St Nicolas Cranleigh Parish Church Magazine March 2021 £1 We agree a property sale in Surrey every 58 minutes!* By bringing our extensive reach both internationally and throughout Surrey and South West London, it means we are able to attract the right buyers and therefore agree a property sale in Surrey every 58 minutes. If you are thinking of moving, call one of our expert property professionals to book a current market appraisal of your home. This service is free and without obligation. CLIVE BRADLEY PARTNER, CRANLEIGH BRANCH 01483 268822 *Burns & Webber are part of Curchods making us Surrey’s largest independent estate agent - property sales data for the whole company is based on an average of sales agreed during working hours between 01/7/20 - 30/10/20. SALES | LETTINGS | PROBATE | WILL WRITING | MORTGAGE SERVICES ST NICOLAS CRANLEIGH PARISH CHURCH MAGAZINE What is Church? “What is Church?”, asks Roy in his latest questionnaire. And what therefore is representative of Church? A good question! I joined St Nicolas last September, in the middle of some very non-representative lockdowns. I still have not seen the more ‘normal’ life of our Church – and it may be a while before I do. So, what do we do about that in the meantime? Lockdowns. Vaccines. Social distancing. The overwhelmed NHS. Say safe. Save lives. Wash your hands. Wear a mask. Home schooling. Self isolation. Fourteen- day quarantines. Deprivation of socialising and family – even eating out and church - for over a year now, has produced its own perverse vocabulary of frustration. A vocabulary we know, and are sick and tired of hearing. What we want to hear, but we do not hear, is when will all this truly end? No one really knows. They come on the news, and say what they want to say, but not what anyone wants – or really needs – to hear. After a year of it, what can I say to speak into that vacuum of human longing, without falling into the same trap? At first glance, not very much. Many of my friends have given up listening to the news altogether! When you read it, or switch it on, it always seems more of the same. Politicians or experts being asked questions they can’t answer, because they don’t know the answer. Non-experts being interviewed in their place, free with their opinions, short on facts. Pressure groups, or those with a niche axe to grind, coming on the news asking for (what the Germans sometimes call) “more sausage”, when there simply isn’t enough “sausage” to go round. Divisions between those who say charity begins at home, give us our jabs now, and those who say no, our compassion must and should stretch worldwide in this situation above all situations; to help those who have got so much less than us. On and on it goes, and in the end, there is a temptation simply to switch off. What, then, can church leaders bring to the situation that has not already been brought, and found wanting? That’s a good question. Well, we are ministers of truth and hope. Therefore, I would certainly like to think we might have an important contribution to make. Continued on page 5 MARCH 2021 3 CRANLEIGH FUNERALS CRANLEIGHMrs P. BENNETT, DIP, FUNERALS F.D.MBI, F.D. Mrs P. BENNETT, DIP, F.D.MBI, F.D. Family owned and controlled funeral directors Family owned and controlled funeral directors We offer personal attention, high standards and 24 hour service We offer personalby attention, qualified high and standards caring staff and 24 hour service by qualified and caring staff Memorial and grave maintenance Memorial and grave maintenance Sussex House, Ewhurst Road, SussexCranleigh, House, Surrey, Ewhurst GU6Road, 7AE Cranleigh, Surrey, GU6 7AE Tel: 01483 275758 Tel: 01483 275758 Independent Family Funeral Directors and Monumental Masons Qualified, experienced staff available 24 hours a day every day 01483 276500 Dobbe House, Ewhurst Road, Cranleigh, GU6 7AA Email: [email protected] www.familyfuneralservices.co.uk Our Family Serving Your Family ST NICOLAS CRANLEIGH PARISH CHURCH MAGAZINE Continued from page 3 Like Woodbine Willie in the First World War, it is our job, as I see it, to walk up and down both the front lines and the rear, bringing encouragement, help and humanity where those commodities may be in short supply. We are ministers of Christian hope, which we share with all believers. God is with us, Christ is in us, and that makes all the difference in the world. For that means we are not alone. That’s all very well, you might say, but what have you got to say when somebody close to us dies? Perhaps before their time, perhaps because of Covid? Or when someone we know works for the NHS, and feels shattered and alone and overwhelmed with the tide of human need that they cannot simply meet? What do you say to the teachers, the front-line workers, or the parents parenting and struggling to keep things together at home? Well, all I can say to those poor folks is to repeat the message. That God is with us, in our difficulties, in our sufferings, and He is a God who is close, whether we feel it or not. There is undoubtedly light at the end of the tunnel. We trust in God for our scientists and our medics and our vaccines; that things will improve, that the death rates will come down, and that we can find, not the old normality, but hopefully a new one, and go forwards with more wisdom and humanity. And if you are still concerned that I have simply added to the pile of empty platitudes, well, here’s a story for you: Rev’d. Studdert Kennedy (Woodbine Willie) was not content to hide in his parish church, in Worcester, in the First World War. He got permission to be an army chaplain, and served both behind the lines and up front. There is a story of two soldiers walking along a front-line trench, when they see a makeshift sign, saying ‘The Vicarage’. One of them says to the other, “Look, the bloody vicarage!” At which point Studdert Kennedy poked his head up, and said, “And here’s the bloody vicar!” Front-line, and indeed rear-line ministry may not always be pretty, convenient, acknowledged, or even welcome. But that’s too bad. Because for any minister worth his or her salt, that’s where we need to be, and God willing, that’s where we will continue to be. Warts and all. May God bless us all, and keep us safe. Rutton MARCH 2021 5 ST NICOLAS CRANLEIGH PARISH CHURCH MAGAZINE Parish Magazine Subscription Payments for 2021 Since January 2017, when the parish magazine was printed in full colour for the first time, we have not changed the cover price. Unfortunately, we have now had to increase the price for 2021 to £1 per copy or £10 per year. This is still a very modest amount – about one third the price of a cup of coffee - for each magazine. We hope that our subscribers will understand the need for this change. Subscription payments for the Parish Magazine have been traditionally been collected on the doorstep by our team of voluntary distributors. However, with the current pandemic situation, collecting money on the doorstep is not very safe. We would, therefore, be very grateful if everyone who receives the paper version of the magazine would pay either by internet banking (BACS), if you use that facility on your bank account, or by cheque. If you wish to pay the annual subscription of £10 by BACS, these are the details you need: Acc. Name: Cranleigh PCC Sort Code: 30-94-41 Acc. No: 01805965 Reference: Parish Magazine plus your surname. Please make cheques payable to: Cranleigh PCC. Please Include your name and address on the back of the cheque and post it to: Mrs. J. Vale Parish Magazine Treasurer 44 Nightingales Cranleigh Surrey GU6 8DE Thank you to all our readers in anticipation of renewing your subscriptions and for using these safer methods of payment. Magazine Committee 6 MARCH 2021 ST NICOLAS CRANLEIGH PARISH CHURCH MAGAZINE With all the Coronavirus restrictions over the festive season, gatherings of any kind were very different. January began with New Year of course, but no annual Parish walk or shared lunch. Instead, a lonesome walk and a distanced toast to each other. Epiphany, when the Magi came from afar to visit baby Jesus, rather slipped by with the taking down of Christmas trees and decorations. Cribs could stay up, until Candlemas, 2 February, otherwise the Wise Men were being packed away as soon as they had arrived! Members of Mothers’ Union have continued to keep in touch with each other, by emails and phone calls, or a knock on the door whilst out for a local walk. “Winter Warmer”, our January social meeting in the Church Rooms, was lunch in our own home, thinking of our fellow members. For our morning meetings, we have been having a service prepared by one of our members to share each month, until we can meet together. On 10 February, we would have held our AGM, so reports were circulated to members. Various Zoom meetings are arranged by the Diocese and Head Office at Mary Sumner House, keeping all members linked throughout the UK. Mid-day prayers bind us all together with the world-wide fellowship, that does so much to support women and families around the world, in the name of Jesus Christ.