May
2003
Dear Friends,
As I write the letter this month it is Easter Tuesday, the children
have returned to school and life is trying to settle back to normal
after Easter. I must profess though to feeling a little weary and
not quite able to get into the daily swing of things. I guess if
I don’t feel a little tired after Easter then I never will!
Back in March I enjoyed a few days ‘retreat’ down in Devon having
a ’12,000 Mile Service’. The week is part of a programme offered
by the Society of Martha and Mary who have a specific ministry to
clergy, including the ability to offer support to clergy who are
going through difficult times.
When you look at the ages of clergy in the obituaries in Church Times
you may wonder if any suffer from stress related troubles, well you
can be assured many do. The church has changed a lot in the past
2 decades and the responsibilities of the clergy have increased disproportionately.
They are not unique in this as we all live in a more pressured world
where high expectations are underlined with a willingness to take
legal action.
I could get on my high horse here and talk at length about the problems
we are creating in today’s society, suffice to say Jesus and his
crucifixion and resurrection are all about love and forgiveness,
not about fulfilling rules and retribution.
What I would like to underline though is the importance of taking
care of ourselves. I would guess Jesus lived under a good deal of
stress, the expectations of people and the desire by leaders to see
him off. His main way of responding was by spending time with God.
How often do we read in the gospels that Jesus went away by himself
to a quiet place to pray?
It is quite clear that the clinical effects of stress can be proved,
the effects often not seen for several years. Running on adrenaline
and breathing badly affect heart and kidneys over time. We may not
be able to avoid stress, but we can train ourselves to quieten down
and slow down. We tend to think Eastern meditation has cornered this
market, but there is a strong Christian tradition for meditation
and now the usefulness can be explained medically. To sit quietly
for 10 to 30 minutes a day, slowing you breathing and concentrating
on God, through music, a bible verse or a prayer is good for you.
Not just because you are in God’s presence, but also because you
are letting go for a while.
Maybe I’m preaching to the converted, if not please try it, find
a place you can sit still and invite God to spend the time with you.
Life may never be the same again.
Yours in Christ
Rev. Nick Wells
p.s. May I thank everyone for the generous Easter Offering, this
tradition is much appreciated.
AGM
Thanks to everyone who attended the church AGMs last month. There
was a good turn out and the meeting reflected how the church is living
day to day. The Faith Supper added to an enjoyable and useful evening.
As a result of the various elections the team of Church Wardens remains
unaltered, they are Wilf Corkish, Peter Cory, Nigel Cretney and Trevor
Singleton. Sylvia Lawrinson has replaced Maff Long as a Diocesan
Synod representative, joining Colin Clague, Peter Cory, Elaine Cory
and Nigel Cretney.
The PCC elections saw Joan Callister, Marial Callow and Hazel Johnson
re-elected and they are joined by two newly elected members – Amanda
Kimberley and Elaine Litherland. This means we say good bye (for
now) to Mildred Cooper, Margaret Kinley, June O’Neil and Christine
Sanders.
We thank all those who have accepted positions of responsibility
for the coming months and especially thank those who have served
us so faithfully in the past but have stood down this year for whatever
reason.
MOTHERS UNION
Pat Corrin and Eleanor Shimmin gave us a very interesting afternoon
at our first meeting in April. Pat read stories/poems and Eleanor
complemented them in song. We held a service in Church for Holy Week.
We held our A.G.M. on 29th April when Mildred Cooper, our long standing
Enrolling Officer, stood down. We had a surprise party for Mildred
with various guests including Canon & Dorothy Baggaley, Canon
Baggaley had appointed Mildred 17 years ago. Various tributes were
made and gifts where presented to Mildred. The Vicar announced that
Sylvia Lawrinson will be the new Branch Leader and Christine Sanders
is acting as her Deputy. The members had worked hard providing a
buffet which included a celebration cake and decorating the hall
with balloons and baskets of flowers.
Our World Wide President, Trish Heywood, will give the Address at
our Festival in the Cathedral at 2.30 p.m. on 14th May.
Our next meeting is at 2.30 p.m. in the Parish Hall on 13th May.
LADIES FELLOWSHIP
This month we have enjoyed a slide show on “Birds in the Isle of
Man” with Rene Kayes – we were surprised to find so many different
birds literally on our doorsteps! For our second monthly meeting
Marion Watterson demonstrated cake decorating. She decorated a cake
for Easter and another one in the shape of a butterfly. She made
it all look so easy! Marion then donated the cakes for a raffle and
which raised money towards the Parish Hall Kitchen Refurbishment.
Our next meeting is our annual business meeting, which is to be held
in the Parish Hall on 7th May, followed by a ‘party’.
KEY GROUPS
The weekly Key Groups are recommencing after Easter to follow a series
looking at the Letter to the Galatians. This is a video based series
produced by the makers of Alpha. This series will take us through
to the summer and new group members a very welcome to join – see
the weekly newssheet for venues or ring the Parish Office.
Names and telephone nos. of the group co-ordinators are:
Monday – Bev Wells Tel: 675797
Tuesday – Eric Foster Tel: 627425
Wednesday – Sylvia Lawrinson Tel: 627664
DIOCESAN YOUTH SYNOD
On Sunday 4th May 2003 we are hosting the Diocesan Youth Synod at
St Peter’s. The Synod meet at 3pm in the Parish Hall and the agenda
includes Links with the Church in Uganda, the National Youth Strategy
and our Christian Heritage.
After tea in the Hall the Synod will be joined by a few other young
people from the Island for a Youth Service, ‘He has Risen’ in St
Peter’s to which everyone is very welcome. Music will be lead by
a group specially got together including our own Music Group and
drama by the Scripture Union schools team.
The DYS is an important initiative within the diocese and we hope
you will feel able to support them.
11th MAY
On Sunday 11th May we will be joined by friends from the Arthur Stanley
Lodge for Evening Prayer. They have been with us several times in
the past and we look forward to them being with us.
PARISH CLERK
We are delighted to announce that Jane Cretney has accepted the position
of Parish Clerk on a permanent basis. Jane has been covering the
vacancy temporarily since last autumn and has ensured the new office
was properly set up. Jane knows St Peter’s well and has a wealth
of office and organisational experience.
Remember the Parish Office is open 5 days a week from 9.30am until12.30pm
for callers, either in person or on the phone.
THE BISHOP AND MRS JONES
Palm Sunday was a very memorable day for many reasons, with the Confirmation
Service, the dedication of the recent works and an opportunity to
say thank you and farewell to the Bishop and Mrs Jones.
During the evening we expressed our thanks to everyone connected
to the moving of the crosses and the creation of a toilet, although
there is still some work to be done we are very thankful to all the
contractors for their work.
We were also able to extend our best wishes to the Bishop and Mrs
Jones and to present a card and monetary gift too. The Bishop has
since written a letter of thanks and said
‘Joyce and I were particularly touched by the sentiments expressed
at the reception … To discover a little later that you had also presented
us with a cheque was so unexpected … please thank everyone for us
and say what a privilege it has been to meet up from time to time
at St Peter’s. Every good wish to you all for the future. Noel Sodor
and Man
LEPROCY MISSION
Many thanks to all concerned – total collected £404.69.
KENYON’S AGM
The Annual General Meeting of Kenyon’s Café is on Tuesday 6th May
at 7.30pm. The evening will include reports on the drop in centre
and the election the committee and officers for the coming year.
All are welcome.
CHAPTER COURT
This year's Chapter Court where the Church Wardens are sworn in as
at Ballasalla on 20th May at 7.30pm. Although we do not expect everyone
to turn out please do remember our Wardens that evening.
BRF NOTES
At the back of church near the book stand we have bible reading notes
available. These are produced by the Bible Reading Fellowship and
provide short bible passages with some additional reflections for
daily reading. We hope the copies will all disappear and everyone
will take advantage of these resources to assist in daily time with
God.
NORTH M’BALE
John Coldwell and Lloyd Shipstone have recently been to visit our
linked diocese in Uganda. Whilst there they were able to visit our
linked parish of Bulegeni. For the past couple of years we have sent
them donations from our charitable and missionary giving. John has
just e-mailed to let us know that thanks partly to our gifts the
building of their new church building has progressed. You may remember
pictures of the foundations of the new church in Church last year,
well now they have completed the walls and only need the roof to
complete the building.
This is great news and we look forward to hearing of the completion
of the project in the near future.
LENT LUNCHES
After a busy 6 weeks preparing and serving the weekly Lent Lunches
in the Parish Hall, we are pleased to report a profit of £1,016.10.
This year we are able to donate £800 towards the Parish Hall Kitchen
Refurbishment Appeal, with the remainder going towards the Mothers’
Union Baptism Card and Gift Fund.
A special “thank-you”, from the Ladies to Mrs Gladys Gillatt who
very kindly provided us all with very smart new aprons.
ROGATION SUNDAY
25th May this year is Rogation Sunday and as last year we will be
holding a service at Ballakilmartin by the kind invitation of Laura
and Harvey Briggs. The service will be close to the old Methodist
Chapel and will be followed by a walk up to the old keeil. The EMUs
are arranging a BBQ to follow and to help make an afternoon of it.
Last year we were blest with lovely weather and it was a special
occasion. We can not guarantee the weather, but we can offer a wonderful
occasion as we pray for the agricultural industry as the seeds are
sown and the land prepared.
The service will be at 3pm and there will be no evening service that
evening.
CHRISTMAS CARD COMPETITION
We had some lovely entries once again for the Christmas Card competition
this year. On Easter Sunday we were pleased to announce the two winners
as Lesley Callow and Andrew Haddock. The cards will be available
from the end of the summer.
Thanks to everyone who entered and congratulations to the two winners
who each received an Easter Egg and Certificate.
CHRISTIAN AID WEEK
11th to 18th May, 2003
If you can help with the door to door collections, there is a list
at the back of church.
Any enquiries to Eric Foster or Mildred Cooper.
DEDICATION OF THE MANX CROSSES
The recent Confirmation Service provided the Lord Bishop with the
opportunity, during his last official visit to St. Peter’s before
his retirement, to dedicate a new and improved presentation of Manx
Crosses, and toilet and nappy changing facilities incorporating a
store room, new look porch and a soon to be put in place disabled
access to the Church.
After the service the Vicar thanked everyone involved in the project
but a special thank you must go to a small band of volunteers – Elaine,
Dorothy, Trevor, Sylvia, Les and Jane – who together with our cleaner
Thelma had the church looking so beautiful and so clean! Thank you.
PEOPLE FROM THE PAST
At this time of the year “football mania” seems to make itself prominent,
what with the F.A. Cup Final coming shortly and the various European
Cup and World Cup preliminary matches being shown on television frequently.
You see and hear the media praising the merits of Michael Owen of
Liverpool, David Beckham of Manchester United, Wayne Rooney of Everton
etc.
But, I don’t suppose many will remember, but quite a number of you
will have heard the saying of St. George’s Football Club here on
the Island :- “ It’s a fine day and the Vicar has turned out”.
Well the Vicar in question was the Rev. W.C.Jordan, M.A., Vicar of
St. George’s in the early 1900’s and below is a write up I have obtained:-
“The Rev.W.C.Jordan, M.A., who was inducted as Vicar of St. George’s,
Douglas on November 16th, 1919, passed his boyhood in Birmingham,
and was educated in the first place at King Edward’s School, Five-ways,
in that city. He afterwards entered St. Johns College, Oxford and
Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1909 and receiving his
M.A. degree in 1913. He was ordained deacon in 1910 and priest in
1911 by the Bishop of Liverpool. Prior to being presented with the
living of St. George’s, he was curate of All Saints, Stoneycroft
(1910-1914), curate of Christ Church, Southport (1914-1915), and
Vicar of Widnes (1915-1919). Mr. Jordan is a muscular Christian,
and has earned a high reputation as an exponent of Association football.
He played for Oxford University against Cambridge University, and
was centre-forward for West Bromwich Albion in many cup-ties and
league matches. He was one of the Albion team in the English Cup
semi-final at Bolton in 1907. He has also played in several matches
with League X1.’s of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Everton, and in
the course of his career he has played for England in amateur International
games against Ireland and France.”
Hence the call of St.George’s fans “It’s a fine day and the Vicar
has turned out”.
So, how about it Onchan !!!
FROM THE REGISTERS
Baptisms
Hollie Glassey, Christopher Gautney, Rebecca Gautrey,
Paul Domingo, Thomas Gray, Kira Mathews, Charlotte Burns,
Katie Brawn, Elizabeth Shooter, Charlotte Trusselle,
Rupert Trusselle
Funerals
Harry Berry, Mitch Black, Herbert Chapman, Nancy Fargher, Audrey
Hindley, Doreen Joyce, Elaine Keggin, Bob Park,
Dorothy Shimmin
Weddings
Julia Dawn Hall and Derek Thomas Gray
Muriel Dennett and John Ronald Sayle
Beverley Jeane Beighton and Mark Sean Broderick
Kate Louise Russell and Matthew Neil Cringle
Offertory
The offertory for March totalled £9,670.42 and was made up of £7,237.54 pledged
giving and £2,432.88 of loose plate giving.
Thank you. |
