St Mary’s Church Parish
Magazine – December 2003
Readings for
Sundays and Festivals in December
The Indisputable
Facts of Life – as seen on TV
Daily prayer topics
in December
St Francis Xavier -
3 December
The Four Stages of
Life for Modern Man
Enjoyed Christmas
rather too much?
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.
|
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 |
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)
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
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
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
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
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
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 60th 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
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.
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
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.
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.
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."
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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'.
You believe in Santa
Claus
You don't believe in
Santa Claus
You are Santa Claus
You look like Santa
Claus
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.
Wednesday 24th
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.
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."
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
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'.
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
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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