1. religion and spirituality
2. christianity
3. catholicism

Revd Wendy Writes…
February 2015
Dear Friends
‘…Like a little candle, burning in the night.’
Christmas is now well and truly over for another
year. A few weeks ago, we took down our
decorations, storing the fairy lights and the other
tinsel treasures in a safe place until next
December.
So these brightnesses have
disappeared; have we also put away our joyful
remembrances of the one who brought life into a
dark world? As we read at Christmas in the poetic
prologue to the Fourth Gospel, ‘…that life was the light
of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness did not overcome it.’
It may be hard to hold on to the memory of that
star-filled, bright nativity; we may feel that after
Epiphany, there is a lull in the lighting. We are living,
a few weeks further on, in a dark winter, with precious
little evidence at times of the slowly, steadily
lengthening days. But the Christmas season, with its
theme of light, continues officially right up until we
celebrate Candlemas—the Presentation of Christ in the
Temple— at the very beginning of February.
Michael Perham wrote: ‘Candlemas is a key day
in three ways.
It completes the forty days of
Christmas and Epiphany, it celebrates this story, rich in
its layers of meaning, and it is a pivotal day – bitter
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sweet when, having looked back a last time to
Christmas, we turn towards Lent and the Passion.’
Even in the midst of these dark and wintry days,
there is still light, if we know where to look and how to
experience it. There are candles in church, Sunday by
Sunday, reminding us of the light of Christ, present
with us. And, given the story of the baby Jesus being
presented in the Temple, Candlemas seems a really
appropriate day on which to have a baptism in church.
So, at our Parish Communion on 1st February, we are
delighted to welcome little Alice Kathleen, the daughter
of Robin and Pornpat, granddaughter of Beryl Thomas,
with her godparents Liu and Rohan. During the service
she will be christened, becoming a new member of our
Church family, and presented with a lit candle, a
symbol of light and truth.
As we are frequently reminded, we do live in a
world that can seem bleak and dark. I write this letter
against the backdrop of the French terror attacks. One
of the striking things was the fierce determination to
defend the freedom of the press demonstrated by the
French people, as they carried out their candlelit vigils
following the assault on the Paris-based offices of the
satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo. In that black and
terrifying situation, many lights shone as the nation
rallied, standing together courageously. This was just
one example of how candlelight can bring relief,
release and resurrection in a dark place.
The themes of darkness and light run through all
our lives, in a variety of ways, but our Christian faith
never allows the darkness to overcome the light. We
need to cling to the hope that God has given us
through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus
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Christ. There will always be light at the end of the
tunnel, even though we may not always see it
immediately.
I’d like to share with you a poetic
prayer, written by Rosemary Arthur, which cries out to
God and is most appropriate for those times when we
feel overwhelmed by the darkness:
'Light me a candle in the darkness,
Give me your hand to guide me;
Speak to me softly in the silence
Give me your strength to calm me.
Lift up my eyes to see the dawn
Ending the long night of despair;
Convince me there is always morning
And hope, if you are there.
Help me to walk the road before me
With firm step, not faltering feet;
Show me the steep and rugged pathway
And the perils I may meet.
Assure me that you are listening,
And can hear my prayer;
Light me a candle in the darkness,
and I shall know that you are there.'
And, in the words of the Sunday school hymn
that many of us will have sung as children, may we all
seek the strength — whatever the situation— to be like
little candles, because ‘Jesus bids us shine.’
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SAFELY HOME & IN AT THE DEEP END
We have returned from New Zealand where
we had a wonderful time with our daughter
Lucy, her husband Dino and their delightful
little boy JayJay. Christmas Day was spent
first at a service and then at a picnic, both on
the same beach where the first Anglican missionary
preached on Christmas Day 200 years ago using the text
“Glad tidings of great joy”. It was very moving to be there.
Our journey to New Zealand and back was fairly
overwhelming- we are certainly not as physically resilient as
we used to be - but it was worth it to be with family and in
such a beautiful part of the world. We spent a day driving
to the northernmost point of the country to Cape Reinga
which is a sacred place for the Maori people. There we
looked out at the extraordinary sight of the meeting point of
two oceans, the Pacific and the Tasman. From time to time,
the water becomes really quite turbulent as the hidden
energy of two forces in opposition surges up to the surface.
Then it appears that the waters of the two oceans
perform a kind of dance as they attempt to negotiate their
way into each other’s territory and settle for a while. As
often seems to happen with us, this phenomenon of the
natural world spoke powerfully and deeply, preparing us for
the news we have just received on our return to Eldoret.
There have been some worrying setbacks in the work for
peace in the Borderlands. Powerful energies have erupted
once again in some terrible acts of violence and the peace
activists are at full stretch.
So this week we will begin again the process of
listening, encouraging, negotiating, working with the
authorities and praying for peace to prevail. (David and Liza
Cooke – CMS Mission Partners in Eldoret, Kenya)
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RENEWING HOPE: PRAY, SERVICE, GROW – The Bishop
of Salisbury, the Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam visited Poole
Deanery on 6th January as part of his plan to visit all 19
deaneries in early 2015 to discuss prayer, service and
growth. The aim is to be inspired by and share stories with
each other; to give time to prayer as a foundation of our life
and to service in God’s world, in the confident hope that
these have always been the foundations for both personal
growth and the growth of the Church. We are asked to
consider:



What do we pray for
Whom do we serve
How should we grow
God our Father, renew our hope.
By the Holy Spirit’s power strengthen us to pray readily, serve
joyfully and grow abundantly rejoicing in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
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NEWSROUND
Children’s Society welcomes support for local
welfare assistance - The Children’s Society has
warmly
greeted
the
Government’s
recent
announcement that it is retaining £130m funding
for local welfare assistance schemes. This news
means 1.2 million vulnerable households who were on the
verge of losing this emergency support will still get help. As
a CS spokesperson explains: “It is now up to councils to
keep in place these local schemes and ensure they remain
open to all families who face an emergency. We will
continue to fight to protect this vital safety net.”
Children ignorant of the Bible - The Radio 4 presenter,
Roger Bolton, has told the Radio Times that some secular
teachers are ‘unsympathetic to religious education’ and
even afraid of ‘offending’ different faiths. Bolton pointed to
a recent Bible Society survey that found that a quarter of
children had ‘never read, seen or heard of Noah’s Ark’ and
that 43% had never even heard of the Crucifixion. Did that
matter? “I think it does, for both cultural and communal
reasons”. He also said that a lack of understanding of
Christianity is also preventing youngsters from gaining a
proper understanding of religious imagery in literature and
drama as well as European art.
Rain, rain go away…. Government agrees to help C of
E church roofs - The C of E has welcomed a recent
dedicated £15 million fund from the Government for the
repair of roofs and rainwater goods on listed church
buildings. The Chancellor announced the Listed Places of
Worship Roof Repair Fund in his Autumn Statement. Grants
between £10,000 and £100,000 have been made available
to listed places of worship of all faiths and denominations
across the UK, where roof and rainwater goods repairs are
deemed to be urgent and necessary. ChurchCare will be
providing support for dioceses and parishes in need.
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GREEN LIGHT FOR CREDIT UNION
Fair returns to savers, fair interest rates on
loans and the aspiration to be a flagship credit
union are among the aims of the Churches’
Mutual Credit Union Ltd (CMCU) which has
recently received formal authorisation from the
regulatory authorities. CMCU plans to begin to
offer its services from February 2015.
CMCU has been formed for and with the help of the
Church of England, the Methodist Church of Great Britain,
the Church of Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church and
the Church in Wales. It is expected that, in due course, it
should become a significant financial resource to the church
and individuals throughout England, Wales and Scotland. It
is hoped that CMCU will enable “a virtuous re-cycling of
money within the church community, through a combined
portfolio of savings and loan products.”
At first, churches and individuals (notably ordained
ministers, licensed lay ministers, elders, employees and
trustees of churches and church charities and the charities
themselves) will be able to become members and benefit
from the financial products. It is estimated that at least
60,000 individuals plus churches and church charities will
be eligible to join CMCU. This will enable savings and
provide loans to individuals for essential items and to
churches for mission projects and equipment. The Financial
Services Compensation Scheme covers deposits up to
£85,000.
CMCU plans to offer a range of loan products which
will be a major funding stream for the dividend that will be
paid on savings products such as ISAs, instant access and
regular (monthly) savings accounts. These products will
include a competitive car loan scheme. CMCU aspires to
become an example of best practice in the sector.
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MIDWEEK CATHEDRAL ATTENDANCE UP!
The number of people attending
midweek services at cathedrals has
doubled in the past 10 years, according
to recent figures from the Church of
England’s
Research
and
Statistics
department.
One of the factors
attributed is the need for a place of
peace in increasingly busy lives.
Midweek attendance at cathedrals was 7,500 in 2003,
rising to 15,000 in 2013 (compared to 12,400 in 2012). As
the Dean of Lichfield, Adrian Dorber, explains, “At the
weekend you’ve got commitments with children doing sport,
shopping, household maintenance – life’s run at the double
these days … Taking out half an hour or an hour every week
is much more negotiable.”
Anecdote to Evidence research published last year
showed that the highest motivating factors for Cathedral
attendance were peace and contemplation, worship and
music and friendly atmosphere.
The Dean of York Minster, Vivienne Faull,
commented: “If I take a Eucharist at 12.30 in the middle of
the week in the nave of York Minster, there’ll be a lot of
people who just slide in from the side. It’s not so much
about anonymity, there’s the feeling there’s a journey you
can travel which doesn’t require huge steps – it just
requires one little step.”
Stephen Lake, Dean of Gloucester Cathedral, said:
“Patterns of church attendance are different now.
Cathedrals are uniquely placed to be providing greater
opportunities for worship and that includes during the
week.”

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SCHOLASTICA
Scholastica will be remembered at the mid-week Service
of Holy Communion on Wednesday, 11th February
Scholastica should be the patron saint of any
woman who can bend her brother to do her will no matter how ‘powerful’ that brother might seem
to other people.
For Scholastica’s brother was no less than the
great monk Benedict, who founded the famous
Benedictine order and lived at Monte Cassino. In no way
over-awed, Scholastica, who was also born in Nursia around
480, simply became the first ever Benedictine nun, with a
nunnery five miles down the road – at Plombariola.
As abbess she sought to follow Benedict’s Rule and
met him each year at a house near his monastery where
they would praise God together and discuss spiritual
matters. Now Scholastica greatly enjoyed these annual
meetings, but the time passed too quickly. One year she
begged him to stay longer, to discuss “the joys of heaven”,
but he refused.
So Scholastica took swift action: she
prayed up such a mighty thunderstorm that her brother was
forced to spend the rest of the night talking to her. Or
maybe – she talked and he listened? No one knows for
sure.
In any case, Scholastica died happy three days later
around 543, and was buried in the tomb Benedict had
prepared for himself. He had had a vision of her soul rising
up to heaven.
Scholastica soon became a figure for
veneration by all nuns, becoming the patron of Benedictine
nunneries.
CHURCH NOTICE
Please don’t walk on our church lawn. Grass grows by
the inch but is worn down by the foot!
-9-
THE VERY FIRST VALENTINE CARD
The Roman Emperor Claudius II needed
soldiers. He suspected that marriage made
men want to stay at home instead of fighting
wars, so he outlawed marriage.
A kind-hearted young priest named Valentine
felt sorry for all the couples who wanted to
marry, but couldn’t. So secretly he married as many
couples as he could - until the Emperor found out and
condemned him to death.
While he was in prison awaiting execution, Valentine
showed love and compassion to everyone around him,
including his jailer. The jailer had a young daughter who
was blind, but through Valentine’s prayers, she was healed.
Just before his death in Rome on 14th February, he wrote
her a farewell message signed ‘From your Valentine’. So the
very first Valentine card was not between lovers, but
between a priest about to die, and a little girl, healed
through his prayers.

ANSWER TO PRAYER
A small boy badly wanted a baby brother, so his dad
suggested he pray every night for one. The boy prayed
earnestly, night after night, but his prayers seemingly
weren't answered. So after a few weeks, he didn't bother to
ask anymore.
Some months later, his dad said they were going to
see Mum in the hospital and he was going to get a big
surprise. When they got to the room, the little boy saw his
mother holding two babies. The little boy stood still for a
moment, and then cautiously observed: "It's a good thing I
stopped praying when I did."
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HOW TO BE A COMPETENT PRAY-ER
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place.
When he finished, one of his disciples said to
him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught
his disciples’. He said to them, ‘When you pray,
say: “Father, hallowed be your name, your
kingdom come.”’
More often than we would care to admit, our desired
objective in prayer is to ‘get what we ask for’. If this doesn’t
happen, we might think that prayer hasn’t worked, that its
results are, at best, arbitrary, or that we are just not a
competent pray-er and so best leave it to those who are!
Yet, as P.T. Forsyth points out in The Soul of Prayer,
‘if we got all we asked for we should soon come to treat
Him as a convenience, or the request as a magic. The
reason of much bewilderment about prayer is that we are
less occupied about faith in God than about faith in prayer’.
The only way to learn how to pray is to pray and God,
through his Spirit, teaches us to pray. Through relationship
with God, we come into alignment with his will, which leads
to believing declaration, petition or action.
First and foremost, prayer is the primary way we
relate
to
and
communicate
with
God.
Without
communication we can only know about someone.
Prayerlessness amounts to a rejection of the loving
relationship the Father offers.
Then, as we spend time in God’s presence, our heart
and mind become aligned with his. We begin to see God,
ourselves, and the people and situations we’re concerned
about from God’s perspective. Our hearts ‘tune in’ to his as
we pray. Having aligned ourselves with God’s perspective
we pray, ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done’ with
increased understanding and conviction. We may also be
given direction as to how to act or speak.
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CALENDAR FOR FEBRUARY
Sun
1
PRESENTATION
OF CHRIST
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sun
3
4
5
6
8
2nd SUNDAY
BEFORE LENT
Tue
Wed
Thu
Sun
10
11
12
15
SUNDAY NEXT
BEFORE LENT
Tue
Wed
Thu
17
18
19
Fri
Sun
20
22
LENT 1
Tue
Wed
24
25
8.00 am
10.30 am
6.00 pm
10.00 am
10.30 am
10.00 am
10.30 am
8.00 am
10.30 am
6.00 pm
10.00 am
10.30 am
7.30 pm
8.00 am
9.30 am
10.30 am
6.00 pm
10.00 am
10.30 am
10.00 am
4.00 pm
10.30 am
8.00 am
10.30 am
6.00 pm
10.00 am
10.30 am
Holy Communion
Parish Communion (Sun Club in church)
& Baptism
Evening Prayer
Gardening Group
Holy Communion (at St Nicolas)
Parish Art Group
Coffee Morning in Hall
Holy Communion
Matins (Sun Club in church room)
Evening Prayer
Gardening Group
Holy Communion (at St Nicolas)
Church Council Meeting
Holy Communion
Family Service
Parish Communion (No Sun Club)
Choral Evensong (Royal Motor Yacht Club)
Gardening Group
Holy Communion (at Transfig)
ASH WED
Parish Art Group
Magazine Collation
Coffee Morning in Hall
Holy Communion
Matins (Sun Club in church room)
Evening Prayer
Parish Art Group
Holy Communion (at Transfig)

Throughout Lent (Monday to Friday), Evening Prayer
will be said daily at 5.00 pm in the Lady Chapel
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THE HISTORY OF BRITISH FISH & CHIPS
Ever since Dickens first mentioned “chips” in
print (in A Tale of Two Cities in 1859), fish
and chips has been seen as a feature of
working-class life. Is this still true? Not only
did The Ivy in London feature fish and chips on its madeover menu in 1990, but so did its smarter sister, Le Caprice.
No longer the working man’s nourishment, a fish supper is
now classless, which somewhat increases its credibility as
our national dish.
Why, though, is fish and chips considered British in
the first place? Claudia Roden’s The Book of Jewish Food,
the ultimate authority, says battered fried fish “was a
legacy of the Portuguese Marranos (crypto-Jews) who came
to England in the 16th century, many of them via Holland”.
Nominal Christians, they were secretly practising Jews, who
fried their fish on Friday and ate it cold on their Sabbath
later that night or the next day, when they were forbidden
to cook or even light a fire.
The marriage of fish and chips was actually a gradual
merger. Except for the aristocracy and those living on the
coast, Britons didn’t eat much fresh fish anyway, until the
coming of the railways made transporting it practical and
cheaper. Fried fish and chipped potatoes were for a long
time sold separately. Joseph Malin, an Ashkenazi Jewish
immigrant, who opened a shop in Bow in 1860, gets the
honours for being first to vend them together.
With its clear ethnic origins and its continued
production by immigrants, why is fish and chips our iconic
dish? For a member of a minority, eating it was a way of
marking your assimilation to the majority. It’s the same for
today’s fish and chips. They may be wrapped in newspapers
printed in Spanish, Greek, Polish or Urdu, but your presence
in the queue at the chippie makes you a true Brit.
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FOOD INTOLERANCE
Do you believe that you are intolerant to certain
foods? It seems that more than one in five of us could be
avoiding certain foods because we have become convinced
that we are allergic or intolerant towards them. A survey
for the Food and Drink Innovation Network found that dairy
and gluten are the most common types of food which we
give up.
This has enormous implications: up to a third of all
households could by now have had to adapt to having a
member of their family either unable or unwilling to eat
certain food. This in turn has spawned a phenomenal
growth in the industry which supplies us with foods free
from gluten, lactose, nuts, or other ingredients.

COST OF GOING TO THE CINEMA RISES
When was the last time you went to see a
film? Did you tally up just how much the
evening cost you? It seems that going to
the cinema is no longer the cheap
alternative to a night at the theatre or a
meal at a restaurant.
A recent study by the Sunday Telegraph has found
that a single ticket in some urban venues can cost more
than £20, while just popcorn can be as much as £5.
Figures from the British Film Institute (BFI) show that the
average cost of a cinema ticket has risen by 26 per cent in
the past five years.
Whereas in 2008 it was £5.18,
nowadays the average price is £6.54. BFI figures show that
overall, the average price of a cinema ticket has soared
above inflation for the past 30 years.
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LIBBY LANE – FIRST WOMAN BISHOP
The Rt Revd Libby Lane became the first woman to
be consecrated as a bishop in the Church of England on
Monday, January 26th. At a York Minster service presided
over by the Most Revd Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of
York, Libby became the 8th Bishop of Stockport, a suffragan
(assistant) bishop in the Diocese of Chester.
Libby Lane was ordained priest in 1994 and served in
a number of roles in the North of England including her
curacy in Blackburn Diocese and, in York Diocese as a
hospital chaplain and as a chaplain in further education.
Moving to the Diocese of Chester, Libby served as a team
vicar in Stockport before becoming Vicar of St Peter's Hale
and St Elizabeth's Ashley, in 2007.
In 2013, Libby was elected by the North-West
dioceses as one of the first eight clergy women to sit as
Participant Observers in the House of Bishops of the Church
of England. She also served as Family Life Officer in York
and as Chester’s Assistant Diocesan Director of Ordinands,
advising and supporting people thinking about ministry in
the Church of England. January 2010 saw her take on the
role of Dean of Women in Ministry in Chester Diocese.
When the new Bishop of Stockport was announced,
the Archbishop of York predicted that Libby would “exercise
her episcopal ministry with joy, prayerfulness, and trust in
God.”
Bishop Libby succeeded the Rt. Revd Robert Atwell,
now the Bishop of Exeter. Her husband, George, with
whom she was ordained in 1994, is Coordinating Chaplain
at Manchester Airport and they have two grown up children.
Between episcopal duties, she hopes to continue learning
the saxophone, supporting Manchester United and doing
cryptic crosswords.
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THE CHAPLAIN’S PENNANT
During the Dutch Wars in the 17th century,
when the English and Dutch fleets were
engaged in a series of battles in the English
Channel, both fleets were commanded by devoutly religious
officers; Admiral Blake for the English and Admiral Tromp
for the Dutch. They both ensured that every ship’s
company, before battle commenced, paused for prayers
before the mast-head at the start of each day. The worry
was that one side would steal an advantage over the other.
A solution was found when the two Admirals agreed
that in both fleets the English and Dutch national flags
would be sewn together and raised and lowered
simultaneously at the start and finish of masthead prayers.
A century later, when Rear-Admiral Richard Kempenfelt
devised a signalling system with flags for the Royal Navy, a
Church (or Chaplain’s) Pennant was created. Continuing the
experience from the Dutch Wars, the Cross of St. George
and the Dutch Tri-Colour were combined in a single
pennant. During divine service or a burial at sea the
pennant was to be flown from the Starboard outer yardarm.
By this time peace had been established between the
English and the Dutch, so the pennant was now a more
positive symbol of reconciliation. It has remained the
Church Pennant in the Royal Navy to this day. Every time it
is raised, during ship’s company prayers, the pennant is, in
one sense, an uncomfortable reminder of the ambiguity of
war, on sea or on land. Many on both sides of a conflict
devoutly pray that God will give them victory, assuming
God is on their side. Can God be on both sides at once?
Jesus has shown us where God is. He is alongside
anyone caught up in the turmoil and agony of life’s
experience, redeeming us by his love, whichever side we
are on, deserving or not.
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SALUTING FREE TRADE
This month we can celebrate two decades of the
Fairtrade movement, founded back in 1995.
Recent research showed that 78% of the UK
public now recognise the Fairtrade Mark, which
stands for the world’s largest and most
recognised fair-trade system.
Its aim is to
secure a better deal for farmers and workers. Based in
Bonn, Germany, it sets international standards, organises
support for producers around the world and promotes trade
justice internationally.
The work of building a market for fair-trade products
is carried out by national Fairtrade organisations across the
world. There are such organisations not only in Europe but
also in India, South Korea, Hong Kong and Kenya.
An independent company runs the Fairtrade
certification system, ensuring that the relevant social and
environmental standards are met for new raw materials and
products. Here in the UK, the Fairtrade Foundation is an
independent organisation that provides independent
certification that licenses use of the Fairtrade Mark on
products in the UK. The Foundation was established in
1992 by CAFOD, Christian Aid, Oxfam, Traidcraft and the
National Federation of Women’s Institutes.

LITTLE TEAPOT
Our new curate had young children and they
insisted he choose for his screensaver a picture
of a dancing teapot, playing the children's song ‘I'm a Little
Teapot’. When the earnest young HR officer for the diocese
came to call, she sent back a message to the bishop: “The
curate may be suffering from an identity disorder."
- 17 -
LET’S TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER
Ten years ago this month in Kyoto an
international treaty was signed to deal with the
vexed issue of climate change. For once the
world’s leaders were talking our language,
because British people are experts on weather.
That’s mainly because ours keeps changing,
whereas some poor people only have the same sunny
weather all year round.
So the British are experts on weather.
Climate
change is nothing new to us - we experience it three times
a day.
However, we are also aware that things are
changing in a more fundamental way. My youngest grandchild didn’t see snow on the ground till he was five, whereas
in my childhood it came every year, just after Christmas,
‘deep and crisp and even’.
Even more remarkably, it was not so long ago about 200 years - that the Thames was frozen over and
people skated across it. Rather further back, though in
cosmic time quite recently, there was the Ice Age. In the
part of north London where I lived for thirty years you could
still see long banks of rubble where soil and stones had
been pushed along by the advancing ice. It was just short
of the North Circular Road - people observed that even
thousands of years ago you couldn’t get across it.
The difference this time, as Kyoto argued, is that it’s
not the neutral forces of nature that are changing our
climate, but our own modern way of life. This is change
caused by our own indulgence - motor cars and lorries, air
transport all over the globe, factories burning fossil fuel,
central heating and air-conditioning. When there are
vineyards in Derbyshire and heat-waves at Christmas, at
least we’ll know who to blame. Personally, I think it sounds
quite nice, so long as there’s a bit of snow in August.
- 18 -
YOUTUBE IS 10 YEARS OLD!
The mind-boggling phenomenon that is
YouTube leaves its mark on more than one
billion people each month, yet it was created
only ten years ago.
The video-sharing
website was officially launched in November
2005 after several months of testing, but it
first saw the light in the February, when it was created in
California by three former PayPal employees.
It was bought by Google for 1.65 billion dollars in
November 2006, and now over six billion hours of video are
watched on it each month – that's almost an hour for every
person on Earth. The content, which is free, varies hugely
from amateurish home-produced clips to professional videos
uploaded for marketing purposes. You can find music of
every kind, blogs, comedy, trailers for films and sometimes
the films themselves.
YouTube does its best to monitor and exclude
offensive material, while asking users for trust and respect.
It says: “We're not asking for the kind of respect reserved
for nuns, the elderly and brain surgeons. We trust you to be
responsible, and millions of users respect that trust.” At the
same time strong community guidelines are enforced to
remove controversial content like sex and nudity, hate,
exploitation of children, horrific footage and dangerous acts.
Christians have made wide use of YouTube to offer
spiritual content ranging from televangelism to Bible
exposition and meditative moments.
For the average
Christian one of its most useful roles is in showing old and
new worship songs sung by a variety of individuals or
groups. It has no "spirituality" channel, but YouTube is
easy to search. Still, as early as 2007 a group of Christian
entrepreneurs thought it necessary to found GodTube,
essentially a YouTube for Christian content.
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POINTS TO PONDER
Francois de La Rochefoucauld: “Good advice is
something a man gives when he is too old to set a
bad example.”
Bertrand Russell: “Science may set limits to
knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination.”
Richard Bach: “The more I want to get something done,
the less I call it work.”
Mahatma Gandhi:
“Indolence is a delightful but
distressing state; we must be doing something to be
happy.”
Pearl Buck: “Every great mistake has a halfway moment,
a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps
remedied.”
Sir Winston Churchill: “We make a living by what we get,
we make a life by what we give.”
Victor Borge:
two people.”
“A smile is the shortest distance between
E V Lucas: “I have noticed that the people who are late
are often so much jollier than the people who have to wait
for them.”
George Bernard Shaw: “Democracy is a device that
ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.”
Mary Tyler Moore: “Having a dream is what keeps you
alive. Overcoming the challenges make life worth living.”
Arthur Schopenhauer: “All truth passes through three
stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed.
Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”
George Herbert: “Go not for every grief to the physician,
nor for every quarrel to the lawyer, nor for every thirst to
the pot.”
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SUNDAY READINGS IN FEBRUARY
Sunday 1st February – THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST
OLD TESTAMENT: Malachi 3.1-5
Malachi portrays man’s encounter with God as a time
of trial and judgement in which our shortcomings are
exposed and commitment to the Lord tested.
NEW TESTAMENT: Hebrews 2.14-end
Christ liberates us from the power of death and
enables us to choose life. Christ enables us to reject
temptation with him and thereby live.
GOSPEL: Luke 2.22-40
Jesus’ unique identity and importance is confirmed by
the testimony of Simeon and Anna.
Sunday 8th February – 2ND SUNDAY BEFORE LENT
OLD TESTAMENT: Proverbs 8.1, 22-31
Solomon is wise. He rejoices in the presence of the
Lord and the world he has made.
GOSPEL: John 1.1-14
John is sent by God as a witness to His coming. He
comes to us as the Word made flesh, the Word in
whom we see glory, grace and truth.
Sunday 15th February – SUNDAY NEXT BEFORE LENT
OLD TESTAMENT: 2 Kings 2.1-12
Elisha witnesses his father Elijah’s ascent into heaven
and is empowered to carry on his ministry.
NEW TESTAMENT: 2 Corinthians 4.3-6
Paul challenges his Christian converts to set the
values of God’s truth and Gospel firmly above the
gods of earthly concern.
GOSPEL: Mark 9.2-9
Peter, James and John witness the transfiguration of
Jesus on the mountain.
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Sunday 22nd February – LENT 1
OLD TESTAMENT: Genesis 9.8-17
God makes a covenant with Noah, his descendants
and all living creatures that never again will there be
a flood to destroy the earth.
NEW TESTAMENT: Mark 1.9-15
After being baptised by John, Jesus goes into the
desert for forty days and is tempted by Satan. He
then proclaims the good news of God.

TOUCH WOOD
The words touch wood, by which the speaker
hopes to stave off a reversal of present good
fortune, are almost always accompanied by
rapping on something wooden.
Winston
Churchill, probably tongue in cheek, said that he rarely liked
‘to be any considerable distance from a piece of wood’.
Several theories are put forward for the practice.
In the ancient times of the druids, it was believed
that good spirits lived within the trees. People seeking
particular help would rap on a tree to implore the spirit’s aid
or protection. ‘They’d knock on a tree and would timidly
say to the spirit who might be within there that day; fairy
fair, fairy fair, wish thou me well; ‘gainst evil witcheries
weave me a spell!’
Some authorities suggest that the expression is not
pagan but of Christian origin and that the wood to be
touched was that of the rosary or crucifix.
Finally, there is a children’s game, touch-wood in
which one child chases the others who are safe only when
touching wood. Touch-iron is a well known alternative but
has not entered the language and perhaps makes the
theory of touch-wood the least likely of the three.
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FROM THE REGISTERS
FUNERALS
Jan 7th
Jan 15th
Eric BERRIMAN (98)
John SUGDEN (93)
Dorrie LUMSDEN (90)

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ALTAR FLOWERS
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
1st
8th
15th
22nd
Mrs R Parsons
Mrs R Parsons
Mrs R Parsons
No flowers

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WINTER GARDEN
_______________________________________
In winter's cold and sparkling snow,
The garden in my mind does grow.
I look outside to blinding white,
And see my tulips blooming bright.
And over there a sweet carnation,
Softly scents my imagination.
(by Cynthia Adams)


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MAGAZINE DEADLINE
The deadline for the March edition of
the Church Magazine is 10.00 am on
Wednesday, 11th February 2015
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