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October/November 2015

Rochford Methodist Church is a member of Southend and Leigh Circuit, part of the Beds,

Essex & Herts District

The Newsletter of

Rochford Methodist Church

77-79 North Street

Rochford

SS4 1AD

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Rochford Methodist Church matters

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

From John Keats' poem, To Autumn, 1820:

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Dates for your diary: October 6 Guild restarts, 8pm 9 Sleep out for HARP, for more information, phone 01702 415834 24/25 Guild Meal and Anniversary weekend

November 12 Guild/Church trip to Palace Theatre (Sweeney Todd) 21 Church Bazaar 22 Gift Service for HARP 29 Rochford Christmas Festival & Christmas Lights switch-on, 1pm 29 Festival of Light service at Ashingdon Minster, 4pm

December 1, 8 and 15 Carol Singing at residential homes, 7.30pm 12 & 19 Carol Singing at the Holiday Inn for HARP 20 Carol Service, 4pm 24 Christingle Service, 4pm 25 Family Christmas Day service, 10.30am

Sunday Services There are no evening services, except where shown. Morning services start at 11am.

October 4th Rev Phil Warrey (with baptism of Noah Samuel Dobbin) 11th Kathy McCullough Rev Phil Warrey (Section Café Church at Rayleigh (4pm)) 18th Local Arrangement 25th Guild Anniversary Rev Julia Monaghan November 1st Rev Phil Warrey (S) 8th Rev Chris Reeve 15th Jane Fulford Rev Phil Warrey (S) (Section Service at Rayleigh, 4pm) 22nd Local Arrangement (Gift service for HARP) 27th Rev Brian Gameson Festival of Light, service at Ashingdon St Mary (4pm)

Correct as at 30th September 2015, but subject to change at short notice.

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I have described several times in this newsletter how Methodism is structured and the position of ‘The Circuit’ (in our case Southend and Leigh) within the hierarchy of Methodism. I have also explained what our Assessment is used for in employing ministers and other staff. But what has not been highlighted is what the Circuit and some of the churches in it do as part of the Church's Mission.

first took place for us Methodists, at Chalkwell Park three or four years ago and last year it moved to our United Methodist Church building in Whittingham Avenue. We are glad to be a part of the team of seven churches (under the banner of Love Southend) who open their doors one night a week to the rough sleepers of Southend between November and March. There is a legal requirement for local councils to make provision on cold nights for rough sleepers to find shelter from the weather and the Night Shelter scheme helps to provide this.

A warm welcome and meal greets each person, along with a safe and warm place to stay the night. HARP refer them to the scheme and about 70 volunteers from churches across the Circuit help (not counting a couple of hundred volunteers from other denominations) in a variety of ways in ensuring that the Night Shelter achieves what it was there for. If you would like to get involved, we will tell you nearer the time what you need to know.

- Rev Hannah Bucke is creating links within Southend High Street. During Holy Week, she worked with the local Methodist and Baptist Churches and presented Easter Icons a pop up installation in the Royals Shopping Centre. It was really well supported and encouraged conversations with all ages. Many of our own members took part in the Christmas Flashmob last year and several others came down to watch. Hannah has recently become the Chaplain to Adventure Island, supporting the several hundred young seasonal workers.

Across the Circuit there are various :

New Horizons has been running for 3 years at Whittingham Avenue. This is a different way of being Church and involves a cafe style church once a month, also a weekly family brunch club along with various home groups. They all have an emphasis on building a community with Jesus at the centre.

Thirsty For ?? at Belfairs is a cafe style worship meeting that is open to everyone and is held on the second Thursday of each month at 7pm in the Fellowship hall. Why not come along and join and share with us over a cup of tea or coffee and some homemade cakes? The worship format includes various things including songs, reflection, prayer, quizzes and readings.

So what can we do?

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As people will probably know, the Circuit runs a Night Shelter for Homeless people in Southend on Saturday evenings throughout the winter months at our United Methodist Church (UMC) Whittingham Avenue site. [This is in conjunction with other denominations, HARP and Southend Council.]

This year the Circuit Meeting agreed to install showers for our homeless guests to complete the work UMC did on the kitchens last year. The cost of the toilets and showers will come to £17,000, and the proposal was brought to the meeting that we encourage each Church to donate or fund raise towards this target rather than simply look to the Circuit to resource it. We are also in the process of trying to get some grants towards the cost.

One suggestion that has been made to me following the Circuit Meeting is that we try to encourage each church across the Circuit to aim to contribute £1,000 over the next two or three years. Personally I would like us to aim to sort this out within the next 12 months, and I realise that for some churches this might be a very unrealistic ask, however if we thought of this as a target, and those who could give more would cover for others who are going to struggle.

We are on target to have one set of toilets and showers sorted by the start of the Night Shelter on 28th November, and it may be January before the other one is completed.

Let us make sure that our focus on this is our guests who will be joining us this winter. I am certain that a nice warm shower on a Saturday evening will be received as an act of genuine care and much appreciated by those who use the facility.

Thanks you in anticipation for your support.

Many thanks,

Norman Hooks (Circuit Night Shelter Manager)

Other things for Churches to be aware of -

We will be needing -

Lots of large bath towels Warm clothes, socks and underwear Toiletries and especially shampoo and shower gel. [This would be in addition to our usual help for HARP]

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Good News!

Val, Mike and I are very pleased that our new Superintendent Minister, Rev Peter Moorhouse was able to come to Rochford and lead the service for our Harvest Festival, and that we were able to welcome him and his family on such a happy occasion.

On another happy note, we are delighted that there will have been two services where we have had Baptisms within the last few weeks; Logun Ellis and Noah Dobbin - both associated with our own Church members.

We have been blessed with such lovely weather over this summer-time, and as Autumn approaches - so our midweek activities begin again.

We look forward very much to our Wesley Guild evenings every Tuesday and we welcome all visitors to join us.

Also the Women’s Fellowship welcome all ladies of mixed denominations for friendly company and informal devotions on Monday afternoons. There is never any need for anyone to feel lonely, our doors are always open!

Some dates coming up for you to look forward to include our Wesley Guild Anniversary on October 25th when our preacher will be Rev Julia Monaghan. And there will be a Section service on November 15th at Rayleigh Church when the very special preacher will be our ‘District Chair’ Rev Anne Brown. This is a service not to be missed - as always please ask for a lift if you would like to come.

Also two other dates for you November 22nd, our HARP gift day, and November 29th at St Andrew’s Minster, Ashingdon. This little 11th century Church has a lovely atmosphere and the ‘Advent Service of Light’ will be by candlelight. Do come if you can.

In our prayers, please remember those of our number who are no longer able to worship with us, those who live alone and those who are cared for in Care Homes.

Hugh Beehag, Gwenda Andrews, Wyn Hodges, Ida Hearn,

Sandra Hull, Beryl Scoging, Jean Startup and Helen Willson.

We remember, too, any who are unwell at this time. And the family of Jack Law as they come to terms with his passing.

Lord, we pray for all our friends and ask that your love and care will surround them and uphold them.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

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Funny how a £5 note looks so big when you take it to church, but so small when you take it to the supermarket.

Funny how big an hour serving God looks and how small 90 minutes are when watching football

Funny how long a couple of hours spent at church seems, but how short they are at the cinema.

Funny how we get excited when a football game goes into extra time, but we complain when a sermon is longer than 10 minutes.

Funny how hard it is to read a chapter in the Bible and how easy it is to read 200-300 pages of a best selling novel.

Funny how we believe what newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.

Funny how people scramble to get a front seat at any event, but scramble to get a back seat at church service.

Funny how we need 2 or 3 weeks to fit a church event into our schedule, but can adjust it for a social event at the last minute.

Funny how much difficulty some have learning a simple gospel well enough to tell others, but how simple it is for the same people to understand and explain gossip about someone else.

Funny how we can’t think of anything to say when we pray, but don’t have any difficulty thinking of things to talk about to a friend.

Funny how we are so quick to take direction from a total stranger when we are lost, but are hesitant to take God’s direction to be found.

Funny how people are so bothered with what others think about them rather than what God thinks about them.

Funny how so many churchgoers sing “Standing on the Promises” but all they do is sit on the premises.

Funny how everyone wants to go to heaven, provided they don’t have to believe, or think, or say, or do, anything.

(Anglicised from an American website. Funny how they seem to have the same thoughts!)

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Following a couple of 5-yearly property surveys (Quinquennials) where the state of the side and front windows were commented on, we have now had the window cills and frames repaired. At the same time, as the builders were on site we arranged for the lower parts of the walls to be repointed. The builder is also replacing some red bricks that are badly weathered This has not been a quick job, as these are red Imperial sized bricks and he had to find a source of bricks to match them up.

At our Church Council we decided to defer, once again, the redecoration of the church on the grounds of cost. The surveyor on the last Quinquenniel had suggested a likely cost of £25,000 but subsequent quotes have proved substantially less than this.

We have had a statutory electrical survey done and some important work has been identified to bring our installation up to the current safety standard. This must be done fairly urgently, so there may be some inconvenience to organisations during the work, although Copley’s will keep this to a minimum. It is hoped this will be done during the October half-term week.

As you should all be aware, EU law requires us to ensure that all portable electrical equipment used on our premises is safe and not likely to cause damage to either people or our installation. The testing must take place for any church equipment and for any private equipment either kept on the premises or brought temporarily onto the premises on an irregular basis. We are arranging for a qualified PAT (Portable Electrical Testing) Tester to come to the church and Val needs to know if any members or hall users bring in any mains-powered items she doesn’t already know about.

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Our Wesley Guild starts again on October 6th for its 2105/6 session on Tuesdays at 8pm at the church. It’s open to everyone, church member or not, regular attender or not, young or old.

As is usual in Wesley Guilds right across the country, the session is made up of four strands - Devotional, Christian Service, Literary and Cultural, and Social - so there is a wide range of topics and fun to take on board.

There is a small annual charge at the beginning of the year, which includes a capitation fee to the national organisation and helps towards administration costs. In addition, we pass the plate around at each meeting and donations here cover other costs and donations such as tea/coffee and biscuits for the meeting, a donation to the Nigeria Health Care Fund (this is a Guild charity which for many years has supported health services and hospitals in Nigeria) and a donation to the Flower Fund for the special events at church (Christmas, Easter, Church and Guild Anniversary, etc). Some people give a little extra, which helps towards the cost of paying our speakers. At the end of the year at our AGM we share-out any excess funds to charities.

Our programme over the next couple of months is as follows:

October 6 Video on the life of John Wesley 13 Pavitt’s Puzzles Roy Pavitt 20 30 years in radio Roger Buxton 24 (Sat) Guild Anniversary weekend Anniversary Dinner (Rayleigh Guild invited) 25 (Sun) Anniversary Service 11am Rev Julia Monaghan 27 Wartime Memorabilia Diane Abram November 3 Rev Julia Monaghan 12 (Thu) Sweeney Todd SODS presentation at Palace Theatre 17 Guide dog puppy trainer Pam Wickham 24 Songs from the 50s & 60s Just John Our Programme card has a full list of dates.

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(Puzzle courtesy of biblepuzzles.com)

1. Hat on Jan

2. More acid

3. Like Zee

4. Hit goal

5. SOS! Me?

6. Enhance buzzard

7. Jim 'n' Bean

8. No looms?

9. A Manna

10. Hike haze

11. I jam here!

12. Bah! A ram

13. I'd gone

14. One badge

15. No mass

16. An oar

17. A lamb! So?

18. Sheila

19. More a job

20. Eh? I'm a hen!

21. Hard cash

22. Mob a hero

23. Me Saul?

24. Hi Asia!

25. I do, Ahab

26. So, a Jephthah!

27. Denial

28. A lush theme

29. Hire map

30. Seal him

31. In dorm

32. Hail Cam

33. No semi

34. Razzle bathes

35. A bad machine

36. Heal an ant

37. Canine herbs

38. Adores hand

Last time, the anagrams were ‘Women of the Bible’. In the interest of equality, it’s now the men’s turn. You might need to brush up on your Old Testament prophets!

1. Jonathan 2. Mordecai 3. Ezekiel 4. Goliath 5. Moses 6. Nebuchadnezzar 7. Benjamin 8. Solomon 9. Naaman 10. Hezekiah 11. Jeremiah 12. Abraham 13. Gideon

14. Abednego 15. Samson 16. Aaron 17. Absalom 18. Elisha 19. Jeroboam 20. Nehemiah 21. Shadrach 22. Rehoboam 23. Samuel 24. Isaiah 25. Obadiah 26. Jehoshaphat

27. Daniel 28. Methuselah 29. Ephraim 30. Ishmael 31. Nimrod 32. Malachi 33. Simeon 34. Belteshazzar 35. Machnadebai 36. Nathanael 37. Sennacherib 38. Esarhaddon

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October 4 11 18 Val Dobbin 25 Guild Anniversary Carole Glendenning

November 1 8 Sue Edwards 15 Kathy Mortlock 22 29 Pat Rubidge

October

3 Bruce & Carole Glendenning

10 Judy Garner, Maureen Whalley, Jan Willson, Tasha Morrison

17 Colin & Margaret Rayner

24 Dave & Val Dobbin

31 Bruce & Carole Glendenning

November 7 Judy Garner, Maureen Whalley, Jan Willson, Tasha Morrison

14 Colin & Margaret Rayner

21 Dave & Val Dobbin

28 Bruce & Carole Glendenning

We are expecting to do a deeper clean during this period, to bring the premises up to scratch, so keep an eye open and help us to look after the premises to the standard you would want to find it.

If you want to get involved please see Margaret Rayner.

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This is one variation on four or five ‘authentic’ and ‘secret’ recipes for Bakewell Pudding. The difference between a Bakewell Pudding and a Bakewell Tart appears to be the type of pastry - a pudding is made using puff pastry and tart with shortcrust.

6-8oz puff pastry (shop-bought is OK). This should not be sweet. 4-8oz of strawberry jam (sieved or seedless) 4oz caster sugar’ 6 eggs, as fresh as you can get them 3oz unsalted butter 4oz ground almonds A few drops of almond essence Zest of 1 lemon.

1. Roll out the pastry and line a shallow pie dish. Prick the base all over. 2. Cover the base using all the jam. 3. Melt the butter. 4. Separate the eggs and put the whites aside (you only need the yolks for this recipe). 5. Beat together all the ingredients, pouring in the melted butter last. It will resemble a

smooth batter. 6. Pour this filling over the jam. 7. Bake at Mark 5 or 6 (175°C, 300°F) and bake for about 30 minutes. The pudding

should be a golden brown, but the actual time and temperature will depend on your oven.

8. Serve warm. Cream goes nicely with this, but crème fraiche or plain yoghurt could be used instead.

You can make your own puff pastry (to your favourite recipe) if you want to make it really special.

Omit the lemon zest if you wish.

Use raspberry jam (sieved or not) instead of strawberry.

Use the whites later to make a meringue dish. Meringues need really fresh eggs to be successful; if they are a week or more old, the whites will be ‘stale’ and watery.

You can also try making the filling using 5 yolks and 1 white.

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The next planned publication date is 29th November 2015. Articles, etc, should be with

Dave by 15th November please.

Articles preferably by email, floppy disc or typed with a good DARK original - but

handwritten items still welcomed

Rochford Methodist Church matters is published on behalf of Rochford Methodist Church. Opinions expressed in this newsletter may not be those of the Methodist Church.

Minister: Rev Phil Warrey 259 Eastwood Road, Rayleigh, SS6 7LF

Editor: Dave Dobbin, 130 Ashingdon Road, Rochford, Essex, SS4 1RR (01702) 544096

email: dvdobbin@aol.com

Sunday

Monday 2.30 - 4.30 pm Women’s Fellowship (monthly meetings at members’ houses)

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday