First of all, may I welcome two new contributors, both of whom have submitted their first articles to this august journal. All I need now is for a few more of you to put pen to paper and imitate them. As Sheila Stredwick says, why not make it your New year’s resolution?

Did you enjoy the Nativity Play? Kathleen has written a report about it, and thank you for that, Kathleen, but unusually I have not been able to include any photographs. I apologise for this, as both Valerie and I had forgotten our cameras. However, a Brownie dad took some photographs for me – unfortunately, he hasn’t sent them to me. I just hope that he reads this and sends them on; if he does, then I’ll include some next month.

You will recall my comments last month about a chap sleeping rough around the church, and I asked what others would have done about him. I have received no suggestions – don’t people think about what I write? – but I went delving in the garage and came up with an old sleeping mat and two old sleeping bags, all definitely surplus to requirements. These are now down at the church for the use of anyone who needs them. The only trouble is that there is rarely anybody at church late in the evening – so how do the needy get the sleeping bags? My suggestion is that a small garden storage container be bought and tucked away somewhere inconspicuous, around the side of the church, to contain the sleeping bags. Hopefully a container would discourage various blankets and bags being folded up and left in the porch on Arthur’s Seat during the day. Incidentally, I note that 28 January is Homelessness Sunday, an annual event organised by CHAS, the Churches’ National Housing Coalition and the Scottish Churches Housing Agency.

Now it only remains for me to wish all my readers a Happy and Healthy New year for 2007.

We give our sympathy and love to Pat on the loss of her father in Canada. We appreciate her difficulties being so far away from her parents at such a busy time.

Lily Moody has been home for a couple of weeks, improving all the time, and was able to spend Christmas with the family in Sussex.

It was good to see Marjorie and Ann worshipping with us in December.

Sonia and Dorothy appreciated contact from friends over Christmas.

Mary has been in hospital again and we hope for better things for her.

Phyllis Thurston was unexpectedly admitted to Epsom General Hospital for a few days, but she is now home again and everything is now under control.

Phil Castle is making a slow, but steady recovery; George and Sheila are going to see Phil and Sue for the weekend.

We wish all our readers a happy and healthy New Year.

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I would like to thank everyone for your support during the past few weeks following the death of my father.  Your cards and phone calls and kind words were very much appreciated.  Thanks to all who took over when I was away in November and in December, leading services and chairing meetings.  Thank you also for your Christmas wishes and cards.  

Dear Friends,

Frederick Buechner tells about a time when he was searching for.... something, God perhaps. What happened as he sat under a tree was that two branches knocked together. It doesn’t sound like much but it was enough to divide time forever for Buechner into what came before that experience and what came after it. It isn’t much to go on, is it?

I read once about someone who thanked the minister for the inspiring sermon he had just preached. When asked what it was that had touched him, the person said that it was when the minister had said, now that is the end of part one, here is the second part, and he realized that one part of his own life had come to an end and it was time to start the next part. Not much to go on, though, is it?

Matthew says that the Magi noticed a new star in the sky, one among the billions and billions that are there, a star that wouldn't have been noticed at all unless you were looking for it. Not much to go on, is it? And then when they finally found the child, it was just a baby, a little boy. Not much to go on. But they found him because they were looking, and because there was someone to be found.

Our search for God, for what is holy in the world, is often like this. We have to look and listen, and know that there is something to be found. And most likely it will not be in the great big organ peals of excitement and celebration, but more likely in the smile of a stranger or a hand placed in ours, laughter at a shared joke, the flickering light of a candle, a letter from a friend, a robin. Not much to go on, is it?

Often we start a new year with great expectations of what we will accomplish, the changes we will make, the weight we will lose, and good on you if you succeed! But in your search for whatever makes life meaningful and holy, remember to keep on looking, and remember to look in that which is ordinary and mundane, the routines of life, worship, work..... You might be surprised.

Have a blessed 2007!

Pat

So Christmas is all over; did you enjoy it? We did. Very early on Christmas morning after the midnight communion we had a web-cam conversation with the family in Australia. It seemed very strange singing Jingle Bells with them at 1a.m. in the morning; of course, it was about 9.30 a.m. over there. Our granddaughter was very pleased to show us her gifts from us and Father Christmas, who incidentally had left “a terrible mess in her bedroom and in the garden, just as bad as in England!” Joel looked on wearing his Elf hat and grinning at the right time. We had to end the conversation at 1.30 a.m. in case we were still awake when Father Christmas came!

Mind you, we must have been asleep because we didn’t hear him. If you think I have entered my second childhood, you obviously did not attend the Service on Christmas Eve when Alan Wood told us about believing in Santa Clause. Jesus could be substituted for Santa in the piece Alan read, and it made me think how difficult it is to believe when you cannot see physical proof. We all need a little more faith to trust in things we cannot see or touch.

The WCC Gift Table, with Bettie and Joan

On Boxing morning we went to see some friends in Dorking, went for a walk to Denbies and back to lunch, then back home as we entertained ten to supper. It was super to catch up with friends that we had not seen for a while. It made me think we should have Christmas more than once a year, but perhaps it is not quite such a good idea!

The Kindergarten Nativity Presentation . . .

. . .and some of the photographer parents

Going back to the pre-Christmas celebrations that I was involved in, (which I think was most of them) here are a few of my thoughts. It seems ages ago now that we attended the Toddlers’ Party! I shall remember Father Christmas picking up Sophie and the big smile on her face as she stared at him; there was the energy of Rebecca and her friends who entertained with a musical concert; the many children who attended the Advent Workshop who were so eager to take part in all the crafts (I hope there were not too many glasses broken on Christmas Day with the pop-up footballs that were put in the crackers they made); the COTE Carol Concert at St. Joseph’s Church when Rev. Nigel Uden entertained us with some very different aspects of Christmas (I didn’t know he had such talent!); the Candlelight Carol Service which never fails to have such a lovely atmosphere – in the unfortunate absence of Pat, a few of us from Epsom and Ewell arranged the Service, so I was a little nervous about it proceeding without a hitch, but I need not have worried, thanks to all those who took part. Then there was the mountain of mince-pies that Phemie bought for us, but they have all been eaten, so the attendance at all these events must have been fairly good.

'Carols by Candlelight'

Then on Christmas Eve we were again without a Minister as Pat was at Ewell; we had considered cancelling the Service as so many folk were away, but that was not really acceptable, so Alan and I said we would have a shot at it. It gave me a really warm feeling when so many folk said afterwards that they were glad they had made the effort to come; and then we finished up the mince pies!

Our Lunchtime Carol Service, with the Mayor of Epsom and Ewell,
Cllr. David Wood and his consort, and Cllr and Mrs Brian Angus

The 11.30 p.m. service is always special; this year we all lit night-lights, placed them together and thought of those who needed our prayers and thoughts. After the bustle of the previous days, at last the peace and joy of Christmas was there in the quiet and candlelight.

I began with Christmas Eve and have now come a full circle. Now we look forward to 2007. Who knows what it will bring? I would like to wish you all a happy, peaceful and healthy New Year. My hope for the New Year is that we as a congregation are responsive to whatever God has in store for us in 2007.

What is it? Where is it? In the Good Book. There’s a Bible somewhere!
So they get it and blow off the dust.
Mary – who was she? A resident of Nazareth, betrothed to Joseph the carpenter. 
She knew God, and was obedient.

She went to draw water at the well, and met an angel there, 
who asked of her to have a baby.
“I’m not married”, but Mary said “Yes”, because God was there.

Joseph thought to put her quietly away.
He had a dream and didn’t, because God was there.

Her time was drawing near. An edict from Rome went out.
She had to travel on a bumpy donkey.
Joseph walked beside her as they journeyed,
and all was well because God was there.

Cold and sleepy, no room at the inn; just a stable; it was warm.
Her baby arrived safely because God was there.

How often in our own lives we know his care. Look back, and realise that we are not alone, because God cares, and answers our prayers always the way that is best for us.

Time was, some years ago, when we used to be told that drought was due to women wearing mini-skirts, and this was God's way of showing his displeasure at our lewd disregard for the modesty he demanded of all his creatures – no matter that Adam and Eve got away with a mere figleaf!

Nowadays droughts, despite mini-skirts, are, increasingly, a common experience – remember last summer? We're asked not to use hosepipes on our garden plants or to wash our cars. But whether the lack of rain is due to one's misdeeds is debatable. It's probably got more to do with global-warming than anything else.

Be that as it may, the Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel, saw that, in God's eyes, each individual must bear the consequences of his own wrongdoing. It would, he said, be that ‘the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge’.

Every now and again, it's good to be reminded that, despite all the gloom around us. God still has good in store for us. When Jesus performed his miracle of changing water into wine at a wedding reception in Cana, the master of ceremonies complimented the host on keeping the best wine until last. Imagine his aside to the waiters: ‘All the other cheapskates serve the best wine first, and then dish up the plonk when our taste-buds have been dulled'.

Let that be a picture for us as we seek to live close to God in this New Year: the best is still to come.

For this is God's world, and we haven't begun to exhaust its riches. Droughts there may be. Economic ups and downs will still have to be endured. But with God, the best is yet to come. God doesn't delight in seeing any part of his creation suffer. Old Zeke (I imagine that's how the prophet might have been known to his friends) was right: ‘If the wicked man gives up his evil ways, that man shall live’. Let's try, in this New Year, to wipe the slate clean where we can, and try and keep it that way with Jesus.

So all the best for 2007!

I have now received the 50% rebate from Alan’s Sponsored Cycle Ride, amounting to £152.50. Donations received at the Lunchtime Carol Service amounted to £41.70, so we are now over the £1000 target even without the amount raised at the Kindergarten Fund-Raising Autumn Fair; the account for this has not yet been finalised, so cannot yet be included.

Robert Burns 
Alan Wood

Last year I promised you another excerpt from the book, ’Great Thoughts from Master Minds’, given to my Grandfather, the Rev. Ebenezer, on the occasion of his wedding in July 1899.

The promised excerpt was to be Longfellow’s poem on Robert Burns, and as it would appear that we are not having a Burns’ Supper this year, I offer this poem in its place.

ROBERT BURNS.

I SEE amid the fields of Ayr

A ploughman, who, in foul or fair,

Sings at his task

So clear we know not if it is

The laverock's song we hear or his,

Nor care to ask.

 

For him the ploughing of those fields

A more ethereal harvest yields

Than sheaves of grain ;

Songs flush with purple bloom the rye ;

The plover's call, the curlew's cry,

Sing in his brain.

 

Touched by his hand, the wayside weed

Becomes a flower; the lowliest reed

Beside the stream

Is clothed with beauty; gorse and grass

And heather, where his footsteps pass,

The brighter seem.

 

He sings of love, whose flame illumes

The darkness of lone cottage rooms ;

He feels the force,

The treacherous under-tow and stress

Of wayward passions, and no less

                    The keen remorse.

At moments, wrestling with his fate,

His voice is harsh, but not with hate;

The brushwood hung

Above the tavern door lets fall 

Its bitter leaf, its drop of gall,

Upon his tongue.

 

But still the burden of his song

Is love of right, disdain of wrong;

Its master-chords

Are Manhood, Freedom, Brotherhood ;

Its discords but an interlude

Between the words.

 

And then to die so young, and leave

Unfinished what he might achieve!

Yet better sure

Is this than wandering up and down,

An old man, in a country town,

Infirm and poor.

 

For now he haunts his native land

As an immortal youth; his hand

Guides every plough ;

He sits beside each ingle-nook;

His voice is in each rushing brook,

Each rustling bough.

 

His presence haunts this room to-night,

A form of mingled mist and light,

From that far coast.

Welcome, beneath this roof of mine!

Welcome! this vacant chair is thine!

Dear guest and ghost.

 

LONGFELLOW

The first Church Meeting of the New Year is to be held on 17th January, at 20:00 in the Longhurst Room.

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At their meeting in the last week of November, the girls were very busy getting ready for Christmas, making Christmas cards, crackers, advent calendars and decorations.

On the last meeting of this term they sang Christmas carols for one hour at Epsom station. This year they managed to raise a grand total of £214 for the Shooting Star Hospice. Afterwards they walked back to the Longhurst Room where they saw a video of ‘The Snowman’, had some refreshments and received their Christmas cards and presents.

Carol Singing at Epsom Station

We were very pleased that several of the Brownies took part in the Nativity Musical; ‘It’s a Cracker’, on Toy Sunday. They all did very well and they will be earning their Entertainers badges.

Brownies will resume meeting in the New Year on Wednesday, 10^th January. Everyone at 12^th Epsom Brownies wish you a very Happy and Peaceful New Year.   

On 8^th January we shall have the next in our hilarious series of Beetle Drives. This will be at 20:00 in the Longhurst Room, and will be followed by light refreshments.

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