The Eucharist will be celebrated additionally at 9.30 am on the first two Mondays in December: on the 1st for St Andrew's Day, and on the 8th for the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There will also be additional celebrations after Christmas: on Friday, 26th at 7.30 pm for St Stephen's Day, and at 9.00 am on Saturday, 27th for St John. And our celebration of all the events over the Christmas Season will end with a Sung Eucharist for The Epiphany on Tuesday, 6 January at 7.30 pm.

Partly as a result of the Toddlers' Service lapsing for the moment, Morning Prayer on Tuesday mornings, as from 2 December, will be said at 9.00 am rather than 9.30, thus falling into line with Mondays and Fridays. It will continue to be said at 9.30 on Wednesdays, immediately prior to the Eucharist, and at 8.30 on Saturdays.

The St Mary's Christmas Fair takes place on 6 December. Don't forget that an integral part of the Christmas Fair is the Rector's infamous Tombola. All gifts of jars, bottles (preferably non-alcoholic), tins and small gifts - the unlikelier the better - gratefully received.

The SMYF 60th Anniversary Weekend starts on Saturday, 13 December with a buffet lunch for past SMYF members in the Church Centre. The Centre will be open all afternoon for tea, biscuits and conversation. On Sunday, 14 December, the Preacher at the 9.30 am Sung Eucharist will be Rev'd Diana Gamble, Hon Curate of All Saints, Sanderstead and daughter of Ernie Gamble, the founder of SMYF. There will be wine and nibbles in the Centre after the service. (In case you don't know about SMYF - read John Clayton's potted history here).

There will be no special service for New Year's Day, but the regular Wednesday Eucharist takes place as usual at 10.00 am on New Year's Eve.

What’s on in December?

Mon	1	St Andrew
		Eucharist	9.30 am
		Magazine Panel meets at 35 Vanguard Way	6.00 pm
		Bible Study Group meets at 23 Mortlake Close	8.00 pm
Thu	4	MU&OG. 'Away From It All' with Mrs Denise Skeet Church Centre	8.00 pm
Sat	6	Christmas Fair. Church and Centre	11 am to 3.00 pm
SUN	7	ADVENT 2
		Families at St Mary's First Anniversary/Christmas Party. Church Centre	3.00 pm to 5.00 pm
		Churches Together Joint Advent Service, hosted by Springfield Church, at Wallington Girls School (No Evensong at St Mary's)	7.00 pm
Mon	8	Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
		Eucharist	9.30 am
		Bible Study Group meets at 23 Mortlake Close (last meeting until after Christmas)	8.00 pm
Fri	12	Carew Manor School Christmas Service in church	10.00 am
Sat	13	SMYF 60th Anniversary Reunion Celebrations
SUN	14	ADVENT 3
		Christingle & Toy Service	4.00 pm
		Evensong	6.30 pm
Wed	17	MU Corporate Eucharist	10.00 am
SUN	21	ADVENT 4
		Service of Nine Lessons and Carols	6.30 pm
Wed	24	Christmas Eve
		Family Service	6.00 pm
		Midnight Mass	11.30 pm
THU	25	CHRISTMAS DAY
		Eucharist with Carols	9.00 am
Fri	26	St Stephen
		Eucharist	7.30 pm
Sat	27	St John
		Eucharist	9.00 am
SUN	28	THE HOLY INNOCENTS
		Evening Prayer will be said	6.30 pm

Readings for Sundays and Festivals in December

Wed 24 Dec

Christmas Eve

Isaiah 9: 2-7 (page 15)

Titus 2: 11-14 (page 17)

Luke 2: 1-20 (page 17)

Thu 25 Dec

Christmas Day

Hebrews 1: 1-12 (page 24)

John 1: 1-14 (page 26)

Sun 28 Dec

Holy Innocents

Jeremiah 31: 15-17 (page 1152)

1 Corinthians 1: 26-29 (page 1153)

Matthew 2: 13-18 (page 1154)

Sun 7 Dec

Advent Two

Baruch 5: 1-9 (page 758)

Philippians 1: 3-11 (page 760)

Luke 3: 1-6 (page 761)

Sun 14 Dec

Advent Three

Zephaniah 3: 14-20 (page 762)

Philippians 4: 4-7 (page 763)

Luke 3: 7-18 (page 764)

Sun 21 Dec

Advent Four

Micah 5: 2-5a (page 765)

Hebrews 10: 5-10 (page 767)

Luke 1: 39-45 (page 768)

Saints in December

Mon 1 Andrew the Apostle

Wed 3 Francis Xavier

Sat 6 Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c326

Mon 8 Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Sat 13 Lucy, Martyr of Syracuse, 304

Fri 26 Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr

Sat 27 John, Apostle and Evangelist

Mon 29 Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1170

Music at Evensong in December

Sunday 21 December

Service of Nine Lessons and Carols

Sunday 28 December

Evening Prayer will be said

Sunday 7 December

No Evensong at St Mary's

Sunday 14 December

Canticles: Stanford in G

Anthem: How Beautiful Upon The Mountains – Stainer

PCC Notes

The PCC met on Tuesday, 11 November. We were pleased to note that the new floodlighting was fully operational, and that earlier problems with the time switch had been rectified. Many favourable comments had been received, from dog-walkers and other visitors to the park as well as from members of the congregation.

We received up-dates on the other two main on-going projects – the re-wiring and restoration of the Gothic Knight. So ‘on-going’ are they, however, that within a short space of time the information received at the meeting was already out of date! More up to date details about these two projects can be found elsewhere in the Magazine.

Not so much ‘on-going’ as ‘dormant’ is the repair and restoration of ‘Rector Hamilton’s Window’. The PCC are anxious that this does not remain dormant for too long, but every time we think we are getting close to affording the costs involved, so something more financially pressing comes along and takes priority.

We noted that a quotation for repairing the vandalised lychgate roof had been received, and that the work would commence shortly. Fortunately there were some spare tiles from a previous repair job which meant that the cost was less than it otherwise would have been.

Cassie’s report on finances indicated that, once again, income and expenditure are more or less balancing each other out. ‘Housekeeping’ was running about £265 behind target, but a single generous donation had brought the re-wiring project ahead of target. We also heard that it looked more than likely that our Fairer Shares assessment for 2004 would be slightly less than this year (including a discount for regular payment by Direct Debit).

The Wedding Fees for 2004, as proposed by the Finance Committee, were approved. Most of the elements which make up these Fees are laid down by Parliament, but the PCC has the power to set some of them. One such area is the amount charged for the Choir, which has not been increased for several years. The revised fee now includes blanket permission for video recording, and a guarantee of a minimum number of trebles.

The result of the congregational survey which took place in October was compared with the outcome of the same exercise undertaken earlier by the PCC. Some categories produced very similar results, but it was rather disconcerting to discover a wide variation in others. All this will be fed into our consideration and development of a new Mission Statement.

Members were informed that the dwindling attendance at the ‘Toddlers’ group, due largely to the success of ‘Families at St. Mary’s’ which was not only catering for the same people, but able to do that much more, had resulted in a decision that ‘Toddlers’ would be wound up. Being aware of the great contribution made by Pam Vernon in setting up the Toddlers group and then co-ordinating its activities over many years, the PCC conveyed to Pam its very sincere and grateful thanks for all she had done. Members hoped that by being relieved of this role she would be able to devote more time to her new appointment as Deanery President of the Mothers’ Union, and wished her well in this new venture.

We were attracted to the concept of a ‘meeting-free Lent’, and agreed to move the March meeting forward to Monday, 23 February. Before then, however, we have our next scheduled meeting which takes place on Monday, 19 January 2004.

Diana Harries

Secretary to PCC

Music At St Mary's

On Saturday, 11 October, there occurred an event unique - to the best of my memory - in the history of St Mary's. It was entitled "Grand Tour of the United Kingdom". In case it should be thought that we all got our cars out and travelled from one end of the UK to the other, the spectators sat comfortably in church and, ably led by the choir, sang hymns which have some connection with various locations throughout the country. From the far north of Scotland we sang "O For A Closer Walk With God", entitled Caithness. We proceeded through Scotland, then across to Northern Ireland with "Victim Divine, Thy Grace We Claim" (Colraine). Northern England followed - "Lo He Comes With Clouds Descending" (Helmsley), Then, oh rapture, into Wales! In my humble opinion, Wales has produced some of the best hymns ever written. What compares with Cwm Rhondda - "Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer"?

I'm afraid I didn't stay to the very end when we reached Truro with "Jesus Shall Reign Where'er The Sun", but I am told that a total of 157 hymns were sung in their entirety. Heartiest congratulations to Selwyn, who was there all the time and had not much voice left next day for the Sunday services.

It was a happy and spectacular marathon and through sponsorship for all who too part, raised a lot of money for both church and choir funds.

Harold Hore

Shiny Happy People !

After fending off an assortment of mini-ghosties, vampires and demons at the front door the Churchyard clan set off to St Mary's to help prepare the 'All Things Good Rainbow Party'. We decided on this theme after so many people had said how they disliked the whole 'Halloween thing' and didn't want to feed into the US hype that's around now.

The turnout was splendid - people from St Mary's, Happy Hands families, Toddlers Group members and a very welcome friend from Holy Trinity (they haven't quite got their hall sorted yet!). Some people had mentioned it to neighbours who tagged along and are now very keen to join Families.

Everyone entered into the spirit of the event and the costumes ranged from Matt the Frog, Rainbow Fairy De Ritter, Sammie the Clown and a whole host of fairies, rainbow children, clowns and unidentifiable coloured themes!

Ann started us of with a game of Jack Frost where one child freezes the others and another one is the sun and comes around and melts them - lots of squealing and running around took place. Then we bobbed apples - something sadly I had to demonstrate! We picked sweeties with our teeth from a large bowl of flour (very messy after the bobbing!) and the highlight was eating a donut soaked in golden syrup suspended from a string - Helena and Robert demonstrated just how messy this was when it was their turn - and just how did they both manage a whole donut in one bite !!

The food, as ever, was a demonstration of great creativity and generosity - jewel jellies, cakes and sweeties, fruit and veg platters with coloured dips - but the centrepiece was a platter made by Lizzie Atkins of nibbles, pinwheel sarnies and even smoked salmon!

It is so wonderful to see such happy faces around us, for the coming-together of families who seem to genuinely enjoy themselves and the encouragement from all those who take part to come up with new, exciting and bigger and better projects for families.

The families team is growing: Helena, Ann and I are now joined by Sharon Stubbings and Lizzie Atkins - people with much enthusiasm, creativity and faith in what we do.

We are hoping to promote 'Families' at the Christmas Fair and are busy planning the Christmas/First Anniversary party for the 7th - if you have any old crackers/cracker toys lying around we're your girls!

And, we are ever hopeful that the offer of joining us for the Christingle and Crib services will be taken up by as many new families as possible - I like to think that St Mary's is just like a bar of luxury chocolate, once you've tasted us, you'll want more and more!

Families wish everyone at St Mary's a very merry Christmas and thank them for all the support over the last year.

Carolyn Churchyard

St. Mary’s Youth Fellowship

The readers of this magazine may well have noticed, over the past couple of years, various references to SMYF and wondered what it stood for. SMYF is, or rather was, St. Mary’s Youth Fellowship (not to be confused with your fledgling group) and we give below a potted history.

SMYF finally closed in the early 1970’s having been an open club for a short while, which unfortunately sounded the death knell for it. The 2001, and this year’s Reunions, came about because a small number of former members had kept in touch and a frequent comment was “wouldn’t it be great to get together again”. John (Neddie) Clayton, a founder member, and his wife, Barbara, decided to produce a Newsletter and from an original distribution of approximately 12 people, more and more names were added to their mailing list until the 2001 Reunion saw some 140 people, all former members and their partners gather in Carew Manor. This year’s Reunion, the 60^th Anniversary of the formation of SMYF, will have only a third of that number (due partly to the nearness to Christmas) but nevertheless mini reunions take place throughout the year and old friendships are constantly being renewed. Now read on…

It was in December 1943 during the dark days of World War 2 that it was decided to start a Youth Fellowship at St. Mary’s Church and regular meetings were held from January 1944. Because of the war conditions members met on Sunday evenings from 6.30 to 8.30 pm after Evensong (held early during wartime) in order that they could get home before “Jerry” began his night-time raids. SMYF’S beginnings were small, no more than 20 members but very keen and enthusiastic and with a spirit of real fellowship, no doubt engendered by the “wartime spirit”. Muriel Hart, nee Boxall, was the main instigator of the Fellowship and from 1944 to 1965 the Chairman was Ernie Gamble, with Muriel and Ted Lane as Vice Chairmen during the early days. Other clubs in the district catered for those who wanted purely social activities, so this group was formed as a Fellowship - for active church members - open to those between the ages of 14 and 30. Each member was expected to take part in some form of church work, eg King’s Messengers, Serving, Sunday School, Magazine distribution etc. It was recognised that it was better to have a small group of keen active members than a large number of nominal members who would only attend those meetings that appealed to them.

Food and clothes were rationed, many young people were in the Forces, it was a rich person who could afford to smoke, nylon stockings were rare, no TV, and when the hut in Rectory Lane became a target for enemy action SMYF transferred to the Village Hall, Beddington. SMYF members celebrated VE and VJ days and one of the highlights was a midnight ramble. Members came back from evacuation, others returned from the forces, and numbers rapidly increased. Sunday meetings were still held after Evensong, now back at its normal time and meetings were also held during the week. Football, cricket, netball, hockey, other sporting events, amateur dramatics, speech contests and fetes were organised along with debates, musical record evenings, treasure hunts in the park, Rector’s evenings, cycle rides, dances and dancing classes, rambles and visiting speakers. SMYF gained a reputation as one of the best, if not the best, youth organisations in the district. They were the only youth group who had its name on every trophy that was offered for competition by the Youth Committee of the Borough of Beddington and Wallington.

SMYF was run by its members, with adults putting a brake on only the most hare-brained plans. All the time the emphasis was on “fellowship” amongst members and association with St. Mary’s Church. SMYF became a way of life for most members and is fondly remembered by all. Its former membership has now spread throughout the world and its ethos is practised and taught in the individual family units to this day… “Out of little acorns…”

John Clayton

The Indisputable Facts of Life – as seen on TV

This Christmas as you watch the feature films on TV, you may notice that…

Large, loft apartments in New York City are plentiful and affordable, even if the tenants are unemployed.

One of a pair of identical twins is evil.

Should you decide to defuse a bomb, don't worry about which wire to cut. You will always choose the right one.

It doesn't matter if you are greatly outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts. Your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one... dancing around in a threatening manner until you have dispatched their predecessors.

When you turn out the light to go to bed, everything in your bedroom will still be clearly visible but slightly blue.

If you are blonde and pretty, it is possible to be a world-famous expert on nuclear fission, dinosaurs, hieroglyphics, or anything else, at the age of 22.

Honest and hard-working policemen are usually gunned down a day or two before retirement.

During all crime investigations, it is necessary to visit a strip club at least once.

All beds have special L-shaped covers that reach up to the armpits of a woman but only to the waist of the man lying beside her.

All grocery shopping bags contain at least one French bread and one bunch of carrots with leafy tops.

If you are beautiful, your makeup never rubs off, even while scuba-diving or fighting aliens. However if you are overweight, your mascara will run and your lipstick will smear.

The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. No one will ever think of looking for you in there, and you can travel to any other part of the building without difficulty.

Rather than wasting bullets, megalomaniacs prefer to kill their enemies using complex machinery involving fuses, deadly gasses, lasers, chainsaws and hungry sharks; all of which will give their captives at least 20 minutes to escape.

It ’As2b ASDA!

St Mary’s Handbell Ringers are venturing into a “temple of Mammon”, as a former Rector would have called it. On Saturday December 13, they are off to ring in the foyer of the Asda store in Beddington Lane to raise money for the Tower and Bells fund. The Asda representative was most accommodating, saying they recognise they are in our parish and would be pleased to help us.

The Handbell Ringers will be there from about 10.00 am onwards. If you want to come along and support us - you could combine it with some shopping - we would be pleased to see you.

Jean Kimber

Free Christmas Lunch

Churches Together in Beddington and Wallington are again organizing a lunch on Christmas Day for any who would like to come.

This year it will be held at the new Trinity Centre, next to Holy Trinity Church in Malden Road, Wallington. Transport can be arranged locally.

If you would like more information, please 'phone

Christine on 020 8395 2872 or

Frances on 020 8647 2688

To help with the lunch, Pam Vernon would be pleased to receive any Nectar tokens or raffle prizes. Thank you.

Rector’s Notes

Toddling Off

A huge thank you this month to Pam Vernon, who has been spear-heading the monthly Toddlers' service for well over ten years. Although many other members of the Mothers' Union have always come along to help out, and to make young mums (and occasionally dads) feel at home, the bulk of the planning and the actual content of the monthly meeting has nearly always fallen on Pam. She's shouldered the burden very graciously, and many generations of toddlers and their parents have had a lot of fun. They've got to know that church is a friendly place, and many lasting friendships have been formed. Many young children have come to Toddlers after being baptised; probably more have been brought to be baptised after mums and dads realised, through the toddlers group, that the friendly atmosphere actually spread over into other church services and events too, and that Pam and other MU members were showing the love and care of God in real practical ways by what they did. So thank you, everybody - but above all thank you Pam for your love and your dedication all this time.

However, even good things sometimes have to wind down. With the most recent generation of toddlers going off to school or nursery school in September, the numbers attending the monthly group have suddenly fallen to an all-time low; and it's certainly true that the Families Group, which has a very thriving membership, is now doing a lot of the things that the Toddlers' service was founded to do more than a decade ago, and more. Plus Pam has volunteered (sort of!) to become Deanery Presiding Member for the MU as from next February, and certainly would welcome some more time for her new duties. So the Toddlers' service is discontinued, at least for the time being; but we'll keep an eye on the situation as the months go by.

Calling all MU members!

Gwen Whiting is standing down as our Enrolling Member at the end of December, after four years in the post and six previously on the Committee. Thank you, Gwen, for your gentle leadership, your commitment, and your enthusiasm - enjoy a well-deserved rest! But we need someone to take over; and so far volunteers are a bit thin on the ground… I suppose it's technically possible for a Mothers' Union branch to carry on without an Enrolling Member at the helm, as long as there is an efficient and enthusiastic committee (which we certainly still have) - but it would be very unusual and might be quite difficult. I'd hate to see a branch which passed its century with such zeal a few years ago slowly limp into the past because no-one was prepared to have a go. So anyone who thinks this particular job might be for you after all, please have a word with Gwen or me fairly urgently. Gwen adds:

"The MU is a Christian organisation with more than three million members worldwide. Though our lives and our experience of the Mothers' Union may differ widely depending on where we are, we are united by our shared belief in the importance of family values. We all have something to offer and something to learn. We have strong personal links between members around the world and we unite in prayer, worship and fellowship.

Please come along and see for yourselves what the MU is all about. Our next meeting will be on Thursday 4th December at 8 pm when we will be having an MU speaker telling us all about the "Away From It All" scheme. Everyone is welcome - men, women, married, unmarried, etc."

Gothic Knightmares

It's called Built-in Obsolescence. It's the principle that as soon as you do or say anything, particularly in print, events will overtake you and it's already out of date. So I should have known, shouldn't I, when I wrote confidently last month about the moving of the Gothic Knight and the start of the electrical work . . .

Sir Roger was duly taken up from his slab under the choir stalls on 1 November. However, in the course of the work Martin Stuchfield (from the Monumental Brass Society) became increasingly worried about the nature of the slab in which he has been resting for the last hundred years and more. Once the brass itself was safely out of the way, Martin drilled down right through two of the existing rivet-holes to prove exactly what the slab consisted of and what might lie underneath. And sure enough, we were effectively back to Plan A. Sir Roger has been resting in a slab of hard Victorian concrete, between four and five inches thick. Below this is a void space of the same depth or slightly more; and below this, as far as we are able to ascertain with torches and a piece of bent wire (all hi-tech stuff, this), is the original medieval earth floor. The problem is that Plan A involved breaking up the concrete and replacing it with a modern slab of Portland stone, cut very precisely to fill the gap; and the harder we looked at the site, neither Martin nor I nor Brian Drury our architect could see any way of physically carrying out this complicated manoeuvre in the very cramped space available, at least not without temporarily taking up the desks of the rear choir stalls, which would be difficult, expensive, and not allowed for by the present Faculty permission.

Mercifully, Martin is one of the most knowledgeable people in the country where medieval brasses are concerned. He's not merely the author of several books on related topics, but conveniently he's adviser on brasses to the Diocesan Advisory Committees (DACs) of Chelmsford, Ipswich and Norwich. He knows his stuff. He, Brian, our Wardens and I spent a good deal of time pondering where else in church a slab of Portland stone five feet by three and half by four inches deep, with a medieval brass knight sat on top, might actually go without too much intrusion. And the longer we thought, it seemed that what had started out as an only half-serious suggestion of mine was probably the best answer; it ought to go in the floor of the sanctuary, immediately in front of the High Altar, and covered by the present blue sanctuary carpet in exactly the same way as are the other brasses in the centre of the chancel floor. Here there is great deal more space in which the work could be carried out, and (at least by comparison) cutting out the necessary dimensions of Victorian paving stone, to make room for the new slab, would be easy. The brass could lie, correctly, east-west, as he has done for centuries, and with a little work to the carpet it would be just as easy to display him as it is already to display the rest. The concrete slab under the front choir stalls could then be left just as it now is, and would be viewable if anyone ever needed to see the brass's original siting and what the Victorians had done with it.

I'm relieved to say that our own DAC is delighted with this idea, and has written to the diocesan Chancellor on our behalf, asking for permission to vary the terms of the existing Faculty so that this amended scheme can be carried through. Naturally any dust created by the new stone-cutting will be far less severe than we originally thought, and we hope it will be possible to time the work so that it is done immediately before our electrical firm needs to begin serious work in the chancel. Thus the organ, in turn, will need to be shrouded for a far shorter period than we anticipated, and probably the shrouding can take place much further on in the re-wiring project than we thought.

The electrical work itself will not now begin until the week commencing Monday 1 December, owing to the company's being delayed in its current project in another church. Hopefully the few days lateness here will not put the timetable for our work out too much. In very broad terms, when they actually start, they will begin the re-wiring of the south aisle and the Carew chapel first, the nave and chancel next, and the St Nicholas chapel last, working from west to east in each area as they proceed. The bulk of the re-wiring is expected to be complete by Christmas; the actual replacement lighting will be installed in the New Year. There will probably be some temporary new lighting in the Carew chapel (where the present lighting is dreadful!) and a sample of the uplighters in the nave, installed at any early stage. This will not only give people a better idea of what to look forward to when the whole project is complete, but will enable the separate firm who might be involved in some cleaning (or at least dusting) of the roof to estimate the time and cost that any work might involve. There will be a scaffolding tower in more or less permanent residence in some part of the church, and quite possibly some other scaffolding stored temporarily in places around the church at various times during the work.

All this will be kept, deliberately, as unobtrusive as possible, and the firm already has a complete list not only of our regular daily services but of all special events and services around the Christmas period.

The final thing to say is probably the most serious. While the re-wiring work is in progress the church will be effectively a building site, at least from 8 on a Monday morning to 5 on a Friday afternoon. As in any building project, one of the senior members of the team will be nominated Site Manager, and he is in charge. Particularly when scaffolding is in use, we do what he or any other member of the team asks. If he says we can't use the Carew chapel for three days, we find somewhere else for our regular daily services. If he says you can't arrange the flowers without a hard hat, we find some hard hats! Within reason we are their guests, and we play by their rules. My rule will be that we surround them, and the whole project in all its ramifications, with prayer as well as goodwill and co-operation while we are working together for the beauty of our building and for the glory of God.

Selwyn Tillett

Daily prayer topics in December

Mon 1 For all deep sea fishermen, their safety and industry

Tue 2 Preparations for Christmas

Wed 3 That we may prepare our hearts for the Second Coming of our Lord

Thu 4 The Little Gidding Community

Fri 5 Young people seeking holiday employment

Sat 6 All attending our Christmas Fair

Sun 7 Churches Together in Wallington joint service today

Mon 8 Thanksgiving for Mary, the mother of our Lord

Tue 9 The homeless and unemployed

Wed 10 Vocations to the priesthood

Thu 11 United Nations peacekeeping forces

Fri 12 Carew Manor School teachers, helpers and pupils

Sat 13 SMYF 60th Anniversary Reunion weekend

Sun 14 The Children's Society

Mon 15 Our local shops and industries

Tue 16 All going away for Christmas

Wed 17 Save the Children Fund

Thu 18 Peace and stability in Iraq

Fri 19 Those who will be alone this Christmas

Sat 20 All married at St Mary's in 2003

Sun 21 Our Carol Service and all who will attend

Mon 22 All who maintain essential services over Christmas

Tue 23 Refugees and asylum seekers

Wed 24 That the true spirit of Christmas may dwell in our hearts

Thu 25 Thanksgiving for the birth of Jesus, the Light of the World

Fri 26 All who are martyred in their faith in Christ

Sat 27 Thanksgiving for the Gospel of St John

Sun 28 Children who suffer as a result of war and violence

Mon 29 The Archbishop of Canterbury

Tue 30 For all who teach the faith

Wed 31 For all who hope for better things in 2004

Poetry and Spirituality

This was the rather daunting title of an evening in October spent exploring a selection of poems. These ranged from a sonnet by John Donne to a recent poem by a 14 year old boy.

Jackie Egerton helped us to look at poetry and express our own reactions to it.

We look forward to a similar evening in the new year - don't miss it!

Betty Walker

Harvest Thanks

We have received grateful thanks from both Nightwatch and Sutton Welcare for the Harvest Festival gifts which were distributed between these two charities.

Both organisations emphasised just how dependent they are on such donations to enable them to continue their very worthwhile services to the local community.

Park Friends

After a successful day's trading at the TS Puma Boot Sale, the Friends of Beddington and The Grange Parks are now planting their next project - a wonderful show of spring daffs and crocus in the avenue of trees between Carew Manor and the river.

St Francis Xavier - 3 December

Ignatius Loyala sent his friend and follower Francis Xavier (born 1506) to the Orient as a missionary. What a missionary! Imagine David Livingstone, Billy Graham and the Alpha Courses rolled into one. His mass conversions became legendary – he baptised 10,000 people in one month and in just ten years of work was credited with 700,000 conversions.

Xavier certainly became the most famous Jesuit missionary of all time, working so hard that he had only a few hours sleep each night. He was known as ‘the Apostle of the Indies’ and ‘the Apostle of Japan’. He began by reforming Goa, which contained numerous Portuguese Catholics notorious for cruelty to their slaves, open concubinage, and neglect of the poor. For three years, by example, preaching and writing verses on Christian truths set to popular tunes, Francis did much to offset this betrayal of Christ by bad Christians.

For the next seven years he worked among the Paravas in southern India, in Ceylon, Malacca, the Molucca islands, and the Malay peninsula. He met with immense success among the low-caste but with almost none among the Brahmins.

In 1549 he ventured on to Japan, translated an abridged statement of Christian belief, and made a hundred converts in one year at Kagoshima alone. When he left Japan, the total number of Japanese Christians was about 2,000; within 60 years they were resisting fierce persecution, even to death.

Wherever Xavier sailed, he left after him numerous organised Christian communities. Not bad for a man who suffered seasickness and had trouble in learning foreign languages!

Xavier died in 1551, on his way to China. His body was preserved and enshrined for many years. His right arm was detached in 1615 and is still preserved in the church of the Gesu at Rome. He was canonized by Gregory XV in 1622, and declared Patron of the Foreign Missions by Pius XI in 1927.

St Nicholas - 6 December

Father Christmas is as old as Europe. Once he was Woden, lashing his rein-deer through the darkness of northern midwinter. Then he encountered the Church, and She transformed him into a saint, the much-loved Nicholas, Bishop of Myra (in south-west Turkey) in the fourth century. St Nicholas became the patron saint of children, and was given 6 December as his day.

Since the sixth century St Nicholas has been venerated in both East and West, though virtually nothing is known of his life. Some believe he may have been one of the fathers at the Council of Nicea (325), imprisoned during the Emperor Diocletian’s persecution.

According to legend, Nicholas was an extremely generous man. He revived three schoolboys murdered by an innkeeper in a tub of pickles. He rescued three young women from prostitution by giving their poverty-stricken father three bags of gold (hence the use of three gold balls as a pawnbroker’s sign).

Over the centuries many, including children, sailors, unmarried girls, pawnbrokers and moneylenders have claimed him as their patron. (Moneylenders? Still true today – just think what will be on your Visa card by Christmas!)

Perhaps it was on account of St Nicholas’ generosity that in recent centuries children began to write little notes sometime before 6 December, to tell him about the toys they specially wanted. These notes were then left on the windowsill at night - or else on a ledge in the chimney.

But St Nicholas Day chanced to lie in the magnetic field of a much more potent festival.... and after a while his activities were moved towards Christmas. Then in Bavaria the children still left their notes on the window sill, but they addressed them to Liebes Christkind - Krishkinkle as they knew him - and the saint’s part in the matter was simply to deliver the letters in heaven.

The most popular result of the cult of St Nicholas has been the institution of Santa Claus. He is based on Nicholas’ patronage of children and the custom in the Low Countries of giving presents on his feast. Santa Claus has reached his zenith in America, where the Dutch Protestants of New Amsterdam (New York) united to it Nordic folklore legends of a magician who both punished naughty children and rewarded good ones with presents.

St Stephen - 26 December

We should not forget that on Boxing Day we also celebrate "the feast of Stephen". Stephen occupies a unique place as the first Christian martyr, and his death was a watershed in the history of the early church. As a result of the persecution prompted by his death, the church was scattered from Jerusalem, and Jewish Christians began to share their faith with non-Jews for the first time.

Stephen is first mentioned as one of the deacons in the Jerusalem church, charged with the job of ensuring a fair distribution of food and relief to the widows. He is described as 'a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit'. While confident of God's faithfulness, his whole personality was under the control of the Holy Spirit. Little wonder that God was clearly seen at work through him!

As a result of the signs and wonders he performed, Stephen was arrested and put on trial. However, nobody was able to argue against his wisdom, and in a remarkable sermon he demonstrated clearly how God's purposes are fulfilled in Christ. This God-given insight enabled him to see to the heart of things.

Stephen died as he lived - full of the Holy Spirit. A vision of the ascended Christ sustained him through his stoning to death and he died like his master, commending himself to God and praying for his murderers.

The story of Stephen reminds us forcefully again of the truth of those words, 'the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church'.

The Four Stages of Life for Modern Man

You believe in Santa Claus

You don't believe in Santa Claus

You are Santa Claus

You look like Santa Claus

Gertrude (Trudie) Pring

born 6/8/1905 - died 5/11/2003

A former nurse and resident of Bute Road has died at the age of 98. Mrs Pring was the widow of Phil Pring and mother of Tim, John, Beryl and Peter. She also had 10 grandchildren and 17, soon to be 19, great grandchildren.

Many people in the Bute Road area, over many years, were grateful to Mrs Pring for her voluntary nursing skills in the days when a greater community spirit existed. She was presented with an Evening News Good Neighbour Award in 1970.

The Pring family moved to Beddington in 1932 and they lived in the area for 72 years. Phil Pring was a chorister at St Mary's for 40 years and sons Tim, John and Peter and grandson Andrew also sang in the choir. In 1994, Mr and Mrs Pring moved to Hayling Island to be near Tim.

If any reader would like to make contact with the Pring family, Tim's telephone number is 023 9237 0524.

Christmas Eve Family Service

Wednesday 24^th December 6.00 pm

The Sunday School, with the help of some of our young people, will be bringing the story of Mr Toomey the wood carver to life. Many of you may know the story of the sad wood carver who opens his door to a young widow and her son who lost their crib when they moved house.

As the story unfolds we will be building a crib of young people as well as a more traditional crib that will stay in church throughout Christmastide. It is very doubtful that any of the Sunday School would want to miss going home for Christmas morning!

The lights of the Christmas Tree will be lit reminding us of the coming of The Light of The World.

We hope you will come and enjoy this very special service.

Christingle

Do join us for the CHRISTINGLE and TOY SERVICE on 14 December at 4 pm. Just to remind you, the collection at the Christingle service is given to The Children's Society and will be used to support its anti-bullying work with under-privileged children and all children at risk. If you are bringing a toy to the service, please could it be wrapped and labelled with the age and sex of the child it would be suitable for. They will be passed to a local organisation that will make sure they go to children whose lives are so disrupted they will not receive presents from family and friends.

The Children's Society asks us to remember their prayer:

"Lord, may the light of the Christingle Candle flood the Church and the world with your love. Help us to work with joy and thanksgiving to ensure that none of your children will remain in darkness, but that we may all enter into your glorious light. Amen."

From the registers

Baptisms

Nov 9 Louis John Thompson of 9 Streeters Lane, Wallington

Nov 9 Laura Rose Esther Haite of 3 Clayton Court, 8 Twickenham Close, Beddington

Nov 9 Lauren Katie Ellen Thompstone of 59 Claydon Drive, Beddington

What's in a Name?

by David Winter

Shakespeare said that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, which is undoubtedly true. But that doesn't mean that names aren't important. People who are given ridiculous or inappropriate names by their parents often go to great lengths to assume another, whether a nickname or a genuine, legal change. Names colour our view of people - who would call their little boy ‘Adolf'?

All through the Bible names are highly significant. Sometimes God himself is said to ‘name' people - Abraham, for instance. Jesus named Simon as ‘Peter', the rock. And at this Christmas season we are reminded that the name ‘Jesus' itself was not simply a matter of Joseph and Mary discussing what to call their new baby boy. It was the angel of God who named him: "You are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). The name, as it were, would determine the divine purpose behind this miraculous birth. The child's name, Jesus - Yeshua in Hebrew - was also the name of the man who led the Israelites into Canaan, usually rendered in English as ‘Joshua'. So the name was already associated with a mighty saviour (which explains the second part of the angel's message).

There's another name in Matthew's account of the birth of Jesus - ‘Emmanuel'. "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel" - words taken from the prophet Isaiah and applied to the baby yet to be born. So far as we know, nobody ever actually called Jesus ‘Emmanuel', but the title has enormous significance. It means ‘God with us'. At Bethlehem, in some mysterious way, the God of eternity entered the world of mortality in the person of this infant: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). And then, right at the end of Matthew's Gospel, we have the promise that although in physical presence Jesus was to leave the earthly world, he would still be ‘God with us' to the end of human time (Matthew 28:20).

So names matter, especially biblical ones. In many ways, the name tells us all we need to know in order to understand the purpose of the coming of Jesus. ‘He will save his people from their sins‘, and ‘he will be with us, even to the end of the age'.

Enjoyed Christmas rather too much?

Don't worry, help is at hand ……

Kathleen Lawrence is offering a programme of gentle exercises to music for MEN & WOMEN OF ALL AGES - beginning after Christmas, dates and times to be arranged.

FITNESS and FUN FOR ALL looks all set to live up to its title and - for £2.50 per session - you will also be contributing to the fitness of the REWIRING FUND.

Contact either of the Churchwardens if you would like to join

St Mary's Crèche

As you may be aware we do run a crèche in the vestry on Sunday mornings. It is being used most Sunday mornings now which is encouraging - but we still need a few more volunteers to do a session on a rota basis, as we would like to keep to around two/three sessions per year per person.

If you think you might be able to help - please contact Pam or Carolyn.

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