Information
from Campton & Chicksands Parish Council Newsletter
July 2008
The Rector writes …
Each year in October the church wardens at All Saints’ write to every
house in the parish of Campton and Chicksands inviting them to support
our Gift Day held on or around All Saints’ Day itself (November 1st).
We are very grateful for the support that those living in the parish
are able to give us each year. As you will know All Saints’ church has
been a very visible Christian presence in the village for many hundreds
of years.
The Church of course is far more than just a building. St. Paul teaches
us that the Church (he uses the term: the Body of Christ); is made up
of all the faithful followers of Christ’s teaching and ministry. Each
member (part of the Body, to once again use St. Paul’s terminology);
brings themselves, together with their own unique set of skills, as a
contribution to the life of the Church in their time.
The reality is that All Saints’ is facing a difficult period of time
ahead. The late Fred Oakley left us a very generous bequest in his
will. However that legacy has been rightly used to reorder the church;
to make it a bright and welcoming environment. Fred’s generous bequest
has enabled the community at All Saints’ to equip the church as a
‘building’ to meet all the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
The recent fundraising effort to renew the bells has given us a first
rate bell tower, which is the envy of others far and wide.
However, despite determined efforts at general fundraising the church
is running a significant deficit in its income over expenditure each
month. As you will appreciate this has rapidly eaten into the small
amount of financial reserves held by the Church Council. I have to say
that these reserves are now almost entirely spent.
The Church Council now faces some very difficult decisions; in the not
too distant future it may have to default on its obligations to the
wider Church: in terms of paying for its share of the ministry costs
locally. We are obviously anxious to avoid finding ourselves in this
situation; as I’m sure you will appreciate, this will mean other hard
pressed parishes in the area having to effectively subsidise the cost
of ministry in Campton.
As a community we are challenging ourselves to give more each week and
month in order to keep our financial head above water. However, if the
readers of this newsletter were able to help us with a donation, that
would of course be very much appreciated.
If you are able to help us in this way our Churchwardens would be
delighted to hear from you, and can, if you are a tax payer supply you
with a GiftAid envelope which boosts the value of your donation to us
by something like 28%. The contact details for the Churchwardens are
detailed elsewhere in this newsletter.
I do hope that you will be able to help us maintain a Church of England
presence in the village of Campton.
With all good wishes,
Dean Henley
June 2008
The Rector writes …
“ … for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1. 14)
As I write this month’s letter the news bulletins all seem to be full
of doom and gloom about the health of the world’s economy. The banking
industry has got its fingers badly burnt with the dubious practice of
buying and selling of sub-prime mortgages in the USA; and the
consequence is that we all end up paying the price for the reckless
business practices of some extremely highly paid executives. Even if
these incautious executives do lose their jobs they always seem to
depart with a handsome golden handshake which we as the either their
customers or shareholders inevitably have funded one way or another.
There seems to me to be something quite perverse about lavishly
rewarding people in this way for their lack of commonsense.
Meanwhile difficulties in the financial markets are exacerbated by the
relentless rise in the price of oil which also has an impact on almost
everything else we buy. I was somewhat alarmed when I realised that the
price of heating oil for the Rectory central heating boiler had risen
by over 60% in less than six months!
Now for many of us in rural Bedfordshire these difficult times, whilst
not exactly pleasant, will not affect us too much. I can wear an extra
jumper if necessary and with some judicious belt-tightening measures my
life will not be unduly affected. But there are many (and not always
those we would first of all think of) for whom these are very worrying
times indeed. Many of my friends have extended themselves financially
to such an extent that they have very little leeway. As the banks seek
to speedily recover their losses and return to a more prudent business
model; some of my friends are beginning to find that their personal
finances are beginning to unravel before their very eyes.
The message of the prophet Ecclesiastes is that there nothing new or
surprising about the human condition. We are unwilling to accept the
sometimes painful lessons of the past; and time and time again we fall
for the charms of the next slick salesman who rocks up. These salesmen
may be politicians or international financiers but their charms never
seem to pall to us for very long, if at all. We seem to want instant
gratification and we are willing to suspend our critical faculties when
faced with a smiling face promising us the earth, and at a bargain
price to boot.
The reality of course is that credit has to be paid back – and with
interest. The reality is that our oil and gas reserves are finite and
there is no sign of an acceptable alternative to these fossil fuels on
the horizon. I read somewhere that Portugal meets something like 80% of
its electricity needs from wind turbines; and yet most of our
politicians seem to be selling the notion that no-one need have a wind
turbine anywhere near where they live, or near a beauty spot they like
to visit. I wonder at what point they will concede that it’s either
wind turbines or the lights going out.
Salesmen and politicians are of course by and large successful because
they tell us what we want to hear, and sell us what we want to buy. The
message running through the Scriptures is that we are called to live
our lives in a way which is sustainable for ourselves, our neighbours,
our children and our grandchildren. Are human beings willing to hear
and act upon God’s message for us in the Scriptures; or are we
determined to press on living beyond our means and in a way which is
unsustainable?
With every blessing,
Dean Henley
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