MAGAZINE OF THE PARISH OF ST LEONARD
Springtime in Hythe - Brockhill Park, April 2016
FORTHCOMING DATES IN OUR PARISH LIFE
May 2016
80p
No 849
Church Services
Sundays
ST LEONARD’S PARISH CHURCH, Oak Walk
8.00am
9.30am
6.30pm
Holy Communion BCP (said)
Parish Communion
Sung Evensong
ST MICHAEL’S METHODIST-ANGLICAN CHURCH CENTRE
Rampart Road
11.00am
11.00am
11.00am
Morning Worship – 1st, 3rd & 5th Sundays
Holy Communion (Church of England) 2nd Sundays
Methodist Holy Communion Service – 4th Sunday
HOLY CROSS CHURCH, Jubilee Close, Palmarsh
11.15am
Holy Communion – 1st and 3rd Sundays
Morning Worship – 2nd, 4th & 5th Sundays
Weekdays
St Leonard’s
St Michael’s
Weekdays
Thursdays
Weekdays
Tuesdays
8.00am
9.15am
5.00pm
11.00am
Morning Prayer
Holy Communion
Evensong
Holy Communion
Baptisms and Marriages: Apply to the Parish Office (Tel 262370)
Parish Office open: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday 9.00am – 12.30pm
Website: www.stleonardschurchhythekent.org
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The Parish is served by three churches: St Leonard’s, Holy Cross and the
St Michael’s Methodist-Anglican Church Centre.
Our mission is summed up in the following statement:
Proclaiming the Good News of God’s love through Jesus Christ and showing that
love to all people.
The whole worshipping congregation in each church in our parish has
responsibility for the delivery of that message, but you may find useful information
in the Parish Directory on the inside of the back cover.
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HYTHE PARISH REVIEW
May
Dear Friends
Were you drunk this Easter?
Did you have a good Easter? I wonder if any of you were drunk?
Please forgive me, it’s not what you think, I’m not asking a personal
question. Well, perhaps I am, but not in the way you think. It’s just that…
Let me explain… It’s always been one of my favourite jokes, you see; and
not just a joke but a bit of a revelation, a new way of looking at things.
I learnt it from Douglas Adams, the author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy. I don’t remember whether I first heard this in the radio show, or
read it in the book, but there’s a scene where the hapless Arthur is about
to go travelling through time with Ford Prefect. Ford has done it many times
before, while Arthur has no idea what he’s letting himself in for, and is
wondering whether he wouldn’t rather be at home with a gin and tonic. Ford
says “you'd better be prepared for the jump into hyperspace. It's
unpleasantly like being drunk."
"What's so unpleasant about being drunk?" says Arthur.
"Ask a glass of water," Ford says.
Of course it’s witty, and like all good jokes, relies on a complete reversal of
expectations. No-one ever imagines how it feels to be drunk. And of course,
like the best jokes, it offers something to take away for later – a good punch
line, and a chance to sound deep and meaningful when you reflect with
your friends, over a gin and tonic, how important it is to always try to see
things from the inside out, or from the other’s point-of-view.
And so a good Easter might be a bit like being drunk. If we go along for the
ride through Holy Week and into the three days of Easter, and if we allow
God to really get hold of us and pull us through, we might feel a bit like that
glass of water by the end of it, swirled around and coming to rest in a new
and unexpected place.
We probably can’t stretch the joke too far into that deep and meaningful
place, but I do think there is something in the idea that while our
newspapers repeat warning after warning about alcohol and food, and the
world continues its quest to impose some order and control on the “free
market” that determines what we buy, eat and drink, the way of discipleship
is about learning to loosen our grip and allow God to be in control. And a
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joke that subverts our language and thinking is a powerful way of forcing
us to look at our habits and expectations. Language is powerful. What we
say, matters. It matters because we use language to express and explain
and communicate our common life together. It matters because, as
Christians, we are called to build a life in community that is different to the
world around us; so we need to be clear in our speech and language about
what we are doing, and why we are doing it. And it matters because, as
Christians, we have been called to tell the rest of the world about it. We
were reminded at Easter that the risen Christ made us apostles, messagecarriers to the world that does not yet know Him.
I have recently been talking about another word-play that subverts our
usual way of thinking. I have been part of several conversations about what
it means to believe in something; usually what it means to believe in God,
but also to believe in the resurrection, or some other aspect of Christian
faith or doctrine. We all know how children believe in the tooth fairy and
Father Christmas until the conceit becomes unsustainable, and then we
have to let them down, usually justifying it by saying something like “well,
they have to learn sometime about what’s real and what’s just a story…”
But there has to be more to belief than that, doesn’t there? Otherwise noone could say “I believe in this thing and I’m going to fight for it until it kills
me…” Part of what happens when we believe in something is that we exert
our will, we extend ourselves and reach out to something that is out of
reach. We hope that we can make it real, tangible, bring it into being, make
it happen. There’s a gap between me and it, and by believing, I think I can
close that gap.
But Christians know that an understanding of the world based only on the
power of human effort, is lacking something vital. Humans can’t do
everything. We run out of will, energy, effort, enthusiasm. We get old before
we’ve finished everything. We are prone to lose hope. That’s why a
Christian knows we depend on God, not on our own efforts. God is our
word for that source of endless hope, endless love, endless courage,
endless energy; the source we turn to when we have run out, when we
need an Easter to give us a new dawn of hope. And so I ask people what
it would be like not to believe in God as a child believes in the tooth fairy,
but to believe in God, as a fish swims in water. If we were to immerse
ourselves in God, if that were the most important aim of our lives, and then
when we were in, we began to do our believing, then we would be doing
something different. We would be saying – I’m in God – and so I believe in
mercy, and I can live my life in merciful ways. And when I’m exhausted and
drained from being merciful to people who are decidedly un-merciful to me,
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then I can replenish my mercy because I’m in God. God surrounds and
upholds me like water surrounds and upholds the fish. I believe in God.
Maybe that kind of thinking about language helps you, and maybe it
doesn’t. I enjoy playing with words and meanings because occasionally I
get an insight that feels a bit like a jump through hyperspace into a new
reality of understanding – a bit like being drunk. If you were drunk this
Easter, I hope your head feels better now. If you were drunk this Easter, I
hope you never recover, because glimpses and insights into how we relate
to God can inspire and change us for ever. Our faith is not a fixed set of
abstract propositions that we learn, and which then bind us in their
changelessness. Our faith is a relationship with God, and with one another,
which is born and grows in God, who is Himself the very beginning and
essence of our being. Like all relationships, our faith grows, changes, ebbs
and flows, lives and dies. As you remember the stories of Mary’s shock in
the garden, the disciples’ amazement at Emmaus, of Peter’s impetuous joy
on the lakeshore, or as you are swept up anew in the fire of the Holy Spirit
this coming Pentecost, may you be drunk into a new stage of your
relationship with God this Easter.
Yours (believing) in the risen Christ,
Andrew
Editorial Jottings
Welcome to the May edition of the Hythe Parish Review. As usual, there is
an eclectic mix of articles in our magazine this month. Did Jesus visit
Cornwall? Let Mike Umbers try to convince you in his fascinating article on
page 17. You’ll also find an update on the work with young refugees, to
which some of you will have contributed via the collection after Passion
Praise on Palm Sunday. Berkeley has recently edited a collection of
Malcolm McHaffie’s sermons and provides some background in the article
starting on page 10. The first of a series of articles on Worship begins on
page 20.
I was intrigued by the article on page 10 entitled “A Morning Meditation”
and wondered how other readers start their day. Just at present I start the
day by opening my eyes and giving thanks to God that I can now see again
with both eyes. If that sounds bizarre I should explain – I had a dense
cataract in my right eye and could only see fuzzy shapes with that eye. A
ten-minute operation, a couple of weeks to adjust and a new pair of glasses
and my vision is wonderfully clear again. It feels like a modern miracle and
for me the novelty has yet to wear off, hence starting my day by giving
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thanks to God for my eyesight which I’d previously simply taken for granted.
So how do you start your day? Please let me know with a short note or a
longer article!
Most importantly, however, is the list of forthcoming dates in our parish life
on pages 14 and 15. Please do have your diaries ready as you read that
article. It really will stop me having to reply grumpily to queries about dates
“Have a look at the parish magazine”! We have an exciting and busy few
months ahead as a parish.
Finally, let me refer you back to Andrew’s letter and its intriguing opening. I
know from comments I’ve received that many of you found Easter to be a
wonderfully uplifting time this year, even if you didn’t think you’d been
drunk! The flowers in St Leonard’s were absolutely stunning and added so
much to the joyous atmosphere of Easter. The services themselves led us
movingly from Palm Sunday through to Maundy Thursday and Good Friday
to the joy of Easter Sunday. If you made it to the dawn service, you will, like
me, reflect on that being a deeply moving way to start the Easter
celebrations – worth setting the alarm clock for! I know that you would like
me, on behalf of the congregations of our parish, to thank Andrew and
Louise for all the hard work they put into Holy Week and Easter.
Pat Chipping
PS The deadline for the June magazine is May 21 st but if you can get articles to me
by May 5th that will prevent me from losing them in cyberspace whilst travelling in
France.
Thank you St. Leonard’s Church.
We would like thank everybody for making our Golden Wedding
celebrations so perfect.
We would especially like to mention the flower ladies for the arrangement,
the bell ringers for the Quarter peal on Sunday evening and Andrew for the
blessing at Evensong.
A friend who was visiting commented that the church was ‘full of love’ which
we felt also.
With our love
Gill & Mike Cox
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DIARY DATES FOR MAY 2016
Friday 6th
Meeting Point
2.30pm
Salvation Army Hall, Portland Road, Hythe
Subject: Escape from Vienna
Monday 9th
Cleaning Day, St. Leonard’s Church
9.00am
Tuesday 10th
Julian Meeting, St. Leonard’s Church
10.30am
Saturday 14th
Shakespeare in Music – song recital,
7.30pm
St. Leonard’s Church
Tuesday 24th
Maria Razumovskaya – piano recital,
12 noon
St. Leonard’s Church
PARISH REGISTERS: 25TH MARCH – 25TH APRIL
Baptisms
23rd April
Oscar Raphael Hanna
April 2nd (Second of Easter)
Acts 5:27-32
May 1st (Sixth
Revelation
1:4-8 of Easter)
Acts20:19-end
16:9-15
John
Revelation 21:10,22-22:5
th (Fourth of Easter)
April
John17
14:23-29
Acts 9:36-end
May 15th (Pentecost)
Revelation
7:9-end
Genesis11:1-9
John
10:22-30
Acts 2:1-21
John 14:8-17,25-27
April 10th (Third of Easter)
ReadingsActs
for9:1-6
May
May 8th (Seventh
Revelation
5:11-14 of Easter)
Acts 21:1-19
16:16-34
John
Revelation 22:12-14,16,17,20-end
April
24th (Fifth of Easter)
John 17:20-end
Acts 11:1-18
May 22nd 21:1-6
(Trinity Sunday)
Revelation
Proverbs
8:1-4,22-31
John
13:31-35
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15
May 29th (First after Trinity)
1 Kings 8:22,23,41-43
Galatians 1:1-12
Luke7:1-10
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Prayer Prompts for May
1st - St Leonard’s
2nd - Newcomers to Hythe
3rd - A Vision for our Parish
4th - Archdeacon Philip
5th - Local industry
6th - Our Sunday School
7th - Bishop Trevor
8th - Holy Cross
9th - Andrew and Louise
10th -The Julian Meeting
11th - The Standing Committee
12th - Hythe Bay School
A Prayer for May
O Almighty God, the Father of all humanity,
turn, we pray, the hearts of all peoples and their
rulers, that by the power of your Holy Spirit
peace may be established among the nations
on the foundation of justice, righteousness and
truth; through him who was lifted up on the
cross to draw all people to himself,
your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
13th - Palmarsh School
William Temple (1881 to 1944)
14th - Servers in our churches
15th - Churches Together in Hythe and Saltwood
16th - Our Treasurer and Church finances
17th - Holy Cross After-school Club
18th - Our Churchwardens
19th - The PCC
20th- Our Choirs
21st - Foodstop
22nd - St Michael’s Methodist-Anglican Church Centre
23rd - The Methodist ministry team
24th - The Rainbow Centre
25th - Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN)
26th - Visitors to our Churches
27th - The work of our local hospitals
28th -The Mayor and Town Council
29th- Archbishop Justin
30th - Our Lay Reader and ALMs
31st – Pilgrims’ Hospice
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A Morning Meditation
I found this morning meditation in Anthony Bloom’s famous book School
for Prayer. I’ve found it a useful way of starting the day:
‘Awake in the morning and the first thing you do, thank God for it, even if
you don’t feel particularly happy about the day which is to come. ‘This day
which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.’ Once you have
done this, give yourself time to realise the truth of what you are saying and
really mean it, perhaps on the level of deep conviction and not of what one
might call exhilaration.
‘And then you get up, wash, clean, do whatever else you have to do and
then come to God again with two convictions. One is that you are God’s
own and the other is that this day is also God’s own, it is absolutely new,
absolutely fresh, it has never existed before. You ask God to bless this day,
that everything in it should be blessed and ruled by him.
‘This day is blessed by God, it is God’s own and now let us go out into it.
You walk this day as God’s own messenger; whoever you meet, you meet
in God’s own way. You are there to be the presence of God, the presence
of Christ, this is your function in this particular day.’
David Harries
Malcolm McHaffie and the Calvary Chapel
The recent article in Hythe Parish Review about the Calvary Chapel jogged
my memory of the Vicar of the time, Malcolm McHaffie, a very remarkable
priest who became a friend. When I came as a young organist in 1972,
then in my late 20s, Malcolm was in his late 30s and set, so it seemed, for
high office in the Church of England – he was clearly well known to the
hierarchy at the time and the post of Dean of a great cathedral or Bishop
seemed likely. However, this expectation was cut short by the development
of cancer soon after his becoming Vicar of Hythe in 1970, and this would
kill him, aged 40, in 1975. His tenure here was almost totally in the shadow
of this disease but, far from holding him back, it enabled him to provide an
enriched ministry, especially to the ill and dying. As there are few present
members of St Leonard’s parish who will have met him, I thought there
would be interest in my personal recollections.
Some biographical information may help to put the man in context.
Malcolm was born in Middlesex in 1935, spent most of the war years in Devon
and, after his father died from cancer, in 1943 he became a choirboy at All
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Saints', Margaret Street, London W.1, an Anglo-Catholic church that ran a small
residential choir-school and maintained a cathedral-like choral tradition. From
there he went to Highgate School and in 1953 joined the Army for National
Service as an officer in the Royal Regiment (the North Lancashires). This gave
him his first knowledge of Kent, for he did initial training at Wemyss Barracks
in Canterbury, fired on the ranges at Hythe and spent one week in the Military
Hospital at Shorncliffe. In 1955 Malcolm went to Trinity College, Cambridge,
reading History and Theology (the well-known priest and author Fr. Harry
Williams was his tutor), staying in Cambridge for two further years for
theological training at Westcott House. After ordination Malcolm was appointed
as an assistant curate at St. John the Baptist, Newcastle on Tyne, and later at St.
Mary the Boltons, Kensington, where the staff were chaplains to the Royal
Marsden Hospital. Barely thirty years old, he then became Vicar of St. Barnabas,
Northolt Park, Middlesex and chaplain to the Francis Holland School in London.
A curate there later described him as a priest unlike any other. He thrived on dramatic
confrontations and in an atmosphere of restless activity. He stood all the accepted
theories of pastoral organisations on their heads, with cheerful abandon, at the same
time displaying a blazing sincerity of purpose and an enormous compassion for the
needs of others.
Clearly this young firebrand was seen by the Bishops as just the person to enliven
Hythe after the death of its long-service incumbent Canon Newman, a living that
would possibly also broadening his experience for later promotion. The
Reverend Malcolm McHaffie MA was Instituted and Inducted as Vicar of Hythe
by the Archbishop of Canterbury on Saturday, 12th December 1970 at 3 p.m. in
St. Leonard's Church. He was aged just 35. Only one year later, Malcolm
discovered he had cancer. This was a great blow to his plans for his ministry in
the town, but not entirely unexpected by him as the disease had occurred in his
father at the same age. As an ex-hospital chaplain, Malcolm knew what he was
up against. In the next few years he underwent a succession of operations and
treatment intermixed with occasional periods back in Hythe when he delivered
intense sessions of parish mission and challenge, his times away allowing
recovery and assimilation. Simultaneously his periods in hospital and recuperation
in London permitted him to minister to people there. Malcolm’s real self was only
seen in his work with, and for, those in sickness or in trouble. There he was totally
happy and totally fulfilled.
I first met Malcolm McHaffie in the summer of 1972 soon after he had
discharged himself from hospital to return to Hythe to officiate at the funeral
of Frederick Skinner, the organist at St Leonard’s Church. Malcolm’s selfconfidence and charm, his manner and appearance, were immediately
engaging, and there was no doubt that he was in charge in any situation,
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including services. I was auditioned and appointed by Malcolm as Fred’s
successor in October 1972, on the understanding that I would stay for at
least two years. The deal was settled with a bottle of excellent white wine
in the Vicarage. Not long after, Malcolm baptised our son Tim at the main
9.30 Eucharist service, something he repeated two years later for Emily our
daughter. As I was unhappy with the notion of Godparents, he neatly sidestepped my objections by making the whole congregation act as
Godparents. Moreover, Malcolm gave us the Christening gown that had
been used at his own Baptism, something that we have used since and
greatly treasure. Naturally, these ceremonies were followed by drinks
parties in the Vicarage!
Having been a choirboy at All Saints’, Margaret Street, Malcolm knew the
tricks, tendencies, weaknesses and obsessions of the boy choristers at St
Leonard’s. Very occasionally, and unpredictably, he would burst into choir
practice and tear strips off the choristers for their bad behaviour in services,
though this usually happened when they had been relatively good rather
than when they had given particular offence. He also knew what would be
fun. Soon through his London contacts he arranged for our choir to travel
to a major recording studio and provide a backing group for a pop record –
an unforgettable experience.
Parties of all sorts were his forte, in the Vicarage, in the Canon Newman
Hall and in the Cricket Club, where later he confessed that he had spent
too much of his time propping up the bar in the early years in Hythe. The
younger professional types in the town saw in him a kindred spirit, and
many of them would come to St Leonard’s services on a periodic basis,
some presenting their sons as potential members of the choir. There were
lots of fashionable parties in London too; he had an exalted circle of
influential friends there. Here the parish ladies developed an ability to
provide an enormous spread of food many times each year, and all excuses
to hold a party were seized on – the coming or going of staff, patronal
festivals, Harvest, Shrove Tuesday and so on. And he appreciated good
wine; the only cross word directed at me during the time we worked
together was when I served him at my home a Spanish red wine that was
far below the standard expected. This was mildly annoying because we
had little money for expensive drink at the time, and I had made two trips
from Ashford to Hythe to collect him and take him back to the Vicarage –
Malcolm did not have a car and depended on others for getting about.
Malcolm was a natural communicator. It was not possible to doze during
one of his sermons, such was the intensity of delivery and the undoubted
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importance of what he was saying. If Malcolm spotted any loss of
attentiveness, a glance was enough to jolt the listener back. However,
finalisation of texts was often done in the earlier parts of the service; on
many occasions I saw him writing with a thick black pen in the Vicar’s stall
next to the organ, with a glass of white wine balanced close by.
At some stage in 1974 Malcolm suggested that I should be confirmed. This
was not something he insisted upon if I wanted to stay as organist, but he
made it clear that it was expected, particularly as choirboys were becoming
confirmed on a regular basis. As someone from a non-conformist
background (my parents were Methodists and I had been organist at two
Congregational Churches in Swindon) such matter did not over-concern
me. But aged 31 I duly attended classes organised by the curate, Rev.
Geoffrey Wilkinson and held in School House. Regrettably, Malcolm died
a few days before the formal Confirmation by the Bishop of Dover took
place in St Leonard’s.
The funeral of Malcolm was held in All Saints’, Margaret Street on Monday
17 November 1975 (he had died on the 11 Nov.) with a memorial Eucharist
on the following Saturday in Hythe. For a time, in the rather gloomy and
incense-filled interior of All Saints’, it was difficult to see the tops of the four
funeral candles that stood around his coffin; they were unbelievably tall.
Two Bishops (of Kingston and Woolwich) read the Lessons and the Lord
Bishop of Dover gave an oration; the music of the Requiem Eucharist was
splendid, and the organist concluded the service with a glorious
transcription of the chorus ‘Praise to the holiest’ from Elgar’s ‘The Dream
of Gerontius’. This church was clearly Malcolm’s spiritual home, and seeing
it made me realise that, while we in Hythe thought he belonged to us as
our priest and dear friend, in fact we only knew and could lay claim to a
fraction of the man.
Soon after his death, two parishioners (Miss I Carswell and Mrs Sheila
Moorhouse) assembled a collection of Malcolm’s addresses and tributes
from friends with the intention of publication, through which Malcolm's ministry
to the sad and suffering could be continued. Sadly, this did not happen, though
photocopies were made and a bound version for many years was kept in
the Calvary Chapel, which is Malcolm’s most lasting tangible memorial. At
some stage this disappeared, but the volume has recently been
reconstructed and will be replaced there, with copies intended to be more
generally available. The addresses and other material are definitely worth
reading. Of course, Malcolm’s better memorial is the influence he had on
the lives of people. Those of us who knew him in Hythe have good reason
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to be grateful for what he brought to us, as a priest and as a friend. But
there are countless others who met him in other circumstance who would
amplify the gratitude we owe to Malcolm.
Berkeley Hill
FORTHCOMING DATES in our parish life.
Here are some diary dates to note for the forthcoming few months.
Saturday 25th June Parish Vision Day – a daytime event related to our
work of planning a new vision for growing church in our parish. Details of
time(s) and venue(s) will be published at the beginning of May. This will be
part of a series of events involving all who care about the future life of our
parish – our faith, our buildings, our life together in Christian community,
and our care for our neighbours and the town and community in which we
live.
Friday 1st - Sunday 10th July The Hythe Festival. Full details of the
Festival can be found in publicity around town and on
www.hythefestival.co.uk, but our parish will be welcoming visitors to the
town and our churches. St Leonard’s church will be a focus for many of
these activities, as a major landmark, heritage feature, and visitor attraction
in its own right, but it is part of a living heritage, the Christian community in
this town. So we plan to engage fully and faith-fully with visitors to Hythe,
especially those who visit St Leonard’s church for Festival events, to visit
the crypt, and for general interest. We will be asking for extra church
stewards, offering hospitality, and helping visitors to meet God amongst the
living stones as well as amongst the bones and stones of our church
building. Please speak to a PCC member or one of the wardens if you
would like to be involved in planning and preparing for this, or during the
Festival itself.
Sunday July 10th The Hythe Civic Service this year will be a single service
for the whole town and parish, at St Leonards, at 11:00. It will be a
communion service, with a focus on the relationship between a Christian
community and the world around us, as we live out our lives as salt and
light to the community of Hythe. This is also the final Sunday of the Hythe
Festival, the day of the Garden Safari, and of the Sunday evening Raise
the Roof concert at St Leonard’s.
Saturday 20th August Parish Garden Party at St Leonard’s and Verger’s.
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Friday 2nd – Sunday 4th September
Parish Retreat at Wychcroft
House. Much as we love Alton Abbey, the parish retreat this year will be
nearer Hythe, in Wychcroft, in the heart of the Surrey countryside near
Bletchingley and Redhill station. Under new management, and in a
programme of refurbishment to improve facilities, Wychcroft house and
chapel make a wonderful venue for a retreat.
Sunday September 11th Holy Cross Day. In our parish of three churches,
each church’s dedication festival is a significant event. We mark Holy Cross
Day, the Feast of St Michael and All Angels, and St Leonard’s day. Each
year, we will make a particular “splash” at one of our three churches, and
this year we focus on Holy Cross, which has an important role in the future
life of our parish. As the town continues to expand to the west, a thriving
and happy church at Holy Cross will be a vital part of the communitybuilding that will be needed amongst new residents and neighbours. There
will certainly be a major event at Holy Cross on Sunday 11th, hopefully in
conjunction with Palmarsh School. Planning for this event will start in
spring, and if you would like to be part of the team that works together to
make it happen, please speak to a PCC member, one of the
churchwardens or to Andrew. If we can generate enough energy between
us, we might be able to plan a whole weekend of events at Holy Cross.
Sunday Oct 9th Harvest Festival. October 2016 marks the 5th anniversary
of the sharing arrangement which created St Michael’s Methodist-AnglicanChurch Centre, and so on October 9th we will celebrate this anniversary in
our Harvest Festival service for the whole parish, in a Sunday morning
service at St MMACC. This will be the main act of gathering and worship in
our parish that day.
Sunday Nov 6th St Leonard. Our celebration of St Leonard this year will be
an afternoon party at St Leonard’s, once again celebrating the wide
diversity of people and interests that work together to treasure and care for
St Leonard’s. More details nearer the time, but mark the date in your diaries
now!
Andrew
From Children’s exam papers
What was Sir Walter Raleigh famous for?
He is a noted figure in history because he invented cigarettes and started
a craze for bicycles.
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Did Those Feet? Really?
I have been reading a 1936 pamphlet by the Rev CC Dobson, at that time
Vicar of St Mary in the Castle, Hastings. Dudley Shipton handed it to me
saying casually ‘You could do an article for the Review with this – just a
quick summary of the arguments’. I wasn’t sure it was worth doing – who
believes that sort of stuff these days? Now, surrounded by books and after
hours of Googling, I am almost half convinced that Jesus came to Cornwall
at least once, and maybe twice.
You have to start (like Alice’s White Queen), by believing a couple of other
impossible things: firstly, that Joseph of Arimathea was Jesus’ great uncle
(the younger brother of Mary’s father). This is a very early story and if not
in the Bible does explain two puzzles: where Jesus stayed when he was
accidentally left behind in Jerusalem by his parents; and why Joseph
openly asked for Jesus’ body for burial and provided his tomb. Joseph was
a member of the Sanhedrin (fact) and a trader in metals in Jerusalem
(tradition), and he came from Arimathea, possibly Ramallah today, a village
eight miles to the North on the Nazareth Road, and a stopping place for
travellers to Jerusalem. If he had heard the wondrous story of Jesus’ birth
from his niece he would look forward to meeting the boy on his first
Passover visit when the family would obviously have called on him on the
journey through, and again on returning home. There was confusion over
the return journey as we read in the Gospel story; however this occurred,
Jesus could not have spent three days and nights in the Temple, but could
well have stayed on at his Uncle’s business premises in Jerusalem.
During Jesus’ ministry we are told Joseph visited him at night secretly,
presumably so as not to give away that he was a ‘disciple’, yet after the
Crucifixion he boldly demands the body from Pilate who accedes at once
without even consulting the Jews who might well object. But if Joseph were
head of the family after the death of Jesus’ earthly father, it makes sense,
for under Jewish and Roman law he has the duty of providing burial for a
relative, even a ‘criminal’.
Still with me? The next bit is easy: there was a flourishing trade between
Palestine and England in tin (Cornwall) and lead (the Mendips, Somerset).
Even bills of lading exist. And if you accept that Joseph really did come to
Cornwall with twelve disciples later in life, when hounded out of Palestine
(remember the Holy Grail, the Glastonbury Thorn, the wattle-built
Church...you’ll have to check all that for yourself, reader), may it not have
been that he chose this country of exile because he already knew it, from
his earlier trading visits, as a safe haven? Furthermore, if he did make
17
trading visits, Uncle Joseph as head of the family is very likely to have taken
a young nephew with him for company, as a practical helper, and still more,
to further the young man’s education and life experience, for Joseph is
called a ‘disciple’ and may believe the boy has a future role, foretold in the
birth-story, and well-known within the family.
Next Dobson quotes the legends that after this visit as a boy, Jesus
withdrew from family and boyhood haunts and returned alone to prepare
for his ministry, and built a church at Glastonbury where he lived as a
hermit. There will surely have been written records, but these were all
unfortunately burnt in the great fire in 1184 which destroyed the historic
monastery library. This speculation would not add up if there were proof
that Jesus was at home in Nazareth or Capernaum with his family between
the ages of 12 and 30, but his life history is a blank during those years.
When he does re-appear, the re-action of John the Baptist at the river-side
is surprising: in Luke he asks ‘Art thou he that should come or look we for
another?’ yet in the Gospel of John, he tells the crowd ‘Behold the Lamb of
God’ and ‘This is he of whom I spoke’. Dobson makes much of this
‘inconsistency’ as he calls it, and deduces the two men have lost touch with
each other whilst Jesus has been out of the country. Had he not been,
Dobson argues, as cousins (if we believe Luke), they would have met
regularly at the three great annual feasts enjoined by Mosaic Law, and
would surely have discussed together the role each was to fulfil.
Even more puzzling is the story in Matthew 17.24 (an odd passage this,
and easily overlooked) when Peter is asked if his master pays the tribute
(a tax on visitors to Capernaum); if he has been normally resident there
with his family he does not have to pay it, yet if he has been away he would
count as a visitor. And he tells Peter to pay it so as not to give offence.
QED! (Admittedly the coin Peter uses is miraculously found in a fish!) If all
this convinces us that Jesus went away to prepare himself for his ministry,
it hardly proves he came to Cornwall. Wait, there is more to come; I will
save it for a future article.
Mike Umbers
ORGAN RECITAL CANCELLATION
The Friends of St Leonard’s Church regret that the organ recital by D’Arcy
Trinkwon on Friday 6 May has had to be cancelled since the organ will still be
undergoing major repairs at that time. The recital will be re-scheduled for a later
date instead.
18
Refugee Action – an update
We would like to update you regarding the local refugee project which we
have been sharing equally, out of consultation with KRAN. Both South Kent
Community Church (SKCC) and Hythe Salvation Army are hugely
appreciative of the way in which fellow-Christians in Hythe have been so
supportive in word and in giving.
We had our second bowling trip last week, which was a huge success, and
there were 36 of us in total (rather than the projected 26!!). It was, at first
glance, just like any other youth group trip - and then things happened
which really made us consider the magnitude of the project. Here are just
two examples. One of the young men could only manage one game of
bowling as his hand became too painful because of the piece of shrapnel
which is still lodged in it. We had a great time together over lunch; one of
the youngsters said that “His house in the area is the best he's had because
he can sleep at night as there is no noise of gunfire or bombs”. Another
said that he's “enjoying the chance for education, because we only had one
day a week of school in Afghanistan since the school has been flattened”.
Such comments speak volumes.
You might have seen some of the girls – they were actually at the Good
Friday March and service in the town square. They are part of another
initiative for teaching and integrating migrants. It is called “Integrate” and
operates from the Community Church in Folkestone. Financial support
from the community (and Hythe Churches in particular) has been so
generous (see below). There's a growing interest in the project. It's become
a great example of community empowerment and organization when the
churches get together! SKCC and Hythe Salvation Army feel the warmth of
this support.
Can we flag up a few practical things in the interests of accountability? By
agreement, SKCC is administering the financial side of the project and at
Callum’s request holds all of the gifts etc. Donations received can be
passed to them.
Thus far, expenditure for our specific project has been paid out by Hythe
Salvation Army and claimed back from SKCC. Whatever transactions take
place in future will be subjected to structured and transparent
accountability.
The first trip was paid for 50/50 by The Salvation Army and SKCC. Since
then, the "Refugee Fun Fund" has been set up by the churches
and £732.57 has been raised (personal donations and £312.57 from the
19
offering on Palm Sunday). The expenditure for the second trip from this
fund was £367.29 - slightly more expensive than our estimate due to taking
36 people! The costs for youth worker staffing and transport were met by
The Salvation Army and SKCC, and we intend to underwrite the same into
the foreseeable future! We are totally open to ideas /involvement for the
future- Please speak to Berri, Callum or myself in the first instance to talk
it through further. We have also been approached by KRAN about the
possibility of a sports project in the near future and are looking at a request
from KRAN to fund a £35 monthly football coaching session.
Once again, thank you so much for all your support and interest.
SKCC (Vincent Oliver and Phil Haines) Hythe Salvation Army (Callum &
Berri McKenna)
Worship Matters – but what’s it for?
From time-to-time in the Parish Reviews of the future, you will find a series
of articles about the worship in the churches of our parish. Since arriving in
July last year, I have had lots of thoughts and conversations about the way
we worship together. I have been trying to fit my priestly ministry to your
established patterns of worship, whilst also trying to keep an objective eye
on how well our worship works. And that very idea that worship somehow
“works,” should prompt us to ask questions about worship. In what way
does worship need to “work?” What is worship for, and who is it for? How
do we know when it’s working? How do we participate well in worship? Do
we like it, and if we don’t, how much does that matter?
In these articles, I’m going to share some ideas and experience about
worship, and some thoughts to help us in our worship together. In the
Church of England, the incumbent (Priest-in-Charge in our case) is
responsible for the “control and performance of divine services,” once the
PCC and incumbent have jointly made a decision about which forms and
orders of service are to be used. More on that later, but the point is that
even though an incumbent has the right to manage worship, no sensible
priest would run worship in a way that created an unhappy church. My
hope is that through these articles, we’ll have a conversation in the parish
that allows us to talk about worship, learning as we go about some
technicalities and some history, and reflecting together on how our worship
informs and helps our faith.
That brings me to the point I want to make in this first, introductory article
about worship. It’s part of the what is worship for? conversation First and
foremost, worship needs to nourish our faith, by refreshing us in our lives
20
of discipleship. Worship should offer us rest and recreation (re-creation), it
should offer us a reminder that God loves us, it should offer us an encounter
with God, and it should send us out renewed and refreshed. Worship is for
our benefit, and for the benefit of the world around us, the world in which
we are disciples, the world that by and large does not yet know God. As
disciples, we are called not just to rest in our faith, content in our own
comfort and salvation, but to carry the good news of God’s love to all the
world, starting with our own communities, the places where we live and
work and act.
God calls people into his church throughout the world and across history,
and today people worship in England and Africa, Asia and the Americas, in
all sorts of ways and languages appropriate to their particular culture. So it
seems that God has not decreed one universal way of worshipping that
suits all humanity; worship is a cultural thing, using language and song and
expressions of human art and endeavour to lift us up towards God. That
gives us a clue that we need not get too precious about our particular forms
of worship. Our traditions and practices are important, they express vital
truths in ways that are meaningful for our culture, but no one form of
worship can ever fully express the truth. Only God can do that.
So even though our starting-point is the idea that worship is for us
ourselves, it can never be this in isolation. Worship is for us, but only in that
it enables us to carry on our work of discipleship and apostleship; learning
to walk more closely with God, and bringing others into that closeness with
God. Worship and mission are part of the same thing, like the in-breath and
the out-breath of God’s church as it lives in the world.
In future articles, I’ll talk about some of the other things worship is for, about
what happens when we worship well, and offer some thoughts about why
we do what we do when we worship. But for now, if you’d like to join in the
conversation, perhaps you’d like to reflect on whether worship is energising
for you. Does a Sunday experience in church leave you renewed, refreshed
and energised in your faith? And does that equip you to tell the world about
God? And if it doesn’t, can you think about what would make a difference?
Andrew
Quotable Quote
“Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the
handcuffs of hatred. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and
the shackles of selfishness” Corrie Ten Boom
21
22
23
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26
Parish Directory
Priest-in-Charge
Revd Andrew
Sweeney
266217
[email protected]
Reader
Mr Mike Cox
260144 [email protected]
Churchwardens
Dr Pat Chipping
Mrs Gill Cox
267857 [email protected]
260144 [email protected]
ALM
Mr Geoff
German
237056 [email protected]
Treasurer & Freewill
Offering
Mr Brian Bishop
269871 [email protected]
PCC Secretary
269179 [email protected]
Director of Music
Mrs Christine
Blackman
Dr Berkeley Hill
Bell Ringers
Mr Mike Swan
265212 [email protected]
265312 [email protected]
Friends of St Leonard’s Mr Brinley
Church
Hughes
264470 [email protected]
Hythe Parish Review
Editor
Dr Pat Chipping
267857 12, Coastguard Cottages, CT21 6HN
[email protected]
Advertising manager
Mr Sean
McNally
263883 8, Summer Close, CT21 4DR
[email protected]
Proof reader
Mrs Joy
Robertson
Revd Kevin
Taylor
266186 “Haytor”, 85 St Leonards Rd, CT21 6HE
Local Preacher
Dudley Shipton
260291 [email protected]
Secretary
Rosemary
Walls
279196 [email protected]
Treasurer
Alan EwartJames
265316 [email protected]
Methodist Minister
261500 [email protected]
PCC members: A list of all PCC members is posted in each of the Churches, or a list may be obtained from
the PCC Secretary on request.
Deanery Synod Representatives: Mr Brian Bishop, Mr Geoff German, Mr David Owen
We are also extremely fortunate to have the help of the following Ministers to whom we express our thanks:
Rev Desmond Sampson; Rev Canon John Wright.
PCC Registered Charity No 1144695
Parish mobile phone 07984 388963
Parish Secretary: Mrs Pat Henley
The Parish Office is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 9.00am – 12.30pm.
Telephone: 01303 262370
E-mail: [email protected]
All post to: The Parish Office, c/o The Vicarage, Oak Walk, Hythe, Kent CT21 5DN
Website: www.stleonardschurchhythekent.org
27
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