st alkmund´s duffield parish magazine

St Alkmund s

DuffieldParish

MagazineDecember 2020

2 Duff ield Par ish Magaz ine

CHURCH OFFICIALS, ADDRESSES AND TELEPHONE NUMBERS

Vicar: Revd Dr James HughesThe Vicarage, Vicarage Lane, Duffield. Telephone 841867

Trainee Minister: James RollinTelephone: 07485 027171

Reader: Churchwarden: Richard Lindop Paul Linford Telephone 840282 Telephone 01773 821853

CHURCH SECRETARIES: Emma Rollin & Diane Whiteside ...................................07961 891168

HON. SECRETARY P.C.C.: .................................................................................................................

HON. TREASURER P.C.C.: Nick Peacock........................................................................... 840935

HON. PARISH MAGAZINE EDITOR: Jeffrey Taplin............................................................. 842665

YOUTH & CHILDREN’S WORKER: Helen Hawley............................................................. 840536

MUSIC & WORSHIP GROUP LEADER: Fiona Lindop........................................................... 840282

TOWER SECRETARY: Luke Heaton..................................................................................... 841054

PARISH SAFEGUARDING OFFICERS: Paul and Gill Linford.......................................07486 560657

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St Alkmund’s Church Office, Church Drive, Duffield, Belper DE56 4BA. 07961 891168

e: [email protected] www.stalkmundsduffield.co.uk

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Duffield Parish Magazine e: [email protected]

December 2020 3

Dear Friends,As I write this, the only thing that is

certain about this Christmas, is that itwill not be the Christmas we hoped itwould be. As we seek to make the best ofthis situation, perhaps it helps us toreconnect a little more with that firstChristmas; after all, things didn’t quitego as Mary and Joseph planned either.

First, there was an unexpectedpregnancy. Luke tells us how this cameabout in some detail, focusing on Maryand her wider family, like Elizabeth andZechariah. Matthew however capturessomething of how this must have hitJoseph when he first found out that theyoung woman he was engaged to bemarried to was pregnant:

And her husband Joseph, being a justman and unwilling to put her to shame,resolved to divorce her quietly.(Matthew chapter 1 verse 19, esv)

The key word here is shame—ofcourse, it was shameful to think that thewoman he was about to marry wasalready pregnant—he knew it wasn’t his.Of course Matthew then tells us aboutJoseph’s dream, and the real source ofMary’s pregnancy: it is the work of theHoly Spirit. But you can imagine that inthe village of Nazareth where Josephwas from, people would come to theirown conclusions.

Then there was an enforcedrelocation. Luke tells us that Caesardecreed a census, so everyone had to becounted, and that meant going back toyour town—not necessarily the placewhere you lived, but the family town—which for Joseph meant Bethlehem. Atrip from the north to the south with aheavily pregnant wife. Popular images ofthe couple on the way to Bethlehem haveprovided a donkey—a little donkey weused to sing about as children—but thegospels don’t mention one. Perhapsthere was, but there probably wasn’t. Sohere is Mary, travelling with her newhusband (their ‘honeymoon’ will have towait until after the birth) to Bethlehem,tired, dusty, and perhaps wonderinghow this fits with the fact that she isbearing God’s Son. One suspects Josephmay also have had questions.

Of course, things don’t get much betterwhen they get to Bethlehem, for here wefind accommodation complications.Luke tells us:

And while they were there, the timecame for her to give birth. And she gavebirth to her firstborn son and wrappedhim in swaddling cloths and laid him ina manger, because there was no place forthem in the inn. (Luke chapter 2 verses 6 to 7)

We have all seen the pictures. A smallbut comfortable, and above all cleanstable, a star above it, docile animalslooking on as the baby Jesus lies in amanger which looks more cot thananimal food box. Shepherds arrive intheir Sunday best, and Magi from the

The Vicar’s Letter

James Hughes

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east have conveniently got rid of thedust from the journey. It wouldn’t havelooked anything like that—it wasprobably a dark, half-outhouse attachedto a humble home. It wouldn’t havesmelt anything like that either. What aplace for any child to be born. What aplace for God’s Son to come into theworld. No wonder when the Magiactually arrived, probably a few monthsafter the birth, Mary and Joseph hadmoved to a house in Bethlehem—theywould have wanted to get out of thestable as soon as possible. After theShepherds visit, Luke tells us this:

But Mary treasured up all these things,pondering them in her heart. (Lukechapter 2 verse 19)

For ‘all these things’ we rightlyunderstand the visit of the Shepherds,and their retelling of the angelic visitorsthey had. After four hundred years ofsilence, angelic visitors have come toZechariah, and Mary, and Joseph, andthe Shepherds, announcing the goodnews. But Mary must also have beenreflecting on her surroundings, and theplace of the birth, and what that allmeant.

Which brings us to the final part ofMary and Joseph’s rather disrupted firstChristmas: troublewith the

authorities. Matthew tells us of the visitof the Magi (Matthew 2), and the giftsthey brought. He also tells us of thetrouble it caused. Naturally they wentfirst to the palace in Jerusalem to look fora king, but Herod sees only a rival, andso, once the Magi have outwitted him,orders the murder of all the baby boysunder two years old in Bethlehem, justto be on the safe side. Joseph has beenwarned in a dream, and the family haveescaped—on the move again—but evenwhen they come back from Egypt later,they end up going back to Nazareth inthe north, and Bethlehem is too close toJerusalem, and too dangerous.

These are not decisions I have everhad to face about where I live: is thereanybody there who wants to kill me ormy child? But this was the reality forJoseph and Mary and Jesus. Why?Because of who Jesus is: God’s Son,God’s king. Look at the sign that Pilatehas nailed above the cross:

And over his head they put the chargeagainst him, which read, "This is Jesus,the King of the Jews." (Matthewchapter 27 verse 37)

Pilate probably meant it both as a wayof mocking Jesus, and as a way ofmocking the Jewish authorities in

Jerusalem. But hespoke more

than he

December 2020 5

knew—Jesus is the king, the king of hispeople, but because of the kind of kinghe was, his kingdom was confirmed onthe cross.

Mary and Joseph didn’t know all thisthat first Christmas. Although whenthey took Jesus to the temple a few daysafter his birth, they were warned:

And Simeon blessed them and said toMary his mother, “Behold, this child isappointed for the fall and rising of manyin Israel, and for a sign that is opposed(and a sword will pierce through yourown soul also), so that thoughts from

many hearts may be revealed." (Lukechapter 2 verses 34 to 35)

Jesus has been doing this ever since—the falling, the rising, facing oppositionand revealing hearts. It’s a strangeblessing. It was a strange Christmas.Maybe it is one that we can appreciate abit more this year. Maybe you’d like tojoin us as we explore what it means forus today.

Happy Christmas.

Annual Church MeetingAt the postponed ACM finally held in Church on Wednesday 30th September, PaulLinford was reappointed as Church Warden, with much appreciation for his work sincehe took up the appointment nearly a year and a half ago. He is well assisted by four‘Keyholders’ but there is still a need for a second warden to work alongside Paul.

ROSEMARY BULL, MELINDA PEACOCK and NICK PEACOCK were elected to the Dove andDerwent Deanery Synod and ALASTAIR BOYD and MARION TAULBUT were elected to thePCC. Marion was thanked with flowers, retiring from the post of PCC Secretary after 15years, so that position and that of Electoral Roll Officer are vacant.

Paul thanked all the people who give their time and talents, and James, Kirsty and thefamily were thanked for all they do for the church.

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Photo: I. Robinson

The leaders

I love music; I love Christmas; I love carols, and I love finding out a story behinda song. As a songwriter, I’m fascinated how people take a concept and turn it

into a song. A song that lasts is a true skill.

The fact that some of our favourite carols have been sung in various forms forover 300 years, more in many cases, fills me with wonder. This year, I have beenparticularly struck by a carol written in rather difficult circumstances, which hasa rather strange legacy to it.

You might have gathered that I’m talking about ‘Silent Night’. Legend has it thaton or around Christmas Eve, Franz Gruber, or Josef Mohr’s church organ wentfor a burton (broke) and they had no music for their Christmas Eve service. Andso, ‘Silent Night’ was written because it could be played on guitar. I’ve done aChristmas recently without an organ, and I wouldn’t ever want to do it again.

There is also talk of ‘Silent Night’ being sung by the soldiers in the trenches onboth sides during World War One (reportedly before then having a game offootball on No Man’s Land). In both situations, neither circumstance is theChristmas anyone would choose.

I’m usually to be found stuffing a turkey or peeling sprouts on Christmas Eve;hastily writing a carol or dealing with trench foot would certainly not be my idea

One of those Old-New carols

December 2020 7

of a “proper” Christmas. Likewise, this Christmas is, perhaps, not going to be theChristmas that we would plan if we could—and yet Christmas is evidence thatout of adversity can come something truly wonderful.

In fact, we can go beyond that. The very first Christmas was perhaps not whatMary would have chosen. Imagine what it would be like to be her. Perhaps shewould have liked to have been married before they were expecting their firstchild; certainly we know Joseph would: “Her husband, Joseph, being just a man andunwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered thesethings, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son ofDavid, do not fear to take Mary as your wife.’” (Matthew 1:19–20). And, preparingfor her first baby, perhaps she would have liked to be near her mother and herother female relatives, but no, she has to spend her first Christmas with his folks!!

Perhaps she wants to start ‘nesting’, preparing a nursery, etc; but, no, she has togo on a long journey just before the baby comes, so she ends up tired, panicked,without much to wrap the baby in, let alone somewhere to put him. Then, just asshe’s laying back, finally getting some rest, she gets interrupted by a load of smellyshepherds who are overjoyed and awestruck and want to tell her about whatthey’ve just seen in the sky.

Of course, we know from biblicalaccounts that Mary didn’t feel thosethings. “Behold, I am the servant of theLord; let it be to me according to yourword.” (Luke 1:38); “…for He who ismighty has done great things for me, andholy is His name.” (Luke 1:49); “ButMary treasured up all these things, pon-dering them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19).Mary knew the specialness of thebaby she carried and gave birth to.

And we also know that out of Josephand Mary’s (not professionally recom-mended) approach to preparing forchildbirth and adversity, we have gotsomething truly, perfectly and bril-liantly wonderful. Merry Christmas.

Emma Rollin


Teacher, head teacher, parent, grandparent, I must have sat through at leastfifty nativity plays; each one similar, each one unique as it strived to bring adifferent take on the greatest story ever told.

Some years ago, inspired by the Reduced Shakespeare Company, whoapparently act out the Bard’s complete works in one performance, BBC Radio4 organised a Christmas competition whereby listeners were invited to submita Reduced Nativity. Here is one of the winning entries written in the style ofthe Shipping Forecast.

The Nativity Forecast …Here is the Nativity Forecast issued at Midnight, Christmas Eve

for the next 24 hours and the next 2,000 years

The general synopsisOutlook bright with star appearing soon

Moving in an Easterly directionVisibility good

Light precipitation expected everywhere

Three Kings – moving slowly eastGold, frankincense and myrrh

Arriving by camel, Christmas DayStar in sky, bright, also moving slowly eastwards

Shepherds wake, dawn, cold, dispersing easterlyFollowing star

Sheep wander, safe

Joseph and Mary, tired, hungry, no roomStable, bedding, manger, safe

Baby JesusArrival soon

Outlook – bright!

MIKE SEVERN

December 2020 9

Jesus said “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness,but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

Words to hold on to in the dark, long nights of December.

Last month, as we counted down the days to our second lockdown, I found myselfthinking of this verse. I spent two gorgeous evenings on the Monday and Tuesdaynights seated around a make-shift fire pit with our two youth groups. Our first timetogether in person for many months, and our last for at least one more. In many ways,there was nothing extraordinary about those coupleof hours. We sat socially distanced, brought our ownmarshmallows to toast, taking turns getting near thelush heat of the fire, and just passed the time talkingand laughing together.

And yet, as I gazed at the flames dancing in front ofme, surrounded by smiles and laughter, I couldn’t butnotice the stark contrast of that moment with all the darkness in the world right now.I guess that’s the power of light. It makes us more aware of how dark our surround-ings are. When Jesus declared that he was, is, the light of the world, I don’t believefor a moment that he was just giving us a nice greetings-card line to keep us cheeryin the gloom. He really knew what darkness was. He spoke those words knowingthat he would face the darkest moment in history, strung up on a wooden cross withall the anguish, and anger of God at the sins of the world heaped upon him. And yet:Hebrews 2:9 tells us on that dreadful day he would be “crowned with glory andhonour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might tastedeath for everyone.” Jesus is the light of the world, not because he is pleasant, orwarm, or comforting (though I do believe he is all those things) but because hewillingly tasted death, real death—the death that is the separation from God the Fatherand all that is good and true, so that we would not have to. In that moment he

Youth and Children

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ripped open the curtains of our dark world to let in pure light. Truth, love, hope andso much grace.

As I sat, surrounded by the next generation, whizzing sparklers through the air andenjoying the sweet moment when the light hovers inthe air after the hot stick has moved clear away, Ipondered this. In this moment there is light in thedarkness. It’s everywhere I look. God in his gracegives us gifts of light in abundance, in his Son, in hisword, in his creation and in each face I meet and eachmoment I breathe. Grace—God’s riches at Christ’sexpense isn’t something I receive once when I becomea Christian; it is something I am gifted every moment.A gift undeserved, not earnt, but given freely.

I spent this evening with a friend on Zoom; we meetup weekly to read the Bible together and pray. I’vehad the privilege over the years of watching her growup through our youth groups and become a wise andthoughtful young lady. When I asked her what she’d like me to pray for her this week,she said “that I would look to see God at work in the world more.” It stuck with mebecause she wasn’t asking for proof that he is at work, nor that he would make hiswork more visible; she wanted the ability to actually take the time to look, to notice,to acknowledge his hand in all things and to savour those moments.

Back in the Wilderness, thousands of years ago, Moses asked to see God, but becauseof God’s glory and Moses’ sin (sin is the rejection of God as king of our lives) he couldnot directly look upon God (Exodus 33) for “man shall not see me [God] and live”.

What a shock then to turn the pages of the NewTestament and read in the Gospel of John “Andthe Word became flesh and dwelt among us, andwe have seen his glory, glory as of the only Sonfrom the Father, full of grace and truth” (John1:14) the same Word—Jesus, that is both “lightand life to men”. “The true light, which gives lightto everyone was coming into the world” (John1:9)! Because of Jesus’ saving work of dying forus, we can now look, unflinching into his light,

and not only that, we can be filled with his light, and fear no evil. As I gaze into theglitter of light from sparklers whizzing, I think on this. The very light of God. JesusChrist, love, glory, hope, truth and joy. And isn’t it beautiful.

Helen Hawley

December 2020 11

The Christmas WreathIn this article, Paul Wiggins shares with us some of the traditional understandings of whatChristmas Wreaths represent.

Many people will hang up a colourful and welcoming Christmas wreath on theirfront door, wall, storefront and, less frequently, over a fireplace, as the

centrepiece decoration on the dining table, or use it as a graveside tribute, which isone of the many traditions that takes place during the festive season. Wreath is drawnfrom an Old English word, “writhen”, meaning to twist, and the floral decoration wasmeant to symbolize the crown of thorns worn by Christ on the cross.

Red berries are said to represent His blood;green, white or purple, life, joy, sacrifice orforgiveness in Jesus. Holly, oak and the useof thorny, strong evergreen branches in awreath (pine and yew) signify eternal life,mercy and the unending love of God, asdoes the circular shape, which has nobeginning or end point. Interestingly too,evergreen trees were a species looked uponwith awe and admiration, since they,unlike most living things, survived theharshness of winter. That regard translates well when considering God's eternalpresence and his view in Hosea Chapter 14 Verse 8: “I am like a green pine tree”.

“The Holly and the Ivy”, a traditional British folk Christmas Carol, dating from the17th–18th century, reminds us how significant these plants are, and that is reflectedin these words:-

The holly bears a berry,As red as any blood,And Mary bore sweet Jesus ChristFor to do us sinners good.The holly bears a prickle,As sharp as any thorn,And Mary bore sweet Jesus ChristOn Christmas Day in the morn.

Thus hanging a wreath on our doors helps us to remember and reflect on God’spromises to us shown in the birth of Jesus, which we celebrate at Christmas time.

With grateful thanks to Eliza's Flower Emporium on Town Street for kindly supplying aChristmas Wreath and photograph.


The title of my article paraphrases thetitle of the Christmas song written in

1951 by Meredith Willson and mademost famous by Perry Como—alongsideversions by Johnny Mathis and MichaelBublé, among many others. And, as Iwrite these words in the middle ofNovember, it would appear Christmas2020 is almost certainly going to look andfeel somewhat different from how itnormally does. And in many respects—this suits me just fine!

Because, to be completely honest, I don’tparticularly like a lot of the things that areespecially associated (and I realise, muchenjoyed by many!) with the festiveseason! For example, whilst I’ll have apiece of Christmas Pudding after myChristmas Dinner, as is customary, and amodest slice of Christmas Cake after my

Christmas Tea (accompanied by a largepiece of Blue Stilton cheese and agenerous glass of Ruby Port), I’m notactually much of a fan of traditionaldark, heavy, fruitcake.

And (as I really can’t abide either ofthem) “…mulled wine and mince pies…”are for me, amongst the five mostterrifying words in the English language.Also, as someone who finds an absolutehouseful of people really rather stressful,the phrase “…Boxing Day Get-together…”strikes fear into my heart… I rather carefor how the ‘Ladybird Book of BoxingDay’ (pictured) defines the latter… :)

[Incidentally, mention of ChristmasPudding and Mince Pies always remindsme of an occasion many years ago, whenmy father took—at his specific request—

“It’s Beginning to Look Quite Unlike Christmas”

December 2020 13

a visiting French businessman out for atraditional Christmas Lunch. At a nearbylocal pub, our European friend dulypolished-off a turkey dinner, completewith all the trimmings, plus a verygenerous slice of Christmas Pud ’n’custard.

Understandably, our Monsieur wastherefore already seriously full by thetime the Waitress then came round tooffer him coffee, and … Mince Pies. “Apie?!?”, cried the baffled Frenchman,who was incredulous at even thethought of such a thing after his sump-tuous repast—but he manfully bit intoone anyway, for form’s sake. Thenpointing both to the pie and the rem-nants of his pudding—our bewilderedFrench visitor loudly exclaimed: “But it isze same!!??!”]

Now, I realise I’m probably in a minorityof one here (!) and I appreciate many ofus will understandably be finding thingsvery difficult and missing the opportu-nity to do many things we traditionallyenjoy at this time of year. But perhaps thechanged circumstances of 2020 at leastgive us a bit of an opportunity to reflecton why we celebrate Christmas?

A very wise friend of mine recentlyremarked that he’ll be “…treatingChristmas like Easter this year…”. When Ienquired as to what he meant, hereflected that for Christians, Easter is themost important and significant event ofthe year, and yet—aside from perhapsthe odd chocolate egg and maybe some

nice spring lamb on Easter Sunday—wedon’t ‘do’ a whole lot of additional stuffaround the event itself and he’ll thustreat Christmas in a similar way thisyear; using his time to reflect.

Reflecting on the fact that at Christmas,God Himself comes to earth in humanform when the Lord Jesus is born ofMary; the Lord Jesus who—as someonewho is both fully God and fully human,will, in the words of Philippians chapter2, verses 6–8—ultimately die on a crosson our behalf; taking the punishment werightly deserve for all of the things thatwe do wrong; what the Bible calls ‘sin’.And through putting our trust in Jesus,we can receive salvation and forgivenessfor sin—through Him we can bereconciled with God, have a restoredrelationship with Him and one day thepromise of everlasting life with God ineternity.

Almost certainly we won’t be able to doeverything we normally would thisChristmas. But we can reflect on why wecelebrate Christmas and the greatsignificance of the Christmas story for usand our world. Do keep an eye on ourwebsite and social media, or contact thechurch office, for information on thechurch’s activities over the Christmasperiod (our provisional plans for whichare outlined elsewhere in this magazine),where there’ll be various opportunitiesto reflect on the significance of theChristmas story.

James Rollin

Christmas Services andIt is almost certain that Christmas 2020 is going to look somewhat different thannormal, and this will include the various services at St Alkmund’s church duringAdvent and Christmas.

Things are of course very much dependent on exactly how and when the currentlockdown regulations may or may not be lifted; and also dependent on exactlywhat rules may subsequently then be put in place. However, with all thosecaveats in mind, our current plan for Christmas is as follows:

Services in Church:

Sunday 20th December Nativity Service@10amCarol Service

@6:30pm

Thursday 24th December Christmas Eve Crib Service

@4.30pm

Friday 25th December Joint Christmas Day Service

with St Paul’s Little Eaton @10am

Due to the Covid-19 social-distancing rules and the restrictions this places on ourseating capacity at church, we will have a booking system for these services, whichwill be operated through our church office – we’ll let you know more about thisnearer the time – keep an eye out for our social media, and regular emails – [email protected] if you don’t yet receive this and want to.

Events at St Alkmund’sThese services will also be livestreamed via our United Benefice YouTube channel,https://www.youtube.com/c/TheUnitedBeneficeofDuffieldLittleEaton.

If Covid-19 restrictions prevent us from being able to meet in the church,all our Christmas services will move to being online-only on YouTube.

Online-only services (on YouTube):

Sunday 6th December Christingle @ 4.30pm

Thursday 24th December Lessons and Carols @6.30pm

We look forward to celebrating Christmas with you as best wecan this year, and do please bear with us as plans may have toalter late on in the face of changes in the Covid-19 rules!


Mary KnewWhen the angel came and told her,even then she must have known.As the God-child grew within herMore than anyone on earthMary knew

She must have wondered what he’d look likethe baby she’d been given.He felt so human but was God!Would he talk? Would light surround him?Would he grow up very quickly?Then he was bornFully God!Fully man!And saviour of the world!and more than anyone on earthMary knew

When he cried she brought him comfortshe nurtured him and worshipped.He grew in size and stature.To his friends and those around hima love shone out to bless them,And more than anyone on earthMary knew

When they took him to the temple, having fun along the waywas she so surprised to find him with the scribes?For more than anyone on earthMary knew

They travelled to a wedding feast but when the wine ran out,to Jesus Mary pointed “He will do it”.When the miracles and healings came,she watched him as a mother does

December 2020 17

and thanked the Lord Jehovah for his life.For more than anyone on earthMary knew

When they nailed him to the cross, she watched his life blooddraining from himAnd I wonder, in that moment, did she doubt?Yet more than anyone on earthMary knew

When He rose again triumphant, she was there with the believersand received the Holy Spirit with them all.Who along with her now knew what she’d known from the beginningHe was fully God!Fully man!And Saviour of the world!

By Eve White


Care for the familyCare for the family is a national charity which aims to promote strong family life and tohelp those who face family difficulties such as bereavement. They also give advice aboutmarriage and parenting. In the pastAndrew and I have been to the talksthat they have held around thecountry, and what we have learnthas played a valuable part in ourChristian marriage. Some of theirtalks can now be booked to watchonline. We recently watched onecalled The Wisdom House, a talkgiven by Rob Parsons. He uses theinteresting premise of fireside chatswith his five young grandchildren,not as they are now, but talking to them in the future as young adults.

The main ideas that we learnt from this talk were:

��The importance of being true to yourself and not trying to live your life the wayothers would have you live it!

��Love with your will. He gave an example of a couple who had “fallen out of love”but whom he was encouraging to fight to save the marriage by actively practisinglove as in the Bible passage 1 Corinthians 13 verse 1: “Love is patient, love iskind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not easily angered, itkeeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with thetruth.” He encouraged people to love in the winter of their relationships.

��Some people rely on “The good old days!” He advised not to say, “Why were theold days better?” So doing will rob you of your todays.

��Do not worry, as it says in Matthew 6 v34: “Therefore do not be anxious abouttomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its owntrouble.” He pointed out that most worries come to nothing and that most of his“tragedies” have never happened!

��Live a day at a time. “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift ofGod, which is why we call it the present,” (Author Unknown) so make the mostof each day.

If any of this has interested you, Rob Parsons has written a book called The WisdomHouse, along with many useful books on different aspects of life, which are available viatheir website: www.careforthefamily.org.uk and from other book shops. If you wouldlike to listen to some of the talks the details are also on the website. You can alsocontact them on 029 2081 0800

Jane and Andrew Jackson

Child

ren’

s Pag

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Our Mission Partners Graeme and Bequi Innes and familyare working in Chisinau, Moldova.In this article, Graeme and Bequi reflect onlife in Moldova and their work in thecountry, together with reflecting on recentcircumstances in the country, including ofcourse, the impact of Covid-19.

O ff the beaten track in a corner ofEastern Europe is the country ofMoldova. This small landlocked

country (nestled between Romania andUkraine) is not well known in the UKunless you follow Eurovision or Europeanfootball qualifiers! Moldova holds anumber of unfortunate records. It is thepoorest country in Europe and has thehighest per capita consumption of alcoholin the world: the average adult drinks theequivalent of 167 bottles of wine per year!

Moldova used to be a Soviet Republicwhere it had a defined role as the wineproducer for the Soviet Union. Since inde-pendence in 1991, Moldova has faced thechallenges of corruption, economic col-lapse and subsequent mass emigration.The people are resilient, hard-working andgenerous to visitors who have managed tomake it to their country!

Humanly speaking, Moldova doesn’thave a lot going for it, as it is small and lacksnatural resources. So where is hope to befound in a country that can appear fairlyhopeless? Superficially Moldova is quite areligious country, but for many, religion isjust a tradition to be observed, by attend-ing church at Christmas or Easter. ManyMoldovans, though, are finding true andlasting hope in Jesus Christ. Since 1991there has been significant growth inchurches that teach the good news aboutJesus from the Bible.

We have been living in Moldova's capitalChisinau with our three young childrensince 2017, serving with a Christian organi-sation called Crosslinks. We have anumber of different roles—Graeme lec-tures at a couple of local universities andpastors a local church, Oastea Domnului,an Evangelical church, and Bequi estab-lished Moldova's first toddler group, runsvarious groups for women, and helps at aWine consumption is exceptionally high in Moldova

Chisinau is the capital of Moldova

December 2020 21

Christian centre for vulnerable children(some of whom are street children).

The year of 2020 has been a particularlytough one for the country of Moldova. Incommon with the rest of the world, thecountry is struggling to deal with corona-virus; as of the end of October (when thisarticle was written), coronavirus infectionrates were still very high in Moldova andthe hospitals in Chisinau were full. We areaware of a lot of people who have recentlycaught the virus, including members of ourchurch family and also expat friends; oneof our church members, a man in his 60s,sadly recently died from the disease. Hewas a lovely gentle man and our churchfamily is mourning his loss. But we thankGod that even at his funeral, the memoryof his faith and unwavering trust in Jesuswas a very powerful witness.

We’re aware that like us here in Moldo-va, you are facing challenges with thepandemic. We have experienced a wholerange of emotions over the past couple ofmonths—many of which you can probablyrelate to—whether it's frustration that wecan’t do ministry like we used to, or seethe people we want to; feelings of helpless-ness; isolation and loneliness at being stuckat home; fear at the situation; annoyanceseeing people not keeping the rules; alonging for church services on Sunday tobe like they used to; times of joy as we

spend quality time as a family, especially inour family Bible times; sorrow at the painand problems we see around us; encour-agement and hope as we see Godgraciously working in someone’s heart;homesickness as we all miss visits fromclose family members, and so on.

So, what does life here look like for us atpresent? Some of our ministries are con-tinuing as normal; others (such as thetoddler group), we can’t continue for theforeseeable future and for the rest, we aretrying to do them as best as possible. ForGraeme, his days are mostly filled withsermon preparation and book writing;each week, Graeme also leads online Biblestudies and he continues to meet up regu-larly with a local Pastor he is mentoring.

For Bequi, the past few months havebeen a steep learning curve as (in commonwith very many of us) she began home-schooling our two older children. Wehave teachers in our family, so we knowhow hard they work, but—like many ofus!—Bequi discovered a new-found re-spect for them and their colleagues! Half aterm in, we are pleased to report that thekids seem to be learning something andeveryone is still (mostly!) smiling. We arevery thankful that they’re close playmates;are very forgiving of their mum’s poormaths skills; and that our youngest isOn the move: working day in progress

Leading the way: a rural scene in Moldova

�


very happy just to sit and play whilst hersiblings do their work. This may changewhen she starts exploring the house byherself, however…!

Home-schooling and everything elsethat being a mum entails doesn’t leaveBequi with much spare time, so the mainarea she has been focusing on this year isministry with some of the older teenagegirls in our church and the fortnightly Biblestudy they do together. The warm sum-mer weather made it a lot easier to hostthe teenagers for youth socials in our gar-den, but with the winter weather nowsetting in, we will have to do most youthmeetings online again. This isn’t ideal, butwe trust it won’t be forever! We have alsoresumed our weekly English conversationclasses on Wednesday evenings online viaZoom. It’s not the same dynamics as meet-ing in person, but it’s still lovely seeingeveryone’s faces!

So 2020 has been, and continues to be, atough one for the country of Moldova—on top of Covid-19, it has also been a verydry year leading to a poor harvest, whichhas been a real struggle for many people.But we are nevertheless still encouragedby signs that the Lord is at work amongstpeople in our local community, and we arevery grateful for the ongoing prayers and

support of everyone at St Alkmund’schurch as our mission partners. If youwould like to find out more about ourwork in Moldova, then do please get intouch with us via:

[email protected]

Fields of sunflowers affected by the drought

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to all our readers and advertisers,and many thanks to our distribu-

tors, who reliably deliver themagazines each month throughout

the year.

Photo: I. Robinson

December 2020 23

SCENE 1: Luke’s Bedroom

H ELLO! My name’s Katie, and my dad isthe vicar. I thought that my brotherLuke has been getting too much of the

limelight. OK, so he got the youth involvedin contributing, but now I’m going to startthis month’s mammoth epistle with a bit ofbackground. I might even get Mum in on theact a bit later …

As you’ll know if you read last month’sstory, you may be wondering how the littlediscussion that I had with Luke worked out?Well, actually rather well. In fact, I think itmight be going a little too well at the mo-ment, and I might even have to give Mumand Dad a hint to drop a hint—if you seewhat I mean, like. Perhaps not, so here goes.

“OK, so who is this wonder woman thatyou have in mind? One of the glamour girls?Some stupendous athlete? Some intellectualstar? Or a perfect combination?” Luke’s facewas a joy to behold, like a child looking at arange of Christmas presents, but there wasalso a hint of trepidation. Who would I beabout to reveal?

“Well, if those are your criteria, I can seethat you are more interested in short termkudos than anything long term,” I said, in mybest no-nonsense voice. Luke looked a bitshocked. “Are you looking for ‘a nice bit ofskirt’ to impress your friends, or someonewith more depth?” Still no reply: “I thinkthat you might want to consider someonewith some real depth, who could become areal friend whichever way the relationshipmight develop. And someone who will bringhappiness not only to you, but also to ourcircle of friends?”

“Gosh,” said Luke, “where did all thatcome from? That was completely unexpect-ed. Katie, life counsellor, available now for

in-depth advice on how to change your life!”“Thank you,” I said, modestly. “You asked

where that came from? Wrong question!”“I see, so the real question is, ‘Where

should I go from here?’”“Excellent progress my pupil,” I said, pat-

ronising my big brother, “but I think you canwork out the answer yourself?”

“You mean, what should I be looking for?Or rather who?”

“Perhaps ‘what attributes’ would becloser to the mark.”

“I think I can do this,” Luke pondered,thoughtfully. “Someone kind, loving, faithful,friendly, someone who loves Jesus, and willwalk with me for some miles along the way.”

That brought tears to my eyes. I just satquietly while my dear brother finished thediscussion himself.

“Do you have Mary’s number?” he said.So, what happened next? Well, rather a

lot actually. But I’ll hand over to Dad for thenext episode.

—ooo OOO ooo—

SCENE 2: The vicarage study: Ralph andRosemary are talking to Paul the vicar.

I WAS stunned, although perhaps less than Imight have been a few weeks ago.

“Now let me get this straight. You wantto get married … on Christmas Day?”

“Well done, vicar! Your ability to repeatwhat we just said is admirable. And youknow perfectly well that it used to be verycommon?”

“Indeed, but that was in the days whenworking people had barely any holiday.” Iwas trying to buy time to think. Would it beOK? Or would it mess up a lot of people?

“I think it might be a wonderful idea,” saidPam as she came in with coffee.

“Much Ado About Quite a Lot” or “All’s Well That Starts Well”

�


“I thought that meetings with the vicarwere private,” I grinned, “but then I didleave the door open!”

Pam turned to the “nearly weds” …“How do you think that it would work?”Rosemary smiled. “I’ve been doing some

homework. I think that you could tack thewedding service onto the back of the morn-ing service: that’s how it used to be done.That way Paul wouldn’t be able to embar-rass us with a wedding sermon!”

“How could you,” I protested, “I was busydigging up all of the gossip I could find!”

“Yes, and very much there wasn’t,” Pamsaid quickly. “Get back to the subject inhand!”

I thought again. “That would work. I’llhave to think how to do the communion.”

“We’d like it in the wedding serviceplease,” said Rosemary.

“Yes, that would be OK, except for thosewho wanted to get away quickly.”

“They can come to the 8 o’clock,” musedPam.

There was a pause.“Now, the reception,” said Ralph.“Indeed,” I said. “A wedding reception at

lunchtime on Christmas Day? What will allthe wannabe Mary Berrys have to say aboutthat?”

—ooo OOO ooo—SCENE 3: The church hall. Practising for

the Nativity Play

KATIE here again. We were practising for theNativity play: and with the best of intentionsabout to walk into a whole lot of trouble!

Luke and Mary are making a lovely couple.In fact, far too good to miss the opportunityto cast them as Joseph and Mary for theNativity. There weren’t even any complaintsfrom the potential cast members.

I ought to say that this year the youthgroup had been volunteered to create theNativity, as a change from the usual parade

of cute toddlers who usually light up Christ-mas Day. With hindsight, tradition wouldhave been good!

It’s funny how the road to hell is pavedwith good intentions. Someone—I can’teven remember who now—suggested thatwe give the Nativity a bit more bite. So a keypart of the drama went like this:

Joseph: “Did I hear you right? Are you tell-ing me that you are pregnant? But we aren’tmarried: what will everyone say?”

Mary: “Yes, I am pregnant, and it is the willof God.”

There was more of course, but thatdoesn’t need to be in the story. The realproblem started when Joseph and Marywent off to practise their lines. To get morerealism in, they were really giving their linessome real volume …

With too much volume, as it turned out!They were in the side room, over-egging thepart. Their voices were readily heard in themain corridor, in which, unfortunately, weresome of the older members of the congre-gation coming out of yet another meeting.And what they heard went something likethis:

“Don’t do this to me, Mary, my love. I amwaiting for you—and you are pregnant!What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I love you with all my heart, but this wasout of my control: It was God’s will …”

December 2020 25

“Say that again?”“I love you.”“… and I love you, too.”I gather that there was more, but the

damage had been done. Oh yes, it hadcertainly been done!

—ooo OOO ooo—SCENE 4: The vicarage living room, on

the evening after the ChristmasWedding bombshell.

“THIS could be quite special,” I said. “VeryActs 2. Especially around verse 44.”

“Very theological, my dear Pam,” saidPaul. “But won’t everyone be up in armsabout the disruption to Christmas plans?”

“Yes, but then they probably wouldn’t becoming anyway. Have you thought aboutaccommodation for visitors?” I smiledsweetly.

“Oh, my gosh,” Paul was startled, “Ihadn’t thought that far ahead.”

“Typical man—thinking really hard aboutthe easier part of the problem!”

“I protest,” he grinned, “I was thinkingabout my part of the problem. How aboutyou working out the accommodation, food,seating, calming ruffled feathers and generalsorting out. Meanwhile I’ll revise my Christ-mas day sermon.”

“So, you have the hard job, as ever,” Iteased. One of the nice things about beinghappily married is that you can give and takea lot of stick without doing any real damage.

Little did we know that the problemswere just about to start!

—ooo OOO ooo—SCENE 5: A delegation comes to the

vicarage door

CHRISTMAS was approaching fast, and wewere very busy getting ready dealing withthe wedding on top of all the usual pre-Christmas busy-ness.

So I was completely taken aback when the

delegation arrived on the vicarage doorstep.Alan and Audrey were standing in the

rain, looking strangely dejected and deeplyunsettled.

“Can we come in: we need to talk to youboth about a very serious matter.”

Not another kerfuffle, I thought. “Docome in”, I said. “Sweetheart, put the kettleon for Alan and Audrey. Or do you needsomething a bit stronger.”

“Please don’t try to be funny,” said Alan,“what we have to say is no laughing matter.”

We made small talk for a couple of min-utes until Pam came in with the drinks andsome nice biscuits. They weren’t touched,which wasn’t a good start: Pam makes verygood biscuits.

“Are you aware what our children havebeen doing?” said Audrey. She was strugglingto hold back her tears.

“I presume you mean ‘love’s youngdreamers?’”

“Please don’t try to be funny,” said Alan.He was looking deeply hurt.

“Please tell us what the problem is,” saidPam in her comforting voice.

“We think that Mary may be pregnant.”�


I think the expression is ‘my blood rancold.’ Pam looked stunned. “She can’t be.”

“Is that wishful thinking, or do you havebetter information?’ said Alan.

Pam put her hands to her head, thinkinghard; “Both, I think!”

“I think you may be on to something,” Isaid. “How long have they been going out:three weeks?”

“I think so,” said Alan, “carry on.”“Well I don’t think it very likely, do you?

Any odd behaviour at home?”“Well, no not really. They both seem to

be beaming every time I see them together,but nothing unusual.”

Pam figured it out: “It’s another churchhall spat isn’t it? Something overheard in thecorridor perhaps?”

“So you knew the rumour already!”“Not a bit of it. But I know my son, and I

have to say I know your daughter pretty welltoo: it just isn’t them.”

Alan put his hands on his head: “It’s theNativity isn’t it! They were practising, tryingto get the impact of the news of Mary’spregnancy and the effect it would have onthem both!”

He paused. “Apparently they did it a littletoo well!”

Audrey blushed vividly: “I’m so sorry,”she said, “I’m sorry for what we said, and theway we misjudged them both. It just sound-ed so convincing when we heard the news!”

—ooo OOO ooo—SCENE 6: More Complications

JUST when we thought that things werecalming down a bit, Ralph and Rosemarythrew another log on the bonfire.

“One or two of my family, together withsome of my oldest and closest friends arehoping to be here,” he said, unexpectedly.Unexpected, that is, because he had nevermentioned family, or indeed friends come tothat, since he came to court Rosemary.

“How wonderful,” said Pam. “Will you beneeding accommodation for them?”

“That would also be wonderful,” saidRalph. I wondered a little about the smile onRosemary’s face, and the laughter in hereyes.

“Go on,” I said, “there is more to comeisn’t there?”

“Well, yes, there is, or rather, there are.Rather more people that is. About a dozenof my family at the last count, and some ofmy friends and their families will be flying inlong-haul from overseas—I was involved ininternational missionary work in myyounger days, you know.”

I didn’t know! “So friends from far afield… plus some of your relations, you said?”

“Yes, said Ralph. Four of my children,three with wives, and about five grand-children. Oh, and one baby great-granddaughter.”

There was a short pause. Never mindverse 44 of Acts 2, I thought; this could endup more like verse 7 of Luke 2: “…there wasno place for them at the Inn”!

—ooo OOO ooo—SCENE 7: A Wedding on Christmas Day

PAM here again.Well, in fact it was wonderful. Once the

news broke, the church rallied round in anatmosphere of high excitement. There wereoffers of hospitality from the most unex-pected quarters. Several people cancelledChristmas trips away to be at the wedding.

December 2020 27

And a surprising number of people broughtfamily and friends in to take part.

It did feel like an Acts church on Christ-mas Day. We revised the Nativity, with Lukeand Mary very relieved to be replaced in thedrama. We had a very fetching Mary andJoseph, and baby great-granddaughter play-ing Jesus. Two of the three Kings—from thefamilies of Ralph’s international friends—really had come from afar! Ralph made anexcellent Angel Gabriel.

Mind you, we did have one jaw-droppingmoment. Ralph and Rosemary had membersof their families helping with the weddingservice, with some nice cultural touches.

But the biggest shock came after Paulasked the question, “Does anyone hereknow any reason why this couple should notbe joined in Holy Matrimony?” Of course,there is always a rather pregnant pause, fol-lowed by some nervous laughter. Not thistime.

Two dignified gentlemen stood up. Cuestunned silence.

“We’re from the church where Ralphserved as a missionary,” they said together.“We’ve known Ralph for many years, andrepresenting the church, we now make thisdeclaration.”

The in-drawn gasps could have beenwritten into a script!

A pause.

A very long pause. Then the visitorsspoke.

“We know Ralph to be a sinful man, re-deemed by Jesus. As indeed are all thosewho believe. And we give our full blessing tothis union, and commend our brother Ralph,without stain or blemish, to be a worthyhusband for our new sister Rosemary.”

There were gasps of relief, followed byapplause, and many whoops and calls aroundthe church. It was all very distinctly non-Anglican! Everyone was rejoicing and unitedin this affirmation of the marriage.

The church was of course full to bursting,not only for Christmas Day, but packed intightly to include all of the wedding guests.Afterwards we packed the church hall.Once again Ralph and Rosemary had thrownthe event open, and we had the most won-derful meal and party. The children were allhyper, and there was a happy mingling ofcultures, and lots of unusual presents.

There was an extra special moment whenthe visiting children all gathered togetherand came up to Ralph and Rosemary. Theyheld out their hands towards her, and calledtogether, “Welcome to our family GrannyRosemary!” There was barely a dry eye inthe house.

And afterwards we processed throughthe village, and Ralph carried Rosemary overthe threshold into her own house, and badeus all goodnight.

Not all historically correct, perhaps, butvery blessed in the present. May yourChristmas be as Merry as ours!

—ooo OOO ooo—ANDREW JACKSON, NOVEMBER 2020This story follows on from last month. Thepeople and events in this story are a work offiction. Again, my thanks to my wife Jane forproof-reading and advice, and also to JamesRollin for editorial oversight and key additionalmaterial.

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