| Editor: Sonia Marshall | Layout: Dave Merchant | Web version: Mark Warrick |
Photographs of some parish events are available in our Photograph Album elsewhere on the site
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Scripture readings for Sunday
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Many people go away for a summer holiday in August, and although many do not, the pace of life certainly slackens for most of us: just as well if it turns out to be too hot to work hard! There are three groups of people I suggest we have in our prayers at this time of the year, and it will cover most of us, I think. First, pray for those who are going on holiday, especially those in difficult jobs, that they may return refreshed and enabled to carry on their work, and that all who travel may be kept safe.
Second, pray for those who are not going away, and especially those who would like to do so but who either cannot afford it or whose condition or employment makes it impossible for the time being, that they may nonetheless be kept joyful in what they must do.
Third, we need to remember especially those for whom this summer brings a change in education or career, especially those who will receive examination results and those whose results are not what they needed or expected.
Although in some ways, not much seems to happen in August, for many of us a great deal does happen in one way or another, a month to remember, for good or ill, for most of us.
Everyone, both participants and supporters, of our two recent fund raising events must be congratulated and thanked for their generosity. It was felt that both events this year were an unqualified success and that the weather stayed fine for both.
We have late breaking news that the events raised the following amounts:
The Rose and Sweet Pea Show raised £1,652 towards the general running of the church.
The Jubilee Musical Evening produced a much needed £376 for the Organ Restoration Fund.
We are sure that the money raised from the Sponsored Anthem Sing will be gratfully received so please pay up as soon as possible!!
Photographs are now available in our new on-line album at www.dsj.org.uk/album
The choir had completed 3¾ hours of their marathon when I slipped into church on 6th July. They could have been forgiven if their voices had become a little jaded by then, but it was not so; the anthem they were singing was beautifully performed and so were all the others I listened to with so much pleasure in the 1½ hours that I stayed.
During that time they sang to an audience of one, except for about 15 minutes when I was joined by two friends from the Methodist Church who called in out of curiosity on their way to the Strawberry Tea!
The members of the choir, the choirmaster and the organist must be congratulated on their enthusiasm and stamina in producing such a high standard of singing for nine hours
Those who missed the Anthem Recital missed a rare treat. But if you also missed sponsoring members of the choir it is not to make a generous donation towards the Organ Restoration Fund.
N.T.
Ed: We hope to publish the amount collected from the sponsorship in the next edition of Priory News
On the church website there is the beginning of an album of photographs of parish events and activities, which I shall develop as I get the time (those of the Musical Evening were on before midnight that night, but don't expect that kind of service all the time!). If anyone has any pictures they think might be suitable and would like them added to the site, please let me have a look and we can see whether they can be fitted in. It is a good way of sharing memories of good things we have done together, and it tells the community of the sorts of things we do. If we do publish your pictures, remember that anyone in the world can download and print it, so you would effectively lose control of it if that matters to you.
The eight o'clock celebration of Holy Communion on Sunday mornings fulfills many needs. It provides something quieter than the ten o'clock Sung Eucharist, it is early enough for those who have to be busy on Sundays or who want to go out for the day, and it provides a very traditional order of service for those who like that. I was pleased when I came to the parish five years ago to return the service to its early time and to hold it every week instead of alternate weeks, although we do suspend it during August when numbers are few and I take some Sundays off.
When the Church put together its Book of Common Prayer in 1662, the expectation was that people would attend Morning and/or Evening Prayer each Sunday as well as the Eucharist, but nowadays this is not the case: we do not even provide Morning Prayer on Sundays any more, and Evening Prayer is very sparsely attended indeed. The corollary of this is that the amount of scripture provided in the Prayer Book calendar for Holy Communion is really rather limited for modern patterns of church attendance, there being almost no Old Testament and the same few Epistle and Gospel readings come round each year. In addition, there are times of the year when the eight o'clock readings are very much at variance with what the rest of the local church is celebrating at ten o'clock, requiring the preacher to prepare two very different sermons.
Sonia and I have been discussing this situation for a couple of years and have now aired it at the Worship Committee and the Parochial Church Council.
When we recommence the eight o'clock services in September, therefore, with the PCC's approval we shall use the Common Worship calendar to choose the readings instead of the Prayer Book one. The order of service will remain the same, but will be read from the Common Worship altar book so that the collects match the calendar (traditional language collects are provided): the congregation can use either book to follow the service. Common Worship is actually closer to what we do than the Prayer Book is, and so is easier to follow and therefore recommended for those who attend this service only occasionally. We shall advertise the service as Order 2 rather than 1662 as at present.
The one disadvantage of the change in the calendar is that the congregation will no longer be able to follow the readings in their Prayer Books. This gives us a choice of how we proceed, and I'd be grateful for advice on what you prefer. We could either take the lessons out of the Authorised (King James) Version of the Bible so that we continue to use traditional language to match that of the rest of the service, or we could take them from the modern Lectionary which is used at the other services, in which case the readings could be followed in the weekly notice sheet. At present I do not have the facility for printing the King James readings, but there is nothing to stop people bringing their own bibles if they do want to follow the readings in print - the references are in the magazine.
I shall be consulting those who regularly attend the eight o'clock service, and if there is no clear preference expressed we could try each for a month or so and see what we think, but if there is a preference we can go straight for it at the beginning of September.
I hope those who come to this service will be happy with this modest change. You should experience a much wider use of Holy Scripture and, hopefully, a better standard of preaching, and will enter more fully into the life of the whole church.
Many thanks for your prayers and good wishes which were a considerable help to Sybil and myself during my recent visit to hospital. This resulted in a minor operation which, I am pleased to say, was completely successful
Bernard Babb
A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.
- James Dent
The cost of criminal attacks against churches and cathedrals more than doubled to nearly £7.3 million during 2001, according to leading insurer Ecclesiastical.
An area of particular concern was the vandalism bill, which increased by 15 per cent to top £1.7 million. There was also a sharp rise in the incidents of arson - the cost of one particular attack at Peterborough Cathedral will run to several million pounds alone.
Personal attacks against the Clergy and Church people were also a cause for concern during the year. A study published in July by the Royal Holloway University of London found that 12% of the Anglican clergy they surveyed had some sort of violence used against them in the previous two years.
Free help and advice on security and safety is available from Ecclesiastical's team of Church Insurance Consultants and Surveyors. For more information please telephone 0845 777 33 22 (calls are charged at the local rate).
I know Bill Flegg is going to tell me that this recipe is more suitable for my size and shape!..............Dave
Serves 4
We welcome to the Lord's family:
This is only an extract from some of our magazine. Residents of Deeping St James can subscribe to the printed version.
Copyright © 2002 Deeping St James PCC