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Ministe r’s Lee r E ast er, Eggs, Etc. Easter me is a strange mixture o f symbols. Some are overtly Ch risan s uch as the palm branch o n P alm S un day or the Cro ss . Other symbo ls come f rom a variety of sources many predan g Chrisanity. Accordin g to Wikiped ia, decor ated eg gs are mu ch older than Easter, and both eggs and rabbits are age-old ferlity symbols. The P as sov er S eder s ervice us es a hard- cooked egg flavoured with salt water as a symbol both of new life. The Jewish tradion may have come from earlier R oman Spring feasts . The ancient Persians als o painted eggs f or Nowrooz, their New Year celebra on falling o n the S pring Equinox (i.e around our Eas ter). This tradi on h as con nued every year on Nowrooz since an cien t  mes. The name "Easter" originated with the names of a n ancient Goddes s and God . The Vener able Bed e, (672- 735 CE.), first asserted that Ea ster was named a er Eo stre (a .k.a . Ea stre). She was the Great Mother Goddes s o f th e Saxon peop le in Northern Europe. Similarly, the "Teuto nic d awn god dess of ferlity [was] known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern , Eostra, Eostre, E os tur, Ea stra , Ea stur, Aus tro n and A uso s." Despite aempts to Chrisanise it, Eas ter is accepted by th e majority of scholars to be a pagan ferlity rite in origin celebrang the rebirth of life in spring. In the West, eg gs h ave been forbidden during L ent as well as other tradional fast days. Likewise, in East ern Ch risanity , both meat and dairy are prohibited during the fast, an d eggs are seen as "dairy" (a f ood stuff th at co uld b e taken f rom an animal without shedding its blood). Another O rth od ox tradion is the presenng of red co loured eggs t o frien ds while giving Easter gree ngs . This cust om had its begin ning with Mary Magdalene. Aer the Ascen sion of Ch rist, legend has it that sh e went to th e Empero r o f R ome and greeted him with "C hrist is risen", a s she gav e h im a red egg. She then began preaching Chrisan ity to him. The egg is symbolic of the grave and life renewed b y br eaking out of it. The red symbolises the blood of Chris t red eemin g the

world, represented by the egg, and our regenerao n through the bloo d shed f or u s by Ch ris t. The egg itself is a symbol of the Resurrecon wh ile b eing d orman t it contains a new life seal ed within it . Well, these days we use cho co late East er Eggs that do n’t quite have this depth of symbolism, th ou gh they do ta ste beer. Our symbol of new life is sweet, faenin g an d f ull o f smares or Mars bars. Whether or not you abstained fr om chocolate during Lent, you are likely to add extra pou nd s in the days and weeks aer Easter S und ay. For many th e Eg g is now replaced by a box of Cadbury Mi lk Tray. I guess Easter for most is no longer symbolises by the new life at Sp rin g that is transformed by the new life of our Resurrected Lord. Whether we have eggs or cho co la te or bu nn ies o r hot cros s buns or none o f them, the real q ues on is h ow d o we respond? In the light of God in Jes us dying o n the C ross an d three days later rising fro m the dead, do we d is miss it as another fairy tale along with Easter b unn ies h opping alon g with a basket of eg gs? Do we igno re tha t fi rst Eas ter as we eat another chocolate, and yet a nother? Or do we cut through the symbols and the myths an d accept tha t Ea ster has changed history, and it can change our futur e? Over this  me of East er, f ro m Palm Su nday th ough Mau ndy Thursday, though Crucifixion Frid ay and esp ecially on Resurrecon Sunday, let u s truly worship o ur Go d. Let us joyfully and with ou t h esita on say - He is risen in deed! David TREASURERS REPORT You are thanked for Off erings in February tota lling £1,657 We are also very grateful for a generou s do na on to th e Church of £750 from St Johns Sports Club, on behalf of th e Bowls and Tenn is s econ s. As always, many thanks to you a ll, for your c onnued financial sup port. MaryA&Richard W

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Church Secretary’s Not es At the me of wring we are intending to op en th e church again for Sunday services from April 1 8 th . There will sll be mask wearing, no s inging and 2m s pacin g bu t h ope fully it’s a start of the journey to a ‘new normal’. I say ‘new’ beca us e there’s no reason we have do what we’ve always don e in the past – in deed we h av e a gold en op portu nity t o think o f new a new approach to our church life! Zoom h as meant mee ngs can be held without peo ple having to do a lot of travelling which has certainly meant joint church meengs/acvies across our 5 churches can be more representave an d more e fficiently run. That’s not to say we shouldn’t physically meet up again, but we can make those occas ions less ‘o fficial’ and more enjoyable. If you have some n ew even r ad ical (!) id eas please share th em. We are hoping to hold a ‘get tog ether’ in (say)September when we can share our lock-down stories, show/d emo things we’ve made, have a go od chat as w e try to recognis e each other one and a half years more grey & wrinkled but wis er! Chrisan Aid week is approach ing – 10 th to 18 th May. Loo k out for informa on from Val & Sar a lat er in the Magazine. Penny and I will have tomato plants available too. Thanks to all tho se who have donated fl ow er p ots . The Frames, lile portable screens that can be used to watch our recorded church services at just a click of a switch, are provin g very succes sfu l. If y ou wo uld like more inf orma on about them or to contribute toward s th eir purch as e o r even buy one yours elf give me a ring. St ay safe. Adrian

A fra me sing on a table showing part of E r nie’s Service (Subtled version) - Screen 8” Diagonal That seems a good starng p oint to let yo u know abou t the latest on the Hop e Beyo nd Project. As a p as tor ate we had asked for circa £39,000 and were fo rtu nate enough to b e allocated £5,000 as our share of the £12,000 we were giv en. So on Thursday 25 th March the elders agreed to spend tha t £5,000 to upgrade our projector and screen to a profes sional

grade Laser Projector (an Eps on L610); to be in stalled, hanging from the ro of ra ers and su sp ended in f ro nt of the screen. The connecon from the proj ector leads to a conneco n po int near th e ‘Sou nd Desk’. The control o f the projector, including the size o f the screen image, is managed by a remote contr oller. The process of selecon was by compeve quota on. W e had a very imp res siv e live demons tr ao n o n the F riday bef ore. The cos t including the installaon which will take a day is just £3.00 short of the £5,000 we were given. We do need an addional £1000 for an up to d ate an d powerfu l church laptop on top of th at £5,000. Tha t expenditure has been agreed. We also n eed to co nsid er several other pieces of equipment and a camer a s o that we can broadcast to other churches. That involves furth er significant ex pend iture and discus sion on what we n eed, and the source of the f und ing. So me fun din g may be available to apply for, from th e URC Synod . To give yo u an id ea o f wh at the demo nstra on was like, below is a mock -up ph oto. The flags will be moved to the other side of the cro ss with the hangin g. The clarity and brightness was incredible in th at we could read really small wring from th e back of Roo m 1 withou t di fficulty.

John B

A Repo rt From Rainbows Rainbows during the pandemic has been challen ging b ut we have carried on despite the challenges . We s pent some me taking a break whilst we as ses sed th e situa on but as it became apparent face to f ace guiding wasn’t going to resume in the near future w e mov ed o nline. As the Rainbows are so young (5-7), this didn’t work f or all of them and unfortu nately s ome of the girls d ecided not to carry on. However, f or tho se who have join ed u s o nline, we have met fortnightly for about half an hour. Th e girls have enjoyed me chang and always a put a smile on our faces. At the beginning of each term, I have d ro pp ed a cra pack to the girls so they have all the resour ces they need for the term (as well as so me ex tr a colo uring and a few sweet treats!) These doorstep conversao ns have been lovely and the excitement of the girls at r eceiving this ha s b een great.

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We have completed two badges online which the girls h av e enjoyed. One of the badges, In fluence, helped the girls think about the issues they care abo ut most and ho w to convin ce others to care about them to. This involved comple ng various acvies including talking abou t lookin g a er the environment and making posters about recyclin g, turning lights off and not lierin g. W e also played a game where the girls were given two opons, they chos e one and had to convince others it was the right choice. For example, wo uld you rath er fly o r be invisib le? The other badge, communicate, helped the girls think abo ut diff erent ways people can communicate. We used facia l expressions (and s illy faces) to ex plore this . W e also learnt some sign language which the girls were very go od at. Due to the fact we have had two new girls jo in u s w e spent an evening thinking about our Rainbow p romise. Th e girls coloured pictures of t heir promises’ to help them remember it. We have discovered a favourite online game too wh ereby someone thinks o f an animal an d ev ery one a sks ques on s in order to guess what animal it is. On e unexp ected adv antage of Rainbows online is the ability for pets to jo in us ! We h ave had cats, dogs and hamsters j oin us on the s creen! Whilst it has been a tricky year for us in Gu id ing, it ha s made me grateful for the wonders of technology. As always, th e parents of the girls have been so suppo r ve and even with just a few girls it is a privilege to be able to lead Ra inbows for them. Thank you for your connu ed s upp ort a s a chur ch, we look forward to seeing you when it is sa fe to d o s o. Evie Coleman (He dgehog) Unit L eade r

St John’s Playme Pre-School in the Pandemic It has been a very strange year to say the least. We w ere closed from the end of Mar ch la st year fo r over two month s unl June where we tentavely reo pened fo llowin g th e government’s advice. Upon reopening, we (staff ) were admiedly afraid and thorou gh cleaning and sterilisin g too k centre stage. However, as  me pa ss ed on and gr ad ually more and more children b egan to return, our pre-schoo l took a familiar shape once more. The children were undou btedly delighted to be back an d seled almost instantly into their new roune. Thos e th at were new to the sen g as toun ded us with their resilience as their parent le them with the sta ff at the door, rather than bring them into the pre-scho ol thems elves. Unexpectedly, th is new way o f introd ucing ch ildren into the

seng meant that they actually seled fa r quicker tha n before when the parents were allo wed in the b uildin g. There have been mes over the last year where sta ff shortages (due to shielding or illn ess ) hav e ca us ed problems but we have managed to bo un ce back each  me with exisng sta ff working extra hours to ensure we could remain open. Numbers of children on our register sll remain low compared with previous yea rs a nd unfortunately unl parent’s con fidence has increased, we expect this will be the ca se f or so me me. We inially had to be creave with which reso urces we could use (no so f urnishings or items that cou ld n’t eas ily be sterilised) and this meant a gradual overh au l of all o ur learning areas. Our pre-school vision ha s ad apted over recent years and this period of lo ck-d own s and quiet mes has allow ed u s to fo llow and implement this vision. W e are very excited about our learning environment and how we have adapted our resources to encoura ge our children to be more curious, imaginave and follow th eir own interests to exten d their learn ing. We have d itch ed the bright coloured plasc in favour of more natu ral and authenc items. Our focu s o n the real-world environ ment has led to the children developing crical thinking th rough their exploraon of loose parts and th ey are learnin g through play with these excin g res ources. Here are some recent photos to sho w the f un w e are havin g! MaryOof Pre-school

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As Ramadan approaches.... If you were t o come to my ho me fo r a meal you would see Queen Nefer  perch ed o n the win dow sill in m y din ing room. She mad e her mark as Queen o f E gypt. It was in the summer of 2011 that my neigh bo urs, the E……..s, brought this bust back from their trip to Libya via Egypt. I had o nly known the E……..s a few months, so I wa s fl aered th at they presented me with this gi. The husband , Salah, is a GP an d Magda, his wife, is a homemaker. They are or igina lly fr om Libya. The E……..s have three sons at Ipswich schools. A rabic is spoken in th eir home. Ramadan starts on Mon day , 12th Ap ril. Moslems all over the world will be fasng f rom s unris e unl su nset. This mean s that no food or liquid (no t even water) can be co ns umed during the day. In Ramadan Moslems are enc ou raged to do a lot of praying as they uphold the values of Islam. Last year Ramadan st arted a lile later in the yea r. When Ra madan started in 2020 I was sll recovering from my badly fractu red le wrist; I was very much in need of praccal h elp. Magd a came over praccally every day to check on me a nd dea l with praccal things such as emptying bins, geng things out of the refrigerato r, etc. Frequ ently she wo uld bring over food which she had prepared. The fact th at Magda herself was fasng – and mu st hav e felt faint s ome of the  me - made me especially grat efu l for her tho ughulnes s. I have enjoyed baking American treats for the E……..s for severa l years now. Although they have recently moved to a property off the Tuddenham Road we are sll in touch. I shall give them a card again this year wishing them well du ring their holy seaso n of Ramadan. My life has been enriched geng to kn ow this lovely Moslem family. They are so generous and kind. We resp ect each other’s religious views . If you have the o ppo rtunity to meet a Moslem family I suggest that you gr ab it! JulietteA Christian Aid Week Monday 9 t h to Sunday 16 th May 2021 We’ve all been thro ugh a very di fficult year b ut I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you of our global neighbours in Kenya who connue to bale the e ff ects of extreme weather, from severe d ro ught to flo odin g. C hrisan Aid as ks for our gis, prayers and acons to help commu nies withstand climate chaos; from b uildin g beer earth dams t o harvest more water, to so wing dro ught-tolerant crop s, to demand ing climate jusce at the high est level. There will be more informaon in May Advan ce o n h ow yo u can give, but in the meanme, please ready yo urself fo r the 20 21 Chrisan Aid appeal and, should any of you have any fund raising ideas, I’ll be o nly too plea sed to h ear f rom yo u. Val V

As we are sll unable to meet t o raise mo ney fo r Chris an Aid, I am raising various seeds to s ell plants f or C hris an Aid. Leuce, tomatoes, cucumber cour gee, cosmos (white) anrrh inums, french marigold s. Also I wo uld be willing to make sausage rolls, cheese s cones , victoria sandwich, chocolate cake or other favourites. All m oney would go to Chrisan Aid. Plea se rin g me an d leave a message with your number . The United Reformed Church “Giving Th an ks fo r Our Vaccine”, also in aid of Chrisan Aid, h as exceed ed its tar get of £10,000 by raising £11,925 so far! It costs a bout £2.57 for a covid injecon. If you want to say thanks f or yours please send any mo ney to Mary A o r ring me and I will collect your donaon. I hope as a ch urch we could raise £514, which would enable 200 p eople to receiv e th e vaccine. Ble ssings to all Sara

EULOGY Cynthia V i was born on 20 th Ju ly 1922 the second ch ild of Maud and Fr an k Kennell. Cynth ia was on e of fiv e ch ildren, Eric being older and Beryl, Ivan and Joh n younger. When about 3 years old Mum remembered her Aunt walking wi th her in the snow to their new ho me at 125 F reehold Road. She heard talk of sll damp p last er in the n ew house. Mum a en ded N orthg ate Grammar Scho ol, where she made life long friendships, b ut h avin g do ne go od results was not able to ‘stay on’ for an extr a year. Mum’s first job was at Ransome, Simms and Je ff eries in the Plough works office. It was here she met her future husband R onald. In 1939 Mum b ecame a f ull member o f St John’s Congregaonal C hurch a s it wa s called then. Ov er the course of her life Mum joined in with the acvies o f the church as a memb er o f th e League of You ng Worshippers, then membership of the Sports Club an d finally becoming Chair of the Women's Fello wship. At ninety Mum was sll drivin g her car and giving lis to people for Su nd ay wo rship. Around 1940 Mum changed job s and wor ked at the Coop Fancy Goods Department, Carr Street. Dad had joined the Royal Air Force and in 1941 he came home un expected ly on survivors leave (the ship taking him to E gypt wa s s unk off Northern Ireland). A Special Licence was obta ine d and within a few days Mum and Dad were married on 5 t h March 1941. A few weeks later Dad was again en-r oute to Egypt. During the war Mum worked for the Auxilia ry Fire Service in the control room. On Dad’s return to Englan d in 1944 he was po sted to the Peak District. In April 1945 I was born. Mum said I caused her to miss the VE day celebraons! Mum stayed with her parents unl Da d was demobbed. In November 1946 David was bo rn. Th at Winter was severe. Mum told us of walking in b etween

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walls of snow in Norwich Road. It was so cold th e railway infrastructure failed, causing co al to be in sh ort su pply f or heang or drying nap pies! We were sup po sed to move t o Cromarty Road in the New Year, ho wever the f rozen pipes burst in the new hous e which d elayed th e move unl late sp ring. Mum worked in various jobs before obtainin g a p os ion in the 1970’s at the new Bris h T elecom Research Fa cility in Martlesham. Here she met the Queen when the BT R esearch Building was officially open ed. Mu m was sp eechless when the Queen spoke to her an d s omeon e rescued her by answering from beh ind h er! When Mu m rered from BT she was given a bench a s a gi which sh e had us ed right u p to this year. In 1975 I went with Martha to South Afric a to w ork and David and his family went in 1 981. Mum persuaded Da d to take an extended holiday in South Africa staying at David’ s house in Pretoria. They made extens ive trips driving th eir Renault 5 within South Africa and to Botswana to visit me and the family. In their travels they oen drove on rough sand roads. Financial reasons persuaded Mum and Dad to return home to Bracken Avenue. Aer the un mely d eath o f Norma, (David’s wife) Laura and Greg spent their Su mmer Holidays with Grandma and Gran dad at Bracken Avenu e creang happy memories for all. As Dad becam e progressively more ill Mum nursed him even though finally he did not kno w her. Mum loved nature, working in the garden and goin g out to see the bluebells in sea son. Many pleasan t Family g atherings were had at Bracken Avenue BBQs . I remember Mum wo uld oen recite poetry or sing a song when sh e hear d s ometh ing which triggered a memory of her youth. During the recent Covid–19 Lock-down Jan, the girls and myself gave in crea sing support to Mum an d althou gh vis ibly in p ain sh e never complained. A game of scr ab ble was the h igh po int of her day and winning a bon us. Aer h er 2 recent falls Mum wa s hospitalised and recognised her extreme frailty and said s he was ready to meet her Lord. David and Laura was th ere at the hospital to hold her hand in the final moments . The following was found on a h and wrien slip in Mums Bible; I walke d in the garden alone, while the dew was sll on t he roses, and He walked w ith me, and He talke d with m e and told m e I was His own. Ian, the son of MaryM-one of our Scosh Members , advised John B she had moved into Park View Care Ho me on the London Road. She ha s t o s elf-is olate f or a fo rtn ight from last Mond ay, so your prayers wou ld b e ap preciated.

Date Y o u T u b e Z o o m S t John’ s 0 1/04

D a v i d 02/04 Ern i e 04/04 A da m/E rn i e 11 /04 Ern i e 18/04

Pe te r D

25/04 Dav i d

Sara P

02/05 Ern i e

A dam

Ea s te r We ek Services M aun d y Thursday: Me di t ao n o n Zoom 7 pm; Good Fr i day: Re fl e co n o n Yo uTu be; Ea s te r S un day: Wi t h C ommunion o n Yo uTu be 10:30 Liv e stream e d Vi a Z oom – ID 889 953 65 4 2

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Thought for the Day © Godfrey Rust 1989

Mary And if y ou as k me what a Chris an is I'd say—not one who's pure in word and deed, or goes to all th e Su nday s ervices, or says their prayers, or know s the p roper creed, but that one who would glad ly giv e away all that they have now or have ever b een to stand between the dark tomb and the day and know the moment of the Magdalene.