New Church Electoral Rolls
New Church Electoral Rolls are being prepared for all the parishes in our Benefice. Anyone wishing to have their name entered on the new Roll, whether their names are on the present Roll or not, should contact their PCC Secretary (see below for telephone numbers)

Blakesley: Mary Barnett (01327 860585) or Paul Parsons (01327 860316)

Farthingstone: Sue Doust (01327 361482)

Litchborough: Christine Rodhouse (01327 830350)

Maidford: Alex Wiffill (01327 860464)

Adstone: Romayne Wood (01327 860399)

RECTOR’S RAMBLINGS
There can be no escaping the issue of that hot topic of January 2019, one which has taken hours of debate thus far, resulted in an unprecedented defeat of any similar motion,- and one which will in all probability drag on (and on, and on). Whatever side of the Brexit campaign people may stand on, it is clear that all sides have to varying degrees been disappointed. Some are calling for a going back to the status quo pre referendum, others for yet another, others still for further renegotiation, and of course those who wishing to get it all over and done with- possibly leaving with no deal at all. It is not for the Rector to comment on political issues.
However in any aspect of life, Church, politics, education and even our own personal lives there is often a sense amongst us of looking back with rose tinted spectacles, that somehow the old ways were best, the old days were better. Whilst history and I speak as a historian, may be highly informative we cannot let selective memory of history cloud our judgment, or stifle progress of the future. A former colleague, who was a gifted and inspiring historian and a respected archaeologist, related during one of his popular VIth form lectures the account of a famous archaeologist who was excavating an ancient site in Mesopotamia at the turn of the C20th. The archaeologist had reached a level that took him back to a date prior to 3000 B.C. when he uncovered a piece of broken pottery. The archaeologist carefully cleaned it and to his delight discovered some cuneiform writing on it. However it belonged to such an early period he was unable to decipher what it said. After much examination and cross referencing by experts and scholarly discussion across several countries, the script was eventually deciphered. The ancient scribe had written ‘I don’t know what society is coming to!’- Perhaps nothing changes.
There is of course a danger that if we always live in the past, or forever dream that the future will as a matter of course always be better, we miss the reality of living in the present and miss the opportunities of service, of community; or the needs of others that surround us daily.
An ancient saying from India put it like this. “Yesterday is but a memory, and tomorrow is only a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a memory to value, and every tomorrow a vision of hope, look well therefore to this day!” So the next time you are tempted to think (selectively) that the old ways were always better, or things can only get better:- remember others have had similar thoughts long before you. It is the present that should exercise our skills, our talents and our capacity for compassion. As the Roman orator Horace put it ‘Carpe Diem’.