The Magazine, April 2004 (Section 1)

Magazine Production Team
Deadline for May magazine: 15th April

Team News

Staffing
It was a great delight to welcome the Archdeacon of Berkshire in February to license Peter Bestley and Jenny Colby. Peter has been given ’Permission to Officiate’ which means he is a non-stipendiary priest who will assist the stipendiary clergy. He will take some funerals and weddings and occasionally celebrate at midweek and Sunday Services and also preach. Jenny is a Church Army Sister and is primarily an evangelist who will work with small groups and hopefully share in the proposed Forest Park Church Plant next year.
Ian James will be moving across the border to Winkfield where he will have more opportunities to use his gifts and talents, and where another priest is urgently needed. More about Ian next month!

APM
The Annual Meetings are upon us this month. The Annual Church Meetings are on Sunday morning 18th April when each church will review its work and elect officers. The Annual Parish Meeting is on Tuesday 27th April in St Andrew’s Church at 8.00pm. It will be good to be at St Andrew’s this year – in the meeting we shall look at the Diocesan Strategy document, receive reports and elect officers.
Jenny Church through pressure of work and family has had to give up being our financial manager. This is one of the most important positions in our parish and we are so delighted that Mark and Cathy Carson are going to take this on. They are, of course, very well qualified and we look forward to their involvement. At the Annual Meeting we shall have an opportunity to express our thanks to Jenny Church.

Communion before Confirmation
The Communion before Confirmation course begins on Sunday 28th March, continuing on Sunday 4th April and into Holy Week. The children will receive their first communion on Easter Sunday. Thank you to the team of Jeremy Harris, Tracey Williams, Angela Evans, Pearl Harvey, and Fiona Goodhand who are preparing the children.

Communion by Extension
When the archdeacon came in February he also authorised 10 people to offer Communion by extension. This group is now planning how this should be done and they have received training from Jeremy. There will be a rota and we invite any one who feels that a parishioner would like to receive communion at home to please let me know. A number of people have donated vessels and cases to carry vessels, as well as Richard Gibbs who has made wooden crosses to complete the sets.

Parish Cruise!
The Parish Canal Cruise is on July 24th for one week and the boats are almost full. If you would like one of the 2/3 remaining places please contact Steve Richards on 860039. The cost is £185 and this includes everything including transport.

CRB
Thank you again to Angela Evans and Stuart Robinson for their work on the CRB forms. This has to be the most difficult and thankless task in the parish and I am so grateful to Angela and Stuart for undertaking this. We are almost there! Thanks to those who filled in their forms correctly, and to those who didn’t – we still love you……………just!

Duplicating News
The Parish Office has a new Risograph; well it’s a reconditioned one actually, but it’s new to us. This is the machine that does all our printing. We have decided that only Linda Edwards will use it, as it responds better to one person only – it’s a very monogamous machine really. The photocopier remains but only for an absolute maximum of 10 copies. If you want more, get organised and leave your material with Linda who is in the office three times a week. The best thing is to either give it to her on a Sunday or leave it with David Fulker who is the parish office every morning.

David

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News from Holy Trinity

Lent Course
‘The Chocolat has been one of the best things we’ve done!’ said quite a few people. Thanks to Jan Maish who has led us so ably, we have travelled through Lent in a most thought provoking way. At the time of writing we have still not had our chocolate feast yet but our Lenten reflection has enabled us all to consider some very profound issues and enjoy doing so. Of course, we shall do it again sometime!

Fun-d Raising!
We are doing something about fundraising this year, mostly due to the work we need to do on the roof. There are some immediate repairs but longer term, within 5 years we need to replace the nails holding the tiles. Apparently, the tiles are not only valuable but in good order, but if we don’t do anything they will fall off as the nails holding them are rusting through. We are very grateful to an anonymous donor of £1000 and we hope you will bring your Smartie tubes full and gift aided.

We are holding a Wine Tasting Quiz on Friday 21st May at 7.30pm in the Langley. You don’t need to know anything about wine or have your lack of knowledge revealed: it will be a fun evening with an opportunity to learn about wines and taste a few to see if you can guess. Tickets will be on sale from 4th April, Palm Sunday, from Helen O at the back of Church and they are limited to 60 only. We plan on tables of eight and there has been extensive research by some members of the DCC into the kind of wines we will offer – this was a great hardship. There will be a ‘Ploughman’s Supper’ and other surprises which we think you will enjoy.

The next thing that we are going to do is to hold a concert by the Berkshire Youth choir on Sunday 11th July at 7.00pm. This choir has not performed in Bracknell for a long time and we are so fortunate in being able to persuade them to come here – our thanks to Maldwyn Davies. Tickets will be on sale later but please put the date in your diary, as tickets will be at a premium.

All-Age Service
We are getting on with the All Age Service planning. A format has been devised and many people have been involved in its planning. Helen Hastings particularly has done a great deal of work on it and we hope to try it for the first time in May. There will be some explanation given and because the service is different, we shall need to spend a little time working on the practical arrangements. There will be 5/6 per year once the programme is organised.

ADM
The Annual Holy Trinity Meeting is on Sunday 18th April immediately following a said Holy Communion Service at 10.00am

David

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News from St Andrew's

Fund Raising Team
The St. Andrew's fund raising team has been busy planning a number of events for the coming year. In March we will have had our second Table Top sale, and then on the 30th April we are having another Quiz night and fish and chip supper.
On the 3rd July a cream tea at the church followed in September by a skittles evening and supper at a local pub. In October we are hoping to hold an Italian evening with a supper and entertainment and then in December we are inviting The Patrick Sheen Singers from Ebbw Vale, South Wales who shared our Harvest Flower Festival weekend with us last year.

Anniversary
Congratulations In February Michael and Beryl Buckley celebrated their 60th Wedding anniversary at St. Andrew's Church with a service to renew their Marriage vows. It was a moving occasion and all at St. Andrew's pass on our congratulations to Michael and Beryl.

Spirituality and Worship Group
The group from St. Andrew's have arranged a number of services for the coming months. On Palm Sunday at St. Andrew's we are beginning Holy Week with a service of Compline at 8.30pm on the 4th April. On the Wednesday in Holy Week we are having a quiet service of the Rosary at 6.30am followed by breakfast. Then on the 23rd April we will be celebrating the festival of St. George with an early morning Eucharist followed by breakfast. After a number of years celebrating St. Andrew and St. David we have agreed to remember the English! Finally on the 9th May at 6.30pm we are having a Sung Evensong at St. Andrew's .

Lent Discussion Groups
It is good to see so many people sharing in the lunch and discussion group at St. Andrew's with people coming from Bracknell Methodists, Holy Trinity, St Paul's and St. Andrew's. Alongside this it has been rewarding to share in the devotional service of the Stations of the Cross with a healthy number of people each Thursday at St. Andrew's.

Memorial Service
On the 14th March St. Andrew's hosted the Lovegroves Funeral Services Memorial service. 120 people attended highlighting once again the importance of remembering our departed loved ones and over £230 was raised for Home Start.

Holy Week
The Holy Week services at St. Andrew's this year begin with a service of Wholeness and Reconciliation on the Wednesday in Holy week at 8pm.
On Maundy Thursday at 8pm we will have the Mass of the Lord's Supper, when we are reminded too of the washing of the disciples feet and the challenge to all of us to follow in service. Afterwards we will have the stripping of the altar and a watch until midnight.
On Good Friday at 11.30am we will share with the children the Stations of the Cross, followed by the Veneration of the Cross at 2.30pm.On this day we commemorate the sufferings and death of Christ. We will listen to the passion reading from St. John, we will pray for the welfare of the world, that Christ may reach the hearts of all men and women. Then we are invited to venerate the Cross in recognition of the Cross on which Christ suffered and died as a sign of God's love that won life for the world.
On Holy Saturday at 8pm we will hold the Easter Vigil as we share in the glory of the Risen Christ.

Annual DCC
This meeting will be held on 18th April following the 10.30am Eucharist. We hope that as many people as possible will attend this important meeting to look back at the last year and set one of two challenges for the new year. Let me take this opportunity to thank all those who have served on the DCC this year.

Fr Jeremy

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News from St Paul's

One word could sum up St Paul’s, well the building at least, and that is ‘tidy’. A band of hard working volunteers from both congregations committed a Saturday morning to giving the building and grounds a ‘good going over’.

It was the grounds that held the biggest surprise because the local police had to be called when a tatty, decommissioned but never-the-less still threatening gun was found amongst the shrubbery!

Inside it was less of a trauma unless, of course, you were one of the spiders Adrian Ball made homeless after he spent an hour up a ladder removing cobwebs. There were no visible spiders in the old vestry but, boy oh, boy was there some junk. The old vestry is the room in St Paul’s that tends to be the dumping ground for all the things that have no other assigned home.

So, armed with Marigold gloves and a stack of plastic bags we set to work and out of the door went parts of the guttering, stacks of damp paper and bags and bags of rubbish; while books, music stands and the Christmas tree were filed away tidily until needed.

We then attacked the hymn book cupboard and it gave up things that hadn’t been seen in years, and a quick tidy up of the leaflets in the vestibule revealed an envelope, marked ‘For the Church’, with money inside! This went, post haste, into the ‘Raise the Roof Fund’.

The following Sunday St Paul’s Anglican’s began a new series called ‘Community Matters’. This series is designed to help us hear more about how we can be engaged in our local community. We began the series in splendid style as we welcomed Councillor Mrs Shelagh Pile, the Mayor of the Borough of Bracknell Forest.

Mrs Pile spoke about her experiences as a Councillor in the area, about how things have changed and about how we can make a positive impact upon the community. Our intercessions were shaped by a slide show of pictures of the local area, inspiring prayers and encouraging people to think deeply about the challenges and delights of our community.

A special mention needs to be made of the children on the morning. They came into the beginning of the service to listen to Mrs Pile and they were wonderful; they listened attentively and sang with great gusto! So, a big thank-you to all our children and to the Children’s Club leaders and parents.

We are now looking forward to the Parade Service and to Mothering Sunday. On Mothering Sunday some men have volunteered (!) to lead the Children’s Club thus allowing the women to attend a full communion service. Again a big thank-you to those on duty that day.

We are looking forward to Easter, the new DCC and to working closer with our partners in the United Reformed Church, all this in a very tidy building

Catherine

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Parish Register

Please remember them all in your prayers

Baptisms

We welcome into the God's family

Holy Trinity
Phoebe Leah Collins
Felicity Jayne Johnson
Abigail Louisa Keen
Rebecca Malvina Miller
Kaden Thomas Tyrer
Reiko Garth Tyrer
 

Funerals

We commit to God's care

John Wise	Aged 64
Marjorie Church	Aged 76
John Symes	Aged 78
Harold Limmer (Harry)	Aged 86
Edgar Ritchie	Aged 87

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April Diary

This can be found in For your Diary...

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April Prayer Diary

This can be found in Prayer Diary

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Taizé Meditation

These meditations are meant as a way of seeking God in silence and prayer in the midst of our daily life. During the course of a day, take a moment to read the Bible Passage with this short commentary and reflect on the questions which follow.

Matthew 13:44
Jesus proclaimed God’s Reign or Kingdom. Still more: he made visible the first signs of its coming. If God reigns, then evil, suffering, sin and absurdity are no longer in charge. Praise and gratitude replace lamentation, bitterness and weeping. The one who announces the coming of the Kingdom and introduces it into the world leaves people in his wake that sing and express their joy. If God reigns, then creation is healed and can find meaning once again. People stand up and walk,. A communion with the God of life and joy is re-established.

To experience the reign of love, a forgiveness stronger than evil, a love stronger than death, is the most moving experience imaginable. When they open themselves to Christ, believers taste a deepened faith; they glimpse signs of God’s reign in their lives and in those of others. They do not see the Kingdom, for evil and death are still present, but the signs they witness tell them that nothing can resist its coming. It is understandable that Jesus compares the existence of the Kingdom to the overwhelming joy that takes hold of someone who discovered a treasure hidden in a field (Matthew 13:44).

If the discovery of the treasure is sudden and unexpected it nevertheless takes time to evaluate what was discovered and draw the consequences. That is what the man in the parable does by hiding the treasure again. Soon his reflection will lead him to act. In this way it has been said correctly that in this short parable the three dimensions of time are found: the present with the discovery of the treasure, the past that the man contemplates by evaluating what has value in the light of the treasure he has found, a new future to which the man commits himself by his decision to buy the field.

Have I already had an experience that changed radically the way I saw life and its priorities?
Joy is the foundation of the important decisions that the man in the parable will take. What does this insistence of Jesus on joy reveal to us?

Take time at the end to pray, thanking God for his presence, asking for what you need for yourself, and for those things close to your heart.

Further information on Taizé can be obtained from the Community's website.

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