Archive 

2009

This year's editions

From the December issue 

We three kings of Orient are... what?

“A cold coming they had of it at this time of the year, just the worst time of the year to take a journey, and specially a long journey, in. The ways deep, the weather sharp, the days short, the sun farthest off, in solstitio brumali, the very dead of winter.”

 It was 1622, and the Bishop of Winchester, Launcelot Andrews, was preaching a magnificent sermon to King James I. Reckoned one of the best preachers ever, Launcelot Andrews’ words were later taken up by T S Eliot and transformed into his wonderful poem ‘The Journey of the Magi’. What a vivid picture – we can see it all! The camels’ breath steaming in the night air as the kings, in their gorgeous robes of silk and cloth-of-gold and clutching their precious gifts, kneel to adore the baby in the manger.

 Yet the Bible does not give us as much detail as some people think. Tradition down the centuries has added a great deal more. For instance, we know from St Matthew that the magi were ‘wise’, or learned men of some sort, but we do not know if they were kings or not. The Bible tells us there were several; tradition has decided upon three, and even named them: Balthassar, Melchior, and Gaspar. But the Bible does tell us that the magi gave baby Jesus three highly symbolic gifts: gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. Gold stands for kingship, frankincense for worship, and myrrh for anointing – anticipating his death.

 There is a lovely ancient mosaic in Ravenna, Italy, that is 1,500 years old. It depicts the wise men in oriental garb of trousers and Phrygian caps, carrying their gifts past palm trees towards the star that they followed... straight to Jesus. 

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Christmas Unwrapped!

A middle-aged woman posted her Christmas wish list on the refrigerator for her husband to read. She requested ‘something that will make me look sexy and beautiful.’ To her surprise the husband gave her an exercise bike as a gift!

 All of us have received unwanted gifts at Christmas. For Joseph the gift of a child, as recorded in Matthew chapter 1, was not something he really wanted. Although he was engaged to Mary, her pregnancy provided grounds for divorce. Not surprisingly, with the associated social disgrace, Joseph wanted to divorce Mary quietly (Matthew 1:19). However, God intervened in a dream reminding Joseph that the child to be born would fulfil Isaiah’s promise: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel - which means, God with us.’ (1:23). Joseph’s world, like our own, is scary and uncertain and it’s not always clear as to what God is doing. So what is the message of the name Immanuel for Joseph, as well as for ourselves as we approach Christmas 2011?

 • God is present with us

 God assured Joseph through his dream that he was working in all that Joseph was experiencing. The conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit is not unexplained; however the wonder of the incarnation is that the eternal and creator God has entered time and space as a baby. This baby is both uniquely divine but also fully human. The birth of Jesus means that we can know God personally, not just know about him. The Holy Spirit is committed to making Jesus’ life and character real in us, as well as bringing meaning to our circumstances, just as he worked in the conception of Immanuel.

 • God is on our side

 Christmas touches some raw nerves in our lives, including stress, family rows, loneliness and financial pressures. However, God does not remain aloof from our experiences. By coming in Jesus he enters our world of hopes and fears, joys and disappointments. Therefore, he can understand what we are going through, as he is alongside us. By the cross and resurrection he gave his life that we might know his life, joy, peace and forgiveness.

 For Joseph, as well as us, the Christmas message is one of hope in an uncertain world. It is a time to re-consider the claims of Immanuel (God with us) as we entrust ourselves to him for the coming year.

From the November issue 

Read all about it! - The Big Issue story

There can be few of us who live in or visit large towns and have not met a 'Big Issue' vendor. Not many people, however, realise that the magazine is part of an international movement.

 The British edition celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and papers with the same name (or similar) are published in many countries.

 It was founded in 1991 by John Bird and Gordon Roddick, and is one of the UK's leading social enterprises. The big idea was that the magazine would offer homeless people the opportunity to earn a legitimate income, helping the vendors to re-integrate into mainstream society. It has become the world's most widely circulated street newspaper.

 In London the venture has links with St Martin-in-the-Fields' social-care activity. Recently St Martin-in-the Bullring, Birmingham, hosted an photographic exhibition called Hard Times, which showed aspects of the lives of Big Issue vendors.

 The paper is produced by professional journalists. Vendors buy copies for £1.00 each and sell them for £2.00, keeping the proceeds (the 'split' is the same in other currencies). All vendors receive training, sign a code of conduct and can be identified by badges which include their photograph. Similar magazines appear in Australia, Ireland and about 40 other countries (there is an International Network of Street Papers).

 The Big Issue Foundation believes in offering 'a hand up, not a hand-out', but also recognises that earning an income is the first step on the journey away from homelessness. The charity works exclusively with vendors, offering support, advice and referrals.

 Britain's Big Issue sells an average of 125,000 copies a week and has a high proportion of young readers (age 15 to 24). To become a vendor, a person must be homeless, vulnerably housed or marginalised in some way. Many street papers are in developing nations. They provide an independent outlet for news and information, alternative perspectives and unheard voices.

 Together the papers provide a long-term tool for social change that connects people across harmful social barriers and campaigns for the needs and rights of people living in poverty.

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The Way I See It - remembering the War

Those of us who can remember the Second World War are now a shrinking minority. Anyone who actually fought in it would now have to be in their mid-eighties. Of course, that makes 'remembrance' on a public scale difficult. The youth organisations line up at the war memorial each year, but with the best will in the world the exhortation 'we will remember them' is asking a lot of boys and girls whose grandparents were probably not born until years after the war ended.

 So perhaps those of us who can remember, however distantly, what that war was like have some kind of duty to share those memories. In my case, the most vivid is leaving London on a bright morning in early September 1939 in a red double-decker bus and heading for an unknown address in rural England. In the case of my brother and me it was a village in Essex, right in the path of an invading army from the Continent. By Christmas that year my parents had decided that there were safer places for us to be, and we spent the rest of the war - blissfully, I'm ashamed to say - in the mid-Wales hills with my Welsh grandparents. We played in the fields, learnt to speak Welsh, made lifelong friendships - and were almost entirely sheltered from the reality of war-time life in London and the other great cities of our land.

 Mind you, the nightly news broadcast on the wet battery wireless was a reminder that our parents were much less fortunate. Like millions of others, they endured the blackout, the shortages of food, the terrors of the blitz with nightly air raids and the anxiety of my older brother eventually being 'called up' and landing on the Normandy beaches under enemy gunfire. The bombs missed the family home - on one occasion only just - but the trauma inevitably took its toll.

 At the end of the war there were the usual speeches promising that the sacrifices made should not be in vain - we would ensure that nothing like this would ever happen again. But it did, and has - over and over again. Korea, Vietnam, the Falklands, Iraq, Afghanistan - the roll-call seems endless; evidence, if we needed it, of the strange addiction of human beings to violence, conflict and war. It is one thing to remember - and a duty, in view of the sacrifices of so many. But it is no good remembering and then forgetting.

 War, says the New Testament, flows from ordinary human sins - greed, envy, bad choices (see James 4:1-4). To expunge from our race the hideous horrors of war and armed conflict would mean eliminating each of these manifestations of our fallen nature. Difficult? Impossible, it seems, without help from beyond ourselves. Prayer, commitment, repentance, example - even a private peaceful life-style - are steps towards that goal: small things, some would think, but history has been changed by less.

From the June issue

Why the struggle in Egypt can speak to us all

 As of this month (June), it will be six months since the unrest in Egypt began. The struggle against President Mubarak convulsed the country for weeks. But it was not the first time that people living in Egypt have had trouble with their ruler. 'Let my people go' is the refrain that reminds us of the tremendous struggle that Yahweh and the Israelites had with Pharaoh so long ago.

Back then, Pharaoh felt threatened by the people of Israel. He hated the fact that they had a different God, and would not bow the knee to his gods. He determined to destroy them. Exodus tells us the story of how God protected his people, and led them out of Egypt - to years of difficult pilgrimage in the wilderness. It was only the constant assurance of a God who loved them, and his promise of a Promised Land which gave the Israelites any purpose in their long wanderings, and which kept them going.

35 centuries on, it is surprising how little things have changed. Christians throughout the Middle East are facing opposition from the society around them. They want freedom to worship their God, as did those early Israelites, and it is being denied them.

But the story of Pharaoh and Exodus has a wider application. For every Christian, no matter where they live, will face some sort of opposition. The story of Israel defying Pharaoh and leaving Egypt to follow their God through the wilderness is a story of our Christian lives. We know we are called by God, and led by God, but the path is not always easy, and can seem dry and hard at times.

What keeps us going? We know our Shepherd, who leads us, and we know that he knows us by name. He has called us to follow him. He has promised to provide for us, and never to leave us. What's more, he has promised us a future with him - in a Promised Land that we will inherit and enjoy forever.

Jesus, our Deliverer, through his death and resurrection, is the one who liberates us from the ultimate "Pharaoh," Satan. He delivers us from all that holds us captive, things and emotions such as self-destructive behaviour, fears, anger and bitterness.

These are the days before our final deliverance, but we already, in living by faith and in hope, can also celebrate in our streets, in this church and in our hearts, our great deliverance. 

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The Way I See It

By David Winter, a former Head of BBC Religious Broadcasting who has contributed to Radio 4's 'Thought for the Day' for the past 22 years.

Most of us know that one of the Commandments tells us to observe a day of rest - a 'Sabbath unto the Lord'. We may well prefer to ignore the words that precede it: 'six days shalt thou labour'.

Truth to tell, it all sounds very remote from modern life. Some of us 'labour' on all seven days in the week - usually from choice rather than necessity. Others would love to have some work to do - any work, so long as it's paid. And in between there's the rest of us, some of whom do five days a week being paid to work and others - the mothers, mostly - who do some of that and then add on another sixty hours or so bringing up small children. As for the 'day' of rest, well, we have what we call a 'weekend', which is probably not exactly restful, except in the sense that 'a change is as good as a rest'. Whoever called shopping 'rest'?

These thoughts are stirred by the fact that this past month, May, held in many countries a 'Labour Day' - an idea probably reflected in our annual May Bank Holiday. It's a time when we are meant to celebrate the contribution of work to our daily lives - and the dignity of labour, whatever it is, because without work our whole society would be impoverished.

In the Genesis creation story God forms Adam from the dust of the ground and gives him work to do - a beautiful Garden of Eden to cultivate. Soon - 'it is not good for the man to be alone' - God adds a partner in the enterprise, Eve. It all sounds blissful, until they begin to think they know better than God, with catastrophic results. The punishment for their disobedience is on gender lines. The woman will have pain in childbirth and 'be subject to her husband'; the man will find that his work which had been a joy becomes a pain: 'by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread'.

Whatever you make of that story, I can confirm that in many years of ministry if a woman wanted to talk to me about a problem it was usually to do with a man, and if a man had a problem it was usually to do with work. I cheered myself up by the thought that these strange penalties were abolished by the death of Jesus. In Christ women are no longer to be dominated by men, nor is work for the males to be an unrewarding slog. 'All are one in Christ Jesus.' Hallelujah!

From the May issue

1 May Day

 May is the month when the ancient pagans used to get up to all sorts! The Romans held their festival to honour the mother-goddess Maia, goddess of nature and growth. (May is named after her.) The early Celts celebrated the feast of Beltane, in honour of the sun god, Beli.

 For centuries in 'Olde England' the people went mad in May. After the hardship of winter, and hunger of early Spring, May was a time of indulgence and unbridled merriment. One Philip Stubbes, writing in 1583, was scandalised: "for what kissing and bussing, what smooching and slabbering one of another, is not practised?"

 Henry VIII went 'maying' on many occasions. Then folk would stay out all night in the dark rain-warm thickets, and return in the morning for dancing on the green around the May pole, archery, vaulting, wrestling, and that evening, bonfires.

 The Protestant reformers took a strong stand against May Day - and in 1644 May Day was abolished together. Many May poles came down - only to go up again at the Restoration, when the first May Day of King Charles's reign was "the happiest Mayday that hath been many a year in England", according to Pepys.

 May Day to most people today brings vague folk memories of a young Queen of the May decorated with garlands and streamers and flowers, a May Pole to weave, Morris dancing, and the intricacies of well dressing at Tissington in Derbyshire.

 May Day is a medley of natural themes such as sunrise, the advent of summer, growth in nature, and - since 1833 - Robert Owen's vision of a millennium in the future, beginning on May Day, when there would be no more poverty, injustice or cruelty, but in harmony and friendship. This is why, in modern times, May Day has become Labour Day, which honours the dignity of workers. And until recently, in communist countries May Day processions were in honour of the achievement of Marxism.

 There has never been a Christian content to May Day, but nevertheless there is the well known 6am service on the top of Magdalen Tower at Oxford where a choir sings in the dawn of May Day.

 An old May carol includes the lines:

 The life of man is but a span,
 it flourishes like a flower
We are here today, and gone tomorrow
 - we are dead within an hour.

There is something of a sadness about it, both in words and tune, as there is about all purely sensuous joy. For May Day is not Easter, and the joys it represents have always been earth-bound and fleeting.

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The Way I See It

By David Winter, a former Head of BBC Religious Broadcasting who has contributed to Radio 4's 'Thought for the Day' for the past 22 years.

 On Radio 5 Live there's a feature once a week in the afternoon when listeners are invited - indeed, urged - to phone in or text their biggest moans. This isn't really intended for what one might call Major Whinges - the state of the NHS or poverty in sub-Saharan Africa - but for all those petty irritations that wind us up and that we feel a desperate need to get off our chests.

 I always listen spell-bound, marvelling at how often I find that exactly the same things irritate me: the woman in front of me in the supermarket cash-out who half-way through the process discovers she forgot to get a tin of baked beans and disappears into the farthest reaches of the store to get it while we wait and fume. Or the man who fills his car with petrol and then spends twenty minutes doing his minor shopping or having a coffee while his car is parked at the pump that I want to use. Or the dog owner who couldn't be bothered to pick up their dog's mess, which eventually ends up on my shoes.

 You see what I mean? They are petty irritations. They're trivial, we know that, but they often upset us much more than the serious problems of life. For some reason, they really bug us. We know, in our heart of hearts, that we're getting upset about things that really don't matter, while at the same time sitting lightly to things that matter enormously. In other words, our sense of priorities has got distorted.

 Priorities: that was the theme of the famous Sermon on the Mount of Jesus. Take a look at Matthew's Gospel chapter 6, especially verse 19 to the end. We need to know, he says, what our true 'treasure' is. If we did, we wouldn't worry about food, clothes, appearance and what might happen tomorrow - God knows we need them. Our priority would be 'the kingdom of God and his righteousness' - doing what God requires. Letting my blood pressure rise over someone's tin of baked beans is, in the language of Jesus, 'straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel'. And I wouldn't want to do that, would I?

From the April issue

 Dementia - thousands of tragedies behind closed doors

Louise Morse, an expert on dementia, this month begins a series on the illness.

More than anything, older adults fear a diagnosis of dementia. Dementia is a degenerative condition of the brain caused by more than a hundred disorders. Alzheimer's disease accounts for most, with vascular dementia the next most common.

 Alzheimer's Research UK is calling for more investment in research for a better diagnosis and a cure. The organisation says that only £50 million is spent on dementia research, while £590 million a year is spent on cancer and £169 million on heart disease. From 1989 to 1999, according to the World Alzheimer Report (2009), there were 701,876 research papers related to cancer, 476,487 relating to heart disease, but only 44,168 publications identifiable with dementia.

 All the while the numbers continue to rise. A new dementia diagnosis is made every three minutes, and a third of all pensioners are predicted to die with it. Currently 820,000 are living with dementia, and an estimated further two thirds have not been diagnosed.

 Yet, despite the numbers, dementia is like an invisible plague. Although 42% of the population knows someone with dementia, you don't see them in the supermarket, or in their churches. They withdraw, taking their caregivers (relatives) with them. Sir Terry Pratchett, the author, described it as 'a large number of tragedies usually played out behind closed doors, so in spite of the numbers living with it, the world still doesn't take much notice.' (Daily Telegraph, February 9, 2011).

 Caring for someone with dementia is different to any other kind of caring, far beyond what is normal or usual, rather like dementia itself. The stress and grief as the person seems to disappear beneath the illness can be overwhelming. It's been called, 'the long goodbye'. Caregivers can be affected so severely that they develop all types of illness, and have a 63% risk of early death.

 But there is hope. Without a pharmaceutical cure, the care itself is the treatment, and a new way of caring is gradually being adopted that can help to keep the person 'together' and even to live reasonably contentedly. It has been recommended by the Royal College of Nurses. Then there are the many instances where the sufferer suddenly reappears as themselves, behaving coherently, underlining the fact that dementia is a physical disorder of the brain and that despite its deterioration, the essence of the person remains intact. And for the Christian, there is the indwelling Holy Spirit who has promised never to leave us and who points us to Glory.

 If you would like to read more on this subject, you may find Louise Morse's books useful. They are: 'Could it be dementia? Losing your mind doesn't mean losing your soul', 'Dementia - Frank and Linda's story', and 'Worshipping with Dementia'. Louise is Media and Communications Manager for the Pilgrims' Friend Society and Pilgrim Homes, a Christian charity founded in 1807. Louise would also be happy to answer any personal questions you may have about dementia. Contact her at: pm@pilgrimhomes.org.uk.

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The Cold Weather Shelter we host at St Mary's is now over for this season. During January and then again in March we provided dinner, accommodation and then breakfast for 14 homeless people on Friday evenings through to Saturday mornings. 

We do this through an organisation called C4ws, in collaboration with about a dozen Churches in Camden. C4ws finds our guests through a number of welfare agencies, and also helps the majority of our guests move on to more permanent accommodation and often to find employment as well. Guests join the Shelter and go to whichever Church is hosting, every night of the week, and stay until their lives are secure enough for them to manage on their own. This ideally takes about a month, but in some cases guests manage to turn around their lives in a few days, due to a couple of good nights' sleep and regular meals. Guests who have more complex difficulties might stay with the shelter for two months, or more. 

To have to sleep in a different building every night might not sound secure, but the shelter runs on a regular if informal routine, dinner, lights out, and breakfast at the same time everywhere, and as they are in a group  the guests form a strong bond among themselves. 

In the very easy atmosphere of the Shelter it is easy to forget how dreadful the alternative is, until a guest will occasionally remind a volunteer that without the Shelter he or she would be literally sleeping on the pavement. 

The Shelter depends on volunteers, it only employs two people and one part time assistant, and all three are on temporary contracts.  It is highly impressive what the three of them manage to accomplish. This season the Shelter was open from the 1st of November to the 31st of March, the first year it has covered five months. During that time it has hosted 85 guests in all. 

All the guests are in very difficult circumstances, and some cannot help but bring their troubles with them, none are a burden, and many are a great pleasure to meet. From this season I recall Mick and Mia, a young couple, who lived through the heavy snow falls of last autumn in a tent surreptitiously pitched in Regents Park. Then there are guests like Fikru, a middle aged man from Eritreia, who always arrived and left with a warm smile and a firm hand-shake and accepted all hospitality with as much politeness as his limited English allowed and otherwise appeared to sit quietly. It was only the week after he had left us for better things that I realised how much he had ever so subtly done  to raise the spirits of the younger guests. 

As Church co-ordinator I have also been delighted, not to mention grateful, to see one or two local people who are not regular worshippers become involved in the Shelter. If you feel you would like to be involved with next season's shelter in any way please get in touch with me, via e-mail: balder@freeukisp.co.uk.  Or my address and telephone on the back of this magazine. (They are also on our parish website). Why not do it now before you forget!

Bill Saunders

From the March issue

What will you really get out of Lent and Easter this year?

It depends on one aspect of your inner life. If it is not working well, then Easter will be useless to you, even though you attend all the Lent talks, go to all the services in Holy Week, and eat Easter eggs until you are sick.

So what is it? Forgiveness. Not from God to you, but between you and other people. Your willingness - to forgive other people. Everyone has something to forgive. You'll have been hurt by various people throughout your life. Being a Christian does not alter it. But being a Christian does alter the way we are expected to deal with it. Why worry about it now, in Lent? Because we are looking forward to Easter, and when we pray the Lord's Prayer, we say the words: 'forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us.' Easter is all about Jesus dying on the cross to forgive us our trespasses. As we forgive those who trespass against us.

On Sundays when we go up for Holy Communion, the minister summons us with the words: Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours.... come to the Lord's table, eat the bread and drink the wine - his flesh and blood, shed for us on the cross. BUT ONLY if we are in charity with our neighbours....

And Easter is the actual historical event that we commemorate in the bread and the wine.

So this Lent, just how willing are you to forgive others? If you harbour bitterness, then Easter will not do you any good this year. Jesus put it like this in Matthew chapter 6:

'For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.' That is scary!

When God asks us to forgive, he is saying: leave this person to me. Romans 12: 'Do not repay anyone evil for evil… It is mine to avenge; I will repay says the Lord.'

Paul concludes in Colossians chapter 3: 'Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.' 

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'There is sweet music here': the Nunc Dimittis of John le Carré

In July 1938 in Cairo a bandsman named James Tappern fitted a modern mouthpiece to the trumpet found in Tutankhamen's tomb and was able to play a fanfare on the instrument that had remained silent for over three thousand years. To those listening it was thrilling music and it has been preserved in the BBC sound archives.

It must have been just as thrilling to hear those seven trumpets of rams' horns played by the priests around the city of Jericho in the book of Joshua, or the trumpet played by Gideon in the book of Judges to rally the Abiezrites. Trumpets have a brilliant, bright sound that makes the listener pay attention and even sends a tingle down the spine. No wonder Sydney Smith described his vision of heaven as eating pâté de foie gras to the sound of trumpets.

A fanfare of trumpets begins occasions like the state opening of Parliament to announce that something special is happening. When the peace treaty between England and France was signed at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, Handel was commissioned to mark that occasion in the following year with The Royal Fireworks Music. Nine trumpets and a host of other instruments opened the festivities, which were followed by a royal salute from 101 brass cannon. It must have been an electrifying and exciting sound.

The trumpet in this month's music has a more haunting, elegiac resonance. It is a work that was composed for the television adaptation of John Le Carré's 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' in 1979 by Geoffrey Burgon. The composer died only 69 years old in September of last year. Although famous for his music for 'Brideshead Revisited', he had a special empathy with religious texts - the words of the Latin Requiem mass, the poems of St John of the Cross, the prose of Thomas Traherne, and the canticles of the New Testament.

The Nunc Dimittis was written for treble, trumpet and organ as the final music for the episodes of the Cold War thriller by John le Carré. It was such a success that it entered the pop charts and won an Ivor Novello award, and with a complementary Magnificat featured in cathedral evensongs. In the novel, George Smiley is called out of retirement to investigate an act of treachery. His dilemma is reflected in the words of the old man, Simeon, who wishes to leave in peace.

That poignant prayer sung by the treble is echoed in the trumpet part: it is almost a cold and mysterious sound, not at all like the brilliance and brightness of other trumpet music. The cry of prayer in F major resolves into a Gloria in A major. All is at peace and reconciled. Old age longs to depart from this world as the trumpet brings rest and contentment. In the silence that follows we might almost hear another trumpet sound that promises resurrection to the dead as we think of the trumpet that rings out in Handel's 'Messiah.' Here in Geoffrey Burgon's work, for now all is at peace.

From the February issue

PCC REPORT

The January meeting of the PCC was dedicated to Parish finances, as it is every year. We looked at the accounts for all income and expenditure during 2010 and the budget for planned spending against forecast income during 2011. Copies of the final accounts will be available at the APCM, immediately after Church on the Fifth Sunday in Lent, which is April 10th. Please make a note of the date now.

In 2010 the Parish made of a loss of £17,568. This was due to the cost of replacing the windows in the Church Hall. We met the cost from Parish savings, but we kept the loss down by trimming expenses where we could. In particular we froze our contribution to Common Fund. 

Common Fund is the donation we give to the Diocese of London every year. How very generous of the PCC, you might think. We are not all that generous when one considers that the Diocese of London spends far more on us than we give back. The Diocese finds the money that it gives us from the Common Fund donations of other parishes. Nobody expects a modest Parish such as hours to pay as much as larger and richer parishes might, but we are expected to do our best to pay what we can.

CThe new windows and the new flat will eventually earn money, perhaps by the end of this year. The windows should cut Hall heating bills, and the flat will be rented out. Once the money starts coming in we will have to balance the income between building up our savings again and increasing our Common Fund donation once more. 

Bill Saunders

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SHELTER REPORT

As I write we have completed three of the four Friday night to Saturday morning cold weather shelters we were due to host in the Hall during January. On behalf of the guests and Jamie, Amanda and Kieran who work for the C4ws scheme, thank-you to all who volunteered to help in laying out the beds, cooking and serving food, entertaining the guests, and clearing up in the morning. Thank-you to all of you who have made the donations which keep the shelter running. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and moral support. 

These simple kindnesses make an enormous difference to our guests. This season some have told Amanda that the short time they stayed in the Shelter has felt like the most significant weeks of their lives. 

We are taking a break in February but will be opening again during March. New volunteers are always welcome. 

Bill Saunders

 Find out more Here

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Who will live here? - the future population of our planet

The world's population is both growing and ageing. The total population in 2010 was estimated at 6.9 billion people by the United Nations Population Unit, and is expected to increase to 7.6 billion by 2020, and to 9.2 billion by 2050, a net growth rate of 190,000 people per day over the next decade and 150,000 per day thereafter.

Half of this increase in population between 2010 and 2050 will be across 9 countries, which are, in order of contribution to the increase: India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, United States, Democratic Republic of Congo, United Republic of Tanzania, China and Bangladesh. Four of these countries are in Asia, four in Africa. Only one, the United States, is in the developed world. The increase is a net figure. A quarter of the world's nations, 45 in all, are expected to see their population decrease in this period, 17 by at least 10%.

Between 1990 and 2010 the number of Christians in the developing world increased from 940 million to 1,400 million, an increase of 50%, or the equivalent of 64,000 extra Christians per day. In the same period, the number of Christians in the developed world increased from 810 million to 860 million, just 6%, or the equivalent of 7,000 extra Christians per day, and some of these will be immigrants.

A former mission worker in Asia, Rosemary Dowsett, said, "Asia is awash with both economic migrants/immigrants/emigrants and those moving away from persecution - the movements are multi-directional, break families apart, leave churches wondering how to deal with church members who are involved in multiple families, communities where all the men have left or conversely (as in the Philippines) churches where a high proportion of mothers have left to earn money in say the Middle East (as maids), churches which lose all their potential leaders, etc." These are key issues worldwide.

From the January issue

News from Fr. Nicholas in Rio

Grin and bear it

Wherever I looked there were smiling faces. But this wasn't a sudden outbreak of happiness in the City of God. They were the campaign posters of election candidates whose big grins were out to win votes. Brazil went to the polls in October to choose not just a new president but new senators, congressmen, governors and state representatives. At one point it seemed that everyone standing for election in each of the five contests had their photograph mounted on a billboard. Vans drove up and down the main roads all day long playing campaign songs, and elderly ladies were paid a pittance to stand on street corners distributing leaflets for candidates whose policies they'd never read.

Cynicism about politicians runs deep amongst Brazilians. We set up an election debate in church for candidates to the state legislature. Five took part and many who came to listen and ask questions said it was the first time they'd known such a thing to happen in their community.

Painting the town red, orange, blue, green, yellow…

When a stunning mural suddenly appeared on a wall in the City of God's main road last year, I was so impressed by what I saw that I sent a message to the email address daubed on the bottom of the picture to see who had produced it. Joel Bergner turned out to be an American mural artist based in Washington DC who had come to Cidade de Deus for a couple of months to teach English and had painted the mural in his spare time. We asked Joel if he would like to come back and transform our church's boundary walls with two new works of art featuring the Garden of Eden and the Last Supper. We joined forces with the Seed of Life Association, a local charity which runs out-of-school activities for teenagers. Every day for two weeks, we welcomed 30 young people for workshops on everything from handling spray paint to studying the Bible. On the final day, our church was packed with the teenagers, their relatives and friends for an end of project party during which the Bishop of Rio de Janeiro blessed the new murals. Joel will return to us in May 2011 to complete a third mural depicting St John's vision of the City of God in the Book of Revelation, which will form the backdrop to a community garden that we're creating that aims to tell the extraordinary 45-year story of Cidade de Deus.

Working in harmony

It's nearly two years since the police took control of Cidade de Deus. The 300 officers who patrol the streets are not quite on first name terms with local residents but relationships are improving. When Rio was recently hit by a wave of violence and drugs traffickers started torching buses and cars across the city

in protest at police incursions into their territory, the City of God stayed calm.

Now a new programme is being rolled out in each of the occupied communities called 'UPP Social' aimed at coordinating city, state and government efforts and attracting investment by the private sector. Led by Ricardo Henriques, the State Secretary for Social Aid and Human Rights. The initiative involves a

commitment to 'attentive listening' to local residents and when the first ever UPP Social Forum was announced, we offered our church as the venue. The event was opened by Ricardo Henriques himself and Colonel Robson Rodrigues da Silva, the commander of Rio's peacekeeping police force. More than one hundred community leaders and representatives of local and national government squeezed into our pews and by the end of the morning most people seemed to be singing from the same hymn sheet!

From Karl Marx to Groucho Marx

Since I came to Rio de Janeiro nearly three years ago I've been looking for Base Communities - the grassroots, bible study movement brought to birth by Liberation Theology in the 1960s. But it's now more than 25 years since theologians like Brazil's Leonardo Boff were accused of being Marxists and silenced by the Roman Catholic Church and outside very rural parts of the nation these cell groups would seem to be an endangered species. So, we decided to create our own modest version and since the arrival of a radical young guitar-playing Baptist pastor in our church called Felipe we have been meeting in the homes of families on one of the local estates every fortnight.

Sometimes our meetings seem more inspired by Groucho Marx than Karl Marx as the sounds of domestic disputes in nearby apartments interrupt the prayer time, dogs start barking, crying children wanting something to eat appear at the door and heavy rain suddenly pours through a hole in the roof. But the meeting

is always well attended as friends and neighbours of the hosts are only too keen show up and discuss their daily hardships and we reach people who would otherwise struggle to make it to Sunday worship.

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Pray with your shoes

With the rush of Christmas almost over, we tumble into the New Year, sleep for a couple of days, take down the decorations and plod back to work, school or our normal routines. There's a pleasure about getting back to normality, but there's also the challenge of looking forward to what the year will bring.

Not all of us want this new year. For some of us we know it will bring separations and loss: children growing up and growing away, moving away, family and friends moving on. For some of us it brings extra work as we take on new responsibilities, study for exams, look after others. For some we have to start again; to learn to be on our own, perhaps through moving away or the loss of those we have lived with for many years and decades.

Just for this month, while you put on your shoes, ask God to be with you in the day ahead. To walk ahead of you, to be by your side and close behind you: to surround you with his presence. For it is his day that we are walking into and not ours. Let his will be done, and not ours.

And then as you take your shoes off, see what you can thank God for from that day together. To help to remind you, why not leave a single shoe by the main door - that might get visitors asking too.

Advent Meditations - 

The Road to Bethlehem

Week One Unexpected Beginning - The Visit of Gabriel

Reading: Luke 1.26-38

What a day that was! Talk about the unexpected, up until then everything had been ordinary. I was pledged in marriage to a good man named Joseph, things were good. But after that day, it all changed! For on that day my unexpected visitor told me that I was special, and that the Lord was with me. That, though, was only the start of it, the beginning of all that would in the end take Joseph and me to Bethlehem; though at the time I did not know it. Neither did I realise all that would test us both before it was finally finished. At the moment, though, my stomach was full of butterflies, as I tried to grasp what this unexpected visit meant. The trouble was, the more he spoke the more I was perplexed. For he told me, I had been chosen, what me? That I would have a child, what me? But how was this to happen? I was not even married yet. Then he began to speak about how all this would happen through God's power, and as if to back this up, he revealed that my cousin Elizabeth was in the sixth month of her pregnancy. I was so shocked, for Elizabeth was past childbearing age and had always wanted a child.

Amongst all this, it became clear that the child I was to bear was different, special. If you believe that all things are possible with God and that it was God who had set this all in motion, what do you do? Do you laugh and forget all about it, or do you in the end trust in God's word as you say, 'So be it'? In the end I could only do that, say, 'So be it', no matter where it was to lead. (So the journey began.)

Prayer:

Loving, life-giving God, I, like Mary, begin my time of preparation for the birth of your Son, your coming into our world. May I journey with anticipation to the time of your coming. Lord God, I find it difficult to say 'yes' to you; Mary found the words which put her life and all that was to happen into your hands. May I this Advent time find the words that will enable me to give my life afresh to you. May I find you coming to me in unexpected ways that reveal your life-changing power and your love for me. So that I, like Mary, may be surprised at the task you have for me and accept it with thanksgiving. Amen

Week Two Meditation - 

The Journey Begins

Reading: Matthew 1.18-25

It had gone far enough, the gossip was becoming too much. What choice did I have? There was no real choice, but I would be as gentle as possible. I had just about got it all worked out, what to say, how to go about it, when it would happen; then suddenly things became clearer, put into perspective, so to speak. It was like this. One night everything had been checked, everything was alright, so off to bed I went. It was, though, not a peaceful sleep, tossing, turning, dreaming, you know what it can be like. One dream, though, was, well, somewhat real, somewhat powerful. There was this angel, you know, one of those who act as messengers for the Lord God. Now he called me 'Son of David'/ now that made me listen. Not much reference to my great ancestor every day, you know. But after all the niceties, the shock, that turned all I'd resolved to do on its head. Now I am not sure if it felt like advice or an instruction. I was to go ahead and marry Mary. On hearing this, it was as if inside my head the words 'Why should I?' were screaming to get out. Hitting them head on came the truth, the piercing truth.

That the Lord God was involved in all that was happening. For Mary's child would be the means by which the people would be saved from their sins. Not much chance then of selecting the family name, 'No, it is to be Jesus/ said the angel. No choice, then, that was it. Then all went quiet, but in the morning it was all as vivid as if it was happening there and then. For the Lord God had spoken to me through his angel and maybe I thought, the Lord God was fulfilling his promise of old. And maybe I had my small part to play in it, even though I had no idea where it would lead.

Prayer:

Gracious God, it is always easy to judge others, even if we know them, by the way things appear. You, Lord, judge on what you see on the inside, within the very depths of our souls. May I, this Advent time, look at other people with your eyes, and listen for your gracious words of enlightenment, that as I prepare for the coming of your Son, I may help others to prepare too. May I have the courage in your strength to play my part in your great plan for humanity, so that at your coming I may rejoice and spread the word that 'God is with us' as never before. Amen

Week 3 Diversion - 

An Unexpected Visit

Reading: Luke 1.39- 45

It was the natural thing to do, wasn't it? To go and share in Elizabeth's good news that she was going to have a baby after such a long time. I wanted to share in her excitement, and maybe a little bit of me wanted to tell all that had been told to me. So off I went to Elizabeth's home, how radiant she looked, but you wouldn't have expected anything else, would you? She seemed pleased to see me, yet surprised. Not, though, as surprised as I was at what happened next. Suddenly, after all the exchange of greetings, she grasped her womb, and let out a cry as the baby seemed to move with joy inside her. Then she burst forth, saying how blessed I was and how blessed the child I was to bear would be. She also said how honoured she felt, that I who was to be mother of the Lord should come to see her. I felt as though she would have preferred it if it had been the other way round. You know what? It was as if, when I heard her words, things began to well up inside me; and as she said how blessed I would be because I believed all that the Lord had said he would bring about, those things inside me began to grow even more. Which was strange, because before this that belief was like a mustard seed, so small.

Then I could hold it no longer and I burst forth in praise of my Lord, and in one sense that mustard seed blossomed and grew, so as to sustain me on a journey that would lead from a birth to a death, a death of which at this time I was unaware, for joy and praise filled my soul. 

Prayer:

Lord God, as I continue my Advent journey of preparation for the good news of the birth of your Son, my Saviour, enable me to share the good news with others, that I may rejoice with them. Enable me to share with others the good news of your coming among us as the baby born in a stable. May I, like Mary, be filled with a deep and lasting joy as I come to know your presence more in my life each day. May that mustard seed of faith and belief in your presence with me, and your promises to me, blossom beyond my wildest dreams. Amen 

Week 4 

No Going Back Now - Bethlehem Here We Come

Reading: Luke 2.1-5

The Romans never did anything by halves. So when they wanted to know the true number of people in the Roman Empire they decided to have a census. Not much problem there, you would have thought. All you need to do is to count everyone.

But no, they decided everyone had to go to the town which was connected with their family line. The problem was, when all this happened I was nine months pregnant, and because I was pledged to Joseph in marriage I had to go with him.1 So that was it, no way to get out of it, too late to change things now. It seemed an age since all this began with the visit of an angel and with my words, 'Let it be as the Lord has said'. So much water under the bridge since then. But now there were other worries. This census meant a journey to Bethlehem, Joseph's home town. Would things go well or could it all go wrong? No real choice, though, I knew we had to go. So what was left? Nothing but to trust in the Lord God, and so far it had worked. And if this child I carry is as special as it seems, the Lord will take care of us. For even now I still cannot really take it in that the child within me is God's Son, with all that can mean. The joy and excitement of that visit to Elizabeth is still with me; the joy and praise of the Lord which burst forth then is still within. But the die is cast, there is no going back, so Lord be with me, for your time is coming near.

Prayer:

Lord God, my journey to Bethlehem is nearly over, just as it is for Mary. May I be as expectant as Mary was at your coming as the baby vulnerable and helpless.!

May I, after my journey of preparation, celebrate with Mary and others at the wonder of your birth; your coming, not only for me but for the whole of creation. Lord God., I praise your name for all that you have revealed to me about your coming that I might live. Give me and all humanity hope, joy and peace as you come into your world this Christmas time. Amen

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Recently in the media you may have seen press reports on a recently opened new branch of Tesco Express. Nothing wrong with that I hear you ask? , but Tesco has opened a branch in a church. The former Westbourne Methodist Church in Bournemouth, Dorset which had lay empty for three years was transformed into a supermarket. Church aisles have replaced with checkout aisles where customers can buy groceries all under the watchful eyes of Biblical characters depicted in the buildings ornate stained glass windows. We are now use to seeing churches being used as private dwellings, you only need to look around our community to find a couple. Even a church on Charing Cross Road, central London was transformed into a nightclub, restaurant and pub, which is now closed, cease trading, wonder what its purpose will be next? We all could comment and say it is not appropriate but once the buildings are sold the church no longer has control. John 2:16 in the Bible describes Jesus driving money changers and dove sellers out of the Temple of Herod with the words "Get these out of here! Do not make My Fathers house a house of merchandise!" What do you think dear reader would you buy your bread in a former church now a supermarket, well I know one vicar who might not !

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Morten Lauridsen, American composer

 In the Middle Ages, at the end of the Christmas Midnight Mass, the clergy would often tell the animals' version of the Nativity story and imitate the sound of each animal. The cock would crow 'Christus natus est.' (Christ is born). The cows would moo 'Ubi?' (Where?). The sheep would bleat 'In Bethlehem.' And the donkey would cry 'Eamus' (Let us go there). It was a way of expressing something of the joy and fun of the Christmas celebration.

 Commercialism with all its trappings has sadly made that fun and festivity the be all and end all of Christmas. We need to capture again the heart of the Incarnation, which is a mystery rooted in silence and wonder. The book of Wisdom reads 'For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was now half gone, the all powerful Word leapt from heaven, from the royal throne.'

 Those words remind us that at Bethlehem there is that silence and wonder. The animals may rejoice to tell the Good News of the Incarnation at the Midnight Mass, but at the crib they gather with the Holy Family and the shepherds. We are given no words of Mary and Joseph and the shepherds around the crib. The mystery of what was happening seems to have intensified their silence. They did not know what the future held for this new-born child, but they did know that God was acting in a special way. They were like people standing in the faint light of the dawn, and their response was an expectant and wondering worship.

 It is at the heart of this month's beautiful and moving setting of some words from the matins of Christmas morning, 'O magnum mysterium.' 'O great mystery and wondrous sacrament, that animals should see the new-born Lord, lying in the manger. Blessed Virgin, whose womb was found worthy to bear Christ the Lord. Alleluia.' The words were set by the American composer, Morten Lauridsen in 1994 and first performed a few days before Christmas in Los Angeles. Since then, the setting has been sung by choirs, both professional and amateur, around the world.

 Morten Lauridsen has composed many works for the human voice, and all of them are sensitive and heartfelt responses to the words chosen. No more so than in 'O magnum mysterium.' After the opening chord, the altos introduce us to a motif that pervades the work: D to a rising 4th, and a falling 3rd that lights on A. It is like the movement of the heart, rising in praise and resting in hope at the mystery of the Incarnation. The joy is inner and deep and suffuses the music as it reaches a climax with Alleluia. The final words are that all this glory lies in a manger, where the animals gather.

 The world will call us in this month to a frenzy of doing and buying amid a clamour of noise and muzak. 'O magnum mysterium' by Morten Lauridsen invites us to step into the stable again and join the animals, the Holy Family and the shepherds to find a joy and a wonder there that can nourish the soul. At the crib we can know 'the silence of eternity interpreted by Love' and with the choir we can respond Alleluia. 

From the November issue

Do you actually read the Bible? by Caroline Deys

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From the October issue

From the September issue

From the August issue 

Surely angels play Mozart at home

The German theologian, Karl Barth, is reputed to have said, 'Whether the angels play only Bach in praising God, I am not quite sure; I am sure, however, that en famille they play Mozart.' It is a lovely image of angels in the heavenly courts above mirroring the human enjoyment of music making here on earth. And what more wonderful music than Mozart's! From child prodigy to fully mature composer in the space of just 35 years - encountering frustrations and disappointments, poorly paid and exploited, beset by problems of debt and ill-health - and yet rising above all that to create a wealth of music for voice and instrument that continues to lift the human heart.

 Mozart was nothing if not life affirming in his music. He enjoyed life in spite of the disasters and tragedies that occurred along the way. This from a letter he wrote to his father after the performance of one of his symphonies: 'It was performed on Corpus Christi day with great applause. I was so happy that as soon as it was over I went off to the Palais Royal, where I had a large ice.' Enjoying this world, he had that rare ability to transcend it and open up a greater world of beauty and harmony. That realization caused Schubert to write in his diary in 1816, 'O Mozart, immortal Mozart, how many, how infinitely many inspiring suggestions of a finer, better life have you left in our souls!'

 As illustrations of that, we focus this month on two works, one early and one late in his composing life. In January 1773 Mozart wrote a motet, Exsultate, jubilate for a castrato who had appeared in one of his operas. It is almost a concerto in miniature for the voice. The opening Allegro calls on heaven to join in the praises of earth and leads into an Andante of great beauty, where Mary is praised as the mother who brings light to a darkened world. The work ends with a glorious Alleluia with notes cascading off the page and into the air. Perhaps Mozart had in mind a thank offering for the success of his opera Lucio Silla. Whatever the music's origin, we cannot deny the inspiration and skill with which Mozart weaves together words and music to dazzle and transport the listener.

 In the last year of his life in 1791, when his mortal body began to fail, his mind took on a new vitality with the composition of two operas, a clarinet concerto, a Requiem, and a wonderful, concentrated setting of Ave verum corpus. This motet in praise of Jesus on the cross and in the sacrament was written for the choir-master at Baden. It is just two pages in the manuscript, written out by Mozart without any corrections. There are no flourishes and runs here as in the earlier work. The music is simple and yet sublime as Mozart conveys a sense of holiness and serenity. Michael Levey has written of this work: 'Short but not slight, it seems to float like a cloud of incense on the air.' Here, as in all Mozart's music, a creation of this world opens up for us that greater world where all is light and joy. 

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Bishops highlight unchanging duty to share the Good News

The Church of England's long history of witnessing to the unique significance of Jesus Christ is a duty that continues in today's multi-faith environment, says a new report.

 Following a debate in February 2009, the General Synod asked the House of Bishops to produce a report on "their understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in Britain's multi-faith society [and to include] examples and commendations of good practice in sharing the gospel of salvation through Christ alone with people of other faiths and of none".

 A small group led by the Bishop of Willesden, the Rt Revd Pete Broadbent, drafted the document, which was subsequently commended by the House of Bishops at its recent meeting. The report affirms that missionary activity has always been a hallmark of the English Church's life, whatever the country's social and political context, and should continue to be so.

 While acknowledging the "shadow side" of some historic evangelistic endeavours, the report notes that: "...the fear of getting it wrong should never obscure the Christian's commitment to the good of all and to making Christ the centrepiece of that good. Too much reticence is as untrue to our history and our vocation as too much stridency."

 Within this context, the report urges caution about the language of 'market choice' when used in the context of religious belief. The foreword summarises this idea with the reminder that "it is not we who bring others to Christ but God working in them", suggesting that "when our encounters with our neighbours, of other faiths and none, are distinguished from exercises in salesmanship, we can be confident that we are sharing God's love rather than marketing another lifestyle choice."

 The report is on the Church of England website at: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/gensynod/agendas/july2010/gsmisc/gsmi...

From the June issue 

Using Rest to Pray

Most of us think of prayer as a very demanding activity, but did you know it can be extremely restful?

One of the great verses in the Bible says this: 'Be still and know that I am God' (Psalm 46:10). It suggests we experience God most fully when we are still. When we cease rushing around, pausing for a moment of thought and recollection, we are becoming prayerful and God is very near. Even a break for a morning coffee can be a moment of prayer if we slow ourselves down and allow our thoughts to turn towards God.

An essential part of resting is to breathe slowly. Christian tradition has always made a connection between prayer and breathing. You can learn to pray to the rhythm of your breathing, using chosen prayer words to focus. As you breathe in, you might say 'Abba', and then as you breathe out, add the word 'Father'. Choose words which are meaningful to you, deliberately slowing your breathing so you become relaxed and peaceful.

Perhaps you have a favourite chair where you are able to unwind easily. For a few moments sit and do nothing. Simply become aware of the present moment, reminding yourself you are in the presence of God. As you feel yourself relax, bask in the knowledge of God's love and acceptance of you. Sense his smile of approval upon you. You don't have to do anything, just 'be' for a moment. This too is prayer.

Sometimes we are forced to rest by circumstances… illness, disability, growing older and so on slow us down and we can't rush around like we used to do. Never mind. Don't fight against your circumstances. Enter in to the place of rest that God is giving you. He loves you for who you are, not for what you do. Turn your thoughts into prayer and offer them to God. You don't need to advise God as to what He should do; simply hold people before Him, leaving the outcome to Him. 

Prayer should be a natural expression of our relationship with God. Sometimes we have words, sometimes silence is enough. We don't need to impress God with our fervour. We can relax and be rested, even as we pray.

From the May issue 

Cidade de Deus is drying out after the worst rains to strike Rio de Janeiro in 48 years brought the city to a halt this week and claimed the lives of over 200 people. Streets turned to rivers as enough water to fill 300,000 Olympic swimming pools fell in less than 24 hours. The storm brought chaos to the roads and closed schools for two days but it is the poor living in the hillside shanty towns who are bearing the brunt of the disaster. Almost all the victims so far have died in mudslides that have swept away their fragile homes. 

 And although the rain has subsided, the threat is far from over. A new mudslide is thought to have buried at least 200 people whose houses were built on what was once a communal toilet. 

 The City of God escaped the worst. Because it's a housing estate built on flatland and not a shanty town on a hillside, the risk is reduced. The river that runs through the heart of the community rose to dangerously high levels but didn't overflow as it did 15 years ago when more than 50 lost their lives. 

 As I walked round the neighbourhood there was relief that nobody had perished and resilience in the face of one more challenge to add to the daily routine. The residents of Cidade de Deus are quite accustomed to wading through pools of water after heavy rains thanks to the drainage system that is simply inadequate for the number of people who now live here. 

 Further afield, the recriminations have begun. From the politicians to the weather forecasters, the heart-searching and justifications have started to appear. "Where is the emergency plan?" demanded Rio de Janeiro's newspaper 'O Globo' on its front page. Some blame government for drains just not up to the task, others scold their fellow citizens for a wreckless attitude to rubbish that means even the best drainage system would get blocked by the refuse that litters the city's streets. Having assured the media that last year's street violence would not affect the World Cup or the Olympic Games, President Lula has been busy putting fears at bay that flooding could turn these upcoming sporting festivals into a fiasco. 

 The Mayor has announced plans to remove shanty towns from the worst hit areas but here the phrase 'favela removal' carries the same dark overtones as words like 'repatriation' and 'segregation' and it will take huge political determination to carry the policy through. At the end of the day there are plenty of people in Cidade de Deus who remember being moved there from favelas during the floods of the 1960s only to find that they were forgotten before they had even unpacked. 

 The appeal for donations to help the homeless has gone out. We'll do our best at church in spite of our own leaking roof. There will be a generous response from even the poorest of the poor who know the plea - "My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?" - only too well. 

From the April issue 

General Synod on children, mission and science….

 The General Synod met in London from February 8th to 12th. Among other matters, it discussed:

 Children and young people Synod discussed Going for Growth, the Board of Education's strategy for working alongside children and young people, which offers both a theological framework and priorities for practical action at diocesan and parish level.

 Mission Synod considered research from the Mission and Public Affairs Council into the growth of the 'mixed-economy Church', and carried a motion encouraging further development of pioneer ministers and the making of Bishops' Mission Orders. The Rt Revd Graham Cray, Archbishops' Missioner and Fresh Expressions Team Leader, gave a presentation on Fresh Expressions.

 TV coverage of religion and ethics The Synod carried a motion expressing appreciation of the vital role played by those engaged in communicating religious belief and practice through the media, while also articulating deep concern about the overall reduction in religious broadcasting across British television in recent years.

 Legislation Synod completed several items of legislative business - including approving the Ecclesiastical Fees (Amendment) Measure, which introduces a new framework for the making of orders for parochial fees. Synod also approved two codes of practice setting out the capability and grievance procedures that will apply to clergy holding office under 'Common Tenure' when that is introduced early next year. 

Clergy pensions Synod approved changes to the Clergy Pensions Scheme, subject to the necessary statutory consultation with members, and approved the recommendations of a report on changes to ill-health retirement provision. Synod also carried a motion requesting changes to the pension scheme's rules to remove the remaining differences between the pension benefits for surviving civil partners and surviving spouses.

 Science and religious belief Synod carried a motion urging the House of Bishops to promote a better public understanding of the compatibility of science and Christian belief.

 Church buildings The Synod carried a motion calling on government for a substantial increase in the amount of money available for the repair of listed church buildings, including a commitment to continue the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.

 Relations with the Anglican Church in North America Synod carried a motion expressing its awareness of the distress caused by recent divisions within the Anglican churches of the United States of America and Canada, and recognising and affirming the desire of those who have formed the Anglican Church in North America to remain within the Anglican family. The motion asks the Archbishops to report back to the Synod on the issue in 2011. 

Other Private Members Motions and Diocesan Synod Motions Synod carried a motion expressing concern about the potentially damaging effects on young people of computer games containing violent and sexual content, congratulating the government on the action it has taken in this area and calling upon it to continue to keep under review the regulatory system for advertising video games. 

Synod also carried a motion requesting dioceses, deaneries and parishes to undertake initiatives to celebrate and teach the Bible to mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Version.

 Women bishops The Bishop of Manchester updated the Synod on the work of the Revision Committee on Women in the Episcopate, explaining that having undertaken a considerable amount of work, the Committee was not yet at a position to bring forward revised draft legislation. It is anticipated that such material will be prepared in time for debate at the July Synod. 

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'Glorious the song when God's the theme': Allegri's Miserere 

In the 1980s thanks to Godfrey Smith, a columnist for The Sunday Times, there was a series of letters about particular pieces of music that have the TQ - the Tingle Quotient. As we listen, the music sends a shiver of excitement up and down the spine and opens out for us a new world of beauty and wonder. 

The letters started with a novelist writing about his travels across the Sahara. In moments of desolation and loneliness he would think of music that meant the most to him and which he thought he might never hear again. Then a schoolmaster in Rochester wrote of a production of 'Romeo and Juliet' where the funeral scene virtually brought the house down. Juliet entered a darkened school hall, lit only by glimmering candles with music sung that brought the audience to tears. 

For both novelist and schoolmaster the work that had that TQ factor was Allegri's Miserere. It provided consolation in the cold desert nights and it created the impact in that production of Shakespeare's play. Others readers supplied their list of TQ music, and always the Miserere was in the top five. I suspect that this music strikes the TQ for many of you as well. 

Why is it, I wonder? We can provide an answer by talking of the contrast between the plainsong sung by the men's voices and the responses from the choir that lead to that small group of solo voices where the treble or soprano reaches a high C and comes down the scale to the cadence. We can point to the intriguing history of this work for the setting by Gregorio Allegri (1582-1652) was the exclusive possession of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. To copy the music was a crime punishable by excommunication.

In spite of this, a 14-year old Mozart heard the piece in 1770 and wrote it down from memory, paying another visit to verify some of the notes he had copied down. The Emperor Leopold 1, the king of Portugal, persuaded the Pope to grant him a copy. When it was performed in his own imperial chapel, he was disappointed. He even thought the Pope had palmed him off with an inferior work. Then he realised that the beauty and magic of the music lay in its being sung in the Sistine Chapel where the plainsong and the high C cadences could ring out among the pillars and arches of that building.

The Miserere or Psalm 51 is sung at Tenebrae on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. In the 16th and 17th centuries Popes did not always attend this service because the length of the psalms set to music meant that the service itself was very lengthy. Pius VIII ordered that only six verses be sung in 'figured music' while the rest was sung more quickly in plainsong. Thus Allegri's work was born. Psalm 51 also forms part of the Ash Wednesday evening office. On both occasions - at the beginning of Lent and during Holy Week - it is the heart-felt cry of the Church for mercy. As one of the penitential psalms, it is a very personal expression of sorrow for sin and a moving appeal to God for mercy and restoration.

In Allegri's setting that high C is reached as the individual acknowledges his sin, and again as he cries for mercy and finally as he proclaims that his tongue will sing of God's grace and righteousness. A single voice in the music scales the heights of heaven to represent all of us as we turn to God with that same awareness of sin, that same plea for mercy, and that same affirmation that we will then turn to God with thanksgiving and the offering of a humble and contrite heart.

And so with the psalmist and with Allegri, we can pray 'Have mercy upon me, o God, after thy great goodness.'

From the March issue

 The latest letter from Nicholas Wheeler, lately Vicar of St Michael's Camden Town, currently a priest missioner in the City of God in Rio de Janeiro

Dear Friends

From bingo to bongo, parish life in the City of God has been stepping up a beat…

A full house

Since coming to Brazil, I have done many things I've never done before but perhaps one of the most bizarre was calling the bingo just 20 minutes before I was due to preside at the Patronal Festival service. Normally I would be urging the faithful to sit in silent reflection, not scrutinsing their bingo cards in search of a full house. But in the course of a fun-packed afternoon to celebrate the feast of Christ the King we got rather behind and suggesting that we left the bingo for another day was tantamount to proposing thecancellation of Carnival.

 We kicked off at midday with a delicious lunch. The weather was unspeakably hot but at least it helped sales of cold drinks. We weren't aiming to pocket lots of money but we did discover our capacity to fundraise, which is going to be an essential aspect of life in the years ahead. 

A youth band played the music for the Eucharist in a packed church and an icon of Jesus Christ led the outdoor procession through the back streets. Much later, we all headed home to the sounds of the neighbouring samba school's first Carnival practice. The rhythmic drumming was full of the promise of the spectacle to come and I couldn't help but feelthat what we'd seen that day at church was similarly a glimpse of an exciting future. 

Streets apart

'Have you got any sandals?' came the little voice as I unpacked my bag. I had just arrived in one of the run-down squares in the city centre to celebrate the Eucharist for the street population of Rio de Janeiro. Nothing that came out of my bag looked of much use to 10-year-old, bare-footed Jean. 

When the time came to give Holy Communion to the crowd, Jean pointed at the wafer I held between my fingers and said: 'I think my grandma would like some of that,' and took me over to her. Maria told me that Jean's father was shot dead some years ago. His mother is using her money to fund a cocaine habit. 'She's spent all she has,' explained Jean, as though it was the most natural thing in the world for your mummy to buy drugs and then discover she has nothing left to buy your rice and beans with. Maria showed me her grandson's shoe-shine kit which he uses to earn a little cash. I asked her how she managed to keep going and she said that God was good and gave her the strength to get through each day. 

I caught the bus home and looked up at the statue of Christ the Redeemer embracing the city. Jesus looked so small and the stories of people like Jean and Maria are so many that I wondered whether he could save any of us. But Maria at least seemed to have already discovered in the misery of her existence that hope was not to be found in hand-outs or cheery words from on high but in the God who she found on he ground and who accompanied her on her journey. 

Follow the star

Are you ashamed to tell people where you live? Many would be over the moon to have a Rio de Janeiro address, but when you're from the City of God it's not something to boast about-in fact it's tantamount to confessing to be a drug trafficker. Turning those fears and prejudices around has prompted a new mission initiative we're calling Changing Places. The aim is threefold: to take people from the City of God to places in Rio de Janeiro they've been unable to go to before or where they haven't felt welcome; to provide opportunities for Rio residents who have never stepped foot in Cidade de Deus to visit the community for the first time; and to ensure that in both cases mutual encounters break down barriers and build new attitudes and alliances.

 The first step was a visit to the city's Planetarium. We were treated to a tour of the solar system in the Star Dome, discovered our weight on other planets in the Museum of the Universe, enjoyed a piece of street theatre in the gardens, and even met Father Christmas. And just to make the connection between science and religion, some of our young people staged a short nativity play recalling that the wise men were led to the Christ Child by a star.

A positive note

Despite hosting a world famous carnival it is perhaps surprising that in Rio de Janeiro music doesn't feature in the school curriculum. We've recently begun a relationship with our local state primary and I was amazed to discover they don't have one single musical instrument.

 So thanks to a Church of England school in London we're buying everything from maracas to bongo drums and will shortly be hosting music lessons in church for the children of Alphonsus de Guimaraens. It's just another example of the financial generosity being shown by parishes and individuals in the UK supporting us. One parish has bought a new noticeboard, another has paid for us to replant the garden and another to hang the bell bought for the church 20 years ago which has never been rung. As we begin 2010, security measures funded by another parish are enabling us to keep the building open all day and the gift of an aumbry to reserve the Blessed Sacrament means that visitors may pray in the presence of Jesus Christ for the peace of the City of God. 

With much love and every blessing,

*********************************

'Glorious the song when God's the theme': Hildegard of Bingen 

In this series we have looked at the psalms of the Old Testament and the songs of the New Testament, and now we enter the Middle Ages. But it is the Middle Ages through the eyes of a record producer in the last century. 

In 1980 Ted Perry decided to found a new independent record company, Hyperion. If that was not financial risk enough, in the following year Hyperion issued a CD of a composer virtually unknown in the 1980s - Hildegard of Bingen. The risk paid off, and Gothic Voices' recording of the music of this remarkable medieval nun became a best seller. The CD sold in its thousands and received awards from the gramophone industry.

'A feather on the breath of God', the title of the CD, is how Hildegard described herself. 'Listen, there was a king sitting on his throne. Around him stood great and wonderfully beautiful columns ornamented with ivory, bearing the banners of the king with great honour. Then it pleased the king to raise a small feather from the ground and he commanded it to fly. The feather flew, not because of anything in itself, but because the air bore it along. Thus am I a feather on the breath of God.'

Hildegard was born in 1098, the tenth child of noble parents who lived in western Germany. Aged only eight, she was given into the care of Jutta, abbess of a monastery in the Rhineland, near Bingen. There she lived the life of an enclosed nun, her only contact with the world outside via a grille through which food was passed.

After thirty years, Hildegard left that cell and was assigned a scribe, who wrote down her visions and meditations in two volumes. She founded two monasteries, wrote books on medicine and natural healing and the first morality play, and composed a great range of songs. She corresponded with the great and the good, and as the 'Sybil of the Rhine,' her advice was sought by popes and emperors, by kings and bishops. A truly creative life of prayer and service until her death in 1179.

The starting point for her own compositions was the plainsong of that time. Modern techniques of singing and performing often make plainsong slow and heavy. The secret to bringing plainchant alive is to sing it with relaxed attention. In many ways that is the secret of the life of prayer: that paradox of resting in the Lord while being alert to the promptings of his spirit. Hildegard realised that secret as she brought to her music, as she did to everything, an intensity of emotion and faith, developing the medieval plainchant into melodies that flowed off the page and soared into the skies. 

It is all there in the chant 'O ignis spiritus' on the CD - an ecstatic song, praising the life of God's Spirit as breath and spark of flame, as a power within and armour without. As Hildegard contemplates this gift, her music moves and grows, reaching upwards to God's throne of glory in praise and adoration and outwards to those who listen. For all music is at heart song. We breathe in the air around, we breathe in the gift of the Spirit, and in that power, we open our voices to sing and praise God. That movement of song is only kept alive by the breath, the Spirit within. It is a gift, a grace, which leads us into wonder and joy.

As we listen to Hildegard's music, we sense something of the presence of the Spirit in her life, wafting her like a feather through the sky of the world. And we realise how such music can move us by that same Spirit.  

***********************

Why pride really does come before a fall....

How much temptation can you resist? Probably a lot less than you think... or so a recent study in Massachusetts has found. So people who congratulate themselves on their self-control are in danger, because they will often put themselves in the path of temptation.....and we know what happens then. 

People who are proud - ie over-estimate their self-control, often make poor decisions and indulge in impulsive or addictive behaviours. As one professor, Prof Loran Nordgren, puts it: "The key is to avoid any situation where vices and other weaknesses thrive and, most importantly, for individuals to keep a more humble view of their own willpower."

He warns: "We expose ourselves to more temptation than is wise, and subsequently we have millions of people suffering with obesity, addictions and other unhealthy lifestyles." His study appeared in the journal Psychological Science.

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2009

From the December issue

Shelter For The Homeless

 As the bells of waiting Advent ring it may seem very premature to think about Lent. When we reflect on the Nativity again this December, however, one of things that the story of Jesus's  birth will bring to mind is how important shelter is and how, in an emergency, even a stable will do. We have no stable at St Mary, but we do have a Hall, and this March we will open it one night a week to the Camden Churches Cold Weather Shelter.The Christmas Festival has come to be a time when, as individuals, we cannot help but reflect what home means to us.  When we hear the Christmas story, almost nobody is at home. Joseph, Mary and Jesus are taking shelter in a stable. The Shepherds are spending the night under the stars. The Wise Men have left their homes far behind them in their Spiritual quest to find the King of the Jews. All sorts of people can find themselves without a roof over the heads, for all sorts of reasons. 

Tonight and every night in winter there are many people in London who are without a roof to call their own. Some will be strangers who came to London to work, itinerants just like the Shepherds, some, who were not as wise as they thought they were, will have gone astray while following a Star, and some will be pregnant, like Mary.

The Camden Churches Cold Weather Shelter is now in its fifth year. Every night of the week a different Church makes space available to just over a dozen people who are in need of hospitality. Each Church provides a hot dinner, a bed, breakfast and company. The scheme as whole also does its best to help its guests on their way to a home of their own, and has been remarkably successful in this.This will be our first year as part of the Winter Shelter. By the time we open our own doors in March, some of us will have acquired some experience as volunteers in neighbouring Churches. 

If you are a visitor to St Mary's for our Christmas services, and would like to help with the shelter as a volunteer or with a donation, please contact Bill Saunders telephone 0207 503 1422 or e-mail balder@freeukisp.co.uk

Blood minerals from Congo.... to you?

 From the latest flashy phone to an endless choice of PCs and DVD players, we're all pretty obsessed with the fast-moving world of new technology these days. But have you ever wondered about the real story behind the seductive TV ads, or how those 'must have' gadgets actually end up on the shop shelves?

 Often dubbed 'Africa's First World War', the long and bitter conflict between government forces, rebel militia, and neighbouring armies in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has resulted in the deaths of a staggering five million people in the last decade alone.

 But while simmering internal and external political tensions continue to devastate lives, there is another crucial catalyst for the bloody conflict - namely the highly lucrative illegal mining trade.

 Fuelled by an insatiable global demand for minerals such as cassiterite (tin oxide) and coltan - vital in the manufacture of our DVD players, mobile phones and computers - the illegitimate mining industry in the DRC is booming like never before.

 However, while local people and the economy reap - at best - negligible rewards from the DRC's vast wealth of natural mineral reserves, the only real winners are the corrupt mine owners and multinational export companies.

 Christian Aid met two women miners in Congo. Here are their stories:

 AIMEE BAGALWA, 29 "Before the war it was only the men who worked in the mines but now I am a miner myself and my husband takes care of children," mother-of-four Aimee explains. Aimee works in the tiny settlement of Szbira, 90 kilometres from Bukavu in South Kivu province. "I have been here for one year now, often doing 24-hour shifts, and I think that working in the mines is a form of slavery because people are kept in a state of real dependency. We are in deep misery and I only do this work to feed my family."

 TUMAINI MUNGUAKONKWA, 25 "I have to work everyday, seven days a week, just to feed my family and even then we struggle," says Tumaini, who is married and has four young children to support. "I don't know any of those people who get rich from cassiterite, like the mine owners and dealers, and I cannot imagine how anyone like me could ever make any money from this work, it feels like slavery."

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From the November issue

 Children see angels

 Children see angels a lot more often than you know - because they aren't likely to tell you. 

And if they do confide in you that they have had some sort of 'spiritual experience', the worst thing you can do is to discount it. Failure to respond properly can leave a child feeling misunderstood, and determined to retreat into silence. 

So says an expert in children's dreams and spirituality. Dr Kate Adams is senior lecturer at Bishop Grossteste University College, an independent Anglican higher education institution in Lincoln. During wide-spread research she interviewed many dozens of children who attested to a spiritual experience of some kind. One little girl of seven had mentioned the angel that came and sat by her bed each nigh - only to be dismissed by her parents. 

Dr Adams stresses that the awakening spiritual dimension in a child's life is vitally important, and that we ignore it at their peril. 

 From the October issue

'The trumpet will sound…and we shall be changed': Joseph Haydn (part 2)

  A few months ago Bernard Haitink, the great conductor, was interviewed on Radio 3 about his love of the music of Haydn. He said that whenever he conducted Haydn, it gave him the conviction that everything was right with the world and that all would be well.

It is true that there is a positive, optimistic, life-affirming spirit that inspires so much of Haydn's music. It is there when we sing the hymn 'Glorious things of thee are spoken' to his tune 'Austria' which became an iconic melody, much loved and performed in the composer's own lifetime.

When Haydn visited England in 1791, he was already known as a great composer through his scores, and so he was hailed as a celebrity. Salomon, the impresario, invited him to London, which was then a magnet for musicians. Haydn was enthralled by the city, which had over a million inhabitants, far more than the Vienna he knew. His enquiring spirit led him to collect data about the consumption of coal and the price and preparation of food. He certainly found it a noisy city, but his constant curiosity and love of life and people brought him back again in 1794, when he met William Herschel.

Herschel was himself a musician and a composer, but more importantly for Haydn an astronomer. In 1782 Herschel had enlarged the understanding of the universe with his discovery of the planet Uranus, and with his mighty telescopes, he probably showed Haydn the Orion nebula where stars were born and glowed in the night sky above.

In 1791 Haydn had attended a performance of Handel's 'Messiah' and witnessed the king and audience standing for the Hallelujah chorus. It convinced him of the power of oratorio. It is believed he was shown the libretto of an oratorio based on Milton's 'Paradise Lost,' which had been compiled for Handel.

Haydn returned to Germany with that libretto and began work on his own oratorio. It took him two years to complete, but the text inspired some of his greatest music. 'Never before,' he wrote, 'was I so devout as when I composed 'The Creation.' I knelt down each day to pray to God to give me strength for the work.'

He had already composed six large-scale settings of the Mass for Prince Nicholas II of Esterhazy, but the oratorio gave Haydn the opportunity to go further in expressing his own deep faith. The combination of that faith with his consummate musical skill and his understanding of the universe resulted in his first religious work that used German instead of Latin words.

Its premiere was an overwhelming experience for the audience inside the Schwarzenburg Palace and the large crowd gathered outside. It would be nice to think the work's opening 'Representation of Chaos' was inspired by what Haydn saw of the stars through Herschel's telescope. Gradually that darkness gives way to light, and the C major chord that sounds through the work at that point was met with such a rapturous outburst from the audience that it halted the first performance with its applause. The first part of the oratorio ends with the exultant chorus, 'The heavens are telling the glory of God' while here on earth soloists, chorus and orchestra lead the work to its final outburst of thanksgiving and Amens.

Earlier in 1785 Haydn had composed music for 'The Seven Last Words of our Saviour from the Cross.' It was performed in Cadiz Cathedral. After each reflection on the seven words, the bishop would kneel before the altar while Haydn's music was played.

Music can bring us to our knees like the bishop in that cathedral, but Haydn's music with its grace and beauty, with its power and rhythmic energy lifts up our hearts and minds to rejoice in the greatness and goodness of God's creation. It makes us rise to our feet to acclaim both composer and the muse inspiring him. And more than that, it can lift our eyes to heaven. When Haydn was asked about the inspiration behind 'The Creation', he pointed upwards and said 'It came from there.'

Many of the manuscripts of his music end with the words 'Laus Deo' - Praise be to God. The words are his own Credo, and so his tomb in Eisenstadt fittingly bears a quotation from Psalm 118: "I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.'

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'The trumpet will sound…and we shall be changed': Joseph Haydn

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From the May Issue

As Pentecost Sunday approaches... we are ALL charismatics - biblically speaking!

Love is ... the energy of life!

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From the April issue

"I suppose you're quite busy at this time of year Vicar" is a comment frequently made as I do my
shopping or walk Berty the dog on the Heath. Most of those who make such remarks seem to think that we might have a service on Good Friday and Easter Day, but would have no idea that from
Palm Sunday to Easter Day there are twenty three services! Not all of them require careful
preparation, but nine of them certainly do. 

So why do we make all this fuss about Holy Week and Easter? Well elsewhere in this issue you 

will find a couple of articles about Easter, so I want to think here about Good Friday. 

With the changes that have come about over the last forty years, with shops now open and it remaining a public holiday the whole conception among the public of "Good Friday" has changed. No longer do people see it as a day of quiet reflection as perhaps they did in the past. My father, not a church goer, always spent it in the garden, but none the less he knew and understood what we were about. So perhaps we need to be clearer what are we celebrating on Good Friday. 

Well the simple answer is the triumph of love over hate, because Christ, through his death on the cross calls all of us to love, not only him, but others as well. The heroes of so many people today are pop idols, sports stars, or actors and actresses. Their lives are picked over in great detail by the press and media, and in them the world looks to find inspiration and a model for life. 

Sadly of course they let themselves and us down time and time again. They are ordinary fallible human beings who like most of us mess up their lives from time to time. But the Christian faith brings with it the ideal of love and tenderness, and a saviour who did not fall into the trap of self aggrandisement, great wealth and status and a failure to recognise his need of his Fathers love. 

Perhaps the most striking episode in the gospels which demonstrates Christ's love and tenderness for others comes in St. John's account of the crucifixion, where as he hangs on the cross he commends to his friend and disciple John the one whom he loved best of all, his Mother, our Lady Mary. 

But it is also the love demonstrated for the whole of humankind in his willingness to accept the suffering which he was made to endure that is so striking. Here is a hero who not only cares for those close to him within his circle of friends, but offers that care to the whole human race. The hymns of Good Friday are full of wonderful images which stretch across the  centuries from Venantius Fortunatus writing in the sixth century to Isaac Watts in the eighteenth century. 

Thirty years among us dwelling,

Now at length his hour fulfilled,

Born for this, he meets his Passion,

For that this he freely willed,

On the Cross the Lamb is lifted,

Where his life-blood shall be spilled.

*******************

Were the whole world realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

You will find all the services of Holy Week and Easter in the parish Easter card, and on the notice board of the Church. Please do try to come at least to the five main services so that you will be able to follow in the steps of Jesus as he moves from the Palm Sunday procession down the Mount of Olives, through Maundy Thursday, to the crucifixion on Good Friday, and on to the Resurrection during Easter night. 

May God bless you and fill you with his love this Easter tide

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From the March issue

Prayers for those made redundant

STATISTIC OF THE MONTH: "Yes We Can"

New prayers for those made redundant published on CofE website

 The Church of England has published two new prayers to comfort people made redundant, and those remaining in the workplace following a round of redundancies, at the beginning of a year in which the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has predicted that at least 600,000 people could lose their jobs.

 The 'Prayer on being made redundant' helps to put into words the anxieties of those who are losing - or who have already lost - their job in the wave of recent redundancies. It includes the verse: "Hear me as I cry out in confusion, help me to think clearly, and calm my soul." 

 The 'Prayer for those remaining in the workplace' focuses on the guilt and increased workload associated with redundancy. It asks of God: "In the midst of this uncertainty, help me to keep going: to work to the best of my ability, taking each day at a time."

 The prayers emphasise how the Church is there for people at all times - especially in times of crisis. The prayers are the latest release from the Church of England website 'Matter of Life and Debt' section. They are offered alongside common sense advice for those with financial worries from Resources and Stewardship Officer, Dr John Preston. These include helpful resources for working out a balanced household budget; and other prayers and intercessions for those worried about debt, suitable for church and personal use. 

Prayer on being made redundant

'Redundant'-the word says it all -

useless,unnecessary,without purpose,surplus to requirements.

Thank you, Heavenly Father,

that in the middle of

the sadness,the anger,the uncertainty,

the pain, 

I can talk to you.

Hear me as I cry out in confusion,

help me to think clearly,

and calm my soul.

As life carries on,

may I know your presence with me

each and every day.

And as I look to the future,

help me to look for fresh opportunities, for new directions.Guide me by your Spirit,

and show me your path,

through Jesus, the way, the truth and the life. Amen. 

Prayer for those remaining in the workplace

Life has changed:

colleagues have gone - redundant, out of work.

Suddenly, what seemed so secure is now so very fragile. 

It's hard to know what I feel:

sadness, certainly,

guilt, almost, at still having a job to go to,

and fear of the future:

who will be next?

how will I cope with the increased pressure of work? 

Lord Jesus, in the midst of this uncertainty, help me to keep going:to work to the best of my ability,

taking each day at a time,

and taking time each day to walk with you

for you are the way, the truth and the life. Amen.

STATISTIC OF THE MONTH: "Yes We Can"

 Time magazine (issue of 22nd December) voted a sentence in the new American President's victory speech on 4th November 2008 as the Number One Quote of the Year. "It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America." The magazine also voted his slogan "Yes We Can" as the outstanding slogan of the campaign.

 Wouldn't it be great for that magazine, or any other, to vote the Christian church as the Number One Organisation of the Year 2009? What might we have to do to make that happen?

 One hundred years ago in 1909, UK church membership stood at 9.5 million people, almost a quarter, 23%, of the then population of 41 million. In 2009 the projected church membership is 3.6 million, 5.8% of the country's 61 million people. 

To reach the 1909 percentage of 23%, church membership would have to quadruple to 14 million. Maybe our slogan should be not "Each one reach one" but "Each one reach three"!

 Each existing member would need to see a friend, a relative or a neighbour join him/her church every 4 months in 2009 to make that happen. Is that possible? Could revival happen again? Can people be brought back to church? Could new people join in? The answer is a simple YES to each of these questions, given the grace and energising power of the Lord in the process. 

What are some of the problems? There needs to be a resurgence of confidence in the gospel. A willingness to talk to others about our faith. A warm welcome to newcomers as they visit our churches. Preaching that helps people understand what Christianity is about. Belief in the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives. A strategy to do something today, and not leave it till tomorrow. Above all, we need a fresh vision of the risen Christ this Easter - and a realisation that the next time he comes will be in judgement. 

Can this happen? Again a simple YES, "for nothing will be impossible with God" as the angel said to Mary. Amazingly, he deigns to use us in bringing about the impossible.

Mary, the Blessed Virgin

Mary - the virgin mother of Jesus. For centuries the eastern and western churches have considered her pre-eminent among all the saints.

In the gospels, Mary makes her first appearance as a teenager. Nothing is known of her childhood, and what we do know of her is found mostly in Matthew 1 - 2 and in Luke 1 - 2. If you read both accounts, you'll notice that Luke's account seems to give the story from Mary's standpoint, whereas Matthew concentrates more on Joseph's side of things. In both accounts the virginal conception of Christ is clearly stated. Mary's quiet devotion to God and her acceptance of his will shine forth. 

After Jesus is born, Mary fades into the background, and makes few appearances: when the family visits Jerusalem and she loses her son on the way home; when she urges him to help the wedding party in Cana with its wine problem; and when Jesus gives her into the keeping of the beloved disciple when he is dying on the cross. Mary's last appearance is in Acts chapter one, just before Pentecost.

Mary obviously joined the early Church, but her role was never one of teaching and preaching, and indeed she remained so much in the background that nothing more about her is known for certain. Both Ephesus and Jerusalem have claimed to be the place of her death. 

Mary, chosen to be the mother of Jesus Christ, one who is both God and Man, holds a unique place in the history of mankind. Down the centuries that have followed, the Church has paid special honour to Mary - and well deserved it is. "All generations shall call me blessed…" 

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