December 2020Minister - Rev. John Mills - Tel. 02392 731858

www.portsmouthmethodists.org.ukReg. Charity No. 1178715

The Magazine of PortsmouthMethodist Church

http://www.portsmouthmethodists.org.uk

Message from the ManseEvery year around this time (middle/end of November) I’ve written themessage for the December issue of The Link. Whatever else was goingon it I took it for granted that we would be sharing together in Christmaslunches at church events (I usually have about four!) and enjoying Carolservices and Christingles; Christmas Fairs and nativities – walking orotherwise. Not this year though. So many of those December activitieshave been cancelled already and as of this moment what remains isshrouded in uncertainty. Let’s hope we’ll appreciate them all the morenext year when, please God, we can enjoy them again.

This year Christmas will be different, as so much throughout 2020 hasbeen different. Christmas will be different in our celebration of it, butwhat is unchangeable is the event on which all our celebrations andChristmas rituals are based; the birth of Jesus Christ. The Christian beliefis that in the form of that new born baby, God, almost incomprehensibly,stooped to be joined in human flesh with all its limitations.

How often have we railed against the commercialisation of Christmas?How often have you heard sermons talk about putting Christ at the heartof Christmas again? This year I’m sure there will still be thecommercialisation, but it may be less all-pervasive. Certainly, Adventmay feel more like the season it was intended to be; a period of reflection,and even fasting, before the twelve-day feast of Christmas. Perhaps it’sa chance for us to make the most of Advent by following an Advent studyeither on-line or on in a book. May we arrive at Christmas with a newsense of wonder to welcome Emmanuel – God with us.

I leave you with this poem ‘Maybe’ written by Thom Shuman, wellbefore Covid and included in the Iona Community anthology ‘Candlesand Conifers’

Maybe it is in the waiting for God,Not in the wandering from store to store,That we find our way.

Maybe it is in the friendship of God,Not in the frenzy of the crowds,That we are led to the manger.

Maybe it is in the steadfast love of God,And not the pile of stuff under the tree,That we find what we have been searching for all our lives.

Maybe, just maybe, God of Advent,This year will be different.

Maybe, just maybe,We will let you lead us to Bethlehem.

A Blessed Advent and Christmas to you all.

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We're sad to say that Eastney has lost another well-loved member of thecongregation. Ursula Marshall died on November 6th. She had not beenwell for some time but had been cared for at home. Her funeral is onDecember 2nd. Please hold her family and particularly husband John andsister Kathy Howells in your prayers.

Trinity folk will be sorry to hear that Jean Preston died on November 16th.Jean was born in Bamford in the High Peak district of Derbyshire. Shewas a member for almost 50 years and, in spite of increasing illness, wasalways interested in the happenings at Trinity. She loved a goodconversation and was very proud of her two daughters, Lorna andCatherine and her granddaughters, Ella and Eve. Jean’s funeral is on 9thDecember. We hold her family in our thoughts and prayers.

Christmas Around our CentresSunday Services (Subject to Covid restrictions)

Christmas at Copnor

Walking Nativity 2020 – online!

Copnor's Walking Nativity has gone online for the year 2020!

Organiser Catherine Burt gives us these details:

People can take part from the comfort of their own homes as we collectthe characters from the Christmas story - singing carols as we go. We’llbe launching our digital version of the Walking Nativity on Saturday 12thDecember 2020 at 4pm – on the YouTube channel calledCopnorWalkingNativity and on our Facebook page

www.facebook.com/copnorwalkingnativity

After the film launch, we plan to have a contactless goody bag delivery(T&C apply; full details available at the end of the film).

Help needed!

1. Please pray for the film editing process and all that’s going onbehind the scenes, that people will want to watch the event, andthat it will help people remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Date Copnor Eastney Trinity6thDecember

Gathering forWorshipGift Service

Rev John MillsHoly Communion

Gathering forWorship

13thDecember

Rev John MillsCarols

Rev David MuskettGift Service

Rev dr Beryl WrightGift Service

20thDecember

Mr Geoff Paffett Local ArrangementCarols

Mr Danny Miller

27thDecember

No Service No Service No Service

2. If you're on Facebook, please share our posts and encouragepeople you know to support the event

3. Walking Nativity posters/flyers will be out soon if anyone canshare them. I also need volunteers to help deliver them nearer thetime to the local shops/streets near the church.

4. On the day itself, I need volunteers for the contactless goody bagdelivery.

Please let me know if you can help by contacting Catherine Burt on07718920719 or at catherineburt2000@hotmail.com

Many thanks.

And there’s more …

Copnor’s Carol Service will take place during the morning service on13th December and the Centre’s Christingle will be at 4 p.m. onChristmas Eve. Both these services will be led by Rev John Mills. Detailsare still being worked out and further info will be given to thecongregation when it is known.

Christmas at Eastney

Eastney Centre is having their Gift Service on Sunday 13th Decemberand will be supporting The Society of St James with donations for theHomeless. Fran Jenkins will let Eastney folk know whether the Societywould prefer money or donations. There will be Carols at the LocallyArranged Morning Service on 20h December.

Christmas at Trinity

This year if restrictions allow, the Carol and Christingle Service will becombined on Saturday 19th December at 5pm. People who wish to jointhe service need to book their place so the correct number of Christinglescan be made. Numbers are needed by 11th December. Please contactShirley on 07802528627 or emailshirleyberriman@hotmail.com stating the number of places required.

The Gift Service in aid of the Roberts Centre will be on Sunday 13thDecember and this year the Centre is asking for clothes, books, toys,games and stationery for ages ranging from babies to 15 years of age.Remember that any gifts should not be wrapped, but labelled with the ageof the young person who might receive it.

Christmas Post

The post box will not be in use at Trinity this year. Instead, cards shouldbe placed on a table at the end of the morning service, starting 6th ofDecember. Please note that It is important that both Christian names andsurnames are on the envelopes. The table will be marked out withpeople's names. The cards will be sorted and can be collected on the 20th.

Our Christmas MemoriesIn response to our appeal, several folk from across all our Centres havesent in their thoughts. We hope you enjoy reading them!

From Beryl Wright (Eastney):

"We emigrated to hot and sunny South Africa in December 1946 - themiddle of that terrible winter of 46/47. I came back in the autumn of1970 and spent my first Christmas back in England with my SouthAfrican friends Jill and Hugh and their three children. Hugh had asabbatical and they were renting a very old and cold house in Tavistock. We kept just one room warm - the sitting room. This particular day wasa windless uniform cold grey day. The three youngsters were busy withbooks and toys and models on the sitting room carpet. I entered with aladen tea tray and saw that delicate white flakes were beginning to floatdown ...

Whenever he wanted to catch everyone's attention 8 year-old Christopherwould say "You know what!" This time it was my turn to say "You knowwhat!" But I didn't get a chance to say "what". All three jumped up andpressed their noses against the window panes. They knew "what" allright. SNOW! We had been waiting for it for days. And what a snow

it was! We made a grand snow man and there was plenty of snow leftfor pelting each other with snowballs.

None of the children had ever seen snow before. It stayed right throughChristmas and I can still see us all in my mind's eye as we made our waythrough the snow to the parish church for the Christmas Eve service. Hugh, Nick and Chris all sang in the choir. Poor Barbara, being a merefemale, was left out - but she came into her own on the slopes of our local"tor" when she was the only one small enough to fit on to the surfboard(which served as a sledge!) to be sent hurtling down the snowy slope.

What a Christmas! Never to be forgotten ....

From Ralph and Christine Snelling (Trinity):

Our son Philip was born prematurely in September 1977. We were ableto bring him home in the October and all was well. A few weeks after this,our then Minister Rev John Dain told us that in all his years of ministry,he had never had the opportunity to baptise a child on Christmas Day.Would we agree to Philip being baptised then? Of course, we were veryhappy to concur and the special event duly took place with many familymembers present.

I did not make a Christmas cake that year – Philip’s christening cake (thetop tier of our wedding cake from three years earlier) took pride of place.

Our daughter Helen was born almost exactly four years later - she was amuch bigger baby! In turn, Helen was baptised on the occasion ofTrinity’s Toy Service (later replaced by the Gift Service) by Rev DavidCatterson. However, fewer family members were present on that day –bad weather prevented them from leaving the Isle of Wight!

These were wonderfully special times.

From Beryl Jones (Trinity):

Christmas presents in the past were completely different to the ones thatchildren receive today. There were no such things as lap tops, etc. One

Christmas morning, waiting to be opened in my pillowslip, that acted asmy stocking, were an apple, an orange, a bag of chocolate money and asugar pig.

From Naomi Crook-Kent (Trinity):

Growing up so many of my memories are tied into Trinity. I rememberwith fondness the epic Christmas Fayres where the building wasbedecked with Austin’s handcrafted signs pointing the hundreds ofvisitors in the right direction. Stretching my neck over the crowds lookingfor the ‘sweeties’ sign where Tilly Roberts and Sheila Wells madedelicious sweets. Handcrafted chocolates, fudge that was pure sugar,coconut ice that my sister Danielle still reminisces about to this day.Helen Bishop and the Brownies ran the toy stall where you could buyback what your parents had secretly donated from your home. There weretoiletries, stationery, tombolas, raffles, guess the weight of the cake,books - everything you could imagine. There was always such a festivebuzz in the air, with the carols playing, the clatter of crockery as friendsgathered round the tables to consume the joy. Roger Hyson’s Coca Colacake, Beryl Jones’ chocolate biscuit cakes, such a variety of hand- mademince pies that would make Mr Kipling curl with envy. The choir vestrywas transformed into a magical grotto where Peter Hutchings would dressup as Santa and gift toys to the kids. Some years we did performances onthe stage: music, singing, dancing. I recently found a video of one suchperformance, my 32 year-old sister Verity merely a baby in my father’sarms, whilst some of us performed Irish dancing on the stage. Itencapsulates some of my most favourite memories of Trinity, of thatseasonal buzz, a tangible current of love and festive merriment, ofabsolute friendship and Christian love. I can picture so clearly all thefaces of people manning the stalls over the years, some no longer with usbut not forgotten. Seeing a young Christine Snelling berating Helen andDanielle for running around. Barbara Horne, Edna W, Sally Kirsch,George Powe, Brian Wells, young Denise so young she hadn’t even hadkids yet. Ralph and my Dad in the corner discussing man things such astrains and the practicality of building the stall booths. My childhood

memories of Christmas are so entwined into the fabric of Trinity they areone and the same.

As children we could open three presents before church on ChristmasDay. Invariably these would be a new outfit and one toy to take to churchwith us. I remember one year taking a large cuddly dog clamped undermy little 8 or 9 year-old arm, as yet unnamed. Audrey Washington leantover and suggested I named him Charlie. I still own him to this daythough he clutters my mother’s home not mine. Sitting in the Sundayschool pews and looking up at the choir; Audrey Wintle, Sylvia, Sheilaand others singing. Eileen Rowden standing in the pulpit singing ‘Bornin the night’. Terry and Eileen Baxter always had presents for the threeof us to share. Lighting the advent candles and battling it out in Sundayschool as to who would have the privilege. Trying to impress KathRayner with impeccable behaviour so she would choose you. Stayingafter church to rehearse for the nativity, I was a wise man one year and ashepherd another. I remember Christine Snelling desperately gesturing tous all to keep walking across the stage. This was a temporary stage builtover the communion area and it was a little rickety with steep woodensteps up and down. It was totally terrifying to a small child! It was fine ifwe didn’t all come up the steps and stop dead, gathering a cluster ofchildren in one precarious corner! I remember going carol singing of anevening in my Brownie uniform with my mother and sisters. Most of thecongregation would meet at church then split into smaller groups goingdoor to door. The most prominent part of the evening for me wasreturning to the church to the parlour rooms greeted by the smell of hottomato soup and the crunching of freshly warmed bread.

So many memories, so many people and so much positivity. For meChristmas is not just a day to celebrate the birth of Jesus but a feeling; itstarts right down by your toes and by the 25th it has warmed you socompletely you have forgotten what it feels like to be cold. It reaffirmsmy faith as the world glows a little brighter and feels a little softer. Thestranger with yuletide greetings on their lips, the carols that warm yourheart, the smell that evokes a childhood memory. It feels like warm hugsand tinsel, glitter and joy, festive merriment, and fireside singing.

A Merry Christmas to one and all

From Liz Barton (Copnor):

I will never forget Christmas 1986. My husband and I had been fostercarers since the summer, but we anticipated being without a child inplacement over Christmas so had planned to take our 6 year old daughterand go to spend Christmas with my parents who were in their 70s, in theirbungalow near Bournemouth.

Late in the afternoon of 23rd December, I was asked if we could possiblytake 2 little girls the next day for possibly 2 weeks. We were very happyto take the children, but I had no Christmas food in and was faced withdisappointing my little girl who was excited at the thought of staying withher grandparents.

I rang my parents who talked it over and told us they would be happy forus to still come, children as well. (This was to prove typical of the supportthey gave us through 20 years of fostering, and beyond.)

I speedily went to North End where there was Woolworths, and a littlemini market next door, and bought some presents and treats for the girls,who we now knew were 3 years old and 8 months old, and spent theevening wrapping and trying to figure out what we would need to takewith us.

Next morning the girls arrived and it was obvious that they were sufferingfrom neglect. The baby in fact was heavier than her 3 year-old sister. Wespent the morning sizing each other up, and when my husband got homefrom work, we had some fish and chips, loaded up the car, and went toBournemouth!

My memories of Christmas Day are a little hazy. I know my dad and myhusband babysat so that my mum and I could go to Midnight service. Iremember finding some cigarette burns on the baby and that she had aterrible nappy rash, and that she absolutely hoovered up all the food thatwas offered to her. Her sister was more of a challenge as she was moreaware of the situation and she was also very undernourished but not very

interested in trying new foods. But I don’t recall any really difficultbehaviours. (They came later as she adjusted and settled in!)

We stayed until Boxing Day and if my parents breathed sighs of relief aswe packed up, they didn’t show it. The girls in fact stayed for 8 months,and moved on to a new family. I still hear from them at Christmas.

It was an enormous privilege to take them in that Christmas and play asmall part in starting to make things better for them. We shared manyChristmases with foster children over the years but they were withchildren who were already placed with us. Nothing has ever come closeto the excitement, hard work and ultimately, I suppose, the satisfaction ofbeing able to take these little girls into our family at Christmas, and I wasso grateful to my mum and dad who helped us to do it.

From Shirley Faulls (Copnor):

A Wartime Christmas Memory

During the war, it you had a spare room you either had to take in anevacuee or military personnel. There was an RAF Fighter Station withSpitfires and Hurricanes just along the road so we had a succession ofyoung men of 19 and 20 billeted with us from time to time. This year wehad a Warrant Officer who in civilian life was an organist in a largeChurch in his home time. The Saturday before Christmas we had a party.There were my 2 Grandmas, 2 uncle and aunts, my 2 sisters and myself,my parents, 3 RAF boys with late night passes and the Warrant Officer.We played silly party games one of which was ‘My Aunt went to Peruand in her portmanteau she took something beginning with A, B, C etc’.It soon became hard to remember all the bizarre things she took. Thepenalty for not remembering an item was to have a dab of soot from thechimney put on your forehead. Before long some began to look likechimney sweeps. We then gathered round the piano and this year we hadsomeone who could really play!! We had a song book so we sang FolkSongs and Sea Shanties and finished with every carol in the book. Noenemy planes flew over and our planes stayed grounded so for that nightwe forgot there was a war on.

And finally …A Christmas Article by Mark Barton

Angels

Various films and TV series in recent years have included characters thatare stated as angels. So, what does the bible teach us about angels. Firstly,the word angel or in old English engel and old French angele both meanmessenger. They are also critical to the story of the creation of England,as traditionally Pope Gregory the Great saw some fair-haired and fair-skinned slaves in a slave market in Italy, and was told that they wereAngles. 'Not Angles but angels,' he replied. It was a lovely pun.

Daniel is the first book to refer to individual angels by name mentioningGabriel and Michael. They are the messengers and it is quite noticeablethey strike awe into those who see them. Archangel Michael means: whois like God and Archangel Gabriel means: God is my strength.

Despite what the Mutant Ninja Turtles might make you think the rest ofthe names we have are actually from extra-biblicaltradition. Jophiel (means: Beauty of God) is the one holding a flamingsword at the entrance to the Garden of Eden; and then there are theArchangels: Raphael (means: It is God who heals), Uriel (means: God ismy light), Sandalphon (means: bringing together) and Samael (means:Venom of God) also known as the angel of death.

Christians believe that angels are created beings, based on Psalms 148“He commanded and they were created” and Colossians 1:16 as “allthings were created through him and for him” but angels do not knoweverything; after all in Matthew 24:36 on the second coming of Christ“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven,nor the Son, but the Father only.” Equally they are not always someonewe will recognise. Hebrews 13:2 “Forget not to show love unto strangers:for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

The Christmas account is full of angelic interaction, it is an angel thatdeals with both the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ and theyappear to shepherds to tell them to go to see Christ.

But nowhere in the Bible descriptions of angels does anything say theyhave wings. It is the cherubim who are described as having the two wings,seraphim are supposed to have six wings. One of their roles is to carry thethrone of God and to praise God. So, angels are messengers and cherubimand seraphim are the winged creatures that help carry the important people.

So, when someone talks about the angel at Christmas on the tree with twowings, remember you too can be a messenger taking the good news tothose making the comment and use the cherub to help you do so.

Knitting Scheme

Beryl Wright has sent us this update:

This year our knitted items are again going to impoverished families inRomania, via Cosham Baptist Church's scheme. The Romanians' UKMission Partners came to the UK earlier than usual this year because ofa wedding, and they took our gifts back with them then. Since then wehave knitted 43 teddy bears and two "bags for life" bags full of jumpers,small blankets and various other children’s garments. We hope it will bepossible to get these over to Romania in time for Christmas, but thatseems unlikely at present. However, they will make it eventually,bringing joy to little ones, their parents and guardians.

Once again we thank most sincerely everyone who makes the beautifulthings we are able to send. Please keep knitting (or crocheting!).

Celebration Day: ‘The Water of Life’

Methodist Women in Britain in the Southampton District were disap-pointed at having to cancel their Celebration Day in October. To this endthey have put together a service which launches on YouTube from 10.30a.m. on 23rd November and is available from then on. The theme is ‘The

Water of Life’ and the service features bible study, reflection, prayers andhymns as well as a Fiji update.

When lockdown is over, you may be able to watch this service together(e.g.) by showing the video at a socially distanced meeting, or beimaginative in working out other ways in which it which it can be sharedwith those who are unable to link to the internet. The service can beviewed at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrPLlGvlyEk

Free to a good home …

We have available an unwanted flatscreen computer monitor. It’s in goodworking order, albeit a little dusty from storage. It’s complete with allcables and compatible with Windows 10 (and earlier versions). If you canmake use of this monitor please contact Ralph on 02392 615590.

Calendars

The PMC calendars produced by Ralph have been selling well, in fact allthe ‘World of Nature’ ones are sold. However, there are still a very fewRailway ones still available. Would you like one or know someone whowould like to receive one as a gift? If so, please contact Ralph on 02392615590. The cost of each calendar is £6 with all proceeds going to PMC.

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We hope you enjoy this Christmas edition of The Link and the productionteam would like to thank everyone for their contributions over the pastyear. We wish you all a Happy Christmas and a peaceful (and hopefullyCovid free) New Year.

If the Covid-19 situation allows, the next issue of The Link (January2021) will be published at the end of December. The deadline for itemsis Sunday, 13th December.