt about Berthe Morisot, the only female member of the main group of French Impressionists & two lesser known artists associated with them, Marie Bracquemond & Eva Gonzalez. At the end of September we returned to Buckden Towers to start a 10 week course entitled ‘ How the British Isles Formed ’ about the geological history of Britain. We made the decision to restrict attendance to 40 in order to stay in the main house Conference Room. For the first time ever, we had to set up a waiting list; after a few people changed their plans, all on the waiting list were finally accommodated. During this course, 40 members are hearing the story of earthquakes and volcanoes, climate change and environment that shaped the Britain we inhabit today. At the time of writing (November 2) we are about to open up enrolment for two further courses. Firstly, a follow up Zoom session on December 13: about the American artist Mary Cas- satt who spent much of her life living and working in Paris within the Impressionist sphere. This will be followed in Janu- ary by our return to Buckden Towers for a 10 week course enti- tled ‘ The Soul of Russian Music with Great 19th Century Com- posers ’ (see advert for details), which was planned 2 years ago. These will be followed by further courses, mostly face - to - face, that have been planned through to Christmas 2024. As usual, our courses have been interspersed with some indi- vidual discussion sessions on Zoom; this is expected to contin- ue. Although hopeful about the future, we recognise that new restrictions could be imposed at any time, but continue to look forward optimistically.