Monthly Magazine and Events, April 2010Current priorities of St Thomas’- as agreed by Church Council, September 2004 1. Evangelism/Church Growth out of love for people and because we need new members. 2. Worship, including Sunday School, Healing, Prayer and Music. 3. Witness to Asians through individual friendships and through shared work with the community. 4. Presence, that is letting people know that C of E Christians live and/or worship on the Coppice. 5. Working with St Paul’s, as we have been requested by the Diocese.
Dear Friends Today, Palm Sunday, we begin our journey in imagination through Holy Week leading to the Day of Our Lord’s Resurrection (including tableaux as in 2009): Palm Sunday, 28th: Gospel reading and sermon – End and Beginning. Tuesday, 30th, 9.30: Hulme Kindergarten Worship – all welcome. Maundy Thursday, 1st April, 7.30 pm: at St Paul’s. Good Friday, 2nd April, 10.30 am: At the Cross. Easter Eve, 3rd April, 8 pm: welcoming members of St Paul’s – ‘The Lord has risen!’ and Re-affirmation of Baptismal Promises. Easter Sunday, 4th April, 8 am: Holy Communion (1662). 10.30: All Age Holy Communion.
News of a worshiper from the past : I am Grateful to Avril Nuttall of Woodford who has contacted me and passed on the following information. Our thoughts are with her and her family at this time.
On Monday 1 March Geoffrey Edwin Shaw of Burnside Kendal passed away. He was 65.
Avril Nuttall. My address 8 Orwell Lodge 4 Hermitage Walk South Woodford
I remind you of the origin of the name ‘Easter.’ It is uncertain but according to the Venerable Bede, the monk historian of the 8th century, it is connected with ‘Eostre’, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility – hence, eggs. As the date of Christmas was probably moved from September to December in order to supersede and extinguish the Roman feast of Saturnalia, so it seems the Christians rejoiced that Our Lord’s resurrection happened at Passover time and so also superseded and extinguished Easter … at least to some extent! We still call the Festival ‘Easter.’ I would like to call ‘Resurrection Day’ but we’re too late for that! A final point on this – it is the same God who raised Jesus who also gives Spring and fertility.
You may have noticed that when I quote other people’s writings in this magazine a person I often quote is the late Dr Austin Farrer. He made a deep impression on me when I was a student at uni and listened to him preaching. The following is part of what he has written about the resurrection of Jesus: Christ in glory is the heart of heaven, and it is difficult to see how those who leave the life to come an open question can be Christians at all. If Christ is not now in glory, then this is a Christless world and God is a Christless God and we are Christless men. Nothing is plainer in the faith of the New Testament than the ties attaching Christians to a living Christ. Because he is beyond the death we still have to face, our union with him is union with an achieved immortality. By dying, Christ not only made a supremely generous sacrifice, both overcoming enmity, and reconciling sinners to God; he also took the decisive step into that better state of being which lies beyond death. To grow up was good, to die was better; better, if only one could die right. Sinners die into death, but Christ, strong in the power of God, dies into better life. By communion with him, even in this present world, we plant a foot on the risen and spiritual state. Being incorporate with Christ, we are not only incorporate with the Son of God, we are incorporate with a man who has reached the goal of creaturely existence. Christ the infant was a less visible expression of divine sonship than Christ the man; and Christ the man of flesh and blood a less expression than Christ transfigured. This annexing of an earthly fellowship to the heavenly state was begun when Christ, risen from death to glory, visited his surviving friends. Nothing like it ever has happened, or can happen – that the heart of heavenly being should visit earth, to leave on earthly senses the stamp of heavenly substance. No thoughtful Christian can allow the resurrection to be placed in one category with any other class of events, any more than he can allow God to be placed in one category with any class of beings.
Forthcoming events: Sunday 25 April, 11.30, in St Thomas’: Annual Parochial Church Meeting. Sunday 25 April, 6 pm, Christchurch, Chadderton: Any Questions to Parliamentary Candidates, Chair Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali. Tuesday 27 April, 7 pm, St Thomas’ School: AGM of Tudor Community Sports Group, which is responsible for the pitch alongside school. Sunday 2 May, 12 noon, departing St Thomas’ Church: visit to Gorton Monastery to enjoy architecture and a Universal Worship Service – see article elsewhere in this magazine. Wednesday 5 May, 7.30, St Matthew’s, Chadderton: Archdeacon’s Visitation of Priest-in-charge, Wardens and sidespersons. Church Council members also welcome. Yours sincerely Andrew Dawson St Thomasand St Paul’s outing to Gorton Monastery Sunday 2 May leaving St Thomas’ and St Paul’s at 12 noon
Manchester’s magnificent Monastery is Pugin’s architectural masterpiece. It sits alongside the Taj Mahal and the ancient ruins of Pompeii as having been listed in the 100 most endangered sites in the world, with a rich heritage that should never be lost. This promises to be a good experience we can share together just as we did in 2008 at Portland Basin.
St Thomas’ and St Paul’s will each make thee own arrangements for sharing cars. While light lunches can be bought at the Friars’ Pantry Café, some of us may wish to eat a light lunch beforehand as they may be a long queue at the café. Admission to the Monastery is free.
Most Sundays there is a special event in the afternoon. On 2 May at 2.30 there is a Universal Worship Service on the theme of Joy. The Monastery closes at 4 pm. Their website is www.themonastery.co.uk
The historic buildings were built between 1863 and 1872 by Franciscan monks who had come to Manchester in 1861 to serve the local Catholic community. Designed by Edward Pugin, whose father helped design the houses of Parliament, Gorton Monastery is considered one of his finest masterpieces.
Further info from mary@fairhurst4.freeserve.co.ukor 0161 624 0356
Sunday School Every Sunday at 10.30 except when there is an All Age Sermon. Ring Maureen Yarwood Tel: 624 1117
Choir Ring Beverley Hogg Tel: 652 3728
Youth Events Ring Andrew Dawson Tel: 678 8926
Mothers’ Union Last Thursday of the month 2 pm in the Vestry Branch Leader: Mavis Booth Tel: 652 3981
Tuesday House Group including World Mission Prayer: every week, 8 pm Enquiries to Barbara Duxbury Tel: 652 4682
Wednesday House Group Including World Mission Prayer: every week, 8 pm Enquiries to Andrew Dawson Tel: 678 8926
Prayer Chain A confidential way of involving in intercession people with pastoral responsibility in the church. Please give updates as situations change. Tel: 678 8926
Prayer for Healing After 10.30 Sunday worship (to the right of the pulpit), or in homes by arrangement. Enquiries to Andrew Dawson, Tel: 678 8926
Children’s Society representative Anne Sankaran Tel 624 7591
Magazine staff Editors: Sallie Milnes – Tel: 620 7637 Margaret Haslam - Tel: 620 8925
Distribution: Alan Haslam Treasurer: Margaret Haslam
Please give articles to the editors by the Sunday before the last Sunday of the month.
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