REGULAR CORPS EVENTS Sundays Meetings at 9.50. 10.30 a.m. 4-30 p.m. Messy Church every 4th Sunday 3.30 p.m. Mondays Open Door 10 a.m. to 12 noon. Over 60’s Club Fortnightly Lunch 12.15 p.m.. Meeting 2.00 p.m. Next Meeting 8th May Tuesday Parents and Tots 10 a.m.—11.30 Afternoon Fellowship 1.45 p.m. Wednesday Cameo Club—second Wednesday monthly 7.30 p.m. Bible Study 8 p.m. at Lucy and Mike’s home. Thursday Tea, Toast and Toys 9 a.m.—11.30 a.m. Open Songster practice See poster on page 10 Friday Coffee Morning 9.30 a.m. Luncheon Club 12.15 July Sat 1st Music for a summer evening 6 p.m. All music sections plus strawberries and cream. Sun 2nd Afternoon Songs of Praise. 4.30 p.m. Sun 9th Afternoon Bible Explore 4.30p.m. Sun 16th Afternoon meeting At 4.30 p.m. Sun 23rd Afternoon Messy Church 3.30 p.m. Sun 30th Picnic in the park following morning meeting. At the Rye No afternoon meeting. Mon 31st Start of Seaside Rock Holiday Club. See page 3. Sun 6th Special meeting to celebrate our first holiday club.

Editor: Carol Gibson. Tel. 01494 534087 Mob 07799187687

Email : carol@standardbearer.info Magazine Website www.standardbearer.info

There are two adverts in the magazine which we’d like you to spread around. Firstly the one on page 3 and then the one of page 10. Two exciting new projects which we hope will be very successful. Do pass the information to friends, family and neighbours.

Standard Bearer High Wycombe

Salvation Army

July 2017 Year 17 Issue 5

Commanding Officers Captains Jo and Richard Thompson

01494 471847

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands for ever.

Isaiah 40:8 NIV

Dear Friends, There are days and dates in our life that stand out more than any other, and on these days we reflect back on what happened and what was. Some days bring happy thoughts, some are filled with sadness or loss, yet they have left an imprint or mark on our life. When I left home I would from time to time get a call from my mum in an evening reminding me to get a card for a family member’s birthday. ‘When is their birthday?’ I would ask and the answer would either be ‘tomorrow’ or on one occasion ‘yesterday’, leaving me no time to get a card let alone post it!!! It is now a year ago that we arrived at High Wycombe. As we may naturally reflect on that time wondering how we thought things would be, I find myself recognising God’s hand on each of us over this year. We are so glad that we are here and find that time does fly by when you are enjoying yourself, especially in the presence of God. It is nice to look back and reflect, but too, it is good to look forward. We must take care for both perspectives have their dangers. If we are not careful we can end up missing out on the blessings of today because we are too caught up in either the past or the future. In the youth of life we may spend it wishing we were older, as we get older we wish that we had made more of our younger days. I guess what we need is to learn to enjoy each moment, recognising all that we have is a gift from God. How often do you stop and simply enjoy the present moment? How of-ten do you make a point of thanking God for it?

Let us of course give thanks for the past, be excited by the future, but never forget that ‘This is the day that the Lord has made, rejoice and be glad in it’ (Psalm 118:24) for each day brings with it a gift from God himself to you and me. Gracious God, thank you for today. Teach me to take each moment as it comes and to live it to the full, praising you for your daily gift to me. Amen. Captain Richard

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Kevin’s My Saviour Sudoku…..

V M R U A Y O I S

O S A V I M R Y U

I Y U R S O V M A

M R S O U V Y A I

U A O I Y S M V R

Y V I A M R U S O

S O Y M R A I U V

R U M S V I A O Y

A I V Y O U S R M

S R

Y S

Y I V O

U S A M I

M I V U S

S M R A

O M

A Y

July Puzzle June Solution

Mystery words Join the grouped letters to make the answers to the

clues. Use each group once only. About the Army

sal gen wor cathe disa

her song ster al oni

boo ists vati salv sters

sts ld ation th rine

1. He’s the man in charge 7 letters

2 He started it 5 letters

3 She started it too 9 letters

4. It’s now all over the ……. 5 letters

5 Always at hand when there’s a …... 8 letters

6. They love to sing 9 letters

7. Members are 13 letters

1. Anniversary 2. celebrate 3. years 4. future 5. Countdown 6 Exodus 7 connected

Last Month’s Answers

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High Wycombe Corps Council Meeting Minutes 14th

June 2017 Present: Capt. Richard Thompson, Keith Morris, Hazel Morris, Trevor Steventon, Barrie Oliver, May Mounsher, Georgina Harkcom, Carol Gibson Apologies: Harold Richardson Devotions: These were led by Capt. Richard who shared Matthew 5 – Blessed are those who mourn, they will be comforted and spent time in prayer for those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire. Minutes of Last Meeting & Matters Arising: These were agreed with no further issues to be raised Safe Mission: Now that the weather is safer we will look to have a fire drill on a Sunday morning in the near future. CO will liaise with Kevin Bennell to action this. Also need to ensure that doors are shut when leaving the building, especially the office and that lights are switched off. Property: Quarters garage is waiting to be fixed and internet issues are in the process of being re-solved. At the hall the sink in the cleaners cupboard needs to be repaired or replaced as it is leaking. We have also had issues of poor quality cleaning from Shipshape. They have recently changed the cleaner who comes on a Friday but standards have dropped and CO has expressed concern with the company who are looking into this and have apologised. Finance: Following on from that, Shipshape have made a complaint about not being paid for the work since March. The SA has a new finance system which CT Barrie Oliver & CO Capt. Richard Thompson have been trained for but the new system is time consuming. Invoices are now sent to a service centre, but it would appear that despite the corps sending out the invoices to be paid in the correct manner someone at the service centre has not ac-tioned payment. This also applies to Heat Industrial who fixed the heating and they too had not been paid since March. CT & CO both explained that this error is not with the corps but with the service centre and their inefficiency. The new system now requires the CO to do extra work as he has a costing card which is used to reimburse petty cash as we no longer use a cheque book. The CO is spending more time in sorting this out than before and affects the time that they can give to other aspects of running the corps. For the Big Collection, the standing day at Tesco in Loudwater raised £700.30. Another day is planned for the Tesco in Amersham on the 4th July. CO thanked everyone who helped make the day a success and that this will reduce the need to go door to door in September although this is still necessary. As requested from previous minutes the infor-mation for collecting will be given in July so that people can start collecting in the first week of September.

In one year (1637) he is said to have conducted funerals for more than 4,000 people who died, including his own wife. Even though Rinckart was in daily contact with those who fell and died, he remained in good health and was able to keep on caring for those suffering, dying and grieving. To add to the misery of the people of Eilenburg, the town was raided and sacked, first by the catholic Austrians and then, again, by the Lutheran Swedes. At some point, amid all of this devastation, Martin Rinckart managed, somehow, to find time to write this hymn of thanksgiving. When you read it – and I hope you will – you’ll get the impression that he must be experi-encing so many good things in his life, and had so many good things going for him that he couldn’t help but give thanks and praise for all the blessings God had granted him. What blessings? We may well ask. He didn’t focus on the losses and devastation he had seen, or the sadness that filled his heart over the loss of so many friends, or the bru-tal killing of his parishioners, including women and children at the hands of marauding armies. Instead he focused on the grace of God who faith-fully keeps his promises when the cruelty of humanity seems to have taken control. Martin Rinckart lived to see the coming of better times. The signing of the ‘Peace of Westphalia’ in 1648 brought an end to three decades of suffering and misery for the people on the continent of Europe. He died in his home town, where he had ministered so faithfully, on the 8

th of

September, 1649, at the age of 63, less than a year after the treaty was signed. When peace was eventually restored, this hymn - sung to the tune which we still use today, written by Johan Cruger - was adopted all over Germany as a solemn expression of thanksgiving for the end of bloodshed.

Picnic in the Park Sunday 30th July

Following the Morning Meeting

At the Rye Bring a picnic lunch

And join in The fun and fellowship.

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MARTIN RINCKART Now Thank We All Our God

(Song number 12 in our songbook)

The hymn, ‘Now Thank We All Our God’, written by Martin Rinckart, is universally acknowledged as one of the great hymns of the Christian Church. To understand why it is such a remarkable outpouring of gratitude to God, it is necessary to know something about its author and the circumstances under which it

was written. Martin Rinckart was born in 1586 and was the son of a coppersmith in Eilenburg, Saxony, Germany. In 1601 he became a scholar and chorister at St. Thomas’s School in Leipzig and completed his education as a student of theology at the University there. At the age of 31 he was appointed archdeacon and became the Lutheran pastor to the people of his native town. At about the same time as he took up his duties in Eilenberg, the ‘Thirty Years War’ began and the Swedish army advanced through Saxony, devastating the surrounding countryside. Famine and disease became widespread, farms, livestock and crops were destroyed and weak and hungry people had little, or no resistance against illness. The war was beyond the understanding of ordinary people, all they knew was that army after army laid the countryside bare, having no regard for the welfare of civilian populations. The ‘Thirty Year War’, fought primarily in Germany from 1618 until 1648, was in fact a number of separate wars involving nearly all the powerful countries of Europe. It began as a fight about religion, between the Protestants and Catholics, but as the war continued, other nations and factions became involved in a struggle for religious and political domination and in a bid to settle old scores. The war reduced the male population of Germany by almost half and, in total almost a third of the people in the German states lost their lives, mostly through hunger and illness. The walled town of Eilenburg became a refuge for fugitives from the surrounding districts where the Swedes had been spreading devastation. Overcrowding, poor sanitation and shortage of food created huge prob-lems. A terrible plague broke out among the people. The pestilence was followed by a famine so severe that people were fighting in the streets over a dead cat or crow. Some ministers in the town left, or fell ill and died, and the whole town council, except for three, also died. Rinckart and the burgomaster and one other citizen, did what they could to organ-ise assistance, so that his door was constantly surrounded by a crowd of

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YP Prizegiving: This took place in February and was considered a huge success and very worthwhile in celebrating the young people and the role that they play in the corps. Thanks too was given to those who work with the young people. Easter: Members of the Corps Council thought that this was a very special week. It was felt that more could have attended the prayer day but for those who came it was a lovely, peace-ful time. With the variety of events that happened that week, we would look to do some-thing similar for next year as well. Corps Anniversary: This was a good weekend although perhaps the Saturday night evening of Countdown & a fish supper could have been advertised earlier. The chips that were spare were given to the homeless in town. Next year we are looking to invite Majors Ian & Jean Loxley and the CO’s will make contact with them to see if they are available. Holiday Club: This will take place the week after Lighthouse and the theme for us will be Seaside Rock which is a Christian holiday club. This will involve games, singing, craft. We would look to advertise this locally, but primarily with those who are associated with the corps (Messy Church, siblings of those who attend Parent & Toddlers etc.,). The cost would be £1.50 per family per day and this would finish with a celebration service on the Sunday. Helpers would be needed for this week to assist with refreshments, crafts etc., to ensure that it runs smoothly. Harvest: Hazel has invited Paul Fey to see if he can lead the Harvest Quiz on Saturday 30th Sep-tember as it was agreed in previous meetings that we should invite him again. CO’s are going to approach Majors Stephen & Christine Perkins (retired) if they would lead the Sunday meetings on the 1st Oct as part of the Harvest weekend. Youth Chorus Visit: Belfast Youth Chorus have been invited & accepted to share the weekend with the corps on the 21st / 22nd October. Sunday Afternoons: As a corps council we continued our discussions about how to make Sunday afternoons more attractive to encourage more people to attend. The outcome of this is that a Songs of Praise team will be asked to co-ordinate plan and prepare this meeting. Various people in the corps will be asked to be a part of this team. It was also suggested that a worship group from another corps be invited to lead one Sunday and this would be followed by a youth fellowship so that our young people can share with other young people from another corps.

A music makers group will be set up to start in January. This will be best described as a musical version of messy church. People will be taught to play various instruments (from brass to drums) as well as having a choir option as well. This would hopefully encourage the musical gifts that we have in the corps to share them with new people. The people to invite to this could come from Messy Church and those who attend the Holiday club and others with links to the corps. It may also be worth contacting local schools as well. This would take place on the 3rd Sunday of the month with the opportunity of performance on the days of Songs of Praise. It was also suggested that perhaps on the occasions where we have 5 Sundays in a month, on that 5th Sunday we do an open air, but do this at an earlier time (early afternoon) and either share in the town centre or in the residential streets near the hall. It was felt, as with all these sugges-tions that we try and see what happens. Following the open air of about 20-30mins we would then invite people back to the hall for refreshments. It was also suggested that we have a picnic in the park on the 30th July. Hughenden was suggested and this will be an opportunity to share togeth-er as a corps. Corps Council Members: We shared about future corps council members to be added and the PCC and CO’s will discuss this soon. Any Other Business: Sat 1st July will be Music for a Summer’s evening which will be a relaxed evening of musical entertainment. There will be scones and tea/coffee available and tables will be set up in the main hall for people to sit at. The YP band, songsters, children’s choir, band and other musical items from people in the corps will take part. People from the corps should be encouraged to raise issues/concerns/ideas they have about the corps with members of the corps council. Date of Next Meeting: Agreed to be 13th September 2017 at the quarters Closing Prayer: Capt. Richard thanked everyone for all they do before closing in prayer.

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Wallis Edwards 30.12.1930—14.06.2017 We will all miss Wallis from his usual seat in the hall on Sunday mornings. A gentleman in all ways, with a wry sense of humour. Since first coming to the meetings with Joan, he hardly missed a Sunday, in particular loving the singing. He had been unwell for some time and Joan cared for him with great love until the end. Please pray for Joan and her family as they mourn their loss.

I think I speak for everyone when I say that our young people are a real joy to us all. Sunday morning would be poorer if they did not have an opportunity to take part in our meeting. Here we see Esther dancing to a gospel song and bringing a real blessing to us all. Below it's the turn of the boys, ‘doing the actions’. If you know of young people who are not connected to any church, why not invite them along. There will be an

ideal opportunity for a first visit at the beginning of August, when we have a special week for children. Look on page 3 for further information about that. Pray for all those who will be in the team as they en-deavour to capture the in-terest of these youngsters and introduce them to and help them to grow in the love of Jesus.

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