minster, ashingdon, 3pm(?) d · essex, ss6 7lf (01268) 770333. email:...

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Sunday Services Evening services are at 6.30pm unless otherwise shown.

December 5th Brenda Gutberlet (Gift service for

HARP—see notices) Possibly carol singing at White Horse

during afternoon/evening check for times, etc.

12th Len Ward Brenda Gutberlet 19th Brenda Gutberlet (S) Carol service, 4pm 24th Christingle Service, 4pm 25th Family Christmas Day service, 10.30 26th No services January 2nd Pam Freeborn No evening service 9th Brenda Gutberlet (S) (Covenant

Service) Rev Keith 6th Family Day and activities Start 11am, finish about 4.30pm 23rd Roger Thomas Brenda Gutberlet 30th Andy Thomas Brenda Gutberlet

There are some changes/additions from the Circuit Plan shown above - the ones above are correct at the time of printing. All services are subject to change at short notice - see your printed notices for up to date information each Sunday.

© 2010 Rochford Methodist Church Any original material may be freely copied so long as full acknowledgement is given to The Rochford Methodist. In addition, an original copy of the publication in which the copied item appears must be supplied free of all charges to the Editor at the address shown. These conditions will also apply to any other publication that may use the copied material.

Don’t throw away your Christmas stamps!! Your used postage stamps can be used to raise money for charity. Pass them on to Helen Willson who will make sure they go to the right place.

Dates for your diary: November 28 Festival of Light, Advent service at St Andrews

Minster, Ashingdon, 3pm(?) December 5 Gift Service for HARP 10-11 The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate TG

Dramatic Society’s production of ‘A Chjristmas Carol’, Wesley Theatre Group, Leigh Wesley Church Hall, £7/£5, 7.30 (see leaflet on board)

18 Charity Carol Concert at Benfleet, with the Choristers. See church notices for details

19 Carol Service, Local Arrangement, 4pm 24 Christingle Service, 4pm 25 Christmas Day Family Service, Local

Arrangement, 10.30 am 27 Rev Brenda ‘drop-in’ coffee morning at

Rayleigh Methodist Church, 10-12 January 9 Covenant Service, 11am 16 Family Day, finish by about 4.30pm February 9 Church Council, 8pm March 4 Women’s World Day of Prayer, 2pm 6 General Church Meeting, (tea),4pm April 3 Women’s Fellowship Anniversary, Rev Diane

Smith 18 Stations of the Cross service, St Teresas, 8pm 21 Maundy Thursday Service, 8pm May 15 Church Anniversary, Rev Bryan Tolhurst

Recycle your Christmas Cards

The Woodland Trust will be running their annual recycling

scheme at TK Maxx and Marks & Spencer stores this year. Drop your cards in the recycling point by the middle of January. This will be the last year the charity scheme will run.

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Dec/Jan 2010/11

Rochford Methodist Church is a member of Southend and Leigh Circuit, part of the Beds, Essex & Herts District

The Newsletter of Rochford Methodist Church

77-79 North Street Rochford SS4 1AD

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The next planned publication date is 6th February 2011. Articles, etc, should be with Dave by 23rd January please. I prefer articles by email, floppy disc or typed with a good DARK original (because I can handle these without re-typing them!), but I am happy to receive them in any form — so long as I get something ! Emails can be sent to me at either of the addresses shown in the box on the right.

The Rochford Methodist is published on behalf of Rochford Methodist Church. Opinions expressed in this newsletter may not be those of the Methodist Church. Minister: Revd Brenda Gutberlet, 259 Eastwood Road, Rayleigh, Essex, SS6 7LF (01268) 770333. Email: [email protected] Editor: Dave Dobbin, 130 Ashingdon Road, Rochford, Essex, SS4 1RR (01702) 544096 email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Times of services As part of last year’s Pilgrims’ Way annual review there was a suggestion that we

brought the morning service forward to 10:30. It was agreed that we would give everyone a vote so the Church Council could be guided as to what the congregation’s feelings were on the matter.

Well, after having the voting box available for 3 weeks we co-opted Keira and Luke to be our official tellers. The box was opened and the votes counted during coffee after the morning service on 14 November. The votes were as follows:

Keep the morning service at 11am 36 votes; Move to 10.30am 14 votes; No preference 2 votes.

In our last edition, in a report on Church Council, we thanked Heather for her 26 years of faithful service as the Sunday School Superintendant. As it was mixed in with other items you may have missed it, so I am glad to say again how very grateful we are for all the work that Heather has put into the job in this time.

The role has been taken over by Sonia and we wish her every success in her new duty in the Church. Please remember to pray for and encourage Sonia, Paul Gibbinson, Andrea and Judy in their most important work of nurturing our young people in the Faith.

I would like to thank those people who made sure I had articles for this edition. You made the production of this newsletter a pleasure, and it meant I hit the deadlines.

But please don’t stop there. I will still need articles for the next and future editions, but they must be originals. I cannot use items you found in magazines, newspapers, etc, as these are usually subject to copyright.

So please, everybody, let me have your articles on any topic at all, but preferably about you, the church, Rochford, or anything relevant to Rochford Methodist Church. The deadline can always be found in this box.

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What goes on at Rochford Methodist Church?

Sunday 10.55 am FJ Club 10.55 am Morning Service 6.30 pm Evening Service

Monday 2.30 pm Women’s Fellowship (Sept - May) 4.30 - 5.30 pm The Urban Street Dance Group 7.00 - 9.00 pm Blossom on the Oasis.

Tuesday 9.30 - 11.30 am Happy Hands Baby and Toddler Group 12.00 - 2.00 pm Happy Hands Baby and Toddler Group 3.00 - 7.30 pm Hildale School of Dancing 8.00 pm Wesley Guild (Oct-Apr)

Wednesday 4.00 - 6.00 pm The Urban Street Dance Group 7.00 - 10.00 pm Alcoholics Anonymous

Thursday 9.30 - 11.30 Music Dreams (for 0-2 years) 3.45 - 7.30 pm Hildale School of Dancing 7.30 - 9.30 pm Table Tennis

Saturday 9.00 am - 2.30 pm Hildale School of Dancing The premises are available for use outside the above times. Contact Margaret Rayner on 544252 for more information.

And in addition . . Two House Groups meet each month in a different place each time. Look in the weekly notices for the dates and venues.


mailto:[email protected]




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Recipe corner Here’s a couple of recipes that Margaret keeps getting asked for. You may remember the chocolate and beetroot cake, all moist, chocolaty and yummy, from recent events.

Sultana and Cherry Cake 12 ozs sultanas 3 large eggs 4ozs glace cherries pinch salt 4ozs butter 6ozs plain flour 4ozs caster sugar

Grease and line a 1lb loaf tin. Set oven to 325F or Mark 3. Cream fat and sugar, add beaten eggs and flour gradually, leaving a little flour to mix in with the fruit and cherries. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 1½-1¾ hours or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Leave in tin on a wire rack to cool.

Beetroot and Chocolate Cake 100g (3½ ozs) drinking chocolate 230g(8ozs) self-raising flour 200g(7ozs) golden caster sugar 100g (3½ ozs) dark chocolate minimum 70% cocoa solids, broken into pieces 125g (4½ozs) unsalted butter 250g (9ozs) beetroot, cooked weight 3 large eggs. To serve, icing sugar for dusting and crème fraiche.

Preheat oven 180C /350F/ gas 4.Grease and flour an 18cm (7”) round cake tin. Sift together drinking chocolate and self raising flour, then mix in the sugar. Melt the chocolate and butter together over a pan of barely simmering water. Puree the beetroot in a food processer, whisk the eggs, and then stir them into the beetroot. Add the beetroot and the chocolate to the dry ingredients and mix together thoroughly. Pour into the cake tin and bake for 1hr 30 mins (on low shelf ) until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 10 mins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool. Serve dusted with icing and crème fraiche.

Have you got any recipes you want to share? Pass them on and get them published.

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Message from the Manse Dear Friends,

Recently I was watching a televised football match and noticed that amongst the electronic advertisements was the following message being shown intermittently throughout the game by the home club. It read, “United in passion, purpose and teamwork”. If we added to that message “for and with the Lord Jesus Christ” what a good motto that would be for the Church!

Passion purpose and teamwork leads us to think of the coming season in the life of the Church when we have many opportunities to share what we believe as we are joined by many occasional worshippers. Whether you are a regular or occasional worshipper do take time to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas which is—“Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

It has been a great discovery to watch and listen to the “More to Christmas” DVD. It contains a number of short stories by people from a wide variety of backgrounds who in their own words explain how they started to realise there was more to Christmas than tinsel and turkey. These DVD’S together with our Christmas publicity leaflets will be available at the Church—please take a copy of each and share with others. By doing so we are engaged in teamwork with passion and purpose for Jesus’ sake.

Advent (the four weeks before Christmas day) is followed by the Christmas season and Epiphany. These seasons remind us that the Christian faith is a continuing journey throughout each year yet there are many in our country who are totally unaware what happened next in the life story of Jesus Christ—so let us encourage others to start their faith journey this Christmas and New Year. Let us also be both wise and bold in declaring the mystery of our faith- EMMANUEL-God with us, Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again in glory. O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

May the joyful presence of the Lord Jesus Christ continue to strengthen transform and guide your life.

Revd. Brenda Gutberlet

There will be a Coffee morning with light refreshments on Monday 27th December from 10 am -1pm at our Rayleigh Church in Eastwood Road in the Welcome area at the front of the Church. This is for the local community and anyone from our three Churches section who wishes to attend. All are welcome.



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We are sorry to announce the deaths of two people who have shared in the life of our church over the years:

Firstly, Mollie Harris, whose visible gift to the church is the large wooden cross on the wall of the Communion Area in memory of her husband Stanley. Mollie moved out to Australia to be with her daughter 24 years ago and was always interested in news about Rochford. In a card to Helen Willson, Mollie’s daughter Val tells us Mollie died on 28th October, just 2½ weeks before her 102nd birthday. She had been failing physically for some time but her mind was sharp to the end – even on the day she died she was planning which dress she would wear on her birthday, even though she didn’t want to live until then!

Secondly Anne Sargent, who was known for her beautiful singing. Anne was a member of the Women’s Fellowship and always supported the church. Anne died on 17th November, aged 92. Her funeral is on Monday 29th November at Southend Crem at 3pm. No flowers by request, but donations appreciated to go to the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists.

Organisers wanted On page 6, Mike reports on Pilgrims Way and the things that were suggested. As it

came along at around the same time as Brenda’s questionnaire and the Circuit Review questionnaire there were quite a few overlaps.

Something jumped out at me. There were suggestions like: We should have a music group; We should have a church outing; We should have (more) coffee mornings; We should have more meetings outside the Sunday services where we could talk. All of these have one thing in common—they need someone to organise them! It would be unfair to dump them onto the same few people who always seem to end

up organising, and some jobs, although easy to suggest, are quite complex to implement. For example for an outing, someone has to find a destination suitable for all ages and

for those who are less mobile, advertise it, arrange transport, collect names, collect any money and be on hand on the day to make sure everything goes smoothly.

For a coffee morning, it needs someone to arrange a suitable day and venue, organise the drinks and food (and any stalls), organise ‘staff’ and be there a couple of hours before the start (or the night before) to prepare. That’s before you look at handing the money, tidying up after you and disposing of unsold goods.

A music group needs someone with musical ability to co-ordinate and lead, as well as a suitable mix of instruments, time for rehearsals on a suitable regular day, etc.

If you feel you would like to become more involved with organising activities for the church, please make your interest known. If it can be Pilgrims Way-related, have a word with Mike, or see one of the stewards. We are always willing to let people try new things, but new things need the little touches—like arranging them so that they are successful!

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Interior shots of the chapel at the New Room in Bristol

If you would like to follow in Ralph’s footsteps, there is a map of Methodist Heritage sites at the back of our church.

In addition, the Methodist Heritage Handbook 2010 is available from the Methodist Publishing House (Ref: HH100-MH-10). Using this guide, you can find and visit the historic houses, monuments, chapels and other places of interest that tell the story of ‘the people called Methodists’ and discover how Methodism grew into a worldwide Christian church. Find out how Methodism has influenced our spiritual, social and industrial development since the 18th century, and how it speaks with relevance to today's world. Dave & Val have a copy if you want to see one, but you can get your own free of charge. You may need to pay postage of £2.50 so, if several people want one, you can put in a bulk order and share the cost. Contact Methodist Publishing, 17 Tresham Road, Orton Southgate, Peterborough, PE2 6SG, Telephone: 01733 235962 for more details, or go online at www.mph.org.uk.

Singing the Faith Now available to pre-order

This new Conference-approved Methodist hymn book will be published in September 2011, but you can pre-order copies now from Methodist Publishing. The full music edition will cost £30 and the words-only edition will cost £9, but pre-ordered copies will cost £25 and £7.50 respectively. A large print words-only edition will cost £15 (pre-order price £12.50).

A free sampler copy will be available in January and an electronic words-only edition will come out in September. Just register your interest in either of these by contacting Methodist Publishing—see the above article for contact details. Just a couple of warnings though—our church council has not yet even thought about considering whether or not we will use the new hymn book, and if you pre-order online on a credit/debit card it will be charged immediately.


http://www.mph.org.uk.


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A day in the life of a Railwayman in retirement

Ralph Munday reports on a visit to the Chapel at the New Room in Bristol

A few weeks ago I saw on TV an auction programme, one of many we see these days, in which the presenter visited the Wesley Chapel in Bristol and said it was open every day and free of charge. I thought this would be interesting for a day visit, so in early November I left home at 7am to catch the 9 o’clock train from London Paddington to Bristol (Temple Meads) station which takes only 1¾ hours. I sat back in the first class ‘quiet’ coach (no mobiles allowed) with my complimentary cup of coffee and biscuit, watching the English countryside pass by.

Wesley’s chapel is situated in the main shopping centre and easy to find with fairly new buildings surrounding it. On the notice board outside it said this is the oldest Methodist Chapel in the world, built in 1739 and is now a Grade 1 listed building.

Inside the chapel one sees a high and lower pulpit, high one for the preacher and lower fo the Bible readings. The pews are a later addition, replacing the wooden benches which are now placed both sides in the aisles. There is a good shop within the chapel, well-stocked with books and post cards, and stewards in attendance to give you any information you may require. I was shown up some steep wooden stairs by the organ to the upper rooms where you see John Wesley’s study and his bedroom, the rope having rope supporting the mattress. There are many displays in glass cabinets relating to John Wesley’s travels around the country and overseas, and including a lock of his hair!

So this was the first of all Methodist churches we see around the country when we visit town and villages on our travels and indeed abroad. If you are ever in the Bristol area it is worthwhile calling in to see this remarkable chapel where it all began.

1933 statue of \John Wesley commemorating his 200,000 miles on horseback

Ralph Munday is a member of Hawkwell Baptist church, but he and his wife often support our church’s activities.

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December 5 Rosie Martin 12 Carole Glendenning 19 Christmas 26 No service January 2 Helen Willson 9 Maureen Whalley 16 Beryl Scoging 23 Sonia Worthington 30 Ivy Blenkinsop

Women’s Fellowship Autumn. The season of mists and Women’s Fellowship. Keats probably never

came to Rochford - and he certainly never came to the Women’s Fellowship meeting. If he had, he would have had to ignore the ‘mellow fruitfulness’.

The meetings for December are: 6th Our Christmas Lunch 13th Members’ Day 20th Our Carol Service led by Revd Brenda Gutberlet And then we have a break for Christmas before we start again in the new year. We meet at 2.30pm on Mondays and our meeting is open to all ladies, whether

or not they attend our church. Come along, bring a friend, make new ones. You are guaranteed a warm welcome and a cup of tea.

Beryl will soon be making up the next rota, which will start in March. If you are interested in joining it, please see her. If flower arranging is not your ‘thing’ you can still contribute—see Beryl for details.

How about having more meetings other than on Sunday where we can talk. Well, what do you want? We have Women’s Fellowship, we have Wesley Guild, we have Table Tennis, we have housegroups, all of which allow time to chat over a cuppa. What else do you want? Ideas please. Oh, and see the article opposite!



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Pilgrims’ Way A review of the Feedback from Annual Review event on 24 October

Your Pilgrims Way Planning Committee met recently to review your ideas

raised at the 24 October Annual Review and what follows is an abbreviated account based on the notes from that follow-up planning meeting.

Sonia reported that it had been more straightforward to compile the list this year and there had been a broad range of suggestions of new things to try. It was clear that the respondents wanted to preserve the friendship and fellowship. It was also confirmed that the Pilgrims’ Way reviews are beneficial and valued.

There was little to report in the “What’s not so good” section. The outside appearance of the building is being considered by the Property Committee and another working party is planned. The lack of teenage groups has also been mentioned in Brenda’s questionnaire. It was agreed that we should maintain the Worship Leader section before the start of morning service to help calm things down before worship but it was noted that “a noisy church is a happy church”.

There were lots of ideas coming from the new ideas to try section. This year there was a wide spread of individual ideas whereas previously there had been 3–4 main ideas coming to the fore. There is still a big support of the Family Days but we felt that there are sufficient of these events at present and we do want to encourage people to attend other services, house groups etc. The next Family Day in January will build on an event held previously when the activities around the lunch will feed into an afternoon act of worship that everyone can join in with.

The issue of (the lack of) car parking was raised. It was noted that there is some ground behind the church building that may be suitable for 3 car park spaces but an access road would be needed. This will be raised at Church Council.

Other property-related issues was the suggestion of having a blind over the high window in the hall such that afternoon meeting attendees are not blinded by the sun (when it shines!) and Val is going to approach Rochford Blinds.

Carole is investigating the possibility of an outing to a Church outside the Circuit for tea and evening service, possibly Chelmsford-way.

A sign has now gone up advising anyone that the main worship area is open for private prayer whenever the premises are open.

There was a suggestion that we make the annual bazaar much more an opportunity for outreach and less about getting money and to this end this year’s event was free entry. Being on the door with Malcolm I can report that this was a success in that we got in passers-by who may not have been willing to pay 20p to come inside. In previous years I have seen people come to the door, look at the poster confirming the admission charge, and walk away.

Another idea was for a Birthday book so that all attenders get a card from

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Wesley Guild

Have you ever wondered why the carol singing at our church is so good at Christmas? Could it be that many of us practise our carols at this time of the year by going out to local residential homes, rounding off the evening with mince pies and a cuppa? And you don’t have to be a Guild member.

Winter draws on (or something like that) and the Wesley Guild is there to fill your Tuesday evenings. We start at 8pm sharp when we’re at the church but when we’re out and about the time is likely to be different. If you want to come with a friend, that’s no problem and they don’t have to come to our church.

The meetings for December are: 7th Carol Singing at St Lukes Place, 7.30pm 14th Carol Singing at Coachman Court, 7.30pm 21st Carol Singing at Spa Court (Hockley), 7.30pm Then we have a break before we start again in: January: 4th Pavitts Puzzles (change from published programme) 11th Oberammergau, Revd Brenda Gutberlet 18th RRAVS (volunteering in Rochford and Rayleigh), Jackie Brown 25th John & Cecile Low

Happy New Year!

Rochford’s Got Talent! Many congratulations to Keira, Maia and Charlotte on their success in the Southend Music Festival this year. In the order we heard them:

Kiera won first prize in the grades 4&5 piano class. Maia took first place in the grade 1 piano class Charlotte got first place in grade 2&3 woodwind with 80 marks, Honours and a

gold certificate. She was accompanied here by none other than Paul McDowell, who is the organist at Leigh Wesley church and ‘Prof’ of the Famous Potatoes.

And since then Charlotte has heard she passed her grade 2 exams with 107 marks out of 150. Well done to you all. Do I feel a concert coming on soon?



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The decision to rebuild the cathedral was taken the morning after its destruction. Rebuilding would not be an act of defiance, but rather a sign of faith, trust and hope for the future of the world. It was the vision of the Provost at the time, Dick Howard, which led the people of Coventry away from feelings of bitterness and hatred. This has led to the cathedral’s Ministry of Peace and Reconciliation, which has provided spiritual and practical support, in areas of conflict throughout the world.

Shortly after the destruction, the cathedral stonemason, Jock Forbes, noticed that two of the charred medieval roof timbers had fallen in the shape of a cross. He set them up in the ruins where they were later placed on an altar of rubble with the moving words ‘Father Forgive’ inscribed on the Sanctuary wall. Another cross was fashioned from three medieval nails by local priest, the Revd Arthur Wales. The Cross of Nails has become the symbol of Coventry’s ministry of reconciliation.

HM The Queen laid the foundation stone on 23 March 1956 and the building was consecrated on 25 May 1962, in her presence. The ruins remain hallowed ground and together the two create one living Cathedral”.

I thought about this at the recent service for Remembrance Sunday. Those who lived through the Second World War still have very vivid memories, and the slightest thing sparks those memories all over again. I have two very vivid memories from that war: the night that York was bombed, and the evening that a Halifax bomber crashed soon after take-off from its base. Where I lived we were a long way from the action – we didn’t experience the Blitz or anything like that, but we had many aerodromes around where we lived in the Yorkshire countryside. I remember being held on my aunt’s lap wrapped in an eiderdown with my mother, the three of us squeezed under the table. My grandad had the door open and he was shouting ‘Go on, lads, give it to ‘em!’ and my mother was shouting ‘Come in, Dad, shut the door, they’ll see you!’ I had a confused impression of lights flashing in the sky. Then in March 1945 there was the ‘Night of Ice’. No fewer than 9 bombers among others took off from their bases near where we lived, and all crashed soon after take-off. One crashed in the field next to Holy Trinity Church, Little Ouseburn. They had taken off with a full load of both bombs and fuel but could not gain height because of icing on the wings. The crew was all Canadian except one American, and all but 2 died in that crash.

I thought about the theme of ‘Reconciliation’ because we have a friend, Heinz Baumann, a former colleague of Barry’s, who remembers the bombing of his home-town, Stuttgart. He remembers running down the street screaming – he was 5. The same age that Barry was when he heard that unearthly sound of sirens in the Blitz.

Margaret Stoll

(Continued from page 9)

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the church. Following discussion it was agreed that it would get quite expensive to purchase and send cards through the post and not everyone is bothered about receiving a card anyway. But it was agreed that this will be modified into an entry in the Weekly Notices. Dave already has a book with many people’s birthdays already noted and he will liaise with Marian.

It was requested that there be more involvement for the youngsters, ie, more than just readings and nativity as the children are now happy to get more involved and there is appetite to take another service. The letter Val sends to each preacher before each service advises that the children are available to take part in the service and Sonia, our Sunday School Superintendent will discuss at the next FJ Club planning meeting.

Brenda has led the way with closer links with White Horse pub and we would like to investigate other opportunities to foster links, possibly by leading carol singing in the pub. The Stewards will discuss this with Brenda. These are just some of the ideas that we are considering and before the next Church Council meeting in February we will produce another set of Action Plans for us to agree as another step forward along the Pilgrims’ Way.

Mike Sims

“Pre-service” Mike in his report above mentions the pre-service worship that we do and perhaps the

reason for this needs to be clarified. We are all delighted with a ‘noisy church’ but the tradition has always been that before the service, members of the congregation can sit quietly and prepare their minds for the worship to come, usually including a private prayer or two. In recent years the chatter around the church has continued right up until the preacher stands in the pulpit—and occasionally while the preacher was waiting to start.

The stewards were asked by members to do something about it, as those who liked to sit quietly were being denied the chance to have a moment or two to themselves. Appeals to the congregation to respect their needs did not work and, subsequently, on one November Sunday morning the preacher had been standing in the pulpit for 2-3 minutes before he was noticed and two or three conversations stopped abruptly as members scurried across the church to their places.

We decided that we would take an idea used in other churches and modify it—we would put something at the beginning of the service to signal that worship was about to start and to give members a period of quietness where they can prepare themselves.

How the pre-worship is organised will depend on the Worship Leader taking it, but it will always include a verse of a hymn/worship song, a period of silence for reflection and a prayer.

Val and I do it in that order—singing to bring us, literally, in tune with one another, silence to allow private prayer and a short prayer to round it off before handing over to the preacher.

This gives the best of both worlds—our ‘noisy church’ period for those who wish to talk, followed by a quiet period for those who want to have some peace for a silent prayer or two. Dave



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December 4 Dave & Val Dobbin, Roy & Olive Pavitt, Sonia Worthington 11 Malcolm & Pat Rubidge, John & Marian Webb 18 Big Clean (getting the church spick & span for Christmas) Non-regulars

especially welcome to come along! 25 No cleaning this week January 1 Colin & Margaret Rayner, Ron Castle 8 Bruce & Carole Glendenning, George & Sue Edwards 15 Mike & Heather Sims, Jan Willson, Sandra Hull 22 Judy Garner, Rosie Martin, Maureen Whalley, Ivy Blenkinsop, Sheila Webber 29 Dave & Val Dobbin, Roy & Olive Pavitt, Sonia Worthington

Christmas at Rochford You should find a couple of inserts in this edition of the Rochford Methodist. First of all, a small booklet called A Gift of Christmas which is a simple telling of the

Christmas story. If you do not want to keep it, please pass it on to someone you feel might be interested as it is supposed to be shared.

Secondly, a leaflet detailing our services over Christmas. Again, feel free to give copies to your friends and families—now we have a photocopier we can always run a few more copies off if we need them.

This year’s run-up to Christmas is as follows: Sunday 5th December, we are hoping to go carol singing at the White Horse, but

we are still awaiting confirmation. Listen out for details Tuesdays at 7.30pm, carol singing at St Lukes Place, Coachman Court and Spa

Court. Nominally a Wesley Guild event, but everybody (all ages) welcome to come along. We will finish with mince pies and should be home by 9.30.

Sunday 19th December at 4pm will be our own church carol service, led by the Worship Leaders. Old ones, new ones, loved ones . . We will finish the afternoon with ‘festive fare’.

On 24th December at 4pm we will be holding a traditional Christingle service where we consider Christ coming into the world by the making of a Christingle.

And on Christmas morning at 10.30, it’s a Rochford tradition that we have a family service where children (and adults!) can bring along their favourite Christmas present and join in giving thanks to God for his gift of his son Jesus Christ. (Some mums even take the opportunity to get dad and the kids (and some in-laws) out of the way while they get on with preparing Christmas dinner!)

All the services are open to everybody, so invite your family and friends to come along with you. Christmas services are often the time when people who do not usually go to church feel more comfortable with crossing the threshold, especially if they already know someone who will be there.

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CHRISTMAS IN COVENTRY Last year Barry and I went on a 4-night Christmas break to a hotel just

outside Coventry. The experience was disappointing in some respects but was saved from total disaster by the fact that we were independent as to transport and had not gone there on a coach trip. The main reason that I wanted to go to Coventry was that it is a very historic city and I had never seen the Cathedral. This, on its own, is worth seeing. It is the third Cathedral on this site, the earliest one having been based on a Benedictine community of nuns and founded in 1043 by Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his wife the Lady Godgifu (Godiva), dedicated to St Mary. A medieval Parish Church Cathedral dedicated to St Michael and this, having survived the dissolution of the monasteries, was destroyed by bombing on the night of 14th November 1940. The ruins are preserved alongside the modern cathedral. So, the site of both cathedrals is indeed ‘hallowed ground’ and it is a spiritual experience just to be there.

We were warned to be there early for the Christmas Eve service just to be sure of squeezing into the very limited parking. An hour before, people were arriving even then. The cathedral is modern, it is huge, and there must have been a thousand people occupying every available seat. The service was entitled ‘The Form of a Servant’ and this was its theme.

Coventry has had three Cathedrals in the past 1000 years: the 12th century Priory Church of St Mary, the Medieval Parish Church Cathedral of St Michael and the modern Coventry Cathedral, also named for St Michael. Coventry’s fortunes and story are closely associated to the story of its Cathedrals - a story of death and rebirth.

Coventry’s earliest cathedral, dedicated to St Mary, was founded as a Benedictine community by Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and his wife Godiva in 1043. Built on the site of a former religious house for nuns, its sheer size is some indication of the wealth which Coventry acquired in the middle ages. In 1539, with the dissolution of the monasteries, the See of Coventry and Lichfield was transferred to Lichfield and the former cathedral fell into decay. Only in 1918 was the modern diocese of Coventry created in its own right, and the church of St Michael designated as its cathedral.

The majority of the great ruined churches and cathedrals of England are the outcome of the violence of the dissolution in 1539. The ruins of St Michael’s are the consequence of violence in our own time. On the night of 14 November 1940, the city of Coventry was devastated by bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe. The Cathedral burned with the city, having been hit by several incendiary devices.

(Continued on page 10)



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