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Mission Statement


This is a place of worship, meeting and quietness in a distracted world.
Its people are seeking to grow together in the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ and are working to extend his kingdom of justice and peace.
You are welcome to join in our fellowship and service of others.

Come and See
Come and Share

Contact


Holy Trinity Church
Hoghton Street
Southport

Vicar:
Revd Canon Dr. Rod Garner
Tel/Fax: (01704) 538560

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Parish Magazine Online

November 2008


PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A PDF VERSION OF THE NOVEMBER PARISH MAGAZINE
CONTENTS
    Please Remember
    Have I Told You?
    Musical Steps
    Wall Street Crash
    Want to Marry in Church?
    Big City
    Parish Dinner
    Holy Trinity Fellowship
    Why Should I Make a Will?
    Autumn Fair
    Sermon Preached by Canon Dr. Rod Garner
    Holy Trinity School Update
    Fairtrade Miscellaneous for November

PLEASE REMEMBER
November is the month of Remembrance. The Church recognises this with All Souls Day and All Saints Day. The nation remembers it's fallen in two World Wars and subsequent conflicts on Remembrance Day, November 11.

The relevance of the 11th day has increased because of the two ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. People are aware of the sacrifice of young lives but many ignore the associated damage to families and friends of victims. Today, so few families have members serving in the Armed Forces that the whole issue does not impact on as many people as perhaps in the World Wars when almost everyone had a relative, friend or neighbour involved. Sadly this seems to be reflected in Parliament where only a handful of members have any experience of service to the colours.

The lack of concern shown has meant that the covenant between the forces and the country has been broken. The covenant accepted that men and women who were members of the Armed Services would undertake rigorous training and be prepared to sacrifice time away from home, extremes of physical and climatic conditions and, if necessary, forfeit their lives for whatever cause our government should choose. In return, the country was expected to provide specialised care of the wounded and sick, public recognition for the work they had undertaken and decent accommodation and welfare provision for their families who remained behind.

Ways in which you can help:
o If you see a serviceman or woman thank them for what they are doing
o Support any homecoming parades by your attendance
o Make known that the services are doing the government's bidding and that we should support our troops whether or not we agree with the present conflicts
o Write to you MP or the Secretary for Defence to ask for the covenant conditions to be respected
o Support the appeal from Support Our Soldiers or Help for Heroes by donating money or a Christmas parcel.

Last year the good people of Holy Trinity donated some £160 plus a number of Christmas parcels. This was all used to send some Christmas cheer to men and women serving in the front line against terrorism.

Unbelievably, the Ministry of Defence are limiting the number of Christmas parcels to 12,000 because any more would make it difficult for other goods to be transported to the troops. (A few more planes and helicopters might be an alternative solution!!!!) So this year we are appealing for goods which can be sent later in the year and / or money. The closing date for donations of goods or money is Sunday 23rd November.

Donations can be handed to Graham or Liz Walker at church. Lists of suitable items can be found at the back of church.

In conclusion here is an extract from a thank you letter received last year. "I wanted to send you a thank you from everyone at 40 Commando for all the things you have sent out. We have been genuinely AMAZED at how wonderful everyone has been back home. I cannot begin to thank you all enough. Thanks to the great British public I think we will have as merry a Christmas as could be expected in Helmand. Thank you all so very much to everyone who contributed. We won't forget it."

Have I Told You?
Have I told you that for the past few years I have had the privilege and the honour to carry the wreath of poppies on Remembrance Day Service held at my church at Stambridge? I have always been overwhelmed at the responsibility placed on me as the representative of so many young people, both men and women, many of whom made the final sacrifice. I have yet to say the first two lines of the immortal poem 'They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old' without a lump coming to my throat and a tear to my eye.

All through my war service I was unable to hate the enemy as I was expected to do. I am not claiming that I loved him but neither did I hate. The connection between this inability to hate and the Remembrance Service becomes clear when I tell you that while I am remembering my own countrymen I also include in my remembrance the erstwhile enemy.

Two examples of my experiences make it even clearer.

I was stood in a forest area at the Battle of the Falaise Gap when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I was waiting for my platoon to close up so I was quite alone. As I turned round I saw a German soldier armed with every weapon in the army manual and my first thought was to surrender. 'Nein, nein' he said, 'me kamerad, I am your prisoner'. That soldier could easily have killed me in the circumstances that held but did not do so. In effect he spared my life.

Shortly after this event I was badly wounded and placed in an ambulance to take me to the base hospital at Bayeux some distance away. The roads were not good and very bump in the ambulance was absolute agony as I could not protect myself from the movement. The only other person in the back of the ambulance with me was a young German soldier who had bad shoulder wounds.

Each movement for him was agony but for the whole time his chief interest appeared to be to protect me as far as possible from the painful journey.

It is no small wonder that I remember with gratitude these two 'enemies'. I hope no-one will think it inappropriate for me to have them in my mind when I am expressing the nation's thanks for our own countrymen. If any of my readers do so may I suggest they seek another opinion and ask the vicar!
Jack Watson
July 2008

Musical Steps
Every Tuesday Morning in the Parish Centre there are music classes for babies and toddlers. This is an opportunity to have fun and help very young children develop a love of everything musical. If you are interested in finding out more about these classes please contact June on 07757804922.

Wall Street Crash
Almost two weeks into our stay here on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley, there is not much evidence of a nation in financial crisis. Maybe you take such things in your stride when you are living on the surface of a geological fault line that caused a massive earthquake in 1906 and will do so again in the imaginable future, probably resulting in 5000 deaths and billons of dollars of damage. You enjoy life here to the max but tucked away ever so discreetly in a dark recess of the mind, is the disquieting truth that one day - tomorrow or scores of years hence - the ground is going to open beneath your feet. It certainly puts zest into daily living and encourages you to smell the roses!

one major story that has caught my eye regarding Wall Street and all its woes is the admission by Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the American Federal Reserve for eighteen years, that he had been devastated by the collapse of so many financial institutions. In his own words he was 'shocked....mistaken....partially wrong...and distressed' that the free market ideology he had championed for so long had a fatal flaw. His faith in this system had led him to believe that a deregulated market working outside the constraints of Government was capable of protecting shareholders' interests. He was wrong. Terribly wrong and the consequences for many have proved disastrous.

It strikes me that there are three important lessons here. First: we should not put too much faith in ideologies - financial, political or, for that matter, religious.

When a financier or a President (or Prime Minister) or religious guru tells us 'this is the only way and there is no alternative' we need to be on our guard. Ideologies do not fall from the sky or come freshly minted from heaven. They are the work of human minds, are always open to scrutiny or revision and sometimes prove flawed. Secondly, we all have to learn that on really huge issues we are sometimes mistaken big time. Humbling and embarrassing as that is, it does make for humility. Clever or otherwise, we sometimes get it awfully wrong. Finally, we cannot leave out of this mess an awkward fact of human nature. Greasy little mitts in the till, a wanton disregard for the consequences of reckless investments and the feathering of private nests tell us that Christian teaching on the dark side of the human enterprise is spot on after all. We are a little lower than the angels in one respect but in another we are an 'accident waiting to happen,' Sometimes our shadow proves more real than our light.
Rod Garner

Want to Marry in Church?
Wider wedding welcome for couples as the Church of England names the day.

Thousands of couples dreaming of a church wedding will find more churches to choose from as of 1st October 2008 - the day when the new Church of England Marriage Measure 2008 comes into effect. It means that the Church of England's network of 16,000 churches - ancient and modern, intimate or grand, simple or spectacular - can offer a wider wedding welcome than at any time in the Church's history.

The Marriage Measure completed its parliamentary process this summer. Up until now, the law established the right for a couple to marry in the parish church where one or both of them live, whether they are baptised or not, and whether they are churchgoers or not. To marry in any other parish required a special licence or six months of regular attendance followed by entry on the local church electoral roll. But the new laws, initiated by the Church of England and now approved by Parliament, have added to this right of residency, making it just as easy for couples to marry in a church where they have a family or other special connection, even if they don't live there.

The General Synod decided that the existing laws were too restrictive in a mobile society and took the initiative to change them last July. Synod wanted churches all over England to be free to celebrate more weddings and support more marriages.

So the new measure adds what it calls "Qualifying Connections" which recognise that although they may no longer live within the parish this is still in a very real sense their church. The changes will mean couples are welcome to be married in church in a parish if just one of these applies:
One of them was baptised or prepared for confirmation in the parish:
One of them has ever lived in the parish for six months or more;
One of them has at any time regularly attended public worship in the parish for six months or more;
One of their parents has lived in the parish for six months or more in their child's lifetime;
One of their parents has regularly attended public worship there for six months or more in their child's lifetime;
Their parents or grandparents were married in the parish.

Marriage is a vital part of the well-being of our society and if the church can have even a small part in setting couples off on that particular journey, it is to be encouraged.

BIG CITY by David Vickers
I'd heard about the reputation London had for having a racy pace.

Recently, I had an opportunity to check it out for myself. If I were a betting man which I'm pleased to say I'm not, well not on a grand scale anyway, I would be somewhat surprised if the phrase "at a snail's pace" headed up a section in a tourist guide. Such a pace however has an appeal for someone like me with no real experience of travel whatsoever or the speed of things I was about to encounter. Arriving at Euston Station generated a whole mixture of emotions for me in this place of perpetual ebb and flow, with oodles of get up and go.

I was completely overwhelmed and we had not even made it to the Tube station. Entering the Underground, I was conscious of dangers lurking.

Terrible experiences, imaginings so vivid convinced me that past terrors associated with these stations hadn't completely gone. Somehow they felt by my side, beating fear so nauseating, that I felt I was about to faint. I was encapsulated in this hopeless, claustrophobic cell of sultry heat bursting with the deafening sound of people scurrying around like demented rats! Up and down they went, hustling and bustling their way around this intricate network of tiled and cobbled stone pipe work.

Worse was to come. All joined into one as we boarded the train. Wafts of pungent odour everywhere as we crammed inside the train like sardines hanging on for grim death! Reassurance was futile even though there were only two more stops until we got off.

Finally we arrive. What more can I say. Welcome to Westminster! I took a step back mesmerized by these magnificent buildings. They superseded my earlier impressions of London as a dirty smoggy place, overrated because of its capital status. I guess I may have read too much Dickens. Nevertheless it had dawned on me that I was finally in the big city; awestruck, observing so many architectural delights, appreciating the master craftsmen's design.

However there was one I truly wanted to see, Britain's heartbeat, the Control Centre. Against a backdrop of dappled sunlight and showers, I got to see the place where arguing ensues with views affecting me and you. The Houses of Parliament are overshadowed by armed guards constantly watching on a high state of alert of a terrorist attack. This opened my eyes to the real dangers and threats this great country now faces. London is huge and vibrant. People going about their business without a care or a glance concerned only with where it is they have to go is normal I guess, in this place where I shouldn't think anyone ever truly sleeps. I know it's a well known cliché,' if you can't stand the paces don't be in the races!'

London is not for the faint hearted. I would love to go back. There are sites I have yet to see. It's definitely not for people wanting a slower pace of life. I was glad to come back to the pace I'm used to. I can see now that the big city is one big mad mash hash dash. But for what? Maybe I'll stay a snail!

Parish Dinner
The Trinity Parish Dinner will be held on Saturday 29th November in the Parish Centre. This was always known as the "Restoration Dinner" and has been held every year since the Restoration of the church began many years ago. It will be hosted as usual by Hilda Blomley and Doreen Blagbrough with the help from their very good friends. Tickets will be on sale shortly and will be priced at £8. This includes a four course dinner, a glass of wine and of course good company. Please book early to help with the catering, demand is usually high.

Holy Trinity Fellowship
The next meeting will be held on 11th November. Please join us to welcome Mr Richard Waterfield who is going to talk about "Waterfields Bakery". I am sure most of you have heard or shopped at these very well known shops; there is one in town and another in Churchtown and many, many more. The meeting will be followed as usual by tea and biscuits. Please join us and note men are very welcome always.

Why Should I Make a Will?
To protect your family and make sure your wishes are carried out. If you have children under 18 years of age, you should make a will to protect them in case you die young. In England if you die without a valid will, the Family Division of the Courts, rather then your family or friends, will decide what happens to your possessions. The Courts strict rules do not include unmarried partners or friends or churches or charities. So, to be sure YOUR wishes are carried out, please consider making a will!

Why is the Church concerned about this?br For nearly 500 years the Church of England has encouraged people to make wills, and the Book of Common Prayer has a specific reminder to "settle their estates whilst they are in good health". It is important that your wishes are carried out and that grieving family and friends are not placed under additional stress because you didn't leave a valid will. In addition to this fact there is also a spiritual dimension.

"Everything comes from you, O Lord, and of your own have we given you". 1 Chronicles 29 v14.

The traditional offertory prayer is based around these words. They remind us that everything we have is on loan from God during our earthly lifetime. Christians are particularly generous in their lifetimes and should be no different in death. Over the centuries, generous Church members have left gifts to their local churches in their wills. These gifts have not only represented an offering of thanks to God, but many have been transformational in helping their parish in its mission and ministry.

How can I make a will?
The best way to make a will is to see a solicitor, who is trained in all aspects of the law and tax and is insured to protect his clients What must I do before I see the solicitor? Making a will is like writing a very special Christmas list in addition to providing you with a wonderful opportunity to say 'Thank you' to God and all those you care about. You will need to have a general idea of what you own (called your assets), anything you owe, how you want to divide your assets up after you die, and who you want to act as your executors (they make sure your wishes are carried out correctly). You should name two executors who are younger than you and would be competent and confident to assume the role. You can appoint a solicitor or accountant to act as an executor but they will charge for their services. Friends can benefit from your estate even if they are your executors.

Will Aid month
November 2008 has been designated 'Will Aid' month. Will Aid is a method by which individuals, or couples, go to participating solicitors to make or update their Will and then instead of paying the solicitor a fee for drawing up the Will, they make a donation to Will Aid.

Donations are then made by Will Aid to various charities including:
Action-Aid; British Red Cross; Christian Aid; Help the Aged; NSPCC; Save the Children UK;SCIAF; Trocaire. Sightsavers International;

The suggested donation level is £75 for a single Will, £110 for a pair of matching 'mirror' Wills, or £40 for a codicil to an existing Will.

If you have not yet made a Will or are considering updating your present will, please take the time to consider your options and most especially consider the benefits of the Will Aid month in November. With very best wishes
Bill Bennion
Parish Giving Officer

Autumn Fair
This years Autumn Fair is to be held in the Parish Centre on Saturday 22nd November. We have a vast array of stalls again this year and stall-holders would be grateful for donations of things to sell, anything from cakes, fancy goods, tinned food, books and videos, bottles (full please) and gifts for the raffle. Help is always needed both on the stalls and in the kitchen and if anyone would like to volunteer please see either Sue Palmer or Ken Dix. Let us make this the best we have ever had!

Sermon Preached by Canon Dr. Rod Garner
Vicar of Holy Trinity, Southport and Theological Consultant for the Diocese of Liverpool, England
Sunday 20 October, 2008 at 10.00am

Greetings from Liverpool, England and from my wife, Christine who is here with me this morning. We have had a terrific week on the Berkeley campus - sunshine, students, smiling faces and all those stunning buildings. I thought of some lines from Wordsworth as we made our way around - 'bliss was it to be alive in that dawn and to be young was very heaven.' Well, we are not young any more, but we sure felt good! We are to be followed soon by our younger son, George - an American Studies graduate with a deep passion for this country. He plans to go down into the ocean to encounter a Great White shark and, if he survives! drink coffee where Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg (two of his literary heroes) wrote their poems. I've already located one of the sites and plan to beat him to it - no father, son rivalry there you understand! Ginsberg frequented the Caffee Mediterranean on 2475 Telegraph. My travel guide confirms this fact and also notes that the location 'is a relic of 60s era Berkeley cafe culture.' My heart sank a little when I registered that word 'relic': it smacked of nostalgia or, worse, irrelevance or redundancy. There is a weighing machine in the Divinity School office that seems oddly out of place amidst the technology that surrounds it. No one actually uses it - it just stands there forlornly as a curious anachronism, redolent of bygone days like the Sixties.

Now before those of us of a certain age start weeping inconsolably, let me be more positive and remind you that a relic also has a positive aspect. In religious terms, bones, hair, fingers - bits of severed bodies - or a fragment of a sacred shroud came to have profound significance for believers. With wood from the true cross, they could carry the day, stave off evil and stand against the devil and all his works.

A few days ago I spoke to students at the Seminary about the 19th century Anglican Church. The fact is for the better part of the first half of that century many onlookers regarded it as a relic, no longer fit for purpose, a shadow of its true self and a travesty of the love of God. Fortunately the Most High is never left without his witnesses and it was the vocation of William Wilberforce and his Evangelical followers to restore its tarnished image. Wilberforce brought about the abolition of the slave trade and called for a reformation of manners. In the pursuit of what he called 'vital christianity' he turned a gospel that was in danger of becoming a relic into a rescue remedy for those who were captive and longed to be free. For Wilberforce 'vital Christianity' entailed a return to the Bible, prayer, self-discipline and moral seriousness. He genuinely desired to lead a good life and sincerely wanted to be worthy of the name Christian. Taking some of the phrases from St. Paul earlier in this service, he longed to be an 'imitator of the Lord' and worked to encourage others to surrender their lives to the 'true and living God' in order to save them from 'the wrath that was to come.'

Now there is a great gulf between our own time and that of Wilberforce, as wide as the Atlantic that divides your preacher from yourselves. The fact is the Anglican Church doesn't do a wrathful God anymore, doesn't fret about the destiny of souls, doesn't overdo the terrors of judgment. And you all cry 'Alleluia, praise the Lord' for you trust that a God of Love leaves no room for hell fire and punishment.

I agree with you. But here's the deal and the question I want to leave you with. Can we really dispense with the idea that the gospel at one level has to do with judgment, that is to say, accountability for our thoughts and actions, knowledge of our waywardness and the need to change so we move a little closer to the light? Wilberforce came to be known as 'God's politician' because he wanted to change the system - so do we, so does Obama, so, allegedly does McCain - but he (Wilberforce) also wanted to change the habits of the human heart. It strikes me that Wilberforce's 'vital Christianity' offers you an important insight as you move to the ballot box and the making of a new President.

It's this:
Politics is not everything and can't do everything. It can't of itself make America a bright shining light or the last best hope for humanity. It can't redeem us, can't make us aware of our shadow, can't make us 'ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven.' We give to Caesar what is Caesar's as Jesus commended in our gospel reading, and we pray for leaders to inspire us and to do the right thing. But we look to God to save us from ourselves, to forgive our foolish ways and conform us to the mind of Christ. On that Berkeley campus as the students sang and danced and everything seemed so right with the world, I noticed an old man standing a few yards away, largely unheeded by the crowd. A relic if you like, carrying a placard proclaiming the words REPENT AND PREPARE. A marginal figure who nevertheless had the teaching of Jesus, John the Baptist and St. Paul on his side. I shall take both these images home with me. This amazing place with so much to offer in terms of freedom and joy and this solitary man reminding me of a revolution that has nothing to do with the barricades and protests that defined the student demonstrations of the turbulent 1960s. I'm talking about the 'long revolution' that must take place in our hearts and heads if we are serious about being Christian. 'We are the change we have been waiting for.' You know who said that but it's true only if we recognise there is still a way to go before we enter that strange and liberating world that is called the kingdom. Amen.

Holy Trinity School Update from the Headteacher, Sue Mawdsley
It is very important that learning is made real for our children so they can build on first hand experiences. This year in school we are reviewing our curriculum to ensure learning is as creative as possible and relates to our children's lives within this local community. We will be looking at ways we can make stronger and wider links with aspects of our church and the people within it. If you have any ideas or would like to join members of the congregation who give some valuable time to us please contact me at the school or see Rod. In the meantime, I thought you might like to read an article for our school newsletter written by two of our seven year old children following a visit to Roman Chester. 'This Wednesday we went to Chester for a Roman Day. Our topic is about the Romans and we had an amazing time. We saw a Roman man on the toilet! We saw what the Romans used to eat such as fish, chicken and even house mice. This man dressed as a Roman soldier took us to a Roman garden where we had pretend battles. We held shields and he was scary because he shouted a lot. Then we went marching around the streets and we had to say "Sin, sin, sin, dex, sin!!" which is Latin for "left, left, left, right, left." It was embarrassing because everybody was staring and laughing at us. We wouldn't want to have been a Roman soldier because you might be killed!!'
Reporters: Anisa Hussain and Gabby MacManus

Christmas seems to start earlier and earlier each year - we started rehearsing carols in the middle of October! We do, of course, have a legitimate reason in school as our Christmas is over at the end of term and all the decorations will be down by 19th December! As the festive season approaches I would like to welcome you warmly to join us in some of our Christmas events. At 2.30 on Thursday 18th December we have our Christmas Church Service. In addition, although the dates are still to be fixed, our choir will be singing Christmas songs and carols around Southport on the last couple of weeks of term. Our Christmas Choir 'Sing - Along' at the Parish Centre Luncheon Club was very popular last year - we hope you can come and join in this year. The date will be advertised at the Parish Centre. Lastly, on Saturday 13th December, we will be holding our annual Christmas Fair in the Parish Centre. Father Christmas will be there, as well as lots of Christmas stalls and games for all the family. Thank you to those members of the church who are continuing to support the work of our school - we really appreciate your time and commitment.

FAIRTRADE
John Sentamu, Archbishop of York said recently "If you choose to buy the non-Fairtrade product, you are actively choosing to contribute to the poverty of others". There is truth in the old saying that familiarity breeds contempt and now that most of us are familiar with fair trade, it is perhaps good that the Archbishop of York makes us stop and consider things from a different angle. Here are some facts to consider:
1) Developing countries lose $1.3 billion dollars every day due to unfair trade rules
2) For every £1 they are given in aid, developing countries lose £14 due to unfair trade
3) Poor countries' share of world trade has dropped 50% since 1981, it is now just 0.4%
4) Just a 1% increase in their share of the world market would lift 128 million people out of poverty
5) Just a 1% increase in the share of trade would generate $70 million dollars for Africa which is 5 times what it receives in aid
Buy from a Fairtrade stall and you are supporting an organisation which exists to fight poverty through trade. The Fair Trader community is the backbone of all that Traidcraft does and in their survey it revealed that over 90% of their traders were motivated by their faith. Please consider buying a product from the Fairtrade stall on a regular basis and support the very poorest people in the world. We would be able to keep the cost down by not having to pay postage and packing on larger orders. If you already support our stall at Holy Trinity, thank you. If not, why not try it, goods priced 20p upwards. The new Winter catalogue is available too.
Love
The Sunday School xxx