April and May 2020
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April and May 2020 The Magazine of the Parish Church of Saint Laurence Upminster £1 Pentecost Circle me (Lorica) Traditional Celtic prayer of protection Circle me, O God, let your arms enfold me. Circle me, O God, let your love surround. Circle me, O God, let your light shine brightly. Circle me, circle me, O God. Circle me, O God, when I’m weak and weary. Circle me, O God, when despair is near. Circle me, O God, let your peace surround me. Circle me, circle me, O God. Circle me, O God, when I’m tired and restless. Circle me, O God, be my hope, my strength. Circle me, O God, let your presence guide me. Circle me, circle me, O God. © Jeff Johnson, from A Thin Silence, released March 15, 2006 Coronavirus It has now become necessary to close the Church Building and the Parish Office. Although we are not able to gather together for worship, we can continue in a communion of prayer from our homes. We have produced a booklet for use whilst praying at home. If you do not already have a copy and would like one, please contact Revd Susannah. The booklet is available by email or by post. If you would appreciate a conversation for any reason please call either Revd Susannah, Fr Roy or Deborah Masterson. Contact information can be found on the inside back page. Parish Office work is continuing from home and you can email enquiries which will be picked up. If you can, please continue to donate to the Foodbank using the collection point in Waitrose. Another way to help is to make a financial donation at https://www.trusselltrust.org/make-a-donation/. Also, if you are not in the high risk age group, the Harold Hill Foodbank are asking for extra volunteers to help keep the centre open. If you can help, please contact either Revd Susannah or the Parish Office. We would like to support our Lent Charity CHICKS until Easter. If you wish, you can donate on their website at: https://www.chicks.org.uk/donate-now The Fun Afternoon and Summer Fete have both been cancelled. We will look to re-schedule new dates when we can. Thursday Lunchtime Recitals have also been cancelled until September. Further updates and information will be posted on our website. God bless. From the Rector ‘Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.’ Thus begins the account of the Resurrection found in John’s Gospel, which is often our Gospel reading at Mass on Easter Day. There is something very poetic and profound about this description; we can imagine Mary, coming to the tomb when it was not yet dawn, full of the grief, shock and confusion of the past few days. She had stood at the foot of Jesus’ cross, watching him die, watching not only the suffering of her friend, but the apparent destruction of the many hopes that she and his other friends had placed in him. We can only guess at how they spent that Holy Saturday, but it must have been a very difficult and strange Sabbath. And then Mary goes to the tomb at the first opportunity, presumably expecting to anoint Jesus’ body, to do the last thing for him that she can, and she finds that the stone has been rolled away from the tomb. The Resurrection has happened in the midst of darkness, quietly, whilst there was no-one there to see it. Amidst the darkness, the light has broken in. Each year, as we celebrate Easter, we will be aware both of many joys and many concerns around us – in our own lives or the lives of those close to us, in our wider society, and across the world. Some years it will be easy for us to relate to the joy and hope of Resurrection; at other times, it may seem much more difficult. Yet each year we affirm that the Resurrection does not happen in isolation from all that is happening in the world. It comes from suffering and death, from the midst of divisions and political turbulence, from a situation that seemed bleak and hopeless – and it happens even in the midst of darkness and regardless of whether there is anyone there to notice. Each year at St Laurence we mark the journey through Lent and particularly through Holy Week, remembering all that Jesus experienced, and remembering how the pain of Holy Week is drawn into the wonder of the Resurrection – how God in Jesus descends to the worst of the human condition, and through that experience then draws all of creation to share in the fullness of his redeeming love. If you have not previously experienced Holy Week worship, it may feel an unknown quantity – but it can be a very powerful experience, especially as we journey through the Triduum, the period from Maundy Thursday to Easter Day. We gather to celebrate Communion as Jesus gathered with his friends at the Last Supper, we watch in prayer as his disciples watched with him in the Garden of Gethsemane – then, on Good Friday, we come to stand at the Cross, to contemplate both its horror and its glory. On Holy Saturday, we gather in darkness to witness the first light of Resurrection breaking in on the world, culminating in the joyful Eucharist of Easter Day. Each part of this journey, each part of this liturgy, enriches the meaning of the other. As I write this article in early March, widespread concern about coronavirus reminds us that the world can change quickly. Yet in the Gospels we are reminded that whatever the changes and challenges before us, the Resurrection has taken place, even from and in the darkness, even if unnoticed. We are reminded that the truth of the Resurrection does not depend on us, but that it breaks into our lives to offer us God’s presence in both joy and in pain, and to help us to share this extraordinary hope with others. Wishing you peace and joy this Eastertide, Susannah Please note: public worship during Lent, Holy Week and Easter will no longer be taking place. Ed. From the Editors Dear Readers As I put together this edition of Gridiron we are at the start of Lent (yes, we do have to do things way in advance to keep to publishing deadlines!). I always find it a solemn and reflective time of the church year. I hope that you all found time during Lent to think of what matters in your life. “Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always” 1 Chronicles 16:11 Arlette Wiggins, Ed. From the Parish Registers BAPTISM We welcome into the family of the church and pray for: 9th Feb Thomas Hugo Plantagenet Metham 16th Feb Laurence George Laxton FUNERAL We offer our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of: 14th Jan Leonard Ruff 27th Jan Rose Skeels 6th Feb Rosalind Roberts MEMORIAL SERVICE We offer our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of: nd 22 Jan Gerald Cope June and July Magazine Deadline Items for inclusion in the June and July edition of Gridiron should reach the editorial team by 8th May. We would prefer to receive items by e-mail at [email protected]. Paper copy is acceptable but should be submitted to us as early as possible. The June and July Magazine will be on sale from 31st May. Carole Billing’s quiz sheets have raised in excess of £1,000 so far! Our Building Project Christine Clifford Fundraising for our Church Building Improvements Project continues steadily, with our target currently about £700,000. The fundraising committee is currently seeking to action the PCC’s decision to employ a bid writer with the aim of sourcing grants to help us achieve this sum. Thank you to all who have organised or participated in fundraising initiatives so far; further ideas or offers would be very welcome. The main issue is that the Sacristy and Choir Vestry were not built to the same standard as the rest of the church, and the state of these areas is such that a rebuild is not only desirable but also necessary. While we are rectifying this state of affairs, we have the opportunity to modernise our facilities more widely, providing a community meeting space, a much improved area for activities with children and young people, and provision of toilets in the church building. On a Sunday recently those attending all services were invited to go into the Sacristy and Choir Vestry to see the areas for themselves. Those who did were particularly surprised to see large cracks in the internal stonework. For further information, please see the table at the back of the church, where you will find special envelopes for donations for our project. Any cheques should be made payable to ‘PCC of Upminster’ – or please contact the Parish Office for bank transfer details. Who was Isabella Gilmore? Isabella Gilmore was born in London in 1842. Her mother was Emma Morris nee Shelton, daughter of Joseph Shelton, a teacher of music on Worcester. Her father was William Morris, a partner in the firm Sanderson and Co., bill brokers in the City of London; he died when she was only 5 years old. She did have five brothers to whom she was close; one of the older ones being William Morris who was to become one of the most famous Victorian figures as artist, interior designer, and social reformer.