January 2024

8 Buckden Roundabout January 2024 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: 7th January Manor Gardens, Manor Close, Glebe Lane, The Grove 14th January Park Road, Falcon Way, The Marinas, and those who live and work there 21st January Field Close, Lincoln Close, Silver Street, Beaufort Drive, St Hugh ’ s Road 28th January School Lane, Buckden Primary School (pupils, teachers and teaching assistants, governors, vol- unteers, midday supervisors, all support staff) Thought for the Month Let go and let God this New Year …. Whilst most of us are making New Year Resolutions – usually in my household involving exercise and diets, I, with many people in the Methodist Church, start the year by reaffirming my faith commitment at our January Covenant service. Covenant means promises, promises on both sides – God to us and us to God. And the prayer we offer is very tough to say – especially without crossing our fingers behind our backs! For example, it starts with ‘ I am no longer my own but yours ’ and goes on to ask God to ….. ‘ put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you …’ Gulp! Whilst the Christian faith is all about living out values which are radically different from the ways of the world, actual- ly really letting God ’ s values take precedence in how we live out our own day to day lives takes some working at. I, for one, am definitely work in progress! Perhaps it will surprise, but most folk in the churches I care for have more difficulty contemplating being ‘ put aside ’ than they do being busily employed in the work of the church!! Like fac- ing retirement, letting go of what we have always done and valued rattles our sense of security, value and identity. After many years of supporting the church, people and its buildings, it ’ s hard to face up to our fragility. Nevertheless, the prayer we will be praying across January is about letting go and letting God in, and we at the Methodist Church, along with all our churches in Buckden, are open to hearing from you about what you value about our presence here and how we can be more open to your exploring of what faith might have to offer as our world and ways of life become increasingly fractured and fragile. Many of us at this time in particular, wonder where God is giv- en the mess the world is in! Palestine and Israel have been much in focus in this regard - the very place where God inter- vened in the sending of Jesus. As do the psalmists, perhaps we too should be calling on God to remember the people and the world he/she created and the promises made to us. Questions such as this continue to be debated by a group of people of all faiths and none in The Lion on the first Wednesday of each month at 8pm. We all need to let go of things to make space for new growth. Jesus ’ invitation to those around him was to come and see and experience. Our churches here in Buckden offer you the same invitation this new year. - Rev. Sue Baker - Maher used to catch prey with both passive ambush and active hunting techniques used. One of the more unusual methods is used by the Black Heron, which makes a tent of its wings near the waters surface attracting the fish into the shadier area for an easier catch. But this is surpassed by a technique used by a few American species; they go fishing. Using, for preference, a piece of bread, the bird places the morsel on the water and waits patiently until a hungry fish investigates. The bird then bags their meal. The UK has 5 species regularly breeding here; the Grey Heron, the Eurasian Bittern, the Little Egret, the Cattle Egret and the Great White Egret. Of these the latter 3 are recent colonists with the Little first breeding here in 1996, the Cattle arriving in 2008 and the Great White in 2012. Another species has bred here occasionally but given its rapid advance across western Europe since the Second World War, the Purple Heron will no doubt soon join the list of residents. Our two ‘ older ’ species are both ‘ stars ’ in UK conservation. The Grey Heron is the subject on annual assessment of breed- ing, carried out by the British Trust for Ornithology. This nest The Heron family (Continued from page 5) (Continued on page 18)