|
Epsom United Reformed ChurchNewsletter for October 2007 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Alan Wood Here we are again, back at the computer keyboard, with another issue of the NewsLetter to produce. Thank you for not railing at me too much for the non-appearance of a NewsLetter just for September, and thanks to Valerie for producing the ‘NewsLetter Extra’ with some important updates that hadn’t been known about when the joint August/September issue was produced. Fund Raising Several articles in the magazine this month deal with fund raising in one form or another. We are in the midst of our Harvest charity fund raising, and there are photographs around our forecourt showing what the ‘Mercy Ships’ teams can do in the impoverished areas of the world. It is hoped that these displays will attract some passers-by to enter our doors this morning, 30th September, to hear Kevin Dickin describing the work of the Mercy Ships.
Another article shows the result of the local Christian Aid collections some months ago. From Gillian Mead’s letter, when she mentions ‘getting that one extra helper and covering that one extra road’, it appears that house-to-house collections are still the norm – but not in our church. It is a few years since we stopped our street collections – our demographic age-range is against it – as we preferred raising our contribution in other ways. The only drawback that I can see with this is that the money comes from within the church, and not from outside. However, if our members and adherents prefer to donate their money instead of their time, without the attendant risks of not finding people at home, or receiving abuse, or being out in bad weather, then they are only using a different asset – and our fund-raising efforts are good fun to attend. I can see this trend continuing. Church Development Please do read Pat’s article on ‘Church Development’. It is a good summary of where we are at the moment and how we got here, and gives ideas on how we are trying to move forward. With the recent demise of ‘Friday Zone’ and, only a month ago, ‘Monday Club’, our youth work now depends on the Brownies and the Toddlers – not a heartening thought! Please note the date for the Vision Day, 20th October, and do your best to get along. I will admit that the future is a fog to me, and I am barren of ideas: maybe in the stimulating and stimulated environment that should exist on Vision Day, my personal fog will try and lift a bit, to give me an idea of what the future may hold. Perhaps it’s the same for you? As Pat says, doing nothing is not an option. Our Editor is recuperating, having spent a few days in hospital a short time ago. Take it easily for a little while yet, Alan! [Yeah, right!] Michael Wood leaves for Southampton University this weekend; we send our good wishes. We hope you will find the work involved interesting and absorbing, Michael, in your degree course in Acoustical Engineering. We were very sorry to hear that Dr. Marion Thomson had a hip operation in University College Hospital following a fall in London. She is making progress and is out and about again. With the plaster removed, we knew Phemie would be ‘Rarin’ To Go’, as indeed she has been! We do hope she will have a really well-earned rest as she takes a holiday. We hope Kim Menagh is feeling better and that reports are encouraging. Our thoughts are with Rosemary Holmes suffering discomfort in the neck, following a car accident. We remember Peggy and Joe Wilson facing restrictions to daily living due to various health problems. Lily Moody, always very cheerful and positive despite limitations, likes to have news of the church family. Pat's mother returned to Canada yesterday. It was good to have her with us at the Harvest Lunch. We hope she enjoyed her short stay here. To Mary, Marjorie, Sonia and Dorothy and Frank - we remember you with our love and prayers. Lynne Lewis misses her church and the fellowship so much as indeed we all miss her, but we look forward with hope, that she may feel able to be with us again from time to time. As Colin shortly moves to his flat, we offer our best wishes and hope he will enjoy his new home and soon feel settled. Margaret and Tom Lockett are delighted to announce that their daughter Debbie has become engaged to be married to Ross Stoner. They plan to marry next April in Devon. We send congratulations to Andrea Board on becoming an Associate Member of Royal College of Organists. Well done, Andrea, and it’s good to know that you keep in touch with the NewsLetter via this website. To Rebecca, as she leaves us to begin life in her career as a barrister, we thank her for the pleasure she has given us with her musical talent and we wish her every success in the years ahead. We will miss you, Rebecca!
The foyer of Unity Hall is now looking as good as the hall itself, with its new coat of paint and the cleaned and resealed floor.
By now, many of you will have read through the Gospel of Mark. I hope that you enjoyed it. Now, our next challenge during the month of October is to read through the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew has never been my favourite gospel. However, a little understanding about the author and his culture goes a long way toward making sense of it, and helps to put things into perspective. John Proctor, Director of New Testament Studies at Westminster College, says that ‘Matthew has a name for being the best organized of the gospel stories’. Material is presented by theme. Sandwiched between actions are large chunks of teaching, so that the haste and energy of Mark is not found in Matthew. Belief and behaviour are bound up together. Although all the gospels are rooted in Jewish culture, none is more so than Matthew. There are many causal references in Matthew to Jewish customs, to the fulfilment of prophecy and of law, and it is made clear that Jesus’ roots are in the history of Israel. You can’t have one without the other. We can, says John Proctor, think of Matthew as a gospel written by a Jew for Jews. At the same time, Jewish leaders are not well thought of in Matthew. By the middle of the gospel, we begin to see just how much division Jesus has caused. Words like ‘righteousness’ and ‘repent’ occur frequently in the Gospel. Matthew took seriously the Christian life and expected his readers to do so as well. What we do matters, how we treat our neighbours matters, and we will be judged. Followers of Jesus aren’t meant simply to look after themselves. ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...’, Jesus says in Matthew. Matthew also understood people and though his Jesus often has sharp words and challenges, his Jesus could also be gentle, as in chapter 12, verses 18-21. I haven’t even scratched the surface of Matthew, yet even these superficial notes are making me think again about it. Go on! Read Matthew and see what you think. Pat Secretary’s Letter I have just returned from a very enjoyable lunch with the newly formed Church Lunch Club. It was a really good time to chat and get to know each other better. We shall be arranging another one in October so if you would like to join us you would be most welcome. The date and venue have yet to be fixed so watch the notice board for more details. Thank you to those who attended the Church Meeting when Tom Roberts explained his role in our future feasibility study for our Church. Following on from this we shall hold a “Vision Day” on Saturday, 20th October, when all are invited to share a vision for our future and plans of what might be done with the building. The actual structure of the day has yet to be planned and you will be informed as soon as plans are complete. This will be a very exciting day and I am sure you will not want to miss an occasion when we can share our hopes and fears together and plan for our future. I am sure you would all like to thank those who prepared the Harvest Lunch, it was really delicious and so good to share it with our many friends from Ewell; I think a record number sat down to lunch together. If you could not be there you missed some wonderful dessert! Thanks once again to all those who helped. Now we look forward to our Harvest Festival this Sunday and the speaker from our charity “Mercy Ships”. Let’s hope we can give them a substantial donation. . PLEASE NOTE THE DATE OF THE A.G.M. HAS HAD TO BE ALTERED DUE TO SOME NECESSARY FOLK NOT BEING ABLE TO ATTEND ON THE ORIGINAL DATE. THE NEW DATE FOR THE A.G.M. WEDNESDAY, 5th DECEMBER, AT 7.30 P.M. J
Consider the Raven. . . ‘The common cormorant (or shag)
But what these unobservant birds have never thought of, is that herds of wandering bears might come with buns and steal the bags to hold the crumbs.’
The words of one Christopher Isherwood, an English novelist. You may not be a lover of the common cormorant, but plenty of people feed other birds – except me, as birds ignore my cabbage patch! But what would people like Bill Oddie and his fellow twitchers make of a story, which tells of birds feeding us human beings? In the Old Testament you'll find a character, Elijah by name, who was fed by some ravens. The story goes that ravens brought him bread and meat twice a day during a famine. Like the outlaw, Robin Hood, Elijah had legends told about him. Yes, a historical figure, but some unlikely stories as well. Ravens are carrion crows with a poor reputation. They are considered crafty and mischievous. They eat other birds' eggs and even kill wounded sheep! Macbeth, in Shakespeare's play of that name, says, ‘the raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements.’ And Shelley, the 19th century poet, refers to ‘the obscene ravens, clamorous o'er the dead.’ The Bible, however, affirms that God used ravens to feed a prophet. The Bible, firstly, says something about the impartiality of God. Why didn't God use doves to feed Elijah? Doves are more respectable and likeable birds than ravens. Ravens are greedy and ravenous. In Luke's Gospel, Jesus is reported as saying, ‘Consider the ravens, they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.' That's Luke, the Gentile with a saner view than many Jews. But in Matthew's exclusive Gospel, ravens were definitely out. Orthodox Jews would have rejected the idea that God could possibly care for nasty creatures like ravens! We find it hard to accept God's impartiality. ‘Why did it happen to him or her?’, we cry. ‘They were such nice people, so helpful and decent.’ It's the cruel and heartless that should suffer. Ravens, too, remind us that God uses some surprising folk for his purposes. The widow of Zarephath, who provided Elijah with food, was a foreigner, and therefore disliked by most Jews. And, according to Isaiah, who pictured God using the Assyrians, they were foreigners, too. In Matthew's Gospel, we're informed about Jesus' genealogy, with the name of Rahab included. It was she who earned her place in the list of saints in the Hebrews’ Letter of the New Testament. But God isn't fussy. Jesus, after all, said something about such people reaching heaven before the self-righteous and the bigoted. So I'm glad to have read about ravens. Even they have their place in the providence of heaven. The Heavenly
Grocery Store As I was walking down life's highway many years ago Church Development—What It’s All About Revd. Pat Hall At the most recent Church Meeting, we had an opportunity for more of us to meet Tom Roberts, who is working with us as we consider the future of our congregation. First of all, a few words about how we arrived at this point. With a shrinking congregation and with rising costs, we began to question the viability of continuing to put money into our church building while not having a broader plan for the future. We have Unity Hall, which is a wonderful space, but we began to feel that the nature of our other facilities made it difficult to meet the needs of 2007 users. Members of the Finance and General Purposes Committee and Elders met with Guy Morfitt, Synod Trust Officer, who encouraged us to have a feasibility study done, which would give us data that would help us to make decisions about our future. Later on, we met with Tom Roberts, who is well-known by Synod for his work in helping church congregations facing similar challenges to that now faced by us. Church Meeting agreed to the feasibility study, and here we are tonight. This process will involve the congregation coming up with its own answers, using Tom’s research and experience, about which you will hear more later, from Tom himself.
So what is God saying to the Epsom United Reformed Church now? What is our vision? As the congregation has lost members and new people have only arrived in small numbers, it gets harder and harder to see our way forward. Every year we draw heavily on money left to this congregation by people now long dead, as our income meets only about half of our yearly budget. In other words, we are rapidly eating into capital, which although substantial, will not last forever. To do nothing is not an option, but what do we do?
Well, people have been worshipping and serving God as nonconformists in Epsom for well over 300 years, many of those years on this very spot, and have handed on to us something they thought worth continuing. This congregation has faced difficult situations in years long gone, so what we face here today is nothing new. What we do have is faithful forebears, well-maintained buildings and a congregation of dedicated and wise people who seek to do God’s will in their lives and in the company of other Christians. But God is not finished with us yet! What we are being asked to do is to try to discern what the way forward will be, make a conscious plan for how to proceed in hope and in faith. In other words, a vision.
The process of finding a vision may seem vague and superfluous, but it will help us to focus and can have lots of benefits. Perhaps, most of all, it will help us with direction and purpose and to think beyond the boundaries of how things are now, or how they used to be. People from our past have ensured that there was a Christian witness in Epsom through this congregation. What do we want people fifty or a hundred years on to receive from us? What can we give to them? Church Meeting agreed to have a day where together and alongside others who care as much about this church as do we, we can think about these things and to find our vision. It will be an opportunity for people to put forward their thoughts and feelings and for mutual support of one another as we do this. Discerning our vision will be like laying the groundwork for whatever we decide to do in the long term. By the end of such a day, we should be able to say what our vision is and be able to begin to use it. Our Vision Day will be 20th October, so please get that date into your diaries. Details of time will follow in due course. We look forward to having you there! Pat Letter from Fran Board (received 31st August)
To everyone who sponsored me! At the beginning of the expedition we did an acclimatization trek and then two proper treks, going over 4,000m high! It was exhausting but we all felt such a great sense of achievement.
After our treks (and many bus/train journeys) we settled in Jaipur, where we were doing our project. We were working in the outskirts of the city in a school for disabled children. We did construction (building walls and wheelchair ramps, etc.) painting and decorating, and helping out in the classrooms. We worked in temperatures over 40oC every day, but it was extremely rewarding – especially when we organised a massive game of cricket with the children (they actually beat us!) On the last day we handed out presents to the children, and made big donations to the school and a local charity with the money we’d raised.
In the three days we had left we crammed in all the sight-seeing that we could. The best sights were the Taj Mahal and riding an elephant! It’s still quite strange being back home – not
bartering for everything you buy, having a comfy bed, toilet and
running water! We have received a summary of the results of the Christian Aid Week for this year: Street collections and other efforts by
churches 10,665.34 Our own contributions over the last four years have been:
Gillian Mead, the local Christian Aid coordinator, says: ‘We should all give ourselves a pat on the back. . . Although it would have been nicer to have collected more from the public street collection, I think it is worth doing again, as I don’t think it was that much hassle for the eighteen people who spent one hour each around Epsom town centre. It was a bit more work for me, but worth the effort at the end of the day, so we will definitely try it again next year.’ Breakfast for 'Mercy Ships' Early on Sunday, 8th September, a number of people met together in Unity Hall for breakfast. This was a very happy occasion and everyone there enjoyed a full cooked breakfast or just the fruit, toast and cereal. We especially thank Phemie for all her work in the kitchen and for planning and cooking such a delicious meal.
Although the numbers were few, with so many away on holiday, we were still able to raise £55. 86p for ‘Mercy Ships’ to add to our collection at Harvest. We were also very grateful for all the donations from people who were unable to come.
Harvest Lunch The Harvest Lunch was held in Unity hall on Sunday 23rd September and our friends from the Ewell church joined us. About forty-six people sat down to a meal of soup, ploughman’s and dessert. The meal started with a choice between vegetable and chicken soup, both made by Phemie and both delicious.
The main course consisted of fresh bread, salad and either a selection of cheeses or ham. This was all followed by fresh fruit salad, apple pie, apple and bramble pie or apple and bramble crumble. It was a very pleasant occasion enjoyed by all those who attended.
Over coffee, diners were shown a ten-minute video produced by ‘Mercy Ships’ which gave everyone there a good idea of what excellent work the teams on board the ships were able to deliver to the people of the coastal third-world countries. The proceeds from the lunch amounted to £156.50, which will go towards our collection for the Mercy Ships. And Announcing Our Next:- New Beginnings Recovering from Divorce or Separation? “ New Beginnings” is a short course for anyone who has suffered a divorce, separation or broken relationship. The aim of the course is to help people to come to terms with the past and make a fresh start in a friendly and supportive atmosphere.This is our fifth course and here are some of the comments people have made about the previous courses: “It’s been like an oasis.” “Words can’t express the positive feelings that have come from this course.” The course is free, based on Christian principles, but not Christian promoting and is open to everyone. Thursday, 11th October at 7.30 p.m. For more information, or if you wish to come, please
call Thursday, 11th October @ 7.30pm St Paul’s, Northey Avenue, Cheam News from Churches Together in Epsom OPEN AIR SERVICE Sunday, 16th September, was an auspicious day for the CTE, when there was an Open Air Service at a gathering of all the local churches in Rosebery Park in the afternoon. Many churches had erected gazebos in a semicircle around the stage and seating area. In these they set out materials to show how their particular church worked, about their history and meetings, which told other people about themselves as a local church. Like all CTE meetings, it was a happy occasion, meeting friends and joining in the atmosphere. One of the choirs began singing songs and hymns from 2.45 p.m. as people gathered. It was windy and a bit chilly at first, but later the clouds rolled away to give us warm sunshine. The main Theme of the Service was SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY from Churches Together in Epsom. Councillor Brian Angus, Chairman of CTE gave the Welcome and Simon Talbot, St. Martin’s, led the Opening Prayers, concentrating on our past failure as local Christians to spread God's message of love around us and asking His forgiveness. After one or two hymns, came the main addresses, beginning with Doug Croucher, of the King's Church, with his vision for serving the Community in Epsom. This was followed by David Winwood, of the Epsom Methodists with his reading and interpretation of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin. Then Canon Adrian Esdaile told us about the 24/7 Week of Prayer to be held in St Barnabas Church, praying for the people of Epsom and their concerns in which all churches and congregations would join.
Later, came Prayer and Thanksgiving and Intercessions made by various leaders with contributions from the Chinese and Portuguese communities in their own languages. Between the main items of the Service we sang several hymns. Afterwards people wandered around, stopping to chat as they went to look at the stalls which the churches had set up and talk to the people there. Altogether it was a very pleasant occasion with other ethnic groups joining in and showing us their own singing and dancing. It was difficult in a crowd of over 200 to tell how many visitors came, but we hope there were quite a few. It was a happy day with no sense of competition, but just a combined desire, recognising that people are different and express themselves differently, to bring them to Christ that they may give their lives to Him. Gwyneth and I would like to offer our grateful thanks to the people who helped us transport and set up our contribution, including Valerie and Terry Wood and not least the Chairman, Brian Angus, who was very encouraging and helped us set up the gazebo. Pump Aid We are making progress with the Matching Grant application #62500 to the Rotary Foundation. As you probably remember the Epsom Congregation raised £1000.00 for Pump Aid and The Rotary Club of Banstead raised a further £1000.00 for the same cause. The £2000.00 is banked at the moment awaiting the outcome of the Grant application . Rotary District 1140 (Surrey and East Sussex) have just allocated the sum of £1500.00 to the grant application #62500, giving us a total of £3,500.00 to date. Rotary Foundation have been waiting some information from the host club, The Rotary Club of Mutare in Zimbabwe which has now been supplied to them. The new President, Rotarian Marvelous Rambere (yes, that is his name!) has recently emailed me stating that they were looking forward to working with us in installing the ten elephant pumps and twenty sets of school latrines, including clean water facilities, in the very needy areas of the Buhera and Makoni districts of Mutare. We now wait with interest to hear whether the application will be successful or not! Wanted – A Stable The Crib displayed in the Bible Case at Christmas has always been enjoyed by passers-by in Church Street. I have seen small children lifted up to get a better view. The stable was made by Wilfred Corbett, who loved this church, and who started the tradition at least thirty years ago. He bought some very small figures that could not easily be seen, so Muriel Warner and Elsie and Ethel Sprinks made the ones that we still treasure. Last year the stable itself fell apart, having previously been treated for woodworm! Have we anyone who could make us a new one, or procure one that would be suitable? Outing to Kew Gardens This visit, postponed from July, has now been rescheduled for 4th October. If you would like to go, please sign the list in the foyer. One advantage of the postponement is that we can now enjoy the Henry Moore sculptures.
Springs Dance Company is a Christian dance company who perform and hold workshops in churches and schools throughout the UK. Although Springs are usually booked by schools and churches individually, at the moment they have a theatre tour happening for children. On Monday 22nd October Springs will be performing at the Epsom Playhouse. Springs Dance Company presents a double bill for children and families. Through storytelling and dance, this exciting, fun-filled, moving and memorable show brings two popular children's stories to life. It will appeal to families and, in particular, children aged 3 to 9. “The Wemmick Story” is based on the book “You are Special” by Max Lucado and is the heart-warming story of Eli and his wooden creatures, the Wemmicks. Although troubled by feelings of failure and being outcast from his friends, one of the Wemmicks, Punchinello, discovers that he is a wonderful and unique creation, made very special indeed. The audience takes home the feeling that despite what others may sometimes say, everyone is all wonderfully made! This beautiful, fun story improves self esteem in young children, and with the dance workshops that are taught alongside the performance, children can continue to discover what is special and unique about each and every one of us. . ”Waterbugs and Dragonflies" is based on the
book by Doris Stickney and is set in the playful underwater world of
the Waterbugs. The main details again: Springs Dance Company performing at Epsom Playhouse on Monday 22nd October at 2.30pm. The box office number is: 01372 742555 / 742227. The Dovecote Christian Bookshop – Home at Last! Three years after moving from its original South Street premises into temporary accommodation, Dovecote Bookshop now has a permanent home. The attractive new building at the front of Epsom Methodist Church, right beside the Bus Stop in Ashley Road, provides a welcome place where people can pop in from the street to browse. The new bookshop has a good supply of books and magazines, Bibles, greetings cards, CDs and videos, as well as gifts of jewellery, glassware and wooden sculptures. The friendly staff are always pleased to help and serve you. The Bookshop is open from Monday to Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m. Tel: 01372-817707. Weald and Downland Outdoor Museum -
16th August
Two cars loads of us from Epsom went on the outing to the Weald and Downland Museum where we met some of the people from Ewell, and we all had a really lovely day. The weather kept fine until just before we had all decided to return home in the afternoon.
We went off in small groups to walk around the museum and visit various old houses and other buildings. We agreed to meet together for lunch, which we ate in the grounds and then we continued with our look around. As the weather began to close in, some of us headed for the café for a welcome cup of tea, before browsing around the gift shop and heading homeward. We would all like to thank Pat very much for arranging the day for us. (top)12th Epsom Brownie Guide
Pack When we restarted after the summer break only seven of the Brownies returned. Luckily there were five girls who had just had their seventh birthday who wished to join, as well as five Brownies from a Pack at the Wells that had had to close. Two of the Brownies have now transferred to another pack, leaving us with fifteen girls in the pack. I was very encouraged by the response to my letter at the beginning of term as the majority of the parents indicated that their daughter would be able to attend both the Harvest Festival and Toy Service Church Parades, and that their daughter could take part in a Christmas musical at the Toy Service. Our first Brownie meeting was a celebration of autumn, and in their new sixes, the girls made some beautiful collages of leaf shapes and wild animals, which can be seen on our notice board in Unity Hall. At the next meeting we celebrated the anniversary of the birthday of Charles Cadbury, and the girls had great fun playing the chocolate game and eating the chocolate. They also made cards and decorated small boxes for Grandparents’ Day. Pat came to our meeting before the Harvest to explain a bit about the Mercy Ships and hopefully to encourage some of the girls to take part in the service. The girls decorated and filled eight boxes of harvest gifts for the Harvest Festival. Anne Richardson also came to the meeting, and with the help of the Brownies she put some new plants in the flower troughs outside the church. We are always very grateful to her for taking care of these. Children’s Activity Day Once again Epsom URC is hosting a Children’s Activity Day, on Wednesday, 24th October, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Unity Hall. The theme this year is ‘All Creatures Great and Small’, and representatives from ‘Hearing Dogs for the Deaf’ and ‘PAT Dogs’ (Pets As Therapy) will be there, explaining what they do. There are still places available for children between 4 and 12, for teenage helpers and adult leaders. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Sheila Smith, or Viv Baker on 020-8644 2133. Afternoon Fellowship The 2007/08 session began last Thursday with Pat, our Minister, taking the Communion Service. The October meeting will be on Thursday 25th at 2.30pm in the Longhurst Room. Paula Philip has kindly agreed to give a talk which she has entitled ‘A Peace Mission to Occupied Germany’. We will be pleased to welcome any friends to our meetings. (top)Evening Fellowship On Monday 1st October at 8 p.m. the Evening Fellowship starts a new session. We are to have a play-reading of ‘Mother's Day’ by J.B. Priestley. If you would like to join us, we'll be delighted.
Women’s Church Council Last month the Coffee Morning for ‘Age Concern’ observing 40 years of service in Epsom and Ewell was a very happy occasion. We raised £160, and thank you for coming and supporting so deserving a project. The next Coffee Morning will be on Tuesday, 9th October, 10.30-12 noon. Each year, whatever is raised at the October meeting helps to assist the WCC. to send a seasonal remembrance to many friends, far and near in December. May we once again invite you to help us with this important pastoral work? Copy for the next issue should be with the Editor by 21st October for publication on 28th October, 2007 And Finally . . . “We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again, and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.” (Mark Twain) Bibles that are falling apart are usually read by people who aren’t. A gossip is someone with a great sense of rumour. Every man is guilty of all the good he didn't do. (Voltaire) And another contribution from Frank Dobby:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
,
(top)
