Letter from Clare

Writing at the beginning of May, the Queens Jubilee Celebrations have begun, sadly none of our villages feature on her itinerary, I believe Stowmarket is probably the nearest she is going to get to us. Sad though it may be that she isn’t coming in person to any of our celebrations, each of our villages has planned their own way of celebrating her Golden Jubilee.

The concept of Jubilee is a Biblical one. In Leviticus 25.8 onwards we read "Count off seven Sabbaths of years – seven times seven years – so that the seven Sabbaths of years amount to a period of forty nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty   throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee to you."

The Book of Leviticus goes on to advocate the return of land to rightful owners and the freeing of slaves in the Jubilee year. Whether this ever happened in ancient Israel is disputed. The concept, however lay behind the recent successful Jubilee Campaign to free developing countries from international debt.

In her Golden Jubilee year the Queen has nominated a number of charities, so that those wishing to make a donation, in the spirit of the biblical concept of Jubilee, and in thanksgiving for her reign as Queen might be able to do so.  The concept of thanksgiving is an important one in the teaching of Christianity, we who have been given so much by a generous God, are challenged to give generously in the name of the God of Love and in the service of others.

The Queens reign has been an outstanding example of a life lived in the service of others and for this we give thanks. In her Christmas broadcast in 2000, she quoted from Paul’s Letter to the Thessalonians "Go forth into the world in peace, be of good courage, hold fast to that which is good, render to no-one evil for evil, strengthen the faint hearted, support the weak, help the afflicted, honour all people."

I hope you enjoy whatever Jubilee celebrations that are planned for your village, and I extend an invitation to you all across the three villages to join us on June 2^nd at 6.30pm in Earl Soham Church, as we join in the nations celebration with a special service which has been commissioned to be used by all denominations across the country on that day.