Longford 8 Group of Churches Blog Site

Readings Acts 2.1-21; John 15.26-27; 16.4b-15
Readings at Long Lane1 Kings 8:22-30; 1 Peter 2:1-10
We remember in our prayers
Today Ogbomoso - (Province of Ibadan, Nigeria) The Rt Revd Matthew OsunadeChurch Mission Society - Mid Africa Ministry of CMS 
Monday Ogoni - (Province of Niger Delta, Nigeria) The Rt Revd Solomon Gberegbara
South American Missionary Society - Representative: John Jacklin
The Rev'd Colin Pearson, Curate of All Saints, Mickleover, to become Assistant Curate of Breadsall, and also assist in the Training and Development Team at Derby Church House.
Tuesday Ohio - (Province V, USA) The Rt Revd Mark Hollingsworth
Crosslinks - Representative: Tim Houghton
Wednesday Oji River - (Province of the Niger, Nigeria) The Rt Revd Amos Amankechinelo Madu
Intercontinental Church Society - Representative: Ian Hunter
Thursday Oke-Ogun - (Province of Ibadan, Nigeria) The Rt Revd Solomon Amusan
Leprosy Mission - Area Co-ordinator: Pamela Levens
Friday Oke-Osun - (Province of Ibadan, Nigeria) The Rt Revd Nathaniel FasogbonMission to Seafarers - Regional Contact: R Hearman
Saturday Okigwe North - (Province of Owerri, Nigeria) The Ven Godson Ukanwa
Retired clergy (Ashbourne): Colin Johnson, Bill Rumball, Derek Tinsley, Edmund Urquhart, Kenneth Watson
Notices for the week
Today - Pentecost - Whitsun Day
LONG LANE FLOWER FESTIVAL
11a.m. United Holy Communion - Trusley
7.00p.m. Songs of Praise - Long Lane
Next Sunday - Trinity Sunday
8.00a.m.Holy Communion - Church Broughton
9.30a.m. Mattins - Boylestone
10.00a.m. Family Service - Church Broughton
11.00a.m. Holy Communion - Sutton
11.00a.m. Mattins - Trusley
11.15a.m. Holy Communion - Longford
3.00p.m. Evensong - Dalbury
7.00p.m. Evensong - Long Lane
Radbourne Fete from 2.00p.m. at the Old Rectory
Advance Notice
Teddy Bear Parachuting from Church Broughton Church Tower on Saturday 13th June from 3.00p.m.
Parish Pump & the Benefice entry in the South Derbyshire Churchman can be found on the internet at:-        http://churchbroughtonchurch.blog.co.uk

Readings Acts 1.15-17,21-26; 1 John 5.9-13; John 17.6-19
We remember in our prayers
Today Anglican Communion Sunday
Ashbourne Deanery - Rural Dean (Vacant), Lay Chair: Clive Chipchase 
Monday Northwestern Pennsylvania - (Province III, USA) The Rt Revd Sean Walter Rowe
Fenny Bentley, Thorpe, Alsop en le Dale, Parwich
Tuesday Norwich - (Canterbury, England) The Rt Revd Graham James
Norwich - Lynn - (Canterbury, England) The Rt Revd James Henry Langstaff
Norwich - Thetford - (Canterbury, England) The Rt Revd David John Atkinson
Clergy: (Vacant)
Wednesday Nova Scotia & Prince Edward Island - (Canada, Canada) The Rt Revd Susan Elizabeth Moxley
Nova Scotia & Prince Edward Island - (Canada, Canada) The Rt Revd Ronald Cutler
Hulland, Atlow, Bradley, Hognaston, Kniveton
Thursday Nsukka - (Province of the Niger, Nigeria) The Rt Revd Jonah C Ilonuba
Clergy: Christopher Mitchell Friday  Nyahururu - (Kenya) The Rt Revd Charles Gaikia GaitaBrailsford, Shirley, Osmaston, Edlaston, Yeaveley
Saturday Offa - (Province of Ibadan, Nigeria) The Rt Revd Gabriel Akinbolarin Akinbiyi
Clergy: Paul Taylor, Andy Larkin
Notices for the week
Today - 7th Sunday of Easter
9.30a.m. Holy Communion - Boylestone
9.30a.m. Mattins - Church Broughton
9.30a.m. Holy Communion - Longford
11.00a.m. Holy Communion - Long Lane
11.00a.m. Family Service - Sutton
6.30p.m. Evensong - Radbourne
6.45p.m. Evensong - Trusley
Monday Duck Race - Brook Farm Boylestone from 4.00p.m
Friday to Sunday - Flower Festival celebrating 150 years of Christ Church, Long Lane closing with Songs of Praise at 7.00p.m.
Next Sunday - Pentecost - Whitsun Day
11a.m. United Holy Communion - Trusley
7.00p.m. Songs of Praise - Long Lane
Please let the Rector have your hymn requests as soon as possible.
Advance Notice
Teddy Bear Parachuting from Church Broughton Church Tower on Saturday 13th June from 3.00p.m.
Sunday 7th June - Radbourne Fete from 2.00p.m. at the Old Rectory
Beware the Summer Strawberry Tea
The Rectory
St. James the Least
My dear Nephew Darren
Never, ever feel aggrieved that your summer strawberry tea has to be held in the church hall rather than on a lawn, since there isn’t a single blade of grass to be found in your entire parish. You have no idea of the potential calamities you are avoiding.
Here, during the previous week, the organisers will be desperately asking the opinion of local farmers about the weather. In doing so, they forget that for the farming community, it is always the wrong sort of weather anyway. I once received a heartfelt plea from the staff at Heathrow airport for our ladies to stop calling them at hourly intervals to find out if hurricanes may be imminent.
Naturally, the day will start out warm and sunny and so all the tables will be arranged on the vicarage lawn. By 10am, tablecloths will have been laid. By 10.10am, a brisk breeze will have sprung up and someone will be delegated to retrieve them all from deep within the nettle patch. By 11am, clouds will gather and a decision will be made to transfer everything into the church hall. Once that is completed, just when it is almost too late to change, the sun will re-emerge and there will be a frantic dash to put everything back on the lawn. This ensures that by 2pm when teas start, the ladies will already be in a state of collapse.
Last year, the dowager duchess of Trilby graced us with her presence. As she sat with her entourage, elegantly sipping tea under a giant parasol over the table, the thing – equally elegantly – closed around her, leaving her looking like one of those unfortunate insects trapped by a carnivorous plant. To emerge from its depths looking entirely unflustered was beyond even her social skills.
Fortunately, attention was diverted from her predicament by the wife of one of our farmers. This substantial lady had been sitting in a chair with slightly too thin legs for the damp lawn. The rear two slowly sank into the grass, eventually catapulting the dear lady backwards into the lap of the local mayor. Disentangling red flannelette from mayoral chains took some time, and delicacy.
At least when I have had enough, the lawn can be cleared in minutes by drawing the raffle. The moment the last rubber shower cap and set of Christmas doilies has been awarded, there will be a dash to get home, giving my dog the opportunity to retrieve remnants of cream cakes from the flower beds.
Your loving uncle,
Eustace

Parish Pump & the Benefice entry in the South Derbyshire Churchman can be found on the internet at:-        http://churchbroughtonchurch.blog.co.uk
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Readings Acts 10.44-48; 1 John 5.1-6; John 15.9-17

Reading at Longford & Long Lane Isaiah chapter 28:24 to 29
We remember in our prayers
Today Northern Mexico - (Mexico) The Rt Revd Marcelino Rivera-Delgado
Durgapur: Bishop Probal Kanto Dutta
Monday Northern Michigan - (Province V, USA) Vacant
MMA 5 - Swanwick & Pentrich
Tuesday Northern Philippines - (Philippines) The Rt Revd Brent W
AlawasClergy: Tom Johnson
Wednesday Northern Territory, The - (Queensland, Australia) The Rt Revd Gregory Edwin Thompson
Retired clergy (Alfreton): Peter Boyden, Robert Caney, Ray Taylor, Roy Wilson, Tony Morgan, Bob Paget
Thursday Northern Uganda - (Uganda) The Rt Revd Nelson Onono-Onweng
Ascension: Diocesan Prayer & Spirituality Group - Bishop's Adviser on Spiritual Direction: Glenis Page
Friday Northern Zambia - (Central Africa) The Rt Revd Albert Chama
MMA 30: Ashbourne with Mappleton, with Ashbourne St John; Clifton; Norbury and Snelston
Saturday Northwest Texas - (Province VII, USA) The Rt Revd C Wallis Ohl
Clergy: Geraldine Pond, Mike Doyle
Notices for the week
Today - 6th Sunday of Easter
8.00a.m. Holy Communion - Sutton
9.30a.m. Mattins - Boylestone
9.30a.m. Holy Communion - Church Broughton
9.30a.m. Mattins - Boylestone
10.00a.m. Family Service - Longford
11.00a.m. Holy Communion - Dalbury
11.00a.m. Mattins - Sutton
12noon. Holy Communion - Trusley
7.000p.m. Rogation Service & Walk - Long Lane (Come suitably dressed)
Thursday - Ascension Day
10.30a.m. Holy Communion - Long Lane
Friday 6.00p.m. Sutton Fete - Cricket Field
Next Sunday - 7th Sunday of Easter
9.30a.m. Holy Communion - Boylestone
9.30a.m. Mattins - Church Broughton
9.30a.m. Holy Communion - Longford
11.00a.m. Holy Communion - Long Lane
11.00a.m. Family Service - Sutton
6.30p.m. Evensong - Radbourne
6.45p.m. Evensong - Trusley
Advance Notice
Duck Race - Brook Farm Boylestone on Monday 25th May from 4.00p.m
.Flower Festival celebrating 150 years of Christ Church, Long Lane on Friday 29th May to Sunday 31st May
closing with Songs of Praise at 7.00p.m.
on Sunday 31st May Let the rector have your hymn requests.
Sunday 31st May 11a.m. United Holy Communion - Trusley
Teddy Bear Parachuting from Church Broughton Church Tower on Saturday 13th June from 3.00p.m.
Sunday 7th June - Radbourne Fete from 2.00p.m. at the Old Rectory
Today is Rogation Sunday
Rogation means an asking of God - for blessing on the seed and land for the year ahead. It is appropriate in any emergency, war, plague, drought or foul weather.
The practice began with the Romans, who invoked the help of the gods Terminus and Ambarvalia. In those days a crowd moved in procession around the cornfields, singing and dancing, sacrificing animals, and driving away Winter with sticks. The people wanted to rid the cornfields of evil.
In about 465 Europe was suffering from earthquake, storm and epidemic. So Mamertius, Bishop of Vienne, aware of the popular pagan custom, ordered that prayers should be said in the ruined or neglected fields on the days leading up to Ascension. With his decision, ‘beating the bounds’ began to become a Christian ceremonial.
Rogation-tide arrived in England early in the eighth century, and became a fixed and perennial asking for help of the Christian God. On Rogation-tide, a little party would set out to trace the boundaries of the parish. At the head marched the bishop or the priest, with a minor official bearing a Cross, and after them the people of the parish, with schoolboys and their master trailing along. Most of them held slender wands of willow.
At certain points along the route - at well-known landmarks like a bridge or stile or ancient tree, the Cross halted, the party gathered about the priest, and a litany or rogation was said, imploring God to send seasonable wealth, keep the corn and roots and boughs in good health, and bring them to an ample harvest.
At one point beer and cheese would be waiting for the walkers. In the days when maps were neither common nor accurate, there was much to be said for ‘beating the bounds’ - still very common as late as the reign of Queen Victoria. Certainly parish boundaries rarely came into dispute, for everyone knew them. (Do you know yours today?)
Sunday Groaners
Worth remembering.
A man felt he was overloaded in the ‘trouble shooting department’ of his office, until he found this memo on his desk. “Be thankful for the problems, for if they were less difficult, someone with less ability would have your job.”
Asleep
A young man fell asleep in the Sunday morning service, and began to snore. The preacher stopped and impatiently motioned to the young boy beside the man to wake him up. The boy said: “Wake him up yourself, you put him to sleep.”
Parish Pump & the Benefice entry in the South Derbyshire Churchman can be found on the internet at:-        http://churchbroughtonchurch.blog.co.uk