Weekly and Monthly Newsletters
The Parish Pump, Debden's village magazine, is published monthly except in January. A letter from the Reverend Lynda Sebbage, our Team Vicar, is appended below.
An online copy of the current Letter from the Reverend Jeremy Trew, our Team Rector, and current and back issues of the Grapevine, which includes Team Services and events, can be viewed using the links below:-
The Grapevine (Weekly Newsletter)
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LETTER FROM THE RECTORY – APRIL 2025
Dear Friends,
I wonder if you, like me, have spent some evenings gazing up at the stars recently? With very clear nights and sharp frosts, it has been easy to view so much: from constellations to nebulas, from planets to the Milky Way. At the end of February, we were treated to a very special event in the night sky known as a planetary parade, which is a rare occurrence when seven planets—Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—align in the evening sky, providing a unique opportunity to observe multiple planets simultaneously. It’s better if you know what you are looking for – perhaps using a special phone App that can point them out. For many of us though, there was little chance of missing Venus and Jupiter, dazzling in the dark sky; even Mars was visible with the naked eye, as with its reddish hue it winked high above.
Some of us attended a really interesting evening recently at Wimbish Church, when the Thaxted Astronomical Society came along to give us a talk. But it wasn't just a talk - we also had the opportunity to peer through their telescopes (how exciting to see Jupiter and its moons!) and view some of the amazing stars and planets that make up our universe - millions of them. So many in fact, that I for one felt like a tiny speck in the vastness of it all, wondering how any of us fit into this incredible creation. This thought was enormously challenging. How did all this happen? Which brought to mind an inspirational and enigmatic verse from a modern-day Christian songwriter, Graham Kendrick, which says:
Come see His hands and His feet
The scars that speak of sacrifice
Hands that flung stars into space
To cruel nails surrendered
Hands that flung stars into space – amazing words, illustrating that our creator God is responsible for everything. It’s hard to comprehend.
As we head towards Easter, those words from the worship song ring incredibly true. Our creator God, who was sacrificed on the cross on Good Friday (‘...scars that speak of sacrifice... to cruel nails surrendered’), and Christ, who came to this earth as a servant king, to live amongst and alongside human beings; to share life with us, and teach us how to serve like he served, demonstrating how we should live and how we should love others. Yet in the end, he gave up his life on the cross, shouldering the sins of all humanity, but providing us with forgiveness if we have faith in him and follow him.
Three days later, on Easter Day, the women who had been at the cross went early to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body - but when the stone was rolled away by the Roman guard, it was empty. His grave clothes were folded neatly and put aside. Jesus for now had disappeared. He had defied death and risen to new life, proving his deity - just as he had foretold. Through this, he is offering eternal life beyond death, to all who have faith and follow him. This is the good news of Easter! These are the hands that flung stars into space.
Revd Lynda,
Debden Rectory