UK News links Gamlingay (main menu) Service and Utilities In the April 2002 Issue Leading page Farmworking Memories News from St Mary's Church Services - Gamlingay, Everton and Hatley St George News from the Baptists Village Diary Gamlingay and the Silver Jubilee part 1 Gamlingay and the Silver Jubilee part 2 Jubilee It's a Knockout - 1977 A Farmer's Eye AGM Gamlingay Gazette Gamlingay Village Show Gamlingay First School Gamlingay Village College Community Corner Letters Green Wellie What’s On?

PARISH CHURCH OF ST MARY THE VIRGIN see also St Mary's Church D ear Friends, the season for weddings and baptisms is at hand, and it has set me thinking about the commitments which human beings make to one another. When parents bring their babies and little children to church to be ‘christened’ or baptized, they are making a commitment to God on their children’s behalf. When couples come to church to get married, they make a commitment on their own behalf, a commitment to one another. This is not any easy thing to do in either case, it requires courage. At the beginning of the film Bridget Jones’s Diary, Bridget promises herself not to get involved with any more ‘commitment phobics’. And there are plenty of them about. People are very reluctant to commit themselves when their lives are so full, so pressurized already. But there are times when we just can’t avoid moving off the side lines and declaring where we stand. Both baptism and marriage are like this. Parents don’t always know exactly what they are committing themselves and their baby to when they first ask about baptism; just as any couple on the brink of marriage cannot know how that marriage will turn out. In baptism, there is a journey of faith, which begins before we are ever aware of it, or have words to express our sense of God’s presence. In marriage, there is a journey of love, which can also begin before we are aware of it. What we must realise, though, is that where we begin is not where we end up. Commitment to a life of faith, or to a marriage partner, means being ready to change, move on, develop. If you know anyone preparing for baptism or marriage, why not say a prayer to God for them, as they make their commitment, and ask Him to bless them and strengthen them, on their journeys of faith and love, all the days of their life? Yours in the love of God, Cally Hammond Curate: Revd. Dr Cally Hammond St.Mary’s House, Honey Hill 652181 Reader: Chris Miller 11 Bunyan Close 650779 Churchwardens     Mrs Valerie Miller 650779. Dr Brian Jones 650008. Top of page