Priory News, July 2007

Deeping St James Parish Church Magazine

Photographs of some parish events are available in our Photograph Album elsewhere on the site

To:

• Scripture readings for Sunday
• Archive of past editions of Priory News
• Cooking with Margaret

Sonia Marshall

To see your reading in advance without having to mark your bible pages, you can copy your reference and paste it into the improvedoremus Bible Browser (or type in your reference) and print out the reading. The translation used in church is the New Revised Standard Version, which is the default version on oremus.

1st July, 4th Sunday after Trinity:

• Morning: 1 Kings 19: 15-16, 19-end; Galatians 5: 1, 13-25; Luke 9: 51-end
• 18:00: Genesis 27: 1-40; Mark 6: 1-6

8th July, 5th Sunday after Trinity:

• Morning: Isaiah 66: 10-14 (08:00 only); Galatians 6: 7-16; Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
• 18:00: Genesis 29: 1-20; Mark 6: 7-29

15th July, 6th Sunday after Trinity:

• Morning: Deuteronomy 30: 9-14; Colossians 1: 1-14; Luke 10: 25-37

22nd July, Mary Magdalene:

• Morning: Song of Solomon 3: 1-4; 2 Corinthians 5: 14--17; John 20: 1-2,11-18

Wednesday 25th July, James the Apostle:

• 19:30: Acts 11: 27 - 12: 2; 2 Corinthians 4: 7-15; Matthew 20: 20-28

29th July, 8th Sunday after Trinity:

• Morning: Genesis 18: 20-32; Colossians 2: 6-15; Luke 11:1-13

Home Groups

• Bible Study: Fridays at 10 am at 91 Manor Way
• House Group: Every Wednesday, 7.30 pm at 45 Crowson Way - Everyone welcome

Priory Prayer Group

Owing to circumstances, the Priory Prayer Group has, for the time being, ceased its regular fortnightly meetings.
We must pray to our Lord that a way will be found for it to again provide the parish with a power house of prayer.
Bernard Babb

Notices

This month we celebrate James the Apostle, patron saint of this village.
Sung Eucharist on 25th July, St James's Day, at 7.30pm. Do try to make a point of being there to give thanks to God not just for James's life and work but also for this village and its parish church which has witnessed to Christ and served the people for over 860 years.

Postage Stamps

Our charity stamp collecting has been kindly taken over by Paul Boswell. There will continue to be a box at the back of church but if you prefer or need to send them yourself, the address is:

Stamps for Evangelism
11 St John's Drive
DERBY
DE21 6SD

SOCIAL COMMITTEE

Notes for the diary:

• Concert on the Lawn 14th July. Tickets from Johanna Jones & Sue Marsh.
• Harvest Lunch & Auction 7th October.
• Memorial Service 4th November
• Remembrance Service 11th November

EXPLORING OUR FAITH

Would you like to deepen your understanding of the Christian faith? For many years the 'Exploring Our Faith' course has been helping people in the Diocese of Lincoln to do just that – people who are comparatively new to the Church and people who join as a 'refresher', to explore beliefs that they have held for years. You don't have to be at all knowledgeable or academic to enjoy the course, just willing to study and discuss what you believe with others in the context of a small group.

The course lasts for two years. It begins with a 'taster' session, introducing what it's about and the sort of work it involves. There are then six units of six sessions each. In the groups that I have tutored so far, we have more or less arranged the sessions so that we meet once a fortnight during the school terms, for about an hour and a half.

The topics covered in the first year are 'Worship', 'Opening the Bible', and 'God in the World'. The second year begins with two options chosen from a list of five: 'What Christians Believe' and 'Ways of Praying' are usually particularly popular. Then everything comes together with a final session on 'Living as Christians'.

Having seen how much most of the people who take part enjoy and profit from the experience, I have offered to run another course, beginning in September, for anyone in this area who might be interested. We would need somewhere between three and twelve to make it work. Might you be one of them? If so, please get in touch with me by phone on 01778 342 927 or by email at jandjdanks@tiscali.co.uk

Janet Danks

News from Explorers, Climbers and Scramblers

The Children were very busy this June preparing for the Rose and Sweet Pea Show. Our Sunday theme was 'God's Wonderful World' with a particular focus on mini-beasts and insects. Climbers and Scramblers made some splendid models out of recyclable materials for the exhibition. Explorers tried a new artistic technique - they used seven foot long willow to construct a rigid frame which was then covered in tissue paper dipped in glue, dried and decorated! The final results are quite stunning and will remain in Church for a while for everyone to have a closer look. The children worked really hard on this tricky project and were delighted with the results.

Please note that our last session this academic year will be on Sunday 15th July. We shall start again on Sunday 9th September when any new members would be particularly welcome to join us.

Explorers (7 - 11), Climbers (5 - 7) and Scramblers (under 5) are on holiday now but will meet again on Sunday 11th September at 9.50am in the Church Hall. New members are always welcome. Please contact Andrea (Climbers and Scramblers) on 344926 or Alison (Explorers) on 345890 for more details.

News From The Tower

The Deeping St James Beaver pack visited the Belfry and saw the bells on 11 June, and from feedback, they all enjoyed their trip up the tower.

On the occasion that the Priory Players were performing in the church hall, the ringers took the opportunity to visit Uffington church and rang their bells for the evening, and all had a good experience ringing different bells.

We are also still supporting West Deeping church and manage to get a practice there once a month. Being the mainstay of ringers using their bells we are invited to ring for some of the weddings that are held there.

Clear Aisles and Warm People

As I write the craftsmen from Dunphy Ecclesiastical Heating have almost finished their work in the church building and we shall soon be able to tidy and clean behind them and restore some semblance of order to what can once again become a peaceful retreat from busyness. Already there is a greater sense of spaciousness arising from the removal of the intrusive old heating system and its replacement by something much more slimline and discreet.

We shall not be able to commission the system yet because we are still awaiting our connection to the gas supply. All the paperwork has been done now and we hope that by mid-August the gas should be connected and Dunphy's will be able to return for a day to fire up the boilers (we now have two!) and ensure that everything works before the cold weather arrives - this does allow for some slippage!

We have also been in touch with AJ Electrics who installed the lighting system last year, and they will be visiting soon to "tweak" the lighting programmes following our experience of the system for the first year.

When all of this has been done the building will, it is hoped, help us even more to glimpse the glory of God and to worship him effectively. To read our books, to be warm enough, to be able to move about without tripping over pipes, to appreciate the architecture, all of this will have been effected by the works of the last couple of years and has been made possible by the generosity of faithful members of our congregation who have left substantial legacies for the work of this church. In our turn we shall be handing on to future generations a building in good shape which will for a long time be an effective base for both worship and witness in this community.

Thanks be to God.

THE CHRISTIAN AND THE ELEMENTS

Earth

IT WOULD be difficult to find a more striking symbol of reverence for Earth, our planetary home, than the Late Pope John Paul II kneeling to kiss the ground on arrival by plane in a new country. Such reverence reminds us of Moses before 'the burning bush' and the words that God spoke to him on that occasion: 'the place whereon you stand is holy ground'. Not that that particular place was any holier or more important than any other place, but at that moment God spoke to Moses and Moses listened and obeyed. A showing of God such as that one, does not mean that the recipient is specially good. What it usually means is: 'there is work to be done and you are the person to do it'. John McCarthy had such a 'showing' in his cell in the Lebanon during his five years incarceration: coming as it did in a moment of despair he felt it to be the hand of God helping him to fight the extremity of evil. We should all be on the alert in case God wishes, from time to time, to speak to us directly and give us that immediate help that we need.

It is for this reason that there cannot be a 'green party' in Parliament: every party should be green; it is a part of the remit that God has supplied to his politicians on Earth. That is why we all have to take careful note about the conservation of trees, the stewardship of oil and coal, and the maintenance of agricultural land to feed the millions on the planet. We should all be green today.

The Christian in this respect needs to witness to the importance of a 'green philosophy and ecology' and refuse to waste the precious gifts that God supplies. Was Jesus concerned with conservation? A cursory examination of the 'sermon on the mount' assures us that he was: 'Consider the lilies of the field how they grow'; 'the foxes have holes and the birds of the air their nests': the whole panoply of nature is noticed and appreciated. Poets like Wordsworth are full of delight in nature, and the psalms in the Old Testament are filled with the natural and its glory. Our daily prayer should be the praise and glory of God in our appreciation of our planet Earth.

N.W.G.

The First Deepings Lecture - a success for Deeping Churches Together

About eighty people attended the "first" Deepings Lecture on Thursday 21st June at Deeping St James Community Primary School and heard the Venerable Michael Ipgrave, a national adviser on interfaith issues, speak about Building Bridges with Islam. Using the image of the bridge at Mostar joining Christian and Muslimsides of the city and symbolically destroyed during the Balkans conflict (since rebuilt - the speaker has walked over the new bridge), Michael spoke of the need for dialogue between the faiths. He described quite movingly the internation discussions in which he has been involved, alongside the Archbishop of Canterbury, with Muslim leaders, often against a background of conflict between nations which is couched in religious terms.

He emphasised the need to respect each other's sincerely-held beliefs but also the need to be able to say, without falling out, "I disagree." Describing the different views of the figure of Abraham held by Muslims, Christians and Jews, Michael spoke of three obstructions to reconciliation between members of the three religions.

First is Memory: we each tend to remember when our faith has been offended but tend to forget when it has offended the others. There has been much that has been good, but we often concentrate on the bad. We need to remember when we have been able to get along well in spite of our differences, such as in medieval Spain.

Second are the Stereotypes: these are the false images we make of each other, the refusal to see members of the other faith as individuals. Both "sides" can be guilty of this, and one can hear Muslims assuming that all Christians are bound up with drugs and sexual immorality, and Christians assuming that Muslims regard terrorist muderers as martyrs. This can be countered by making real efforts to make friends with members of the other faith and being able to see that this is not so.

The third obstruction is the idea of "Succession", that each later religion completely supersedes the earlier, so Christians might see in their faith as meaning and end to Judaism and so losing respect for Jews (St Paul says otherwise in Romans), and Muslims might think Christianity is no longer necessary and lose respect for Christians. This is where the need to be able to say, "I disagree" becomes very important.

After a break there was a discussion based upon questions from the floor and chaired by our County Councillor, Philip Dilks. Philip thanked the speaker and congratulated Deeping Churches Together on beginning what it was hoped would be a series of lectures with such an important topic and such a distiguished speaker. He looked forward to seeing what the Second Deepings Lecture would bring.

When I found this bit of humour I hadn't read the Bishop's Letter which seemed to make it more pertinent - Dave

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHOM TO MARRY? (Written by kids)

No person really decides before they grow up who they're going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you're stuck with. -- Kristen, age 10

WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?

Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then. -- Camille, age 10

HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?

You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids. -- Derrick, age 8

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MUM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?

Both don't want any more kids. -- Lori, age 8

WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?

When they're rich. -- Pam, age 7

The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do. -- Howard, age 8

IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?

It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them. -- Anita, age 9 (bless you child)

HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?

There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn't there? -- Kelvin, age 8

And the No.1 Favorite is........

HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?

Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a truck. -- Ricky, age 10

BISHOP'S LETTER

Where are Marriages made?

In Heaven, some would say. On the other hand, the TV reality show Marriages from Hell has had little difficulty in recruiting participants!

The answer, of course, is that marriages are made where two people make a life commitment of faithfulness to one another, and determine to make that a matter of public record. So whilst marriage remains an intensely personal matter between the parties involved, it can never be totally private and unobserved. Neither can it be undertaken on a whim and without involving others. This requires a venue where the marriage can be witnessed and registered according to law – and thereby hangs a tail!

Whilst we tend to think of marriages in hotels or castles or on tropical beaches as modern innovations, and even deviations from the norm of marriage in Church, this norm is relatively recent in our history. Even then, the ceremony would have been at the Church door rather than in the Church itself.

However, for several centuries now the vast majority of couples have been married in Church and, if not, it has been the Church's rules which have prevented them. This steady state of affairs almost certainly led to the risk of complacency as the Church took for granted its monopoly role when it came to the provision of venues and legal services.

This is no longer the case. Consequently, Councils and Synods are having to re-visit the terms and conditions governing marriage in Church. For example, should restrictions on where people can be married be lifted so that a couple can be married in any Church of their choosing? Should the words and music used in Church weddings be more flexible and responsive to personal preferences? Should Parish Churches become much more "competitive" when it comes to what they provide and how much is charged?

Certainly we need to be more pro-active in promoting our Churches as places where weddings are welcome and care is taken to make that special day extra special. Evidence suggests an upturn in the number of Church weddings as a proportion of the number celebrated each year. This could be because many people have now attended weddings at non-Church venues and feel that they would prefer what the Church has to offer.

Surveys indicate that it is often the prettiness of the place or the grandeur of the building which governs this preference. But people also speak about the ambiance, the ethos and the spiritual atmosphere of a Church which makes them feel it is the right venue for them. All this in addition to those for who making their vows before God in God's house is what matters most of all.

So weddings in Church continue to offer opportunities for teaching, pastoral care and evangelism towards those who seek us out for what they believe only a Church can give them at a crucial moment in their lives. Let us be bold in letting them know we are there for them, and let us be glad and grateful for the opportunity they give us to minister God's grace and share the good news of God's redeeming love.

+ John Lincoln

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