A monthly bulletin of all that is accomplished by and within our church's community

Vicar’s Diary

My first notable event in February was a trip to a brewery! Simon Chadwick bid for and won a guided tour of Fuller’s Brewery in Chiswick at the Charity Market Promise Auction. He very kindly shared his purchase with Peter Wilkinson, Matthew McAllister and me. We had an excellent guided tour, after which there was a chance to sample the brewery’s products in considerable quantity. Sadly, I had to leave at that point as I had a Mass to celebrate! My thanks to Simon for including me, and my apologies for not drinking any free beer!

The following day I attended a Chapter meeting, at which we were told about the Church of England’s response to new religious movements and alternative spiritualities. A Mission Party was held at the vicarage the following Sunday, with a very good number in attendance; Douggie and Duncan Ashby proved to be excellent crisp waiters!

February included a range of other meetings, including Christians Together, which reviewed this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and looked ahead to the Good Friday Walk of Witness.

I attended the 2010 “Boyle Lecture” in St Mary Aldermary Church in the City, with the title “The Legacy of Robert Boyle – Then and Now.” Boyle was a 17th century scientist and theologian who left money to endow an annual lecture on science and religion. The lecture was revived seven years ago in St Mary le Bow Church, and invites a major speaker who is both a noted scientist and a practising Christian.

Lent got underway with our usual Mass on Ash Wednesday and the imposition of ashes. The choir were in good voice, offering us Byrd’s “Mass for Three Voices” and Wesley’s “Wash me thoroughly.” On four evenings in Lent I shall be giving talks on the evangelists and the challenges they present us with for this penitential season; the talks will be in the context of a service of penitence.

The Revd Dr Judith Stephenson, Keith’s wife, was our guest preacher on 21st February, telling us something of the work of the West London YMCA, of which she is chaplain. I gave a guided tour of the church to children from Aston House School, one of the schools in the parish. Deanery Synod met at Meadow House Hospice for a presentation by one of the consultants on “Current Issues in End of Life Care.” The month drew to a close with a Healing Mass and Choral Evensong sung by the choir.

Mark Powell

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Ash Wednesday

Celebrated this year on Wednesday 17th February, Ash Wednesday (the seventh Wednesday before Easter) was the start of the most important season in the Church Calendar, namely Lent, and the preparation for the agony of Good Friday and the glory of Easter Morning.

For the Imposition of the Ashes - where the burnt ashes of the palm crosses from Palm Sunday of the previous year are imprinted in the shape of a cross on the foreheads of those present with the poignant words "remember you are dust and to dust you shall return" - our Vicar uses a splendid container made of wood.

This vessel was made for him by a member of the congregation at his previous parish in Watford . Particularly notable is the cross on the top, which is made from the wood of a yew tree that once stood in the grounds of that church.

 The Imposition of Ashes is an important part of this service and is a token of both penitence and mortality.

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Synod

The Ealing Deanery Synod met at Meadow House, Ealing Hospital , on the evening of Tuesday 23rd February. Chaired by the Area Dean, the Revd Andrew Corsie, the focus of this session was on the work of this hospice.

The Revd Maggie Davidge-Smith, Chaplain, welcomed everyone and provided an introduction to its work. Geraldine Nevin, head nurse at Meadow House, explained that the hospice was a part of the Specialist Palliative Care Service and provided care for the residents of the Boroughs of Ealing and Hounslow.

The main speaker was Dr Emma Thompson who addressed the sensitive issues involved with end of life care and the management of suffering and uncertainty. She explained the role of the hospice in providing relief from pain and the support it gave to patients and families at what is always a difficult time.

St Peter's is represented on this Synod by the Vicar, Trevor Bates, Wendy Quill and myself.

Rosamund Rowe

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YMCA

On Sunday 21st February we were delighted to welcome back the Revd Dr Judith Stephenson, Chaplain to the West London YMCA, as our preacher. St Peter's has recently supported the work of the YMCA in this part of London, and Judith provided an interesting, wide ranging and stimulating summary of the work and worldwide impact of this highly respected organisation.

The YMCA was founded by George Williams. He said of himself that he had been a 'careless, thoughtless, godless, swearing young fellow,' but he became a committed and devout Christian. He moved to London to work as a draper and was appalled by the conditions in which many young men lived and worked and, together with some friends and colleagues, they set out to create somewhere for such men to live where they would not be tempted continually by sin. He founded the YMCA, which is now the biggest ecumenical youth organisation in the world. The Ealing YMCA (now the West London YMCA) was founded 140 years ago in 1870.

In the photograph below, Judith is talking with Pat Hampton after the service.

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Geistliches Lied

The anthem during communion at this service was 'Geistliches Lied' by Johannes Brahms, sung by our choir in German. The words are beautiful and are translated as:

Do not be sorrowful or regretful;
be calm, as God has ordained,
and thus my will shall be content.

What do you want to worry about from day to day?
There is One who stands above all
who gives you, too, what is yours.

Only be steadfast in all you do,
stand firm; what God has decided,
that is and must be the best.
Amen.

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Past Times

100 years ago - the March 1910 edition of the parish newsletter, in a section entitled 'Short Notes,' was the following:

"The Memorial Pulpit Committee has been engaged in considering designs submitted by Mr E H Seddiley (the nephew of the architect of the church)."

Under a section on 'Meetings' was the following:

"Yet one more Society is going to appeal to us in the person of the 'Waifs and Strays Society.' It is already well known to us, as the children of the Children's Service are already, we hope, busily laying siege to the generosity of their parents and friends for Lenten savings."

In an article entitled 'Infant Mortality' we read:

"....while it is generally true that the general death rate has declined from 20.8 per thousand in 1851 to 15.4 per thousand in 1906, there has been no decrease in the Infant Mortality Rate."

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Cracks in the Wall

At our Healing Mass on Sunday 28th February our preacher was the Revd Harold Stringer who looked at the extraordinary place that the city of Jerusalem has played in middle eastern and western history and religion since the time of Abraham, and its continuing influence on the behaviour of all the Abrahamic faiths and the politics of the middle east.

After Mass he gave a talk in the church hall entitled "Cracks in the Wall - Despair and Hope in Israel-Palestine." There was a very good turn-out for this interesting session, which was greatly appreciated by all those who attended. The talk was followed by a bread and cheese lunch provided by Susan and Richard Peatfield.

You may recall seeing a short and stimulating article by Harold in the February edition of the Parish Chest where he wrote about his recent trip to Jerusalem where Jews, Christians and Muslims met together to listen to each other, to discuss differences and to share views.

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Financial Update

 The year started poorly with a deficit in the first month of expenditure over income of £2,777 and, although it is very early days in the new financial year, the desire to achieve a balanced budget in 2010 is looking under threat already.
Rosamund Rowe

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Maintenance

A small working party gave up a couple of hours on a Saturday morning at the end of February to attend to the under-floor heating system in the church which gets clogged up with dust, cobwebs, confetti, pine-needles (from the annual Christmas Tree display), sweet papers, the odd coin of the realm and even a cigarette butt.

The opportunity was also taken to sweep the stairs to the belfry as well as the south gallery, and remove several cobwebs high up on several windows where, no doubt, the spiders felt they were safe from the long arm of a churchwarden precariously perched atop a ladder with a long-handled broom!

Here we see Michael Brewin together with Richard Peatfield, and Simon Chadwick together with Angus McAvoy, using a powerful industrial cleaner to remove some of the unwanted debris from the floor-heating ducts in the central and south aisles.

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Snippets

Some further snippets seen in various church magazines and bulletins which might amuse you include:

"Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their schooldays."

"Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones."

"Weight Watchers will meet at 7pm at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use the large double door at the side entrance."

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To stand and stare

September's Parish Chest invited us to "stand and stare" at our church's stained glass windows. The expression "stand and stare" reminded me of a poem by W H Davies:

What is this life if full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep and cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see in broad daylight
Streams full of stars, like stars at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eye began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

I'm sorry it's taken me so long since September to share this with you - my delay perhaps indicates that I have taken too much to heart the poem's exhortation to "stand and stare"!

Keith Stephenson

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Evensong

When visiting any city in England , Christine and I always check to see what is on offer at the local cathedral and, without fail, Evensong is on the menu - sometimes seven evenings a week! My guess is that this is one of those services to which many Anglicans are very sentimentally attached both for the simplicity of the service and the atmosphere that it seems to create as, inevitably, it coincides with dusk.

Throughout Lent, Evensong is celebrated at St Peter's every Sunday evening at 5.30pm. Based on the standard service from the Book of Common Prayer, (the language of which is simply quite beautiful), we sing the appointed Psalm, the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, and hymns generally written for the end of the day, including favourites such as 'Glory to thee, my God this night' and 'The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended.' There are set readings and central to the service are the Apostles' Creed and the prayers.

There are usually eight to a dozen of us present and everyone who attends sits in the choir stalls (as you would do at Wells or Lincoln or York Minster).

On Sunday 28th February we were joined by the church choir, which doubled our numbers. The singing was superb and having the choir there made for a great occasion. The settings for the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis were by Walmisley and the Anthem "Call to Remembrance" was by Farrant.

 Trevor Bates

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Four Evangelists and Four Tasks for Lent

 A series of penitential services with talks and discussion on the challenges for Lent presented to us in the gospels.

 In the Lady Chapel at 8.00pm

 Wednesday 24th February
Wednesday 3rd March
Wednesday 10th March
TUESDAY 16th March

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Collective Nouns

Once a year all newly appointed and reappointed Churchwardens within the Ealing Deanery meet at the beginning of their new term of office for a service of celebration. At one of these gatherings I was asked what I thought might be a suitable collective noun for a group of Churchwardens and I said that a "faculty" might be very appropriate.

On one particular occasion when I was sharing Churchwarden duties with Susan Peatfield and five Welcomers had turned up, when we were only expecting the usual four, she said that we had an "Embarrassment" of Welcomers.

And on another occasion, at one of our great festival celebrations, we had one Director of Music conducting the choir, another past Director of Music on the Organ and yet another sitting in the congregation and someone said to me that we had a "Cacophony" of Organists.

I thought it would be fun to ask the readers for their suggestions for any appropriate collective nouns for the various groups of people we have at St Peter's - from flower arrangers to altar servers, and from providers of coffee and tea on a Sunday to ordained ministers. Let me know what you think and we may be able to publish a compendium in a future edition of the Parish Chest.

 Trevor Bates.

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Please remember in your prayers the following people whose year's mind falls at this time:

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We would like to thank our advertisers for supporting St Peter's Church.

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DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Social Events for 2010

Saturday, 30th January - Quiz Supper

Saturday, 20th March - Visit to Handel House Museum

Saturday, 25th April - APCM Lunch

Thursday, 13th May - Ascension Day

Tuesday, 29th June - Petertide

Sunday, 11th July - Jazz Party

Sunday, 5th September - Beating the Bounds

Saturday, 11th September - Wine Tasting Evening

Saturday, 2nd October - Harvest Supper

Saturday, 27th November - Charity Market

Sunday, 19th December - Carol Service

Saturday, 29th January 2011 - Quiz Supper

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