The Benefice Magazine 40P
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July 2021 40p The Benefice Magazine Who’s Who… Parish Priest: The Revd Fr John Baines 01298 83411 Curate: The Revd Fr David Green 0748 688 9322 Please contact Fr John if you want to arrange a Wedding, a Baptism (also known as a Christening), or a Funeral. Fr John’s Rest Day is Friday & Fr David’s Rest Day is Saturday Lic’d Funeral Minister: Karen Kidd 01298 78849 Safeguarding: Janet McNicol 01298 812053 Church Wardens: Nanette Riley (Longnor) 01298 83314 David Twigg (Longnor) 01538 373999 Margaret Clulow (Quarnford) 01538 381896 Karen Kidd (Quarnford) 01298 78849 Ann Belfield (Sheen) 01298 84396 George Grindon (Sheen) 01298 84492 Rachel Moorcroft (Warslow with Elkstone) 01298 84568 Treasurers: Nanette Riley (Longnor) 01298 83314 Glenn Leathley (Quarnford) Christopher Belfield (Sheen) 01298 84809 John Gilman (Newtown) 01298 83486 Marjorie Mycock (Reapsmoor) 01298 84585 Emma Gould (Warslow) 01298 687190 Magazine Reps: Nannette Riley (Longnor) 01298 83314 Post vacant (Quarnford) Joan Gregory (Reapsmoor) 01298 84429 (if no rep listed for your church/village, please contact the appropriate Church Warden above with magazine enquiries). Headteachers: Anne Collins, St Bartholomew’s Longnor 01298 83323 Janette Mountford-Lees, Hollinsclough 01298 83303 Judith Ackers, Manifold Academy Warslow 01298 84320 Methodist Minister: The Revd Andrew Parker, (Hollinsclough) 01298 23556 2 Who do you say I am? July sees a new intake of curates begin their ministry, and a time for all to check up on how we serve our communities, churches and God: At the end of June we celebrated the ordinations of deacons at Lichfield Cathedral and the ordination of priests in churches throughout the diocese. At the same time, we are busy in the Vocations and Training Team thinking about and preparing for all those who will begin training for ministry, both lay and ordained, in the coming months. At the heart of all we do is the question “who do you say I am?” which Jesus asks in the three synoptic gospels (Matthew 16:13-16, Mark 8:27-29, and Luke 9:18- 20.) The last 15 months have been, for many of us, a period of self-discovery. We may have rediscovered our strengths and our weaknesses or a new reliance on God and God’s unbounding love for us; we may have been astounded at our resourcefulness and adaptability, learning new skills and courageously finding new ways of being Church. We may also have found moments of stillness where we have wondered what God is calling us to do and be. Alongside this we have perhaps also rediscovered what it means to be part of community; as the old saying goes ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’. Vocations are never formed in isolation. In the Vocations and Training team we come alongside people as they discern their calling and in the case of those exploring ordination and lay licensed ministry we represent, alongside an individual’s local community, the wider body of Christ in which the individual stands before God in the discernment of who is to be sent (Isaiah 6:8). The question of ‘who do people say that I am’ is writ large over the work that we undertake within the team, and our starting point has to be in discipleship. There is something in exploring our vocations about the need to remain open to the Spirit at work and that may come from surprising quarters. There is something about the need to remain open to the ways in which God speaks through others to affirm or to challenge. At its heart preparing for any form of ministry, living out our vocation, is about the qualities we inhabit as disciples of Christ; how open we might be to the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in the lives of others. It’s an ongoing process. Our vocations may change as we grow in discipleship, and the gifts that God has equipped us with for God’s service grow and develop over time. That is what makes it such a joy! Revd Dr Jeanette Hartwell Vocations and Training Team Lead Find out more about the many kinds of vocation and training in the Church of England via www.lichfield.anglican.org/vocations-and-training/ or the team’s Facebook page, http://facebook.com/Lichfieldvocations 3 Late flowering Betony Depending on the weather, July can be a month full of grassland flowers or one where many of them are now over, having peaked in June. It is certainly the month when you need to start to cut and rake your long grass, particularly if it did not receive a spring cut. Have a look out for late flowering plants however, do you have Betony present? If so, then consider delaying the cut or cutting around the betony plants allowing them to flower, they are one of our most attractive wildflowers. Betony is a member of the woundwort family, close also to the dead- nettles. It has an angled stem, which if you were to cut it, would be square in cross section, has distinctive toothed leaves and lovely deep pink flowers. Betony has long been prized for its curative powers, in the Medieval times it was viewed as an ‘all-heal’ or panacea. The Italians had a saying ‘Sell your coat and buy Betony’ and the Spaniards used the compliment ‘He has as many virtues as Betony’. Antonius Musa, chief physician to the Emperor Augustus, wrote a long treatise, showing it was a certain cure for no less than forty-seven diseases! It is still used by herbalists for a variety of ailments including headaches. Betony is found in ancient woodland and undisturbed grasslands so its presence may indicate species-rich grassland, please look out for the many other species found in this special habitat. It was also planted in churchyards, in part for its medicinal uses and also because it was believed to be effective against sorcery, warding off ghosts, goblins and any other unwelcome spirits. Please let us know if you find betony in your churchyard. All the best, Harriet Carty Diocesan Churchyard Environmental Advisor, [email protected], www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk - individuals and groups in the diocese receive 20% members discount on all CfGA materials. Use the discount code Lich19 4 From the Curatage In the late 1980s or early 1990s, in my childhood or perhaps into my teens, I recall a holiday to the Lake District and climbing Blencathra. It's a fell also known as Saddleback. On the way up there seemed like rather a lot of false summits. I kept believing we were about to arrive at the top, only to pass the next near horizon and then see a further one, not so far off in the distance. I wasn't an especially fit child. I didn't really take much of an interest in sport or physical activity until my early teens. As a result I'm sure that these false summits seemed like more of an ordeal for me than it would have been for others (who might well have been enjoying a stroll to the top) The coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions we've had will have seemed like an ongoing ordeal for some of us. There will have been what seemed like false horizons. And that will have affected some of us more than others. I don't think a year ago many of us would have expected to still have substantial restrictions in place at this point. But all being well, it's still expected that we will be able to have significantly more freedom towards the end of July. I'm writing this on the 20th of June and the government's originally indicated timescale would have seen the removal of a lot of restrictions tomorrow. The Delta variant has brought an increase in the number of cases, including some locally and so understandably restrictions are being lifted cautiously. As we move into Summer, we hope to be able to have further restrictions lifted in churches and move back towards our normal pattern of services. It seems strange to have watched football fans sing together during the belated Euro 2020, and yet still for us not to have the freedom for a small congregation to sing in a large church building. But we look forward to a time when we can do so but we're waiting for the government and the national Church of England to advise us what is permissible. As we are resuming having more in-place services, our online services will continue on Thursday mornings using Zoom at 10am. In a way this is a bit like the services we had in St Paul's, Newtown at that time. Some repairs are necessary at Newtown before we resume services and this service will certainly continue online for the time being. As people have returned to our physical buildings for services so we have noticed numbers of attendees reducing at our Sunday evening Zoom service. As such the 27th of June at 6:30pm will be our final Sunday Evening Zoom service for the foreseeable future. In future we will be continuing online services as long as there is a demand for them. During lockdown we also introduced an online coffee morning on Tuesday mornings, and it also seems right to bring this to a close. Please do see elsewhere in the magazine for things we are able to do together in-place or to things we can reintroduce, such as flower festivals. The 25th of July will see the return of our William Billinge Annual Memorial Service at Longnor, which we are certainly looking forward to.