St James Church Newsletter

THE FISHERMAN

St James Church Newsletter

DECEMBER/JANUARY 2017

David Griffiths: Vicar

Susan Griffiths: Associate Priest & Area Dean

Pat Smith: Honorary Assistant Priest

Website:

WATCHING FOR CHRIST'S RETURN . . .

Do you like watching films? Do you go to the cinema?

If you do go to the cinema then perhaps you might get some popcorn, or perhaps something else to enjoy eating whilst you’re watching; then you find your seat, sit back and relax, and get ready to watch the film.

But before the film begins, you have to watch all of the previews of the coming attractions. The short clips of movies that will be coming soon. In fact, they almost always say, "Coming soon to a cinema near you!"

If we went to watch a film today, we would probably see previews of all of the new films that will be coming during the Christmas holiday season - it is now around four weeks until Christmas!

And as we sit and watch the previews, we might well decide which film we might want to see next, and then we watch and wait until it comes to a cinema nearby.

In the Church's calendar, this is a season when we are looking forward to "Coming Attractions." And we call this season Advent. Advent is the time of preparation for the coming of something important. For one thing, Christmas is coming. We look forward to hearing the beautiful music and seeing the decorations. We look forward to Christmas parties and to sharing gifts with family and friends. But most of all, we look forward to celebrating the birth of Jesus.

And there is something else that we are looking forward to during this season of Advent. We are looking forward to the day when Jesus is coming again. Jesus told his disciples that he would come again, but when they asked when, he told them that no one knows when that day will be. He said, "No one knows the day or the hour, not even the angels in heaven. Only the Father knows."

So, if we don't know when it is going to happen, if we don't know when Jesus will be coming, what should we do? How can we prepare? How can we be ready? Well, it is a bit like the film previews that say, "Coming Soon to a cinema near you." They don't say exactly when, so we have to be watching so that we will be ready when they come. In fact, that is exactly what Jesus told his disciples. "Be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."

So, what should we do, what can we do, to make sure that we are ready for Jesus when he returns? Well, perhaps we should be doing the things that Jesus wants us to be doing -- and that includes loving one another, caring for the sick, feeding the hungry, and helping the poor. And if we are doing these things, then we will be ready when Jesus comes.

Are you watching for Christ's return? Are you ready?

Make time this Advent to watch and prepare and…… Be Ready!

With love, for a Christ-filled Christmas and a Joyous and Peaceful New Year. Susan

JESUS SHAPED PEOPLE (JSP)

To help us keep in mind the JSP course that we did as a church last year and the very useful strands the course employed of - PEOPLE, TEAM BUILDING, TEACHING, PRAYER, PROPHETIC ACTION that Jesus life reflected our magazine is going to be set out using these strands. For some things it is difficult to label them as specifically one of these strands but it is a way of reinforcing these and seeing how our balance of these is being maintained as a church. See if you agree and come back to me. Love David

JSP – TEACHING

SUNDAY GATHERING SERVICE

Our next service will be at the NEW TIME of 10 am with breakfast at 9.15am – SUNDAY DECEMBER 4th - bring a friend! There will be also be a Sunday gathering service on January 1st, but no breakfast.

CHANGE THE WAY WE TALK to EACH OTHER

In his Presidential Address to the Leeds Diocesan Synod on Saturday, Bishop Nick referred to what he termed ‘the corruption’ of public debate around current issues such as Brexit, migration and the US Presidential election. He said “Christians need to be engaged in cleaning up the nature of public debate . . . [we need] to refuse to collude with or be corrupted by what is swilling around in the media."

He said that the response of some newspapers to the recent High Court ruling was an example of something that should be contested: “The legal clarification sought in the High Court was entirely reasonable. . . The rule of law should never be taken for granted. It is hard won and can be very easily lost. So, even if you think Brexit is the right move for Britain, you should be very alarmed at newspapers referring to judges as ‘enemies of the people’ [or suggesting] that we should get rid of judges who don’t do what certain politicians want and replace them with ones they do . . . Isn’t this precisely the sort of sovereignty that Brexit was supposed to guarantee to the UK in the first place? When we accept our judges being labelled “enemies of the people” for doing their job, then we will be inviting the Law of Unintended Consequences to apply – where civil society is corrupted bit by bit because we can’t be bothered to contest it. Europe has been here before.

"[And in the USA] we see the final throes of a presidential election that has been reduced to an abusive slanging match that is hardly going to commend ‘democracy’ to those countries we so often think should be compelled to enjoy it."

He said that Professor Brian Cox and Professor David Wilkinson at the diocese’s recent clergy conference had modeled “how to have substantial conversations about things that matter. They did this in relation to science, in a way that took us beyond the sort of nonsense prejudicing and name-calling we see between fundamentalist religious people and fundamentalist atheists.

“How we speak to, with and about one another matters far more than we might wish to think. We need to speak differently, refuse to collude with or be corrupted by what is swilling around in the media and on social media, and hold to account those who threaten the nature of our discourse by what they choose to say or print.”

He called on the synod, as it goes about its business of shaping a diocese “that reflects the nature of the Christ we serve”, to “pay attention to how our discourse might offer a different model to that which we see in parts of our media and our political world".

THE FUTURE of EDUCATION

The Diocese of Leeds has more pupils in its church schools than any other diocese in the country. That was one of the many facts and figures presented to Synod by the Director of Education, Richard Noakeand the Chair of the Board of Education, Bishop Jonathan Gibbs, as they reported on ‘The Future of Education’. 62,000 children and young people are being educated in 247 church schools and academies, and with frequent changes to government policy, they made it clear that there are many challenges ahead facing the Board and Education Team.

A ‘Paradigm shift nature of education and schooling’ and ‘Changing messages from government’ were just two of a long list of challenges. “There are huge changes afoot in the world of education”, said Bishop Jonathan. “What those changes are keeps changing from week to week as the government changes its mind.” A further challenge was the reduction of the scope of Local Authority involvement and a shift of focus towards the diocesan responsibilities. “There has been a shift in expectation from the Department of Education in regards to diocesan education which has been immense. The spotlight which used to be firmly on local authorities.. has completely changed and there is now a huge expectation from the Department of Education that the diocese is put under the spotlight and is significantly interrogated.”

However, Richard Noake added that there are significant opportunities to provide much needed school places especially in areas of overcrowding and shortage of places. “The Board of Education would like to establish more church free schools if it possibly can”, he said, referring to the government's free school programme, “so in the last month or so I have been working with some external advisers looking at how we can advance proposals for additional church schools both primary and secondary across the diocese …I would like to see us providing at least six additional church schools across the diocese”.

In other business from our last Diocesan Synod . . . . proposals to allow small deaneries to increase the number of representatives on Deanery Synod to 50 people, to meet the minimum number required byChurch representation Rules, were approved. A raft of Diocesan Standing Order changes were also approved by Synod after several amendments were rejected by members.

Diocesan Secretary, Debbie Child, reported on Safeguarding developments including a recent national audit of diocesan safeguarding- early indications suggested a positive audit, she said. Consultation on a new national policy, ‘Promoting a safer church’ havebeen taking place, and there would now be a duty placed on all clergy and licensed lay ministers to have 'due regard' for the House of Bishop's Safeguarding Guidance.

JSP – PEOPLE

MOTHERS UNION

Dear all

Just a reminder that our Christmas meal is booked at Steeton Hall on Thursday 8th December, please arrive at about 6.00 pm to eat at 6.30 pm approximately. Please speak to either myself, Joanne or Pat if you haven't yet booked or chosen your menu. We will coordinate lifts for those who need one. Let's hope it will be a lovely evening

Looking ahead to the New Year we will be holding our AGM in January (date and time to be published at the turn of the year). At the moment we have not set out a programme of regular meetings for 2017. Joanne and I will be stepping down from the committee and other members are finding it difficult to continue on the committee for various reasons. Numbers of attendees have continued to dwindle throughout 2016 and so we have decided that we need to re-think how we will continue our Mothers' Union support in 2017. We will be seeking everyone's ideas as the old year comes to a close so please have any ideas and suggestions ready to share with us.

It seems a little early to do this at the time of meeting the usual early print deadline but I would like to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

With love, Jayne and all the MU committee.

BENCHES IN THE CHURCHYARD

Many thanks to the 3 people who have offered to buy a bench each.

LEADING YOUR CHURCH into GROWTH - INVITATION OPPORTUNITIES

Here are some great chances to invite friends and family to some of our church events :-

• Sunday Gathering - SUNDAY 4th. Dec at 10 am - breakfast at 9.15 am
• Mission Direct and Drystone Radio, 10am-1 pm SATURDAY 17 Dec
• Carols by Candlelight SUNDAY 18th Dec at 6 pm
• Christingle Christmas Eve 3.30 pm and 5 pm

GATE PAINTING

The church gates look fantastic - now how about the rest?!!!!! I have 1 person who is prepared to begin work on the hall gates - more volunteers please - see David

WANTED

• Wine corks
• Flower arrangers for church - on the job training available - thank you to all our existing arrangers - the place looks great – David
• Brass cleaners please - our brass looks great please comeand help polish off the oxide!

PIGEON HOLES

Are in the Vestry and Hall - please use them and CHECK THEM! They will be used by your SURNAME.

JSP - TEAM BUILDING

PANTO TIME - CINDARELLA

Our very own Silsden Community Productions - 1, 2, 3, DECEMBER - get your tickets NOW!

St.ANDREW'S, KILDWICK PATRONAL FESTIVAL

We will be celebrating our Patronal Festival on Wednesday 30th November at 7.30pm with a Sung Eucharist. The guest preacher will be Andy Jolley.

SUNDAY GATHERING

Will be on SUNDAY 4 December at 10 am- breakfast 9.15am

DEANERY CHANGES

The new deanery that we are part of is to be called South Craven and Wharfedale and will have Rev. Philip Gray as Area Dean from 1 January 2017.

CHRISTMAS PARTY TIME!

It is our Christmas party on SATURDAY 17th. 6 - 8.30pm - games, fun and food for all the family. Please bring something to share - the list is up in the hall for savoury and sweet. Meats and salmon will be provided. Tickets £5, children 16 and below free.

COMMUNITY CAROL SERVICE

This CTIS event will be at the Methodist Church on WEDNESDAY 14 December at 2 pm.

AUTUMN FAYRE

Thank you to all who helped at this event - we raised £965 - well done!

GIFT DAY

The day has raised a disappointing £1,500 so far.

WEEK of PRAYER for CHRISTIAN UNITY

Will be on JANUARY 18 - 25. There will be a Churches Together in Silsden (CTIS) coffee morning at Our Lady of Mount Carmel on SATURDAY 21 JANUARY - 9.30am - 12 noon.

WORK DAY

The next work day is Saturday December 10 at 10 am. Please come and help as we get the tree up and decorate our church and hall ready for Christmas.

BISHOP TOBY SPEAKS ABOUT BRADFORD in ABU DHABI

The Bishop of Bradford, Bishop Toby Howarth, has spoken about recent events in Bradfordin a keynote address at an international interfaith conference which has taken place in the United Arab Emirates.

The ‘Towards an Integrated World’ conference, focusing on integration, religious freedom and flourishing societies, was organised by the Muslim Council of Elders with Christian leaders from the Anglican Communion.

In his speech, Bishop Toby, formerly the Archbishop’s Advisor on Interfaith issues, spoke frankly about the obstacles in the path of coexistence and dialogue, and possible solutions – and he said he was encouraged by his experiences in Bradford. “I am from the city of Bradford in the UK” he told the international audience of religious leaders and politicians. “It is a great city and has one of the largest proportions of Muslims in any city of the UK. It is also the youngest city in the UK. Our future in the UK and in our world is one of much greater mixing and shifting of identities. One of the great sources of hope for me in Bradford is that there are young Muslim women coming up and changing the face of the leadership in the city.”

Speaking about the need to address people’s fears, he recounted how at the height of the flooding in the Calder Valley last December he had gone to a church where people were bringing food and blankets to be distributed. He said, “The first people I met there were a group of young Muslims who had come with two car-loads of food and blankets. This gave me hope. We didn’t talk about religion. We stood shoulder to shoulder, sweating and laughing and working as Christians and Muslims, but in a deeper way, as human beings together meeting the needs of other human beings.”

But he said fears needed to be addressed with dialogue and personal encounter and spoke of another experience at a Bradford Mosque, which he visited with retired soldier, Mike Haines, whose brother, aid worker David Haines had been killed by Da’esh. An argument had begun, but .. .”the soldier came in, still in shock because of his brother’s death, and he saw the people still finishing their rawatib prayers, and he was moved with emotion, and he began to weep.

“Great tears rolled down his cheeks. And the whole atmosphere in that room changed. The same man who had shouted at me went to the soldier and embraced him and said to him, “When those people killed your brother, it was as if they beheaded my whole community…”

Bishop Toby said that the dialogue taking place left him full of hope: “I do not leave this gathering afraid. I leave this dialogue with hope. I am hopeful partly because of the quality of people here, and the great investment that has been made into this dialogue, and the resources put into such positive engagement with each other. But mostly I am hopeful because I believe that God wants an integrated world, a world of justice and peace, where people bring their differences together and learn to disagree well, and to celebrate together and to work for the common good. God, I believe, wants us to talk together, but also to work together.”

SUNDAY GATHERING WECOMERS

Two welcomers are needed for this service every month - please see Deborah or David

MAGAZINE EDITORIAL DEADLINE for DECEMBER is Tuesday 24th January at 12 noon - editorial to Sue Grimley please.

CHRISTMAS PARTY

A Christmas meal is being put on at the Silsden Football Club on WEDNESDAY 21 DECEMBER between 2 pm and 4 pm. This will be a free, ticketed event with any funds raised going to Manorlands. If you can help in any way please contact Lynne on 658357 or 07835 743470.

LIFTS to CHURCH

Will those able to give lifts to church on a Sunday please sign the sheet at the back of church with your telephone number and your names will go into the Weekly New Sheet for people to contact who need a lift – thank you.

MORNING COFFEE

Please help put the tables and chairs away after our Sunday morning coffee and tea as it is a big job for one person, the Wardens or Pied Piper on Monday morning – thank you!