Posts by Judith Steward (Page 4)

Public transport 1

I sometimes make use of my free bus pass and go by bus from my village into Ipswich.  The behaviour of bus passengers varies from the straight ahead stare conveying a wish to remain silent and apart, to the smile, which starts things off, often at the bus stop, and progresses to conversation that may or may…

Thomas

I don’t think any of us would choose to have a dose of covid, even though the illness is not generally as severe now. I recently isolated for 11 days with it, and in some ways the enforced rest did me good. I was able to spend more time reading and one of the things…

Thankyou

At the end of September Sir John Rutter featured in the news as he celebrated his 80th birthday. As a highly acclaimed composer of choral music over more than 60 years it was right that his special birthday should be celebrated.  In East Anglia we can be justly proud of his strong links to Cambridgeshire, as…

Faces?

Wesley hymns are not as popular as they used to be, but we tend to sing the favourites that have been absorbed into general use, and it is quite usual to have one at a funeral. As I grew up in a Methodist family and church I was used to some of the lesser known…

Aslan

This year marks 75 years since CS Lewis’ famous children’s book, “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” was published. Sadlers Wells have put on a ballet to commemorate this anniversary and I was fortunate to be able to go with my daughter and 12-year-old grandson. In preparation I borrowed the book from a friend…

What does it mean to be ‘royal’?

As a child I was a great admirer of the Royal family and used to enjoy cutting out pictures of royal occasions from newspapers and pasting them into scrapbooks. In 1961 the Duke of Kent, cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, married Katherine Worsley in York Minster and their wedding photo was duly added to my scrapbook. Their decision…

Eye can write

Eye Can Write by Jonathan BryanPublished by Blink Publishing, 2019 A few weeks ago a good friend said to me ” Sadly Jonathan Bryan has died”. I had not heard of him but she sent me a copy of his book as a gift. I have since bought 4 copies to give to others. Some of…

The joy of harvest

In 2002 I moved to Littleport in the Fens when my late husband was stationed there as minister for 4 churches. Employment in the Fens is largely centred on agriculture with many farmers and farm workers in the churches and others working in businesses and industry linked to farming. So, life in the churches and…

A Vegetable Patch for God

Plant 3 rows of peas:Peace of mind.Peace of heart.Peace of soul. Plant 4 rows of squash:Squash gossip.Squash indifference.Squash grumbling.Squash selfishness. Plant 4 rows of lettuce:Lettuce be faithful.Lettuce be kind.Lettuce be obedient.Lettuce really love one another: No garden without turnips:Turnip for meetings.Turnip for service.Turnip to help one another: We must have thyme:Thyme for God,Thyme for study,Thyme…