Dulverton & Brushford Parish Magazine March 2021 1 Who’s Who at Your Church RECTOR DIRECTORS OF MUSIC RevdPost Andrew Vacant Thomas Brushford: Position Vacant The Vicarage, High Street Dulverton: Gary Cooper 07419 212354 Dulverton TA22 9DW 01398 323018 [email protected] BELLRINGING ASSOCIATE VICAR Tower Captain for Brushford: RevdPost Paul Vacant Kingdom Roger Routledge 322995 The Vicarage, Brompton Regis Deputy Tower Captain Brushford: ASSISTANTDulverton TA22 CURATE 9NL 01398 371572 Michael Hamilton 324313 [email protected] Revd Martin Collett 324211 Tower Captain for Dulverton: [email protected] Anne Markwick 323823 LICENSED READERS SAFEGUARDING (Benefice) Louise Southgate 341553 Steve Ford 323016 [email protected] Jane Rees 371128 Jane Rees 371128 [email protected] [email protected] VERGER (Dulverton) CHURCH WARDENS Roz Roberts 323349 Brompton Regis - vacant Withiel Florey: The Dulverton Parish Office Mr Edward Luxton and 1 Church Walk, Dulverton, TA22 9ER Mrs Sylvia Luxton 323289 Tel: 01398 323028 Dulverton: E: [email protected] Steve Ford 323016 Ed Thomson 323623 www.dulvertonbenefice.org.uk Skilgate: The magazine is available on the website Ian Trusler 331753 - see above Upton: ALL material for inclusion in the next David Wood 371240 Brushford edition of the magazine is to be sent to: Frances Nicholson 01398 341502 [email protected]. [email protected] NB: no diary listings at present. Cover photo - Margaret Rawle, All Saints Deadlines are: 17th of the month for Churchyard the following month Advertisement rates Annual Rate ¼ page portrait 59mm wide x 92mm deep 75.00 ½ page landscape 123mm wide x 92mm deep 120.00 For advertising queries please Full page 123mm wide x 186mm deep 250.00 contact email: advertisingdulvertonparishmag@ Rate for 6 issues ¼ page portrait 59mm wide x 92mm deep 42.00 gmail.com ½ page landscape 123mm wide x 92mm deep 66.00 Full page 123mm wide x 186mm deep 138.00 Artwork: Preferred formats are Rate for 3 issues PNG,JPEG or embedded PDF. ¼ page portrait 59mm wide x 92mm deep 23.00 Artwork can be arranged at extra ½ page landscape 123mm wide x 92mm deep 37.00 cost if required. Full page 123mm wide x 186mm deep 76.00 Rate for 1 issue Payment: Payment is due on the ¼ page portrait 59mm wide x 92mm deep 9.00 date specified, which is usually ½ page landscape 123mm wide x 92mm deep 14.00 the deadline for the next issue. Full page 123mm wide x 186mm deep 28.00 2 or place in worship, and they were sung A message or said regularly in the synagogues, as we do in daily prayer now. They were from the prayer book of Jesus himself in daily worship. Some are hymns which the Jane Rees faithful would have sung going up to the Temple in Jerusalem, praising with music and song as they went to the holiest of March is a month of transition: beginning places for special gatherings. Some were in winter, in Lent, the weather still cold written for the musicians who would and the days still dark. Then as we move have accompanied the worshippers. They into April, everything looks very different. make us long for the singing and music we The clocks have gone forward, the have been used to, and which we miss so gardens look lovely and promising, and badly now. the birds are singing their hearts out. Some psalms seem quite aggressive, March is still in the penitential season, sometimes violently vindictive, written with Palm Sunday on 28th March, in times of conflict and fear. They are followed by Holy Week. We may have to sometimes called “cursing psalms”, calling do it differently this year, finding a new on God for revenge, and for freedom way to offer a palm cross. Last year we from those who would do their worst. were in the first lockdown, with services They read very shockingly today, when suspended, and everyone tucked away in we are taught to love our enemies, and the face of the Coronavirus. This year, like do good to those who hate us; but we animals emerging from hibernation, we can’t judge those who were then in the are creeping out cautiously, vaccinated most terrible danger. Others express and increasingly used to the routine of sorrow and suffering, abandonment and mask, sanitiser and distance. The services grief, longing for divine intervention in leading up to Easter will be as normal as pain and tragedy. Many, however, are we can make them, but inevitably there lyrical and beautiful songs of love, praise must be compromise. and thanksgiving, joy in the goodness of And on Easter Day, April 5th, we will life, in the beauty of the world, and in the celebrate the risen Christ as well as we goodness of God. possibly can; and for sure there will be hot Sometimes a psalm will move from cross buns and Easter Eggs somewhere in unhappiness to gratitude, secure in the the equation. It has been a challenging goodness and love of God. In fact almost and testing time. all of the 150 express praise and trust When life is tough and confusing, it can in some way, and even in the bleakest be a very helpful exercise to say the experiences, a deep faith in God’s Psalms. There are 150 of them, written goodness is found. The whole span of over a few centuries, maybe as long as human experience is covered. But it is 500 years before the birth of Jesus; some heartening, surprising even, to see how by anonymous writers, some by King often the darkest moments become lit David himself, and we can imagine him by the light of faith and thanksgiving. In singing some with his harp. Some are those dark moments, even in the most very short, just a few lines in length; some awful times in personal experience and are very long, like Psalm 119 with a total dreadful global times, people have been of 176 verses. They all have a purpose able to separate the distress of the 3 present moment from the eternal love of when words fail us, that is where we can God. turn for help. When we pray the psalms, we pray in the words of the writer, in the Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer - executed in a long tradition of the people of Abraham, German concentration camp in 1945 for and in the tradition of Jesus as he reveals his anti-Nazi views - wrote a pamphlet a new relationship with God. on the psalms, and he advises us that the psalms are a way to pray when we cannot The Psalm appointed for Easter Day this find the words. Jesus gives us the Lord’s year, Psalm 118, sums up the whole Prayer, of course, and when we say that Christian message, as it begins and ends: prayer we are praying in the most true “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; and intimate way to God. But the whole his love endures for ever.” richness of human experience is found Jane Rees (Licensed Lay Reader) in those 150 psalms: in persecution and loneliness, in joy and love of life; and Lent Course 2021 ‘Mark for Everyone’ by Tom Wright Dear readers Although the size of the book may look a bit daunting at the outset, if you break it down into daily ‘chunks’ it is easily manageable. So please don’t be put off. The Bible text (Tom Wright’s own translation) is included in the book, which means you just need one book and not two. Tom Wright’s translation of the New Testament is available as a separate book if you want a modern up to date translation from one of the world’s top Bible scholars. Mark is the shortest of the four gospels, and is a good way to begin reading the New Testament. Reading first; studying it can come later, although Tom Wright has a very useful and accessible Glossary at the end of the book to explain some of the more difficult words and ideas. With every best wish, Martin Assistant Curate Reading Plan Week One pp. 1-38 Week Two pp. 38-77 Week Three pp. 77-121 Week Four pp. 121-169 Week Five pp. 169-226 Dates and times for the Zoom course meetings: Tuesdays at 2.30pm led by Revd Martin Collett & Jane Rees; and the 7.30pm session will be led by ‘Dulverton Area Church Covid-19 on-line’ worship members: 23 February, 2 March, 9 March, 16 March, 23 March Get the Zoom link from: Edward Thompson - email: [email protected] 4 A message from Bishop Nigel A message from Bishop Nigel Pay loving attention With the Lenten Season well under way, I wonder how it is going for you? I always anticipate Lent with a slight feeling of having to brace myself. Come on make an effort in something! If I am going to give something up don’t just make it an exercise in self- improvement, how is it going to help others? If I am going to do something positive what will be its long-term effect? It is all too easy to ‘over think’ the whole exercise. Once the season is underway I begin to appreciate it. But in the end it should be about paying attention to God. I am always struck by the end of the story of the temptations angels in the wilderness, the woman in the wilderness. Jesus refuses to who anointed him, Simon who carried be a cheap miracle worker to benefit his cross for example. We might not himself, and refuses to follow the be able to do those things for him, but route to worldly power and status.