WITHAM UNITED REFORMED CHURCH "The Lord will keep you from all harm, He will watch over your life; the Lord will keep watch over your coming and going, both now and forever more" Psalm 121 : 7-8 Newsletter FEBRUARY 2015 1 Ministers and Elders 2015 Minister Associate Minister Youth Pastors Revd Revd Mrs Mrs Paul Ellis Lorna Bantock Tara Russell Viv Sollis 517495 571757 500958 500958 Church Secretary Mr Tony Deighton 500958 Pastoral Oversight Mrs Gerry Moscrop Pastoral Elders Mrs Mrs Mr Mr Mr Maureen Barry Sarah Campbell Lorne Campbell Sally Harrison Alan Russell Discipleship/Growth Finance Property Outreach/Mission Worship Youth/Children Mrs Mr Mrs Mr Mr Mr Elizabeth Whitten Rod Gayton Muriel Heppinstall Foster Asamani Chris Lawrence Gavin McCall Pastoral Team Leader Prayer Chain Co-ordinator Mrs Eve Murfitt 500958 Mrs Rosemary Stinson 516602 Centre Directors Mrs Mrs Deborah Robinson Eve Murfitt 500958 500958 Centre Managers Mrs Mrs Rocio MacDonald Bridgit Eichbaum 500958 500958 Newsletter Editor Mr Chris Heather 2 Kelvedon and Hatfield Peverel North South South West East 513836 01787 473439 Pastoral Letter Incomparable! ! A wonderful move of recent years has brought Worship leaders and song writers together with theologians and thinkers. Why is this so important? Theology matters because it fuels worship. We have the responsibility and joy to allow God to continue to shape, reshape and fuel our worship. In Romans 12:11 we read “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord.” We constantly need fresh revelation and understanding of who God is. The Hymn writer John Newton spoke for so many of us when he wrote, Weak is the effort of my heart and cold my warmest thought. But when I see thee as thou art, I’ll praise thee as I ought. When we catch a greater glimpse of our Most High God we are left amazed, stunned, humbled, convicted, exhilarated, excited, refreshed and inspired. When we encounter God - uncreated, all-powerful, self-existent, unconfined, unbreakable, unfathomable and infinite - we find perspective. We learn to embrace the smallness of who we are and marvel in the vastness of who he is. Earthly pleasures can no longer take the place of knowing God and being known by Him. We are left ruined. Satisfied and dissatisfied at the same time. We begin on a journey, thirsting for more of God, desperate to understand more clearly the character and nature of God. When we encounter the reality of God, true worship is the outcome.! ! Our view and understanding of God will have a significant impact on our worship. As Graham Kendrick said, “Worship is a response and will grow or shrink in direct proportion to our view of Him.” ! ! So let’s continually dig a bit deeper and press on into the mystery and character of God.! ! Alan (adapted from a foreword written by Tim Hughes for the book “Incomparable - Explorations in the character of God)! ! 3 With a Grateful Heart To our wonderful church family, As most of you know, an experience in our lives almost 2 years ago led us to fundraise over the last six months in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) and the Afro Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT), who support teenagers suffering from cancer and promote blood and bone marrow donation, respectively. These two charities mean so much to us – they’re very close to our hearts. The Biyi family would like to thank YOU ALL - members of our fellowship at Witham URC - for your kind gestures, love and support over the past two years, and for also supporting the fundraising events. We are so blessed, not only as a family but also as a fellowship. We've certainly experienced the love of Christ in action through you all. A huge ‘thank you’ goes to all those who helped organise various events, such as the concerts and barn dance, and to those who thought of other ways to raise money - the calendars, quiz and cards for the two charities. We really appreciate you! The total amount raised to date through the various events and donations on Femi's JustGiving pages is £6,750. We will confirm the final total at a later date. Once again, a BIG THANK YOU to you all! We couldn't have done it without you! We couldn't leave this without a scripture... “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes 4 and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? ’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” (Matthew 25:34-40 NIV) Sarah SAMARITANS PURSE This years' appeal brought another very generous response to this worthy cause. We were able to send 271 shoe boxes together with other contributions of money and miscellaneous articles for distribution to children in Ukraine. Over 1200 boxes have been sent to various destinations in Europe, Africa and Haiti in the past 5 years - a wonderful effort. Many thanks to all who support this appeal. Chris Heather Tuesday Praise : February Feb 3 Lorna Bantock 10 Jo Wright 17 Irving Stinson 24 Adrian Diaper 5 A song for Lent Above all powers, above all kings Above all nature and all created things Above all wisdom and all the ways of man You were here before the world began Above all kingdoms, above all thrones Above all wonders the world has ever known Above all wealth and treasures of the earth There's no way to measure what you're worth Crucified Laid behind a stone You lived to die Rejected and alone Like a rose Trampled on the ground You took the fall And thought of me Above all Songwriters: Lenny Leblanc, Paul Baloche ************************* Lent in 2015 will start on Wednesday, the 18th of February and will continue for 46 days until Saturday, the 4th of April. In Western Christianity Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes on Holy Saturday. The six Sundays in Lent are not counted among the forty days of lent because each Sunday represents a "mini-Easter", a celebration of Jesus' victory over sin and death. 6 Lent Lunches for Christian Aid This year Ash Wednesday is on 18th February so Lent Lunches will start in Meeting Point on Thursday 19th February from 12.15 – 1.30pm. They will continue every Thursday for the whole of Lent, ending on 26th March The lunches consist of a bowl of soup and some bread and cheese for a donation of however much you can afford. Three of the local churches take it in turn to organise the lunches and this year the URC is preparing lunches on 20th March and 10th April We need support, both coming for lunch to the Centre on Thursday during Lent and by lending a hand with the preparation Offers of help to Muriel Heppinstall (Witham 512741). 7 Did you know the URC has its own monthly magazine called ‘Reform’. The following is the December editorial by Stephen Tomkins:In November, I went to the Mission Council of the United Reformed Church. It was supposed to be debating the future of this magazine. The URC publishes Reform and subsidises it, and that commitment was due a review. After all, Reform has become more expensive to fund over many years, as - in common with other Christian publications - circulation has declined, while the URC's finances - in common with other Christian denominations - have become ever more thinly stretched. The argument for spending that money on something more worthwhile than a magazine, as other denominations have decided to do, was strong. So I went to Mission Council prepared to give rousing speeches and make compelling arguments because I believe in Reform and the ability its writers have to challenge, inspire and change not just individual readers but their communities. As it was, I didn't get the chance. I said they were supposed to be debating, but, as it turned out, the whole conversation was a celebration of Reform. Speakers praised its quality, its breadth, its contribution to local church life, its propensity to get people talking and its ability to engage people both across the URC and in other denominations. It was thrilling to have such an affirmation of the work we've done over the last two years to make the magazine better than ever and a greater contribution to the mission of the Church. But it also presented a formidable 8 challenge. Mission Council's endorsement was not an invitation to simply keep going. Subscriptions to Reform have declined steeply every year as far back as my records go, and, on that trajectory, it is unsustainable. So Mission Council's endorsement was a declaration of trust that we can change the fortunes of the magazine. I share that belief. There have been a lot of changes in the magazine over the last two years, but what we are now working on may be the biggest of all: We intend to make Reform sustainable. It is a huge job, taking a great deal of time and effort, but my hope is that the coming year will see the number of subscriptions rise instead of fall for the first time. So I'm very much hoping you can help us in this. Maybe you can help us get new subscribers. If you'd like to give someone a subscription as a Christmas gift, there's a form on page 43. If a friend would like to see a sample issue for free before subscribing, just give us their name and address, and we can send one. Or maybe you can let people know that this magazine is around, and worth buying. That will help us keep it that way. We are working very hard to put Reform on a sound footing, so we can take it from strength to strength. But we need the help of those who value the magazine. We're a small team but you're a rather bigger one. If you can put in a good word for us, I think they'll listen to you. Thanks, as ever, for reading. Stephen Tomkins, Editor To subscribe to Reform: www.reform-magazine.co.uk/subscribe tel: 020 8955 7073 received from Muriel 9 News from Ignite WE BEGAN THIS TERM LOOKING BACK AT THE SUMMER, SEEING WHAT WE HAD GOT UP TO AND WATCHING THOSE WHO HAD PARTICIPATED IN THE ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE! THIS WAS FOLLOWED BY OUR BAKE OFF CHALLENGE, SEEING WHOSE CUPCAKES WERE THE BEST. ROCIO MACDONALD WAS OUR JUDGE, AND IN A BLIND TESTING VOTED HANNAH ROBINSON, MATTHEW VOYCE AND NICOLE EGBUNA AS OUR WINNERS. DESERVEDLY SO... THEY WERE AT LEAST EDIBLE! A FORTNIGHTS TIME SAW A SUBCULTURE THEME TO IGNITE. WE HAD A SKATEBOARDER, A PUNK AND AN EMO TO NAME A FEW. THEIR TASK THAT AFTERNOON WAS TO CREATE AN OUTFIT OUT OF BIN BAGS, NEWSPAPERS AND TAPE. THEY WERE AMAZING CREATIONS! THE SESSION BEFORE HALF TERM, THE YOUTH WERE LET LOOSE ON THE BUILDING TO CREATE A VIDEO ABOUT IGNITE. SOME INTERESTING FOOTAGE WAS TAKEN, AND EVEN MORE INTERESTING INTERVIEWS TOOK PLACE! AFTER HALF TERM WE HAD OUR BONFIRE NIGHT, KINDLY HOSTED BY THE UPSONS AT THEIR FARM. IT WAS A BRILLIANT EVENING. THE FOLLOWING IGNITE SAW US THINK ABOUT OTHERS AND THE YOUTH COMPLETED A SCAVENGER HUNT AROUND TESCOS WHERE THEY HAD TO BUY ITEMS FOR THE FOOD BANK. SOME CAREFUL SHOPPING WAS DONE! WE ENDED THE YEAR WITH CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATING, AND A CHRISTMAS MEAL! THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO PRAYS FOR, AND SUPPORTS US! This Newsletter from Ignite contains many pictures - look on the Website for the full article Viv Sollis 10 Living Water…Unless You’re Palestinian – article Posted: 06 Jan 2015 06:21 AM PST This article was written by the Windermere Centre Director, Lawrence Moore, following his leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in October 2014. Please feel free to use the article in your own publications, attributed to Lawrence Moore. Jesus likened himself to bread and water – the staples of life. That’s in John’s gospel, where John presents Jesus not simply as the giver of life but the Author of Life. Jesus takes the staples of life in order to illustrate the gift of Life in all its abundance that he brings (John 10:10). Jesus is never concerned with anything less than life (survival) but yearns for us to discover the “something more” – the very Life of God that ought to be our daily experience. It’s not like that, of course. The yawning chasm between the haves and have-nots on our planet extends to the very staples of life. We know that. We’re a church that cares and makes ourselves aware. We know that vast swathes of the planet don’t have enough food to eat, let alone throw away because they’re stuffed! And we know that clean, drinkable water is a distant dream for millions in rural villages, let alone being able to turn on a tap whenever they need to. What was profoundly, horrifyingly shocking, though, was to discover how water is deliberately being used as a weapon of war and oppression in the West Bank. Revd Brian Jolly and I took a group to Palestine and Israel last month to follow in the footsteps of the radical Jesus – the Jesus who got himself crucified as a religious heretic and a Roman political criminal. We were reading the stories of Jesus, recognizing that they were texts written in the context of the Roman occupation. At the same time, we were meeting our brothers and sisters from the indigenous Christian church in Palestine and learning what life was like for them under the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Palestinian territories. We met Mohammed, whose home had been destroyed that same morning by the Israeli soldiers who had made a point of coming at 5am so that the terrified children had been forced to witness the event. We met some of the inhabitants of Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, and were told how the women slept fully clothed because the army regularly invaded their homes at night either on 11 training exercises or for “reasons of security”, and how the children suffered severe trauma so that they wet their beds well into their teens. We saw the school, surrounded by high walls and barbed wire, with the gates marked by bullet holes from the Israeli watchtower on the separation wall at the end of the street. We listened to harrowing tales of beatings, intimidation and humiliation at the checkpoints, of homes and businesses broken into and taken over by Israeli settlers who were supported by the army, and family land stolen. Somehow, though, what got to us most was the way in which water is used as an instrument of subjugation and military strategy. Sister Martha, the feisty, faithful principal of the Russian Orthodox school in Bethany, pointed out the black storage tanks that adorn the roof of every Palestinian home. That’s because Palestinian towns and cities get water only twice a week – theoretically. Much of the time there are no resupplies. In the summer, particularly, it can be 2 months before the water is turned on again for just 24 hours. She told us, “We do our cooking using bottled water, use disposable plates for eating and we can send our laundry and live-in students to the monastery in the Jerusalem for a wash. But the stink of the toilets remains a problem – we can’t just stop going.” Ali told us about the problems faced by farmers: they are not allowed irrigation systems. Their farmhouses do not have running water. They are forbidden by law from digging wells without permission (no permission is ever given to dig wells) and from collecting rainwater. Ali had Roman cisterns on his farm: they were destroyed by the Israeli army. Every olive tree, vine and date plant on his farm has been planted and watered by hand. Water is not considered a “natural resource”. Its collection and distribution is tightly controlled by the Israelis, who allocate 1/3 of the supply to the 1.7 million residents of the West Bank and Gaza, and 2/3 to the 700,000 Jewish settlers who live on confiscated Palestinian land. We visited Ma’ale Adumin, a settler city in East Jerusalem, fresh from a Palestinian farm. It has two municipal swimming pools, fountains, a water park, and, because it was the weekend, the residents were out watering their lawns and washing their cars. 12 John tells the story of a Samaritan woman at a well who gave Jesus a drink of water (John 4). Wherever we went, we were given water, Arab coffee and tea. Families fed and watered 17 of us at a time. We used their loos. And when we worried about how much of their precious water we were consuming, we were told it was a pleasure to be able to offer us hospitality. When we asked what they wanted of us in return, they said to us, “Tell our stories when you get home”. We went to homes where water is made scarce to oppress the people, and received from them wellsprings of living water. I’m still trying to get my head around that. Lawrence Moore *************************************** Sunday Worship : February Week times Witham URC a.m. Terling Chapel 10.30 12.30 6.30 Family Worship + Comm Ignite Evening Worship 9.00 Worship Feb 1 10.30 6.30 Family Worship Evening Worship 10.15 Holy Communion 9.00 10.30 12.30 6.30 Breakfast Service Family Worship Ignite Evening Communion 10.15 Joint Worship with All Saints' Church 10.30 6.30 Family Worship SHINE 9.00 Worship Feb 8 Feb 15 Feb 22 Park View Services every Sunday at 4.00 pm Terling : tea/coffee after every service 13 FEBRUARY 2nd : CANDLEMAS The event is described in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 2:22–40). According to the gospel, Mary and Joseph took the baby Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem forty days (inclusive) after his birth to complete Mary's ritual purification after childbirth, and to perform the redemption of the firstborn son, in obedience to the Law of Moses (Leviticus 12, Exodus 13:12–15, etc.). Luke explicitly says that Joseph and Mary take the option provided for poor people (those who could not afford a lamb) (Leviticus 12:8), sacrificing "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." Leviticus 12:1–4 indicates that this event should take place forty days after birth for a male child, hence the Presentation is celebrated forty days after Christmas. Upon bringing Jesus into the temple, they encountered Simeon. The Gospel records that Simeon had been promised that "he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ" (Luke 2:26). Simeon prayed the prayer that would become known as the Nunc Dimittis, or Canticle of Simeon, which prophesied the redemption of the world by Jesus: Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace; according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people: to be a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of Thy people Israel (Luke 2:29–32). Simeon then prophesied to Mary: "Behold, this child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which is spoken against. Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed" (Luke 2:34–35). The elderly prophetess Anna was also in the Temple, and offered prayers and praise to God for Jesus, and spoke to everyone there about Jesus and his role in the redemption of Israel (Luke 2:36–38). 14 ROTAS for FEBRUARY Saturday Coffee Feb 7 Wendy & Jim McWhirr 14 Colin & Grace Baldock 21 Jill Stone & Christine Costick 28 David &Mary Goodwin Sunday Coffee Youth Feb 1 Feb 8 Paul & Marta Baldwin Feb 15 Tony & Claire Deighton Feb 22 Gavin & Julia McCall Flowers Feb 1 Gill Thomas Feb 8 Lin Heather Feb 15 Pat Gilbey Feb 22 Christine Huggett DEADLINE FOR ITEMS FOR MARCH 2015 NEWSLETTER MORNING SERVICE : FEBRUARY 15th articles can be sent by e-mail to candl27@googlemail.com up to FEBRUARY 19th 15 DIARY NOTES : February 2015 Meeting Point and The Centre Shop Monday to Saturday inclusive from 9.30am to 12.30pm Carpet Bowls Monday 7.15 - 9.15 pm Daytime Bible Study Tuesday Praise Tuesday 10.30 -12.00 Tuesday 12.30 - 12.50 Elders Meetings Tuesday Feb 10th 7.45pm Church Meeting No meeting this month Small Talk Wednesday 10.00 - 11.30am and 1 - 2.30 pm in term time Wednesday 3.30 - 5.00pm Milkshake after school club Ladies Group Indoor Curling Club JUICE for 5-11 years old First Thursday 2 - 4 pm Thursday 2.00 pm Thursday 5.00 - 6.15pm Friday Fellowship Friday 10.30 - 2.30 pm Child Contact Centre Meetings February 7th and 21st 1.30 - 4.30pm December double anagram answers Herod and Magi; Gabriel and myrrh, Joseph and Donkey, Bethlehem and star, Manger and birth, Starry and Host and Hidden words angel, star, Herod, magi, Ramah, inn, kings and host 16
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