Church Drive April 2013

Transcription

1 Church Drive April 2013 Monthly News from St Giles West Bridgford In this edition The Rector Writes Christian Aid Week 2013 Launching Traidcraft at St Giles Book Review: Mere Apologetics Update from the Boys Brigade Hidden Treasures in the Library St Giles Directory What s on this Month at St Giles

2 The Rector Writes Kay Cutts is wrong. Kay Cutts is the leader of Nottinghamshire County Council. She is the Conservative County Councillor for Radcliffe on Trent. A couple of weeks ago I attended a meeting at the Church of the Holy Spirit for faith leaders and representatives of the city and county councils. There were about 50 of us present, representatives of all the major faiths in Nottinghamshire and the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the possibility of local councils increasing the wages of their lowest paid employees in line with what the Living Wage Foundation calculate is a sustainable amount to live upon per hour. I m a big supporter of this proposal as are political and business leaders from across the spectrum including Ed Milliband, Boris Johnson and David Cameron who described it as an idea whose time has come. After various presentations Kay Cutts rose to speak she cut the figure of a lion in a den of Daniels. Her response was clear and straightforward but not what I was expecting. I thought I might get a soft political answer along the lines of yes we agree with the sentiments but we can t afford it personally I am in favour but the timing is not right. But credit to Kay - she was disarmingly straightforward and direct. To summarise, her argument was - This has nothing to do with churchmen or religious leaders. I am only accountable to the electorate; the best deal for them is to keep wages low. I don t tell you how to pray, don t you tell me how to run the council; I live and work in the real world, your preserve is the heavenly world above and encouraging people to live moral lives. Now my apologies to Kay if I have misrepresented her, it s not my intention to do so, but that s as fair a summary as I can come up with. As we have approached Easter I have thought back to that meeting again and again. Leaving aside the single issue of the Living Wage 1 whose supporters and opponents are drawn from across party lines there is a critique that was repeated throughout Kay s argument. In a nutshell - faith and politics are two separate spheres, and neither should intrude on the other s turf. 2

3 Is she right? Sorry Kay, I am sure you have got many things right in your time as leader of the council, but on this one you are wrong, from a Christian perspective anyway. The church can never concede that faith and politics shouldn t mix. At the heart of the Easter message is a view of God who draws near and gets involved in the affairs of this world. That is what the incarnation is all about. God is enfleshed in a carpenter from Nazareth, no political revolutionary, but still one who would be brought before high priest, king and governor and be crucified under the banner of the king of the Jews. The word politics has its roots in the Greek word polis meaning city or life of the city and in the gospels we see Jesus weeping over the city of Jerusalem. We see him riding into the city on a donkey. We see him crucified outside the city walls. We see him ascending to glory from the city of Jerusalem, and commanding that the good news of his kingdom be taken from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. God is passionately concerned about the life of the city, and so should those be who seek to live in the light of his kingdom. The kingdom that Jesus inaugurates through his death and resurrection is a real kingdom for the real world, a kingdom that will make a difference in history, politics and culture. Jesus announced a kingdom that was political in that politics in the classic sense is concerned with the manner in which real communities arrange their affairs. Jesus announced a kingdom that was this worldly in that the rule of God was not far off in the heavens, but even then invading human history. The Kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matt 4:17). 2 At Easter we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We begin our services with a shout of Christ is risen, he is risen indeed. And in doing so we proclaim the supremacy of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. May his kingdom come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Rev Lee Proudlove Footnotes: 1. For more information check out Lee Camp, Mere Discipleship, BrazosPress, 2008 p101 3

4 Christian Aid Week 2013 Christian Aid is a Christian organisation that insists the world can and must be swiftly changed to one where everyone can live a full life, free from poverty. The world produces enough food for everyone, yet one in eight people on this planet are living with the pain of hunger and over 2 million children die from malnutrition every year. At St. Giles we believe that Christian Aid do a wonderful job responding to that need through some 600 overseas partners, working in 50 of the poorest countries. We have been supporting the organisation as one of our mission partners for many years and are about to gear up for our annual fundraising drive in response to Christian Aid Week. Christian Aid Week is largely supported through the house to house collections during May when 300,000 volunteers from 22,000 churches post red collection envelopes to households around the country. Held each year since 1957, the event is in its 56 th year, making it Britain s longest running fundraising week. Of the 12.5 million raised during Christian Aid Week 2012, 9 million came from the house to house collections. In addition to these collections, churches up and down the country fundraise in many different ways to further boost funds. St. Giles is a great example of this by hosting an annual quiz night which last year raised 4641 out of a total of We are extremely humbled by the amount raised through both the quiz and our collectors and pray that this can continue despite these difficult economic times. Christian Aid Week 2013 runs from the 12 th to 18 th May and we will be kicking the week off with the Quiz Night on Saturday 11 th May. 4

5 You may have read about the IF campaign which is an inter-agency initiative around food and hunger. As Christian Aid is heavily involved in this campaign, they have decided to highlight during the week 3 projects in 3 different countries, all with a focus around hunger and food. Dabane Trust in Zimbabwe - The south of Zimbabwe is arid and prone to droughts, leading to failed harvests and hunger for many people. The Trust has been developing some work around sand river dams - the sand dam stores water deep under the sand of a nearby riverbed and serves the communities in the Gwanda region. The local community have set up a market garden and are now able to grow a wide variety of crops irrigated by the newly established wells linked to the sand dam, which provides a reliable water source and ensures a harvest for the whole community. Christian Community Services Mount Kenya East (CCSMKE) in Kenya - CCSMKE is working with remote farming communities who are experiencing increasingly erratic weather patterns. Where once seasons were reliable, farmers are no longer able to predict the best times to plant or harvest. This has led to many failed crops and to farmers being left unable to feed or provide for their families. By sending small-scale farmers scientific weather predictions and forecasts via text message technology, translated into their local language, CCSMKE enables them to plant armed with valuable information. Centre for Research and Training for Peasants (CIPCA) in Bolivia - In the Amazon rainforest in eastern Bolivia, Christian Aid's partner, CIPCA has been successfully working with marginalised indigenous communities in the region of Beni to secure the rights to the land where they have lived for generations. This is a multi-layered project helping them by providing a diversity of seeds and saplings for short-term and long-term harvesting. CIPCA is also providing them with work around livestock e.g. chickens and woolless sheep suited to their environment. They have also helped with the harvesting of the cocoa plants and in one particular part have built a chocolate factory. We hope this gives you a flavour of Christian Aid s work and the focus for this year. We ask that you continue to support Christian Aid here at St Giles through your prayers, support of Christian Aid Week 2013 and through your generous giving. A million thanks from Debbie and Matt Keown 5

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7 It s simple really isn t it? Traidcraft at St Giles If there was a way in which we could help the world s poorest people just by the shopping choices we made, we d all sign up. Wouldn t we? What if St Giles congregation made choosing Fair Trade a way of life? Christian Aid, St Giles mission partner, are working with Traidcraft to achieve one very important aim: enabling people to trade their way out of poverty. Traidcraft buy from small-scale farmers who can t grow the bigger volumes Fair Trade at supermarkets require. They put these farmers in a stronger position in local and world markets and help some of the world s poorest people get a foothold into Fair Trade. For example, Traidcraft teas and coffees are grown, harvested, processed and packaged incountry, bringing much needed economic investment to an area where simply making a living is incredibly hard. In the words of Chino Henriquez, Traidcraft Beekeeper in Chile, What is in a Traidcraft cereal bar? A few square cms containing the lives and hopes of thousands of small producers. The St Giles Traidcraft stall will be launched on Sunday May 12 th during Christian Aid week. Thereafter, there will be a Traidcraft stall on the 2nd and 4th Sundays each month, at every 10.00am Communion service. Please support the initiative to establish Traidcraft at St Giles and make a world of difference. Thank you. Claire Voce 8

8 Book Review - Mere Apologetics By Alister E McGrath (pub: Baker Books) What on earth is apologetics? Don t worry- the subtitle tells it all - how to help seekers and sceptics find faith, or in other words How to engage unbelievers with intelligence and imagination. The Bible tells us that we should have a reason for the hope that is in us. Easier said than done you say in a society like ours as Richard Dawkins or Dan Brown and the Da Vinci Code are thrown at us and we struggle to respond. Well sprinkled with quotes from C S Lewis, the great apologist of the mid twentieth century and author of Mere Christianity and the Narnia books, this book can help all of us to be more confident in explaining to others the hope that we have in Christ and the meaning the Christian faith has given to our lives. McGrath writes clearly and very relevantly as he addresses some key issues such as the origin of the universe, suffering, morality and ideas of God as a crutch, having begun by showing how important apologetics is and the reasonableness of the Christian faith. Alister McGrath is a well qualified scientist and theologian who actively engages with these questions in real life, a university professor but also a good communicator in a manner that makes complex ideas easy to grasp. Andrew J M Barker 9

9 Hidden Treasures in West Bridgford Library Have you been to West Bridgford's newly re-opened library yet? Upstairs in the glass-fronted cupboards of the Local Studies section you will find some new acquisitions: copies of St Giles' parish magazines going back to the Second World War. We donated them to the County Archives a few years ago and now they have been neatly bound together in volumes and are available on the library shelves for everyone to consult. Here s a taster from the April 1953 edition, a mere 60 years ago... The most beautiful and glorious of all the great Festivals is here. After an unusually long and dreary winter which began last September we have been rejoicing in many days of sunshine. At a recent committee meeting various things were discussed such as noticeboards, hymn books, prayer books, Sunday School, caretaking, Evening meetings. Cubs and brownies now meet there each week. The new piano is already paid for, largely by the efforts of the young people. The new estate is still being improved. There are 400 new houses, and shops and bungalows and playing fields are included. The new communities make a problem for the church, because building is so expensive and there are not nearly enough clergy for every parish and district. In the country villages now nearly every Vicar has two churches and sometimes three.

10 8th Nottingham Boys Brigade The Boys Brigade encourages boys to enjoy themselves and to take part in indoor and outdoor activities that will challenge them mentally and physically and help them to do their best. The meeting nights are full and include games, challenges, badge work and a chance to meet other boys. Each boy is a member of a team with an older boy responsible for looking after and encouraging his team. Some of the activities that boys may take part in during their Boys Brigade life are: Unihoc competitions, swimming galas, athletics, hikes, indoor and outdoor games evenings, bowling, climbing wall, cross country, table tennis, camping, acting, and the Duke of Edinburgh s Award. Our Company meets on a Wednesday evening at St Giles Church Hall, Stratford Road, West Bridgford. There are three sections: the Anchor boys are aged 5-8 years (meets pm) the Junior section are 8-11 years (meets pm) the Company section are years. (meets pm) Membership is open to all boys regardless of race, culture or faith. It is the policy of the Boys Brigade and the Churches they are attached to that the safeguarding of its members is paramount. All the Officers and Helpers are CRB checked and all possible measures are taken to ensure activities take place in a safe environment. Finally, recognition for recent badge awards in the Junior Section - Target and Bronze for Raphael Galea and Fraser Wallace; Bronze for Sean Bernard-Carlin and Max Wallace; Gold for Martin Cahill and Jasper Hanson. For more information on the Boys Brigade please contact Keith Whitaker on or keith.whitaker1@btinternet.com. 10

11 St Giles Directory Rector Lee Proudlove Tel: Church Caroline Harper Tel: Wardens Richard Crawley Tel: Administrator Claire Sheard Tel: Pastoral Care Daphne Carter Tel: Co-ordinators Debbie Keown Tel: House Groups Katie Conley Tel: Seniors Johanna Langheld Tel: PCC Secretary Adrian Cudmore Tel: PCC Treasurer Eddie Pearce Tel: Sacristan Maureen Swann Tel: Dir. of Music Andrew Rootham Tel: Junior Church Sarah & Iain Moppett Tel: Sunbeams Claire Sheard Tel: Toddler Group Caroline Crew Tel: Wedding Caroline Harper Tel: Co-ordinator Church Hall Eileen Else Tel: Lettings Church Cleaning Helen Jarvis Tel: and Flower Rota 11

12 Coming St Giles in April Monday 8th, 8.00pm - First Priority Prayer Meeting in Church Come and make prayer your first priority. Everyone is welcome for a time of worship and prayer. Tuesday 9th, 10.30am - Seniors Coffee Morning at Bradmore Please check the Bulletin for details. Wednesday 17th, 12.00pm - Soup and Rolls Lunch at the Rectory Thursday 18th, 3.45pm - Messy Church Thursday 18th, 7.30pm - Ladies pudding & wine evening Friday 19th, 9.30am - Alpha course starts Designed especially for Mums. Young children are most welcome lots of toys and space for them to play. Thursday 25th, 7.00pm - Youth Night Please check the Bulletin for details. Monday 29th, 8.00pm - Men s Social at the Willow Tree Pub Sunday 28th, 11.00am - AGM If you have an idea for an article for Church Drive, or an event to advertise, please contact Claire (details on inside back page)