The Benefice of the Knights & Hospitallers Parishes

Comprising Great Maplestead, Little Maplestead, Gestingthorpe and Pebmarsh
parishes of the Diocese of Chelmsford, in North Essex

The Rector's Letter

Benefice
Pages

The Benefice comprises 4 completely independent parishes sharing a parish priest located just to the north of Halstead in north Essex.

See the individual parish sections for information about those Parishes. 

Dear Friends,

Feeling stressed recently, I picked a theological book off of the shelf, thinking it might help.  “Christ, Stress and Glory” by Wanda Nash is not a light read by any means, but I began to dip into it.  As each chapter heading reminded me of causes for stress I began to feel as if I was reading a medical book that described every condition under the sun, but then I came across this little story, and it made me laugh.

“ A remote region of the Slovac countries was home to a number of Jews who were seldom visited by a Rabbi.  Their questions and problems began to accumulate, so the leaders decided to invite a renowned Rabbi to visit them and help.  His arrival was much looked forward to, and groups were formed to identify which problems and questions would be put to him.  How would he address all their troubles?  Conflict began between the groups vying for a place on the programme.

The day arrived: the hall was overflowing.  Then a little round man wearing a holy prayer cap arrived, walked onto the platform, and was formally introduced by the leaders.  There was a pause.  A long pause.  Then he started smiling.

The visitor smiled at the person sitting on his left, then at the person sitting on his right.  They smiled in return, and passed the smile on to those sitting next to them.  Soon the whole hall was smiling and nodding.

On the platform, the Rabbi started a sort of hum.  He turned to his left, then his right, to pass the hum to others.  This as caught by those in the front row, passed on, and soon the whole hall was humming.

Still nothing had been said.  The Rabbi started chuckling to himself, and sort of rocking.  Soon the entire hall was full of people chuckling and rocking.

Then the Rabbi started to beam, to gurgle, to laugh.  It was a full-blown, let-go, no-reason sort of laugh, as perhaps only Jewish people know how to do.  He turned to the important person on his left, and laughed with him.  He turned to the important person on his right and laughed with him.  Soon the entire hall was a mass of people rocking and rolling, holding their sides in waves of contagious laughter.  No-one quite knew what they were laughing at; there had been no joke, no speech.  They were just together, enjoying the laughter.

After about twenty minutes the Rabbi stopped laughing.  Quietly the hall settled down and the laughter died away.  He looked around – “I hope all your problems have now been solved”  he said quietly.  “God has given us a golden key to unlock some of the preposterous notions we carry around about ourselves.”  And with that, he left."

With all good wishes,

Revd Janet.

The Rector’s Office is always open on Tuesday mornings, when her Secretary 
Mrs Rachael Haylock will be pleased to answer any queries you may have.

Please contact the Rector on 01787-463106, or email to Rector.

The Rector’s secretary can be contacted on the same number or Secretary