3 Feb 2008 - Pew News

Readings:- To be announced

8.00 am Holy Communion Stamford Bridge

ARE YOU NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE?

Michael Catterick

Do you give something up for Lent each year (NEGATIVE) or do you take on a new challenge (POSITIVE)?

For over fifty years I have started something positive at the beginning of Lent and I have continued it from then on. One of my earliest decisions was to smile at people in the street and say "hello" to them. Six years ago I took on the responsibility of producing our simple sheet of service times. Since then I have developed it into the Pew News you are reading and, hopefully, enjoying today. This year I am looking at the church finances and how I can help.

Our Diocesan Quota was raised by 10% last year and will be raised by 10% each year for the next four years. This is in addition to all our other costs. So it got me thinking. If we all increased our giving by 10% each year for the next four years church funds would be much improved. "Ten per cent." I hear you say, "I can’t afford that and, in any case, it won’t make much difference." But think about it. For every £1 add 10 pence. £52 per annum plus 10% increases to £57.20. Gift Aiding will increase it even more, at no extra cost to you, to £73.22!

This year I will increase my weekly church giving by 10% and will increase it by 10% each year for the next four years. Why not join me in this POSITIVE action starting this Lent?

CANDLEMASS

David Sellick

We always hear a lot about the number of days that there are to go BEFORE Christmas; but forty days AFTER Christmas comes the feast of Candlemas. Farmers in Scotland used to expect to pay their next instalment of rent and get a slap-up supper from the Squire on Candlemas. But that’s not why the Christian church celebrates the day.

The name "Candlemas" does seem to indicate a pre-electric age. But the theme was clearly taken up from the event we also call "The Presentation of Christ in the Temple" where the aged Simeon made his prediction that Jesus would be "a light to lighten the Gentiles", to use the words of the Nunc Dimitis from evensong. When Christianity got to Britain the best type of artificial light would have been candles; hence Candlemas. Joseph and Mary were celebrating the fact that their child had survived for a month and a half at a time and in a country where the infant mortality rate would have been pretty high. There was a set ceremony to perform; the family, ‘church’ and society expected it; another one of those events for the Blessed Virgin Mary to treasure up in her heart and ponder over.

Re-reading that made me think about what are the occasions we celebrate these days. The card manufacturers urge us to celebrate dozens of "rites of passage" besides birthdays; wedding anniversaries, exam successes, passing driving tests, getting new jobs and so forth on the secular front but also baptism, confirmation, ordination, bar mitzvah and, for the liberal Jews bat mitzvah for the girls too.

The most recent addition to the list of things to celebrate in this country has been for immigrants who successfully apply for British Citizenship. Since January 1st 2004 local authorities have been encouraged to hold ceremonies where a local dignitary like a mayor makes a speech of welcome to the successful applicants and their guests; the applicants swear or affirm an oath of allegiance to the Queen and pledge loyalty to the United Kingdom and then are presented with certificates. Some people have sniffed at the idea of Citizenship Ceremonies but it seems to me that gaining citizenship is a "rite of passage" worth celebrating; perhaps we reserved English don’t celebrate some events and landmarks enough.

BIBLE NOTES & BOOK SALE

Evelyn & Michael Catterick

Over the last year a number of the congregation from the three parishes have been purchasing Bible Notes for their own home study. There are four suggested booklets:- New Daylight, Every Day with Jesus, Daily Bread and Guidelines. We will shortly be holding a book sale in St John’s starting on 9th March when copies of these booklets will be on show together with a wide selection of other books. We will be taking standing orders if required. St John’s will receive a 12.5% discount on all sales which will go into church funds. Please support this way of raising money.

TWO OPPORTUNITIES

for reflection and quiet in Lent:

MOTHERS’ UNION

Sylvia Ward.

ADAM & EVE had an ideal marriage. He didn't have to hear about all the men she could have married, and she didn't have to hear about the way his mother cooked.

AN ELDERLY WOMAN died last month. Having never married, she requested no male pallbearers. In her handwritten instructions for her memorial service, she wrote: They wouldn't take me out while I was alive, so I don't want them to take me out when I'm dead.

CASTING ALL YOU CARE UPON GOD, FOR HE CARETH FOR YOU.

Come, heavy souls, oppressed that are