19 June 2022

Visiting churches in
Milton Keynes, Stony Stratford
and in Buckinghamshire

The Church of Saint Mary and Saint Giles, the parish church of Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Patrick Comerford

Since moving to Stony Stratford in Milton Keynes on my retirement at the end of March 2022, two of us have enjoyed visiting many churches and church buildings in the Milton Keynes area, and I have been writing about them and photographing them.

As the weeks move on and turn to months, the number of churches and church sites I have visited in Milton Keynes and throughout Buckinghamshire continues to grow, so it may be difficult for some to find these postings on this site.

This posting offers links to these and similar postings.

As I write about more churches and religious buildings, I intend to update this guide to my postings, indicating the date of the latest update at the end of this page, and to provide a link in the toolbar in the banner at the top of the front page of this site.

The tower of the Church of Saint Mary Magdalen in Stony Stratford … originally a chapel-of-ease for the parish of Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Stony Stratford:

1, Saint Mary and Saint Giles, 27 March 2022, and HERE (18 April 2022)

2, Saint Mary Magdalene (Church of England), church tower and church ruins, 11 April 2022

3, Saint Mary the Virgin (Church of England), former parish church, 28 March 2022

4, Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Ambrosios and Saint Stylianos, 10 May 2022

5, Saint Mary Magdalene (Roman Catholic), 14 April 2022

6, Stony Stratford Methodist Church, 20 April 2022

7, Stony Stratford Community Church (Baptist), 20 April 2022

8, Stony Stratford Evangelical Church (Congregationalist), 20 April 2022

9, Saint Paul’s (school chapel), 13 April 2022

10, The former rectories in Stony Stratford, 29 May 2022

11, Calverton Limes, former home of two generations of Percevals, rectors of Wolverton Saint Mary, Stony Stratford (28 December 2022)

Bletchley:

12, Saint Mary’s Church, Church Green Road, Bletchley (Church of England), 16 December 2023

13,Whaddon Way Church (Church of England and Baptist), 13 November 2023

14, Queensway Methodist Church, 15 November 2022

15, Water Eaton Church Centre, Drayton Road, Bletchley, shared by Saint Frideswide’s Church (Church of England and Spurgeon Baptist Church, 16 January 2024

Bradwell:

16, Bradwell Abbey, 5 April 2022

Calverton:

17, All Saints’ Church, Calverton, 11 September 2022, and HERE, 16 April 2022

Downs Barn:

18, The Cross and Stable Church, 12 June 2022

Eaglestone:

19,The Chapel and Quiet Room, Milton Keynes University Hospital (20 March 2024).

Great Linford:

20, Saint Andrew’s Church, Great Linford, 3 November 2022 (HERE) and 25 May 2022 (HERE)

21, The Old Rectory, Great Linford, 17 November 2022.

22, The former Congregational Chapel, Great Linford, 17 November 2022.

Middleton (Milton Keynes Village):

23, All Saints’ Church, Milton Keynes Village, 29 January 2023.

Milton Keynes:

24, The Church of Christ the Cornerston, Central Milton Keynes, 7 December 2022

New Bradwell:

25, Saint James Church, 22 May 2022

26, New Bradwell Gospel Hall, Caledonian Road, 27 March 2023.

Newport Pagnell:

27, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, 5 May 2022

28, Saint Bede’s (Roman Catholic), 30 May 2022

29, Methodist Church, 11 May 2022

30, United Reformed Church, 7 May 2022

31, Tickford Priory, 4 May 2022

32, Former Baptist churches, Newport Pagnell, 30 May 2022

Passenham (Northamptonshire):

33, Saint Guthlac’s Church, 21 April 2022

Shenley Church End:

34, Saint Mary’s Church, 15 October 2022

Walton:

35, Saint Michael’s Church, Open University, Walton, 14 November 2022.

Willen:

36, Saint Mary Magdalene, 26 May 2022

Wolverton:

37, Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton, 19 April 2022

38, Saint George’s Church, Wolverton, 9 April 2022

39, Woverton Methodist Church, Church Street, 24 January 2023

40, West End United Church, Church Street, 24 January 2023

41, former United Reformed Church (Congregational Church), Wolverton, 26 February 2023

42, Wolverton Evangelical Church (former Emmanuel Hall), 25 January 2023

43, Wolverton House, birthplace of Archbishop John Habgood of York (23 January 2023)

Woughton-on-the-Green:

44, Saint Mary’s Church, Woughton (21 March 2024)

The Chantry Chapel of Saint John the Baptist is the oldest surviving building in Buckingham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Other parts of Buckinghamshire:

Aylesbury:

45, The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Aylesbury, 14 September, 2022

Buckingham:

46, Saint Peter and Saint Paul Parish Church, Buckingham, 31 May 2022

47, The Chantry Chapel of Saint John the Baptist, Buckingham, 31 May 2022

48, Prebendal manors and houses, Buckingham, 8 June 2022

49, Barton’s Chantry and Hospital, Church Street, Buckingham, 9 June 2022

50, Saint Rumbold’s greave and legends, Buckingham, 6 June 2022

Winslow:

51, Saint Laurence’s Church, Winslow, 6 September, 2022

52, Former Congregational Church, Horn Street, Winslow, 7 September 2022

53, Keach’s Meeting House, Bell Walk, Winslow 7 September 2022

54, Winslow Tabernacle, the former Baptist Chapel off High Street, Winslow, 8 September, 2022

Other religious traditions:

55, Milton Keynes and District Reform Synagogue, Great Linford, 25 November 2022

56, Japanese Peace Pagoda, Willen, 24 May 2022

57, The Tree Cathedral, Milton Keynes, 3 August 2022

58, The Wolverton United Synagogue Membership Group, or the Haversham Jewish Community, New Bradwell and Haversham (24 March 2023)

59, Bletchley: Bletchley Hebrew Congregaion (1 December 2023)

60, Wolverton: The Central Jamia Mosque, Church Street, Wolverton (11 March 2024)

The Peace Pagoda on the shores of Willen Lake was built in 1980 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Last updated: 21 March 2024

Praying with the Psalms in Ordinary Time:
19 June 2022 (Psalm 116)

‘For all the benefits he has given to me’ … Psalm 116 quoted on the coat of arms of Belfast City

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time, and today is the First Sunday after Trinity (19 June 2022). Later this morning, I am reading one of the lessons in a short broadcast service recorded for Clare FM, and I plan to attend the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church in Stony Stratford.

But, before today begins, I am taking some time this morning to continue my reflections drawing on the Psalms.

In my blog, I am reflecting each morning in this Prayer Diary in these ways:

1, Short reflections on a psalm or psalms;

2, reading the psalm or psalms;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Psalm 116:

Psalm 116 is the fourth of the six psalms (Psalms 113-118) comprising the Hallel (הַלֵּל, ‘Praise’). In the slightly different numbering system in the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, this psalm begins with Psalm 114, counted as verses 1-9 of Psalm 116, combined with Psalm 115 for the remaining verses. In Latin, Psalm 114 is known as Dilexi quoniam exaudiet Dominus, and Psalm 115 is known as Credidi propter quod locutus sum.

Psalms 113-118 are among the earliest prayers written to be recited in the Temple on days of national celebration. They were sung as accompaniment to the Pesach or Passover sacrifice. Early rabbinic sources suggest that these psalms were said on the pilgrimage festivals – Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot.

These psalms are known as the ‘Egyptian Hallel’ because of the references in Psalm 114 to the Exodus from Egypt.

This psalm has been connected with the trials the Jews endured in the times of the Maccabees under Antiochus Epiphanes, while some commentators ascribe it to Hezekiah’s sickness (see Isaiah 38). However, most commentators today ascribe it to King David.

Psalm 116 is the fourth of six psalms (113-118) of which Hallel is composed. On all days when Hallel is recited, this psalm is recited in its entirety, except on Rosh Chodesh and the last six days of Passover, when only verses 1-11 are recited.

In Hebrew, Psalm 116 is an acrostic poem. This psalm also provides the motto of the City of Belfast: Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamus is the Vulgate translation of Psalm 116: 12 (NRSV and NRSVA): ‘[What shall I return to the Lord] for all his bounty to me?’ (see Psalm 116: 10 in the Book of Common Prayer (Church of Ireland), p 729, ‘How shall I repay the Lord for all the benefits he has given to me’).

The psalmist tells the congregation God has heard his voice and has helped him in his time of distress and anguish. Now he will call on God for the rest of his life. Once he was near death, but when he called on God, God delivered him from death.

Despite the troubles he faced, he kept his faith in God. How can he repay God for saving him? He will make an offering in the Temple pray to the Lord in thanksgiving, in the presence of God’s people, the worshipping community.

God is now like a child or lowly servant in God’s presence, but God has freed him and brought him into his presence.

This psalm includes an early expression of the liar paradox when the psalmist says, I said in my consternation, ‘Everyone is a liar’ (Psalm 116: 11), formulated in Greek philosophy by Epimenides of Crete. When Saint Paul spoke to Saint Titus about his mission in Crete, he committed a logical fallacy by quoting Epimenides: ‘It was one of them, their very own prophet, who said, “Cretans are always liars, vicious brutes, lazy gluttons.” That testimony is true’ (Titus 1: 12-13a).

The ‘lie’ of the Cretans is that Zeus was mortal, for Epimenides believed that Zeus is dead. The logical inconsistency of a Cretan asserting all Cretans are always liars may not have occurred to Epimenides, nor to Callimachus, who both used the phrase to emphasise their point, without irony.

‘Everyone is a liar’ (Psalm 116: 11), an early expression of the liar paradox, formulated by the philosopher Epimenides of Crete … Epimenides gives his name to a street in Iraklion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 116 (NRSVA):

1 I love the Lord, because he has heard
my voice and my supplications.
2 Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:
‘O Lord, I pray, save my life!’

5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
6 The Lord protects the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
7 Return, O my soul, to your rest,
for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

8 For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling.
9 I walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
10 I kept my faith, even when I said,
‘I am greatly afflicted’;
11 I said in my consternation,
‘Everyone is a liar.

12 What shall I return to the Lord
for all his bounty to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord,
14 I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his faithful ones.
16 O Lord, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the child of your serving-maid.
You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice
and call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!

Today’s Prayer:

The theme this week in the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is the Swarupantor programme in the Church of Bangladesh. This theme is introduced in these words this morning:

‘The Church of Bangladesh’s Swarupantor programme aims to encourage the growth of self-sufficient communities in the Rajshahi, Khagrachari and Netrokona districts of Bangladesh. The programme is comprised of Bible study, economic empowerment and learning and development workshops.

‘Across the three districts where the workshops are being held, there are 19 groups who meet to study the Bible and to pray. In total, over 340 individuals attend these meetings. The groups also save money together and store large amounts of rice so that they have food to eat during the rainy season. In 2020, over 2,000 individuals attended programme workshops and the Church of Bangladesh hopes to involve more people in the programme when there are fewer Covid cases in these areas.

‘Despite the impact of Covid-19, both in terms of lives lost and rising rates of unemployment, the groups have continued to offer a sense of community over the last two years. Once more members find employment, the groups will be able to save more money and support each other to a greater extent. The Church remains hopeful that the Swarupantor programme will be a success in years to come.’

Sunday 19 June 2022:

The USPG Prayer invites us to pray today in these words:

Liberator God,
lift up the marginalised
and show us the right path.
May we help each other to be
independent and self-sufficient.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org