The Magazine, November 2006 (Section 1)

Magazine Production Team
Deadline for December magazine: 15th November

Team News

Lay Funeral Ministers
Last month we were delighted to welcome the Bishop of Reading, +Stephen, to the parish who authorised three people to be lay funeral ministers. Sue Halls, Suzanne Ackford and Tracey Williams are now beginning to assist with funerals and are working towards taking selected funerals on their own in the new year. This provision was warmly welcomed by +Stephen and will give the parish more resources in its pastoral ministry.

Memorial Service
On 5th November, we will hold our annual Memorial Service for families for whom we have taken funeral services in this past year. The service will be held at 3.00pm in Holy Trinity Church. We will need volunteers to help with the service - sidespeople in church and waiters and waitresses in the Langley Hall afterwards. This is a most important event and it is something we as a church take pride in offering, but we need your help to be the welcomers and listeners. Please offer your help to one of the clergy and remember the day in your prayers.

Civic Remembrance Service
The Annual Civic Remembrance Service, (not be confused with the above) is on Sunday 12th November at 10.50am following the act of remembrance at the War Memorial in town. The Mayor of Bracknell and our MP will be present and the preacher will be Mark Ackford.

Holy Trinity Tower and Spire
The Parish Wardens have agreed a contract for the Holy Trinity Spire and Tower to be repaired. The cost will be £55,000 and they agreed with the Deanery that the payment of our parish share will be suspended this year in order to pay for the work. If you need more information then please talk to either Andrew Cope or Andrew Fairhurst.

David’s Licensing
If you would like to go to David's licensing in Llantilio Crossenny then please sign up on the notice sheets which are at the back of each church. The service is on Saturday 2nd December at 2.30pm in St Teilo's Church and the journey is about 122 miles and will take 2 hours. Take the M4 to jct 24 and turn right taking the 4th exit onto the A449. Go 13 miles and then cross the A40 and go north over various country roads for 5 miles to Llantilio Crossenny. It is not easy to find but the village is on the road between Abergavenny and Monmouth which is the B4233.
Helen and David's new address The Vicarage, Llantilio Crossenny, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire NP7 8SU. The mobile number remains the same and the landline will probably be 01600 780240. Email will happen at some point and we will send out the new email address as soon as we get one. The current email address davidosborn@ntlworld.com will cease to operate on November 6th, which is also our moving date.

What Next?
What happens next in the Bracknell Team Ministry? In November, the Bishop of Reading will meet with the parish wardens. In an interregnum, the wardens are the legal guardians of the parish and, as the Bishop's Officers, are the people who are responsible for the parish. After their meeting with the Bishop it is likely that a 'Profile Group' will be set up and people consulted. The Bishop has every intention of making an appointment sooner rather than later, although it is likely that he/she will be styled Priest in Charge due to the possible review of parishes across the whole of the Bracknell area.
David's last service will be Sunday 29th October, as this magazine is published. This will be a Team Service - there being no service that morning at either St Paul's or St Andrew's, and will be followed in the Langley Hall with a farewell reception.

David

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News from Holy Trinity

Harvest:
A big thank you to all those who brought gifts to the Harvest Service last month. I know that all the tins of food and the other dried goods will be put to good use by the FAITH group in Reading in its work to support those in real need. Sunday school would also like to thank all those who supported Mityana School in Uganda, with the donation of money towards hens and desperately needed school musical equipment.

Finally didn’t the church look beautiful so our thanks must also go to our flower arrangers and the families who decorated the windows.
 

The Tower:
The estimates are in for the work required to connect the spire to the tower, and the cost of works is approximately in the region of £55,000. It is hoped that the work will be started sometime this month, so the scaffolding will be around for a few more weeks yet. The work will have a significant impact on Parish finances, as we have not yet had any opportunity to do any active fund raising. Contributions to the cost of the repairs however will be most warmly received!

Remembrance Sunday:
Please remember that the main morning service on the 12th November 2006 will start at 9.30 am so that we can have the church available for the civic Remembrance Service at 10.50 am. Assistance will be required for that service especially with the putting out of additional chairs and stewarding, please contact myself or the Church/District wardens if you are available to help.

Back to Church Sunday:
On Sunday 26th November 2006 we will be taking part in an Archdeanery initiative called ‘Back to Church Sunday’. It is an opportunity for you all to invite someone along to Church to join us at the main 10am service that morning. Please make an extra effort to do this and let us see if we can fill Holy Trinity Church to the rafters, we will also have some special biscuits at coffee that morning!
 

Mark

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News from St Andrew's

Jocks Lane Train Rides
This year's event was very successful and it raised nearly £258, which is the highest total for the last four years. Once again we wish to express our thanks to the Bracknell Railway Society, who ran the trains for us on a sunny afternoon in late September.
We from St Andrew's enjoyed the occasion and we hope that the public enjoyed it too.
 

Lynn and Andrew's Wedding Blessing
On 7th October we had a service for Lynn and Father Andrew to bless their marriage. Several members of their family and some of their other friends came, and after the service Lynn and Andrew laid on a really good buffet at St Andrew's Vicarage. This occasion was something which meant a great deal to them and they wanted to share their happiness and joy with us.
 

Harvest Reflection
While we in Bracknell do not, literally, "plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the land", we bring everything before God, and Andrew made it clear that this offering of ourselves includes not only the best but also the not so good. This message may seem surprising but it is in fact very comforting. God does not require us to be perfect, but accepts us with our "humble, thankful hearts" as we lay ourselves and our gifts before the altar. Thankfulness is more important than apparent success or achievement.

Mrs. Clark
Mrs. Clark is now back home after being in hospital and we continue to remember her in our prayers and thoughts.

Simon Sellick
District Warden, St. Andrew's

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News from St Paul's

Child Contact Centre
On the 12th October 2006 the Lord Lieutenant of the Royal County of Berkshire, Mr Phillip Wroughton, assisted by Cadet Flight Sergeant Helen Dobbs, presented St Paul's Child Contact Centre with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service 2006.

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service
To celebrate her Golden Jubilee, The Queen announced a new, annual Award to recognise and reward excellence in voluntary activities carried out by groups in the community.

The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service (formerly known as The Queen's Golden Jubilee Award) is given for outstanding achievement by groups of volunteers who:
§ regularly devote their time to helping others in the community.
§ improve the quality of life and opportunity for others.
§ provide an outstanding service.

The Service
The Contact Centre had been nominated for the award by Councillor Jacqui Ryder who spoke movingly at the service about her delight in the Centre being honoured by the award, one of only three presented in the whole of Berkshire. Mary Lower MBE, founder of the Child Contact Centre Movement and president of the National Association of Child Contact Centres, also spoke at the service. She told about the desperate need for estranged parents, who have undergone a relationship breakdown, to be able to have a safe and neutral place to meet so contact can be continued with the children.

Ann Baker the Centre Co-ordinator received the award on behalf of the whole group to a heartfelt round of applause.
Another cause for celebration was the presentation of Service Award Certificates to Mrs Helen Brenchley, Miss Dawn Stoner and Miss Karmanie Ashley, all of whom have now completed three years of service at the Contact Centre. In fact, so dedicated are the volunteers at this group, that all have been volunteering for more than three years.

The service then finished with a superb buffet spread, provided by Joan Knight and Sue Davis, and a toast to the centre

Jesus said, ‘Let the children come to me’
The Contact centre is an example of where the church can be involved in the community in a real and relevant way. It provides a much needed service to our community and all at St Paul's are so thrilled with the award and so humbled by the loving service of the volunteers. But, like most organisations, it always needs more help and if you feel able to be involved then please call the church office on 01344 304626

Thanks
I would like to pass on my heartfelt thanks to Anne Wood, Ann Baker, Joanne Brett and all who shared in this service,
‘I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel’,
Philippians 1 3-5

Harvest Services
The church looked beautiful for the Harvest Service on 1st October with flowers in Autumnal colours arranged in pumpkins.
Tinned food and dried goods were received and sent to the group in Reading working with homeless people.
On 8th October Jenny Colby led the Harvest Parade Service at which the Brownies and Guides gave thanks for all God has given us, food, homes, schools and health care and told us of the work of the Toybox charity which seeks to provide these essentials for the Street Children of Latin America. The Brownies held cake sales and non-uniform evenings and together with the open plate collection £115 was raised for the Toybox charity. There are leaflets at the back of St. Paul’s about Toybox if you would like to know more. Also you can visit their web site at:-
www.toyboxcharity.org.uk

Catherine Blundell

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Parish Register

Please remember them all in your prayers

Baptisms

We welcome into the God's family

Holy Trinity
Penelope Isabella Beamish-Pena
George Callum Muirhead

Funerals

We commit to God's care

Holy Trinity

Louise Bourne

Aged 35

St Andrew's

Paul Drake

Aged 59

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November Diary

This can be found in For your Diary...

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November 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.

2 Corinthians 5: 14 -21

A brother who lives in Brazil comments on this text as seen from his vantage-point:

At the beginning of the Church, Christians of Jewish background leapt over the wall that separated them from those from other backgrounds. This meant for them giving up some strict dietary and behavioral rules; it broadened the way they conceived their relationship with God. During the following two millennia, in their practice and teaching, Christians did not always show such boldness in integrating cultural differences.

In Brazil, a powerful trend over the past fifty years has caused the Pentecostal churches to grow to the detriment of the traditional denominations. Most of the converts come from a poor background. After their conversion, they willingly witness to their faith by saying, “I used to be this and that, now I am a new man (or woman) because I have accepted Christ.” And they tell you about the features of this “new self” (v.17) that can be seen and verified by all: “I no longer drink. I no longer smoke. I respect my spouse. My children go to school. I am learning to read and write. I go to church all the time…”

In these communities, strong bonds of fellowship unite the members. They help one another, materially as well as morally, to stay on the right road. And yet their attitude towards other churches tends to be one of suspicion, or even of hostility and contempt, as if the work of reconciliation stopped at the door of their own community.

In society and between different countries, as well as among Christians, the natural tendency is to take sides, to accept some and to exclude others. It is difficult not to have any prejudices, “no longer to look at anyone in a human way” (v.16). For that involves becoming aware of one’s own limits, realizing that some aspects of my own personality can be difficult for others to accept.

- What prejudices remain in me, in spite of everything?

- Who it is hard for me to be reconciled with? What makes it difficult?

- What experiences of reconciliation have I had?

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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