Colchester Christ Church

News – February 2016

Christ Church Anglican Congregation Vision Statement “Through our worship, mission, nurture and service we want to enable all

people to enter into a living relationship with Jesus Christ”

In this month’s news:

The Rector writes – February 2016

Lent Lectures

Prayer of the month

The Baptism of Christ Sermon

Families and young people’s groups

David Forder’s life at Christ Church

Thank you from Michael Beattie

Lent 2016 at Christ Church

The Vicar of Baghdad

Amazing Grace

Water Aid Coffee donations

Café Church – Where is Lent taking us?

Spirit Space

Alpha @ Christ Church

Fairtrade Breakfast Café

Fairtrade Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins

Who let the Dads out?

Pints of view

Support in loss sessions

Colchester Area Vocations Day

Christ Church ROMEOs

Group for Women

Prayer spaces in schools

Street Pastors

What’s on

February Diary

The Rector Writes February 2016 Does God Change?

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the

poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the

blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."

The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to

them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." From Luke 4

Does God change? For readers of ‘New Daylight’, you may recall that this was a question asked by John Twisleton on 26th January as he considered the moment Jesus cleanses a leper in Luke chapter 5. When the leper met Jesus, he bowed to the ground and begged, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.” Jesus’ responded, “I choose” and immediately the man was healed. John Twisleton begins his piece: does God heal today? I would ask rather, “Does God change?” He then goes on to challenge the reader to consider the lack of expectancy in our faith for God to heal today. What a fascinating question! The bible makes things very clear, here is just smattering of texts to help us: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. Psalm 90:2

That’s fine, but in answering the question, does God heal today, we need to go to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

When Jesus came to his hometown after an extensive tour of the villages and synagogues, he assumed his ‘Rabbinical’ role as a teacher of the people. However, on this occasion after Jesus had read from the prophet Isaiah, he sat down to teach and began by saying ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’. In a sense, he was saying that even after seven centuries “God has not changed his mind” more so that the outworking of God’s mind has been

fulfilled in the coming of His Son Jesus the Christ.

In part, Jesus read from Isaiah 61:1-2 and began a discourse concerning the fulfillment of this prophecy. We simply get the opening and electrifying words ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’. What did he mean?

Well, first, he stressed the reality of present fulfillment. That is, what the prophet had foretold seven centuries before was now coming true. Then He taught that the prophecy had a personal fulfilment: the one anointed with the Spirit was Jesus himself. Jesus had come from the desert trials filled with the Holy Spirit, he had been teaching in the synagogues on the way to Nazareth and now he makes this

proclamation. Finally, his words indicated that it was a fulfilment of grace; the era of God's salvation had now begun.

From now on, the people will experience the meaning of the saviour – to be saved, released, renewed and healed. This announcement of fulfilment shaped

the developing narrative of Jesus’ ministry. There was no turning back. God was delivering on his word and the people were to receive that which he promised through his Prophet, His Son through amazing works of grace made manifest among the people.

Now nearly two millennia on, has God’s mind changed about that which he enabled through His Son Jesus? Well perhaps when we look at the ‘wider church’ with many concerns and issues that somehow distract us we may be forgiven in thinking he had! But surely, this fulfilment is in every sense and experience an everlasting ‘covenant’ between God and His people. Yes, of course, it is! What is of concern is not God’s intentions but that of the

church. The fulfilment of God’s promises remains. We are now the ones who are to share the gospel, to heal, to release, to take on the burden and set captives free. Yes, it is us.

This is what Jesus requires of us. He has called us in this generation to fulfil his fulfilment of the prophet

Isaiah. It was personal to him and it must be to us, it was the fulfilment of grace expressed in His life and ministry, it is now the ongoing fulfilment of grace through us the ‘body of Jesus’ in the world.

As we go into the season of Lent and indeed look towards Easter’s celebration of resurrection life, may we take time to reflect on the question ‘Does God Change?’ Better still, we could seek to understand how much God longs to ‘change us’ and then act in whatever way he directs! Taking the words of Isaiah 61 and more, may it be our deep desire to see the King of Kings and the Lord of

Lords fully, wonderfully and graciously fulfilled, worked out through us for the sake of our families, church, community, market places, councils, Parliament and nation. I believe we can say ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’ because God does not change’ but has changed us. Let’s do it! With every blessing for our Lenten journey.

Yours ever

Paul

Revd Canon Paul Norrington

Prayer of the month

TODAY IS OURS.

Yesterday is gone forever,

Don't worry. Let it go.

With all its sadness and mistakes,

With every high and low.

Tomorrow is waiting for you,

A promise life has made,

And who knows what tomorrow holds?

Don't ever be afraid.

Yesterday had hope and laughter,

Sometimes joy and fun,

But many times the clouds were dark

And so obscured the sun.

And yet the love which filled our hearts

Could chase the clouds away,

And all the precious gifts of life

Would light our world each day.

Yesterday is gone forever,

The way ahead set fair,

So grasp the beauty all around,

Today is ours to share. Iris Hesselden.

Above are some words which could apply to us all with so much despair worldwide and many of us with personal difficulties. I hope the poem brings words to you which will bring comfort and peace. Rosemary Currell.

Sermon preached by Sara Humphreys on The Baptism of Christ; Sunday 9 January 2016 Isaiah 43:1-7; Luke 3:15-17, 21-22. God says: I have called you by name; I have summoned you, called you, by name. Do you remember being called by name? in school, in a waiting room; as you waited for someone you loved and they saw you first and called to you... ? It’s powerful, isn’t it? God calls to us. Let’s not lose the wonder of that; names or no names. God is not a concept or an idea or idol for veneration. None of those things actually speak. But the first thing we hear about God as he creates everything, is that he speaks. He says, let there be light, and there is light. It is a personal God who speaks. And today, through Isaiah, we hear him speak to his people. Don’t be afraid – I have redeemed you; I have purchased you from whatever bondage holds you – I have called you to me by your name, for you belong to me. What’s our reaction when someone calls to us? There might be times for ignoring a call; schoolmates, drunken revellers, or when you’re walking down that red carpet you might ignore the press…! But normally, what do we do when someone calls to us?

We approach, don’t we? We know we’re wanted, whether for help, whether for friendship, whether just to collect our prescription. Someone calls you by name, and you go to them. And that’s just what God’s hoping for too! As he calls us by name, his plan is for us to approach, to come near, to be by him. That is where we’re more likely to hear what he wants to say to us, more likely to be on his track and within his purposes. God has called you by name. And that’s exactly what was happening at the Baptism of Jesus. Luke tells us that “when all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised too”. John was baptising people who wanted to show repentance, and it’s hard for us to understand why Jesus wanted to do this; he is the one person who has lived a life without sin, so why would he need to repent? Well, John had started something that was reminding people of God’s call to them. People were flocking out of the towns and villages to find him at the river Jordan where he was preaching and calling people to

repentance and baptism. There was a real movement of the people towards God. A renewal; a revival! God’s call to his people was being heard again, and Jesus wanted to go with those people as they responded to God’s call to them. Actions speak louder than words? Jesus was, in every way, with the people who were responding to God’s call and being baptised; he was taking part, in every way, in that step towards God that these returning men and women were making. Even to the point of submerging with them in the ceremonial drowning of baptism. I wonder if our verses from Isaiah occurred to Jesus then – “When you pass through the waters I will be with you”? Waters were scary for the people of Israel. The sea is named specifically as something that will disappear when the new heaven and the new earth are revealed! And the Israelites travelled on dry ground through the Red Sea and through the Jordan; no wading, no bridge building, no boats, oh no. Dry Ground is the blessing. We don’t get that, as an island nation and people who play by the sea and swim for fun. But for the people of Israel, Old and New Testament, deep water is scary; a place of death just like fire.

When you pass through the waters I will be with you. Some of us feel ourselves to be in deep water at the moment. Uncomfortable, difficult, uncharted waters. It’s not always easy to feel confident that God is with us. But he is one whose promises can be trusted. And today, he calls to us by name. And says, when you’re in deep water, I am with you. Having the Lord, the best, most loving, strongest person by our side doesn’t always dry the water up, but it makes us confident; we know that the waters will not drown us, and that the Lord will be there to comfort us and strengthen us and bring us through. But God is not just for hard times. The water of baptism that Jesus passed through was a gateway to rejoicing! Repentance and returning to God leads to newness of life. A step on our journey to a life unseparated from God is a good step; that’s why we praise God and rejoice, Sunday by Sunday, after our time of confession and forgiveness. So, in our times of rejoicing and delight, as well as in our times of deep water, let’s again hear God calling us closer to him, and let’s share that joy with the Lord, in his presence and with his close comfort and strength.

And did Jesus know what would happen when he responded to God’s call and approached him? Did he know what would result from moving closer to God? I don’t think so, no; not in detail. But look at what happens next. …when all the people were baptised, Jesus was baptised too. and as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “you are my Son whom I love, with you I am well pleased”. Jesus responded to God’s call and identified with God’s people and was baptised. And as he responds to this call, he prays – As Jesus prays, God shows him who he is; “you are my Son” – a verse

from the messianic psalm 2, confirming to Jesus who knew the psalms intimately, that he was indeed God’s anointed one. And, one “in whom I am well pleased” – a quotation from Isaiah from just before our passage, referring to God’s delight in his suffering servant. So, as he prays, Jesus hears God’s plan for him to be the Messiah, God’s servant who will suffer much. So for us too. As we respond to God’s call to us, let us too pray; make ourselves available to hear God’s call on our lives; listening and looking for what is new, what it is that for 2016 he is showing us and calling us to. And now, let’s listen for a moment. Let’s listen as God calls us by name. And then, in a minute, we’ll sing as our response, “Into your hands”....

Families & Young People’s Groups Opportunities to Serve & Pray There is so much going on in our work with families and young people, with lots to pray about and always new opportunities to join in. Here are all of our current groups, old and new – please have a read through, praying as you go, and contact the relevant person if there is something you would like to be involved with. Thanks! Matt

Breakfast Café Thursdays, 9-11am Contact: Sue Bennett • We would love to see people of all ages, from “inside” and “outside” the church, dropping in to give the café even more of a community feel. We would also love to have a couple of new people help us out serving in the kitchen, perhaps once a month. • Please pray that all who come would know the welcome of Jesus and feel at home here so that we all feel safe to talk about the deeper things in life.

Time Together Tuesdays, 10am-12pm Contact: Sheila Godwin • We are on the lookout for a new storyteller (or even two!) to help Sheila and Matt share the Bible in a simple, creative way. Could it be you? • With very large numbers at the moment, please pray that we would find practical ways of keeping everyone safe while offering an unconditional welcome to all.

Messy Crafts

Tuesdays, 3.15-4.30pm Contact: Sue Bennett • We always welcome having more helpers on craft tables to help us manage an ever-growing group! We are also looking for someone new to be a storyteller, perhaps once a month. • Please pray that the many new families who have joined us recently would become even more a part of our church, especially through Messy Church.

Messy Games

Fridays, 6-7.30pm Contact: Matt Stemp, Katherine & Paul Wakefield • It would make a huge difference at the moment to have some more helpers (on a rota basis) as we grow the group with its new age range. Ability to lead games or tell stories would be a bonus extra! • Please pray that new children would join this group and that those who already come would grow in faith.

Who Let the Dads Out? 3rd Saturday each month, 9-10.30am Contact: Paul Wakefield • Help in the kitchen (once every few months) is always really valued! • It has been great to see our network of dads grow over the last few months, and for all the conversations we have shared. Please pray especially for the dads in our community, that they would feel more and more a part of everything that is happening, including Messy Church and Café Church.

Messy Church

1st Sunday each month, 4.30-6.30pm Contact: Katherine & Paul Wakefield • Most of all, we would love for more of the regular 9.30am congregation to come along to Messy Church and to meet the families who come. • We always appreciate help running the activities, and welcome musicians and singers to join the band. • Celebrate with us about everything God is doing in this growing community!

Flames Sundays during 9.30am services (except Café Church) Contact: Sheila Godwin (Children) or Matt Stemp (Youth) • From February we will be running Flames for two age groups on the 1st Sunday of each month, to provide our young people (ages 10+) with a more age-specific discipleship space. Please speak to Matt if you have a passion to see young people grow as disciples and could be a helper every couple of months. • Please pray for our young people, that they would feel at ease in the new group while also being challenged to take new steps as disciples.

Splodgy Youth

Fridays, 8-9.30pm Contact: Matt Stemp • We would love to have a few more helpers able to come along, perhaps once a month. It is not as scary as it sounds (in fact it’s loads of fun), as all of our helpers will tell you! • We really appreciate occasional visitors coming along to share a unique talent. So far we have had people coming to do photography and logo design - the possibilities are endless! • Please pray that the young people who come along would also get involved in our other youth initiatives.

Recently Started Groups & Groups Starting Soon!

Silence & Stillness Fridays (alternating between mornings (9.30am) and afternoons (2pm)) Contact: Matt Stemp This is our follow-on group from the ‘Rest for the Soul’ meditation course. Lasting about 45 minutes, we spend plenty of time in silence and stillness, with some time for sharing and learning more about Christian spirituality. A crèche is provided for morning sessions especially for parents with young children. You are very welcome to come along if you have not come to the course, but please contact Matt first to let him know that you are coming. • It would make such a difference to our mums with young children to have a fully-staffed crèche every Friday morning session. Please talk to Matt if you think you could help for 45 minutes once a month to help gives mums some well-deserved quiet time! • Please pray especially for all our ‘spiritual seekers’ who come along, that they would continue to explore Christian spirituality and grow into what it means for them.

Story Circle

Thursdays, 3.15-4.30pm (Starting on 12th Feb) Contact: Matt Stemp This new group is especially for pre-schoolers and their older siblings to help them engage with Bible stories through imagination, wonder and play. • We would love to offer hospitality for parents in this group for the whole session, and not just at the beginning. If you could be a kitchen helper once or twice a month, just for an hour, then please let Matt know! • Please pray that this group would help us to continue to journey alongside families with young children.

Splodgy Chatters Tuesdays, 4.30-5.30pm Contact: Matt Stemp This is a small group for young people that has grown out of Messy Crafts on Tuesdays. We paint and make things, and talk about pretty much anything! •Please pray that this special group would continue to slowly discover God’s love through our conversations and find God’s healing and presence in their lives.

Creative Writing / Book Club

Fridays, 3.15-4.30pm Contact: Matt Stemp This is a new group for young people (aged 10-14+) to give them space after school to chill out and read, share their ideas with the group, do fun activities and pick up some writing tips. • If you have a passion for reading or writing, as well as helping young people to grow in their gifts and their confidence, we would love to have you come along to this group! Please talk to Matt about all kinds of possibilities for visiting and helping out. • Please pray that that this group would give some our young people – particularly those who are more quiet and shy – the chance to safely share their voice

David Forder’s life at Christ Church A reflection given on our behalf by Clive Joyce at David’s Thanksgiving Service on 18 December 2015 David, every one of us has reasons to give you thanks for the time you have spent with us at St Mary at the Walls and Christ Church. You have made a wonderfully unique and influential contribution to the lives of so many over a significant number of years, and in so many ways too. We recall just a few of them now:- Thank you, David……for more than 20 years of faithful service in your calling as a licensed Lay Reader, more latterly with the status of “Reader Emeritus”; for assuming extra responsibilities of pastoral care in the parish and all aspects of non-Eucharistic worship during interregnums; for, in your own words “wanting to use in the service of the Church the skills you had acquired in teaching and the theatre”. Thank you, David……for being an ace preacher - for the thought and conviction behind the well-structured content; for great delivery, for your perfectly clear articulation, and your actor’s skill of timing and engagement; for the unique way of drawing us into your

sermons: the changes in pitch, volume and characterisation giving emphasis and helping us to recognise the salient points that you wished to convey; for being a wonderful painter of pictures and for leading us through difficult things as though they were easy; for endless and rarely-repeated stories of your life in teaching and theatre – always utterly fascinating! Thank you, David......for the time when young people were sometimes seen but seldom heard in our services: for giving time and expertise in coaching them for their Christmas play or when reading – for showing infinite patience and encouragement, and for playing the role of an elderly gentleman with hearing difficulties sitting at the back of the church! Thank you, David……for our recollection of you being spectacularly wrong when preaching during Advent in 1995 or maybe 1996 - when speaking about the new millennium and telling us that you would probably not be around to

experience it with the rest of us. How wrong you were! Thank you, David……for being a trusted and inspirational colleague to your fellow-readers in the Deanery, and particularly to Tim, Sara and me. Thank you, David……for your example of always wanting to be here to worship God, virtually every Sunday and at most Wednesday communions – and notwithstanding the style, content or leadership of the services at the time! And of being supportive no matter what you may have thought in private! Thank you, David……for your intellectual honesty – for never being afraid to grasp the nettle of something difficult, rather than brushing it under the carpet; for leading us on to thoughtful and spiritual insight. Thank you too for reminding us of our hidden faults, for helping us to be more aware of things we may not see in ourselves but for which we need forgiveness and healing. Thank you, David……your eloquence and clarity of thought are the stuff of legend. Thank you, that in meetings and one to one discussions you have not hankered to be heard but bided your time to inject a few incisive words that, in my experience, have

seldom been less than spot on, always bringing much-needed focus and wisdom to what’s already been said! Although seemingly a very private person, thank you, David, for being wonderfully encouraging to others, never missing an opportunity to give positive feedback on a prayer or a piece of reading – even when we have mumbled or stumbled over our words. We are thankful that have made us walk a little taller after each of our conversations. Thank you, David……for practical support such as regular lifts to Church for Valli, Pam, Trevor and others and for considering it to be “a privilege and a pleasure”; for doing everything with such humility, kindness, graciousness and courtesy. David, we have all admired your integrity, knowledge and humility – and have greatly appreciated the rather mischievous twinkle in your eyes. Thank you! David, the strands of teaching, theatre and faith have always been intertwined! Thank you for several forays into the theology of Winnie the Pooh, and for insisting on taking the part of Eeyore yourself!

And thank you for taking time out to discuss theatre productions we may have seen and for, somehow, always having greater knowledge about them than we have, irrespective of whether you have actually seen them or not! And we thank you, Lord, for your promise to look after David, now and always; for allowing us so much time

to learn from him, to have our own lives and faith enriched in his presence; for the insights and more-rounded knowledge of You that we have seen through him, and for the expanse of the legacy he leaves with his church family here. Thank you, David. Thank you!

David Forder

19th July 1927 - 25th November 2015

Thank you

To all my dear friends at Christ Church

I would like to express my sincere and grateful thanks and appreciation to all at church for the kindness shown to me and my family at the loss of our dear Jenny. A very special thank you to Paul for the most uplifting and joyful celebration of Jenny’s life. I came dreading what I expected to be one of the saddest moments of my life but found from the start the wonderful atmosphere lifted my spirits and my faith took over. Instead of the four handkerchiefs I had with me in case of need I used only one! My two sons either side of me seemed equally inspired. A special mention too to Rodger who read 1 Corinthians 13 with feeling which set the tone for the love which formed the theme for the whole service, I have had many friends remark since what a wonderful, joyful service and celebration it was. Jenny’s brothers and sister and all her relatives there were similarly impressed and most complimentary about Paul. Also what lovely people those they met from the church. I could have told them that!

Thanks to the ladies who rallied round and made cakes which went down well. Our two great grandchildren who came for the “afters” I’m told tucked in and the little one who was unwell and didn’t come had a slice to go in her lunch box the next day. A special thanks too to those who rallied round and served the coffee and champagne. I had arranged for friends from the Colchester Cellar Club who loaned the glasses and were coming to deal with the champagne but even that was done by Paul with others helping him. Thanks too to Rod who put out the labels I prepared for the front two family rows and to Andrew who put cones out in the car park for our blue badge disabled friends And thanks to all those I may unwittingly have failed to mention who lent a hand to make the day the successful, memorable day it was for all the right reasons.

And finally can I thank those who sent cards and wrote most kind letters to me about Jenny and I. Lots have said very nice things about the way I did my best to care for Jenny. I can only say that if our roles had been reversed, Jenny would have done the same for me. That was her nature. So thank you Christ Church.

Yours sincerely and God bless you all Michael Beattie

Lent 2016 at Christ Church – Lent Groups and Lent Books... Dive into a refreshing Lent with a good book and a welcoming crowd! In Lent (starts Ash Wednesday, 10 February 2016) we are welcoming everyone to one of our Lent Groups. Please do feel really welcome to join

in an evening or daytime group, make or renew

friendships, and study together the excellent book “The Things He Carried” written by our

very own Bishop of Chelmsford, Stephen Cottrell. Lent Groups meet on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, and on Wednesday mornings. Contact details are at the end of this note (and on the noticeboard in Church). They meet weekly until Easter, starting just before Ash Wednesday this year. Do ring the contact number to find out more without committing yourself to anything! Alongside “The Things He Carried” by Stephen Cottrell (available from the Church at a discounted price, thanks to Red Lion Books in Colchester) we are also recommending the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent

Book 2016, “I Am With You” by Kathryn McCreight-Green, for those who want some extra reading to encourage and lead on through Lent. It really appealed to the Nurture Group when we were choosing a Lent Book, and you can see a copy in Church and order one, if you’d like an extra (or alternative) book to encourage you through the preparation for Easter. Lent Groups are happening: Tuesday Evenings – contact Sheila Godwin 578403 Wednesday Mornings – contact Revd Paul Norrington 563478 Wednesday Evenings –contact Sara Humphreys 579379 Most will be starting the Lent Book in late January or early February, so do make your enquiry sooner rather than later. Late entries are always welcome though, so don’t count yourself out if you’re reading this half way through February! Sara Humphreys on behalf of the Nurture and Discipleship Group

The Vicar of Baghdad

I recently went to hear the Rev'd Canon Dr Andrew White at Saffron Walden Church. He is better known as "the Vicar of Baghdad". Previously an anaesthetist, his is a daring ministry at St George's Anglican Cathedral Baghdad which had a congregation including Muslims of 6,500. It has run a school, hospital, and other valuable services. At one time years ago, the Coventry Ministry of Reconciliation under whom he operates, sent him the priest he requested as an assistant, one named Justin Welby. He is a charismatic and captivating speaker, though with slurred speech, having suffered from MS for nearly 20 years. Injections of his own (and not foetal) stem-cells have improved his mobility. Only a short flavour of what he offered can be provided here. In such a church situation, he declared that you don't know what church unity is until you have experienced persecution. Lord what has happened, he cried, people cannot endure the pain, the suffering especially of the children was particularly painful, recalling, as he did, how some children in the face of militants refused to renounce Christ (perfect Love casting out all fear) were duly executed on the spot. He recalled how other children

had spoken of seeing Jesus in their dreams, and there was the daring always to hope and the happiness and joy which you can see when you have lost everything. It was very movingly expressed. The church has really suffered in the Middle East and he referred to the future for Christianity there as "quite bleak". Most of his congregation had been what are called "Assyrian Christians" but, he said there are now more of those Christians in Chicago as émigrés than in Baghdad. The one country in the Middle East, which because of its strength, offered protection to Christians, is of course, Israel. He recalled a meeting, several years ago now, in Cyprus between Rabbi's and Ayatollahs from Iraq. Movingly, he described how at the place of meeting, despite their obvious differences, in talking their respect for one another went much past that to a kind of Love. This really struck me, for whatsoever our own strongly held views, I firmly believe that in the

meeting-place with someone of "difference" Christ is there present changing the whole impossible circumstances in that mystical and ever loving way that only He can. There is ever significance in meeting face to face. Two mottos he provided : Pray for Peace but also pay for Peace and

referring to the current idiom, sometimes flippantly used to "take care", he declared : Don't just take care, take risks for the Kingdom. Amen !!

Roger Ennals

A prayer for peace in our world

Make your ways known upon earth, Lord God,

your saving power among all peoples.

Renew your Church in holiness

and help us to serve you with joy.

Guide the leaders of all nations,

that justice may prevail throughout the world.

Let not the needy be forgotten,

nor the hope of the poor be taken away.

Make us instruments of your peace

and let your glory be over all the earth.

Amen

Fairtrade Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins"Christmas brownies"

to

Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 20-25 minutes Makes 12 large muffins Ingredients 300g plain flour 1tbsp baking powder 125g Fairtrade Demerara sugar 225ml milk 2 large free range eggs 125g butter, melted 2 Fairtrade bananas, mashed 100g Fairtrade chocolate, chopped into small pieces Method Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Place 12 muffin cases in a 12-hole muffin tin. Sieve the flour into your mixing bowl. Add the baking powder and stir. Add in the Demerara sugar, stir to combine, and set the bowl aside. Pour the milk into a separate bowl or jug. Crack in the eggs and beat the mixture. Stir in the melted butter. Add the bananas and chocolate and stir to combine. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir well. Spoon the batter into the muffin cases, dividing it equally. Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until well risen and golden. Enjoy!

Christ Church Romeos The Christ Church ROMEOs is a group open to all men who enjoy a visit and pub-style meal in the presence of good company and who are able to find time to join in the activities.

Do speak to Gordon Rogers for more information. Details of the next meetings are below:

Thursday 18th February Meet at Christ Church at 11.00 am

For our Annual Bowls March By courtesy of Christ Church Bowls Club Lunch venue will either be the Berechurch Arms or The Victus (formerly the Lemon Tree)

Thursday 17th March Meet at Christ Church at 10.00 am

Historic Rivenhall This insignificant village just off the main Roman and modern road between Colchester and London, has a surprising number of interesting features from Mesolithic and Bronze Ages to recent modern history. CA Church (always a good marker) has stood on or near the present site for over 1200 years. We will be shown round by the local historian who will explain the connection between the present Church and the earthworks from the early periods. Lunch venue to be confirmed.

Thursday 21st April Meet at Christ Church at 9.30 am

Visit to 390th Bomber Group Memorial and Museum and Museum of the British Resistance Organisation Parham

Some of you may have heard whispers of the existence of a new group for women at Christ Church. We are still nameless, but this might have changed by the time you read this. Over the last year or two a few people have raised concern about the lack of, and the need for, a group for women to rival ‘Pints of View’. As part of the Mission and Outreach group I was given the pleasurable task of making this a reality. In May 2015 four of us who had initially raised this topic (Glyn, Michelle, Matt and myself) met to discuss the ideas we had and how to take things forward. We all felt the need of a place where women who were involved in groups or activities during

the week and feel Christ Church is their home church, but don’t necessarily come on a Sunday morning, could be brought together in a relaxed, informal setting to learn more about faith issues. We had a number of ideas of when, where and how to meet and after inviting some ladies along we arranged our introductory meeting to offer our service in this way. We are all on a journey in our faith and at different stages. We want to encourage each other in faith and provide a space where any question may be asked, however difficult in a nonjudgemental, nurturing environment. We don’t pretend we have all the answers but hope we

Group for Women

can point people in the right direction. In September we held our first meeting at the rectory where over some cheese and wine we shared the ideas we felt God had been putting on our hearts. The response was very encouraging, confirming we should continue to meet. There is little formal structure to the group at present. We are trying to be open to the spirit’s leading and the needs of the women coming along. After a catch up we have a discussion around issues of Christianity and usually end with prayer. So far we have talked a little about the Trinity, about our Christian journeys so far and looked at various bibles to see what they can offer. Last month we discussed how we become a Christian. Our discussions can be lively and deep. We are meeting monthly on the 2nd Tuesday at 8pm, our location varies with childcare needs. If you feel this sounds just what you need please contact us, I’ve put our details below and also Matt Stemp’s as you may be more likely to meet him during the week. He will happily forward your details to us. To everyone in the church, please ask us if you want to know more and please pray for our group. We all can see the amazing things happening with the presence of The Holy Spirit in Christ Church at the moment. Your

prayers are so important as this new venture gets off the ground and for the growth in faith of all those involved to love and serve Christ. With Love and thanks, Annabel Group for Women Annabel annabel@doctors.org.uk, 07817390705 Glyn glyn_norrington@hotmail.co.uk, 01206 563478 Michelle michelleprestney@me.com, 07795381300 Pat patprestney@yahoo.com, 07825222780 Matt matt@colchesterchristchurch.org.uk, 01206 974081

February Diary Sunday 7th February 8.00 am Holy Communion in St Mary’s Chapel 9.30 am Morning Worship 4.30 pm Messy Church Monday 8th 10.00 am Coffee + Tuesday 9th 9.00 am Morning prayer 10.00 am Time Together 3.15 pm Messy Crafts Wednesday 10th Ash Wednesday 10.00 am Holy Communion in St Mary’s Chapel including ashing 8.00 pm Holy Communion with ashing 8.00 pm Pints of view Thursday 11th 9.00 am Breakfast Café 3.15 pm Story Circle Friday 12th 9.00 am Silence and Stillness 3.15 pm Creative Writing 6.00 pm Messy Games 8.00 pm Youth Group Sunday 14th 9.30 am Holy Communion 6.30 pm Spirit Space Monday 15th 10.00 am Coffee + Tuesday 16th 9.00 am Morning prayer 3.15 pm Messy Crafts

Wednesday 17th 10.00 am Holy Communion in St Mary’s Chapel Thursday 18th 9.00 am Breakfast Café Friday 19th 1.30 pm Silence and Stillness Saturday 20th 9.00 am Who let the Dads out Sunday 21st 9.30 am Café Church 6.30 pm Holy Communion Monday 22nd 10.00 am Coffee + Tuesday 23rd 9.00 am Morning prayer 10.00 am Time Together Wednesday 24th 10.00 am Holy Communion in St Mary’s Chapel Thursday 25th 9.00 am Breakfast Café 3.15 pm Story Circle Friday 26th 9.00 am Silence and Stillness 3.15 pm Creative Writing 6.00 pm Messy Games 8.00 pm Youth Group Sunday 28th 9.30 am Holy Communion Monday 29th 10.00 am Coffee +

www.colchesterchristchurch.org.uk 01206 542307

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