Click on Rectors Letter or Services at St. Peters for April

APRIL 2002 SERVICES

7th SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER (BCP-1st) 9.30am St John's Holy Communion Rev J Wordsworth 9.30am St Mary's Village Service The Rector 11.00am St Peter's Morning Prayer Mr T Bunn 14th THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER (BCP-2nd) 9.30am St. John's Matins Mr H Wright 9.30am St Mary's Holy Communion (BCP) The Rector 11.00am St Peter's Holy Communion The Rector 21st FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (BCP- 3rd) No 8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) at St Peter's 9.30am St. John's Holy Communion (Sung) Rev J Wordsworth Sunday School 11.00am St. Peter's Morning Prayer MrsM Dodge 6.00 pm St Mary's Evensong Mr H Wright 28th FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (BCP-4th) 9.30am St. John's Village Service The Rector 11.00am St Peter's Village Service The Rector 6.00pm St. Mary's Holy Communion (BCP) The Rector 24th 10.3Oam St Peter's Mid-week Holy Communion The Rector (BPC) FROM THE REGISTERS Baptisms 24 February Harry Caleb Tucker at St. Peter's At Rest: 28th February Edmund Rosser-Rees (73) of Limpley Stoke CHURCH DATES IN APRIL 4th Combined Homegroup Meeting in the Old Bakery at 8.00pm 8th St. Peter's Annual Church Meeting in the Old Bakery at 7.30pm 12th Staff Meeting at The Rectory at 2.00pm 15th United Parish Annual Meeting in L S Village Hall at 7.30pm 29th St. Mary's Church Committee at 7.30pm THEANTHONYS CMS MISSION PARTNERS IN TANZANIA We have now received our second Link Letter from Paul and Pauline and the news is not so good. They have experienced illness themselves and several tragic deaths among their new colleagues, which have particularly unsettled their children Ellen and Thomas. Job descriptions don't seem to have materialised as expected and finance for generating projects is a problem within the diocese. They do ask for our prayers for the clarification of the roles they have to play, for the Diocese of Kagera and those they work with, and for the children. Our cards and letters are much appreciated and they would be delighted to hear from us c/o PO Box 7, Ngara, Tanzania. Copies of their letter are available in St. Peter's and St. Mary's. OASIS In March we joined the mid-week Lent Holy Communion service at St. Peter's and served coffee in the Old Bakery afterwards. In April we look forward to a further visit from the "Send a Cow" project to bring us up to date with their latest enterprises. The meeting will be in Limpley Stoke Village Hall on Wednesday 3rd April with coffee from 10.00am. All welcome. Susan Clark IF I HAD MY LIFE OVER Erma Bombeck (in an EAWL Newsletter) I would have gone to bed when I was sick in stead of pretending the earth would have gone into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day. I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage. I would have talked less and listened more. I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded. I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace. I would have taken time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth. I would never have insisted the car window be rolled up on a summer because my hair had just been teased and sprayed. I would have sat on the lawn with the children and not worried about grass stains. I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life. I would never have bought anything just because it was practical wouldn't show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime. Instead of wishing away months of pregnancy, I would have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle. When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said' Later, now get washed up for dinner.' There would have been more 'I love you's' But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute...look at it and really see it...live it and never give it back. Stop sweating the small stuff. Don't worry about who doesn't like you, who has more, or who's doing what. Instead let's cherish the relationships we have with those who DO love us. Let's think about what God has blessed us with. And what we are doing each day to promote ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally as well as spiritually. Life is too short to let it pass you by. We only have one shot at this and then it's gone. I hope you all have a blessed day. (Ed: This piece was written when the author knew she was terminally ill) ARE FAITH-BASED SCHOOLS DIVISIVE? The issue of whether there should be more faith-based schools is being keenly debated. The Church of England Board of Education has welcomed the conclusion of the Cantle Report on Community Cohesion that the problem of an increase in mono-cultural schools is not confined to those which are faith-based. The Rt Rev Alan Chesters, Bishop of Blackburn and chairman of the Board, said that the Church "is as concerned as Mr Cantle that some faith schools appear to be operating policies where religious affiliations protect cultural and ethnic divisions. Lord Dearing's [earlier] report on Church schools recommended that all Church schools should reserve places for children of other faiths and none." The bishop went on to say that it was essential for all schools, not just faith-based ones, to promote understanding of other faiths and cultures.Meanwhile, it is clear that admission policies still cause difficulties. One teacher told me of a case where a girl who belonged to one of the smaller Christian denominations was rejected by a Church school because "other families were more committed." This teacher's point was that the children of families connected with the church in question, which had many weekday activities for its children, had more opportunities to develop "commitment". The small church attended by the girl turned down had few such activities. How would a good balance of faiths and cultures be achieved? The Government says it will insist that all new proposals for faith-based schools demonstrate a commitment to being inclusive -either by accepting pupils of other faiths or none, or through links with schools of other faiths to enable all communities to be taught together (preferably adopting both these proposals). Existing schools will be urged to "follow the spirit" of this guidance. The review group re-affirmed the Church's historic partnership with local education authorities. In any new Church schools, says the Dearing Report, there should be a core of Christian pupils but the local community should be served in all its diversity .The Church needs to encourage and promote teaching as an important expression of Christian ministry. PHILIP BARRON A SENIOR'S PRAYER Today, Dear Lord, I'm 80, and there's much 1 haven't done. I hope, Dear Lord, you'll let me live until I'm 81, But then, if 1 haven't finished all i want to do Would you let me stay a while,until I'm 82? So many places I'd like to go, so much left to see, So, perhaps Dear Lord, you'd make it 83? The world is changing very fast. There is so much in store I'd like it fine if I could live until I'm 84. And, if by then, I'm still alive, I'd like to stay till 85. By then I'll just be in my stride so I'd really like to stick And see what happens in the world when I'm 86! I know, Dear Lord, it's much to ask (it must be nice in heaven) But I'd really, really like to stay until I'm 87! I know by then I won't be fast, and sometimes will be late But it would be so pleasant to be around at 88. I will have seen so many things, and had a lovely time So, I'm sure I would be willing to leave at 89. BUT HAVING THOUGHT IT OVER,LORD, (and I hope this won't be too late) WOULD YOU GRANT ME ONE MORE WISH -TO REVIEW THIS WHEN I'M 88! Found in the Forest of Dean SIGNS & SYMBOLS This month we'll look at a few more symbols to help us think about God using abbreviations from ancient Greek words. The most common and often the most misunderstood is this one -IHC. People sometimes think they come from the Latin 'Jesus Hominum Salvator' meaning, 'Jesus, saviour of the world', or even 'In His Service'. But they don't. They are the first three letters of the Greek for JESUS - which in Greek was IHCOYC.Just to confuse you Greek has two ways of writing the sound's' as in the middle of Jesus. It can be either a 'C' or what looks like a rather stylised 'E'. To confuse you more, when you translate the Greek letters IHC into Latin they come out as 'IHS'. So you can see both spellings that mean the same thing.In my church this abbreviation has been repeated and used to decorate the whole length of the white cloth covering the altar. A much easier abbreviation is the next one which is the first and last letters of the Greek capital alphabet -Alpha (A) and Omega (a funny-Iooking O or Q). In English I suppose we'd have had 'AZ'. It's used to mean the infinity of God, that he is eternal; from the beginning to the end. You'll sometimes also see AW because this was the lower case Greek. Another Greek word used is NlKA which means 'Victor'. So sometimes you'll see a cross with the four corners having two letters ineach: IC meaning Jesus XC meaning Christ NI being the first two letters, and KA the last two letters of NlKA So you get, ' Jesus Christ, the Victor'. Sometimes the alpha and omega will be placed either side of another letter or letters. One example is with the letter 'M' which is sometimes used to mean 'found blameless' So AMQ would mean something like, 'He who is blameless from the beginning of time to the end of time.' Jo White A WEEKLY POSTING FROM CYBERSPACE If God had voicemail Thank you for calling My Father's house. Please select one of the following options: Press 1 for requests Press 2 for Thanksgiving Press 3 for Complaints Press 4 for Angels "I'm sorry , all our angels are busy helping others sinners right now. However, your prayer is important to us and will be answered in the order received. Please stay on the line, you are 1O,364th in the queue" If you would like to speak to: Gabriel, Press 1 Michael, Press 2 For a directory of other angels, Press 3. 1) To find out if a loved one has been assigned to Heaven, press 5, enter their national insurance number then press the pound key. 2) For reservations at My Father's House, please enter J.O.H.N., followed by 3v16. 3) For answers to nagging questions about dinosaurs, the age of the earth and where Noah's Ark is, please wait until you arrive here. 4) Our computers show that you have already prayed once today. Please hang up and try again tomorrow 5) This office is closed for the weekend to observe a religious holiday 6) Please pray again on Monday after 9.30pm. If you need emergency assistance, contact your local vicar. Thank you. From globalvillage@the-times.co.uk CHURCH NUMBERS ARE UP -IT'S OFFICIAL The Church of England has discovered that 300,000 more people are attending church than previously thought. After a decade of gradual decline in church attendance figures, the news that the Church had been undercounting its worshippers will come as a boost for Dr Carey's last year in office. With the help of a new system of collecting the data, the Church has found approximately 1.3 million people are going to church on an average weekly basis. In the past the figures have been taken on just one Sunday in the year, but the new statistics are compiled over a month, usually during October, and are designed to be more suited to modern churchgoing trends. The Rev Alyson Barley, the Church of England's head of research and statistics, said: "Church attendance practices have changed enormously over the last decade. The new figures are more reflective of modern lifestyle." Average Weekly Attendance figures fluctuated vastly between 860,000 and 1,855,000, with twice the number of adults going one week compared with the next. The new figures now take into account services that are held during the week, but even Average Sunday Attendanceb in 2000 is put at over 1 million. This compares with the old measure of It is also possible to see attendance figures for Christmas and Easter for the first time,which showed 2.85 million going to Christmas services and 1.6 million at Easter, a significant rise on past figures that only recorded those taking communion.There is also good news that many more young people are going to church than previously acknowledged. Church News Service