CHURCH NEWS - September 2008
September 08
Dear Friends,
At the risk of getting a bit personal, can I ask you “When did you last go to church?”
Years ago, many more people went to church as a matter of course, and most of us can remember times spent in Sunday School or with the Church Youth Group. Generally people led more stable lives then – these days we’re much more mobile, more likely to move several times in a working life and be living at a distance from family, old friends and traditional ties. With all our modern conveniences we can do more, and so we expect more of ourselves, often struggling with all sorts of pressures and responsibilities that compete for our time and attention. Going to church often comes very low down on the list.
Sometimes when I’m talking with people I discover that they stopped going to church because someone said or did something to upset them, or because the service was too modern and they didn’t know the hymns (or too traditional and they couldn’t relate to the old language!), or they or their children just didn’t feel welcome. But ‘church’ isn’t about meeting up with like-minded people who will always be nice to us and agree with us.
It’s people from the local community coming together to acknowledge their need of God, to worship him with praise and thanksgiving, to offer prayer for themselves and for others, and to seek his help in living out their daily lives in the light of Christ. Children of course, are very much part of that local community, and at All Saints we actively welcome and support them as they make their own spiritual journey.
A few say that church is boring and irrelevant, but I’m not sure what this is based on as they don’t seem to have tried it recently. For the most part I find people do have faith but don’t have the time, or don’t feel the need to join with others in a public act of worship.
Whatever your reason for dropping out, you may like to consider giving it a try once more. We offer a range of services throughout each month, traditional and modern, so if one sort doesn’t appeal to you, there is always an alternative on another Sunday. You may have heard of the national campaign “Back to Church Sunday”, and we shall be celebrating that here on Sunday 21st September, so why not give it a try? We’d love to see you!
With love and prayers, Christine.
ALL SAINTS AMBLERS
Would you enjoy a walk in the country followed by a pub-lunch? We’d be glad for you to join us on Saturday 20th September for our next walk. Meet outside The Bell at 9.45am – transport provided to start of walk if needed. Everyone welcome, including children and dogs on leads!
ADOPT A GRAVE – Most of the more recent graves in our churchyard are tended with care and their flowers and plants contribute to the beauty and peace of our lovely churchyard. But we also have a number of very old graves that have no one to tend them, and some of these have become overgrown with weeds. We would like to clear these and plant them up with wild flower seeds which we have been given, but it will take some time to get round them all. Please let Christine know (720234) if you would like to help with this task by ‘adopting’ a grave to look after.
CONFIRMATION 2008
The next confirmation service in this deanery is planned for Tuesday 25th November. If you would like to be confirmed, or if you are not sure but would like to know more about what is involved, please ring me on 720234 or e-mail me cmclark9@btconnect.com. Christine
Recycle your old inkjet and laser toner cartridges
Your used printer cartridges could help provide education for children in the Dominican Republic, through Christian Aid’s inkjet cartridge recycling project.
And that’s not all….
Cartridge recycling helps to reduce carbon emissions, a major cause of global warming, conserves resources and reduces waste.
Recycling bags and a cartridge collection point are available in Church or from The Rectory, 3 Church Lane (Tel: 720234).
What is the Prayer Group? It is made up of members of All Saints Church who undertake to pray regularly, on an individual basis, for people who ask us for prayer support.
Who do we pray for? Anyone whom we are asked to remember; these might be people from our church, from our local community or others known to us.
What will you pray about? Anything which you would like brought before God; maybe anxiety due to illness, stress or loneliness. You can also tell us of a special day you wish to be remembered – perhaps for an interview or an exam. Any information will be treated in strictest confidence.
How can I let you know if I would like you to pray for me? You can either telephone Christine (720234), or drop a note through the Rectory door, or complete a card (anonymously if you wish) and place it in a box kept near the church door. Prayer requests will be collected from the box each Sunday morning after the 10.00am service.
Churches Together in Harrold & Carlton with Odell
Shoebox Appeal 2008
Once again we will be collecting shoeboxes filled with various goodies (see list enclosed with this month’s magazine) for children in orphanages and hospitals in Belarus. These children live in an environment still badly affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident, and where the temperature drops to minus 30 in the winter months. The vast majority of the land is still contaminated with high levels of radioactivity, affecting water supplies, milk and food. Incidences of congenital heart disease and thyroid cancer are abnormally high, and many basic facilities that we take for granted are practically non-existent.
You can help by:
· making a donation, or by filling a Christmas shoe box with recommended items, or knitting a woollen hat and/or mittens for children aged between 6 and 16, (pattern on facing page) or by volunteering a couple of hours, helping to sort & shrink wrap the boxes at Emmaus before transportation. Please remember to secure customs checklist (loose in magazine) to outside of box with a rubber band.
Contact Rev’d Christine Clark on 720234 for more details. Filled shoeboxes will be collected at the Harvest Festival Service, or can be delivered to The Rectory, 3 Church Lane no later than 28th September please.
Belarus
hat pattern
Size 4 needles –
double knitting wool
With two strands of DN wool, cast on 78 or 89 stitches, and knit single rib for 8 inches.
Next row – Rib 6, K2tog. all along the row
Next row – Rib
Next row – Rib 5. K2tog. all along the row
Next row – Rib
Continue in this way, decreasing rib by 2 stitches each alternate row - until 8 stitches remain.
Break off yarn, thread through remaining stitches and fasten securely.
Join centre back seam.
Meeting Point
September
Wed 10th 10.30am at Sarah Bennett’s, 9 Horsefair Lane.
Wed 24th 10.30am at Doris Bannard-Smith’s, Goodly
Heritage, The Bury, Pavenham.
Our Giving in September is to St Dunstans
St Dunstans is a UK charity which provides specialist training and assistance to enable blind ex-service men and women regain independence and optimism. As a ‘lifelong partner’, the charity teaches new skills, helps with housing problems and benefit claims, creates a thriving social and sporting network and gives the whole family all the support they need.
Autumn Again
Brown earth’s part of autumn’s scene
Reds and yellows, darker green,
Harvests safely gathered in,
‘Ere the winter storms begin’
Bonfires crackle, smoky scent,
Seems we’ve only just passed Lent!
Swallows darting, gliding round
High and low, then near the ground.
Are they thinking that it’s late,
Time for them to emigrate?
Posters shouting, ‘Back to school!’
‘There’s no substitute for wool!’
Oh, how quickly summer’s gone,
Long light days can’t linger on.
If summer’s gone so very fast
Let’s make autumn one to last
In our memories with our friends
No matter when each season ends.
Roger Jackson
St Mary the Virgin,
Carlton
Patronal Festival Weekend
Saturday 6th September 7.30pm.
The Linford Ensemble
A varied programme of classical music for strings and wind.
Tickets £8 and £6 (concessions) from PCC members, at the door and from Carlton Village Shop.
Also…
Cream Teas at the Church
From 3pm to 5pm on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th September
Tower open from 3pm to 5pm on Saturday.
Reverend David Payne, Vicar of All Saints’ Odell from 1973 to 1978, still keeps in touch, often sending anecdotes from when he and his wife Anne lived in Odell. Recently he sent this story which he had been told about the fire at Odell Castle in 1931.
“A story was passed down to us, perhaps a little “embroidered”, that Squire Alston had put a very long log, possibly six feet or so in length, on the fire. He fell fast asleep. When he came to the room was ablaze and spread elsewhere throughout the castle. He instructed his Bailiff to travel as fast as he could to Bedford and to make sure that his insurance was brought up to date as soon as possible! At all events, the Castle was very seriously burned and lay empty until the Lord Luke restored it in 1935.”
David also sent this story which he was told by a Parishioner when he was Rector of Shackleford (1966-73). It is very reminiscent of events in Thomas Hardy’s ‘Mayor of Casterbridge’.
“When I was Rector of Shackleford, Surrey, an elderly parishioner in his 80s recalled the custom of ‘Rough Musicking’ a known wife-beater. A motley band of musicians would assemble around dusk with bugles and dustbin lids and march around the house of the offender, chanting:
There is a man all in this place,
Who beats his wife, in fair disgrace,
He beats her black and he beats her blue
He beats her thighs and her belly too.
Fool if he don’t alter and mind his ways.
The offending wife-beater never repeated the offence! Rough Musickers may well have a field day today – though I’m sure not in Odell!”
David Payne
Birthdays
We would like to wish Christy Vyvyan a very Happy Birthday on 13th September, when she will be 9 years old.
September
Fri 5th 7.00pm Wodehill Jazz Band at The Bell.
Sat 6th 3-5pm Cream teas and open tower at St Mary’s, Carlton.
Sat 6th 7.30pm The Linford Ensemble, St Mary’s Carlton.
Sun 7th 3-5pm Cream teas at St Mary’s Carlton.
Tues 9th 7.30pm W.I. Odell Village Hall.
Wed 10th 10.30am Meeting Point at Sarah’s, 9 Horsefair Lane.
Sat 13th 10-6.00pm Bike n’ Hike 2008.
Sat 20th 9.45am All Saints’ Amblers meet at The Bell.
Wed 24th 10.30am Meeting Point at Doris’s, Goodly Heritage, The Bury, Pavenham.
Sat 27th 7.30pm Harvest Supper and Barn Dance, Village Hall.
Sun 28th 12pm Spoons and Spatulas, HOCP
Mon 29th 10am HOCP conservation tasks.
October
Wed 8th 12.30pm Senior Citizens Autumn Lunch, Village Hall.
Sat 25th 7.30pm Village Quiz, Village Hall.
Magazine Deadline
Please send all entries for the October 2008 magazine to Tricia Hudson (mag1 at odellbeds.net) or Catherine Corkery by September 12th 2008 at the latest. May we remind you that the editorial team exercises the right to edit, shorten or alter any items that are submitted. Also, the opinions expressed in the articles are those of the contributors and are not the responsibility of the editorial team.