Author: Worth Parish

From the Rector…

Clergy

I’d like to start on this, the last Sunday of the Church’s year, with a huge thank you to all those who were involved in offering hospitality and otherwise supporting our guests on the Pilgrimage2Paris last weekend.  The comments posted on social media gave a very positive image of the parish.  And that, perhaps, is a link into some reflections from my own ‘pilgrimage’ last week in Egypt where time and again I was struck by the way in which the Christian community (about 10-15% of the Egyptian population) lives out its faith through service to “neighbour”.  Projects to provide education, medical services, micro-loans, relief of poverty, refugee assistance abound and are offered to all, irrespective of faith tradition, in the midst of challenging (and often discriminatory) circumstances .  One of my colleagues on the pilgrimage said that he had come expecting to find a church “needing us” and instead came away challenged and encouraged by what we saw.  The phrase from the Alpha talk I had given just before leaving that– “we are not saved by good works, we are saved by grace, but we are saved for good works” kept coming to mind.   And the Coptic Church’s service (“good works”) seems to be borne out of, or has itself produced, a remarkable blessing.  The church next to where we were staying regularly had over 100 coming for daily Morning Prayer followed by Eucharist (1.5 hours!); one church dug out of the rock in the “garbage city” on Cairo’s outskirts has 6,000 (really!) for their Thursday evening bible study; 40 years ago monastic life was dying out with only a few hundred monks – now there are over 15,000 … and all in context where “mission” is amongst those who are already Christian.  You can imagine my prayer for the impact of yesterday’s Holy Spirit Day on our parish life !

Anthony

Pewsheet for 15th November 2015

Pewsheets

Click here to see this week’s pewsheet.

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From the Associate Vicar…

Clergy

During a four month exchange to the U.S. I came across a hymn which has pretty much become my favourite. The hymn “If you but trust in God to guide you” was written in 1641 by Georg Neumark and comes to us in English by the prolific translator of German hymns Catherine Winkworth. The hymn was written during the 30 year war which ravaged Central Europe during the first half of the 17th century. Georg a young musician and administrator was robbed and lost nearly everything when travelling from Gotha to Kiel on the Baltic coast. The only piece of his possessions he was left with was a collection of recommendations from his former position in Gotha. He had lost nearly everything but due to these letters he was finally able to secure a position as a teacher in Kiel. And so he is able to write,

Sing, pray, and keep His ways unswerving,

Offer your service faithfully,

And trust His word; though undeserving,

You’ll find His promise true to be;

God never will forsake in need

The soul that trusts in Him indeed.

 

Today’s readings have a similar tone to them. They speak of the broken and hurting world we see around us today – but they hold onto the assurance of God’s faithfulness.

Today as we part ways it is my prayer that you will continue to “approach the house of God with a true heart in full assurance of faith” as the letter to the Hebrews puts it: You here in Pound Hill, Worth and Maidenbower, and I in Shoreham. Let’s continue to sing, pray and offer our service faithfully.   Amen.

James

From the Curate…

Clergy

I can’t quite believe that it was a year ago that we all experienced those dramatic, beautiful and thought provoking images of the ceramic poppies outside the Tower of London.  They cascaded down out of an office window and then spread like a flowing river across the moat around the tower.  We took the girls up to see them and as we queued, I noted that for the number of people, there was an atmosphere of reserved dignity as the beauty of the image was interjected with the stark realisation that each poppy represented a young life that had been lost in the First World War.

I often pause and read the list of names of the fallen on Phil Mann’s display to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War in the window of the Lady Chapel.  Today as I type these few words at my desk, I have three orders of service of funerals I attended next to my laptop. They are for Tony Hiscock, Theo Ball and Jean Winter respectively; all dearly missed members of our congregation who have died in the past year.  All of them connected by their service during the Second World War within the armed services.

It made me think that I not only wear my poppy to remember those that died and continue to die in war, but also to remember those that survived and then wore or continue to wear visible and invisible scars of their military service. To remember them and continue to tell their story so that its echoes can stop us from making the same mistakes as before and to remind us to continue to help those struggling with the impact of conflicts that still occur too frequently across the world. The Poppy, a symbol, yes, to remember sadness, but also to remember there is hope.

Steve

Change of Plan for Services on 15th November

Pewsheets

Dear All,

On 15th November we have a change to our published services.

Sunday 15th November will be Fr James’ last service in our parish and a Parish Eucharist at will now be celebrated at St Barnabas’ at 10.00 a.m. (and so there will be no 9.45 at St Nicholas’).

Please pass on this message to others to avoid disappointment and do come along to support Fr James both on Sunday and as he leads the parish’s welcome to the Pilgrimage2Paris group that weekend.

Anthony

A Big Thank You

Pewsheets

The clergy and organizers of the All Souls’ Service to commemorate the departed, held yesterday would like to extend their grateful thanks to all those who worked so hard as part of the Worth Festival Choir to make the service so moving.

Particular thanks go to our hardworking and patient director of music Alex Hiam, and to organist D’arcy Trinkwon.

The Associate Vicar Writes…

Clergy

When I entered high school – now a frightening twenty three years ago – the syllabus for music had us study medieval music. This was my first introduction to plain chant and to the sequence we will hear this evening as part of the Requiem service for those departed this past year. Our teacher was so effective that you would have heard 12 year old boys chanting the first line of this sequence at any opportune moment: Dies Irae, dies illa solve saeclum in favila teste david cum sybilla – and I am still humming the tune as I write. We will hear it this evening in the setting Mozart wrote and it is quite a terrifying movement both as listener and performer, conjuring up into our imagination the day of wrath and judgement.

Today we enter the last part of the Church’s year as we celebrate All Saints. Today we will hear how Jesus was moved by the death of his friend Lazarus. Jesus wept for Lazarus and at the sight of his friends’ distress. Jesus has compassion for Mary and Martha.

We begin a season of Remembrance. We remember those who have gone before us in faith – this morning those who are examples to us in their life of faith, this evening those who have inspired us personally by sharing part of this earthly life with us. They had experienced Jesus compassion and understood that it had conquered the darkness of the day of judgement.

I hope you join us this evening for our Commemoration Service as we hear Mozart’s Requiem and listen to the names of the departed read out. Let us remember that Jesus shares in our grief as he shared with Mary and Martha. Let us rejoice with all the saints this morning that we have a share in God’s kingdom.

James

Pewsheet for 1st November 2015

Pewsheets

Click here to see this week’s pewsheet.

Tip: If this, or any other, PDF document opens at too large a size, here’s what you do:

  1. Open Adobe Reader, for example, by opening a *.pdf document you have on your computer.
  2. From the Edit menu, click Preferences.
  3. With Page Display selected in the left hand list of Categories, on the right hand side of the window, choose a Page Layout and Zoom level that suits you, for example Single Page and Fit Page as shown here:Preferences
  4. Now any time you open a PDF, it will open at this zoom level.

A Letter from the Bishop of Lewes, Richard Jackson

Pewsheets

REMEMBRANCE – dying – that others may live in freedom

One of my churchwardens in my last parish produced an exhibition, borne of many hours of research, on the lives of the men on the Roll of Honour.  His graphic design skills brought them vividly to life. There were photos; maps showing where they had lived; entries in the baptismal register and records from the school discipline book – they weren’t all angels! Alongside were records of the actions where they lost their lives and poignant photos.

Photos of proud men off to serve their country, often snapped shortly before they died. Articles from the parish magazine of the 20’s recorded the ‘gentle weeping’ as the names were read out at the annual Remembrance Day service.

At that point they were more than names.  They were sons, daughters, husbands and fathers. No family was unaffected.  There are 33 names on the WWI Roll of Honour at a time when the population of the village was about 600. The same surnames are repeated, perhaps more tragically when they appear again in the next war just over 20 years later.

We continue quite rightly to keep their names alive, for as someone once said, “Those who do not learn the lessons of history are condemned to repeat its mistakes.” However, these men and women are much more than names on a board.

Even though all the WWI veterans are gone and the brave band from WW2 diminishes year by year; even though for young people these events fade into history rather than experience, they bring into focus a great truth of the Christian faith.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Even the hairs on your head are numbered.” He invites us to call God, Father.  Those whose remains are unidentified have graves marked: A soldier known unto God.  We, like them are known unto God. Known personally and valued infinitely. They died for their country and an ideal, fighting against tyranny.  Jesus died for us, that the knowledge God has of us can become a lived experience of restored relationship, sins forgiven and new life.

+RICHARD