For your diaryFor your diaryYou will find a very warm welcome at our new series of house groups. We meet fortnightly on a Tuesday, there is no obligation to commit to whole series, just come as you can, and there is always a lift available if you need one.
Next few meetings from next week into early 2007 are as follows:
28th November Chris and Peters
12th December Mel & Carolyns
Christmas Break
9th January 2007 at Jeffs
23rd January Lynn & Rolands
6th February Vicky & Brians
20th February Liz & Hughs
6th March Jim and Jaynes
20th March Chris & Peters
All meetings start at about 8 and are led by a different person each week. Come and see what youre missing, a roaring open fire at Jeffs....... mince pies at Mel & Carolyns.......................................
Sunday 3rd December - Youth service St. James Church 7,30 pm
Saturday 9th December - Church Christmas Party
Monday 11th December 7.30pm - Quarterly meeting dont let the word meeting put you off, its as much a discussion as anything FOR EVERYONE involved in the church, and will include some seasonal munchies.
Friday 22nd December, 6.30pm
Carol Singing on the Green organised by St. James for the whole village. Refreshments will be served.
Christmas Eve
Carols and coffee - Christmas cafe with handbell ringers 11am
Christmas morning
A celebration! 10.30am
Ok - last time you asked for some more of these so here they are. Girls names - Christmas hamper for winner given at carol service on Christmas Eve. Also, special visitor prize for those who are seeing it for the first time that day! Good Luck
A station in London.......................................
A kind of fool.................................................
A musical problem in an Austrian abbey...............................................
A smith in the kitchen....................................................
Jungle swingers girlfriend.....................................................
She really was quite contrary..................................................
One wears her each year.......................................................
A seasonal song is named after her.....................................
And her, but she is underscored............................................
Bill Sykes girlfriend.................................................................
At the end of the day its the day before.................................
Found in wonderland........................................................................
Tom Gerry Barbara and ...............................................................
Jack went up the hill after her....................................................
North America goes in two opposite directions.......................
Rhymes with Maisie ..............................................
A ringer with an a on .............................................................................
You can wear a string of her..........................................................
After 40 years you may get one of these..................................
Even though the suns not shining
And the sky is dull and grey,
Even though you watched the postman
Walk straight past your door today
Even though the phones not ringing,
When you wished and hoped it would,
Look around you, Count your blessings,
Life is precious, Life is good.
Even when youre disappointed, and your plans have gone awry,
Put your troubled thoughts behind you,
Look ahead, the way you should,
Tell yourself with each new morning,
Life is precious, life is good.
It really is you know! God Bless
LORD
Thou knowest better than I know myself that I am growing older and will some day be old.
Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking that I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.
Release me from craving to straighten out everybody's affairs.
Make me thoughtful but not moody, helpful but not bossy.
With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all but Thou knowest Lord that I want a few friends at the end.
Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point.
Seal my lips on my aches and pains. They are increasing and love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by.
I dare not ask for grace enought to enjoy the tales of others' pains but help me to endure them with patience.
I dare not ask for improved memory but for a growing humility and a lessening cocksureness when my memory seems to clash with the memory of others.
Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken.
Keep me reasonably sweet; I do not want to be a saint - some of them are so hard to live with - but a sour old person is the crowning work of the devil.
Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places and talents in unexpected people. And give me, O Lord, the grace to tell them so.
AMEN
Anon.
This year I decided to plan my arrival to coincide with the 5th Anniversary of the opening of Ama Ghar. I very nearly didn't arrive that day as a huge thunderstorm over the airport in Kathmandu kept us circling on high for over 2 hours. Just as we were anticipating a diversion for the night to Dhaka or Bangkok the skies must have cleared enough and down we went. Thankfully Bonnie was there to meet me and I was soon home again and trying to get everyone's name right as I greeted them all. There were three new faces, two little boys and one girl all around six years old.
Of course everyone had grown and the standard of English had improved. This must be partly due to the fact that they are now attending an English-medium school. I think this has been a good move although there are disadvantages to having to travel out of the village to school. The main one is the bus which has to be the oldest most battered vehicle I have ever seen. The school is 'working on the problem'. Lunch is also an issue - I think school lunches always are! Overall the school is a happy environment, small enough for everyone to be known well but large enough to have a good range of facilities. The owners were educated themselves at the Mission school and are Christians; although they do not advertise the school as a Christian school, morning prayers are said out in the garden in the sunshine. So the children are kept very busy, leaving home at 8am and arriving back at 4pm for a period of noisy play before dinner and homework. I worked very hard getting them to finish this to be in bed for 9pm, some would stay up half the night to work if you let them!
The three older girls are now needing some thought. Bindu had decided it is time to move on and go to live in the nurses hostel where she is about to go into her final year of training. Sadly the college has been on strike for over a month and her exams have been delayed but this is a common state of affairs there. Rupmalla, now 23, has been doing an 'internship' at the local tourist hotel learning to do housekeeping duties. She previously learnt to cook at a city restaurant. Rupmalla was abused as a teenager and cannot go back to her father because of this so the aim is to find someone in the extended family to take her in. Her confidence has improved but not enough for her to hold down a job in that very competitive job market. Sarada at nearly 18 is doing well at her 'A' level course although results of exams taken 6 months ago are still not out. She will be finishing her course in April and will then have to compete for a place in one of the Colleges or Universities where the competition will be fierce, particularly if she decides to try for medicine.
Nepalese people are generally very patient but the process of forming a new constitution is slow and wearing everyone down. We had a general transport strike the weekend before I left over a 20% petrol price hike. This resulted me being taken home via the back streets of the city on the back of a motorbike ridden by someone I had only just met, avoiding bricks being thrown and tyres burning in the roads to stop all traffic movement. I always did enjoy a bit of excitement and the children were most impressed to see me arriving that way!
Margaret
When we read about all the things that Mike and Daveen and their family are doing for the Baptist Missionary Society do you ever think - 'I couldnt do that!'
God doesnt call us all to serve him abroad, but there are ways we can all support World Mission. One way is by tearing the stamps of all that Christmas post and simply putting them into the container in the church porch. Brian then trims them, and our BMS co-ordinator takes them to Baptsit House in Didcot for the stamp bureau. Last year £9,800 was raised this way.
Out of curiousity, Brian decided to make a note of each 100 hes trimmed since our last ones went ot Didcot, and at the last count the total was 1,900.
We have a very good source of used stamps from a business in Bidford, (through Floss) and are supported by people in Harvington. Think how much more we could do if each of us asked just one friend , one neighbour and one colleague for their used stamps.
So remember when you open the cards that will inevitably start arriving soon, tear it, chapel bin it and Brian will trim it! Sometimes the ways we can help are the so simple we overlook them.
Vicky - BMS Rep
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense who has been with us for many years.
Noone knows for sure how old he was since his birth records we long ago lost in bearaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isnt always fair and maybe, just maybe it was my fault.
Common sense lived by simple sound financial policies ( dont spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children are in charge)
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but over bearing regulations were set in place.
Reports of a six year old boy charged with sexual harrasment for kissing a classmate; teens uspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only owrsened his condition.
Common sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools requyuired to get parental consent to administer Panadol, sun lotion, or a plaster to a student but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common sense lost the will to liveas the Ten Commandments became contaband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common sense toook a beating when you couldnt defend yourself from a burgler in your own home and the burgler can sue you for assault. Common sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was too hot. She spilled a little in her lap and was promply awarded a hughe settlement.
Common sense was preceeded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust, his wife Discretion; his daughter Resposibility, and his son, Reason.
He is survived by three stepbrothers; I know my Rights, Someone else is to Blame, and I'm a Victim.
Not many attended his funeral because few realised he was gone. If you still remember him pss this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.
Thank you June for bringing this to us
Patience is also a form of action
Augustine Rodin
I looked forward to Keswick this year, I was excited and thought about what it would be like. I went a few years ago and found it fun then, but thought maybe it had changed, I was older and my relationship with God was stronger than it was the time before. All my ideas of what it would be like were surpassed and this year keswick certainly didn't disappoint. Keswick taught me so much. I made new friends, I learnt to express myself when I was praising God, not to care what anyone else thought, and to open myself to God - let him take control of my life. Being a Christian before, I had already opened up to God, but I don't think I had ever thought 'I'm going to give my life to God'. I had planned to do theology at university and thought about going into teaching afterwards, but Keswick made me think 'Why can't I do something more?' I have now decided I want to go into either youth work or ministry after my degree and I feel that Keswick really helped my decision in that. Being surrounded by so many people who had already given their life to God just made me smile and I thought – 'That's what I want to do!'
Along with helping me decide what I want to do with my life in the future, Keswick also helped me with my relationship with God now, in the present. I found that Keswick revived the enthusiasm that I felt when I first became a Christian, I wanted to tell everybody I knew about God. I wanted to tell them how great and amazing he was and that they should come to Keswick too. So that's what I advise – whether you are a new Christian or an old Christian, go to Keswick. I can honestly say it has been (and I'm sure will continue to be) some of the best times of my life.
December 2006