Lent and Easter 2013

Parish magazine for St Mary’s,Holy Trinity, St John’s Curbridge,

and St John’s Hailey

W itney Way

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Witney Way: Magazine for theParish of Witney

Editor Ruth Sheppard Printed by LDI, New Yatt

All views expressed in this magazine arepersonal and do not necessarily reflect thoseof the editor or the Parish of Witney. The ap-pearance of an advertisement in this magazinedoes not imply endorsement of the advertiseror its products and services by the Parish ofWitney, nor does it constitute a recommenda-tion. The Parish of Witney does not accept li-ability for any loss, injury or damage arisingout of goods or services sold through any ad-vertisement in this newsletter. Any discountoffered to readers by any advertisement isdone so entirely at the discretion of the adver-tiser.

Businesses wishing to advertise in this mag-azine should contact Ruth Sheppard, WitneyWay@gmail.com, 866127. The acceptance of an advert for inclusion is at the

discretion of the editorial team.

Cross and Glory

As we begin our journey to the Cross this Lent which leads us

to the Glory of Easter, we do so at a time of new beginnings

for the Anglican Communion and for our province of

Canterbury. After a period of costly, and sometimes

controversial, ministry, Rowan Williams has returned to

academia in Cambridge.

In a recent article, Rowan Williams wrote of the early Church:

It’s clear that the ‘assembly’ that constitutes itself aroundthe Risen Jesus when the good news is proclaimed is distinguished not only by what it ‘confesses’, what it statesas true and authoritative, but by the character of its relations – ‘life in the Spirit’, marked by mutual patience,generosity and interdependence (e.g. Galations 5: 22ff).

In reminding us that it isn’t just what we say we believe, but

the character of our relations with others that is important, we

are held to account for this balance in each of our lives as we

seek to build up our assemblies around the Risen

Christ.

As we reflect together on the journey to the

cross and what this means for us in our lives, I

think it is helpful not just to think what do I

believe, but also, how then does this change my

life with others?

The message of the Cross is far from easy, as I

was recently reminded of in discussions with those

newly confirmed within our parish. But in the

Cross humanity encounters a love not of this

world, as the Cross reveals ‘the uniqueness of a

new love’ which draws us to itself at the heart of

our faith and involves us in ‘life in the Spirit’.

This ‘life in the Spirit’ is the new life that

those who encounter the message of the Cross

and the Glory it brings about come to experience

for themselves. This ‘life in the Spirit’ is a new,

radical thing because it comes through discover-

ing the uniqueness of God’s love at work among

and within us.

3

Ivory sculpture of the

Crucifixion, 10th–11th

century.

Front cover:

Sara and Andrew

Gallagher, Sam McIntyre,

Bishop Colin, Matt

Barker, Neil Kumar

(baptism candidate),

Nick Thompson (Neil’s

sponsor), with Elpie

Lewis (churchwarden).

Rowan Williams goes on in the article to suggest that each

church community has to pay attention to three questions about

discipleship:

1. How does the community enable its members to growin prayer?2. Can the community point to something in its collectivelife which contributes to the wider society which wouldnot be there without this Christian presence?3. How far does the community encourage and enable itsmembers to teach and learn from one another?

As we make the journey to the Cross together this year, and as

we prepare to celebrate the Glory which this reveals to each one

of us, maybe we can consider these questions. And perhaps this

can help us think about both what we confess we believe as an

assembly of the Risen Christ, and also what are the character of

our relations, our ‘life in the Spirit’ with those around us?

May you have a happy and blessed journey to the Cross this

Lent – and a joy-filled Easter as we celebrate the Glory of our

faith.

Toby Wright

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An orderly accountSince many have undertaken to set down an orderly account ofthe events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they werehanded on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewit-nesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigat-ing everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderlyaccount for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you mayknow the truth concerning the things about which you have

been instructed. Luke 1: 1–4

The gospel for this year is Luke. The two volumes of Luke’s

work – Luke and Acts – cover a huge span of time and space,

from Adam onwards. Luke tells the story of Jesus from

conception to resurrection, and goes on to tell the story of the

early disciples as they travel from Jerusalem to the world.

In Luke’s writings, faith is seen as a journey. Christians are

people who ‘belong to the Way’. Many of the individual stories

are of people making a journey: to Jericho, Damascus, Gaza,

Emmaus, Jerusalem. At the centre of these journeys is Jerusalem.

The whole story of the Gospel is a long journey to Jerusalem,

while in Acts everything goes out from Jerusalem, in a series of

stories of how the good news reaches the world.

For Luke, as for Paul, forgiveness is given to those who

simply receive Jesus, and it is a mark of God’s grace. This

forgiveness finds its expression in freedom – in acts of caring

and compassion, setting people free. Throughout Luke’s Gospel

there is a concern for radical social justice for the poor and for

people pushed to the edge of their society, for instance in the

stories of the great banquet (Luke 14). Justice for the poor is the

mark of the coming of the Kingdom.

Luke writes his books as stories of fulfilment. There is a

purpose, and it must be fulfilled. Things ‘must’ happen because

they are falling into place in the pattern. The pattern is the

purpose of God, from the beginning of time to the end. When

Jesus reads from Isaiah in the synagogue (Luke 4), he says ‘now

this scripture is fulfilled in your presence’. The force that creates

this pattern, the purpose that shapes this history is the Holy

Spirit. Luke writes about it as a power of dfference and energy

and change. The Spirit, unpredictable to us, is the power of God

that brings everything together into God’s purposes.

St Luke hard at work: to

find out why, turn to page

11. (Niklas Manuel

Deutsch, 1515)

For ideas for reading

Luke with a focus, or for

further reading about

Luke’s Gospel, pick up a

leaflet in church.

This issue includes

articles on art, medicine

and healing, in celebra-

tion of Luke. To find out

why you’ll have to keep

reading...

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7

To comfort always

St Luke is the patron saint of physicians, so this issue’s interview is

with local GP Dr Robin Carr. Dr Carr was a GP in Somerset for

over twenty years until he moved to Hailey three years ago. He now

works at a GP practice in Witney. He is involved in guiding

respiratory care for the county, and is on the QDTG, one of the

committees in the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group.

What led you to become a GP?

I was about thirteen when I was absolutely sure I wanted to do

medicine. I suspect like many doctors I had not the faintest idea

what being a doctor really was, so I based my decision on people

I knew – I knew a lovely person and thought I’d like to be like

that – in my case it was my grandfather, who was an ENT sur-

geon in Birmingham.

There are lots of reasons for going into medicine, and as many

different kinds of doctoring as there are doctors. I trained at St

Bartholomew’s, and then I was fortunate enough to join the army,

where I went through a whole host of subjects, all of which were

very interesting, that gave me a complete love of everything, but

not to the exclusion of anything. I remember thinking that I would

like to have the decision-making abilities of a surgeon, but have

the holistic vision of a physician – there is no such job. The only

way one can really be a generalist now is as a general practitioner,

a GP. I became a GP in 1988, in Yeovil, Somerset.

How has being in general practice changed since 1988?

My role as a GP has changed hugely over the last 25 years (as it

has for all GPs), partly out of the needs of the country, and

partly the designs of our politicians.

When I first arrived as a GP in 1988, I would do a morning

surgery; then walk over to the community hospital where I

looked after a ward of 30 people, and attend to their needs; then

would do house calls; then back to the surgery for evening sur-

gery. I would finish there about 7pm, check on the hospital again,

and then go home. When the community hospital closed I went

into respiratory (chest) medicine in the district general hospital,

and did respiratory outpatients clinic once a week as well as my

general practice; that would be impossible to do today.

‘I remember thinking

that I would like to

have the decision-

making abilities of a

surgeon, but have

the holistic vision

of a physician’

Now I get in at 7.30am to do administration, a 3-hour surgery

in the morning, then more administration; then work until 6.30

attending two nursing homes which I currently look after for the

surgery. It is now impossible to finish the amount of work for

which you are responsible, no matter how long you stay.

What has caused this?

A famous GP, John Fry, used to produce books of statistics

about why people visited the doctor. He divided a normal GP

population into three – those you never see, those who came in

occasionally, and those you couldn’t get out of the surgery. That’s

how it was possible to have 5,000 on your list 30 years ago, but

now, instead of never seeing one-third of the list, you will now

see everyone on your list – and about six times a year – that’s

about 10,800 appointments per year for a GP with an average

size list. This is because general practice has gone from being

purely reactive to being both reactive and proactive, so for ex-

ample we might get all of a certain portion of the list to be

checked for possible illnesses, such as the overweight elderly who

might have diabetes or smokers who might have chronic ob-

structive pulmonary disease (COPD). A greater understanding

of heath needs and illness is a good thing, but it generates a great

deal of work and health-related anxiety. General practice has

tried to meet this demand, and to a general degree it has been

very successful, but at a cost, not financial, more of time and

continuity of care.

If you ask someone on the street, they would say the National

Health Service is free, but it isn’t, it never was, and there are al-

ways more people who need treatment than the NHS can afford

to treat. Politicians have been less than honest about what the

NHS is for, meaning that people think it is there for all of us, all

the time, for whatever we want, whenever we want, for free. But

increasingly there are medicines, treatments and procedures that

are not available on the NHS, in order that the things that are

absolutely necessary can be afforded. The time has certainly

come to be honest about what the NHS can do, and what it

cannot; NHS care then needs to be provided efficiently and

nationwide – not one thing in one county and another next door.

Our country does not have enough money to provide for every-

thing, but it can provide for a core of services really well.

‘If you ask someone

on the street, they

would say the

National Health

Service is free, but it

isn’t, it never was,

and there are always

more people who

need treatment

than the NHS can

afford to treat.’

8

GPs in the current organization have not only a personal

responsibility for a patient, but also a corporate responsibility to

the NHS budget – if I overspend on drugs, then there are people

who can’t have their hip and cataract operations. This

responsibility to prioritize treatment is falling to GPs because

we’re in a good position to make these decisions. This means we

now have to balance one person’s treatment, against another,

which is a very difficult choice. So our role in primary care is

changing from one of patient’s advocate and gateway to other

services, to having this corporate responsibility to a finite

resource.

After twenty years in the system, what do you think needs to

change?

There are countless areas that could change, and this is

sometimes the problem! We should be relentless in our efforts

to make the service better. There are hundreds if not thousands

of people within the NHS trying to improve their own bit and

this individual approach to improvement has to be the way to

go.

We made a difference to COPD patients in Somerset; I’m

hoping that my enthusiasm will rub off on COPD care in

Oxfordshire. The most cost-effective way of dealing with

illnesses is often manage them early on, before patients are

seriously ill; for example treating blood pressure to avoid a

heart attack, or treating diabetes to avoid blindness or kidney

failure. The most cost-effective way of dealing with COPD is

flu jabs, followed by smoking cessation, pulmonary

rehabilitation, and then inhalers. Not rocket science. But many

people don’t have a flu jab as they believe it gives them flu (it

can’t, as the virus is dead); many people continue to smoke

despite the evidence that it harms you; many people will not

go to pulmonary rehabilitation, is this because we have not

convinced them of the benefits, or why we feel so keenly that

they would benefit for attending?

The idea is to invest early; by empowering our patients,

teaching them how they need to look after themselves, and when

to come back. The challenge is to do this while also looking after

those who have developed the complications and end organ

damage.

9

‘We should be

relentless in our efforts

to make the service

better. There are

hundreds if not

thousands of people

within the NHS trying

to improve their

own bit’

‘medicine is a

privilege that we

have been granted to

pursue and we treat

the trust placed in us

with tremendous

respect’

What is the most rewarding part of being a GP?

Seeing people. No two days are the same, the constant challenge

of finding diagnoses is fulfilling, and getting to the bottom of

something and making someone better is glorious. Managing an

asthmatic child so they don’t wake up throughout the night and

have energy for school; or helping children who aren’t developing

because of a chronic disease. Finding out that it was a blood

pressure tablet that was causing an elderly person to fall when

they stood up and being able to stop their falls, that’s what makes

us tick. You go into medicine because you like people.

What guides you in your approach to patient care?

As someone who looks after the elderly and frail there is a mantra

that I repeat to myself which has its origins with Hippocrates:

First do no harm – ‘whenever a doctor cannot do good, hemust be kept from doing harm’

It is so tempting to want to do something, to do more tests, to

try another medication, to refer to yet another specialist. ‘The

road to ruin is paved with good intention’ … I believe. There is

a phrase that is often coined by wise old doctors ‘masterly

inactivity’ which is a way of waiting, whilst self-limiting things

get better, ‘healing is a matter of time and sometimes of

opportunity’. So not to be worried or surprised when your GP

says ‘not sure ... let’s just wait a little and see what happens’ it is

one of our most prized tests, to wait.

But I think the one phrase that dominates my practice more

than anything else is

‘To cure sometimes, to treat often, but to comfort always’.

It is also Hippocrates but it is the watchword for the palliative

care profession. People come in distress, in discomfort, and need

to know that we will always make every effort to alleviate their

suffering, and it will be not for want of trying if their symptoms

remain. It is what drives us, and for me, whether I am in a strate-

gic, or managing role or ‘just being a GP’.

In equal amounts the most demanding and most rewarding

of jobs; medicine is a privilege that we have been granted to

pursue and we treat the trust placed in us with tremendous

respect.

10

Follower of Quinten

Massys, early

16th century.

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An All-Honourable Image

Why is it possible to picture a sixteenth-century artist’s

workshop in detail?

Because of St Luke – there are paintings of him at work on por-

traits of the Virgin Mary surrounded by an artist’s paraphernalia.

Where are these paintings found?

Artists commissioned paintings of St Luke for their guild chapels

because he is one of their patron saints and the chapels were

dedicated to him.

Why is Luke a patron saint of artists? And why is he

painting Mary?

Now it’s time to say, ‘Ask your mother/father/teacher’, as it gets

more complicated. A simple answer would be that medieval

artists belonged to the same guild as doctors and apothecaries,

since they all used pestles and mortars, either to make pigments

or to make potions. Luke is known as ‘The Beloved Physician’,

so there is a connection, but it does not explain the subject of

his supposed painting.

However there is a tradition in the Greek Orthodox church

going back nearly two thousand years, that the origin of all icons

of St Mary is a set of three depictions of her by Luke. Two of

these showed her with Jesus, and one was just of her.

The liturgy for one of the Orthodox celebrations of St Mary

has the words:

Painting your all-honourable image, the divine Luke,

author of the Gospel of Christ, inspired by the divine

voice, represented the creator of all things in your

arms.

This clearly means a visual image, not a word picture.

An icon is not a portrait, but there are stories that Mary

blessed Luke’s images and also that Luke received information

included in his gospel directly from her. That Luke met Mary is

an appealing idea but even if the legend and the idea that he drew

her are too far-fetched, his relevance to medieval and renaissance

art is undeniable.

Would I find my favourite subject for an old master without

Luke?

No. I search out paintings of the Annunciation and only Luke

has that story. Think of any picture of the nativity or early life

of Jesus and, unless the magi are involved, its source will be the

gospel of St Luke. Other stories unique to Luke have been

illustrated memorably. One notable example is Rembrandt's

emotional and insightful Return of the Prodigal Son. No wonder

he is important to artists – they have relied on his account of

the birth of Jesus to create so many of the paintings we enjoy.

For that he earns his position as their patron saint.

Bridget Walton

The Church’s ministry of

Wholeness and Healing

In his own ministry, Jesus gave high priority to healing the sick.

The same concern has always found expression in the ministry

of the Church through the Eucharist, the prayers for the sick,

and the personal love and care offered to sufferers by individual

Christians. This ministry has continued over the centuries at Wit-

ney Team churches, as in other churches.

Among the ways in which the Church exercises this ministry

is through the laying on of hands. This is done by a priest or

others who believe themselves to be called to this particular min-

istry. They are not ‘healers’. They represent the whole Body of

Christ (his Church) surrounding you with love and prayer at that

moment. Any of us may receive, for ourselves or on behalf of

others, when we believe there is need of the healing power of

the Spirit of God.

This ministry is in no sense offered as an alternative to med-

ical care. All healing comes from God, whether brought about

by the skill and care of doctors and nurses, through prayer,

through sacraments, or through healing words or a healing touch.

It is a ministry which reflects Jesus’ concern and promise for

the whole person – body, mind and spirit. Recovery from disease

is one aspect of this; another is the possibility of being enabled

by God to accept illness or disability. Beyond our quest for indi-

12

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vidual healing there is a need for healing in human society,

scarred as it is by war, injustice and oppression.

The Church’s ministry of healing is therefore also one of rec-

onciliation and forgiveness. A confession of sins – of our lack

of wholeness – is made immediately before the laying on of

hands. Our penitence, and God’s forgiveness, are the necessary

condition for recovering wholeness of body, mind and spirit and

for healing the broken relationships between ourselves and God,

and between one another.

To forward this ministry in Witney Parish we are meeting

monthly for a Wholeness and Healing Service in Holy Trinity

church. Sitting round a simple altar in a circle, we begin with

prayers, then after a reading from the Bible we share our

thoughts about the passage. Following a brief silence we go

round the circle offering each person in turn a chance to express

any concern they would wish to offer to God, be it worldwide,

national, church-based or family or person-based, but there is no

obligation to speak. This is followed by intercession, then we

share privately in pairs things for which we give thanks. Finally

we receive the laying on of hands on behalf of others and our-

selves as we sit in our circle before the blessing.

About twenty of us gather each month and most of us have

also become members of the Guild of St Raphael, a Church of

England group founded in 1915, which seeks to promote the

ministry of Wholeness and Healing. If you would like to know

more, have a word with Tim Partridge on 864926.

Tim Partridge

Rogier van der Weyden, St

Luke drawing the Virgin.

Holy Trinity Church, Woodgreen

The Hole in the Floor Appeal, 2013

The Rector and Churchwardens

request the pleasure of your company

at the Appeal Launch

Friday 12 April, 7pm, Holy Trinity Church

The Patrons will be present.

RSVP by Wednesday 3 April to the Parish Office

14

9.30am–5.00pm Saturday, 18 May 2013

www.witneyfoodfestival.co.uk

On 18 May 2013 we are holding the first Witney Festival of Food

and Drink, in St Mary’s Church, an ancient and spectacular

venue which over the centuries must have hosted many splendid,

historic, community events.

The aim of the Witney Festival of Food and Drink is to

celebrate and showcase local producers – from farmers to

butchers, bakers, brewers and cooks, to promote the abundance

of high-quality food and drink produced in our area, and to

support local growers and producers in very challenging times.

The Festival will feature approximately 30 local producers,

showing a great variety of produce. There will also be displays,

talks and demonstrations on the theme of enjoying local food

and supporting our outstanding local economy.

As you will know, Witney is a growing market town with a

burgeoning population, free parking and a confident high street,

which seems to be bucking the national trend. Through the

festival we hope to emphasise the importance of supporting our

local producers, together with understanding both where our

food comes from, and the necessity for sustainable farming.

If you know of any local producers/farmers/businesses who

might like to be a part of this new venture, in whatever way,

please contact us on 01993 703070 or via our website.

This is a great event for the parish, and we are very grateful

to everyone who is giving so generously of their time to get the

show on the road. Please talk about the festival amongst your

friends and neighbours, and promote it wherever you can.

You can follow our plans on www.witney_food_festival.co.uk

or on Twitter @WitneyFoodandDrinkF, or our Facebook page,

Witney Festival of Food & Drink.

Food Matters:connecting faith and food

‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ Food is at the heart of the

Lord’s Prayer – a sign of how much it matters to us all. But where

is the spiritual significance in the way we grow food today – or

in the way we buy food, share it and eat it? How can we connect

with the complexities surrounding food globally and locally in a

changing world – and still celebrate food as gift?

Food Matters is a new project from the Diocese of Oxford

to help churches do just that, with resources and events offering

opportunities to reflect, pray, share stories and take action for a

fairer food system for all.

There will be resources for each season; with the first set en-

couraging us to recall our connection with the earth, and the joys

and responsibilities of being stewards of God. Bishop John’s in-

troduction explains:

There are so many aspects to our thinking on food. Why, in a

world where there is enough food to feed everyone, do 870 mil-

lion people still go hungry? As Christians we are bound to be

appalled at the inequality of food distribution and

uncomfortable that so many are hungry while so

many others are clearly overfed and eating un-

healthy diets. What can we do to change this?

Then there’s our relationship with the earth.

From Genesis on we’ve been trying to get this

right. Working out how we can feed growing

numbers of people, while not exploiting the

earth, diverting it from its own processes, is

another question for Christian engagement.

And it’s also important to remember that en-

joying food together and offering hospitality is

one of the distinctive features of living as God’s

people. How can we do more of that?

Visit the website for articles, resources,

prayers, information about events and more:

www.foodmatters.org.uk

‘I have come to the conclusion that

food is theology ... when I buy food that

is fairly traded I say that I believe in a God

who has made all people in his image and

who cares how they are treated and asks

us to do the same. If I buy food that comes

from environmentally unsustainable

agrosystems then I am saying that I do not

believe that this world is created by and

for Jesus, even if I may say that with my

lips. If I look after the animals in my care

and/or buy meat from animals that have

similarly been well looked after then I am

declaring that I believe in a God whose in-

terest encompasses the whole creation.’

Reflection by Ruth Valerio, theologian

and activist

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16

Witney Beer Festival

The second Witney Beer Festival will take

place on Saturday 4 May, starting at 12

noon. Last year’s event was a big success

with over £3,000 raised for local good

causes.

This year’s festival will again be held

at St Mary’s. It is being organised by

Witney Round Table, with proceeds

being spilt between the St Mary’s

Preservation Trust and local charities in

and around Witney.

For more information visit

www.witneybeerfestival.com

Where will you buy yours?

Congregations, schools and individuals are supporting the Real

Easter Egg 2013 campaign and helping change a life. Of the 80

million chocolate eggs expected to be sold in the UK, the Real

Easter Egg is the first and only Fairtrade egg to explain the

meaning of Easter on and in the box.

Now in its third year, the Real Easter Egg 2013 has a free ac-

tivity pack in the box which includes the Easter story, activity

poster, free i-video download and a sticker set. The resurrection

text from Mark can also be found inside the lid along with the

greeting ‘Happy Easter!’

With each sale of The Real Easter Egg a donation is made

to Traidcraft Exchange to support some of the poorest farmers

in the world. More than £40,000 has been donated so far. A Fair-

trade Premium is also paid to farmers allowing them to invest in

their community buying everything from school books and solar

panels, to providing fresh water supplies.

For information on where you can buy a Real Easter Egg visit

www.realeasteregg.co.uk

17

Amelia Louise Thomas and Jessica Amy Jenkins were baptisedat St Mary’s on 6 January.

Rose Faith Woodward was baptised at Holy Trinity on 13 January.

Rhys Leighton Wallis was baptised at Hailey on 20 January.

George Vincent Hamilton was baptised at Curbridge on 27 January.

Arielle Thelma Gallagher and Hannah Alice Trundley were baptised at St Mary’s on 3 February

Charlie Beau Dennis was baptised at Holy Trinity on 10 February.

Roseanna Elizabeth Galloway was baptised at Holy Trinity on24 February.

Hunter Riley Blake, Chace Able Blake and Wyatt Kai Blakewere baptised at Curbridge on 10 February.

Baptisms

Anglican Cursillo in the Diocese of Oxford

Anglican Cursillo is a movement of the Church providing a method by which Christians

are empowered to grow through prayer, study and action and enabled to share God’s

love with everyone. Oxford Cursillo is running the following events at Douai Abbey:

Friday 12 April 10:00am–3:30pm Deepening Discipleship and Growing Leaders inthe Church – a short day for clergy: ‘How can I grow and deepen discipleship withinmy church and what part could Cursillo play in this?’

Saturday 13 April 10:00am–3:30pm Spiritual Growth and Practical Discipleship –a short day for Christians, lay and ordained: ‘How can I be a more effective part ofChrist’s body and what help is Cursillo offering?’

These sessions are not only open to those who have made their cursillo, but also

for those who have not experienced a Cursillo weekend so that they can find out more

about how it can benefit churches in the Diocese.

If you would be interested in knowing more, contact the Lay Director, Peter Wat-

sham: lay.director@oxfordcursillo.co.uk; or Sarah Ebanja, Cursillo rep for the Parish.

Our new Archbishop

Bishop Justin Welby will be enthroned as Archbishop of

Canterbury in Canterbury Cathedral on 21 March. Upon his

nomination last year he said ‘To be nominated … is exciting

because we are at one of those rare points where the tide of

events is turning, and the church nationally, including the

Church of England has great opportunities to match its very

great but often hidden strengths. I feel a massive sense of

privilege at being one of those responsible for the leadership

of the church in a time of spiritual hunger, when our network

of parishes and churches and schools and above all people

means that we are facing the toughest issues in the toughest

place.”

The appointment is significant not only for the diocese of

Canterbury (where he will be the diocesan bishop, though

much of the day-to-day oversight of the diocese is carried out

on his behalf by the Bishop of Dover), but also for the wider

‘Province’ of Canterbury – the 29

dioceses in the South of England, and

the Diocese of Europe, which all fall

under his general oversight. In addition,

it is to the bishop of the See of

Canterbury, with which Anglicans have

historically been in communion, that

Anglicans worldwide give a primacy of

honour and respect among the college of

bishops in the Anglican Communion – as

‘first among equals’ (primus inter pares). In

that role, as a focus and means of unity

within the Communion, the Archbishop

convenes and works with the Lambeth

Conference and Primates’ Meeting, and

presides in the Anglican Consultative

Council.

Bishop Justin was educated at Eton

College and Trinity College, Cambridge,

where he studied history and law. For 11

years – five in Paris and six in London –

he worked in the oil industry, becoming

18

19

group treasurer of a large British exploration and production

company, working on projects focused in West Africa and

North Sea. During this period he became a lay leader at Holy

Trinity, Brompton in London, having been a council member

at St Michael’s Church in Paris.

A major influence both on Justin and his wife Caroline was

their experience of personal tragedy. In 1983 their seven-month

old daughter died in a car crash in France. Six years later in

1989, after sensing a call from God, Bishop Justin stood down

from industry to train for ordination. He took a theology

degree at St John’s College, Durham, in which he focused on

ethics – particularly in business. Ordained in 1992, he spent 15

years in Coventry Diocese before becoming Dean of Liverpool

in 2007 and was appointed Bishop of Durham in the summer

of 2011. For 20 years, his ministry has blended deep devotion

to his parish communities with Church work around the world,

especially in areas of conflict. An expert on the politics and

history of Kenya and Nigeria, he has lectured on reconciliation

at the US State Department. In the summer of 2012, he joined

the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards. He is

married to Caroline, who studied Classics at Cambridge, where

they met. They have two sons and three daughters.

Following his nomination, Bishop Justin’s election as

Archbishop of Canterbury was undertaken in January by the

Dean and Canons of Canterbury Cathedral, and confirmed at

a ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral on 4 February, which was

presided over by the Archbishop of York, with the assistance

of the Bishops of London, Winchester, Salisbury, Worcester,

Rochester, Lincoln, Leicester and Norwich. Before his

enthronment in March, he will undertake other formal stages

before he begins his public ministry, particularly his act of

‘Homage’ to the Queen. Meanwhile, the new Archbishop will

be familiarizing himself with the tasks he will be called upon

to perform over the coming years, meeting those he will be

working with most closely, and preparing himself for all that

lies ahead.

For more information about the new Archbishop, visit

www.archbishopofcanterbury.org

20

St Mary the Virgin, Church Green, Witney OX28 4AW

Holy Trinity, Woodgreen, Witney OX28 1DN

St John the Baptist, Curbridge OX29 7NW

St John the Evangelist, Middletown, Hailey OX29 9UD

Team Rector Revd Toby Wright 704441Toby-wright@btconnect.com

Team Vicar Revd Dr Elizabeth Thomson 834875Associate Priest Revd Sally Wright 704441

Team Evangelist Captain Jeff Hill 358226

Churchwardens Elspeth Lewis 703070James Mills 07917566374

Deputy Churchwardens

Curbridge Val Pole and Jean ChitteyHailey Clare MussonHoly Trinity Jill Carter and Keith JamesonSt Mary’s Stu Vaughan and Charles Smith

Parish Office Michelle Bailey Wells 779492& Gift Aid 9am–12.30pm Monday–Friday

St Mary’s, Church Greenwtparish@btinternet.com

Baptism Enquiries Esther Partridge 864926Wedding EnquiriesRevd Dr Elizabeth Thomson 834875

Witney Way editor Ruth Sheppard 866127WitneyWay@gmail.comCopy date for next issue: 30 April

Home and Hospital VisitsTo arrange Communion for anyone who is unwell, please

contact 708582 (Hailey), or 771750 (Holy Trinity). For

Curbridge, St Mary’s or general enquiries, contact the Parish

Office, or one of the clergy.

www.witneyparish.org.uk

Parish contact information

21

These are the normal service times; please see website and the

weekly notice sheet for any changes or special events.

Sunday Services

Weekday Services

St Mary’s 8.00am Holy Communion

(Followed by breakfast on 4th Sunday)

10.45am Sung Eucharist

(With Junior Church)

Holy Trinity 10.45am Sung Eucharist

(Including Sunday School)

St John’s, 9.15am Holy Communion

Hailey (Occasionally Matins)

6.00pm Evensong

(First Sunday of the month)

St John’s, 9.15am Holy Communion

Curbridge

Monday–Saturday

St Mary’s 9.00am Morning Prayer

Monday–Saturday

St Mary’s 5.30pm Evening Prayer

Tuesday

Holy Trinity 10.30am Holy Communion

Wednesday

St Mary’s 11am Holy Communion

Thursday

St John’s, 10.00am Holy Communion

Hailey

22

Services for

Holy Week and Easter

The preacher at most of our services in Holy Week is Bishop

Tom Butler, who retired in 2010 as Bishop of Southwark. He

writes:

Several protesters in the tented camp outside St Paul’s

Cathedral and the City of London a little over a year ago

were holding placards with the deceptively simple ques-

tion ‘What Would Jesus Do?’

Our theme for Holy Week builds on that question. We

will be asking ourselves, ‘Who was Jesus, and what did he

do?’ I expect our journey through Holy Week to be part

pilgrimage and part detective story. I look forward to

spending Holy Week with you.

Grace and Peace,

+Tom

Palm Sunday, 24 March

Remembering the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem, when he rode

into the city on a donkey and the crowd waved palm branches

to hail him as a king.

9.15 am Holy Communion Curbridge

9.15 am Holy Communion Hailey

10.45 am Sung Eucharist Holy Trinity

10.45 am Sung Eucharist St Mary’s

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

Quiet evening eucharists for the first days of Holy Week, each

with a short talk about the themes of the week.

Monday 25 March, 7.30 pm Holy Trinity

Tuesday 26 March, 7.30 pm Curbridge

Wednesday 27 March, 7.30 pm St Mary’s

Tuesday 26 March, 11.00 am,

Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford: Chrism Eucharist

(transferred from Thursday because of the visit of the Queen.)

23

Maundy Thursday, 28 March

Remembering the last supper of Jesus with his disciples, and

how he washed their feet. With a parish supper beforehand –

come and eat with us; everyone is welcome.

6.30 pm Parish supper Hailey

7.30 pm Eucharist of the Last Supper Hailey

Good Friday, 29 March

Remembering the trial and crucifixion of Jesus in three

different services through the day.

Children’s Easter activities in the morning at Hailey

10–11.45am Stations of the Cross for children, Hailey

10.30 am, Hailey, Gospel Train: Easter activity servicefor children, with crafts and hot cross buns

Walk of Witness (and hot cross buns), Market Square.Time to be confirmed.

12.00 noon, Hailey, The Cross: a quiet service tellingthe story of the Crucifixion, with an address

2.00 pm, St Mary’s: The liturgy of the Passion, withHoly Communion

7.30 pm, Holy Trinity, Shadows of the Cross (Tenebrae): a quiet service of words and music for Good Friday evening

Easter Eve, 30 March

Keeping the vigil of Easter Eve, lighting the new fire, and

celebrating the resurrection with the first eucharist of Easter.

Easter Trail for children from 10.00am, party/presen-

tations at 3.00 pm, St Marys

8.00 pm Easter Vigil St Mary’s

Easter Day, 31 March

The clocks go forward this morning!

Wake up to Easter at a service of music, praise, and celebration

of God’s love. May contain chocolate!

9.15 am Holy Communion Curbridge

9.15 am Holy Communion Hailey

10.45 am Sung Eucharist Holy Trinity

10.45 am Sung Eucharist St Mary’s

24

Upcoming events and services

Lent Soup Lunch

12 noon, 20 March, St Mary’s. Follows on from the 11am Eucharist. All welcome.

Wholeness and Healing Serivce

7pm, 21 March, Holy Trinity

Launch for the Holy Trinity Hole in the Floor Appeal

7pm, Friday 12 April, Holy Trinity, (see p.13)

Parish Quiet Day

St Mary’s Convent, Freeland, 29 April. Contact Parish Officefor details.

Witney Beer Festival

2 May, St Mary’s (see p.16)

Witney Festival of Food and Drink

18 May, St Mary’s (see p.14)

Week of Accompanied Prayer

2–8 June (see p.35)

Regular groups and events

Messy Church

4–6pm, Sunday 28 April and 23 June, St Mary’s. Fun craft activites and games for children and their parents with a Christian theme, ending with a hot tea.

Women’s Group

Particularly aimed at women in their 20s–40s: Sunday 17March, Compline and Cake at St Mary’s; 28 April, Pudding(with guest speaker); 9 June, Summer walk followed by Pimms.Contact Stephanie Keates, slkeates@googlemail.com.

Acorns Toddler Group

9.45–11.45am and 1–2.45pm Thursdays, Holy Trinity (term time)A welcoming toddler group for 0–5 year olds and their carers.

Art Group

9.30am–12 noon, Monday, Winchester Room, St. Mary’s

What’s going on in the Parish?

25

X Group

Get-togethers for teens of the parish. 10 & 24 March. For more information contact Jeff Hill on 358226.

Xsite

Praise party for 8–11 year olds. 6–8pm, 23 March at St. Mary’s,Church Green; 18 May at St Mary’s, Cogges; 6 July St Mary’s,Church Green.

Holy Trinity House/Fellowship Groups

Groups meet fortnightly on Monday and Tuesday evening. For information on the Monday group contact Malcolm Ryland-Jones and for the Tuesday group contact Alan Gentry.

Book Circle

Third Tuesday of the month, 2.30pm, Winchester Room, St Mary’s. Open to all. Contact Freda Nicholls on 772564.

Mothers’ Union

Second Wednesday of the month, 2pm, Winchester Room, St Mary’s. Corporate Communion is held on the third Wednesday of the month at 11am at St Mary’s.

Hailey Village Lunch

Third Wednesday of the month, Hailey Village Hall.

Hot Pot lunches

For seniors. Fourth Wednesday of the month.

Parish Wives Group

Fourth Wednesday of the month, 7.45pm, Winchester Room,St Mary’s.

Contemplative Prayer Group

Every Wednesday, 4.30–5.00pm, St Mary’s.

Parish Surgery

5–5.30pm, Thursdays, St Mary’s. An opportunity to have aword with the parish clergy. Both Toby and Elizabeth will nor-mally be there.

Acoustic Room

Third Thursday of the month, 7.30pm, Winchester Room, StMary’s. £3 on the door, free for performers. For further informa-tion contact Colin or Jean Greenway on 705026.

26

Faith with Spice

An opportunity for the men from the churches to get together,7.45pm on 28 April, 9 June, 14 July at Shaan, Corn Street. Contact Jeff Hill for further details.

Choir Practice: Holy Trinity

Wednesdays, 7.30pm. Contact Paul Francis 01235 848215.

Choir Practice: St Mary’s

Sundays, 9.45am. Contact Francis Rumsey.

St Mary’s Junior Choir

All keen young singers welcome, contact Sally Rumsey, 779331.

Bell ringing at St Mary’s

Ringing on Sunday, 9.45–10.45am. Practice night Tuesday,7.30–9pm. Contact Wendy Wastie 07773 391886.

Neighbourhood Return

Do a good turn for your Neighbour. That’s the aim of the new

Neighbourhood Return scheme, which aims to act quickly to

find people with memory problems, such as dementia, who have

got lost. In England and Wales disorientation and ‘getting lost’

happens to some 40,000 people for the first time each year. It

increases the likelihood of care home admission fourfold. This

in turn increases the stress on sufferers and carers, and can

impact heavily on personal and public finances. We want to

extend care and independent, but supported living in the

community to these vulnerable people.

Neighbourhood Return builds on the community messaging

systems of Neighbourhood & Home Watch it uses secure

registration, messaging and mapping systems and its searches are

risk assessed and managed by a specialist Local Authority call

centre.

Can you help us? We are looking for volunteers to join

searches in their immediate area, who have a mobile phone which

is regularly charged and has credit on it, and who can use text

messaging.

We know everyone isn’t available all the time, so the scheme

aims to sign up as many volunteers across Oxfordshire as

possible. Even if you work, or if you have limited time available

Make sure your events

and ongoing activities are

listed here, email

WitneyWay@gmail.com,

or ring 866127.

27

please still consider volunteering. If you aren’t available or in the

area when we alert you that someone has gone missing, just text

back ‘no’.

If you are free to help, our care centre will send you a

description of the person and let you know where to search.

When you reach the destination, you let them know and they will

provide further instructions on where to look next. A safe

searching guide helps to give you guidance about searching and

how to gently approach the person who is lost, should you find

them. Searches are conducted for up to two-and-a-half hours by

volunteers, who can join or leave the search at any point during

this time, if the person isn’t found by then the search is then

handed over to the police.

You can sign up to the scheme at www.ourturn.org.uk or by

phoning 0116 229 3118. This isn’t a huge commitment. You will

rarely or may never be called to help, but by registering, not only

will you help carers to feel supported by their local community,

but should someone in your local area go missing you could help

save a life.

If you are a carer of someone with memory problems, you

can register them using the contacts above. It’s absolutely free.

Once your loved one is registered, we will send you a fridge

magnet with the helpline number on, so you can easily find it,

should you ever need it. If you pre-register someone with

memory problems, we can get volunteers mobilised in 3 to 5

minutes. You can still use the scheme in an emergency without

pre-registration, it just takes 15 to 20 minutes to get all the details

we need to start the search. The call centre keeps in touch with

both the carer and Thames Valley Police at regular intervals to

let them know how the search is progressing.

The scheme is being run across Oxfordshire, and went ‘live’

in November 2012. The concept of the scheme was conceived

by consultant psychiatrist Dr Rupert Macshane, from Oxford

Health NHS Foundation Trust. Two years in the planning, it was

decided to link up with the national Neighbourhood and Home

Watch Network, who use a community messaging system which

has now been enhanced to provide the searching functions. The

scheme is funded by the National Lottery Silver Dreams Fund,

and is a Neighbourhood Watch Project.

www.ourturn.org.uk

28

Us – every person,

every community, a full life

In November USPG changed its name to United Society, to be

known as Us. The name USPG – United Society for the Propa-

gation of the Gospel – was derived from the founding of the

organisation in 1701, when it was known as the Society for the

Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG), at that time

the work was directed towards Church of England expatriates

who had settled in North America. Over the years the work

spread to working with churches in many other countries and

continents. In 1965 SPG joined with the Universities’ Mission

to Central Africa (UMCA) to form USPG.

However in recent years it had become clear that a new name

was needed to connect with the modern world and after much

debate the new name was chosen. It is a reminder that God’s

love is for all of us, Jesus is called Emmanuel (Matthew 1:23)

which means ‘God with us’.

Although Us is rooted in the Anglican tradition and works in

partnership with local Anglican churches all over the world, it

also works ecumenically and with other faith communities for

the benefit of all people, regardless of their culture, gender, age

or sexuality.

We are a global family. We are different people, with different

backgrounds, so there is room in the Us community for different

points of view. We are all part of ‘us’, we are all made in God’s

creative image; there is room for us all.

A new name but, hopefully, the same support from the

parish: Us continues to be our parish charity, and Lent boxes will

be available in all our churches to pick up and fill with your loose

change. Don’t forget that if you are a tax payer you can gift aid

your donation to increase its value at no extra cost to yourself,

just fill in your name and address and tick the gift aid box, I can

fill in the amount when it is counted. Please support Us if you

can and return the boxes after Easter.

Lorna Whitehouse

Parish rep.

29

St Mary’s Appeal

From a sermon given at St Mary’s by Bishop Bill Down, 24 February 2013.

The process of restoration and renewal at St. Mary’s began in

earnest in November 2007, when the PCC decided to go ahead

with a comprehensive programme of repairs and refurbishment.

They didn’t really have much choice! The roof was leaking badly;

the floor was in poor condition; the heating system was – and

remains – woefully inadequate. The need for action was urgent.

The PCC set up a small committee to take the project forward,

which began its work in January 2008. First, we identified the work

that needed to be done. The top priority was to repair and renew

the roof, and thus make the building weatherproof. Costings were

obtained. The necessary permission was sought and in July 2008

a faculty to proceed was granted. We knew that we were going to

need at least £250,000 for the repairs and renewal of the roof. A

new floor, the installation of underfloor heating, and the replace-

ment of the pews with chairs would all cost at least £750,000.

Other repairs, the upgrading of the church’s domestic facilities,

the provision of proper office accommodation, and appropriate

amenities for the choir would also be very costly. We were going

to need to raise at least £1.5 million – a challenging prospect.

Our situation in 2008 could be compared with the challenge fac-

ing Abraham. Abraham had a deep sense of the presence of God

in his life. He had a strong faith. And he was a man of action. When

God prompted him to gather together his possessions, and to set

out for a place that God would show him in due course, Abraham

obeyed. With his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot, he said goodbye

to his relations, and headed out into the unknown. They encoun-

tered difficulties and dangers, but they went on in faith.

Then God appeared to him in a vision. ‘Don’t be afraid, Abra-

ham,’ He said: ‘your reward will be very great.’ Abraham replied

that any reward would be short-lived, since he and his wife Sarah

were old, and had been unable to have children. The family would

die with them. God drew him outside the tent: ‘Look up at the

sky,’ He said, ‘and count the stars if you can. So many will your

descendants be.’ It was scarcely believable to a man and his wife

who had tried for so long, and without success, to have children.

But Abraham believed God’s promise – and God noted his

30

reaction with approval. Sarah duly conceived and their son Isaac

was born. In spite of all the setbacks and disappointments

Abraham went on in faith, and his faith was richly rewarded.

So it was with us. The Appeal Committee at St Mary’s realised

the full extent of the challenge we were facing. Nevertheless, we

knew that we had to go ahead – God was calling us to a mighty

effort, and we trusted Him to guide and bless our efforts. We

committed ourselves to Him, and got on with the job!

When the faculty to repair the roof was granted in July 2008,

we began the task of raising the necessary cash. Within days a trust

fund made a grant of £50,000 – it was exactly the sign from God

that we needed. Over the next 2½ years trust funds

contributed a total of £165,000, and English Heritage gave us

£62,000. Members of the congregations contributed generously.

We determined that we would not go into debt, and we renewed

the roof in stages. But on the last stage of the repairs it was

discovered that a large area of concealed stonework was in a

dangerous condition, and needed immediate attention. The cost

was an extra £50,000. We had no alternative but to borrow the

money from the diocese, which we since now repaid in full. A total

of £360,000 had been raised. The first challenge had been met.

As this morning’s reading from the Epistle to the Philippians

reminded us, we are ‘citizens of heaven.’ As God’s people,

citizens of heaven, we have a mission – a mission to make God

known to the people of Witney. The Appeal Committee had reg-

ularly discussed how the restoration and renewal of St Mary’s

would enhance and enrich our ministry to the people of Witney.

From the very beginning we set out how we envisaged St Mary’s

serving the community: as an ancient and beautiful centre for

civic events; a living landmark enshrining the history of Witney;

a splendid resource for voluntary organisations and groups; an

ideal venue for schools, events, and occasions; a flexible space

for musical and dramatic performances; a place for quiet reflec-

tion and prayer; a wonderful location for the significant events

of family like, such as baptisms, weddings, and funerals; as an

attraction for visitors with uplifting atmosphere and beauty.

Our church, our people, our worship, and the amenities we offer,

should be attractive and purposeful. St Mary’s has huge potential

for ministry, and we knew that an imaginative re-ordering of the in-

terior was necessary if we are to fulfil that vision. So in 2011, with

31

our Rector established and making a real impact on the parish and

the community, we embarked on the second stage of our project.

This involved installing underfloor heating and the replacement

of the whole floor area – a process which will cost at least

£750,000. It will take time to raise this sum, so it was decided to

make immediate repairs to the worst patches of the floor, and to

replace most of the pews with chairs. From the outset of the Ap-

peal we knew that the pews had to go. [See below for the pew

saga.] With permission finally granted to replace most of the pews

with chairs, the Appeal Committee resumed its work. We reviewed

every aspect of our work, and plans are being formulated to raise

the necessary funds. We are excited by the prospect of restoring

and renewing the interior of our church, so that our mission and

ministry to the community can blossom.

The challenge is exciting. To succeed, we shall need the

wholehearted support of the whole congregation and the parish.

It will be a long road. Doubtless there will be setbacks. But, by

the grace of God, we shall succeed – because we have to! Our

constant prayer will be the great prayer of Sir Francis Drake –

O Lord God, when You give to Your servants to en-deavour any great matter, grant us also to know that itis not the beginning, but the continuing of the same tothe end, until it is thoroughly finished, that yields thetrue glory; through Him, who for the finishing of yourwork, laid down His life, our Redeemer Jesus Christ.

Amen

Pews: ‘To be or not to be’

St Mary’s Church was dedicated in 1243. Over the next 250 years it

was enlarged and the structure more or less remained the same until

Victorian times. The main focus of worship was centred on the

chancel, although there were altars in the transepts. The chancel

would have had some form of seating whereas the rest of the

church would be an open space with seating round the walls for the

old and infirm (hence the expression ‘going to the wall!’). The

church, generally being the only public building, would have been

used for many purposes besides worship, including markets and fairs.

By 1860, buildings had been built for other civic purposes so

the church was mainly used for church services. So some rather

Finally! The new

chairs at St Mary’s.

32

ugly box pews had been installed, which were described by one

person as ‘looking like a series of pig stys’.

By 1866 the church was in a rather bad state so it was decided

to do a very extensive restoration masterminded by George

Street, a prominent church architect. During this restoration the

old box pews were removed and new pews were installed in the

nave and both transepts, enough to seat 1,000 people.

So here we are, nearly 150 years later, having another major

restoration. Having completed the external renovation of the

roof area, we were in a position to start the internal renewal. The

first item was to change the remaining pews from the 1866

restoration to light stackable chairs so – like in medieval times –

we could have a flexible area for many uses. We thought this

would not present a problem. How wrong we were! To embark

on any restoration, a faculty has to be granted. Before this can

happen, approval has to be given by the Diocesan Advisory

Committee, English Heritage, the Society for the protection of

Ancient Buildings and The Victorian Society.

All was going well with approval to remove the pews from the

first three bodies but the Victorian Society objected. They visited

the church and a lot of discussions took place but they would not

give in. This meant a consistory court would have to take place

with arguments being presented on both sides before the chancel-

lor of the diocese. The church presented a strong case that we are

a living church and wanted a flexible area to use the church for a

variety of styles of worship, wedding and baptism feasts, church

events and many other civic events such as concerts, exhibitions,

school prize-givings etc. Other reasons for the change included

the fact that we have no church halls in the parish and a lack of

public facilities in the town, and to bring in some much-needed

income. The Victorian argument was merely historical – they felt

the pews should be preserved. Expecting to lose they pulled out

24 hours before the consistory court was due to take place, leaving

us with a bill of £7,500.

Although this was a big setback and has wasted a lot of time

and money, we are being very positive as we can proceed to plan

the rest of the restoration and renewal of the inside of St Mary’s.

We agreed to keep 10 short pews as examples, of the remainder

all except two have now been sold, and the new Howe chairs are

now in place. Francis Newenham

33

Mr and Mrs Newenham walked into St Mary’s one Sunday in

October 1986 and have been a central part of its life ever since.

Francis eventually became a Parish Warden, helping us through

several interregnums with sound advice, which he has willingly

passed on to new rectors, parish wardens and district wardens;

his knowledge has been invaluable.

Both have been involved in the actual town of Witney, with

Rotary, The Elms Day centre, and recently Francis has been

Mace bearer for the Town Mayor. Hilary’s pastoral care has been

immense and she regularly delivers home communion; she is also

a regular MU member. Both of them are on the rota for serving.

Francis is Clerk of Works for St Mary’s and on the Appeal

committee, overseeing the restoration of the roof – literally –

with his head for heights and as agile as a mountain goat; he is

passing on this baton to two members of the DCC.

Francis and Hilary’s home has always been open for meetings

and visitors and for years to come we will remember delicious

fund-raising meals and strawberry teas in their immaculate

garden. We pass them on with all our good wishes to their new

home in Nottinghamshire, where their children and

grandchildren will no doubt take delight in reclaiming them.

Francis and Hilary are leaving: what

will the parish do without them?

34

35

Week of Accompanied Prayer

The Week of Accompanied Prayer (2–8 June 2013) encourages

a space for listening and responding to God. It can be an

encouragement to take time for oneself amidst everyday life. It

also offers the opportunity to be listened to by a Companion.

How the week works:

• There is an Opening Session for all on Sunday 2 June.

• Each Participant commits to at least half an hour of reflection

in silence and solitude each day. The focus of this is

Scripture-based and will be arrived at in a shared way with

the Companion.

• Each day the Participant meets one-to-one with the Compan-

ion for up to forty minutes. The Companion listens lovingly

and without judgement. Their role is not to give advice or

counsel but to discern with the person where there is creative

energy in the prayer and where further focus may be invited.

Venue – the same each day in different churches in town.

• There is a Closing Session for all on Saturday 8 June.

• An integral part of the Week is the TEA ROOM! This is a

place where all those taking part can meet informally during

the week.

• The Companions are drawn from all denominations. They

are all experienced in spiritual direction and retreat work.

Their formation is founded on attending deeply to God in

their own life and prayer as well as various training

programmes.

Cost and Application

The suggested donation is £70 (this is what the week costs) but

with a sliding scale to a minimum of £40. We would not wish

finance to prevent participation and hope that anyone who

desires to take part and can’t afford this will speak to their priest,

minister or meeting leader. A deposit of £20 is required.There are two sessions for participants before the Week.

Theme – ‘Exploring Personal Prayer’ (venues to be confirmed)Monday 22 April 2013 7.30–9.30 pmMonday 29 April 2013 7.30–9.30 pmFor further information please speak to the Rector.

36

Why is this reading not in the Bible?

As soon as you start thinking about the history of the Bible, you

have to start thinking about book technology. Not technology

as we usually think of it now, all touchscreens and wi-fi, but the

old technology of print and, before that, ink and paper. And

even, before paper, parchment and papyrus.

The Bible as we have it now is a collection of books that have

been selected and reproduced over thousands of years. Now,

when I look it up, I usually use the computer or even my phone;

I might take a printed copy off the shelf when I want to check

the footnotes. But for most of the history of the Bible, the

books included in it have been handwritten. People have copied

it out, mostly by hand. Even when it’s printed, a human being

has been part of the copying process, setting up the type.

Human beings are not computers or cameras, and when we

copy anything, mistakes creep in. Or the opposite happens, the

copyist sees what seems to be a mistake in the older version, and

corrects it – sometimes adding a mistake that wasn’t there before.

Or the copyist might add a few words that weren’t in the older

version, to explain something; and then, when the next version

is produced, those few words become part of the text and get

copied themselves.

This is why people who study the history of books, including

the Bible, are interested in editions and manuscripts. They want

to look at the way a text changes from one version to another,

so that they can trace these mistakes and additions, and try to

get back to the most accurate version of the original work. For

something like a poem by John Keats, we can look at the poet’s

original handwritten manuscript. However, sometimes the hand-

written manuscript isn’t the final version. The poet W. H. Auden

once wrote a poem about Iceland with the line ‘and the poets

have names for the sea’. It came back from the printers for him

to check, and the printers had done their best to read his hand-

writing – which was terrible – and printed ‘the ports have names

for the sea’. Auden thought that was better poetry, so that’s the

line in the final version.

For the books in the Bible, we don’t have original manu-

scripts, so we don’t have to deal with that sort of situation. But

we can look at the oldest manuscripts that there are, and compare

37

them so as to try to find the most accurate version. This is a

process that has been going on much more since the great wave

of new translations of the Bible began in Europe during the Ref-

ormation. The people translating into languages like English and

German didn’t just want to translate the Latin versions they had

(the Latin itself was a translation), but to go back to the original

languages, Greek and Hebrew. Then, in later centuries, as more

and older manuscripts were found by travellers and archaeolo-

gists, they could be compared as well. This is one of the reasons

that new translations of the Bible keep being made. It isn’t just

to modernise the English, it’s also to include new discoveries that

might come from very ancient versions.

The history of the Bible is a long history of translation, and

this goes right back to before the New Testament. After Alexan-

der the Great, and largely because of him, Greek became a lan-

guage spoken right across the eastern Mediterranean world and

Asia Minor. So there was a need for a Greek version of the He-

brew scriptures (what we now usually call the Old Testament),

for people who were Jewish, but now spoke Greek as their first

language. The Greek version was produced in Alexandria, in

Egypt, by a team of translators, in the third century BC. The

story is that there were seventy translators, so it was called the

Septuagint or Seventy. The Septuagint was widely used by the

time of Jesus, and it’s the version of Scripture that St Paul usually

quotes.

This is where the Apocrypha comes in. There are several

books and parts of books in the Greek version of the Old Tes-

tament, the Septuagint, that aren’t in the Hebrew version. No re-

ally early manuscripts of the Hebrew version survived – the

earliest are from the 10th century AD, a thousand years after the

time of Jesus. On the other hand, it is the original language, and

it would have been carefully copied. It’s not suggested that the

Septuagint translators simply made these books and sections up,

but they haven’t been included in the Hebrew manuscripts as

those survive, which does suggest that later on they weren’t seen

as part of the core tradition.

So translators have to decide what to do about the Apoc-

ryphal books, the ones that are only in the Septuagint and not in

the Hebrew. From the Reformation, the Catholic tradition has

been to include them, and the Protestant tradition has been to

38

Cogges Manor Farm

2013 season

I don’t know about you, but our family is busy

counting down the days until Cogges re-opens

for the season...

Just in case you don’t know about the

changes, this year there will be more animals –

Shetland pony, Cotswold sheep, Oxford Sandy

and Black pigs, Pygmy goats, Indian Runner

ducks, geese and chickens; a new adventure play

area; new trails and walks; and a soft play barn.

All this in addition to the existing pleasures of

the walled garden, manor house, café, and our

favourite last summer, the sandpit!

It’s open Tuesday to Sunday and bank

holidays 11am–5pm, with the manor house

open at weekends, and family events throughout

the season. See you there! RS

miss them out. (The translators who produced the Authorised

Version in 1611 translated the Apocryphal books, but included

them in a separate section between the Old and New Testa-

ments.) A middle way is to read them, but not to base any major

ideas about God on what they say, since they don’t seem to be

part of the core tradition – which could be said of other parts

of the Bible as well, in both Old and New Testaments and in

both Christian and Jewish tradition.

Readings from the Apocrypha crop up from time to time in

the Revised Common Lectionary, which most mainstream Chris-

tian churches use. They can cause problems, because they aren’t

in some Bibles, so readers sometimes can’t easily find a copy and

people wonder where this reading came from. But we still include

them, because it enriches our range of reading and listening.

On a practical point, if you want to find the Apocrypha and

you don’t have a Bible that includes it, try the website bible.ore-

mus.org or ask one of the ministry team for a printed version.

39

Quarantine

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word ‘quarantine’

was first recorded in 1609, stating a length of 40 days, during

which a dowager was allowed to stay in her deceased husband’s

house. In 1663 it was being used to describe the period during

which persons or ships should be isolated for fear of contami-

nation. However during 1639, quarantine just meant a period of

40 days. The word comes from the seventeenth-century Venetian

Italian quarantena.

However in the fourteenth century, when the Black Death

wiped out an estimated 30% of Europe’s population, a 1377 doc-

ument in the Archives of Dubrovnik states that before entering

the city, newcomers had to spend 30 days (a trentine) in isolation,

later on this was extended to 40 days and was called quarantine,

200 or so years before the English used the word.

Moses and the Children of Israel had a sort of quarantine, that

of 40 years wandering around the desert of the Sinai peninsula.

We have just been celebrating the quarantine of the Forty

Days of Christmastide, which began on Christmas Day and

ended with Compline or Vespers at Candlemas (2 February).

Now like me, you probably couldn’t wait for Twelfth Night and

Epiphany (Theophany), so that you could dismantle your deco-

rations, and get back to normal. But we are wrong. Traditionally

the celebration of Christmastide lasted forty days. Candlemas is

also the Feast of the Purification of The Blessed Virgin Mary,

the Presentation of Jesus (Christ) at the Temple, The Meeting

of the Lord, and the day when priests used to bless the stock of

candles for the coming year.

Now we have entered another quarantine, that of Lent

(quadragesima); commemorating the forty days which Jesus spent

in the desert, being tempted by the devil. It is measured from Ash

Wednesday to Easter Day – or Easter Thursday, (Maundy Thurs-

day), according to your own particular persuasion) ... omitting

Sundays, or not, the 40 days is actually anything between 38 and

44 days. Following Easter, we shall enter another quarantine, that

of the 40 days between Christ’s Resurrection and his Ascension.

The Eastern Orthodox Church has a quarantine peculiar to

itself; Advent is known as The Nativity Fast and lasts for the 40

days leading up to Christmas Day.

40

So why 40 days? Why not 30 or 50 or 42? According to cur-

rent learning, the life-span during Biblical times was probably

the same as it is now. However the life-expectancy, for all the ob-

vious reasons of lack of medical understanding and sanitation,

was probably around 30; if we exclude infant mortality from the

equation, then it is likely to be nearer 40. I’m sure it’s all allegor-

ical, just a big number suggesting importance or estimation, or

perhaps representing a generation.

The number 40 appears in The Bible between 50 and 60 times,

depending how you count the references. It is a big number for

measurement, for example, the Lord would spare Sodom if 40

righteous could be found (Genesis 18: 29); the Lord gives Moses

instructions on how to build the tabernacle of the temple ‘and

thou shalt make 40 sockets of silver’ (Exodus 26: 19); Hazael

meets Elisha with 40 camels’ burden of gifts (2 Kings 8: 9); Paul

says, ‘Of the Jews, five times received 40 stripes save one.’ (2

Corinithians 11: 24). It is also a big number for length of time,

for example, the rains and the floods ‘were upon the earth 40 days

and 40 nights.’ (Genesis 7: 4, 12, 17); Isaac was 40 years old when

he took Rebekah to wife.’ (Genesis 25: 20); Moses sent many to

spy on the land of Canaan, ‘And they returned from searching

the land after 40 days.’ (Numbers 13: 25); The Lord ‘made them

wander in the wilderness 40 years’ (Numbers 32: 13); ‘David

reigned 40 years’ (2 Samuel 5: 4); ‘The time Solomon reigned was

40 years.’ (1 Kings 11:42); ‘Jesus was led by the spirit into the

wilderness ... being 40 days tempted by the devil.’ (Luke 4: 2).

Incidentally, Quarantine is the title of a 1998 historical novel

by Jim Grace, set in the Judean desert at the time of Jesus.

May I wish you a Very Fulfilling Quarantine.

Howard Brayton

Secondhand Cycles For Sale

To suit 3 years to adult

£20–£40

Fully serviced

All proceeds to Hailey Church and School

Contact Alan Bailey 01993 704271

41

Curbridge Church News

It was great to have the church full for Harvest Festival and the Carol Service. The church

was also full for the funeral of Gladys Dobson, a very faithful worshipper for all her life

and a tremendous worker for the Church too.

Work has continued in the churchyard on the trees and we thank the Parish Council

for their grant towards this work. We have also worked hard to restore and renovate the

organ. Brian Carlick, the organ builder, quoted for the work but thanks to the enthusiasm

and hard work of John Pole, who acted as his assistant and did a lot of work, the final

cost was a third of the original quote.

Finally the walls and ceiling of the church have been redecorated and look splendid.

Again we thank John Pole, who as Clerk of Works organised the work, and it was great

to know that Julian Mathias who lives in Curbridge and worships with us did most of the

painting as he works for D. W. Woodcock, the firm we used. Julian and his wife Tamara

also helped to put things back in time for Gladys Dobson’s funeral on the Friday and then

protect the church again so the work could be finished on the Monday. Also a big thank

you to everyone who responded to our appeal last year.

But we cannot rest on our laurels

as our five-year inspection of the

electrics has revealed that much of the

wiring needs replacing which is likely

to cost over £2,000.

The Friends of Curbridge Church

have some bone china mugs for sale

with a picture of the church. They

cost £6.50 each. If anyone would like

to be a Friend do contact me on

864926.

Tim Partridge

Parentport

Parentport was set up after the Bailey

Review (Letting Children be Children), in

order for anyone (not just parents) to

report anything inappropriate that

they see or hear in the media. This can

be any advertising, film, TV and radio

programme.

Sponsoring the Witney Way

Over the last two years the new-format Witney Way has taken on a new life and is now

very popular with our regular congregation as well as being an effective way in which we

can communicate with the rest of Witney.

We are now printing and distributing 1,000 copies of each issue in and around Witney.

The cost of printing the magazine will, as ever, be offset by advertising, but we would like

to invite you to help sponsor the larger distribution of our parish magazine as a tool of

mission.

A sponsorship of £6 a year would pay for the printing costs of your own magazine

and allow us to continue to provide free copies to visitors in our churches and people in

the wider community. If you can gift aid your sponsorship then that will help even more.

If you know anyone who would like to receive the magazine by post, four issues

throughout the year can be posted to any address in the UK for £12.

To sponsor the magazine, please complete the form below and hand to: Shirley

Jamieson (Holy Trinity); Bridget Walton (St Mary’s); Elpie Lewis (Hailey); Val Pole

(Curbridge) or the Parish Office.

Name

Address

Post code

I would like to support the cost of producing the Witney Way magazine and enclose a con-

tribution of £____

I would like this to be gift aided. I confirm I will pay in this tax year an amount of

Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax at least equal to the amount that all charities

and Community Amateur Sports clubs to which I give, will reclaim for this year

(25p for each £1 given). I understand that other taxes such as Council Tax and VAT

do not qualify.

I do/do not wish to have my name included in the list of sponsors. (please delete)

I would like to have the Witney Way posted to

Address____________________________________________________

Post code_______________

and enclose £12.

Cheques should be made payable to Witney PCC.

43

The Ministry Team

The Chapter

Toby Wright

Team Rector

Elizabeth Thomson

Team Vicar

Sally Wright

Associate Priest

Jeff Hill

Team Evangelist

Rosemary Peirce

Licensed Lay Minister

David Exham

Licensed Lay Minister

Joanna Collicutt

Assistant Priest

Stephen Hearn

Assistant Priest

Martin Sheldon

Assistant Priest