The monthly Church Magazine is delivered to subscribers in Stoke Rivers and Challacombe as well as Bratton Fleming. Additional copies are available in the church.
Some of the articles from this month's magazine are found below.
The annual subscription for the magazine is currently £6.20 (+ postage if applicable). For further details contact Terry Squire (please see 'Who's Who' page).
December 2010
The Team Vicar Writes . . .
The Church of the Nativity has stood in Bethlehem since the 4th century, a reminder to generations of pilgrims of the place where Jesus was born.
Impressive as it is, there’s a real sense of “descending” about the building. The entrance doorway is narrow, and so low you have to stoop to pass through. And inside, steps lead down again to take you to the grotto, which, tradition has it, is Jesus’ birthplace.
Whatever the historical accuracy, the symbolism is clear. For Christians, it’s a reminder of a kind of love affair - God’s love affair with us. It’s a reminder of what he would stoop to, to help us love him the way he loves us.
He could have come among us a heavenly being, or - as many wanted - a military hero. Instead, beneath that star over Bethlehem, he chose to come among us as a homeless and helpless child. By choosing to come to us in such an ordinary way, God showed us that flesh and blood, joy and sorrow, achievement and disappointment, life and death were good enough for him.
We’ll soon be planning and enjoying Christmas parties, and preparing for the festivity of Christmas Day. That’s good, because this should be a time of enjoyment. But let’s revel, too, in the light of that star, beneath which the ordinary becomes holy and the holy, ordinary. In the light of that star it becomes crystal clear that there’s nothing more we must do or be to be loved by God - we’re already loved beyond our wildest dreams. And let’s believe on Christmas Day, and the day after, and the day after that, and on every day of our lives, that what God sends us is himself. That’s the greatest gift of all. And all we have to do is accept it.
Kate and I wish you a happy, peaceful and blessed Christmas.
Service of Remembrance
Over 100 people gathered at the War Memorial for this year’s Service of Remembrance. Wreaths were laid by the Bratton Fleming Scout Group and the Parish Council.
The Last Post and Reveille were sounded by Ted Kilvington and Margaret Surgeon, to whom we are very grateful.
During the service in church the talk was given by David Gammell, the local organiser for Help for Heroes, on the work of the charity.
The collection, which totalled £300 was given to Help for Heroes to help them in their important work.
Thank You
Below is a letter received from Amigos. This followed Sam’s moving account at Harvest Thanksgiving of his visit to Uganda and the plight of one woman. Members of the congregation later collected enough money to donate a wheelchair to Mary. If you missed Sam’s account of his visit, it can be found on the Amigos website: www.amogos.org.uk/newsevents
Dear Les,
Thank you all so much for your generosity towards Joan's Grandma in the shape of a wheelchair.
It was all joy and tears when Charlie Bond and Sam's school colleges presented the brand new wheelchair to Grandma, a couple of weeks ago in Masindi, Uganda.
Please pass on everyone's grateful thanks, both from Uganda and the UK to St Peter's Church Bratton Fleming.
It is very rewarding to see the next generation seriously looking at how they can get involved and change lives around the world. Sam is an exceptional young man!
Thank you all again for your generosity, thoughtfulness and kindness, you are all very much appreciated.
Warmest,
Phil Pugsley
Christmas Services
As is usual at this time of year, there will be a number of additional services during December.
On Saturday 11 December the Scout’s District Carol Service will be at 2:00pm.
On Friday 17 December the School Carol Service will be at 2:15pm, to which everyone is welcome.
On the following day, Saturday 18 December, the popular Carols by Candlelight will be at 7:00pm.
On Christmas Eve ‘Welcome to Christmas’, an informal service suitable for all ages, will be at 4:00pm. This will be followed at 11:30pm by Holy Communion.
Family Communion will be at 10:00am on Christmas Day.
On Sunday 26 December there will not be a service at St. Peters. Instead there will be a special Christmas Team Service at Shirwell at 11:00am.
Thank You
We are very grateful to Gill and Alan for preparing and maintaining the Advent Wreath throughout the season.
We are also grateful to them for preparing all the candles in readiness for the carol service.
Carols by Candlelight
As always, we will be grateful for help in preparing the church for the annual carol service, and picking everything up after the service.
Please contact the churchwardens if you are able to help on the Saturday afternoon on 18 December.
Please contact Terry if you would like to read one of the lessons at the service, whether or not you are a regular reader. Even if you have given your name to Terry, please confirm that you are able to read.
Faculty Progress
At the meeting that he chaired, the Archdeacon of Barnstaple, Ven David Gunn-Johnson, explained the current position.
Although the Chancellor’s Judgement was received at the beginning of October, the Faculty was not received for another month.
Even with these two documents we still are not able to state exactly what we are able to do. There is some corollary work needed to enable the work granted in the Judgement to be carried out. We are currently awaiting a decision from the DAC on these proposed changes.
It was agreed at the meeting to make copies of the Chancellor’s Judgement available to anyone who may wish to read it. Copies are now available in church. We are grateful to Peter for printing three copies.
As soon as we have confirmation of what work can be undertaken, details will be published in this magazine.
It should be noted that the permission that is still awaited, with one possible exception, forms part of the original Faculty application.
Regular Giving to St Peter’s
If you`re not a regular giver through the envelope scheme and would like to use that method as a way of contributing to the work of this Church. Please see Hugh Rolfe or Val Worms.
These donations can be Gift Aided if you`re a tax payer or not and all gifts received in this way will be treated in strictest confidence.
January 2011
The Team Rector Writes . . .
As I write snow is all around, and Services are being cancelled left right and centre. We have grown unused to this sort of end to a year. But weather is changing. Those who thought that “Global Warming” meant year-long sunbathing in their English back gardens can think again. They weren't listening when it was said back in the 1970's that global warming would mean a change bringing more severe winters. Change can be a bit of a shock.
But this is written for January, and January is the start of a new year. What then is in store for 2011? Hold tight! Its change!
We may recoil in horror from change, or we may find that we can embrace it and enjoy it. Each of us is different, and are touched differently by change. But be sure that change is constant.
We may want to keep everything just as it is, we may want to do everything we have always done, but change means that it cannot be that way. When I came to the Shirwell Team I came as a parent, I came with the ability to run up Bratton hill, and I came wondering what the Team might be like ten years on. Now I am a granddad six times over, I can't run to save my life, and I know that the Team will consist of one Clergy-person by the middle of the year, but that it will include several very able lay-folk including a Reader we didn't have in 1998. Things have changed and I can't stop that change.
2011 will bring changes in buildings. There will be changes to Service patterns to accommodate the halving of clergy-numbers in the Team. People's needs may well change and the way those peoples' needs are met will also change.
But the way Christians cope with change does not alter. They hold on to God, and follow His leading. They adapt by making sure they are going his way. Then they continue following, through difficulty, through pain or criticism, through blind hard-heartedness. We are “people of the Way”, and we have a Saviour who is always leading us forward.
2011? Bring it on!
Carol Concert
Unfortunately the unexpected snowfall and sub-zero temperatures meant that it was necessary to cancel the concert by the Exmoor Carolers at the end of November.
We apologise to everyone who were looking forward to the concert, but road conditions meant that it would have been dangerous to travel, either by car or on foot.
Carols by Candlelight
Despite two nights of snow and freezing temperatures over a hundred people braved the weather to attend this popular service.
The weather meant that the attendance was greatly reduced from previous years, but the fact that so many were able to attend made the work of clearing the churchyard paths and preparing the church worthwhile.
We are very grateful to everyone who helped get everything ready during the afternoon, and to members of the Baptist Church who prepared the refreshments that followed the service.
We are also very grateful to Margaret who braved icy roads to play the organ, and those who read the lessons: Maureen Tucker, Daphne Dallyn, Isobel & Vas Mihai, Chris Kift, Archie Wilson, Ruby Cowell, Val Kift, Brian Williams and Audrey Dever.
The retiring collection totalled £137.70 which will be donated to Amigos for their work in Uganda.
Plough Service
The Family Service on the first Sunday in January will also incorporate our Plough Service. During the service an old plough will be carried into church, and God’s blessing asked for all who work on the land.
Originally Plough Sunday, was the first Sunday after the Epiphany and was traditionally the Sunday set-aside especially to bless the plough before ploughing got off in earnest in preparation for the sowing of spring crops.
To many today it may seem irrelevant, and also rather odd that ploughing started as late as January. In today’s farming scene, the ploughs are in the fields almost as soon as the combines have finished harvesting.
But then, farming was very different. After harvest the stubbles were left to feed and fatten up poultry and geese. Geese especially, as it was always a goose that was served up at Michaelmas – an important feast day, As most of the cereal crops grown were sown in the spring, ploughing did not start until after the Christmas festivities in January and February, giving time for the frost to break down the soil prior to sowing in March or April. Hence Plough Sunday coming in early January was the most appropriate time to bless the plough, and pray for a successful harvest to come.
There was no welfare state then, and a good harvest was all important. Harvest was not just about wheat, important as it was for bread making. But, man cannot live by bread alone. Barley was grown for feeding the pigs, of which almost all households had at least one, and for beer which was then a staple drink.
Oats were needed for horse feed as the horse was paramount for both power and transport. Harvest also meant apples, potatoes and all other vegetables.
People were not quite so dependant on Tesco then, and issues such as fair trade and food miles had not yet been thought of, and of course everything was seasonal. The very fabric of life centred around the seasons, and the farming year. Each parish had its own rector; the Church had the farming festivals, which were important to everyone. - Plough Sunday - Rogation - Lammas - Harvest - Michaelmas.
Team Services in January
There will be two Team Services during January:
The first will be on the third Sunday - 16 Jan., and will be a Covenant Service here at Bratton Fleming.
Methodists hold an annual Covenant Service, to celebrate all that God has done for us, and to affirm that we give our lives and choices to God.
Most churches hold the service in the New Year, but some hold them in September, at the beginning of the Methodist year.
The Covenant prayer makes it very clear that this affirmation is a serious one that embraces the whole of our life, in all its parts.
In recent years we have been joined by congregations across the Team for this important service.
The other Team Service will be on the fifth Sunday - 30 Jan., at 11:00am at Shirwell.
Church Extension
After five years of prayer and planning we are now about to start the final chapter in the long awaited and needed extension.
As this magazine goes to print our architect is preparing to send tender documents to five approved builders.
In the coming weeks it is hoped to award the contract to build the extension to one of these builders, and that work will commence in the Spring.
There is no doubt that to have toilets attached to the church will be a great benefit, especially for the very young and senior members of the congregation. Toilets will also be very welcome for people who may have travelled a great distance for services such as weddings, baptisms and funerals. Although there are toilets at the Village Hall, their availability and condition is subject to a small majority in the community who do not respect other people’s property.
The kitchen/servery will also be a great benefit, especially when serving coffee etc after a service. Once seen as an ‘add-on’ to a service, this time of fellowship together has become an integral and important part of any service.
The meeting room will be especially useful. It will become a room for the Sunday Club to meet during service times, and a space to have a cup of coffee afterwards. It will also become a meeting room, for such groups as the Church Council. At the moment the Council meets at the Parsonage, but when Les retires next year this space will not be available.
We are aware that a few questions have been asked regarding the design of the extension, with some expressing the view that it should be designed in keeping with the existing building.
Almost from the outset of this project we were advised by the Diocesan Buildings Advisor (a post jointly funded by English Heritage) that this was not the case, and that it could be as modern as we wished.
Viewers of the Channel 4 series ‘Restoration Man‘ will be aware that English Heritage are now against any extension to a listed building being built to mirror the architecture of the original building. Their view is that an extension should reflect the architecture of the time. This is probably opposite to what most people think. The Church Council were certainly surprised to learn that the extension should not be faced in stone to match the church itself. The final appearance of the extension was at the insistence of the local planning authority, who had refused earlier proposals.
Another change that had to be made was that of the roof. This was caused as the roof of the extension had to be the same pitch as that of the north aisle of the church. In addition the whole extension had had to be designed to be self supporting. This was in order that none of its weight was to be borne by the church building. This will minimise the amount of work on the existing stonework.
All these changes to the original design has obviously caused more work by the architect and the loss of quite a lot of time before the final design was broadly agreed by the amenity bodies and of course the planning authority.
There is no doubt that the extension will have a number of planning features which will clearly identify it as a 21st century construction.
In common with modern building practice, wherever possible it will be built from materials from sustainable sources.
Although it will be accessed by steps from the outside, the floor will be level with the floor of the church, providing access for wheelchair users.
Included in the plans is the lighting of the path around the west end of the church, together with the main paths in the churchyard.