 |
Barnes in Commonthe magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
|
||||||||
|
Church NewsBaptist Church | Holy
Trinity | Methodist Church Baptist Church
The year seems to have begun as busily as the last one ended, and busyness will certainly continue during the Lent and Easter. But Lent and Easter will also provide us with the opportunity to re-centre ourselves and review priorities.
The coming of April will mean that our Church AGM is once again upon us and Church members will be gathering to review the past 12 months, and think ahead. Among other things we will be making a decision as to whether or not to run an afternoon Alpha Course. If so then details will be circulated to churches nearer the time. Rachel Okarimia has taken charge of the Fair Trade 'stall'. For the time being (at least) produce will remain at our church instead of doing the rounds. If you'd like further information as to what's available and when please ring Rachel on 0208 748 4809. Graham Pulham
Holy Trinity
Our new vicar continues to be delighted with the welcome and support from Holy Trinity and from all the churches in Barnes. Our Christmas services were memorable, including a very special Carol Service with the children from Lowther Primary School and finishing with an uplifting Candlemas celebration as we turned to face Lent, Holy Week and Easter. This year is a challenging one for us as we seek God's guidance for
the future together. As part of this journey we will be exploring our
faith together during Lent through Footprints – a course which
encourages us to question and determine our Christian beliefs and belonging.
We shall meet 'café style' in church for the five Tuesdays during
Lent from 7.30-9.00pm. We look forward to meeting with others during the Good Friday Procession of Witness and we guarantee a warm welcome at Holy Trinity!
Methodist Church
We are now well into our Centenary year, with visits from old friends leading our worship and preparations for a Flower Festival in June under way. The Theme is 'Spirit of Barnes' and we hope that lots of community groups will take part. Dates are 16-18 June. But much nearer will be our Spring Fair on March 25, when we will be open with lots of stalls, refreshments and tours of the building for those who haven't yet paid us a visit. Look out for our new weekly 'Coffee Shop' every Saturday morning, when you can have home made cakes and good tea and coffee as well as a warm welcome. We are also running a course exploring the Christian Faith and church membership called 'Come as You Are'. As part of our Centenary Year's celebrations we will be holding a service of Confirmation (for those who might wish to be confirmed) and of Renewal of Confirmation Vows for the rest of us. We would be delighted to see anyone who would like to join us. The dates will be: February 22, March 9, 23, April 5, 12, 26, May 4, 10, 17, 25. All meetings will start at 7.30 pm at church. We are pleased to see increasing numbers of people using our building. It was always central to our vision to play a much bigger part in the community of Barnes than we have over recent years, and it is great to see it actually happening. Veronica Faulks
St Mary's
I recently spent a week in Canterbury, a place I don't really know well at all. We went on a private night-time pilgrimage around the cathedral in which we were taken on the final journey of St Thomas a Becket. It was extraordinary to walk in his footsteps around the cloisters to the place of his martyrdom and to hear the details of his death, rather graphically, on the place where it occurred. Very quickly, Canterbury became the most important place of pilgrimage in Christendom, apart from Rome and Santiago de Compostella (the Holy Land was inaccessible). The church where I served as a curate was dedicated to St Thomas about 15 years after his death. However, being in Canterbury and walking in his footsteps made me far more aware of the reality of his life and death. It also brought to my mind the very many recent martyrs whom we celebrate – for example, those whose statues stand above the west door of Westminster Abbey such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Oscar Romero, the murdered Archbishop of El Salvador. In our comfortable corner of Christendom, martyrdom may seem very distant. However, more people were killed for being Christians in the last century than in all other centuries combined. Ross Collins
St Michael's Church
We had a wonderful Christmas at St Michael`s with our services being well attended. I particularly enjoyed singing carols with St Mary`s bell-ringers at Diana House, Viera Grey and Walsingham Lodge. Here we were all splendidly refreshed with mMulled wine and mince pies! The Community Carol Service this year had the added delight of children from Barnes Primary School singing and playing musical instruments. We are grateful to them for being with us as there are so many demands made on them at this time. Father Grant who has been an Associate Priest with us at St Michael`s over the past few years is now moving on. We are very grateful for all the support he has given to the church particularly over the interregnum when we were without a Vicar. He will be very much missed and we all wish him well for the future. Our P.P.C. will be having an "Away Day" at the Kairos Center in Roehampton when we will be looking afresh at the role and place of our new St Michael`s Centre within the life of both the church and the local community. Paul Holland
St Osmund's Church
We embark now in answer to the call of the Lenten campaign of penance, traditionally viewed under the headings of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. There will be efforts to attend weekday mass sometimes, in the parish or close to our places of work. The devotion of the Stations of the Cross comes to the fore, either in individual visits to church or as a parish community. And there will be the house discussion groups as Churches-together. All the devotions of Lent look forward to the celebration of Easter, whether as catechumens preparing for baptism or recalling the resolve of our own dying and rising with Christ to newness of life. We have two new auxiliary bishops, as assistants to archbishop Kevin McDonald. Both were parish priests in the diocese, Paul Hendricks at Peckham and Patrick Lynch, who is a religious, at South Norwood. The former now has responsibility for the deaneries over here in south west London. He succeeds bishop Howard Tripp who has retired. In January we celebrated a Requiem mass for Cyril Cheshire who died on Christmas Day. He had been a parishioner since the 1940s and worked at J. Lyons at Cadby Hall. As a boy he sang in the choir at St Paul's Cathedral. He was received into full communion by the chaplain, while serving in the army in North Africa. Fiona Keen and Father Logan
|
| |||||||
