St Mary's Church, Whaddon

22/05/2026

Sunday, 24 May

From 10.15 am Dancing around the village and singing of the Whaddon Whitsun Song (see https://whaddon.org/whitsun for more details)

12.30 pm Special service to celebrate Pentecost at St Mary’s.

31 May

Trinity Sunday
9.30 Holy Communion (joint service with Bassingbourn) at St Mary's

Vicar's Thought for the Week

"Let there be light!"
Genesis 1:3.

These were the first words that God says to create the world. When we are being creative, we are actually mimicking our creator as we are made in his image.

The word creative comes from the Latin word for to ‘bring forth’, ‘make’ or ‘produce’. So it is a doing word with a tangible outcome, linked to God.

This means that actually “let there be light” has deep significance. As we walk into a room we can bring light or not, it is our choice.

Words are not useless, that old adage, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”, is rubbish. Words hurt deeply, deeper than we can imagine. It takes years to get over a parent telling us we are an idiot, or we are not worth anything, or we look too fat or too thin. Or that we will never amount to much. It takes two minutes in comparison, to get over a broken bone. Therefore, what we say, breathing life or death, is the most important thing of all. So guard your tongue, make sure the things you say are life giving, not just to people around you, but to yourself.

It’s so easy to tell yourself, ‘I can’t do this’, ‘it’s too impossible’, ‘it’s too difficult’. ‘I don’t know what to do, or how to do it’. At that moment many ignore the prompting of creativity, that burning ambition or desire that lights up their soul because it seems too big, too ambitious or even too extravagant - who am I to write a poem, build a company, invest in something I make or create. In that moment seek God, turn to God, the Spirit knows what to do. God created the world out of nothing, everything that is even an idea in your head, started off as nothing and now it’s an idea, you can bring it to fruition. Every big company, every corporate, started off as somebody’s idea, somewhere. Why couldn’t it be yours?

God is in charge of the banks, as well as the people, as well as all the beauty all around you, He is in charge of the whole planet and the numerous stars. Look at nature - the fabulous, extraordinary, extravagance of it all.

Look out now at how He made creation; be inspired and shout out, “let there be light” today and let it start with me.

And… be blessed!

Helen

Whaddon has a Whitsun tradition seemingly unlike any other in the UK. At some point in the past, a practice developed of men going round the village singing a special song around the village on and around Whitsun time. These men held aloft oak branches, and waved them at various points.

02/05/2026

Coming up in May at St Mary’s

Tomorrow, Sunday 3 May
Morning Prayer for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

10 May
9.30 am Holy Communion
10.30 am Annual Parochial Church Meeting and Annual Meeting of Parishioners

17 May
9.30 am Morning Prayer

24 May
12.30 pm Special service for Pentecost (see note below about Whitsun Weekend)

31 May
10.30 Joint Service with Bassingbourn

Vicar's Thought for the Week

What is a good Shepherd?

Someone who guards the sheep and keeps them safe. Someone who guides them to green pastures and saves them from the enemy. The voice of the good shepherd the sheep recognise…why? Because he knows them by name. He knows you by name, He knows all that you are and all that you can be. What does the good Shepherd have that the sheep know? It is a familiar voice. They hear his voice and they know from experience from the way he has tended them that they can follow and trust it. We let in the Kingdom when we listen to the voice of the good shepherd.

I was given a voice, a beautiful voice, by God. Ever since I was small, I’ve always been able to, and loved to, sing. And it’s so clearly a gift - to use it for God’s glory should be, and is, a pleasure and privilege - yes I can use it in other ways and for my own glorification. People do, and I have done too, but it’s like seeing in black and grey not colour. I get distracted by all that - but the magical moment of mystery is where we use our gifts and align them with what God is calling us to do for Him with them.

When I use my songs for his glory, I hear his voice. And as Eric Liddell’s character famously said in the Chariots of Fire film, “When I run, I feel God’s pleasure”.

When I sing, I feel God‘s pleasure.

When do you feel God’s pleasure?

It can be anything that brings you a deep joy.

So, hearing God’s voice as the Good Shepherd guiding you, my first question to us is, what is He calling you to do? What draws you closer to Him when you do it? When you do it, what it can enable you to sense a deeper pleasure? It can be anything from going to a walk in the woods, to sewing, to creating a feast, or solving a maths problem, or singing in a beautiful choir. But we also need to choose to do it for God’s glory and not simply our own.

Secondly, if you can’t hear Him, or don’t think you know what He is calling you to do, ask Him what is the gate you need to go through first to reach him? Where is the way in? If He knows your name, how can you hear and recognise His call to you?

Finally, if you think you can’t, or that He’s not calling you, then how can you reconnect with God so you are not left alone on the moor like the lost sheep, but are in the body of the flock?

What tools can we use to reach God in a more intimate way and our fellow human beings who are the rest of the flock?

I think it starts by realising our need for a good shepherd in the first place and our need for each other. Realising we are lost on the moor and have no moorings without him.

So let me tell a short story. I am in Scotland as a child and there are two farmers, one in either field by our little cottage. The first farmer has machines all around the place, rusting and messy barns. Unsurprisingly he neglects the sheep. A sheep is upturned, crying, but no one comes. They cannot rectify themselves when they fall and we cannot turn it back up so we call the RSPCA who come and rescue the sheep. The second farmer has neat fields with long grass and rears a cow who he feeds from birth, tends like a child and which comes running when he hears his voice. Because the cow knows that he's going to feed her and look after her and steer her away from danger.

The good shepherd has good outcomes - the bad shepherd has places he hides. So, is my life going well, or are there areas of darkness I need to handover to the Shepherd? If I’m honest, is there a tricky relationship? I need to learn how to forgive, or be forgiven? Has addiction taken a hold of me? It doesn’t just have to be alcohol or food, it could be watching rubbish TV all day, or wasting time on websites, or online shopping, it can be anything.

Hear the Shepherd who is calling you by name today to live abundantly for Him in every area of your life. He is the gate back from the gateway drug, or whatever addictions you may have. He is the light that will lighten the darkness of areas you don’t talk about to your spouse, or your partner, or your brother or your sister, or your friend, or your parents, He will give you release and lead you home.

During lockdown I raised ten puppies - they came when they heard my call. They knew the call means food. Just as the cow did - just as the sheep do - food and guidance.

Christ isn’t simply offering us away out of the darkness into the light, a way to no longer be lost, no! He is offering us substance, sustenance, actual abundant life. He tells the woman at the well that He is the “water of life” and that when she drinks His water she will “never be thirsty”. He tells this disciples that He already is full because he is “doing the works of the father” who sent him, when they come back with food.

We are all thirsty and hungry for something and if we don’t realise it, it is for being loved and known by Christ, we will fill that hole with lots of other things that are not good for us.

If we start to think we do not need God, then we end up hollow, famished, starved of the real deep, eternal, love we were designed to consume. And thirsty for more and more. We become consumers are not creators.

Let us begin by creating a fresh line of communication to Jesus today, following his example, by handing over all our talents and gifts for him to use for his glory today and… be blessed!

Helen

25/04/2026

Church services in Whaddon and Vicar's Thought for the week

Tomorrow, Sunday 26 April
9.30 am
Holy Communion

Don't forget that Whitsun is coming in May, May 24 to be precise. The Pentecost service at St Mary's will be at 12:30. More information about the rest of the festivities will be found at our page on Whitsun at

https://www.whaddon.org/whitsun

Vicar's Thought for the Week

Save your life to find it - the freedom and joy in just taking up your cross.

It strikes me that so often we have become all about ‘saving our lives’, rather than finding them. In other words, what is in this for me? How can I look better? How can I be thinner? I look on Facebook now at a friend’s message and every other picture below it is an ad for a ‘thinner body’ or ‘better face”. If we spent as much time working on the inside, instead of on the outside, we’d all be saints by now! I am not anti-caring about our bodies, I work out too and try to eat well, we are God’s temple after all, but it can’t be all about my looks, or we stop looking deeper both at ourselves and one another. Getting fit is good, but making it our life is a short-sighted goal and a temporary achievement as compared to nourishing our souls which we should also view as daily activity.

I have begun to see that when we give over our whole selves to God, this means entering into the pain of those around us and understanding where they are coming from. This then opens us up to empathy, seeing things from God’s perspective and not just our own. This is a life-long journey which we are on all together.

It struck me that the deep empathy of Christ on the cross is that He understood the pain of the robber next to Him, and his deep desire to be forgiven and that the robber totally saw and understood that Christ didn’t deserve to die. He acknowledged this by asking to be remembered when Jesus came into His Kingdom, he believed Jesus was the Son of God - whatever appeared to be the reality in front of him - he believed. It was an act of defiant faith and hope even as he was dying and deserved to be there.

Like the robber, we all, at our core being, long to be loved for who we are. Christ saw him and loved him. And said, “Today you will be with me in paradise”. He rewards our faith in the unseen heavens around us as we cry out to be remembered by Him.

I know we can all become distracted by many things, but it comes down to this good news, the most important news for each of us; God does love us all, in that deep way, just as we are, and not even as we hope to be - like all the ads on social media promise. He says simply, be with me today in paradise - come as you are. And once we fill ourselves up with that love, that deep unconditional love, we can start giving it out to others, the sacrifice of having to go the extra mile, feels like nothing, when you realise what that does for the one in front of you and how it makes them feel. There is the empathy in seeing it from God’s perspective. Even the pain of getting fit, feels like less when you realise how it makes you feel and enables you to be healthy for those around you - to help them, and this help motivate you. And just like the pain of practicing scales makes you a better singer or musician, we cannot avoid sacrifice to achieve things, in fact we need to embrace it to lead abundant lives.
It is inevitable in life that we have to sacrifice to become good and better at anything - we need to sacrifice our time too, to truly love our friends and our family - kids only know us if we are present for them and they will only not be on their devices, if we aren’t on ours. So carving out time for one another is something that pays dividends in the long run.
In the end, we find life in the community we inhabit, not in the commodities we buy. Fostering friendship and community can feel like giving out, but we get back in so many ways, seen and unseen, when we do.

Yesterday, I had an altercation with somebody on the street because they didn’t want a friend of ours parking near their house on our street - perhaps they felt there were just too many cars there. It felt sort of unreasonable, as their own home has a driveway and the person was parked on the public part of the street. So when somebody becomes aggressive like that, it’s natural to defend the friend and be aggressive back. But then I started thinking about what it must be like to live in one of the little houses along the road with their small gardens and to have people coming and going past all day as we live at the end in the cul-de-sac with a large garden and so we don’t have that traffic. Yes, of course people are visiting others not just us, but we have a lot of friends and folks coming to see us and perhaps it feels evasive and perhaps if I lived there, I would feel annoyed at another car parked. Perhaps? So, I felt cross with myself for not having more empathy for their situation, in the heat of that moment, how could I have been kinder? What should I do now?

Well, I don’t do this often, but I decided to go out and buy some really beautiful flowers, a plant rather than cut ones, that could grow in their garden. I left it on the doorstep with a card of apology that it had upset them. By the way, I am really not that nice, so I know it is God working in me that prompted me to do it. But, do you know what? It felt good when I had done it. It gave me joy, it was a random act of kindness that filled my soul and made me feel lighter and my life more abundant.

So, here’s my suggestion for you for today, try to avoid listening to things that talk about ‘our rights’ and focus on what is right. It is just a more healthy way to live. I also believe it leads to abundant life if you have a very large dose of forgiveness up your sleeve, which you can ask to have injected into your bloodstream at any time by the Lord Jesus Christ. His blood has been shed for you and for me, for all time, so that we are reconnected through our loving Saviour with our Heavenly Father, who has an everlasting embrace of never-ending love waiting for you and for me, which can and will fill us with joy, whatever circumstances we find ourselves in.

So why not ask God to give you an opportunity to share a random act of kindness with someone today, perhaps even someone who doesn’t deserve it? Just like Jesus himself did from the cross, as a final act of kindness and forgiveness to the robber on the cross next to him who repented. This final act of love of Jesus, even in agony, shows that it’s never too late to do so, at any point in our lives, and taking up our cross means looking out for the other. So, why not try it today? And…

… be blessed!

Helen

Whaddon has a Whitsun tradition seemingly unlike any other in the UK. At some point in the past, a practice developed of men going round the village singing a special song around the village on and around Whitsun time. These men held aloft oak branches, and waved them at various points.

18/04/2026

Church services coming up

Tomorrow, Sunday 19 April
9.30 am
A service of Morning Prayer in the traditional language of the Book of Common Prayer

Sunday 26 April
9.30 am
Holy Communion

Vicar's Thought for the Week

The life of mortals
"The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.” Psalm 103:15-16

Start today! What is left when we die? Who we are, our creativity and our next generation. The idea of ‘succession’ is, in some ways, an old-fashioned one. But in another sense, it is the most important of thoughts - because it also makes us decide now, what we are aiming for? Or indeed, are we aiming at all? Are we just aimlessly filling our time, rather than fulfilling our destiny?

Each of us has been put on this earth for a purpose, we are from dust and to dust we will return, but what we build in between, and make in the meantime, is really important. So here’s my challenge for you today, when you enter a room, do you bring light or darkness? Do you bring hope and joy, or do you leave despair and criticism?

Every day we have a choice, to make the world a brighter, lighter place, choosing life and looking towards the source of our life which Jesus Christ, or not.

When we focus on ourselves rather than on our creator, we can become consumed with the wrong things, we become selfish and inward looking, it becomes all about the immediate needs: what we will eat, what we will wear, what people think of us? Rather than our eternal ones: who am I, what is my purpose, how can I make the world a better place whilst I’m here?

None of the first temporal questions matter to God, as much as who we are in Him, our divine everlasting purpose of drawing more into his love is what matters. What matters is that we are wholeheartedly devoted to him. Everything else is a distraction from this aim and goal of life.

So, I was reflecting upon how little time we have in reality on this planet before returning to dust and perhaps the most precious gift we can give back to God, is the gift of our time and asking him how we can use it best to serve him? Why don’t you try that today? Why don’t I? See how we would live this moment differently if we did?

The servant King who washed the feet of his disciples is longing to give you a task that won’t make you feel depressed, but will in fact make you feel invigorated and fully alive because it was what you were designed to do. A hint - It may well be something that you’ve always longed to do, but have been too afraid to take up. Do not delay, you only have this one life.

May we let the love of Jesus Christ in as we invite him into our hearts once more this Eastertide; cast out that fear and be a beacon of hope to those around us and ask him to help us and heal us of those fears right now.

So, whatever you are putting off, start today! Whatever you’re putting off doing now because you’re too young or too old, do not delay because we have such a short time on this earth in reality, and what you leave behind, your legacy is being built with every moment you breath on earth.

So, what are you waiting for? Start now and ask Christ to fill you with his spirit and show you how you can live the most fulfilling life for his glory? Ask and you will receive, start today! And…
… be blessed!

Helen

11/04/2026

Church services for the rest of April

Tomorrow, Sunday 12 April
9.30 am
Holy Communion for the Second Sunday of Easter

Next Sunday, 19 April
9.30 am
Morning Prayer

Sunday 26 April
9.30 am
Holy Communion

Vicar's Thought for the Week

Do not grow weary of doing good…
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3

This week I been thinking about the word ‘theosis’ meaning being transformed into the likeness of Christ. The Jesus prayer - practiced by the early hermits in the caves of Mount Athos - where they fled to escape the world, was a way of focusing on both our own sinfulness and the deep love of God as he encourages us towards light and goodness and God-filled life. It helps us grow towards him. The hermits fled to escape the distractions of life and focus on the love of God in their caves and together becoming lights and encouraging those around them to turn towards that light.

However, as I reflected upon this, I see we are now in an era of distraction where we live more and more in our man-made ‘caves’ on laptops or smart phones - and in fact becoming fully embodied in the world is, I would suggest, our greatest challenge now - not escaping from it - when there are so many ways and means to now escape the real world that are neither good nor life enhancing.

In this era, engaging in the material world around us is our challenge, whilst also being aware of the ethereal cloud of witnesses all around us and the great love of Christ motivating us, which should be our hope. Allowing God to transform us materially, as well as spiritually, and living that out in an embodied way, is the daily challenge of modern life. So why not this week, put down your phone or app or laptop and go for walk and talk with a friend, or family member - or share a cup of coffee or a meal without any device nearby or on, spend time focused on the other. Perhaps then share the Jesus prayer if you can with them and pray it together ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Lord Jesus Christ!

Let us press on doing good - becoming more like Christ - do not grow weary but grow towards the others around you and… be blessed!

Helen

03/04/2026

Services for Easter Weekend

Today is Good Friday
2 pm at St Mary’s, Whaddon
There will be a special service for the Final Hour

Easter Sunday
There are two services at St Mary's:

6.25 am
Yes, at dawn, there will be a service of Holy Communion in the churchyard

9.30 am
Holy Communion for Easter Day

03/04/2026

Vicar's Thought for the Week

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord
Psalm 105:6

Why should we praise God?

I was thinking about this as we led a joyful procession around the church in, complete with children waving palms joyfully around the building, last week in Bassingbourn on Palm Sunday. Praising Jesus as he entered in Jerusalem and he fully too entered into that moment, sitting on the c**t, knowing that in less than a week those praises would become shouts of “crucify him!” Yet it didn’t stop him, living in that moment, enjoying the praise, caring for those around him, by fully entering into the joy of those Hosannas.

Why praise? Well when we praise it takes our focus off ourselves, our needs, our desires and focuses us fully on God.

When I really enter into praise, I have no time to be sad, full of self-loathing, judgemental, or a perfectionist. I am just focus on the loving, all encompassing, eternal nature of God. As we enter into his ‘courts with praise’ and thanksgiving that allows more of him to enter into us.

How then do we draw near to God? Is it by giving him a long list of our desires and wishes? No, although he likes to hear our desires and wishes and give us the deepest desires of our hearts. But he knows in advance that the deepest desire is to be loved and love in return. This is praise, to praise is to love, deeply and unreservedly. Repentant of our neglect in the past, of our distractions, of caring too much what others think and caring too little about what God thinks. Our disobedience, our disbelief, our doubts - we lay them all aside, we leave them behind, as we praise. It’s simply letting more of God’s light in. Praise! Praise the Lord oh my soul. As we praise the focus shifts from us to God. We are enabled to live in a larger and more faith fuelled way. It is the light at our centre that we turn on, the radio frequency that we tune into, it is the living water that quenches our insatiable thirst.

Praise! We draw near by focusing on God, the goodness of God, his majesty, our own fears, trials and troubles melt away. This is not to say we cannot be sad, we cannot offer up ourselves and all our shame and fears to God but praise puts them in perspective.

So why not lay aside whatever else you are doing and begin to fearlessly praise God today? Start your day with praise.

Enter into praise, heartfelt praise, whole self praise, singing, jumping around or just being still, listening to praise fully, be it Tallis or Tim Hughes - enter in and fully engage with your heart mind and soul and….

…be blessed!

Helen

28/03/2026

Services for Easter

Tomorrow, Palm Sunday
10.30 am*
There will be a joint service of Holy Communion at Bassingbourn Church

* DON'T FORGET THE CLOCKS GO FORWARD TONIGHT

Thursday, 2 April
7.30 pm at Bassingbourn Church
Service for Maundy Thursday, with washing of feet

Good Friday
10.30 am
Walk of Witness in Bassingbourn
[Meet outside the church. People are welcome to dress up as characters in the story of the day. Hot cross buns will be served in the church at noon.]

2 pm at Whaddon
Service for the Final Hour

Easter Sunday
6.25 am at Whaddon
Dawn service of Holy Communion in the churchyard

9.30 am at Whaddon
Holy Communion for Easter Day

Vicar's Thought for the Week

The jig of the Lord is my strength!

This morning, someone had a word for me at Morning Prayer ‘the joy of the Lord is my strength’ - but I accidentally put ‘jig’ in my notes. However, I love this word. It implies freedom, it implies joy and it implies fun. There is a sense of silliness and lightness in a jig . In fact the word “silliness” derives from an old word “seely” that meant, blessed, fortunate, happy, pious, or holy.

I was then reflecting in the freedom of the joy of a child which can often be expressed in a way that is ‘silly’. I can remember my mother telling me to “stop being silly!” when I was a little bit too overzealous or over playful with my friends or her.

But being a “fool for Christ” has an element of not worrying about being foolish, or being wrong or caring what others think. In the world where everything has become so polished and perfect, where machines and AI make seeming “foolish” something to be shunned, there should be more room in our lives and that of our children for silliness.

And true joy comes from a sense of not worrying about what everybody else thinks of you.

Christ, entering Jerusalem on a donkey with palms waving, and the people hailing him as king, was a moment of unashamed joy before the sorrow of the way to the cross. It is what we celebrate this weekend on Palm Sunday the acknowledgment of Jesus as the Messiah.

So perhaps today, try and find a moment to just enjoy being you to enjoy the sunshine or the rain. Perhaps, look out the window, up at the sky, feel inspired to write a poem, or sing a song of worship, or go on a walk, or light a candle and be still for a moment, whatever it is that might unlock an inner sense of joy. Dare I say it do something others might find a little silly if you want.

If you find that hard to imagine I think spending some time with children can do this for you - recapture the joy and the jig of life.

As a child, I remember getting very lost in adventures. I would build a den, if it was raining, it would be inside with pillows, if it sunny, it would be outside with sticks and whatever I could find in the forest behind the house.

In a world which is so often now enclosed, and in front of a screen, we need to not lose our sense of adventure and freedom brings with it to just be ourselves- the unique self every human being is.

The fearlessness that allowing God in casts out fear. The world He created is a good place, yes it has strife and danger and evil too, but the world is a place to be explored and to be tamed and to be enjoyed. Of course it has its dangers too, but if you have a sense of God‘s purpose for your life it allows you the freedom to have a sense of humour, to be silly, to be adventurous, to play, to just have fun and make a mess which you can tidy up later. In the world of machines, there is no room for error, there is no room for mess, there is no room for exploring in the same way that a child would explore.

So again, perhaps look up from our phones, from the computer or from wherever you read this and go outside breath in deeply and decide to explore a path you’ve not been down before, if you have children or grandchildren, perhaps do something a little bit messy with them from playing with Play-Doh, to building a fort, to going out and lying on the ground and seeing what shadows and shapes the clouds make.

Why not try it today and…

…be blessed

Helen

21/03/2026

Next services at St Mary’s, Whaddon

Tomorrow, Sunday 22 March
9.30 am
There will be a service of Holy Communion (not Morning Prayer, as previously advertised)

Next Sunday, 29 March
9.30 am
Morning Prayer

20/03/2026

Vicar's Thought for the Week

My help comes from the Lord
Psalm 102

Why did the Israelites need to remember that Moses rescued them every year at Passover?

I believe it is because we have very short-term memories for miracles and we are often moving onto the next thing we need. This is not a criticism, it’s just an observation of human nature.

God wants us to remember how he rescues us time and time again so that in those moments, when we feel helpless or hopeless, we can look back and see and say, “Ah yes, that time in the wilderness when I felt desperate and cried out, God heard my cry.”

I think a way of stopping ourselves lurching from crisis to crisis, particularly when the world is so volatile and things seem so uncertain, is to find, counterintuitively, that which we can praise God for in the midst of the mess. Whilst at the same time, crying out for God to help us in our current situation.

So why not try today? Why not lay before God all your problems, or the problems of friends you are praying for, or for all the world. But, before you do, spend half an hour in prayer and praise, just praising God for being so good all the time. Thank him for all the wonders he’s done in your life, in that of your family and friends and make yourself remember the things that have been miraculous in your own life the answers to prayer. If you find it hard to do, then ask him to show you.

And perhaps start with this Psalm 102, the Psalm for today, which is written not from a place of deep praise, but actually from a place of deep sorrow and desperation. But, despite that it still is praise because it’s choosing to believe “my help comes from the Lord”.
So, join with me today in daring to believe that is true and…

Be blessed...
Helen