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MAY 2000

Dear friends,

On Sunday morning 14^th May, 6 members of our congregation will be publicly affirming their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ at a service of Confirmation, to be conducted by Stephen Venner, the new Bishop of Dover, in our own church at 10.30am. Those intending to be confirmed are:- Rosslyn Barber, Cherry Cheeseman, Bob Daws, Todd Hornus, Miriam Plank and Olive Side. Nigel Hadley will be renewing his confirmation vows. There may also be one or two candidates from Holy Trinity, Cliftonville. I do hope that you will support them all by your prayers and your presence at the service. Light refreshments will be served in the church centre afterwards.

The service of Confirmation provides us all with an opportunity to re-examine our own personal commitment to the Lord. What sort of priority do we give to our service for Christ? Does God come first in our lives? Jesus said that the first and the greatest commandment is that we "love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength" (Mark 12 vv29, 30). The apostle John tells us in his first letter that the reason why a Christian should love God is that God has first loved us. And so, as the Christian contemplates the love of God in sending Jesus to die on the cross, he will want to commit himself in whole-hearted loving service to the One who has done so much for him. It’s my prayer that each one of us will commit ourselves afresh to the Lord – not just those who are being confirmed. Such a commitment should have practical consequences. It might mean getting back into a regular discipline of prayer and bible reading. It might mean deciding to make Sunday worship a number one priority. It might mean making a real effort to attend the Wednesday Bible study. (Incidentally, on Wednesday 10^th May, we shall be returning to a study of Paul’s missionary journeys in the Acts of the Apostles.) It might mean going out of your way to speak to newcomers after the service, or over coffee on a Sunday morning.

Please note that on Wednesday 17^th May, we shall welcome as our speaker to the Christian Encounter meeting the Bishop of Maidstone, Gavin Reid. This will be Bishop Gavin’s last visit to our church before he retires in the autumn. His subject is "Why bother with Jesus?" and his talk will be particularly helpful to those who are not convinced of the relevance of the Christian faith.

I would therefore urge you all to use this opportunity to invite your friends and neighbours who don’t normally come to church. The Bishop is an excellent speaker and we look forward to a good evening beginning at 8.00pm in the church centre. Light refreshments will be served after the talk.

On the Monday evening, 15^th May, before the Bishop’s visit, there will be a half-night of prayer in the side chapel from 7.00pm to 10.00pm. You may not be able to stay throughout the evening, but please feel free to come and go. As a guideline, the meeting will be split into 6 sessions of 30 minutes each.

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- 30^th March Winifred Hanson Aged 87

Baptism- 23^rd April Todd Hornus

APRIL SERMON TAPES

April 2^nd AM "Family Life" (Deuteronomy 6v4-9)

PM "Christian Love" (1 Corinthians 13)

April 9^th AM "The Beatitudes" (Matthew 5v7-12)

PM "The person of Christ" (John 8v48-59)

April 16^th AM "Why Christ had to come" Pierre Carter (Roms 5v6-21)

PM "The Triumphal Entry" Roger Clarke (Zech 9v9-10)

April 23^rd AM "What does Easter mean?" Family Service

PM "The consequences of the Resurrection" (Col 3v1-14)

April 30^th AM "The Christian’s influence" (Matthew 5v13-16)

PM "Friendship" (Book of Proverbs)

Tapes are available on request from Frank Clark.

Thanet Bible Week

We are delighted to report that our own church will be hosting this event 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 (21^st, 22^nd) and Brian Edwards (23^rd, 24^th). Refreshments will be served after each meeting, which will take the form of a Bible exposition from two very gifted Bible teachers.

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 – 12.30pm – "Revival" – Brian Edwards. Please bring a packed lunch.

I do hope that we will support this important event, in our prayers and by attending some of the meetings.

John Cheeseman

Thank You

Once again, many thanks to those who generously responded to the appeal about funds for more prayer books. We have been able to purchase 60 extra books.

REPORT OF THE 2000 APCM (Available in printed Magazine only)

FROM THE CHURCH TREASURER

At the Annual Parochial Church Meeting, I spoke briefly about the new Gift Aid Scheme, which came into effect on 6^th April, and which could be of benefit to church finances. I said I would give you further details.

The scheme is replacing the old covenanting and gift aid scheme. If you are a taxpayer, and you are willing to sign a declaration requesting that any payment you make to St. James’ be treated as having been made under the Gift Aid scheme, then we could recover the tax on that payment without it costing you anything.

It has advantages over the old covenant scheme in that:

1. You do not have to commit yourself for four years.
2. Your signature does not have to be witnessed.
3. You do not need to state an amount. The declaration will cover all payments you make to St. James. So that if you made a one off payment at the church fete, or on gift day, in addition to your regular giving they would all be covered.
4. The minimum limit for Gift Aid donations, which was £250, has now been abolished.

Two essential requirements of the scheme are:

1. You must have suffered tax on your income equal to the tax claimed. That is not to say you must pay tax directly. If you are in receipt of a pension, in addition to the state pension, receive dividends or interest you are probably paying some tax, albeit by deduction at source.
2. For Inland Revenue purposes, the payment must be identifiable as coming from you. That means in practice that it would have to be enclosed in an envelope, on which would be an identity number, or made by bank standing order. Confidentiality would be maintained as with the present Freewill Offering

To summarise – if you are paying tax, or think you might be, please consider your position. Even if you are already covenanting – it might be advantageous to sign a declaration if you are likely to make one off donations or increase your payments. If you have any queries at all about the new scheme or wish to receive an application form please let me know. Stan

THANET VILLAGES W.I. MARKET

Market is always so full of goodies.

Spring is in the air and our producers are bringing their flowers, plants and early vegetables within the next month to our market which is held every Friday from 9.30am to 11.00am at Church House, Birchington. Our market offers a wide selection of savouries, cakes, preserves, fresh eggs, knitwear, cross stitch cards for all occasions and many other craft goods. You can also have a cup of tea or coffee and a home-made biscuit for 40p.

To become a producer, it is necessary to become a shareholder, but with a share for life only costing 5p and eager customers ready to buy the goods on offer, it is definitely unlikely that anyone can lose out in this stock market!

Those interested in joining as a producer can contact the market controller, Mrs S Burton, Telephone: 863158 or at the Thanet Villages W.I. Market any Friday morning.

I’d come to church, but ......

A for the Aunt I’m expecting to tea;

B for the Bed where I’d much rather be.

C for the Car wanting a wash and a shine,

D for the Dinner that must be on time.

E for the Extremes, either too High or too Low,

F for my Feelings which I try not to show.

G for the Garden which needs lots of care.

H for the Hoeing that I must do there

I for the Incense, we don’t need at all,

J for the Jokes by the Vicar, they’re beginning to pall

K is for the Kneeling, it tires me so much;

L for the Language that’s all double Dutch.

M for the Money, they always want more,

N is for Nodding off, I try not to snore.

O for the Overtime that’s double on Sunday,

P for the Plans for my day off on Monday.

Q for Queer noises, it must be the Choir;

R for the Reader whose diction is dire.

S for the Sermon, nothing new does it bring,

T for the Tunes that no one can sing.

U for Unfriendly there’s nowhere to sit,

V for the Vicar whom I don’t like a bit.

W for Weather, always windy and wet,

X for eXcuses, I’ve another one yet.

Y for the Yells from the babies at the back,

Z is for Zeal, oh dear, yes I know that’s what I lack!

DANDELYON PATCHERS

An exhibition of quilts took place recently entitled Quilt Challenge 2000 at St.George’s Church, Ramsgate. Members of different Patchwork and Quilting groups located in Thanet were invited to submit a quilt made from Triangles and scraps of material. The size of the quilt had to be no larger than 54" square. The quilts were judged by two professional judges.

Quilts could be entered into two classes, beginners and experienced. We at Dandelyon entered 12 quilts and were very proud when we were awarded first prize in both classes.

The experienced class was won by Margaret Robinson who entered a wonderful piece of intricate workmanship and the beginners class was won by Daphne Dickens with her much praised and beautiful quilt which also won the public vote.

At our following meeting, we celebrated with a cake and wine. Not a lot of sewing took place!

Margaret Page

R.I.P.

Regular worshippers at St. James’ will miss Anita’s yellow car which has brought her to services for many years. At the end of March, ‘Tansy’ was laid to rest after serving her in lots of ways. Anita gave lifts to members of the Friendship Club enabling them to get to the meetings, also carrying the perishable goods from the Harvest festival to those unable to attend – the fruit, vegetables and flowers were much appreciated by them.

Anita has been transported to sick friends in their homes and hospitals. Happier trips in Tansy have been to Canterbury for the National Trust events and again before Christmas to buy those special chocolates for friends and helpers at the Friendship Club.

Now we shall see Anita being helped with lifts from her friends and sometimes by taxis. We are grateful for the years she has done the same for others – although sad at Tansy’s ‘passing’ – we do feel that she deserves her rest.

BMB

SATURDAY SHOP

The Saturday Shop in April contributed £206.67 to the Church General Funds and we are, as ever, thankful to God for His continued goodness to us all.

The Saturday Shop in May includes our annual plant sale. Hopefully, there will be the usual abundance of plants and vegetables and we look forward to your support, as well as that of your friends and neighbours on Saturday 13^th May.

Jesus Said:

"This is how you should pray:

‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have

Forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also for give you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6vv9-15

THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH

Cultivate an attitude of gratitude.

MM

MAY DIARY

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