Sword June 2019
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St Michael & All Angels SSWWOORRDD Mildred Avenue Parish Magazine Watford ISSN 2397-2211 JUNE 2019 PRICE 75P CONTENTS 3. Pastoral Letter from Father Geoff Editorial Team 4. Bike & Hike 2019/Vienna Rob White Sylvia Moring 5. Church Army Father Geoff Vicki Matthews 6. Foodbank/WTRRP Garden Party Subscriptions Valerie Alvarez 7. Trek 26 for Alzheimer's Society Diary and Rota Sylvia Moring 8. 17th Watford Brownies Crossword Peter White 9. From the Treasurer Distribution Dennis Beach 10. Diary of Events Duncan Turton Sylvia Moring 12. Sung Eucharist Duty List Cover Illustration 13. Pinner Music Festival Martin Matthews Contributors 15. Proposed Gwalia Concert Valerie Alvarez 16. Crossword Iola Bilson Robert Bilson 17. St. Columba & the Battle Book Paul Chandler Sue Ellison 19. Calendar of Feasts & Holy Days Father Geoff Sylvia Moring Maggie Shrive Marilyn Tozer Deadline for Duncan Turton July edition of SWORD Printers DPD Printing Ltd Sunday 21st June 2019 35 Market Street Watford WD18 0PN Please submit copy or email to: [email protected] A Pastoral Letter Dear Friends, On the 1st June I begin my Extended Study Leave, also known as a Sabbatical. Plans have changed a little, in that I am no longer going to Assisi, but this has enabled me to go to some sites in this country which have a deep historical, theological and spiritual significance for me, and which I hope to be able to speak and write about. Britain has a long Christian history, much of which is deeply mysterious. There are many periods and places of Britain's Christian history for which there are either no written records, or for which the written records need interpretation. There are, however many material remains. There are living Churches, great and small, ruins and remains, sculptures and paintings in churches, museums, and out in the open. There are manuscripts, place names and folk memories. Each of these is a witness to faith, spirituality, and Christian life. It is possible to see and study these in words and photographs, but I want to spend time with the material remains of our Christian history, to see if I can connect with the spirituality of those who built and worshipped in our Churches, who carved the sculptures, who painted the panels, who moulded the landscape. People left messages for us about how they felt called to live lives of prayer, of worship, of community, of witness, and of mutual love and care. These messages are not always easy to read, and cannot always be read in books. Sometimes they need to be read in prayer and reflection. What is most important, to pray or to act, to reach into the heart or to reach out to the needy? Different people have answered this in different ways. The Church has always had its people drawn to prayer, and to live their lives devoted to prayer. There have also been those who have devoted their lives to caring for others. It is my perception that each has needed the other, just as we can find that spending time in prayer strengthens us for active care. The Church has its contemplative people and its active people, just as we each have our reflective and active sides in different proportion according to who we are. I hope that the result of my extended study leave will be that I can communicate to people in today's Church (whoever will listen!) how our Christian history informs the importance of caring for each other, and receiving the indwelling of Jesus in prayer, so that our care is truly his care too. It's a tall order, so I'm starting with Northern England and Scotland. There is much elsewhere too! Love and prayers, Fr Geoff JUNE 2019 Page 3 The purpose of this early note is to advise that this year’s venture will take place on Saturday 14 September. As usual, it would be good if we can enlist volunteers either to cycle or hike - locally or further afield. It is open to use other means of transport. Further details will be given in due course at which point choices can be made. I expect to receive the appropriate documents some time in June. Last year, we raised £362.00 for the Beds & Herts Historic Churches Trust and that was based solely on supporting Church Helpers, having no cyclists or hikers available on the day. I think we could raise more if we have cyclists or hikers available on 14 September. Hopefully, there will be a frantic search through diaries to check availability, and a risk of my being trampled underfoot by a rush of volunteers. Robert Bilson Vienna Some of you may know that I sing with Chiltern Choir. The early May Bank Holiday saw myself, Mike and about 58 others (of which about 40 would sing) leave Heathrow for a choir tour ofVienna and Bratislava. What an experience that was to be! Our first concert was in St Stephen's Cathedral Vienna. With no time to adjust to acoustics and the organ we sang our first concert starting with our musical director's own work Gloria. Sadly Michael Cayton was unable to come with us at the last minute .Thankfully, Andrew Sackett (a very good musician) joined us and - with our accompanist Ian Shaw - made it a memorable trip and brought out the best in us. We sang music from the 16th century to the present day. I must admit to feeling a sense of a spiritual presence as we sang our final piece - Stanford's Magnificat in C. Saturday saw us heading for a town to the north of Bratislava, Skalica. The church we sang in had been decommissioned and restored as a music venue. Wow - the acoustics! The organ was from a United Reformed church in Sheffield, installed in about 2004. It was very cold as they didn’t heat it! But the seats were very plush! The acoustics were amazing, but you needed to follow the conductor to have any hope of keeping the beat! Sunday saw us performing in the Jesuit Church in Bratislava. Very Baroque! Nice to see churches have problems with organs all over the world. "More swell please, Ian", came our conductors plea. "I can’t - there isn’t any", says Ian. So what was to be an hour's rehearsal was cut short so that Ian could come to grips with the organ!! I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to sing in such lovely venues and to very full venues. Maggie Shrive Page 4 SWORD The Church Army has 24 Centres of Mission throughout the country. Their Key Project areas are Cardiff, Wilson Carlile Centre in Sheffield and the Marylebone Project in London. The newest centre is in Aberdeen where, in partnership with the City Council and the NHS, a café and bi-weekly lunch club for socially isolated people has been set up with about 50 people using the new facilities. They also run a ‘Café Credo' Coffee Shop. Another project which is being set up this year is Xplore, which is a free evangelism training programme for young adults aged 18 to 30. Young people can take part in the programme while continuing with other commitments, such as work or study. There are currently 35 Xplorers taking part in the course. They receive teaching in the form of a podcast or a short video, which challenges and encourages them to grow in mission and evangelism. Church Army worker Nick Russell is the lead Evangelist for the Greenwich Centre of Mission and works across five housing estates in south-east London. Nick and his group are dealing with youths involved in knife crime together with drug-related incidents and violent behaviour. Many of these young people come from disturbed and broken family backgrounds. The group are endeavouring to provide a place for young people to meet by bringing them into clubs so they can learn to develop trust instead of fear and anger. This helps them to build self- esteem, to develop their gifts, and to encounter good role models finding faith in God. It is through our support of the Church Army that these projects can be funded. Last year St Michaels - through our Mission Committee and our Lent Boxes project - were able to send £350 to Church Army, which was very much appreciated. So far this year our Lent boxes have raised £176, so thank you to all who contributed. Do please look at the Church Army display in Church giving further information of the good work they do. Valerie Alvarez Parish Representative JUNE 2019 Page 5 The Parish donated 23 kgs of food to the Food Bank on Friday 23.05.2019 for which they were very grateful as their stocks were low. They would also appreciate any carrier bags that could be donated as they had to buy some last month. These along with food donations can be left at the back of the church. Thank you. I am delighted to report that St Michael's collected over £100 pounds during Christian Aid week. With the Gift Aid added, the whole amount is a little over £120. So I am sure that Christian Aid will be very pleased to receive this amount for the work that they are planning. Thank you to all who contributed. Vicki Matthews Page 6 SWORD TREK 26 for Alzheimer’s Society, 1 June 201 9 At the time of writing, Rebecca and I haven’t actually done the walk yet, but we will have when you read this! Alzheimer’s Society has been a huge source of support for our family over the past few tumultuous years and we have learned how tough living with dementia is! Not only are they fighting relentlessly to find a cure for dementia, but they are determined to create a society where those affected by the disease are supported and accepted, able to live in their community without fear or prejudice.