1 Jun 2005 - News from <i>The Link<i/>
The Churchwardens write ...
The weekend of 7 and 8 May saw Mike and Linda Lodge saying goodbye to St Luke's church as they move on to pastures new in Rayleigh. We all wish them every blessing as Mike starts this new stage in his ministry and hope that they will soon feel as welcome and as loved in their new parish as they were here in Cheltenham. Our prayers go with them.
Mike will be licensed and officially start his new post at an evening service at 7.45pm on Tuesday 14 June at Holy Trinity Church, Rayleigh. Whilst everyone is welcome to attend, it would be useful to know numbers so that we can let Rayleigh know how many to expect. If you are intending to go to Rayleigh please let us know.
St Luke's people gave generously for Mike and Linda and we were able to give them several gifts, namely:
Garden furniture
Set of Winchcombe pottery
a case of red wine
M & S vouchers
A fuschia shrub
A Cheltenham Town football shirt, signed by the team
A cheque for £1000 (a round sum - with more to come!)
Mike's departure will leave a big hole not only within the church but also in the life of St John's Church of England Primary School, the Parish and the town - including Cheltenham Town Football Club!
You may be thinking what happens to St Luke's now? Well we are still very much alive and will continue to function and grow. The church is well supported through its PCC and Working Groups and church life will go on. We will be helped by retired clergy, notably the Revd Geoffrey Cox and the Revd Victor Searle Barnes, but also by clergy and readers from around the Deanery and further afield.
The Churchwardens are officially in charge and if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us. We would like to know of anyone who needs special care, prayers or visiting, so that we can make sure that someone from the church is looking after them.
With the PCC, we are discussing with the Diocese and Deanery how the church may best be served during the interregnum and into the future. We will let you know of any important developments.
Peter Ralphs - 01452 613443
Simon Barton - 01242 515890
Cheltenham Open Houses 2005, 4-12 June 2005
This is a biannual event in which local artists open their studios to visitors. This year there are 95 artists at 51 different venues. I am participating in this event and shall be exhibiting my work in Church during that week. There is a free guide available. You can find times of my Private View and daily opening times in the Diary Dates panel.
Sylvia Lauder
GLORIOUS GLOUCESTERSHIRE
Flowers at Gloucester Cathedral
28-31 July
Glorious Gloucestershire will fill the Cathedral and its surroundings with a real celebration of summer and the county's natural bounty, including floral displays and arrangements created by teams of arrangers from all over the county and an exhibition in the Chapter House by the Gloucestershire Society of Artists. www.gloucestercathedral.org.uk. Entrance: £5 per person.
ST LUKE'S FLOWER BUNCH
at Glorious Gloucestershire
St Luke's Flower Bunch will be displaying at the Festival on the theme "St Luke's Church - One family in Christ".
Sponsors will include Bloomers.
Further offers of sponsorship - business or private - will be most welcome.
Michelle Porter-Babbage 511210.
A breath of fresh air
St. Mary Islington was the venue for a day conference recently called "Inciting insight: the Holy Spirit", held under the auspices of fulcrum. About 250 people attended from all over the country and for discussion we were grouped geographically so I was with a lecturer from Birmingham University, a curate from Edgbaston, a hospice chaplain from Stratford and so on. I also met a Vicar's wife from Chelmsford so I told her they would soon be getting a good new chap down the road.
The first topic was "the Holy Spirit in the church". If you're Bishop of Durham I suppose you have a venerable theological tradition to uphold and Tom Wright, eminent writer and broadcaster, did not disappoint. His talk was dazzling, brilliant, complex, ranging over the Law, the Torah, deism, dualism, pantheism and needless to say a bit above my head. He said the Third Person is to be found in Christ's bride, the church; without the Holy Spirit there is no church. He is also to be found in beauty, relationships and justice. Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom so.at Pentecost, the beginning of the church the Holy Spirit was the sign of the future in the present. As with the Tabernacle and the Temple the church is where heaven and earth meet and overlap. He also said "Heaven is not the end of the world"
He quoted at length from Romans 8, Philippians 4, Ephesians 2, John 7 and Revelation 21. His ideas were so thickly laced with scripture and poetry that I suspect if his wife enquired after his breakfast he would reply with " Psalm 34.8 "
It was a warm sunny April day and we had lunch, mainly purchased from the "Loaves and Fishes" stall outside, in the delightful park grounds sharing prawns and doing our su doku.
The afternoon talk "the Holy Spirit in the world" proved a revelation. If you only know Jane Williams as a lucid exponent of the bible from her former Church Times column and worthy wife to the Archbishop of Canterbury - think again, she's a knock'em dead stand-up comic. She rocked the hall with laughter while all the time displaying a virtuoso theological mind. She began with Psalm 104 (Father as Creator), then on to Acts 10 (Peter and Cornelius) and dwelt on John 17.20-21. She said you can't have Word (the Son) without Breath, but the titles of the Trinity are not exchangeable. The task of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin. She stressed that church and mission are one and that as the Father and Son are one the world will not understand that the church is not one, further that we cannot preach if we are not united in love. The task of the Holy Spirit is also to demonstrate the unity of the Father and Son. God reunites us with Himself by the connecting thread - the Holy Spirit, drawing us back into Him. The Eucharist symbolises this - broken then reassembled.
St Mary is a gem of a church with vast high windows through which, while we sang prayed and listened, we could watch birds swooping and fluttering in the trees. Very apt.
Heather Barton
THE 2004 CHRISTMAS SHELTER AT ST LUKE'S
An extract from the Spring Newsletter of Cheltenham Open Door.
When we started Open Door in 1992, under the name as many will remember of Open Door at Christmas, our first operation was a Christmas shelter that December, in those days at Grosvenor Hall. Every year since we have run a similar shelter, but the County Council decided they could no longer make Grosvenor Hall available after 1997.
Happily for us and indeed for our guests, the Reverend Mike Lodge and the people of St Luke's came forward with the offer of their splendid modem Hall for that Christmas and for every Christmas since, so the chain started in 1992 is unbroken.
We are grateful to everyone at St Luke's especially Jane and David Johnson who are the Hall administrators for their help and patience, a major factor in the success of the shelter this last Christmas again.
Our concern is to provide a happy warm friendly and safe Christmas for our many guests who would be left on their own with nowhere else to celebrate it, and to provide a bed overnight for the few (averaging 5 a night) needing it. Numbers were down a little this year, just over 50 for Christmas lunch for instance, which is good if it means things are getting better.
Cheltenham Open Door's objective remains to relieve poverty, hardship and distress among those of what is termed "a rootless way of life" suffering social or emotional distress. They are based at 39 Grosvenor Street, where they are open 9.45am to 11.45am on Sundays for a cooked breakfast and 10.30am to 1.45pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with a hot meal at 12 o'clock.
For more information on any matter, please telephone Philip Warner 01242 576701, or if unobtainable Pauline Beamish 01242 510559.
A small sample from the home-made entertainment presented at the farewell concert to Mike and Linda on the evening of 7 May 2005 in St Luke's Church.
An Ode to the Lodge Family
There once was a boy born in Cleeve
Who whilst growing up did he believe?
He met Linda his wife whom he married for life
Then Jesus Christ he did receive
Engineering was this young mans' career
Promotion ahead was quite clear
With two children in tow
The Lord said "Oh No!" I have other things planned
For you here
So to college for training and stuff
Very often the going was tough
But he studied and trained and then was ordained
And they moved to a place called Highworth
St Luke's was his next port of call
Where we know of his love of football
As each week we are told let us be bold
But those Robins continue to fall! !
This tale of Mike Lodge, that's his name
He is leaving us oh what a shame
But he has led us and fed us and Rayleigh is waiting
Souffend's the new name of the game
Dear Linda Mike Becky and Steve
We are all sad as you leave
But we join as one voice
As you follow God's choice
And in Essex their welcome receive
Take our love and our blessing sincere
We will remember you here
As you move now to Rayleigh
We will pray for you daily
God speed and your way ahead clear
Mike
Thanks for all you've meant to us,
Your welcome smile and love,
Concern for those you know in need,
With guidance from above.
You give a helping hand or two
from praying down to plumbing
And the Heathrow taxi service proves
you're always up and running!
A helping hand to wash the pans
from Parish 'nosh-up' do's
Is where you'll find our Vicar's kind
and thoughtful ways to view.
There are many "ups" and "downs"
in life in Parish life as well,
When folks are mad and things go wrong,
In God you have to dwell.
Uganda was your port of call
when on Sabbatical you roamed,
The trip was great, you learnt a lot
'cept tigers don't abound!!
From School trips down to Weymouth
And Assemblies Wednesday's too -
You know the children very well
and it seems that they know you!
Then of course there's football,
What more can I say ...
You're now a football Chaplain
And we all say 'Oh, hooray'!
Now Southend's calling out for you,
So, take the gospel there,
And now you'll move to another ground
Where the players need your care.
And what about that haircut
or should we call it 'shave'?
It made you look much younger
Did you then feel brave?
The wine enjoyed by you and friends
Always a welcome break ...
that's nice to have; to cheer you up
When meetings you must take!
It seems there's retail therapy
When things start getting tough.
Suits and shirts and shoes and things
Do you have enough?
There are lots of us, some elderly,
And many young ones who
take part in several services
To help the Parson through!
We have ail the ages present,
from Babes to not-so-new
That's how it's meant to be, we know
When you look around the pews.
After Sunday morning Services,
Hand shaking at the door
You have a coffee to revive
Or was it something more?!!
The Church has grown numerically
And spiritually too.
The Lord has been so good to us,
We know He has to you
You've been an inspiration, Mike,
Under God's Almighty hand.
We'll watch and fight for truth so right
when Satan takes his stand.
Then, of course, there's all night prayer.
When early morn is dark
at 3 or 4 our Mike is there
Praying with the lark.
Robing now; is now not done -
Away with scarf and hood.
The free and easy stance is here,
We may think that's good!
A moment now to view the art
Of phrases in a sermon -
"In our lives" and "on reflection"
are worth now just a mention.
Now 12 years is a long time
to get to know your folk.
You've made a lot of friends here
with whom you often joke.
None of us are looking forward
to the time you'll have to leave,
But all commit you to the Lord
and pray He'll bless indeed.
Thank goodness now, here ends my tale -
About time too, you say,
But it's sent with love, to a very kind bloke,
We all pray, God will bless, every day!
The weekend of 7 and 8 May saw Mike and Linda Lodge saying goodbye to St Luke's church as they move on to pastures new in Rayleigh. We all wish them every blessing as Mike starts this new stage in his ministry and hope that they will soon feel as welcome and as loved in their new parish as they were here in Cheltenham. Our prayers go with them.
Mike will be licensed and officially start his new post at an evening service at 7.45pm on Tuesday 14 June at Holy Trinity Church, Rayleigh. Whilst everyone is welcome to attend, it would be useful to know numbers so that we can let Rayleigh know how many to expect. If you are intending to go to Rayleigh please let us know.
St Luke's people gave generously for Mike and Linda and we were able to give them several gifts, namely:
Garden furniture
Set of Winchcombe pottery
a case of red wine
M & S vouchers
A fuschia shrub
A Cheltenham Town football shirt, signed by the team
A cheque for £1000 (a round sum - with more to come!)
Mike's departure will leave a big hole not only within the church but also in the life of St John's Church of England Primary School, the Parish and the town - including Cheltenham Town Football Club!
You may be thinking what happens to St Luke's now? Well we are still very much alive and will continue to function and grow. The church is well supported through its PCC and Working Groups and church life will go on. We will be helped by retired clergy, notably the Revd Geoffrey Cox and the Revd Victor Searle Barnes, but also by clergy and readers from around the Deanery and further afield.
The Churchwardens are officially in charge and if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us. We would like to know of anyone who needs special care, prayers or visiting, so that we can make sure that someone from the church is looking after them.
With the PCC, we are discussing with the Diocese and Deanery how the church may best be served during the interregnum and into the future. We will let you know of any important developments.
Peter Ralphs - 01452 613443
Simon Barton - 01242 515890
Cheltenham Open Houses 2005, 4-12 June 2005
This is a biannual event in which local artists open their studios to visitors. This year there are 95 artists at 51 different venues. I am participating in this event and shall be exhibiting my work in Church during that week. There is a free guide available. You can find times of my Private View and daily opening times in the Diary Dates panel.
Sylvia Lauder
GLORIOUS GLOUCESTERSHIRE
Flowers at Gloucester Cathedral
28-31 July
Glorious Gloucestershire will fill the Cathedral and its surroundings with a real celebration of summer and the county's natural bounty, including floral displays and arrangements created by teams of arrangers from all over the county and an exhibition in the Chapter House by the Gloucestershire Society of Artists. www.gloucestercathedral.org.uk. Entrance: £5 per person.
ST LUKE'S FLOWER BUNCH
at Glorious Gloucestershire
St Luke's Flower Bunch will be displaying at the Festival on the theme "St Luke's Church - One family in Christ".
Sponsors will include Bloomers.
Further offers of sponsorship - business or private - will be most welcome.
Michelle Porter-Babbage 511210.
A breath of fresh air
St. Mary Islington was the venue for a day conference recently called "Inciting insight: the Holy Spirit", held under the auspices of fulcrum. About 250 people attended from all over the country and for discussion we were grouped geographically so I was with a lecturer from Birmingham University, a curate from Edgbaston, a hospice chaplain from Stratford and so on. I also met a Vicar's wife from Chelmsford so I told her they would soon be getting a good new chap down the road.
The first topic was "the Holy Spirit in the church". If you're Bishop of Durham I suppose you have a venerable theological tradition to uphold and Tom Wright, eminent writer and broadcaster, did not disappoint. His talk was dazzling, brilliant, complex, ranging over the Law, the Torah, deism, dualism, pantheism and needless to say a bit above my head. He said the Third Person is to be found in Christ's bride, the church; without the Holy Spirit there is no church. He is also to be found in beauty, relationships and justice. Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom so.at Pentecost, the beginning of the church the Holy Spirit was the sign of the future in the present. As with the Tabernacle and the Temple the church is where heaven and earth meet and overlap. He also said "Heaven is not the end of the world"
He quoted at length from Romans 8, Philippians 4, Ephesians 2, John 7 and Revelation 21. His ideas were so thickly laced with scripture and poetry that I suspect if his wife enquired after his breakfast he would reply with " Psalm 34.8 "
It was a warm sunny April day and we had lunch, mainly purchased from the "Loaves and Fishes" stall outside, in the delightful park grounds sharing prawns and doing our su doku.
The afternoon talk "the Holy Spirit in the world" proved a revelation. If you only know Jane Williams as a lucid exponent of the bible from her former Church Times column and worthy wife to the Archbishop of Canterbury - think again, she's a knock'em dead stand-up comic. She rocked the hall with laughter while all the time displaying a virtuoso theological mind. She began with Psalm 104 (Father as Creator), then on to Acts 10 (Peter and Cornelius) and dwelt on John 17.20-21. She said you can't have Word (the Son) without Breath, but the titles of the Trinity are not exchangeable. The task of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin. She stressed that church and mission are one and that as the Father and Son are one the world will not understand that the church is not one, further that we cannot preach if we are not united in love. The task of the Holy Spirit is also to demonstrate the unity of the Father and Son. God reunites us with Himself by the connecting thread - the Holy Spirit, drawing us back into Him. The Eucharist symbolises this - broken then reassembled.
St Mary is a gem of a church with vast high windows through which, while we sang prayed and listened, we could watch birds swooping and fluttering in the trees. Very apt.
Heather Barton
THE 2004 CHRISTMAS SHELTER AT ST LUKE'S
An extract from the Spring Newsletter of Cheltenham Open Door.
When we started Open Door in 1992, under the name as many will remember of Open Door at Christmas, our first operation was a Christmas shelter that December, in those days at Grosvenor Hall. Every year since we have run a similar shelter, but the County Council decided they could no longer make Grosvenor Hall available after 1997.
Happily for us and indeed for our guests, the Reverend Mike Lodge and the people of St Luke's came forward with the offer of their splendid modem Hall for that Christmas and for every Christmas since, so the chain started in 1992 is unbroken.
We are grateful to everyone at St Luke's especially Jane and David Johnson who are the Hall administrators for their help and patience, a major factor in the success of the shelter this last Christmas again.
Our concern is to provide a happy warm friendly and safe Christmas for our many guests who would be left on their own with nowhere else to celebrate it, and to provide a bed overnight for the few (averaging 5 a night) needing it. Numbers were down a little this year, just over 50 for Christmas lunch for instance, which is good if it means things are getting better.
Cheltenham Open Door's objective remains to relieve poverty, hardship and distress among those of what is termed "a rootless way of life" suffering social or emotional distress. They are based at 39 Grosvenor Street, where they are open 9.45am to 11.45am on Sundays for a cooked breakfast and 10.30am to 1.45pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with a hot meal at 12 o'clock.
For more information on any matter, please telephone Philip Warner 01242 576701, or if unobtainable Pauline Beamish 01242 510559.
A small sample from the home-made entertainment presented at the farewell concert to Mike and Linda on the evening of 7 May 2005 in St Luke's Church.
An Ode to the Lodge Family
There once was a boy born in Cleeve
Who whilst growing up did he believe?
He met Linda his wife whom he married for life
Then Jesus Christ he did receive
Engineering was this young mans' career
Promotion ahead was quite clear
With two children in tow
The Lord said "Oh No!" I have other things planned
For you here
So to college for training and stuff
Very often the going was tough
But he studied and trained and then was ordained
And they moved to a place called Highworth
St Luke's was his next port of call
Where we know of his love of football
As each week we are told let us be bold
But those Robins continue to fall! !
This tale of Mike Lodge, that's his name
He is leaving us oh what a shame
But he has led us and fed us and Rayleigh is waiting
Souffend's the new name of the game
Dear Linda Mike Becky and Steve
We are all sad as you leave
But we join as one voice
As you follow God's choice
And in Essex their welcome receive
Take our love and our blessing sincere
We will remember you here
As you move now to Rayleigh
We will pray for you daily
God speed and your way ahead clear
Mike
Thanks for all you've meant to us,
Your welcome smile and love,
Concern for those you know in need,
With guidance from above.
You give a helping hand or two
from praying down to plumbing
And the Heathrow taxi service proves
you're always up and running!
A helping hand to wash the pans
from Parish 'nosh-up' do's
Is where you'll find our Vicar's kind
and thoughtful ways to view.
There are many "ups" and "downs"
in life in Parish life as well,
When folks are mad and things go wrong,
In God you have to dwell.
Uganda was your port of call
when on Sabbatical you roamed,
The trip was great, you learnt a lot
'cept tigers don't abound!!
From School trips down to Weymouth
And Assemblies Wednesday's too -
You know the children very well
and it seems that they know you!
Then of course there's football,
What more can I say ...
You're now a football Chaplain
And we all say 'Oh, hooray'!
Now Southend's calling out for you,
So, take the gospel there,
And now you'll move to another ground
Where the players need your care.
And what about that haircut
or should we call it 'shave'?
It made you look much younger
Did you then feel brave?
The wine enjoyed by you and friends
Always a welcome break ...
that's nice to have; to cheer you up
When meetings you must take!
It seems there's retail therapy
When things start getting tough.
Suits and shirts and shoes and things
Do you have enough?
There are lots of us, some elderly,
And many young ones who
take part in several services
To help the Parson through!
We have ail the ages present,
from Babes to not-so-new
That's how it's meant to be, we know
When you look around the pews.
After Sunday morning Services,
Hand shaking at the door
You have a coffee to revive
Or was it something more?!!
The Church has grown numerically
And spiritually too.
The Lord has been so good to us,
We know He has to you
You've been an inspiration, Mike,
Under God's Almighty hand.
We'll watch and fight for truth so right
when Satan takes his stand.
Then, of course, there's all night prayer.
When early morn is dark
at 3 or 4 our Mike is there
Praying with the lark.
Robing now; is now not done -
Away with scarf and hood.
The free and easy stance is here,
We may think that's good!
A moment now to view the art
Of phrases in a sermon -
"In our lives" and "on reflection"
are worth now just a mention.
Now 12 years is a long time
to get to know your folk.
You've made a lot of friends here
with whom you often joke.
None of us are looking forward
to the time you'll have to leave,
But all commit you to the Lord
and pray He'll bless indeed.
Thank goodness now, here ends my tale -
About time too, you say,
But it's sent with love, to a very kind bloke,
We all pray, God will bless, every day!