Priory News, September 2007

Deeping St James Parish Church Magazine

Photographs of some parish events are available in our Photograph Album elsewhere on the site

To:

• Scripture readings for Sunday
• Archive of past editions of Priory News
• Cooking with Margaret

Sonia Marshall

To see your reading in advance without having to mark your bible pages, you can copy your reference and paste it into 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.

2nd September, 13th Sunday after Trinity:

• Morning: Ecclesisticus 10: 12-18; Hebrews 13: 1-8, 15-16; Luke 14: 1, 7-14

9th September, 14th Sunday after Trinity:

• Morning: Deuteronomy 30: 15-end (08:00 only); Philemon: 1- 21; Luke 14: 25-33
• 18:00: Isaiah 43: 14 - 44: 5; John 5: 30-end

16th September, 15th Sunday after Trinity:

• Morning: Exodus 32: 7-14; 1 Timothy 1: 12-17; Luke 15: 1-10

23rd September, 16th Sunday after Trinity:

• Morning: Amos 8: 4-7; 1 Timothy 2: 1-7; Luke 16: 1-13

30th September, 17th Sunday after Trinity:

• Morning: Amos 6: 1a, 4-7; 1 Timothy 6: 6-19; Luke 16: 19-end

Home Groups

• The Bible Study Group meets on Fridays at 10:00, at the Vicarage for the time being.
• House Group: Every Wednesday, 7.30 pm at 45 Crowson Way - Everyone welcome

Priory Prayer Group

Owing to circumstances, the Priory Prayer Group has, for the time being, ceased its regular fortnightly meetings.
We must pray to our Lord that a way will be found for it to again provide the parish with a power house of prayer.
Bernard Babb

Notices

The Alpha Course:
An invitation to supper!

A new session of the famous Alpha course is due to begin in Deeping St James on 21st September. If you would like to find out more about it, or if you would like to bring someone else who might like to find out more about it, then do come along to the Vicarage on Thursday 6th September at 7.30pm for a light supper and a video presentation about the course. It is all completely free of charge and without any obligation at all to go on and attend the course, and all are welcome but in order to enable us to provide the supper (and to move to a bigger venue if necessary!), please let us know you are coming. Just telephone or email with your name and some means of contacting you, and let us know of any special dietary requirements, and we'll look forward to seeing you.

If you are interested in the course but cannot attend the supper, please let the Vicar or Martin Fisher know so that we can give you more details separately.

Christmas Tree Festival

The Church Social Committee with help from members of the Deepings Flower Club are staging a Festival of Christmas Trees in Church during the festive season. If any organisation, group or family would like to supply and decorate a tree would they please contact any member of the committee for details.

Church Ladies Fellowship

The Church Ladies Fellowship is a group of some thirty ladies who meet twice a month in the Church Hall; a yearly programme includes demonstrations, speakers on varied subjects, outings and various meals. Our new programme starts on September 6th when new members are welcome to join. For further details contact Margaret (347197)

News from Explorers, Climbers and Scramblers

Our summer break ends on Sunday 9th 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 their session in the Church Hall and return, as usual, for their blessing and refreshments after the service.

We shall begin the new term in September by learning about God's plan for the spread of the Good News about Jesus. Paul's journeys are both exciting and dangerous but he does what God wants him to do and God is with him, especially during his arrest and imprisonment. One of the activities which we are planning for the children needs every child to have a shoe box so if you have one to spare please let Alison know, or bring it to Church or to The Vicarage by Thursday 20th September. Thank you.

What do Explorers, Climbers and Scramblers do?

On a typical Sunday Morning the children initially meet in their separate groups and on arrival are engaged in a hands-on activity (cooking, painting, crafts, etc - and the messier the better!) which has a connection with the story to come. Explorers enjoy a variety of approaches to this such as drama readings, Bible Reference detective sheets, or a story whilst the younger children prefer the more familiar narrated story. Another activity may then follow, and then we all meet together for the very popular 10 min 'Worship Session'. The Children have an impressive repertoire of Songs and Choruses, many with actions, and are adding to this all the time. They also reflect on the day's story - and its message for their life during the week to come - and join in with the prayers. At this point the children and their leaders and helpers join the congregation in Church for their blessing, 'showing time', refreshments and play in the Children's Corner.

Explorers, Climbers and Scramblers are very aware that they are part of the Priory Church Family and like to join in, or even provide, activities which are church-wide. One example was the contribution in June to the Rose and Sweet Pea Show when we enthusiastically prepared models on the topic of 'mini beasts' to decorate the Church. Climbers and Scramblers made impressive junk models whilst Explorers used long pieces of willow to construct a frame and then covered this with tissue paper dipped in glue! The 'BBC Children in Need' Coffee morning in November, organised and run jointly by the Social Committee and Children's Groups, is another opportunity for the children and young people to take an active part in the life of the Priory Church. Pudsey Bear biscuits accompany after-Church refreshments and there is usually an opportunity to 'Guess the Weight of the Cake' and to give in to temptation at the cake stall.

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.

News From The Tower

Our social secretary has done us proud this time with a "Ghost Walk" around Peterborough. Our party of ringers and guests totalled 13, with ages ranging from 7 to the 70 plus years. Comments from our party were "very entertaining evening out" and "the guide was very good".

We are now looking forward to the next outing that is being planned. We can't tell you what it will be yet, as she will not let on where or what it is likely to be.

Our new ringer is making good progress in the handling of a bell rope.

THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

On 10th June tea parties were held across the country to raise awareness of and funds to support the persecuted Church.

The fact that many thousands, if not milliions, are persecuted for their faith is perhaps not appreciated by many of us. We in this country, who have the freedom to worship where and how we please, take this privilege for granted. Too many of us ignore it altogether; we do so at our peril - when this freedom is removed it will be too late too appreciate it.

The people who run organisations such as the Barnabas fund and Open Doors (to assist those who put their life at risk by their belief in our mighty God and his Son who died to give us eternal life) ask for your prayers.Donations are, of course, welcome to further the work they do - supplying bibles and, where possible, field workers - but chiefly they ask us to pray.

Pray that those suffering may remain strong in faith. Pray that the persecution of those who believe in Our Lord Jesus Christ may cease. Pray that we do not lose that freedom of worship we enjoy in this country. Pray for the spread of Christ's kingdom here on earth.

BISHOP'S LETTER

By the Bishop of Grantham, the Rt Revd Tim Ellis

Dear Friends

My summer holiday was in sharp contrast to my early memories of family holidays. There were hot, sticky days in Bridlington, cooled by a sharp breeze off the sea. In the air, there were strange and heady scents of the British holiday resort: real ice cream; hot dogs and burgers; the 'novelty' rock emporium. Later in life, in my teens, my affections moved to Skegness where the, hitherto unopened, delights of the pleasure beach and its massive – it seemed to me in those innocent days before Alton Towers and its 'super rides' – roller coaster, which, at one corner, dangled you frighteningly and precariously over a sandy beach which seemed to be miles from any ocean. The whelks and cockle stalls, candy floss which stuck around your mouth and took, seemingly, months to disappear completely, and the 'kiss me quick' cowboy hats in which one would cut a cavalier dash down the promenade. All of this, and the statue of the Jolly Sailor, beckoning you to a fortnight of unblemished pleasure to be remembered for ever through the medium of the photos taken by a complete stranger with tickets in his hat who would inform you that 'they will be ready in 24 hours at the end of the pier'.

It all seems an aeon ago, and Skegness itself has modernised whilst retaining something of that old traditional feel. But nowadays we jet off to foreign climes as easily as getting on a bus and we even have our weddings on lush Caribbean beaches or Thai temples. The world has got smaller and is now a 'global village'. Whole families routinely pop across to Australia or some other far away idyll as quickly and as comfortably as we once went to Cleethorpes. This is, of course, essentially good, because we are learning more about our fellow human beings in once hidden and inaccessible places. We learn that they think and feel and act in more or less the same way as ourselves: there is no place for racism or stereotypes with the seasoned traveller, only a respect and awe for the diversity and richness of the many cultures on the earth. That is why it is sometimes sad to stand in a supermarket in France or Israel and realise that you could, in fact, be in any supermarket anywhere in the world. The forces that would profit from our tourism and travel can also be forces which reduce us to be mere consumers-the lowest common denominator of human experience.

It is strange that the word we use for our pleasurable breaks is 'recreation', a word which is familiar and at home in the world of faith: we believe that, far from being once created and left alone by God, like some flesh and blood clockwork toy, we are always being re-created by Him. The hymn reminds us that 'new every morning is the love'. If you and I, as we travel the world experiencing the God-given kaleidoscope of Creation, can remember that this world is constantly revealing the beauty and wonder of the Divine to us, then perhaps we will begin to treat it differently and respect it more. For soon, if we continue to plunder its resources and maltreat it in the way we do, our planet itself will need re-creation and its joys will be lost to us for ever.

+Bishop Tim

This is only an extract from some of our magazine. Residents of Deeping St James can subscribe to the printed version.