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| CONNECT |
| Monday 7 November - 7.30-8.30pm |
| Our time of prayer this month will be led by Peter and Simon, the Churchwardens, when we will be moving round the church and praying for all the various activities that take place - for the people who use the building and those who care for it. |
| QUIZ EVENING |
| November 18th at 7.30pm |
| The Emthonjeni Trust are holding a Quiz evening at St Luke's Hall on November 18th at 7.30pm. Tickets will be sold at the door at £5 per person and include a glass of wine. The Trust raises funds for an Aids clinic in Grahamestown, South Africa. The Quiz master is Peter Ralphs! If you would like to come along to this evening please speak to Peter or Linda Ralphs. |
| COFFEE MORNING |
| Saturday 3 December at 10am |
| The Wednesday Home Group will be holding a Christmas Coffee morning on Saturday 3rd Dec 2005 from 10am to 12noon in church to raise funds for the church. There will be Christmas craft items and cards for sale. If anyone has any items to donate for sale, please leave them in the box at the back of church. Homemade cakes would also be very welcome, please speak to Linda Ralphs if you can help in this way. |
| DRIVING TO CHURCH AND CAR LIFTS |
| Following discussion at the Pastoral Care Working Group, an item in the Newsheet prompted an immediate response from Liz McDonagh, who kindly offered to act as Car Lifts Co-ordinator for St Luke's. Liz does not drive, but she can help to put those who do in touch with people who need a lift to get to church. If you can offer a lift, even if only occasionally, or if you need a lift yourself, please ring Liz on 512848. This initiative will only work if Liz also has a good picture of the normal arrangements that are in place, and if enough people come forward. Please support Liz as she takes on this new role. |
| A problem that confronts people who drive to church - and those who may want to offer a lift - is whether there is somewhere to park. Ideally, there would be enough spaces in the church car park for people who cannot walk far. Last year Mike Lodge asked if those who were fit and able might be able to park a little way away from the church. We still need this. It may be possible to park at St Luke's Church Hall, leaving more space in the church car park for those who really need it. This needs to be arranged, as the Hall car park may occasionally be in use on a Sunday morning or may be locked, but please ask Jane Johnson or the wardens if you are interested. |
| St John's Church of England Primary School |
| We are now in full swing at school. The new Reception children have happily settled into their new routines and have experienced all the exciting things that school has to offer. |
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| We have also welcomed Martin Luker, a PGCE student to the Year 2 class and many new children to our school. |
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| The continuing glorious weather has meant that all of the classes have been benefiting from plenty of outside PE and playtimes before the onset of Winter. We celebrated Harvest time in Church with a variety of songs, poems and role play. All of the classes played a part in the Service and the generous contributions have been distributed by 'The Open Door Project' in Grosvenor strreet. |
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| European Language Day was marked with various activities. Year 4/5 practised some German, Year 1 learnt some French and Year 3 were visited by a polish lady, Katarzyma Barszcz. She spoke about her life in Poland and taught them some Polish words. The children were very keen to learn and enjoyed the opportunity to speak some foreign words. |
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| There was an opportunity for both perspective and current parents to see the school in action when we held our Open Day and we raised money for the 'Genes for Jeans' charity which researches into genetic disorders. In preparation for Bonfire Night we had a Fire and rescue talk teaching us about the dangers of Firework night and the firework code. |
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| Finally, we need your help! This is an exciting opportunity to win £10,000 for St John's! All we need to do is collect more tokens from Gloucestershire Echo than the other participating schools. (The number of children in each school is taken account so that small schools are not disadvantaged) If we are lucky enough to win we could look at the possibility of a new library for the school and some awnings for the Reception and Year 1 classes to provide shelter for their outside play. Please bring any tokens into school. Thank you |
| All in all, a busy but very enjoyable time. |
| Fiona Hadden Reception Class teacher. |
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| ALTERnativity - a special Connect prayer event for Advent |
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| Have you ever felt that you would like to do something special in Advent which is both enjoyable and devotional . . . and something that you can share with friends? |
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| Now you have the chance! Come to church on Monday 28 November at 7pm and enjoy not only a delicious 3 course meal and the chance to chat and socialise but also the opportunity to engage in a prayerful liturgy that helps to reflect on Advent. |
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| The liturgy is written by the Wild Goose Resource Group from the Iona community and is characteristically reverent and relevant. It is loosely based on the combination of eating, scripture and symbolic action found in the Passover, offering both formal and informal moments so that, in sharing a meal, we also share in worship and prayer. |
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| We will focus on Advent as a time of HOPE - whatever the sadness of our situation or the despair we see around us we are reminded again of the hope that is in us. It's also a time of PREPARATION - as we focus on the coming of Christ we can reflect on where we are on our journey. And its above all a time of PROMISE - we know the realities of our world and we look forward to the promise of God that this is not how it should be. |
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| The meal will be simple in order to contrast the indulgences of Christmas - a fruit starter, beef stew for main course (or vegetarian alternative!) and a fruity muffin for dessert. Celebration and joy are central to this time of sharing together - we do hope you will put this date in your diary and plan to come. It will be a memorable and meaningful start to your Advent season. |
| (There will be a list in church for you to write your name on if you are intending to come - please sign up!) |
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| FROM ST LUKE'S AWAYDAY AT HARNHILL |
| 24-Sep-05 |
| An interregnum is a good time to stocktake and the Revd Malcolm Allen provided the perfect impetus on St Luke's awayday at Harnhill for us to do that. His talk was inspirational and challenging - how does our church match up to the biblical model of Acts 2 ? |
| 1. Are we a LOVING community? |
| Loving involves forgiving, resolving conflict, being part of the grapevine not the gripevine, see Matthew 18. Are there any issues within the life of St Luke's that a future Vicar might wish we'd told them about before they came? |
| 2. Great worship reflects who God is and who we are. |
| See Luke 7; worship comes from WORTH - the woman's gesture was total giving of how she saw Jesus' value. God is ready to accept any movement of our hearts towards Him as worship. Are we worshipping ?in spirit and in truth?? |
| 3. A great church offers a warm welcome to ALL. |
| Jesus accepted all sorts of people, do we? Everyone must take part, see 1 Corinthians 12. People must be given the opportunity to grow in discipleship; Jesus taught often and got his disciples DOING THINGS often. Are we involving everyone? |
| 4. A great church is GOOD NEWS in the community. |
| We must lower the drawbridge and venture out , not be a moated community, see Mark 5. Risk is involved in taking the good news outside, we must be salt and light. How must our church CHANGE to further His mission? |
| Finally, the New Testament church was open to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, are we? |
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| PCC meeting Monday October 24th 2005 |
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| It was reported to the PCC that Sue Russell has completed her 4 years as Foundation Governor for St John's primary school. Thanks were expressed for the way Sue has given her time and energy to support the school. Margaret Bristol has offered to take on this role and the PCC accepted this offer. It was also suggested that Wes Bell might also be able to take on a school governor role as there may be a vacancy following Mike's departure. Simon is going to pursue this. |
| Following the acceptance of the Deanery plan for reorganisation of the churches in Cheltenham by the Deanery Synod, the plan has been sent to the Diocese. It was felt that a letter should now be sent to the Bishop requesting that we be allowed to start actively seeking an incumbent. The plan did suggest that a full or part time replacement be made as soon as possible. |
| The Evangelism working group are looking at ways we can be involved in the pastoral work at the Hospital and will be meeting with Ray Swain and others to discuss developing this. |
| On Monday November 28th there will be an 'AlterNativity' prayer evening with a meal. |
| Jean Allen was nominated and accepted as the church Environment Officer. |
| Date of next meeting is Monday 12th December. |
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| The Rendezvous Society |
| 16 Portland Street Cheltenham |
| Charity No 293357 |
| I was working in the Charity's shop yesterday afternoon when a familiar incident occurred. One of the handful of customers expressed her pleasure at having "discovered" us. "Have you lived in the area long?" I enquired. "Since 1954", she replied! Sadly, it is not uncommon for Cheltonians to be unaware of this gem in their midst - hence this article. |
| For the last 20 years, Rendezvous has provided an information and social centre, helping people of all ages to learn more about other cultures and also about environmental issues. It has study rooms, a basement cyber-café and ground-floor shop selling Fair Trade goods (Traidcraft, One Village products) and ethnic gifts brought from abroad by our friends in Russia, Poland and Kenya. |
| The over-arching vision of the Charity is one of linking people of different cultures in order that they may learn about each other and about environmental issues, thus helping to create an "equitable and sustainable Earth". By drawing on Gloucestershire's links with communities overseas, it helps those who participate in its activities gain a global perspective by direct contact. In the past, these activities have included youth exchanges, hosting many cultural visits from overseas and organising youth conferences abroad. This year's conference was held in Cheltenham to coincide with the Charity's 20th birthday celebrations. Young people from Russia, Poland, Germany, Turkey, Jamaica, Romania, USA, Sweden and Kenya descended on the town for a week to learn about each other's way of life and to participate in ecological studies, including workshops on re-cycling and the threats posed by pollution. |
| The culmination was a gala party at the Mandarin Room, Cheltenham Racecourse where, after several dramatic presentations by the students showing us what they had learned, we were entertained by Morris Men, Polish dancers and a Russian accordion virtuoso. |
| On the agenda for the winter are monthly social events at The Friends' Meeting House and a study tour of Poland planned for February 2006 . Already under way on Tuesday evenings is an introductory course in Russian led by member Masha Koschalka from Sochi but now living here with husband Dan whom she met through an exchange arranged by Rendezvous. |
| HELP NEEDED |
| The shop is a non-profit-making venture designed to support the educational programme of the Charity and all staff are volunteers. As we sell Christmas gifts and cards (as well as a wide variety of Traidcraft food), we are approaching our busiest time of the year with a lamentably short list of helpers. If you could help us run the shop for half a day ( 10 - 1 or 1 - 4.30) please ring the shop (577893) or myself (512852). We would be delighted to welcome you to our community. We are small but we have big ideas. If they are yours too, why not join us? |
| Christine Davies |
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| P.S. Why not have some of our goods on sale or return for a coffee morning or Christmas event? Contact the shop for details |
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| P.P.S. We are now selling a beautiful range of silver jewellery imported from Bali and Java by a company which adheres strictly to Fair Trade standards. |