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 Newslink            May 2001

From the Ministry Team
 

Whose `Lady‘ is she?

One of the extra devotions held on the Saturdays of Lent was the praying of the Rosary. During the course of those weeks some 25 people experienced praying the Rosary together, many for the first time. It was a valuable experience, many said, and a good number of people expressed a wish for this to continue beyond Lent. A survey of those who came (apologies for yet another form to fill in) showed that most people would value the Rosary once a month and so it will be said on the first Saturday of each month before the 10.30 am Eucharist.

There are some who will argue that devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, including the Rosary, is only for Roman Catholics (no offence to our Roman Catholic readers intended!). Although with perhaps a different emphasis to the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England nevertheless gives Mary an important place. Indeed for some 50 years at least the `Angelus‘ has been rung at S. Faith‘s after Communion at the Sunday Eucharist and each weekday before the Divine Office is said. The Church of England‘s new Calendar and Lectionary gives August 15th as the principal Feast Day for Mary, bringing us not just into line with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches but also other provinces of the Anglican Communion. (However at S. Mary‘s we are retaining September 8th as the Patronal Festival, after all, would you want S. Faith‘s Day to fall mid-August?) Those who led the Oxford Movement in the 19th Century did much to restore devotion to Mary in the Church of England. As you know, it was the work of the Oxford Movement which brought churches such as ours into being.

What may not be widely known is that there is an `Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary‘. This Society has been in existence for some years and counts among its members people from the Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, Church of England and other parts of the Anglican Communion, Free-Church members, Irish Protestants and a Quaker! The current Archbishop of Carey, Dr George Carey is also a member. The late Lord Runcie valued his membership of the ESBVM and was for many years a Patron.

Another surprise (well I have to confess it was a surprise to me, but that will teach me to make sweeping generalisations!) is that one of the finest books I have read  on the subject  of praying  the Rosary  was written  by  a  Methodist
Minister, J. Neville Ward. In his book `5 for Sorrow, 10 for Joy‘ he writes: `I am sure that one of the most hopeful means of realising Christian Unity is for Christians of one tradition to seek to share another tradition‘s experience of the riches of Christ.‘ It is an excellent book, written in the early 1970‘s. I am delighted that this year‘s pilgrimage to Walsingham will include members of S. Mary‘s Church too.

On 6th May we will be hosting for the third consecutive year a Service of Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. We will welcome members of other churches in our area and from other parts of the Diocese. It is a great joy to welcome Father Kevin Jordan who is on the staff at Westminster Cathedral. Please be there if you are able, to welcome him and those who will share with us in this Service which is an important celebration of our Anglican catholic heritage.

Fr. Neil

Henry Kelly, on Classic FM recently, quoted a listener‘s letter in which a woman told of her child having come home eagerly from Sunday School to tell her mother of the new hymn they had been learning.

`It‘s called I am the Lord of the Damp Settee, Mummy‘ ...

Moving towards Ascension    Fr Dennis

Our dear friend and sister in Christ, Emily Conalty, died on the eve of the season of Advent 1989.

Many of us at St Faith‘s have fond and treasured memories of the prayerful, faithful, deeply committed Emily — the erudite, enthusiastic disciple and ambassador of the Gospel she so devotedly embraced and in the service of which she showed such exemplary dedication.

From the first days of her serving on the newly-formed Parish magazine Committee of the early 1960s (with, amongst others, the present — and then — Editor, Rita Woodley and myself) until only a year or so before her death from cancer, Emily contributed a great many thoughtful and helpful articles on various aspects of the Christian life and the liturgical calendar.

From the 1964 May edition of `Parish News‘, her thoughts on the approaching seasons of Ascensiontide and Pentecost bear prayerful reflection.

ASCENSION AND WHITSUNTIDE

Here are three facts to bear in mind about the important Festival of the  Ascension that we keep this month:

It is an occasion for great joy and thanksgiving. It is the completion of Christ‘s earthly course. He who `emptied himself‘ and became man for us, obedient even unto the death of the Cross, now goes back to Heaven as King, glorified and exalted that at His name every knee should bow‘. We joy therefore in His joy, in the joy of Heaven.

Christ is our representative, it is our humanity that is at God‘s right hand. In Christ exalted, we see what we are meant to be, what we can attain through His grace. He does not leave his humanity behind, He exalts it to the Father‘s throne.

Christ ever liveth to make intercession for us. Having been `tempted in all points like as we are‘,  having experienced all that we go through, He eternally pleads for us His brethren, at the same time pouring down upon His Church His Holy Spirit and the gifts of His grace.

This last thought brings us to consider Pentecost, Whitsuntide. Have you ever thought that some of the strongest words Jesus uttered were about those who despise, disregard or misinterpret the working of the Holy Spirit? He said that all sin would be forgiven men except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. What did he mean? Simply this — that wherever there is goodness truth, beauty in the world, things honest or of good report, whether they be in people whom we dislike, denominations other than our own, non-Christian religions, so called secular art or literature, we must attribute them to that One Holy Spirit of God who in the beginning brooded over primaeval chaos and who has ever since been at work in the universe. That is why we pray during the Octave of Pentecost for the Holy Spirit‘s Guidance for the leaders of the nations and for inspiration for all engaged in artistic pursuits.

To praise the good, wherever it may be, is to acknowledge the Holy Spirit, but to denigrate the good, to call good evil and evil good, to attribute wrong motives to good actions, is to blaspheme against God. This — the perversion of conscience — is the one sin which, by its very nature, is unforgiveable, as it renders imposible the action and work of God in us.

Let us pray, then, that God may pour down upon us abundantly in all spheres of our life, His Holy Spirit and the grace to recognise His workings wherever they may be.

The Mystery of Socks
Canon David Winter, Church Times

I can give a reasonable explanation of the Holy Trinity, if pressed. But, having done my own washing for a few weeks, I confess the Mystery of Socks is beyond me. Put five pairs in the wash and, if you‘re lucky, you‘ll get four pairs back and two non-matching odd ones.

On my last effort (having heeded advice not to worry, they all turn up in the end‘), I achieved some kind of nadir. Five pairs went into the washing-machine and, 60 minutes later, there emerged one matching pair and no fewer than eight odd socks, at least one of which I swear I have never seen before.

(Although fortunately not having to do his own washing, the editor can vouch from pesonal experience for the accuracy of this observation.)

Before the Eucharist ...  A Form of Preparation

This is taken from Common Worship 2000. It is provided to be used prior to the Eucharist. You may wish to use this in your prayers when you arrive in Church before the Eucharist begins, or it could be used at home, perhaps on a Saturday evening, in preparation for receiving Holy Communion the following morning.
 

Come, Holy Ghost (Veni creator Spiritus)

Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,
And lighten with celestial fire;
Thou the anointing Spirit art,
Who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart.

Thy blessed unction from above
Is comfort, life and fire of love;
Enable with perpetual light
The dullness of our blinded sight.

Anoint and cheer our soiled face
With the abundance of thy grace;
Keep far our foes, give peace at home;
Where thou art guide no ill can come.

Teach us to know the Father, Son,
And thee, of Both, to be but One;
That through the ages all along
This may be our endless song:
Praise to thy eternal merit,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

One of these texts may be used.

Summary of the Law
Our Lord Jesus Christ said:
The first commandment is this:
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind,
and with all your strength.‘
The second is this: Love your neighbour as yourself.‘
There is no other commandment greater than these.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Amen. Lord, have mercy.
 

The Comfortable Words
Hear the words of comfort our Saviour Christ says
to all who truly turn to him:
Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Matthew 11.28
God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish
but have eternal life. John 3.16
Hear what Saint Paul says:
This saying is true, and worthy of full acceptance,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 1 Timothy 1.15
Hear what Saint John says:
If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous;
and he is the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 2.1, 2
 

The Beatitudes
Let us hear our Lord‘s blessing on those who follow him.
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God.
Blessed are those who suffer persecution for righteousness‘ sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Confession

Father eternal, giver of light and grace,
we have sinned against you and against our neighbour,
in what we have thought, in what we have said and done,
through ignorance, through weakness,
through our own deliberate fault.
We have wounded your love and marred your image in us.
We are sorry and ashamed and repent of all our sins.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who died for us,
forgive us all that is past
and lead us out from darkness to walk as children of light. Amen.
 

Absolution

Almighty God, our heavenly Father,
who in his great mercy has promised forgiveness of sins
to all those who with heartfelt repentance and true faith turn to him:
have mercy on us, pardon and deliver us from all our sins;
confirm and strengthen us in all goodness;
and bring us to everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Notice Board

Sunday 6th May at 6pm

MAY DEVOTIONS
TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Solemn Choral Evening Prayer,
Procession and Solemn Benediction

Preacher: Father Kevin Jordan (Chaplain, Westminster Cathedral)
 

Thursday 24th May

THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD

6.30am PROCESSION AND HIGH MASS
 followed by breakfast in the Vicarage

7.30pm  Said Eucharist with hymns

All PCC members and those elected as Churchwardens and Deputy Churchwardens will be attending the PCC Away-Day which will take place once again in the delightful setting of St. Luke‘s, Formby on Saturday 5th May from 10.45 am ™ 4 pm.  If you have any matters you wish to be raised please let Fr. Neil know in good time so that they can be included.

Buy plants for your tubs & hanging baskets through  us
at bargain prices and make money for the Church!

Thanks to the generosity of Dave Clark, a local plantsman
with an international reputation, a wide selection of
top-quality plants are available to members of St Faith‘s and their friends at approximately half the price — and double the quality —
 you might expect at a garden centre.

Some of the plants available:
Trailing Surfinia Petunias
 (in many colours, including an unusual yellow)
Helicrisum
Lamium
Plectranthus
Oxalis
Geranium
Mixed Fuchsias
Hebe

Made-up Hanging Baskets also available to order

Plants will be on sale in the hall after church on
SUNDAY APRIL 29th ONLY
Bring money and a bag (or two) on the day,
and invite your friends to drop in.
If you won‘t be in church on that day, or would like further information, see Angie Price, Audrey Dawson, Rosie Walker, Mary Crooke or Fiona Whalley and place your order.

ALL sales proceeds direct to church funds.

Verses for Easter and after

Ward 19

It is 5 am and the ward is still
In the pause between night and day.
The night has been eternal
Yet dawn seems hours away.

In the hospital grounds the trees are bare
In the February chill.
Spring us as remote as the dawn
And the waiting disables the will.

Then in the winter‘s darkness
A thrush began to sing.
How can she trust that morning will come?
How can she believe in spring?

Lord, when our hearts are overwhelmed
By the darkness of sorrow‘s night,
Give us, like the thrush, the faith to trust
In the coming of the light.

And when we face the winter of death
And fear that life will cease,
May the knowledge that we shall rise with Christ
Fill our hearts with hope and peace.

Norman
(from Focus, the magazine of St Mary, Davyhulme, Manchester)
 

Stanzas at Easter
John Updike

Make no mistake
if he rose at all
it was as his body;
if the cells dissolution did not reverse,
 the molecules reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
 the church will fall.

It was not as the flowers
each soft spring recurrent;
it was not as his Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as his flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes, the same valved heart
that - pierced - died, withered, decayed and then
 regathered out of his Father‘s might
new strength to disclose.

Let us not mock God with a metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted
 in the faded credulity of earlier ages;
let us walk through the door.
 

When Mary through the Garden went
Mary Coleridge

When Mary thro‘ the garden went,
There was no sound of any bird,
And yet, because the night was spent,
The little grasses lightly stirred,
The flowers awoke, the lilies heard.

When Mary thro‘ the garden went,
The dew lay still on flower and grass,
The waving palms about her sent
Their fragrance out as she did pass,
No light upon the branches was.

When Mary thro‘ the garden went
Her eyes for weeping long, were dim,
The grass beneath her footsteps bent,
The solemn lilies, white and slim,
These also stood and wept for him.

When Mary thro‘ the garden went
She sought, within the garden ground,
One for whom her heart was rent,
One who for her sake was bound,
One who sought and she was found.
 

Miracles

Why, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses towards the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with anyone I love, or sleep in the bed at night with anyone
  I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer fore-noon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air ,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in sprIng;
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.
To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.
To me the sea is a continual miracle,
The fishes that swim — the rocks — the motion of the waves — the ships
 with men in them,
What stranger miracles are there?

Walt Whitman

Despite a long winter, a wet and windy spring and a countryside quarantined by foot and mouth disease, it is good at this time of year to wander, at least in the mind, to distant places where the faith has been kept in beautiful surroundings. It is in this spirit that I offer these next two poems celebrating very different sanctuaries. The first, in a remote corner of South Wales, will probably be less familiar than the second, but both spoke to me of holiness and of the presence of God.

Partrishow

Deep in the folds of the Black Mountains
Lanes lead off lanes that go nowhere
Until, at a signpost almost hidden in the enfolding hedge,
A last track wriggles steeply up to the final secret place
Where, preserved as by miracle in the amber of the evening‘s light,
The grey church holds on to its past.
Within, the past is present:
Stark on the wall, a daubed skeleton
Leans on its spade, grinning of mortality,
And the ancient nave is spanned by patterned oak:
Resplendent rood-screen intricately carved with serpent and twining vine.
When Cromwell‘s grim vandals tramped these hills
To smash and deface what they could not comprehend,
The maze of lanes baffled and bewildered them
And Partrishow slept on undefiled.
Or so they say.

Below, where the lane twists down beneath the trees,
A cross-carved slab points down to a dell and a hidden well:
A shrine hung with ribbons, strips of pilgrims‘ cloth;
Candles perched in crevices of rock;
The glint and gleam of scattered silver
Beneath the cool, welling water on the mossed stone.
Here, the hopeful still seek healing:
Grandmothers bring babies for the air and an unspoken blessing
Where once, the saint kept his cell by the lonely stream
Until death seized him at a robber‘s hands
And a wealthy leper, made clean by the holy water,
Decked Issui‘s shrine with a thankoffering of gold
To build the old grey church above.
Or so they say.
 

Holy Island

When the sea steals back over the level sands
The cars scurry away over the drowning causeway.
Day trippers, ice-cream vendors, burger vans depart;
The island folds in upon itself again
The sea reclaims these acres for its own
And the past flows back into the present.

As dusk falls, the moon hangs low over the castle,
Its impossible shape riding against the darkening sky,
Framed in the soaring arch of the fallen priory.
Boys fish from the rocks. Men stroll by their upturned boats.
The last light glows on the quiet streets
As the cottages and inns shone out on the soft evening.
The old church, peaceful witness to the passing centuries,
Looks down on St Cuthbert‘s island, now lapped with the tides.

The roots go deep here:
A community founded in faith, built on this half-tide strand,
In touch still with the gentle certainty
That laboured once to shape and carve the soft stone
And colour the glowing Gospels of Lindisfarne.

Here is a home, a place to grow wise,
To reach out for the centuries of worship
And watch the sea‘s endless surging
In tune with the tides and the slow sifting of the seasons.

Across the flooded sound, cars and trains speed by in the distance
On urgent errands that will lead to nowhere of importance.
When next the waters relent they will stream back here:
Impatient packaged pilgrims seeking an instant experience.
But Holy Island will keep itself still to itself;
The sleeping saints bear a silent witness,
And you must wait for that silence to return
If you would find the spirit of this place
Held in the circle of the surrounding sea;
Cupped in the hollow of the ocean‘s hands.

Chris Price

Dear Friends,
We were overwhelmed and profoundly touched by the concern, love, prayers and food parcels (left in our porch) which we received during John‘s illness; and for the sympathy, support, flowers, cards, letters and tributes to John, showered upon us in his memory. We have felt surrounded and cushioned by love and prayers and feel so fortunate and blessed.

Our heartfelt thanks to Father Neil for his loving and compassionate support during John‘s tragic struggle and at the end. Words cannot express our gratitude to him or to dear Fred for his concern as a friend and for his care of John in those last few days; there is no-one we would sooner have had as John‘s physician at that point.

John‘s funeral celebrations (and they can only be termed as such!) were wonderful in every way. To everyone involved there are no words to convey just what it all meant to us — but thank you. St Faith‘s is truly a family in every sense of the word. Thank you all so much, and God bless you all.

With love and gratitude,
Irene, Stephanie and Daniel

The editor is grateful to Mike Homfray and Joan Tudhope who independently supplied several pages of allegedly authentic `Church Bloopers‘. Despite his doubts, he is more than happy to print a selection...

Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 pm in the  recreation  hall.  Come out and watch us kill Christ the King.

This evening at 7 p.m. there will be a hymn sing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin..
 
Eight new choir robes are needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
 
The Scouts are saving aluminium cans, bottles and other items to be
recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.

Low self esteem group will meet Thursday. Please use the back door.

The Minister unveiled the church‘s new tithing campaign slogan last
Sunday: I upped my pledge — up yours‘.

Count your Blessings
Thanksgiving Calendar

During Lent, several members of our congregation made use of this calendar as  means of supporting our misSionary project in Malawi. It is a relatively painless way of parting with money, and is both entertaining and thoUght-provoking — and could be used equally well for supporting any good cause...

1st  Pray that you may use your time wisely. Give 1p for each clock in your house.

2nd  Water is very precious in many countries, and often has to be carried a great distance. Give 1p for each tap in your home,

3rd Some children never have the opportunity to go to school. Give 1p for every school those in your house have attended.

4th  Many people burn wood for cooking. Give 1p for each electrical appliance you have in your kitchen or utility room.

5th  Have you a bible in the house? If so give 2p for each one. If not, 5p.

6th  In some countries families cannot afford shoes for their children. Give 1p for each pair of shoes in your house.

7th  Even candles are a luxury for some people. Give 1p for each light switch in your house.

8th  In some countries many people are disabled, some from acts of violence. Give 1p for each healthy limb of every family member.

9th Tea and coffee are cash crops grown in some countries. Give 1p for every cup of tea or coffee drunk in your home today.

10th Many malnourished children do not live 5 years. Give 5p for each family member over 5 years old.

11th  Some people sleep rough at night, even in Britain. Give 1p for each bed in your house.

12th  Democracy and freedom are things that we take for granted; others are less fortunate. Make a freewill offering for your freedom.

13th  Communication is vital and it is nice to receive letters or phone calls.  Give 1p for each letter or phone call received today (ignore junk mail).

14th   Some people are blind, others have poor unaided sight. Give 2p for each pair of spectacles in your house.

15th   Some people are deaf and dumb. Give 1p for each hymn sung in church last Sunday.

16th  Many people do not have good medical facilities available to them.  Give 5p as a thankoffering for our Health Service.

17th  The bible talks about a land flowing with milk and honey. Give 2p if you have a jar of honey in the house

18th  Milk is a good food. Give 1p for each pint of milk in your fridge.

19th.  Add together the numbers of your favourite hymn. Give that number of pence today.

20th  Lack of sanitation is a prime cause of illness.Give 5p for each  toilet in your house.

21st  Many people are homeless.Give 1p for each room in your house (don‘t forget the smallest!)

22nd  Trees are a precious resource from which paper is made. Give 1p for each newspaper and magazine you took last week.

23rd  Many people overseas have to walk everywhere. Give 1p for each wheel on a bike or car owned by your family or
 make a gift if you travel by train or bus.

24th  Our shops are never empty. Give 5p if you go shopping today.

25th  We learn a great deal from radio and TV, but they can be timewasters. Give 1p for each radio and TV in your house.

26th  The nights are cold for many people. Give 1p for each blanket or 2p per duvet in your house.

27th  Some countries suffer from drought and the sun scorches the growing crops. Give 5p if you saw the sun today, and 10p if it rained or snowed!

28th  If you feel glad that you could count so many blessing in the past 4 weeks ... please give a freewill offering of thanks today (and on any
 remaining days in the month!)
 

Make your worst enemy your best friend,‘ proclaimed the Wayside Pulpit outside Southlands Methodist Church in York. The following week someone had written underneath: Drink is your worst enemy‘

The Universe in a Hazelnut

Our Lord showed me a spiritual sight of his homely and familiar love. I saw that he is everything that is good and comforting to us; he is our clothing, wrapping and enfolding us. He embraces and encloses us in tender love, and he never leaves us. I saw that he is everything that is good, as I understand it.
 
He showed me a little thing, the size of a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, as round as a ball. I looked at it and thought, `What can this be?‘ And I was answered, `It is all that is made.‘ I wondered how it could last, for I thought that being so small it might suddenly fall apart. And I was answered in my understanding, `It lasts, and always will, because God loves it.‘ And so everything has its being through the love of God.

In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it; the second is that God loves it; the third is that God preserves it. But what is that to me? It is that God is the creator, the lover and protector. For until I am united to him I cannot know love or rest or true happiness; that is, until I am so at one with him that no created thing can come between my God and me.

Dame Julian of Norwich c.1342-1420
 Revelations of Divine Love

I would like to thank Fr Neil and the members of St Mary‘s and St Faith‘s for their kindness and support during my recent illness. Your messages, cards and visits cheered me no end.

The meals provided when I came home from hospital were especially welcome. Above all, thank you for your prayers: you‘ll never know how much they meant.

There is still a long way to go yet. Fr Neil will not be the only one to have a wig! (a reference to the pantomime, for the perplexed! Ed.)

Thank you and bless you,
Marian

What is meant when we say that we must be ?like Jesus‘? It may be that most people tend to find in Jesus, if they look at him at all, a vindication of a life-style they have already chosen for themselves for other reasons.

If you are a priest, you see in Jesus the epitome of  the great High Priest. If you are a layman Jesus does not look like a priest at all. He is seen as the most lay of all spiritual leaders. If you are a radical, you take your inspiration from the Jesus who came to turn the world upside down. If you are a conservative, you rejoice that Jesus said that not one jot or title of tradition would be altered.

If you are a quiet man, you see in Jesus the one who was always withdrawing into a desert place for peace and meditation. If you are a man of action, Jesus is seen as the dynamic leader who was always to be found in the thick of every conflict. If you are a pacifist, Jesus is on your side, because he urged his followers to turn the other cheek. If you are a militarist, you are glad he drove the corrupt traders from the temple with a scourge.

If you are a lover of good things, Jesus is your man. He was often criticised because he was a friend of wine imbibers and harlots. If you are a Puritan at heart, you are glad to follow the one who set so little store by worldly pleasures that he had nowhere to lay his head ...

Malawi Lent Appeal Update

Many thanks to those who have taken part in the Lent Appeal for Malawi. The raffle for the `Quillow‘ (Pillow-cum-quilt! Ed.), won by Chrstine Spence, raised an amazing £66.50 and the Count Your Blessings project (see pp 20 and 21  Ed.) so far totals £70.

Together with other donations from members of the congregation `doing their own thing‘, it is hoped that the total could be somewhere in the region of £350 to date (9 April). Many thanks to those who have so willingly taken part; the money raised is invaluable to All Saints Church, Mnthuntama.

If anyone has not yet returned their contributions from the Count Your Blessings Appeal, please do let me have them — it is never too late.

Margaret Haughton

As usual, Easter and the arrival (hopefully) of Spring herald another Christian Aid Week. St. Faith‘s people have traditionally given this event a lot of support and backing, so I hope I can rely on you all again this year! The theme in 2001 will be `You‘re making a difference‘ — we shall be focussing on three different countries — Uganda, Brazil and Bangladesh, and looking at how much of an impact we can make when we give, act and pray.

Once again I will be asking for volunteers for the house-to-house collection in the Parish. If you have never done this before, and are thinking about helping, please do speak to me on a Sunday morning or contact me by phone (924-2813) or e-mail (FJNye@aol.com). We should aim to collect from every house in the Parish, not just because the world‘s poor desperately need the money but because the collection is an effective act of witness which we share with other Christian denominations. And that, as Father Jack would say, is an ecumenical matter!

Whether or not you are able to help as a Collector, please do give generously to this immensely worthwhile cause. As a Church our cash flow problems are so dire that we cannot  afford to give anything from our regular giving to ?missionary‘ causes, so it‘s up to us as individuals to redress the balance. And please  do  come  along  to  the  Christian  Aid  Service  on  Sunday May 13th    6.00 pm at St. Mary‘s) so that you can support the Week with your presence and your prayers.

For those who would like to make a less formal contribution, there is a CHRISTIAN AID WATERFRONT WALK on Saturday 12th May. It starts from outside the Otterspoool pub from 11.00 am onwards and finishes at Pier Head where there will be a jazz band, and a short service to finish. If you are interested and want to know more, please phone Linda McClintock-Tiongco on 709-0148.
 
Have a good Week!
Fred Nye
PS The Christian Aid website is at www.christianaidweek.org.uk

 There is too much busyness in our Church at present: too much rushing
 around, too many committees, too much paper circulated. It all point to
 the disease of activism which is infecting us all.
 (Bishop Nigel McCulloch‘s enthronement sermon at Wakefield in 1992)

 Churches do not grow larger numerically by trying to get bigger. Churches
 grow larger numerically by trying to be better.
 (Dr Steven Croft, Warden of Cranmer Hall)

 People will not be drawn to a work-dominated, activity-driven church.
 Instead they will be driven to a church in which prayer and the spiritual
 journey are both the landmarks and the guiding vision.
 (Archbishop George Carey)

 God so loved the world that he did NOT send a committee.
 (Anon!)