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Lexden Link Autumn 2014 Issue 45 |
From our Minister
It seems like a lot of the news at present has to do with co-operation and how we work together with others; from the alliances being built to tackle the conflicts across the world to the discussions around Scottish independence and the impact of the referendum, both on Scotland and the wider UK, the question seems to be, how far can we work with others?
This seems to me to be a question faced by the Church too and one that is faced at every level, from the dialogues between denominations to how we as a group of 11 churches relate as a circuit. Whatever we do we cannot work in isolation and there is great benefit to be had from sharing together, the thing is how do we manage this in a way that fully recognises the contributions of all?
Jesus in his great prayer to the Father on the night of his betrayal prays about his followers ‘may they be one, heavenly Father, as you and I are one.’ This prayer is often taken as the mandate for ecumenical work and a marker against which we measure ourselves. It is God’s own call that we should ‘be one’, the question is, how does that look in 21st century society?
Jesus prays ‘may they be one’, he does not say ‘may they all be the same’ and indeed the twelve that he chooses as apostles are a witness to that, coming from a wide variety of backgrounds with very little in common. Yet, for all their bickering, the disciples are united by their faithfulness to Jesus and so it is with us the Church. The things that we hold in common are far more important than the things that divide us and whenever we come together it is good to remember that.
I very much enjoyed being part of a family fun festival held at the beginning of September in Castle Park and organised by a wide group of churches across Colchester. One of the great blessings was meeting people from fellowships I knew relatively little about and learning from them. We didn’t agree on everything, but I felt richer for the conversations, which enabled my own faith to grow.
As churches in the circuit facing important decisions at this time we need to really reflect on how we fulfil Jesus wish to ‘be one’. Are we supporting one another in prayer and seeking to build one another up or is there a sense of competition to see who is ‘biggest and best’? We will not always agree, but we do need to talk together, pray together, worship together and share in fellowship together in order to build up our own faith life and the life of our wider community. This means supporting events at other churches as well as our own and finding out the needs and concerns of others as well as being prepared to share honestly ourselves. As we do so we hold fast to the One who prayed for his followers to come together so that His prophecy may be fulfilled and ‘the world may believe.’
God bless.. Ruth
The Four Seasons
by Myrtle I Sparke
| Spring
I love to walk through meadows green On a lovely day in Spring To loiter near the sparkling stream To hear the birds that sing My heart is light I trip along There’s so much to delight Far away from the busy town Here it’s calm and bright There are butter cups and daises Bluebells in the wood Up above the sky is blue and everything is good And so I wander on my way Watch the little lambs at play Feel the cool refreshing breeze In the tall and verdant trees And so at length I turn around Back I go to the busy town Calmed and refreshed by what I’ve seen In those pleasant fields so green. Summer Summer time again is here The season which I like best The lovely flowers which then appear Will in all their robes be dressed Roses red, carnations too Flowers of every kind and hue Smell their fragrance in the breeze Hear the droning of the bees Summer days are long and bright Today there is not a cloud in sight So let us go down to the sea For that is where I long to be The children playing on the beach Are happy as can be Some are sitting in a row To watch a Punch and Judy show Others go on the pier Lots of fun and amusements here Slot machines try your luck Win some pennies, that’s the stuff And then of course there are the stalls Tell your fortune, ping pong, balls Helter Skelter, oh what fun Then to rest, bask in the sun. Autumn We’ve said goodbye to summer To the long hot sunny days But not goodbye to beauty It’s with us here always So let us walk down shady lanes To view the golden splendour Of the trees that once were green With budding leaves so tender The glorious tints of autumn Are spread before our eyes There’s beauty in the hedgerow There’s splendour in the skies So let us linger while we may Fill our hearts with quiet content To gather all the sweetness in Surely it is time well spent For soon the leaves will fall To rustle beneath our feet The swallows too will fly away In other lands to meet. The seasons come, the seasons go Autumn will soon fade away But the sun will surely shine To welcome in another day Winter with its icy blast Is here with us again The trees are bare, the skies are grey Snow has whitened all the plain And as I gazed from window pane Upon the wintry scene A perky little robin came Its feathers he did preen And as he hopped upon the snow His crimson breast all aglow The sun came out, all was bright Robin chirped with all his might And this is what he seemed to say The world is very bright and gay This lovely snow beneath my feet is nicer than the stony street The children too will laugh and shout Throw the snowballs all about For those who find it cold and bleak There’s comfort near the chimney seat So let us not be sad but gay For time is ever on the wing Around the corner, hovers spring. With thanks to Roz for sharing this with us The Hymn Writers – Reverend Fred Pratt-Green The Reverend Fred Pratt Green CBE was a British Methodist minister, hymn writer and poet. He was born in Roby, Lancashire, on 2nd September 1903 and died on 22nd October 2000. After hearing a sermon on John Masefield’s The Everlasting Mercy he went to Didsbury Theological College where he graduated in 1928 and began his ministry in the Filey circuit. There he met Marjorie Dowsett and they married in 1931. By 1939, Pratt Green was a minister on the Ilford circuit and was soon combining spiritual duties with those as an air raid warden. In 1944 he moved to Finsbury Park, Three years later he was transferred to Brighton, where at the Dome concert hall he regularly preached to congregations of 2,000. Fred Pratt Green was appointed MBE in 1995. His wife predeceased him in 1993. There were no children, but they raised Elizabeth Shepherd, the daughter of a missionary who had died of leprosy in India. The Reverend Fred Pratt Green wrote more than 300 hymns, and was one of the most prolific hymn writers of the 20th century. The most remarkable aspect of his career as a hymn writer was that he did not begin to write hymns until his late sixties, when he was on the verge of retirement from the Methodist ministry. In 1967 he was co-opted onto a committee planning a supplement to The Methodist Hymn Book. In 1977, the Church of England turned to Pratt Green after rejecting Sir John Betjeman’s contribution to the Jubilee. Pratt Green came up with a replacement, sung to the rhythm of The Battle Hymn of the Republic and to a tune by Walford Davies, Vision: It is God who holds the nations in the hollow of his hand; It is God whose light is shining in the darkness of the land; It is God who builds his City on the Rock and not on sand; May the living God be praised! Thank you to everyone for their contributions to this quarter’s newsletter.Please let me have articles for the Winter 2014 edition by the start of December. Christine Beesley – Editor |
