christ church in december 2020
TRANSCRIPT
1
CHRIST CHURCH
in
DECEMBER 2020
VOLUME 4 ISSUE 9
DECEMBER 2020
Registered Charity No. 1152846 Parochial Church Council of
Worthing Christ Church Website:
www.christchurchworthing.org.uk
2
Worship in December
at Christ Church
6th 10.30am Holy Communion with
The Right Revd Christopher Morgan
13th 10.30am Christmas Celebration of Morning Prayer and Praise
with The Revd Canon Muriel Pargeter
20th 10.30am Holy Communion with The Revd Nancy Ford
24th 11.30pm Midnight Holy Communion
with The Revd George Butterworth
25th 10.30am Holy Communion for Christmas Day
with The Revd Roger Walker
27th 10.30am Morning Prayer with The Revd Roger Walker
Contact us: Vicar:
The Revd David Renshaw: Our Vicar is currently signed off sick. Our thoughts and prayers are with him at this time.
Church Wardens:
Kenneth Hobbs email: [email protected] Tele: 01903 237713
Steve Davis email: [email protected] Tele: 07512 030403
Verger: Lorraine Tele: 07513 592484 Parish Administrator and Editor: Janine Hobbs
email: [email protected] Tele: 01903 237713
3
A humorous look at how the world is coping this
Christmas!
*COVID protocol for staging
a nativity scene this year*
1. The maximum number of shepherds permitted will be
six, and they must keep a distance of 2 metres apart
2. The nativity scene will close at 10pm;
3. Because of the effect of aerosols, the angel will not
be permitted to attend this year, and will have to stay
in heaven, working from home;
4. Because they are from the same family, Joseph, the
Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus will be allowed to
remain together in the nativity scene, but there must
be an isolation tape around the crib;
4
5. The wise men will have to arrive early, stay in
quarantine and submit to a Covid test. Their camels
must stay in the closest town;
6. The gold, frankincense, myrrh and all the presents
for the Baby Jesus must be disinfected with 70%
alcohol gel;
7. Saint Anne and St. Joachim, the grandparents of
Jesus, must attend the birth at a distance, being part
of the group at highest risk;
8. All the non-essential people at the birth of Jesus
(the cabinet maker, the smith, the baker, Father
Christmas, Mickey Mouse etc.) will not be allowed to
attend this production of Christmas;
9. The number of animals must be 50% of the usual
number, sheep, goats, ducks and geese are free to roam
but outside the vicinity of the crib.
Thank you.
With thanks to Soraia, a Brazilian friend of John C!
5
December in History……
1791 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart buried in a
pauper’s grave
1959 Antarctica Treaty agreed to preserve the continent for peaceful research
1967 Dr Christiaan Barnard performs first heart
transplant
1987 Ronald Regan and Mikhail Gorbachev shake hands and agree to destroy nuclear
weapons (What happened?)
Thanks to Barbara H for these!
6
Christmas Quiz No Googling!
1 In what modern-day country was St Nicholas born?
2 Name three of Santa’s reindeer that start with the
letter D?
3 When did Queen Elizabeth II deliver her first
televised Christmas message to the nation? (+/- 1 year)
4 Who composed the music for the festive ballet "The Nutcracker"?
5 Which English leader prohibited the singing of Christmas songs?
6 In the Twelve Days of Christmas what did my true love give to me on the 7th day, and what were they doing?
7 Who discovered Christmas Island in 1777?
8 Who wrote the song White Christmas?
9 In which country was Christmas banned from 1960 until 1997, when it was reinstated for a papal visit?
7
10 If you were born on Christmas Day, what would
your star sign be? 11 Which King of England was crowned on Christmas
Day? 12 Who did Paul McCartney announce his
engagement to on Christmas Day 1969? 13 What are you eating if you are enjoying "March
Bread"? 14 Which Christmas item was created by Tom Smith
in 1847? Our thanks to Barbara D for this quiz! - Good Luck!
Answers are on the inside back cover!
8
Poet’s Corner…
Fear Not……
A starlit sky embraced the freezing flock,
Their herders huddled round protruding rock,
A sudden arc of light,
Evoked a fit of fright,
Soon Seraphim allayed their patent shock.
"Fear not," said they, "missives of joy we bear,
In Little Town was born an Infant Rare,
Destined the World to change,
Values to rearrange,
Mankind's apotheosis of, 'I Care'"!
©Elliott Allison
9
Peace on Earth?
Misguided by the vulgar god of Greed, When 'Want' and 'Will' suppress the Human Need,
Fair Peace cannot exist, 'lest parity persist,
Abundance in this World for all to feed!
©Elliott Allison
10
A good-looking feminist woman gets on the bus one day
and immediately an elderly gentleman stands up. “No
thank you,” says the offended woman pushing him back in
his seat, “I think the world has moved on a bit since your
day!”
At the next stop another woman gets on and again the
gentleman stands up – only to be firmly returned to his
seat by the feminist. “We sisters don’t need your
patronising gestures!” she fumed.
At the next stop a third woman gets on and again the old
man stands up. “You just don’t get it, do you, grandad?”
screams the woman.
Now it’s the old man’s turn to get angry……
“PLEASE!!!! For goodness sake, just let me
off the dratted bus will you, I’ve missed
three stops already!”
A true story…”Invitation to a Dance” As very young lads under training in Rosyth, we ventured down the coast to Burntisland where we had been told of a dance hall that would suit us. Upon finding the right place we found that the “ladies excuse me” resulted in being taken by the throat with the words “I’m gonnie dance wi’ you Pal.” How could one refuse?!
11
Wind forward to the mid-eighties and as a Naval Officer with professional responsibilities for the accommodation blocks I was invited to the Wrens BBQ, the social highlight of the calendar, held in the gardens of a large old house waiting to be renovated. As the evening progressed and the music started I watched the younger girls enjoying themselves and also reflected on the older and scarier Chief Wren (Motor Transport) standing on the side-lines. Then there was a tap on my shoulder and the Leading Wren (MT) leant in close to my ear “Are you going to dance with my boss or am I going to have to break your legs…..Sir?” Guess my response!
“Chippy”
A contented and happy senior citizen is one who sees
his glass as half-full –
However, his teeth are now in it!
"I hope that people
Are never frightened
Or ashamed
Of saying what they are feeling,
How much they are feeling,
And how they are feeling,
Because feeling
Is the only way of knowing
That they are alive"
12
EVEN PLAGUES CAN HAVE SILVER LININGS I was fascinated by the recent Channel 5 television series,
Plague. It chronicled the Great Plague suffered in London
and elsewhere in 1665 and 1666. Given the current
coronavirus pandemic, the series was very topical.
One of the things that particularly struck me was the
similarities between some of the measures taken then, and
those taken in response to coronavirus. This seemed the
more remarkable given that in the 17th century there was
no understanding of the fundamentals of the underlying
cause. Ships and their crews were quarantined, just like
travellers today; a form of social distancing was practised –
Samuel Pepys describes people walking in the centre of the
road as far as possible to avoid plague victims on the
pavements; and the closing up of houses with occupiers
suffering from the plague represented a form of self-
isolation. And the programme tested the lime wash
prescribed by the authorities in London for use before re-
occupation in cleansing properties left empty following the
plague, and found it to be as effective in killing bacteria as
the products we buy today!
Pandemics are nothing new. There are references to them
in the Old Testament, and the Great Plague was simply one
of many such outbreaks of bubonic plague from the 14th to
the 18th centuries.
13
There had been an outbreak some 60 years earlier in
Germany, which left a remarkable legacy that remains with
us today. Philipp Nicolai was a pastor in Unna in Westphalia
in 1597. In the latter half of the year, 1,300 of his
parishioners were killed by plague, 170 of them in a single
week. To help to comfort his suffering parishioners, Nicolai
wrote a series of meditations, to which he attached two
hymns, for which he wrote both the words and the music.
Remarkably, both these hymns have developed a life far
beyond providing succour to plague-ridden Unna.
Translated out of the original German, the first, commonly
entitled in ‘English Wake! O Wake!’ With tidings thrilling, and
also known as the Watchman’s Carol, remains a very
popular Advent hymn. It combines Isaiah’s imagery of the
watchman on a city wall with both Matthew’s Parable of the
Bridesmaids welcoming the bridegroom to the marriage
feast, and the song of triumph in heaven from Revelations.
It is on my personal Desert Island Hymns list.
The second, ‘How brightly shines the Morning Star’, is also
sung for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, but also more
widely for weddings and as a general hymn of praise. Again,
using rich imagery, this hymn hails Christ as our deliverer,
and celebrates his triumph.
I am certain that Philipp Nicholai would be amazed that the
hymns God inspired him to write to comfort his suffering
parishioners, have been passed down so widely over the
centuries and continue to inspire us today. Perhaps as we
14
enter Advent, it might lead us to reflect on what God might
inspire us to do in our own personal responses to the
coronavirus pandemic.
Who knows, it might have a far greater impact than we could
ever imagine!
Christopher Ward
Answers to our Christmas Quiz! 1 Turkey
2 Donner, Dancer Dasher
3 1957
4 Tchaikovsky
5 Oliver Cromwell
6 Seven Swans a Swimming
7 Captain Cook
8 Irving Berlin
9 Cuba
10 Capricorn
11 William the Conqueror
12 Jane Asher
13 Marzipan
14 Christmas Cracker
How did you get on?