October 2020 Mission Community Curate: Revd Marc Kerslake
01404 822104 Email: [email protected]
Website: churches4all.org.uk
Church Admin Assistant Elaine Trude 07811 440741
WHIMPLE
Churchwardens Ian Spicer 01404 823640
Gerri Turner 01404 822587
PCC Secretary Steve Godsiff 01404 822875
PCC Treasurer Dy Beedell 01404 823675
Pastoral Care Co-ordinators David Rastall 01404 822486
Margaret Burrough 01404 822257
Impact Cell group (Teenagers) Helen Bowker 01404 823193
‘Jigsaw’ Mary Godsiff 01404 822875
Bell Ringers Roger Algate 01404 822480
Mothers’ Union Margaret Burrough 01404 822257
Church Flowers Margaret Drew 01404 758159
Magazine Distribution Margaret Burrough 01404 822257
Planned Giving Officer Gerri Turner 01404 822587
TALATON
Churchwardens Charlie Hutchings 01404 822205
PCC Secretary Pam Weston 01404 822864
PCC Treasurer Charlie Hutchings 01404 822205
CLYST ST LAWRENCE
Churchwardens Hannah Foster 01404 823702
Ray Taylor 01404 822351
PCC Secretary Jane Buxton 01404 822605
PCC Treasurer Jane Buxton 01404 822605
CLYST HYDON Churchwardens Chris Jones 01884 277471
PCC Secretary Sarah Jones 01884 277471
PCC Treasurer Sue Clegg 01404 822889
Bell Ringers Tom Coleman 01395 568523 Service Rota
Please be aware that these services may be subject to change but are correct at the time of going to press. Please check our Facebook page “Churches 4 All. Mission Community” or the website churches4all.org.uk for the most up to date information. October 4th 9am Holy Communion, Book of Common Prayer, St. Mary’s, Whimple 10.30am Morning Worship, St. James the Great, Talaton 10.30am Holy Communion, St Andrew’s, Clyst Hydon 6.30pm Café Church, St. Mary’s, Whimple
October 11th 10.30am Mission Community Service, St. Andrew’s, Clyst Hydon 10.30am Holy Communion, Book of Common Prayer, St. Lawrence, Clyst St. Lawrence
October 16th 7pm Harvest Festival, St. Andrew’s, Clyst Hydon
October 18th 9am Morning Prayer, Book of Common Prayer, St. Mary’s, Whimple 10.30am Holy Communion, St. James the Great, Talaton 10.30am Morning Worship, St. Andrew’s, Clyst Hydon
October 25th 9.30am Morning Prayer, Book of Common Prayer, St. James the Great, Talaton 10.30am Holy Communion, St. Mary’s, Whimple 6.30pm Evening Prayer, Book of Common Prayer, St. Lawrence, Clyst St. Lawrence
Whimple's Annual Parochial Church Meeting will be on Monday 12th October at 7pm in St Mary's. Hello my friends,
There once was a man who went to Salisbury Cathedral and there, fitted to the wall by the altar was a big red phone, so he asked the bishop ‘what’s the phone for?’ ‘That’ replied the bishop ‘is a direct line to God, but each call costs millions as it’s a long distance to heaven’. Realising he could not afford it, the man left disappointed. Many years later he visited Exeter Cathedral and there on the wall by the door was a similar phone. Spotting the bishop passing he said ‘I know what that is, I have seen one in Salisbury, it is a direct line to God and before you say anything I know I cannot afford it’ The bishop looked a little confused ‘It’s only a pound’ he said. ‘What?’ said the visitor thoroughly confused. ‘Of course,’ said the bishop ‘why would it be so expensive, it’s to heaven so it counts as a local call’.
This week I have been reflecting on a very helpful document called “Lightening the load: freeing the Church for mission. A resource for rural multi-parish benefices in the wake of Coronavirus”. Written by several of my clergy colleagues, Revd Penny Body and The Ven Dr Mark Butchers, in April this year. It wasn’t written expressly about this Harvest season, but it forms the foundation for some of my thinking about this special time in our church’s year and I have ‘plagiarised it’ extensively in my thinking here. We can know nothing about the nature of God other than that which he has revealed to us. That may seem like a bit of a negative thing for a priest to say, but it is not. God is God, he gets to decide what we see of his power and glory. That is what Jesus is, God’s astonishing plan to send us an image of himself we could in our own small way grasp, but we cannot pin God down and examine him like scientists in a laboratory. If anything, our earthly lives are a journey of discovery if we choose to make them such, when we get to slowly explore what we can know of God in the here and now. Of course God reveals himself to us through time spent with him in prayer, worship and reflection, but also through simply being in his creation and for those of us blessed to live in a place as beautiful as this little part of East Devon, our green Shires, how much of him is there to marvel at in our little slice of local heaven. At this time of year we gather to celebrate Harvest Festival, this is a time when we pause for a while and take stock of the richness of nature which surrounds us and all it provides, before we move on to ‘the next ploughing and planting’. This year we have even more to be grateful for. In lockdown I was so glad to have those mile upon mile of tree and field-lined lanes to wander in and my heart went out to those whose one daily exercise would have been on tarmac surrounded by concrete and hedged by cars and houses. Plus, those of us in rural communities cannot help but notice that while many of us were furloughed, farmers worked on continuing their endless cycle which ensures we can eat. Our own rural communities range from larger villages to tiny hamlets but, irrespective of size, life experience varies from one village to another for reasons which include transport links, access to services and population. However, God rejoices in this variety because it is the rich tapestry of his creation. What is right in one place may not be right in another and our churches like the parishes they serve are quite different as well. Very little of rural life is actually static, although we may wish it was. Behind the scenes, rural communities are constantly changing and evolving in response to social and economic developments (and currently of course this includes the impact of Coronavirus). Villages may look very similar to how they did 50 years ago but their buildings will have been worked on, new people will have moved in, village groups will have ceased or new ones started, farms will have diversified. Contrary to popular perception, nothing is set in stone. Just as the risen Christ was recognisably the same and yet profoundly different, our rural communities reflect a similar mix of the traditional and the new. What we all share is being surrounded by nature. The countryside forms more than a backdrop to our rural church: it is integral to our understanding of life and God. Our theology, faith and worship are shaped by the landscape we inhabit and the rhythms of rural life. In our villages the distinct seasons of the year link us to the Christian story. In spring come new growth and newborn lambs, just as we are thinking about Jesus’ resurrection at Easter. In summer, colour and lushness bring the psalms and stories of God’s goodness to life. In autumn at Harvest time, hedges full of berries remind us of the abundance of God’s love and the glory with which he crowns the year. In winter, we are taken on the cold and lonely journey of Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem and sit with the shepherds on the frosty hillside. Through the seasons we see that life itself is seasonal; that there is a circle of birth, growth, maturity, dying and then new life once again; and that each season has its beauty and its sadness. We recognise that there is a time for everything – and that planting out of season is unlikely to bear fruit. A children’s group may flourish for a time in a village but as that cohort grows up they may not be replaced and the group will need to close. This has always been the case and always will be the case. Things come and go, we plough, sow and reap. Sometimes the crop changes, equipment may vary but the cycle goes on. This Harvest time it is time to celebrate what has been good, continue it where it seems right but sometimes also to be confident to move on to something new, safe in the knowledge we are part of the endless cycle of God’s creation. God bless, Marc
PASTORAL CARE TEAM
The Pastoral Care Team has grown! Its members have been trained and are available to lend a listening ear, offer practical help and support, visit those who are housebound, ill, in hospital or bereaved, and to offer prayer.
If you or someone you know would like a visit from a member of the Pastoral Care Team,
please contact any of the following:
Revd Ruth Heeley (758708)
Margaret Burrough (822257) or
Lorraine and Malcolm Crozier (822953) or
Rebecca Hardy (822405) or
David Rastall (822486) From the Registers
In September
we joined together in Holy Matrimony
William Bardot and Charlotte Dawes at St. Mary’s, Whimple.
We commended into the hands of Almighty God Mr. John Seward at East Devon Crematorium
Nobody has yet come forwards with any ideas for the Prayer Diary, so if you do have any ideas please don’t be shy! Likewise, for any faith related articles you come across that may be of interest to others. I have been sent a couple so keep an eye out for these in the coming months. Kids’ Corner
Harvest Festival The Harvest Festival is usually held around the end of September or beginning of October. We celebrate the harvest being safely gathered in, give thanks to the farmers for their hard work in producing the food and thanks to God for providing it. We also then share our food with the needy. Usually during the service people from the congregation will make offerings of food that they bring to the front of the Church. After the service these offerings are given to the needy - perhaps homeless people or the elderly. Find the words highlighted in bold. They can be forwards, backwards or diagonal.
A Z O O F F E R I N G S B H A R V E S T S E K P J E F S N S G H F A X U O K A S H T Y A E O H T S W R H Q I W N T V O Y H Z M G B V P K U J I D A R E I M A X S N R W E R E R C E L E B R A T E E I S E P T E M B E R N P G A T H E R E D F H L
And some colouring in...
A week of 24-7 Prayer. (Yes, 24 hours a day for 7 days!) By Jude Carter
In August we asked the question ‘Have you felt the need to pray lately?’ and it turns out that a lot of our Mission Community and beyond most definitely did. Our 24-7 Prayer week was supported by 72 individuals booking time slots to pray and many more supporting through prayer in their own time. The confidence we felt in filling the 168 hours was justified as the week filled very easily. There have been many in the Mission Community over the past few years who have been wanting to try a 24-7 prayer event and now seemed the right time.
So, what was 24-7 Prayer all about? 24-7 prayer began in 1999 and was the idea of Pete Greig, a pastor and writer, who felt that continuous prayer had to be a good idea and that he had a need to get better at prayer. What began as an experiment went on and on, the idea spread and now there are ‘Prayer rooms’ across the world. Having a set prayer space in a locality, means that people can gather together or pray alone in the same space continuously, day and night. Having a special place means that resources can be provided to support and stimulate prayer and provide an outlet for the thoughts and reactions to prayer be it through poetry, written prayer, word play or artwork. This then becomes a space where the spirit really gets a chance to hear what we have to say and get to work among us.
However, we set our week up a little differently. With the Covid restrictions in place and many people still isolating, we couldn’t commit to prayer in one space, so we opened it up. As long as someone was praying they could be wherever was comfortable for them. We had people praying in gardens, on hilltops, in fields, in other parts of the country while visiting family, in bed, walking the lanes, in the Mission Community churches and of course in the Prayer Space in St. Mary’s. But what has been truly amazing has been the range in which we have all approached our prayer time. The most common response I had when setting up the event was: I won’t be able to fill an hour with prayer. I’ll be honest…I didn’t know how to either! But we got going anyway and this is how we filled those hours…
Silence Praying for known people (some went through their phone/address books) Using a list of events to pray for Reading the Bible or other texts. Poetry Daily devotional texts. (The ones in the space were fantastic.) Singing Music making Listening to music Collage prayer (we had a fantastic table of resources set out by Rachel Povey.) Art/word response Praying in response to the ‘bricks’ (these were the themes for prayer we asked for before and during the week Responding to the individual ‘fish’ prayers left in the space …and so on! You can now see how an hour is actually sometimes not enough time and I have had a lot of feedback saying that next time double slots would be a good idea if not essential!
But what was the point? Was it worth it? Well, I asked for feedback from everyone who took part and had a huge response. All would do it again and recommend to friends or family (only one person was unsure of being confident to do this) and everyone who only booked one slot wished they’d booked more. But why? Did the spirit get stirred up in our Mission Community? Here’s what I know about: Many people felt nearer to God and were pleased that they’d made special time for this. A practice they want to continue. Visitors to the church who encountered the prayer space in action were deeply moved. A bond was created between many who prayed that week. Many felt a connection with those that had used the space prior to them. The idea of daily prayer was spoken about openly in households where prayer was previously rarely discussed. Many found new ways to communicate with God (see the previous list) and how one day’s prayer would feed into the next. Many were surprised at how rewarding, peaceful and more connected they felt praying in the Prayer Space. It gave the church a real warmth. Some found they reconnected with areas of their lives that had fallen away during lockdown: music, visiting church etc. For many it was time to work through the burdens they were carrying and lay them open to God. It was a chance to collect verses and quotes from the prayer space that were meaningful or helpful. There was a realisation that they COULD pray. There was a feeling of wellbeing. There was a greater sense of knowing who they are in God and a greater understanding of Him. A general trust in God that he knows what is best for our villages was experienced.
And so to next time.
There were many who didn’t take part, for whatever reason, and I really hope this outline of the week will encourage you to join in next time…there will be another for sure, we just need to decide when. In the meantime, the prayer space is still available to you while the church is open. We plan to keep the space going in some form for the long term, so please come along and use it. I am open to feedback at any time ju d ecart er [email protected]
To everyone who took part…wow!
Jude Ride and Stride
During September various members of the Mission Community took part in the Ride and Stride event in aid of Devon Historic Churches Trust. They raised a fantastic amount of money so a big thank you to all their sponsors and to everyone that took part for their mammoth efforts. Read on for an account of their journeys.
At 8am on Saturday 5th September Becky Venton, Bruce Truscott, Phil Dominy and myself met in the 24/7 prayer space at the church in Whimple ahead of our cycle ride around the 4 churches in our current Mission Community and the 4 churches in the Clyst Mission Community.
We were cycling in aid of the Devon Historic Churches Trust but also as part of the 24/7 prayer event. We wanted to thank God for the beauty of our area, to ask him to bless the businesses and communities that we cycled past, and to pray for the future of the Mission Communities.
Our route was planned so that we would circle around the area, stopping to pray at each church but also at 'high points' such as Willow View Park and above Cotley Farm and at significant places like Clyst Vale Community College and at the bridges over the A30.
We saw beautiful old stained glass windows in church buildings which have, for centuries, been places of communal worship but in lockdown, although they were 'closed' for services became community 'foodbanks' and quiet spaces. We cycled down beautiful wooded valleys and up many hills and through productive farmland and past local pubs (We didn't stop at the 5 Bells...we might not have continued up the bigger hill after it!!). But our proposed Mission Community also includes commercial areas, home to big multinationals and many smaller independent enterprises which are all trying to cope with Covid restrictions and stay viable.
We really enjoyed cycling it together on a beautiful morning...Becky even sang for a bit! ...but for me it was a symbolic linking together in prayer of the proposed Mission Community - to ask for God's blessing over it.
I think I might do bits (or all) of it again ..I could do it backwards but that involves a very long steep hill out of Clyst St Lawrence and I'm not sure I'd make it!! Of course, you could also walk it or I'm sure a 'prayer drive' would be acceptable so if anyone would like a copy of the route and the prayer points then please let me know!!
There are plenty of hills on the route so in the end we climbed 625 metres and cycled 32 miles (almost 54 km)..and, thanks to everyone who sponsored, we raised £661 for DHCT, which was fantastic!
Maggie
We had a shaky start when our friends car died as it arrive at our house and they had to call the AA. 6 of us planned to visit 9 churches starting at Whimple then heading to West Hill and finishing at Talaton. Some weren’t on the list of participants. We had lots of fun, stopping at each church to look around the graveyards. We had a picnic at Feniton church and a pint at the Drewe Arms at Broadhembury. After four hours and lots of locked churches we headed for home - just in time to meet the breakdown service. We ended up covering 27 miles.
Sue and Reuben Ayers
And last but not least ‘Team Turner’ also rode on the 12th. Ralph, my grandson who has just turned five, thought he would like to go, so his big brother Jonah (8years), his mum and his Gran (me) joined him. We had a super time and the boys loved it. Grannie had to call for a ‘cookie break’ at one stage as she was struggling to keep up with the little legs in front of her flying round so fast they were a blur. I would appreciate it very much if you can add a thank you from us to all those who have so very generously given sponsorship - it is greatly appreciated.
Jane Clements
Firstly, a very big thank you to my very generous sponsors who have helped me raise over £700, with more to come! I achieved my target of 75 miles, very ably supported by my ‘roadie’ Martin Horrell. There was a lovely welcome in the porches of Clyst St Lawrence and Whimple, also St Michael’s at Mount Dinham; I visited 22 churches of various denominations in Broadclyst, Exeter, Exmouth, Powderham, Budleigh, Sowton, and Clyst Honiton as they all can benefit from the Devon Historic Churches Conservation Trust.
Julia Spruntulis
Photos of the 4 churches that currently make up our Mission Community
Talaton Community Shop & Post Office
Local & Homemade Produce Newspapers & Magazines to Order Card payments accepted with no minimum limit SHOP POST OFFICE
Monday 9am – 6pm 9am-1pm, 2pm-5 Tuesday 9am – 6pm Wednesday 9am – 6pm 9am – 12.30pm Thursday 9am – 6pm Friday 9am – 6pm 9am – 12.30pm Saturday 9am – 1 pm 23C m Sunday 10am – 12 noon Talaton Community Shop, Talaton, EX5 2RQ 01404 822084 www.talatonparishcouncil.co.uk