Editor Mr R. Marriott Tel 428994 roger@rwmarriott.co.uk Copy for NOVEMBER magazine to Roger by 18th October

please

60p

CALENDAR FOR OCTOBER 1 THURSDAY 7.15 p.m. Choir Practise 7.30 p.m. Churches Together in Clacton 4 SUNDAY 8.00 a.m Holy Communion (Eighteenth after Trinity) 9.30 a.m MorningWorship and Sunday Club 11.00 a.m. Holy Communion 5 MONDAY 3.00 p.m. Christianity Explored 6 TUESDAY 2.30 p.m. Mothers’ Union 7.30 p.m. Monthly Prayer Meeting in the Church Room 7 WEDNESDAY 7.30 p.m. After Eights 8 THURSDAY 7.15 p.m. Choir Practise 9 FRIDAY 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. Church open to receive

gifts to decorate for Harvest 10 SATURDAY 10.00 a.m. Deanery Conference at Arlesford 11 HARVEST SUNDAY 8.00 a.m. Holy Communion (Nineteenth after Trinity) 9.30 a.m. All Age Parade Service 11.00 a.m Morning Worship 12.15 p.m. Harvest Lunch 6.00 p.m. Harvest Evensong at St James’s 12 MONDAY 3.00 p.m. Christianity Explored 13 TUESDAY 6.45 p.m. Prayers in the Chapel 14 WEDNESDAY 2.00 p.m. Photo Club – Small Hall 7.30 p.m. House Group - Lancaster Gardens 15 THURSDAY 9.00 a.m. Working Morning - Please come and help clear the Church grounds or clean in the Church 7.15 p.m. Choir Practise 18 SUNDAY 8.00 a.m Holy Communion. (Twentieth after Trinity) 9.30 a.m Holy Communion and Sunday Club 11.00 a.m Holy Communion 19 MONDAY 3.00 p.m. Christianity Explored 20 TUESDAY 6.45 p.m. Prayers in the Chapel 22 THURSDAY 7.15 p.m. Choir Practise 23 FRIDAY 10.30 a.m. Shorefields School Harvest Celebration 25 BIBLE SUNDAY 8.00 a.m Holy Communion 9.30 a.m. Morning Worship and Sunday Club 11.00 a.m. Morning Worship 27 TUESDAY 6.45 p.m. Prayers in the Chapel 28 WEDNESDAY 7.30 p.m. House Group - Abbigail Gardens 29 THURSDAY 7.15 p.m. Choir Practise

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Inside this issue:

ST. PAUL’S CHURCH CLACTON-ON-SEA

PARISH MAGAZINE

OCTOBER 2015

Page

Who’s Who at St. Pauls 2

Vicar David writes 3

Mothers’ Union report 5

Open Doors 6

Ada’s Aperture 8

The Bishop’s appeal 10

Advert - Choral Evensong 12

Photo - The photo club outing 13

After Eights report 14

October Calendar 16

1

Church of England Parish of St Paul

Clacton-on-Sea www.stpaulsclacton.co.uk

2

Our Diocesan newspaper, The Month, is distributed free to every parish in the diocese.

The Month includes Notice Board every other month, a pull-out supple-ment containing our Cycle of Prayer and Comings and Goings. Please see copies at the back of the church

15

As Margaret Sparrow our leader was in hospi-tal Beryl led the meeting for the September After 8's. After we had prayers we were very pleased to have our treasure Robert Pearce to give us a very interesting talk entitled " A Brief En-counter" all based on the director Sir David Lean. Sir David was born in 1908 and passed away in 1991 of throat cancer, and he was knighted in 1984.

Robert has a university degree in history and his (dissertation) was on Sir David Lean We then watched a DVD of extracts of most of his films, he made 16 films in his lifetime. Bridge over the river Kwai, Passage to India, 49th Parallel ,One of our aircraft is missing, Lawrence of Ara-bia, Dr Zhivago and Ryans Daughter to name but a few. It was a captivating evening which we enjoyed very much thank you Robert. We then had refreshments and called the raffle. Our next meeting is a games evening on the 7th October 7.30 in the small hall.

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Dear friends

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of

hostility” (Ephesians 2:14) A week or two ago we marked the 75th anniversary of the bat-tle of Britain. A service was held at St Paul’s in London. A service that made the headlines for all the wrong reasons ra-ther that the right reasons. In addition various fly pasts were organised including Hurricane and Spitfire planes. These fly pasts complimented our own battle of Britain memo-rial flight that took place as part of the Clacton-on-Sea air-show in August. It was Winston Churchill who said in reference to the Battle of Britain in the late summer of 1940, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much, owed by so many, to so few.” As I considered these words I found myself not only thanking God for the efforts and bravery of men and women of past generations but also seeing great similarities between Churchill’s description of the Battle of Britain and the mission of Jesus Christ. In Ephesians the apostle Paul wants to remember our predica-ment, our spiritual state before we came to know Jesus Christ. He tells us that without Jesus we are excluded from God, separate from him and foreigners to God’s promises. Our situation before we came to know Jesus was like that of migrants, trying desperately to enter into a country but not being allowed to do so. Although we might want to be part of God’s kingdom and although we might want part of his plans, our natural state is that we are foreigners, separate, exclud-ed, far away from God without hope in the world. It is a bleak picture that Paul paints of the person who lives without knowing Jesus.

AFTER EIGHTS REPORT

by Beryl

Bareham

continued

And Paul describes the way that Jesus came on a search and res-cue mission and makes peace with God possible. He did it by de-stroying, by tearing down “the barrier, the dividing wall of hos-tility”. In the same way as that wall that separated East from West Germany was pulled down in 1989, so too the wall, the bar-rier that separated mankind from God, was destroyed by Jesus. He did it through his sacrificial death on the cross. “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his house-hold, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” Because of the actions of the one man Jesus Christ on the cross we are no long-er separated from God. All those who trust Jesus are no longer strangers. We are no longer foreigners. Our status has changed from that of outsiders to that of insiders. We become members of God’s own family, his own children - loved and cherished by him. Winston Churchill was right to say “Never in the field of human conflict was so much, owed by so many, to so few.” As we look at the cross of Jesus Christ we can see an even greater conflict, an even greater price paid for peace and we owe an even greater debt of gratitude. Never in the field of spiritual conflict was so much, owed by so many, to the one man Jesus Christ. With best wishes David

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The Photo Club outing see page 8

13

For our meeting last month we were pleased to have our own Pim Lock as our speaker. Christine opened with a short service and a hymn ( her playing the piano was so much better this month well done Christine ) she then said prayers for the people who are ill or having operations, Margaret Sparrow and Eunice Hayes. We then had notices and dates we are sorry to say that the Moth-ers’ Union at St Paul's is finishing at our AGM which will be in October but we hope some of us will continue in MU by going to

the branch at St James Church . We then had our speaker Pim who gave us a very good talk on the Bradwell Pilgrimage and the Othona Community which she is a founder member. The Chapel at Bradwell is called St Pe-ter's Chapel and has been restored and is used all the time for services. The Bradwell Pilgrimage is on a Saturday at the beginning of July but you can go to the chapel at anytime as they have services at various times during the week. It was a very interesting talk and Pim sent round various pieces of in-formation for us to look at.

Our last meeting is on Tuesday 6th October when we shall have our AGM with Robert Pearce giving us an AV show, all are welcome. 5

St James’ Church, Clacton-on-Sea

Choral Evensong for Harvest Thanksgiving

Sunday 11th October 2015 6pm

With the combined choirs of St Paul’s and St James’

Preacher: Revd David Lower

Officiant: Revd Peter Kane

Organist: Mr Paul Siddall

All Welcome (The Service will be followed by refreshments

in the church hall)

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MOTHERS’ UNION

REPORT by

Beryl

Bareham

NEWS FROM OPEN DOORS http://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/trends.php CURRENT PERSECUTION TRENDS: SIGNS OF HOPE There are a number of 'good news' trends, which can easily get buried under the pressure of gruesome headlines, but which should be remembered. Christians in the Middle East are unified as never before There has never been so much unity among significant sections of the Middle East's Christians. On the ground, especially in Syria, historic faiths and the newer denominations have drawn together in a remarkable way. Muslims and Christians in the Middle East are forging new relationships Similarly, in many localities Christians and Muslims have come to-gether in their need. Some commentators claim that "Muslim leaders have become so shaken by the actions of is that they are seeking to work with the Christians and not ignoring them, and a new understanding of Christian-Muslim relations is being born." China is still working out how to deal with the church Although there have been attacks on churches in the heartland of Wenzhou, evidence suggests that a vigorous debate is going on in the Chinese government over whether it should restrict or free the church. The church may well continue to play a fuller role in the building of the new China. Having said all that, the Ti-betan and Muslim Uyghur Christian converts bear the brunt of persecution in China.

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“We are also calling on the government to increase the offer of provision that has been made. It is good that our nation is prepared to play its part, but we believe it would be possible to take more people than the 20,000 that have already been announced. “ As part of the response the diocese will be making some of its own houses available. Three possible properties and a closed church have been identified to help with immediate need.

A co-ordinating group of lay people and clergy will work with ecumenical partners, other faith communities, local councils, other agencies and Citizens UK.

The diocese has written to all the local authorities in its re-gion explaining its hopes and pledging help. A great need for those arriving in this country will be things such as transla-tion, filling in forms, and the other practical tasks of welcome. The church is very well placed to help with this.

Ways to Give: To make a Text donation, text CDBF14 followed by an amount of £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10 to 70070.

Or send a Cheque made payable to CDBF with ‘Refugee Ap-peal’ on the reverse to Refugee Appeal, Diocese of Chelms-ford, 53 New Street, Chelmsford CM1 1AT

Thank you very much for your support.

continued

The Bishop of Chelmsford has launched a di-ocesan-wide appeal for a fund to help support Syrian refugee families.

Stephen Cotterell, the Bishop of Chelmsford, has said:

“We call upon Christian people in East London and Essex to give generously, to pray for

peace in the Middle East, and to work in partnership with others that we can give a heartfelt and generous welcome to those who are fleeing persecution and who come to us in great need.

“The Bible tells us that when we serve each other we serve Christ. The stranger in our midst, the person in need, is not only where we are most likely to encounter Christ, but also the per-son from whom we will receive from Christ today. Therefore to give without any expectation of getting anything back, save the joy of being blessed by service, is fundamental to the Christian life.

“In the Diocese of Chelmsford we are convinced that that as we respond in loving service and compassion to the vast humanitari-an crisis in Syria so we have an opportunity to live out what we believe. We are appalled by the horrors and indignities of this conflict. We pray for peace and justice in our world.

“But we also recognise that by our response to this situation we can be changed for the better. We also believe this can be true for our nation, shifting the way we understand and discern our priorities. We can’t do everything, but we can do something, and this ‘something’ can make a difference. It is our hope that the Church can be at the centre of our nation’s response.

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Western governments are beginning to work against ex-tremists Many governments are beginning to realise that good religion has the best chance of driving out bad religion. There is a new openness among those who are tasked with ensuring national security for the information and wisdom of Christians working in these regions. In the face of all this – the dark clouds of persecution, the bright rays of hope - we must have faith that God is at work. In 2014, our news media was filled with stories of atrocities committed against the people of God. But the truth is that, despite these attacks, the church is making disciples, witness-ing to Christ, and 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against it' (Matthew 16:18).

WELCOME TO OPEN DOORS

Open Doors supports persecuted Christians with Bibles, Chris-tian materials, training, livelihood skills, advocacy - and in a whole host of other ways - so that they know they are not forgotten and can stand strong to serve their communities. So that they can give life.

We also seek to mobilise the church in the UK & Ireland not only to serve Christians living under religious persecution but also to learn from them what it means to be a disciple of Je-sus.

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continued

Ada's Aperture Her window on the world. The Church Photo Club went on their first out-ing last month and this came about because members expressed a desire to take some wild-life pictures in their natural habitat. I know that in reality these animals are part of the food chain and in life would eat or be eaten but I don't want my camera to record the nasty parts. I'm sure the outing was a great success but it led my mind to think-ing what if cameras had been around in the time that Jesus was alive. Would it have been the must have gadget for every teenager as IPads and smart phones are today? Times change but it seems to me that people's attitudes and habits have changed little through history so it wouldn't be much of a stretch of the imagination to guess that youngsters would do odd jobs, save pocket money to get a desired object in much the same way as we do today. Those who wouldn't want to wait might also steal to get the desired possession. So if they had cameras what would they take? Again I don't think much has changed. They would want to get grab shots of people in interesting or amusing positions; they would want to capture the moment as Cartier Bresson, famously said. Capturing something happening in still life can be memorable and life changing. I would not imagine there was much interest in a ba-by's birth in a stable, but there might have been someone cap-turing an earnest young carpenter at work. Paparazzi would have been around to capture sensational events, such as Jesus arriving at Jerusalem, and of course the crucifix-ion. I would like to have taken a photograph of the anguish on Pi-late's face or on Peter as he denied his friend. You cannot avoid cameras today, they are everywhere, on phones, tablets or strung round people's necks, yet how many worthwhile photos are taken. Less in the digital age because you

can delete the ones that don't work. 8

Jesus chose carpentry as his trade, but I think he would have liked a camera. Not to self publicise but 'to capture the mo-ment', the meaningful times in our lives , sad and happy, and perhaps using the camera to record his ministry amongst peo-ple. Can we do that today? If I took my camera into Clacton I could photograph two towns. The bustling, happy, seaside town, full of smiling faces and candy floss, toffee apples and helter-skelter rides. Or my camera could take the darker aspect of our town, the homeless, the drunks, the beggars, the stabbings! What I want to say is that like everything else the camera is a media tool that can be used to distort or exaggerate or im-ply incorrectly. In the wrong hands the camera would have portrayed Jesus as a dangerous insurgent, in the right hands it would have shown him to be a kind healer and teacher. Our outing went only to take wildlife but whenever your cam-era is with you, pause and give thought to how you want to use it. An example: on holiday recently we visited Tangiers. This is a Moroccan seaside town that is past its sell by date. I could have taken the beggars, crumbling buildings, starving animals that were all there but I wanted a positive memory of my visit so I let my camera concentrate on the stunning Moorish architecture all around me. I knew the darker side was there but I made a conscious choice to photograph the bright side. I am sure a carpenter's son in Biblical times would have done the same.

See photograph on page 13 of those who took part in the outing

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