Contact Information:

The Partnership office is open:

Monday - Friday, 9:00 – 12:00pm . IInn PPaarrttnneerrsshhiipp Tuesday 8.30 – 11.30am

The office number is 01793 874221. The office e-mail is: [email protected] AApprriill 22001155

To publicise any News or Events in the next edition of In Partnership covering May, please send them to the office no later than 16 April.

The address for correspondence is: The Partnership Office, Holy Trinity Church, Shaw Village Centre, SWINDON, SN5 5PY.

The editor’s e-mail address is: [email protected]

The Partnership web site is http://www.wswinlyd.org.uk

Partnership Team Minister: Revd Capt Clive Deverell Email: [email protected] Tel: 01793 877111

Partnership Youth Worker: Claire Camm Email: [email protected] Tel: 07981 951381

Partnership Primary Age Schools Worker: Gayle Bryon Email: [email protected]

Page 20 of 20 ‘In the beginning the Word already existed. FROM THE REGISTERS The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. Baptisms God created everything through him 15 March 2015 Freddie Aston Rothero and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created 21 March 2105 Jacob David Gale and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, Weddings and the darkness can never extinguish it’. 07 March 2015 Carl Read and Katie-Louise Fitzpatrick (John 1: 1-5 New Living Translation)

The above words from John is one of my favourite passages in the 21 March 2015 Jack Tait and Alida Marian Dunn Gospels, which we are very familiar with hearing in Church, especially during Advent. What I particularly like about the passage is that it talks Wedding Blessing about light and life and how those things came through Jesus and can 21 March 2015 Matthew James Thompson and Karen Stacey never be extinguished, snuffed out, destroyed. These are truths which Hayes we all need to hear constantly throughout our lives as we travel through times that are difficult or may even seem unbearable. Interment of Ashes We need to remember that the light which Jesus brought into the 02 March 2015 Lorraine Anne Smith world and shared with people he met is now within us, his living body; and we need to let it shine! If we don’t bear his light, how will others 30 March 2015 Audrey Sinden meet Jesus and how will his Kingdom grow, as opposed to that of the ‘Prince of darkness’ whom Jesus called ‘The ruler of this world?’ PRAYERS Peter Benenson, the founder of Amnesty International gave public Please pray for:- utterance to this thought at a Human Rights day ceremony with the words: Give thanks that 19 of the estimated 220 Assyrians abducted by IS in ‘It is better to light a candle in the darkness than to curse the Syria on 23 February have been freed, and pray for the safe release of darkness’. those still being held captive.

I have found myself, like many others I am sure, depressed and The Big Banquet on 02 April deeply saddened by the rampant spread of the ISIS movement in Iraq with all the destruction and hatred they have wrought. ‘What can I Partnership AGM on 12 April do’? ‘How can we change this situation’? are questions I’m sure we all ask about this and other terrible examples of suffering we hear of New Partnership Council meeting on Tuesday 28 April daily. When we are outside of a situation and it’s not possible to affect what’s happening, there are really only two things – but two things of great power and hope. One is to pray and believe that prayer brings change, as Jesus says it does. The other is to bear Christ’s light wherever we are. Not to shut ourselves in or lose hope in goodness; to do the opposite and to shine brighter.

Page 2 of 20 Page 19 of 20 Swindon/Salzgitter Churches' Exchange Easter is the greatest demonstration of the truth of John 1:1-5. For it was when Jesus, the Light of the World, seemingly extinguished, From Tuesday 28 April - Sunday 3 May 2015, it is Swindon's turn to snuffed out and utterly destroyed, rises triumphant over death, hatred play host to our friends from churches in Salzgitter. The exchange has and evil; proclaiming once again and for all time, that ‘the light shines in been active since 2001 and although it has not always been possible to the darkness and can never be extinguished.’ arrange a visit every year, we have managed to get together with our friends most years in either Salzgitter or Swindon. This year there are Claire Camm only four people coming (all female) and we are busy trying to organise a programme of events while they are here. We will spend two days looking at 'social' projects in Swindon and two days sightseeing: one The MIX Festival 2015 request has been to visit an English garden! th We are planning to hold the Mix again on Sat 20 June at Shaw church, We are keen to welcome new members to the group, and are looking 11.30-5.00pm. Gayle, Mary and I have started to plan the festival with a for one more host. All our friends speak English so you need have no few others and would love to hear your ideas! worry about the language being a barrier. Hosts will need to provide We would also be very keen to hear from you if you can offer your help bed and breakfast for one person, two evening meals and two packed with any of the following: lunches. Other meals will be provided. You would be welcome to join us on our excursions, and maybe even visit Salzgitter next year. Craft zone Messy Space If you are interested in knowing more, please contact Chris Durant on Cafe 07762 210407 or email [email protected]. Even if you are unable to Beauty salon host we would welcome hearing from you. Art show Mural SERVE Reunion and Jesus Trail Church stall volunteer (for info on our church partnership) General volunteer to help supervise a zone November 2015 Steward

Door steward - take money and sign in/out Why not join us for our first SERVE Reunion which will be followed by a First aid Jesus Trail Sponsored Walk raising funds for the ongoing ministry of Set up/Set down SERVE Nazareth. Please let me know as soon as possible if you can help us for a two The Reunion will take place across the long weekend of Saturday 14th hour or longer slot. to Monday 16th November, when those joining for the Jesus Trail will arrive. We hope that this will be a great event which brings us together as churches as we welcome people of all ages into the church. The walking will commence early on the morning of Tuesday the 17th and take the walkers from Nazareth to Capernaum before arriving back Thanks in Nazareth on the afternoon of Saturday 21st when the walkers will Claire share in a Service of Thanksgiving.

If you would like more information on the Reunion then please email [email protected] If you would like more information on the Jesus Trail Sponsored Walk then please email shaun@nazarethtrust. org.

Page 18 of 20 Page 3 of 20 Regular activities

2nd Sunday each month Messy Church 12 April 4-5:30pm @ Shaw Every Monday After School Youth Group 3:30 – 6:00pm @ Holy Trinity Shaw Contact Claire Camm 07981951381 Every Tuesday Coffee Stop 1:30 – 3:00pm @ Holy Trinity Shaw Bell Ringing 7-9pm St Mary’s Bell Tower Remix Youth Group 6:30 – 8:45pm @ Holy Trinity Shaw Contact Claire Camm 07981951381 4th Tuesday each month Lunch Bunch 28 April Noon @Toothill 2nd Wednesday of each month Mothers Union 08 April Contact Doreen Henderson 07434377587 2pm @ St Mary’s Stable Room Every Thursday Quiet Day with Jenni Entrican Toothill Tinies 10-11:30am @ Toothill for WEBA Pastoral Leaders 3rd Friday each month Gen2Gen 24 April “We make the road by walking” Contact Claire Camm 07981951381 4:00 – 6:00pm @ Holy Trinity Shaw Thursday 21st May 2015 Cotswold Farm, Duntisbourne Abbots nr. Cirencester Gloucestershire GL7 7JS Out West 10am for coffee, 10:30 start, finish by 3:30pm

A devout cowboy lost his Bible while he was mending fences out on the Cost £15 per head; bring your own lunch Coffee and tea available all day. range. Three weeks later a cow walked up carrying the Bible in its mouth. The cowboy couldn't believe his eyes. He took the book out of the cow's For more information West of England Baptist Association The Old mouth, raised his eyes heavenward, and exclaimed, "It's a miracle!" Forge, Broom Hill, Stapleton, Bristol BS16 1DN Tel: 0117 965 8828 or "Not really," said the cow. "Your name was written inside the cover.” email: [email protected] www.webassoc.org.uk

Page 4 of 20 Page 17 of 20 23 April St George ou r patron saint who isn’t English by David Winter

It’s perhaps typical of the English that they should have a patron saint who isn’t English, about whom next to nothing is known for sure, and who may not have existed at all. That didn’t stop him being patriotically invoked in many battles, notably at Agincourt and in the Crusades, and of course it is his cross that adorns the flags of English football fans to this day.

It’s most likely that he was a soldier, a Christian who was martyred for his faith somewhere in Palestine, possibly at Lydda, in the early fourth century. At some point in the early centuries of the Church he became associated with wider military concerns, being regarded as the patron saint of the Byzantine armies. There is no doubt that he was held as an example of the ‘godly soldier’, one who served Christ as bravely and truly as he served his king and country.

The story of George and the dragon is of much later date and no one seems to know where it comes from. By the middle ages, when George was being honoured in stained glass, the dragon had become an invaluable and invariable visual element, so that for most people the two are inseparable. Pub signs have a lot to answer for here: ‘The George and Dragon’.

However, it’s probably more profitable to concentrate on his role as a man who witnessed to his faith in the difficult setting of military service, and in the end was martyred for his faithfulness to Christ.

The idea of the ‘Christian soldier’ was, of course, much loved by the Victorian hymn-writers - ’Onward, Christian soldiers!’ The soldier needs discipline. The heart of his commitment is to obedience. The battle cannot be avoided nor the enemy appeased. He marches and fights alongside others, and he is loyal to his comrades. In the end, if the battle is won, he receives the garlands of victory, the final reward of those who overcome evil.

St George’s Day presents a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is to distance the message of his life from the militarism and triumphalism that can easily attach itself to anything connected to soldiers and fighting. The opportunity is to celebrate the ideal of the ‘Christian soldier’ - one who submits to discipline, sets out to obey God truly, does not avoid the inevitable battle with all that is unjust, wrong and hateful in our world, and marches alongside others fighting the same noble cause. Discipline, obedience, courage, fellowship and loyalty - they’re not the most popular virtues today, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve our gratitude and admiration .

Page 16 of 20 Page 5 of 20 Annual General Meeting In my dinner conversation with Alan it was the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus which I marked as the datum point – and not only The Annual General Meeting for our partnership takes place this year so for me but for Christian faith and understanding. These linked on Sunday 12 April, 10:30 am at Holy Trinity Church, Shaw. We will events change everything. One of the quotes the radio presenter had intersperse the business of the meeting within a service of worship. for me was attributed to Professor Stephen Hawking: miracles are not consistent with scientific understanding. I humbly do not believe that to There are a few things that need your preparation. Online, look up be the case – the core miracle of Jesus’ resurrection gives birth itself to http://wswinlyd.org.uk/council/report a worldview which does not diminish the place and importance of First off, please check out our annual report (almost complete at the scientific learning but sets it within a far greater reality. time of writing) There is a late draft available online at In the Church of England, we regard the insights of science as vital and http://wswinlyd.org.uk/council/report/Annual%20Report%202014.pdf often reframe or challenge our assumptions, prejudices and practices. Secondly the accounts are available, Yet the resurrection of Jesus, with its promise of a new beginning for http://wswinlyd.org.uk/council/report/Finance-Report-2014.pdf we creation itself, refutes the trajectory science predicts for the cosmos. hope the examined approved version will be available shortly. The resurrection declares that the universe is not ultimately destined for futility but transformation. This is a truth which Alan recognised as And last but not least, we need to update our constitution to reflect our holding a life changing hope even if he personally cannot embrace it. new name, details at http://wswinlyd.org.uk/council/report/Constitution- Our task is to make it visible and what is at work in us is the very power changes-at-2015.pdf which raised Jesus from the dead.

Call me, or a member of your church leadership team if you want +Lee paper copies and have no access online. See you at the AGM! Chris

CofE Covenant with Armed Forces community

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have pledged the Church of England’s commitment to support the Armed Forces community. The Armed Forces Corporate Covenant, recently signed by Archbishop Justin Welby and Archbishop John Sentamu at Lambeth Palace, commits the Church of England to recognise and care for Armed Forces personnel, veterans and families.

The Archbishops were joined by Minister of State for Defence Anna Soubry to sign the covenant. The Archbishop of Canterbury, who recently backed a homeless veterans appeal, said: “The privilege of ministering with the people in the Armed Services is absolutely crucial to our understanding of the role of the church.”

(The Covenant is available at: bit.ly/coeforcescovenant)

Page 6 of 20 Page 15 of 20 Bishop’s Message – April 2015 03 April Good Friday Science, faith and the resurrection of Jesus the day the Son of God died for you

Good Friday is the day on which Jesus died on the cross. He was As we approach Easter, Bishop Lee describes the place the crucified at 9am in the morning, and died six hours later, at 3pm. It is the resurrection holds for him as a scientist and disciple of Jesus. most solemn day in the Christian year, and is widely marked by the Yesterday evening I had supper with a colleague and friend who is a removal of all decorations from churches. In Lutheran churches, the day senior scientist and a philosopher. We always seem to have great was marked by the reading of the passion narrative in a gospel, a practice conversations and this one was no different. My friend – let’s call him which lies behind the ‘passions’ composed by Johann Sebastian Bach Alan – describes himself as an atheist but is one of the most open (1685 – 1750). Both the St Matthew Passion and the St John Passion people I know. At the heart of his openness is a genuine pursuit of have their origins in this observance of Good Friday. truth. For Alan, scientific endeavour offers the surest route for The custom of observing a period of three hours’ devotion from 12 midday establishing what truth is. to 3 pm on Good Friday goes back to the 18th century. The ‘Three Hours

One of the reasons our conversations are so engaging is because Alan of the Cross’ often take the form of an extended meditation on the ‘Seven genuinely wants to know how Christians who are scientists hold Last Words from the Cross’, with periods of silence, prayer, or hymn- tensions between their faith and a scientific worldview. This theme singing. emerged again as I recorded a piece on local radio for British Science Week. The presenter asked me which had taken precedence in my life 05 April Easter Day – Christian belief or scientific understanding. My experience is that they the most joyful day of the year have always interwoven. Easter is the most joyful day of the year for Christians. Christ has died for

Having gone along to ‘Sunday School’ from childhood I cannot say our sins. We are forgiven. Christ has risen! We are redeemed! We can look forward to an eternity in his joy! Hallelujah! whether there was a period that God, and in particular the person of Jesus, was not absent from my thinking. Yet as a young teenager I also The Good News of Jesus Christ is a message so simple that you can came to a point where I realised the significance of questions related to explain it to someone in a few minutes. It is so profound that for the rest truth and commitment to the Christian faith. Put simply, was belief of their lives they will be still be ‘growing’ in their Christian walk with God. something I had been brought up with but now needed to put behind me Why does the date more around so much? Because the date of Passover - or was it something that needed to more radically shape my life and moves around, and according to the biblical account, Easter is tied to the choices? If God has truly come among us in Jesus, been crucified and Passover. Passover celebrates the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt and it buried but raised to a new life, that reality required a serious response lasts for seven days, from the middle of the Hebrew month of Nisan, and a commitment. Was this true and how might I judge? which equates to late March or early April.

One aspect was undoubtedly the impact I saw in the lives of peers – Sir Isaac Newton was one of the first to use the Hebrew lunar calendar to they provided examples of what being a disciple entailed. However, come up with firm dates for Good Friday: Friday 7 April 30 AD or Friday 3 what might be called my scientific mind-set (albeit less well developed April, 33 AD, with Easter Day falling two days later. Modern scholars then than now) caused me to focus on that fundamental event – the continue to think these the most likely. resurrection. In particular I reflected on what could have caused Jesus’ Most people will tell you that Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first followers to become the people they became, and proclaim the things full moon after the Spring Equinox, which is broadly true. But the precise they did, if there had not been a transformative experience after Christ’s calculations are complicated and involve something called an brutal crucifixion. For me, the weight of evidence was critical in making ‘ecclesiastical full moon’, which is not the same as the moon in the sky. that step of commitment. It could not be solely described as rational, The earliest possible date for Easter in the West is 22 March, which last but it was reasonable, coherent and consistent. fell in 1818 and won’t fall again until 2285. The latest is 25 April, which

last happened in 1943 and is next due in 2038. Page 14 of 20 Page 7 of 20 th 7 April, World Health Day Sports Quiz run by Christians in Sport

th World Health Day, on 7 April, celebrates the founding of the World Saturday 18 April 2015 Health Organisation (WHO) in 1948. The theme this year is food 7.30pm safety. Lydiard Millicent Church of England Primary School, The Butts, SN5 3LR. Unsafe food kills an estimated two million people annually – including many children. And no wonder: food that contains harmful bacteria, Please contact us to enter teams or if you are on your own then please viruses, parasites or chemical substances is responsible for more than come along on the night and join one of the teams. 200 diseases, ranging from diarrhoea to cancers. For information or help [email protected], we will reply New threats to food safety are constantly emerging. They emerge asap because of changes in food production, distribution and consumption; changes to the environment; new and emerging pathogens; and Organised by All Saints Church Lydiard Millicent antimicrobial resistance. As our food supply becomes increasingly globalised, the need to strengthen food safety systems in and between all countries is becoming more and more evident. That is why the Quiz Night

WHO is promoting efforts to improve food safety, from farm to plate Friday 24th April 2014 (and everywhere in between) on World Health Day, 7th April. Morris Street Club

7.30pm start.

Entry £2.50 per person with teams of up to six people. Food can be General Election Hustings ordered upon arrival at the Club, and if you can’t make a team of six, Ask the candidates your questions come along and be part of a team on the night (please let us know

you’re coming!) To enter a team or individually, please contact: Neil Wednesday 15 April 7:00pm Fisher 01793 693652 or Carol Holmes 01793 528694 or enter at Doors open 6:15pm. Questions in by 6:30pm http://staugustines-swindon.co.uk/?p=4634 Free Admission Swindon North: St Barnabas, Gorse Hill Swindon South: Immanual URC. Upham Road Toothill Games/Coffee Morning

Saturday 25th April at Toothill Church 10.30-12.00pm

More info from Barbara Coffee or Tea and Cake £1.50 [email protected]

01793 536815 Games are Scrabble, Dominoes, Chess and Quiz Cards etc

Come and enjoy each other’s company and make new friends.

Page 8 of 20 Page 13 of 20

Page 12 of 20 Page 9 of 20 Church Services in the Partnership Toothill

St Mary’s Lydiard Tregoze Date Time Form Maundy Thursday 7:30pm Partnership Holy Communion with Date Time Form 02 April washing of feet Good Friday 2:00pm Partnership Holy Hour Good Friday 03 April Service Easter Day 10:30am All Age Service with Communion Good Friday 7.00pm Partnership Tenebrae 05 April 03 April 12 April 10:30am Partnership AGM at HTS Easter Day 6.15am Partnership Sunrise with Communion 19 April 10:30am Morning Service 05 April 26 April 10:30am Morning Service

Easter Day 10:00am Family Service with Communion Westlea 05 April 12 April 10:30am Partnership AGM at HTS Date Time Form 19 April 10:00am Family Service Easter Day 10:00am Family Service 26 April 10:00am Communion followed by Baptisms 05 April 26 April 5:00pm Partnership Prayer and Praise 12 April 10:30am Partnership AGM at HTS 19 April 10:00am Holy Communion Holy Trinity Shaw 26 April 10:00am Swap

Date Time Form

Good Friday 10:30am Partnership All Age Service 03 April Partnership Prayer and Praise

Easter Day 10:30am Holy Communion 26 April 2015 05 April 12 April 10:30am Partnership AGM at HTS 5.00pm 12 April 4:00pm Messy Church Please note change of time to Summertime hours 19 April 10:30am Morning Service

26 April 10:30am All Age Service with Communion St Mary’s Lydiard Tregoze SN5 3PA

The theme will be Easter Reflection

Holy Trinity Church Shaw will be open for you to visit on “Hymns and Songs of Resurrection”

Friday 03 April 2015 12.30 – 4.00pm All Welcome

Please come along and experience the Easter Story through a series of Reflective stations. Page 10 of 20 Page 11 of 20