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Cherry Hinton Road

May 2016 No: 77

EMMANUEL UNITED REFORMED CHURCH

Cambridge

Trumpington Street, Cambridge

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Dear Friends,

I have just been reading the Emmanuel Annual Report - twenty-seven pages packed with stories about every aspect of our church’s life in the last year - and as I did so I reflected on the appropriateness of the logo for ‘Change’, our last year’s Ministry and Mission theme, which appears at the end of the ‘Contents’ page . We have seen many changes and continue to do so: in our membership, in the church office, and now in the eldership, with some large changes including the need to appoint a new Church Secretary, new Elders’ Secretary and new Treasurer. Of course there are positive changes, too, with new elders to be welcomed into their tasks, new plans for greater co-operation with St Columba’s, and - as we pray and believe - new leaders being led, even now, towards us. It is not surprising, however, if sometimes we look around us and feel a little daunted. But that’s where the importance of the ‘Prayer Topics’ sheet you will find in this Newsletter comes in. Just as we can look back at what has been done in Emmanuel, in both Cherry Hinton Road and Trumpington Street, so we can look at the day-by-day listing of what is being done, and of the place of Emmanuel within the wider work of God. Have a look at it now and see what a range of people are involved, and the a number of different activities

undertaken and kinds of service offered day in and day out in Emmanuel and in our community. All of this needs to be supported in prayer, so let’s use this leaflet, thoughtfully, gladly, thankfully and faithfully. And for those who perhaps do not know it, may I add that at 10.15 every Tuesday to Friday morning, before the café opens, there is a gathering in the prayer corner to pray for the work ahead and for those known to us who are in need of special support. Anyone is welcome to join us at this time, whether in body or in spirit.

LETTER FROM JANET BOTTOMS

contents letter from Janet 2-3 calendar 4-5 music in emmanuel 5 performance 5 special cause 6 CHR tuesday fellowship 7 regular meetings 8 christian aid week 9 pastoral news 10-11, 14 the plaque ceremony 12-13 save the dates 15

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Our theme this year is “Voices” and, at the time I am writing, the exhibition on our wall is called “Voices of Emmanuel”, built round what we see as our mission and the words of some of the individuals who have contributed to it. These exhibitions are part of our mission - they are seen by many people and are a way of making even our walls ‘speak’ to those who come within them. The Fair Shares Café is another very audible ‘voice’, proclaiming that each person who visits or works within it is equally welcomed and valued by God. Also listed on the Prayer Topics leaflet are the ‘Regular events’ to be remembered each week, and the names of those who lead worship, Sunday by Sunday, in various other churches in the local area - often churches with very small, sometimes elderly, but equally faithful congregations, and these too need our prayers.

So let us join our voices together in prayer for each other and let us keep listening too, to each other and to our Master. The texts chosen for our theme this year seem to me particularly important at a time of uncertainty about the future. First, the great command, “This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him!” And secondly, Paul’s exhortation to the church: “Now may God grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

May God bless you all in all your undertakings in His name. Your fellow worker and friend, Janet

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Sunday Morning Worship at Trumpington Street (TS) at 10.45am. and at Cherry Hinton Road (CHR) at 10.30am.

Nursery (TS) from 10.30am. Choir practice (TS) Sundays at 9.30am

Sunday 1st TS Morning Worship with Communion Revd Chris Baker

This service will include the Ordination and Induction of Elders and the receiving into membership of Revd Deborah McVey.

CHR Maureen Kendall. Communion. Tuesday 3rd 7.30 Elders Meeting Thursday 5th 1.00 Lunchtime Concert Sunday 8th TS Morning Worship Revd Paul Whittle CHR Richard Lewney Tuesday 10th Worship Planning Group Wednesday 11th 1.00 Lunchtime Concert Sunday 15th TS and CHR. Morning Worship, Pentecost Maureen Kendall This service is followed by a Church Meeting at 12 noon 7.00 Iona-Style Worship for Christian Aid Week at St Luke’s

* * * Christian Aid Week 16-21 May * * *

Wednesday 18th 1.00 Lunchtime Concert 7.30 ‘Cell Talk’ performance

Sunday 22nd TS Morning Worship Dr John Bradbury CHR Wendy Roe

Wednesday 25th 1.00 Lunchtime Concert Sunday 29th TS Morning Worship Revd Stephen Orchard CHR Margaret Cooper Saturday 4th June Open Cream Tea at Emmanuel TS

CALENDAR FOR MAY

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Sunday, 5th June TS Morning Worship with Communion. Revd Dr David Cornick. CHR Dr Janet Bottoms. Communion.

To celebrate the 600th Anniversary of the death of

JULIAN OF NORWICH

18th May, 7.30 pm

at Emmanuel, Trumpington Street

A chance to see again a

rehearsed staged reading of the play

CELL TALK by Dana Bagshaw,

with Jane Bower and Angela Harris.

This is a lively presentation of a series of meetings between

two women, Julian, the mystic,

and “earliest known woman writer in English”

author of Revelations of Divine Love;

and Margery Kempe of Lynn,

author of “the first autobiography written in English”.

It will be followed by refreshments, and, for those who wish to

stay, discussion and further readings from their writings.

THURSDAY 5 MAY Helen Roach & Mike Waldron

Piano and violin

WEDNESDAY 11 MAY Clare Simmonds & Henrietta

Hill piano and viola

WEDNESDAY 18 MAY Maire Carroll

piano

WEDNESDAY 25 MAY Drew Steanson

piano

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Red Balloon LEARNER CENTRES For the recovery of bullied children

2016 is the 20th anniversary of what began in 1996 with one thirteen year old sitting at a Cambridge kitchen table. Now, as well as the Cambridge Centre at Warkworth Street, there are three other centres, a virtual centre and two satellites . Red Balloon supports young people who self-exclude from school and are missing education because of bullying or other trauma. The aim is to restore the self confidence of those who have been bullied out of attending school and enable them to return to mainstream education. With those young people who stay longer than six weeks they achieve a 96% return. Students can arrive at any time during the years leading up to GCSE. Great emphasis is placed on numeracy and literacy and students are offered a broad range of subject areas in addition to English, Maths and Science. Other subjects can include Business Studies, Art, History, Media, R.E. Textiles, Child Development, Food Technology and Design Technology. Students also have individual and group meetings to talk about relationships and how to handle problems. Work experience may be arranged and there are group trips to events and places of interest. Red Balloon is an independent charitable school depending partly on fees from local education authorities but also on donations and grants from charitable trusts, individual events and corporations. The Cambridge Centre is going to have an Open Garden event on 9 - 10 June. For further information see www.redballoonlearner.org Cheques can be payable to Red Balloon Centre Cambridge and Gift aided.

Sally Williams

SPECIAL CAUSE FOR MAY

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CHERRY HINTON ROAD TUESDAY FELLOWSHIP

May 3rd Brian Mizon 10th An interesting item or collection 17th Penny Milsom 24th Evelyn Snelson 31st Tea Party June 7th Janet Bottoms

*** On Easter Tuesday our speaker was Pat Heap – someone we always enjoy listening to. She drew our attention to some of the seemingly conflicting descriptions that appear in the Gospels of Christ’s Resurrection - but then spoke of the great and lasting joy of all those who came (and come) to accept Jesus in all his living presence. *** At the beginning of April we focussed our attention on this year’s overseas charity Medicines Sans Frontieres (MSF) also known as Doctors without Borders. This had its roots in some of the social and political upheavals in Paris in 1968. After a group of young doctors from there had decided to go and help victims of wars and major disasters, the French public were soon seeing, on their TV screens, scenes such as children dying of hunger in remote corners of the world - and people were moved to offer their help. MSF was officially created on 22nd December 1971. At the time 300 volunteers made up the organisation:- doctors, nurses and other staff including journalists who played an important role in bringing to light some of the world’s most needy people. MSF now works in over sixty countries around the world, with teams ready for any new emergency. *** On the following Tuesday we were so pleased to welcome Sarah Bergemann, along with Maureen Kendall. Sarah is currently Emmanuel’s ‘Time for God’ worker and she told us some-thing of what had led her to take up this challenge in her ‘gap year’. With a number of visual aids and photographs she explained the ideas behind the title ‘Time for God’. By setting aside some special time for this work Sarah felt that she had come to know herself better and had grown closer to God. She had taken part in some of the activities at Emmanuel including helping some people who may be lonely or disabled. Some of us were surprised to find just how big an organisation Time for God is, not only in this country, but also internationally. Maureen also filled us in with more information about the part Emmanuel has played in this exciting project over the years.

Julia Stone

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MEETINGS IN MAY

Church Prayers Every weekday morning

10.15am in church

Requests for the Prayer Circle contact: Mary

501355

Emmanuel’s Choir meets on Sunday mornings at

9.30am in the church, new singers always welcome

contact: Mark Dawes,

organist 01954 212514

Young Adults’ Group meets on Monday evenings

7.30 at the church

for a varied programme of activities. contact:

Emmanuel Office 351174

Singing House Group meets on

Thursdays 12th &26th May 7.30-9.30pm

for praise and fellowship at 1, Topcliffe Way

contact: David or Penny Flynn

515815

Cherry Hinton Road Tuesday Fellowship

meets in the Chapel at CHR every Tuesday

from 2.30 to 3.30 see page 7

Men and women welcome. contact Revd Julia Stone

01954 781297

Ferried Friends will meet on

Thursday 12th May at the home of

Trish and David Whitehead, Swaffham Prior

10.30am - 12noon contacts:

Liz Barrow 369212 Penny Flynn 515815

Knit Café meets weekly in the

Fair Shares Café on Thursdays Emmanuel TS

from 1.30 - 3.30

contact the church office 351174

or just turn up!!

Knit One Give one A knitting Café!

Coffee and Chat All are welcome

to meet in the Fair Shares Café on Thursday 26th May

From 10.30 - 12.00

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Christian Aid Week 2016

Christian Aid Week this year is :15-21 May. It starts with a service of worship

Sunday, 15th May Iona-Style Worship for Christian Aid Week

7.00pm. St Luke’s, Victoria Road.

Followed by light refreshments. The theme this year is Climate Change. . .Picture a young mother of four. Her husband has left. She has little land, few assets, and no

savings. This is Morsheda. She may live in Bangladesh, but she’s still our neighbour. Morsheda fears the river. Living on a low-lying island on the Brahmaputra river, floods are a terrifying part of Morsheda’s everyday life. The single room, corrugated-iron shack she shares with her family has been flooded four times. ‘I feel very scared of the river,’ she

says. ‘When I look at it I keep thinking “it is coming”.’. ‘Last year the water came and it was up to my knees. I tried to raise the bed with bricks and manage it as a shelter for my children. But one night we were asleep and I heard a noise. It was my baby boy and he had fallen into the water. I pulled him out. I was terrified. I decided we couldn’t stay here at night.’ Morsheda’s life is a constant battle, but her faith and her love for her children mean it’s one she’s passionate about fighting. ‘I don’t know where I get my strength to fight on, but I am blessed to have it. God is supporting me. If he wasn’t I would not have survived. He has given me the support of my neighbours.’ But Morsheda’s life doesn’t have to be this way. Creating an earth plinth 6-8ft above water level would give her a safe place to rebuild her house, keep livestock and grow essential crops without worrying they’ll be washed away. Please be generous for Christian Aid, and Gift Aid if possible. Thank you. Maureen Kendall

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On April 10th, the CHR part of Emmanuel URC held a service which was followed by a ceremony involving the Greek Orthodox Church, St Athanasios, when a plaque which commemorated the history of the Cherry Hinton Road URC which had been previously the Congregational church was unveiled at the back of the church.

It was a lovely occasion and very special as Lance Stone came from Amsterdam with Sally to take part both in our communion service and also in the ceremony afterwards. The service in the chapel was led by Pat Heap and was attended by twenty three people. We felt well supported by Julia and Ray Stone from the Tuesday fellowship and Chris Wright, Brian Heap and Wendy Roe including Wendy’s friends. We also had two new people, one of whom had attended CHR in the past. We had some last minute worries as to whether we had enough chairs for every-one, milk for the coffees and teas and more importantly whether we had enough communion glasses. However it was just like the Bible story of the loaves and the fishes and in the event there was plenty for everyone.

At the end of the service in the chapel and after we had served tea and coffee we went to the back of the church and joined the Greek Orthodox congregation. The inside of the church was breath-taking with the gold decoration, blue background and icons as members of St Athanasios had spent so much time and money on refurbishing it. It was so helpful to us from Emmanuel that Lance had earlier explained in his sermon the importance of icons in the Greek Orthodox Church in leading the way to a greater understanding of God. After a short time, Nico Harris, the president of the congregation of the Greek Orthodox Church, spoke about the importance of the two congregations existing side by side in the church when they took over the church in May 2015, and how much they appreciated having the CHR congregation continuing to worship and witness in the community, twice a week, once on Sun-day and also on Tuesday (the Tuesday Fellowship). Councillor

THE PLAQUE CEREMONY

AT CHERRY HINTON ROAD

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George Pippas briefly spoke. He had been chairman of the Works Committee and had been instrumental in the negotiations between Emmanuel and the Greek Orthodox Church. Lance then said a prayer and we all turned round to watch Joyce Mitchell as the oldest member of our congregation and the two youngest members of the Greek Orthodox congregation pull a cord to unveil the plaque. The plaque is next to an earlier plaque commemorating former members of the Congregational church in 1926.

We then went to the Rock for further fellowship over lunch. However my abiding memory of the occasion was being in the presence of a church packed with people including children worshipping God. It was a wonderful feeling confirming that the hard work on the part of members of Emmanuel URC, particularly Lance Stone and Chris Wright negotiating the sale of CHR URC, had all been worthwhile.

Penny Milsom

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A thought from David Thompson: One of the things one learns, particularly when conducting the funerals of people in their nineties is how much you never knew, and wished you had. That was true for me when tak-ing Connie Baker’s funeral last month. What struck me in particular, however, was that Connie's passing is almost the end of an era for Emmanuel. Connie was one of the last of our members, who was brought up in Cambridgeshire (at Burwell) and transferred her membership to us when she moved into the city. An examination of the current roll of members reveals that the overwhelming majority of our cur-rent members were brought up elsewhere in the country, and joined Emmanuel when they came to Cambridge for reasons of employment. This means that really long-term memories of pre-war Cambridge and further back are now almost a thing of the past - a sobering thought, but one that reminds us that we are always called to move forward.

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Notices for each Sunday’s sheet should reach the church office by 9.00am on the previous Wednesday [by paper, ‘phone, or email]. Contributions for the next issue - June 2016 - of the Newsletter (named or initialled) should be with the editor either in the Newsletter pigeon hole in the Garden Room or emailed to mauken17@gmail.com by Sunday May 22nd -

Thank you.

SAVE THE DATES ….

Saturday June 4th - for an open-to-all Cream Tea to celebrate the 90th birthday of our Queen, and the life of ‘our’ 90+ year olds, whilst welcoming passers by and offering hospitality.

Thursday June 16th - for another Film Night. Following the pleasurable evening viewing and discussing 'Philomena' the next occasion is planned. Details of the venue can be had from Nigel Uden, Rosemary Johnston or some-one who has been contacted privately via church email. On advice directly from the Government Independent Cinema Office the venue will not be publicised in print to make clear this is not a public viewing and there-fore does not require a licence. The title chosen will be in the June newsletter. Suggestions have been made and more are welcome.

Saturday July 2nd

for a German Barbecue A social evening with shared food and music organised by our TfG worker, Sarah