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Scripture readings for Sunday
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Dear Friends
As I write, Christmas is now behind us and the Epiphany season well under way. Soon we shall begin the season of Lent, with its emphasis on penitence and the preparation for the great Festival of the Resurrection at Easter, the very centre of our faith.
Lent is, it is fair to say, a solemn time, but that is not to say that it should be sad! The whole Gospel is true all of the time, not just the bits which we are emphasising at certain times of year, so there is no need to pretend that we are not saved by Christ's death and resurrection just because we have not reached Holy Week and Easter yet! We need, in Lent, to be "miserable", but we do need to understand what "miserable" means. When we ask God to "have mercy on us miserable sinners" we do not mean grumpy, unhappy and unsaved sinners: quite the opposite! "Miserable" means "forgiveable", and we are forgiveable precisely because Christ has paid the penalty for our sin, because God has infinite love for us, because he counts us sinless even though we are sinners. We are joyful, therefore, because we are truly miserable!
On February 10th the choir will be sing the Haydn Little Organ Mass at Clerkenwell where they will be joined by Amy Haworth for the Benedictus. A coach will be taking them to London; if you are interested in taking up one of the spare seats please contact John Worthington.
The total collected till December 2001 for the Leprosy Mission was £344.82. I am pleased to report that this total is an increase of £100 which may be attributed to our support of the hospital at Belgaum in India. Grateful thanks to all.
Bernard Babb
One of the most powerful aspects of the internet is the ability to find information on the World Wide Web by searching using key words. Several web sites provide "search engines" to help in our searching, and these vary widely in their speed and accuracy. Some are more suitable for some searches than for others, and some can be adjusted for the particular task in hand, but I would suggest that for general use the "metasearch" facility on both the Priory Church and DSJ Parish Council's sites is as good as you will find anywhere. I suppose I would say that because I put it on both sites, but I did look carefully at what was available first, and personally I never use any other search engine now.
A metasearch engine makes use of other search engines, looking at what they find and ranking the results according to how many times a particular page is found on those engines. Thus they look wider than any one search engine and can estimate the relevance of the results. The Ixquick Metasearch on our site has won many accolades and it is very impressive. Go to dsj.org.uk, type "Deeping St James" in the Ixquick Metasearch box and click "Search". A list of local sites is offered which include our own and the Parish Council's, as well all sorts of local schools, clubs and societies and other sites which mention our village. Compare its speed and accuracy with whatever other search facilities you have used.
You will see that the search page provides a link back to the Priory Church site, so you can return there and read the Sunday notices, or even click on a link to read this very magazine! In fact, for all I know, you may be reading it on line at this very moment ...
Mark Warrick
The Church Coffee Group will be holding its
Annual Meeting
in the Church Hall on
Thursday 28th February
at 10.15 am
A date for your diary for our
in the Church Hall
Assorted Soups and Pancakes
£1.50 each
Tickets on sale in Church or from Bill Flegg
Friday mornings at 10.00 a.m. 15th & 22nd February, 1st, 8th and 15th march at the vicarage
Wednesday evenings at 7.45 p.m. 20th & 27th February, 6th. 13th & 20th March, first meeting at 135c Eastgate, other venues to be advised.
The choice of spiritual reading in Lent gets bigger each year that goes by. The best way in is to try to pick out something which complements the way you like to pray and learn and the time you are going to set aside.
If you like a short, daily reading, look at 'With Jesus in the Upper Room' (BRF - £6.99) based on John's gospel or 'Fruits of the Earth' (DLT - £4.95).
If you prefer to read round a topic each week, then look at 'You were made for me' (Triangle, £4.99) which explores faith and personality.
For those who would like a 'longer read' 'Pearl beyond price' (Harper Collins - £7.99) invites us to rediscover the attractiveness of Jesus, while 'The meaning of the Miracles' (Canterbury Press - £7.99) highlights their meaning for today.
Those who love art are well catered for with 'Stations of the Cross' (Friends of Julian of Norwich, £3) based on the stations in the Julian church with mediations from the Revelations of Divine Love. Motorists might consider 'In the Wilderness' (York Courses, £8 75) an audio tape you could listen to on your journey.
Our readers may find this difficult to read but it is published as received:
To introduce myself in the pattern of name, age, sex and occupation etc. feels me little embarrassing. For me, at present leprosy has become my introduction. It has become a criteria. Any how, as a routine I am appending below my details. My name is Appayya, age 32, unmarried and unemployed too. Though I am a Commerce graduate and computer trained the failures I encountered every where and the agony I faced unfolds as follows - I came from small village in Karnataka State, family members doing the work in the fields. I am the younger son to my parents. I too would have gone the way, which my father did - working on daily wages in some others field. But for the quest of education, I strive hard. In the course of high school education, at the age of 16, I noticed few patches on my body. I was having little doubt of being contracted by leprosy and showed my self to a doctor who was staying near my house. Lately, I learnt that I was wrongly diagnosed and given wrong medicines. Thanks to God, the doctor realized his mistake and he asked me to go to one of Primary Health Centre nearby my village. The disease was diagnosed as leprosy and I undergone anti-leprosy treatment which is known as MDT ( Multi Drug Therapy ). However, during the course of treatment I developed a foot drop and re-constructive surgery was done for the correction of foot. But the deformity remain to the certain extent and as the pressure of my whole body falls on the toes and created occurring of ulcers very frequently. I did continued my education, but the incidents took place meanwhile made me very nervous and upset. My vision towards life changed to the extent that I felt there is nothing good in life and thoughts of committing suicide started piping in. In this circumstances my Mother helped me a lot to overcome from this calamity. I could re-collect that this seems to be a turning point ahead. As usual I developed an ulcer and got admitted in Richardson Leprosy Hospital, Miraj. While on the round the Superintendent of the hospital Dr. V. K. Edward learnt that I am graduate and unemployed and took keen interest in me. He sent me to Vocational Training Centre, Vizianagaram in Andhara Pradesh run by TLM for computer course. I completed the course successfully and enjoyed my stay being in the company of so many Christian friends. After the completion of my course I came back and applied for a job. As
I was having a certificate issued by Leprosy Mission and certificate itself proved unfortunate in getting a job. Due to stigma and different attitudes towards the leprosy patients it was difficult for me to seek a job. Though I succeeded in finding a private job, I was forced to resign because of leprosy. Due to this set backs, I thought to start my own computer accounting Tally Package. The bank authorities delayed the matter for no reasons and kept the papers pending. I tried my level best, but I was in vain.
Despite of suffering, I am interested in music. I can play a good piano, sing a song, arts and sports. This helps me to forget all my worries, and I became more rejuvenated and happy. Meanwhile much of the water had flown below the bridge. As a result of re-occurring of ulcer, presently I am staying in Belgaum Leprosy Hospital for the ulcer treatment. While looking back into all these happenings, some how I found a ray of hope and that is the acquaintance of Lord Jesus Christ. As I earlier mentioned, my friends at Vizianagaram showed me a right path. While reading portions from the Holy Bible, I forget all my sorrows, all my miseries and they just disappear at once. I am enjoying my stay in Belgaum having involved in Bible class, prayers, reading out gospel to other leprosy patients and sharing their worries as well. After all it's God's will and I will act according to His desire.
If you wish to send a donation or could consider having a collection box for the work of the Leprosy Mission, please speak to Bernard Babb.
The Pathfinders stall has now been trading at the Priory Church on the 1st Sunday of each month and at the Open Door Church on the 3rd Sunday of each month for around 6 months. In this time we have been well supported and had many positive wishes from the congregations of both Churches, for which thanks. We are often asked questions about the project and so here are answers to some of the commonest:
Pathfinders is a group of 11-14 year old Christians who meet at the Vicarage each Sunday evening for fun and to develop their faith.
Traidcraft is a public limited company that is committed to ensuring that producers in the developing world are paid a fair price for goods that they produce. The company originated as a Church venture (one of our congregation earnt money as a teenager packing boxes of goods in her Parish vicarage) and continues to have close links with Christian charities (for example Christian Aid and CAFOD).
In June some of the Pathfinders made a presentation to the PCC and secured a start up loan of £150. Goods were purchased from Traidcraft and appear on the stall. Traidcraft sells goods to registered individuals or organisations at around 10% less than they are advertised in the catalogue. They are then sold on the Pathfinders stall at catalogue prices. So what happens to the profit?
Well, at the moment we've traded around £1000 of goods (thank you again) so are on course to pay off our loan around the middle of 2002. After that any profits will be used to support Pathfinders activities and some proportion may be donated to a charity of the group's choice. Can I get hold of things that aren't on the stall? We usually have a stock of catalogues and are always willing for people to browse through these. We can then order anything you would like.
Richard Gamman
I've been looking for a low calorie recipe to help my diet - delicious as it
is, this isn't the one.
Dave
MAKES 21
Lightly grease a shallow 8 x 12 inch tin. Put margarine and syrup in a saucepan, heat gently until margarine has melted. Remove from heat.
Stir in sugar and rolled oats. Mix well.
Spread mixture evenly into tin. Bake in centre of a moderate oven, Gas mark 4, 350°F, 180°C, for 20 mins.
Remove from oven and allow to cool in tin for 5 mins. Cut into 3 strips down and 7 across to make 21 bars. Leave in tin until cold then break into bars.
FLAPJACK will improve with keeping, so store in an airtight tin for up to 4 weeks.
We welcome to the Lord's family:
We commend to God's keeping:
There was also a memorial service on 7th December for Henry Ward (86) whose funeral was held in London.
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