March is daffodil time, even if, like Easter Eggs, they�ve been in the shops since Christmas. Daffodils and wind:
March brings breezes sharp and shrill that,
Shake the dancing daffodil.
Daffodils that come before the swallow dares and take the winds of March with beauty; Shakespeare [Cymbeline]
Thoughts of Spring
No matter how harsh the winter
And deep the driven snow,
No matter how vice like its icy grip
It�s a comfort to all that we know,
That when all the snow has meltedAnd the birds once again start to sing,
The green shoots of nature�s new cycle
Will herald the arrival of spring. Colin Hammacott
Planting at the front of the church has been held up because of the weather – you may have noticed the shrubs have gone. The plan is to have a sensory garden there which will have something of interest throughout the year. Much thought and effort has gone into the choice of plants so now we just have to wait for a decent spell of weather. All this is funded by the lottery project, as well as the round the year gardening which seems to go ahead whatever the weather – I�ve never seen such a bedraggled lot of people as the group working in torrential rain one Tuesday in February.
Lent = lengthen = Spring [OE] and I was struck by a sermon at St Pancras church on Ash Wednesday which finished with the hope that we would all find this Lent a �Springtime for our Faith�. And there�s certainly enough at HPC to help put a spring in our Lenten observance this year with its usual series of Lent house groups, this year following the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland course; the Evensong series of sermons by visiting preachers on poets – Hardy, Hopkins, Auden and finally John Keble and John Henry Newman. [Fans of Gerard Manley Hopkins might like to know that his father was a churchwarden here and his younger brother Felix is buried in the churchyard. Unfortunately the gravestone has fallen over but we hope to get it put right soon. When you can see it, you can also see the nearby stone of the Randall family which gave him the name �Felix Randall� for one of his poems]; on 20th March we have a concert in aid of the Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture [a charity the parish supports], on 21st the choir will be performing Stainer�s Crucifixion; the next weekend [Saturday 27th] we have the Hampstead Chamber Choir doing Pergolesi�s Stabat Mater and on 28th Evensong will be replaced by The Lord of Life, a pageant in words and music for Palm Sunday.
And don�t forget that even if it may not feel as if spring will ever come officially it does begin on 28th March so don�t forget that Evensong will revert to it�s summer time of 6pm that day.
Easter arrangements
Palm Sunday is 28th March and as usual there will be the liturgy of the palms and reading of the Passion at the 10.30am service. Details of weekday services are in the diary and follow the same pattern as in previous years except for Easter Eve when the Sunday School and clergy have got together and planned a new and exciting service at 5pm, following an afternoon of Easter activities. Diana Finning, writing about it on page 17, suggests you bring your children but frankly, it sound so much fun it might be worth borrowing someone else�s if you don�t have any of your own!
This is your magazine
Many years ago one of our curates was hideously embarrassed when our parish magazine was held up as example of everything a parish magazine ought not to be. A few years later, I�m glad to say, it was singled out as the �most improved� – damning with faith praise is the expression that comes to mind. But what of the magazine now? What do you like about our magazine? Or what do you dislike? Do you read right through, look for your favourite bits, only take it for the diary, or the sermons? Do you use it to find out what�s happening in the parish? We really do want to know. And rather than have a paper survey we�re inviting comments in a variety of ways. You can comment on Twitter hpcmag or facebook churchmag1 or email [email protected] or even write a letter to me c/o the church.
March
Judy East