Priory News, May 2006

From the Curate

Dear Friends,

On 23rd May we have pleasure in welcoming the Archdeacon of Lincoln, the Ven. Arthur Hawes, and hosting the annual Visitation and Admission of Churchwardens.

The office of churchwarden is an ancient one; the first recorded mention, as far as I am aware, dates back to 1127 ( i.e. only just before the foundation of this Church). Churchwardens are the 'proper guardians and keepers of the parish church '. Their duties have slimmed down considerably since Tudor times when they became effectively local government officers in addition to their church responsibilities – which included reporting any scandalous faults in the laity! However, churchwardens still have the heavy responsibility of 'encouraging the practice of true religion, promoting unity and peace, maintaining the order and decoration of he church and churchyard and taking charge of the church's moveable property'.

In Deeping St. James we have been well served over he years by our wardens. We offer our sincere thanks to Bet Washbrooke, our outgoing warden, to John Worthington, her successor, and to Richard Gamman as he continues in office. Please pray for John and Richard, not only on 23rd May but regularly. It is through your prayers that both wardens and clergy are encouraged and upheld in the many aspects of their ministry.

All are welcome to the service at which John and Richard will be sworn in. The service begins at 8.00 p.m. but please do join us from 7.15 p.m. onwards for refreshments.

Readings for May

7th May, 4th Sunday of Easter:

• Morning: Acts 4: 5-12; 1 John 3: 16-end; John 10: 11-18
• 18:00: Exodus 16: 4-15; Revelation 2: 12-17

14th May, 5th Sunday of Easter:

• Morning: Acts 10: 44-end; 1 John 4: 7-end (08:00 only); John 15: 1-8
• 18:00: Isaiah 60: 1-14; Mark 16: 9-16

21st May, 6th Sunday of Easter:

• Morning: Acts 10: 44-end; 1 John 5: 1-6; John 15: 9-17

25th May, Ascension Day:

• 19:30: Acts 1: 1-11; Ephesians 1: 15-end; Luke 24: 44-end

28th May, 7th Sunday of Easter:

• Morning: Acts 1: 15-17, 21-end; 1 John 5: 9-13; John 17: 6-19

Home Groups

• Bible Study: Fridays at 10am at the Vicarage
• Priory Prayer Group: 4th and 18th April at 19 Ascendale
• House Group: Every Wednesday, 7.30 pm at 45 Crowson Way; Everyone welcome

What Has the Vicar Let Himself in For?

The Bishop of Lincoln has appointed our Vicar as Rural Dean for the deanery of Aveland and Ness with Stamford in addition to his present post as Vicar of Deeping St James. Deaneries do not figure much in the minds of most members of the Church, so some explanation of the place of the deanery and the role of the Rural Dean might be helpful for many readers.

A deanery is an administrative unit consisting of a varied number of parishes and helps the Church in its mission and ministry by providing mutual support and assistance and a channel of communication with the Bishop and diocese. The deanery's governing body is its Deanery Synod, to which our own parish elects three representatives at our Annual Parochial Church Meeting every three years. Smaller parishes elect fewer representatives. Ours at present are Simon Marshall, Cled Bennett and Niccy Fisher, together with the clergy. The Synod is chaired jointly by the Rural Dean and a Lay Chair (at present David Tabor of Bourne), and the Rural Dean is also responsible for convening the clergy Chapter for prayer, business and study at least nine times per year. The Synod meets at least three times a year, with its Standing and Pastoral Committees meeting between to plan the agenda and to draft plans for Synod debate.

In his letter inviting Mark to consider becoming Rural Dean, Bishop John wrote, "It is a demanding role, and one upon which I place considerable importance. The Clergy look to the Rural Dean for support and leadership, and the Bishops and Archdeacons also relate to Rural Deans as an important part of our ministry of communication and pastoral care. But I believe it is a challenging role that most Rural Deans enjoy, notwithstanding the additional responsibilities incurred." Rural Deans are licensed for three years at a time.

Our deanery stretches from Stamford in the west and Deeping St James in the east to Billingborough and Horbling in the north and at present has ten full-time and one half-time priests of incumbent status, together with a couple of paid assistant curates and some non-stipendiary and local ministers.

One challenge facing us is that we are currently living beyond our means and must reduce the number of stipendiary posts to 8.5 or find a very considerable extra income from giving. It is not difficult to create vacancies when clergy leave: the hard part is making a plan for the sort of ministry we eventually want to provide and then waiting for the vacancies to turn up in the right places to enable the plan to be implemented. This is one of the tasks of the Deanery Synod and its Deanery Pastoral Committee, which acts as our Mission Area Planning Group.

Another challenge is the development of a just and fair formula for the allocation of ministry costs between the parishes of the deanery: the diocese calculates how much each deanery needs to raise to cover the cost of the resources it uses and to pay for central costs both nationally and within the diocese. By far the largest cost is that of our own stipendiary clergy, and next is our contribution to the central support services of our diocese. Our task is the thorny issue of how much each church should be contributing towards the total amount the deanery has to find. Our own PCC, along with all the others, has just received a consultation document on this subject from our deanery treasurer, and you will no doubt be hearing much more about this in the coming weeks. The hope is to tie it all up by the end of the year so that next year's contributions can be calculated on the new formula instead of on the ad-hoc system being used at present and which is based upon out-of date figures.

These two challenges face all of us and especially those on our deanery synod, and the Rural Dean and Lay Chair will try to guide us through the decision-making process. There will certainly be controversy along the way and much need for prayer, generosity and sacrifice as together we seek God's will for his church and for us as a parish and as individual Christians in the coming years.

Please pray for all the members of Deanery Synod and for Mark as he takes up his new role. By the time you read this a date may be known for his licensing by the Bishop of Grantham, but as Mark is already licensed as Assistant Rural Dean he is already gradually taking over duties from Neil Russell, Vicar of Stamford All Saints, the outgoing Rural Dean.

Good Friday 2006

Over sixty Primary and pre-school children and their families took part in a Children's 'Way of the Cross' at the Priory Church on the morning of Good Friday. Easter came a little early for them when they then went to the hall and participated in various craft activities prepared by our leaders, assistants and teenage helpers. The children made Bunny Boxes to keep their chick cakes safe, chocolate nests, an Easter card, jewelry in the shape of a cross, and Funky Foam bookmarks. They tried their hands at painting eggs, making a seasonal floral arrangement and performing a Magic Trick. They were joined at the end by the adult congregation and together enjoyed seasonal refreshments and the Explorers production of a Passion Play in the Vicarage garden. Tom's performance of the Centurian was worthy of an Oscar, as was Daniel's portrayal of the brother-pecked (as opposed to hen-pecked!) Simon of Cyrene.

The Art Project' this year was an individual 'hand-lily' made by drawing round one hand, cutting out, and rolling this round a straw with a pipe cleaner inside! This made a very effective flower and several vases of these have made a colourful contribution to the Easter decoration of the Church.

Many thanks to all those who helped in any way, including the donation of mini-eggs and various other materials and resources.

Pentecost Sunday - 4th June 2006

On 15 May 2005, at the invitation of Africa, Christians from a!! denominations in more than 156 countries united in prayer to ask God to bless the nations . . , so that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord (Hab.2:14). This event marked the greatest Christian gathering in the world with more than 220 million Christians praying together.

Responding to the call Lincolnshire joined with the rest of the world and over 2500 people from the East Midlands and beyond gathered at Sincil Bank Football Stadium, Lincoln for a glorious day of worship and prayer for our region and nation as we!! as the world.

This year is the second phase of a 5 year vision to have all 245 countries in the world participating in prayer for revival and transformation on Pentecost Sunday of each year until 2010.

Lincolnshire Showground is located adjacent to the A15 about 5 miles north of Lincoln. Admission is free and there is ample free parking on site. Gates will be open at !2.30pm and we would encourage you to bring a picnic lunch (with rugs and/or folding chairs) and make it a family day out.

The 250th. Anniversary of Mozart's birth.

COOKING WITH MARGARET

Lemon Curd Brûlée

• 568 ml carton double cream
• 225g good lemon curd
• 4-5 tsp icing sugar.

In a large bowl, whisk the cream with an electric whisk until it just holds its shape, then stir in the lemon curd.

Spoon into six 9cm/3½in ramekins and smooth the tops. Chill for at least 1 hour or overnight if preferred.

Pre-heat the grill. Sift a thin layer of icing sugar over each ramekin. Grill for about 2-3 mins until the sugar has caramelised. Alternatively you can use a blowtorch. Serve straight away.

Registers for March 2006

FUNERALS: We commend to God's keeping:

• 3rd March Dorothy Otter (81) (ashes interred 13th March)
• 9th March Russell Vickers (41)
• 9th March Kenneth Hutchinson (91)
• 23rd March Violet Millard

• The ashes of Beryl Murray were interred in the cemetery on 20th March