Parish Jottings

New Diocesan Magazine

Readers will have noticed that last month’s church magazine was accompanied by the first edition of the new Oxford Diocesan Magazine, entitled “Pathways”. This replaces the diocesan newspaper, “The Door”, which has been circulated for the past 30 years from April 1989. In his prelude to the new magazine, the Bishop of Oxford, The Right Reverend Dr Steven Croft, describes “Pathways” as being one of many new ideas and approaches in 2019 to help us to be the best church we can be in a world that is changing in new and unprecedented ways. Like “The Door”, “Pathways” is issued quarterly free of charge, and aims to equip committed Christians on their walk with God while informing inquirers as they learn more about faith. The new magazine is also available online, together with an audio version. Some readers may remember the Oxford Diocesan Magazine published prior to “The Door”, The “ODM”, which ran for 20 years from 1968.

Winter Snow

The weekday snow of 22^nd January lasted five days, just short of the weekend. However, to the children’s delight, there was more snow to come. On 1^st February, the parish awoke to see a more substantial snowfall of about 5”, just right for tobogganing, and this time, it lasted over the weekend.

Unfortunately, the resulting icy conditions affected church attendance on the Sunday, and the new monthly Tuesday “Trinity Together” services, when many churchgoers hesitated to even step out of their front doors for fear of slipping on the ice and injuring themselves.

The yellow winter aconite flowers glow in the churchyard