Priory News, September 2005

From the Curate

CRACKING THE CODE

Walking round the Cathedral the other week we were taken by surprise…surely the screen in front of the choir was stone, not gilded and painted? And hadn't the monuments suddenly multiplied? There were statues and tablets in every available place. And the last time I was in the chapter house, the radiator grilles gave some welcome heat in a rather cold part of the building…now there was no sign of them and gilded frescoes adorned the spaces between each of the stone seats.

No, we weren't dreaming; they were merely the stage props for the shooting of the film of 'The Da Vinci Code'. If you got closer, you could see where clever artwork deceived the eye. The 'frescoes' were painted on canvas that had been temporarily tacked into place. 'Stone' was hollow when you tapped it and 'monuments' on closer inspection bore inscriptions in a very modern style typeface.

The novel itself is similar…on the outside the excitement of a high speed chase and the fascination of a code to be broken – a good 'yarn', but hollow inside with many errors, not only in its central premise which all Christians will readily and easily refute, but also in its supporting 'facts'.

To see where fiction takes over from reality, first take a look, not at the novel but at the 'Rough Guide to the Da Vinci Code' (Penguin Books). And when the film comes out next year enjoy, not only spotting our Cathedral 'in disguise' but more importantly the opportunity of talking to others about the unvarnished truths of faith.

Readings for September

4th September, 15th Sunday after Trinity:

• Morning: Ezekiel 33: 7-11; Romans 13: 8-end; Matthew 18:15-20
• Evening: Ezekiel 12: 21 - 13: 16; Acts 19: 1-20

11th September, 16th Sunday after Trinity:

• Morning: Genesis 50: 15-21 (08:00 only); Romans 14: 1-12; Matthew 18: 21-35
• Evening: Ezekiel 20: 1-8, 33-44; Mark 8: 27-38

18th September, 17th Sunday after Trinity:

• Morning: Jonah 3: 10 - 4: end; Philippians 1: 21-end; Matthew 20:1-16

25th September, 18th Sunday after Trinity:

• Morning: Ezekiel 18: 1-4, 25-end; Philippians 2: 1-13; Matthew 21:23-32

Church Ladies Fellowship

The Church Ladies Fellowship will be celebrating their 50th Anniversary on Thursday, September 1st, which is the first meeting of the Autumn session. There will be a short opening service in the Priory Church at 7-45 pm. followed by a buffet supper in the Church Hall, including a celebration cake and wine. Any former members are invited and will be made most welcome.

Ann Thompson (Fellowship Secretary).

N o t i c e s

Pathfinders, Explorers, Climbers and Scramblers all begin again for the new term on 11th September, after the start of the new school year. Children between the ages of about 3-11 years are welcome at the Church Hall from 09:50 on Sunday mornings and young people between 11-14 years are welcome at the Vicarage from 19:30 on Sunday evenings.

On the first occasion, 11th September, the children's group will begin in church at 10:00 instead of the usual time at the Church Hall, and then the children will be taken to the Hall for a shorter session before returning for their blessing. From 18th September the usual pattern will apply.

Please let the clergy know if you are, or a friend or neighbour is, in hospital. Every effort will be made to visit parishioners in hospital, but omniscience does not come with holy orders! Mark and Sonia are not too busy to visit those who are sick, or worried or afraid, but they do need to know. In addition to clergy visits, the Prayer Group will pray for those it knows to be in need (via the prayer board in church or by telephone), and we are just beginning a scheme of lay visiting, too. Such pastoral support and prayer is at the heart of the local church's care for those in need.

The Alpha course

Our ten-session course in basic Christian teaching will start again next month and is especially suitable for new Christians, for enquirers and for those who wish to look afresh at the Christian faith after some years of church membership. All are welcome. If you wish to find out more, do come along to the Alpha Supper on Thursday 8th September, free of charge and without any obligation to join the course.

Please invite your friends. To ensure that we cater for enough people, please let Martin Fisher know by leaving a message at 423959 or using the email links on the Alpha Course page of the church website.

Brass Rubbings

As quite a few of you know, there is a strong interest in brass rubbing. This is making a copy of an interesting or precious plaque or artifact using wax crayon or other suitable material onto paper.

Did you know that in our church we have similar items that will benefit from a little rubbing. The materials required here though will be a form of metal polish and a soft cloth.

Seriously, our band of 'brass cleaners' is getting a little thin due to age and infirmity. If you feel you could help on one or two times a year please contact Doris Bellairs on 343201.

SOCIAL COMMITTEE

The Social Committee thanks all who supported the Musical Evening on 2nd July when over £500-00 was raised for the Church hall funds.

Looking Forward >>>>>>>>>

Harvest Lunch

On Sunday 2nd October there will be a Harvest Lunch followed by the Auction of produce, please add your name to the lunch booking list at the back of Church if you are attending the lunch.

<<<<<<<<<<< Looking Back

The Church Ladies Coffee Group

The Church Ladies Coffee Group, thank everybody who supported the afternoon tea on Thursday 14th July, £ 166-60 was raised for funds.

Christianity – A Faith or a Fashion Show
-Thoughts of Paul Atkinson-

When I read again recently the section in Corinthians where Paul says that women should always have their heads covered while worshipping, it set me thinking once more about trends in modern church behaviour.

Many people still seem to put on their 'Sunday best' before they make the weekly pilgrimage to church, to pay their respects to the Lord. And very fine many of them look as well. But is that still a standard we should aspire to, or even one that the church asks of us?

As a rediscovered Christian of some twelve years (I hate 'born again'), I recommenced my regular attendance some thirty years after the first visits I remember as a humble Cub Scout of seven or eight years old. In those days, the dress seemed to be extremely formal, and the whole event extremely cold and impersonal. Perhaps those were part of the reasons that my feelings for the church and its religious symbolism were easily lost in favour of playing football, and later on, work, wine, women and song did nothing to change those feelings.

However, by a somewhat circuitous route primarily involving my wife Carole, but presumably one would suppose, also involving Jesus, I found myself once again in regular worship, this time by choice rather than attending Scout Parade once a month. And thus, following my confirmation over ten years ago, I began a more consistent pattern of church attendance.

And the dress sense during that period has intrigued me. Many people still seem to adopt this very formal jacket and tie, best dress, sort of outlook, and often the hats still make appearances on just a normal day, rather than a special occasion. I wonder why this is. It is obviously habit to many older worshippers, as well as being a style which suits an awful lot of people of a 'certain age'. But is it reasonable to expect younger worshippers to feel duty bound or pressured by parents or church orderlies and others in authority to dress in a similar manner? Do they feel like that?

Older styles do not always sit well on the younger members of society, no matter how well they may try and adapt them to their own dress sense, and as a result, they end up feeling uncomfortable and awkward. Not exactly something that encourages them to attend more often! But do they have to go through this? I am not aware of anyone ever suggesting a dress code, or lack of, to someone starting their fledgling church attendance career, one which we would all hope would prove to be long and fruitful. So is it perhaps in the church's interest to ensure that new visitors are aware that informal dress is just as acceptable? Indeed, does the church think that informal is acceptable? I am not aware of any guidelines that exist – if they do, they have not been mentioned to me in the last seventeen years which have encompassed at least three different churches in two different areas. But I personally feel that if informal is acceptable in church, and I see no reason why it should not be, it would be helpful to let younger people know that this is the case.

To my mind, and this is the crux of this article (at last, you may say!), I have always felt that I can worship the Lord in any garb which fits. I do not see that it would matter a jot if I arrived at Sunday Eucharist in beach shorts and flip flops, or a full tuxedo and cummerbund. The vital point is that I am there. Choosing to worship and making that effort, (and let's face it, it is an effort sometimes), is the most important choice of all. Jacket, shirt, tie, dress, mini skirt, trainers, shorts, t-shirt, whatever. Jesus will be delighted to receive my prayer in whatever my dress state, because it is my soul that is being forgiven for sin, and offered up to be a living sacrifice, to go out and work in the name of the Lord. And you can only clothe your soul in the love which you get back from the Lord.

So I say this to you, and to those in authority within the church – dress how you feel most comfortable for worship, and encourage others in the same way. It will make for a more colourful assembly in the pews for a start. It will help to make those on their early path through Christian learning feel more at ease with themselves in this unfamiliar situation, and a more relaxed person is a more receptive person. And instead of looking at church as a fashion show as some seem to, let us see behind the mask of the uniform – and let the people within come out and show themselves in the name of the Lord.

HERE WE GO AGAIN .... !

The summer goes so quickly now. It is not the weather I mean, nor that I am getting older, but that, for example, the "Back to school" merchandise appears in the shops as soon as term ends for the summer holiday (which is shorter than it used to be in any case), and by the time you are reading this the football "season" will be almost a month old. The second Ashes Test was still being played when most football teams were beginning their league matches. All, it seems to me, symptomatic of our culture of busyness, where taking time out to stop and think, to do life properly, is seen as wasteful. You see it in the way politicians are badgered by interviewers to give quick answers to complex questions, in the way that Sundays are more and more packed out with activities rather than rest, in the expression "24/7" which has recently been added to "life in the fast lane" as a description of our frenetic culture.

One of the most revealing things about our culture is the way we drive everywhere rather than walk, and then spend time at the gym in order to keep fit. Not enough time to walk or cycle in our daily routine, but plenty of time to spend on a treadmill or "exercise bike" going nowhere? Say that again?

Whether we're in academic life or not, there is a sense in which things start again in September: everyone's back from their holidays, choral services are back at church, family life back to normal. May I suggest a motto for the new term, before we drive ourselves mad with meaningless activity? It is, "Don't just do something: sit there." I've said this before but the popular idea that it is better to do something than to sit still needs to be constantly challenged if we are to reach our lives' end content that we have actually been what God created us to be: "And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it" (Genesis 2).

Mark Warrick

News from Explorers, Climbers and Scramblers

Our summer break ends on Sunday 11th September, starting off in Church at 10am. The first few minutes of the service will be used for the commissioning of the leaders, assistants and helpers of our Children's Groups and then the children will be taken to their groups for a shortened session in the Church Hall and return, as usual, for their blessing and refreshments after the service.

This is also the day of the Churches Together Family Picnic which takes place on the Vicarage Lawn at 12 noon. Bring your own picnic and any favourite garden games! More details to follow.

Our September module is entitled 'Who's the King of the Sea?, and we shall be looking at several Bible Stories which involve the sea or the creatures who live there. This title is also the second line of our new song 'Who's the king of the Jungle?'and we are looking forward to working together on the second part of the mural in the Children's Corner which Jan Fisk has designed for us to illustrate this aspect.

Explorers (7 - 11), Climbers (5 - 7) and Scramblers (under 5) meet every Sunday morning (except during the Summer holiday period) at 9.50am in the Church Hall. They join older worshippers in Church for their blessing, final hymn and refreshments. New members are always welcome. Please contact Andrea (Climbers and Scramblers) on 344926 or Alison (Explorers) on 345890 for more details.

WHO NEEDS THE ASHES?

Sunday August 14th was not just a cracking day of cricket at Old Trafford. The Deepings Ecumenical cricket match also took place that day, and was almost as good a source of entertainment as the English lads were providing up North.

Although the morning had been dull and occasionally damp, by the 2 pm start time, things had dried up, although it was still pretty gloomy. This was not to deter the hardy souls from St.. Guthlac's or their combined opposition from putting together a grand effort in the name of Parish superiority!

A good turnout ensured a full 25 overs per side match could take place, and St. Guthlacs' duly took the crease first, with every intention of rattling up some big numbers. And with wides counting 2 apiece, and many of the combined bowlers having their first outing for some time, the scoreboard rattled along fairly regularly. A steady start by D Taylor and J Williams was ended before too much damage could be done, and wickets and runs came in equal measure through most of the innings. K Taylor and R Clarke top scored with 31 and 32 respectively, both not out, and a respectable total of 158 for 9 was posted for the combined side to chase. Best bowling was 3 for 33 by Ed Davies and a very lively spell by your correspondent produced 2 for 25, and several nicks off the bat, figures which could have been far better had I not been asked by my own captain to 'slow it down a bit'. And I didn't think I had any pace left at my age!!

The combined side set off in reply with skipper Chris Pursehouse and Paul Atkinson working hard, but being pinned down by some lively bowling from Jeffries, and some tricky spin from Guthrie, who finished with 2 for 26. With Williams now causing problems with his bowling taking 2 for 29, once again, wickets fell fairly regularly before a fine 40 from Ed Davies assisted by 26 not out from further down the order, eventually steered the Combined side home by 1 wicket with just one over to spare!

A very close and sporting match played in good spirit and enjoyed by all. providing a splendid afternoons entertainment. Thanks to all who took part, and a huge thank you to those who gave their time to organise the game , and prepare the splendid tea in the Open Door Church, which was much appreciated by all. The running match score now stands at two apiece – roll on next year."

"BLESSINGS"

Like many others, the summer holidays have afforded me the luxury of time for reading. I'm glad they have, because a remarkable book, "The Gentle Art of Blessing" has helped me grow spiritually and widened my vision.

It is a profound book, but its message is simple; bless all those you meet in every situation. This blessing is not given for any reward; the recipients will not even know that you are wishing them the very best from your innermost being. Yet, it will bring you blessings in return: "It will be impossible for your heart not to expand. From a narrow cubicle it will become a temple without walls."

Written by a Christian, it is full of instances of the extraordinary outcomes of blessing others unconditionally. Apart from Christianity, it also draws from all the great religions and from literature.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough; this brief glimpse does not do it justice. However, I hope that, if you read it, you will find it as uplifting and inspirational as I did.

"The Gentle Art of Blessing* by Pierre Pradervand (Cygnus Books) £10.95

COOKING WITH MARGARET

BOSTON BEAN BAKE.

• ½ oz Stork margarine,
• 1 onion peeled and chopped,
• 8 oz lean ham cubed,
• 14 oz can tomatoes,
• 15 oz can baked beans,
• 4 oz mushrooms sliced,
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce,
• 1 teaspoon pickle,
• 1½ teaspoons cornflour blended with
• 1 tablespoon water.

Melt margarine in a large saucepan and sauté onion and ham for 2-3 minutes, add tomatoes, baked beans, mushrooms, sauce and pickle. Stir well and simmer for 15-20 minutes. If required thicken with blended cornflour.

DIETING UNDER STRESS

(Not to be taken too seriously)

This diet is designed to help you cope with the stress that builds up during the day.

Breakfast

• Half a grapefruit, 1 slice wholemeal toast, 3oz skimmed milk.

Lunch

• 4oz lean boiled chicken breast, 1 cup steamed spinach, 1 cup of herbal
• tea,
• 1 chocolate chip cookie.

Mid-Afternoon Snack

• Rest of cookies in packet, 2 pints chocolate chip ice-cream, 1 jar hot fudge sauce with nuts, cherries and fresh cream.

Dinner

• 2 loaves garlic bread with cheese, 1 large sausage pizza, 4 cans or Party pack of lager, 3 Snickers or Mars bars.

Late Evening Snack

• Entire frozen Black Forest Gateaux (eaten directly from freezer).

Rules

1. If you eat something and no one sees you eat it, it has no calories.
2. If you drink a Diet Coke with a Mars bar, the calories from the Mars Bar are cancelled out by the Diet Coke.
3. When you eat with someone else, the calories don't count if you don't eat more than they do.
4. Food used for medicinal purposes never counts - such as Hot Chocolate, Brandy, Toast or Sara Lee cheesecake.
5. If you fatten everyone up around you, you look thinner.
6. Movie related foods do not have additional calories , because they are part of the entire entertainment package and not part of one's personal fuel - such as Milkshakes, Buttered Popcorn, Murray Mints, Bubblegum and Mars Bars.
7. Broken biscuits contain no calories, the process of breaking causes calorie leakage.
8. Things licked off knives and teaspoons have no calories if you are in the process of preparing something, e.g jam on a knife making a sandwich and icecream on a spoon making a sundae.
9. Foods of the same colour have the same number of calories e.g spinach and pistachio ice-cream - Mushrooms and white chocolate.

Registers for July 2005

HOLY BAPTISM: We welcome to the Lord's Family:

3rd:

• Aimee Mae Jackson 26 Crowson Way
• Olivia Alice Rose Raven 20 Pawlett Close

MARRIAGE: We congratulate:

• 30th: Daniel John Williams and Morgan Lynn George

FUNERALS: We commend to God's keeping:

At Peterborough Crematorium:

• 18th Leslie Joseph Frost (84)
• 29th Oliver Spencer Dandridge (86)