Saint Peter's Church, A Rector's Blog

At last! After centuries of attempting to communicate with mankind had met with, at best, a mixed response, God appears to have acheived a breakthrough!

A family from Wales (no implied sneering here, as I’m one-quarter welsh…) has positive proof of God’s existence, and his comforting presence.

Christians will not be the least surprised to learn that the chosen medium is the lid of a jar of Marmite. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8071865.stm

The Marmite issue, like the gospel, is one that divides the nation – you love it or you hate it, there’s no sitting on the fence.

I grew up in Burton on Trent, where the stuff is made (a by-product of the, more popular, brewing industry). Each Sunday morning, the vats where it was produced would be cleaned - a process that involved burning the yeast off the inside of the vats – and the smell of burning Marmite would fill the morning air. There was no escaping it.

To borrow words from Paul the apostle, to some it is the smell of death, to others, the fragrance of life (2 Corinthians 2:14-16).

Personally I can’t stand the stuff – I’ll stick to the good news of God communicated to us through more conventional means: Thanks be to God who…through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:14)

I think I might be in need of an evening off…

A friend and fellow blogging clergyman has just enjoyed a 6 week sabbatical – and in the course of this took the opportunity of free Sundays to visit a variety of other churches.

Gary Jenkins makes some interesting observations about his experiences - I have copied them, below.

Visiting a church is not like going to your own church, because the whole experience of going to your own church is as much about meeting the people of the congregation to which you belong as it is about the actual content of the service.

With that proviso here are a few reflections on the seven churches (2 inner city, one city centre, one rural, 3 suburban) I have visited in my sabbatical.

The clergy Traditional clerical attire of the cassock and surplice variety has just about disappeared from main services. In about half of the churches the minister wore a clerical collar; in the rest a shirt and tie or open necked shirt. All the preachers were male, and in all but one case so were the service leaders.

Music Traditional hymns are rare but are occasionally heard. A small band has almost completely replaced the traditional organ (which, however, was heard once). Most churches have the words of songs projected on to a screen but only one had all the words of the service, including the liturgy projected.

Visitor information was quite poor. In most cases it wasn’t clear where the toilets were, or where to take children for Sunday school activities, in only about half of the churches was there any information about refreshments afterwards. One of the church’s omitted all details of its address or location from an otherwise informative website. Leaders and preachers were only identified in the service sheets in about half of the churches.

Evangelical philistinism still reigns. In which other type of church would you find a chancel full of electronic equipment or Holy Communion celebrated on small side table, more like a flower stand, and in which other tradition could songs be chosen with such little concern for good English, good theology or good taste?

Preaching was clear and biblical, nearly always part of a biblical series. Typically sermons were of 20-25 minutes duration. Surprisingly in only one church did the preacher make use of the AV facilities for the sermon, and then only in the most basic way.

Spiritual life There was real spiritual life and vitality in every church and it was great to be able to worship with God’s people.

Follow Gary on (http://redhillthoughts.blogspot.com)

Peter Churcher, a member of St Peter’s church, is a fellow blogger.

You would struggle to think of a more suitable name for someone connected to St Peter’s church…hence the name of his blog:

http://afittingname.blogspot.com/

 I have added Peter to my Blogroll, and look forward to reading more!

Apologies (if anyone is there to apologise to…) – it has been a while.
However, the same issues that have occupied my time with things other than updating the blog, now prompt me to write.

The members of St Peter’s have responded in a remarkable way to a document (‘Investing in People‘), which set out a vision for an assistant member of staff. The role would be one of youth and children’s ministry, with some involvement in evangelism and outreach onto The Mount area of our parish included.

The financial committment required, before we could guarantee to sustain the post over 3 years, was another £30,000 on top of regular giving.

Tomorrow I shall be able to let the congregation know that we have reached that target. Praise God!

In his letter to the church in Philippi (Philippians 4:15-20) the apostle Paul thanks the church for their generosity in supporting his ministry financially, and describes their gifts as  ’a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God’,  and follows that with ‘And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ’.

Paul made the connections between the generosity of the giving of these Christians, and the generosity of God in the gospel.

Our giving is in response to the generous love of God of which the gospel speaks. The reward for our giving is also to be found in the gospel – in the Christ who has met all our spiritual needs. We can’t outgive God!

As we move forward to appoint an assistant member of staff, we do so with the desire to make Christ known in our parish, and to strengthen our church fellowship as those who are ‘Discovering, celebrating and sharing life with God through Jesus Christ.’

Some of that involves getting on with stuff that doesn’t feel too spiritual – but nonetheless involves sacrificial and generous giving of time and energy – thanks to all those who have been involved in the building of the compost bins in our new churchyard extension!  A compost heap that has a touch of the ‘fragrant offering’ about it!

‘To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen!’ (Philippians 4:20)

This is a little late to put this on the blog, but I have just learned that the opening of the new changing block at the Sports Club in November was recorded and can be viewed at the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbQfwxR-YZQ

Rose Suarez, our Careforce Volunteer for the past year, has emailed to say that she has arrived home safely to her family in Bogota*.

A large number of people gathered to say farewell to Rose after the morning service on 20th December, and Rose gave us a photographic diary of her year in England.

On her arrival a year ago, she had asked whether we ever have snow in Woodmansterne, to which I replied something like ‘We had a bit last November, but we don’t get a lot’ . Then came February…and her trip to Heathrow on Sunday was also a snow affected journey.

Rose will be mised by the children at Lighthouse, Kidzone and in the local schools that we visit for assemblies. A large part of her year was spent leading in our children and youth work.

Our plans are to not to have a Careforce volunteer this year, but to direct our resources to the appointment of an Assistant Minister – see the feature on the home page of the website – who will take a lead in our children and youth ministry among other things.

Please pray for Rose as she makes enquiries and applications to return to the UK to study at Warwick University beginning this Sept.

*The photo above shows Rose (centre) with children from Lighthouse, not her family in Bogota…

Dear Friends,

 
Almost to the day a year ago we arrived from Kampala to Oxford.  We had visited neither the house we had rented nor the school where our children had places until we arrived in Oxford, two days after stepping off the plane.  2009 has continued this pattern of both uncertainty and provision, with surgeries both taking place and being cancelled, another house-move and both obstacles and opportunities for the future.
 
A new home
In August we moved 15 minutes around the Oxford ring road to Headington because our previous landlord wanted to increase the rent.  Our new home is smaller but more practical for a family and a lower rent, so we are glad we made the move but are weary of moving.  The boys love having a football pitch behind the house, their parents love having a dishwasher!
 
Health issues and future plans
At the end of October, we finally met with the surgeon who performed Helen’s operation.  He explained that he was unwilling to perform an operation on Helen’s other hip until she experienced pain.  We pushed him to say if and when that could be but he stated it was impossible to predict.  He was pleased with Helen’s recovery from the February surgery.  While she experiences some pain on occasions, it is significantly less than before she underwent surgery.  Physiotherapy and exercise has taken up much of her time, alongside keeping our family organised.

Helen and the children celebrating her crutch-free life outside our new house

Therefore we have taken the decision to pursue returning to Uganda.  However we realise that if Helen experiences hip-related problems in Uganda that require surgery, we will all move back from Uganda at that point and bring that chapter of our lives to a close.  We can no longer move between continents on a regular basis. Repeated moves have taken a cumulative toll upon us and, as our children approach secondary school, we need to avoid moving them between schools.  
 
Researching research into Ugandan Christianity
After moving the family in August, Angus has continued to make the most of Oxford’s libraries. He has identified a significant volume of post-graduate research on Ugandan Christianity, a staggering 244 MA or PhD theses to-date.  

The growing volume of research on Ugandan Christianity. Note how African researchers have outnumbered their Western counterparts.
 

Less than 20% of this material has been published in a format that is available in Uganda. Some of the finest examples contain research that is of significant value to Christian communities in Uganda. He is currently finishing a report describing this post-graduate research, why relatively little has been disseminated and how more could be disseminated, primarily in Uganda. He will then send copies of his report to colleagues in Uganda and follow this up with a visit in the New Year to discuss possibilities.  Several institutions in the West have also expressed support.  However, if these possibilities are to become realities, commitment and consensus is needed from individuals and institutions in Uganda and the West.  Angus has also taught several classes at Wycliffe Hall with a colleague from the Church Mission Society.   
 
Bowed but not beaten
It has been a difficult year with upheaval and uncertainty, obstacles and orthopaedics.  It has also been a year of unexpected provision: more suitable housing, spiritual and emotional development and redefining future plans.  We are particular grateful for the friends and church communities who have stood by us through these experiences.  Your concern, prayers, words and gifts have made God’s care for us concrete when we have sometimes wondered where he was in the midst of the difficulties.  Emails flooded in from around the world as Helen underwent surgery and even prayer-over-cell-phone from our church in Kampala, a car was waiting for us in the UK, a warm invitation to join close friends on their family holiday, unexpected practical gifts arriving through the post. Thank you to all of you who have helped us to experience more profoundly what Emmanuel means: ‘God with us’ in the midst of his people.  
 
With our love at this Christmastime,

Helen, Angus,
Anna (6), Samuel (8) and Joshua (9).

–
Angus and Helen Crichton
17 Long Close
Headington
Oxford
OX3 8TT
Tel: 01865 714450
Angus’ Mb: 079818001178
Helen’s Mb: 07948533016
Emails: anguscrichton@yahoo.co.uk, helencrichton@yahoo.co.uk

News received from our link church of St Philip’s Mkoba, in the Gweru province of Central Zimbabwe.

Mick

Greetings In His Precious Name!

It has been sometime since I last spoke to you via e-mail.

We have had the busiest period that started around August to present.

August was conference month for all the guilds. We managed to participate in all the meetings and in cases where we were supposed to showcase talent and skill came up tops i.e. Mothers Union and St Agnes Guild.

The MU did us proud by excelling in both the diocesan and the national conferences.Their harvest contributions were the highest,the mothers’ modeling in MU uniforms and attire were unequalled,the highest number in attendance was no match for everybody and the high quality of presentation and participation in all the programmes was second to none.

The St Agnes Guild also surpassed all the expectations by scooping all the prizes in the knitting competitions,music presentation,harvest,the best drama group and a couple of other achievements.

The Youth also met during the same month in Gokwe and were up-lofted spiritually.We had the pleasure of meeting Bishop Nick who addressed the nearly 500 (five hundred) attendees.It was an eye-opener to learn of the similarities or differences between the young people in England compared to us.The youths really enjoyed every minute of it.

Above all I thank the Lord for the relevant themes in all cases which were compatible with our current situation and spiritual nourishment.

We also had 21 candidates confirmed during September and thank the Lord for them.

Particular mention should also go to the recently held Diocesan Anniversary Celebrations held at St Cuthbert’s Cathedral on 3 October 2009.It was also a time of worship and re-affirming our commitment to the diocese and boosting the diocesan endowment fund.Praise the Lord for our efforts – we simply had the highest contributions.

A couple of weeks ago we received seed-maize donated to parishes via the Bishop’s office.All our local parish households numbering 285 benefited from the Croydon’s Bishop’s Appeal Fund donation.We are expecting a wet planting season and I tell you this will certainly go a long way towards the eradication of poverty among our people.Every one wants to quickly forget the experiences of the year 2008.

On 13 December 2009 we will be holding our Harvest/Thanks-Giving Day.We intend to raise anything close to US$5,000.00 (five thousand dollars) to finance the completion of the building projects.

The ablution block is almost ready with everything in place except for the tiles which are quite expensive,the hall extension is where our efforts are currently being directed to.The ACM (Anglican Church Men) the men’s equivalency of the Mothers’ Union are engaged in erecting the walls and roofing which should be through next week sometime.

Our hope and prayer is that the Lord continues to bless us and make St Philip’s such an oasis of salvation,hope,togetherness and oneness.We always cherish to continually feed on the Word of God for a meaningful relationship with Him.

Remember our nation in prayer – we value so much your intercession and pleading before God.

Again for the umpteenth time we have had electricity for six(6) hours a day from around 11pm to 5am.

 May the Lord abundantly bless you all.

 RGDS Martin

London, 1927

Twittering has put me in touch with all sorts of fascinating folks and rich resources…no, seriously…

Take a look at this colour clip of London in 1927. Particularly fascinating are the lone policeman holding up the traffic in central London, the items on sale (and the number of people) at Petticoat Lane market on a Sunday, and the hats!

You might want to make yourself a cup of tea, before sitting back and enjoying a fascinating 10 minutes. The more sensitive will need to brace themselves for some very un-PC social comment… (in writing – no sound with this clip)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwahIQz0o-M

Bill Sweeney, a member of St Peter’s Church, and a much loved and respected resident of Woodmansterne, passed away on Oct 30th.

Art Barron announced his death to the congregation on Sunday evening by describing him very well as ‘our gentle friend, Bill’.

Bill’s funeral will take place on Wednesday 18th November at 12.00pm, and he will be buried in Epsom Cemetery, alongside his beloved Jean who died 4 yrs ago, at 1.30pm.

Revelation 14:13
Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labour, for their deeds will follow them.”