by Rev Peter Ould
Happy Lent!!!
Faith
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The Curate Writes... by Rev Peter Ould Happy Lent!!! |
Faith |
You don’t often hear that do you? A month ago or so we were wishing each other “Merry Christmas” and in a month or so it will be “Happy Easter”. But Happy Lent? Isn’t Lent a time of fasting and self deprivation? How can that be happy?In some churches Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, involves the “imposition of Ashes”. Christians gather early in the morning, usually before heading off to work, and in a solemn service have the sign of the cross made on their foreheads as the words “Remember – from dust you came and to dust you shall return” are spoken. I can remember winter Wednesdays sat at my desk at the Bank while colleagues walked around, whispering to each other whether they knew why I hadn’t washed that morning! In reality, the cross on our foreheads was a signal that we had received cleansing and that we wanted to spend time reflecting on how everything that the world treated as valuable was, at the end of the day, not a patch on what Jesus offered.
The Bishop of St Albans reminded us in January that God calls us to times of rest and waiting upon him. Isaiah 30:15 reads “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it”. Faced with the advancing armies of the Assyrians, God called his people to return to him, but to no avail. Will we ignore his call? You can listen again to the Bishop’s words as the sermon like others is available on the church website to download. As you listen again, see the subtlety in what God says through Isaiah. He calls the people not just to stop doing what they are doing (to rest) but to repent, to turn away from the path they were on and to recognise it was not where God was wanting to take them. That’s what the word repentance means, whether translated from the Hebrew root “shuv” (lit. “turn around”) or in the New Testament from the Greek “metanoia” (lit. “new mind”). Here in Isaiah 30:15 the meaning of “shuv” is very clear – stop!! Turn around and stop going where you were going. Wait for God to tell you where you’re headed. Be quiet and trust God that he will show you the direction.
That’s what we’ve begun to do as a church and what we want to continue to do during Lent. In particular, we want to spend more time in our services simply stopping and let God talk to us, giving him permission to tell us where we should go next. We want to give space for a new mind, for a direction that comes not out of our own desires but out of God’s. We want to spend more time putting God at the centre of our lives, not pushing him out of the way as we stride forward on our own agendas.
Our prayer is that the run up to Easter and the unfolding of our 2008 anniversary programme will not be a time of business and stress but rather a time of rest and listening. Perhaps you might want to have a look at the book store at the back of church that has recently been stocked with a number of books on prayer to help you find a way of “shuv”ing and listening to God that works for you. You might want to join in the groups of people pledging to meet in church and to simply sit and wait on God. Perhaps you’d like to talk to one of the leadership team or your K-Group leader about ways in which you could deepen your prayer life – we don’t claim to be experts but we might be able to join with you in exploring how God is personally calling you to rest and response.
But above all, make it a Happy Lent. Whether you spend 40 days or 40 minutes listening to God, do it with joy and do it with the expectation that he will speak to you. Hang up on a peg with gladness all your current concerns and let God be in charge of what happens next. If he speaks to you a word for the Church, let David know so that we can share it with the entire Christ Church community. We may not all have ashes smeared on our foreheads, but let’s be people who stand out as those who are willing to hear God and let him set the agenda.
God is doing an amazing thing at Christ Church at the moment with ministries affecting the youngest to the oldest flourishing, and we need to be listening to him prayerfully as we hear his call upon us for the immediate future and the next 150 years. Please join us in doing that, in repentance and rest so that we, and those in Ware around us, may know the quietness and trust of a joyful life that has been set free by Jesus.
In Him,
Peter
| 2008 so far… |
 Bridge |
January – a month of prayer
Over 80 people attended the ‘All K groups’ prayer meeting in church at the beginning of the month. We were invited to travel round to 4 different parts of the church to experience different types of prayer – a structured time of prayer which we said together; a creative way of giving thanks to God; some time of silence, and praying for our community and church.
For the past few weeks we have been carrying these ideas forward in our K groups and learnt that there are so many different ways to pray – some fun, some more serious, some written, some said, some in stillness, some with music, some with pictures. And the topics we have covered vary as well – prayers which remind us how Great God is, prayer for ourselves and our church and community and prayer for the wider world. I know it sounds obvious, but I have learnt there is not a ‘one-size fits all’ as far as prayer is concerned. God has made us different and so we connect with God in different ways. I have really enjoyed the variety.
Sunday 13th January – Bishop Christopher visits Christ Church
Bishop Christopher very aptly began by affirming David, our vicar, in his role as leader of our church. The Bishop gave us the verse in Isaiah 30:15b which reads ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength’. He said he could have spoken of Christ Church’s dynamism, commitment and loving determination and that all these qualities are important and have achieved, and continue to achieve, many things in the life of our church, however, it is in waiting on the Lord that we are to receive an outpouring of His energy and His blessing. He gave us a personal example. He is a granddad and he loves nothing better than to just be able to hug his grand child before she goes off and busies herself in play. God longs for us to sit long enough to share in a divine hug from our Heavenly Father who loves us and created us.
David introduced 4 prayer batons at the services on 13th January – two for the 9:15 and two for the 11:00am. Four people have taken them each week since (like in a relay) and ‘run’ with them during the week in prayer.
The Bishop also encouraged us to try and find half an hour during the week when the church could be open and, apart from a few bible verses at the beginning and a closing prayer said aloud, we would just gather together and sit in silent prayer. A suitable time for this is currently being worked out.
Sunday, 20th January – Rev. Nicky Pledger
It was lovely to have Nicky (former curate) and Alan back with us. They are both on the staff team of St. Andrews Chorley Wood (so not too far away). Nicky chose the passage in John 4 v. 4-38 for us – that lovely account of Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well. Nicky used Jesus’ example to encourage us to respond:-
Sue Ilott
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Celebrate Your Marriage June 21st 2008 3:00pm in Christ Church |
 Body |
One of the events to celebrate this 150th anniversary will be the Marriage Event in June 2008. It will be an opportunity for couples to renew their marriage vows in a unique and personal ceremony.
Many couples choose to have a Renewal of Marriage Vows at special anniversaries such as Silver, Ruby or Gold. This ceremony will be appropriate for couples at any stage of marriage. Couples who have married abroad may choose the occasion to celebrate with family and friends who were unable to travel to their wedding.
Christ Church would like to offer this opportunity on 21st June for husbands and wives to renew their marriage vows. There is a particular invitation to couples married in the church and a special welcome for the longest surviving couple married at Christ Church. Any help to find the couple married at Christ Church fifty or more years ago would be welcome - you do not have to live in Ware. The event is not limited to couples in Ware or those who married at Christ Church – couples of any age and married for any length of time, will receive a warm welcome at the ceremony.
The event will be at Christ Church, on Saturday 21st June 2008 at 3:00pm. More information and couples can book a place at the celebration by contacting the church office; 01992 487267 or office@ccware.org
More information on Christ Church can be found on www.christchurchware.co.uk.
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Bob’s Browsings by Bobbie Proud |
Faith |
Maybe I haven’t checked out the dictionary recently, and this is what it now says under “Church service”: a time where a quantity of gloomy people sit politely in rows and take matters very seriously. Or maybe that’s not in the dictionary but somehow it’s got into the stream of cultural consciousness that defines church things. All Christians on TV dramas are nutters and maniacs, in fact, usually serial killers. So that would put you off church for a start, wouldn’t it? And take vicars. Their portrayal on the box leads you to assume that vicars are either ineffective and hopeless, or young single and innocent, or about to do something naughty that would get them into the Sunday papers (often all three). (I see there is a new character in Hollyoaks who’s a clergyman, probably lined up for the latter two of those categories, and he ministers at the church of St. Charles. St. Charles???!!!! Must be the patron saint of organic farmers...)
And as for vicars’ wives (or I should now say, clergy spouses) well... They, of course, wear twin sets and pearls (whoops) and spend their time making tea for visitors without giving their husband an evil look when he suggests it (whoops again).
They have constant meetings in their living room (unless Miss Marple is on TV) and can make a chicken last three days (actually I can do that).
What we are defined by seems hard to shake off. So maybe we need to consciously think up some new ones. One of the most successful gifts in our house over Christmas was the “Uxbridge English Dictionary”, based on the panel game “New definitions” from “I’m sorry I haven’t a clue”, where words are redefined, e.g. “somersault” as “substance for de-icing the roads in July” and “portly” as “shaped like a harbour”.
So how about making it into a little game? We all need a bit of fun at this time of year, after all, don’t we? It’s cold, it’s wet, we’re all thoroughly worn out after that Christmas thing, and it seems like forever till the summer. Start by thinking of some church jargon. Then think up an alternative meaning for the word (this will almost certainly be more fun than its proper meaning). For example, we all know that the verger is the person who uses the strimmer on the edges of the church lawn (don’t we?) Here are a few I thought up to get you started (though the aforementioned person at the top of the page tells me they aren’t funny, so sorry about that...)
Church warden - The little unpleasantness amongst members of the congregation has been resolved
Pew Bible - Something rather pongy near a male cow
Lectern - When the Queen has to miss a go while playing board games with the family
Hassock - He’s found the matching piece of hosiery!
Hymnal - A man who scored no points in Eurovision
Advent - Install an extractor fan
Offertory - She’s no longer interested in her Conservative-voting boyfriend
Holy Matrimony - A conversation about how much it will cost to replace a worn-out carpet
Pentecost - The price of royal underwear
Candlemas - Warning - it may take the shine off a large area
Non-stipendiary ministry - A dangerous way to be a priest – never out of hospital!
Antiphon - A killjoy
Evangelism - Mrs Ilott has brought wibbly-wobbly treats today, yum!!
(Oh, OK, well, they gave me something to do for half an hour...)
Perhaps the most important word to redefine should be “Christian”, at least in common usage, where it seems to have the meaning “a person who goes to church because they believe they are good enough to do so, and who therefore looks down on everyone else, criticising all forms of fun and unable to have any themselves.” Now, I don’t know many Christians of that ilk, and I’m sure you don’t. I do know that we come to worship together because we know we are ragamuffins in need of a rescuer and we are overjoyed to have found Him. But how amazing would it be if, this Lent – and beyond – the world started to know us as people who are for things, not against things, who are accepting and joyful and givers of grace. Perhaps then people might also want to listen to what we sometimes need to say.
PS: A prize for the best definition of “Quinquagesima”! Answers on a postcard please...
PPS: If you want one book to read this Lent, try “The Ragamuffin Gospel” by Brennan Manning ISBN-13: 978-1850785934
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Churches together in the Community 12th January 2008 |
Bridge |
I was particularly encouraged by the willingness of all the churches to find ways of working together. There was a real desire to find common ground in the ways that we can share our resources, talents and experience with each other to be effective in serving our community.
A précis version of the day’s discussions are:-
Needs in the community and how they are already met or could be met:
Single mothers in poverty
Toddler groups
Preschool groups
Oasis - free meal + play - Sat eve - Christ Church
Toy Library Wodson Park
Listening Post
Divide between wealthy & poor & pockets of poverty
Credit Union (not loan sharks)
Financial advice Christ Church / Emmanuel - could expand
Active CAB
Financially accessible events
Salvation Army - emergency help cupboard - food clothes, bedding but lack storage space
King George’s Road special need
Warehouse space could be developed
Redundancies in the town
Drop in centres for advice / company
Listening Place - prayer
Chaplaincy at Glaxo - church support
Opportunities for voluntary work
Retraining
Supporting Samaritans
Carers support, Health and disability support
Young people not attending school, getting into trouble
Develop youth focused work
Football coaching (regular)
Use sport to reach youth
Project for social skills & education
Parenting skills at Chauncy / Presdales
Street Pastors
Better links with secondary schools & College
Future Hope / Young Life
Hard for people to get social housing
Lobby Local Authority far harder for social housing
Advocates for people needing housing
Befriending alongside people
Training in the system
Baptist Minister working with churches & Local Authorities & developers
Joint social housing projects
Some old people finding it hard to get out
Salvation Army - lift service offered for shopping / hospital trips
Adopt a Granny & Grandad
Visiting programme
Intergenerational project
Provide information & support
Provide a reason to go out
Providing social activities for the elderly
Christmas Together
Listening Place
Holiday without a suitcase take an OAP out for a trip
Wednesday pm, Tuesday weekly lunch
Lift co-coordinator
Stroke club
Shared minibus
Newcomers to the town experiencing difficulty
Weekly International Café - teaching skills
Leaflet in different languages
Salvation Army - visiting and providing food
Helping in schools
Drop in centre & advice
Listening service / advocacy / befriending
There is another meeting on Saturday 12th April 2008 at Leaside Church from 9.30 am until 12 pm and it would be of great help to receive your comments and feed back before then, so that David and I can share them on behalf of Christ Church.
Martin Dudley
| Women's World day of prayer 2008 |
Faith |
The committee which organises this service in Ware is made up of representatives from all of the Churches in Ware and therefore I encourage you to join us as we discover the thoughts and feelings of the women who have prepared this service and chosen the readings and the hymns. This service is open to ALL.
Wendy Tucker
| LoveWare:LiveWare 08 |
Bridge |
Wow, time flies. It seems like we just finished LoveWare for last year and suddenly, now it’s 08 and the LoveWare festival is creeping up on us pretty fast. This is not just our imagination though, there is a real reason for this. This year, the LoveWare festival will be in May, over the Bank Holiday weekend of 3-5th May. And we are asking you to put this date in your diaries. There was great feedback from last year’s festival and we would like this year to again be an opportunity to show God’s love for the people in our town, to bring communities together and have fun. We realised also that working alongside people from other Churches really made it feel like God’s Church and this is something we would like to see happening more and more.We are working on a definite venue – it’ll be centred around a playing filed or green space and we are thinking about doing things that worked well last year like a kid’s club, sports training, a bingo night amongst others and adding in cream teas on a Sunday afternoon, a family funday – do you any other ideas? We would love even more people than last year to be involved in this year – there are so many different ways to be involved and over the next few weeks you will be hearing more about them. It would be great if you could pray for LoveWare and speak to Katy Cole, Sam Woodward or Helen Fordham if you have any thoughts or questions or if you would like to sign up to be there now!
Thank you, The LoveWare:LiveWare team.
| Flutes Fantastic |
A spectacular presentation of music, artistry and humour.
In his recital he plays on more than fifty different and unusual flutes, presenting a fascinating portrait of this family of instruments showing, with prodigious musicality, what they can do.
Tickets at £10 and £9 from 01992 500422 - All seats reserved.
| Stars |
Body |
Last term I had the privilege of going into children’s church to run a craft activity. The children had been thinking about “League tables” and who we see at the top and who we place at the bottom.The activity I took part in was making Stars to send to Street Children via The Toybox charity. http://www.toyboxcharity.org.uk/ These children are often seen as at the bottom of the hierarchy society creates, but to those who were decorating the stars were the most important person to think about that day.
I was very impressed with how carefully the children decorated the stars and the conversation during the activity which was interesting and insightful. Those who took part were keen to talk about what it meant to be a street child and showed great love by their comments and questions.
The greetings had to be written in Spanish and so were pre printed but the children wanted translations and agreed that words such as precious, love, God Bless or special would be something we would all like to receive. They could also see how amazing it would be for a child who has no one to say that to them to get a star saying one of those things.
It was also good to see the children share the stars with the rest of children’s church at the end and explain why they had made them and where they were going. (There were many activities taking place that day and decorating stars was just one of them.)
The time went very quickly and the children were a delight to work with. If you have ever had a passing thought that you might, at some point, maybe, want to help out at Children’s church, even just as a one off, I would urge you to do it. An hour or so spent having fun, chatting to the children and listening to their ideas and thoughts is easier than it seems and is very rewarding.
Jacqui
| Looking to grow in your theological understanding..... |
Faith |
Interactive Christian Extension Studies provides practical, accredited study courses designed to lay a solid base of theological awareness. Offering the kind of demanding but accessible study that all Christians should consider, the courses provide you with the opportunity to explore the essentials of the Christian faith on your own, yet allow you to meet with others to share your learning.Currently we meet on a Monday, during the day, once a fortnight for a couple of hours. Then between meetings we study through a workbook.
The courses are modular and designed to enable you to learn regardless of your academic level. Many people who did not consider themselves ‘good at studying’ have been pleasantly surprised at their abilities. But those with advanced qualifications have been stretched and challenged in their thinking. The Bible raises difficult questions and this course tries not to duck them. The course will stimulate each student to understand various viewpoints before reaching their own conclusions. Each module costs £45.
Two members of our congregation are currently following the course - are you interested in joining?
To find out more then please contact Revd Ann Voss on 01992 554676 or take a look at www.ices.uk.net.
Revd Ann Voss
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Roll up! Roll up! It’s Fairtrade fornight 24 Feb - 9 March |
Body |
Members of the public can enjoy a fairground with a difference at the launch of Fairtrade Fortnight 2008, a National promotion of Fairtrade, with an action-packed event on London’s South Bank on Sunday 24th February 2008 (11am – 4pm).A Fairtrade tea cup ride, a towering Helter Skelter, a Fairtrade coconut shy, candyfloss made with Fairtrade sugar and a Fairtrade fortune teller are just some of the games and activities that will be bringing all the fun of the fair to the South Bank. Organised by the Fairtrade Foundation and backed by organisations, charities and businesses that support or sell Fairtrade products, the day will give visitors the opportunity to sample some of the 3,000 Fairtrade items now certified and to learn more about Trade Justice.
Closer to home, we shall be celebrating the Fortnight in church on Sunday, March 2nd. Ware Town – Fairtrade Town committee will be outside Tesco on Saturday, March 8th and are also planning a showing of the film ‘ Black Gold’ with Fairtrade refreshments during and after. Look out for more info soon!
