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I write this item for our magazine in a week full of funerals, or it seems that way, and so my thoughts turn to the hereafter and what might await us when we leave this world. First, of course, it is important to say that we cannot know the details! The Old Testament contains little of comfort, but, as one might expect, the is considerable hope in the New Testament, and for me it is all summed up by St Paul, who says that nothing in this world or the next can separate us from the love of God, not even death. It is in God’s infinite love that we are created and given our freedom, and to my mind it is the continuation of that love into eternity that is the very guarantee of eternal life.
We may argue about who it is who is covered by St Paul’s assertion, and we may argue about what it may mean to a sinner to be confronted with the love of God, but the essential teaching about life eternal is contained here. Only sin has ever kept us from God, and Jesus defeated sin by his life, death and resurrection, so now nothing can. “As in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall be made alive,” says St Paul elsewhere, so the promise seems pretty wide! This is Good News indeed, and while the departure of a loved one is always painful for us who are left without their company, yet there is cause for great rejoicing that our living for God never ends.
6th June, 1st after Trinity:
10am: Romans 4: 13-25; Matthew 9: 9-13, 18-26
6pm: 1 Samuel 18: 1-16; Luke 8: 41-56
13th June, 2nd after Trinity:
10am: Romans 5: 1-8; Matthew 9: 35 - 10: 8
6pm: Hosea 6: 1-3; Mark 2: 1-12
20th June, 3rd after Trinity:
10am: Romans 6: 1b-11; Matthew 10: 24-39
27th June, 4th after Trinity:
10am: Romans 6: 12-23; Matthew 10: 40-42
Starting this month, there will be a service twice per month for accompanied pre-school children, from birth to rising five. It will be in church at 2pm on the second and fourth Thursdays each month except August and will include songs, prayers, a story, collection and activity, and will be followed by refreshments and playtime (chat time for adults!) in the church hall.
If you are or have a pre-school child, then please come along, and if you have a neighbour or friend who may be interested, please show them this article.
If anyone would like to help to lead the service or activity, to serve the refreshments or just to be around and help the children, then please do feel free to turn up and offer, and the Vicar would be glad to take queries or offers of help at 345890.
So read the poster by the study door of one of my former colleagues in Grantham, and at the time it seemed funny. The worst committees are those which are anything but what a committee ought to be, namely committed, and these are the ones we tend to think of when the word is mentioned. All sorts of trendy names are invented from time to time to replace “committee”, such as “action group”, but a group committed to its purpose, what ever we call it, is needed when there is a purpose to be fulfilled.
The group which runs the affairs of a parish church rejoices under the title of Parochial Church Council, and the lay members are appointed at our annual meeting in spring each year. The Council is legally required to appoint one committee to oversee the smooth running of the parish church between meetings, and this so-called “Standing Committee” was particularly useful during your period without a Vicar.
The PCC and its Standing Committee are a clumsy structure for much of the day-to-day business of a large and growing church fellowship, and a lot of the work has fallen on a few shoulders, with two unwelcome effects: first that some of those who have done the work feel they may have done too much, and second that some others might have been glad to take things on but feel they have not been given the chance. A larger committee structure would address these problems, giving more people more say in the way things are done at a tactical level in the life of our church and releasing some of the time and energy of the PCC to consider things of a more strategic nature. This was aired at the annual meeting and the PCC has now formed the basis of four committees in addition to the statutory Standing Committee.
The new bodies are a Social, a Worship, a Mission and a Pastoral Committee, and the idea is that there will be some members of each appointed from within the PCC, with others from outside it, the proportion varying considerably.
The Social Committee is to consist largely of volunteers who are interested in catering and other work to strengthen the fellowship of the parish church. The PCC would be happy to have one member on this committee, but so far most volunteers are PCC members. However, no maximum membership for this committee has been set, and so if you are interested in this aspect of the church’s life, then please offer your services to one of the existing members or via me. Members so far are Bill and Margaret Flegg, Trevor Harwood, Simon Marshall and Dave Merchant, already beavering away on the Rose & Sweet Pea Show, of course!
The Worship Committee consists of one churchwarden (at present Liz Spratley), or Vicar, reader and choirmaster and two others, at least one of whom should be from outside the PCC. The others two are Martin Fisher and Bernard Babb (who also happens to be churchwarden, but would have volunteered for this anyway).
The Mission Committee’s main task is to form a link between our parish and the home and overseas mission societies and other charities by disseminating information and advising the PCC on the distribution of our outward giving. It is hoped to have five members, including one PCC member, and so far we have two appointed, being John Fisher (PCC) and Ann Bennett. So there is potentially room for three more volunteers, all of whom may be from outside the PCC. This could be very interesting work, and if you would like to be involved, please speak to me.
The Pastoral Committee will be looking at the way we serve our community and take care of each other. The visiting of the sick, the bereaved and those having children baptized, and the preparation of couples for marriage are among our most pressing needs and the committee hopes to be organizing this work. The Vicar and reader clearly need to be members and so far John Worthington, Stuart McCabe and Liz Spratley have also been appointed. One or two more members from outside the PCC would be welcome: please speak to me if you are interested.
I look forward to getting the parish running smoothly with all its new committees fully committed to their tasks and moving forward our work for God. Please pray for all who are involved, and do consider whether you ought to volunteer for any of the work to be done. Most of all, let us have committees which are signs of God’s love and not the obstacle to it which the poster on my colleague’s wall implied they could be.
A joint venture of the Deepings churches to be held on the weekend 31st July/1st August will include open gardens and other floral activities and attractions. If you would like to open your garden or be involved in some other way, please contact Judy Robinson on 343383 or Judy@georgians.demon.co.uk
The Christian Aid Lunch held on Sunday 9 May raised £74.00.
Thanks to Margaret Flegg and her helpers for a wonderful repast
As we're now in the 'green' season of the weeks after Trinity, try this delicious meringue pie made with gooseberries to make a refreshing change
This makes 6oz shortcrust pastry. Line 8/9in flan dish with pastry and bake 'blind' in pre-heated oven, gas 6 for 15-20 mins.
Place gooseberries in a large pan with water and sugar and cook gently for 15 mins. Drain reserving juices and allow to cool.
Make up the reserved juices to 12 floz and gradually blend it into the cornflower. Add margarine and stirring continuously bring to the boil and cook for 2-3 mins until smooth.
Cool Slightly, beat in egg yolks and stir in gooseberries. Pour into flan case.
Meringue: Whisk egg whites until they stand in peaks. Add sugar and whisk until stiff and shiny. Pile over the goosebery mixture sealing filling completely and bake in oven Gas 6 for 10-15 mins. Serves 6
I have been requested by several readers of the magazine to continue my thoughts about my business trip to India earlier this year. I didn't think that it would be so popular.
I mentioned in one of my earlier articles the fact of some of the people dying in the streets. This is not at all surprising when I recall some of the, to my mind, horrific sights that I saw.
At almost any point where traffic was compelled to stop, traffic lights, roundabouts etc. there were beggars. Beggars I have seen in other countries but the deformed bodies of some of these poor people was heart rending. One of these sights will always stick in my mind it was of a man of indeterminate age who had no body from the waist down and was propelling himself between the heavy traffic on a home made trolley asking for money. Again I can recall a wizened brown arm entering through the open window of the taxi in which I was travelling asking for alms. When the taxi moved I saw that the arm belonged to a woman who must have been in her 70's and had skin like leather covering a virtual skeleton.
With all this obvious poverty I was warned that in the cities there are organised begging syndicates where the organiser takes a large proportion of the monies collected. Another warning given to me by the Indians was never to tip or give to the beggars too generously. The unbelievable reason being that if it is seen that a person has been given a large amount (by that I mean anything over 50p!) it is quite common for them to be attacked or even murdered for their money.
To me these were the worst sights but going upward in the levels of poverty there were many of what I termed 'tented villages'. These were 'tents' made from a wooden frame over which hand woven rush matting had been secured. In one part of Secunderabad I can recall about 100 of these grouped together in which they carried out their local crafts during the day and slept at night. This sight was repeated also on the pavement along one of the major roads where I had to travel.
Adjacent to the level crossing in Secunderabad I saw a large group of women in their colourful saris. I thought that it was some sort of festival but it turned out to be nothing more than the women filling their metal pots and containers from the one fresh water standpipe in the area. When I asked where these women lived, Murty, my escort and mentor pointed to a brick built hut maybe some 25 ft in length and told me that perhaps up to 30 people may live in it.
In India there is no state pension. The family is expected to look after its own old people. If this is not possible I'm afraid that they either beg or rely on the few charitable organisations to eke out some sort of living. What I had difficulty in accepting was the fact that the sights that I was seeing was in a major, large city and not in some backward village.
I'm sorry if this seems depressing but let me end on a more positive note. In almost every case the people I saw and met seemed content with their lot. The children were laughing as they played in the dust and I assume that to them it is their way of life even if to me it seemed totally unacceptable.
I have just remembered another amusing incident of 'begging'. I visited a museum in Hyderabad and was accosted by a boy of no more than 12 years who insisted that he was an official guide to the museum. I said that I would prefer to walk around on my own but I could not get him to leave me alone even by getting slightly angry. He could not speak much English at all but he was adept at pointing out various interesting rooms and clearing a pathway through the crowds looking at the exhibits. At the end of the 'tour' he asked for his fee which I refused to give but he had such a charming smile as he held out his hand that I gave him about half of what he asked. This seemed to be acceptable as his smile broadened and he shook my hand then ran off to find another 'victim'.
We welcome to the Lord's Family:
We congratulate:
We commend to God's keeping:
This is only an extract from some of our magazine. Residents of Deeping St James can subscribe to the printed version.
Back issues are available on line as follows:
November 1997;
December 1997;
January 1998;
February 1998;
March 1998;
April 1998;
May 1998;
June 1998;
July 1998;
August 1998;
September 1998;
October 1998;
November 1998;
December 1998;
January 1999;
February 1999;
March 1999;
April 1999;
May 1999.
The Deepings, local activities and businesses