St. Andrew’s Psalter Lane ChurchAn Anglican Methodist Partnership

December 2019 – January 2020Seasonal greetings to all our

readers

Correspondence should be addressed to the Church Office, Shirley House, 31 Psalter Lane, Sheffield S11 8YL

www.standrewspsalterlane.org.uk

Contents

Who’s Who – Contact details Page 2Welcome Page 3Letter from Gareth Page 4Contemplation Page 6Talking Point Page 8Interfaith news Page 9All We Can at SAPLC Page 10Theology Everywhere Page 111Eco Church Page 13No Idling Page 14Gardening Page 16Food and Feasting Page 17Church and Community Page 19Church Diary and Services Page 21Last Words Page 23Christmas Competition Page 24

Who’s WhoMinister Revd Gareth

JonesGarethjones11@gmail.com 250

8251Local Preachers

Mary Kenward

Jandm.kenward@blueyonder.co.uk 281 1284

John Harding John.harding13@virginmedia.com 201 3516

Readers Judith RobertsPastoral worker

Robertsjm4@gmail.com 236 1531

Imogen CloutChildren’s Minister

Imogen.clout@btinternet.com 268 6645

Ecumenical Church Council

Wardens

Muriel RobertsClare Loughridge

h.mcrowcafe@btinternet.comclareloughridge49@gmail.com

255 14732584164

Stewards

John BoolerKweku (Q) Ackom-Mensah

John.booler14@gmail.comkwekuackommensah@gmail.com

25876972681759

Chair David Body body.david@btinternet.com 268 6645

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Treasurer

Joseph Dey joseph@dey.co.uk 255 0953

Property Steward

John Cripps cripps@uwclub.net 258 8932

Giving Rodney Godber

rodney.godber@btinternet.com

266 3893

Secretary

Janet Loughridge

j.loughridge@sheffield.ac.uk 258 4164

CHURCH OFFICE – Monday – Friday morningsAdministrator Olivia Cox office@standrewspsalterlane.or

g.uk267 8289

Press officer Clare Loughridge

clare@standrewspsalterlane.org.uk

258 4164.

CHURCH BOOKINGCaretaker Debbie Thirtle bookaroom@

standrewspsalterlane.org.uk

255 3787

CHURCH ARRANGEMENTSFlowers Barbara Booler john.booler14@gmail.co

m258 7697

Music Simon Dumpleton

simondumpleton@gmail.com

07734527449

St Andrew’s Hall bookings

John Fieldsend nicrite@btopenworld.com

258 2631

BADEN POWELL ORGANISATIONS – which meet in St Andrew’s HallBrownies (Mon) Chris

Venableschris.venables@blueyonder.co.uk

255 0805

Brownies (Fri) Kay Smith Kayelaine19@gmail.com 235 9741Guides (Mon) Jacqui Ford jaxtimford@gmail.com 230 8040Beavers Nick Dulake Beavers.72ndstandrews

@gmail.com 

Cubs Rich Wain richardcwain@gmail.com.com

07990528783

Scouts Tim Major tmajor@hotmail.co.uk 07914450882

Explorers See www.hallamscouts.org.uk/explorers.html3

(A District Group which meets at Ringinglow )

Welcome This edition of Nexus has, quite by chance, turned into something of a fine art special. Our front cover is a photograph of one of the paintings in the Orthodox church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City. The photograph of the mosaic on the back cover comes from the recently excavated Byzantine church (summer 2019) in Jabalia, in the north of Gaza. The mosaic contains an inscription in Greek, for which I have no translation. If you can help, please see the back page for details of our Christmas competition. Thanks to Caitlin Procter for permission to use the photographs from her forthcoming book Visit Gaza (forthcoming 2020) published by Gilgamesh. Gareth’s letter focuses on the work of Doménikos Theotokópoulos, better known as El Greco. My own Talking Points references the life and work of the Italian renaissance painter Fra Filippo Lippi.

Links to further information are within the text and it will be easier to access those links from our web page http://www.standrewspsalterlane.org.uk/ Nexus is curated by Anne Hollows 07723407054, anne.hollows@gmail.com The next edition of Nexus will cover February and March 2020. Contributions are welcome and should arrive by Tuesday 14th January.

Letter from Gareth

Dear friends,Towards the end of October, Jean and I had a short breakin Paris. On our first evening, we went to a superb

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exhibition of the work of the great 16th and 17th centurypainter El Greco. El Greco, whose original name wasDoménikos Theotokópoulos, was born on the island ofCrete and began his artistic life as an icon painter,something of which I had been unaware before we sawthe exhibition. As a young man, he moved to Venice topursue his career, from there heading to Rome beforefinally moving to Spain and settling in Toledo.El Greco possessed a unique style of painting. His use ofcolour was striking, although this was something hesimplified towards the end of his life. But perhaps theaspect of his work that really marks him out from any otherpainter is his depiction of the human figure. The people inhis paintings are willowy and elongated, and this isespecially true of their heads and faces. Because most ofhis paintings are on religious themes, this gives an effectof unworldliness. When I was a student, I possessed aprint of El Greco’s painting “The Agony in the Garden”, adepiction of Christ in Gethsemane just before his arrest.The scene is dramatic, and strikingly unrealistic bycomparison with other artists of that period. The focus ofthe piece is, unsurprisingly, Jesus himself, and theelongated face and large, deep eyes emphasize bothJesus’ sorrow and his commitment and trust as he looks

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up at the angel who, on the one hand, ministers to him,while on the other holding out to him a chalice, the cup ofsuffering he must drink.

There is something both otherworldly and very humanabout El Greco’s depiction of Jesus in this painting. Jesusis not like the rest of us – an impression that is heightenedby the distance between him and the sleeping disciples –and yet he also seems to bear the weight of humanemotions. Although in terms of the church year “TheAgony in the Garden” relates to Holy Week rather thanAdvent and Christmas, it nonetheless expressessomething profound about the meaning of the Incarnation.(As we know, art often has the capacity to give voice toreligious ideas more subtly than doctrine.) TraditionalChristian theology speaks of Christ as both fully humanand fully divine, and rather than trying to explain what thismight mean dogmatically, El Greco depicts a Jesus who isboth deeply human and someone who seems to inhabit aprofoundly spiritual atmosphere.As we enter the Advent season and move towardsChristmas, this is the theme that will be at the heart of ourworship and reflections. Who is the person of Jesus for

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us? What does John mean when he says in his Gospelthat “the Word became flesh”? How do we discern thedivine presence in our finite, vulnerable, flawed humanity?And how are the stories we retell from two thousand yearsago relevant to our world today? These are not questionswe can always answer by analytical thinking; sometimeswe depend on our artists and poets to help us respond tothem.Love and peace,Gareth

CONTEMPLATION

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CHRISTMAS TIDE

The day before Christmas Evean empty stablebare, unwelcoming,sits in an empty church.

Soon the faithful, the curious, the hopeful will gather. Soon the church will be filled with warmth and praise: soft candlelight, children’s voices, the song of the frosty stars.

And then the stable will be transformed, filled with glory, crowded with the Christmas cast of donkeys and sheep, shepherds and kings, Mary, Joseph and the baby, the Holy One of Israel, asleep on the hay.

Transform our empty spaces O Christmas God. Fill the empty mangers of the world with food. Empty the cardboard boxes, refuge of the lonely and despairing. Bring warmth and light and shelter to all who watch and wait this night.

In bar and bare hillside in barrio and back room8

in crowded flat or empty home may we feel your presence at our shoulder and in our heartsand when the crib is packed away,the figures carefully clothedin protective covering,unwrap the swaddling bandsunfold the truthrelease the message:an empty stable -He’s not hereHe has risen.

Kate McIlhagga

Talking Point

A few days absorbing the wonders of art in Florence provided ample opportunity to reflect on images of the nativity. My personal favourite is the circular painting by Fra Filippo Lippi titled Madonna with Child and Scenes from the Life of Mary, in the Pitti Palace. It locates Mary and Jesus against a backdrop of scenes from Mary’s life, as imagined by the artist. My knowledge of this artist came through reading Robert Browning’s account of him in his collection ‘Men and Women’ which I studied for A level. As did Browning, I sourced further material from Vasari’s Lives of the Artists. His colourful life perhaps fuelled teenage interest. He became a priest at an early age (he had been orphaned) but was something of a renegade. As a priest, he took to wandering and was abducted by Moors in the Adriatic. He was enslaved until he painted a portrait of his owner. On his return, he was installed as rector in Prato, from where he ran off 9

with Lucrezia, a young nun from a nearby convent. She, together with their son, became the models for his Virgin Mary the infant Jesus. (They married along the way.) Lippi portrays mother and child as beautiful, blond haired and blue eyed. For centuries this was the image of the holy family painted by all the great artists and, from these paintings, fixed in the minds of Christians throughout Europe, and far beyond. In the same gallery, two paintings illustrating the flight into Egypt portrayed the holy family resting under distinctly European trees in verdant pastures, rather than the hostile landscape of Palestine and the Sinai desert. Approaching the Christmas season provides plenty of opportunity to reflect on the images of Christ and indeed his family and environment. Christmas greeting cards are generally designed with secular images or renaissance paintings, neither of which categories necessarily lend themselves to a deeper understanding of the Word made flesh. What visual images then can help us at this time of year? For me, the best images are those that resonate with the miracle of the birth of a baby in a harsh situation; with the surprise that in the most unlikely circumstance, something wonderful took place. There is a little of that sense of wonder in the image on the back cover of this magazine. Excavation of the ruined Byzantine church in Jabalia in the north of the Gaza strip has only recently begun but between July and early October of this year, the sand (originally a protective covering of the mosaics from wind and rain) has been carefully removed from the floor to reveal wonderful mosaics, dating from the fourth century The mosaics have now been covered with a protective tent. So there, next door to a large refugee camp often the focus of Israeli bombing raids, is the evidence of Christianity long ago. It is also, probably, close to the route that Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus 10

would have taken on their way to Egypt. Gaza was for centuries at the crossroads of the middle-eastern world between Asia and North Africa. So in the midst of a tiny enclave, which is anything but secure, we have evidence that Christianity, and in particular the birth of Jesus, was being celebrated so long ago and is now being carefully preserved. For me, and maybe for you too, these little miracles are the best gifts of the season

Interfaith News News from Shirley House Interfaith Centre

In October, Sheffield Interfaith, of which Shirley House Interfaith Centre is a group member, organised a visit to the National Holocaust Memorial Centre at Laxton, Nottinghamshire. Curiously, this National Centre situated on a hill between Ollerton, Worksop and Newark, in rural Nottinghamshire, was founded in 1995 by two brothers with no personal connection to the holocaust.The peaceful memorial garden consists of water features and beds of white roses, still flowering in late October. We then saw an introductory film, the main museum which details the build-up of anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany, and 'The Journey' which follows the experiences of a fictional Jewish schoolboy and his family. The visit was sombre and salutary, and emphasised how the dangers of extremism can creep up. We have recently heard calls from politicians that Muslims should not be allowed to vote. We must continue to work for good community relations and equal rights for all, especially the disadvantaged and disenfranchised.

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There were 2 events in Shirley House for Interfaith Week. On Wed 20th Nov we discussed and shared symbolic foods from different faiths and on Thur 21st Nov we shared another Sheffield Interfaith Food & Friendship dinner and discussion.You are warmly invited to our forthcoming events, both at 7.30: Tue 10th Dec our Winter Party, with party food & drink, features 'The Hat Game'. Come and find out what it is.Thur 23rd Jan - Kath Lawrence will talk about Bevis Marks.

Caroline Cripps

All We Can and St Andrew’s Psalter Lane Church.

St Andrew’s Psalter Lane Church has signed up as an All We Can Partnership Church. We are partnering with in a community, Cherkos, in Ethiopia as they struggle with climate change, poor harvest and lack of resources.All We Can work in partnership with talented local organisations and individuals whose commitment is best placed to provide help and support.We are generous at giving help in emergencies but this partnership is different as it is on-going and needs planned support and interest from us. We hope to do this by not only raising money but byincreasing our knowledge of the community of Cherkos - both its strengths and challenges. There is information about Ethiopia and Cherkos on the All We Can website https://vimeo.com/326294014

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and we will really welcome your involvement in prayer, planning and fund raising. Let us have your good ideas about how you, your families and groups can help. This could be coffee mornings, open garden event or sponsoring a task.Look out for further news in our next editionJudith Loveman and Janet Clark, who are leading SAPL’s engagement with All We Can.

Theology Everywhere: WaitingBy Deacon Sue Culver

‘Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison’ – Hebrews 13:3

Advent is nearly over – a time of waiting and preparing for the coming of the Christ-child. I don’t know about anyone else, but as I cast my eye over the bookcases in my study, I see a whole shelf of books about Advent – a range of books, which if read, promise to prepare my mind by stretching my imagination encouraging me to be ‘messy’, my body by amazing recipes for feasting, and my soul through daily meditations taking me ever closer to God. I have found it hard to engage with any of them this year, because my mind is full pondering on a different kind of waiting and preparation.

I work as a volunteer chaplain one day a week at HMP Oakwood.  It is one of the biggest prisons in Britain, housing anything up to 2,400 prisoners at a time.  It’s a purpose built prison, opened around 8 years ago and from a distance, you could be forgiven for thinking that it is a distribution centre or industrial warehousing  because that is exactly what it looks like, and in a sense, exactly what it is – warehousing for human beings. Within the walls, residents wait. They have no 13

choice. They are all there for a reason of course, and the punishment for whatever crimes they have committed is to have their liberty denied. So they wait. They wait for their sentence to be served; they wait for their loved ones or their legal briefs to visit; they wait for their food to be served; they wait for health care to be given; they wait for a chaplain to respond. They wait for doors to be unlocked and locked again; they wait for toilet rolls to be distributed; they wait for the clock to tick….and tock…and tick. Tempus fugit is not a phrase you will hear in prison and waiting is exhausting and for some, the only way to cope with waiting is to submerge into a drug enhanced parallel world, at least for a time.

In this environment, how on earth does anyone offer Advent as a time of purposeful waiting and preparation for an incarnate God. How is Advent time any different from the chronological time these men are trying to kill? How does one speak of the existence of God, the knowability of God, and the love of God in a place which primarily is a place of control and punishment and graceless? I go back to the words written in Hebrews that encourage us to remember those in prison as if you were together with them and at the same time, recall the words of Sylvia Mary Alison, the founder of the Prison Fellowship. She wrote in her memoirs, ‘In our prayer imagination, we can enter any prison in the world, and visit Christ in prisoners there…It is Christ who beckons us into the darkest of the world’s jails. Will you cooperate with our Lord in building his house from the ground floor up, by marching into every prison of the world in prayer?”

In my experience, prison is one of the places where the currency of prayer is priceless. To spend time in prayer with a prisoner who is lonely, lost, grieving, or miserable 14

is one of the most humbling experiences of my prison day, and also the most valuable. Of course you could argue that it fills in a little more time if a prisoner can buttonhole the Chaplain to talk to for an hour, but actually, more often than not, what is revealed is a brutal honesty about the darkest, hidden depths of despair that those having to wait endlessly face as they consider why they find themselves incarcerated in the first place. And so to be able speak of a God who waits alongside them within those darker than dark places, a God who calls ordinary people in this world to pray and be alongside too is one of the most powerful expressions of faith that I witness to.

This year, I began an Advent Prayer project and asked for 80 volunteers to pray for an individual prisoner by name, someone resident in the drug rehabilitation unit of the prison, as part of their daily Advent devotions. As well as praying, volunteers were also asked to sponsor the provision of a small Christmas gift of a mug, some socks and a few sweets to be given to them on Christmas morning. I was not at all astonished to find that exactly 80 volunteers came forward to do just that and so my Advent waiting is watchful and full of practical preparation. Practical in the sense that I have 80 extra gifts to be wrapped, once they have been screened by security at the prison and I’m watching and waiting to see what affect this will have on those being prayed for, and, those who are praying. Watching and waiting with an excitement that I have never experienced before, not least because not all of those volunteering would recognise my belief that it is Christ who beckons us into the darkest of the world’s jails to be alongside those who wait for their liberty to be restored. So, together we offer our prayers, our longings, our goodwill, whatever it is that each of us 15

think we are doing as we hold the name of a particular person before us or before God each day into the heady mix of Advent preparations because if nothing else, the coming of the Christ child means its ok to be human. Not only that, but there is something of the divine in each of us and when we can prepare for Advent in our own way across differing positions or beliefs about something that is bigger than we are as individuals, we can truly say Christmas, blessed Christmas has come again.

Sue is a member of the Methodist Diaconal Order currently serving in the Cannock Chase Circuit where she is the Circuit Mission Enabler.  She is passionate about seeing the invitation of God where ever she finds herself, and offering the gospel to communities outside of the church - She thinks she probably does that best without words!

Eco Church

The shredding of about 10 years’ worth of garden detritus, most of which was originally deposited under the trees by Cherry Tree Road, has at last been completed. We should have had a little ceremony! Now we await autumn prunings and the produce of the final sorting of both the wooded areas around the orchard and the remaining almost untouched area of the Compound. Still plenty to do then, and still a big shortage of volunteers to help the writer (255-0568).The churchyard gardeners as usual did their stuff on the first Saturdays of October and November, with the latter coming during the great autumn leaf-fall. This was an opportunity to test the new storage and composting facility in the Compound: at the time of writing (Bonfire Night) it seems to have passed. There are of course 16

many more leaves to come, some of which will still be dropping when you read this article. The Eco-Group’s next meeting is after this article goes to press, and amongst the agenda items are a report on our 4 fruit tree purchases (Sheaf Pippin apple, Bramall Lane Champagne apple, Potter’s Delight apple, Cambridge Gage plum) which are due to be planted in the orchard in early December (frost permitting), plus thoughts on the continuing development of the orchard and Compound with particular emphasis on wild flowers, and how we can fully integrate the activities of the churchyard gardeners with those working on the eco-initiatives in the Church grounds. We will also be thinking how SAPLC might contribute to Sheffield Environment Weeks 2020.Christmas Present purchasing is a big opportunity to acquire lots of single use plastic packaging. Naturally this can be recycled (not always easily), but it must be better to avoid over-packaged products. Happy shopping, a most joyful Christmas, and a Blessed New Year to all.Anthony Ashwell (255 0568)

No Idling!No, I’m not pressing already-busy people to do more! You may have seen signs or banners saying, “No Idling” outside schools or on busy stretches of road where there are parked cars. The “idling” refers to vehicle engines which are left running while cars are stationary. It won’t take you long to notice many idling engines, even in the church car park!!

You may also have heard or read about the concerns over how vehicle emissions affect the developing lungs 17

of young children. And it doesn’t take much of a link to realise that vehicle engines are at the level of young children or buggies, and therefore they are disproportionately exposed to the carbon emissions from them.

The UK has a big problem with air quality, and areas in Sheffield and elsewhere regularly breach international guidelines for air quality. We also have commitments to reduce our carbon emissions. Through the Climate Change Act, a world-leading act passed in the UK in 2008, the government committed to reducing emissions by at least 80% of 1990 levels (taken as the baseline) by 2050. (It is, of course, much more complex than this, but I won’t go into pages of technical detail!) The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) monitors and advises on progress. According to their website, “UK emissions were 43% below 1990 levels in 2017”. But there the good news ends, and we need to reduce these emissions by 3% year on year from now if we have any chance of meeting future targets.

Idling engines won’t provide all of this reduction – but, to save children’s lungs, the planet and fuel costs, surely it’s worth each of practising “no idling”?

Chris Lowry

Gardening Notes

As I write this it feels as though it will never stop raining! But I am sure it will. 18

By now you will have all the tender subjects lifted and packed somewhere frost free. I have used shredded dry leaves to pack around the dahlias in their boxes. More manageable than the newspaper of last year, I got them ‘clean’ & dry before packing them away. Cleaning the greenhouse glass and other boring jobs need to be done sooner than later. If you must walk on your wet soil stand on a piece of planking to spread your weight. Cardboard from Christmas presents can be added to your compost heap. If you have big pieces these can but pushed against the walls of the bin to be a degradable insulation, torn into strips it will add bulk to your kitchen scraps. Last year’s leaves, might be ready to use as a component for a home made growing medium. Equal parts by volume of leaf mould, sand and the material from the base of your compost heap will make an excellent alternative to a peat based ‘compost’. Don’t drown the houseplants. They need very little water. As long as you have spoken to the planned recipient, fruit trees make excellent Christmas presents. But they don’t make good surprises. Last year I enjoyed picking the sprouts we had with diner on Christmas day with my grandchildren and plan to do the same again. Onions can be started from seed in January if you have space in the greenhouse. If you hang a bird feeder close to your fruit trees those queuing up to use it will check out the nooks and crannies on them for insect eggs too small for you see, so reducing infestations later in the year. The following is a quote from a Garden Organic’s website. “Around a quarter of all food, and over a third of fruit and vegetables, consumed in the UK contain pesticide cocktails, with some items containing traces of up to 14 different pesticides. Pesticide cocktails of up to ten different chemicals are also found in UK soil and water with the potential to affect wildlife such as birds and bees. A growing body of scientific evidence shows 19

that pesticides can interact to become more toxic creating a ‘cocktail effect’. Despite this, we continue to test the safety of pesticides as individual chemicals.” 

No one is completely self-sufficient. So this applies to everyone. During this time of year when we can’t get out into the garden, can we make it out to the letterbox having written a letter to our MP’s to ask them to do something about this? Have a good year, may your trees be bountiful, your flowers be beautiful and all your cuttings take. Bill.

Food and Feasting

Dill and coriander gravlax This stunning salmon dish is best served with pickled blackberries – see the recipe below. Try and pickle the blackberries a few days before you intend to serve them, and remember to allow a good length of time for the fish to cure.Prep time: 15 minutes plus 2 to 4 days curing time INGREDIENTS

1.2kg tail piece of salmon, in two halves, filleted but skin left on

100ml vodka 100g granulated sugar 100g sea salt flakes 2 tbsp coarsely ground black pepper Large bunch coriander, leaves chopped (discard  the

stalks, or use for something else)20

Large bunch dill, roughly chopped (leaves only)  

METHOD

1.Rub your hand along both pieces of fish on the flesh side to check for bones – they should have been removed but you can often find the odd one still in there. Pull out any you find.

2.Line a dish or roasting tin, big enough to hold the salmon, with a double layer of foil. Put one of the pieces of salmon, skin-side down, into the tin and pour on half the vodka.

3.Mix the sugar, salt and pepper and the herbs together and spread over the salmon. Pour on the rest of the vodka and put the other piece of salmon on top, skin-side facing up. 

4.Pull the foil up round the fish then put something heavy on top (I use a chopping board, weighted down with tins). eave in the fridge to cure for 2-4 days (the longer, the better) turning every so often. Liquid will seep out of the salmon in this time – just pour it off.

5.Remove the foil and scrape the cure off the fish. To serve, slice just as you would smoked salmon (though you can do it more thickly). Use  as you need it and keep it, wrapped, in the fridge.  You need to use it within a week.

6.Serve with the pickled blackberries below, along with sour cream into which you’ve stirred chopped coriander and dill.

Pickled BlackberriesPrep time: 2 minutes | Cooking time: 15 minutesMAKES 500ml jar

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INGREDIENTS

300ml cider vinegar 450g granulated sugar 1 small dried chilli 1 tsp coriander seeds 8 juniper berries,  lightly crushed 450g blackberries

METHOD

1.Put the vinegar, sugar, spices and juniper berries into a saucepan and heat slowly, stirring to help the sugar dissolve. Bring to the boil then cook until it reduces and looks slightly syrupy (it will thicken more as it cools, remember, so don’t take it too far). Leave to cool.

2.Put the blackberries into a sterilised jar with a vinegar-proof lid. (To sterilise the jar, just wash it or put it through the dishwasher then put it in an oven preheated to 150C for 20 minutes or so).

3.Pour the cooled vinegar syrup over the berries – it must cover them completely – and close with the lid. Leave for about 3 days before eating.  If you are going to use the berries within 5 days, there  is no need to keep them in  a sterilised jar – just put  them into a dish, cover and keep them in the fridge.

Church and CommunityRegular Groups

Knit and KnatterMondays 10-12 noon Knit and Knatter. In Shirley House. Contact: Alison Gregg, 266 5638.

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Parent and Baby Group: New baby in the family? Join our friendly group of parents - Mums and/or Dads with babies up to 12 months. Friday mornings during term time 10.00 – 11.30 at St Andrew's Psalter Lane Church. It’s a chance to meet other new parents in friendly relaxed surroundings. Refreshments teas, coffees, other beverages and home made cakes. Cost: £2.00 per family per week Contact Muriel on 2551473 or Jean 255019817th Sheffield Monday BrowniesMondays at St Andrew’s Hall from 5.45pm – 7.15pm. If you are at all interested, please contact Chris Venables. 07950 432487 for further information.

The Tuesday CaféThe Tuesday Café, our café for people living with memory loss or dementia and their carers opened in the middle of March. The café takes place in the narthex in church on Tuesday mornings between 10.00 a.m. - 12 noon . We intend that it will be open every Tuesday of the year (except Christmas Day!) The café offers hot drinks, biscuits and homemade cakes, music, memory activities, and the opportunity for a chat. The café already has a good group of volunteers from the congregation and we are also grateful to those who have offered to bake for us. If you know anyone who might be interested in coming to the café, do please take flyer with all the information. If you are interested in helping, please speak to Judith Roberts.

Christmas Card Tree for HARC

The tree, collecting box, card to sign and gift aid forms will be in Church from Sunday 8th December. For 23

anyone new to our Church, those of us who wish send one card to the whole congregation and the money we save on cards and stamps is donated to the Sheffield charity, Homeless and Rootless at Christmas (HARC). Rodney & Marilyn

Church Family Congratulations to the family of Edward Thompson following his baptismOur thoughts and prayers are with those with health concerns: Chris Lowry, Joan Francis, Pat Tang, John Booler, Peter Rothwell, Bob Adkins, George Glover  Sandra Snook, recovering after a fallMarilyn Godber

Young SAPLCJunior Church: (Pebbles 3-5, Stones 6-10,) is during the main service at 10.30. Children between 2 and 3 can join in the youngest group (Pebbles) with a parent/carer)

About our servicesSunday ServicesNormal pattern: 10.30 am Service: 1st, 3rd & 5th Sundays Holy Communion service; 4th Sunday, Morning WorshipPlease note that the bread used in our Sunday communion services is gluten free. Both fermented and unfermented communion wines are used.

Monthly services: 2nd Sunday: Sunday2 – Breakfast and family service from 9 am

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4th Sunday – Holy Communion at 9.15 am (using Common Worship and the Book of Common Prayer)2nd Sunday – Holy Communion at Southcroft, 6.30 pm

Wednesday ServicesAt the 10.00 Communion service on Wednesdays, we reflect together on a piece of spiritual writing. This may be from one of the Christian traditions, or sometimes from another tradition of faith. The person leading the service will make copies of the piece of writing to give out to everyone. Come and enjoy an oasis of reflective calm in the middle of a busy week, and join us for coffee or tea afterwards

TAIZE IN ADVENT

Quiet reflective worship with gentle repetitive singingon Wednesdays at 7.00 pm in the ChancelDec 4th, 11th & 18th

CHURCH DIARY DECEMBERSunday 1st 12.30 pm

after morning service

Soup and Puddings Lunch – all welcome!

Narthex

Tuesday 3rd

7.00 pm Property & Finance meeting

Interfaith Room

Wednesday 4th

7.30 pm Church Links Meeting Chancel

Saturday 7th

9.30 am onwards

Working Party

Sunday 8th 11.00 am – 3.00 pm

Nether Edge Farmers Market

Thursday 12th

9.30 am onwards

Working Party

Thursday 6.30 – 9.00 Sheffield Carols - Church25

12th pm traditional Sheffield Carols with live music, Christmas gift stalls and refreshments. Admission free.

JANUARY 2020Wednesday 15th

7.30 pm Property & Finance meeting

Interfaith Room

Thursday 16th

7.30 pm Worship Planning meeting

Interfaith Room

Tuesday 21st

7.30 pm Eco-Group meeting Narthex

DECEMBER 2019 – JANUARY 2020 SERVICES December 1st

Advent Sunday

10.30 am Holy Communion, Gift Service and Advent Carol Service

Revd Gareth Jones

December 4th

7.00 pm Taizé Prayer for Advent December 8th

Second Sunday of Advent

9.00 am Sunday2 Imogen Clout6.30 pm Holy Communion at

SouthcroftRevd Gareth Jones

December 11th

7.00 pm Taizé Prayer for Advent December 15th

Third Sunday of Advent 10.30 am Holy Communion Revd Gareth

JonesDecember 18th

7.00 pm Taizé Prayer for Advent December 22nd

Fourth Sunday of Advent 9.15 am Holy Communion Revd Gareth

Jones10.30 am Morning Worship Judith Roberts 6.30 pm Christmas Carol Service Revd Gareth 26

JonesDecember 24th

Christmas Eve

5.00 pm Christingle Service – the Christmas

story re-told

December 25th

Christmas Day

10.30 am Family Holy Communion Revd Gareth Jones

December 29th

First Sunday of Christmas

10.30 am Holy Communion Revd Anthony Ashwell

January 5th Covenant Sunday10.30 am Holy Communion. Revd Gareth

JonesJanuary 12th Baptism of Christ9.00 am Sunday2 Judith Roberts 6.30 pm Holy Communion at

SouthcroftRevd Anthony Ashwell

January 19th Second Sunday after Epiphany

10.30 am Holy Communion Revd Gareth Jones

January 26th Third Sunday after Epiphany

9.15 am10.30 am

Holy Communion Morning Worship

Revd Gareth JonesImogen Clout

And a big thank you This edition of Nexus – and all the other editions this year – would not have been possible without the regular and occasional contributions of a team of devoted writers including Bill Atherton, Anthony Ashwell, Caroline Cripps Marilyn Godber, Janet Loughridge, Chris Lowry and of course Gareth Jones. Many thanks to you all.

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Last Words: Before the ice is in the pools by Emily Dickinson

Before the ice is in the pools—Before the skaters go,Or any check at nightfallIs tarnished by the snow—

Before the fields have finished,Before the Christmas tree,Wonder upon wonderWill arrive to me!

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Nexus Christmas Competition 2019

An excellent bottle of Rioja will go to the first correspondent to submit a translation of the Greektext in the mosaic below. Answers please to the editor by 14 January 2020

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