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Caz Gatehouse shares some amazing resources to help during lockdown

As I am starting to write this, we have just been told that we are entering into another lockdown, which means our churches remain closed.

Yesterday I was reading an article on the Premier Christianity website titled 14 Things you (probably) didn’t know about Christianity but really should. No.1 was the fact that the ‘Church’ is not the building but the ‘people’. It was a timely reminder that even though our church buildings may be shut – God’s Church isn’t!! We are not banned from worshipping God, doing his ministry, or teaching and learning about Him, or from loving, supporting and encouraging one another – we just need to find different ways of doing it!

Although it’s not the same as meeting in person, technology has been a great way of doing this. Imagine what it must have been like in 1918 when churches had to close during the Spanish flu pandemic; most people didn’t even have a phone to contact friends and family!

So, as well as the services and Messy Church that you can access online, we have a Zoom Children’s Group on a Sunday morning at 10.30am for half an hour. Tuesday afternoon’s at 2pm we have a Zoom Toddler Group for parents/ grandparents to keep in touch with each other, and if the toddlers join in, we can do a song time and story. I email out a weekly ‘Family Time’ for you to use to do ‘Sunday School’ at home.

I am also looking at starting a parents’ ‘catch up and pray’ group. If you are interested in that or any of the above, please do get in touch.

• Email: caz@stsaviours.net
• Mobile: 07948 799332

There are also many free resources online that you can use. Here are two:

Check out Doug Horley’s website for some fun and crazy antics, as well as great music, with his Crazy Stay at Home Road Show – access via his website https://www.duggiedugdug.org/crazy-stay-at-home-road-show.

The Bible App for Kids is an animated storybook app for smartphones and tablets. It has colourful illustrations with animations activated by touch, games and activities. On the website you can also stream or download video episodes, as well as resources like colouring pages and activity sheets – go to www.bibleappforkids.com

Have fun checking them out and please do get in touch if I can help in any way.

Praying for God’s peace, protection, and blessings on you all at this time.

Caz Gatehouse, Children’s minister

Laura Simpkins reflects on Ecclesiastes 3: 1-15

As the first frost of the year melts, the glistening ponds in our back garden reappear, mud and fallen leaves from ancient oaks creating a slippery network of little motes around the numerous molehills. The bright sun can’t disguise the chill. It is undisputedly winter. In this season we look back at 2020 with thanks for the many good things we have experienced. However, none of us has been untouched by the suffering, fear and heartbreak of this year. Some of us might even be tempted to ask, ‘Where has God been this year?’

I invite you to pause here to listen to the Byrds’ folk rock hit of 1965 Turn! Turn! Turn! – click here. The song’s lyrics were nearly exclusively taken from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 in the King James Version. Pete Seeger wrote it as a call to peace during the Vietnam War; however, the passage reaches even deeper into history.

In the poetry of the first verses, Ecclesiastes 3 reminds believers that God has His hand on all things throughout all of time, past, present and future; and that nothing escapes his watchful eye and steadying hand. The writer, possibly King Solomon, continues to make sure we get the point:

‘He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil – this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.’ Ecclesiastes 3: 11-15

God has built in humanity a yearning to understand and look towards eternity. We also have deep in us a (sometimes suppressed) desire to revere and praise Him, walking hand and hand through the days, months, years and millennia, in work, struggle, pleasure, joy and pain. He wastes no words or actions. He allows nothing to come to pass that will not work for good through the power of his Spirit. His timing and all He does is perfect.

Sometimes steps of faith, in whatever form they take, can be daunting. So let’s help each other to refresh our perspective in this New Year. Our peace comes from knowing our God is unchanging. His plan for us is for blessing in both the short and long term, regardless of circumstance and the fallen
state of this world. We always have hope through Christ!

Pause

You might like to look up some of the highlights of the year, including the really good news, not limited to the discovery of viable COVID-19 vaccines.

Suggested further reading

• Jeremiah 29:11
• Romans 8:28

Suggested worship music

• Yesterday, Today and Forever – Vicky Beeching
• 10,000 Reasons – Matt Redman

Closing prayer

Dear Father, I pause in stillness to take a moment to thank you for the many blessings of this year.

Now I pause to lift up to you the deep hurts of 2020, personal and global.

I repent, or turn, from my own failures and recommit to the way of love in Christ.

I chose to turn away from negativity, godless thinking and fear peddled by the Enemy.

I wholeheartedly turn towards the challenges and joys of this coming year in expectancy, and ask in faith for your hand of healing on those who need it.

I thank you for Jesus who was, coming as a babe, giving his life through crucifixion; who is as our comforter and friend; and who will be, shining in eternity with us at his right hand in joy never-ending.

Unfailing and unchanging God, I praise you and offer up my life to you afresh.

Amen.

Laura Simpkins, discipleship coordinator

What are the big questions that are being asked in households or ‘bubbles’ up and down our country?

How are we going to celebrate Christmas this year?

How are we able to enjoy Christmas whilst staying safe and protecting our vulnerable loved ones?

How are we able to mix households whilst ensuring that we don’t become ‘spreaders’ of the Covid 19 virus?

This year, there were fears that Christmas would be ‘banned’, and although regulations are not as extreme as many feared, we have been advised that “Christmas is the season to be jolly … careful!” However, over the years this season has been ‘celebrated’ in many different ways.

It wasn’t until the 4th century when Pope Julius, during the reign of Emperor Constantine, declared that 25th December was to be first recognised as the day to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Pope Julius held a simple Communion service. From that small beginning, it took several centuries before the festival of Christmas was universally embraced in Christian countries.

But, as we have heard a lot about recently, it was a faction of Christianity, the Puritans in the 17th century under Oliver Cromwell who first ‘banned’ Christmas, or at least tried to curtail the revelry that accompanied the Christian festival in Britain. This was followed up by Puritans in America when between 1659 and 1681 you could be fined for eating so much as a mince pie!

Since that time not even the horrors of the trenches during WW1 or hostilities of war in WW2 could stop a time of peace and goodwill spontaneously breaking out on the frontline and leading to stories of exchange of gifts and football matches between opposition troops.
Until 2020, and the threat of the spread of Covid 19 through mixing of households and unregulated gatherings of people in confined spaces. However not even a global pandemic – though it has brought about fear, anxiety, sadness and desperation to many – can snuff out the true Christmas celebrations.

For Christmas is a time when Christians celebrate God’s great love for our world when he sent Jesus to be the Saviour of all mankind. So how are we are going to celebrate Christmas this year? Like we do every year by giving thanks for the birth of a baby and at St Saviour’s that will be similar to the way that Pope Julius first celebrated Christmas – with a simple service, including a service of Holy Communion.

So may the joy of the angels,
The gladness of the shepherds,
The worship of the wise men
And the peace of the Christ child be yours,
This Christmas and for evermore.

God bless you all and very merry Christmas.

Andy and Mel McPherson

Our churchwardens look forward with confidence in the Lord

Every year, after churches have held their Annual Parish Meetings and churchwardens have been elected, the wardens attend a service of celebration of their ministry, usually in early summer. For Bev and me, we usually look forward to a service at Christchurch Priory with our fellow churchwardens from all around the Diocese. This year, of course, no such service could take place and, in November, Zoom became the order of the day. Two services were arranged and, amazingly, over 200 people were involved in each one from their homes including us and Bishop Tim. Our Bishop spoke about how the stronger church members are called to support the weaker ones in our communities and how we rely on God for our joy, peace and hope (Romans 15:1-13). We both agreed that the service we attended seemed more personal and meaningful because of the low-key nature.

As we wardens said our promises, we were united in the desire to serve God by serving our churches – a unity that was and is possible through the power of the Holy Spirit. Currently life may be different in many ways, but not even Covid-19 can separate the People of God! Not even Covid-19 can stop us caring, loving, and serving in His name! The church buildings may not be in use as before, but the People of God are as alive and as active as they have ever been.

We pray that you and your families will all stay well and hold firm trusting God. We so look forward to the day when we are able to welcome you back to church, so that we can worship together again as a church family once more.

May God’s peace and joy completely fill our hearts this Christmas. May we overflow in confident Hope.

With our love and prayers,

Bev Collum-Mills and Christine Moyes, churchwardens

Laura Simpkins invites us to take part in a scripture challenge!

One morning back in November, part of my reading was Isaiah 54 verse 13: ‘All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace.’

It’s so easy in our wealthy multi-media lives to forget how precious the Word is, and how simple it is for us to access it. It’s not, of course, been this easy throughout most of history and this is still the case in many parts of the world.

Not only is the Word the saving power of Christ for our eternal salvation, but our source of life for today. In these times of isolation and restricted fellowship, we perhaps need it even more than ever to help us worship, and to encourage, guide, bring peace, and combat loneliness.

In the same way we look into God’s magnificent night sky and take comfort that we are under the same stars as friends and loved ones elsewhere. We are bound together with others by the Word, as brothers and sisters in Christ. We are comforted that God loves us, and our loved ones, more than we can imagine. And, we are therefore not alone.

In days before the printing press, and even today in dire situations (war, imprisonment, hostile governments, and the like), believers relied and continue to rely on memorised Scripture to sustain them. Most of us could probably benefit from having a fuller tool kit of verses to draw from in everyday challenges!

I would like to invite everyone to join together in a simple Scripture Challenge. I have found a succinct and powerful verse that we can all learn and practise together this autumn.

‘Every word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.’ Proverbs 30:5

Something for the holidays! We can look forward to saying this together as a congregation when we meet together again in church.

Laura Simpkins, discipleship coordinator

Every year, all across the country, Christingle celebrations bring people together to celebrate light, hope, and community. They create a space to stop and reflect on the birth of Jesus and why he came.

The Christingle itself is a symbol that tells the story of Jesus – you can find out what the different parts mean during our Christingle Service, which this year will be online and available from Monday 21 December. It will include the making and meaning of a Christingle, and the puppets will be coming along to help – including Flicker the Candle and his friends!

What you will need to make your own Christingle

To be able to join in and make a Christingle whilst you watch the service, you will need to make sure you have the items listed below:

• An orange
• Red ribbon or tape (or even a piece of red string or wool)
• A small candle (it needs to be inserted into the orange)
• Four cocktail sticks
• Sweets (e.g. Dolly mixtures, jelly sweets, or Liquorice Allsorts work well) or dried fruits to add to the cocktail sticks – both need to be soft enough to push a cocktail stick through
• Scissors or a knife to make an incision in the orange to push a cocktail stick through

You should be able to find all this items easily. However, if you would like a white candle and a piece of the red tape that we usually use, you can come along to the Link on Wednesday 16 December between 4pm and 5pm. These items will also be available at our open air carol singing next Saturday 19 December at 5.30pm.

Christingle Prayer Card

The Children’s Society, for which Christingle raises money to help with their work, has also designed a Christingle Prayer Card for you to colour and place in your window. This is attached (in the email) with this newsletter so that you can print it off, or I will have a few available to be picked up with your candle and tape.

Lastly, don’t forget to invite friends and family to join us online for the service – it’s a great way to spread the message and Light of Jesus!

Caz Gatehouse, children’s minister