Christmas starts with Christingle
February 2016
N E E D TO K N OW
I S T O R I E S I A R E A U P D AT E S I E V E N T S N E A R Y O U
No rains on the plains
D i re c t o r ’s V i ew By TIM ELBOURNE, Diocesan Director of Education MANY years ago I spent a summer in South Africa as a guest of the Anglican church and of an activist friend who was organising doctors and medical staff to defy the strict apartheid rules about which hospitals could care for which people. It was the beginning of the death throes of the regime, and a time of extreme tension. Tear gas canisters and sjamboks flew around several places I visited. In Durban a gun was pointed at me in anger by a young conscript outside a Christian centre where a group of black activists were claiming sanctuary. In Cape Town I joined a march led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu in which defiant women and children had to be shielded against the effects of tear gas. On my return, I went straight from Heathrow to the final day of a Higher Education conference. It was a truly surreal experience. I was greeted at the door by a clown. The organisers had planned an afternoon of greasepaint, using ‘circus’ as a metaphor for their theme. So just a few hours after leaving the urgency, crisis and brutality of a country on the very brink, I was in the genteel surroundings of a conference centre with colleagues dressed up as circus clowns. Worlds apart. I was reminded of that sense of CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
Bring the kids to light a candle for Christ’s birthday
Bishop's Lent Appeal:christmasstarts.com Centre pages SPECIAL COVER SINGLE AND
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Single and Special
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Excited Dedham Primary School pupils hit the high notes in pop music project
Anne Goss
Single? New book asks whether you are fulfilling your God-given potential NB Page 1
■ Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: Centre pages ■ 2014 church attendance figures: Page 9