The Record for December 2015

7/23/2019 The Record for December 2015

1/6

Our ServicesSundays: morning Worship Service 10:45

evening Sacred Contemplation 6:00

Wednesdays: midday Meditation 1:15

Thursdays: evening Sacred Contemplation 6:15

First Sunday of the month:

Bring and Share Lunch in the Priestley Hall

Contacts

Website:www.millhillchapel.orgMinisterRevd. Jo Jamesemail [email protected] @jojames_0113 243 3845Facilities Manager/Lettings:

c/o Chapel 0113 243 3845Chairman of the CongregationAlan Hawkins: [email protected]

Director of MusicAnthony Norcliffe: [email protected]

The Record EditorEmail [email protected]@millhillchapel

charity number: 1081978

Unitarianism is an inclusive approach to a

shared spiritual journey, a wisdom tradition

which emphasises freedom of conscience,

affirms the inherent worth of all humans and

acknowledges the validity of other religious and

spiritual traditions as well as science and

secular culture.

THERECORDDECEMBER2015

Mill Hill Unitarian Chapel


2/6

From an American Editor in 1897

Dear Editor (of The New York Sun)

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no

Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so."

Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O'Hanlon

West Ninety Fifth Street

Francis Pharcellus Church, an ancestor of the late Unitarian

Minister, Frank Forrester Church IV, wrote a reply that rings

true over one hundred years later.

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected

by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe

except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not

comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia,

whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great

universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect

as compared with the boundless world about him, as

measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of

truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists ascertainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you

know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty

and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no

Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no

Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no

romance to make tolerable this existence.

This months cover is showing our nativity window.

Chapel FlowersDecember

6th Birthday memories for Jim Cowling & in loving

memory of Vera Cowling

13th Flower Fund

20th In memory of Reverend & Mrs Brian L Golland

27th No Service

January

3rd Mill Hill Chapel and Hunslet Memorial Flowers areIn memory of Alice Johnson

If anyone would like to make a donation to provideflowers in memory of a loved one, to celebrate

anniversaries or remember a birthday, then please

contact me. Some dates are available. If you already

have a subscription for flowers please check that this is

kept up to date. Susan Coggan, Flower Secretary


3/6

Music at Mill Hill

Anthems During December

6th Creator of the Starry Height Puer nobis nascitur,arr. A.N.

13th Sleepers wake! (from St. Paul) FelixMendelssohn

20th Festival of Carols at 6:00

27th No Service

Anthems During January

3rd What cheer? Good cheer! Peter Warlock

CHRISTMAS ORGAN CONCERT

Following hot on the

heels of the Carol

Festival Service on

Sun. Dec. 20th, our

Director of Music,

Anthony Norcliffe, will

present a Concert of

Christmas Organ

Music on Tuesday

Dec. 22ndat1:00pm.Admission

is free, with a retiring

collection. All are

welcome.

Prayer

We gather for our brightest festival, a festival ofjoyous singing and gratitude for the everlastinggift of your hope. Infinite and eternal spirit oflove, as we come near to the shortest day of theyear let we stand close to people that are

troubled.

This time of year can bring distress and so let usnot forget the everlasting gift of your hope.

As families begin thinking of travelling to betogether,we ask that You journey with them.

As parents wrap presents steam puddings andmake their preparations,we pray that your Presence is with them.

As children's excitement grows,let us see your Light that shines around them.

As we gather at the midnight point of year many

face difficulties and many are anxious, may wenot forget the everlasting gift of your hope andlove.

Help us to bring peace now and throughout thenew year.

Amen


4/6

From Our Minister

We are coming close to the end of the year. Close to one of ourgreat remaining cultural milestones.

Pope Francis has said that in the face of spiralling inhumanity,brutality and oppression Christmas must this year be considered acharade.

And in many ways I agree with Francis. It is a sad joke that wecontinue to keep our borders closed to refugees from the Middle-east, refusing hospitality to them while remembering that there wasonce no room at the inn for the Holy family. And its an ironiccharade that we can sing of goodwill and peace to all whileconniving with war-mongers to firebomb the rubble of Al Raqqah.

But in the midst of all this, if we turn our hearts to stone we help noone, heal nothing. We need more than ever the sense of joy thatChristmas can remind us of.

As the year comes to a close we must remind ourselves of thechildlike the wondering and miraculous, open ourselves to thepossibility of the infinite and ultimate, to stories and miracles -however jaded and cynical we must have become.

This year we are decorating a Christmas tree with messages ofhope and prayer. There will be an opportunity to add your prayer,wish or hope for the future whenever you come in to chapel in theChristmas period; write on one of the tags on the table by the tree

and tie it on a branch.

This year we are also holding 'Labyrinth meditations' in the PriestleyHall on Sunday 6th Dec at 6pm, Thursday 10th at 6.15 andSaturday 19th from 2pm -5pm. Best wishes, Jo

A Christmas Landscape

Tonight the wind gnawsWith teeth of glass,

The jackdaw shiversIn caged branches of iron,

The stars have talons.

There is hunger in the mouthOf vole and badger,

Silver agonies of breathIn the nostril of the fox,Ice on the rabbits paw.

Tonight has no moon,No food for the pilgrim;The fruit tree is bare,The rose bush a thorn

And the ground is bitter with stones.

But the mole sleeps, and the hedgehogLies curled in a womb of leaves,

The bean and the wheat-seedHug their germs in the earthAnd the stream moves under the ice.

Tonight there is no moon,But a new star opens

Like a silver trumpet over the dead.Tonight in a nest of ruinsThe blessed babe is laid.

And the fir tree warms to a bloom of candles,And the child lights his lantern,

Stares at his tinselled toy;And our hearts and hearths

Smoulder with live ashes.

In the blood of our griefThe cold earth is suckled,In our agony the womb

Convulses its seed;In the first cry of anguish

The childs first breath is born.

Laurie Lee


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Other Events at Mill Hill

No Service on 27th December

Vegan Interfaith Alliancefood sharing evening after theservice on the 3rd Thursday of each month at 7.00 pm in thePriestley Hall. Anyone is welcome to attend, either to help out

with cooking, cleaning or washing up or simply to share foodand fellowship.

The Spiritual Reading Groupwill NOT meet in December.The next meeting will be on the last Tuesday of January, the26th. Look for a copy of next months reading in the PriestleyHall in the new year. Please tell Jo or email:

[email protected] if you have suggestions for readingmaterial.

Meet our General Assembly President on 16thJanuary 2016.The Reverend John Clifford, the GA will be attending theYorkshire Unitarian Union Quarterly Meeting. This is aspecial opportunity to learn more about our denomination andmeet someone who is promoting Unitarianism throughout theUK. The meeting will be held at Mill Hill and include a morningLay Preachers meeting to be followed by a lunch break andUnion business in the afternoon.

2015-2016 Worship Themes

December: Wonder

January: Hope

February: Resilience

March: Rebirth

April: Growth

Events during the Advent Season

December Birthdays: Ann, Joan, Wendy, Lily, Lucy & Geoff

All are requested to come to a Special Lunch on 6th Decemberafter the service. The Bring and Share Lunch promises to be amemorable event. So please plan to stay for conviviality andfellowship after the service.

Brian Rollinson will be singing with the Giving Voice Choir,aninclusive choir for adults with neurological conditions and theircarers. They will be performing festive music on 8th ofDecember from 6:30- 8pm at Holy Trinity Church on Boar Lane.

The Chapel will host on Saturday, 19th of December from2:00-5:00pm a Labyrinth Walk. Come experience the sacredpractice of following a labyrinth in prayer.

The Festival of Carolswill be an evening service on 20thDecember at 6:00pm. This special event will replace the morningservice.

Concert of Christmas Organ Music on Tuesday Dec. 22ndat1:00pm.Admission is free, with a retiring collection. All arewelcome.

A Candle Light Service on Christmas Eve at 5:50pm will befollowed by a labyrinth walk.

A Peace Service will take place Christmas Day at 4:00pm.

Guest Worship Leaders

James Timiney 13 DecemberStephen Carlile 24th January


6/6

Introducing Ourselves: We Share Our Biographies

Geoffrey Foster,

Our New Facilities Manager and Administrator

Hello everyone at Mill Hill Chapel. I am Geoffrey Forster(Geoff if you prefer) your new facilities' manager andadministrator who began work on 1 October 2015. I am a 57-year-old father of two boys who are not really boys any more.Tom is 27 and Tim is 25. I love sport and gardening andvolunteer at my local community garden.

My home is in Baildon just north of Shipley though Ioriginally come from Wakefield. So I would appreciate your notmentioning Leeds Rugby League Club to me. I was educatedat Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Wakefield and atNewcastle University where I read history. Later I attendedSheffield University where I studied librarianship.

For a year, I worked on the documentary record forKirkstall Abbey. I have had two positions as a librarian. The firstone was graduate traineeship at the British Library near Boston

Spa and the second was a marathon of thirty years at theLeeds Library in Commercial Street. So my connection with MillHill Chapel and particularly with Joseph Priestley goes back along way - Gunpowder Joe having been the foundingsecretary of the library in 1768 and its second president in1769.

The library and the chapel have been closely linked fortwo and a half centuries through families such as the Oates,the Kitsons and the Luptons and ministers such as WilliamWood and Charles Hargrove. A particularly close connectionwas forged when Austin Fitzpatrick was minister. Austin took

over Mr Bonner's library share and joined the library committee.He and I started the annual Pristley Lecture in 1992. Martin,Austin's brother, gave the inaugural address. I forget how I firstmet Tony Cleminson the former Facil ities Manager. He and Ibecame good friends and through him I got to know the formerMinister, Paul (Travis) and many of the other people connectedwith the chapel such as Dr and Mrs Boyle who serviced teaand coffee when the Priestley Lecture was held at the Chapel.

Frank Watkinson who was another loyal supporter of the event andJoan Gamble who arranged flower displays for the library. I also gotto know lots of other people in the area when Tony introduced me tothem often while he was tidying the car park as I passed through towork.

I left the Leeds Library in June 2013 and since then haveworked at the National Media and National Railway Museums andspent a few months managing Baildon Farmers' Market. I was formore than twenty years the chairman of the Association of

Independent Libraries. For few years I was a trustee of the JosephPriestley Society. Recently, I have been researching the story ofJoseph Blackburn, a Leeds solicitor, who was found guilty of forgery

and met an unpleasantend at York Castle in1815. I have many otherirons in historical firesand spoke of late aboutthe digging of theBramhope Tunnel andthe history of waxwork.Joseph Priestley haslong been my privateresearch topic. I aminterested in his Leedsministry and his use ofbooks. He encouragedgrowth of libraries.

I am really enjoyingmy time at Mill HillChapel even though it

usually means gettingup at 5.30 am. In

particular I am enjoying being part of the everyday team with Jo,Rosemary, Roy and Alan and Tony C who comes in from time totime to show me the ropes. Thank you to them and to everyone elsefor giving me their help, support and encouragement as I get used tomy new job. I look forward to meeting you all and sharing in excitingtimes in City Square.

The Record for December 2015

Documents

Transcript of The Record for December 2015