Selected
Articles
from the
Emmanuel Church
Monthly Newsletter
February 2008
Our
Christmas Charity ... Well Done!
The Sunday Gift Day
Morning 584.00
Evening 209.15
Christmas Eve/Day 122.12
Anonymous gifts 190.00
Princes Street URC 600.00
The result of our Christmas Charity was incredible. A cheque for £1705.27
has been sent to the PET Project. It happened to arrive on the day the volunteers
were having a meeting. Told of it, they broke into spontaneous and vigorous
applause! Our Christmas effort means that, somewhere in the world twelve or
so people, previously immobile will be able to live normal lives - travel, shop,
go to school or church etc. with minimum problems. We will never know them;
they will not know who has made not possible but for them a 'miracle' will have
happened. It was good to see two churches - Emmanuel and Princes St, Norwich
(who made it one of their monthly charities) cooperating. Personal contacts
with America also means that there were no bank charges for the transfer from
Sterling to Dollars.
350th Anniversary News
1. A collector's item
To mark our 350th anniversary, we have commissioned the Great Yarmouth Pottery
to make us some fine bone china mugs. Priced at £5.00, these make attractive
and useful gifts for friends, family or yourselves.
The china mugs will be available at the celebratory events being held throughout
the year, or let me know if you want to order or purchase them. Presentation
boxes are available at 50p.(Julia Awty)
2. A gift for the future
We have received so much from the courage, energy and faith of previous generations
that we want to show practical help for those who follow us. At the opening
service of our 350th Year plans to do this were explained. There will be a Gift
Day on the morning of Saturday October 18th. Gift envelopes will be made available
by the Finance Committee in the autumn and the Minister will receive them from
us on October 18th in the Vestry. Coffee and biscuits (no charge!) will be available
in the Emmaus Room throughout the morning - a chance for people to meet and
talk. For those who prefer to save over a longer period, small collecting boxes
are available now. A few will normally be available in the Emmaus Room in the
basket with the 350th leaflets.
From the money received at the Gift Day 10% will be added to our Emergency &
Development Fund so that we can give immediate help in such circumstances as
floods, drought etc. 90% will become a Reserve Fund. This will not be used for
'general expenses' such as paying the electricity bill. It will be kept for
Emmanuel's future development or mission. Past generations served us; we want
to serve the future. (The 350 committee)
The Big Challenge
The
opening service of the Anniversary Year on January 6th made it clear that in
the coming months we will be looking back in celebration - but also preparing
our future. At the January Church Meeting a plan was devised for this.
It sets out five simple steps which begin in March this year and conclude in
Lent 2009. It aims to put Emmanuel under the microscope. This is a brief summary
-
· each organisation in the church is asked to review its life,
· all members and friends of Emmanuel are all asked to write
down 'my thoughts about Emmanuel's future'.
Then
· two groups of people will use these thoughts as starting points for
deeper discussion about the future life of Emmanuel,
· hopefully these discussions will lead to analysis that can go to a
special Church Meeting next year, to take what action is decided.
The
Big Challenge for you
Church groups and organisations If you lead a church group, organisation or
committee of any kind please set aside enough time - preferably not at the end
of a long agenda - to decide what your group/committee's strengths and weaknesses
are. What might your group look like in 5 years time? What is the purpose of
your group and are you achieving your aims. Do you need help from the wider
church membership?
Individual members Start thinking and praying now about your ideas, hopes, fears,
anxieties, delights as you come to Emmanuel. Everyone's thoughts will be important.
But don't write anything yet - take time to think and pray first. Later, you
will be asked to put thoughts on paper.
(from the 350 committee on behalf of the Church Meeting)
Two
important "350th" events
On Sunday March 2nd the Revd. Dr. Stephen Orchard will lead our morning worship.
Stephen is currently the Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed
Church. Born in Derby, he trained for the Congregational Ministry at Cheshunt
College, Cambridge. After Cheshunt and Westminster Colleges amalgamated, he
returned as Principal. Betweenwhiles, he served three local churches: Abercarn
(S. Wales), Sutton (Surrey), and Welwyn Garden City. He has also been a Secretary
within both the British Council of Churches, and the Christian Education Movement
which supports religious education in schools. Throughout his ministry he has
maintained close contact with local churches, and written hymns and worship
material. Currently he is a member, with his wife Linda, at the West Derbyshire
U.R.C.
Within the service on March 2nd Stephen will present commemorative Bibles to
our children. It will be one way they will remember our 350 years celebrations.
Sunday
March 9th. Dr. J Clyde Binfield leads worship on the following Sunday.
Clyde is a foremost historian in the field of Nonconformity and the Dissenting
Churches. Brought up in Kent, his Congregational family roots can be traced
back to the early 18th century. He has been a member of our churches in Dover,
Cambridge, and Sheffield. He is currently President of the URC History Society
and editor of its journal. Author of numerous articles especially on Congregational
history, he taught in the History Department of Sheffield University and was
latterly Head of Department. But don't imagine for a moment that he will talk
'above our heads'. Clyde has a natural ability to relate his subject to his
audience.
His Ph. D. was on Nonconformity in East Anglia. We are very fortunate that he
can visit us. After a shared lunch following the morning service, he will talk
on the subject Shaping Nonconformity in East Anglia. Please give his visit high
priority in your diary and do invite you friends to the lecture which begins
at 2pm.
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Can you help your Church?
By providing hospitality for our Dutch visitors
Our friends from Hellevoetsluis are visiting us over the Bank Holiday, staying
from the evening of Friday May 2nd to the evening of Monday May 5th.
As in the past we need host families to look after them. Please contact any
member of the Dutch Committee (Julia Awty, Janet Gibbs, Sheila Inwards, Steven
Johnson or Molly Martin) for further details.
Julia Awty
By Gift Aiding your offertory or other financial gifts to
Emmanuel
In the coming financial year the amount recoverable from Gift Aid donations
will be reduced from 28p in the £1 to 25p. Whilst it is good news is that
this is due to a reduction in income tax, the bad news is that Emmanuel's income
through the Gift Aid will be reduced.
I sincerely urge all members and friends of Emmanuel who do not yet do so, to
sign a Gift Aid declaration.
Please contact me for further details. Even if you do not pay tax yourself,
a close friend can 'donate' on your behalf.
Dick Grave
By helping our children cross the road safely
WANTED! A group of people to form a new Crossing patrol team, on Sunday mornings.
Please see me for a job description.
Caroline Aldous
By using our advertisers and saying you belong to Emmanuel
One of our advertisers has withdrawn from The Newsletter because he doubts whether
over several years it has attracted any new customers.
It may have done so without his knowing it but, when using his services we failed
to identify ourselves as Emmanuel people.
The Editor - Donald Hilton
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A
Many-Stranded Rope
The history of our Church is a many-stranded rope made up of faithful people
supporting one another; faith entwined with faith across the generations. They
have come from Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Holland - our tradition has been open
to a variety of different influences. For example, all along the Waveney Valley
the tradition of self-supporting congregations was refreshed by an influx of
energetic men and women due to the population changes during World War 2.
Earlier, the 19th century had seen a succession of influential men. Born in
1830, Henry Wightman, founder of the drapers, broke the Establishment monopoly
to become Town Reeve (4 times). He was a Congregational Deacon and also superintendent
of the Sunday School. William David Walker, born in 1847 operated a fleet of
wherries on the Waveney. He was also a long-serving Deacon and made a public
path, now called The Folly between his house Dunhelm and Upper Olland Street
- a short cut to church. Town Reeve five times, he allied civic service to a
commitment to the Congregational Church, as did H. N. Rumsby (1869-1945) - County
Councillor and Town Reeve, and also R.E. Wightman (1887-1970) a Congregational
Life-Deacon also involved in town affairs.
All these stand in the tradition of John Childs (1784-1853) whose memorial window
can be seen in the Lecture Hall. He lived in an era when incredibly, the Church
of England had the right to exact financial payment from all citizens including
members of other churches. He refused to pay and was imprisoned. He had sensed
that the time was ripe to rebel against such an unjust practice and found he
had created a successful nationwide protest. As a printer, he also rebelled
against the monopoly the ancient Universities had in publishing the Bible; another
cause which he won. His son Charles (1807-1876) continued in the same tradition
as well as founding the Congregational Church choir in 1847.
The strands of the rope are strong and still support our witness.
(Based on extensive notes provided by Margaret Baillie)
A
Tale for Shrove Tuesday
A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin 5, and Ryan 3.
The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw
a wonderful opportunity for a moral lesson on good behaviour.
'If Jesus was sitting here', she said, 'He would say: 'Let my brother have the
first pancake. I will wait.'
Kevin turned to his younger brother and said 'Ryan, I'll let you be Jesus, today'
Mothering
Sunday - March 2nd 2008.
Mothering Sunday developed from an old custom which allowed girls 'in service'
in the big houses to return home half-way though Lent. They would visit their
own mother and also the 'mother church' where they had been baptised. They would
take their mother a gift, probably something they had
cooked as evidence of their growing domestic ability.
The Gift
A bunch of daffodils
clutched tight within an infant grasp,
a smiling face above, infused with pride.
'For Mummy', he said.
'Just for her', and meant it.
And all the hype of market stall and florist shop,
extortion with its easy advertising,
false pressure,
and the flowers forced to bloom,
suddenly,
seemed worth it.