From the Editors Christmas 2009

The front cover is a photo Graeme took in the Church last Christmas. No snow has fallen so far this winter, but the picture on page three reminds us how the island looked in January.

The stable in Bethlehem has been likened to the first hospice, and on page 10 Alistair describes the hospice movement and the ecumenical service conducted by the Dean of Guernsey at St Stephens on World Hospice Day.

Continuing the ecumenical theme, Paul visited an independent Congregational church in Yorkshire with which his family has been connected, and he explains the origins of Congregationalism on page six. You may not know that the mission arm of that movement was the London Missionary Society, who sent David Livingstone to Central Africa, and Eric Liddell to China.

The list of readers in Church for the next three months is in the magazine on page 13, with the other rotas on page 14. Both lists will be posted up in the hall.

When you are looking at the notice boards, keep an eye on the CoSY activities, and next to it the Girls’Brigade board. On page 11 Kirsteen Saddington tells us about “our” company of Brigaders and about the movement in general.

On page four is a follow up article to John Newton’s “Amazing Grace” hymn. Paul tracked the author’s story to rural Buckinghamshire.

Edith Mather has chosen a favourite poem on page eight. I can just imagine a younger Edith coaxing a few notes out of the whistle her father made for her! Please keep the poems coming, also anecdotes about your grandparents. We have received a few but more are welcome.

Graeme takes us back to childhood Christmases on page two, and on page 15 he invites us to the services at our church this Christmas. On behalf of us all at St Andrew’s in the Grange we wish you a Very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year

Text Box: Paul and Alistair

For a slice of this cake see page 8

1

From the Minister

Dear Friends,

If you’ve a good memory then you might recall that this time last year I was telling you about something I’d heard on the radio. Well, strangely enough, the other day, when I was sitting at my desk getting things ready for Sunday, I had the radio on again, and although it wasn’t even November, the topic of conversation seemed to be all about “Surviving Christmas.”

Now I’d be the first to admit that, although it’s the season of peace and goodwill, Christmas can also be a time of stress and anxiety, and judging by what the people on the radio were saying, they’d have agreed. But the thing that got me hot under the Dog Collar was when someone said that the best way to defuse the tensions that can crop up when the family gets together, is to keep the focus where it should be; on the children, “Because as we all know,’ she said, ‘Christmas is for the children.”

“Here we go again,” I thought to myself. “Another load of nonsense telling us that Christmas is just a holiday for children, and the least we can do is put our problems on the back-burner so they can have a good time.”

But then I thought about it, and maybe there is something to be said for Christmas being biased toward kids. Maybe it’s no bad thing for us adults to be brought down to size, and not to act our age for a change.

One of the things I love about Christmas is the music, and I don’t just mean the carols. I mean those sentimental songs made famous by crooners like Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. In one of those songs - one of my favourites as it happens - there’s a line that goes, “And so I’m offering this simple phrase, to kids from one to ninety; although it’s been said, many times, many ways…Merry Christmas to you.”

The truth is - Christmas brings out a little of the child in all of us. It takes us back to a time before we were grown up; when we longed for Christmas instead of worrying about it, when we wrote lists of presents instead of lists of “to-dos.”

Take a moment to think back to Christmases when you were young. What memories and emotions push their way to the surface? For myself, I think of a dark hall at the bottom of a long staircase, with the light of a fire to one side and the Christmas tree at the far end, filling the space in a soft, almost holy glow, and in the back ground Sinatra singing those songs I still love today.

Those memories we have of this time of year live in that part of our brain that has no clock or calendar to make them feel old, so we can feel now as we felt then. It’s as if no time has passed at all; which is why Christmas brings out a little of the child in us, which if you think about it, is probably how it should be…

Christmas sets us on the way God took. The big became small. The extraordinary became ordinary. Heaven came to earth, as its throne was exchanged for a manger in Bethlehem. God became a baby.

So, should you find yourself coming over all sophisticated and grown-up this Christmas, and frankly bored by the whole business, maybe it’s time for you to cock your halo at a rakish, Sinatra type angle, and behave like the Child of God you are.

From Ailsa and myself, from our home to yours come all our wishes for a truly happy, merry and blessed Christmas.

Your friend and pastor,

Graeme

Thanks to an anonymous donor, we continue to enjoy a year-round floral display at the front door of the church and on the fore-court. Church goers and car drivers on the Grange have admired the pots and baskets. Here is a flavour, in the January snow and again in early summer.

John Newton and Olney Church Paul Riley

In the last issue of the magazine, the worship team reviewed John Newton’s popular hymn “Amazing Grace.” Newton, slave ship captain, underwent a religious conversion culminating in his ordination into the Church of England in 1764. His first post was deacon at St Peter and St Paul Parish Church in the Buckinghamshire village of Olney. This Summer I visited Olney and researched further this unusual story.

In 1763 Newton published an account of his experiences and the small book became an instant success. He was soon in demand, recounting his story at public meetings and church services. Encouraged in particular by Lord Dartmouth, Newton was ordained and took up the position of curate, under the patronage of Lord Dartmouth at Olney.

The church still contains the pulpit where Newton preached, and several stained glass windows depicting events such as his shipwreck (see below.) In Newton’s time the singing of hymns, and organ music were forbidden within churches; only metrical psalms could be sung. Newton began a hugely successful weekly after-church meeting in a nearby hall in which hymns were enthusiastically sung and it was here that “Amazing Grace” was composed and first sung. Each week Newton composed a new hymn and used it for the theme of his sermon at the meeting. He started meetings for young people, a precursor of the Sunday school movement. He also championed the cause of women lace-makers who worked in near poverty in this local industry.

The catalyst for Newton’s hymn writing was the arrival at Olney of William Cowper, a strange and troubled young poet, as yet unpublished, who was to become a major figure in English Literature. Cowper suffered episodes of severe depression. He loved gardening and kept three pet hares which roamed free in his house. As soon as they met, Newton and Cowper became the best of friends. They lived either side of an orchard and each day they crossed the orchard to meet in one house or the other for prolonged religious discussion. As infants each had lost his mother and they shared a flair for writing hymns. In 1774 they together published the Olney Hymn Collection in which hymn 41 was “Amazing Grace.”

In the same year Newton left Olney to take up his next post at St Mary, Woolwich, near to the Bank of England. In London he was to influence William Wilberforce and Newton himself became a major figure in the anti slavery movement.

In 1807 Newton died, and was buried alongside his wife Mary in the crypt at St Mary, Woolwich. In January 1893 as a result of work on the new underground train tunnels, the vault was dismantled and both bodies were reburied in the graveyard at Olney. On a sunny Saturday in September I was fortunate to meet up with the recently appointed Rector, Reverend Claire Wood. She kindly showed me the vault and allowed me to take this photograph. I will send her a copy with our best wishes.

Zion Paul Riley

The photo shows Zion Independent Congregational Church in Settle, North Yorkshire. It sits perched above the village where my father was born. His family were staunch Congregationalists.

Alistair Macrae and I visited the church on a Spring Sunday three years ago. The organ was in poor repair and the minister accompanied the hymns on a piano accordion, asking the congregation for requests! Great fun.

Inside the church is a portrait of the Rev Benjamin Waugh, founder of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. He was born in Settle in1839 and worshipped at Zion. While working as a Congregational minister in Greenwich, Waugh was appalled by the cruelty suffered by children. He founded the London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and in 1889 this became the NSPCC with Queen Victoria as the first patron.

In the Congregational movement each church is self administered and employs its own minister. Congregational churches claim their descent from the nonconformist (or non-Anglican) religious movement which arose during the puritan reformation of the Church of England.

Early Congregationalists, along with exiles from Holland provided 35 out of 102 passengers on the Mayflower–the Pilgrim Fathers- in 1620. Among other American institutions Harvard University was inaugurated by Congregationalists.

Upon the demise of the monarchy, the Westminster Confession of Faith was accepted in 1646 by the Church of England (Anglican) and the Church of Scotland (Protestant.) However in 1658 the Congregationalists chose to create their own version – the Savoy Declaration.

The London Missionary Society was the world mission arm of British Congregationalists. Notable among the missionaries they sponsored were David Livingstone and Eric Liddell who travelled to Central Africa and China respectively. We plan to feature both missionaries soon in the magazine.

In 1972 three-quarters of English Congregationalist churches merged with the Presbyterian Church of England to form the United Reform Church. However approximately 600 churches, including Zion, chose to continue their historic independent tradition. It was at this time that our own (English Presbyterian) congregation in Guernsey successfully petitioned the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland to join with them.

When I attended Zion this Autumn the congregation was celebrating Harvest Festival. The service was conducted by a lady minister from the Methodist circuit. A very friendly service, a lovely new keyboard but sadly no accordion music this time!

Benjamin Waugh

Founder of the

NSPCC

Church Register

We welcome into the family of the church

Joyce Elson: Ychey-Dda, Guelles Lane, St. Peter Port,

GY1 2DD, ( 711167

Jenny Griffiths: 2, Brockland Villas, Brock Road, St. Peter Port,

GY1 1RR, (721264

Pat Hooper: 6 Rozel Terrace, Mount Durand, St. Peter Port,

GY1 1EB, (700322

Molly Siddle: Grisnoir Guest House, Les Gravees, St. Peter Port,

GY1 1RW, (727627

Alison Smart: Inverness, Valnord Private Estate, Mount Durand,

St. Peter Port, GY1 1EA, (716099

Ruth Torode: Kelso Lodge, Flat C, Cordier Hill, St. Peter Port,

GY1 1JJ, (712505

Brian Robert: 22, Collings Road, St. Peter Port, GY1 1TX

Deaths

26 July Ena MacFarlane,aged 89, in Australia

2 October Stuart Faulkner, Sentosa, Sous l’Eglise, St Saviours

Changes of Address

6 October Bob Kirkland from Samarez Park Manor to Room 24, Chateau du

Village Nursing Home,St Martin GY1 1ZP

8

11 October Ruby Sinclair to Room 44, Summerland House Nursing Home,

Mount Durand, St Peter Port GY1 1DX

The Whistle by Charles Murray Edith Mather

This poem by Charles Murray (1846 to 1941) a northeast of Scotland poet, holds a special place in my heart. Murray describes how the young cowherd made himself a whistle and how much pleasure it brought to him and others. And then the terrible last verse which I find almost impossible to get through without shedding a tear. I remember my Dad making me a rowan whistle – can’t remember if I managed to produce a note but I definitely never managed a tune. Life could’ve been so different if I had!

He cut a sappy sucker from the muckle rodden-tree,
He trimmed it, an' he wet it, an' he thumped it on his knee;
He never heard the teuchat when the harrow broke her eggs,
He missed the craggit heron nabbin' puddocks in the seggs,
He forgot to hound the collie at the cattle when they strayed,
But you should hae seen the whistle that the wee herd made!

He wheepled on't at mornin' an' he tweetled on't at nicht'
He puffed his freckled cheeks until his nose sank oot o' sicht,
The kye were late for milkin' when he piped them up the closs,
The kitlin's got his supper syne, an' he was beddit boss ;
But he cared na doit nor docken what they did or thocht or said,
There was comfort in the whistle that the wee herd made.

For lyin' lang o' mornin's he had clawed the caup for weeks,
But noo he had his bonnet on afore the lave had breeks;
He was whistlin' to the porridge that were hott'rin on the fire,
He was whistlin' ower the travise to the baillie in the byre;
Nae a blackbird nor a mavis, that hae pipin' for their trade,
Was a marrow for the whistle that the wee herd made.

He played a march to battle, it cam' dirlin' through the mist,
Till the halflin squared his shou'ders an' made up his mind to 'list;
He tried a spring for wooers, though he wistna what it meant,
But the kitchen-lass was lauchin' an' he thocht she maybe kent;
He got ream an' buttered bannocks for the lovin' lilt he played.
Wasna that a cheery whistle that the wee herd made?

Glasgow Evacuees

In the Summer magazine Ann Morris wrote about the Guernsey people, mostly children, who were evacuated to Glasgow in 1940. In October a splendid exhibition and get-together took place in our hall. This was not organized by our church, but we were delighted to open our doors to such a happy gathering. In the picture Jane Kinley is taking names!

We don’t ask anyone to commit themselves

blindly to St. Andrew’s in the Grange…….

but if you come along to our church regularly we’d like to give you the opportunity to find out what it would mean for you were you to become both an active disciple and member of our congregation by coming along to an Enquirers Group.

Attending the group doesn’t commit you to joining the congregation; you can make up your mind about that at the end of the course.

A new Enquirers Group will be starting up early in the new year,

so if you’d like to be part of it or if you’d just like some more information please contact Graeme on 257345 or speak to him on any Sunday.

Text Box: This year, instead of sending cards to members of the congregation, we’ve given a donation to Help for Heroes… and so from all of us at The Manse……

from Graeme, Ailsa and Connor…..

MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND EVERY BLESSING FOR THE NEW YEAR

“Love Came Down at Christmas.” Alistair MacRae

These first lines from the hymn by Christina Georgina Rossetti, and her lovely “In the Bleak Midwinter” are amongst the most popular of all Christmas hymns ever composed.Known mostly as one of the founding members of the “Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood”, she is less known for her involvement with the Anglo-Catholic Movement, which was part of the Church of England, and her subsequent work for many years with the St Mary Magdalene House of Charity in Highgate.

The very heart of these lines she wrote can be seen today than in the work of the Hospice movement, as it provides palliative, or comfort orientated care, regardless of religious conviction, to the dying throughout the world.

Saturday 10th October was “World Hospice Day” and in Guernsey this year it was celebrated in St Stephens Church, with an ecumenical service of thanksgiving taken by the Dean of Guernsey, with representatives from the Methodist and Roman Catholic Churches, in the presence of the Lieutenant Governor, and Jurats.Thanks were given for the life and work of the physician Dame Cicely Saunders, who pioneered the hospice movement as founder of St Christopher’s Hospice in London, establishing her first hospice there as recently as 1967.

Emphasising palliative care through pain management and emotional and spiritual support, her hospice was a phenomenal success and became the stimulus for a rapid expansion of her ideas throughout Britain and the world.

Although modern hospices are rooted in the ancient traditions of the monastic compassion of caring for the sick, the present day hospice focuses largely on the short term care and support for those close to the end of their lives, and their relatives and friends.

Thanks were given throughout the service, in prayers and addresses, for the founding work of Greville and Lisa Mitchell, in establishing our own hospice here in Guernsey at Les Bourgs, and for the dedicated staff and volunteers who give so much of themselves selflessly, every day, of every year.

From a contribution on the Les Bourgs website :

“I had never been in a Hospice before but the atmosphere at Les Bourg is amazing. It’s so positive. It is a place full of love and care”

The service of “Celebration of the Work of Les Bourgs Hospice” on World Hospice Day was a special example of the ecumenical movement in action, and a celebration, through the work of the hospice movement, that

“Love Came Down at Christmas.” Love all Lovely, Love Divine.”

The Girls’ Brigade

Some readers will not know that we now have a Girls’ Brigade company attached to our church. Kirsteen Saddington, the island commisioner, leads a group in our hall on Wednesday evenings; seven girls between seven and 14 years old.

Kirsteen has been a Brigader since the age of six, and has achieved about twenty badges and awards including the prestigious Queen’s Award.

The Girls’ Brigade is an interdenominational Christian youth organisation with branches in sixty countries. The crest (below) shows a cross, a lamp, a crown and a torch. The Brigade motto is “Seek, Serve and Follow Christ.” Meetings involve prayer and bible study, but the accent is on games and badge work.

Text Box: Badges fall into four groups: Spiritual, Physical, Educational and Service (Spes is Latin for hope.) You will have seen the results of some Spiritual badge work on the notice board in the hall where the girls have been studying the Ten Commandments. In reply to the question “What rules would you choose if you were in charge?” they have posted “One good deed a day: Life must be a musical: Everyone must like pink: No hypochondriacs: Smile: All boys who boast about stuff are rubbish at those things!” They seem to have good fun sessions. Recent badges have also involved needlework and crocheting.

So what can we do for our company of Girls’ Brigaders? They are happy to have a home in our hall. Anyone who can teach a skill would be welcomed. In the Summer there will be an open evening to find out more about their activities. Keep an eye on their notice board, and remember them in your prayers. Adds Kirsteen, “New girls are always welcome!”

The company can be contacted through Graeme, or directly to Kirsteen tel 728847

The badge was designed by Brigader Constance Fasham in 1964.

The Big Eight – 0 Rev George Lugton

As you know I celebrated my eightieth earlier this year, and so many of you were kind enough to remind me of the passing years. May I thank you all for the cards which you sent me and for the affectionate greetings contained in them. I did appreciate the large card with the signatures of so many of you who throughout my ten years from 1987 until 1997 supported me.

One card I received was from a friend in America: Joan and I met her at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland more years ago than we care to remember. Sabra has been a great friend throughout all the years and her card was very special. I thought I would share it with you. The words apply to all of us.

God is writing a book about you.

The pages tell of your life

and the lives you were created to touch.

No one else will take exactly

the same path as you, meet the same people, or have a chance to show

the love of God in the same way.

You are unique and so is your story .

And it’s one of the Author’s favourite reads.

You saw me before I was born

and scheduled each day of my life

before I began to breathe.

Every day was recorded in Your book.

(Psalm 139:16)

Sunday Readers January-April 2010

January 03 Paul Riley

January 10 Graham Beveridge

January 17 Jean Lees

January 24 Amanda Jones

January 31 Gaye Cumming

February 7 Paul Riley

February 14 Edith Mather

February 21 Sally Wilkinson

February 28 Stuart Hardie

March 7 Dorothy Timms

March 14 Sandy Harcus

March 21 Fiona Willis

March 28 Alan Boyle

April 4 Leila Le Messurier

April 11 Gordon Grantham

April 18 Ethel Robb

April 25 Iain Timms