St Mary’s Parish
Magazine
July - August 2010
50p
Notes from the EditorCome, woo me, woo me; for I am in a holiday humour, and like enough to consent.
William Shakespeare
Whether you are about to go on holiday for a spot of well-earned rest and relaxation or looking for holiday romance (or all three!), may you have a thoroughly enjoyable time. But beware – it’s easy to let your guard down at this balmy time of the year and you can’t make any New Year’s resolutions for another six months yet!!!
As we go to press, the arrangements for vacating Church House and moving the Parish and Music Offices into St Mary’s have already begun. These changes (a reminder of the Parish’s present need to reduce its financial outgoings) will provide significant challenges for the use of St Mary’s not just as a worship centre. As we move into the Autumn, so the PCC will be moving forward with its plans to take advice from external consultants to tackle not just the issues of day to day running of the Parish but also how to fund some of the not insignificant capital requirements that we need to address in order to preserve this wonderful building for future generations.
One of the aims of the Parish Magazine is to give you a brief respite from the trials and tribulations of life around you – so enjoy the read, and your vacations and approach the Autumn with renewed vigour.
Tony King / Contents
3 Reflections from the Rectory
Vaughan reports progress on the Team review being carried out for the Bishop of Coventry
4Poets Corner
A summer verse from Andrew Marvell
5Rector Beware!
An ancient tradition which might cause the Rector to be out of town in late July
6Newsletter Bloopers
A few interesting notices from churches around the country
7 Never A Crossword!
Our regular brain teaser continues with religious themes
8 Credo
Some views on music and the liturgy from the Dean of Perth, Australia
10 She Sells Sea Shells
Steve Roud relates the old custom of Grotto Day
11 Thought For Food
A delicious pork dish for a summer party
12 St James and Santiago de Compostela
On July 25th we celebrate the Feast of St James and Santiago goes wild!
14 From The Back Bench
News from the Music department
15 A History of St Mary’s Music
A past Choirmaster has recently published a book covering the last 900 years of music at St Mary’s
15 And Finally ……
Crossword answers and other important things
Santiago de Compostela
Footnote:
Copies of the magazine can be posted to your home or friends and relations. Subscription rates are £6.50 for a year (6 editions), including postage. If you would like to take advantage of this offer, please contact the Parish Office at Church House.
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REFLECTIONS FROM THE RECTORY
ASKING QUESTIONS
The first Reflections from the Rectory for 2010 outlined the thinking behind the Bishop of Coventry’s request for a review of the Warwick Team & Budbrooke Parish and the four questions he asked us to explore: (i) What does the ministry and mission of the Church in the town of Warwick as a whole require at this point of time? (ii) What makes for the flourishing of the Church and what is the shape of ministry to best serve this? (iii) How can we help to ensure that the best use is being made of the resources available to the Team? (iv) In what ways may the Team serve the Diocese beyond Warwick?
FINDING ANSWERS
The Bishop’s questions were taken by me, in my capacity as Team Rector, to the five PCCs, the Team Council and a church meeting at Christ Church LEP, so that I could draft an initial response. This was circulated to all Church Council members and copies made available for congregational members. This first draft used the Archbishop of Canterbury’s image of the Church as a ‘mixed economy’ to describe our life together in the Team. An open meeting of the Team Council was held at St Nicholas at which people were invited to explore this idea further by responding to four additional questions: (i) What are the advantages of working as a ‘mixed economy’ Team? (ii) What are the disadvantages of working as a ‘mixed economy’ Team? (iii) Are there specific lessons from the seven years’ experience of Warwick which would be helpful to other teams? (iv) How can we strengthen our Team working?
GIVING A RESPONSE
The responses to those discussions have been included in a new draft of the review document which will be sent to the Bishop at the beginning of July. In the meantime, the six churches are preparing exhibitions of our individual and shared ministry for when Bishop Christopher comes to preside at a Eucharist on Thursday 22nd July at 7.30pm in St Mary’s to which all are warmly invited. Speaking personally, I have always seen this review process as a chance to tell our Bishop about St Mary’s, the Warwick Team and Budbrooke. This is a great opportunity to share some of our story, our life and our vision about the good news of God’s love in Christ and how that energises our efforts on behalf of God’s Kingdom in this town. I am grateful to all those who have contributed to this process and invite you to join me in meeting Bishop Christopher on 22nd July as he learns more about our exciting ministry in Warwick.
Vaughan
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POETS CORNER
How well the skilful gardener drew
Of flowers and herbs this dial new!
Where, from above, the milder sun
Does through a fragrant zodiac run:
And, as it works, the industrious bee
Computes its time as well as we.
How could such sweet and wholesome hours
Be reckoned, but with herbs and flowers.
The Garden – Andrew Marvell (1621 – 1678)
CAMPAIGN FOR THE TRADITIONALCATHEDRAL CHOIR
President: Dr Simon Lindley
The Most Beautiful Sound in the World New York Times
Objects
- To champion the ancient tradition of the all-male choir in Cathedrals, Chapels Royal, Collegiate Churches, University Chapels and similar ecclesiastical foundations.
- It is also the policy of CTCC to encourage parish churches which maintain or seek to establish all-male choirs.
CTCC expresses its admiration for all that St Mary’s is doing and offers its support and encouragement.
To receive a year’s complimentary subscription to our bulletin and newsletter, simply email or write to:
Miss Lynda Collins
Cow Hey Farm
7 Gawthorpe Lane
Huddersfield HD5 0NZ
4
RECTOR BEWARE!
Saint Kenelm was an Anglo-Saxonsaint, venerated throughout medieval England, and mentioned in the Canterbury Tales. William of Malmesbury, writing in the 12th century, recounted that "there was no place in England to which more pilgrims travelled than to Winchcombe on Cynehelm's feast day". In legend, St Kenelm was a member of the royal family of Mercia, a boy king and martyr, murdered by an ambitious relative. His body, after being concealed, was discovered by miraculous intervention, and transported by the Monks of Winchcombe to a major shrine. There it remained for several hundred years. The two locales most closely linked to this legend are the Clent Hills, south of Birmingham, identified as the scene of his murder, and the small Gloucestershire town of Winchcombe, near Cheltenham, where his body was interred . The small church of St Kenelm, dating from the 1400s in a village called Kenelstowe, now stands with a handful of houses within the larger village of Romsley in the Clent Hills.
The local wake, or feast day, was formerly held on St Kenelm’s day (17th July), but slipped to 28th July following the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1752. One bizarre feature of the festivities on this day, or on the Sunday following, was called ‘crabbing the parson’ and was reported by several writers as having taken place until the mid nineteenth century. In 1856, John Noake recorded:
The custom of crabbing the parson was observed till lately at St Kenelm’s. It was the practice for the villagers and all who chose to arm themselves with crab apples on the wake Sunday, and as the parson approached the church the crabs were thrown at him, until he reached the church porch. The use of sticks and stones in place of crabs led to the suppression of the custom.
No sensible explanation for this custom has been put forward, and it is particularly unclear why the local clergy would put up with such behaviour, but the Clent custom was in fact far from unique. Almost exactly the same procedure was recorded in Victorian times at Hawkridge, Somerset, on Revel Sunday, the nearest Sunday to St Giles’ Day (1 September), and at Mobberley, Cheshire, the Sunday after St Luke’s Day (18 October). All that can be said is that this custom seems to be associated with the local saint’s day rather than with a civic function such as mayor-making, which also attracted similar ‘lawless’ behaviour, such as throwing cabbage stalks at the officers of the new corporation.
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NEWSLETTER BLOOPERS
The following selection of announcements appeared in various parish magazines around the country:
This afternoon there will be a meeting in the South and North ends of the church. Children will be baptized at both ends.
Wednesday, the ladies liturgy group will meet. Mrs Johnson will sing “Put me in my little bed” accompanied by the vicar.
Thursday at 5pm there will be a meeting of the Little Mothers Club. All ladies wishing to be “Little Mothers” will meet with the vicar in his study.
The service will close with “Little Drops of Water”. One of the ladies will start quietly and the rest of the congregation will join in.
Next Sunday a special collection will be taken to defray the cost of the new carpet. All those wishing to do something on the new carpet will come forward and do so.
At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be “What is Hell?” Come early and listen to choir practice.
Some hymns for those who speed on the roads:45mph God will take care of you
55mph Guide me, O thou great Jehovah
65mph Nearer my God to Thee
75mph Nearer, still nearer
85mph This world is not my home
95mph Lord, I’m coming home
100+ mph Precious memories
/
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NEVER A CROSS WORD!
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 78 / 9
10 / 11
12
13 / 14 / 15 / 16
17
18 / 19 / 20 / 21
22
23 / 24
25 / 26
ACROSS
1. Hair style more suited to Harvest Festival? (4)
3. Saint gets an advance, back to the pub! (8)
8. So – a lamb is slaughtered for David’s son. (7)
9. Curses – a shot rebounds. (5)
10. The trials of the French and returning to the Saints. (5)
11. Married? The editor is only after one thing! (6)
13. Ceremonial involving Brit losing his head over a letter to a student. (6)
15. Burnt perfume before the altar. (6)
18. Note fairground attractions provided for weddings. (6)
20. It returns with the Church tax. (5)
23. Clergyman’s a big shot! (5)
24. Sister of Baal, as sharp note indicates. (7)
25. Saviour, embarrassed, points to foreign waters. (8)
26. So in with usher! (4) / DOWN
1. Cathedral clergy taken to book? (8)
2. Pop group went down well in the desert! (5)
4. Worn by Templars but almost harms what belongs to us. (6)
5. I’m on a roundabout with Elimelech’s wife. (5)
6. Abbey gets the Queen’s swimwear. (7)
7. Old Testament city – the coming together of two great countries! (4)
12. Object of worship, we hear, taking directions from the lazy. (8)
14. Seated on the Bishop’s chair with Jethro, Ned and others. (7)
16. Where the Scottish archbishops, bishops and abbots used to live? (6)
17. Points to Warwick District – get away! (6)
19. Mssrs Brown and Lawrence produced a divine comedy! (5)
21. Father of Abraham had heart trouble. (5)
22. The stigma of being Cliff? (4)
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CREDO: TRITE MUSIC BLOCKS OUR EARS TO THE DIVINE IN THE LITURGY
Our worship enables us to enter another time and another dimension - a realm of experience beyond our ordinary human experience
How can we come to an experience of God? It’s a challenge, because no matter how much we read the Bible, study theology, formulate creeds, devise systems of belief and draw up rules for best Christian practice, all these efforts are only partial, tentative explorations into a dimension that lies beyond any definitive grid we could ever hope to impose.
Which brings us to the worship of the liturgy, for it is in worship that we are immersed in the experience of God. It is here that we engage with the living God.
It is in the liturgy that we are able to enter into another consciousness, probe a deeper reality, strive for a sense of transcendence which lifts us above the mundane, and in the words of psalmist, sets us on a rock that is higher than ourselves. Our worship enables us to enter another time and another dimension — a realm of experience beyond our ordinary human experience, beyond all our known thoughts and understandings.
In monastic terms, the liturgy is the path towards an exalted “ecstasy”, a flight into the cloud of unknowing, the place where God is, and where the true contemplation of the creative stillness of God is possible.
And this is a reality which is beyond the ability of historians, theologians, linguists, biblical scholars or even pastoral liturgists to express. Their contributions may even hinder rather than help. The intensity and intangibility of this experience can only be expressed through the arts.
This is why music of quality is a critical element within the life of the Church. It is a necessity, not a luxury. It is neither a frivolous confection nor an elitist distraction from the real business of faith. Music of quality, in the context of worship, does not entertain or divert. It reveals.
By means of evolving harmonies, rhythms, textures, modulations, orchestrations, melodies, counterpoints, imitations, this rich art form has the potential to create an aural environment which enables us to contemplate the mystery of God.
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Music of this calibre draws us into an engagement so profound that its sense can never be exhausted. Any work of art, be it sculpture, painting, literature, poetry or music, whose implications are immediately obvious and can instantly be grasped can never enlist our imagination, and so cannot equip us for mystery; and what cannot equip us for mystery cannot equip us for God.
This is why the Church should have no truck with banality. Yet, sadly, this is not universally the case. Too often, in a quaintly deluded attempt to achieve so-called relevance with a largely unidentified and notional constituency, the words of worship are denuded both of intellectual challenge and poetic imagery, and the music of worship is reduced to the most basic and arid of formulae. This toxic combination has achieved what many thought impossible. The emptying of our churches of those with minds to think, and emotions to inspire.
The power of liturgy was unerringly expressed by the prophet Job (iv, 15): “A spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.” Yet this power can all too easily be surrendered in favour of pedestrian prose and incompetent music. Badly constructed melodies and harmonies can only ever be transitory simply because they are musically inept. Rhythmic patterns devoid of subtlety, trite words incapable of stimulating any kind of imagery constitute some of the most powerful impediments to the possibility of encountering the divine within the context of the liturgy.
Not only does this behaviour testify to technical deficiency (an odd concept in itself for the Church of God to endorse), it offers nothing but spiritual impoverishment to a world clamouring for spiritual fulfilment.
And it goes without saying that the last refuge for those who deny the possibility of a depth of experience of this dimension will always be the accusation of elitism.
True art transcends the ordinary. It invites us to contemplate a presence beyond itself. It entangles us in the divine web of ultimate reality, and so creates an aural environment in which we can experience, in the words of Anselm of Bec, the presence of “that than which nothing greater can be thought”.
The Very Rev Dr John Shepherd - Dean of Perth, Australia
(This article first appeared in the Times newspaper 24 April 2010)
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SHE SELLS SEA-SHELLS
In 19th and early 20th century London, a common cry that greeted pedestrians in summer was ‘Please remember the Grotto!’, as an urchin held out a shell or grubby hand in expectation of a small coin. The day on which this occurred was known as Grotto Day. An article in TheTimes (21 November 1957)remembers the Old Kent Road in the early 1900s:
When was Grotto Day? It happened just once a year, but who whispered round Ruby Street that today was Grotto Day? It was a suggestion that sent some to the gasworks to collect clinker, one to the fishmongers to collect scallop shells, and some to beg or steal flowers. Then against the high gable at the end of the street we would build our grotto, clinker upon clinker, to form a mystic rockery with carefully spaced apertures in the fabric that would reveal the candlelight that was ultimately to shine inside. Two feet high and about as wide, the front elevation was finished with an arched doorway. A half circle of stones for a forecourt, the whole decorated with flowers, mainly marigolds, and the edifice was finished. Then inside went the candles.
The children also chanted a traditional rhyme, which sounds more music hall than ancient folk song: Please remember the grotto, Me father has run off to sea, Me mother’s gone to fetch ‘im back, so please give a farthin’ to me.
Although reported most regularly from London, the custom was also found in places such as Essex, Norfolk, Hampshire, Sussex and Swansea. Early August seems to be the most usual time, but it could be carried out in late July or early September. 19th century sources link the custom to the start of the oyster season, and describe the grottoes as built primarily of oyster shells. Henry Mayhew estimated in 1850 that 124 million oysters were sold each year in the streets of London alone, being very much a poor person’s food at that time.