CHURCH NEWS
Weekly Prayer Roster
Each week during the year the Churches in their prayers, the residents of particular streets in the village, those
who work in the parish and village organizations. Those to be remembered this month are:
4th January
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
.
11th January
Clubs and societies, their leaders and members, volunteers, and the team that produces and
distributes the Buckden Roundabout.
18th January
Cranfield Way, Cranfield Close, Weir Close, Smith Drive, Lucks Lane, Morris Close.
25th January
Buckden Surgery: the doctors, nurses, receptionists, pharmacists, health visitors and mid-
wives; those we know who are in hospital, the elderly, disabled and housebound.
Buckden & District Churches Together - Study Lunch
The next Study Lunch will be on Monday 13 January from 12.30 to 2.00 pm in the Methodist
School Room, Everyone welcome, Contact: Ann Brittain on 812012
Thought for the month
I have heard it said that as the years pass by they seem to get shorter. I certainly wonder where the last one
went. It seems only a few months ago we were celebrating the start of another new year and now it has ended
and another year begun.
The turn of the year invites us to reflect on the year that has passed and recall all that has happened to us, people
we have met, places we have visited and the many experiences we have lived through. As we do so we can give
thanks to God for the good times and experiences of life shared with others. We also give thanks for God’s mercy
and goodness everyday and for the love that has surrounded us and given us the strength to survive the hurt and
sorrow when times have not been so smooth. For God’s love is constant, uplifting and enfolding.
Now a new year stretches ahead of us. The first minute of the New Year is no different in itself than the dying mo-
ment of the year just gone, but it feels different. New hopes dawn. What will the New Year hold for you? None of
us knows what lies ahead but we can be confident that God who was with us in the past will be with us in the fu-
ture as the words of the hymn ‘
Great is thy faithfulness’
remind us:
‘
Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
strength for today, and bright hope for tomorrow,
blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside.’
So in the year that lies ahead of us, may we turn to God for our inspiration and strength. May he lead us in the
paths he would wish us to go and may we heed his prompting as we open ourselves to him in quiet prayer. May
we love as he loves and seize the opportunities that he puts before us for caring and sharing. And with God’s help
may we continue to do well that which we already do as well as being willing to step out into new places and
situations.
With all good wishes for the New Year.
Revd Tricia Williams
Minister, Buckden Methodist Church
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