June 2013 the Parish of Birstall and Wanlip
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JUNE 2013 THE PARISH OF BIRSTALL AND WANLIP 3 PARISH DIARY JUNE—AUGUST 2013 JUNE 2nd 10 am ‘All Together’ Service 16th 6pm Christian Unity Sunday Evensong at Wanlip with Speaker from “GATES” 22nd 9am Coach trip to Gloucester 29/30th Birstall Gala 30th Service on the Park JULY 7th 10 am ‘All Together’ Service 8th—12th Parish Holiday to Cober Hill 27th 10 am Parish Away Day at Nanpantan AUGUST 1st 10 am ‘All Together’ service led by Home Groups 4th 7.30 pm Home Groups Get Together 11th 10 am Mothers’ Union Service 26th 2pm Parish Garden Fete on the Church Lawn Details of our regular services can be found on page 6 Please see church information sheets and/or website www.birstall.org for further information 4 Welcome Welcome to the summer edition of ‘Link’. I hope you find it informative, useful and interesting. It is the first put together ‘under new management’ since our friend - and editor of many years - Maureen Holland died in April. It is due to Maureen’s efforts that ‘Link’ exists today; a link with the Church which we hope to continue to provide you with for a long time to come. Our website editor, Gill Pope, has taken over the production editorial role, Noreen Talbot continues as commissioning editor. Gill and Noreen welcome your contributions as well as your feedback in order to help them make it the magazine that you look forward to receiving and reading each quarter. Thank you for your continued interest in, and support of, the Church. Vince (Rector). The themes for this edition are ‘All Things Green’ and ‘Threes’, coming out during the Church season of Trinity . There are also other items which have been contributed such as poems and a quiz This is your magazine so please let us have your news, reviews, reports, poems, puzzles, to name but a few ideas. (They do not have to be on the issue theme.) These may not be included in the following edition but will be used at some time, when appropriate (or when I need to fill space!) Email to Gill Pope at [email protected], give to Noreen Talbot, or put in the box at back of church. Let us have any memories you have if you were here 50 years ago, to help us celebrate our 50th Anniversary in the September issue, when the theme will be ‘Celebrations’. Deadline for next issue is 4th August 5 Rector’s Ramblings: ‘All things green’. As soon as I think green, I guiltily remember the state of the Rectory lawn and wonder when I will get around to cutting it and baling it (yes it’s that bad). I probably have by the time you read this, but at the time of writing I realise that I’ll probably only see the dog’s toys when the mower blade hits them. The Church’s green season is here though and what a lovely time of the year it is. I love this time in the Church calendar, when most of our weddings occur, baptism parties are a regular feature of Sunday afternoons and, with Eastertide past, I have a moment or two to plan for the future. It’s a restorative time of year to soak up the warmth of the sun, muse about life with Christ and perhaps also to set some short term goals for the autumn. As all things green naturally grow with a little help from warmth, food/water and light, we too in Church are hoping to encourage growth, not just in numbers, but – and most importantly – in the individual lives of those we serve. We aim to do this by continuing to encourage everyone (warmth) who wishes to grow in faith, by providing them with the right training materials (food/water) and by sharing our understanding and experience with them (light). We hope to help many more people to see that although they might feel ‘green’, (ill-equipped or lacking in confidence or lacking in experience) they too have a calling from God to ministry, and that their ministries can be realised in our Churches and in our mission partnership. 6 This coming autumn we are to offer a course called ‘Journey into Faith’ across the mission partnership. It is a diocesan accredited course which seeks to meet the needs of both those who are simply interested in improving their understanding or deepening their faith and those who wish to pursue a form of licensed ministry. Those choosing the latter can opt to submit essays and then go onto consider lay or ordained ministries. Our lives are a journey of faith, an adventure with Christ, where at various times we approach something new as green as the grass I am currently ankle deep in, and then we can begin to discover and grow in experience and understanding, and enjoy that maturing process before approaching another new experience, just as green as before. I personally love learning something new even for the anxieties of being the newbie in a new context… and as I remember being a green curate 13 years ago and growing into my calling, I invite you to explore your calling(s) and feel the joy of growing to be all that you can be as God intended. What is God calling you to grow into? Maybe this course is a good start point in your discernment process! As I put away my white preaching stole and dust off my green one with its design of rolling hills, trees, and lambs upon it, I am mindful that just as the seasons come and go God calls us afresh! We just need to listen, want to hear and then act. Do come and talk to me about your sense of calling. In the meantime though, I pray that you will have a wonderful summer. Vince. 7 REGULAR SERVICES St James the Great, Birstall Sunday 8am Holy Communion (said) 10am Altogether Service (1st Sunday) 10am Parish Communion (other Sundays) 10am Sunday School Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 9am Morning Prayer Thursday 9.30am Holy Communion Our Lady & St Nicholas. Wanlip Sunday 6pm Holy Communion (1st Sunday) 6pm Book of Common Prayer Evensong (2nd,3rd,4th) 6pm Alternative service (5th Sunday) 8 FORTHCOMING EVENTS Wednesday 5th June Quiet Gardens in Birstall, led by Noreen Talbot Further information in Quiet Garden leaflet or ring 2672756 Saturday 22nd June Coach Trip to Gloucester For further information see separate article or contact Gill Pope 0116 2675086 July or August Theatre trip. Details still to be confirmed 7th August Quiet Gardens in Birstall, led by Revd. David White Further information in Quiet Garden leaflet or ring 2672756 Wednesday August 26th Parish Garden Fete on the Church Lawn September 14th Gospel Choir Concert September 28th Harvest Barn Dance in the Village Hall October 20th Thanksgiving Bring & Share Hot Meal in the Village Hall November 12th Beer & Skittles evening November 24th Quiz afternoon in the Village Hall December 31st New Year’s Eve Party in the Village Hall Additional events will be added throughout the year. Details of all events will be available on our website www.birstall.org and in the notice sheets. 9 Summer is come Root, shoot, leaves: All things greenly grow: Grass, herbs, trees, Flower faces show; Sun, rain, breeze: Son of God And Holy Spirit, Father God: In all life liveth. All things green In summer growth. Roots, shoots, leaves: All things greenly grow; So work the leas, Dig, plant, care and mow. The Lord sees Creation’s glory. LAH 10 It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the church's mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen. Archbishop Oscar Romero 11 TRINITY: THREE OF A KIND Three is such an amazing number, and such a lot of it about in the world! Three is a prime number and three objects make a perfect arrangement: it is the smallest number of flowers or items that makes an attractive assembly; it is embedded in so much of life: body, mind and spirit; ear, nose, throat; father, mother, child; child, adolescent, adult; roots, shoots, buds; earth, sea, sky; sun, moon, stars. Most crystals have three axes, only hexagonal ones have four, although three give six faces to them, like those in snowflakes.