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Dear Friends One of the major events in the calendar for May is Christian Aid Week, which this year falls during the week commencing 11th May. Christian Aid Week is a major fund-raising exercise, which includes the biggest house-to-house collection for charity in the UK. Not only does Christian Aid raise people’s awareness of those living in poverty, it provides important funds to enable people in poor communities around the world to change their lives. Did you know that almost 3 billion people, that is nearly half of the world’s population, live in poverty that is so extreme that they can barely survive? Christian Aid is a people based organisation working with local networks to ensure money and aid are targeted to where they are most needed, whether it is helping people who are victims of natural disaster, or those struggling to live with the long-term effects of poverty and under-development. It is a sobering thought that more than half the people in the world have to survive on less than 75p a day, and Christian Aid’s task is to help them escape from the downward spiral into the poverty trap by supporting improved farming methods, by providing a safe water supply, by setting up small local industries and by putting people in touch with traders who will pay them a fair price for their produce. The money collected during Christian Aid Week is a major part of the overall income for this charity so please give generously. In 2006/07 Christian Aid spent £63 million on projects that supported poor communities throughout the world. During Christian Aid Week you will receive the usual red envelope through your door for you to put your donation in, and if you are a UK tax-payer you can increase the value of every pound that you give by 25p if you sign the Gift Aid details on the envelope as this will enable Christian Aid to reclaim from the Exchequer the income tax you have already paid on your gift. The envelopes will be collected from your house during the week; any uncollected envelopes can be handed in at church. Here in Croxley Green the distribution and collection of envelopes is undertaken by the different churches in this area. All Saints' Church has a number of roads for which we are responsible and we do need people to volunteer to help with the delivery and collection of the envelopes. If you can spare a couple of hours during Christian Aid Week please speak to Jean Walford or David Wynne-Jones who are our local organisers, I know they will be pleased to hear from you. Please give generously, help if you can and keep the work of Christian Aid and the needs of the poor communities of the world in your prayers. With my love and prayers. HOLY BAPTISM 6th April 2008 Alexandra,
daughter of Neil and Kimberley ROWLEY of 13th April 2008 Oliver
Michael, son of Stephen and Lynn WALFORD of 13th April 2008 Joshua Lucas Hammond, son of Casey HAMMOND and Louise NEIGHBOUR of Barton Way BURIAL OF THE DEAD AND CREMATION 27th March 2008 James Harry PETTIFER (aged 91) of Frankland Road 4th April 2008 Josephine Marion Louise DREW (aged 86) of Dugdales 16th April 2008 Jonathan LUTKINS (aged 49) of Beechcroft Avenue 17th April 2008 Olive COLLYER (aged 94) of Frankland Close 1st May Ascension Day 4th May Easter
7 - Sunday after Ascension Day 11th May Pentecost -
Whit Sunday 18th May Trinity Sunday 25th May Trinity 1 -
Day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of the Holy Communion
- The day started at 9am with the Churches Together Walk of Witness up Baldwins Lane. Since our Liturgy service was later this year, we all had the opportunity to take part. Our service from 12 noon to 3pm this year took a form slightly different from that of previous years. For the first two hours, our Vicar contemplated the feelings and attitudes of four different people who were closely associated with Jesus at the time of the Passion. She had written four sketches to illustrate these and members of the congregation acted out the parts. John Galloway took the part of Jesus, Stuart Horsfield was Judas, Ellen Lappage was Mary Magdelene, David Williams was Peter and Anne Oke was Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Each one expressed his or her hopes and fears about Jesus' actions and their consequences, and to each Jesus gave explanations and reassurances. Each one had to try to understand that Jesus' kingdom is based on love and that he had to do the will of his Father God, who would care for them always. After each sketch, we had a period of reflection and an address by Revd. Miriam, followed by a hymn. In the last hour, we had the
Liturgy of the day, led by the Vicar and choir. The Gospel according
to St. John, was sung to music by the 16th century Spanish composer,
Tomás Luis de Victoria. Benjamin Weitzmann conducted and David
Brown played the organ. Joanna Paul sang the part of the narrator,
the words of Jesus were sung by David Williams, and those of
Pontius Pilate by Anne Oke, while the choir sang the choruses
of the Jewish crowd.
On Holy Saturday about twenty young children from local schools, aged between 4 and 7, spent an enjoyable couple of hours in church. They started by gathering near the altar where a large silver cross was laid out on the red carpet, covered in hot cross buns. Miriam explained the Easter story with many children keen to answer questions and add details. They then went off round the church hunting for night lights which were exchanged for hot cross buns. When the lights were lit they made an impressive sight. It was then time for the activities and the children were all so keen that they all had an armful of goodies to take home: a chocolate nest with eggs, a painted eggshell, two decorated crosses, an embroidered bookmark and an Easter garden. Some of the older children also spent a long time with David Williams painting the banner which is hanging on the north wall. For a few of the children this
was their first experience of going into a church and we
hope that the morning encouraged them to come again. There
were certainly some of them at the service on Easter Sunday
by which time the church had been transformed by the flowers,
candles and altar cloths that had been missing the day before.
Thank you to Miriam and Anne for planning the morning
and to everyone who helped. The Revd. and Mrs. Parry came to our April meeting to talk about "Life in South Africa", with special reference to the time when apartheid was in operation. Although now living in England, they had lived and worked in South Africa. Revd. Charles Parry began by explaining that apartheid had been practised long before it was formalised by the National Party in 1948. It began when well-armed Dutch settlers arrived in the 17th century and took over the land. The first English speaking settlers arrived around 1800. They came mainly to prevent French influence spreading from Holland (which the French occupied at that time) to South Africa. They found a country with a lot of space and a good climate, to which they brought many skills - and Christianity. There was, however, no thought of treating the natives as equals, and extreme differences existed between the settlers and the indigenous population. In 1948, apartheid was formalised, blacks and whites being treated differently and separate communities planned for each. At this time the government was taken over by the Afrikaners and Afrikaans became the official language. The speaker was against the National Party and in 1956, as a student, took part in a successful demonstration against the Defence Minister, but in later years such demonstrations were violently suppressed. In his church in Natal, he ran two Sunday schools, so that both blacks and whites could go into the church. After overcoming many regulations, he succeeded in re-opening a school for native children which a neighbouring Afrikaner farmer had forced to close. He was allowed to open with 65 children, but on the first day 130 children turned up, so for a time they (illegally) ran two sessions. However, he eventually obtained permission to have that number of pupils and to acquire a second teacher. His aim was to turn the church into a community for all Africans who were very loyal to the church and had a strong faith. Mrs. Sally Parry lived in South Africa after her family moved there from England but she returned to England after finishing her studies. There she met her husband. After their marriage she became involved in educational and ecumenical projects, which brought her into contact with all sections of society. Women were generally held in very low esteem but the Mothers' Union was highly regarded. As the women's influence grew stronger in the church they gained more influence elsewhere. As the black people gained in confidence it was hoped that change would come through the church and that they would learn that all people could work together. The church played a big part in the efforts at reconciliation which followed the ending of apartheid in 1994. Thank you to Charles and Sally for a most interesting and illuminating talk. Notices: The next meeting will be the Bread and Cheese Lunch on Friday 2nd May at 12.30pm. Tickets £5. The speaker afterwards will be Revd. Janet Ridgeway on "Time for Relationship". Saturday 10th May there will be a Deanery Coffee Morning from 10am to 12 noon to be held in All Saints' garden, or in the hall if the weather is bad. Tickets £1 each, there will be a Bring and Buy stall. Everyone is welcome to come
to both events. It was a cold Easter Monday morning. Everyone met at the church in high spirits looking forward to the pilgrimage to St. Albans Abbey. For Miriam it was her first time doing it with us. Most of the time it was snowing but fortunately we were all wrapped up warm. We walked down the Green and we went down Little Green Lane past Jo's house, where we were given a sweet, then across the golf course. We walked along the canal to Kings Langley. We were all telling Miriam about the dreaded Toms Lane hill. Hayley, Ben and their friends, who were normally at the front of the group, stopped off at a petrol station. I was really happy when I got up Toms Lane first with Grace, Miriam, Anne, Laura and Mummy (Ann). Stuart and his girlfriend Kelly got left behind and we thought we had lost them but then they turned up just as we were leaving the Holly Bush. We stopped at the Holly Bush for lunch, then we carried on walking to St. Albans Cathedral. We all got a badge for the achievement we made. Our puppy, Rocky, got all the attention from photographers at the Cathedral. Ben and his friends would normally
walk back but as it was so cold they decided not to. I
always look forward to the Easter Monday walk and I recommend
it to all of you even if you can't walk any of it as you can
always join in with the service at the Cathedral. Everyone enjoyed
the walk; we even had a video and pictures taken of us by the
Herts. Advertiser. CHILDREN'S SOCIETY COLLECTION
BOXES: I would like to thank all box holders for their generosity
yet again - the total I have sent to The Children's Society
this March 2008 is just over £200. JUST 10: J. John, the well known evangelist, will be speaking on the Ten Commandments in ten sessions from the 20th April to the 22nd June, at 7pm, in Christ Church, Chorleywood. This has been arranged through the Deanery Synod committee as an evangelistic opportunity. At All Saints' we will continue to have Sung Evensong at 6pm but for these ten weeks there will be no sermon, to allow people to go on to Just 10. More information at www.philotrust.com PARISH GARDENING DAY Saturday 3rd May from 9:30am. All welcome to come and help give the church grounds a spring tidy up. Please bring equipment. We will provide a Ploughman’s lunch and a glass of cider to revitalise the volunteers!! Please sign the list at the back of church if you are able to assist or telephone Chris on 220782. HALF CROWN CLUB Saturday 10th May. Joan and Michael Bovington will be leading a walk in the Chiltern area, which will include a pub lunch stop! For further information please ring 772443. CHRISTIAN AID WEEK will
be from 11th to 18th May 2008. Christian Aid does much
to help the sick and starving of this world in Africa and many
other countries. We usually have volunteers from our church
who distribute and then collect envelopes from the streets in
our area. We hope that they will again come forward and
that we shall be able to collect for this worthy cause. JUMBLE SALE 2pm Saturday 17th May 2008. The Social Committee would appreciate your help in providing 'good jumble', in helping to sort the jumble from 9.30am and especially in selling from 1.45pm.. 25 helpers needed! - anyone new welcome. Please bring your jumble to the hall in the morning. WATERSMEET The
Vienna Festival Ballet will be presenting Sleeping Beauty on
Friday 16th at 7.30pm and Saturday 17th May at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.
Tickets £19.50, seniors & groups 20+ £16.50 and children
£12. Box office 01923 711063. Dates for your diary in June:
Question: Who anointed Jesus' body for burial? If you had asked me that question a couple of months ago I would have said the women who went to Jesus' tomb two days after he was crucified were intending to anoint his body but they didn't get the chance! But there is another answer. While I was preparing a sermon a few weeks ago I read in John 19 v38-42 (Authorised King James Version): 38. And after this Joseph of Arimathæa, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore and took the body of Jesus. 39. And there came also Nicodemus which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. 40. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. 41. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never yet man laid. 42. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand. So, according to the writer of John's gospel, Jesus' body was anointed for burial on the day he was taken from the cross and it was Nicodemus who provided the spices. It was 'they', indicating Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathæa and perhaps others, who did the embalming and wrapping in linen cloths. I must have read that passage in John's gospel many times and have been involved in singing it every Good Friday for the past 15 years but the bit about the embalming hadn't really registered. The thorough and detailed reading of the text, in preparation for a sermon, is what alerted me. It reminds me of the value of such detailed and focussed reading - 'attending to the text' as it can be called. That one gospel tells us something that appears to conflict with other accounts doesn't mean that it is right or wrong, only that it should not be discounted. There are plenty of inconsistencies between the four gospels, especially around the resurrection of Jesus, and this could be one of them. There are probably many reasons for the differences, not least the reliability of sources, memory, and the passage of time before the accounts were written. As an engineer and technologist I have been interested in looking out for information in the Bible about materials and methods of manufacture. For instance when it came to the building of the first temple I was interested to learn that, because there were no trees in the whole of Israel suitable for roof timbers, Solomon had to get suitable wood from Phoenicia (present day Lebanon) and it cost him dear - as recorded in 1 Kings 9 v11:- Now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees, and with gold, according to all his desire, that then King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. Attending to the text needs careful reading and re-reading and one thing I find helpful when the Bible is read in church is to follow the text as it is read. Looking at the words as they are read means to me that I am less likely to miss a point of interest or new information in the fine detail. I wonder if this might encourage
you to 'attend to the text' in its detail and search out even
more treasure in the Bible. I would be interested in your
comments and any study techniques you find helpful. Rollo the ordained clown had
been telling the story of Alban at a Rose Service in St. Albans
Abbey. He was performing some amazing balancing tricks;
standing on a very slack rope while throwing rings onto
a post some distance away. He managed to get 2 out of
3 on the post and made the comment "2 out of 3, not bad,
more than most people get out of the Trinity". Trying to explain the doctrine of the Trinity has kept many a theologian busy down the centuries. One helpful picture is to imagine the sun shining in the sky. The sun itself - way out there in space - unapproachable in its fiery majesty - is the Father. The light that flows from it, and which illuminates all our lives, is the Son. The heat that flows from it, and which gives us all the energy to move and grow, is the Holy Spirit. You cannot have the sun without its light and its heat. The light and the heat are from the sun, are of the sun, and yet are also distinct in themselves, with their own roles to play. The Bible makes clear that God is One God, who is disclosed in three persons: Father, Son (Jesus Christ) and Holy Spirit. For example Deuteronomy 6:4 'Hear O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one..' Isaiah 45:22 'Turn to me and be saved… for I am God, and there is no other' Genesis 1:1-2 'In the beginning God created…. And the Spirit of God was hovering…' Judges 14:6 etc 'The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power…' John 1:1-3 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.' Luke 24:49 actually manages to squeeze the whole Trinity into one sentence. Jesus tells his disciples: 'I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power (the Holy Spirit) from on high.' In other words, the sun eternally
gives off light and heat, and whenever we stand in its brilliant
light, we find that the warmth soon follows. Last year at this time I wrote about the wonderful job done by Mark of Leisure Turf, tel. 07917 675606, in clearing up the muddy mess and laying our beautiful new lawn.This year he has been back again repairing the damage done by a huge lorry backing on to this pristine green area. He has done his usual excellent job, thank you Mark - hopefully we've experienced our last lorry. Another thank you to everyone for not using the brown bins for rubbish, other than that for which they have been supplied. Apart from dead flowers and garden materials of all kinds, they can also be used for cardboard and shredded documents, all of which is then used to make compost. There is a waste bin just outside the church gate, by the bus-stop, for general use. We are lucky to have quite a few responsible litter pickers in our congregation - I have good news for you. If you wish, I can supply you with a set of 'helping hands' which means you do not have to bend down to pick up litter - just ask me! Thank you to everyone who helped keep the garden looking so beautiful last year. Your help was really valued and please continue if you can this year. Thank you also to three people who have volunteered to weed and care for their own small flower bed. Please let me know if you are prepared to adopt a small patch for occasional weeding and planting. I would be very grateful, as would the garden. Once again Alick Burge has sharpened and serviced the lawnmower; volunteers to mow our 'green arena' will be helping to keep themselves fit. It is not onerous and can be very satisfying as I know. We need someone to donate a new church garden bench. Alec does a wonderful job putting our present ones together again each year but at least one is now on its 'last legs'. A chair makes a wonderful memorial to a loved one. As I write, the nest boxes are buzzing with activity, the cherry tree is in flower and our church grounds and garden are looking beautiful. On Saturday 3rd May from 9.30am
we will be having another gardening day. Do come and help if
you can, even for an hour or two. With your help we can continue
to give a lot of pleasure to the public and to ourselves - in
this, the only church garden in Croxley. Is there someone in church whom you respect for their spirituality and common sense combined - someone you feel easy about approaching to ask questions? That person's patron saint should be Philip. Philip came from Bethsaida,
and was a disciple of Jesus from early on. He knew how to lead
others to Jesus - he brought Nathanael (or Bartholomew) to him
in a calm, kindly way. He knew how to do some financial forecasting:
at the feeding of the 5,000 it was he who pointed out that without
divine help, even 200 pennyworth of bread wasn't going to feed
that crowd. He was the one whom the Greeks approached when they
wanted to ask Jesus to show them the Father, but didn't quite
have the nerve to approach Jesus directly. People had confidence
in Philip's spirituality, common sense and kindliness. Such
a person is a gift to any church! In art, the Apostle Philip
has been represented either with a cross, or with loaves of
bread.
1st prize £25 - Win Terrell MAGAZINE EDITORIAL TEAM MAGAZINE DISTRIBUTOR
Please contact the Church Office for further details 01923 772109. All Saints' Church, The Green, Croxley
Green, Rickmansworth,
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Revd.
Miriam writes: