Newsletter DJ - Saints` Church

All Saints Church Berkhamsted An Anglican Methodist Local Ecumenical Partnership
December 2011 January 2012
We wish our readers a very
no 199
December 2011 January 2012
All Saints’ Church
Shrublands Road Berkhamsted
W www.allsaintsberkhamsted.org.uk
E [email protected]
Contents
Rachael’s letter
3
Family news
4
A flying visit to Canada
4
Young people’s books for Christmas
6
A carol for Christmas
7
Speaking Christian - book review
8
Sermon for All Soul’s Day
8
Reflections on 50 years of ministry
10
Christmas Tree decorations with meaning
12
Getting Closer to God
12
It’s never too late to make a difference
14
News and Events
14-17
Revd Bill Andrews - a tribute
17
St Paul’s and Wisdom
18
Tracy’s Note
20
Church Information
21 -24
Editor’s Note
L
ast Advent and Christmas I wrote in the
newsletter about the cuts; this time it is still
the cuts but the global economy and the
euro crisis as well, which makes our future
look very difficult indeed. Two items in our
newsletter seem quite pertinent to this
situation. The first is the book review, ‘Speaking
Christian’. I have just finished the book and
found it quite revolutionary. It challenges our
contemporary understanding of our faith in that
big bible words do not have the same meaning
as we use them for now. Which does change
things. The other item is the sermon about the
happenings at St Paul's Cathedral. Jesus coming
into the world is about God’s justice and help
for the poor. This is part of the Advent message,
and the signs are that, falteringly, the church is
getting the message and passing it out to our
world. The most unlikely angels are living in
tents outside the stable. I wonder what gifts the
wise men will bring?
I wish you all a happy Christmas and a good
New Year.
The February March copy date is Friday 6th
January 2012.
Christina Billington
Editorial and Production Team
The Newsletter is set in 12pt Georgia, with
24pt Verdana and 16pt Georgia headings. The
drop cap is Angelina.
2
Christina Billington, 13 Ashridge Rise,
HP4 3JT Tel 01442 385566
email: [email protected]
Audrey Hope 5 Castle Hill Close HP4 1HR
[email protected]
Proof reading:
Ruth and Keith Treves Brown
there is a lot to do to prepare for the arrival of a
baby. What do we need to do to prepare for the
arrival of Jesus? And I don’t just mean in the
sense of buying presents and putting up the
Christmas tree; are we spiritually ready to
meet Jesus, not just to celebrate his birth?
ave you started your Christmas shopping
Thirdly, I think the waiting heightened the
yet? Have you ordered your turkey? The
sense of expectation. When both boys arrived
shops have all got their Christmas
we were excited to see them, we wanted to
decorations up and the adverts have
celebrate their arrival. I think it would be very
started on the TV - I seem to have got used to
seeing Christmas turkeys already! With all the different if we didn’t have that period of
waiting. Are you excited about God coming
wonderful catalogues and adverts about, the
into this world? Because it is an incredible,
boys seemed to begin their Christmas lists in
world-changing event, that is truly worth
the middle of October and the questions have
begun - ‘When is it Christmas Mummy?’ It’ll be celebrating. Fourthly, I think that the waiting
good to get the Advent calendar out so that we made us value what was coming. A pregnancy
isn’t about a child just popping out; it takes
can begin the countdown!
time, it alters your life, its the main thing in
Many of us bemoan the long wind-up to
your mind for 9 months. This isn’t just a
Christmas; the leaves are still falling off the
simple thing, it is an experience to be valued.
trees and the carols have started and the
Do you value the arrival of Jesus? Do you value
children are gradually getting more and more
the message of Christmas?
excited, but is there something important
Christmas is worth waiting for as we
about this period, however frustrating it may
celebrate the incarnation, God becoming
feel at times?
human and living among us, born as a helpless
Paula Gooder has written a book of
baby. But it’s also worth remembering that we
reflections for Advent called, ‘The Meaning is
wait for something that has already happened.
in the Waiting’. It is described as a ‘series of
Jesus came and lived among us. He died for us
reflections inspired by the Bible’ which
and he rose again on that glorious Easter
considers ‘why we need to wait; what it feels
morning and the world has never been the
like to be someone who waits; what happens
same since. Christmas and Easter follow one
when we lose patience or hope and why God
might want us to get better at waiting.’ As John from the other as we celebrate God taking a
Sentamu comments in his foreword, ‘Today we point in human history to intervene and
change the world. And although there are
are encouraged to take the waiting out of the
wanting, cut to the chase and get what we want positives in waiting, we don’t need to wait to
meet Jesus today. Through his Spirit he is with
right away, as though there is nothing worth
us and we can know him and his love with us
waiting for.’ So is there meaning in waiting?
today. In the end the day came when our
Does God sometimes ask us to wait for a
babies were born. Have you been waiting long
reason?
enough to meet Jesus?
The two major times of waiting in my life
May I wish you all a very joyful and happy
have been my two pregnancies. As I have
Christmas that is worth waiting for.
waited there have been feelings of frustration
and impatience especially as I got bigger and
Blessings,
more tired, but during the pregnancy, during
Rachael, Andrew, Thomas and Samuel
that waiting time, several important things
happened. Firstly, the babies grew; they
needed that time in the womb to develop. The
Jews waited a long time for the arrival of the
Messiah. I believe that he arrived when the
time was right, when God in his wisdom knew
that the world was ready. Secondly, we, as
parents needed to be prepared. From painting
nurseries, to buying cots, to antenatal classes,
Rachael’s Letter
H
3
Family News
A flying visit to
Canada
W
ollowing our elder daughter’s ‘gap year’ in
Canada after she graduated at university,
we were inspired by her enthusiasm to visit
Vancouver and the Rockies where she had
worked for six months. We promised ourselves
that later we would visit Toronto and Niagara
Falls where she moved to for the last few
months of her time in Canada. Somehow the
‘later’ never came.
We were finally spurred into action by the
announcement that our Airmiles, which we had
slowly accumulated over the past twenty years
or so, soon would not take us so far when they
became converted into Avios! If we didn’t go
quickly, we probably would never get there at
all.
In a flurry of activity we identified a time we
could be away, when the Airmiles were valid for
use, and booked up quickly – the internet is
wonderful! We did have a couple of exhausting
days organising everything and researching
what we wanted to see and do. It was lucky we
did this as we discovered that the day after we
were to arrive was to be the last day for the
‘Maid of the Mist’ boat at the Falls this season.
We quickly booked that as well.
So we went away at half term! Something
we haven’t been doing for a while now. We
made our way to Heathrow on the Sunday
morning with a feeling of excitement (and also
wondering if we were quite mad going so far for
such a short time!)
After an uneventful flight (just long), the
lights of Toronto came into view and as we
travelled from the airport to our hotel in the
city we had our first sight of places Kirstin had
told us about. What a good time of day it was to
arrive – the buildings were all lit up and quite
spectacular and seemed to have been set out to
show each other off with varying heights and
shapes. Then we passed the CN Tower and my
first thought as I saw it was ‘NO WAY am I
going up there’. Then I thought how beautiful it
looked – but still couldn’t see myself actually
going up that high.
After a good night’s sleep (yes I was
surprised to sleep so well, too), we had
breakfast and started on our journey to Niagara
e offer our love and sympathy to Margaret
Ingram and her family on the death of her
mother recently.The family and friends of
the Revd Bill Andrews, who died on
October 26th, are in our thoughts and prayers,
remembering especially his wife Christine. We
thank God for his ministry among us.
Our prayers and condolences are with Shirley
Cutting and her family on the death of her
daughter, Alison Davis.
Our superintendent minister, the Revd Tony
Cavanagh, has undergone surgery recently. We
wish him a full and rapid recovery.
We are delighted to welcome Janet Royston
back among us after two spells in hospital.
Jonathan and Ann Hayes are assured of our
love and concern at a time when Jonathan has
additional health problems.
We offer a very warm welcome to Valerie
Ruddock who has joined us recently.
Congratulations and best wishes to Peter
Meyer who celebrates his 90th birthday in
December.
Tim and Jemima French and Beatrice have
moved to Hamilton Road. We wish them every
happiness in their new home.
We were delighted to welcome Laura Ellen
Brush Chappell, daughter of Pippa and Dean
and sister for Henry, at her baptism which was
conducted by the Revd Liz Hughes, Chaplain at
the Hospice of St Francis where Pippa works.
Also welcomed into the church family was
Joshua George Swansborough, son of Mark
and Rachel, when he was baptized on October
16th.
Chris and Doug Billington are assured of our
continuing love and concern.
We send Christmas greetings to our less
mobile friends including Dot and Ray Blaauw,
Edna Campkin, Heather Gifford, Anne and
John Hopps, Anne Horsfield, Rita and Ray
Hodges, Sidney Rance, Kath Tavener and
Jeanne Woodley.
Audrey Hope
4
F
Falls. Leaving the city behind we became
aware just how big Lake Ontario was. Yes, I
know it’s one of the ‘Great Lakes’ and yes, I did
study it in geography around half a century ago
(I don’t think it will have changed size
significantly), it’s only when you actually see it
– or rather what is only a small fraction of it –
that its vastness becomes real.
Our first view as we arrived at Niagara was
of the American Falls, dramatic enough and
directly opposite us on the other bank where
we were to board the boat. Being the end of the
season, we didn’t have to queue and had
uninterrupted views as we approached. The
great horseshoe of the Canadian Falls came
into full view and the sound the water made as
it fell gave the feeling that we sightseers were
insignificant and perhaps foolish trying to
approach such a wonder.
A bumpy wet boat ride (the biodegradable
plastic ponchos we were given to wear were
only partially successful in keeping us dry) took
us closer to the falls where the sound was even
louder and the wet even wetter. It seemed
incomprehensible that people have chosen to
ride over the falls in a barrel, and nothing short
of miraculous that a child who was swept over
the falls should survive, being plucked out of
the water at the bottom and rescued by one of
the tourist boats such as we were on.
Did it live up to expectations? Yes it
certainly did. We were not disappointed. We
sat eating our lunch by a big picture window
just looking and looking and thinking how
lucky we were to actually see it for ourselves.
Later we spent a pleasant hour or so
walking around the town of Niagara on the
Lake in the sunshine which reminded me of the
stories of Anne of Green Gables and seemed a
world away from the skyscrapers of Toronto.
We had noted how flat the land was in the
morning and on the way back we drove
through vineyards which seemed even flatter
(no south facing hillsides here). As we
returned to Toronto the buildings appeared
even higher after the flat landscape we had
travelled through.
The next day was sunny – perfect weather
for going up the CN Tower. We walked there,
arriving shortly after it opened and bought
tickets before I could change my mind and
again decide I couldn’t possibly go up! You go
up in a lift with a view out – I decided quickly
that edited highlights would be enough for me!
We went up still further, the lifts (or elevators)
travelling at high speed. There was a full view
over the city and the lake and I managed to
complete the circuit (staying close to the
centre) and even to take some photos. We then
went down to the level with a glass floor where
you can stand and look straight down to the
ground below. I didn’t! With some
persuasion, I did just put my feet on the very
edge of the glass but NO LOOKING!
Apparently this glass
floor will take the weight
of 17 hippos – though I
don’t think you’d get
even one hippo in the lift
so that’s a bit irrelevant
really!
I was so glad I got up
there and saw Toronto
from above – the trees in
various parts of the city
were visible from up
there. Toronto doesn’t
have the green spaces of
London in the centre but
it was good to see that
trees were growing in
some areas although they did look very small
in contrast with the tall buildings.
We completed the day with a tour of the
city on a 50-year old double-decker
Routemaster London bus and a boat ride
round the islands. As we passed the harbour
area, we saw a large ship which had brought
raw sugar from the Caribbean and had come
via the St Lawrence Seaway and across the full
length of Lake Ontario to dock at Toronto.
On our final day we visited the famous
Toronto Eaton Centre, a four level
5
complications, but rich characterisation and
deep insight.
My own novel, The Judas Deer, for 11-16,
which is about a vulnerable boy whose young
single mum attempts suicide, but also very
much about love, and helps the reader to
understand what it’s like to live in different
shoes.
Stories that avoid stereotypes with strong
females or sensitive males:
Dear Olly by Michael Morpurgo, for 8-12. A
big brother goes out to Africa to be a clown in
an orphanage because the children need
laughter too.
The Waterhouse Girl, one of mine, in which
Daisy is too busy caring for others and the
planet to let her alopecia and bullying defeat
her. For 9-14.
Historical stories that develop understanding
as well as knowledge:
Smith by Leon Garfield, about a rough but
endearing pickpocket in eighteenth century
London. Fabulously stylish in its creation of
atmosphere. For 11-15.
Tracy Robinson
Wolf Boy by Michelle Paver, for those who
like a fast pace. For 9-13.
My Voice Of The Aspen, a story of crosscultural friendship set in Victorian England
and North America, with a strong and gentle
hero. For 9-15.
Fantasy with real-world feelings and
Sue Hampton Recommends ... situations:
Elidor by Alan Garner, which is exciting but
Funny books with depth and linguistic
also poetic. For 11-15.
inventiveness as well as humour:
The Ice Palace by Robert Swindells, simple
The Six Storey House by Geraldine
and lyrical, with the feel of an age-old tale and
McCaughrean, which is wildly quirky (and
a brother’s love at its heart. For 8-11.
therefore not for everyone) but outstanding.
Twinside Out, by me, in which twins are
For 7-11.
transformed briefly into other people and
My own Frank (and Zoo and the
creatures, including
Wannabe) which is a double flip-over book
Grandma who’s just died,
very popular with boys. For 7-11.
and thus learn to
The Lincoln Imp, also mine, which is
understand each other
sweeter and enjoyed by girls too. For 7-11.
Stories for eleven plus that tackle dark subjects (and themselves) better.
For 8-13.
with warmth and generosity and let in the
light:
Also worth
Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo, for
recommending:
11-adult. The eponymous hero faces a firing
The Death-defying
squad for desertion but somehow it’s lifePepper Roux by
affirming and an education in the most
Geraldine McCaughrean,
positive sense.
which is hard to categorize
A Swift, Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd, for 14because it’s so individual
adult. Teenage pregnancy and horrific
underground shopping mall, right in the centre
of the city. We didn’t do much shopping, but
appreciated being able to walk around in the
dry as it was a wet day. Seeing the many
notices out in the street about taking care
because of the risk of snow falling from roofs in
winter, we realised that the centre also
provided a safe walkway when there was snow
lying on the ground.
As we left the airport on our flight home,
we could see Lake Ontario below us and,
although the size of things is difficult to judge
from the air, it did take quite a while to fly past
it. A sleepless night followed, as we crossed
the Atlantic – the recovery time was several
days! But it was well worth the trip and, on the
journey home from the airport, as can happen
so often when returning after a time away, we
were able to appreciate the beautiful scenery in
this part of the world and to marvel again at
the beautiful displays of colour that the trees
have given us this year.
Young People’s
books for Christmas
6
and bizarre, but also a linguistic tour de force.
More for boys? For 11-15.
The Silver Donkey by Sonia Hartnett, also
rather different, weaving stories from different
genres into its narrative. More for Girls?
For 10-15.
Just For One Day, which is mine, and very
much about real life pressures faced by today’s
young people, and their right to be themselves.
For 10-15.
Sue Hampton
A Carol for
Christmas
E
very year as Christmas draws near I
contemplate a Christmas CD. I buy one or
two every year as part of my own
celebration. Usually I buy carols but
sometimes I venture into Christmas songs. I
have Christmas with the Salvation Army, John
Rutter, Anne Sophie Von Otter, more and
more John Rutter and of course David Wilcox;
folk songs with Joan Baez, Pete Seeger and
Maddy Prior, Christmas in Carnegie Hall,
Christmas with Philip Jones and his brass
ensemble, Christmas at Ampleforth Abbey, and
with Holst and Walton and Benjamin Britten the list goes on. I did wonder this year if I
would find anything I wanted. Then I thought I
haven't got many Advent carols: I wonder if
there is an Advent Service around. So I duly
typed ‘Advent carols’ into Amazon and up
came "The Naxos Book of Carols: an Advent
Sequence in Music". As it was Naxos it was
very cheap, so liking what I read about it I
bought it.
Naxos together with Faber Music had
commissioned all new arrangements to mostly
traditional carols but with some new ones as
well. I was really taken with them all. It made
such an aural change for me to hear something
different from the usual Wilcox/Rutter
arrangements, something sometimes very
modern, not usually discordant, but on the
edge. Some are better than others; one or two
are exquisite but as a disc it is very well worth
while.
It is divided into four
sections: ‘The Hope’, ‘The
Message’, ‘The Baby’ and
‘The King of Kings’. ‘The
Hope’ has the Advent carols
in it, one new, one medieval
and the three we all love. My
favourite is “Of the Fathers
heart begotten” simply
because it has a two and four
part canon in it which is
wonderful. I did like the new
one as well.
‘The Message’’ is another set
of beautiful songs, seven this time. The first
one I would buy the CD for on its own. It is
‘The Holly and the Ivy’ to the old folk song, but
in the second verse the harmony is the usual
tune interweaved through the folk tune. The
rest of the carol is these two tunes set against
one another. My mind felt as if it would
explode trying to hold onto two familiar tunes;
it was exhilarating.
The third set, ‘The Baby’, is mostly made up of
cradle songs and sung in a reflective manner
although some of the harmonies reflect the
difficult times ahead. The final section ‘The
King of Kings’ is suitably triumphant with my
favourite being ‘We Three Kings’.
The singers are a group called Tonus
Peregrinus: two sopranos, two altos, one of
whom is a counter tenor, two tenors and two
basses. They all sing in chorus and solos. They
sing acapella and with an organ doing
wonderful things accompanying them.
The arrangements can be accessed on line
from the Naxos website costing £9.95 for a
book including a copy of the CD. But really if
you just want the CD you can get it from
Amazon for £5.95 or half that price from the
Amazon marketplace.
It really is a very good bargain full of very
listenable carols, some of which are
exceptional.
Christina Billington
7
Speaking Christian
by Marcus Borg
A Book Review
K
nowing and understanding the language of
Christianity is in a state of crisis, claims
the author of this book, Marcus Borg.
Admittedly he refers particularly to his
homeland of North America, but suspects it is
also true in other parts of the world. Marcus
Borg is a highly-regarded theologian and an
Anglican, and is the author of the novel
‘Putting Away Childish Things’ reviewed in
the Newsletter earlier this year. At the
beginning of the book he illustrates this lack of
familiarity with Christian speak with some
quotes from students. “I don’t know much
about the Bible, but I think there’s a story
about a guy in a fish,” and “I don’t know much
about Christianity, but I think Christians are
really against trespassing.”
‘Speaking Christian’ is a very readable book,
broken into a large number of chapters, some
very short, some longer. After a couple of
introductory chapters in which he describes
the Heaven-and-Hell framework of
Christianity and reading the Bible literally,
Borg takes the frequently used words of the
Christian language and explores their
contemporary and biblical meanings. A
chapter is given to each one. God, Jesus,
Easter, Ascension and Pentecost all feature as
well as words that easily trip off the tongue like
salvation, believing, mercy, forgiveness, the
Creeds and the Lord’s Prayer.
To give an example, Borg argues that salvation
is a very big Christian word, occurring 127
times in the Bible. Contemporary meanings
include “going to heaven” and “being saved
from our sins by Jesus’ death”. In exploring
the word’s biblical meanings in both the Old
and New Testaments, Borg uncovers a
different understanding of the word. In the Old
Testament salvation is about liberation from
bondage, especially shown in the story of the
exodus from Egypt. This liberation is
economic, political and religious and is taken
up later by the Old Testament prophets and
the psalmists. In the New Testament the
stories of Jesus tell of liberation from bondage
of many kinds on both a personal and a
corporate level. Liberation from injustice and
8
violence involves communities and their way of
life. This is a longer chapter and in this and the
shorter ones, Borg shifts the reader from
understanding Christianity as being about
correct beliefs to it being primarily involved
with beloving God, or holding God dear as seen
in Jesus.
The result of this, Borg contends, shows
that at its best Christianity
addresses the need of
human beings for personal
transformation and for the
world to be a better place.
The book is a challenging
read, but one which offers
different ways of
understanding the
language of Christianity
that may make more sense
in the face of the realities of
life in the 21st century.
Margaret Burbidge
A Sermon for All
Soul’s Day
T
his evening’s sermon is a collection of
thoughts and reflections rather than a
sermon with three points and a logical
structure. I want to pass on to you some
thoughts about All Souls Day – not all of them
original to me. I want us to think about how we
remember and give thanks for those whom we
love, who have died. November can be a bleak
month, and as darker evenings draw in it’s a
time when people tend to feel low and to find
bereavement harder to cope with than in the
light summer months.
People sometimes talk about bereavement
as a journey that ends when we accept it and
let go of the person who has died. More
recently though, people have begun to talk
about continuing bonds – the way that we
continue be in relationship with those who
have died; not of course through spiritualists
or a medium, but by realising that those we
love are still a part of us. In the lovely
children’s book, Badgers Parting Gifts, the
small animals find comfort and strength as
they remember all the things that badger had
taught them to do.
For Christians, continuing bonds aren’t
only about the way that people have become a
part of our lives, it’s also about believing in the
resurrection from the dead and our all
belonging to the communion of saints.
William Penn wrote about this life that we
share:
‘They that love beyond the world cannot be
separated by it. Death cannot kill what never
dies. We think not a friend lost because he has
gone into another room, nor because he has
gone into another land; and into another world
no man has gone, for that heaven that God
created and this world are all one.’
That’s a mystery, and not one that we can
explain, but I want to think about all the ways
in which our lives are a part of that greater
whole of heaven and earth that God has
created as one.
As I grow older I become more and more
grateful for the gifts I now see that I was given
by those who have died and who loved me gifts that I hadn’t begun to recognise while
they were here on earth.
At the beginning of her book ‘Landmarks’
Margaret Silf describes how her spiritual
director suggested that, as she thought of her
own calling, she should read the story in the
book of Kings where the prophet Elijah calls
Elisha to follow him.
As she read the story, the part that touched
her deeply was when Elijah found Elisha
ploughing in a field and there were eleven
teams of oxen in the furrow ahead of him.
Elisha was driving the twelfth team when
Elijah came and placed his coat on Elisha’s
shoulders.
She reflected that she didn’t see the story as
something to do with her own individual
response to God, but that through the story she
saw her life as a part of something much larger,
part of the whole human continuum of
response to the divine. She asked herself who
were her oxen teams, the people who had gone
before her and who had provided her with
guidance and given her the pulling power as
she ploughed her life’s furrow. And speaking to
her readers she said, ‘Even though you may
feel that you are all alone in your task – look
ahead. See the eleven teams of oxen that Elisha
saw – You are not alone. You are a part of a
long line of life and of meaning. You are
following in your own personal line, ploughing
your own particular furrow, and looking
forwards, with those ahead of you, to our
Lord.’ And then she suggested that we might
think about the people who have helped to
guide us, and who have given us the strength to
pull the plough of our own lives.
You may find some of those who have been
your help may be still alive, but I guess that for
you as for me, many will have died. It may be
your parents or grandparents that you
remember, or a teacher or a friend. I can think
of a friend who radiated the love of God with a
deep compassionate understanding when I was
at a very low point in my life
So perhaps we can spend some time
thinking of the people who have strengthened
us on our journey, and give thanks for them.
It is difficult to accept the loss of someone
we have loved deeply. Even harder I think
to grieve for someone where our relationship
with them has been broken or flawed. There
are often difficult
relationships in
families, between
mothers and daughters,
fathers and sons in
particular. It’s difficult
to grieve for someone
who you feel you should
have loved but couldn’t.
I think we have to try to
acknowledge that
difficulty, and perhaps
talk about it over time
with a trusted friend;
pray about it, ask God
to help us to feel compassion for the one who
has died, to understand them. It may take a
very, very long time, but one day I would hope
that you may be able to let go of the old
embittered relationship and see that they too
were God’s beloved child.
So many readings, like the one we heard
earlier (Wisdom of Solomon 3:1- 9), and so
much of what is said in funeral services, speak
about people who we would call Christians. It
always troubles me that my three brothers –
and many other good people I have known would not have admitted to any belief in God.
9
Are they in heaven now, with God whom we
love and trust and have come here to worship?
I wonder what you think about heaven and
whether there is a place there for everyone.
A week ago yesterday, we were privileged to
hear The Revd Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans,
talk at an Exploring Spirituality Day in Radlett.
The theme for the day was ‘Making Space for
the Word of God’ – The place of scripture in
our life. He read to us part of a poem by ASJ
Tessimond. It is called ‘Heaven’.
I want to read some of that poem to you for you
to ponder.
Some Humour
A married couple in their early 60’s was
celebrating their 40th wedding
anniversary in a quiet, romantic little
restaurant.
Suddenly, a tiny yet beautiful fairy appeared on
their table. She said,
'For being such an exemplary married couple
and for being loving to each other for all this
time, I will grant you each a wish.'
The wife answered, 'Oh, I want to travel around
the world with my darling husband The fairy
waved her magic wand and - poof!
In the heaven of the god I hope for (call him X) - two tickets for the Queen Mary II appeared in
X is never annoyed
her hands.
Or shocked; has read his Jung and knows his The husband thought for a moment: 'Well, this
Freud,
is all very romantic, but an opportunity like this
He gives you time in heaven to do as you
will never come again. I'm sorry my love, but
please,
my wish is to have a wife 30 years younger than
To climb love’s gradual ladder by slow
me. The wife, and the fairy,
degrees,
were deeply disappointed, but
Gently to rise from sense to soul, to ascend
a wish is a wish.
To a world of timeless joy, world without end. So the fairy waved her magic
Here on the gates of pearl there hangs no sign wand and poof!...the husband
Limiting cakes and ale, forbidding wine.
became 92 years old.
No weakness here is hidden, no vice unknown. The moral of this story:
Sin is a sickness to be cured, outgrown.
Men who are difficult should
With the help of a god who can laugh, an
remember fairies are female....
unsolemn god
Who smiles at old wives’ tales of iron rod
And fiery hell, a god who’s more at ease
With bawds and Falstaffs than with
Pharisees.
Here the lame learn to leap, the blind to see.
Tyrants are taught to be humble, slaves to be
free.
Fools become wise, and wise men cease to be
bores,
And X, of whom no coward is afraid,
e were so grateful for the kindness of the
Who’s friend consulted, not fierce king
Church on September 4th as I celebrated
obeyed;
going into Circuit on that Sunday 5o years
Who hears the unspoken thought, the prayer
earlier that I could not refuse the request to
unprayed;
try to summarize some of the sermon in the
Who expects not even the learned to
Newsletter. So again I hope you will see this as
understand
a reflection on the ministries that we all
His universe, extends a prodigal hand,
exercise mutually, lay and ordained, and not
Full of forgiveness, over his promised land.”
only a personal memory.
The limpid peaceful water of the Brathay just
Preached at Tring on October 30th 2011 by
below Elterwater and the torrent beneath the
Ruth Treves Brown.
meditation chapel at Rydal Hall with its water
A collaborative effort between Ruth and the
rushing past, Dippers and Grey Wagtail
Revd Margaret Saunders.
Reflections on 50
years of Ministry
Part One
W
10
suggested that the profile of a river is quite like
that of the ministry. It begins in the mire of
uncertainty, but the call (heard afresh as I
came up to law finals) is tested by time and
grows through the obstacles of becoming a
Local Preacher and Candidating. There are
some meadow sections, some cataracts,
flooding and overflowing, and some restraints
between high banks over hard ground. Then
the mature, deep, flowing river moving
inexorably to the eternal ocean. What a simile,
parable, metaphor or image of ministry!
That is what ministry is like, always changing,
sometimes sluggish, sometimes fresh,
sometimes still, sometimes a torrent. And
there are many (con)tributaries, many
contributors all conveying a divine message! It
is added to from all sides and therefore from
above, from heaven (the same word in Greek).
The ‘river’ is a profound image in the Old
Testament – 105 references though only 7 in
the New Testament. But ‘water’ has very, very
many more. The flowing river and pouring out
of water become a symbol for the life of God –
given to the people. “The river of God is full of
water” (Psalm 65). Water is a constant theme
in St John’s Gospel. Jesus offers himself, the
water of life, to the woman of Samaria
(Chapter 4) – that is not bios, biological water,
but zoë, vital, ‘life’ water. Then at the Feast of
the Tabernacles (Chapters 7 and 8) the priest
would for a week take a pitcher of water from
the spring Gihon up and up to the Temple and
pour it out praying for the next Spring rains.
On the last day Jesus stood and cried, ‘If
anyone thirst let him come to me and drink’.
He had also said that if any one trusts in him,
out of his heart, the inner centre of his being,
shall flow rivers of living water. That is the
essence of ministry – the life of God, the gift of
God, felt and conveyed to others.
What were some of the streams that flowed
into my ministry? The simple Puritan dignity
of country Methodism, my parents’ families,
plain buildings, straightforward worship, well
loved hymns. Suburban Methodism, Hall
Green, Birmingham, a family church, where I
watched the devotion of the lay people,
hardworking, loyal, concerned. We had order
of Morning Prayer once a month – it reflected
part of the high Wesleyan strand in
Methodism. Great preaching, hard working
ministers. And at 13 I sat listening to one
sermon and in that moment my heart was
strangely warmed, and I knew that God loved
me, even me.
That certainty has never left me, St.
Augustine’s ‘homecoming’. We need to think
faith, to debate it intellectually. But we need to
feel it; we need the affect; to feel doubt and to
feel faith. We need to be able to live with
uncertainty, with open-endedness, with John
Keats’ ‘negative capability’, and a Minister lives
with unfinished work every night. ‘Heart
religion’ was the core of the 18th Century
revival. But it is a modern feature as well. In
Gerd Theissen’s “Psychological Aspects of
Pauline Theology” there are at least 30
references to ‘heart’ in his thought! So personal
experience is the essential element. And then
in that Church there were small fellowship
groups, where I began to learn to speak in
public, and to pray as in a relationship with
God without words written down.
Then after an indifferent training at Richmond
Theological College, 50 years ago we went into
Circuit. We were just married. We brought in
our hired van few possessions, mainly clothes,
books and wedding presents, all the furniture
being provided in those days, and the custom
was then that a tea was provided on arrival. So
there in the kitchen of our flat, a trestle table
was set up and a church tea provided with
minister and Circuit Stewards and wives. Only
that there was a huge thunder storm and the
rain came through the roof onto the tea table.
They were going to ‘see about it’, but in the
meantime emptied the salad out and used the
bowls to catch the rain water! Our first day in
Circuit – and many more stories like that could
be told! We were in the Notts and Derby
coalfield, in Lady Chatterley country. It was
11
rough and tough, and 4 of my chapels were ex
United Methodist, the ‘lower’ wing of
Methodism, anticlerical and anti Book of
Offices – if I used it, I had to hide it behind the
big in-the-way Bible. There I learnt how to be
rejected, how to converse, how to be tough and
firm, and that some of the faithful were
downright nasty and some utterly kind and
genuine, a great variety of saints.
Revd Brian Tebbutt
Part two next time
Thoughts
I have been to a lot of places, but I've never
been in Cahoots. Apparently you can't go
alone. You have to be in Cahoots with
someone.
I've also never been in Cognito, either. I hear
no one recognizes you there.
I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have
to jump.
I have, however, been in Sane. They don't have
an airport; you have to be driven there. I have
made several trips, thanks to my friends and
family.
children’s stockings. St Nicholas, the original
Santa Claus, is credited with saving three
young sisters from a miserable life of possible
slavery. Their father was too poor to provide
them with the necessary dowry to enable them
to marry and raise families. St Nicholas threw
bags of gold over the garden wall at night to
meet the need, thus starting the tradition of
gifts being delivered under cover of darkness.
The Meaningful Christmas Tree decorations
will be available at the Fairtrade stall at All
Saints on Sunday
11th December.
Chocolate gold
coins are available
at Oxfam.
Audrey Hope
Getting closer to
God part 1
A
s Christians we believe God to be the
Creator and the Word or Light. In this and
one other article to follow I explore how
closely scientific reasoning supports these
beliefs.
Since humans, knowing men and women
(or in Latin homo sapiens), first appeared on
earth there has been a belief in God and that
God created the universe, our planet and all
utting Christ back into Christmas is a
concern for all Christians. Now the Bishop living things. Men and women in all ages have
of St Albans, Bishop Alan, has inspired the held these timeless views. In this first article I
explore the way scientific reasoning supports
Meaningful Chocolate Company, who
our belief in God the Creator.
produced Real Easter Eggs, to manufacture
Science over the past one hundred and fifty
Meaningful Christmas Tree decorations which
years has given us a new and clear insight into
tell the Christmas story.
the way the universe and all living things came
The decorations are made of Fairtrade
into being; an insight earlier generations did
chocolate and the pack, which costs £3.95,
not have. I find this new insight both very
contains six of them to hang on the tree, as
well as a limited edition Christmas card, telling exciting and revealing. Professor Brian Cox, a
particle physicist at Manchester University, in
the story of Christ’s birth, and six stickers
his recent TV series 'The Wonders of the
depicting different characters in the story
Universe' explained that our bodies are mainly
which children can attach to the tree
made up of the elements carbon, hydrogen and
decorations as they listen.
oxygen; elements that came into existence at
Bishop Alan is also encouraging churches and
various times since the universe began with a
schools to explain the symbolism of the goldsudden release of energy, the 'big bang'. The
wrapped chocolate coins often placed in
Christmas tree
decorations
with meaning
P
12
lighter elements, like hydrogen and oxygen,
were formed at an early stage. Carbon, one of
the heavier elements, came into existence later
as a result of fusion that took place within large
stars. As these large stars died and exploded,
the supernova, they scattered carbon and the
other heavy elements needed to create life
across the universe.
Scientists are now tantalizingly close to
explaining how biological life began from these
beginnings. Working at the Scripps Research
Institute in the USA, molecular biologists have
recently created large molecules, combined
groups of mainly carbon, hydrogen and oxygen
atoms, that self-replicate and even evolve.
These molecules emulate life itself and give an
insight into what probably happened on earth
three billion years ago. Their discovery takes us
a step closer to explaining the origins of DNA,
the heredity building block of all life.
In the middle of the nineteenth century,
Charles Darwin discovered that all species,
including humans, developed from these
simple beginnings by the progresses of
mutation, selection and evolution. Species
survived in a given environment by being more
successful than their rivals in obtaining the
resources they needed to flourish. This
continued until new and even more successful
species came into existence through mutation.
Life on earth evolved in its many forms in this
step-by-step way. More recently, scientists
working on the theory of chaos and fractals
have examined the patterns in nature and
shown them to be random. They have shown
that evolution is the process by which the best
outcomes of this random process are selected
and the way intelligent life evolved. We
humans became more successful than our near
rivals, Homo erectus and the Neanderthal
man, because we were more intelligent and
could outwit them for the resources we needed.
They died out and we survived to live on. In
2009, on the two-hundredth anniversary of the
birth of Charles Darwin, the Roman Catholic
Church accepted that his theory of evolution
was valid and correct.
Thus, science shows that there has been
continuous development from the time of the
initial release of energy, the big bang, to our
first appearance on earth. We are an integral
and natural part of the universe. Once the big
bang had occurred it was inevitable that we as
thinking men and women would one day
appear. Humans are just as much a part of the
universe as the sea, mountains and stars in the
heavens. I find this a very comforting thought.
Toward the end of the twentieth century a
number of scientists began to seek ways to link
these scientific discoveries to Christian
doctrine. The late Reverend Arthur Peacocke, a
biologist, winner of the Templeton Prize,
Oxford University, drew from science to write a
new form of Genesis:
“There was God. And God was All that was.
God’s love overflowed and God said, 'Let
Other be. And let it have the capacity to
become what it might be, making it make
itself - and let it explore its potentialities'.
And there was Other in God, a field of energy,
vibrating energy - but no matter, space, time
or form. Obeying it was given laws and with
one intensely hot surge of energy – a hot big
bang – this Other exploded as the universe
from a point, twelve or so billion years ago in
our time, thereby making space.
Vibrating fundamental particles appeared,
they expanded and expanded, and cooled into
clouds of gas, bathed in radiant light. Still the
universe went on expanding and condensed
into swirling whirlpools of matter and light –
a billion galaxies were formed.
Five billion years ago, one star in one galaxy
– our Sun – became surrounded by matter as
planets; one of them was our Earth. On Earth,
the assembly of atoms and the temperature
became just right to allow water and solid
rock to form. Continents and mountains grew
13
and in some deep wet crevices, or pool or deep
in the sea, just over three billion years ago
some molecules became large and complex
enough to make copies of themselves and
became the first specks of life.
Life multiplied in the seas, diversifying
and becoming more and more complex. Five
hundred million years ago, creatures with
solid skeletons, the vertebrates, came into
existence. Algae in the sea and green plants on
land changed the atmosphere by making
oxygen. Then three million years ago, certain
fish learned to crawl from the sea and live on
the edge of land, breathing that oxygen from
the air.
Now life burst into many forms – reptiles
and mammals (and dinosaurs) on the land –
reptiles and birds in the air. Over millions of
years the mammals developed complex brains
that enabled them to learn. Among these were
creatures that lived in trees. From these our
first ancestors derived and then, only forty
thousand years ago, the first man and woman
appeared. They began to know about
themselves and what they were doing – they
were not only conscious but self-conscious.
The first word, the first laugh were heard.
The first paintings were made. The first signs
of destiny beyond developed – with the first
signs of hope, for these people buried their
dead with ritual. The first prayers were made
to the One who made All-That-Is and AllThat-Is-Becoming - the first experience of
goodness, beauty and truth - but also their
opposites for human beings were free” (‘Paths
from Science towards God’ by Arthur
Peacocke; 2001; Oneworld, Oxford).
In the next article I explain that whilst we have
become the dominant specie as a result of our
intelligence, our intelligence has one big
drawback. I will show how this drawback has
provided the root of all religions and how
scientific ideas support our Christian belief
that God is the Word or Light of the world.
Peter Thompson
Some Thoughts
E I'm not bossy. I just know what you should
be doing.
E I'm not sure how ambivalent I should be.
E If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.
14
It’s never too late to
make a difference
A
t a time when the number of children in
care is growing across the UK, Action for
Children is highlighting that it is never too
late to make a difference to transform a
child’s life through fostering.
Last year, 65% of the 88,000 children in
care were in foster homes. We are urging
people from all backgrounds and life
experiences to come forward. Over a quarter of
people consider fostering, but almost 60% do
not think or do not know if they are able to;
Action for Children would like to tackle the
many reasons why people don’t come forward.
Some people believe that they are too old,
when in fact 38% of Action for Children foster
carers are aged 51-60 years old and 11% are
aged 60 plus. Many people feel that they don’t
have related work experience, when 50% of our
foster carers come from non-related
backgrounds.
Sue and Howard explained from South East
London: 'We decided to try and become foster
carers when our own children had grown up
and left home. By then we were both in our 50’s
but we still felt that we had so much to give and
really wanted to make a difference and help
other children who were less fortunate than our
own. The house had also begun to feel rather
empty! Being a bit older did not seem to be a
barrier to us.'
Other common misconceptions around who
can foster include gender, not owning your own
home, being single or not having your own
children. Often people feel that they can’t
afford to give up work or are not from the right
ethnic background. If you have considered
fostering, but for some reason you don’t think
that you are eligible or something is holding
you back, then think again. You can foster!
Maybe you enjoy being around children,
want to give a young person a fresh start in life
or simply want a new, challenging and
rewarding career. From drivers or café workers
to engineers, we help all sorts of people
become foster carers.
Take another example of Steve Clarke,
foster carer with Action for Children’s Taith
Newydd fostering project in South Wales. A
dad of two grown children, aged 24 and 21,
Steve had been employed in banking for 21
years before running his own successful fast
food restaurant. Wanting a new challenge in
life, Steve thought about foster care.
Why the huge leap from a business
background? Well according to Steve he
“wanted a new, rewarding career but one
which did not involve meeting financial targets
and managing staff”. As he had always enjoyed
being around children, fostering seemed the
perfect choice.
Steve has now been working with Action for
Children since 2010 and he says, “My role as a
foster carer to “Patrick”, aged 16, has been a
career choice that has enabled me to give back
to society”. He also says that the on-going
training he has received from Action for
Children has “helped me be a better parent”.
Steve adds, “No two days are the same as a
foster parent and I am delighted with the way
“Patrick” has progressed. He is an intelligent,
musically gifted lad who is doing well at
school”.
Do you know somebody who could
foster?
Could you be like Steve and give a child or
young person the care and support they need
to thrive, no matter what their background? If
you can offer a safe and caring home, we’ll give
you excellent training, competitive fees and all
the support you need, for as long as you need
it. Or maybe you know someone who would
make a good foster carer. Then talk to us on
0845 200 5162 or visit
www.actionforchildren.org.uk/fostering
Nadine Eaton
Note: If fostering children appeals to you and
you would like to talk to someone about the
experience, please speak to one of our pastoral
leaders (their names are on the inside of the
back cover of the newsletter) and they will be
able to put you in touch with members of our
congregation who have experience of
fostering and adoption. The congregation at All
Saints has supported Action for Children
(formerly NCH - National Children’s Home) for
many years and we are particularly
grateful to the small Support Group who work
so hard for this very good cause.
Action for Children
Christmas Card Delivery
As part of their fund raising, the Action for
Children Support Group will once again be
offering a Christmas card delivery service to
addresses in Berkhamsted and Northchurch
only.
Collection dates are Sundays 4th and 11th
December and there will be a Post Box in
Church on these two Sundays. Just pop your
cards in the Post Box and we will guarantee
delivery by Christmas. Bearing in mind that the
cost of a 2nd class stamp is now 36p we do ask
you to please give
generously for this
service and if
anyone can offer to
deliver cards in their
local area this would be
much appreciated. If
you can help please
contact Kathleen
Whitfield on 865132.
More thoughts
E I sat up all night thinking about the sun. Then
it dawned on me.
E I told my family I never want to depend on a
machine and fluids to keep me alive...that's
when they took away my computer and coffee
maker!
E I tried to contain myself once, but I escaped.
15
January 2012
1 Dellfield Avenue and Billet Lane
Programme
8 Castle Hill the lower part
October
15 Castle Gateway and upper part of
29th "Florence Venice and Glorious Tuscany"
Castle Hill
Shared memories of our holiday to Italy
Margaret, Marion and Helen
Friendship Club
December
6th
Christmas Decorations
13th Carols by candlelight
Prayers for Streets
These are the streets we shall be praying for in
the next two months. In January we come to
the end of this, our 9th, cycle of delivering
prayer cards. As usual we shall have a month
off in February and start on our 10th cycle in
March 2012.
We are looking for more people to put prayer
cards through doors. If you would like to join
the team and deliver the cards just occasionally
we would be delighted to hear from you. It usually takes about half an hour.
Sue Hampton and Leslie Tate (875425).
December
4 Bridgewater Road numbers 51 - 110
11 Bridgewater Road numbers 111 - 168
18 Princes Close and Dukes Way
25 Normandy Drive
16
Julian Meetings
Wednesday December 14th Jenny
Wednesday December 21st Ruth
Wednesday January 11th
Jenny
Wednesday January 18th
Ruth
We normally meet roughly
fortnightly at Ruth’s or Jenny’s at
11.30 am. All are very welcome to
join us for about half an hour of
quiet prayer – even if you have
not done this sort of thing before.
Jenny lives at 57, Meadow Road (870981);
Ruth lives at 1, Montague Road (863268).
Country Walks
Saturday 7th January led by Danny
and Jo Bonnett
Further information from Eddie
Cuthbert on 01442 866988
Grief and Loss Support Group
Lunches
Our lunches are held at the White Horse,
Bourne End at 12.30pm on the third
Wednesday in the month, December 21st and
January 18th. Anyone who has
been bereaved recently or a long
time ago is very welcome to
come. For further information
and to arrange transport please
contact Sylvia Banks on 871195.
Revd Bill Andrews
1936 - 2011
H
emel Hempstead Methodist Church was
full to overflowing on Thursday November
10th for the service of thanksgiving for the
life of Revd Bill Andrews. As well as
friends and colleagues for our circuit, there
were friends from his former circuit of Harrow
and Wealdstone and others who had travelled
a long way to be present. Revd Tony Cavanagh
described Bill as a giant of a man but humble
of heart. Revd Bill Murphy, a former colleague,
The Leprosy Mission
spoke of Bill’s great big pastoral heart and his
Many thanks to all the members of All Saints
preaching of the gospel, before reading to us 2
for their contributions to the Leprosy Mission
Timothy 4: 1 – 8, verses which sum up Bill’s
this year. It has been another good year and we life well.
have collected £410 through the boxes and
Bill was born in Abingdon, where his father
separate donations. Well done.
was manager of a local bookshop but they soon
Please continue to give your support. The
moved to St Ives in Cornwall, a place that gave
collection boxes are attractively small and the
Bill a great love of the sea. After World War
money we collect makes such a big different to Two, they moved again, this time to Plymouth,
the mission's ability to help lepers overcome
where Bill found a fellowship group with a
the disease and regain normal lives. Perhaps
good number of young people, one of whom
those of us who have children could encourage became his future wife, Christine. This group
them to become more involved this coming
was instrumental in Bill’s call to ministry in the
year and donate what they can to this very
Methodist Church – his back up plan was to be
good cause. Thank you all so much Ann
a sports commentator on the BBC! He studied
Thompson (Tel No: 865127)
History at Keele University and then having
explored and been confirmed in his call to
ministry, he went to Wesley House in
Cambridge. Bill and Christine were married in
More Humour
August 1961 and then began their circuit
A calorie-conscious woman drove past a
ministry – for they were very much a team.
bakery and saw some gorgeous Christmas
Appointments in Bourne, Louth, Bath and
cookies.
Cardiff followed and, lastly, Harrow and
She decided to pray about it: "Lord, if you
Wealdstone. An important year was spent on
want me to have some of those delicious
cookies, let me have a parking place directly in exchange in South Dakota. Wherever they
went, they made many friends, who spoke of
front of the bakery."
Bill’s outstanding pastoral work, his preaching
And sure enough, the eighth time around the
without notes and the way he engaged with his
block, there it was!
congregations. In Cardiff he was chaplain to
the local psychiatric hospital, a job he was sad
E No man is truly married until he
to leave, but it was in Cardiff that his retinitis
understands every word his wife is NOT
pigmentosa worsened and he had to give up
saying.
driving. In Harrow he began many initiatives,
E Normal people believe that if it ain't broke,
including a mother and toddler group, largely
don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't
made up of mothers he had met as he pounded
broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.
the pavements doing his pastoral visiting. He
E If at first you DO succeed, try not to look
knew them all.
astonished!
17
In 1999, he retired early and they came to
live in Hemel Hempstead. Bill enjoyed walking,
card games, board games (he was a very
competitive opponent), Dad’s Army, books by
PD James and Dick Francis, but football and
cricket continued to be very dear to his heart.
Paul Timmis mentioned that, knowing his
support of Wolves, Bill (who supported
Plymouth Argyle) had told him that should
Wolves ever get to an FA Cup Semi Final and it
was on a Sunday he should not hesitate to call
him and he would take his services for him.
Until recently Bill led worship, prayed and
preached, led bible study groups – and
continued to encourage everyone he came into
contact with, even those he did not agree with.
For his recent celebration of 50 years in
ministry he chose as a title, ‘Singing the Faith –
Living the Creed’. He took the congregation
through a musical journey of his life and
ministry, making them consider too their own
life of faith. It was appropriate that we sang 7
hymns during the thanksgiving service, for
hymns were of great importance to Bill.
Bill fulfilled fully his calling as a minister of
God. ‘Well done, thou good and faithful
servant’. Bill found this last year very hard as
he suffered with increasing breathing problems.
He had to reasses his life, but still managed to
be active with Christine's help.
Sadly he died on October 26th.
We send our love and sympathy to Christine
and to their two sons, Chris and Matt.
Hymns sung at the service:
‘O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness’;
‘Dear Lord and Father of mankind’; ‘Just as I
am, without one plea’; ‘O Thou who camest
from above’; ‘Brother, sister let me serve you’;
‘Guide me, O thou great
Jehovah’; ‘Lord for the
years your love has kept
and guided’.
18
St Paul’s and
Wisdom
A Sermon for the 3rd Sunday before
Advent
he Bishop of London has, as we all know,
stepped in and sorted out the row at St
Paul’s. His sound bite for the media was
‘hindsight is a wonderful thing’. That is
true, but we can do better. This recent affair
was actually a good example of what I’d call a
wisdom-deficit. Our first reading today is from
the Book of Wisdom, part of the later Jewish
scriptural tradition before the time of Jesus
which focuses above all on gaining wisdom,
wisdom which is understood as the preeminent attribute of God (the other books
which especially focus on the getting of
Wisdom are Proverbs, Job and Sirach).
We don’t always remember that this
Wisdom is not a remote philosophical idea. For
Christians it’s actually about Jesus: he isn’t an
idea. That’s what those opening verses of St
John, which we hear every Christmas are
getting at. ‘The Word became flesh and dwelt
among us’ is a way of saying ‘the Wisdom of
God became a human person so that we could
better understand what God is like’. That’s why
Jesus’ teaching is so much more important
than the second-hand version we get from St
Paul. Unfortunately we tend to think of
wisdom as an abstract quality, a cultivated
academic ideal. Jesus wasn’t an abstraction: he
lived and died and rose again to show us that
Wisdom is God made human for us so that we
can be wiser and more like God.
What has all this to do with St Paul’s
Cathedral? Well, it is quite clear that, as the
Bishop said, good people at St Paul’s got it
wrong. We’ll gradually hear more and more
about why. But my understanding is that the
Registrar of the cathedral, a retired major
general (and there’s the first problem in my
opinion), immediately took the side of the
health and safety gurus and, more importantly,
that of his natural allies in the City and the
Corporation. I’ve nothing against major
generals, but I don’t think they should be
telling Deans what to do in Cathedrals. In fact
pressure was applied from several directions
on the Dean by the powerful: he was
contactable by those sorts of people (including
T
the PM) but not by the
people outside his own
church door. There’s
the second obvious
problem. Canon Giles
Fraser, a public
philosopher,
immediately grasped
the import of what was
happening, but was
outvoted and resigned.
The natural distaste of
the establishment for
scruffy, incoherent
and popular protest,
coupled with a
desperate fear of damage to property, almost
won the day. Almost.
None of this was wise. We need to
distinguish wisdom from intelligence,
education and, of course, power. Our
enlightenment-influenced rational Christianity
has been in danger of losing touch with the
more reflective and spiritual side of our faith
for a long time. In the last century some tried
alternative wisdom from the East, but these
searches often failed because they had more to
do with a negative – the rejection of dry and
narrow Christianity – than any deep
apprehension of Eastern Wisdom. We in the
churches must take responsibility for that
rejection, especially when our first reaction to
anything we don’t understand is to worry
about property and fail to talk to people. That
is true not least because we Christians have a
rich tradition of wisdom and enlightenment of
our own, as witnessed by today's first reading
and the person of Jesus and his teaching, for
example in today’s gospel. I won’t spend much
time on that: the message is simple and clear.
Wisdom, in today’s gospel story, is being ready
to meet Christ in any encounter: that makes it
possible to be wise before the event. It’s what
the Dean forgot to look for.
I don’t claim any special wisdom, but I have
some experience of dealing with church
buildings in awkward places. My church in
Sydney, opposite Central Railway Station, was
always open. One day a schizophrenic on early
release after a violent attack on property came
in and smashed up the candlesticks, lamps and
altar crucifix, using the processional crucifix as
a battering ram. There had been many other
incidents over the years, but none as bad as
this. Some people immediately said we must
close the church, or replace the items with
cheap copies. There was prudence, but not
necessarily wisdom, in that response. There
was no point having an unusual old church
building in that location if it was shut. We
might as well have decamped to a compound in
the suburbs. And anyway, we had insurance!
When I asked people why it mattered that
these items had been damaged or lost they
couldn’t really tell me. They articulated a sense
of their space being violated – the sort of thing
people feel when they’ve been burgled (which,
incidentally, also happened to me there). But
the church building is not our private house.
Its God’s house, and we should take seriously
that God says he wants it open to everyone,
even at the risk of damage (what else is the
cross about, when Jesus risked ‘the temple of
his body’ and was indeed raised to new life as
he had proclaimed would happen).
Professor John Rogerson, who is coming to
talk to our deanery later this month about the
Old Testament, used to assist me in my last
parish in Sheffield. Some of you will remember
his holy week addresses here in 2006 –
available in a booklet at the back of church.
When we built a new church school in that
parish the head teacher asked me for a biblical
text for the plaque which the bishop would
unveil: John said there was no better text in
the bible for a school than Sirach 1.1 ‘All
wisdom is from the Lord’.
Today’s first reading is from the Book of
Wisdom, from that same tradition. Its opening
verse is salutary: “Wisdom is …easily
discerned by those who love her, and is found
by those who seek her.”
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but wisdom is
actually available to us before and during a
crisis. But we do need to seek it – which means
remembering that Wisdom – God in Christ – is
available to us, and it means taking time to
think, to think beyond the immediate
perceived threat to the big picture.
Giles Fraser didn’t agree with the
protesters. But I believe he responded correctly
because his instinct, which is a gospel instinct,
is that as Christians we need to engage rather
than nervously withdraw to a safe place. The
picture of the clergy fulfilling their legal duty to
take services behind locked doors belongs in a
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Monty Python film. I’m the last person to want
to sleep in a tent, nor do I much enjoy people
having a go at me (wearing a clerical collar, you
may or may not know, is an open invitation to
many people to have a go at you about a
remarkable range of topics vaguely to do with
Christianity, or just to make very old Vicar
jokes). But it isn’t good enough to stay in our
comfort zones. That isn’t what the church is
for. We aren’t on the set of Downton Abbey or
To the Manor Born. Here, and at St Paul’s, and
in Hackney and Brixton, Walsingham and York
or wherever the church gathers we are in the
presence of God (and that should be apparent
to others). The gospel tells us to be mindful of
that, to be awake; to be ready.
The exchange in today’s gospel between the
foolish bridesmaids and the bridegroom recalls
very specifically Jesus’ words toward the end of
the Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 7:21–23,
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,'
will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the
one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord,
did we not prophesy in your name, and cast
out demons in your name, and do many deeds
of power in your name?'
Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you;
go away from me, you evildoers.'
There, despite the confession, “Lord, Lord” and
even extensive religious activity, Jesus rejects
some with the words “I never knew you.”
This connection between these two
passages is deliberate. The parable of the wise
and foolish bridesmaids is not directed toward
outsiders but toward members of the Christian
community, those who call Jesus “Lord,” those
who consider themselves a part of God’s
family. The foolish insiders who have become
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complacent; they have ignored the obligation
of discipline and readiness: this failure makes
them, ironically, outsiders to God; they lose
what they believed was their right because they
took it for granted. In church terms they were
so busy congratulating themselves on being
good or respectable or ‘saved’ that they didn’t
engage with what was actually happening
around them, or keep up the practice of their
faith.
Eduard Schweizer wrote
“When Jesus calls on his disciples to keep
watch, he is calling on them to take the reality
of God so seriously that they can come to
terms with its sudden appearance at any
moment within their own lives, precisely
because they know that this reality will one
day come unboundedly in the kingdom of God.
(The Good News according to Matthew;”
Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1975, p. 468).
The Christian life is the getting of wisdom,
which means knowing Jesus and living in the
remembrance of God. Enlightened by that we
are promised that we shall see, recognize and
welcome the Lord – here at the altar and out
there in the people we don’t understand or like.
Ordering our lives in the light of that
understanding, we may be ready for his
coming, for our full membership in the
Kingdom of God.
Revd Dr Michael Bowie
Tracy’s Note
As you may remember, last year I missed most
of the Christmas services and usual Christmas
activities so I am really looking forward to
everything this year! Some of you may have
been prevented by the snow from attending
services – it did make travel a bit difficult at
times!
Hopefully this year we won’t have the same
difficulties. Advent starts on 27th November
and is the beginning of our preparations for
Christmas – not the buying of presents, and
the organization of the food, but the
opportunity for us to get ready to receive again
the message of Christmas.
Each Christmas brings new possibilities for
hearing the familiar story in a different light,
based on the people we have met and the
events that have happened to us personally
and in the world since the last Christmas.
On 18th December we have our Nativity
presented by Pathfinders and Explorers at the
service in the morning and the Carol Service
at 4.00 in the afternoon.
The Crib service is at 4.00 pm on
Christmas Eve with the Midnight Holy
Communion service starting at 11.30 pm.
On Christmas Day we have our service of
All Age Holy Communion at our normal
service time of 10.00 am.
In January, we have the Covenant Service
on 8th and, at Candlemas, a Christingle Service
on 29th with a Healing service on that
afternoon too.
I have another reason this year for looking
forward to Christmas – our grandson will be a
year old by then. I have already got for him a
simple book telling the Christmas story and
can’t wait to share it with him and show him
the figures in the Crib and tell him the story.
The getting ready is not just for us to be
ready to receive the message ourselves but also
to be ready to share it with others – family,
friends and all we meet in daily life.
May we all be ready to have a truly Happy
Christmas and share the joy with others!
18th
10am
4pm
24th
4pm
11.30pm
25th
10am
1st
10am
8th
10am
4th
10am
11th
10am
Christmas Day
All Age Holy Communion
Revd Rachael Hawkins
Naming and Circumcision of
Christ
Morning Worship
Revd Brian Tebbutt
The Baptism of Christ
Covenant Service
Revd Rachael Hawkins
15th
10am
Second Sunday of Epiphany
Morning Worship
David Williamson
22nd
10am
Third Sunday of Epiphany
Holy Communion
Revd John Kirkby
29th
Presentation of Christ in the
Temple (Candlemas)
Christingle Service
Revd Rachael Hawkins and
Julie Wakely
Healing Service
Revd Rachael Hawkins,
Tracy Robinson,
Jenny Wells, and Audrey Cox
10am
December
Christmas Eve
Crib Service
Revd Rachael Hawkins
Midnight Holy Communion
Revd Rachael Hawkins
January
Tracy Robinson
December January
Services
Fourth Sunday of Advent
All Age Worship (Nativity)
Revd Rachael Hawkins
Carol Service
Revd Rachael Hawkins
4pm
Second Sunday of Advent
Morning Worship
David Williamson
Third Sunday of Advent
Holy Communion
Revd Wilf Bahadur and
Ceri Lindo
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11 Wed 8pm All Saints Council
18-25 Week of Prayer for Christian
Unity
21 Sat 8am ABC Prayers – see notices
for venue
29 Sun 10am Christingle Service
4pm Healing Service
The following is a
list of social events,
special services and
key church meetings
in 2011 and 2012
November
26 Sat 10–12 Friendship Club
Christmas Coffee Morning in
Lower Hall
10am – 4pm Leaders of
Worship and Preaching StudyDay at
Hemel Hempstead Methodist
Church
27 Sun 4pm Healing Service
December
1 Thurs 9 – 7pm Day of Prayer at All
Saints for World AIDS Day
4 Sun Berkhamsted Festival of Light
6pm Ecumenical Service at St Peter’s
5 Mon 8pm Leaders of Worship and
Preaching Meeting at Hemel
Hempstead Methodist Church
7 Wed 8pm Worship Committee at
57 Meadow Road
8 Thurs 2pm Greenway School Carols
17 Sat 8am ABC Prayers Kings Road
Church
3-5pm Explorers Christmas party
18 Sun 10am All Age Worship (Nativity)
4pm Carol Service
24 Sat Christmas Eve
4pm Crib Service
11.30pm Holy Communion
25 Sun Christmas Day
10am All Age Holy Communion
January 2012
2 Mon 7.30pm Joint Council Meeting
followed by Company AGM
5 Thurs 8pm Leadership Team
7 Sat Church Walk led by Danny and
Jo Bonnett
8 Sun 10am Covenant Service followed
by a lunch for everyone
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February
6 Mon 8pm Finance Committee?
18 Sat 8am ABC Prayers
22 Wed Ash Wednesday
Day of Prayer at All Saints
27 Mon Townwide Lent Groups begin
29 Wed 8pm Pastoral Coordinators
Pudding evening
March
14 Wed
17 Sat
18 Sun
25 Sun
April
8 Sun
14-15
21 Sat
22 Sun
8pm Circuit Meeting
8am ABC Prayers
Mothering Sunday
4pm Healing Service
Easter Day
Phakamisa weekend
8am ABC Prayers
Annual Church Meeting followed
by lunch
July
8 Sun Olympic torch goes through
Hemel Hempstead
9 Mon Olympic torch goes through
Aylesbury
The All Saints’ Prayer
O God our heavenly Father, your Son Jesus
Christ prayed that we might be one as you and
he are one. Look with compassion on your
children of All Saints'. Teach us to put aside all
our prejudices and fears, to seek to understand
your purpose for us, and to use together our
different strengths and insights.Grant us
courage to follow your leading and humility to
learn from each other, so that in unity and love
we may reflect your glory, both in worship and
in daily life. We ask this in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
For your information
All Saints News
Sunday Notices
Kate and Steve Spall 873470
email [email protected]
Anglican weekly
St Peter’s Pew Leaflet
Hilary Armstrong 878227
email [email protected]
Church and Halls Booking
Jenny Ginn 866476
Pastoral Leadership Team
Sylvia Banks 871195
Pat Hearne 871270
Ida Rance 865829
Ruth Treves Brown 863268
Pathfinders
Julie Wakely 875504
Pathfinder Games
Revd Penny Nash 865217
Explorers
Audrey Cox 866394
Jo Bryant 871680
Chuckles Toddler Goup
Jenny Wells 870981
Kate Spall 873470
Giggles
Jane Suh 875997
Cradle Roll
Joanna Herbert 870772
Action for Children
Mary Griffin 874736
Posters and Notice Boards
Ruth Treves Brown 863268
Christina Billington 385566
Kath Whitfield (porch) 865132
Choir and organist
Ruth Treves Brown 863268
Peter McMunn 874894
Catering
Gill Lumb 863885
Ceri Lindo 866714
Flowers
Madeleine Brownell and Friendship Club
862578
Treasurer
David Pain 877951
Stewardship Recorder
Keith Treves-Brown 863268
Tape Recordings of Services
John and Sylvia Banks 871195
Church Cleaning Rota
Kate and Steve Spall 873470
Transport Co-ordinator
John Banks 871195
Hospice of St Francis
Fay Cuthbert 866988
Web site
Anna FitzPatrick 878085
Christina Billington 385566
http://www.allsaintsberkhamsted.org.uk/
Safeguarding Officer
Hilary Elliott 0784 3088805
[email protected]
Friendship Club
Marion Cooley 878790
Helen Temple 874702
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Church Ministers and All Saints Church
W www.allsaintsberkhamsted.org.uk
Officers
E [email protected]
Methodist Minister
The Revd Rachael Hawkins
01442 866324
[email protected]
Anglican Team Ministry
The Revd Dr Michael Bowie 864194
The Revd Penny Nash 865217
Supernumerary
The Revd Barrie Allcott (Methodist)
The Revd Wilf Bahadur (URC)
The Revd Brian Tebbutt (Methodist)
Youth Worker
The Revd Penny Nash
Local Preachers
Audrey Cox
Brian Parsons
Ruth Treves Brown
David Williamson
Arthur Wray Emeritus
Diocesan Lay Minister
Christina Billington
Readers
Jenny Wells
Richard Hackworth
All Saints is an Anglican/ Methodist
Local Ecumenical Partnership.
Through its Anglican connections it is part of
the Parish of Great Berkhamsted (with St
Peter's Church) and the Diocese of St Albans.
Through its Methodist connections it is part of
the Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted
Circuit and the Bedfordshire, Essex and
Hertfordshire District.
All Saints' is a member of the Association of
Berkhamsted Churches.
Stewards
Jo Bonnett
John Banks
Ceri Lindo
Malcolm Lindo
Penny O’Neill
Tracy Robinson
All Saints’ Council
Secretary Audrey Hope
Treasurer David Pain
Anglican Methodist Association
(Berkhamsted) Ltd.
Chairman Richard Hackworth
Company Secretary Steve Spall
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This Newsletter is printed by
Tring School, Mortimer Hill, Tring
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