The gift of art, poetry, music and more!
Tim Scott, Team Rector.
A hymn to the Creator
Morning glory, starlit sky, Leaves in springtime, swallows' flight, Autumn gales, tremendous seas, Sounds and scents of summer night; Soaring music, tow'ring words, Art's perfection, scholar's truth, Joy supreme of human love, Memory's treasure, grace of youth; Open, Lord are these, Thy gifts, Gifts of love to mind and sense; Hidden is love's agony, Love's endeavour, love's expense. Love that gives gives ever more, Gives with zeal, with eager hands, Spares not, keeps not, all outpours, Ventures all, its all expends. Drained is love in making full; Bound in setting others free; Poor in making many rich; Weak in giving power to be.
Therefore He Who thee reveals Hangs, O Father, on that Tree Helpless; and the nails and thorns Tell of what thy love must be. Thou art God; no monarch Thou Thron'd in easy state to reign; Thou art God, Whose arms of love Aching, spent, the world sustain.
WH Vanstone.
I was fortunate to have the Tate Modern Art
Museum in my previous parish and I was able
to spend time there and worked closely with
one of the members of staff using art as a way to
enable us to think about issues of Christian faith,
empowerment and social cohesion.
In this time of lockdown I have again began to
rediscover, when time has allowed, the importance
of the arts — art, stories, poetry, music, theatre
and musicals.
There is much online at this time including
productions by the National Theatre and Musicals
filmed on stage. Galleries have gone online and I know that poetry has been
something that has become important for many people. It was suggested that the
poem/hymn A hymn to the Creator By WH Vanstone which I have found helpful be
printed in St Mary‘s magazine and it’s reproduced here.
During this time of lockdown, I hope that each of us will be able to have time to
appreciate some of the arts in a new way. It could be a gift of the present moment. I
end with two quotes, both from Laura Merzig Fabrycky in an article for the
Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation and Culture:
The poet is one who gives us new eyes to see, who helps us make sense of what we
experience, and who invites others to see more deeply into what it is that their
experiences mean.
The first and prior work, though, to all human seeing and meaning-making is God’s
own seeing, his sight of us, and his knowledge of our human situation.
God is present with us, sees deeply into our present situation and understands.
With my prayers and best wishes,
Tim
Easter Puzzles
E aster has passed
and this year we
have had little
opportunity to worship
together. Let’s go back to
the time of the Last Supper,
which Jesus describes as a
chance to celebrate
Passover with his closest disciples. Passover was, and is, the most important festival
for a Jewish household, a reminder of the time when Jews in slavery in Egypt would
escape the threat of death by sacrificing a lamb and marking the top and sides of
the door frames of their houses with the blood. Exodus 12 gives a full story. To this
day it is the custom in a Jewish home for the youngest child present to ask “why do
we do this?”. But there are two queries we may have:
Exodus 12 also says that the sacrificial animal may be taken from among the sheep
or the goats. However, there is no error here for the Hebrew word previously
translated ‘lamb’ can be the offspring of either a sheep or a goat.
Was the Last Supper actually a Passover meal, for this would normally be
celebrated on the eve of the Passover Sabbath which would be a Friday? However,
it appears that Jewish custom did permit the Passover to be celebrated early in case
of urgent necessity. Then finally there are two other issues that we will often just
pass over:
“the curtain of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom”.
What was the meaning of this? At the heart of the Temple was the Holy Place which
could be entered only by the priest offering the daily sacrifice, but beyond that, and
shielded by a curtain was the Most Holy Place. This could be entered only by the
High Priest himself and on one day in the year, the Day of Atonement, when he
offered sacrifice for his own and the people’s sins. The tearing of the Temple curtain
was a sign that the barriers between God and humankind were removed with the
death of Jesus.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Apparently a cry of despair on the part of jesus, but it is also the opening of Psalm
22 which concludes with a cry of triumph. The psalm is worth reading as a whole.
Paul Stalder
Lockdown St Mary’s
A locked church is such a strange idea. But that was St Mary’s just a few
years ago: open for services and events, and on weekday mornings. It was
in 2017 when our rector was chaining the gates in the middle of the day
as usual, he thought “How wrong this is!” We quickly adopted the principle that the
church building should be open as much as possible. There has been a regular rota
to lock up through the week: Mike Cooke, Bernard and Sylvia North, Paul Stalder,
Michael and Jill Earle, Lesley Farrall, backed up by several others. John Watkins has
devoted time regularly to being in church one afternoon a week. In the summer
months we also kept the church open during weekends as much as possible.
What about insurance? We checked with Ecclesiastical, who insure us and many
other churches. So many insurers only provide cover to locked buildings, but not
them. They said, “Lock everything except the front door”. Certain items are put
away when the church is unattended; others have been marked with Smartwater
security paint. There have been a few concerns, but clearing up a few crisp packets
has been a small price to pay for making the building available to everyone.
It has been rewarding to spend time in church sometimes, maybe attending to some
small maintenance tasks. It is a rare hour when nobody comes through the door to
look around, to pray or be quiet, to light a candle. Faces are often lit with awe at the
sight of St Mary’s interior: the central tower, the soaring clerestory, the obvious
sanctity of the chancel, the imposing organ. This is a sacred place.
But now in lockdown, St Mary’s is locked again. It is even frozen in Lent, with the
purple array still decking the nave altar. There is such stillness, and it has not been
touched by spring’s warmth or flowers. The Chapter House is adorned with some
spectacular cobwebs. There has been criticism from some that the church
authorities have exceeded the government’s own recommendations in totally
closing the buildings: it was certainly painful to go through Holy Week and Easter
without even being able to sit alone in our church. But this was purposeful suffering
and slight: we have underlined how important it was to stay at home. Being denied
entry, we understand afresh how much we value coming together for worship – and
have found ways to do that. (Read about our on-line services).
Wait a minute – how can anyone know how the church feels, now it’s locked? Well,
someone has to keep an eye on the place, and the wardens have the keys! How we
look forward to opening the doors wide for everyone.
Some reflections on the lockdown… Has anyone found yeast?
Creep into the Co-op, the distanced queue strangely social
The shopping list a random walk, but don’t look back
(Remember Lot’s wife)
Shelves bare of old leaven, (corruption and wickedness)
Select strong flowers and spirits redolent of smoky peat,
For mental health, you understand?
Better try Pullins.
Man shall not live…
Apart a part of life, so not from life to part
Unburdened days no load on medics
Masked, shielded, full panoply of gowns
Supply chains heavy
Breathing difficult
Breath on me breath of God
So shall I never die.
Our Churching amidst Corona
Pandemics bring panic and doom
Yet we learn things amidst all this gloom.
'Corona's' not beer;
'PPE'’s fancy gear;
And on Sundays we meet up on 'Zoom'.
Our worship has now been replaced
Learning lingo made up in great haste.
My old persecutor
Spoke to me in ‘computer’
But it’s ‘medic’ with which I’m now faced.
Has the ‘R’ got now smaller than one?
Is the lock down for some nearly done?
When the curve droops down low,
Cognoscenti will know
It’s Church everyone, we’ll have won.
Ryan Densham
LISTENING CHAPLAINCY PHONELINE
Serving Bristol, Somerset and South Gloucestershire
To access this service, dial 0330 229 1700 from 8am-
11pm 7 days a week
Representatives of the different faith communities within
the Avon and Somerset police area have set up a
dedicated phoneline offering 1-2-1 chaplaincy. The Faith
Communities Major Emergencies Team for Avon and Somerset was established more
than 30 years ago to provide faith-based face-to-face pastoral and spiritual support
to people of all faiths and none in times of emergency. The service has been adapted
to become a direct dial phoneline for people affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
This faith-based service is especially for anyone facing end of life issues,
bereavement or who is anxious about someone in hospital, residential care or
isolated at home. Their concern could be for a family member, friend, colleague or
neighbour, or someone they have been caring for through their work.
We can also offer a listening ear to:
those who are anxious about relatives who are seriously ill, especially if there
is no option of visiting them in person;
people unable to see the body of a loved one after death or unable to attend
a funeral;
key workers affected by work-related issues, perhaps overwhelmed by what
they are facing or dealing with;
the “worried well” and anyone else anxious about the effects of COVID-19 on
their lives.
This service is open to everyone – of all faiths and none. It is rooted in the inclusive
ethos of the Christian and other major faiths. The majority of our volunteers are
Christians but able to refer on to representatives of other faiths. It offers
compassionate listening and, if requested, prayer for those who welcome it. We
operate a policy of confidentiality, under the safeguarding and monitoring
framework of the Church of England. The host partner is the Diocese of Bath and
Wells. We are not able to offer long-term bereavement care or counselling, though
we can signpost to other specialist organisations .
Contributed by Lesley Farrall
Lock Down
There’s a different world emerging,
New words written, spoken, sung,
Corvid – 19, on-line teaching,
Sounds like a foreign tongue.
There is post pandemic fall out,
Lock down, download, relevant app.
Social distancing and zooming
Small computers on the lap.
Ask the young! They understand it,
Fingers tapping on the keys.
Exit strategies are useful
P’rhaps we all need one of these.
There’s a New World to discover
And Life here is put ‘on hold’,
In His Heaven God is waiting
And the dice has just been rolled.
Mary Kesby
Lockdown
A cross was chained to the locked
South gates in Holy Week
Crowned with thorns on Good Friday
Decorated with flowers at Easter
Adorned with an empty cloth for resurrection
It remains to bear witness to the Passion
A focus for all until Ascension
Zoom to church
The church is made of living stones, being built together. We cannot meet
in church, we must not meet at home, but we can meet on line. On
Maundy Thursday we met to recall the Last Supper in a simple service held
via the Zoom internet conference service used by so many. Since then we
have held two Sunday evening on-line services with many contributors,
c
Yatton community support
The response of the people of Yatton to the CV-19 pandemic has been heart-
warming. A support group with 700+ members quickly formed on Facebook. Look for
‘Yatton and Claverham Community support’. This is exclusively for requests and offers
of help. (General village chat should be directed to the Yatton Community Facebook
group, with almost 3000 members.) Can you pick up a prescription? No problem! Can
anyone spare a sewing machine? That led to a small tsunami of offers.
Councillor Steve Bridger has been very active, recruiting many local volunteers who
can be called on, particularly to help those in isolation. This has been done with a
light touch, but has provided another point where local needs and assistance can be
matched up.
The Community Meals initiative taken by Jonny Burnett has made the national press.
The Butcher’s Arms have made their kitchen available for this, so that volunteers are
now providing about 1000 meals per week locally, free to those who need them. They
have raised more than £20,000, and have a Just Giving page to continue to provide
funds. This photo shows a socially distanced gathering of volunteers before we really
locked down, who
distributed leaflets
advertising the
community food
initiative.
Are there any streets
silent at 8pm on
Thursdays? It’s doubtful.
The weekly applause for
carers and the NHS has been fantastic. This continuing appreciation has touched deep
feelings, and has even been called ‘secular worship’. It has also been a great way to
connect for a moment with neighbours before retreating into our protective isolation
for another week.
In May our own church is supporting Christian Aid. Many charities are experiencing
such a drop in donations that their causes will be harmed. We can’t hold a church
breakfast, but our on-line ‘coffee after the service’ and our evening on-line service on
May 10th feature Christian Aid.
Planned services
All at 6pm via the Zoom conference facility
Sunday May 3rd—Evening prayer
Sunday May 10th—Christian Aid service
Sunday May 17th—Rogation service
Thursday May 21st—Ascension service
Sunday May 24th—Evening prayer
Sunday May 31st—Pentecost
If you have access to the internet, and have provided an email address
to the church office, we will send a link each week to join in worship.
Regular worshippers
T his is an article that begins with dry
numbers and ends in the wonder of
Easter. The Church of England has an
annual count of its regular worshippers, meaning
those who attend at least once a month, or (if they
are housebound or in a care home) clearly regard
St Mary’s as their church. Some of this is a
statistical interest, to understand how the church
is serving its community. It also has the purpose of
assessing how much a church should contribute to
the diocese the following year, the Parish Share,
which is the principal source of finance to the
diocese, and which pays for priests and other
workers across all parishes. The Parish Share is the
largest fraction of our parish budget each year,
and the count is done honestly (of course) and
carefully. The numbers go through PCC approval.
(The PCC is the Parochial Church Council, the main governing body of the parish.)
Over the last few years the numbers have been entered with a sense of heartache,
because they recorded a decline of ten or even twenty per year. It’s sad but obvious
that we lose some older worshippers every year. Some have moved away, some
have chosen to leave us. But not this year. Yes, some have died and we miss them.
But others have joined us, so that our official count only went down by one. We
have prayed for a change of direction from decline to growth, and we are grateful to
have this encouraging sign. If you are one of the newcomers, welcome!
One of the challenges this year is how to be outward facing and serving our
community with a locked church. But if we have asked questions about life
ourselves during this scary pandemic, so has everyone else. We have a hope in the
life and resurrection of Christ which has become astonishingly relevant. If our own
faith has been challenged, but we have found the Easter story a real support, then
we are really well equipped to bless our neighbour with the same hope – from a
safe distance! We can even relax about this. It’s God’s church, not ours.
Mike Cooke
Craft club
A reminder of normal times… At Craft Club we decided it was time to do a
little up-cycling and turned our minds to piggy banks and paper mache.
For two weeks the children had great fun covering a milk container with
newspaper and glue. For a further two weeks they decorated their piggy banks
in their own individual style using paint and other accessories.
Sylvia, Rosie, Sheila and Pam
Tower Lighting
Don’t forget that the opportunity to light the church tower in memory
of a loved one or to celebrate a family event is always available. Please
contact Clare in the Team Office (details on back page).
Here are two such events:
30th January – In loving memory of Ken on his Birthday, from Ruth and
family
7th May – Remembering Ray/Viv Wathen on his Birthday. Love from
Linda and family
An
swers to
last issue
’s qu
iz on
‘…sh
ips’: d
ealer, wo
r, on
eup
man
, spo
nso
r, com
pan
ion
/friend
,
ow
ner, ap
pren
tice, sp
ortsm
an, re
latio
n, d
ictator, ch
amp
ion
, gamesm
an, p
artner, lead
er,
prem
ier, cen
sor, m
emb
er, reader, co
urt, to
wn
, hard
, scho
lar, wo
rkman
, du
al-citizen
…..sh
ip.
QUIZ - Bond films
WITHOUT CHEATING, including the latest, how many Bond films can you name?
(On the subject of spies, I’ve heard that there is someone around here spying on
their neighbours. That’s not possible – I would have noticed ages ago.) Nancy
A
C
D
D
D
F
F
G
G
L
L
M
N
N
O
O
Q
S
S
T
T
T
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T
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Y
“With many in our country on lockdown, it’s important that we support those
who are feeling lonely and isolated, whatever age they are." Archbishop Justin
Welby Particularly aimed at people who have no internet access, Daily Hope offers
music, prayers and reflections as well as full worship services from the Church of
England at the end of a telephone line.
April 2020…
I think most of us would agree that April this year has been one we’ll never forget for
all the wrong reasons — no Easter services, no physical contact with family or
friends, isolation, loneliness. However, some things have lifted my heart — the
beauty of a bluebell wood — and the jokes which I constantly receive from friends
keep me smiling! Val
THE YATTON MOOR TEAM MINISTRY
Website: www.yattonchurches.org
Facebook: Yatton Moor Churches
Team Office: St Mary’s Church, Church Road, Yatton, BRISTOL BS49 4HH
Monday - Friday 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
01934 832184 ~ Answerphone at other times
E-mail: [email protected]
Team Rector: Revd Tim Scott 01934 838960
Team Vicar: Revd Nigel Thomas 01934 283340
Assist. Priests: Revd Avril Gaunt 01934 832995
Revd Linda Scott 01934 838960
Revd Richard Taylor 01934 413263
Readers: Allan Attwood 01934 838000
Paul Stalder 01934 832935
Wardens: Pat Denny 01934 838902
Mike Cooke 07842 829895
Associate Jill Earle 01934 835436
Wardens: Robert Manley 01275 341155
Safeguarding: Ann Long 01934 833725
Pre-School: Judy Berry 01934 838229
Musical Director: Rachel Branston 07875 417476
Fabric: Bernard North 01934 838700
Planned giving Michael Earle 01934 835436
Email: [email protected]
Magazine: Val Dickens 01934 832800
Email: [email protected]
Bells Captain: Bernard North 01934 838700
Mike and Val will aim to produce the next magazine in the summer months. We welcome
articles, stories, poems and perhaps reflections on the current situation, on isolation, of how
it has changed you or the world around you. Contact details are above. Content can be sent
to Val electronically or in hard copy to the Team Office.
St. Mary’s Magazine is published by the Parochial Church Council of
Yatton Moor (Registered Charity number 1132177)
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