Saltash Area Newsletter DISCOVERING GOD’S KINGDOM – GROWING THE CHURCH July / August 2021 www.saltashteamministry.org

It’s Pointless COMING UP Breakfast Baps Linda, my late wife, was a game- him and said that HM the Queen St Nicholas & St Faith show fanatic. Any programme which (their President) would be present Church Rooms required using the brain, she was on the occasion of his visit and had Saturdays 7, 21 Aug 10am to 1pm there. Not so me. I watch only two asked if they could play Pointless. game-shows, Only Connect and The other evening one of the Pointless (the second mainly because questions was, ‘What is the name of it precedes the early evening national the second part of the Bible?’ It was news), and at certain times when I included in a selection of questions join in my answers are correct. Even in which all the answers began with if I do not manage the correct answer ‘New’. The competitor gave the right What better way to at least I am learning, I hope. answer, ‘New Testament.’ We later spend a Saturday morning than having a cooked breakfast? Cream Teas Come along and enjoy a delicious cream tea with friends. St Michael’s Church Saturday 24 July Noon to 2pm

For those of you who do not know discovered that of the one hundred the show Pointless, tune in at 5.15 pm asked only forty-three were right. on any week day evening and it will This reminded me of some words SS Nicholas and Faith Church Rooms save me having to explain it in detail. about her school days that Jennie Saturdays 14, 28 Aug Simply, one hundred people are asked Hogan wrote in her book This is My 2pm to 4.30pm a question prior to the programme Body, ‘Religious studies were two (and given one hundred seconds to years of colouring in and petty ethical answer) while the competitors have to enquiry of “issues” related to the Hoe Public guess how many were correct. It is a three of the four Gospels.’ (p113). Mayflower Service popular show with a wide following. We have heard a great deal about 11 July 2021 The other day Alexander Armstrong, education during the pandemic from the question master, was telling how the professionals and the politicians he was invited to the Sandringham as well as scholars right cross the Women’s’ Institute to speak. Prior to spectrum of the subject. On occasions CANCELLED his visit the Hon Secretary telephoned they have agreed and on other occasions JUL / AUG SERVICES have taken divergent views. In intractable problems with school the case of the professionals and level provision.” (14 May 2021). Sunday 4 July / 1 August the politicians, economics has In the Saltash Cluster we are St Stephen-by-Saltash played a part and in the case of the blessed with having two Church 9.30am Holy Communion scholars, on the whole, the lack of schools which have a long tradition St Michael, Landrake 9.30am All AgeService provisions and/or opportunity. of providing a good secular St Nicholas & St Faith, Saltash Of course, religious education education based upon religious 11am Holy Communion in many establishments has principles that has also played St Mary, Botus Fleming taken a back seat, in many cases a sustainable presence in our 11a m All AgeService again due to economics or to the community. For this, much thanks Sunday 11 July / 8 August lack of interest in sections of the must go to the heads and staff who St Stephen-by-Saltash community (although in recent deserve our prayerful support. 9.30am Holy Communion years in some There is a St Michael, Landrake areas the tendency to 9.30am Holy Communion interest in leave religious St Nicholas & St Faith, Saltash the academic education to 11.15am Holy Communion subject has the academics St Mary, Botus Fleming 11.15a m Holy Communion increased). – schools, Recently colleges, Sunday 18 July / 15 August the weekly Sunday St Stephen-by-Saltash opportunity to Schools. Not 9.30am Holy Communion 6.30 pm Evensong learn in Sunday so! Religious St Michael, Landrake School has largely disappeared from education should not be left to 9.30am Holy Communion the Church as a whole. A drastic others. It is something to which St Nicholas & St Faith, Saltash change from the medieval times for, we all should be committed

11a m Holy Communion as A Tindal Hart remind us in A and involved. It has its basis St Mary, Botus Fleming Curate’s Lot, ‘The ordinary parish in the family, in the day to day 11.15a m All Age Service priest was expected, if possible, St Erney, Landrake relationships with each other 11.15a m Holy Communion to keep a school and teach any and within community co- promising boy what he himself knew existence. It should be adapted Sunday 25 July / 22 August free of any charge beyond anything and expressed in technology, in St Stephen-by-Saltash 9.30am Holy Communion which the parents themselves were words, art, videos and films. St Michael, Landrake voluntary prepared to him.’ So, let us not cease from 9.30am Holy Communion In the same week as I read the supporting all our local schools. Let St Nicholas & St Faith, Saltash above, the Church Times ran a report us, also, continue in prayer that the 11am Holy Communion of Ofsted which concluded that, faith may be spread still through St Mary, Botus Fleming ‘Teachers are implanting unhelpful the education of the young, as well 11.15a m Holy Communion misconceptions about religion as ourselves, and the activity of Sunday 29 August and are failing to prepare pupils those who are called to ‘Teach’. St Nicholas & St Faith, Saltash for a muli-religous society….’ The Education and Wisdom, we 10am Joint Service report, a review of literature related need both at the present time. to RE, highlights “chronic and Father Brian

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Page 2 Prayer of the Month The Rt Revd , Honorary Assistant Bishop in the

After 20 years as I

All the answers are London returned to my native county of Cornwall Underground Stations. to retire in 2019. My wife Julie and I live in Truro, and the transition has been For example: A king of trees? good. Lockdown has meant that we have Answer – Royal Oak walked a lot more than for years, and we 1. Rabbits would be at home here? seem to be more in touch with the changing seasons than ever before. No 2. Famous school at the BBC? more Synods or meetings of the House of 3. Anyone for Tennis? Bishops! Much better to be outdoors. And it’s reminded me how our church calendar 4. The Station between the reflects the seasons too. forehead and the ear? August 1st is Lammas Day, although 5. Yuppies and Rangers live here it is hardly observed at all in the today. Lammas Day – Loaf Mass Day – is found in the Book of Common Prayer. It was when a loaf 6. A small road with a tollgate? baked with flour from newly harvested corn was brought into church and 7. Wellies, hat and duffel coat? blessed. When Robert Hawker, the eccentric Vicar of Morwenstow, invented Harvest Thanksgiving in 1843, it caught on rapidly. So now we give thanks 8. Traps a stream? for the completion of the harvest. And the focus is no longer on bread alone. 9. Where you might learn to yodel? A friend of mine took up bread-making in a serious way when she retired, not using a machine but doing so by traditional methods. She did this as 10. Where 007 might live? an aid to meditation and prayer, as well as producing something tastier Answers on page 7 than in the shops. The most fascinating thing about bread-making, so she tells me, is to see the yeast, an unattractive lump or even dried particles, suddenly growing before your eyes once given sugar, warmth and liquid. No wonder Jesus used the image of yeast for the way the Kingdom of God grows. As she makes her bread my friend also thinks of the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, who gives himself as bread for the life of the world (John 6.51). It’s a way of integrating prayer with everyday activity. I keep promising myself I will do this too. It will surprise my wife when it happens! A big thank you to all who supported My prayer is a poem, written by David Adam, which I’ve used sometimes our Bacon Buttie Morning at SSNF on 12 June, our first event after when breaking bread at home communions. It’s a beautiful way of reminding many months of not being able to us that when we touch bread we are approaching the Bread of Life too. do anything. A total of £160 was raised. Thank you everyone, not Be gentle when you touch bread. only to those who supported the Let it not lie uncared for – unwanted event, but to all who helped in any So often bread is taken for granted. way to make the event a successful There is so much beauty in bread one, especially as social distancing Beauty of sun and soil, beauty of honest toil had to be observed. Winds and rain have caressed it, Margaret Evans Christ often blessed it Be gentle when you touch bread.

Page 3 Mothers’ Union Jerome Classic Sparks On 8 June in Saint Stephen’s Church, Mothers’ Union National Big Church Read members met for the first A reading project in which everyone who lived time since last December. alongside the Thames was encouraged to After prayers, we welcomed read Jerome K. Jerome’s classic Three Men in the Reverend Bob Munro who a Boat sparked Steve Barnett into action. entertained us with a talk entitled ‘The Big Thames Valley Read gave people Life surprises and shocks. something in common to talk about,’ said Steve, Bob was born in Manchester in the first year of who runs St Andrews Bookshop. ‘I wondered the Second World War. His father was a firefighter. if it would work in a church setting. If we could He remembers the big party when the war ended encourage people to read the same book at the and the days spent playing in amongst the ruins of same time it would build fellowship, create a the bombed houses – no health and safety then! sense of shared experience and deepen faith.’ Bob progressed to Grammar School and then During lockdown, Steve Barnett and Andy Lyon Leeds University and became a teacher. After spells from publishers HodderFaith agreed to create the in Bristol and Blackpool, Bob arrived in Saltash in National Big Church Read – if either John Mark 1965 to work at the Saltash comprehensive school. Comer or Pete Greig joined in. Both said yes! After some years of estrangement from the church, One year on, there have Bob felt the spirit of the Lord calling him to serve been two National Big Church and, with the help of the Reverend Brian Anderson Reads. The third began he began training for the priesthood. Many people in on May 24, focussing on Saltash have been helped by Bob either as a teacher or How to Pray by Pete Greig. a member of the church. Mothers’ Union is grateful The fourth read follows in to him for sharing his story with us. We followed September with Bouncing Bob’s talk with our delayed annual general meeting. Forward by Patrick Reagan. The current officers and committee were re-elected ‘We encourage groups and unchallenged. Leader SandraMckee, Treasurer churches to journey through Lorna Courtney and Committee Members, Sylvia the book together with the Maddock, Leslie Batham, Barbara Reid, Pauline author,’ said Steve. ‘The Hack, Glenda Sollick and Margaret Gwynn. author records a short video During the past 18 months, in spite of Covid, for each week that can be played from the Big Church Mothers’ Union members have supported many Read website (thebigchurchread.co.uk) in which the projects. 2,490 underprivileged people have been author encourages people to talk about the book.’ given well-needed breaks in England and Ireland, What has excited Steve, whose bookshop will 1.1 million around the world were supported to exhibit at CRE National (Oct 12-14), is that some improve their livelihoods, 77,988 people in Burundi people are drawn into reading who might not are learning to read and write and, in Britain and normally do so – and many read the whole book. Ireland, members produced hundreds of items to ‘We discovered that a third of the Christians said support healthcare workers during the lockdown. they didn’t usually read Christian books while many We now look forward to our program of events said they did not finish a book they had started,’ he for the rest of 2021. In July we are taking a trip to said. ‘Every one of the people who did not normally Plymouth for a guided tour around Saint Andrews read the whole book, did so. We are hearing of Church so our next meeting in church will be on 14 how groups have been drawn closer together, lives September at 2 pm. We shall be striving to provide changed and faith deepened. That is why more than a spiritual, financial and practical support to those 90% of those who have already been involved in a people at home and abroad who need our service. Big Church Read say they will be joining another. Sandra Mckee

Page 4 Bishop Hugh Answers Our Questions

Why does St Germans have a Bishop and what one in a very long line of Vicars who have been entrusted does he do? with the care of the people of God in that place. When everything was going brilliantly well, that helped me The strange thing is that I don’t really have anything to remember to be humble, and that anything good was do with the place ‘St Germans’. I am a ‘Suffragan’ bishop, the result of the prayers and work of many people over which means I am not responsible for a particular many generations, and when everything was going area but, alongside Bishop wrong, it reminded me that this Philip, for the whole Diocese. too would pass, and that God I don’t live in St Germans but had been faithful to his people in Tresillian, near Truro and over many hundreds of years. I don’t have any particular I feel the same about this role. role in the church or parish. It’s a privilege to be the Bishop But every bishop has to have of St Germans and to carry the a title, and they are usually responsibility for leading and connected with an ancient serving the churches in Cornwall church or abbey – and that’s the at the moment, but it’s not ‘my’ case with St Germans, where the job, it’s the Lord’s, and it has priory church goes back to the been entrusted to me for a while. very earliest days of Christianity That helps me carry my in Cornwall and was, originally, responsibilities gently and the cathedral for Cornwall. lightly, putting my hope and What I do varies from trust in Jesus and without day to day, although given taking myself too seriously. the pandemic I’ve spent most of the year I’ve been here on Zoom or the telephone! Underpinning all Your consecration as Bishop of St Germans the services, meetings, calls, decisions and prayers was unusual and history-making in that your is my fundamental call – to support, lead, enable consecration service was the first in the Church and call local church communities to be faithful of England to be led by a female bishop, Sarah and fruitful. I also have particular responsibility for Mullally. How does it feel to have been part our engagement with creation care, climate change of a significant advance in the Church? and the environment and with our commitment to being a church with and for the poor. My consecration was unusual in all sorts of ways! It was due to be a grand affair in Westminster Abbey, but was The title of Bishop of St Germans goes back delayed by Covid and eventually took place with a very to Anglo-Saxon times. Does the weight of small group of people in the chapel at Lambeth Palace. history rest easy on your shoulders? What The service was led by Bishop Sarah Mullally and I was do you know about your predecessors? consecrated by Rose Hudson-Wilkin, . She is one of the bishops in Canterbury Diocese, where Before we moved to Cornwall I was a Vicar in Kent. I was Vicar and from where I was sent to Cornwall, she Beside the Vicarage front door we had a beautiful is also one of the few black bishops in the Church. It framed old document which detailed the names of every was very powerful to be sent out into this new ministry Vicar going back to the 11th century. I hung it there so I by her and Bishop Sarah, in the midst of a time of would be reminded every time I went out that I was only change, to serve God and his people in Cornwall.

Page 5 In your previous life, you worked for L’Arche, a charity for adults with learning disabilities. Summer Sun How did you make the leap from there to ordination? Great is the sun, and wide he goes Through empty heaven with repose;

L’Arche is a Christian community for people with and And in the blue and glowing days without learning disabilities who live and work together as friends. I lived there for 13 years and for much of More thick than rain he showers his rays. that time the possibility of ordination had been with me. To be honest, it never seemed very appealing. Though closer still the blinds we pull The community I belonged to was a beautiful, faith filled place to live and work and much of the time To keep the shady parlour cool, seemed much more the way ‘church’ should be than Yet he will find a chink or two some of the churches I knew. I couldn’t figure out To slip his golden fingers through. why I would want to leave all that to be a Vicar. And then one day, as I wrestled and prayed with the question, I just knew the time was right. It was The dusty attic spider-clad as if a door had opened, and not only did I know He, through the keyhole, maketh glad; I had to walk through – I really wanted to do so, and that’s how the journey to ordination began. And through the broken edge of tiles And by God’s grace, I realise now, looking back, Into the laddered hay-loft smiles. that L’Arche was a wonderful place to learn about ordained ministry in the church and I know that I learnt more about people, God and community there Meantime his golden face around than I did in the time I spent in theological college. He bares to all the garden ground,

And sheds a warm and glittering look How’s the role going? If you could change one thing about it, what would that be? Among the ivy’s inmost nook. (Be honest – you’re among friends!)

Above the hills, along the blue, It has been a strange year to start out as a bishop. Zoom is wonderful (and what would we have Round the bright air with footing true, done without that kind of technology?) but To please the child, to paint the rose, not being able to get out and to meet people in The gardener of the World, he goes. communities around the county has made life more difficult than it would otherwise have been. Despite that, I have loved getting to know the people Robert Louis Stevenson and communities of Cornwall. It is a time of great change for us all, and that includes the church. An important part of my role is to encourage those of us who follow Jesus to be confident in his love and presence, to face the future, with all it’s uncertainty, with faith and hope and to discern what and where God is calling us next. That isn’t always easy, because change is hard for most of us, but it’s exciting to remember that God has so much in store for his creation and his church and to see so many faithful church communities responding to his call. If I could change one thing, I’d probably encourage the sun to shine a little bit more!

Page 6 Tracey Fletcher

My name is Tracey Fletcher and I am very excited to be taking up the post of Headteacher at Bishop Cornish CEVA School in September. Our latest needs are: l Milk Powder This is a big move for myself and my husband as l Sponge Puddings we will be relocating from Oxfordshire where we l UHT Fruit Juice currently live in the Parish of Bladon, and where l Sugar I have had the privilege of being Headteacher l Shaving Gel / Foam at the primary school for the last five years. l Individual Microwave Meal l am married to Tim, who is a Sachets (Pasta or Rice)

secondary school teacher (and has also Please donate food at Waitrose, secured a job in Cornwall to start in September), and we have a Lidl or the Co-op and/or donate son Liam, who lives in Canada constructing zip wires in the ski money via the Saltash Foodbank resort of Whistler. He is the adventurous one in the family! website: https://saltash.foodbank. In my spare time I like to travel to new places, walk, read, and bake. org.uk/give-help/donate-money My background in education has been varied, starting in 1995 in my hometown of Hastings, working with children with high level special educational needs to becoming Headteacher at my current school. In 2001 Prayer at Sea my family and I emigrated to New Zealand where we lived for 9 years, and I studied for my Bachelor of Education before becoming an Assistant Headteacher in a very multi-cultural school. I returned to the UK in 2010 and have worked in a range of educational settings in the Oxfordshire area, both in the primary and secondary sector. Working in such a wide variety of schools and in a range of areas has taught me the importance of my role and what a privilege it is to be part of children’s lives. As a headteacher I am a very hands-on leader and believe that it is extremely important to lead by example. I want to lead a school that promotes experiences that generate awe and wonder. Education is about developing the whole child, allowing each and every one to flourish in their own right, empowering them to As the storm raged, the captain make informed decisions underpinned by Christian values. realised his ship was sinking fast. My passion academically is literacy and the English language. Literacy in all He called out, ‘Anyone here know its guises is such a powerful tool which can open so many doors if children are how to pray?’ taught from an early age to love it and immerse themselves in it. As important, A prieststepped forward, ‘Captain, I believe, is outdoor learning, which encourages skills such as problem I know how to pray.’ solving and negotiating risk, both really important for child development. I hold a strong belief in the power of education to change ‘Good,’ said the captain, ‘you pray while the rest of us put on our life children’s lives and the right of every child to receive an excellent jackets – we’re one short.’ education. I am dedicated to building opportunities for all children to achieve the highest academic standards, ensuring that they are known well as individuals and that their unique personality, talents and interests are recognised and developed to the full. Answers to Quiz on page 3. 1. Warren Street 2. Grange Hill I am looking forward to putting down roots in Cornwall and leading 3. Wimbledon 4. Temple Bishop Cornish CEVA Primary School, building upon the strengths of the 5. Sloane Square 6. Turnpike Lane school. I will be a fully committed, hard-working Headteacher, who will lead 7. Paddington 8. Snaresbrook by example, nurture growth and provide a place for children and the wider 9. Swiss Cottage 10. Bond Street school community to thrive as individuals, living life in all its fullness.

Page 7 Mary Magdalene Brenton Blandford

Mary Magdalene, sometimes called who went ahead and arranged special love and devotion for Jesus, Mary of Magdala, or simply the lodging for the night, prepared her healer, teacher, and Lord. Magdalene, was a woman who, food, and saw to the necessities Traditional Legend according to the four canonical of life just as they do today. Gospels, travelled with Jesus as one Generally, the women followers By an old tradition, Mary has been of his followers and was a witness to ensured that Jesus and his disciples identified with the woman of the his crucifixion and its aftermath. She were well looked after, and had at town who anointed Jesus’ feet at was mentioned by name twelve times least the minimum of comfort and the house of Simon the Pharisee in the canonical gospels, more than care. We can imagine that Mary in Luke 7. Hence comes the use of most of the apostles and more than and the others no doubt shared in the word ‘Magdalen’ to describe a any other woman in the gospels, the discussions, the plans of the reformed prostitute. The story is a other than Jesus’ family. beautiful and touching one, and Who was Mary has appealed to artists down the centuries. The weeping courtesan, Magdalen? her rich auburn or chestnut hair The Church celebrates the falling round her face, bending Feast of St Mary Magdalen to kiss the feet of her Saviour on 22 July. Her name simply and wash them with her tears, means, ‘The woman from makes an irresistible picture; Magdala’, a village, near and many great painters have Capernaum on the shores produced their versions of the of Sea of Galilee in Roman incident. There is no real evidence Judea. Other than that, we to show what she looked like, so have no information about we can only imagine the person her origins. We are told of Mary of Magdala. However, we that she had been released know a good deal about Mary’s by Jesus from possession character. Whether or not we by ‘seven devils’ (Luke identify her with ‘the woman 8.2); and it is clear that who was a sinner’ who anointed she was one of Christ’s Christ’s head with precious oil, most devoted disciples. wet his feet with her tears, and Mary shared with a number of day to day needs and arrangements wiped them with her hair (Luke other women the tasks of caring for for travelling, eating and resting 7.37-38) is open for debate, but we and helping Jesus and his disciples after their journey. Mary saw Jesus do know that Jesus cast out from her on their missionary journeys. and his companions tired at the ‘seven demons’ (multiple sickness We ought not to imagine that Jesus end of the day, dis-spiritied when mentioned in Luke 8.2 & Mark and the 12 disciples lived lives of they had met hostility mainly from 16.9). No doubt modern medical discomfort all the time; It is quite leaders of different communities, and theological people will tell us true that Jesus said ‘The Son of Man but also Mary also saw them happy that sounds more like a deeply- has no place to lay his head’, and and content when things went well; rooted course of sin and evil than certainly Jesus owned no property, and she saw them bewildered and some illness of a physical nature. but the fact seems to be that – like sad at the Master’s forebodings, It seems to be often the case, that Gandhi and his followers in India, for Mary of Magdala knew them those who are most against some there were plenty of lesser disciples well, loved them all, but had a cause or plan, can become the

Page 8 most enthusiastic in favour of it. death has not been able to hold who truly understood his teachings. We see this in political life him. Alleluia! He is alive, and he Mary Magdalene is considered sometimes, in religious life more is speaking to her; no wonder she to be a Saint by the Catholic, often, and we speak of ‘conversions’ falls at his feet in an ecstasy of joy, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and of people in the Christian life. These relief and wonder. ‘Do not hold me,’ Lutheran churches. In 2016 Pope changes lie deep within us, but we his gentle voice says, ‘but go and Francis raised the level of liturgical can surely say that in the case of tell my disciples that I have risen.’ memory on July 22 from memorial Mary Magdalen it was a capacity for The first messenger of the Good to feast, and for her to be referred life and love that most of us either News of Easter Sunday of the as the ‘Apostle of the apostles’. lack, or can only faintly echo today. Resurrection of our Saviour was a Other Protestant churches honour Those with the most capacity for woman, and it was Christ himself her as a heroine of the faith. evil are also those with the most who entrusted her and appointed It is widely accepted among secular capacity for good. In the words of Mary, with this vital mission. historians that, like Jesus, Mary Jesus, ‘Her sins are forgiven, for she Whatever the records say, Magdalene was a real historical loved much.’ For most of us, we may Mary must have been a woman figure. Nonetheless, very little is not reach the heights. But we have of passion and of deep devotion. known about her life. Unlike Paul the consolation if the Apostle, Mary indeed such it is, that Magdalene has left neither will we fall behind no writings into the depths. But of her own. She was it is a salutary lesson never mentioned in to remember that any of the Pauline some individuals have Epistles or in any of within themselves the general epistles the potential and (eg James, Hebrews). the abilities to live The earliest and most at a higher level or reliable sources about intensity, and to her life are the three be transformed as Synoptic Gospels of Mary was transformed in her life. Even if she did not herself actually Mark, Matthew and Luke, which The Scriptures play the leading role at the house were all written during the first of Simon, the events there are in century AD. There was nothing The only facts that the Scriptures keeping with her character and her half-hearted about Mary Magdalen! present us with – the narratives passionate love and devotion. Mary was so swept up in her love of our Lord’s crucifixion and his For these reasons, Mary and devotion that she could not Resurrection – frequently mention Magdalene is known in some care less for the formal boundaries Mary Magdalen. Unlike the men, Christian traditions as the ‘apostle of affection and the conventions who had all fled, Mary and the to the apostles’. Mary Magdalene of behaviour of not only her time other women remained close to is a central figure in later Gnostic but to this present day. Mary was Jesus even to the end. She stood (Mystic knowledge) Christian there weeping and distraught, at by the cross in the bitter moments writings, including the Gospel of the foot of the Cross, careless of the of desolation and death. In other Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, and biting comments of the passers-by words, Mary was ‘Last at the Cross the Gospel of Mary. These texts and what the soldiers thought and and first at the Tomb on the third portray Mary Magdalene as an said. Her reward was that meeting day.’ Mary was the first to know apostle, as Jesus’s closest and most on Sunday morning early, in the that after all, Jesus is still with them, beloved disciple and the only one garden, with the Love of her life.

Please email articles for the September issue to: [email protected] by 20 August 2021.

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