Swindon Old Town Partnership of Churches Anglican - URC - Methodist Est. 1969 PARTNERSHIP MAGAZINE MAY 2014 55 PENCE War tears lives apart. Love can piece them back together. CHRISTIAN AID WEEK 11-17 MAY One in Christ - Together in Mission Partnership website: www.swindon-otpc.org.uk Your Contacts BATH ROAD METHODIST CHURCH Minister: The Revd. Mark Barrett, 147 Drove Road, SN1 3AQ Tel: 529263 e-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.bathroadmethodistchurch.org.uk Weekly news items: [email protected] CHRIST CHURCH with ST. MARY’S, Cricklade Street St. Mary’s, Commonweal Road (off The Mall) Vicar: The Revd. Canon Simon Stevenette, The Vicarage, 26 Cricklade Street, SN1 3HG. Tel. 529166 e-mail: [email protected] Curate: Revd. Norma McKemey. T. 845917; [email protected] Revd. Daphne Hardwick. T. 693721; [email protected] Web site: www.christchurchswindon.co.uk Weekly news items: [email protected] Friends of Christ Church: c/o The Parish Office PARISH OFFICE: at the Community Centre, SN1 3HB. Tel. 522832 e-mail: [email protected] Usually the Parish Office is open Monday-Wednesday 9.30am-4.30pm Thurs morning, briefly, about 9.30 am after Morning Prayer. Thursday evening 5.30pm-7.30pm, Fri 9.30am-4.30pm, Sat 10am-12 noon. COMMUNITY CENTRE: Manager Chris Smith, T.617237 or 07582 305760 email: [email protected] IMMANUEL UNITED REFORMED CHURCH, Upham Road Minister: The Revd. Robert Jordan, 152 Drove Road, SN1 3AG Tel. 513039. email: [email protected] Church Secretaries: Liz Gleed, Tel. 721364. Anne Farrow, Tel.490672 email for both: [email protected] Web site: www.immanuelurc.org.uk Weekly news items: [email protected] LAWN COMMUNITY CHURCH, Guildford Avenue Minister: The Revd. John Roe, 6 Donnington Grove, SN3 1HD. Tel. 485082 e-mail: [email protected] SALVATION ARMY: The Citadel, Devizes Road. MAGAZINE DISTRIBUTOR: Mr. Eric Sparkes, Tel. 530997. email: [email protected] MAGAZINE EDITORS: Mrs. Diana Swann, 58 Sandown Avenue, SN3 1QQ. Tel. 529897 e-mail: [email protected] Mrs. Margaret Williams, 39 Sandown Avenue, SN3 1QQ. Tel. 421102 e-mail: [email protected] PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL: Co-ordinator: post vacant Chairman: Godfrey Room, Tel. 610010; Treasurer: David Bevan, Tel. 336667 PARTNERSHIP WEB SITE: www.swindon-otpc.org.uk Partnership Letter The Manse, 152 Drove Road Greetings, I have just written the words “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever”. They are the opening and closing words of Psalm 118; so yes, this means that I have just completed the first version of the sermon for Palm Sunday, but I am aware that when you read this, Easter will be over. But is that the way to put it? To tell you the truth, this is one of my fears - that after the Lent time preparing to celebrate Easter, then it will be over until next year. What a frustration that would be, a frustration even for God (if you allow me the metaphor). Did all that we undertook during Lent mean that the Bank Holiday in April brought the closure of Easter? There is a poem by a very famous Spanish poet that says “The rich return to their riches; the poor to their poverty and the priest to the mass”. A cynical vision some would say, but is it? During our preparation for Easter we studied the report of the Public Issues Committee, “The lies we tell our - selves” and considered the role of media and our preconceptions and under - standings about poverty, and tried to read through the lies that are before us. Now that Easter is finished, will we come back to these issues? The good thing is that towards the end of the month we will celebrate the closing of the Lent Studies at an evening service at Christ Church, but the issues will not be ended...sadly they will continue for quite a time yet. But it is up to us to remember, it is up to us to keep the truth of God alive and share it, and challenge the reality that surrounds us with a different vision. This different vision is the Easter vision, one we just cannot let drop off our radar. Easter has not finished, the hope proclaimed in the Resurrection is the hope we live by each day, it is the hope that will question our preconceptions, our prejudice, our ways...and will lead us on the way Jesus prepared for us. Only this way can we truly proclaim Jesus to be the way we want to follow, the truth we are called to share and the life which is life for all. May the power of the loving Spirit of God keep the Easter message alive in all of us, now and forever. God bless you and keep you in such a promise, and in such a hope. 1 FAMILY EVENTS BAPTISMS We welcome into the family of the Church CHRIST CHURCH Mar 30 Annabelle Margaret Gatherum MARRIAGE We wish joy and happiness to CHRIST CHURCH Mar 15 Craig Maddock and Melanie Court Jamie Hall and Kimberley Gray Apr 5 James Egerton and Hannah Lane RENEWAL OF VOWS Mar 29 Bruce and Judy Young DEATHS We extend our sympathy to the loved ones of: BATH ROAD Mar 17 Clifford Cardis, 86 years CHRIST CHURCH Mar 10 Raymond Buckland, 89 years Mar 10 Philip Winterborne, 82 years Mar 11 Dennis Reynolds, 91 years Mar 21 Eileen Trickett, 93 years Apr 2 José Lace, 84 years Apr 3 Audrey Goodenough, 91 years Apr 4 Irene Fisher, 57 years 2 Sunday 4th May to Saturday 31st May at Bath Road Methodist Church FM LAME H OF F LAUNC 0 pm For one month ay, 3.0 4th M hurch only, don’t miss it! unday odist C S d Meth th Roa n us! at Ba and joi Come Friday 16th May, 7.00 pm - FLAME GRILLED at Bath Road Methodist Church Question Time Style debate with Rob Buckland MP, Angus MacPherson, Police and Crime Commissioner, Mark Dempsey, Labour, Stan Pajak, Liberal Democrat and Christine Froude, Archdeacon of Malmesbury and Acting Archdeacon of Bristol. Chaired by Mark O’Donnell of the BBC. Free entry. Come along with questions for the panel. Doors open 6.00 pm, Questions to be in by 6.30 pm. Saturday 31st May, at Bath R 7.30 pm oad Method Local ist Church talent, inclu - Closing c T ding Gilmo oncert. he greatest re and Jaz guitar duo z! Tickets £ on the circu 5 to includ it. e light refr eshments. For details of programmes and to listen to a video clip of The Revd. Mark Barrett and Bishop Lee chatting about Flame, visit our website: www.flamefm.co.uk Facebook and twitter links on website 3 4 Bath Road Congratulations to Charles Vince Charles has recently successfully passed a voice audition to become a founder member of the RSCM Residentiary Choir. He will be singing the services in Wells Cathedral from the 4th to the 10th of August. Visitors are of course welcome at these services. Bath Road Choir is very pleased and proud of Charles’ achievement and also very grateful to him for sharing his musical gifts with us week by week. We are especially thankful for the extra time he has given to teach us ‘Olivet to Calvary’. J.R. 170% rise in numbers turning to foodbanks in last 12 months Trussell Trust foodbanks have seen the biggest rise in numbers given emergency food since the charity began in 2000. Almost 350,000 people have received at least three days emergency food from Trussell Trust foodbanks during the last 12 months, nearly 100,000 more than anticipated and close to triple the number helped in 2011-12. There is probably a myriad of reasons for the increased use of foodbanks, eg the credit crunch, resulting in government cutbacks and stagnant wages, large increases in food and energy costs and the complicated state benefit system. At Bath Road Methodist Church the congregation is pleased to support the Swindon Foodbank. However, after discussions in our housegroup, we have decided go further by writing to our local MP, Robert Buckland to ask him to: 1) Consider why foodbank use is increasing. 2) Encourage the Government to set up a review into spiralling food costs. 3) Ensure the welfare state is the last line of defence against hunger. 4) Persuade all those entitled to claim state benefit. 5) Challenge HMRC to tackle tax fraud robustly. If you feel motivated to act, please consider contacting your MP. Both, Robert Buckland, Swindon South, and Justin Tomlinson, Swindon North, can be contacted at either 1 Milton Road, Swindon, SN1 5JE or the House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA 5 VISIT OF THE REVD. AVA BERRY It seems hard to believe that it was over 19 years ago that the Revd. Ava Berry came over from Texas for a year, as part of her ministerial training and to help bridge the gap of 2 years between the sad death in post of our Revd. John Ducker and the arrival of the Revd. Tony Barnes. Ava’s time was memorable for us all. Very short, at just under a year, but very sweet and a time of spiritual growth for us all, including Ava, who returned home to become Texas’s first female Minister in Throckmorton. Some of us stayed in touch with Ava over the years and she is now retired and living in Washington State, close by her children Robie and Beth and grand - child Lily.