The 4th and final Sunday of Advent! Are you ready? Only 5 sleeps to go!
Join us in Church or online for a service of Holy Communion led by Rev’d John Dracup from St Bartholomew’s – #Meltham
https://youtu.be/WzCqMitB3nA
(A thank you letter)
Dear Richard Whiteley,
There’s only one thing certain in these uncertain times – it’s a time to pull together and support each other.
We hope you are staying safe during these uncertain times. We are incredibly grateful for your amazing donation of £4,510.24 through your virtual coffee morning and pop-up shop in Meltham. It’s a fantastic amount and we are so grateful that in times like these you have managed to continue fundraising.
With your help, we can continue to provide our members with the support they require during the pandemic.
Our amazing frontline workers are determined and committed to keeping our services running – providing advice, helping people find somewhere to live and supporting people with their health and wellbeing. A coordinated response will help more people, so we’re funding local groups and organisations through our emergency grants fund, helping us work together and meet the current needs of those experiencing homelessness across the UK.
We have been calling for governments to put in place robust support for people facing homelessness, and we have already begun to see some action. Governments in England and Wales have made clear to local councils that they should ensure everyone sleeping rough or in night shelters is given self-contained accommodation straight away. But we have much further to go to make sure that people facing homelessness are properly housed and provided with the support they need.
Thank you once again for your generosity, and please take care.
Best wishes,
Becky King
Community & Events Fundraising Team Manager
Hello Everyone
14TH DECEMBER Advent 3 “The Meaning is in the waiting”
In church on Advent Sunday, we light the first candle of the four that are placed round an Advent wreath. Each coloured candle is dedicated to a biblical character for that week. The central candle is white representing Jesus the Light of the world. After the character has been introduced a child or children are often called to light the candle for that week.
So – Week one Abraham and Sarah are called as examples of father and mother of the faith and of people whose calling draws them into a lifetime of waiting the fulfilment of Gods promise to them. Our ancestors in the faith are called to wait.
Week two it’s the Prophets who have expectations of Gods intervention in the world waiting for Jesus return.
Week three is John the Baptist whose ministry existed between the old and new and pointed to things beyond himself.
Week four looks at Mary whose whole life was shaped by waiting for the events beyond her control.
The Welsh Poet and Anglican Priest, R S Thomas, would have taken many Advent Services in the Churches he served. In 2008 Dr Paula Gooder, a Biblical Scholar, chose the last line of his poem ‘Kneeling” as the title of her book for Advent. The last line says – ‘The Meaning is in the Waiting.’
Kneeling
Moments of great calm,
Kneeling before an altar
of wood in a stone church
In summer, waiting for the God
To speak; the air a staircase
For silence; the sun’s light
Ringing me, as though I acted
A great role. And the audiences
Still; all that close throng
Of spirits waiting, as I,
For the message.
Prompt me, God;
But not yet. When I speak,
Though it be you who speak
Through me, something is lost.
The meaning is in the waiting.
R S Thomas
In the church, the four weeks of Advent are set aside, in both waiting and preparation for the celebration of the coming of Christ. Antipathy to waiting is exacerbated, if not encouraged, by the world we live. All around us we encounter, day after day, the encouragement not to wait but to have what we want now. Our credit driven society urges us to abandon all thought of waiting and to buy now; so many adverts have as their underlying message ‘why wait’? Improvements in communication only erode the notion of waiting further: We are told that people feel aggrieved if they have to wait for more than 24 hours to receive a reply from an email and mobile phones help us to be available even when we are out. Waiting is, increasingly a strange notion. We have become accustomed to immediacy and swift action.
Given all of this it seems almost ludicrous that the church should have Advent – four weeks dedicated to waiting. Is this not the church yet again, looking backwards to bygone days, to ideas irrelevant to our society, out of touch and out of date? Would it not be a better idea to abandon Advent altogether and simply accept that it is no longer in tune with our culture.?
Part of the clue to a reinvigorated and renewed vision of Advent lies in waiting; a waiting that rests not in frustration but in stillness; not in frenzied anticipation but in the embracing of the present. We are living in strange and difficult times – what will Christmas be like this year, with its various tiers of regulations up and down the country. People are being interviewed for their thoughts daily about the five days surrounding Christmas and what it means to them.
The meaning of Christmas to the populous in general is lost. There is some evidence that churches are looking hard, with some success, at delivering and getting the Christian message across. Within our churches and with the help of the Holy Spirit, may we wait patiently through the difficulties and joys of those people mentioned at the lighting of the four candles in our Advent Wreaths.
R S Thomas’ famous poem ‘Kneeling’ from which the title of Paula Gooder’s Advent book is drawn, articulates the fact that sometimes the really profound moments of our lives occur in the in-between time just before something happens. Truth lurks in the moment between the out breath and the in breath or the moment just before someone speaks. Thomas in his poem recognises the paradox that sometimes the fulfilment of that which we wait robs us of what we were waiting for and that we discover to our surprise that the meaning is in the waiting and not in the fulfilment. Once we recognise this, it becomes clear that Advent is not an irrelevant, cultural dinosaur but vital to our very well- being. If we are able during Advent, to relearn the skill of waiting, then it will have value not only for Advent and Christmas but for the whole of our lives.
ADVENT READING
Luke 1:8-16
.8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.
ADVENT PRAYER
Blessed are you, Lord God for raising up you servants Zechariah and Elisabeth,
Mary and Joseph, to prepare the way for Jesus
Blessed are you for coming to us.
We rejoice as you enter this world with peace and love
and turn our darkness into the light of your presence.
Keep Safe, Keep praying
Peter
It’s already the 3rd Sunday of Advent! Sunday 13th December.
Join us in church or online for a service of Holy Communion led by Rev’d John Dracup from St Bartholomew’s – Meltham starting at 9:30am.
The link can be found here: https://youtu.be/7RLIWpXAwIM
Please join us for our annual Christmas Carol Service led by Rev John
Time: Dec 13, 2020 06:00 PM London
Click on the link below to join our Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81392086543?pwd=cDIweWFiUlNlSEpTMTllSnFLUWJOQT09
Meeting ID: 813 9208 6543
Passcode: 059234
Looking forward to seeing you
Jacqueline x
Due to the current Covid restrictions, the annual Carols in the Park cannot go ahead with the usual format – however, we’re pleased to announce that a Drive-In Carols in the Car Park will take place instead at Morrisons on Sunday 20th December at 5pm.
Please note that places are limited and must be pre-booked – do it now to avoid missing out! Attendance is by car only, or you can also watch online via YouTube. You can find further details and book via the website http://www.meltham.org
There is also an option to make a donation to the ‘Simon on the Streets’ charity which supports the homeless and vulnerable. https://simononthestreets.co.uk/
Thanks go to Meltham Crossroads, the Town Council and of course Morrisons who are supporting us with this event.
Dear All,
As you know we had to plan our fundraising differently this year but we are delighted to announce that at the moment we have a total of £4,406 for ‘Crisis’.
We have had some very generous donations of time, items to buy and money and our thanks go to everyone who has made this possible.
Alison and Richard
Hello Everyone
SIT WALK STAND
Recently reading Pauls letter to the Ephesians reminded me of one of Watchman Nee’s books Sit, Walk, Stand.
Read many years ago, now sitting comfortably on one of our bookshelves. It made quite an impact at the time of first reading.
Watchman Nee, Ni Tuosheng, or Nee T’o-sheng, was a Chinese church leader and Christian teacher who worked in China during the 20th century. In his book, Sit,Walk,Stand, he sub-divides the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians as you see in the title.
SIT – “The God of our Lord Jesus Christ – raised Him from the dead , and made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.
God made Jesus to sit and made us to sit with Him. Christian life does not begin with walking, it begins with sitting. Though the Christian life begins with sitting, sitting is always followed by walking. Sitting describes our position with Christ in the heavenlies. Sitting is where we experience God working in us by His Holy Spirit.
WALK – Walking is the practical out-working of that heavenly position here on earth. Christian experience begins with sitting and leads to walking, but it does not end simply with Sitting and Walking . Every Christian must learn also to Stand.
STAND – “ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.”
Emboldening words from St Paul. They could be the words of a deeply respected army general to his beleaguered troops before they go into battle. This is a spiritual battle and St Paul is in no doubt whatsoever about the powers of evil that confront us.
How do you react to this conviction of his that there are spiritual forces of evil at work?
Do you have any sense of this kind of struggle in your own life?
St. Paul urges us to put on the whole armour of God. What does your armour look like? Does it fit well?
Can you imagine a scene where you are given, and then put on, the whole armour of God?
Is it a magnificent piece of shining equipment? Or does it look altogether different?
How does it feel to be wearing it?
ADVENT READING
Isaiah 43 v 1-5a Israel’s Only Saviour
43 But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour; I give Egypt for your ransom,
4 Since you are precious and honoured in my sight, and because I love you,
I will give people in for you, nations in exchange for your life.
5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
ADVENT PRAYER
Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, you make light to shine in the darkness. You guided the children of Israel and led them, after many trials and tribulations, to the Promised Land. As you called them you call us. We ask you to give us strength in our weakness, to dispel our fear of the unknown, to help us to know that we walk in your light and that you are always near us, leading us to freedom as your children. Amen
As you bring your thoughts to a close, speak to God as your great ally, who has overcome all evil.
Ask Him for whatever courage you might need to meet the challenges of today.
‘O my heart be wise when your enemies surround you. Keep praying; ask the Lord for help. For he is powerful. That is your weapon; do not lose it. Pray without ceasing, for the Lord is powerful.’ Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Keep Safe, Keep praying
Peter
Happy Christmas!
Welcome to the Christmas edition of the #Meltham parish magazine. This month we have included things to lift your spirits and enter into the festivities with lots of Christmas cheer! Due to ongoing Covid 19 a lot of the usual Christmas events have had to be cancelled and those already planned may have to be at the last minute. However it’s not all bad; we still will have the Christmas Day services and not forgetting Christmas Jumper Sunday!
