Last month the magazine concentrated on Epiphany, the season when we remember the ways that Jesus was revealed to the disciples and to the world – in the arrival of the kings, Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan, the transformation of water into wine and in the identification of Jesus as the Messiah by Simeon and Anna in the Temple. As I put the service together, I realised that the readings were from all four Gospels – Matthew, Mark, John and Luke – and that this in itself tells us something about the revelation of God.

Why were there four Gospels – surely the message is diluted if we have to have it from different perspectives. Surely the story, the truth claim of Christianity would be much stronger if there was only one?

Tidying up the narrative, ironing out the inconsistencies between the Gospels has been a task that has occupied some members of the Christian community for centuries. Marcion in the second century decided that the Gospel of Love could best be served by getting rid of all the biblical witness except some of St Paul’s writings and an appropriately edited version of Luke’s Gospel – everything else was not properly Christian and had to be rejected. On the other hand, Tatian who was a Christian at around the same time took another approach. He aimed to smooth the edges by merging the four Gospels into one, in a work called the Diatesseron. Clearly for some parts of the early Church, four Gospels was just too messy.

But I believe that having four Gospels are important. They show us different aspects of Jesus’ life and teaching and differences in the way that Jesus was perceived. They show slightly different emphases in the way that God, and God’s love and transformation is understood and what that means for us now and in the future. Having four Gospels teaches us about the richness and roundedness of God; that it is something none of us can contain and own. There is always space for more.

But the four Gospels not only teach us about God, but about the Church too. They show us that there is room within Christianity and the Church for more than one point of view; they show us that as we seek God and Jesus we start from different places and go on slightly different routes and that is to be expected. The four Gospels teach us about diversity and inclusion from the very beginning of our faith, and they also show us that such diversity is not easy to resolve or minimise.

The four Gospels show us that our individual voices, our individual talents, perspectives, values and personalities are valid and welcome within the Church, and that without them our understanding of what we’re here for and our understanding of God would be so much poorer.

What has been wonderful since we launched the Taskforces in December is the number of people who have been so enthusiastic about joining their voices and their talents to the life of St Mary’s. We have a group of hugely gifted people who want to share God’s love in the church and particularly beyond it, and who want to proclaim their joy in God in a variety of different ways. Over the coming months you’ll hear more about the progress of the groups and you’ll be able to see for yourselves what has been achieved. And remember, if you want to add your voice and your talents then please talk to either Paul or myself.

This year our Lent course will be “Where is God…?” produced by York courses. The five sessions look at where (or indeed if) we can find God

- when we seek happiness

- when we face suffering

- when we make decisions

- when we contemplate death

- when we try to make sense of life.

We’ll be holding the course in a variety of venues, with morning and evening courses available. If you’d like to host a course, lead one, or attend one then please see Justine.

Diary for February

Sunday 1 Candlemas

Services at Usual Times

Weds 4 Literature Course discussing ‘Atonement’ by Ian Mcewan

10 –12 am St Mary’s Centre

Eucharist Carew Chapel 10:00 am

St Mary’s Guild St Mary’s Court 2:30pm

Thurs 5 Praise and Play 10-11:30 St Mary’s Centre

Mothers Union AGM 3:30 St Mary’s Centre

Sunday 8 3rd before Lent

Services at usual times

Guides and Brownies in Church 9:30am

Talk on Wateraid at 9:30 service

Monday 9 Theology Book Club ‘Surprised by Hope’ 32 Waterer Rise 7:30pm

Tuesday 10 Time for God 9:30 Carew Chapel

Weds 11th Eucharist Carew Chapel 10:00 am

Sunday 15th 2nd before Lent Services at Usual Times

Weds 18th Mothers Union Corporate Eucharist Carew Chapel 10:00am

Poetry Circle ‘William Blake’ St Mary’s Centre 2-4pm

Thurs 19 Praise and Play 10-11:30 St Mary’s Centre

Sunday 22 Next before Lent Services at usual times

Tuesday 23 Shrove Tuesday

Pancake Tea St Mary’s Centre 3-5pm

Weds 25 Eucharist Carew Chapel 10:00am

Friday 27 Kith Kin and Kanine

Tea and Coffee and Cake. St Mary’s centre 10—11:30 am

Saturday 28 Ringers Quiz Night 7:30 St Mary’s centre

Top of the Document

Saints and Commemorations

1 Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525

2 THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE (CANDLEMAS)

3 Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary in Denmark and Sweden, 865

4 Gilbert of Sempringham, Founder of the Gilbertine Order, 1189

6 The Martyrs of Japan, 1597

10 Scholastica, sister of Benedict, Abbess of Plombariola, c.543

14 Cyril and Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869 and 885

14 Valentine, Martyr at Rome, c.269

15 Sigfrid, Bishop, Apostle of Sweden, 1045

15 Thomas Bray, Priest, Founder of the SPCK and the SPG, 1730

17 Janani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr, 1977

23 Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Martyr, c.155

George Herbert, Priest, Poet, 1633

From The Registers

Funerals

30 December 2008 David Brooks

5 January 2009 Graham Woodhead

6 January 2009 Cecily Gibbons

26 January 2009 Brian Eric Moore

Lent begins

25 February 2009

Lent is the period of six weeks leading up to Easter, the most important festival in the Christian calendar. It starts on Ash Wednesday and climaxes during Easter Week. It lasts a total of 40 days, not including Sundays.

Lent started in the 4th Century: it was introduced to encourage a return to self-discipline. At that time, baptisms normally took place on Easter Day and members of the church would join those preparing for baptism by fasting for several weeks beforehand.

Gradually Christians began to associate the fast with the 40 day period when Jesus went into the desert to fast and pray in preparation for his ministry. During this time he was tempted several times by Satan, but was able to resist.

The day before Lent starts is Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day. Traditionally, Christians gave up meat, fat, eggs and dairy products for Lent. This was the last chance to use up some of these foods before Lent began. Today people often give up chocolate or alcohol.

Festivities take place in many cities all over the world, including Mardi Gras in New Orleans (USA), Carnival in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Venice (Italy). People dress up, wear masks, parade and dance in the streets.

On Ash Wednesday many churches hold services during which Christians are marked on the forehead with a cross of ashes as a sign of penitence and mortality. The ashes come from burning the palm crosses from Palm Sunday of the previous year.

Lent is a time of preparation for Easter, ending in Holy Week.

Top of the Document

Smells, Bells & Nourishment

The Diocesan Servers’ Festival 2009

On a freezing Saturday morning in early January, the temperature on leaving home was –3 degrees, a small group from St Mary’s met at Wallington station to travel by the 10.08 am train to London Bridge, to attend the annual Servers’ Festival at Southwark Cathedral.

The festival was due to start with a Eucharist at midday, but Pierre, Jean, David and I agreed to take an earlier train in order to spend time before the service savouring the delicacies of Borough Market.

The market was a hive of activity with very colourful displays of a wide variety of edible goodies and various delightful smells. When the cold began to penetrate even the warmest gloves and socks and we decided to head for the Cathedral refectory.

On the way we took time to find the paving stone with St Mary’s Beddington carved on it amongst those of all the other parishes in the Diocese. These are located in the glass covered walkway between the main cathedral building and the buildings containing the education centre, shop and refectory. We found our parish paving stone near the entrance to the refectory. After warming our hands and other frozen parts with cups of hot coffee and exchanging greetings with some friends from St Margaret’s Lee with whom I went on pilgrimage last year, we took our seats in the Nave of the Cathedral.

The Southwark Diocesan Guild of Servers was founded in 2000 as a new initiative for the Millenium and now has a membership of about 350 drawn from parishes from all over the Diocese. It has become the blueprint for initiatives in other diocese’s and there are plans for a national guild based on the Southwark model. The annual festival is always held in the season of Epiphany and the cathedral authorities leave the beautiful crib in place in front of the High altar until after the festival. The festival is an opportunity for servers to meet together in worship and to meet together in worship and socially, to share experiences and learn from each other and above all rededicate themselves. Rededication happens during the festival Eucharist which this year was lead by Bishop Tom.

In his sermon Bishop Tom shared some anecdotes from his own experience, including a story about when he was an ordinand at Mirfield, having to light some very high candles in front of all the other ordinands and the monks, and a story which happened when he was Bishop of Willesden about a poignant pause and profound silence caused by him losing his place in the prayer of consecration at a high mass!

The main focus of his sermon was on the story of Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding at Cana which was the gospel reading. The bishop drew out three main points for the congregation to consider:

Firstly that God is mightily at work, not just in the Sanctuary but in the most ordinary and extraordinary places in the world.

Secondly, in all our various ministries we all witness to a God who forms and transforms.

Thirdly he focused on the generosity of God. He drew our attention to

Jesus producing more wine than was required. God gives us far more than we desire or deserve and we see this in the sanctuary week by week. “Gods Holy gifts for Gods Holy people”.

He finished by telling the story of some Portuguese explorers who when nearing the coast of central America were having to conserve their water supplies not knowing that in fact they were sailing in fresh water. He compared this with the miracle of faith and God’s boundless love in the gifts of the bread and the wine of the Eucharist.

After the Eucharist and before the afternoon activities there was the opportunity to share coffee and socialise in the cathedrals education centre. On my way to the refectory I heard the cathedral bells pealing out, it was a glorious sound.

The festival finished with Choral Evensong, sung by an all male choir from Croydon Parish Church. The sermon preached by Canon Robert Titley focused upon the giving of ones best in the service of God, both in the sanctuary and in our every day lives.

Top of the Document

Celebrating 150 years of the parish magazine

– unless you know better!

The Church of England launched a new section of its website in celebration of 150 years of the parish magazine.

The Church estimates that the combined readership of its parish magazines exceeds that of several national newspapers, taken together.

Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, says on the new web-site: “A good parish magazine is a wonderful resource that places the local church at the heart of the community it serves.

“We owe our gratitude to all those who labour lovingly to produce this regular shop-window for their church or parish.As a team or solo, with a generous budget or an alarmingly fraying shoestring, this is a ministry we need to recognise and to support.”

The site comprises:

• Commendation from the Archbishop of Canterbury

• 150 not out: A historical sketch

• In praise of church magazines . . .

• Tributes from the Editors of the Church Times and Church of England Newspaper

• Prayer for magazine editors

• Links to on-line resources

No-one is quite sure exactly when the modern parish magazine was born, but despite claims for Frome's The Old Church Porch (first published 1854), it is generally thought that Erskine Clarke's Parish Magazine of January 1859 probably marks the real start of the genre.

“These much-maligned publications could be the secret weapon of ‘the mission-shaped church’”, says Peter Crumpler, the Archbishops’ Council’s Director of Communications.He goes on to suggest four key actions to give parish magazines a future:

• Look good;

• Be a vital part of your church’s mission;

• Know your readership – and encourage them to take part;

• Work with the church’s other communications channels.

The new site is at http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/diocesesparishes/parishmags/

Mothers’ Union

On 6th January, there was an MU Deanery Epiphany Service at St Barnabas’ Church in Sutton. It was good to join with other MU Members from branches throughout the Deanery for this act of worship. Afterwards we got together for refreshments in the Church hall, and handed in the items we had brought along for the Womens’ Refuges in the Diocese.

Liz Pullen the Social Policy Unit Coordinator for the Southwark Diocesan Mothers Union, gave a short talk on domestic abuse, and a quiz to test our knowledge of the subject. Here are some concerning figures:

1 in 4 women who visit their GP in 1998 had experienced domestic abuse.

50,00 women and children are housed annually in safe temporary accommodation.

In Britain police receive a complaint of domestic abuse every 60 seconds.

Sadly our branch meeting in January was cancelled because of bad weather and sickness. Because of the recent bad weather we have changed the time of our AGM from 7:30 pm to 3:30 pm on Thursday 5th February. Everyone is welcome to come to the meeting.

Dates for February: Thursday 5th

AGM followed by refreshments and raffle.

Also a discussion on future plans .

Thursday 18th MU Corporate Eucharist 10:00 am

in the Carew Chapel. All welcome. Refreshments after.

Top of the Document

The Albinoni String Orchestra and St Mary’s Choir

Saturday 6th June 2009 at 7:30pm

Tickets: £7, £5 concessions, Students and under 12s free (Tickets available soon)

The Albinoni String Orchestra, wrongly described as a Quartet in the last magazine, conducted by Ian Butterworth will be making a welcome return visit to St Mary’s on the 6th June. They will be joined by the St Mary's Choir for a programme of Choral and Orchestral Music.

Where did the bats go?

Last month we missed the bats from the article ‘Bats in the Belfry’ Here we rectify the mistake!

Of all the other towers I've visited, several stick in my mind. Stella Maris (Star of the Sea), in South Carolina, stands right on the seashore. It is a beautiful setting with a Rectory to die for opposite - until you realise it's built on stilts and there's a mark high on the church porch showing where the water reached when Hurricane Andrew struck!

Heavy rings of bells stick in one's mind, probably due to the effort required! On one ringing tour, we rang the heaviest 10 (Wells Cathedral, 56 cwt), the heaviest eight (Sherborne Abbey, 46 cwt), the heaviest six (Queen Camel, 36¾ cwt) and the heaviest five (East Pennard, 24 cwt) The Treble there (the lightest bell in a ring) weighs 11 cwt and is the heaviest Treble in the world and about the weight of our 8th bell. No wonder we were tired! (In recent years, St Buryan, in Cornwall has been augmented and is now the heaviest six at 37 cwt)

In complete contrast, on our recent Tower Outing, we rang at the lightest ring of 12, at Bitterne Park in Southampton, with a tenor of just 8 cwt.

But probably the most memorable tower is Abbey Dore in Herefordshire. Not only did Stewart claim the almost vertical "white road" on the OS map would be a good short cut (we nearly sank navigating the river at the bottom!) but there were bats flying amongst us in the ringing room!! They hung quietly while we rang and each time we stopped, they were off again but they never touched anyone. It was quite an experience.

SatNav has more or less taken out the excitement of trying to find the out-of-the-way towers. The days of ending up in fields and farmyards are a distant memory but, with the correct information, we do manage to find the right church now, especially when there are several to choose from in big cities.

Every church, and every ring of bells, is different, which is why ringers get so much pleasure from touring around the countryside sampling other bells. There is always a welcome for the visiting ringer and it must be one of the only activities where one can just join in with another group anywhere in the world and be immediately accepted.

Why not try a new hobby in the new year? Come and join us - we're a friendly, welcoming bunch.

Jean Kimber

Top of the Document

Love Life Live Lent 2009 Launched

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Dr Rowan Williams and Dr John Sentamu, are encouraging families to share in simple acts of kindness together during this Lent. Suggested acts of kindness in the third instalment of the Church of England’s Love Life Live Lent programme, include having a clear out of unwanted clothes and toys and donating them to a charity shop, producing simple home-made gifts for Mothering Sunday, creating a prayer space in the under stairs cupboard, making a bird cake or learning some basic first aid skills.

The campaign promotes the idea that doing something positive for friends, neighbours or the wider local community can be as transforming and spiritually beneficial as ‘giving something up’ for Lent. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York say in their joint introduction: “With God’s help we can change the world for good a little bit every day. Together we can build better and more generous communities. Together we can lighten the load on our planet. We show God’s love when we do these things.”

This year, Love Life Live Lent returns with two pocket-sized booklets published by Church House Publishing, based on the ‘best of’ the previous series – one for children, and one for young people and adults – and, new for 2009, the family book packed with extra hints, tips and advice on completing a Lent’s worth of actions as a family. This resource book includes all the actions from the booklets, plus extra activities, recipes (for pancakes and hot cross buns) and prayers. The campaign website – www.livelent.net – will also include extra resources, including a colourful wall chart to help families chart their journey through Lent together.

Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, is to be marked on 25 February this year. The new set of booklets are undated, meaning they can be used every year. In both the children’s and youth and adults’ versions, six actions are provided for each week of Lent, one for each of the themes of ‘home and family’; community-focused activities; activities designed for school, college, or workplace; global actions (supplied by Christian Aid); environmental actions and, finally, actions encouraging prayer and stillness.

February Saints and Commemorations

Two Saints of Lindisfarne:

Holy Island, the aptly named curve of land just off the Northumberland coast, is the home of Lindisfarne Priory where St Aidan founded a monastery in 635. Aidan had sent from Iona by King Oswald who wanted him to convert the people of Northumbria. The monastery flourished for over 200 years. It was the base for two of the saints commemorated in February, as well as the place the Lindisfarne Gospels were made.

St Finan

Succeeded Aidan as Bishop of Lindisfarne in 652. he had grown up in Scotland and was a Christian all his life. He defended Church traditions against all attempts by the Roman Catholics to change the ways of worship in Northumbria. He is remembered for his success as a missionary and as the builder of the Church on Holy island, in the Scottish style of oak planks thatched with reeds.

St Coleman

Consecrated Bishop of Lindisfarne by St Finan and became Finan’s successor. Much of his time was taken up by disputes about how to set the date of Easter. To settle the matter the King set up the famous Synod of Whitby in 664 and brought together the Roman Catholic and Celtic parties. All agreed except Coleman to accept the Roman catholic tradition of dating Easter.

Coleman went back to Ireland to consult with his friends. Once again he became involved in disputes, this time between English and Irish monks. So ever the practical saint, he built two new monasteries and let the English live in one and the Irish in the other.

Top of the Document

The Corgi Controversy

Since our recent letter about the rescue by a corgi of a grandparent in World War 2, there has been a correspondence as to whether it was the grandfather or grandmother who was saved.

There seems to be an even split between both camps, can anyone provide definitive proof? Or do we need Brother Cadfael to help?

Top of the Document

Twenty years ago

February 1989

The magazine for February 1989 contained several articles regarding the Parish Concert, held over two evenings in January. Both Heather Cosgrove and Nicola Flower commented on a) how much talent was revealed and b) how much it had taken over all our lives!

I had compiled a brief calendar of concert-related activities from January 1988 (yes, it was planned a year in advance!) to the final concert night. The few days before Christmas were manic (not helped by the conductor's over-indulgence at the office party!) Seven different music rehearsals took place in five days, in my house, and my panic peaked on Christmas Eve when I remembered I was feeding and sleeping 10!

The concerts were a great success. Every group was represented - even the Coffee Group, who sang a song written specially by Russell Stableford, to which Nick Kimber wrote and played a guitar accompaniment. Russell had sadly died and the concerts were a tribute to his memory. The Sunday School, the Mothers Union, the Choir, the Handbells, were all there taking part.

Amongst the most memorable parts for me were, one - Nick's arrangement of "Apache" because it was comforting to see panic in someone else's eyes as they tried to keep up with him! two - the lads from the choir joining in with Heather Carr's (now Town) Keep Fit Group, quite unknown to them and leaving them wondering why the audience was laughing and three - the youngsters in the band who rose to the occasion so magnificently.

St Mary's handbell ringers performed for the first time and they are preparing to give a concert at St Mary's later in the year to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Watch this space.

Also on a musical theme was a write-up by the SMYF music critics on a concert of a very different type. "Perihelion", a Heavy Metal group of youngsters, had given SMYF a concert in Rectory Lane Hall. Opinions varied from, "my ears are numb" and "I've got a headache" to "If the music's this good, why don't they turn it up?" (Answer - because if it was any louder it would no longer be music) It was an experience, I recall.

There was an article by Heather Cosgrove on the duties of Churchwardens. One I notice said that they must ensure the bells are only rung "in accordance with the minister's directions." And are they, Justine??

In his 20 years ago, Stewart Kimber noted that 1969 would see the centenary of the installation of the bells. The churchwardens were invited to buy the ringers a Feast. (They didn't - but we had a feast anyway!) Maybe as we celebrate the 140th anniversary this year, the present churchwardens will entertain us!!

Another celebration occurred in 1969 - that of the Silver Jubilee of St Mary's Youth Fellowship (SMYF). It had looked good at the time for another 25 years but, for many reasons, it sadly wasn't to be.

The Friends of St Mary's were collecting money for the Carew Chapel Floor Appeal, presumably to repair the rot mentioned in the December magazine before anyone fell in the vault.

There were two articles from the Bishop of Southwark but the print on one was so small as to render it practically un-readable.

Praying in February

Every Sunday we pray for people living and working in roads in the parish.

1 February

Bute Gardens and Bute Gardens West

8 February

Bute Road and Stannet Way

15 February

Osmond Gardens and St Christophers Mews

22 February

Montagu Gardens and Morton Gardens

The Church and World

Make your ways known upon earth, Lord God,

your saving power among all peoples.

Renew your Church in holiness

and help us to serve you with joy.

Guide the leaders of this and every nation,

that justice may prevail throughout the world.

Let not the needy be forgotten,

nor the hope of the poor be taken away.

Make us instruments of your peace

and let your glory be over all the earth

Top of the Document