saint george’s parish magazine august 2020 …...page 3 august 2020 saint george’s parish...

Saint George’s Parish Magazine August 2020

Services at St. George's Church Sunday Services and Thursday Communion and all morning and evening services are currently suspended because of Covid 19. Special arrangements are having to be made for Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals. The main church is open for private prayer on Mondays from 10 a.m. to 12 noon and on Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The Lady Chapel is open for private prayer on Tuesdays from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

For Baptism, Banns and Marriage, Communion of the house-bound, and other pastoral matters: please contact Reverend Barry Hengist on 020 8654 8747 Please only contact Barry in emer-gencies on Fridays, his normal day off.

Vicar: The Reverend Barry Hengist [email protected]

2 The Grove, West Wickham BR4 9JS 07947 068209 020 8654 8747

Senior Hon. Curate: The Reverend Carol Jones

020 8777 6247

Hon. Curate: The Reverend Hilary Fife thefifes19@gmail

07931 761320 020 8654 8685

Reader: Mr Ray Wheeler

020 8777 5271

Reader: Mrs Liz Bebington

020 8777 4840

Website: www.stgeorgeschurch.co.uk

Parish Office: [email protected]

Lord,

In our loneliness be our companion,

In our emptiness be our fullness,

In our bitterness be our sweetness,

In our selfishness be our openness.

Amen.

PAGE 2


View from the Vicarage

On Friday 24th July I received Bulleting No: 19 from the

Diocesan Coronavirus Task Group pointing me to Church

of England Guidance which was updated on 23rd July to

reflect the latest Government advice relating to places of

worship. The guidance gives 23 links on specific topics, 6

to further resources, and another 6 to further reading not to mention links to

the Liturgical Commission and other online resources. All this is designed to

help us to open churches safely, but in order to do what?

Thankfully, Jesus could be succinct and his command to his first followers was

simply “do this.” Not “believe this” or “learn this” or “pray this”, “sing this”

or even “read this”, but “do this … in remembrance of me.”

As we begin to come out of lockdown we are aware that “doing this” will, of

necessity, look very different from the way we used to “do this” and that has

set us right back to asking the most basic of questions. What is “this” we are

asked to do? Given that the church has been trying to decide what “this” is and

come to increasingly splintered answers, now is an opportunity for us to think

about what is essential to the Christian life. What should we be doing in re-

sponse to Jesus’ command to “do this.”

Our worship at St. George’s has had to adapt and has challenged each of us to

move out of our comfort zones – me included. Realizing that we have comfort

zones is in itself a revelation and begs the question whether our ‘Praise to the

Lord, the Almighty, the king of creation’ should ever be comfortable.

In our recent survey the two things which respondents most frequently identi-

fied as issues which might deter them from coming were “No communion” and

“Having to register in advance to attend”. I’m pleased about the former because

I think it has so much to do with what “do this” means; and I really understand

the awkwardness that the latter represents. St. George’s practices an open

table and the thought of telling some people they can’t come is anathema. But

the reality of Covid-19 means that we have to find a way to manage attendance

in a way which is fair to all who want to make their communion including not

just members of the regular congregation but those who have never been be-

fore and may never come again. We are often reminded of the wise words of

Archbishop William Temple who said “The Church exists primarily for the sake

of those who are still outside it.” That is why we can never arrange to be full

because to “do this” requires it.

Barry


Sanctuary of the original (August 1937) church—with Mothers Union banner The stage in the Hall is where the Sanctuary was.

Ham Farm House June 1921 with tenant farmer Edgar Senior and his son Edgar Junior, Mr and Misses Campbell and the (un-named) Chauffeur.

PAGE 4


August 1937

A few readers will remember August 1937, though I don’t think any of them were

in St George’s Church on the day services started? Scanning the records for

August 1937 doesn’t suggest a very memorable month, in terms of good news

breaking. Japan and China were at war, and Spain was at war with itself. The

US and USSR signed a trade treaty, and the US began to tackle the problem of

marijuana. The Nazi Government decreed that Jewish booksellers could only

sell Jewish books to Jewish customers. (The sort of petty narrow-minded stu-

pidity that tells of much worse to come.) FM radio took a step forward. An

English runner set a new world record for the Mile - at 4 minutes 6.1 seconds

quite slow by later standards. Dustin Hofman was born. Perhaps most surpris-

ing, Lichtenstein voted in a referendum not to have department stores. Covid

19 seems to be pointing the same way 83 years later.

The Vicar’s Notes in the August 1937 St John’s magazine report: “Part of an-

other task completed. The Hall and temporary Church at Monk’s Orchard is

built, and I felt, as I expect many of you felt who have visited the place, sur-

prised and pleased with the result. At the last moment, we decided to turn the

building round so that the East became the West; and though we regretted this

decision at the time, yet now it seems to have been a very wise move. It has

given the place a great deal more light, and will, I believe, make it much warm-

er.....But while there will be privileges, there will be responsibilities.....”

Those familiar with current prices might like to know the original choir chairs

cost (in current coinage) 35 pence, and the congregation chairs under 30 pence.

Also in August 1937, St John’s could announce that Croydon Corporation had

agreed, at the price of a £750 contribution from St John’s, to purchase and pre-

serve what is now Shirley Recreation Ground: guaranteeing a permanent leisure

space among all the housing development. The whole £750 was gifted by one

anonymous member of the St John’s congregation. The debt of all Shirley, and

not least the St George’s bit of Shirley, to the St John’s of the 1920’s and 1930’s

is huge. (For money meaning comparison, the four weeks St John’s church

collections reported in August 1937 totalled £42.)


Some notes for you to note

Deadline for the September Magazine: Sunday August 23rd.

The Bible Reading Group “meets” on Mondays at 8 p.m. During the virus shut-down, this means reading at home and sharing thoughts on Email. New regular or occasional members are always welcome, You can see the note for each Monday on the parish website Bible Group blog and send your thoughts to [email protected] We are currently reading the Letter to the Romans: a feast of thinking about God and us. Free copies of William Barclay’s Commentary on the Letter to the Romans on offer: ring 8654 6190.

The Book Reading Group “meets” monthly on a Thursday. In these hard times, we have been reading at home and swapping thoughts by Email. Contact [email protected] New regular or occasional members always welcome. We hope that we might meet for real, perhaps outside, on Thursday August 13th to discuss Rowan Williams’ “Being a Christian”. See page 13. (If you want to discuss the basics.........)

The Shrublands Food Bank is still active, and much needed. See their website: www.shrublandstrust.org The collecting box normally at the back of the church is in the porch at 31 Woodmere Avenue. Cash donations can be sent direct to 7 Broom Road, Shirley, Croydon CR0 8NG, or put through the letter box of 31 Woodmere Avenue. If you want to deliver supplies di-rect to the Food Bank: use the back entrance - Thursday 12 noon to 2 p.m.

Jam and Marmalade for Overseas Missions: The pandemic cut short the offering of marmalade in return for a donation to Overseas Missions. So there is still quite a lot of 2020 marmalade available. Jam making from home-grown fruit is weather-dependent (and subject to the birds not getting there first), but at the moment a little particularly delicious loganberry jam is available, a very little blackcurrant jam, and some damson jam. If ordered in advance (020 8654 6190 or [email protected]), jars can be col-lected from 31 Woodmere Avenue porch, and donations put through the letter box. All donations go to USPG.

Do note what page 1 says about the church being open for private prayer. It isn’t that God can only be found in a church building: where we are, God is. However, the dedicated church building space is a reminder of our col-lective identity as children of God.

PAGE 6


A Parish Prayer Lord,

May we know you And show you

Amen

Churches Together in Shirley

Monthly Prayer Meetings

No physical meetings during virus period. Please pray with us at home. Prayer notes will be Emailed to member churches.

Ask ([email protected]) if you would like a copy.

Thursday August 6th at 7 30 p.m. Tuesday September 1st at 7 30 p.m. Wednesday October 7th at 7 30 p.m.

See the Churches Together in Shirley Website

Remember that Jesus initiated a Church, not churches


That which we call a............, by any other name

I hope you will recognise this flower. We have them in the St George’s garden, and they have them at St John’s. This is the wild foxglove (digitalis purpurea). The best guess is that the name comes from “folk’s gliew”, reflected in the “fairy bells” name given to the flower in, for example, Somerset and Ireland. Scot-land also calls the foxglove “witches’ thimbles” and “bloody man’s fingers”. The foxglove is poisonous and associated with sorcery; but the digitalis is used in low dosage to treat heart complaints. In Scotland, the multi-purpose silverweed (potentilla anserina) is nicknamed “traveller’s ease” - because the leaves were used to line shoes, not least by Roman soldiers. Prim-roses (primula vulgaris) delight in the Scots name “spinkies”.

Red clover (trifolium platense) is another flower you will recognise. You will know it in association with bees; and the nicknames are bee-related: “honey stalks”, “bee bread”, “suck bottles”. Cotton grass (eriophorum angustifolium) is highly distinctive, but you won’t see it in Shirley. It is a peat bog plant. It has the lovely Gaelic name caineachan, and the nicknames “draw moss” and “lukkis”.

Dandelion (taraxacum officinale) you will certainly know, and may or may not like it where you see it. The nicknames reflect two aspects of the plant: on the one hand “pee-the-bed”, “pissy beds”, “tiddle beds”; on the other hand “peasant’s clock”, “old man’s clock”. More mysteriously, “swine’s snout”. Bird’s foot trefoil (lotus corniculatus) we have at St George’s. It has a rich range of names: “craw’s taes”/”crow toes”, “hennies”, “eggs and bacon”, “granny’s toenails”, “knives and forks”, “horse yakkels” (teeth), and, last but not least, “God Almighty’s

PAGE 8


Respectful Listening and Careful Language

Thanks again to “Cassidy Says” in Ireland’s Own” for the idea and for come of the words. If’ like me, you can’t read the captions on the illustration. (Got them eventually at 400 magnification.):- Eyes for looking at the person you are listening to. Mind to think carefully about what you are hearing. Ears for really listening. Mouth shut until actually required. Hands still, so not distracted or distract-ing. Feet settled and out of the way. Nothing specifically Irish about any of this. We all

appreciate the genuine listener, when we need to talk. We probably all try, with varying degrees of success, to be good listeners - including the effort to hear what the other person wants to say, rather than what (if anything) we want to hear. The Irishness comes in with the careful language used to describe things it isn’t easy to talk about. “I’ve had a turn” describes such things as medical advice to quit smoking, if you don’t want to be pushing up the daisies in next to no time. Then there’s “a bit of a dart”, which would cover e.g. a heart attack; or “a touch of the time”, which would take in clinical depression. The good listener needs to be able to interpret as well as to hear. Not least because, fearing that the Devil will be strongly present in the detail, it is awfully tempting to take “I’ve had a bit of a set-back” at its surface value. A smile, and “I’m sure you’ll get over it” is OK for a bit of a setback. It doesn’t quite do the trick when someone has lost their job. And, of course, sometimes there aren’t any “right words” to find, at least not words that solve the problem. And, also of course, “I know what it’s like” isn’t entirely apt ei-ther - even if you do know what it was like for you. If you are a good listener, and have been lucky with the people you listen to, you may have had that most welcome feedback: “Thank you. That helped a lot.” And there was yourself all too conscious of having “done nothing but listen”: no clever solutions offered; no tricksy explanations of why the problem was not as bad as it seemed; no bland re-assurance that all would be well. You just listened; and that helped. It can be quite re-assuring NOT to get an answer when you share your problem: re-assuring to know that your friend can not solve in five minutes what you have worried about for five weeks.


Local Churches pictured in July Magazine: St George’s Beckenham, St James’s Elmers End, St Luke’s Woodside, St Francis West Wickham, St Mary’s Addington, All Saints Spring Park. More Cathedrals: The June competition proved surprisingly popu-lar. Try this selection

PAGE 10


Collectives and Bubbles

The murmuration of starlings is both among the most impressive of collectives and the most en-dearing of collective names. Name-wise, it ranks alongside the wisp of snipe, the unkind-ness of ravens, the trip of hares, the smuck of jelly fish, the sedge of bitterns, the parliament of

owls, the nye of pheasants, and the loomery of guillemots. Oh, and the most joy-ous: the exaltation of larks and the charm of finches. I first encountered “charm” at the age of 11, because it came up at my interview for secondary school. (I lived in Chaffinch Avenue.) You might like to try your own collectives for woodlice and domestic pigeons: “tank” and “coo”? Covid 19 has emphasised the importance of the groups/collectives to which we belong, and which may or may not be active or differently active during the lock-down. The pandemic has also introduced us to a positive meaning for the bubble as a collective experience. Normally, “bubble” has described a group membership which shuts you off from the realities of people outside your particular bubble, e.g. “the Westminster bubble” describing MPs who are geared to Parliamentary reality but unaware of the realities of their constituents. In a Covid context, as people do their own thing with bubble advice, bubble has come to mean a close physical bonded group, at the opposite end of the sometimes almost meaningless multi=-person Facebook network. If I had to be cast away alone on a desert island, who(m) would I choose to be alone with? The ME/US/THEM challenge of both bubbles and collectives is being fully yourself while being part of the group. As the recent mass demonstrations have illustrated, adopting a collective identity in place of your personal identity can be hugely dam-aging. When the collective becomes the mob, a sense of personal responsibility disappears. The great value of a collective (whether on-line or physically present) in which individuals stay individuals is that we can be challenged by “friends” and learn from difference - rather than just being confirmed in prejudice. Instead of swapping notes on personal misery and Government confusion, one of the St George’s mutual support groups has attracted stories of acquiring new skills, sa-vouring new experiences, and being part of a virtual choir singing for people with dementia in care homes. Collectivity at its best!


That odd business of praying: Number 110 Gender Prayers

Some things are not controversial. There are in the Bible at least 22 ref-erences which credit God with female characteristics. (A great many more are male orientated.) If God made men and women in God’s own image, it is a bit presumptuous for men to

assume that God is exclusively male! If the Virgin Birth story is to be tak-en literally, God made use of a woman but not of any man in the Incarna-tion. There are good grounds for believing that the very earliest human attempts to picture God were female, not male, images. If, for whatever reason, you are not wholly comfortable with relating to God in all -male terminology, you are, as a Christian, perfectly entitled to bring Mothering God into your thinking and speaking and praying. The Christa sculpture is controversial - not because a naked female fig-ure on the cross is any more shocking than a naked male figure on the cross. But simply because God in Jesus became incarnate as a male, and not as a female. However, Jesus was born, lived, died, and rose again for women as much as for men; and if the controversial sculpture reminds men and women of this (which is far more important than the human maleness of Jesus), so be it! I’m sure female prayers can be different from male prayers. I’m fairly sure that most of the time they are not different. In prayer groups, in leading intercessions, in impromptu prayers, different experiences and concerns are reflected, but female/male differences are not generally evi-dent in either the words or the content. Given the fundamental reality that God knows what is important to us, individually and collectively, the important thing in personal prayer is to be “honest with God”. Be who you are, admit what you feel, say what you want to say; and if you aren’t sure about any of these things - take that to God too. Mothering/Fathering God is waiting to hear from you.

PAGE 12


Everyone knows their own know

Yes, quite right. It is an Irishism.. Also a universal truth - sometimes an unpopu-lar truth. Formal Papal messages, which, from Pope Francis, have often been welcomed as powerfully relevant even to non-believers let alone non-Roman Catholics, can be rather rough with the individual whose personal convictions challenge the “party line”. As a Roman Church member, you can know within the framework of what is officially known by the Church authorities. Now Mrs Cassidy was NOT commending those who “know” that somebody who has proved their intelligence and has studied the subject for 40 years is less to be believed than someone who has no intelligence credentials and appears wholly ignorant of the subject. What she was commending is respect for the life-time of experience that lies behind someone’s deeply held convictions (even if from my perspective those convictions are odd). Over the centuries, the Church has learnt a lot from its heretics. Over the centu-ries, the official teaching of the Church has been established by juxtaposition of a range of very different personal knowings. St Paul rather patted himself on the back for getting to grips with his own knowing quite separately from his brothers and sisters in Jerusalem; though in due course they swapped notes (sometimes aggressively). If you have had the privilege of working with young people, you may well have noted that a teen choice (in those relatively few issues where there is fairly clear right and wrong choice) can be influenced by the “knowing” of a youth leader or teacher or parent or counsellor. But it can be most powerfully influenced, for good, by the knowing of another teenager. Why? Because the young person faced with the decision respects the knowing of his or her peer. Mary aged 14 is fairly confident that Jackie aged 14 knows things broadly the same way as she knows things - whereas the adults may have forgotten or may never have known in that perspective. It can be a bit irritated for the adult adviser to be trumped by the teenage adviser. But Halleluiah! If the advice coincides. You could argue that the Jury System is based on this business of “knowing”. If all you wanted to secure justice was education, training, textbook knowledge, have a judge and not twelve people without any legal qualifications (and maybe without good exam results). P.S. Knowing is built up by experience and thinking.


Being a Christian: Rowan Williams: A re-run

We don’t normally re-run Book Group book choices; but the Group is hoping to

“do” this book live in August, having done it on-line in June.

So some quotes may be in order:

Prayer: If God knows what we are going to ask, why bother to pray? .... God

knows, of course, what we are going to say and do, but God has decided that he

will work out his purposes through what we decide to say and do. So, if it is

God’s will to bring something about, some act of healing or reconciliation, some

change for the better in the world, he has chosen that your prayer is going to be

part of a set of causes that makes it happen So you’d better get on with it, as you

and your prayer are part of God’s overall purpose for the situation in which he is

going to work.”

Eucharist: We take Holy Communion not because we are doing well, but be-

cause we are doing badly. Not because we have arrived, but because we are

travelling. Not because we are right, but because we are confused and wrong.

Not because we are divine, but because we are human. Not because we are full,

but because we are hungry.

The Bible: One of the great tragedies and errors of the way people have under-

stood the Bible has been the assumption that what people did in the Old Testa-

ment must have been right “because it’s in the Bible”. It has justified violence,

enslavement, abuse and suppression of women, murder and prejudice against

gay people; it has justified all manner of things we now cannot but as Christians

regard as evil. But they are not there in the Bible because God is telling us,

“That’s good”. They are there because God is telling us, “You need to know that

that is how some people responded. You need to know that when I speak to hu-

man beings things can go very wrong as well as very wonderfully. ....We need, in

other words, to guard against the temptation to take just a bit of the whole story

and treat it as somehow a model for our own behaviour.

Baptism: Perhaps Baptism really ought to have some health warnings attached

to it..It will be transfiguring, exhilarating, life-giving, and very very dangerous.

PAGE 14


Lift the stone, and you will find me; split the wood and I am there

(The Gospel of Thomas)

The 6 in or from the church garden birds in the July magazine were: Pied Wag-tail, Goldfinch, Herring Gull, Long-tailed Tit, Buzzard, Grey Heron. Try these 6 church butterflies/moths:


Poetry Page Prayer: George Herbert

Prayer: The Church’s banquet, angel’s age, God’s breath in man returning to his birth, The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,

The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth; Engine against th’Almighty, sinners’ tow’r, Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear, The six-days’ world transposing in an hour,

A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear; Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,

Exalted manna, gladness of the best, Heaven in ordinary, man well drest, The milky way, the bird of Paradise,

Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul’s blood, The land of spices; something understood.

George Herbert (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was a Welsh-born poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. His poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognised as "one of the foremost British devotional lyricists." He was born into an artistic and wealthy family and largely raised in England. He received a good education that led to his admission to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1609. He went there with the intention of becom-ing a priest, but he became the University's Public Orator and attracted the at-tention of King James I. He served in the Parliament of England in 1624 and briefly in 1625. He gave up his secular ambitions in his mid-thirties and took holy orders in the Church of England, spending the rest of his life as the rector of the little parish of St Andrew's Church, Lower Bemerton, Salisbury. He was noted for unfailing care for his parishioners, bringing the sacraments to them when they were ill and providing food and clothing for those in need. Henry Vaughan called him "a most glorious saint and seer." He was nev-er a healthy man and died of consumption at age 39.

PAGE 16


https://www.bing.com/search?q=Salisbury%20wikipedia&form=WIKIRE

https://www.bing.com/search?q=Henry%20Vaughan%20wikipedia&form=WIKIRE

https://www.bing.com/search?q=Consumption%20(disease)%20wikipedia&form=WIKIRE


Outsiders on the inside

This is one of the New Testament’s most powerful and memorable stories. It isn’t often that we read about Jesus being surprised, very surprised. We might find it hard to re-capture what is surprising. Try thinking Nazi officer in occupied Poland funding a synagogue. The centurion may or may not have been a Roman citizen, but he was a senior representative of the occupying force, and potentially resent-ed as such. Of all the enforced peoples of the Roman Empire, the Jews were the most awkward, the least willing to conform. The down-trodden Jews saw them-selves as superior to the “Romans” (whether genuine birth Romans or enlisted Romans), because the Jews were God’s Chosen People. But here was a Roman senior officer spending his own hard-earned money on helping the Jews to be Jews. Little wonder that the local Jewish leaders were impressed: knowing that the centurion’s support for them was unlikely to win him bonus points with either his own soldiers or his superiors. That Jesus is surprised (indeed astonished) is not so much because the centuri-on has been nice to Jesus’ fellow Jews. What startles Jesus is the centurion’s attitude to him. Jesus was having quite a hard time to get even his own disciples to accept him as God’s Messiah, with even the well-disposed Jews more ready to get the benefits of a little Jesus magic than to sign up to total commitment to God Incarnate. Those Jews had behind them centuries of expectation of a Messiah. At best, the centurion might have had a second hand knowledge that the Jews had been waiting a long time for something or someone. On top of this, in terms of real politics, the centurion was lord and master and could order Jesus around as much as he liked. In Roman terms, one Jew was much like another Jew - though Jewish “collaborators” were useful while not respected. And yet, and yet, this Roman centurion believes that Jesus is Master of sickness and health, of death and life; and he needs no touching or other signs. His mes-sage to Jesus is “I know you can heal my servant. Please do it.” Simple, straight-forward, and absolutely confident. It is most unlikely that the bit about not being good enough to have Jesus visit his house (a house no doubt much more impres-sive than any house Jesus ever lived in) had anything to do with Jews visiting gentiles. Though the centurion would have been well aware of this Jewish preju-dice. The centurion was saying that Caesar’s Representative wasn’t good enough to host God’s Representative. He knew his place. Do we?

PAGE 18


Solon 127 Across 1 Father upset and expected the rest. (7) 5 Frightful old moss is assimilating. (7) 10 Bureaucrats follow Miss Swan with

page and guides. (10) 11 Knock out when bats return. (4) 12 Funny old fluid. (6) 13 Take too much when finished door-

step oddly. (8) 15 Produce haircut. (4) 16 Using tie a learner is leaving. (10) 18 Used to account coppers to sea. (10) 21 Sort of idea can be a help. (4) 22 Two fools plus trendy killer (8) 24 Lad leaves lifeguard struggling to

find form. (6) 25 River a waste product. (4) 26 Putting it down to writer's joint. (10)

27 Stretches former nurses. (7) 28 Apostle discovered when jetsam's

cast adrift. (2,5) Down 2 Will manageresses somehow cut ex-

ercise? (11) 3 Solon on time you hear for offhand

behaviour. (9) 4 Undo International organisation's

men. (7) 6 Poorly sends up and put on hold. (7) 7 Fight when tennis player is part way

through a match we hear. (3-2) 8 Seeing,for example, in three direc-

tions. (5)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9

10 11

12 13 14

15 16 17

18 19 20 21

22 23 24

25 26

27 28


9Clean up attendance, in my opinion textually haphazard. (13)

14 Organise flag (11) 17 Fractured gas line through dry group

gives painlessness. (9) 19 She brought us Saudi Arabian mod-

els enclosed. (7) 20 Warm up when foxtrot sorted. (7) 22 Angle a cricket shot over point. (5) 23 Oddly saw tenant perspire. (5)

Thanks to Solon for puzzles. For questions or help, contact Solon at [email protected]

Prayer of Franciscan Mychal Judge, killed while volunteer-ing in the Twin Towers bomb-ing: Lord, take me where you want me to go; let me meet who you want me to meet; tell me what you want me to say; and

keep me out of your way.

1 6 2

4 5

9 6 3 7

7 4 9 8

9 8 6 2

8 2 7 5

3 5

3 8 2

Answers to July Puzzles:

Crossword:- Across: 1 Second-rate, 7

Ides, 9 Brut, 10 Virtuosity, 11 Assort,

12 Outflank, 13 Password, 15 Iota, 17

Pine, 19 Telegram, 22 Vindaloo, 23

Nebula, 25 Misogynist, 26 Urge, 27

Blot, 28 Pagination. Down: 2 Eurasia,

3 Outdo, 4 Devotion, 5 Air-onditioning, 6 Equity, 7 Insulting 8 Extinct, 14

Speedboat, 16 Plankton, 18 Initial, 20

Allegro, 21 Play up, 24 , Brunt.

Sudoku:

583149726/421637859/679285341/ 248571963/ 365892174/ 917463582/

836954217/ 752315498/194728635

The Archbishop of Athens , responding to the Nazi SS chief - who in 1943 had threatened to shoot him if he carried on protecting the Jews: “According to the tra-ditions of the Greek Ortho-dox Church, our prelates are hanged, not shot. Please respect our tradi-tions..” (From “Priests De La Resistance” by the Rev Fergus Butler-Gallie.)

PAGE 20


.PANDEMIC POSTERS

DANGER

KEEP IN!

VIS**ORS WELCOME!

BEWARE

OF CHILDREN!

GET TO

AVOID YOUR NEIGH-

BOUR!

YOU’LL ALWAYS WALK

ALONE!

KINDLY

REFRAIN FROM

BREATHING!


PAGE 22


Making the very best of what you have

If you use the 367 bus to get to Beckenham, you will pass, and may have noticed, a house on the left as you turn right from Croydon Road and go the “back way” to Beckenham. The small front garden is beautifully kept, but what is out of the ordinary is the duet of hanging baskets attached to the telegraph pole on the pavement outside the house. Now I’m sure there is some law against attaching hanging baskets to telegraph poles; but they do not endanger anyone’s head, and they are splendid. (No, the pic-ture on the left is just a picture of a hanging basket.)

If you keep your eyes open on your local travels, you will see many examples of extra-territorial flower planting - to compensate for all those gardens abandoned to a dump, an unloved wilderness, or a parking space. Every time I rejoice in one of these examples of making best use of what you have (or have access to although you don’t actually own), I think back to working at the Elephant and Castle and lunchtime appreciation of the tiny patch of beauty in front of one of the “ordinary” houses buried in the Heygate Scheme - at one time the biggest housing estate in Europe. London walks offer many tiny front or balcony or roof gardens that reflect love and the determination to make much out of little. There are also community gardens, carefully tended by people who may have no home green space to use. It would be good to think that Covid 19 lock-down has encouraged more people to make the best of their own or of a neigh-bour’s [potentially] green space... And that what is created/restored will survive the return to some sort of normality.

A friend in Wales with four small children has moved from turning a neglected space by the flats into a garden, with the interest/help of the children, to earning some income from the family by doing gardening jobs for others. (Nowadays, both Eve and Adam can be gardeners.)


Readings for August (Memorable phrases from The Message Version)

Sunday 2 August: Trinity 8 Genesis 32. 22-31: I saw God face-to-face, and lived to tell the tale. Psalm 17. 1-7, 16: I call to you, God, because I’m sure of an answer. Romans 9. 1-5: The race that produced the Messiah, the Christ. Matthew 14. 13-21: You give them supper. Sunday 9 August: Trinity 9 Genesis 37. 1-4, 12-28: Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons. Psalm 105. 1-6, 16-22, 45b: follow His instructions to the letter. Romans 10. 5-15: as close as the heart in your chest. Matthew 14. 22-33: You are God’s Son for sure! Sunday 16 August: Trinity 10 Genesis 45. 1-15: An amazing act of deliverance. Psalm 133: God ordains eternal life. Romans 11. 1-2a, 29-32: God personally opens the door and lets us back in, Matthew 15. 10-28: Your faith is something else! Sunday 23 August: Trinity 11 Exodus 1.8 - 2.10: She named him “Moses” (“pulled out”). Psalm 124: God didn’t go off and leave us. Romans 12. 1-8: Take your ordinary everyday life, and place it before God. Matthew 16. 13-20: You’re the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Sunday 30 August: Trinity 12 Exodus 3. 1-15: I AM WHO I AM [WHO I WILL BE] Psalm 105. 1-6, 23-26, 45b: Thank God. Pray to Him by name. Romans 12. 9-end: Love from the centre of who you are. Matthew 16. 21-end: You’re not in the driver’s seat. I am. Sunday 6 September: Trinity 13 Exodus 12. 1-14: A festival to God down through the generations. Psalm 149: God adorns plain folk with salvation garlands. Romans 13. 8-end: The huge debt of love you owe each other. Matthew 18: 15-20: You can be sure that I’ll be there.

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Please remember by name in your prayers the following people for whom prayers have been requested…

Elsie Jill Brian

David Brian Hugh

Catriona Sheila Hazel

Reg Bill Tom

Rosemary Garth Doris

Elaine Emma-Jane Doreen

Angela Lindsey Eric

Doreen Ann Mark

Pam Julie Barbara

Sonia Clare Ron

Michael Elizabeth Jean

Jean Valerie

Sue Martin

Please pray for all who teach our children that they may get some rest and refreshment with their families and loved

one before the next term starts.

Please pray for the parishes of All Saints, St. John’s and St. George’s as the future of ministry in Shirley is considered.

Please note that in order to keep the prayer list up to date, names will appear on the list for 3 editions only unless a further prayer request is made to Revd Barry Hengist

at [email protected] or on 020 8654 8747 before the relevant magazine copy deadline.

Please ensure that you have (or would be given) the person’s permission for their name to be included in the magazine prayer list.

mailto:[email protected]


I had just posted(?) this delightful picture when Radio 4 shared the news that Mr Gove, like Mr Johnson, thought face masks were, on the whole, a good thing, but that Mr Gove (until Mr Johnson or Mr Cummings decided otherwise) believed that it is best to leave wearing them to people’s good sense and public spirit. No doubt most of us would very much like to believe that everyone has good sense and public spirit, and that everyone will draw the same conclusions from their good sense and public spirit that we draw from our good sense and public spirit. (Though Parliament passes, and various authorities enforce, a great many laws that seem to be based on the assumption that unregulated human behaviour can be selfish and stupid.) The English/Chinese instructions (from a very highly regu-lated country) are clearly based on a very low view of human wisdom...plus a touching faith that idiots read instructions.

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Organisations (once normal meetings resumed)

St George’s Table Tennis Club (in the Church Hall)

Tuesdays 8—10 p.m. Doubles Table Tennis. £3 per evening, including refresh-

ments. New members welcome. Contact Ron 8656 9176, Ken 8654 3233.

Whist Drive (in the Church Hall)

Wednesdays 7 45p.m. Inquire in Hall Wednesday 7 - 7 45 p.m.

Medau (in the Church Hall)

Tuesdays 1.30-3.00p.m Mrs Gammon 01689 815646

Goslings Pre-School: Tuesdays 9 30 –12; Wednesdays 9 30—2 30; Thursdays 9 30—12;

Fridays 9 30—2 30. Mrs Chris Marchant 8656 0751

Shirley Neighbourhood Care Scheme 8662 9599 [email protected]

Our Local Councillors and Safer Neighbourhood Police Teams

The dividing line between Shirley North and South Wards is roughly the Wickham Road, but some roads at the Croydon end on the south side of Wickham Road (st

John’s parish) are in Shirley North Ward

Shirley South Ward - Councillors: Jason Cummings (020 8651 2575) and Scott Roche (07783 152370) Police Contact: Phone 0208 721 2469

Email [email protected].

Shirley North Ward - Councillors: Sue Bennett (0208 768 0561), Richard Chat-terjee (0208 405 6719) and Gareth Streeter (07783 152331) Police Contact:

Email [email protected] Phone: 0208 721 2474.

URGENT 999 (Other crime reports 101)

Church Notices (real or imagined)

The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.

Hymn singing in the park. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

Potluck supper at 5 p.m., followed by prayer and medication.

7 p.m. Talk on Being Inclusive. Members only.


Organisations (Once normal meetings resumed) Overseas Missions Committee Mr Brian McGinnis, Mrs Pam Hooks, Ms Pauline Russell 8654 6190 St George’s Fellowship Contact Mrs Margaret Ziolek 8650 2556 Georgettes Contact Mrs Sue Hengist 8654 8747 Mrs Jan Payne 8776 0185 Beavers (Scout Hut) Boys and Girls age 6 to 8 approx. Wednesdays 5-6.15p.m Rachel Dominguez 07956 155909 Cubs (Scout Hut) Boys and Girls age 8 to 10.5 approx. Wednesdays 6.30-8.00p.m Mr Trevor Thairs 07843 752895 Scouts (Scout Hut) Boys and Girls age 10.5 to 14.5 approx. Mondays 6 15 - 7 45p.m. Mr Darren Hawken 07903 399185 Rainbows (Church Hall) Girls age 5 to 7 Thursdays 5 - 6p.m Mrs Penny Bloss 8656 9008 Miss Lucy Lawrence [email protected] Brownies (Church Hall) Girls age 7 to 10 Tuesdays 6.15-7.30p.m Miss Sheila Fenner 8655 0023 [email protected] Guides (in the Church Hall) Girls age 10 to 16 Fridays 6.00 -7 30p.m Mrs Ruth Clery 8651 4116 07702 870030 Pop In (in the Church Hall) Miss Pauline Russell 8656 3941 Mondays 10.30-12noon

Hall Bookings Please contact Jan Payne 020 8776 0185

[email protected] The Hall is ideal for Children’s Parties (Children up to 8 years)

Church Notices (real or imagined)

“Something to smile about” - Rev Smith’s final sermon. If you endured last week’s Bible Study, why not join us again on Thursday.

Find out what Eternity is like: Mr Jones’ study course on Friday evening.

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St. George's Church Directory Churchwardens: Mrs Jan Payne 8776 0185 Mr Alexander Baldwin-Smith Members of the PCC Mrs Penny Bloss, Mr Derek Hands, Mr Michael Ellis, Mrs Wendy Ellis, Mr Stephen Barker, Mrs Heather Barker, Mr Evan Russell, Mrs Margaret Ziolek, Miss Sophie Clayton, Mrs Andrea Cordery, Mrs Liz Bebington Hon. Secretary PCC. Mrs. Vivienne Windheuser 8655 2366 Treasurer Mr. Derek Hands 8777 7370 Deanery Synod Representatives: Mr Ray Wheeler, Mr Alexander Baldwin-Smith Stewardship Covenant Secretary Miss Sheila Fenner 8655 0023 Electoral Roll Officer Mr. Owen Whalley 8655 1349 Organist and Choir Mistress MIss Sophie Clayton 8777 0334 07703554159 Safeguarding Representatives Mrs. Susan Wheeler. 8777 5271 Mr Mike Bloss 8656 9008 Church Flowers Mrs. Marion Sheehan 8777 7308 Server Rota Mr Ray Wheeler 8777 5271 Baptisms Miss Lucy Lawrence [email protected]

The Parish Magazine

Editor:

Mr. Brian McGinnis 31 Woodmere Avenue, Shirley CR0 7PG 8654 6190

Accounts Mrs. Janet Fitt 87777823 Adverts Janet Fitt or Brian McGinnis

saint george’s parish magazine august 2020 …...page 3 august 2020 saint george’s parish...

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