August 2020 the Parish Magazine the Parish Church of All Saints Rotherfield Peppard
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August 2020 The Parish Magazine The Parish Church of All Saints Rotherfield Peppard 60p Contacting the clergy or churchwardens Rector The Revd James Stickings Telephone 0118 972 1459 Email [email protected] James will generally take Monday as a day off so if you need help or advice on that day please leave a message or contact one of the church wardens Associate Priests The Revd Shelia Walker Telephone 0118 972 4861 Email [email protected] Churchwardens Kathie Anderson Telephone 0118 972 2694 Email [email protected] Valentine de Haan Telephone 0118 972 3806 Email [email protected] Organist and Director of Music David Butler Telephone 0118 972 4065 Email [email protected] Junior Choir Mistress Rebecca Bell Telephone 0118 972 2967 Email [email protected] Flower arranging Ann Butler-Smith Telephone 0118 972 1871 All Saints' Church website: https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/5977/ (Please do not use the website called "allsaintspeppard.org.uk", even though it appears under Google search. This is not the church website and we are taking steps to having it removed) The Parish Magazine In this month’s magazine Contacting the ministry team inside front cover Content page 1 Guest editor page 2 Letter from the Rectory/ confirmation 3 Parish Register 4/7 Valarie’s corner 8 Carian 9 Thoughts for parish magazine 10/11 Observations on life 12 Word search 13/14 Green shoots /month of july 15 Directory of goods and services 16/17 This month at a glance Back cover It is much more dignified to say we are moving in circles rather than running around in circles, although it comes to about the same thing. Quest editors page Still here and due to unplanned events this months Magazine is a bit late. July has been a busy month trying to get Church services up and running and making sure that the Church is clean and risk reduced for Covid 19. This involved removing all soft furnishings and stored in the Parish room. It is amazing what you come across whilst doing this and stacking the kneelers I came across a couple of interesting ones. One of them had the red hand of Ulster upon it and the date of 1977. On todays standards would that be considered the markings of a terrorist organisation . I am sure by 1977 standards the thought of the person doing the stitching those considerations never passed their mind. We live in changing times and as such our judgements and thoughts change with ongoing events . I seem to have trouble with the concept that we are guilty for what has happened historically and surely the aim in life is to aim for a level playing field in order that opportunities abound for all. Many thanks go to Keith for doing the parish register and some fine articles on Saint Aidian and Oswold. He also provided an informative article on copy right for music. Valarie wrote an article about Piero della Francesco’s painting of the resurrection and it’s rather exciting history. Ann Butler Smith writes from her Rectory days about those beloved donkeys and their interruptions of the CARIAN meeting. Nothing like a few polo mints to sort out the four legged legends Rebecca Bell composes her thoughts for the Parish magazine which includes the prayer used by the late king. There are some observation on modern life and following pages is the word search puzzle from the Parish Pump, Sue Nickson thanks us for the support offered to Green shoots . There is a small article about Christopher Robin. There is no letter from the rectory this month but I have found some articles from the Parish Pump. When tourists get lost Have you ever got into trouble while abroad? The true story is told of a group of tourists who went to Israel some years ago and arrived in Jerusalem very eager to see the sites of the old city. Four members of the group were so engrossed in taking pictures of each other by the Wailing Wall that they ignored the summons from the tour group leader to go back to the bus. A little while later, they realised that they were all on their own in Jerusalem. That’s when their problems started. The four tourists decided to head back to their hotel. But no one could remember the exact name of the hotel. So, they hailed a taxi, and asked it to drive around Jerusalem looking for the hotel. An hour or so later, the driver gave up and demanded payment. That’s when they discovered that they did not have enough money to pay the driver. So the driver took them to the police, who demanded some identification. That’s when the four tourists remembered that they had left their passports in the hotel safe... Some hours later, the tour guide tracked down the missing tourists. They greeted her with tears of relief as she provided the police with their passports, paid their debt, and prepared to lead them safely back to their hotel. The police gave some parting advice to the tourists: “From now on, you stay close to your friend!” Stay close to your friend. It’s good advice for all of us. If your life is going in the wrong direction, if you have run up debts of wrong-doing, if you feel lost and alone, you need to take action. You need to stop going on like this. Turn around and go in another direction. The Bible calls this action of ‘stopping and turning around’ repentance. Repentance is when you stop one direction, and you turn to God. For the good news is that there is a heavenly tour guide on whom we can all call. Only God can save us from the mess we are in. He sent us His Son to forgive us our sins, to provide us with an identity, and, if we walk with Him, lead us safely through life. As the Bible says: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) .Parish Registers Parish Registers 21 June to 20 July No entries Saints Aidan and Oswald Both of these Northumbrian saints are remembered in August, with Oswald, King and Martyr on 5 August and Aidan, “apostle of the English”, on 31 August. Aidan’s life began in Ireland before he became a monk of Iona. He came to England in 635 after Oswald, already a Christian after his exile to Iona, had regained the throne of Northumbria. The king looked to Iona for help in the conversion of his people to Christianity. After a first unsuccessful attempt by a monk who complained that the people were “uncivilised and unteachable”, Aidan arrived with a reputation for discretion and prudence. Oswald gave him the island of Lindisfarne as a base from which to evangelise the people of Bernicia. The shrine of St Aidan in Bamburgh Parish Church Dr John Sentamu, when Archbishop of York, visited Bamburgh to dedicate a shrine marking the site where the 7th century Saint Aidan is thought to have died, in the chan- cel of the village’s parish church on Monday, 26 August 2013. © Copyright Russel Wills and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence Aidan did not speak the native language and Oswald would sometimes accompany him as interpreter. Aidan went on to found churches and monasteries, and he freed Anglo- Saxon slave boys and educated them for the church. He died at Bamburgh in 651 and was buried on Lindisfarne. Despite his successful and benign influence, Bamburgh was the only ancient church dedicated to him though, in the late 20th century, the church at Thockrington, Northumberland, consecrated in 1100 but previously with no dedication, ac- quired Aidan as its patron saint. We remember St Aidan at Peppard where he is pictured in the west window of All Saints’ Church, holding the infant English church in his right hand and with a view of Lin- disfarne Castle over his right shoulder. Oswald was born in 604 and was King of Northumbria from 634 until his death in 642. He famously defeated the pagan Cadwalla at the Battle of Heavenfield, situated right on Hadrian’s Wall, north of Hexham. Prior to the The road side cross at Heavenfield. The church of St Oswald-in-Lee* lies across the fields among the trees on the horizon. © Revd Peter Barham. battle, he hoisted a wooden cross before his army, calling on the forces of Christianity to help secure victory and the throne of Northumbria. Soon after success in the battle, he sent to Iona for a bishop to preach the gospel in his kingdom. After a false start, the kindly Aidan arrived and Lindisfarne became his episcopal seat. Oswald united Bernicia and Deira and married the Christian daughter of the King of Wessex before his early death at the hands of the pagan Penda of Mercia. One of the most attractive memorials of St Oswald is to be found in this stained glass window in Durham Cathedral. Elsewhere in the cathedral is the shrine of St Cuthbert which also contains the head of St Oswald. Oswald’s body was dismembered after the Battle of Maserfield near Oswestry on 5 August, 642. The place name, Os- westry, may be a corruption of Oswald’s Tree, remembered in the name of a beautiful hymn tune by Sir Henry Walford Davies. The window was erected in memory of Patrick Alington, killed at Salerno in 1943 during World War II.