Collect: God, our refuge and strength, bring near the day when wars shall cease and poverty and pain shall end,that earth may know the peace of heaven through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings: Amos 5.18-24, 1 Thessalonians 4.13-end,Matthew 25.1-13

For your prayers:

All those across the world affected by the Coronavirus; the sick and the frightened

For all medical professionals and researchers The residents and staff of care homes, including those in

our parish - Cedar Lodge, Aspen Court and Northway House

The sick and those who have died Bishop Peter, Bishop Ruth and their families

RIP: Diana Askew

8th NOVEMBER 2020

Third Sunday before AdventRemembrance Sunday

10.00am Online Facebook Parish Eucharistwith Act of Remembrance

Information Update:

The Church will be open for private prayer on Sundays from 12 noon to 3.30pm and Thursdays from 9.00am to 12.30pm.

Please note that all church services, meetings and events are suspended until further notice, and the church building office will remain closed. Please contact Lesley Jones in relation to enquiries about the Church Hall, but it will only be possible to accommodate exempted activities during lockdown.

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LIGHT UP THE SPIRE

For the month of November the church spire is floodlit

In In loving memory of Joy Sparrow who died

November 5th 2018

In memory of Anne Davies, spirited and lovinggodmother of Sue Goodman

In memory of Harold Oaten, a loving and

Light up the Spire: If you would like to commemorate someone or celebrate an event by sponsoring a month of spire illumination, please contact Alison on 01823 278571.

The Dove

I did not dreamTo see your pale shape

Over the burning carnageOf the crimson battle.

I did not imagineTo see the clean feathers

Of your white breastScarred and tainted

With the blood of sin.

I did not presumeTo feel the force of your flight

As you swept down over the sceneLetting a full, fair feather

Drift from your tail.

I did not expectTo see you perched there,

On the lamp above the tableAs the murderous men

Signed the Treaty of PeaceIn the red blood of men

With a feather from your tail.

Simon P Walsh (written at age 17)

THIS WEEK’S NOTICES3

Zoom CoffeeOur online meetings for coffee and a chat will restart from Sunday 15th November after the Eucharist has been livestreamed. Please see next week's newsletter for the time and the log in details. 

Yarn BombingOur latest yarn bombing project at St Andrew's. Over 390 poppies have been knitted and crocheted by our yarnbombers team.Our thanks to all who have helped to brighten our lives, and the railings, for our community. Many thanks to the children of Priorswood Primary who have written moving poems and drawings on the theme of remembrance.

Yarn Bombing Team

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St Andrews Church has an oak screen extending across the entire width of the chancel with eight narrow upright columns surmounted by a canopy with pierced decoration.  At the base are eight solid panels. The names of the fallen from the Great War and the Second World War are painted white on all eight solid panels.

The link below gives further details of our War Memorial:

https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/72668

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The link below gives information about the men recorded therein:

http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Somerset/TauntonStAndrews.html

REFLECTION

Remembrance Sunday 2020

In a letter to a friend Benjamin Franklin wrote there is no such thing as a good war or a bad peace. This was 1782 and he was helping to negotiate peace in Europe. He hated war and felt peace was always a better option. But what would he had said of the C20 with its two World Wars?

War is awful. It is terrible for all concerned, not just the participants but for all caught up in its barbarity and devastation. Our Remembrance service is a Christian response to war: in which we remember those who lost their lives in war or were injured and badly affected by it, particularly those known to us. We give thanks for their sacrifice and courage.

This year we have admired Captain Tom Moore’s 100 days walk to raise £33 million for our NHS. We have celebrated the role of Spitfires, Hurricanes and their pilots and ground crew. We have remembered the Royal Navy and Merchant seamen as they protected our waters and escorted convoys of goods and people. We have honoured men and women who were secret agents and codebreakers. The Fall of Singapore was commemorated in The Singapore Grip TV drama and 75 years on we have given thanks for VE Day and more recently VJ Day.

And yet, despite Franklin’s words, we went to war in 1939. Why? Because somebody had to stand up to Hitler’s aggression. If we hadn’t, we could have become a Nazi state.

In his Christmas broadcast in 1939 King George VI said, ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.’

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Words of encouragement which made a huge difference then, and are still apt today.

Christians believe that we cannot cope with war or the current pandemic by our own efforts. We need God to bring good out of evil, to rescue us, to guide his world, with our co-operation. A friend, recognising this, shared these words with me recently. ‘I can’t, He (God)can.’ Everything changes when we let God in and work with Him.

The five bridesmaids whose oil ran out, in Matthew’s difficult parable, missed seeing the bridegroom arrive. They had not checked that they had enough oil. When they tried to join the celebrations they were turned away, their fellow bridesmaids were already inside. It is horrible to be turned away from a party, to be left out like a wallflower at a dance. Jesus went about wanting to include people, inviting them (and us) to repent and become part of his Kingdom of love, peace and joy. Keep awake. Work on your inward journey of faith. Jesus expects us to be alert and ready to think and act wisely in his name.

There is another kind of lamp, you could say, and that is the Bible. It gives us the word of God and that word acts as a light to lead us, a light to lighten our darkness. ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light upon my path.’ (Psalm 119: 105) On Bible Sunday Katy had us holding up our bibles – a gentle reminder to use and know them.

In my family there was an Army Chaplain, Kenneth Oliver, who served with the HAC in North Africa in World War 2. Chaplains hardly feature in accounts of war. As a schoolboy at Christ’s Hospital his leaving present was a bible. It became a treasured possession. Years later he had it with him in the desert, along with his communion set. His non-combatant duties were to be like Christ to the soldiers he served with: to pray with and for them, to give them the sacraments, to be alongside them in war and peace, to help as needed.

One day as Rommel’s men and their vehicles pressed forward Ken was ordered to go to the rescue of a broken down truck. He

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and his driver Andy did this but very soon after British trucks appeared and shouted that German tanks were close. They escaped. But their truck was captured and Ken lost all his kit including his bible. He was very upset at losing his bible. All he had left was his communion set which was always with him.

Some four years later he was sent to organise chaplaincy services in a large camp in the Canal Zone full of German prisoners of war. He stood up to address them. ‘My name is Kenneth Oliver and I am here to help you. Come and see me if you have any problems.’ A young German came to him and said. ‘You say your name is Oliver? I have a book with your name in it. I was given it off a captured truck and I kept it because I wanted to learn English.’ He then produced the missing bible, and gave it to Ken.

Ken was overjoyed to be have his bible again. He kept in touch with that man, and visited him at home in Austria. Later the German became ordained and I think Ken attended that service.

Ken Oliver was my uncle and godfather and a good friend to many. When he died I was given his Bible. Not the one he lost but a large study bible. His treasured school bible is now back in the school chapel in a small case which tells the story of its loss and recovery. Every day a page is turned over.

God brings good out of war, loss and disasters. We can hope for that in our own lives, and for our nation. King George VI said in that Christmas broadcast, ‘May the Almighty Hand guide and uphold us all.’ That wish will give us hope and trust in our new lockdown.

Jeremy Harvey

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Reverend Kenneth Oliver CBE   Army Chaplain

Kenneth Oliver’s Chaplain at War was published in 1986 (Angel Press).

Do see the knitted poppies and fine poems about the horrors of war by children from Priorswood School and the names of those commemorated on the railings by St. Andrew’s church.

HYMNS OF THE WEEK

Lord, you are the light of life in me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ8kq1azVBU

I have chosen this hymn for Remembrance Sunday and for the anxiety that we feel due to a second lockdown. The words speak about courage in the face of difficulties and putting our trust in God.

Lord, you are the light of life to me;when darkness hides my path, you help me see.Shine on me, O Lord, that now and all my daysyour light may lead me on, guiding my ways.

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Lord, you are the rock on which I stand,stable and strong in you, held by your hand.

Keep me safe, O Lord; in weakness let there beyour loving, firm embrace upholding me.

Lord, you are the truth that sets me free;only in you is found true liberty.

Teach me then, O Lord, in all things to pursueyour good and perfect will, growing like you.

Lord, you are the Lamb of God who died,suff'ring for love of me, scorned, crucified.Love me still, O Lord; let others daily see

your selfless, serving love flowing through me.

Lord, you are the King who ever reigns.Earth's rulers rise and fall: your throne remains.

Rule my life, O Lord; I yield myself anewyour name to glorify, living for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh_B9jXJsEw

The words of the following hymn written by Sylvia G. Dunstan inspires us to have confidence as we seek to be Christians in the world today.

Go to the World! Go to the world! Go into all the earth; Go preach the cross where Christ renews life’s worth, baptizing as the sign of our rebirth. Alleluia.

Go to the world! Go into every place; Go live the word of God’s redeeming grace; Go seek God’s presence in each time and space. Alleluia.

Go to the world! Go struggle, bless, and pray; the nights of tears give way to joyful day. As servant Church, you follow Christ’s own way. Alleluia.

Go to the World! Go as the ones I send, for I am with you till the age shall end, when all the host of glory cry, “Amen.” Alleluia.

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WEEKLY PRAYER

Loving God, at this time of crisis

when so many are suffering,we pray for our nation and our world.

Give your leaders wisdom,our Health Service strength,

our people hope.Lead us through these parched and difficult days

to the fresh springs of joy and comfortthat we find in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

As the Archbishops call us to a month of prayer in lockdown, please see the link to resources for prayer:

https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-churches/call-prayer-nation

PARISH DIRECTORY

PARISH DIRECTORY

Vicar: Revd Robin Lodge 01823 352471Email: robin.lodge1@btinternet.com

Curate: Revd Katy Gough 01823 330854Wardens: Stephen Grimshaw 01823 256724

David Budd 01823 289778

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Next Sunday15th November

Second Sunday before Advent10.00am Online Facebook Eucharist

Readings Zephaniah 1.7, 12-end, 1 Thessalonians 5.1-11,

Matthew 25.14-30

Readers: Ruth Cook 01823 973787Jeremy Harvey 01823 276421

Parish Office: Currently closed to the public. Please email: standrewstaunton@gmail.comwww.standrewstaunton.org.uk

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and https://www.instagram.com/standrewschurchtaunton

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