CHALLENGE The Parish Magazine of St Mary’s Sandbach December 2017 Volume 53 No 631 December 2017 Sunday 3rd December 8.00 am Holy Communion Advent Sunday 10.00 am Parish Eucharist 3.30 pm Holy Eucharist 7.00 pm Churches Together in Sandbach Advent Service at St Peter’s Elworth Sunday 10th December 8.00 am Holy Communion 2 Advent 10.00 am Toy Service 3.30 pm Evensong Sunday 17th December 8.00 am Holy Communion 3 Advent 10.00 am Parish Eucharist 6.30 pm Carol Service Sunday 24th December 8.00 am Holy Communion 10.00 am Parish Eucharist 4 Advent 4.00 pm Christingle and Crib Service Christmas Eve 11.30 pm Midnight Eucharist Monday 25th December 8.00 am Holy Communion Christmas Day 10.00 am Parish Eucharist Wednesday 27th December 11.00 am Holy Communion St John 1 Sunday 31st December 8.00 am Holy Communion 1 Christmas 10.00 am Parish Eucharist 3.30 pm Holy Eucharist Sunday 6th January 8.00 am Holy Communion The Epiphany 10.00 am Morning Worship 3.30 pm Holy Eucharist Every Wednesday 11.00 am Holy Communion Holy Eucharist, Parish Eucharist = Order 2 Common Worship Holy Communion = Order 1 Book of Common Prayer Coffee Rota December 3rd No Coffee - Christmas Lunch 10th Jean Richardson and Iris Kenilworth 17th Marjorie Burgess and Renee Bickerton 24th Kathleen Davies and Kathleen Beech 31st Joyce Griffith and Lynne Winfield January 7th Stella Craven and Christine Hirst From the Registers Funerals October 27th Eileen Thompson November 7th Arthur John Yorke Terence Heritage Beesley 2 n one of the best questions on dangerous Christian season of I a GCSE Religious Studies Christmas. The season will be paper about 30 years ago, the finished on 27th of December, candidates were encouraged to because of course it is shopping write about the differences that defines seasons: the between a secular and a prelude is more important than religious Christmas. As a the day. stimulus, this cartoon was By contrast the 40 days of printed on the examination Christmas, starting on the feast paper and I found it on the day itself, will be the least internet again a few weeks ago. attended of the year. The Feast I was fulminating about the of the Nativity has become a batch of excessively lavish and showcase of human values, over-produced advertisements highlighted by primitive that appeared on our TVs the nostalgia and vulgar sentiment. week between All Saints Day No doubt I will be encouraged to and Remembrance Sunday. We think that the larger than could not think of our dead normal attendance at church without being interrupted by over the late Advent season is a the wash of oozy sentimentality sign of the tenacity of a vague encouraged by those adverts. religious faith. But they are For we now enter that very not there because they regret 3 their sins and seek the child molesters or rapists or sovereignty of God in their lives, racists - we shall know that the but in order to achieve pleasure authentic teachings of the from singing carols and exciting Christmas truths are actually their sensibilities with candlelit being taken seriously. atmospherics. Everyone is Christ was born to teach supposed to be nice to forgiveness, got into terrible everybody else (presumably the trouble for that and was killed other eleven months of the year for his efforts. That is God’s they are excused that value which is so often spurned. moratorium). Warm human The season of the High Street, of sentiments are the order of the over-indulgence, disgusting season. After all the period waste and excessive celebrates the sacral values of consumption would be so much liberal western society which is the better as an occasion to little more than a popularised celebrate, in spite of everything, caring culture for those who our redemption. Then we can generally are noticeably put the “e” back and thankfully uncaring and thoughtless of the say “Glory to God in the welfare of others in most of their Highest". daily lives. For when in society the public start demonstrating Thomas Shepherd --- Vicar caring and loving qualities in their attitudes to sinners - to From the Editor nother successful year for the Challenge Magazine. A big A thank you to all who have contributed, my proof reader, the collating team and distributors as without you it would not be possible. The cover picture is of the new Nativity Figures which were purchased by members of the congregation. The deadline for the January edition of Challenge is: Sunday 17th December but, due to Christmas, will not be published until Sunday 7th January. 4 Christmas Flowers reparing the church so that it looks at its P best in the Christmas season is a big job and we are grateful for the work which several people put in to ensure that St Mary’s will be looking truly festive when Christmas arrives. Hazel and Sheenagh have been responsible for the flower arrangements for many years and have every intention of carrying on but they would welcome more help. This year the plan is to have St Mary’s ready for the many services which precede Christmas beginning on 11th December. If you would be willing to help Sheenagh and Hazel will be very grateful. We will supply Trays and Bowls and Oasis. A simple example arrangement will be at the back of Church. Our aim is to have every window sill decorated. If you would like to help but need more information please ring Sheenagh on 01270 529187. Autumn Fair The money raised from the Autumn Fair is a follows: Refreshments £257 Cakes £119 Toys £41 Heather’s Stall £50 Plants £35 Jill's Stall £343 Tombola £106 Guess the Chimney £103 Raffle £119 Stall Rents £52 Total £1225 Thank you very much to all who helped and attended the event. 5 Lack of children quarter of Church of England services do not have a single A child in the congregation, will this decline continue? An average-sized Anglican church has only three children attending each week, while those with the smallest congregations, have no under l6s at all in their pews, the church's figures show. An average of nine children attend each service across all C of E churches. While there has been a decline of 13 per cent in the number of adults attending on a Sunday over the past decade, the number of children has dropped by 22 per cent. As older parishioners die, they are not being replaced by a new generation. Lord Carey of Clifton, a former Archbishop of Canterbury, warned in 2013: “We are one generation from extinction. If we do not invest in young people, there is going to be no one in the future." Children should read the Bible resenter of Radio 4's 'In Our time', Melvyn Bragg has P encouraged schools to reintroduce Bible readings so that children aren't deprived of the depth of language in the words. He said he thinks it's a disgrace that children don't get to read the Bible in school. The broadcaster and author is an atheist, but he said: "They say it's too complicated; what are they talking about?" He called those who were daunted by the book "Wimps, terrible people". Regarding the difficulty in reading the Bible, he said: "We have to work a bit harder and that's also good". He added that Shakespeare is getting more and more popular and that it is nearly always heard in the original language. Melvyn Bragg described the Bible as "equally powerful". He continued: "I think it is a great deprivation. What have we thrown away? One of the greatest pieces of art, work, whatever way you want to put it. It's awful. As for being too difficult - really? Honestly, we should be too good for that". Speaking at the Henley Literary Festival, Melvyn Bragg was giving a talk on William Tyndale, the man who lost his life in 1536 for translating the Bible into English so people could read it without having to learn Latin. 6 New church organ will cost £90,000 (Printed with kind permission from the Chronicle) he traditional sound of an organ playing from St Mary’s T Church could be a thing of the past unless £90,000 is raised to replace the failing instrument. Sandbach’s Rev Thomas Shepherd, assisted by members of the congregation, recently launched a fundraising campaign in a bid to buy a new organ. Rev Shepherd said it had become "increasingly difficult" to fix the church’s electric organ because the replacement parts were no longer made. “The problem is that the technology used to build the organ is now out of date, so when it breaks we can’t get the parts to fix it,” explained Rev Shepherd. He added: “A new one won’t be cheap and like so many other churches we have other problems that need addressing, like the roof for example. “However, for St Mary’s to be without an organ would be a real shame for the community.” Although St Mary’s does have an original pipe organ that is centuries old, it has been out of service for decades and would cost about £250,000 to restore. “I would love the pipe organ restored to its former glory but it would cost an astronomical amount,” added Rev Shepherd. “That’s why it’s so important to try and raise enough money to replace the electric organ.” Church organist Kevin Birch said it would be a blow to a community steeped in history and tradition if the church could not raise the required amount.