JANUARY 2014 MAGAZINE
From the Vicar
I write this letter on the eve of the Fourth Sunday of Advent, as we look towards celebrating the birth of our Saviour at Christmas. By the time you read this January magazine we will be into a new year. For the advertisers Christmas will be a thing of the past. We will now be encouraged to look ahead to sales and to Summer Holidays and the New Year will begin in earnest.
Some-one said recently, or at least I read somewhere, that some-one had said “When was it that shopping ceased to be a just a necessity of living and turn into a national pastime”? At the moment I am just coming to the end of a wonderful book based on the writing of the great traveller and hero of the resistance in Crete in the Second World War, Patrick Leigh Fermor. It is called “The Broken Road” and posthumously completes the account of a journey he undertook as a young man of 18 in December 1933 to walk from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople (Istanbul).
Along the journey, which took him just over a year, he was given food and shelter by several aristocratic families who furnished him letters of introduction to other aristocratic relations and friends, but the journey was not all spent in grandeur and he equally received huge amounts of help, food, lodging and drink from eastern European peasants whose generosity, like the parable of the widows mite, is all the more telling because it comes from people who themselves have so little.
After he had finally arrived in Constantinople on January 1st 1935 he decided to head off to Greece and having obtained a letter of introduction from the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Photius II he made his way to the Holy Peninsular of Mount Athos where he spent some time visiting and the many Orthodox Monasteries and enjoying their hospitality. He makes frequent references to the monks openness, humility, kindness and sense of fun. Perhaps all these admirable attributes are grounded in a true love and devotion to God, they are certainly not a by-product of a world where material possessions are the foundation of life.
It is hard for any of us in the developed world to escape the pressures of advertising and our materialist culture, without perhaps going into a monastery, but we can try to do better in the coming year and make kindness, openness, generosity and goodness and a sense of fun our watchwords.
Wishing you all a merry Christmas
and a Holy New Year
Your Priest and Vicar
Fr Nicholas
Mothers’ Union
Instead of the normal meeting, December saw the traditional Branch Christmas meal. This year, it was held at the Albert and for those who attended, all agreed that the food was excellent. Special thanks went to Stacey the waitress and the two taxi drivers. It was a busy month as there was also the hospitality of the Myland Mothers’ Union Branch at their annual Carol service.
Christmas Event
Thanks was given to everybody who was involved at the Parish Christmas Afternoon. It was a very good party and time of fellowship where an unexpected, but full St Cedd’s were treated to the singing of the Concorde Singers. A grand profit of £585 was raised, some of which was gift aided. The singing group who performed for us were formed in 1975 and are conducted by Margaret and assisted by Barbara are they are due to put on another concert very soon at St Stephen’s Church, which is situated in Canterbury Road on Saturday 1st February at 730pm.
Deanery News
As part of a week of prayer for Christian Unity, a service will be held at Eld Lane Baptist Church on 19th January at 630pm. In other news, St Margaret.s at Berechurch celebrated 40 years in existence with a concert on December 14th.
Epiphany
In the church’s calendar the festival of the Epiphany is celebrated separately from Christmas but the arrival of the Magi, wise men or three kings has become very much part of the Christmas story, particularly in Nativity plays. The carol – “We three kings of Orient” is often brought forward to Christmas. The carol was first published in 1884.
Thursday Afternoon Group
Following their sponsored Christmas Greeting in the December magazine, the Thursday afternoon group has sent a £50 donation to the Children’ Society.
Concorde Singers
After their enjoyable singing at the Parish’s Christmas event here on November 30th, we are pleased to let you that they will be singing again at St Stephen’s Church, in Canterbury Road, Colchester. This will be as a Winter Concert on Saturday 1st February at 730. Look out for details of tickets in the near future.
Colchester Food Bank
We are pleased to announce that 126kg of food items were donated to this worthy cause.
Sunday Readings : 2014
Revised Common Lectionary:- Year A
Sung Eucharist Sung Evensong
5th January THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
All Age Eucharist Psalms 98 & 100
Isaiah 60: 1 - 6 Isaiah 60: 1 - 22
Matthew 2: 1 - 12 John 2: 1 - 11
12th January THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD
Isaiah 42: 1 – 9 Psalms 46 & 47
Acts 10: 34 – 38 Joshua 3: 1 – 8 & 14 - 17
Matthew 3: 13 - 17 Hebrews 1: 1 - 12
19th January THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EPIPHANY
Isaiah 49: 1 - 7
I Corinthians 1: 1 - 3 Service for Christian Unity
John 1: 29 - 34
26th January THE THIRD SUNDAY OF EPIPHANY
Isaiah 9: 1 - 4 Psalm 33
I Corinthians 1: 10 - 18 Ecclesiastes 3: 1 - 11
Matthew 4: 12 - 23 I Peter 1: 3 - 1
Notes for your Diary
2nd SS Basil & Gregory, Bs. & Drs
10.00am Eucharist at All Saints’
5th THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
8.00 Eucharist at All Saints’
10.00am Parish All Age Eucharist at S. Cedd’s
6.30pm Sung Evensong at All Saints’
7th Feria 9.30am Eucharist at S. Cedd’s
7.45pm Devotional Bible Study in the Annexe
8th Churches Together in West Colchester
8.00pm Meeting at Christchurch, Ireton Road
9th Feria 10.00am Eucharist at All Saints’
12th THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD
8.00 Eucharist at All Saints’
10.00am Parish Solemn Eucharist
at All Saints’(with incense)
6.30pm Sung Evensong at All Saints’
13th P.C.C. Meeting 7.45pm in the Annexe
14th Feria 9.30am Eucharist at S. Cedd’s
16th Feria 10.00am Eucharist at All Saints’
19th THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EPIPHANY
8.00 Eucharist at All Saints’
10.00am Parish Sung Eucharist at All Saints’
No Evensong today
Borough Service for Christian Unity
at Eld Lane Baptist Church
(time not specified as yet)
21st S. Agnes, V & M. 9.30am Eucharist at S. Cedd’s
7.45pm Bible Study in the Annexe
23rd Feria 10.00am Eucharist at All Saints’
26th THE THIRD SUNDAY OF EPIPHANY
8.00 Eucharist at All Saints’
10.00am Parish Sung Eucharist at All Saints’
6.30pm Sung Evensong at All Saints’
28th S. Thomas Aquinas, Pr & Dr
9.30am Eucharist at S. Cedd’s
30th Feria 10.00am Eucharist at All Saints’
This is just a summarised version of the magazine, typed by myself for the website, a full version of which can always be bought from the churches each month.
