St. Martin s Monthly

Transcription

1 St. Martin s Monthly May p I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, Three in One and One in Three. Hymn 225

2 St Martin s Church, Hale Gardens, Acton W3 9SQ (Registered charity no ) Web: stmartinswestacton@btinternet.com Vicar Associate Vicar The Revd Dr Nicholas Henderson (also Chaplain to Acton Care Centre) The Revd Justin Dodd SS Associate Priest The Revd Bruce Barnett-Cowan Assistant Priest The Revd Canon Dr Alyson Barnett-Cowan Commissioned Lay Minister to the Japanese Anglican Church UK Mrs Yuki Johnson ( ) yukifunakawa@btinternet.com Parishes Secretary (9.30am 1.30pm weekdays) Parishes Office, 25 Birch Grove, W3 9SP (Fax: ) Reader Dr Margaret Jones ( ) Reader Emeritus Mrs Lynne Armstrong ( ) Churchwardens Lisa Ambridge ( ) John Trussler ( ) Director of Music Youth Group Magazine Editor Kenneth Bartram (c/o Parishes Office) Chris Kennedy (c/o Parishes Office) Clive Davis (clive.a.g.davis@btinternet.com) The Vicar is available for consultation and enquiries by appointment. Please ring the Parishes Office. Articles for the next month s magazine should be sent to Clive Davis ( clive.a.g.davis@btinternet.com) They should reach the Editor by 14 th May. The June magazine will be on sale by 26 th May.

3 The Darling Buds of May The Pink Magnolia in Spring bloom outside St Martin s. Photograph by John Holt The phrase The Darling Buds of May for many of us evokes the much replayed TV series starring David Jason, Stephanie Ralph, Pam Ferris and Catherinee Zeta-Jones based on the book of the same name by H.E. Bates. The origin lies of course with William Shakespeare in his Sonnet 18, one of the most romantic of poetic stanzas. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hathh all too short a date: Shakespeare lived in and around what is termed the Little Ice Age and as such spring appears to have arrived much later in his time than it does nowadays, althoughh this year we ve had a taste of what a cold and late winter March and April can be like. Nevertheless, now we re looking forward to the summer and we hope it ll be a fine one. Certainly this is going to be a lively time with all the usual activities from Fairs to Soireés to Gift Day to Harvest. There is also more, as ever we will need to look closely at our mission and outreach and interestingly at the make-up of our congregation. 3

4 We re good at work with young people and we have a good-sized older congregation, in fact the near record large 178 newly registered on the Church Electoral Roll is most encouraging. There is however a statistical hole around the ages of where our numbers are proportionately at their lowest. This is, of course, a phenomenon associated with many, many church congregations and it is true that people drift back to church later in life. After all we had encouragingly a record number of adult confirmation candidates at last year s service held in St Martin s. The so-called evangelical church congregations have a reputation for attracting the age group that we are concerned about but I m not suggesting that you need to uplift hands in charismatic style just yet. We will need to look carefully at our whole ministry and over this year I am expecting some positive changes that will enable us to spend more time doing so. Those Darling Buds of May also carry the potential to blossom and seed for the next generation and as such they can represent for us what Christians are always charged to do, that is to tell the good news to the next generation. There s another well-known proverb about this time of year that runs 'Ne'er cast a clout till May be out'! The earliest citation is this version of the rhyme from Dr. Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732, although it probably existed in word-of-mouth form well before that. There is much debate about exactly what a clout might be but amongst the many suggestions heavy winter clothing seems the best. I m hoping that we ll travel light and fast this coming year and May and onwards will be as good a time as any to start. Nicholas A Summer s Evening Garden Party Friday 5 th July at 8pm In the Vicarage and Garden Further details next month. 4

5 "Come and Sing Evensong" on Sunday 19 th May, 6.30pm at St Martin's Church Come and Sing is where anyone from the congregation is invited to join the choir for this service. A rehearsal begins at 3:15 pm. There will be a break for some refreshments and then a final rehearsal. Evensong follows at 6:30 pm Guest preacher at 10am on Sunday 16th June The Rev'd John Kafwanka, Mission and Evangelism Officer for the Anglican Communion will be our guest preacher on 16 th June at our 10am service. John Kafwanka has worked for CMS for the last three years as a regional coordinator in Lusaka, Zambia, in Southern Africa. Ordained to the priesthood in 1994, Kafwanka served St. John's in Zambia and was also the principal and rector for the national seminary. Kafwanka describes Mission and Evangelism as being about "God's mission to humanity in a holistic sense, where it is God's mission and not the Church's mission. Thus wider and bigger than we can envisage." Kafwanka's interests include meeting people and networking, seeing growth in ministry and seeing mission happen; "what God is doing through his people," he said. He is married to Martha and has two children, son Limbani and daughter Mwila, aged 5 and 8 years respectively. Kafwanka and his family moved to London from Africa when he began work at the Anglican Communion s office in St. Andrew's House, London, last October. [From the Anglican Communion News Service] 5

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7 Baptisms last month There were two baptisms in April.. Sienna Taylor was christened at St Martin's on Sunday 7th April. The photograph shows her parents Lauren and Jason and proud grandparents, Ray and Anita Matthews. In the afternoon of 7 th April Carys was baptised. This photograph shows the Christening party with Mark and Bethan Galluzzo, their daughter Carys and godparents. 7

8 The U in JesUs Before U were thought of or time had begun, God even stuck U in the name of His Son. And each time U pray, you'll see it's true You can't spell out JesUs and not include U You're a pretty big part of His wonderful name, For U, He was born; that's why He came. And His great love for U is the reason He died. It even takes U to spell crucified. Isn't it thrilling and splendidly grand He rose from the dead, with U in His plan? The stones split away, the gold trumpet blew, and this word resurrection is spelled with a U. When JesUs left earth at His upward ascension, He felt there was one thing He just had to mention. "Now go into the world and tell them it's true That the love I have shown is not just for U." So many great people are spelled with a U, Don't they have a right to know JesUs too? It all depends now on what U will do, He'd like them to know, But it all starts with U. ###################### Friday 4 th October Harvest Supper and Barn Dance (a joint event with CARA) in St Martin's Church Hall 8

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10 Making it easy for churches to fundraise online The UK s churches are being offered a chance to boost their collecting plates with text and online donations in a fundraising partnership announced by the National Churches Trust and online fundraising platform JustGiving. The fundraising partnership has been launched to mark the 60th anniversary of the National Churches Trust, the only UK wide charity supporting and promoting Christian places of worship of historic, architectural and community value. The partnership will help churches, chapels and meeting houses which have not yet taken advantage of the benefits of online and text fundraising to raise more money, easily and tax efficiently. It is expected to be of particular benefit to churches that either can t afford or don t have the expertise to set up their own online or text donation facility. As well as an online fundraising page, also included is a text donating option. If donating by text, the donor only pays the amount they wish to donate and will not be charged for the text nor have the text deducted from their monthly allowance and the full amount of the donation, with no deductions, will be paid to the church. Both online and text donations can be gift aided to maximise the benefit of the donation. Churches, chapels and meeting houses are eligible if their denomination is a member of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and meet JustGiving s eligibility requirements concerning charitable status. There is more information and an application form at Notice seen outside a church TIRED OUT AND RUN DOWN? COME IN FOR A SERVICE! 10

11 Results from the Annual Parochial Church Meeting. The APCM took place on the 21 st April. The results were: Churchwardens for 2013/2014 are Elizabeth Ambridge and John Trussler. The Deanery Synod elections are in However, Sean Galpin stood down. Sam Boundy was elected to take Sean s place for the remainder of the term, joining Clive Davis and John Wilson as our representatives. The Parochial Church Council members for 2013/2014 are: Arden Anderson, Lynne Armstrong (appointed as Secretary), Philip Barnes, Jacqueline Clinton, Mary Cook, Paul Debois, Maureen Fenton, Bryony Franklin, James Hyde, Margaret Jones (as Reader), Jeanette Lovell, Shelly Merrick, Jacqueline Nicholls, Angela North, Brenda Ward. Lynne Armstrong and Jacqueline Nicholls were elected to represent the parish on the Central Ealing Churches Together. 11

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13 How to stay safe this Spring 1. Avoid riding in automobiles - they are responsible for 20% of all fatal accidents. 2. Do not stay home - 17% of all accidents occur in the home. 3. Avoid walking on streets or pavements - 14% of all accidents occur to pedestrians. 4. Avoid travelling by air, rail, or water - 16% of all accidents involve these forms of transportation. 5. Of the remaining 33%, 32% of all deaths occur in Hospitals. So,... above all else, avoid hospitals. BUT,... you will be pleased to learn that only.001% of all deaths occur in worship services in church, and these are usually related to previous physical disorders. Therefore, logic tells us that the safest place for you to be at any given point in time is at church!...and...bible study is safe too. The percentage of deaths during Bible study is even less. So, attend church, and read your Bible - IT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE! Churches are paying the price of bat conservation Bat conservation is damaging churches not just physically, but financially, and cannot be sustained, the Environment Minister Richard Benyon MP has been told. The cost of replacing one small piece of a leaded window, for example, increased from 5 using plain glass to 140 when fitting a lead 'bat flap' which was required by the Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) - four weeks' collection in the rural parish church of Wiggenhall, St Germans. Leaving interpretation of the law on bat conservation largely to the BCT is bringing the European Habitats Directive into disrepute to the detriment of endangered species more generally, warned a Church of England delegation led by Second Church Estates Commissioner Sir Tony Baldry MP, with representatives of Natural England. "I remain puzzled as to why our churches are treated as if they were uninhabited barns. They are not," said the Rt Revd Graham James, Bishop of Norwich. The delegation looked forward to results that would mitigate the impact of bats on buildings. Churches are places of worship, centres of communities and heritage sites, not sites of special scientific interest, they reminded the Minister. 13

14 Easter winners! Here are some photos from Easter Day. The Easter baskets were made by Tara Bramwell. Here is Shelly Merrick, in her Easter Bonnet taking part in the Great Easter Egg Rolling Competition And who is trying on this award winning Bonnet? 14

15 And then we had the competition for the best decorated egg... The winning egg was painted by Johanna Barnes... with this one came second and was painted by Cole Marshall-Phillips Finally, a photograph of the Good Friday March for Christ. 15

16 Our Notice Boards Thanks to Councillor Nigel Sumner and Paul Debois, our Uxbridge Road church noticeboard has been cleaned. The photographs show before and after the clean-up. I shall be getting a new perspex cover for the notices as the old one has become discoloured, and then we'll be good as new! Nicholas Margaret Thatcher s Funeral and our Ken Bartram While many of you may have watched the funeral of Lady Thatcher on television, there was one person who was preparing for an important role later that day. The main service may have taken place at St Paul s Cathedral but the actual Cremation took place at Mortlake Crematorium. Our organist, Ken Bartram who was due to have a day off on that Wednesday, got a call and was asked to play at Mortlake for Margaret Thatcher s cremation service. The cremation took place after the cremations of the day had taken place. Ken said he was surprised to have been asked. 16

17 Youth Group changes I am planning to make some changes to our Joint Churches Youth Group as follows: From Wednesday the 17th of April we will tailor sessions for our young people into school years so that we can run sessions for their respective age groups. This means that, for example, young person will be able to join the Youth Group and have then a clear pathway to follow well into their mid-teens. Therefore, there will now be three groups. This will make teaching and planning much easier. So from Wednesday 17th April we are going to start by splitting the group into two, still, of course meeting in All Saints Hall, Elm Grove Road, W5 3JH. The programme will now be as follows: Wednesdays pm with Growing Saints : school years 3-5 ages 8-10 then from pm Becoming Saints : school years 6-8 ages Lastly, we intend to start an older group called The Saints on Thursdays from 6pm 7.30pm. This will begin in the first week of June. In the meantime the older youth can come to the Becoming Saints group so they aren't left out. The reason for the delay is that this older group will be run more like a cell/prayer group so I am just keen to get the content and venue right. These changes mean that I will have more time to focus on youth development for our churches. This will include reinstating visits to other churches on a Sunday afternoons every 6 weeks, as well as holding our regular celebrations by going to the movies and bowling. Of course, the highlight of the year will be a summer to camp like Soul Survivor. Each session will continue to have a 'God slot' where teaching will take place and we are also going to start introducing the Bible more by relating it to famous films like The Prince of Egypt, The Chronicles of Narnia and would you believe it 'The Matrix' for the older group!! As always please feel free to me any thoughts and ideas. Please also keep praying for all our youth work and thank you so much for your help so far. If you would like to help or even sponsor us then please do get in touch. Chris Kennedy, Parishes Youth Worker 17

18 Acton Care Centre celebrates 10 years... The photograph shows Mary McClaren the general manager of Acton Care Centre with a special cake made to celebrate the 10 th anniversary of Acton Care Centre.... and coincidentally it was on the same day as Nicholas 65 th birthday. So a birthday cake was also waiting to be cut and shared. So a double celebration! 18

19 School Communions this term Twyford High School will be celebrating Holy Communion in St Martin s with some of their students on May 1 st, June 11 th and June 21 st And from the Church Army... I hope this letter finds you well. I want to thank you for your donation of 210 after Patrick and Sheila Samuel s recent preachment. We are really thankful for your partnership with us as we take Christ s Good News to the margins. Without your support, of both money and prayer, we would not be able to break through to those who don t yet know Jesus. I also thought I d share some good news with you from our Marylebone Project. Their social enterprise Made in Marylebone is going from strength to strength. As well as creating and selling handmade jewellery, they have established a catering business which enables the women to gain valuable skills so they can resettle into independent living. This also brings additional money because the profits are reinvested back into the project. Please pray for everyone at Marylebone and visit their website: Thank you once again for your generosity and partnership. If you or your church have any prayer needs please get in touch, so we can be praying for you as you pray for us. Flower Rota 26 th April 8 th May Susie Thorpe-Woods 10 th May 22 nd May Angela North 24 th May -5 th June Jill Hull May 5 th May 12 th May 19 th May 26 th Coffee Rota John & Keiko Holt Sonbol Pefitt and John Clark Bob & Camilla Reid Louella Faria 19

20 The Parish of St Martin Hale Gardens, Acton W3 9SQ (Registered charity no ) Web: Usual Sunday Services 8am: Holy Communion 10am: Parish Communion 6.30pm: Evensong Our Sunday School meets in the Church Hall at 10am except when there is a Family Service. A non-eucharistic Family Service is held on most first Sundays of the month. Japanese Anglican Church UK meets every third Sunday of the month: (except July, August and December) 3pm Bible Study and Evening Worship in Japanese Every Tuesday: 8am Holy Communion Every Wednesday: 11.30am Coffee Club at 25 Birch Grove, W3. Youth Groups (run jointly with All Saints) Growing Saints School years 3-5 (aged 8-10) meets on Wednesday evenings, 6.30pm 7.45pm. Becoming Saints School years 6-8 (aged 11-13) meets on Wednesday evenings, 7.45pm 9pm. Starting in June, The Saints (aged 14 and over) meets on Thursday evenings, 6pm 7.30pm. each in All Saints Church Hall, Elm Grove Road, W5.