S W O R D. April 2009 L E P PARISH MAGAZINE. ST MICHAEL & ALL ANGELS CHURCH (Anglican) Mildred Ave. / Durban Rd. Watford

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1 April 2009 S W O ST MICHAEL & ALL ANGELS CHURCH (Anglican) Mildred Ave. / Durban Rd. Watford R D L E P PARISH MAGAZINE Price 60p WEST WATFORD FREE CHURCH (Baptist) Church by the Zebra Crossing Tolpits Lane, Watford 1

2 A Pastoral Letter... One of the privileges of my work as a Reader is meeting people. Meeting them in different circumstances very often in their own homes, talking to them, listening to them and sometimes being able to give help and support. Over the years I have learned a great deal about families and their lives in Watford. Many first came to the town when work in other areas was scarce. The coming of the railways brought people and saw an increase of housing in our small market town. There was brewing and printing and the growth of other industries, like Scammells in Tolpits Lane or the small button factory in Rickmansworth Road. It is fascinating and interesting to talk to people about their families - often going back several generations. What a shame it would be if these links with the past were lost. Thank goodness we have the Watford Museum and that we have several good, illustrated books about the history of Watford. As part of the Millennium Celebrations, St. Michael's folk made an illustrated 'time line' of Watford's history which was displayed along the North Isle for visitors to see. The past is the foundation upon which we build the future, and this thought took me onto to think how grateful we should be to the early followers of Jesus who, after his death, carefully collected all the available information about him from those who knew him, and from other reliable sources. This means that we can learn about our Lord's life and teaching and be inspired to become Christians and follow him. Soon it will be that very special time we call Holy Week when we move from his triumphal entry into Jerusalem where he was hailed as 'Son of David". We then come to the emotional evening when he had his Last Supper with his disciples and on to the cruel and dramatic crucifixion on that first Good Friday. Then together we can celebrate the Risen Lord on Easter Day. All human experience was packed into that one week. Stories of love, betrayal and desertion, of courage and deaths and of new, vibrant life. Churches everywhere will be commemorating and celebrating these events in their different ways, just as we will be, here at St. Michael's. Why not come and join us? We shall be here on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Day. You will be most welcome and you will find more details elsewhere in this Magazine. Father George, Martin and I wish you all a very blessed Easter. With love, 2

3 Funerals 10th. March 2009 JOYCE MARCHANT was born in Watford and after her marriage in 1951 she moved to Clyston Road where she and her husband, Charlie, lived happily with their growing family. There were family holidays, and happy Christmases, and often the house was full of local children playing and learning to cook. Joyce was a loving wife and mother who would always be at home for her children. She would listen and give guidance - but not interfere. When Charlie became ill she nursed him and was supported by her family and her cousin. We send our sincere sympathy to all the family for Joyce will be sadly missed. Violet 3

4 From the Mission & Stewardship Committee News from the Church of Bangladesh - Anti-Human Trafficking (An edited version from the Co B News) Near Meherpur there is a passageway to cross the border between Bangladesh and India. In the dry season many people cross the border and live several months for work in India. At the same time women and children are trafficked and most people are unaware of it. So the Church has started a Human Trafficking Prevention Project aimed at creating awareness in five regional centres. These awareness activities, which begin with group discussions in the villages, are followed by seminars and workshops involving community and religious leaders. Drama and cultural programmes in the market places are popular and effective ways of alerting people to the dangers for vulnerable women and children, and awareness is raised also by means of posters and handbills. As a result of these efforts communities are now careful not to allow their children to go to school unaccompanied, and unknown persons are no longer allowed in to villages and communities. At some of the regional centres legal support is available as well as rehabilitation programmes for those who have suffered at the hands of the traffickers. Now the Project has introduced skills- training, such as tailoring, to enable survivors to be free from further exploitation. Please remember the Church of Bangladesh in your prayers and give thanks for its solidarity with the poor and oppressed. Martin FINAL COPY DATE FOR MAY SWORD:- Midday on Sunday 26th April 2009 Please submit copy before this date if possible - hard copy, floppy disc or to DENNIS.H.BEACH@sky.com 4

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6 ST MICHAEL S MOTHERS UNION DIARY Thursday 16 April Wednesday 20 May 10am Corporate Communion followed by meeting and coffee in the choir vestry. We hope to have a Garden Meeting and Bring & Buy stall starting at 2.30pm at 15 Lynbury Court, Park Ave. Friends welcome. The MU will do the refreshments at the Easter Workshop. NEW APPOINTMENT FOR GARY It has recently been announced that the Revd. Gary Russell will be Priest in charge of St Albans, St Mary Marshalswick. His licensing service will be at 8pm on Tuesday 8 th September (St Mary s patronal festival), all are welcome at the licensing service. From mid August his new address will be... St Mary's Vicarage, 1 Sherwood Avenue, Marshalswick, St Albans, Herts, AL4 9QA Gary says the church is a good traditional liberal catholic church built in the 1950s and he is really looking forward to joining them. Our thoughts and prayers are with Gary and his family as they enter a new stage of their Christian life. Editor THE PLANT SALE This will be on Saturday, 16 May from 10.30am 12 noon. Please get busy with sowing, cutting and potting so that you will have many plants for us to sell. As always the proceeds from our Plant Sale will go to our mission and charitable giving. 6

7 VERSES FOR LENT Few English poems can be more widely known than the Elegy Written in a Country Church-yard, by Thomas Gray ( ). His life shows that, with ability and good fortune, quite humble people could rise to distinction in that world of privilege. Is it still a schoolboy joke to arrange the words of the third line of the poem in as many ways as possible? For example (I use Gray s original spelling), Homeward the plowman plods his weary way Or His weary way homeward plods the plowman. And so on. The right order and rhythm of words are among the special gifts of poets. Several expressions from the Elegy have become proverbial, such as Far from the madding crowd. Appropriately for reading in Lent, the poem contemplates the virtues of ordinary people and the end that even the greatest must share: The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn, The swallow twitt ring from the straw-built shed, The cock s shrill clarion, or the echoing horn, No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed. The Elegy, in spite of its title, does not dwell on thoughts of devotion. Its religious understanding is implied by its thought processes and biblical reminiscences. Like many of Gray s poems, it has a tone of contemplative melancholy which still speaks to the English psyche. It brings together the love of Nature, the ill-defined aspirations and the sense of loss which surely, as I write, emerge from the response to Jade Goody s death. They are underpinned by the assumptions of two thousand years of Christianity, a sense of history and the classical writers, though these things are far from most people s conscious thoughts. Similarly, the Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College contrasts the carefree joys of youth with the universal lot: Condemned alike to groan, The tender for another s pain; Th unfeeling for his own. Yet ah! Why should they know their fate? Since sorrow never comes too late. What does Gray mean here by sorrow? The media constantly urge us to express 7

8 sorrow, whether we are the Prime Minister or an ordinary victim of a natural disaster. Often this is no more than prurient curiosity about the emotions of others. In Lent, however, Christians are called to understand the word more profoundly. The Prayer Book, summarising Biblical teaching, invites us to consider our sins throughout the year, not only in Lent. We are to be heartily sorry for our misdoings, and we are assured that they are forgiven by God when we try to turn away from them, even when, as Gray says, repentance is much delayed. Christian teaching is that a wrong intention makes a sin; a genuine mistake, however serious its consequences, is not sinful, and in that case the demand for an apology is due to confusion of ideas. So our purpose in the season of Lent is not that we should feel sorrowful (it is unlikely that our wrong intentions vary much with the seasons). Rather, it is that we should make a special effort to understand our intentions and to be convinced of the hope that is assured to us by Holy Week and Easter. In the Eton College poem, changes in the language have made it hard for us to take seriously Gray s lines about the thoughtlessness of children: Alas, regardless of their doom, The little victims play! But he goes on to list some of the tests (the true meaning of the word temptation ) that await us in life: anger, fear, shame, jealousy, despair and so on. He includes sorrow among them, because extravagant sorrow for the past distracts us from dealing with the new tests that face us. Eton College may seem an unlikely place on which to base these reflections, and to understand it you need to know that Gray s father was a scrivener (a sort of freelance clerk) in London and his mother kept a shop. But Gray was sent to Eton and went on to the University of Cambridge. Among his friends from Eton was Horace Walpole, with whom in he went on the Grand Tour that prolonged European cultural excursion that was customary for the gentry. This Walpole was a son of the first Prime Minister and became famous as a man of letters and the builder of Strawberry Hill. The story of their friendship would be another article. Gray was an undergraduate at Peterhouse, to which he returned after the Grand Tour. It seems that in 1756 he was the victim of a student prank, which so upset him that he moved across the road to Pembroke College, where he remained until his death. In 1768 he became Regius Professor of Modern History (English was not then an academic subject). The College holds many of Gray s original manuscripts. In 2006, as an old member who had read English, I attended a dinner at the College in celebration of the 250 th anniversary of Gray s joining us. The room that he lived in is in a seventeenth-century building, and is now used for meetings and social events. Pembroke College tends to regard Gray as second only to Edmund Spenser in the list of 8

9 its poets will he one day be displaced by Ted Hughes? He was not a prolific poet, but had a special kind of greatness. Moreover, his scholarly interests included what we now see as early Romanticism, and in this sense he was forward-looking. In conclusion, it is pleasant to remember that he had a sense of fun: in the Satire on the Heads of Houses he writes scornfully about the idleness of the heads of the Cambridge colleges, including his own: The Master of Pembroke Has from them his system took. So perhaps we can also see him as a distant ancestor of our own disrespectful attitudes. Graham Mordue. THE TALENTS CHALLENGE The talents challenge will end on Easter Day, 12 April, and the last time that the Talents table will be available in church will be the previous Sunday, 5 April.. Please bring your talents money to the 9.30 service on Easter Day. If possible bring your donation in the envelope that held the original 1 coin. If this has since been recycled please bring your donation in another envelope. We would like each person s talents to go in a separate envelope so that we can keep track of the number of envelopes that have been returned. We do not expect your name to be on the envelope. If you are unable to return your envelope on Easter Day please bring it back as soon as possible. Thank you very much. Pat Beachand SylviaMoring EASTER FLOWERS If you would like to contribute towards the Easter flowers, please give your donation to Fay Storey. If you are able to gift aid your donations please use a white envelope and mark it Gift Aid. Thank you. 9

10 DIARY OF EVENT APRIL Lent Groups will be meeting until Holy Week 1st Wed Bring-and-Share Lunch pm Worship Committee (Choir Vestry) 8.00 pm 2nd Thu Fairhaven (during morning) Kids Club pm Choir Practice pm 5th SUN PALM SUNDAY Holy Communion 8.00 am SUNG EUCHARIST (Procession of Palms and Passion 9.30 am Narrative) (crèche available) United Evening Service at West Watford 6.30 pm 6th Mon Schools start Easter Holiday 7th Tue Intercessory Prayer Group (Clergy Vestry) 2.30 pm 8th Wed Service at Home Manor (Violet) 3.00 pm 9th Thu MAUNDY THURSDAY No 10 am celebration St Anthony s (during morning) Choir Practice 7 8 pm UNITED SUNG EUCHARIST & Stripping of the Altar 8.00 pm Followed by WATCH THROUGH THE NIGHT 10th Fri GOOD FRIDAY The Last Three Hours 12 noon 3.00 pm Stations of the Cross (12-1 pm) Meditation & Music (Church)/Frugal Lunch (Hall) (1-2 pm) Liturgy (2-3 pm) 11th Sat HOLY SATURDAY Parish Walk leaving church at am Easter Eve ceremonies 9.00 pm 12th SUN EASTER DAY Holy Communion SUNG EUCHARIST (President & Preacher: The Archdeacon of St Albans) (crèche available) Service at River Court Evensong (Off: Graham Mordue) 13th Mon Bank Holiday Pilgrimage to St Albans (starting with prayers in the Lady Chapel) 8.00 am 9.30 am 3.00 pm 6.30 pm 9.00 am 10

11 S FOR APRIL 19th SUN EASTER 2 SUNG EUCHARIST (Preacher: Martin Heath) 9.30 am (crèche available) Sunday School in Littlebury Hall Evening prayer (Off: Martin Heath) 6.30 pm 20th Mon Schools return this week 21st Tue Service at The Chase Care Home 3.00 pm 26th SUN EASTER 3 SUNG EUCHARIST (Pres & Preacher: Rev Ian 9.30 am Pankhurst) (crèche available) Sunday School in Littlebury Hall Followed by Bring-&-Buy sale Church used for music rehearsal 3.00 pm CONCERT IN CHURCH given by the OCTAGON 7.45 pm MUSIC SOCIETY (NB No evening prayer in St Michael s) 29th Wed ANNUAL VESTRY MEETING 7.45 pm ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING 8.00 pm 30th Thu Kids Club pm Choir Practice pm Morning Prayer is said daily in the Lady Chapel (Monday to Friday) at 9.00 am. A service of Holy Communion is held every Thursday at am. Both this and the 8 am on Sunday morning are Order One in Traditional Language. The Toddlers Group meets in the Choir Vestry every Monday from am except on Bank Holidays. Tea, Coffee & Squash are served in Church every Wednesday from until noon. On the first Wednesday of the month this is followed by a bring-and-share lunch. 11

12 9.30 am SUNG EUCHARIST DUTY LIST (APRIL) Sunday 5th April (Palm Sunday) Deacons J Wareham, A Eccleshall Chalices A Kiddle, S Moring Intercessor A Eccleshall Lesson Readers P Ricketts Sidespeople P Ricketts, A Makin, C Dixon Crèche M Jenkins, A Mc Donald No Sunday School Sunday 12th April (Easter Day) Deacons Chalices Intercessor Lesson Readers Sidespeople Crèche No Sunday School Sunday 19th April Deacons Chalices Intercessor Lesson Readers Sidespeople Crèche Sunday School V Allen-Smith, M Simon M Simon, B Hutchinson A Eccleshall C Adams, M Matthews V Blacklock, H Moring, D Beach M Jenkins, A Makin V Alvarez, A Eccleshall A Eccleshall, S Moring P Beach V Wardman, P Allen-Smith P Hart, N Hart, J Alexander A Makin, N Roche N Brighton, G Heath Sunday 26th April Deacons Chalices Intercessor Lesson Readers Sidespeople Crèche Sunday School A Eccleshall, M Simon M Simon, P Gough P Hart J Mordue, G Mordue A Coley, P Coley, I Bilson L Kinch, A Mc Donald 12

13 From the Mission & Stewardship Committee Watford & Three Rivers Refugee Project Extract from Annual Report for 2008 The Project, run entirely by volunteers, seeks to provide practical and emotional support for asylum-seekers, particularly those deemed to have failed, and refugees in the area. All those helped are destitute and often desperate, and some have small children. Most of those helped are not allowed to work or to claim State benefits and some are in fear of deportation. The Project seeks to befriend them, give practical help, find accommodation, work with the statutory authorities and publicise their plight The Project was established in Since then it has helped 141 people from 22 countries. In 2008 practical assistance was given to 14 adults and 12 babies. Their countries of origin included the Congo, Ghana, Mauritius, Somalia, Uganda and Zimbabwe. In addition to chronic poverty and hunger, those assisted had experienced a variety of problems, including abandonment, eviction, HIV infection, psychiatric problems and most commonly stress and anxiety caused by the threat of deportation. All enquiries and referrals are dealt with promptly and, where practical help is required, a visit is made the same day. We provide ongoing support through regular visits, befriending and advocacy. In addition, where necessary, we make regular issues of canned food, toiletries and other essentials. Financial help is also given on occasion, particularly where payments by the authorities are delayed. Since 2004 the Project has provide shelter for 22 people. Most of these were short-term and a reputable guest house was used for this purpose. Three longer-term cases were housed by supporters of the Project. We now have a panel of private home owners who are willing to offer shelter, free of charge, to those in need. These offers were taken up on five occasions in It is no mean undertaking to have a complete stranger in one s house for weeks on end and the generosity and forbearance of those involved is truly impressive. The alternative would be sleeping rough. Eligibility for night shelter is, of course, dependant on housing allowance from the local authority, whereas the penniless foreigners for whom the Project cares have no such entitlement. (St Michael s supports the work of the Project in A letter of warm appreciation has been received. Do please continue to pray for the dedicated work of the Project.) Martin 13

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15 ST. MICHAEL & ALL ANGELS CHURCH Durban Rd./Mildred Ave. Watford cultivate with love! come to the garden plant sale (in aid of our charitable giving) sat. 16th. may noon in front of the west doors s Gifts 15

16 QUIZ NIGHT Please be aware that we at Trinity Methodist Church are arranging a Quiz Night on the evening of Saturday May 9th 2009, the proceeds of which will go to Christian Aid. The venue is Trinity Methodist Church, Whippendell Road, Watford, 7pm start. The format will be teams of six people, cost is 5.00 per person followed by a Faith Supper. There is no football match or Rugby match that day so parking should be reasonable near the church premises. Further information and publicity will be available shortly, but in the meantime please note this date in your own and your church diaries and kindly ascertain if your fellowship would like to participate in this event. Many thanks, John Simpson, Trinity Methodist Church, Watford. 16

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18 WEST WATFORD FREE CHURCH (BAPTIST) Services during April: NEWSLETTER Tolpits Lane, Holywell, Watford Pastor: Garth Woodhead 5th Palm Sunday am Family Worship - with the children present having their own session from about 11.00am onwards. 9th Maundy Thursday - Joint service at St Michael and All Angels at 8.00pm 10th Good Friday - Walk of Witness starting at Christ Church St Albans Road at 9.30am Bandstand (by the Library) at 1O.15am - Harlequin Centre for a short Service ending by 11.45am. Short devotional Service HERE at 3.00pm 12th EASTER SUNDAY - Family Celebration at 10.30am. Joint Service at Trinity Methodist Church at 6.30pm Sundays 19th & 26th - An Act of Worship for ALL ages at 10.30am with the children present having their own session from about 11.00am onwards. Holy Communion is celebrated on the 4th Sunday morning of each month and refreshments are served in the Church Hall immediately after the Services so you are invited to stay on for a time of fellowship with other members of the congregation. Other events: 1st. Free Church service at St Albans Cathedral at 11.00am 3rd. Kairos Ensemble present 'The Passion Suite' at DagnalI Street Baptist Church at 7.30pm (tickets each) 5th. Oxford Gospel Choir at Chenies Baptist Church at 6.30pm Neither the Herts Baptist Forum's Prayer Link nor the Baptist Missionary Society's Prayer Diary are to hand at the time of preparation of this edition of the Newsletter. 18

19 From the Baptist Union's Prayer Guide: EASTER - So there is new life after all!! Forgive us, living Lord, that sometimes we are tempted to lose our nerve, to imagine that there is no new life, that death does kill all hope. We pray that this. Easter that we may renew our hope, strengthen our nerve and re-discover hope rising again. We pray in the name of the risen Lord. AMEN 5th EASTER - Pray for ALL Baptist Churches across the Union and Chalk Farm Baptist Church, Camden. 12th JOPPA - the Baptist Inter-faith network engaging in dialogue with other faiths and advising local Baptists in their relationships with religious communities with which they come into contact. 19th The BUGB President for 2009/10 - Rev Kingsley Appiagyei 26th The Baptist Union Assembly in Bournemouth. Church and Family News & Views: Garth Woodhead, our Pastor, is using the Church to stage a one-day seminar on 'Israel - The promised Land'. Everyone is invited to attend - more details can be found on page 19. Catherine Baldwin who designed our Christmas leaflet which was distributed to the Estate has produced a stunning Easter leaflet - we do need volunteers to put them through letter boxes. Please let the Secretary have your name if you will help. The latest in the series of Bazaars to raise funds for Pastors Thomas and Benjamin in India, held on March 21st was a great success. Praise God for the Body of Christ and ALL the working together Everyone needed and appreciated so much giving, so much blessing, lovely fellowship, cakes etc and getting to know and meeting again all the good folk on the Holywell Estate. 374 was raised which will help the spreading the wonderful news of Jesus and the Gospel. Our heart-felt thanks to all - Helen and Beatrice. They particularly asked for this passage from I Corinthians Ch 12 vv be included with their piece.. 'So then there are many parts but only one body. The eye cannot say to the hand 'I don't need you!' and the head cannot say to the foot 'I don't need you!' No, those parts of the body that seem to be the weaker are really necessary. And the parts of the body we think are less are the parts to which we give the most honour. We give special respect to the parts we want to hide. The more beautiful parts of our body need no special care. 19

20 But God put the body together and gave more honour to the parts that need it so our body would not be divided. God wanted the different parts to care the same for each other. If one part of the body suffers all the other parts suffer with it. Or if one part of the body is honoured all the parts share in the honour. ' Those of us who have been associated with West Watford many years will no doubt remember Corrie Smith and her great friend Lily Broome. They worshipped for many years and were faithful to the last. Corrie never really recovered from Lily's death but she continued to attend services. Corrie died last year and in the last few days we received a letter from a firm of Solicitors in Watford with a cheque enclosed - Corrie had remembered us in her will. So we have 250 to spend on a specific item with which to record her time with West Watford. Thank you Corrie! 'Tale' piece: A newly appointed Minister was carrying out house visits one afternoon. He rang a door bell and heard a voice behind the closed door say 'Is that you Angel?' 'No', said the Minister, 'But I'm from the same organisation!' Birthdays: 1st Beatrice Collings 5th Sneha Matthew 7th Roelant Dewerse (New Zealand) 13th Enid Ashby - we wish them all a very happy day when it arrives. Alan Cockram 20

21 St Michael & All Angels Church Tel:- (01923) Web site: Vicar Hon. Asst. Curate * Revd. George Ochola BTh 157 Vicarage Road Readers * Mrs V Allen-Smith 40 Park Avenue * Dr M Heath 72 Harwoods Road Churchwardens Mr P Chandler 115 Kensington Avenue Mrs S Moring 6 Cassiobury Park Avenue PCC Secretary Mrs Sue Winterbotham 12 Westmount Apts, Met Station Approach PCC Treasurer Mrs C J Deeley 5 Greenbury Close, Chorleywood Hall Secretary Mr P Jenkins 86 Mildred Avenue Sacristan Mr J Wareham 26 Belgrave Avenue Organist & Choirmaster Mr A Benoy Flat 1, Prince Michael of Kents Lodge, Stratford Road SWORD Magazine Mr D Beach 18 The Gardens Gift Aid Secretary Mr R Ward 67 The Chase Electoral Roll Secretary Mr H Moring 6 Cassiobury Park Avenue The Children s Soc. Secretary Mrs N Twitchin 78 Princes Avenue Brownie Guides Mrs S Mulligan Creche Mrs A Makin 37 St James Road Sunday School Mrs K Jenkins 86 Mildred Avenue Kids Club & Youth Group Mrs J Talbot 35 Kings Avenue Young Children & Grown-Ups Lesley Kinch Flat 21, Ashridge House, Chenies Way Mothers Union Mrs P Gandy 15 Lynbury Court Wednesday Coffee Morning Mrs J Dickinson 23 Whippendell Road Social Committee Mrs P Hart 127 Parkside Drive The names of members of the Parochial Church Council and their membership of the various committees will be found on the Church Notice Board. * Members of the Pastoral Team. For the Month s Diary of events and details of all Church Services please turn to the centre pages of this magazine. West Watford Free Church (Baptist) Pastor Mr Garth Woodhead 184 Hagden Lane Church Secretary Mr A Cockram 139 Briar Road, Kingswood