NEWS
On the day of the Autumn Equinox (23rd September), late afternoon cloud cover brought disappointment for those who came to see the illumination of the rood, though the previous day hovering cloud gave way at the last moment to enable a welcome display.
The church was looking splendid for Harvest Festival on Sunday 27th September, with colourful displays of autumn fruits, produce and vegetation (photo, front cover), and handsome floral arrangements. The PCC is grateful to all those who worked so hard to create such beautiful decoration.
Choral Evensong included the hymn For the Beauty of the Earth, charmingly sung by the choir as an anthem. The guest preacher was Canon Fr John Thackray, Vicar of St Mary at the Elms, Ipswich and Representative of the Bishop of Richborough. His fine sermon was entertaining, strong in message and widely remarked upon afterwards.
At Harvest Supper in the village hall the 43 guests enjoyed a magnificent meal at charmingly decorated tables. The immense amount of work that went into the planning, preparation and serving of the meal should not be underestimated and I am sure we are all most grateful for the dedication of the team behind it and, indeed, for the setting up of the hall and the clearing up afterwards. Certainly, it was a most enjoyable and hugely appreciated occasion for the guests.
Please return your Love Boxes to the church between Sunday 18th and Friday 23rdOctober, in time to be blessed at Sunday service on 25th October. Thanks to Cheryl for organising this scheme and thank you for your support.
We are most grateful to Doreen Springall for the work she puts into her farm gate sales of produce at Boundary Farm, resulting recently in a donation to the church of £180.00. Doreen has also donated an archive of church-related documents, a magnificent scrapbook recording the community efforts to raise funds for the restoration of the church following the fire of 1979, and an oil painting of the firemen at work during the fire.
Following recommendations in the architect’s Quinquennial Inspection Report, Theo Wells has been working on repairs to the church fabric. Outside the building, he has repaired the detached render to the north sanctuary wall and repointed the bed-joints to the north sanctuary parapet coping stones. He has also repointed the open joints in the jamb stones around the south sanctuary window and the silence chamber windows in the tower, as well as the open glazing grooves around the central south chancel window. He has also repointed joints on the buttresses and the outer arch of the porch, and secured the unstable joint where the west wall of the porch meets the nave. Inside the church, Theo has removed cracked and flaking plaster by the north door, on the south nave wall and above the vestry door and in due course he will re-plaster these areas. There is plenty still to do!
The October sales table will be on Sunday 25th and the November sales table on Sunday 22ndNovember.
Amy delivered 232 items to the Beccles Foodbank in September, including 90 items donated at Harvest Festival.
FORWARD PLANNING
Remembrance Sunday, 8th November: Please arrive at church in good time before 10.45am. The service will begin at 10.50am with the first hymn, followed by the Reading of Names, and the two-minutes silence at 11am.
Service of Remembrance, Barsham Village Hall, Wednesday 11thNovember: The hall will be open from 10.15 for a 10.45am start. Parking on the paddock. Refreshments available afterwards with optional donation.
Christmas Carol Service: 6.30pm, Monday 21st December with guest preacher The Right Reverend Luke Irvine-Capel, Bishop of Richborough. The service will be followed by refreshments, including mince pies and mulled wine.
SNIPPETS – Advent: expectation and preparation
The Church of England website provides a timely reminder of the significance of the Season of Advent, which marks the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. Advent looks back as well as forward: it is both a preparation for the Christmas celebration of the birth of Christ, and an expectation of his second coming and divine judgement at the end of time. The website talks of the ‘modern reluctance to confront the theme of divine judgement’ and points out that traditionally, in expectation of divine judgement, sermons and meditations during advent have covered the Four Last Things: Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell.
The Anglican Church today emphasizes expectation rather than penitence, but when Advent first emerged as a season in the liturgical calendar in the 4th or 5th century, it was a 40-day season of solemn penitence, like Lent. Later, in the medieval English Church, the season of Advent was reduced to the familiar four Sundays before Christmas Day, but the theme of penitence remained strong. Public celebrations, weddings, the pursuit of legal disputes and warfare were some of the things thought to be inappropriate during Advent, and some people practised fasting on certain days of the week.
Much more recently, the Anglican Church has adopted a number of Lent customs from elsewhere. The custom of lighting candles on an advent wreath arrived in England from Northern Europe in the 19th century, the lighting of a new candle each week symbolizing the light of Christ drawing nearer. The Christingle is a custom borrowed from the Moravian Church, arriving here only in the later 20th century. Meanwhile, out there in the secular commercial world, Advent calendars originated in the early 20th century, and the first chocolate Advent calendars arrived in the 1950s!
November Diary
Sunday 1st November – All Saints. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP), Barsham. Revd Jonathan Olanczuk SSC.
Sunday 8th November – Third Sunday before Advent. 10.50am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Canon John Fellows.
Sunday 15th November – Second Sunday before Advent. 11.15am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Desmond Banister SSC.
Sunday 22nd November – Christ the King. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.
Sunday 29th November – First Sunday of Advent. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Revd Graham Naylor.
Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 07867 306016, [email protected]