The Parish of Acton ST MARY’S and ALL SAINTS Rector The Revd Nick Jones 020 8992 8876 020 8993 0422 (parish office) [email protected] Twitter: @georgenewbrook Associate Rector The Revd Dean Ayres 020 8992 9384 [email protected] The Acorn Curate The Revd Mary Spredbury 020 8995 8879 [email protected] Facebook (www.facebook.com/stmaryacton). Churchwardens Yvonne Kisiedu 020 8248 4891 Vacancy Other Church Officers PCC Secretary: Janet Coker Treasurer: Elizabeth Simpson Stewardship Secretary: Phyllis Kwan January 2021 Parish Secretary: Janet Coker Telephone: 020 8993 0422 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.stmaryacton.org.uk Registered charity no. 1130252 The Parish Office remains closed at present ‘An inclusive and progressive Christian community at the heart of Acton reimagining our faith for the 21st century’ The magazine is edited by Alan McCallum Items for inclusion in the December edition should be sent by email to [email protected] by 23rd January Services at St Mary’s Volume 25 No.1 CONTENTS Sunday 10.30am All Age Eucharist Thursday 11am Page From the Rector 5 Midweek Communion Giving to the Church 7 This short service without music is very suitable for those still The London Kalender 8 anxious about being in large crowds as well as those Christmas overspend 9 still working at home. Ealing Foodbank 10 A prayer for all those affected by coronavirus 10 St Mary’s is closed at present for personal prayer Daily Readings for January 11 and reflection Holocaust Memorial Day 12 Our Monthly Giving Project 13 Some Diary Dates for January 14 These details will be reviewed regularly The Afterlife of the Magi 15 God Knows 16 World Leprosy Day 18 Remembering the departed 19 Please wear a face covering and ensure you follow the social distancing guidelines and let fresh air in 4 I’ll also be starting the New Year with a period of extended leave. From the Rector It’s important that we know our limits and these past nine months have been extremely taxing for us all, including those in leadership roles in the church. The usual quiet start to the year – most likely in ongoing Lockdown this time – gives me chance to rest and recharge my batteries. Dear friends th th I’m away from 4 January until 7 February. As well as resting, I’ll be As we step into a New Year, I have an increased sense of working on my New Year’s resolution. I have been doing well with this hopefulness. tradition in recent years. In 2018, I resolved to buy more hats – that didn’t prove hard! Last year, I took up the Parkrun. Whilst this had to stop in The first reason for this is simply that we cannot surely have a March, I continued running throughout the year, stepping up my physical more difficult and challenging year than we did in 2020! The second is fitness levels. This year, I’m aspiring to relearn Latin. Whilst I’m away, I’ll that we have reason for great confidence that the vaccination roll-out will be making a start on that. Latin was, of course, for a very long time the help us on the road to recovery from the Covid pandemic sooner rather language of the Church in the West and the principal language of than later. Vaccinations are already under way in our borough as I write learning. As part of a monastic community – Ealing Abbey – worship to and we will be opening a clinic at St Mary’s Church hall soon. Once older this day is often in Latin and I want to be able to enter into that more people and the most vulnerable people have been successfully meaningfully. I haven’t studied the language for more than 40 years, but I vaccinated, then we will be looking at a life that is much closer to normal do have a degree in it! with fewer deaths, hospitalisations and restrictions. That doesn’t mean we will be out of the woods, but it does mean that by Easter we will be in a It’s my prayer that, as the New Year starts, you will find both hope better place. At least in this country. Challenges of inequality remain for yourself and fresh purpose and enjoyment in your relationships, in globally as well as locally, and I fear the poorest countries of the world will what you already spend your time doing, as well as in new ventures. And be far behind us in this. here’s to a healthy year for us all and better days to come. We are now in the season that the Church refers to as Epiphany, Wishing you a blessed New Year. when we contemplate the manifestation of Christ to the nations and the transformation Christ’s presence brings into our lives. We begin with the story of the mysterious visitors from the East to the baby in Bethlehem bearing gifts – the kings, wise men or “Magi.” We consider the baptism of Jesus and ponder its meaning, in particular the words from heaven “this is my beloved son” which features in those narratives. And we enjoy the story of Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana, Galilee, recorded by St John as his first “sign”. All are stories of hope and better days. They are uplifting stories for a gloomy month. I always hold back my nativity scene for these weeks, including both the Christ child and the three kings. This year, I will also be keeping lights up at the Rectory. Even the Christmas tree outside St Mary’s will remain until mid-January! I encourage you to do the same as a sign of hope in the midst of darkness. 6 5 Giving to the Church The London Kalender These are anxious times for all of us and that includes our 4th January - Thomas Sterns Eliot, Poet, Churchwarden, 1965 personal finances. Until recently we had been unable to hold church T.S. Eliot was born in 1888, in St Louis, Missouri. His father was a services and we are only just starting to let out our hall. Although our successful businessman and the home life was affluent and cultured. church house has recently been let we have lost several months’ income After local schooling at Smith Academy in Missouri, Eliot went to Harvard and currently, both the Language School in the office block next to St where he studied philosophy. He came to Merton College Oxford in 1915 Mary’s and the Nursery at All Saints, are struggling to pay us. As a result to continue his studies. In 1917 his first book of poems was published, we have seen a heavy decline in our income and will make a substantial but he made his name in 1923 with the publication of his major poem: The loss this year. Please consider if you are able to make a donation tor to Waste Land. The poem is based in London and is a reflection in a increase your regular giving. Every little really does help at a time like remarkable set of different images of the profound malaise, cynicism and this. So, only if you are able, please: ennui that was prevalent in a country that had just lost millions of young • join our Parish Giving Scheme or transfer to it men in a world war. This publication changed Eliot's life. In 1927 he • increase the amount you are regularly giving through the became a British subject and a confirmed member of the Church of Parish Giving Scheme or Standing Order England. It was from now that his poetry tackled more overtly Christian • Make a one off donation as you can via this link or QR themes, and that he turned to writing drama in verse, often with religious https://givealittle.co/campaigns/97b6a1f3-1d62-4b43- themes. The Rock, a drama written and performed in 1934 in support of the 45 Churches Fund (an initiative of the Diocese of London to 80a1753222745d3a evangelise the burgeoning suburbs of Middlesex), incorporates some of his most profound spiritual reflections. In 1948 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and admitted to the Order of Merit. He was churchwarden at St Stephen’s Church, Gloucester Road for twenty-five years. He died on this day in 1965. His cremated remains are interred at East Coker, Somerset, the ancestral home of the Eliots. If you use the online giving page and are able to complete the Gift Aid declaration then your donation will be increased by 25%. If you prefer you can make donation directly to our bank account at Barclays 20-92-60 Account no. 30116521 Please use your name as a reference. Thank you for your support at this difficult time. 7 8 14th January Mandell Creighton, Bishop of London, 1901 Mandell Creighton was born in Carlisle in 1843. He was educated Ealing Foodbank locally, at Durham Grammar School and Merton College, Oxford, Graduating in 1866. After four years academic work he was ordained and became Vicar of Embleton, then in the Diocese of Durham. In 1885 he The Ealing Foodbank is open and will welcome clients with referrals, became the first Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Cambridge between 10am and 12noon, at St Mellitus Hall, 1 Church Rd, Hanwell and a Canon of Worcester. In 1891 he was appointed to be Bishop of W7 3BA on Peterborough and in 1897, Bishop of London. He suffered ill-health and Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.