OUR COMMUNITY

ST . T HOMAS’ CHURCH, KE RE SLE Y, AN D KE RE SLE Y V I LLAGE COM MUN I T Y CHURCH

www.st-thomas-keresley.org.uk

J U N E 2012

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Inside this issue:

Parish Calendar 2

Local news 3

Coventry Cathedral 4

The Graham 5

St Thomas’ past 6

Parish Register 6

What’s the big idea? 7

Children and Young people

7

Mouse page 8

Torch Trust 8

Nothing is ever lost by

courtesy. It is the

cheapest of pleasures;

costs nothing and

conveys much. Erastus Wiman

FOODBANK GOING LOCAL

W e have been supporting Coventry Food bank for nearly a year now. The food that people have regularly contributed had gone to support

people across Coventry who, for whatever reason, have found things difficult to the point of not being able to feed themselves or their family.

‘Churches Together in Bedworth’ and Keresley Village Community Church are in the process of setting up a Food Bank and we are hoping to have distribution points in both Bedworth and Keresley village sometime soon.

To make this happen we will need at least six volunteers to run each session, doing a variety of roles from bag packing to hospitality.

If you want to know how you can help please contact Steve Medley.

In the mean time please continue to support the Coventry Food Bank, your help is really making a difference. Next time you are shopping please

consider buying an extra item, or contributing the free one of the BOGOF offers you see.

Have you thought about going to Church but Sunday

mornings just seem too busy?

Would you like to spend some quality time as a

family and learn about the Stories of Jesus?

Would you like to meet other families in your area?

Then Come and Join us for Messy Church on

Sunday 24th June

2-4pm

Keresley Village

Community Church,

Rathbone Close, CV7 8LD

Messy Church is for all ages but

anyone under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

JUNE 2012 PAGE 2

June

Sunday 3rd 9am St Thomas

Holy Communion and hymns. Mark Norris 10.30am St Thomas

Family Service. Pete Hudson 10.30am KVCC

Holy Communion. Andrew de Ville

Sunday 10th 9am St Thomas

Holy Communion and hymns. Mark Norris 10.30am St Thomas

Family Communion. Mark Norris 10.30am KVCC

Family Service. Steve Medley

Sunday 17th 9am St Thomas

Holy Communion. Mark Norris 10.30am St Thomas

Family Worship. Mark Norris 10.30am KVCC

Communion. Steve Medley

Sunday 24th 9am St Thomas

Holy Communion. Mark Norris 10.30am St Thomas

Family Communion. Mark Norris 10.30am KVCC

Family Service. Steve Medley with Alan Bennell

July

Sunday 1st 9am St Thomas

Holy Communion and hymns. Mark Norris 10.30am St Thomas

Family Service. Claire McArthur 10.30am KVCC

Holy Communion. Mark Norris

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THE MONTH AHEAD AT ST THOMAS’ AND KVCC

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 around 11.25am

3rd Sunday All ages start in Church

This pattern may change occasionally for special services.

Fellowship Groups Would you like the opportunity to meet with others during the week? There are three groups meeting regularly in the parish for fellowship, study and prayer and new members are welcome.

Two evening groups meet in homes on Monday and Wednesday, and the Refreshment group meets on Tuesday afternoon in the Galilee Room.

Other Diary dates Saturday 2nd to Sunday 10th

Schools Half Term Saturday 9th

Keresley Funday Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

Tuesday 5th June City Celebrations at Coventry Cathedral “Everyone is invited to join us for two special Cathedral Praise celebrations!”

17th June at 6.30pm, Guest Preacher John Coles (New Wine Leader)

Looking ahead . . . June 10th

Booking for Spring Harvest 2013 opens. See page 3

July 1st Olympic flame due to reach Coventry

Holiday Club

Holiday Club—On Your Marks 30th July to 3rd August

Refreshment for all Tuesday afternoons, 1.30-2.30pm in the Galilee

Room. Fortnightly

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.

Evening Groups These groups meet fortnightly. Currently they are looking at Ephesians: Reflections on the church and living a Christ-inspired lifestyle. To find out more about the evening groups contact Claire Fletcher.

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Holiday Club 2012

Monday 30th July to Friday 3rd August,

10am until 12 noon,

St. Thomas Church Hall, Wickham Close.

O N Y O U R M A R K S … . G E T S E T … G O !

Join up with other athletes and take part in the ‘Global Games’ to discover what it was like for the disciples to follow Jesus and how you can be on his team

Spring Harvest 2013

B ooking opens for next year’s Spring Harvest on 13th June so if you would be interested in going as part of the St Thomas’ party then you need to let Steve and Jo know your accommodation choices by

Sunday 10th June.

We are hoping to book for the single week at Skegness as it is the only one which falls fully within the school holidays for Coventry and Warwickshire. The dates are Tuesday 2nd April (Easter Tuesday) to Sunday 7th April 2013.

If you would like to go please sign up on the sheet in the Galilee Room. If you would like to know more speak to Steve or Jo.

“Many of us struggle to communicate our faith to our friends. We often find ourselves stuck for words when people ask us questions about what our faith means to us. So at Spring Harvest 2013 we’ll be focusing on what Jesus being the Good News means in today’s world.

We’ll explore what 1 John says about who Jesus was and is, the claims He made bout Himself and what it means to ‘be, say and do’ Good News. We’ll look at contemporary issues and the big questions of life—and discover what the Bible says about them.

There’ll be plenty of opportunities to encounter God in new and fresh ways.”

KERESLEY

FUNDAY Saturday 9th June

Keresley Village

Community Centre,

Howat Road

11.30am-3.30pm

Many thanks to all those

who collected Christian

Aid envelopes this year.

A total of £461.81 was

raised by collectors from

St Thomas’.

JUNE 2012 PAGE 4

Saturday June 23rd

7.30pm

Britten: Cantata St Nicholas

Cox: 'War in heaven' (Coventry Cathedral Commission 1980)

MacMillan: Gloria (Coventry Cathedral Golden Jubilee Commission)

Coventry Cathedral has always been at the forefront of commissioning new music. Tonight's concert showcases Neil Cox's 1980 'War in Heaven' together with the Golden Jubilee commission from James MacMillan as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Britten's inspirational 'St Nicholas', written primarily for schoolchildren, will add a further dimension to our diverse Golden Jubilee celebrations. Tickets from £15.

Chapel of Unity

Golden Jubilee Celebrations

Sunday 10th June 2012

2pm in the Chapel of Unity, Coventry Cathedral

followed by refreshments

Speaker: Dame Mary Tanner, President of the World Council of Churches

All are welcome

A Prayer marking the Golden Jubilee of Coventry Cathedral 1962-2012

Most Gracious God, You make all things new.

Accept our thanks for the Golden Jubilee of the Cathedral Church of St Michael in Coventry;

May its ministry invigorate us in our discipleship in the world today:

bringing us closer together in unity, renewing us in our commitment to service, affirming us in the work of reconciliation, humbling us through remembrance of the cost of our redemption,

and by uplifting us, with your holy angels, to worship Christ in majesty

Amen

Rev John Bradford, Hon Chaplain, the Estate Chapel of St James, Great Packington, Warwickshire

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seated figure of the Christ of Revelation 4. His eyes look out and down the chancel and nave. As we draw closer, we see the four evangelists surrounding Jesus. And there are other details easily missed: above Christ is the dove whose rays flow down upon the head of Jesus; between

the feet of Christ there is a man – a sign of the new creation; and below that the serpent in the chalice.

At the side, above the head of the roaring lion of St Mark, we see St Michael vanquishing the evil one. There is glory – a glory shown in the figure of Christ, the rays of the Holy Spirit, the dazzling chalice, and the four Gospel writers. But it is glory achieved at a cost – we see that in the marks of the nails on the feet of Jesus, the poisoned chalice that St John was told he must drink, and the grotesque evil figure trapped by St Michael.

The book of Revelation that ends our New Testament is a strange, disturbing series of visions and nightmares. One moment St John is on earth, where there is suffering and darkness for the faithful. The next, he is caught up into heaven where all is splendour and light. The battle of light and darkness below seems to reach up to the heavenly courts, where the liturgy is celebrated. And where the book of Revelation and this remarkable and breath-taking tapestry of Graham Sutherland tell us that right will triumph over might, and Christ alone has that right. In this month of May we proclaim that truth: Jesus our risen and ascended Lord, the one who triumphs over death and darkness. Right vanquishes might as we sing with the four living creatures:

‘Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the almighty, who was and is and is to come.’

As we celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of the Cathedral this month I thought I’d include this article by Rev Michael Burgess about the Graham Sutherland tapestry.

On the night of 14 November 1940 German bombs hit Coventry and reduced the cathedral, with its fine tower and spire, to a burnt out shell. The war over, plans for a new building were thrown open to competition, and the architect appointed was Basil Spence. In the space of just six years – 1956-1962 – the new cathedral was built. It was set at right angles to the old, which now serves as a forecourt.

Epstein’s ‘St Michael and Lucifer’ dominate the entrance wall, and there is a sense that we leave the charred cross and nails, the signs of destruction and darkness, outside in the old cathedral, and enter the new building as the world of resurrection celebrating life eternal. Basil Spence invited the leading artists of the day – John Piper, John Hutton and others – to produce glass and sculpture that would create that transition. He had in mind the impact made on entering the wondrous churches of Ravenna, but it was the Provost of the cathedral who suggested the theme of Christ in Glory for the tapestry above the main altar.

The work of designing that was given to Graham Sutherland. He had been employed as a war artist in the very year that the bombs devastated Coventry. Sutherland had converted to Roman Catholicism in 1926, and so his faith and experiences combined to inspire several ecclesiastical commissions including a Crucifixion for St Matthew’s Church, Northampton, and this work for the new cathedral.

At 74 feet in length, it was at the time the largest tapestry in the world, and dominating it is the

God in the Arts Treasures old and treasures new: The Coventry Tapestry

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BAPTISM

13th May Wilson Fergus Freemantle

WEDDINGS

12th May Richard Paul Brown and Sarah Kopczewski

19th May Lee Ludoski and Jennifer Mary Jane Hornsby

BURIAL

3rd May Evelyn Foster of Thompsons Road who died 25/04/12 aged 80

23rd May Betty Margaret Jones of Beaufort Nursing Home who died 22/04/12 aged 90

PARISH REGISTER CREMATION

10th May Betty McDonald of Howat Road who died 26/04/12 aged 78

8th May John Young of Fairfield Nursing Home who died 18/04/12 aged 88

ASHES INTERRED

14th May Mark Meredith Lewis of Coundon Green who died 26/03/12 aged 41

AT KERESLEY VILLAGE COMMUNITY CHURCH

22nd May Thanksgiving for the life of Rachel Lynne Adams of Charity Road who died on 6/05/12 aged 11

In the June 1924 issue of the magazine the vicar, Rev T H Perry began with an exhortation to his parishioners in these timeless words:

And later on in that issue I came across this report from the PCC of May 2nd 1924 on the decision to abolish pew rents.

For the first 75 years of this church people paid to have ’their pew’ for their use. I suspect that the numbers on the pew doors were part of this tradition. As times changed the PCC began to see that far from assuring regular attendance it was becoming a barrier to some, making them feel unwelcome.

It would be interesting to spend a moment considering whether we have or do anything now that is like ʻpew rent’, making church unwelcoming or off-putting to those ‘just looking’.

St Thomas’ Keresley

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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 )

Drop In Centre for teenagers

Not currently meeting

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.

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

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,

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

What’s the Big Idea? - an Introduction to the

Old Testament book of Daniel

Daniel means ‘God is my judge’ and his faithfulness to God and his people reflects the truth of this name. The book attributed to him describes his life in Babylon during the sixth century B.C., when he served both Babylonian and Persian rulers.

Daniel was in his teens when he and his three friends were deported in 605 B.C. to Babylon, where he lived for more than seventy years. As good looking and intelligent young men, they were specially trained as officials in King Nebuchadnezzar’s court for three years. Their names and diets were changed to reflect Babylonian culture in an attempt to take away their Jewish identity. However, Daniel and his friends showed that their Jewish food was superior to the diet of the Babylonians. The young men increased in wisdom and knowledge, gaining favor in the king's court.

Chapters 1-6 are largely narrative, as Daniel and his friends demonstrated that God was still in control. When Daniel's three friends (renamed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego) refused to worship the pagan Babylonian gods, they were cast into the fiery furnace. However, they emerged unharmed because of God’s miraculous protection. Later Daniel refused to worship the Persian king Darius and was thrown into a den of lions, but saved by God’s intervention. Daniel also interpreted several visions and dreams for King Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. The second half of the book (chaps. 2-7), consists of a series of visions about succeeding kingdoms and the end of time. Daniel proved that God is faithful, and has the whole world in his hands.

The purpose of this book is to show that Daniel’s God is the sovereign ruler of the world, who raises up and brings down rulers and determines the future of nations. He rewards the faithfulness of his servants and protects them, even in exile. This is an abiding lesson for us today. When being thrown into the fiery furnace, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, express their faith in these challenging words:

‘If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.’ (Daniel 3: 17,18)

Children and Young People