Lest we forget 100 years

Transcription

1 Image PhilBird at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Outlook News from St. Mary s Church 8 - Oct/Nov 2018 Lest we forget 100 years November 11th marks 100 years since the Armistice which ended the hostilities of the First World War. It was a war in which sixty five million men were mobilised, nearly a third were wounded and eight and a half million were killed. Average life expectancy in the trenches was just six weeks - considerably less if you were a junior officer or a stretcher bearer. The conflict lasted for A PRAYER FOR PEACE O God, lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth. Lead us from despair to hope, from fear to trust. Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace. Let peace fill our hearts, our world, our universe. Amen. four years, 3 months and fourteen days. Afterwards, war memorials sprang up in towns and villages across the country to record and remember those who had lost their lives. In Charlton Kings the war memorial is situated outside the lych gate of St. Mary s Church at the junction of Horsefair Street and New Street. It commemorates the 117 men from the village who gave their lives during the Great War. Christians throughout the country will be using this November as a time to pray for peace in our world, our country, our families and our own lives. Why not join us? See overleaf for how the Armistice Centenary will be marked in Charlton Kings.

2 2 Marking the Armistice Centenary in Charlton Kings Act of Remembrance Sunday 11th November, 9.45am, Charlton Kings War Memorial Come and gather at the War Memorial outside St. Mary s Church for a 10 minute Act of Remembrance for all those who have fought for our country. Afterwards there will be Remembrance Sunday services at all of the Charlton Kings Churches: Photo by Glenn Burns St. Mary s Charlton Kings Horsefair Street 10.00am Charlton Kings Baptist Church Church Street Sacred Hearts Catholic Church Moorend Road Bell Ringing St. Mary s bell ringers will be joining in with a national call for church bells to ring out in remembrance of the end of the first world war. They will ring half muffled from 9:15am until the Act of Remembrance at the war memorial. The half muffled ringing provides an echo 10.30am 10.30am effect on the bells and provides a more sombre tone - it is used to mark particular occasions of mourning and remembrance throughout the year. At 12:30pm eight ringers will ring a quarter peal (each of the bells will sound over 1250 times!) which will last for about 45 minutes. The bells will be rung un-muffled to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the end of the war.

3 All Souls - a time to remember All Souls Day is the special day in the Church s calendar when we remember those who have died. The commemoration reminds us that the Church comprises both Christians who are alive today (sometimes called the Church visible) and those who have gone before us as faithful followers of Christ and now worship among the saints in heaven (the Church invisible). In the weeks leading up to All Souls Day a signature sheet will be available at the back of St Mary s for people to add the names of anyone whose name they would like read out during the services on that day. Although All Souls Day falls on 2nd November, in recent years at St Mary s we have held a special Journey On service for those who have been bereaved on the second Sunday in November. This year we will be holding the service on the first Sunday 4th November which is the Sunday closest to All Souls Day (more information below). Everyone is welcome to attend this service to give thanks for, and to light a candle in memory of, someone who has died. 3 A special service to remember loved ones Sunday 4th November 6.30pm St. Mary s Church If you ve recently lost someone close to you, you may want to come along to our All Souls Service. It s a special time to formally remember our loved ones who have died, to offer thanksgiving for their lives, and to light candles in their memory. You don t need to be a regular church-goer and you can come to remember someone however long ago they died.

4 4 From the Vicar... Some of you may not know this, but I am a bit a of a conspiracism nut. To my glee I was recently put onto a website hosted in America (where else) that allowed you to play with your very own online conspiracy theory generator. Can you image the amount of fun to be had when generating your own real life conspiracies? On the site in question you are given the option of two conspiracy generators. The one I chose asked me to agree that I understood that this particular Conspiracy Generator required a structured combination of stylistic meta-frames incorporating tragic apocalyptic dualism (take a breath) combined with narratives constructed around the demonization and scapegoating of the other. Even the caveat sounded like something a conspiracy nut like me could dig! In fact, although this was a caveat, broadly, I fully agreed with it. The online conspiracy theory generator caveat, not so much a warning, as a practical resistance mission statement, to my way of thinking. I started to play Q1: In order to understand the world today you need to realize it is controlled by. (I scrolled down the menu) Capitalists I decided. Q2: Who are Crafty, very crafty (I looked for shrewd but couldn t find it). Image created by Freepik When did this conspiracy start? They began to conspire heartily in modern times following the Chicago school of economic rape and pillage protocols that was Q3. Q4: What are they responsible for? the systematic theft of nationalised utilities across the world this system, sometimes called the disaster capitalism complex. This has led to profit models developed to create wealth from disasters such as 9/11 and the banking crisis, but almost any disaster will do - outsourcing such things as healthcare for soldiers, interrogating prisoners, data mining, state education, hospital departments, prisons, power companies, rail networks, government pension departments,

5 5 3 entire government departments, peace keepers in privatised wars, land, oil, rare metals, entire banks etc.. Q5: Why? Governments (greedy for money) abdicate to allow venture capitalists to make a profit through radical privatization. This suppresses the public sphere, and leads to total liberation of the market place for corporations, to facilitate the wholesale transfer of public wealth into the hands of a select corporatist few. Q6: Outcome? This conspiracy oppresses the poor, supports the dazzlingly rich creating debt, aggressive surveillance of the poor by privatised companies, ridicule of collectivist ideologies and the suppression of the trade union movement, civil rights and personal liberties. Also, the transfer of public wealth into the hands of the dazzlingly rich. Q7: Finally, in order to prepare for all this, we must all? It s too late it s already here! Phew! I thought. Lucky this is only a computer game. What if it had been real? I satisfied myself by thinking we wouldn t be so stupid to allow this all to happen after all, what would the good Lord think if we allowed such shameful love of money to dictate our attitude to our fellow human beings? Where would our responsibility to our neighbour be if we could not ensure our social frameworks were intact, and for the benefit of every member of society, and not just those that could make a quick buck from it, or afford to pay? Where?

6 6 Church Calendar New faces are always welcome at any of our services and events - we d be delighted to see you. Updates at stmarysck.org.uk/calendar 1 October 10:30 Walking Together - for info contact parishoffice@stmarysck.org.uk 4 October 10.15am Little Fishes for pre-schoolers & their carers 7 October 8am Holy Communion 10am Dedication Festival - see page pm Full Choral Evensong 11 October 10.15am Little Fishes for pre-schoolers & their carers 14 October 8am Holy Communion 10am Parish Communion 6.30pm Shortened Evensong 7.00pm Science & Religion - see page 9 18 October 10.15am Little Fishes for pre-schoolers & their carers 21 October 8am Holy Communion 10am Parish Communion 6.30pm Shortened Evensong 7.00pm Science & Religion - see page 9 25 October 10.15am Little Fishes for pre-schoolers & their carers Nottingham Hill

7 28 October 8am Holy Communion 10am Parish Communion 6.30pm Shortened Evensong 7.00pm Science & Religion - see page 9 1 November 10.15am Little Fishes for pre-schoolers & their carers 4 November 8am Holy Communion 10am Parish Communion 6.30pm All Souls Service - see page 3 8 November 10.15am Little Fishes for pre-schoolers & their carers 11 November 8am Holy Communion 9.45am Act of Remembrance - see page 2 10am Remembrance Sunday - see page 2 War Memorial St. Mary s Church 6.30pm Choral Evensong 15 November 10.15am Little Fishes for pre-schoolers & their carers 18 November 8am Holy Communion 10am Parish Communion 6.30pm Choral Evensong 22 November 10.15am Little Fishes for pre-schoolers & their carers 25 November 8am Holy Communion St. Mary s Church 10am Parish Communion 6.30pm Choral Evensong

8 8 Coffee Morning & Sale Saturday 13th October, 10am-12noon St. Mary s Parish Centre, New Street, Charlton Kings Come and enjoy a cup of coffee and a slice of cake whilst browsing hand-made Christmas cards. Get ahead with Christmas shopping - the new 2019 calendar of local scenes makes a great stocking filler (see opposite). The morning is being organised jointly by the Mothers Union and the Friends of St. Mary s Church. Dedication Festival Sunday 7th October, 10am St. Mary s Church A church s Dedication Festival celebrates the birthday of the church building. We know that St Mary s was first dedicated as a Chapel of Ease in 1190, however, we do not know the exact date and so we mark the occasion on the first Sunday in October. The Festival is an opportunity to give thanks for our church building and to remember all those who have gone before us. We ll also be holding a Full Choral Evensong at 6.30pm as part of our celebrations.

9 Science and Religion 9 From the end of September, we ll be holding a series of Autumn Lectures which will be given by the Revd Canon Dr Mike Parsons on the subject of Science and Religion. Now retired, Dr Parsons is a former Director of Ordinands for the Diocese of Gloucester. The talks are open to all and will be held in church on Sundays - each talk will begin at 7pm after a shortened Evensong service. Entrance is free but there will be a retiring collection for church funds. 30 September : Science and religion from conflict to co-operation 14 October: Cosmology, human significance and life on other planets 21 October : Adam and the Ape: evolution and creation 28 October : Why there is something and not nothing, where Richard Dawkins gets it wrong. Sundays at 7pm, St. Mary s Church, Horsefair Street, Charlton Kings A Shortened Evensong before each talk will start at 6.30pm Calendars - a great Christmas gift A 2019 photo calendar featuring local scenes form Charlton Kings, Cheltenham, the Cotswolds and more is now available to buy. This A4, full colour, high quality calendar is priced at just 5 (or 5.50 with an envelope for you to post or give as a gift). Available from The Forge Newsagent, Church Street or in church after Sunday services. Made by the Friends of St. Mary s Church.

10 10 Love singing? Did you know that St. Mary s Church has a flourishing choir? If you enjoy singing why not join us? The emphasis is on performance and enjoyment. The choir sing a wide range of music, perform at a high standard and receive excellent music tuition. There are also opportunities to undertake Royal Society of Music courses & events and to perform in cathedrals. It s an all-age choir, accepting choristers from age 8yrs upwards. There is no charge to belong to the choir in fact, we run a monetary reward scheme for juniors. Choir Practice is on Friday evenings from 7pm and the choir sings most Sundays at our 10am and 6.30pm services. To find out more... Neil Fortin Director of Music music@stmarysck.org.uk From the Bible And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away. Revelation 21: 3-4

11 11 Coming up in early December Advent by Candlelight Sunday 2nd December, 6.30pm, St. Mary s Church Prepare for the coming of Christ, who brings light out of darkness, at this atmospheric service with specially composed advent music. Christingle Sunday 9th December, 4pm, St. Mary s Church Bring your family and join in the Christingle fun as we mark the start of Advent and look ahead to the birth of Jesus at Christmas. Information about our Christmas services will be in our next issue of Outlook or you can check our website nearer to December.

12 Christenings, Marriages & Funerals during August and September We were delighted to welcome the families of Reuben Windsor, Joshua Roberts, Olive Scargill, Noah Prince, Delilah Buckley, Charlotte Oldham and Benjamin Maguire whose christenings were held at St. Mary s. Congratulations to Shaun Roberts & Victoria Willis and to Matthew Dean & Jennifer Allen who were married at St. Mary s. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of Margaret Cerrone, Christina Paul, Mary Glass, William McCook-Weir, Margaret Hollingsworth and Freda Parrott whose funeral services have taken place. Did you know that the church doors are open from 9am until 6pm every day? You are welcome to pop in to look around, to pray or just to spend a quiet moment. St. Mary s Church is located in the centre of Charlton Kings within the triangle formed by Horsefair Street, Church Street and New Street. The Parish Centre & Parish Office are opposite the church on New Street. Contacting St. Mary s Church Parish Office po@stmarysck.org.uk stmarysck.org.uk