“Are you looking forward to retirement?”

What a question! Yet it is one that several people have been asking me in recent weeks, and I can only reply, “yes and no”.  It will be nice, I confess, to shed some responsibilities, and to live life at a slightly gentler pace, but I do not relish the prospect of saying good-bye to so many people who have become dear friends, and who over the years that I have been here have given me an enormous amount by way of support and encouragement.

Yet Jesus taught us a great deal about letting go, about looking ahead, and about moving on.  All four Gospels testify to the dynamic element of his earthly ministry, and this is particularly true of Mark’s account of that ministry, where Jesus seems to be constantly on the move, not because he was restless in a negative sense, but because there was an urgency about his mission and about his sense of call – “I must go on to the other towns and preach there also”.

It is precisely this sense of urgency that we need to keep before us as we work for the future life and growth of Christ’s Church today, and to do that we need also to foster a sense of excitement and expectancy in our own discipleship.  It is so tempting to opt for the comfortable and the familiar, but Jesus is always calling us to fresh challenges, to new risks, and we are never too old to discover new opportunities for service in his kingdom.

So I am hugely thankful for the past, and for a storehouse of joys and memories which I shall treasure in retirement.  But I am even more grateful for the fact that I have been given the chance to stay in this diocese, which has become home to me in a very real and deep sense, and to explore a new way of living, a new way of being a priest, and – please God – new depths of his love, and a renewed calling to ministry and witness. 

Those great words of Dag Hammarskjold come to mind.  “For all that has been, thanks!  To all that shall be, yes!”  

David Painter
Archdeacon of Oakham

Come and worship at Choral Festival Evensong

Around sixty choirs from across the diocese have been busy rehearsing music for this year’s Diocesan Choral Festival. The festival service is on Saturday 8 October at 5.30pm at Peterborough Cathedral and everyone is welcome to come.

This year the festival celebrates the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. Andrew Reid, Musical Director, has composed new settings for the evening canticles using texts from the King James version of St Luke’s Gospel. “I’ve written them so that they can be used by small church choirs in four parts (with or without organ) as well as by the cathedral and festival choirs,” he said.

For Andrew, enthusing singers and enriching the repertoire of choirs in our churches is one of the key aims of the festival. “Music is such a powerful God-given tool for worship,” he says. “It’s thrilling to work with so many people who really care about choral music in worship. Choirs now exist only in some of our churches, and it’s important for the future of music in worship that they thrive.”

Bill Wright, secretary to the festival, is looking forward to this year’s service. “We are expecting the biggest attendance for the last five years judging by the interest shown in the rehearsals,” he said. Preliminary rehearsals have been held at venues around the diocese but all the choirs finally come together at the cathedral on the afternoon of 8 October, to practice prior to the service at 5.30pm. 

The Dean of Peterborough Cathedral, Charles Taylor, will give a series of short talks during the service, which will use the traditional Evensong liturgy. There will also be a presentation of Royal College of Church Music Awards to singers from the diocese.

Thinking ahead to next year Andrew Reid says: “I would strongly encourage singers to have the confidence to take part, because we are all imperfect ministers and need each other’s encouragement and guidance in our ministry. Singing with hundreds of others does give you a buzz, and enlarges your vision of what is possible.” 

You can be part of the congregation and join the choirs in their worship. For more information visit www.pdcf.org.uk

Photo: Andrew Reid, Director of Music at Peterborough Cathedral

Lots to learn at annual Bungoma Day

In September 50 people gathered in Northampton for Bungoma Day - a chance to hear more about our Kenyan link diocese. Rosie Rushton reports.

We started with worship, including the Lord’s Prayer in Swahili, then Bishop Donald spoke on the passage from Ephesians which refers so evocatively to joining with every family in heaven and on earth to come to know the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge. In the hours that followed we came to understand more of the familial bond we share with our Kenyan brothers and sisters through membership of the body of Christ.

We were delighted to welcome Fidel, a youth worker from Webuye in Bungoma who has just arrived to spend a year working with the Revd Andrew Symes at King’s Heath in Northampton. He was a living reminder of the numerous gifts and talents we can receive from fellow Christians in Kenya. He said his first impression in the four days since his arrival was “how little respect the young have for one another and their elders” in Britain.

Archdeacon Christine spoke movingly of her first trip to Bungoma and her visits to churches, schools and clinics. Most parishes wished for a permanent church building, a school and a clinic but she emphasised the import-ance of specialist advice in building projects. Some structures had been started, only to be demolished because they could not support a roof. 
She described primary schools with over 600 pupils in just eight classes. One school offered lessons in computer technology, even though they had no electricity or computers. The teacher explained that pupils needed to learn these things if they were to make progress in the wider world.

Archdeacon Christine described the huge expectation among the people that God will do great things. In their eyes, the link with Peterborough Diocese is one of those “great things.”

Teleri Jardine, who has just returned from two and a half years working with subsistence farmers in Nigeria, spoke next on agriculture, nutrition and conflict. 

Bishop Donald talked about “Bungoma Futures.” He stressed how very important the relationship between the two dioceses is to the people of Bungoma, offering as it does both a sense of relationship and the possibility of practical help. Next year Bishop Donald, Clive Evans and six curates will be visiting Bungoma. He asked us to pray for that visit, for the friendships that will be forged and the lessons that will be learned. 

The day concluded with a delicious Kenyan style lunch of chicken, rice, beans and ugali, topped off with fresh fruit and plenty of lively conversation.

Read more at: www.peterborough-diocese.org.uk/bungomaday.pdf

Real Easter Egg company reveals Christmas tree campaign

A campaign to make the UK’s 20 million Christmas trees a bit more meaningful this December has been launched. To help parents, grandparents and godparents communicate the Christmas story to the next generation, The Meaningful Chocolate Company has produced the UK’s first ever interactive set of chocolate Fairtrade tree decorations, based on the Nativity story.

Each box of Meaningful Chocolate Tree Decorations contains a limited edition Christmas card, a sticker set and six hand wrapped, high quality, Fairtrade chocolate decorations. The Christmas story, which can be found on the card, enables adults or children to read the story while placing character stickers on the decorations and hanging them on their tree. 

October Events

Some events at churches around the diocese. More

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