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JUNE 2000

Dear friends,

This month we celebrate three Christian festivals, all of which are neglected, but they commemorate great truths, which are of considerable importance for our daily lives – Ascension Day, Whit Sunday and Trinity Sunday. All three have a common theme, namely the power of Almighty God. Ascensiontide reminds us that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father – the position of greatest influence and authority. Whitsun is all about the gift of the Holy Spirit, and Trinity Sunday speaks to us of the resources available to the Christian.

An American was once showing an English visitor the Niagara Falls. He included the whole vast panorama in a sweeping gesture. "There," he announced impressively, "you see the greatest source of untapped power in the world." But the Englishman was also a Christian, and he replied quietly, "No, my friend, you are wrong. The greatest source of untapped power in the world is the living God."

In Ephesians Ch.3, the apostle Paul prays that each member of the Trinity would indwell his readers. He prays that they might be "strengthened with might through the Spirit in the inner man" (v16), that "Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith" (v17), and that they might "be filled with the fullness of God" (v19).

Do we realise what boundless provision God has made for us? Here is the recipe for weakness and inadequacy. It is all there in the ministry of the Trinity. Jesus is our ascended victorious Lord. The Holy Spirit has been given to the church and we believe in a sovereign, omnipotent God. And so, as we face all the trials and temptations of life in a godless world, let us reach out and claim what is ours.

We are very close now to the Thanet Bible week, which our church is privileged to host from Wednesday 21^st to Saturday 24^th June. There will be four evening meetings at 8pm in St James Church, at which the speakers will be Wallace Benn, Bishop of Lewes and Brian Edwards, one of the leading Free churchmen in the country. Refreshments will be served after each meeting, which will take the form of a Bible exposition, with hymns and prayers.

There will also be two lunch-time meetings, to be held in our Church centre – Thursday 22^nd June, 12.30pm – "The interpretation of Scripture" – Wallace Benn; and Saturday 24^th June at 12.30pm, Revival – Brian Edwards. Please bring a packed lunch. Tapes of all meetings can be ordered through Margaret Maxwell.

Please note there will be a special prayer meeting for the Bible Week in our Church centre on Tuesday 13^th June at 8pm.

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible supporting this exceptional opportunity for Bible teaching and fellowship with Christians from all over Thanet. Don’t miss out!

With warmest Christian greetings, John Cheeseman

FROM THE CHURCH REGISTER

We extend our prayers and sympathy to the relatives and friends of those committed to God’s care:

Funerals-

4^th May Harry Packer Aged 89 years

5^th May David Oliver Aged 77 years

12^th May Laurence Kendall Aged 59 years

MAY SERMON TAPES

May 7^th AM "Jesus and the Old Testament" (Matthew 5v17-20)

PM "Friendship" (Book of Proverbs)

May 14^th AM "Confirmation Service" Bishop of Dover

PM "The secret fellowship with God" (Daniel 10v11)

May 21^st AM Family Service – Bill Turner

PM "The call of Moses" (Exodus ch3)

May 28^th AM "You shall not commit murder" (Matthew 5v21-26)

PM "From fear to faith" (Habakkuk)

Tapes are available on request from Frank Clark.

Sunday Morning Refreshments

It is nice to see so many people coming into the Centre after the morning service for refreshments and a chat.

Our thanks go to our regulars on the "Kitchen Rota" and especially to Jean and Catherine Sadler who are now retiring from the Rota. All our helpers have been reliable and faithful in their duties for many years.

We are now looking for a few more volunteers for the Rota, even if only on a reserve basis for holidays etc.

Everything is provided, all that is needed is a little of your time. Even a few minutes helping to clear up would be appreciated (and it would be nice to see some new faces).

Please see me if you can help and thank you again Jean and Catherine.

Yvonne Horn

ST JAMES’ CHURCH HOLY LAND PILGRIMAGE – APRIL 2000

At last! Almost 18 months after the idea was first mentioned in the pages of this magazine, it was departure day for those members of St James’ Church and their friends and families who had decided to visit the Holy Land in the year 2000. At 7.30am on a damp, cold, miserable April morning about 30 people loaded their bags and boarded the coach bound for Stanstead Airport. Two and a half hours later we were disembarking (the first of many such trips up and down coach steps over the next six days!) and unloading our bags ready to face interrogation by El Al security staff. Here we were met by the remaining five members of the group, one from London and four from Lincolnshire. Eventually it was time to board the plane – this meant more security checks – and then find our seats. The plane was crowded with every seat taken, many of the travellers were returning to Israel for the Feast of the Passover.

Fog obscured our views on take-off, but while flying over the Alps the conditions improved and at times we could see the snowfields below us. Later, I was most impressed by the size of the Danube, although as someone commented, it wasn’t very blue! The coastline of Greece came into view and then some of the Greek Islands. While flying over the sea it seemed to get dark rather quickly, after all we were nearer the equator! Then suddenly we could see lights reflected in the water and we were looking down on the lights and traffic of Tel Aviv as we came in to land at Ben Gurion Airport. We had arrived!

Still dressed for winter in England, the heat hit us as we stepped out of the aircraft. With it was the wonderful scent of orange blossom. This was a scent that would waft in and out of our senses over the next week, although it was impossible to find the flowers. There must be an awful lot of orange trees growing near the Airport to produce such a strong fragrance. Once through passport control we waited to retrieve our bags and were met by Joe, our guide for the week. By now we had been travelling for about 12 hours and still had a two hour coach journey ahead of us. Inspite of the air-conditioning in the coach we were all soon shedding as many winter layers as decency allowed and grateful for the lukewarm bottled water that had come with us from England.

As we travelled Joe gave us some idea of what to expect over the next week – the unseasonally high temperatures, early starts each day, keeping together as a group, keeping an eye on valuables, etc, etc. These travellers’ tips were interspersed with commentaries on the country through which we passed. Much of it we couldn’t see, of course, but occasionally a blaze of light would show a town, or factory or prison or McDonalds! We arrived at the Hotel Mercure in Tiberius on the shore of the Sea of Galilee about 10pm Israeli time (an hour ahead of us) and were immediately shown into the dining room. After a three-course meal, it was upstairs to unpack and fall into bed.

All too soon the phone rang – it was 6.30am and time to get up and explore the dining room and its many breakfast dishes. Did anyone have a spring onion at that time of the morning? While some of us remained loyal to the conservative breakfast of bread, others enjoyed trying several strange mixtures, such as chocolate cake and cooked tomatoes!

Then we all congregated outside ready for our 8 o’clock start on this first day of our journeys through the Holy Land.

José Gibbs

(on behalf of all the Group, and may I thank those of you who have given me contributions – they will be used. There is still time to send me more for the following instalments!)

Kidsplus Holiday Club

In April, we gave advance notice of the holiday club at the end of August. This month we would like to tell you a little more about the Bible teaching that we will be doing over the four days. The club will be split into three groups, school years R-2, 3-5 and 6 upwards. Each group will study different stories from the gospel of Luke searching out the truth about Jesus’ life, death and second coming and the importance of these facts in our daily lives. We hope to use a variety of teaching methods, including the use of drama, so that, what to some, may well be known stories some to life and for others, so that they may find the power and relevance of a book that is uncharted territory.

We still require CD cases for each child, but we would also like some unwanted or damaged CD’s to use as decorations.

If anyone is interested in constructing a computer out of huge cardboard boxes [large enough for someone to sit inside] please see Marion Clarke who has a picture and a few rudimentary instructions.

Do still continue to pray for us and the children and all the practical details that need to be arranged.

M C

Operation Christmas Child

We have received a report following the very successful Christmas Shoebox Appeal and the letter is displayed on the Church Centre Notice Board for all those wishing to know more. M M

Thank You

I would like to thank everyone for their kind wishes, concern and prayers on my behalf during these last few weeks. It has been such a comfort to Anne and myself.

Gerald Green

Just a thought ......

When I look back I have no doubt that Providence guided us, not only across those snowfields, but across the storm-white sea. I know that during that long and racking march of thirty-six hours over the un-named mountains and glaciers of South Georgia, it seemed to me often that we were four, not three. I said nothing to my companions, but afterwards Worsley said to me, "Boss, I had a curious feeling on that march that there was another person with us".

Sir Ernest Shackleton

Taken from Brave Heart and supplied by Nigel Hadley

WILLIAM BARCLAY’S THOUGHTS ON MARK 16vv1-8

There had not been time to render the last services to the body of Jesus. The Sabbath had intervened and the women who wished to anoint the body had been unable to do so. As early as possible after the Sabbath had passed, they set out to perform this sad task.

They were worried about one thing. Tombs had no doors. When the word door is mentioned it really means opening. In front of the opening was a groove, and in the groove ran a circular stone as big as a cartwheel; and the women knew it was quite beyond their strength to move a stone like that. But when they reached the tomb the stone had been rolled away, and inside was a messenger who gave them the unbelievable news that Jesus had risen from the dead.

One thing is certain – if Jesus had not risen from the dead, we would never have heard of him. The attitude of the women was that they had come to pay the last tribute to a dead body. The attitude of the disciples was that everything had finished in tragedy. By far the best proof of the Resurrection is the existence of the Christian church. Nothing else could have changed sad despairing men and women into people radiant with joy and flaming with courage. The Resurrection is the central fact of the whole Christian faith. Because we believe in the Resurrection certain things follow:

1. Jesus was not a figure in a book but a living person. It is not enough to study the story of Jesus like the life of any other great historical figure. We may begin that way but we must end by meeting him.
2. Jesus is not a memory but a presence. The dearest memory fades. The Greeks had a word to describe time meaning time which wipes all things out. Long since, time would have wiped out the memory of Jesus unless he had been a living presence forever with us. Jesus is not someone to discuss so much as someone to meet.
3. The Christian life is not the life of a man who knows about Jesus but the life of a man who knows Jesus. There is all the difference in the world between knowing about someone and knowing someone. Most people know about Queen Elizabeth and the President of the United States, but not so many people know them. The greatest scholar in the world who knows everything about Jesus is less than the humblest Christian who knows him.
4. There is an endless quality about the Christian faith. It should never stand still. Because our Lord is a living Lord, there are new wonders and new truths waiting to be discovered all the time.

But the most precious thing in this passage is in two words which are in no other gospel. "Go, said the messenger, tell his disciples and Peter". How that message must have cheered Peter’s heart when he received it. He must have been tortured with the memory of his disloyalty and suddenly there came a special message for him. It was characteristic of Jesus that he thought, not of the wrong Peter had done him but of the remorse he was undergoing. Jesus was far more eager to comfort the penitent sinner than to punish the sin. Someone has said "The most precious thing about Jesus is the way in which He trusts us on the field of our defeat".

Printed by Kind Permission of St Andrews Press, Edinburgh

Phyl

Summer Fête

This year’s Summer Fête will be held in the Church grounds and Centre on Saturday 1^st July commencing at 1.00pm.

As ever, we rely heavily on volunteers to prepare the site, man the stalls, donate various goods, help clear up and, in between, bring friends and neighbours to enjoy the afternoon and help support St James. Not much to ask!

To this end, a list will go up in the Church porch for those wishing to volunteer to help in any way. Please do not wait to be asked as new faces and new ideas will always be welcome.

In addition, help is needed by way of goods, for the various stalls and if you can help in this area then please let me know:-

Bottles for the bottle stall (contact Barbara Lyon), handicrafts, books, cakes and bread, boutique, toys, bric-a-brac, garden produce, groceries and jewellery.

Our renowned catering team will be providing lunches for helpers and stallholders and refreshments throughout the afternoon and so this should be sufficient incentive to get involved. A small working party will be required for the Friday evening to help bring tables and trestles etc from St James Church Hall.

Any suggestions, help or enquiries, please contact me on 833128. WAM

Poster Thought

The current poster (May) on display outside the Church reads "God’s love changes everything".

I am grateful to one of our parishioners who thought it could be extended to read, "God’s love changes everything, but God’s love never changes".

Ed

A lady was posting a gift of a Bible to her god-daughter. The counter clerk examined the heavy parcel and asked if it contained anything breakable. "Nothing," she replied, "except the Ten Commandments!"

Saturday Shop

The May Saturday Shop raised a total of £311.18 for Church funds and we are very grateful to everyone who put in such an amount of hard work over many previous weeks in raising and preparing the great variety of vegetables and plants that were on offer in the plant sale,. The high quality and low prices made the plants the bargain, not of the day, but of the month.

One person was overheard to declare that the Saturday Shop in May was the most demanding in terms of hard work and, judging by the many journeys to and from cars and trailers, there was every justification in the remark.

At the end of the morning there was, as ever, a residue of plants left over most of which have since been sold due to some energetic and enterprising local marketing.

The plants, on the morning itself, raised £162.15 (included in the £311.18) and the final total, of course, will be that much higher once revenue from the additional sales has been counted.

Once again many thanks to all our customers, those who worked so hard and particularly to all those who gave their time and effort in donating all the plants for sale.

WAM

Jesus Said

"When you fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." Matthew 6 vv16-18

JUNE DIARY

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