The Magazine, March 2006 (Section 1)

Magazine Production Team
Deadline for April magazine: 15th March

Team News

Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday is 1st March, and also St David’s Day. The Team Service will be in Holy Trinity at 8pm and will include the traditional ashing; the ashes being a burnt palm cross from 2005.

Interviews
We shall be interviewing for the Team Vicar post on Wednesday 15 March. We have, as I write in mid-February, some interesting applications, but we shall see at the interview how the candidates measure up to the task. Please remember the interview day in your prayers.

Alpha Plus
The ALPHA PLUS Course now has established a leadership team and the starting date is Thursday 4th May and the next 9 Thursdays. We meet in the Langley Hall at 7pm for supper and then go onto to do the course together. A sign-up form will appear in the April Magazine

Annual Meetings
The Annual Church Meeting (AGM) is on Wednesday 5th April – the Annual Church Meetings will be on Sunday 2nd April. The Parish Report Handbook will be available in March and the main topic of the Annual Meeting will be the nature of mission in the parish.

David

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News from Holy Trinity

State of the Building
On February 26th in the 155th anniversary service, I addressed the problem of the building of Holy Trinity and invited the congregation to reflect on the challenges. At present we think that the roof will cost at least £1 million to repair. In addition to that, the walls are giving us serious concern, as is the state of the electrics, the organ and the churchyard. A number of people estimate the cost of putting Holy Trinity in order to be in the region of £3 million. This is a sum quite beyond our means and even if we had this money, many also wonder if it would be right to spend it on the present building. One thing is certain however is that Holy Trinity is the town centre church and we need to discuss with the Diocese and the Borough what the various solutions might be in view of the coming town centre development.

Thank you workers
Thank you to those who shared in the work morning on 18th February - we are very grateful to you.

Lent Services
During Lent we shall learn a new setting for the Holy Communion Service. We haven’t had a new setting for nearly 20 years and this one is an attractive setting: there will be a melody edition for each member of the congregation and Geoffrey will take us through it during the Sundays in Lent, so that by Easter Day we should be pretty good. It was written by David Thorne just 5 years ago and is called the Mass of St Thomas. The Gloria is the most difficult but we shan’t start with that.
 
Church Layout
The DCC is looking again at the layout of the church. One or two pews are rather poor and we will dispose of a couple to make space for other things. The pew next to the hymnbook trolley, for example, is blocking a radiator and is also one we don’t need, nor is the pew necessary in front of the notice board. We may extend the Children’s Corner by one pew width and tidy up the area in front of the votive stand. Any member of the congregation with ideas on these matters is encouraged to put their views forward.

David

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News from St Andrew's

"For mine eyes have seen the glory of thy salvation" (Luke 2.30)
These words of Simeon, as he took the baby Jesus up in his arms and blessed God, speak very directly to us all, and particularly to St. Andrew's during this interregnum.

Waiting
A time of waiting can sometimes feel frustrating, especially when we have a longer wait than we expected. Simeon did not seek instant answers to his prayers. Instead, he waited devoutly for a very long time, in the knowledge that he would see the Lord's Christ. When the time came he knew that the child Jesus was the One he had been waiting for.

We pray and hope that, however long God wills us to wait, the Holy Spirit will enable us to know who our next Team Vicar is to be.

Pram and Toddler Group
This group continues to thrive. It meets at St. Andrew's each Monday morning (including Bank Holidays). Families who are not used to church services tend to be more relaxed in an informal church setting. Our Pram and Toddler Group is a wonderful way of reaching out to such families and welcoming them into church. We pray that they will come to faith in Christ.

Vandalism
How should we respond?
St. Andrew's Church has recently suffered a spate of vandalism, involving several broken windows and damage to the notice-board outside.

It is easy to say that those who did this are 'mindless', but that is not a very helpful (or Christian) response. Nor should we respond by trying to turn the church building into a kind of fortress.

There is of course no easy solution. However, in principle a good way forward is for us, first of all, to regard all individuals as being capable of seeing sense, and not as being mindless. The next stage is to remind ourselves that God's love in Christ is offered to all, including those who throw stones at churches. This will help us to have a right attitude to all, particularly those in our local community.

Prayers
We pray for Nola, who is having to cope with illness in her family, and for Fred Potter who recently lost his wife Marjorie.

As always, we give thanks to God for the ministry of Peter at St. Andrew's and for the love and support of the whole clergy team.

Simon Sellick
District Warden, St. Andrew's

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News from St Paul's

Memorable Events
There have been two memorable events recently

First the Full Church Meeting at St Paul's on 22nd January. Here both the URC and Anglican congregations met, after a short service, to discuss St Paul's and our mission and ministry.

The meeting opened with some background reviews and an account of ‘how we have got here’, including the fact that the first URC minister on the site realised the Anglican’s were worshipping in a school building, so invited them to come to St Paul's...and they have never left!

This was never a formal agreement but the two congregations have just existed side by side for over 30 years.

We then explored the overall picture for both congregations. The Anglican’s spoke of the Bracknell review that will happen soon and then Alistair Telfer, the URC secretary explained their situation as follows:
‘Their Minister left last year and St Paul’s is scoped at 50% ( i.e. ½ of a ministers time) St Paul’s is now in a zone with: Henley (Full Minister), Maidenhead (½ of a minister) Twyford (½ of a minister) Vacant, Marlow (½ of a minister), Windsor (½ of a minister) Vacant.

So St Paul’s now have to call a Minister to ‘preach with a view’ (the URC way of assessing a ministers suitability for a particular congregation) and at the next Zone Meeting St Paul’s URC has to argue their case for such a minister to be supplied for their church.’

The meeting also discussed our Plan for Partnership decisions and we agreed at DCC/Elders to look at:

• Our name


• Our logo


• Summer Services


• Shared notices


• Shared services


• Future ministry at St Paul's

Our second memorable event was the visit of Bishop Steven Cottrell to our Wednesday congregation on 8th February.

Bishop Stephen was visiting the deanery and he wanted to participate in a worship service that was already ‘on offer’ so he arrived at St Paul's for his first visit.
He presided at our communion service and spoke passionately that we should have ‘no barriers between us and God, the way should always be clear’.

He then stayed for coffee and chatted to many members of the Wednesday congregation. He was very well received, especially as he is such a warm, lively and engaging person and second because he has a loud clear voice so everyone could hear!!

Music and Fun
The month has also seen a 50’s evening organised by Kim and the social committee—many thanks to them for their hard work. We were entertained by some talented members of the church. With a marvellous dance routine by the young people to tunes from ‘Grease’. Including a car with umbrellas for wheels!

Catherine Blundell

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Parish Register

Funerals

We commit to God's care

Holy Trinity

James Tellis	Aged 93
Gwendoline Walker (Gwen)	Aged 88
Elizabeth Beale (Betty)	Aged 85
Anthony Walden (Tony)	Aged 66
Thelma Davis	Aged 58
Peter Walther	Aged 58
Terrence Mills (Terry)	Aged 58
Barbara Williams (Barb)	Aged 54

St Andrew's

Dorothy Dale (Edie)	Aged 84
Ralph Knipe	Aged 76
Maureen Cosham	Aged 68

St Paul's

Lorraine Lane

Aged 52

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March Diary

This can be found in For your Diary...

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March 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 15:21-28

Trust is a key reality in the gospel. This trust is expressed by our “yes” to Christ, our “yes” to the will of God. It is a humble trusting. We accept even things or situations that we do not understand. But are there sometimes also times when trust is expressed by a “no”?

One day, a Canaanite woman came to Jesus asking for her daughter to be healed. Jesus pays no attention to her request. First he does not even answer her, and then he gives a reply that seems insulting to a non-Jewish woman: “It is not right to take bread from the children and give it to the puppy dogs.” It is true that, during his earthly life, Jesus’ mission was limited in general to the Jewish people. His disciples will go out later on to proclaim the good news to all the nations.

The Canaanite woman pays no attention and keeps pleading with Jesus to help her daughter. Doesn’t she realize that it would be better to give up the game and to accept Jesus’ refusal? But no, she continues the “fight” with a remark full of humour. The disciples who are watching and listening to all this must be almost scandalized by the boldness of this woman. And then the surprise comes. All at once, Jesus praises the daring of the Canaanite woman. “O woman, great is your faith! May it happen to you as you wish.” Jesus lets himself be overcome by the stubbornness of that woman and shows his admiration for her.

Why this stubbornness? The woman had heard about Jesus, about his kindness and compassion. She had faith in these qualities of his. When she heard his harsh words, she said to herself, “Those words do not reflect who he really is.” She held fast to the truest aspect of what she had grasped about Jesus. Her faith enabled her to go beyond the incomprehensible appearances. She placed her trust in the true identity of Jesus.

Has my trust in God sometimes been expressed by a “no”?

What words or actions of Jesus best express his true identity for me?

Are there times when experiences I have seem to contradict the identity of God that seems truest to me? How do I react?

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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