The Rock
Magazine for the Parish of Tettenhall Regis
December 2014 January 2015
Sunday ServiceS at St. Michael’S 8am 10.30am 6.30pm
Holy Communion (last Sunday 1662) Parish Communion Evensong
Sunday ServiceS at chriSt the King 9am 10am 10am 6.30pm
(1st only) Holy Communion (1st only) Family Service – no Communion Family Eucharist (3rd) Healing Service
Sunday ServiceS at St. Paul’S
10.30am
Worship together with Holy Communion Children’s groups most weeks.
Sunday ServiceS at holy croSS 8am 10.45am
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
8.30am 9.15am 8.30am 9.30am 10.30am 8.30am
(1st & 3rd Sundays) Holy Communion Holy Eucharist
WeeKday ServiceS
Morning prayer at St. Michael’s Eucharist at St. Michael’s Morning prayer at Christ the King Eucharist at Christ the King Eucharist at St. Michael’s Morning prayer at St. Michael’s
The parish online
St Michael’s:
www.stmichaels-church.org.uk www.facebook.com/stmichaelstettenhall
St Paul’s:
saintpaulspendeford.wordpress.com
Holy Cross: holycross.bilbrook.info
Messy Church:
www.facebook.com/messychurchtettenhallregis 2
Times of Change As 2014 comes to an end, St Michael’s will be saying farewell to Simon Douglas as Curate. We have greatly valued Simon’s ministry among us and the fellowship we have shared with Sarah and the family in the last years. Simon’s last Sunday as curate at St Michael’s will be on 4 January – do come along to on that day to mark that occasion – when we will be celebrating Epiphany.
Evening, 4 January, 6.30pm at Holy Cross. Again to come along to celebrate the beginning of this new phase for our Parish. We hope and pray that our sharing together will bring energy and blessing for all of us. Simon’s licencing will take place at 7pm on Tuesday 3 February at Holy Cross, Bilbrook by the Bishop of Wolverhampton. Do pray for Simon and his family as they begin this new phase of life and ministry.
I am delighted that Simon has been appointed as Team Vicar of Christ the King, Aldersley and Holy Cross, Bilbrook and that Holy Cross is now part of the Parish of Tettenhall Regis. We will be having a celebration service to mark Holy Cross becoming part of the Parish of Tettenhall Regis on the Sunday
May I wish everyone a Happy Christmas, as we celebrate Emmanuel (God with us), and every blessing in the coming year. Richard Reeve
Welcome to the bumper winter issue of The Rock! We have now produced 12 issues of the new format magazine, and we hope you are enjoying what we have to offer. We are making a few changes the magazine, the first of which you will have already noticed, that we will be reducing from 12 to 10 issues, with a bumper December/January issue and a summer (July/ August) issue. We hope you appreciate the change. The magazine will also now contain added ‘Bilbrook’, and we are delighted to formally welcome the parish of Holy Cross, Bilbrook into the parish of Tettenhall Regis, and we look forward to working together, and what that means for communications within the enlarged parish and beyond, and how the magazine might support that. There are other exciting changes afoot, so lookout for them in the coming months. The Rock Editorial Group The next meeting of the group will be on Tuesday 27 January, 7.30pm in Church Cottage th
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The Joy of Unseen Mountains When walking in the mountains, Anne wears fluorescent yellow straps around her ankles which I can just see and enables me to follow her. Walking around a town, my guide dog Zeus, is literally life saving and gives me some independence.
As I am almost blind, friends are most intrigued that I still get so much pleasure from walking in mountains. My enjoyment started in my youth when my parents regularly took my brother and myself on holiday in the Lake District. As well as climbing many of the well known mountains, we also even camped out in the rain! Even now, my wife Anne and I go at least twice a year to a favourite little hotel on Lake Ullswater.
In 1960 it was decided that I required the blind right eye removed and have a plastic eye to replace it. Some years later while on a French camp site with friends, I had a shower, I came out first and took my plastic eye out to wash it. To my horror it slipped through my fingers and fell down the plughole, there being no sieve! I could see it six inches down winking at me but could not retrieve it. I called out “Mike, I’ve lost my eye down the plughole, can you come out and stop anyone spitting on it while I go and get the patron!” I found the patron and said in my best French “Monsieur, mon oeil de verre c’est disparu dans la lavabo” I did have a spare plastic eye with me and had put it in. He looked aghast seeing a three eye’d Englishman. He did come and unscrewed le siphon, took it outside and tipped my eye onto the grass. I grabbed it and ran!!
I have always been so inspired by the many references to mountains in the Bible. Jesus after feeding the five thousand “went up into the mountains to pray.” I love Psalm 121 with it’s salutary comment. “I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord”. I lost the sight of my right eye in my mid teens while still at school due to a detached retina, the treatment then being inadequate. The vision in my remaining left eye has been gradually diminishing since the mid 1960s, also due to detached retina and other pathology. It was devastating to have to give up driving in 1964, particularly as I had driven with a friend to Turkey and back in 1962 (7,000 miles)!
My enjoyment of mountains is now through my other senses, sounds being the most evocative. On a recent walk from Rydal to Ambleside, I enjoyed the sound of a nearby gurgling stream which then became a river and finally a waterfall.Across the valley I could hear the occasional bird song, the bleating of sheep and the distant traffic, all of
Currently, I cannot see a person’s face across a room and cannot read print. Modern computer programs with large print and a speaking programme are a saving grace, enabling me to type letters and send e mails. 4
which gave me an awareness of my surroundings.
(You have to take advantage of your disability!)
Earlier this year, Anne and I climbed quite a steep hill overlooking Ullswater. Sitting with our picnic lunch I was aware of the steamer’s engine on the lake and the flapping of sails. I was just aware of Looking ahead I could just distinguish the bright lake, beyond it the dark hills and above them the lighter sky.
Long term memory of scenes which were reinforced by a photo still come back to me, for example the view of the Matterhorn reflected in a lake in Switzerland, taken many years ago. A disability does make living harder but there are always people worse off than oneself. Also a disability in one member of partnership is also a disability for the other. Anne is so good at quietly watching me all the time but saying little unless necessary.
Smell is also evocative - heather and cow dung, for example! Touch has it’s place -feeling the different size and shape of various berries. Being guided by holding onto a lady’s arm gives great reassurance and pleasure.
Denham Wright
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My Journeying to Ministry – A Life Turned Upside Down! denying its causes and avoidance. All attempts at sympathy and help felt like weakness and were turned away, my wife suffered greatly. Things became so difficult that I knew that I could not possibly return to my job. Therefore I accepted a severance package on medical grounds. Something I would never have countenanced previously had become my only realistic option. In the days and months that followed I began to read vociferously. My interest and training in philosophy from my university days was put to good use as I attempted to shut the world out.
As I write we are in the grip of autumn, a season I love for it brings with it a wonderful array of colours. This season always turns my mind to reflecting upon rest and renewal. There is value in taking a time out to rest, recuperate and prepare to go on again in the spring. The problem with our day to day lives is that they are not nearly as predictable as the seasons. A few short years ago I believed I had life fully sorted. I had a good job, a wonderful wife and two great children. On the face of it, I believed we had made it. Then in the spring of 2007 I became quite ill. The years of travelling up and down the country suddenly lost their meaning and a terrible blackness of mood came over me. It is never easy to acknowledge that one is not perfect and the word Depression seemed unreal. But for the first time in my life I was really struggling and I felt alone, worthless and ashamed. At the same time my mother began to notice a profound change in my Father. His short term memory was going and he had begun to wander off and get lost. It seemed like all my certainties were challenged all in the one moment. Until this time life had seemed simple. I had achieved at school and later at University and gone into a well-paid job, I had achieved the sorts of things assumed as desirable.
It was at this time early 2009 that my wife suggested we return to Church. She had, in truth, been agitating for us to do this for some time but I had always shied away, preferring the anonymity of solitude. I also have an interest in investing borne of a training in economics which drew me ever closer to the computer screen. Simultaneously my Father’s condition deteriorated further and further to the point at which we called in medical help. Dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia and we were informed would soon become totally dependent upon us for all his personal care and daily needs, he would have no independent means to care for himself. To any person who has endured the pain of this realization, I am truly sorry.
All of sudden however none of this seemed to mean anything. The anchors of my life had been torn out. I struggled with my illness for months in truth by
I had always assumed my Dad was a constant in my life, a rock who always knew what to do and how to do it. Now 6
he could do nothing not even remember my name. I remember vividly feeling resentful as I entered Church for the first time in years driven on by my wife’s promptings. Why was the world continuing on happily, or so it appeared, whilst I was in such pain? However it was during this very first visit to Christ the King that I noticed a profound stirring within me. Nobody attempted to take me to one side and offer any advice, they read the signs etched on my face and just listened. There was no judgment simply love and acceptance of a troubled soul. I remember feeling both shocked and deeply grateful. From this moment my journey of faith really began. I am forever grateful to Rev Liz Rathbone. During this time we met weekly as I sought to grapple with my faith and emerging spirituality. At the same time I began to care for my Father and basically took over all of his household commitments relating to financial matters and keeping the household going. I acted as his advocate and went to court to be his appointed deputy as well as assisting with his personal care needs. I cannot lie this was very hard late night phone calls and sleep deprivation don’t help. But through it all I felt a more profound love and satisfaction than ever I had with either my own achievements or my work. The service of another brought home to me the true loving heart of God. I began to glimpse fleetingly the unimaginable love Jesus showed to us all when he walked to the cross on our behalf and I resolved that my life was his not mine.
Ministry is, for me, not simply for clergy, it is for each and every one of us. The call is not to shy away from debate or to avoid potential conflict but to, respectfully, stand up for the Gospel wherever we find ourselves. In work places or recreation as well as Church Jesus is with us urging us on and showing the love for us that he took to that cross. It is this alone that is important , the egos of men ,even my own are utterly irrelevant, we depend upon God our loving Father we must serve him in any way we are called so to do. As many of you will know I have recently entered training for Lay Readership. It took a long period of prayerful, reflection to embark upon this road. Fear of letting others down always ways hard on my mind, especially when the PCC has so kindly offered financial support. I am aware of this responsibility and at a time of tightening finances that any money spent on me cannot be spent elsewhere in our parish. My course is two years duration leading, I hope, to licensing in September 2016. It is a mixture of theological classroom based learning and practical involvement in Preaching and leading worship. I am also developing my ministry to the vulnerable through ties with Blakeley Green House and The Good Shepherd Ministry. In addition I have become active in a social justice forum run from Queens. Prior to this I have already completed a course through Distance Learning with St John’s Theological College Nottingham and have been awarded a Professional Certificate in Ministry certified by the 7
University of Chester. Were God is leading I am attempting to follow.
a humbleness of heart that produces service and to love each other and our wider communities in the truest sense. We are all in this together! I will close with a prayer:
There are many future challenges for the church at large and for our parish. The assimilation of Holy Cross Bilbrook will mean changes in the way we minister but with change, I have learned, opportunity also follows. We will have more people to serve, more personalities to harmonize collaboratively and more work to do. I would urge all to do their part, not to leave it to another and always remember the old adage of two heads being better than one. The more solution we find together, the more we cooperate and involve each and every member the better we can serve God here and for the future. There are no shortcuts, no one person ever has all the answers. Let us resolve to put prayer at the center of our lives both corporate and individually. To develop
O God warm cold hearts with the fire of your love. Eternally you are love: Father, Son and spirit. We are slow to learn that we can trust your plans: we struggle to believe that your intentions are truly good. So thank you that you have taken such pains to reveal again and again that you love creatures like us who are in thrall to sin and disordered loves. Your plan of salvation foretold to Israel, you’re coming to earth to live, cry and bleed, your awakening of heats that did not care –these are your divine works. Left to our own devices, without the perfect God of love, our hearts would still be cold. Amen. Martin Bristow
Expectation and Nostalgia I have to confess that I generally become quite grumpy about this time of the year! For some time now we have been bombarded with ‘Christmas’ material. I was appalled at seeing a Christmas promotion in August! As Christians we have a real and pressing duty to save Christmas and ‘recover’ Advent.
time with over-indulgence. The distance between the Christmas holiday and the Nativity has become so great that in recent years we have seen unrelenting assaults on the public display of Christian images at Christmas. ‘Merry Christmas’ had turned into ‘Happy Holidays’. Christmas trees in some quarters have even become holiday trees! Of course, in the secular world the season of Advent has absolutely no place. Any sort of spiritual preparation and the discipline associated with it would be detrimental for sales. It’s all about expectation; the expectation of presents, food and drink,
The real Christmas has been under threat for quite some time as the urge to capitalise on the ‘Christmas spirit’ has increasingly made this time of the year into a determined exercise to maximise profits, to encourage people to spend beyond their means and to associate this 8
started their own families. They wanted to capture something of the ‘magic’ and ‘lost’ innocence of childhood and ended up over-compensating with conspicuous consumption. Thus, the Victorians created religious rituals to disguise and justify a form of self-indulgence; rituals which we have inherited.
holidays and treats – and unfortunately increased debt. Children are encouraged by aggressive marketing to pressurise parents to buy the latest designs and gadgets, many of which are expensive. Peer pressure is very persuasive! As a result, many Christian leaders are outraged and outspoken on the need to ‘save’ Christmas from being relegated to being a purely subjective inner sphere of life that is simply irrelevant and inappropriate in the public sphere. Confusion in the public mind already exists between ‘Christmas’ as a religious celebration and ‘Christmas’ as a midwinter festival. One of the results of this is that the religious aspects become simply nostalgic. It is interesting to note that this is not just a contemporary phenomenon. Within just a few years of ‘inventing’ the modern celebration of Christmas the Victorians were already complaining about ‘commercialisation’ and that the real meaning of Christmas was being lost.
Perhaps the battle is not about ‘saving’ Christmas but rather rescuing the last remnants of a Victorian religious veneer consisting of certain customs and rituals they used to create a sentimental celebration for their children. Religious rituals are a shadow or a picture of the ultimate reality of God in Christ. Over the centuries Christmas has become encrusted with all sorts of ‘add-ons’ which can, and indeed have, distanced the celebration from that simple yet miraculous and world-changing event in Bethlehem which is at the very source of that great drama of redemption for us and for the world. Advent is a time to scrape away those barnacles which encrust our spirituality and to get closer to that pristine simplicity of God’s loving purposes for creation. This is a challenge which Betjeman expresses so well in his poem on Christmas. Some texts tell of ‘nostalgia’ – but they also point to the plain and simple fact that Christmas does not need any of the ‘extras’ which the media and commerce foist upon us. As Bernard Shaw, in his typically acid style, tells us; Christmas can so easily become ‘an atrocious institution’. If we take Advent seriously and once again ask ourselves that crucial question:
Of course, it is possible to argue that since its inception Christmas has always been about self-indulgence with a spiritual veneer. In Medieval times there was a great deal of gluttony and drunkenness. The romantic and highly sentimental Victorians cleaned this up a bit and repackaged it so they could dote on their children which social custom at the time would otherwise prohibit. The birth of Christ provided a religiously acceptable means of giving in to this indulgence. However, the law of unintended consequences came into play as the children grew up and 9
‘What are my spiritual priorities’ and do our best to answer it, Christmas will have been prepared for where it really matters – in the very soul of our being! Then the lights, the decorations and the presents can become another way of enjoying God’s gracious blessings.
of goodness? What is this mystery that surrounds me? I received the likeness of God, but failed to keep it. He takes on my flesh, to bring salvation to the image, immortality to the flesh. He enters into a second union with us, a union far more wonderful than the first.
If you, like me, sometimes feel grumpy at this time, how about this to set you right
Holiness had to be brought to man by the humanity assumed by one who was God, so that God might overcome the tyrant by force and so deliver us and lead us back to himself through the mediation of his Son. The Son arranged this for the honor of the Father, to whom the Son is clearly obedient in all things.
the Wonder of the incarnation by Saint Gregory Nazianzen – Early Church Father and Doctor of the Church. ‘The very Son of God, older than the ages, the invisible, the incomprehensible, the incorporeal, the beginning of beginning, the light of light, the fountain of life and immortality, the image of the archetype, the immovable seal, the perfect likeness, the definition and word of the Father: he it is who comes to his own image and takes our nature for the good of our nature, and unites himself to an intelligent soul for the good of my soul, to purify like by like. He takes to himself all that is human, except for sin. He was conceived by the Virgin Mary, who had been first prepared in soul and body by the Spirit; his coming to birth had to be treated with honor, virginity had to receive new honour. He comes forth as God, in the human nature he has taken, one being, made of two contrary elements, flesh and spirit. Spirit gave divinity, flesh received it.
The Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep, came in search of the straying sheep to the mountains and hills on which you used to offer sacrifice. When he found it, he took it on the shoulders that bore the wood of the cross, and led it back to the life of heaven. Christ, the light of all lights, follows John, the lamp that goes before him. The Word of God follows the voice in the wilderness; the bridegroom follows the bridegroom’s friend, who prepares a worthy people for the Lord by cleansing them by water in preparation for the Spirit. We need God to take our flesh and die, that we might live. We have died with him, that we may be purified. We have risen again with him, because we have died with him. We have been glorified with him, because we have risen again with him.’
He who makes rich is made poor; he takes on the poverty of my flesh, that I may gain the riches of his divinity. He who is full is made empty; he is emptied for a brief space of his glory, that I may share in his fullness. What is this wealth
Allen Roberts 10
Covenanting Churches There is a choice of Advent courses this year. You will be made very welcome at any of them.
The Church at Perton Three Evenings of Quiet Advent reflection. Thursdays 4th, 11th and 18th December at 7.30pm. Come and join us for an hour of prayer, music, readings, silence and reflection.
Saint Michael and All Angels A Dv e nT co u R s e s The Source of Redemption. 7pm Tuesdays 2, 9,16 Dec in Church Cottage. Led by Allen Roberts. Reflections on the Nativity of Christ as the completion of the Old Testament. Fully illustrated, and each session accompanied by a booklet with ideas for prayer and reflection Creative writing group for Advent 7-8pm Mondays 1, 8, 15 December in Church Cottage. Led by Jane Seabourne. We will read poems by Dylan Thomas, UA Fanthorpe and Christina Rosetti and write our own Christmas poems. If you have written poetry all your life, or never tried before, bring paper and pen and come along for an enjoyable hour.
s Pe c i A l s e Rv i c e s fo R A Dv e nT 30th November, 6.30pm – Candlelit Advent Carol Service 7th December, 6.30pm – O Come Emmanuel 14th December, 6.30pm – Journeys to Bethlehem; thoughts from Iona Carols on the Green. Saturday 20th December at 10.45am on Tettenhall Upper Green. Come and join us for half an hour’s carol singing followed by mince pies and coffee in the Parish Centre. On Sunday January 25th we celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. In the morning we go to each other’s churches to do the readings and intercessions. Why not go along with the people from our parish? You will be made very welcome at any of the churches in the group. In the afternoon the Covenant Renewal Service is at 4pm. at The Church at Perton. The service lasts about 40 minutes; it is based on material produced by a different country each year. This is followed by light refreshments and at 5.30pm the AGM. Saint Michael’s really do need at least 1 new rep. I am the only one at the moment! For further details of any of these events please contact Sue Randall 01902 829589 11
Christmas services in the parish:
St. Michael & All Angels Sunday 21st December 6.30pm Candlelit Carol Service
Christmas Eve 4pm Crib Service followed by mulled wine and mince pies 11.30pm Midnight Mass
Christ the King
Christmas Day
Sunday 21st December
8am Eucharist with Carols 10.30am Festive Christmas Eucharist
6.30pm Carol Service
Christmas Eve 4.30pm Crib Service 11pm Christmas Eve Service
Christmas Day 10am Christmas Day Service
Holy Cross Sunday 21st December 4pm Carols round the Tree
Christmas Eve
St. Paul
4pm Family Crib Service 11pm Midnight Mass
Sunday 21st December
Christmas Day
6.30pm Christmas Carol Service followed by mulled wine and mince pies
8am Eucharist 10.45am Family Eucharist
Monday 22nd December 10am Children’s activities (til 12noon) 7pm Blue Christmas
Christmas Eve 11.30pm Midnight Eucharist
Christmas Day
Blakeley Green House
10.30am Christmas Eucharist
(Green Lane, Aldersley)
Tuesday 16th December 7pm Carol Service
Christmas Eve 7pm Christmas Eucharist
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Poet’s Corner: In the Bleak Midwinter – Christina Rossetti Theologian Ian Bradley questions the poem’s theology, asking if it is right to say heaven cannot hold God. Other writers point to passages in both the Old and New Testaments which support Christina Rossetti’s view. She was well-versed in scripture, drawing on her religious faith in her writings
Christina Rossetti was born in London in 1830 into an Anglo-Italian family of academics and artists. She is one of the most celebrated Victorian poets and her work is still read today, ‘Remember’ was number nine in the Poetry Please most requested poems. She composed her first poem at the age of six:
In verse three of the carol, Christ’s birth is described in simple surroundings that were ‘enough for him’, where verse four contrasts the magnificent with the humble, borrowing biblical phrases ‘angels and archangels,’ ‘cherubim and seraphim’ with the additional pleasing sound of internal rhyme. This verse shows the importance of human love as Mary kisses her baby.
Cecelia never went to school Without her gladiator Even in this short poem with its picture of a young girl facing the spectre of school (Christina Rossetti was homeschooled by her mother), and the strange solution, has the characteristics of her adult work – a combination of the ordinary and the bizarre.
In the final verse, the poet places herself in the poem, imagining what gifts she would bring – there is almost a childlike earnestness about this.
‘In the Bleak Midwinter’, started life in 1872 as a poem. The poem retells the Nativity story. It has all the traditional elements and attributes of winter, although the winter sounds more northern than Biblical. The wind is personified as moaning, there are familiar similes, ‘earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.’ The poem rhymes in couplets, giving it the feel of a familiar story we heard ‘long ago.’
The carol has two well-known settings, the first by Gustav Holst to the tune ‘Cranham’, was included in the 1906 English Hymnal. This tune is suited to congregational singing and is the one we sing in church. The poem is unusual for hymns and carols as its metre and line-lengths are irregular and it needs a cleverly constructed tune.
It is only in the second verse that we hear of Christ and the contrast between the first and the second coming. Here we have the centre of Christian theology – Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
The second setting is by Harold Darke and is the version heard at King’s College Carol Service – in this one, the fourth verse is omitted and it has a different tune for each verse. 13
With its rich detail and clarity of meaning and the poet’s direct, touching language, In the Bleak Midwinter is one of our best-loved carols. Percy Dearmer said: ‘it sprang at once into popularity’.
If you want to see Christina Rossetti, there is a delightful pen-and-ink drawing of her by her brother, the Pre-Raphaelite artist, Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the dining room at Wightwick Manor. Jane Seabourne
The Autumn Time of Life November was my birthday month and this year I have to acknowledge that I’m tipping into my ‘late sixties’. There’ll be plenty who can pour scorn on achieving such a modest age, but my interest in the history of my own family tells me that few of my direct male ancestors have lived much longer. The longest living I’ve discovered so far was my great great grandfather, who died at Westcroft in 1881 at the age of 76 with senile decay! There are some hard realities to face and I think, better faced sooner than later. So what have I got in mind?
to make decisions on my behalf, about finance and about my care, should I become incapable of making them for myself, perhaps through having a serious stroke, dementia etc. There are 2 types of LPA: health and welfare or property and financial affairs. You can choose to make one type or both. The government has a website about these: www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/ overview I could also make what’s called a ‘living will’. ‘Advance decision’ is the formal name for a living will. It allows you to indicate that you wish to refuse certain types of medical treatment, should you be unable to make or communicate a decision about your treatment in the future (see www.ageuk.co.uk - look for ‘legal issues’). Personally, I want to live life, but not to prolong it artificially once its quality seriously diminishes. After all I do believe in God in whom ‘fullness of life’ is to be experienced in the hereafter as well as here!
1. I’ve made a Will and written down my wishes for my funeral but there are two other things to do. One is to make a ‘Lasting Power of Attorney’ which will make it possible for those designated
2. Many of my friends are the same age or older than I and will inevitably, have their own struggles to face. But I’m fortunate that among my family and friends are also many who are younger. I hope it’s not just for selfish reasons, 14
feelings and thankfulness for them, Noone can guarantee to be in a fit state to say them when the last chance comes, so I’ve got some letters to write. Better not to put it off too long!
but I’d like to keep in good contact with as many of them as possible .......... so (I tell myself) try not to become too much of an old f**t! 3. Over time I’ve realised that many elderly people have eventually limited their options by not making certain decisions soon enough. If there are things I want to do, I should get on and do them - tomorrow might never come. Not everyone can make choices about where they will live, but again experience has taught me to be realistic about diminishing powers and capacities and to move to suitable property for ‘real old age’ in good time - which usually means before you want to!
5. I don’t always live up to it but I’m ‘God’s man’. As I know he’s always looked after me in former years, I know that I can trust him for the latter ones. But I need to keep my sensitivities sharp and let my compassion and generosity flourish, out of a sense of gratitude for all I’ve received. It’s been a wonderful life - so I feel that it’s ok to pray for a wonderful death, when that time comes. Colin Gough
4. There are things I will want my nearest and dearest to know about my
Colin Gough was baptised, confirmed and ordained in St Michael’s. Once Priest in Bilbrook and Rector of Tettenhall Wood & Perton, he now lives in Northumberland and is a Canon emeritus of Newcastle.
Reflections from St. Paul’s WW1 Centenary Exhibition local 0-5-0 Club Artists Group reflecting on the First World War.
By all accounts the weather played a big part in numbers being low for the WW1 Centenary Exhibition but for those who did manage to get to see it like us, they were in for a real surprise.
However, for us the most moving part of the Exhibition was the poems by the children of St. Paul’s School. Although we might have been a bit biased as our son had written one of the poems but after seeing how well the children had captured the feelings and memories of the soldiers who had given their lives it was extremely moving. It was quite amazing what the children had achieved, as we know that some of them only had
When we first walked in we were welcomed by an awesome tribute to the fallen of WW1. A huge hand woven willow weave sculpture of the War Horse from the so named book by Michael Morpurgo, made by a local artist and the children of St. Paul’s School. There were also some very good and interesting pictures produced by the 15
I am one of the Year 5 pupils of St. Paul’s School who helped make the 8ft willow weave sculpture of the War Horse. It was a great experience. It was quite challenging because if you picked a willow branch that was too thick it was hard to weave/thread it through the small gaps.
an hour to compose their poems and for us this was the best part. Very well done to all who contributed and helped out with the Exhibition, it made for an amazing and moving tribute to those who gave their lives in the Great War. Mr & Mrs Tim Goode and family
It was surprising to see how amazing it looked at the end. I thought it was a great tribute to all the soldiers who lost their lives fighting for our freedom! By Zach Goode Age 9
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John Francis Lloyd Jack Lloyd died on 20th October 2014 aged 93. He had been an integral part of life at St Michael’s for many years. His funeral Eucharist took place at St. Michael’s on 11th November.
Committed to his Christian faith Jack wrestled with the meaning of his faith in his business life. As he began preaching that was one of the themes he would speak about. One of the things it meant for him was that he treated his employees with great care and kindness - he had an open door to anyone in the company - and he as a result he had great support from the workforce.
The following is taken from the funeral address by the Rector, Richard Reeve We are here to say farewell to a remarkable man. A year or so ago, at the age of 92, before his illness Jack was I’m told planning to play tennis on is 100th birthday and because Jack was who he was we might well have believed it.
Jack was married to Nancy for over 60 years, caring for he devotedly in the last years of her life when she suffered from dementia and when residential care for her became necessary, visiting her every day.
It has been my privilege to know Jack in the last years of his life and to share ministry with him here at St Michael’s where he was such an encouraging, kind and supportive colleague. He will be greatly missed here.
Jack was a father to John and Rosemary and in due course a grandfather to James and Oliver and Mark and Emma and a great grandfather to Daisie-Lou and Edie. He was close to them all and through their lives a great practical support and friend to his children. John spoke to me of the way he was there for him through difficult times and some of the prayers he gave like the footsteps prayer which helped along the way.
Jack was born in Wednesdfield and brought up there with his sister Lillian and educated at Bilston Grammar School. His father was Churchwarden at St Thomas’s. Jack told stories of childhood pranks, jumping off the canal bridge into the canal and barge hopping.
Jack enjoyed life too. He loved his cars and he took his family to the motor show in Earls Court each year. He liked music, playing the guitar with the Bill Hawthorn Sextet. He like playing golf and tennis. He was a gifted engineer and liked fixing things, especially cars and he taught John some of those skills. He loved steam trains too. Jack greatly enjoyed travelling and with Nancy often combined the travelling and the driving. He and Nancy on one holiday drove to Greece in his Rolls Royce. The cars he really loved though were his Jaguars and again even until recent years he thought nothing of driving to Europe.
When he left school Jack went into the family business, Ward brothers. He worked in every department and got to know the business and its employees. Jack eventually became chairman and managing director of the company and his determination, vision and charm saw the company grow rapidly to become one of the largest plumbing and heating suppliers in the country. They moved from Clevelend Road to open a new modern premises in Bilston Road - Jack travelled greatly to develop the business abroad opening a showroom in Bahrain and providing supplies in the Soviet Union. Jack often travelled by concorde.
He loved boats and his son John told me of the time when Jack phoned him on his 17
way back from the coast - to tell him he had bought a boat - John was brimming with excitement until Jack said, he met someone who’d offered him much more than he paid for it and he sold it again.
through surgery and recovery from cancer and Gillian caring devotedly for Jack in the last year. It was lovely that Jack and Gillian were able to share with a group from St Michael’s in a church retreat at Rydal Hall, just a week or so before Jack died. Frail as he was, it gave him great pleasure to be with his friends there and it will be an abiding memory for those who shared it with him.
Jack had begun to train for ordination while he was still in business, but his travels had made it impossible to complete the necessary training. He did however become a Lay Reader and valued his part in the Ministry Team here at St Michael’s. Many people have spoken of his grace and kindness and the practical advice that he gave. He would often point people to the window in the Lady Chapel, and to the words of Jesus there, “I am with you always.” He had a prayer for people. The healing ministry was always close to his heart as well. Jack never lost his vocation to ordained ministry and remarkably and unusually he was finally ordained at the age of 80 and gave 13 years of good service as an ordained minister in the parish here. Those who worked with him, servers for example, loved to do so because of the appreciation he showed.
The words that people have used of Jack in cards of condolence are words like “Inspirational, loved, respected, compassionate, kind, gracious, calming.” All of these are true of the person we knew. So as we say farewell to Jack we do so with great thanksgiving for a long and full life, well lived. We hold Gillian and John and Rosemary and their families in our hearts and prayers. But we say farewell to Jack with a great sense of Christian hope. Jack often used the word “transition” to speak of death. Death as the opening to a new stage of life, indeed a fuller life, and as we commend Jack to God, we do so trusting in our Saviour who has passed through death before us and revealed the risen life.
Jack had a calm, a warmth and a love about him. I’m sure much of that came from his spiritual discipline and the meditation with which he began each day. He sought to nurture both physical and spiritual health and the harmony between body and spirit. He was careful about his diet too.
Jack wanted the Eucharist to be celebrated at his funeral. In his life it sustained him with the spiritual food of Christ’s own life and gave the promise of the heavenly banquet in the eternal kingdom. And today we claim the promise of God to us and to Jack through the life death and resurrection of Christ which the Eucharist proclaims.
In the later years of his life Jack found a soul mate in Gillian and in Gillian’s words, “Jack gave me the best years of my life.” They were married here five years ago and enjoyed many good times together, including church activities at St Michael’s or at St Chad and Mark where Gill was organist. Theywere able to travel and one memorable trip was a journey on the Orient Express - a belated ninetieth birthday present for Jack. They gave comfort and strength to each other through difficult times, Jack caring for Gillian
We entrust Jack to the place prepared, the place of new life and peace in God’s presence. May he rest in peace.
Richard Reeve
18
19
All Over by Christmas “All over by Christmas” - now we scoff at their foolishness. But, in fact, it was almost over by mid-September 1914. The tragedy was that, by then, the two major participants, Germany and France, were too exhausted to administer the coup de grace.
almost irresistible and on 22 August, across the three fronts, France lost 27,000 dead, the highest on any single day in the War. Between 20-29 August Joffre’s futile and wasteful plan brought France to the brink of defeat and the Germans, not unjustifiably, thought they had won the War, despite their own huge losses.
Technically Austria/Hungary started the war with its attack on Serbia, following the assassination of the Archduke in Sarajevo. But, by trying to provide support in Galicia to its principal backer, Germany, Austria fatally weakened its army and suffered shattering defeats at the hands of the Serbs as early as 20 August.
So, hubristically, the Germans abandoned their plan of enveloping Paris and, instead, thought they only needed to mop up the French. Kluck, the commander in the field, turned his army across Paris, leaving its flank exposed.
The Germans’ exaggeration of the dangers posed by Russia were also quickly exposed. Ludendorff’s army, which was supposed to be in a merely defensive position in East Prussia, almost casually annihilated two Russian armies at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes on 27 August and 9 September respectively.
Joffre, having almost orchestrated French defeat in the previous three weeks, then contrived his moment of greatness. He saw the opportunity, sacked his failed Generals and appointed new ones and, with a new army including troops transferred from Alsace, he commenced the counter-attack on the Marne on 6 September.
But the war would be decided in the West, not Prussia or the Balkans. On 4 August von Moltke, the German Commander in Chief, implemented his version of the Schlieffen plan, designed to envelop the French, knock them quickly out of the war, before turning on Russia.
Even then, in much of the next few day’s fighting, German arms were probably winning, but by then logistics and communications were becoming as great a problem as the exhaustion of their troops. By 8 and 9 September the German generals, Kluck, von Bulow, and Haussen, had lost communication with each other
Joffre, his French opposite number, activated his Plan XVII but, in reality, he had just one tactic - attack, attack, attack. He ignored warnings of heavy blows aimed at Belgium and Northern France and sent large armies to Alsace Lorraine, where the Germans were well defended in positions on the Vosges mountains. There, in the Ardennes and the Belgian border, Joffre’s Battles of the Frontiers saw the attacking French suffer terrible causalities. The German advance was 20
and with Moltke, who remained based in Luxembourg.
It was completed in November, after defeat at Ypres ended the last German attempt, until 1918, to win the War outright.
They either misread the situation or realised they were over-stretched, while Moltke appears to have suffered a breakdown, becoming convinced the war could not be won; but must not be lost. He ordered his confused generals, some of whom thought they were winning, to retreat. On 10 September a new French advance found the Germans had gone.
The Germans might well have won if they had continued their plan of envelopment at the end of August, or even if they had fought another three or four days on the Marne - although it can equally be argued that, by then, they were too over-stretched to fight any longer. The French might have won if they had pursued and outflanked the Germans after 10 September.
The French were too surprised and exhausted to follow them; the Germans retreated in good order and began to digin on the Aisne. By mid-September the pattern of entrenched defenders in strong positions, which characterised the next three and a half years, began to take shape.
Either outcome would have avoided the slaughter that came in the trenches, but whether a German victory would have been an acceptable price to pay for avoiding it is still hotly debated by historians today. Bob King
Parish Calendar for December 2014 & January 2015 Wednesday 3 December Sunday 7 December
7.00-9.00pm –
New Life Sale, St. Michael’s Church
Second Sunday of advent Isaiah 40.1-11, Psalm 85.1-2, 8-13*, 2 Peter 3.8-15a, Mark 1.1-8
Messy Christingle, Christ the King, followed by: 4.30pm – Christingle, Christ the King 6.30pm – O Come Emmanuel, Evening service for Advent, St. 3.00-4.30pm –
Michael’s Sunday 14 December
third Sunday of advent Isaiah 61.1-4,8-11, Psalm 126, 1 Thessalonians 5.16-24, John 1.6-8,19-28 21
6.30pm – Michael’s Monday 15 December Tuesday 16 December Sunday 21 December
Journeys to Bethlehem, Evening service for Advent, St.
Carol Service, Sunrise of Tettenhall 7pm – Carol Service, Blakeley Green House 6.45pm –
fourth Sunday of advent 2 Samuel 7.1-11,16, Psalm 89.1-4, 19-26, Romans 16.25-27, Luke 1.26-38
Carols round the tree, Holy Cross 6.30pm – Candlelit Carol Service for Christmas, St. Michael’s 6.30pm – Carol Service, Christ the King 6.30pm – Christmas Carol Service, St. Paul’s 10am-12pm – Children’s activities, St. Paul’s 7pm – Blue Christmas, St. Paul’s 4pm –
Monday 22 December
Wednesday 24 December
chriStMaS eve
Crib Service, St. Michael’s 4pm – Family Crib Service, Holy Cross 4.30pm – Crib Service, Christ the King 7pm – Christmas Eucharist, Blakeley Green House 11pm – Christmas Eve Service, Christ the King 11pm – Midnight Mass, Holy Cross 11.30pm – Midnight Mass, St. Michael’s 11.30pm – Midnight Eucharist, St. Paul’s 4pm –
Thursday 25 December
chriStMaS day
Eucharist with Carols, St. Michael’s 8am – Eucharist, Holy Cross 10am – Christmas Day Service, Christ the King 10.30am – Festive Christmas Eucharist, St. Michael’s 10.45am – Family Eucharist, Holy Cross 10.30am – Christmas Eucharist, St. Paul’s 8am –
Sunday 28 December
the holy innocentS Jeremiah 31.10-17, Psalm 123, Revelation 14.1-5, Matthew 2.13-18
Sunday 4 January 2015
ePiPhany Isaiah 60.1-6, Psalm 72.[1-9]10-15, Ephesians 3.1-12, Matthew 2.1-12 6.30pm – United Service to Celebrate the joining of Holy Cross Bilbrook with the Parish of Tettenhall Regis, Holy
22
Cross Sunday 11 January
the BaPtiSM of chriSt Genesis 1.1-5, Psalm 29, Acts 19.1-7, Mark 1.4-11
Tuesday 13 January Sunday 18 January
7.30pm –
St. Michael’s DCC, Church Cottage
Second Sunday of ePiPhany 1 Samuel 3.1-20, Psalm 139.1-5, 12-18, Revelation 5.1-10, John 1.43-51
PCC, Holy Cross
Thursday 22 January
7.30pm –
Sunday 25 January
third Sunday of ePiPhany Genesis 14.17-20, Psalm 128, Revelation 19.6-10, John 2.1-11
Tuesday 27 January
7.30pm –
Magazine group, Church Cottage
Upcoming events Tuesday 3 February
7pm – Licensing of Simon Douglas as Team Vicar of Holy Cross Bilbrook and Christ the King aldersley, Holy Cross, Bilbrook
From the registers… It is a wonderful privilege to share in the special occasion of baptisms and weddings in our churches. If you have photos from the event, we would love to include them in the magazine or on our webiste. Send them to therock@tettenhallregis.com or share them on our Facebook page.
Weddings S T. MiC H a E L’S 1
15
James Williams & Sally Hulme Nicholas Merrick & Gemma Turner
Funerals S T. MiC H a E L’S 5
Jim Jones
11
Jack Lloyd
14
Zoltan Nemeth
C H RiS T T HE K iNg 7
Dorothy Baker
BUSH BU Ry C RE M aTO RiU M 11
Ronald Wright
20
Russell Edis-Blewitt 23
PariSh inforMation PaRiSH OFFiCE, Church Cottage, Church Road, Wolverhampton, WV6 9AJ tettenhallregis@gmail.com | 01902 751622 The office is open 10am‑12pm Monday‑Friday.
CLERgy Rev’d. Richard Reeve . . . . . . . . . . . 742801 Rev’d. Jim Perry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562133 Rev’d. Patrick Bryan . . . . . . . . . . . . 689550 REaDERS Mrs. Stella Salt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764887 Mr. John Vickers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651790 Mrs. Dot Clayton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780920 Mr. Keith Whitehouse . . . . . . . . . . 831135
Rev’d. Simon Douglas . . . . . . . . . . 741028 Rev’d. Allen Roberts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765741 Rev’d. Ruth Brooker . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399644 Mr. Peter Rowley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751762 Mrs. Christine May . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397031 Mr. Marcus Woodhouse . . . . . . . 759379
PaRiSH WaRDENS Mr. Cyril Randles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758797
Mrs. Dawn Parsons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822390
ST. MiCHaEL DiSTRiCT WaRDENS Mrs. Roberta Evans . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751444
Mrs. Paula Timmins. . . . . 07782 512013
CHRiST THE KiNg DiSTRiCT WaRDENS Mr. Ivor Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753960 Mrs. Dawn Corfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753433 ST. PaUL DiSTRiCT WaRDENS Mr. Eddie Baker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829040
Mrs. Joan Phillips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785844
MagaziNE CONTaCTS St. Paul’s Mrs. Sue Ellick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578822 Christ the King St. Michael’s Subscription & Distribution
Mr. Martin Bristow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833411 CuRRENTLy vaCaNT Mrs. Elaine Dovydatis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757775
The February edition of the Rock will be available on Sunday 1st February. All contributions by Monday 26th January to therock@tettenhallregis.com The views and opinions in the magazine are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the clergy, editor or PCC. The electronic version of the magazine is sent via email 10 times a year, at no cost. To subscribe go to: http://stmichaels-church.org.uk/rock/ A paper copy is available, costing £3 a year for 12 copies. Speak to one of the contacts.