INFORM
NOVEMBER 2008
INFORM is
the monthly magazine of the Methodist churches in
Foxton, Orwell, Papworth & Royston
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At the going down of the sun and in the morning we
will remember them |
This is an extract from our magazine - if you would like
to request a full copy of INFORM, please click on the cover picture on the
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FOR YOUR INFORMATION
NEXT ISSUE: Items for
the next issue of INFORM may be passed directly to the Editor not later than 13th
November
CHURCH
INFORMATION
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FOXTON |
Station Road |
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ORWELL |
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PAPWORTH |
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ROYSTON |
Queen’s Road |
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MINISTER |
The Minister for the four churches is: |
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EDITOR |
For further information about any item, activity or group |
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Deputy Editor |
Mr
Richard Elcock |
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*
How well do you remember the 1960’s? As I was only born in
1963 I have to confess that the Beatles are a vague memory, and flower power
was nothing but an excuse that my Mum used once to put flowered patches on the knees
of my jeans when I wore them through. However, those memories that I do have,
are supplemented by the television of that era which seems to live on, with
shows such as The Prisoner, Thunderbirds, The Avengers and many others still
gracing the schedules of the huge number of television channels that we now
have available to us.
One show that you may remember is “The man from U.N.C.L.E.”.
You may also remember that its ground breaking premise was that it starred
Robert Vaughn and David McCallum as Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, an
American and a Russian agent who contrary to the global politics of the time,
worked along with Leo G. Carroll who played Alexander Waverly, the British head
of the U.N.C.L.E. organization, to take on the forces of THRUSH. THRUSH posed
such a threat to the world that they needed to be tackled by all the world
powers working together. And what was the threat that THRUSH posed that was so
terrible? Well their aim was to conquer the world, and to impose their will on
all the nations. Because, as Napoleon Solo himself said in one episode,
"THRUSH believes in the two-party system: the masters and the
slaves".
In case you were trying to remember, U.N.C.L.E. stood for “United
Network Command for Law Enforcement”, and I have to
say that I find the idea of a united global organisation that is committed to
oppose a system of haves and have-nots really is one that I can warm to. What
is so upsetting is to look at the world that we have now, forty years later and
to see that we are in so many ways developing into a world of masters and
slaves. The rich and powerful industrial nations of the west, specifying the
trade rules that prevent the developing world from being able to get a fair
price for their goods. The World Bank imposing on effectively bankrupted
nations conditions which force them to do things in the way that the west wants
them to; when it was often the policies of the those same western nations that
bankrupted them in the first place. Despite the huge progress that the different
fair trade organisations have made in the past few years, we know that this is
a drop in the ocean of what is required for a truly fair and equal sharing of
the good gifts that God has given us. Yes, we seem to live in a world of
masters and slaves.
In terms of putting things right, we know that fair trade
has an important part to play, but this is only part of the total solution that
is needed. One of the other ways that the inequalities can be addressed is by
helping people in the developing world to help themselves to become
self-sufficient. This can be by their production of goods that can be sold in
the west at western prices, with the money all being returned to them so that
they may benefit fully from the fruits of their labours.
Likewise, if we can enable them to properly educate their
children, this provides another route out of poverty, as it enables the setting
up of better paying industry at home, and the migration of workers to better
paying parts of the world, who can then in turn, send money back to bolster up
the communities that they come from.
Our support of the many different organisations, who work
towards these ends, is part of our calling to contribute to moving the world
away from a system of masters and slaves, to one where everyone sees that we
are all God’s Children, responsible for sharing the good gifts that God has
provided. As we read the Gospel accounts, we are constantly being presented
with examples of Jesus challenging us to stand alongside the weak, the poor and
the vulnerable, so that they may be raised up. He also showed us how we are to
call the rich and the powerful to repentance, for he taught a Gospel of radical
social justice, and showed us how embracing this is a key part of what being a
Christian is all about.
So, looking at the state of our planet, is now the time for
us to really set up our own version of U.N.C.L.E.; to conquer the imbalance
that we see exists in our world? Well actually, it is funny that you should
mention that . . .
On the evening of the 23rd of November at 6:30pm,
following a Methodist tea (see advert elsewhere in this Inform), the new
Without boring you with the 16 pages of detail in our Model
Trust Deed, suffice it to say that the purposes of UNCLE are “to assist with:
·
advancing
the education and health of children living in orphanages in
·
the
relief of financial hardship for those living in poverty in
·
advancing
Christianity in
If I were to share with you that UNCLE’s overall financial
target is to raise a figure in the region of £150,000 over the next ten years,
then I hope you will see that this is definitely a long term vision that is being
put into practice. But we believe that we have been called by God to this work,
and that he will enable us to do this work in his name. I say “we”, I mean Paul
Harris, Graham Blair, Geoff Grainger and myself as trustees, and the myriad of
people who have said that they will support us in this venture. It is so
appropriate for us to have Michael and Maureen with us to share in our joy on
this day, for we simply would never have made it without them. It is also right
that this work should now be allowed to grow independent of the churches in
this section that have supported it so well so far. The churches need to be
allowed to explore the other areas of mission that they wish to devote their
energies to, and the new minister also needs to be able to lay before the
churches his or her own concerns that they would like to support, without being
hampered by any existing commitments. Whilst at the same time, as UNCLE, we
need to be able to share our vision with a wider audience, whilst growing the
different commercial possibilities that we hope will enable that goal of
self-sufficiency to become a reality.
The aims of UNCLE may be slightly smaller than those of the
fictional U.N.C.L.E. of the 1960’s, but they are similar in many ways - to
prevent a world of masters and slaves, of haves and have-nots. Please pray for
all involved in this venture as we set out on the next part of our Nepali
journey. “The men from UNCLE” know that God has guided us so far, and we know
that he will carry on guiding us in the future, hopefully with the assistance
of some “women from UNCLE” who will join us along the way. We believe that we
are stepping out in faith in this work that God has called us to, and everyone
is welcome to help us.
Namaste
and God Bless,
Ian
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Overseas Missions
Sunday
23rd November 2008
Worship to be led by
Michael and Maureen Hawksworth
(Returning Methodist Mission
Partners –
10.00am – Morning Worship
5.15pm – Tea (tickets from members
of the Missions Committee)
6.30pm – Circuit Missions Service
to include the launch of
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AN IMPORTANT
NOTICE!!!
As from Tuesday 7th October, and on subsequent
Tuesdays, Vestry Hours will be from 5.00pm to 6.30pm when the Revd Ian
Smart will available, without prior appointment, in the vestry of the
V V
V V V
MIDWEEK WORSHIP AT ROYSTON – ONLY MORE
SO
Following
the success of the Iona Communion that was held in the Eldon Room on Wednesday
the 22nd of October, further Midweek acts of Worship are planned to
enable us to explore new styles of worshipping together. As we have said
before, you may not like it, or feel that it is what you would be looking for
on a Sunday, but we hope that it will be a time to be challenged by God, and a
time of growing together. In addition, it should give us a common language for
when we discuss how we will worship in the new worship area.
Wednesday 10th December – A
Goth Communion
(Using Music drawn from Goth culture, such as The
Fields of Nephilim,
The Mission, All about Eve, etc, we will explore the how God can
speak to our inner darkness and bring light to these places).
Wednesday 7th January 2009 –
On Jordan’s Bank . . .
(Worship with a great deal of movement as we explore
the story of John
the Baptist from the perspective of a person on the bank who is preparing
to enter the river “
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FROM THE EDITOR
No longer shall we hear the cry of “Strings!”
or “Mine’s a niner!” As, sadly, I have to report the likely demise of a time
honoured autumnal sport enjoyed by schoolboys and a few men who refuse to grow
up……playing conkers!
A game that was once a ‘must’ in all school
playgrounds at this time of year is no longer seen, for fear of injury from a
flying conker fragment and an ensuing claim for damages.
Now, however, it has become much more serious
because the organisers of the World Conker Championships are having to import
conkers, due to the scarcity, together with poor size and quality of British
conkers. The reason for this is twofold. The first is due to the chestnut leaf
miner moth, borne here on the wind from
The second problem, which I am sure you will
all have seen as the trees in this area have suffered badly, is bleeding canker
disease. This appears to be the most serious, as it causes the leaves to turn
brown, shrivel and die. If a means of treating this disease cannot be found
quickly it will result in nearly all the horse chestnut trees in this country
dying, in the same way that Dutch elm disease wiped out our elm trees.
There could also be another contributing
factor, our current ‘enemy’……. climate change. There seems to be a shift in the
seasons, for as I write this we are enjoying the summer we should have had
three months ago. This may be upsetting the growth and maturity of the conkers.
If so, I’m afraid it’s ‘goodbye’ to the good old British conker and this will
have an impact on our wildlife, including the delightful black squirrels that
visit my garden.
PETER STALLARD
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Remember……
“Remember your Creator in the days of your
youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach and you will say,
‘I find no pleasure in them’…and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it”
Ecclesiastes 12:1,7(NIV)
As the green leaves of summer turn
bronze and flaming red, when there hangs in the air that jabbing bite of
approaching frost, and the ground hardens in the grip of winter, our thoughts
turn to the dead of two World Wars. On
the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, the guns fell silent in the war
to end all wars. We gather around the
Cenotaph in
“Not yet will those measureless fields
be green again
Where only yesterday the wild sweet
blood of wonderful youth was shed;
There is a grave whose earth must hold
too long, too deep a stain,
Though for ever over it we may speak as
proudly as we may tread.
But here, where the watchers by lonely
hearths from the thrust of an
inward sword have more slowly bled,
We shall build the Cenotaph: Victory,
winged, with Peace, winged too, at the column's head.
And over the stairway, at the foot --
oh! here, leave desolate, passionate hands to spread
Violets, roses, and laurel, with the
small, sweet, tinkling country things
Speaking so wistfully of other Springs,
From the little gardens of little places
where son or sweetheart was born and bred.
In splendid sleep, with a thousand
brothers
To lovers - to mothers
Here, too, lies he: Under the purple,
the green, the red,
It is all young life: it must break some
women's hearts to see
Such a brave, gay coverlet to such a
bed!
Only, when all is done and said,
God is not mocked and neither are the
dead
For this will stand in our Market-place
-
Who'll sell, who'll buy? (Will you or I
Lie each to each with the better grace?)
While looking into every busy whore's
and huckster's face
As they drive their bargains, is the
Face
Of God: and some young, piteous,
murdered face.” Charlotte
Mew, 1919
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The 5 Minute
Meditation – on the greatest thing in the world
The
greatest thing in all the world – is?
Different people would complete this sentence according to their outlook
and hopes and ambitions.
For the
Christian the greatest thing in all the world is – the love of God. It is the biggest thing, the most powerful
thing, the longest-enduring thing, for God himself IS love. Tucked away in
John’s First Letter are the three words ‘God is love’ (4:16). What truth in a
few words! What profundity in simplicity!
What theology in nine letters!
Of course
God’s character is also holiness, righteousness, justice, mercy,
unchangeableness. But there is something
so beautiful, so simple, so immediate in these three words - God is love.
The
well-known incident in the life of Professor Karl Barth illustrates the theme.
At the height of his power and influence as the world’s greatest Christian
theologian, Barth was asked, during a lecture tour in
And it is
the Bible that tells us this. All the
books of the Bible are employed to show us this great truth. Historians,
psalmists, biographers, prophets, apostles and evangelists join, from Genesis
to Revelation, each to tell us in their own words that God is love.
The love
of God is a biblical theme with many variations. Paul talks about the love of
God in four dimensions; its length, and breadth, and height, and depth (Eph.
3:18). John puts it another way when he
says that in God ‘there is no darkness at all’ (1 John 1:5). There is no
darkness in the love of God! It is
utterly pure and holy, like a perfect diamond without a flaw. Not only is the
love of God without sin, it is without stain or shadow or suspicion. In it there is no ambiguity, no compromise,
no moral indifference, no hidden agendas. God loves us with a holy love, a love
that cares and sympathizes and pays the price of our salvation for it led our
Lord to the cross.
It is
this combination of love and light that meets us in our meditation when we turn
the pages of the Bible. The God who loves us with an everlasting love dwells in
‘the light unapproachable’ (1 Tim. 6:16) and so we are led to worship him. Hear
what the psalmist says. ‘Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool’
(99:5). The prophet concurs. ‘The high and lofty One whose name is holy’ (Is.
57:15).
The
cherubim add their confirmation. ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts’ (Is.
6:3). As we listen to Jesus praying he
says. ‘Holy Father’ (John 17:11). And
the hymns of the Apocalypse have the same theme. ‘They rest not day or night,
saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty’ (Rev. 4:8). Love’s height is
love’s holiness. God is light! God is truth! God is love!
And he loves you and me!
Rev. Dr. Herbert McGonigle
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Drink an Oke smoothie – and help a poor farmer into fair trade...
There are
two new products out this autumn which look and taste as good as any other, but
which can also help poor farmers in the developing world. They are two new smoothies with the exotic
name of OKÉ.
OKÉ
smoothies are the first products to be developed by AgroFair, which was itself
created by Solidaridad, a Dutch NGO established by the Protestant and Catholic
churches.
Several
years ago Solidaridad objected to the terrible conditions experienced by banana
farmers. Harsh social conditions and extensive use of hazardous agrochemicals
led to serious health issues. And so
Solidaridad established its own company, ‘AgroFair’, 50% owned by fruit farmers
in poorer countries and 50% by Fairtrade organisations.
AgroFair’s
new OKÉ smoothies are delicious and nutritious, with no concentrate, just 100%
top quality fruit. Fairtrade farmer
Roberto Ugalde from
So next
time you are shopping, look out for an OKÉ smoothie. It is good for you, and good for farmers on the other side of the world.
More information is at: http://www.okefairtrade.com/
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Conference
Report to Synod 2008
1. People came from near and far 2. Led by Graham, our District
Chair,
To gather in the Scarb’rough Spa. Mary, Ian and Hannah were there,
“Are we yet alive” the people sang, Hev and Bev and I went too,
And in the hall the rafters rang. There’s one missing.
That’s Aunty Sue.
3. First
two days for leaders’ inductions,
Welcomes,
service and ordinations
Then
Monday prompt at nine fifteen,
Cogs
engage the conference machine.
4. Overseas Friends helped us to pray 5. We spoke of dis-ability
At start of business every day, And human sexuality,
We set the Gambia District free Debated embryology
To govern with autonomy. Considered our
society.
6.Of
strategies, youth and training too,
What we
should and shouldn’t do.
Speeches
made on matters
The
J.I.C. on ecumenism.
7.NCH has changed its name 8. There were stalls to
visit in each break,
Action for Children, it’s not the same, With tea or coffee to partake,
And MHA is sixty-five, And sometimes
as a special treat,
Working and very much alive. Delicious cakes were
given to eat.
9. My
time is short to tell you all
That
happened in the conference hall.
But if
the rest you’d like to know,
To the
Church’s website you must go.
10.To east and west, to south and north, 11. Gray, don’t you think you’ve done
enough
By train, car, plane I’ve sallied forth. Reading of that Conference stuff?
But when a voice comes from on high You’re much too old, your time is
done
I know the end is drawing nigh. And I agree at seventy-one.
Graham Lindsay
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Julie Andrews turns 69.….
To commemorate her 69th
birthday on 1st October 2007, Julie Andrews made a special
appearance at
Maalox
and nose drops and needles for knitting,
Walkers
and hand rails and new dental fittings,
Bundles
of magazines tied up with string,
These are
a few of my favourite things.
Cadillacs
and cataracts, and hearing aids and glasses,
Polident
and Fixodent and false teeth in glasses,
Pacemakers,
golf carts and porches with swings,
These are
a few of my favourite things.
When the
pipes leak,
When the
knees go bad,
I simply remember my favourite things
And then I don’t feel so bad.
Hot tea and crumpets and corn pads for
bunions,
No spicy hot food cooked with onions,
Bathrobes and heating pads and hot meals
they bring,
These are a few of my favourite things.
Back pains, confused brains, and no need
for sinnin’,
Thin bones and fractures and hair that
is thinnin’,
And we won’t mention our short, shrunken
frames.
As we remember our favourite things,
When the joints ache,
When the hips break,
When the eyes grow dim,
Then I’ll remember the great life I’ve
had,
And then I won’t feel so bad.
Taken, with thanks, from the
Note: AARP is the American Association
of Retired Persons.
Maalox are antacid tablets.
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COWS CHANGING LIVES IN
What do you get if you give a woman a cow?
‘A changed community’, says Margaret Nakato, Director of MRDF’s partner
in
When a
fishing ban was imposed around the
Margaret
said, “When the ban was imposed, the whole community came almost to a
standstill.”
At a
local meeting, one of the women suggested that they try zero-grazing - a system
where food is given to an animal that lives in a shed. MRDF supported the group
by providing agricultural and livestock training and by donating the first
cows. They were all pregnant and every calf was passed on to another woman in
the group - a system that continues today.
The
recipients were soon able to get an income
from selling the cow’s milk, and the manure acted as an organic
fertiliser for their crops. MRDF supplied the group with a cooler, so the women
could preserve their milk and sell it at a later date.
The women
are now able to pay their children’s school fees, family medical expenses and
save a little in the group’s savings scheme.
“Before,
I saw women with no sense of direction,” says Margaret. “But now they say ‘I’m
going to build a farm, I’m sending my children to school.’”