www.st-thomas-keresley.org.uk

Our Our Our CommunityCommunityCommunity

February 2013

50p

Inside this issue:

Parish Calendar 2

Local News 3

The way I see it 4

Rosa Parks 5

Love is . . . 6

From the archives 6

Parish Register 7

Children and Young

people

7

Mouse page 8

A prayer 8

All

acts strengthen

habits Thomas Brooks

Be a part of it! W

hat do St Thomas’ Church and Keresley Village Community Church mean to you? Do you think of them as your church?

And what does that mean anyway?

Each of our churches has a list of those who consider themselves to be part of the church family. At St Thomas’, this is called the Church Electoral Roll, (nothing to do with the civic one). Being on the church roll entitles you to vote in elections for our Parochial Church Council – the group that makes important decisions in the life of our church.

This year, (and every six years), the electoral roll needs to be renewed. That means that the old roll is scrapped and we need to make a new list of those who consider themselves to be part of our church. This will begin during February, so look out over the coming weeks for your opportunity to take a form and sign up to be counted as part of our church. You’ll also get a booklet to read which explains more of what it means to be a church member.

Whether you’re part of St Thomas’ or Keresley Village Community Church, we’re all part of the one church family and we want to work together to share Christ’s love.

it’s good to think about what it means to be a church member: it’s about being part of a living, worshipping, serving community in which each person has a key part to play. By signing up as a church member, you’re committing yourself to—

playing your part in worshipping God together (being there if possible when we gather for worship)

praying for our church, community and world

seeking to learn and grow in faith

finding a way to use your gifts to help the church community

taking your share of the church family budget

getting to know each other and bearing with one another in love.

Are you ready to get stuck in and help your church be a vibrant part of the local community and share God’s love? Make sure you’re a member. Mark Norris

Sunday

10th

February at 2pm

in

Keresley Village Community Church

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 3 P A G E 2

February

Sunday 3rd

9am St Thomas Holy Communion and hymns Mark Norris

10.30am St Thomas Family Service. Pete Hudson and Mark Norris

10.30am KVCC Holy Communion. David Musgrave

Sunday 10th

9am St Thomas Holy Communion. Mark Norris

10.30am St Thomas Family Communion. Mark Norris

10.30am KVCC Morning Worship. Steve Medley

2-4pm KVCC Messy Church

Wednesday 13th

7.30pm St Thomas Ash Wednesday Evening Service. Mark Norris

Sunday 17th

9am St Thomas Holy Communion Mark Norris

10.30am St Thomas Family Worship. Claire McArthur and Steve Medley. No Sunday school

10.30 KVCC Holy Communion. Mark Norris

Sunday 24th

9am St Thomas Holy Communion. Mark Norris

10.30am St Thomas Family Communion. Mark Norris and Pete Hudson

10.30am KVCC Family Worship. Trevor Gay and Steve Medley

March

Sunday 3rd

9am St Thomas Holy Communion and hymns. Mark Norris

10.30am St Thomas Family Service Mark Norris and Claire McArthur

10.30am KVCC Holy Communion. David Musgrave

Other Events

Monday 4th

7.30pm Galilee Room PCC meeting

P A G E 2

Services at St Thomas’ and Keresley Village Community ChurchServices at St Thomas’ and Keresley Village Community ChurchServices at St Thomas’ and Keresley Village Community Church

Change of day

First Steps at KVCC has changed from Tuesday afternoons to Wednesday afternoons at 1.45pm

What can I give him?

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday,13th February, and is an opportunity to reflect and take stock and prepare ourselves to celebrate the Holy Week and Easter Day – the most important celebrations in our Christian calendar.

This Lent, we’re taking an opportunity to reflect on the part we each play in the life and mission of our church.

In our Sunday sermons at St Thomas’ we will be following the Israelites on their journey through the wilderness as we learn more of what it means to serve God with our lives, our time, our talents and our money.

Small groups will be meeting during Lent too. Why not join one to really help you explore personally how you can contribute to the life of the church. See Mark Norris or Steve Medley to find out when groups are meeting.

In addition, during Lent, we’ll be looking at the challenges of our church finances and how we can all play our part in enabling our church to have the resources to get involved in mission and ministry in our community. Mark Norris

Refreshment for all

Tuesday afternoons, 1.30-2.30pm in the Galilee Room.

If you need transport or would like to request prayers, please contact Margaret

Bosworth on 7633 7932 leaving a message if necessary with your name and telephone number and she will

ring you back.

Sunday Morning Activities at St. Thomas’ Church at 10.30am for Children and Young People (during term time) 1st Sunday

Family Service in Church 2nd, 4th and 5th Sundays

3-11s, Sunday School in Galilee Room, 11+, Pathfinders in the Church Hall. All join the service at the Peace

3rd Sunday All ages start in Church

O U R C O M M U N I T Y P A G E 3

Milk (UHT or powdered)

Sugar (500g) Jam

Fruit juice (carton) Cereals

Tinned:

soup

baked beans

tomatoes

meat/fish

fruit

sponge pudding

rice pudding

Rice

Pasta

Instant noodles

Instant mashed potatoes

Pasta sauces

Biscuits or snack bars

Tea bags Instant coffee

Bedworth and Keresley Foodbank

The foodbank opened its doors at Keresley Village Community Church on Friday 25th January.

How does it work?

A number of local agencies are allocated vouchers that they can give to individuals or families that they recognise as being in crisis. This could be for any number of reasons, but it means they have no money to buy food themselves and would otherwise go hungry.

Once given a voucher they can come to the foodbank in Keresley Village church or Bedworth and be given three days supply, a warm welcome and a listening ear over a cup of tea.

The Trussell Trust reports, “Responses from both care professionals and beneficiaries confirm that the foodbanks’ timely interventions at times of dire need prevent the escalation of short term crisis into crime, housing loss, family breakdown and mental health problems. A recent survey of Welsh foodbanks showed that:

100% clients would have skipped meals without the foodbank 69% would have experienced increased depression 38% would have experienced strain on family relationships 15% would have committed a crime [to obtain food]

8% would have used a loan shark or doorstep lender”

Donations of food from the list below are required on a regular basis to maintain a good stock to distribute. Please bring any donations to either of our churches.

Preparing the new

electoral roll

Who can be on the roll?

A lay person is entitled to have their name entered on the roll of

a parish if they are baptised, of sixteen years or upwards, has signed an application form for enrolment and declares themselves either -

A member of the Church of England or a church in communion with it and resident in the parish

Or, a member not resident in the parish but had habitually attended public worship in the parish for six months prior to enrolment

Or, a member in good standing of a church believing in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and prepared to declare themselves a member of the Church of England and having habitually attended public worship in the parish for six months prior to enrolment.

Those who become 16 during the next 12 months may complete the form, and become eligible to be entered on the Roll on their sixteenth birthday.

Music on Sundays

Calling all those who play a musical instrument or would be comfortable singing with a microphone - your band needs you!

Going forward we are looking to mix the music on a Sunday morning a little more, so on weeks where Keith, our organist, is playing there would be a mixture of traditional and modern songs and therefore the band would be required on a more regular basis.

We would like to expand the number involved in the band so that people are able to be in the band some weeks, but don’t find themselves obliged to be in it on every service. It is important that being in the band for a service does not become a chore instead of worshipping.

So if you’d like to give it a try have a chat with Heather Hudson, 76338775, to find out more. We are hoping to have an extended rehearsal to look at a range of songs on Saturday 23rd February. More details available soon.

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 3 P A G E 4

I n my childhood we called it ‘February Fill-dyke’, but last year it seemed that every month filled

the dykes, and just about everything else. Strange, isn’t it, that in a world where many long for water to bring life to parched ground, our little island is virtually submerged in the stuff.

Those who are familiar with the Psalms in the Bible will know how worried the writers were about the ‘sun that smites by day’. They saw God as a shield, a kind of parasol guarding his people from the scorching heat of the sun. For them rain was a blessing indeed - the ‘early rains’ and the ‘latter rains’ which needed to arrive regularly to ensure the harvest of the fields. Their ideas are echoed in our hymns:

He sends the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain, The breezes and the sunshine and soft refreshing rain.

‘Soft and refreshing’ are not the words I would use to describe the angry rivers bursting their banks, flooding towns and villages and ruining people’s homes. Looking back at the wettest year on record, we might well hanker for those blissful days of hose-pipe bans.

But hey-ho, we’re British, and grumbling about the weather is simply a national pastime. Deep down we know that we’re very privileged to live in a part of the world not normally subject to extreme

weather of any kind. We see on television the devastating effects of typhoons, tornadoes, storms, blizzards and earthquakes in other lands and feel sympathy for people who live in constant peril of the power of nature. In the end, what are a few inches of rain?

Sometimes we may wonder why life on earth is so scarily unpredictable. Why (people sometimes ask) did a good and loving God make our planet so dangerous to live on? I suspect it is a question with a very complex answer! If, as I do, we believe that the whole universe, in its awesome vastness, is the product of the mind and will of God, who are we - its human inhabitants - to question how he does it? It looks to us like a process of purposeful randomness, from which emerges the world as we know it. And, let’s face it, it’s the only one we’ve got!

It is only a few weeks since we were celebrating the truth that it was into this scarily unpredictable and often dangerous world that God sent his Son. ‘The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.’ Jesus shared the dangers and hazards of human life, both those that are ‘natural’ (like a storm on the lake) and those that were the product of human sin (like his crucifixion). Perhaps it is only in a world like this that we can really learn to trust the One who walks with us through ’the valley of the shadow of death’.

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Rt Revd Justin Welby will be confirmed as the new Archbishop of Canterbury early this month.

At a ceremony in St Paul’s Cathedral on 4 February, he will be officially receive his Confirmation of Election as 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. The Dean of Canterbury will report to a commission of senior diocesan bishops chaired by the Archbishop of York that Bishop Justin has been elected according to statute, and the Archbishop of York, on behalf of his fellow bishops and the wider Church, will confer on him the ‘spiritualities’ of the diocese of Canterbury.

In January The Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral met for a ceremony dating back 1,000 years at which Bishop Justin’s name was the only one on a ballot paper and the electors will be under royal command to choose him.

On 21st March, after paying Homage to Her Majesty The Queen in his new role, his public ministry will be inaugurated in a colourful ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral. Bishops from the whole Church of England, Primates of the wider Anglican Communion and many ecumenical guests will be in the congregation.

Interestingly, the new Archbishop will be installed in two places in the Cathedral - the diocesan ‘cathedra’ in the Cathedral Quire as the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury, and the Chair of St Augustine as Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Way I See It: This scarily unpredictable life

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O U R C O M M U N I T Y P A G E 5 O U R C O M M U N I T Y P A G E 5

Editor: Paul Hardingham remembers that this month (February

2013) marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Rosa Parks, the

black woman who decided to hang on to her seat on a bus in

Montgomery Alabama one fateful day in 1955...

On 1st December 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, a woman finished work and started her journey home. She caught a bus, paid her fare and found a seat. As more people got on the bus, it started to get crowded. The driver demanded that four black people give up their seats, so that the white passengers could sit down. One woman refused to give up a seat and was arrested. She later said, ‘I only knew that, as I was being arrested, that it was the very last time that I would ever ride in humiliation of this kind.’

The woman’s name was Rosa Parks, who was born 100 years ago this month, on 4th Feb 1913. At 42 years old, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, simply because she was black and the person wanting to sit down was white. This small act ignited the Civil Rights movement in the United States, which led to the end of the institutionalised segregation in the South.

Science talks about chaos theory, commonly referred to as the ‘butterfly effect’. It is said that when a butterfly flaps its wings in Africa, the wind generated ends up creating a hurricane in the Atlantic and destruction on the other side of

Remembering Rosa Parks and the start of the Civil Rights movement

the world. Small events can indeed cause big changes in the world! It was only a seat on the bus, but Rosa’s refusal to move started the Civil Rights movement.

The God whom we worship is one who specialises in taking small things and turning them into something big! A baby in a basket floating down a river became a leader who led his people out of slavery. A young shepherd placed a rock in a sling and slayed a giant. A quiet and talented girl named Esther bravely saved her race. Fishermen doing their jobs heard the call of a Rabbi and transformed the world. Six jars of ordinary water became an abundance of fine wine at a wedding.

All of this reminds us that no act is too insignificant for God to use and demonstrate his glory. Are we open to those moments which God can use to create change in our world and the lives of those we meet? Will we help that person on the side of the street or open our mouths when we feel God stirring our hearts to speak? Like Rosa Parks, are we ready to make a stand? Wherever we are?

Fairtrade Fortnight 2013 is 25th February to 10th March

WHY GO FURTHER?

Because the people who grow the things we love need our support now. These are tough times for millions of farmers and workers in developing countries. Climate change, rising food and fuel costs, and volatile market prices mean they face an uncertain future.

Together we’re making steady progress towards a fairer deal for farmers and workers in developing countries. But there’s still a lot to be done to support the millions of people who grow the food we love. Choosing and asking for Fairtrade is one way to ensure they can farm sustainably and earn enough from their crops to provide for the future of their families and communities.

So that’s why we’re asking the nation to go further for Fairtrade in 2013!

Grace Addai, cocoa farmer, Ghana Member of the Kuapa Kokoo co-operative: “The best thing about Fairtrade is that it doesn’t cheat. I can provide for myself and take care of my children. My six children have done very well: one is a doctor, another a nurse, the third a policeman and the others are still studying. I am proud of them but I know they are also proud of me as I am the secretary of the women’s group, which provides advice and loans to poor families in the community.”

From Fair Comment, Newsletter of the Fairtrade Foundation

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 3 P A G E 6 P A G E 6

Are you old enough to remember those “Love Is…” comic strips created by New Zealand cartoonist Kim Casali in the late 1960s? Probably the most famous one was, “Love Is…being able to say you are sorry”. In this month of Saint Valentine let’s think about what love is.

Whether from television, advertising or journalism, we are constantly soaking up the messages the world wants us to hear. Our attitudes, expectations, ambitions and imaginations are formed by them, whether we are aware of it or not.

These messages – urging us to look after ‘number one’ through consumption, self-defence and profit – affect what we say, how we live, what we desire and what is possible through us. They can cloud our vision and our hope for a better world, tame our passion for change, and neutralise our creativity.

In families, communities and churches, we can dilute and disarm the philosophy of the world by challenging it and telling a counter-cultural story with different values, hopes and ways of doing things.

Christians believe that God is love and that we are called to love others as ourselves. Jesus himself brought a message: he offers a ‘new normal’ in the

way we live, and by the Cross he showed what love is capable of.

According to the culture in which we are embedded, love is giving the latest iPhone or expensive air-freighted flowers, or flying someone off somewhere exotic, the strength of our love being directly proportional to the amount of money we spend. But if we take a look at the effect these gifts may have on our unique gift of the earth, do we really want to love one person in a way that hurts the earth, as well as this very person’s future? We don’t have to “buy” our society’s view of how best to express our love. How loving an action is it really to buy your daughter a car on her 17th birthday, or your family that far-flung holiday?

We can choose to give simpler, earth-caring presents that demonstrate a wider, longer-lasting love. I truly appreciate receiving gifts of things I would need to buy anyway – it is no extra burden on the earth, and while I (most probably) drink, eat or wash with it, I can fondly remember the person who gave it to me.

And of course, for our Valentines, there are customary ways of demonstrating affection that are completely carbon-free.

Love is . . . “We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love.” Mother Teresa “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” 1 Corinthians 13:4

An article from the February 1915 issue of the magazine. The 1915 version of First Steps?

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O U R C O M M U N I T Y P A G E 7 O U R C O M M U N I T Y P A G E 7

BAPTISM

9th December

Jake Thomas Shaw and Emelia Lily Needle

WEDDING

21st December

Hayley Joanne Pryor & Dean Robert Edmonds

CREMATION

10th January Michelle Kathleen Ridley aged 47 of Caldecote Road

15th January Marjorie Marks aged 101 of Cottage Farm Road

22nd January Violet Irene Elizabeth Owens aged 86 of Cow Lees, Astley Lane

BURIAL

28th December Rosabella Heffer aged 97 of Bablake House, Birmingham Road

Uniformed Groups

Meet in the Church Hall : 9th Rainbows, Mondays, 6-7pm 13th Brownies, Mondays, 6.00 - 7.30pm 9th Brownies, Wednesdays, 6.00 - 7.30pm 9th Guides, Thursdays, 6.30 - 8.30pm

Meet in the Scout Hut: 41st Cubs, Mondays, 6.45 - 8.30pm 41st Scouts, Tuesdays, 7.00 - 9.00pm 41st Beavers, Fridays, 6.00 - 7.30pm (for 6-8 year olds )

Youth Essence

Thursdays 7.30pm to 9pm in the Galilee Room, School year 9 upwards

Regular Activities in the Church Hall

NB the Church Hall is not usually available for late night Discos

Pre-school Playgroup: Mondays to Fridays, 9am - 11.30am and 12.30pm – 3pm

Brownies, Guides, Cubs and Scouts meet on weekday evenings. See above for details.

First Steps . . . with Jesus

For babies and pre-school children with their parents and

carers, weekly in term time

Mondays 1.30-2.30pm Meets in the Galilee Room,

Wednesdays 1.30-2.45pm. Meets at Keresley Village Community Church

Children and Young People Parish Register

Trailblazers Children's Club

Mondays 5-6pm at Keresley Village Community Church

Thursday at St T’s Thursdays From 6pm to 7pm For 5-11 years Meets in the Galilee Room

A heavenly Valentine

For God so loVed the world

That he gAve

His onLy

begottEn

SoN

That whosoever

Believeth In him

Should Not perish

But have Everlasting life. John 3:16