Deeping St James Parish Church Magazine
Photographs of some parish events are available in our Photograph Album elsewhere on the site
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From the Vicar
All Is Safely Gathered In
As a community we no longer need to "gather in" our food for the winter before the storms begin, as the traditional hymn goes. We can be confident that someone, somewhere will have gathered it in and that the lorries will continue to bring it to Rainbow, Tesco and the smaller grocery stores as the winter and next spring progress. There remain many parts of the world where the connection between the people and the land is very much closer, but even in our own nation there is still a connection, how ever tenuous, with what happens on the land. For all our food still comes from some part of the planet's surface, and all has been either farmed, hunted or plucked, no matter how processed it may have been since!
As we give thanks for God's goodness in supplying our needs, we do well to pray, too, for the farmers, fishermen, drivers, warehousemen, sailors and shopkeepers who have brought it to us, and as we think about these people we might also consider the impact that all of this activity has on our enjoyment of the world. Economics is a poor way to decide how the world's goods are distributed, and so as part of our own thanksgiving we raise funds for Christian Aid to help in some small way to put right the problems of poverty in other places. But we can do more, with a little thought.
First, there is much to be said for eating food which has travelled little - locally-produced food will tend to be fresher and tastier, and seasonal, so there is some variety, and it will have cost little to be transported, either financially or environmentally.
Second, when overseas produce must be used (you will not get a lot of Lincolnshire chocolate, coffee or oranges!), buying Fairtrade goods as much as possible will avoid exploiting the farmers and traders abroad.
"Where is the spiritual dimension in all of this politics?" you may ask. It is in the understanding of the nature of our relationship with our creator and with the whole of creation: Genesis says that God put us here to look after his "garden", and that we are also to look after one another. We cannot properly fulfill these expectations unless we do all we can to keep the planet in good condition and to avoid exploiting others for our own benefit. Being a "good Samaritan" is not just about helping people when they are in trouble - which is what we are doing with our gifts to Christian Aid - but is principally about simply loving our neighbours all of the time and in all circumstances, for the parable was told in reply to a question about who is a neighbour, the neighbour Jesus told his hearers they were to love as much as they love themselves - and the neighbour means the despised foreigner according to the story.
So let all be fairly and environmentally soundly gathered in, as well as safely!
Readings for October
To see your reading in advance without having to mark your bible pages, you can copy your reference and paste it into the oremus Bible Browser (or type in your reference) and print out the reading. The translation used in church is the New Revised Standard Version, which is the default version on oremus.
1st October, Harvest Thanksgiving:
- Morning: Joel 2:21-27; 1 Timothy 2: 1-7; Matthew 6: 25-33
- Evening: Deuteronomy 26: 1-11; 1 Timothy 6: 1-10
8th October, 17th Sunday after Trinity:
- Morning: Genesis 2: 8-14 (08:00 only); Hebrews 1: 1-4; 2: 5-12; Mark 10: 2-16
- Evening: Joshua 3: 7-end; Matthew 10: 1-12
15th October, 18th Sunday after Trinity:
- Morning: Amos 5: 6-7, 10-15; Hebrews 4: 12-end; Mark 10:17-31
- Evening: Special readings for united service
22nd October, 19th Sunday after Trinity:
- Morning: Isaiah 53: 4-end; Hebrews 5: 1-10; Mark 10: 35-45
29th October, Last Sunday after Trinity:
- Morning: Jeremiah 31: 7-9; Hebrews 7: 23-end; Mark 10: 46-end
Home Groups
- Bible Study: On holiday until September
- Priory Prayer Group: 5th & 19th October at 19 Ascendale
- House Group: Every Wednesday, 7.30 pm at 45 Crowson Way - Everyone welcome
Notices
Jesus Rediscovered
An ecumenical study for Advent
Deepings Churches Together is organizing a study course to take place before Advent (we thought Advent itself would be impossible for most people!). It is a York Course similar to the recent Lent one, entitled, "Jesus Rediscovered," and is about our Lord's life and teaching and our response to him as Lord.
In each church is a signing-up "grid" for you to state which days and at what times you would prefer to attend, and then groups will be arranged to suit demand. Please sign up straight away because the study materials need to be ordered and we need to begin in time to finish before everyone becomes busy with the Christmas preparations. In other words, we need to get going in just a couple of weeks! (Doesn't time fly?!)
May All Be Made Whole
What are we doing when we pray? We are, of course, asking for things, and Jesus and the Apostles taught us to do that, to make our requests known to God; and the Lord's Prayer is mostly a series of requests, albeit of a general nature. But do we expect to get what we ask for?
I think the clue is in the way Jesus teaches us to call God by the familiar word for "Father" that a child would use, "Abba," almost like the English "Daddy". We are, if you like, to go to our Daddy and ask him to make things better, to give us what we should like to have, to put things right. Like any good parent, God will want to hear this, but he also knows what we really need better than we know it ourselves, so we shall not always get what we ask for ... but what we get will be better (in eternal terms) that we know how to ask. And as we build up our relationship with God through constant prayer (the spiritual equivalent of "growing up," if you want to extend the metaphor), we shall find ourselves more and more likely to ask for the very things God knows it would be good for us to have.
When we ask for healing we are asking God to make things whole, to make them well, and our view of how things need to be may not always match God's. In the end what matters more to us than anything else in this world or the next is a right relationship with God himself, and if he helps us get this right and whole, then nothing else will seem to matter so much. In asking for healing we want, of course, to be delivered from our suffering, and although miracles may still happen from time to time, far more common is to be given the strength to withstand the difficulty and the assurance and peace that come from a mended, or at least improved, relationship with God in Christ, to the point when the physical healing we first sought no longer seems to matter.
This month includes St Luke's Day, and in addition to our evening Eucharist for Healing on 8th October we shall also include laying-on of hands with prayer for healing at the 10am Eucharist on 22nd October and the Churches Together united service on 15th October, which takes places in the Priory Church at 6pm this time, will also have a focus on healing and reconciliation.
All are welcome at any or all of these services, and all are encouraged to pray for wholeness, for until we come to perfection in God's Kingdom, we shall all need to ask for healing of body, mind and spirit.
Mark
Harvest Thanksgiving, Lunch and Auction
The harvest festival this year is on 1st October. Gifts this year will be auctioned to help the less-fortunate, and any suitable foods would make an excellent gift to thank God for his great goodness in supplying our needs and raising funds to redress the imbalance in humankind's distribution of God's material gifts.
Following the service the annual Harvest Lunch & Auction of produce will take place in the Church Hall. A hot Lunch of Chicken Pie & Vegetables followed by assorted sweets will be served at 12-00pm. Wine or fruit juice will be served as part of the meal.
Tickets are available from Bill Flegg, adults £5-00 children under 12 £3-00 (please note that the number of tickets are limited).
Those not attending the lunch are always welcome to come to the auction which should commence at approx 1-15pm.
Pastoral Visiting
When people have worries, or are simply lonely, or ill, a visit from the Church is often welcome. Even if the visitor has no answer to your problems, just someone to talk to, to "bounce ideas off" or to listen to your symtoms can be a great help, sharing and so halving your problems.
Sometimes you may want this to be a priest, especially if you think you may need special spiritual guidance or to make a confession, but as often as not a lay person with time to give you may be just as helpful Again, we are all different and can be helped by different sorts of people, so when Carole Atkinson offered some time for pastoral visiting we were delighted to take up the chance to provide more visiting in the name of the Church in this parish. Carole works in Peterborough and so is just as available for visiting those in hospital there as those at home.
Here Carole introduces herself (those who come to the 10am service may have seen her read a lesson from time to time) and you may contact her direct if you wish. In any case, if you are unwell she is as likely to turn up as Mark or Sonia - but, as always, only if we know about it, and this point is the main subject of what she has written!
PASTORAL VISITING
I write to introduce myself to the readers of the Parish magazine.
My name is Carole Atkinson and I have lived in Deeping St James since 1994. My two sons grew up in the Children's Church and as a family we have worshipped in the Priory Church since we arrived.
Some time ago I realised that with my children growing up (Alan has since left home altogether) I would be able to spend some of my time using my talents in the service of the Church.
My background is as a Social Worker, and I still work full time in Peterborough developing services for Carers, so I do have a background in working with people in times of stress/change in their lives. I am a member of the PCC and also a member of the Pastoral committee. This is a small committee, which meets several times a year and deals with things like Baptism visiting and bereavement support.
For some time we have been trying to find ways to identify members of the congregation who would welcome and need a visit from a member of the Church to talk and pray together when they are unable to attend Church due to sickness or other domestic difficulties. Not everyone wants some one ringing or visiting because they haven't been to Sunday service for a couple of weeks. Still more are never able to attend Church but would welcome a visit - and I know some people subscribe to this magazine who are rarely if ever able to leave their homes.
I decided to write this piece for the magazine to bring this dilemma to a wider audience. If you or someone you know would welcome a visit from someone attached to the church like myself, please make yourself known to me in Church or ring me on: 01778 346725
Yours in Christ
Carole Atkinson
News from Explorers, Climbers and Scramblers
David the shepherd boy was chosen by God to be the next king because he was kind and humble and put other people first - a man after God's own heart. We looked at various incidents in his life, emphasising how God protected him because he was on God's side. Goliath, whom David defeated, stood 3 metres high, and this was brought home to the Explorers when they made life - size drawings of the giant. Climbers and Scramblers enjoyed making action models of David catapulting to remind them that no matter how hard a task seems which they have been asked to do, God knows best and will always look after us and help us.
Our drawings have almost exhausted our paper supplies so if anyone has any leftover rolls of inexpensive wallpaper (ie not 'ready - pasted, embossed or difficult to draw on) which they no longer need we would be very grateful to receive them, please, either left at the back of Church or at The Vicarage. Thank you.
Explorers (7 - 11), Climbers (5 - 7) and Scramblers (under 5) are on holiday now but will meet again on Sunday 11th September at 9.50am in the Church Hall. New members are always welcome. Please contact Andrea (Climbers and Scramblers) on 344926 or Alison (Explorers) on 345890 for more details.
Priory Online
We try to keep up-to-date information on this site for parishioners and potential visitors alike, and if you have a question about what is going on at the church, it is often easier and quicker to look at the website than to telephone the Vicarage!
The parish church's rotas are posted on the front page of the site, in the left-hand column below the navigation buttons, along with the PCC agenda and other useful notices. The relevant notices for the week are headlined in the centre column. News and information for the children's and youth groups are on their own pages and when relevant you will find topical information about the Alpha Course and our annual Rose & Sweet Pea Show and Garden Fete on their own pages, too.
If there are other things you would like to see on the site, please let the Vicar know - and if you see out-of-date things, please let him know, too, because it is all too easy not to notice when things need updating!
A Barber Shop in London
A priest walked into a barber shop in London. After he got his haircut, he asked how much it would be. The barber said, "No charge. I consider it a service to the Lord."
The next morning, the barber came to work and there were 12 prayer books and a thank you note from the priest in front of the door.
Later that day, a police officer came in and got his hair cut. He then asked how much it was. The barber said, "No charge. I consider it a service to the community."
The next morning, he came to work and there were a dozen doughnuts and a thank you note from the police officer.
Then, a MP came in and got a haircut. When he was done he asked how much it was. The barber said, "No charge. I consider it a service to the country."
The next morning, the barber came to work and there were 12 MPs in front of the door.
SPCK Bookshop
From Melanie Carroll, Manager – SPCK Lincoln
'What is the point of having an SPCK shop in Lincoln when it's quite possible to buy most of the items elsewhere?' Please support us - it may be easier to buy from a Large Chain/Supermarket or from the Mail Out sent by the Mail Order Companies, or Online - but think about what the cost of that is in a longer term scenario!
By using SPCK Lincoln and even spckonline you are actively giving to Charity and helping others less fortunate. You are also ensuring that there is a Shop you can actively go to and contact when any of the other methods above fail to get you the goods in time, at all or even with a smile!
So OK we admit we are not perfect and don't have everything all the time! But we do have the staples that your Church needs and real people to help guide and advise you when looking for something not so mundane, or even just what book to get Timmy for his birthday! However your shop in Lincoln gives its profits to help support the work of SPCK Worldwide and Feed The Minds.
If you are, or have been, a customer of SPCK Lincoln or spckonline then YOU have contributed to that work. Thank you.
When you next need to buy books and resources for your Christian mission, or even just to buy gifts and cards for your life in general, then please consider who benefits from the profit generated by your purchases. Will it go to Amazon, Waterstones, Hayes and Finch, WHSmith, Canterbury Press Direct, Tesco, CHP Direct, Independent Book or Gift Shops, Farris Candles Direct, Continuum etc etc, or will it find its way to the people unfortunate enough to need the assistance of Feed The Minds and SPCK WorldWide?
Thank you for taking the time to read this and please remember to pass on to others the news that when you buy from an SPCK Bookshop, or , you are actively supporting and giving to Charity, a charity that is working hard to help others and to support you.
Melanie Carroll (Manager) and all the Team at SPCK Lincoln.
CHRISTIAN PRAYER
Thank you Lord
I HAVE sometimes suggested to older people who are passing through a time of spiritual dryness and depression that they write out a prayer of thanksgiving for the care and the love of God through the years. Quite recently I had a letter from such a person who enclosed the prayer she had made. I will quote from part of it: 'Thank you for your love and care throughout my childhood, and your love surrounding me even when I did not know it, full of pity for me when unintentional hurts made me feel unloved and unloveable. Thank you for the blessing of growing up in your Church, for the kindness of family and friends, for opportunities through Guiding, University,and teaching. Thank you for Keith's love, our family life, our children, daughters-in-law and grandchildren-—and for all your patience and forgiveness through all our stupidity and failure. I praise you for all that you gave me. . .' So often we seem to forget to say thank you to God. How many people say grace before meals today? Even Christians forget this simple and basic acknowledgement of our utter and absolute dependence on God and his creation for our life and sustenance.
What is it about saying thank you that seems to be distressing to many? Is it the embarrassment of feeling beholden to people for something that they have done for us? How many senior relations, parents, aunts and uncles, and friends, wait for the 'thank you' that never comes, acknowledging the gifts they have made? It is evidently a bad trait in human nature because St Luke tells the story of the ten lepers who were healed and only one returned to 'give thanks'. We seem to be so easily surprised and delighted by our good fortune that we altogether forget to whom we owe this sudden release. I think too, that the psychology of the situation turns on the simple truth that it is easier to give than to receive. The art of receiving gifts is not an easy one to learn. We hate to feel that someone has gone one up' on us by placing us in their debt. True Christian humility teaches the exact opposite of all this. We should be grateful for any simple kindness done to us because it is a basic courtesy and because by so doing we give pleasure to the donor. When Jesus was anointed with oil by Mary he remarked that this act of love was a foreshadowing of his anointing at his burial. Thank you Lord, must be our daily prayer.
N.W.G..
COOKING WITH MARGARET
Carrot & Leek Soup
- 1 oz Butter
- 1lb Leeks, trimmed, sliced & washed
- 1lb Carrots, peeled & sliced
- 1 medium potato, peeled & chopped
- ½ level teaspoon curry powder
- 2 pints chicken stock
- Salt & pepper.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the vegetables. Cover and cook very gently for 10 minutes without browning. Add the curry powder and cook for 2 minutes, stirring, and then add the stock. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Cool slightly and purée in a sieve or food processor. Season to taste and reheat to serve.
Household Tips
Cleanliness is next to Godliness
Here is a little tip that I found that has worked for us for some years.
Do It Yourself Shower and Tile Shine
- 20 ml of good quality dishwasher Rinse Aid (A measure is 4 teaspoonfuls or a full liquid medicine measure to give a good Finish)
- 5 drops Fairy Liquid
- 500 ml Cold Water
Mix the whole lot together in a 500 ml spray bottle.
Simply spray the tiles or glass generously whilst still wet. This will prevent the build up of soapy and limescale deposits. It costs pennies and will save a fortune on proprietary brands, not to mention time saved on cleaning.
Dave M
Registers for August 2006
HOLY BAPTISM
We welcome to the Lord's family:
- 13th Joshua Ralph Brown Calderbank 73 Spalding Road
- and Ashly Michael Brown Calderbank 73 Spalding Road
- and James Andrew Stainsby 100 Eagle Way, Hampton Vale;
- 27th Harriet Hayden-Coles 11a Thackers Way
MARRIAGE
We congratulate:
- 5th Garry Glen Foot and Hannah Claire Robinson
- and Christopher George Pennell and Emma Ruth Housden;
- 12th Richard Preston and Ricarda Anne Woodhouse
FUNERALS
We commend to God's keeping:
- 7th Margaret Jackson (82) at Peterborough Crematorium
- 11th John May (50) at Peterborough Crematorium
This is only an extract from some of our magazine. Residents of Deeping St James can subscribe to the printed version.