March begins with St David’s Day, which this year is on a Friday.  Our usual first Friday in the month Communion service will take place at East Haddon on that day, and we shall give thanks for this remarkable saint, who in the sixth century established a community of monks at what was then called Minevia (now St David’s), and who is of course revered as the patron saint of Wales.

Although I have no Welsh connections, the Christian name which my parents gave me has led to a feeling of particular regard for St David, though I confess that his rigorous moral and spiritual standards are not easy to emulate - at any rate in my case.  He apparently led a very spartan life, and required his fellow monks to do the same.  Their diet was sparse (mainly vegetarian), and there were frequent days of fasting and physical discipline.  It is said that David himself regularly stood for several hours in a freezing pool of water and recited the Psalms, and slept on either a board or the bare floor with little or no covering.

Practices such as these may strike us nowadays as eccentric, or even psychologically dangerous; yet this should not blind us to what is a desirable element of discipline in the life of all of us.  Hard on the heels of St David’s Day comes Ash Wednesday, and each year the season of Lent gives us an opportunity of taking a fresh look at our habits and priorities.  I for one am not always good at giving up something for Lent, but I am going to have a fresh try at doing so this year, and I invite you to consider this as well.  Deliberately to go without something we enjoy, or which gives us comfort, is never easy, and I guess that all of us would shy away from the thought of appearing smug or spiritually superior when we say no to alcohol, chocolate, or whatever else is our particular pleasure.

Yet Lent is never meant to be a grim or masochistic affair: rather, it is a chance for us to let go of something on which we rely (perhaps sometimes too heavily), and thus to discover a new freedom.  Furthermore, taking on something in Lent is just as important as giving something up, and the ‘taking on’ might include setting aside time for some spiritual reading or reflection, or spending time with someone who needs some support and friendship, or simply making up our minds to engage with a task or challenge that we have been putting off for a while.  God bless you all this Lent; may it be a real springtime for each one of us.

l imagine that by now most people probably know that the Bishop of Peterborough has appointed the Reverend Andrea Watkins as the new Rector of the Spencer Benefice, and she will be instituted and licensed to her ministry on Sunday 2 June.  (More on this below)

At present she is the Rector of Blisworth and four other villages near Towcester, and so she already has experience of ministering in a multi-parish rural benefice.  l am sure she will welcome the opportunity of introducing herself more fully in a future edition of the Newsletter, but at this stage let me simply say that she grew up in Duston, and so knows the local area well; furthermore, she is married to Peter, and they have two grown-up children.

All this means that it will soon be time for me to say good-bye to you, and to return to the retirement from which the Bishop persuaded me to emerge two years ago.  It has been a joy to minister in these lovely villages and to get to know so many of you, and part of me would have loved to stay here longer.  But my appointment as your Rector was never meant to be more than a temporary one, for it is plain that this large benefice needs a full-time parish priest, and moreover someone younger than l if the congregations are going to grow, spiritually as well as numerically.  That is my prayer for all of you, and l look forward to ministering among you for a further three months, after which l am confident that some very good and exciting times lie ahead.

David Painter