The Three in One December 2020 &January 2021 £1 Salcombe ~ Malborough ~ South Huish 1 CHRISTMAS FLOWERS Despite not knowing if there will be any services in the church over the festive season, WE ARE going to decorate the church with flowers! Even if only a few services take place, there are still people who come in the church on most days for some silent prayer or to light a candle, so we want to make it look Christmassy. Hopefully, some of you on the flower rota will be prepared to arrange a window display, a pedestal or the rails next to the choir stalls. If any of you have any artificial flowers that would be suitable in the church decorations, they would be most welcome. We will, of course, be ordering fresh flowers, but a few artificial ones would be useful. Daniel would like the church to be decorated a bit earlier this year and so we are thinking that Friday, 11 December and Saturday, 12 December would be a good time to start. Although most of the places are well distanced, the flower vestry could become a bit overcrowded, so that is why we are suggesting two days for the arrangements. I have also been asked whether the crosses that go on the pillars could be made up, so if there are any of you who would like to decorate one, please let me know as well as letting me know if you would like to help with the other arrangements. (Some of you have already told me that you would like to help). You will have to bring your own flask of tea or coffee I am afraid, as we are still not able to do refreshment. Let us look on the bright side though and help bring Christmas to Holy Trinity. Ann Woodhatch 843654 2 Benefice Directory Vicar: The Revd. Daniel French The Vicarage, Devon Road, Salcombe, TQ8 8HJ 842853 [email protected] Assistant Priest: Father Stephen Ball 859006 [email protected] (South Sands Hotel) (Special Responsibility for Malborough) Deacon: Revd. Christian Hill [email protected] 562693 Benefice Administrator: Debbie Plummer Office 842626 [email protected] Wardens: Salcombe: Suzy & Peter Andrews 842704 [email protected] [email protected] Malborough: Trevor Rendle 561674 Margaret Ellis 853385 Gill Boyce (Assistant) 561698 South Huish: Bruce Williams 561621 Organists: Salcombe: Trevor Becker 07410 186962 [email protected] Malborough: Hilary Hudson [email protected] South Huish: Trevor Becker 07410 186962 Benefice News: ‘The Three in One’ Editor: Ann Merritt 854069 [email protected] 3 BAYLEAF GARDENING LTD Caring for over 100 local gardens 01548 844204 www.bayleaf-gardening.co.uk All gardening work undertaken Qualified tree surgeon Design and planting plans Local, professional, friendly Thank you Mowing and lawn care specialist Landscaping/project management Advertisers support our magazine Please thank them by supporting them Est. 2003 Fully insured PEPPIATT BUILDERS All Aspects of Building Work Undertaken Mark J Peppiatt 07793069873 [email protected] Facebook@peppiattbuilders 4 Contact Nicki on 07966 382115 [email protected] www.glossydogs.com CLIFF HOUSE TRUST Cliff House now offers a choice of rooms for small or large meetings, parties, weddings and celebrations. Both rooms are also licensed for civil ceremonies. Discounted rates are available to local clubs, charities and other community organisations. Please ring Annabel Tooke on 01548 844704 [email protected] www.cliffhousesalcombe.com 5 Editorial At the time of writing it remains unclear what kind of restrictions will be in place for Advent and Christmas. So, although we are advertising services this is all dependent on what we will be allowed to do. Some years back, while conducting a funeral around Christmas time I said in the address that people would know the hope of Christmas even if the joy of the season seemed diminished. That sentiment seems very relevant for today. For the kernel of Christmas is the message of hope, that God has sent his son into the world, to become one of us, so that he may save us. In this modern age with all its benefits we might wonder why do we need to be saved, why bother with a saviour? What trouble are we in that we supposedly need the sacrificial death of a first century carpenter’s son to put us right? Isn’t this just olde worlde baggage that we jettisoned around the enlightenment? And, there will be those who argue that God, if he is to have a role with us, is fundamentally a kind of super therapist, a remote deity whose job is to jump in during personal or national emergencies while at other times affirm us in all our wants and desires. He may adjust those affirmations depending on whether we’ve been naughty or nice. Shocking biblical vision is radically different from this. It tells us from the very first pages of Genesis that we are to exist in the deepest of communion with our creator and that he had created everything to fit around that. We are made for Eden. Though our world is good it is not Eden, and can never be Eden until all things are restored in Him (Revelation 21). Perhaps this pandemic with all its existential concerns may restore us to a deeper vision of what we are meant to be? But, even if festivities are reduced let us not be afraid or anxious, instead let the hope of Christ’s birth ring deeply in our hearts. Blessings Fr Daniel 6 “The Three in One” Delivery Two of our 3-in-1 distributors have retired recently: Libby Blumer to look after her husband, and Lynda Carter who is moving to be nearer family. We would like to thank them both for the many magazines they have delivered over the years and wish them well for the future. A ‘thank you’ too, to Cathy Drew who has offered to take over Libby’s round in Forster Road and Shadycombe. Situations Vacant We are now in need of two more volunteers to deliver the 3-in-1, one to deliver to nine households in Beadon Road and Beadon Drive, and one to deliver to four households in Higher Batson. If you are able to help with either of these, please contact me, either by email at [email protected] or by phone on 01548 842244. Please think carefully whether you could help with this. The 3-in-1 is more than a Church magazine, it is also a valuable community magazine containing a lot of useful community news and information, and many people would miss it if we were no longer able to deliver it to their door. Sue Flynn --------------------------------------------- To help us pray more earnestly, why not join the online prayer groups that meet by Zoom on Tuesday mornings and Friday afternoons? To help us dig more deeply into the Word of God, join the weekly online discussions as we follow Colossians and see how Paul’s letter written 2000 years ago has implications for us in 2020. Contact Fr Christian Hill on 07933 008685 Suzy Andrews 7 ‘Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness’. James 1:2-3 “The idea that if you have true faith your life will be trouble-free is a lie”, writes Marcus Nodder. “Those with genuine faith will ‘meet trials of various kinds”. The word ‘meet’ is literally ‘fall in with’. It implies the hardship comes suddenly and without warning. All is going well and then suddenly you get a diagnosis; the phone rings and you get some bad news; a loved one dies; something comes up at work; you lose your job; a relationship blows up in your face; lockdown is imposed again. How should we respond? ‘Count it all joy’ . We are to ‘count it ’, that is consider, think, regard it, all joy because of what we know – ‘for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness’. Trials test our faith. They test whether or not it is genuine – and they refine it. And in particular ’the testing of your faith produces steadfastness’. Steadfastness is endurance, perseverance, the capacity to bear up and keep going in the face of difficulty. It’s an essential quality in the Christian life. How do you develop endurance, stamina? You go for runs, or join a Zumba or spinning class. By doing that you’re putting your cardiovascular system under pressure and stress, forcing it to work hard in a way it doesn't sitting at your desk. And that way it grows stronger. So with faith. Without testing, faith is weak, unhealthy, quickly out of breath, and won’t last the course. Trials are for our spiritual good, and so we can be thankful for them – even this current lockdown. Let’s pray that we will emerge from lockdown in a few weeks’ time with a stronger faith and more endurance, having been forced to rely on the Lord more, dig deeper into his Word, pray more earnestly, repent of sin, and reach out to one another more for support and encouragement. submitted by Suzy Andrews 8 CHURCH CONTACTS Holy Trinity Church Salcombe PCC Secretary (Vacant) Deanery Synod Representatives David Parkes, Sheila Reed 842387/842392 PCC Treasurer David Stevens 843156 Gift Aid & Weekly Envelopes Joan Parkes 842387 Electoral Roll Secretary Ann Woodhatch 843654 Friends of Holy Trinity Charles Rowse 843941 Parish News Editor Ann Merritt 854069 Proofreader Nikki Turton 842847 Typist Nola Baylis 842877 Distributer Sue Flynn 842244 Malborough Baptist Church Church Administrator Hywel Jones 561700 Family Worship on Sundays 10.30am Communion on first Sunday Catholic Church Priest Fr.