| Deanery Newsletter - 19th October, 2011 |
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Dear all, Just to say that there will be no newsletter next week as I am going to see my daughter Claire in Scotland!
Last Friday
The weekend got off to a wonderful start when Gainford CE school and St. Osmund's pre-school held their Harvest Festival in church. What was pleasing was how many adults turned up - so we had 95 kids and between 50 & 60 adults. What was pleasing was one of the young mums on her way out came over to me and said "I'm a pagan - but that was lovely". Job done!
Sunday morning
As I've said recently, Gainford is feeling pretty buoyant at the moment so it was lovely to get 80 souls all told on Sunday Morning for our Harvest service. The Brownies made a lovely collage which we are now using as our altar frontal. If you want to know what I said in my address about Harvest just click on this following link.http://revmartinjacques.blogspot.com/2011/10/food-for-thought.html I got the passage wrong it is Luke 17:11-19, not Matthew but I don't know how to edit it once I've posted it - ha ha.
Winston had the usual Sunday readings this morning so if you want to know what I said in my sermon there on the gospel Matthew 22: 15-22 just click here. http://revmartinjacques.blogspot.com/2011/10/food-for-thought.html
Next Sunday's gospel - Matthew 22: 34 - 46 - A way in.
How can you command love? The greatest commandment is to love God with all our "heart, soul and strength" and the second is like it "to love our neighbours as ourselves". Well you can command love if you understand love not just as an emotion but as a programme of action. From the Jewish perspective to love God was to follow the law (Torah) from the heart (meaning the will), to risk one's life (soul) in defence of the law, and put ones strength (our property and resources) at the disposal of God's elect (The Temple). To see love as practical action rather than just a gooey emotion needs a greater shift in perspective for us, so steeped are we in a culture in which "love" is now almost wholly associated with romantic love and its physical expression in sex. It's not that romantic love is unconnected - see the Song of Songs(!) - but that love is not just that.
Coming up...Tomorrow!
There is to be a theatre performance in St Mary's Barnard Castle on Thursday 20th October at 7.30pm. North Country Theatre are performing The Rocking Horse Winner by DH Lawrence. Tickets are £8 in advance from me (Robert Stenlake, 01833 637334) or from The Moody Baker (22 Horsemarket, Barnard Castle) or £10 on the door. see below for extract from: http://www.northcountrytheatre.com/what.html: The Rocking Horse Winner A rare supernatural tale from one of the 20th century’s great novelists, The Rocking Horse Winner takes young Paul on a wild ride in search of two things: the approval of his mother and the place where Luck is. But how far will his sinister old rocking horse take him ? Set against a vivid background of colourful race meetings, jockeys, touts and bookies this dark psychological thriller is laced with satire and lends itself to the highly visual theatrical style of this popular company. Following the great success of “A Blood Wedding in Wensleydale” this adaptation is collaboration between touring company North Country Theatre and The Harrogate Theatre and will open on the main stage at Harrogate on 21st September before touring regionally. “There is no limit to this company’s invention” The Stage And starting today........ Perhaps your church needs some of the following? From today Wednesday until Saturday - 10am -4pm each day there will be the Ultimate Table top sale to raise funds for the Witham Hall redevelopment. The sale will include a variety of items including a computer desk, cupboards, shelves, desks, tables, mirror, chairs, blinds, Christmas decorations, many smaller items and even an upright piano! All larger items much be collected on or before the last day of the sale. Any offers will be considered. A full list of items is available from the Witham office between 10am - 3pm every day except Thursday. For more information contact Annalisa Ward on 07928 901621 The lighter side! I thought this was brilliant.
The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid term. Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following: First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. This gives two possibilities: 1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose. 2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. So which is it?
If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over.
The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God." Advance Notice. A special event will be taking place in St. Mary's Barnard Castle on Sunday 11th December from 3pm - 5pm. "Exploring the themes of Advent through Mark's gospel". Making space in the busyness of Christmas to contemplate the meaning of God incarnate in the 21st century through discussion and reflection using art, literature, film and the gospel for the new church year. The facilitator will be the Revd. Judith Walker-Hutchinson. A Warm Welcome To Canon Neil Russell, a retired priest, and his wife who have just moved into Gainford. Neil has applied for "Permission to officiate" in Durham Diocese, and we look forward to getting to know him better in the weeks, months and years ahead.
Thought for the day
On Monday evening I had to do a presentation on Mission for a group of Anglican and Methodist ministers, so had to ferret around finding out all sorts of things as well as give it all a bit of thought. There was a two pronged attack given with my customary disregard for normative Western Christian orthodoxy (I've still got my job I think). First of all, my premise was that spirituality had been squeezed out of the church, so that the experience of many was that our services seem dry, grey and lifeless. There is no easy answer to this but I need to say that God is Trinity, Father, Word, and Holy Spirit. Because in the West our Trinitarian theology is so weak, the three strands of the Trinity have become separated. Put very crudely, Catholic services tend to reflect the Father more, evangelicals are generally Christocentric (and word based) and Pentecostals/Charismatics are more spirit based. The three strand rope has become unbound and somehow we need to entwine them back together into an integrated whole. How do we put the Spirit back into the church? I'm inclined to say that He is there already and never left of course. But unveiling the presence of the fullness of God is a corporate exercise. I'll say no more, but corporate consciousness of the unifying presence of the divine mystery, and being open to his touch and prompting leads to the sense of transcendence that many crave. When was the last time you felt excited, that's right, I said excited, to be in church, to get closer to the source of all things?
My second line of thought was on what leads to sustained church growth. Cutting to the quick, research suggests that small nurture groups are the tried and tested way to teach, encourage, and form Christian faith in a way which is impossible to do on a Sunday morning. Crucially these are places in which relationships can be forged and in time, real issues and problems and doubts can be aired and shared in a secure and nurturing environment. In my role as Deanery Missioner I will be giving both these issues my attention. If anyone feels they would like to help me in these tasks just say so and we can do something together.
The Prayer for today. I have turned to the East for our prayer today which has a slightly different and more integrated understanding of the Trinity. This Orthodox prayer is taken from Vespers on the feast of Pentecost. Theological note: See how the Spirit proceeds from the Father, not the Father and the Son!
One power, one essence, one Godhead
Whom we all worship, and to whom we say
Holy God, who has created all things
Through the Son, by the co-operation of the Holy Spirit;
Holy and strong, through whom we know the Father
And through whom the Holy Spirit came to dwell within the world;
Holy and immortal, Paraclete Spirit,
Proceeding from the Father and resting on the Son.
Holy Trinity, Glory to thee.
Love and peace
Martin
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