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Scripture readings for Sunday
I write this as we look forward to St James's Day, the feast both of our patron saint and of the dedication of our parish church. It is good to have an Apostle as the saint whose memory we keep alive, for we may usefully employ James also as our inspiration in the life of our church. The Apostles were eye witnesses to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and their lives were marked by their urgent spreading of the good news of what they had witnessed. We are not eye witnesses, of course, but we have their writings and writings about them, and we have the tradition of the Church which has remembered Jesus' death and resurrection for two millennia. We can still spread the good news!
We do not have to travel to distant lands: just as the gospel started in Jerusalem, so for us it can start in Deeping St James, and there are many here who have not heard it. Many. We cannot expect to be effective just knocking on strangers' doors or shouting out on street corners, and for some of us we can barely expect to be effective at all when it comes to talking about the gospel. Talking about faith is not easy for most of us, but the Church provides resources which can relieve most of us of having to do that! This autumn I hope we shall be able to try for ourselves the sensational Alpha Course which is transforming church life in this country and throughout the world.
Alpha will help us to know the good news better for ourselves, and it will also help us to communicate that news to others: two objectives met, both good in themselves and of great significance for our mission whentaken together. Do look out for local publicity in due course, and do watch ITV's broadcasts about Alpha this summer.
Those who attend our sung services will be familiar with some of the occasional oddities or our organ, skilfully overcome in most cases by David, but intensely annoying at the time. Apart from these tendencies of notes to play when not required, or not to play when required, there are various other problems with the organ which are not so obvious to the listener, the most serious perhaps being the condition of the leather bellows which supply the air to the pipes and of the switchgear in the console - some of which lies behind the audible problems.
The PCC is hoping to put in hand repairs next year and there will have to be a certain amount of effort put into raising the required funds for such a major job, a total of over £32,000. Any major gifts and legacies are at present generally being set aside to contribute to the cost of these important repairs, and a recent bequest from the estate of the late Mrs G E Howitt has added over £4,500 to the fund, for which we are very grateful.
The cost mentioned here includes some improvements to be made while the organ is taken apart for the repairs, with the advice of Paul Hale, the Organ Advisor for the south of the diocese. Some modifications to the console will be undertaken to give the instrument many more years of good service, and some modest changes are also proposed to the voicing to increase the usefulness of the organ (at present we have several stops which sound the same and are therefore not used). If you have any questions about any of this work, please speak to David Green who would be happy to explain.
We welcome to the Lord's Family
We commend to God's keeping:
We congratulate:
This is only an extract from some of our magazine. Residents of Deeping St James can subscribe to the printed version.
Copyright © 2001 Deeping St James PCC
Created by WebEdit, 2 June 2001