Rushen Parish Magazine

February 2016

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Contact Details for Rushen Parish

Vicar:

Rev’d Joe Heaton (rev.joeheaton@gmail.com) 832275

Rushen Vicarage, Barracks Road, Port St Mary

Readers:

Mrs Margaret Galloway, Cumbrae, Athol Park, Port Erin

Mrs June Harper, The Barns, Strawberry Fields, Colby 834466

Mr Richard Clague, 4 Eagle Mews, Port Erin 834606

Mr Harry Dawson, Thalloo Reagh, Cregneash 478050/835770

Mr Adam Kelly, Berwyn, Beach Rd, Port St Mary 833850

Active Clergy

Rev Roger Harper, The Barns, Strawberry Fields, Colby 834466

Rev John Gulland, 3 Snaefell House, Port Erin 834548

Rev Brian Shephard, Keayn Ard, Queens Rd, Pt. St Mary 833315

Retired Clergy:

Canon John Sheen, Kentraugh Mill, Colby

Church Wardens:

Mr Gerry Callister, 60 Ballamaddrell, Port Erin 474924/834627

Mr Arthur Cregeen, 23 Close Famman, Port Erin 832488

Mr Harry Dawson, Thalloo Reagh, Cregneash 478050/835770

Mr Peter Hayhurst, Fois Fraon, Fistard 832974

PCC Secretary:

Mr David Bowman, The Old Bakery, Qualtroughs Lane, 837117/260539

Port Erin

PCC Treasurer:

Mr Alan Kershaw, Ballakilley Barn, Church Road, 838117

Port St Mary

Parish Administrator and Safeguarding Officer for Children and Vulnerable People:

Mrs Claire Jennings, admin@rushenparish.org.uk 830850

More contact details on the inside of the back cover

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Dear Friends, Christmas is beginning to feel like a distant memory as the Season of Lent approaches and the first signs of Hot Cross Buns are now appearing on the shelves! Ash Wednesday is on the 10

th February and marks the beginning of Lent; the Church season when we remember

Christ spending 40 days and nights in the wilderness. It is a season of preparation, making sure our hearts and minds are ready to celebrate the great feast of Easter. It has traditionally been a time of fasting (typically eating only very plain food) as a sign of sorrow for the things that are wrong in our lives. In recent years, this idea has become more focussed on giving things up. Chocolate and alcohol seem to be recurring favourites. It’s interesting, I think, that many people who never come to church still choose to give things up for Lent. Maybe in our culture where we are blessed with so much, this reflects a desire in each of us to sometimes consume less and to live more simply. Even more recently, certainly in church circles, many people have opted for taking things up, rather than giving them up for Lent. Additional time spent in prayer or bible study, campaigning for just causes or making an extra effort to serve our neighbour for example. In the Parish of Rushen we have a number of different ways that you can deepen your faith. We have homegroups that meet weekly or fortnightly to read and study the Bible, to pray and to share fellowship. A new homegroup is being started in February on Wednesday evenings (further details from Mark Payne), and during Lent a service of Compline each week on Monday evenings at 7.30pm at St. Peter’s, Cregneish. All of these are there to deepen our faith, build upon our relationship with God through Christ and to strengthen our communities. As you travel through Lent may you walk ever closer with Christ each and every day. Richest Blessings upon you and your loved ones

Rev Joe Heaton

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Some Hints about Prayer this Lent

Prayer is instinctive for human beings, even those who don’t regard themselves as religious. You are standing at a bus stop in the wind and the rain, thinking ‘I do hope the bus will come soon’. It’s an inner yearning. It defies logic: either the bus is coming or it isn’t. But we all do it. It’s instinctive and it’s the raw material of prayer. Hoping for something better is basic. Like all instincts, it needs to be trained.

To whom do we pray? What you pray and the way you do it will be shaped by your view of God. Christian prayers are fashioned by what we know of Jesus and what He taught about prayer.

We pray by invitation. Again and again, Jesus encouraged his companions to pray. A couple of his parables on the subject have been misinterpreted as instructions to persuade a resistant God to do what we want. Have a look at Luke 18, verses 1-8, about a widow whose perseverance finally persuaded an unwilling judge to rule in her favour. The lesson is that God is not like that! Similarly, an unwelcome neighbour who persistently calls for help in the middle of the night gets what he wants (Luke 11.5-13). The lesson? If tenacious lobbying can overcome human unwillingness, how much more our gracious God will heed his children’s cry.

Pushing at an open door. Jesus is already praying for us. So when we start to pray, we step on to an already moving staircase. Sometimes prayer seems tougher than it need be. Jesus invited us to be linked to him, in the way an inexperienced bullock is yoked to a mature ox. Have a look at Matthew 11, 28-29, which concludes “for my yoke is easy and my burden is light”. When Marion Bartoli unexpectedly won the 2013 Women’s Wimbledon final, she said “I believe if you put all your heart and effort into everything you are doing, then God is there to help you.”

Is your prayer on the right lines? Try adding “for Christ’s sake” at the end. “Please let my marrow win the Gardening Club competition”? No. “Not my will but yours” is the key. So when praying, don’t give God instructions, just report for duty.

(This is part 1 of an article written by The Venerable John Barton. Part 2 will appear in the March edition of the Parish Magazine – Editor)

Answers to Part 3 of the Psalms Quiz (from January)

25. [Ps 84: v 11] 31. [Ps 107: v 23-4] 26. [Ps 90: v 1] 32. [Ps 114: v 4] 27. [Ps 93: v 1] 33. [Ps 115: v 5-6] 28. [Ps 98: vv 6-7] 34. [Ps 135: v 11] 29. [Ps 104: v 26] 35. [Ps 147: v 10] 30. [Ps 106: v 21-2] 36. [Ps 147: v16-7]

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lives there with her husband and sons and daughter. We miss Pat when she is absent and are looking forward to her return which will be at the end of January just prior to the Friendly Lunch. We are at present preparing for this so that we can advertise it in good time. More details will appear in the weekly pew sheet so do please look out for the information. As long as we have enough soup and pie makers to enable the lunches to continue we will carry on providing them. Fortunately we do have ladies who will step in whenever we are short staffed. I managed to get to Noble’s Hospital this afternoon to visit Ellen who normally runs the raffle at our lunches. Unfortunately she can’t be there this time as she had a fall and broke her left hip. She will be out of action for quite some time. She sends her love to everyone and thanks the many who have sent cards. She was in good form and making the most of the attention she is receiving from the nurses. Her eldest daughter has come over to see her mum. I have also been to see Hetty who is now resident in Abbots Wood nursing home and has settled in well. Peggy is looking well in Southlands where I visit each week. She is always eager to hear news of everyone. All of these ladies send their love to you and would appreciate visits from some of you. Do keep warm, and be careful when out and about.

With Love and Best Wishes

Brenda Watterson For the Ladies Working Party

Ladies Working Party – St Mary’s

This very cold weather doesn't stop us getting to the hall as the heating keeps us all cosy so the ladies have just restarted their Tuesday afternoon meetings after their Christmas and New Year break. There was great feeling of friendship and fellowship in the room when we met as everyone wanted to catch up with their pieces of news. Just as we started I had a text from Pat Thomson who is in the Cayman Isles spending time with her daughter who lives

Read that again?

This true story appeared in Episcopal Life: ‘When I was on the diocesan staff… I was a frequent visitor to the Parish of St Michael and All Angels in Anniston, Alabama. Upon one of my Sunday visits, I was to have been welcomed in the Sunday bulletin with the comment: ‘Dr Gribben has been with us frequently.’ Instead, a typo acknowledged my presence with the observation: ‘Dr Gribben has beer with us frequently.’

In a sack

Seen in a church magazine: ‘Bring your old newspapers (and your neighbours), put them in a sack and tie them if possible.’

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Compline (Night Prayer)

Lent 2016

St Peter’s Cregneash There will be a service of Compline each Monday evening during Lent, beginning on Monday 15

th February at 7.30 p.m. at St Peter’s Cregneash

Compline is one of the ancient monastic offices, the service of night prayer, which begins the “Great Silence”, observed throughout the night and early morning in many monasteries. It is above all a service of quietness and reflection before rest at the end of the day. And it is most effective when the ending is an ending – without additions, conversation or noise. We shall, therefore, enter and leave the church in silence. Although it is an ancient service, the form of liturgy will be from Common Worship, in modern language. We very much hope as many of you as possible will join us for this prayerful observation of Lent.

Roger & June Harper

Let Heaven and Nature Sing

Morning-time; rejoice to see Little birds upon the tree –

Waiting so expectantly: Sparrows, finches, robins, tits,

Gather to breakfast on tasty bits. In they dive before food’s gone: Devoured by the big and strong:

Seagulls, magpies, crows – the throng! Chirping, twittering away

Little ones cheer the dullest day. Awake! Awake! Hear them sing –

Melody to life they bring.

Psalm 84 v.3

Margaret Couper

Prayer on Prayer

Dear Father:

Thank you that you want us, your children, to connect with you in prayer. Thank you that we can come to you, rest in your presence and spend time with you, either quietly or crying out our thoughts and concerns from open hearts. Help us to trust you; to be confident that you hear us and will answer our prayers, in the right time and in the right way for us, even if we don’t always understand. Thank you for the sustaining privilege of prayer, In Jesus name.

Amen

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work for Graih, the homeless charity based in Douglas. Our name is the Manx word for love and our goal is to show love to people who don’t find it anywhere else. My job is to run our drop in centre where people can come for food, hot drinks and company and from there we try to offer people help and support in whatever way they require it. Anyone who is interested in what we do should come and talk to me as I will happily talk your ear off about it! A second interesting thing about me is that I’m exploring the possibility of ordination at the moment. I’m still in the very earliest stages of this, trying to seek God’s will on it and testing my calling. Pray for me as I do this that I would hear God clearly and be obedient to His will. Last but certainly not least I am getting married in August! I am marrying my beautiful fiancée Sarah Baker on the 13

th of August this year so pray for us as we make plans and

get everything ready. If you want to laugh a lot, ask me about how we got engaged… That is a little bit about me. I’m still getting to know people so please come and introduce yourself to me. I look forward to serving God in this parish and getting to know more of you.

Matthew

Matthew Robinson

Hi my name is Mathew Robinson; I’ve been attending St Mary’s church since September so I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself to the parish. I’m a 24-year-old farm boy from Santon; I lived in Port St Mary for 2 years whilst volunteering with SUMT and moved back here from the UK in September.

So here are 3 interesting things about me. First of all, I

The Joy of the Gospel - New Lent study guide available

Explained as a six-week study in sharing faith and written by Paula Gooder, this course is based on Pope Francis’ much acclaimed reflections on mission and evangelism, Evangelii Gaudium, widely recognised as being full of realistic wisdom and infectious enthusiasm for reaching out to others. The Joy of the Gospel will help parishes and Lent groups rediscover the joy of encountering Jesus and the transformation that occurs when his good news is communicated in the world today. Each session includes prayer, a guided reflection on a Bible passage, and an opportunity to explore a key theme of sharing faith, such as working together, the role of the Holy Spirit, and the social justice dimension. Paula Gooder is an internationally known writer, speaker, educator and broadcaster and is closely involved with Anglican - Roman Catholic relations at the international level.

You can order the study guide online at bit.ly/JoyGospel

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enjoyed by everyone who attended. The first of these, the Port Erin Commissioners Carol Service was, as usual, very well attended despite the dreadful weather we all experienced during December. It was however really good to see so many people in the congregation. It was the awful weather that forced the Port Erin Traders event to be cancelled on 5

th

December. This was such a shame as a faithful band of workers had been preparing for it for many months. The decorations in the church and hall in preparation for Christmas looked very beautiful with a new Christmas tree, organised for us by Shelia and Phil Preston, and decorated by them and members of the congregation. The hall was decorated by Shelia, Phil and Chris Walker and his team. On behalf of everyone connected with the church and hall, I would like to thank everyone who played a part in making everything look so nice during the festive period. Bishop Robert Paterson celebrated and preached at the midnight Christmas Communion Service at St Catherine’s Church. The vicar led the service which was very well attended. We can now look forward to the spring arriving. There is much work to be undertaken at St Catherine’s and we pray for the Lord's guidance in all the decisions that have to be made. Until next time God Bless!

Gerry Callister

News from St Catherine’s

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all enjoying yourselves in 2016. The Christmas activities at St Catherine’s Church were

Judgement? This true story concerns the visit of a visiting preacher to a little village chapel… ‘He was a few minutes into his sermon when, without warning, about twenty square feet of thick and decayed Victorian plaster fell from high on one wall and crashed into a group of empty pews below. As the dense fog of dust began to settle, and it became clear no one was in injured, the minister prepared to resume his sermon. Then he paused, and looked heavenward and in a slightly pained voice, asked: “Was it something I said?”’

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February Crossword

3 So rapt (anag.) (6) 4 Declare again (2 Corinthians 2:8) (8) 5 Paul’s ‘fellow worker’, to whom he

sent two epistles (Romans 16:21) (7) 6 God’s foreseeing care and protection

(Job 10:12) (10) 9 Traditional form of Roman Catholic

Mass (10) 12 ‘The Lord... has given the — of Israel

to David and his descendants for ever’ (2 Chronicles 13:5) (8)

14 ‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my — ’

(Luke 1:46–47) (7) 16 The central element in

Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, identified and interpreted by Daniel

(Daniel 2:31) (6) 19 ‘On this rock I will build my church,

and the gates of — will not overcome it’ (Matthew 16:18) (5)

20 City where Paul was under house arrest for two years (Acts 28:16) (4)

Across

1 Success or wealth 2 (Deuteronomy 28:11) (10) 7 Forbidden fruit for Nazirites (Numbers 6:3) (7) 8 Concede (Job 27:5) (5) 10 Look at (Psalm 48:13) (4) 11 Much in evidence after weddings (8) 13 Condense (Job 36:27) (6) 15 Breakwater (6) 17 Give a tan (anag.) (8) 18 More usually now called Pentecost, —

Sunday (4) 21 After living for 365 years, it was said

of him that ‘he walked with God’ (Genesis 5:23–24) (5)

22 Trampled (Judges 9:27) (7) 23 For example, Miriam, Deborah (Exodus 15:20; Judges 4:4) (10)

Down

1 Arrogance (Proverbs 8:13) (5) 2 Roman poet from first century BC (4)

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January Crossword Solution

The winner of the December Sudoku competition was Douglas Couper. The draw took place just after the joint service at Kirk Christ on 27th December. My wife drew his entry from the 5 that I received. Douglas has kindly returned his £5 prize money which will be added to church funds.

Professor Hugh Davidson - awarded MBE in New Year’s Honours List

We congratulate Hugh, who is an active member of the St. Catherine’s congregation on being awarded an MBE. The Examiner reported: “Mr Davidson and his wife Sandra fund the H & S Davidson Trust which has undertaken joint ventures with Save the Children to educate more than 3,000 children in Kolkata and with Oxfam to more than double the income of 11,000 poor women and their families in India and north Bangladesh.

He has been the vice-president of Save the Children (IOM) since 2002 and part funder of the ‘One World Centre’ aimed at raising awareness of larger global issues. He is also involved with ‘AXA IOM’ and ‘Age Isle of Man’ in the intergenerational “Tell me Project” in which children record memories of older people, to be preserved for future generations.

With his wife Sandra he is a co-founder of ‘Rushen Heritage Trust’.

He chaired the committee which produced the slogan for the Island, “Freedom to Flourish”. With Sandra he has made many visits to poor parts of India and Bangladesh. He founded and is active in Charity Challenge, in which Year 12 teams from the Island’s schools make a presentation on behalf of their chosen charity, competing for grants from the H & S Davidson Trust.

Brian Trustrum

January Sudoko Solution

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Douglas has kindly submitted a very interesting article about his past life which I intend to include in the magazine in instalments. The first of these is printed below. I hope you enjoy them. Editor A few years ago I visited a West African country to assist in the development of its research facilities. On the way from the international airport I noticed a large water tank on a very well constructed tower and evidence that an irrigation scheme had been established there. It was the dry season and one would have expected to see crops growing, however the site was dry and nothing was growing. After I had completed my official assignment, I went back to that site to have a closer look. I saw a lovely irrigation set-up with an excavated well with stacks of water, a beautiful pump and a diesel engine. I turned over the engine which seemed to be in good shape and then I looked at the piping and sprinklers which were stored in a nearby shed. All appeared to be fairly new and in excellent condition. I asked around and found someone who knew about the irrigation scheme. He told me that the scheme had been set up by a charity organisation from England, which shall remain nameless. The idea was to produce vegetable, fruit and flowers throughout the year for export to Europe. Planes came in loaded with essential commodities for the population, but they returned to Europe mostly empty. So this was a well-thought-out scheme which would bring much needed revenue to the country. As the dry season lasts for around six months, an irrigation set-up was essential for continuity. The scheme evidently ran well for a few years under a cooperative management scheme, but the treasurer ran off with all the money in the bank account and because of this there hadn’t been any funds to purchase fuel for the irrigation engine and so the scheme packed up. Probably an investment of around £200,000 was scrapped because where wasn’t £10 to buy diesel for the pump engine. Was anything being done about it? No. Too many aid schemes are set up at great expense and then forgotten as consciences in developed countries feel at ease by the initial giving. I lived in East and West Africa for 34 years whilst working in agricultural research. There I saw numerous instances of charitable funds which were not fully utilised because donors were generally unaware of the local situation in which aide would be used. I saw a dump for machinery, tractors, cars and mini-buses, most of which were gifts from charitable organisations. Many of these vehicles will probably have had less than 20,000 miles on the clock and were likely to have been scrapped because they needed a new tyre or water pump etc. I have seen dozens of such dumps in East and West Africa. Very often, in Africa, there are no funds available for proper servicing, or for purchasing even relatively small and cheap spare parts. One therefore finds vehicles or tractors worth around £20,000 have been dumped because £20 is not available for a spare part.

….to be continued in the March edition of the Parish Magazine

Douglas Couper

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can last from half a day to a day, to a week, or even longer. During this time, you can seek God’s presence, grow deeper in your faith, and come to see yourself and others more clearly.

You may greatly benefit from a retreat if:

- you need time to get back in touch with your inner self - you want to learn more about prayer and reflection before God - you need to prepare for some big challenge/decision in your life

The range of retreats on offer is enormous. There are beginner days, hobby-based retreats (art, poetry, gardening), retreats for particular life issues such as bereavement, relationship breakdown, marriage enrichment, stress and trauma, or simply prayer and Bible reading with a spiritual director to guide each day. Retreats are also held with seasonal themes – Lent, Easter, Pentecost, Advent, or on major life themes: forgiveness, waiting, letting go, peace, justice, contemplation, the Cross, Resurrection, hope or despair. Others focus on inspiring believers of all kinds down the ages. Retreats have only one thing in common: they are offered to nourish and enrich you.

Retreat houses vary from monasteries to modern building complexes. Most are set in beautiful grounds, with lots of space to wander about in. Some have libraries, art rooms and prayer rooms. Almost all provide home cooked food, and many can welcome people with disabilities.

What is the point of it all? Like pilgrimages, retreats are really a journey with a sacred purpose that can become transformational for you. Someone once described a retreat like this: “When we allow ourselves time, new insights are given… new and old places in our hearts are visited. Blessings are received and healing acceptance of memories can take place…” It is too easy to avoid ourselves, to live life on a shallow basis, and not ever to allow ourselves time to simply renew our inner selves. Jesus frequently went off to be alone and pray; He just wanted to be with his Father. We, too, will benefit from time alone with God. (Retreat information at: www.retreats.org.uk)

Parish Pump

Time to retreat?

Lent is how the Church offers you a 40-day period of renewal each year. So this Lent, if you feel tired and stressed by the demands of daily life, why not consider a retreat?

In simplest terms, a retreat is simply stepping aside from your daily routine for a period of time, usually to reflect and pray about your life, all within the context of being in a welcoming and peaceful place. You can go it alone, or with a group. It

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‘We should ensure the Christian meaning of Christmas is not

forgotten’

A Year 7 pupil was given the above title and was asked to write his thoughts. This is what he wrote:

Some people would agree with this statement such as religious people, schools and churches. They may argue that many people are forgetting the true meaning of Christmas since popular companies are beginning to turn their products into festive designs such as adding a Santa hat or modifying their products into reindeer or snowmen etc. to make a lot of money as people are buying gifts for each other. All children seem to want is expensive gifts and are forgetting about Jesus. All that Christmas has become is a time off school to party and receive gifts. Others would disagree, however since parties are held to celebrate the birth of Jesus and brings families together. Santa represents giving; he gives gifts to children like God gave us Jesus. Companies change their design to get us more with the season and make it a bit more festive. Many of the merchandise have many links with the nativity. Schools try to remind people of the real meaning by performing nativity plays, carol concerts and taking children to hospitals and old people’s homes to sing and try to cheer them up as this is supposed to be a happy time. Other organisations give money to charity or give a gift in a box instead of sending cards. There is another charity called Crisis at Christmas which provides the homeless with a free Christmas dinner, which is a sign of Christianity. People raise money for it by going on sponsored walks. I think that Christmas hasn’t been lost although some of the things that are being made around Christmas may have no link to the true story about Jesus. I don’t think that the nativity has been forgotten but there are a lot more merchandise things around that somehow change the way people see Christmas. As long as parents continue to remind their children that Christmas is about the birth of baby Jesus, the true meaning of Christmas will not be lost. The story of the birth of baby Jesus represents God giving us his son to make the world a better place and to teach us to love one another and forgive them of their sins.

Isn’t it wonderful to hear the views of a pupil of 11/12 years of age stating what he feels about the need for Christmas to be upheld in the multi-cultural world in which we now live? (Editor)

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‘He gave us eyes to see them’ - The Font: St George’s Anstey

Last month we stood at the doorway of a church in West Yorkshire. Open the door of that church or any church and the first thing to greet our eyes is the font. It marks the beginning of Christian life in the church. Many fonts have fine carvings of the seven sacraments that nourish the Christian. Others are octagonal in shape: a reminder of Noah and his seven family members saved in the ark from the Flood. This month’s font is a symbol of the ship sailing the seas of life. It is in St George’s Church, Anstey, in Hertfordshire. Around the font are carved mermen - mythical, pagan creatures that belong to a pre-Christian age which the newly baptised is called on to renounce. When it was carved in the 11

th-12

th centuries, baptism occurred within eight days of birth. Babies

would be immersed three times into the waters of the font: dying to the old life symbolised by the mermen, and rising to new life, to be clothed in a white robe and given a lighted candle as a guide through life. They would then grow up in the church, moving from that west end through the upturned boat of the nave to the altar at the east end. That movement is a sign of the pilgrimage we are all called to make. Like a journey on the seas of this world, we may sail through tranquil waters and peaceful days. There may be times when the skies are cloudy and the waters stormy. Martin Luther, when he was faced by struggles like that in his life, would say the words ‘I am baptised’ to strengthen and reassure himself. ‘I am baptised’ we can say as we travel in faith, knowing that there is always a light to guide and a goal that is sure and eternal.

Rev Michael Burgess

Ladies

Notice in a church hall where a sale of second-hand clothes was in progress: ‘Ladies may have a fit upstairs’.

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All in the month of February

500 years ago on 18th

Feb 1516 Mary I, Queen of England (1553-58) was born. She was also known as Mary Tudor or Bloody Mary. 400 years ago on 26

th Feb 1616 Galileo was ordered by the

Catholic Church to abandon his opinion that the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun (known as the Copernican theory). He was banned from holding the opinion, promoting it, or teaching it.

200 years ago on 20th

Feb 1816 Rossini’s opera ‘The Barber of Seville’ was performed for the first time, at the Teatro Agentina in Rome, Italy. It was poorly received, but quickly became a huge success.

100 years ago on 28th

Feb 1916 Henry James, American-born British novelist (The Turn of the Screw, Daisy Miller, etc) died.

60 years ago on 11th

Feb 1956 two members of the Cambridge spy ring, British diplomats Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, announced that they had defected to the Soviet Union. They had both vanished in mysterious circumstances in 1951.

40 years ago on 11th

Feb 1976 John Curry won Britain’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in figure skating. (It was also Britain’s first medal at the Winter Games for 12 years.)

25 years ago on 1st

Feb 1991 South Africa President F W de Klerk announced his intention to repeal all apartheid laws. Also on 24

th Feb 1991 during the Gulf

War/Operation Desert Sabre, that the US-led coalition launched a massive ground offensive against Iraqi forces. Kuwait was liberated on 27

th Feb, after 208 days of Iraqi

occupation, and the war ended at midnight on the 28th

Feb. 20 years ago on 1

st Feb 1996 US President Bill Clinton met Sinn Fein President Gerry

Adams at the White House to discuss the Northern Ireland peace process. Also on 10th

Feb 1996 the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeated reigning world chess champion Garry Kasporov in one of their six games. This was the first time a computer beat a world champion under tournament conditions. 15 years ago on 19

th Feb 2001 the first case of foot-and-mouth disease in the 2001 UK

outbreak was detected at an abattoir in Essex. On 21st

Feb the European Commission banned all British milk, meat and livestock exports. 10 years ago on 18

th Feb 2006 British rock band the Rolling Stones played the world’s

largest free rock concert on Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. An estimated two million people attended.

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Church Action on Poverty Sunday - 7th February Food is a gift from God. But in the UK today, thousands of people are denied access to that gift by injustices that leave them destitute. Churches play a vital role in sharing food with those who need it – and speaking out to ensure that nobody goes without. And so this year Church Action on Poverty Sunday is asking churches across the UK to consider at least one of the following ways in which they might help.

Give: hold a collection or soup lunch to raise funds for their work. Act: speak out for the poor and disadvantaged. Pray: use free resources to plan a worship service that gives thanks for the gift of food,

and celebrates the work being done to tackle hunger and poverty in the UK. (More details at: http://www.church-poverty.org.uk/)

Creator God, you made this good earth and gave us enough that all could delight in bread and wine, milk and honey, story and song. As Jesus sat by lakeside and table and shared bread, and said that his body was broken for all, he showed us a glimpse of your Kingdom. Inspire us with a vision of a society beyond the scandal of poverty where bread is the birthright of all your children. Give us hearts that yearn for it, voices to call for it, strong hands to build it together.

From the Registers

Funerals (December 2015):

Monday 7th

December 2015 Robert James Walster Kirk Christ

Friday 11th

December 2015 Dennis Barry Hemsley Kirk Christ

Thursday 17

th December 2015 Josephine Isobel Kelly

Kirk Christ

This prayer can be found on the Church Action on Poverty website.

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wife was receiving in the United Kingdom. I am sure that you will want to send your love, prayers and best wishes to Mrs Rivers, and the hope that the result of her treatment will restore her into full health. The consequence of this meant that I had to invite Sue Rotheram to come along to speak to us in January. She came to talk to us on the subject of the ‘Alexander technique’, a subject very few of us had ever heard of and which was extremely interesting. She explained how all the parts of our body work together in various ways which was not easy for us all to understand. Sue is the only qualified person on the island and the ladies who attended were fascinated with her talk entitled ‘Posture Plus’, another subject that Sue teaches. The afternoon started with our usual prayer time with the hymn ‘Lord for the Years’. Margaret Couper read to us after which Mrs Helen Shephard thanked our speaker for her interesting and informative talk. Valerie Vaughan played our closing hymn ‘For the Fruits of His Creation’. Then everyone joined in the Grace. Refreshments were then served which resulted in much conversation amongst the ladies and the speaker. We were lucky to have a fine day. Our next meeting is on the 8

th February which is ‘Chair Exercises’ with

Mr Roy Wilson. This is the gentleman who was unable to come and speak to us in October. Until then I send you all my love and best wishes.

Brenda Watterson Branch Leader

Rushen Mothers’ Union

At the beginning of our year in September 2015 we seemed to be having problems with engaging our guest speakers. The first problem occurred in October 2015 when Ray Wilson who was going to talk to us about ‘Chair Exercises’ was unfortunately ill and therefore unable to attend. The same applied with our speaker in January of this year, Mr Norman Rivers, was unable to talk to us about the ‘Chernobyl Children’ because of treatment his

Giving up for Lent

At the end of the vicar’s pre-Lent sermon he suggested, as an example to the rest of the community that the congregation should worship in an unheated church for the whole of Lent. As they made their way into the chill Sunday air the vicar addressed one member of the congregation, asking what she had decided to give up for Lent. “Church,” she replied firmly.

Sick

During a church service my young niece had to go outside, as she did not feel well. She returned a few minutes later and admitted: ‘I have been a little sick. But it doesn’t matter, there’s a box at the door marked ‘for the sick’.

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Copied from one of the previous church magazines of which I was editor - DJB

What’s an OAP?

They’d done the swings and fed the ducks and he was getting tired. ‘Granddad, what’s an OAP?’ the little girl enquired. ‘Well dear, it’s someone who remembers a long, long time ago, when life was very different and the pace was rather slow. The baker came with a horse and van, the milkman pushed his float, the coalman had his horse and cart and leather hat and coat. But ‘Wallsie’ with his ices would pedal on his bike. We paid for goods with shillings and pence, or sometimes a note for a pound. A penny would buy a sticky bun or a ride on a merry-go-round. Even a farthing was worth a lot, it would get a liquorice strip, and a fiver would take a man and his wife away for a holiday trip. No ordinary folk had motor cars, most travelled on a train, or on a noisy tramcar with no roof to stop the rain. The drivers and conductors all wore uniforms and ties, There were porters on the station and meat in potato pies. Some things you take for granted hadn’t been invented, like Sellotape, and ballpoint pens, and aerosols all scented. Our toilet was outside the house without electric light, and the kitchen was our bathroom, every Friday night. We didn’t have computers then, or craft in outer space. The microchips we wanted came with our cod or plaice. We didn’t have fish fingers or beer that was all froth, we had some lovely “spotted dick” Mum cooked in her best cloth! Mum never had a washing machine, she always had to cope with our clothes in the sink and a rub and a scrub with a bar of Fairy soap. To dry she had a washing line or a clothes horse round the fire, she never had the luxury of a hot-air tumble drier. We had no television, nor radio cassettes, no video recorders or great big jumbo jets. We used to have the wireless, as the radio was known, and played one-sided records on a wind-up gramophone. Policemen used to walk the streets and no-one went in fear, but if a child should pinch some fruit, he’d get a clip round the ear. No lager-louts, or ticket touts, no muggers prowled the town, but if a burglar robbed a house the judge would send him down. You see, my dear’ the old man said, ‘we didn’t have a lot, we had to work long hours for the wages that we got. But what we had and what we have is worth a pot of gold, it’s all the happy memories to remind us that we’re old.’

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Children’s Page

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Who would true

valour see

John Bunyan wrote these words while a prisoner in Bedford jail. They appeared as a poem in his great work, The Pilgrim’s Progress. He would have been astonished to learn that his poem would ever go on to become a well-loved hymn. What was Bunyan doing in jail? He had got caught up in the religious/political tensions of the times, and suffered for it.

John Bunyan was born in 1628, only a few years after the Pilgrim Fathers fled England for America, and religious freedom. Those were troubled times in England, with great tensions between King Charles and the Royalists, who were Catholic and believed in the divine right of kings, and the Parliament, as represented by Cromwell and the Roundheads. Bunyan had been brought up a Roundhead, and even became a soldier for a while in Cromwell’s army. When another soldier died in his place, Bunyan was stricken with grief, and went on to become a committed Christian.

After the Restoration of the monarchy and the Established Church in 1660, Bunyan was viewed with suspicion as a Puritan sympathiser. He was ordered to stop preaching in public, but refused. He was convicted and altogether spent 12 years in prison. They turned out to be the most fruitful years of his life, for he took up the pen, and in the end reached far more people than he could ever have done by preaching locally.

The poem appears in Pilgrim’s Progress at the point where Christiania and her four sons meet and help Mr Valiant-for-Truth on the road. They wash his wounds, give him food and drink, and learn his story. Mr Valiant-for-Truth was on his way from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. He relates the obstacles and battles along the way, and then launches into ‘Who would true valour see…’

The poem/hymn has been praised as ‘calculated to inspire the most doubtful spirit; the most disconsolate soul and to rekindle the fire of zeal and enthusiasm for the pilgrim journey.” … it was born out of Bunyan’s own struggle… to be a pilgrim.’ And it is the same faith, in the same Lord, and the same journey, that

keeps millions of Christians in the Persecuted Church of today strong and looking forward… to the Celestial City!

Who would true valour see, Let him come hither; One here will constant be, Come wind, come weather. There’s no discouragement Shall make him once relent His first avowed intent To be a pilgrim. Who so beset him round With dismal stories, Do but themselves confound; His strength the more is. No lion can him fright, He’ll with the giant fight, But he will have a right To be a pilgrim. Hobgoblin nor foul fiend Can daunt his spirit; He knows he at the end Shall life inherit. Then fancies fly away; He’ll fear not what men say; He’ll labour night and day To be a pilgrim.

John Bunyan (1628-88)

The Story Behind the Hymn

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Rushen Parish Prayer Diary

Thank you, that you accept us as we are; that you love us as we are. So may we love those

around us. By your Spirit may we hold hands. May we rejoice with the rejoicing, weep with the

weeping. And may we offer our all to you, together.

Then we may be ourselves. Then we may be one.

February 2016

This is your invitation to pray day by day for:

1st

Pets which bring such comfort to the elderly and the lonely 2

nd The Presentation of Christ in the Temple - Candlemas

3rd

The children and parents who attend Play and Praise each month 4

th The bereaved and the sense of loss that they feel when loved ones die

5th

CAMEO, meeting with friends for morning coffee in St Catherine’s Church Hall at 10am 6

th The Queen, Lord of Man, as we remember her accession to the throne

7th

Families attending morning services today and the fellowship they derive 8

th The Mothers’ Union meeting taking place this afternoon

9th

Children enjoying their pancakes and chocolate before Lent begins 10

th Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, and what it means to each one of us

11th

Alan Kershaw and the work he does maintaining the finances of the parish 12

th Those who give of their free time to help run charitable organisations

13th

All those who intercede during the services in the parish 14

th St. Valentine, the patron saint of romantic love, remembered today

15th

Those people in hospital awaiting treatment for life threatening diseases 16

th Grandparents who help their children through difficult times

17th

Those preparing for marriage later this year and the excitement they derive 18

th Children who attend nursery, primary and secondary schools across the island

19th

The Prayer Group meeting at 15 Close Cam this morning 20

th All those who read the lessons at the services in the parish

21st

Sidespersons who carry out their duties in our churches week by week 22

nd Children who attend youth organisations such as brownies, cubs, scouts and guides

23rd

Children who have been baptised in the parish during the past year 24

th Port Erin United Men’s Fellowship meeting in the Methodist Hall this evening

25th

The head teachers of our local schools and the successes they bring to all children 26

th St Mary’s Friendly Lunch taking place at lunchtime today

27th

World leaders dealing with the problems of terrorist attacks and the aftermath 28

th Care workers who visit people who are lonely and/or elderly

29th

Homegroups in the parish and the fellowship derived from them

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4th February 10.30am St Catherine’s Holy Communion (BCP) 11.45am Southlands Holy Communion (CW) 7th February 8am St Catherine’s Holy Communion (BCP) (1 before Lent) 9.30am Kirk Christ Morning Prayer + Baptism (CW)

11am St Mary’s Holy Communion (CW) 11am St Catherine’s Morning Prayer (CW) 3.15pm St Peter’s Evening Prayer (BCP)

14th February 9.30am Kirk Christ Holy Communion (CW) (Lent 1 ) 11am St Mary’s All-Age Service (CW) 11am St Catherine’s Holy Communion (CW) 3.15pm St Peter’s Evening Prayer (BCP) 6.30pm St Catherine’s Alternative Worship (Café Style)

21st February 8am St Catherine’s Holy Communion (BCP) (Lent 2) 9.30am Kirk Christ Morning Prayer (CW) 11am St Mary’s Holy Communion (CW) 11am St Catherine’s All-Age Service (CW) 3.15pm St Peter’s Holy Communion (BCP)

28th February 9.30am Kirk Christ Holy Communion (CW) (Lent 3) 11am St Mary’s Morning Prayer (CW) 11am St Catherine’s Holy Communion (CW) 3.15pm St Peter’s Evening Prayer (BCP) 2nd March 10.30am St Catherine’s Holy Communion (BCP) 11.45am Southlands Holy Communion (CW) 6th March 10.30am St Catherine’s Holy Communion (BCP) (Mothering 9.30am Kirk Christ Morning Prayer Sunday) 11am St Mary’s Holy Communion (CW) 11am St Catherine’s Morning Prayer (CW) 3.15pm St Peter’s Evening Prayer (BCP)

(CW) Common Worship (BCP) Book of Common Prayer

Services February 2016

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Contact Details for Rushen Parish

St Mary’s Sunday School Leader:

Carole Coole, Cronk-NyGreiney, Fisher’s Hill, Arbory 827545

St Mary’s Ladies Working Party & St Mary’s Friendly Lunches

Mrs Brenda Watterson, Cair Vie, Linden Ave. Port St Mary 833618

St Mary’s Hall Bookings:

Mrs Brenda Watterson, Cair Vie, Linden Ave. Port St Mary 833618

St Catherine’s CAMEO & Morning Coffee

Mrs Suzanne Ali, 25 Sunnydale Avenue, Port Erin 834456

St Catherine’s Friendly Lunches

Mrs Sandy Fairest, 21 Ballamaddrell, Port Erin 834449

St Catherine’s Hall Bookings:

Mr & Mrs G Callister, 60 Ballamaddrell, Port Erin 474924/834627

Web Site/E-mail:

www.rushenparish.org.uk admin@rushenparish.org.uk

Magazine Editor

Mr David Bowman, The Old Bakery, Qualtroughs Lane, 837117/260539

Ballafesson, Port Erin

e-mail: dbow43@manx.net or dbow43@live.co.uk

Articles for the magazine should be submitted to the editor no later

than 20th of each month. This arrangement is subject to change.

Parish Director of Music:

Mr M D Porter, 10 Fairway Drive, Rowany, Port Erin 832143

Churchyard Enquiries:

Please contact Mr Harry Dawson: 478050/835770

or Mr G Callister: 474924/834627

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February Sudoku Competition

Here is this month’s Sudoko competition. If you would like me to send you a copy I will do so with pleasure. When completed, you can submit your entry to me at my address which can be found in the magazine, or give it to one of the wardens, or telephone me so that I can collect it from you. You must ensure that your name and address is printed somewhere on your entry. There is a prize of £5 for the winner. The solution will be printed in the March edition of the magazine. If possible the draw will be made at the morning service at St Mary’s Church on Sunday 28th February 2016. The closing date is Friday 26th February 2016. The very best of luck!

David Bowman (Editor)