Sherborne Castle Grounds
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www.stevemaraboli.com Deadline for June to August 2021 edition Tuesday 27 April 2021 Please send all articles for inclusion in the next edition to the Circuit Administrator at: Yeovil and Blackmore Vale Circuit Office Vicarage Street Methodist Church Middle Street, Yeovil BA20 1JZ 01935 432173 / 07423 837504 Sherborne Castle Grounds Our Mission Statement [email protected] To Know God’s Love, To Show God’s Love, www.yeovilblackmorevalemc.org.uk To Share God’s Love 24 From the Circuit Office For the time being I am continuing to All Stars Youth Club work from home. Messages left on the 6-10 year olds office answerphone are being retrieved Come and join us on the 4th Friday of regulary and post is being forwarded. I every month have full email access at — at St Mark’s Methodist Church, Yeovil [email protected] and can also be 6.30-8pm contacted on 07423 837504 (9am-3pm Monday to Thursday). Usually 4th Friday of the month, please contact Normal Office Hours are Monday - Thursday 9:00am-3.00pm Lynn Heaton to confirm if going ahead 50p per child + tuck shop CIRCUIT MEETING DATES FOR YOUR DIARY: For more details please Tuesday 23 February — God in Love Unites Us contact Lynn Heaton: 07421 824 840 / [email protected] Tuesday 23 March — General Business Would all contributors and churches please send items for the next edition of the Bridge to me well before Tuesday 27th April 2021 Many thanks. If you are contributing by email could you please identify each contribution (image or article) with the name of your church or group. It helps identify them much more easily. I do get a lot of email attachments and it can be difficult knowing which piece goes with each church! A youth group meeting at St Mark’s Methodist Church Helen. on the second Friday of the month 7.30-9pm School Years 6 – 10 Usually 2nd Friday of the month If you are submitting photographs for publication in the Please contact Lynn Heaton to confirm if going ahead Bridge Magazine please ensure that anyone portrayed in £1 per person including hot food and drinks. picture is aware that it is being taken and may be published. It For more information contact : Lynn Heaton is particularly important that written parental consent is 07421 824 840/ [email protected] obtained to publish pictures of children. 2 23 From The Revd Paul Arnold February 2021 Dear Friends, Come and enjoy a morning of madness and sticky crafts! Sticking, making, cooking, singing, I am going to begin with (what some of you will think is) a very odd stories, colouring, eating and MUCH MORE!! question! It is this, ‘Why does Psalm 119 have 176 verses…?’ Many of you All Families, Grandparents, Carers welcome! will be familiar with the Psalm - there are some memorable verses in it… ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path’ (v. 105) or, ‘How Usually 1st Saturday of the month, please contact sweet are your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!’ (v. 103) to name but two. It is the longest of all Psalms, but I Lynn to confirm if going ahead repeat, ‘Why does the Psalm have 176 verses?’ Those of you who know some Old Testament Hebrew will be itching to tell us all the answer, which is of course that… Psalm 119 is an acrostic! You see, the Hebrew alphabet Cheap Street Church, Sherborne has 22 letters, and the Psalmist takes each letter in turn and writes 8 lines, 10.30 - 12.00pm each one beginning with that letter. Therefore, 22 x 8 = 176! Simples! Let’s see what sticks… Now, I’m sure you find that all very interesting (!) however, I share this to For more details please contact Lynn 01963 251747 make a point… namely, in the Hebrew, the ‘pattern’ in the Psalm is obvious - it is a beautiful piece of writing that plays imaginatively with each letter of the alphabet (it is no surprise that the major theme of the Psalm is the writer’s joy in the ‘word’ of God) - the whole Psalm is an anthem to words! However, the shape, pattern and poetry are lost when we read the Psalm in an English translation - the design and form become obscured. It is not that the words don’t communicate, but we lose that sense of arrangement and organisation. We continue to live through times that are demanding and as families, churches and nations we continue to struggle with the demands of these Come and enjoy a morning of madness and messy crafts! days. It is during the difficult and dark times that we are often unable to Painting, sticking, making, cooking, singing, see any shape, form or beauty in life. It can be a battle to remain open to stories, printing, building, eating and MUCH MORE!! God’s Spirit as we see so many closed paths or dead ends. My understanding of God’s grace leads me to believe there is an underlying All Families, Grandparents, Carers welcome! pattern and wonder in life. This is not the same as saying that God wills, Usually 3rd Saturday of the month, please or has decreed the illness, sadness and isolation caused by the Pandemic, contact Amanda to confirm if going ahead but that God’s re-creative purposes can be discovered through these St Marks Methodist Church, Yeovil tragedies. To use a musical metaphor, some Christians believe that everything is planned by God and our lives are lived out according to a 10.30 - 12.00pm predetermined plan - like an LP record. You place the stylus on the For more details please contact Amanda England: disc and the music plays just as it has been recorded. However, this 07506 090302/ [email protected] strikes me as restrictive, leaving God as one who lords it over 22 3 passive creation. Whereas, Grace is more akin to a piece of music that is improvised by a group of musicians. It has about it something that is fresh each time the piece is played. The music is dynamic because the players are in relation to one another. I have no idea what lies ahead in the coming months as we see how quickly conditions change. In the life of our Circuit, this dynamic spiritual improvisation has to be discovered in the many and You will usually find us in Preston Road Methodist Church Hall, difficult choices that lie ahead… What is our ministry now? What Friday Mornings - term time - from 10 – 11:30am ‘shape’ will our Circuit need to adopt? What role do our buildings have to play? Will some of our Societies ‘Cease to Meet’? What Please contact Lynn Heaton: 07421 824 840 Staffing levels can we sustain? I hope and pray that as we approach for current information whilst Covid restrictions remain Easter, we have the opportunity to see afresh how God is able to bring about renewal (Resurrection) in the face of heartbreak (Crucifixion) - and even though so much seems to argue against it, we are assured there is a pattern and beauty woven into the fabric of all life - even when (like the pattern in Psalm 119) it is not easy to see the wonder of 176 verses…! I finish with a reminder that Deacon Rebekah-Joy Spinks should have been Ordained at Conference last Summer. However, this was not possible (because of ‘Covid’ restrictions) and her Ordination will now take place on Sunday 18th April, 3.00pm at Wesley’s Chapel in London (we hope to be able to ‘attend’ the service via a live-link You will usually find us in Wincanton Methodist Church Hall, broadcast). In advance of every Ordination, a minister on Probation Monday Mornings - term time - from 10:30-12noon. shares in a Service of Public Testimony. It is unlikely that we will Please contact Lynn Heaton: 07421 824 840 be able to hold this ‘physically’ in church. So, we will have a ‘virtual’ service (using the ‘Zoom’ platform) on the Weds of Holy for current information whilst Covid restrictions remain Week - Wednesday31st March, 7.00pm. Please ‘come’ to that service (those who are able) to hear R-J’s Testimony and support her in prayer. For more details see the details elsewhere in this edition of ‘The Bridge’…. You will usually find us in Vicarage Peace, Street Methodist Church Hall, Thursday Mornings - term time from 10am – 11:30am. Please Contact Jane on 01935 479 906 Rev Paul Arnold for current information whilst Covid restrictions remain 4 21 Bell Street United Church, Shaftesbury Contact: [email protected] http://www.yeovilblackmorevalemc.org.uk/our- churches/bell-street-shaftesbury/ Our Children & Families Worker, Natalie, organised a Family Nativity Trail through our church (all Covid-safe). Families could pre-book and watch 3 short videos (using QR Scanner codes – all very high- tech) and spend time looking for clues hidden around the church to piece together the nativity story (many thanks also to Lynn Heaton for her creative artwork). We also had an outside part to the event on the driveway where people could collect craft packs, take-away mince pies, hang a prayer angel on the tree and hear carols being played on the keyboard. Some Christmas clothing was also taken from the clothing exchange table. It was so good to see everyone face-to-face after such a long time of not being able to welcome them into the Church. Despite the rainy drizzle it was a lovely at- mosphere and about £130 was raised for Action for Children.