Baptism marks the beginning of a journey with God which continues for the rest of our lives, the first step in response to God’s love. For all involved, particularly the candidates but also parents, godparents and sponsors, it is a joyful moment when we rejoice in what God has done for us in Christ, making serious promises and declaring the faith.
The wider community of the local church and friends welcome the new Christian, promising support and prayer for the future. Hearing and doing these things provides an opportunity to remember our own baptism and reflect on the progress made on that journey, which is now to be shared with this new member of the Church.
The service paints many vivid pictures of what happens on the Christian way. There is the sign of the cross, the badge of faith in the Christian journey, which reminds us of Christ’s death for us. Our ‘drowning’ in the water of baptism, where we believe we die to sin and are raised to new life, unites us to Christ’s dying and rising, a picture that can be brought home vividly by the way the baptism is administered. Water is also a sign of new life, as we are born again by water and the Spirit. This reminds us of Jesus’ baptism. And as a sign of that new life, there may be a lighted candle, a picture of the light of Christ conquering the darkness of evil. Everyone who is baptized walks in that light for the rest of their lives.
As you pray for the candidates, picture them with yourself and the whole Church throughout the ages, journeying into the fullness of God’s love.
Introduction to the Common Worship Baptism Rite
Jesus said, ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.’
John 10.10
In the first instance please either call The Vicar, The Rev'd. Gareth Bowen on 01322 - 523344 or 07775 - 674504 or call into the Parish Office on Saturdays between 10:00am and 11:00am. We will discuss the baptism service and I will give you an Application Form, please complete the Baptism Application form and return it to the Parish Office.
Saint Martin’s is an Inclusive Church, we are committed to ensuring that those who are excluded in society because of their poverty, different abilities, gender, ethnic origin or any other reason can play their full part in the Gospel of Jesus Christ's unconditional love.
Please ask your guests to ensure that mobile phones are switched off during the service and remind them that no flash photography is allowed in the church. Almost all our baptismal services take place during the Eucharist, also called Holy Communion, at 10:30 on Sunday morning. After the baptism part of the service we have our prayers of intercession and then the Peace. After sharing the Peace please return to your seats as the service continues with the Eucharist. We welcome people of all faiths, and of none, at Saint Martin’s; please respect the beliefs of the church and other people’s need for quiet in which to pray and reflect upon our Lord.
There is no charge for Baptism, but we are obliged to make a statutory charge of £12:00 for a Baptism Certificate. If this fee will cause hardship please talk to the Vicar, The Rev’d. Gareth Bowen.
It costs in excess of £65,000 each year to run Saint Martin’s, which is over £1,250:00 per week. If you would like to make an offering towards the work of the Church please do so and you and your guests may like to use the Gift Aid envelopes so that we can recoup, from the Government, the income-tax that you have paid at no extra cost to you.
We hope to see you at Saint Martin’s, many blessings,
Thursday 21 February 2008
Funerals & Bereavement
"God's love and power extend over all creation. Every life, including our own, is precious to God. Christians have always believed that there is hope in death as in life, and that there is new life in Christ over death.
Even those who share such faith find that there is a real sense of loss at the death of a loved one. We will each have had our own experiences of their life and death, with different memories and different feelings of love, grief and respect. To acknowledge this at the beginning of the service should help us to use this occasion to express our faith and our feelings as we say farewell, to acknowledge our loss and our sorrow, and to reflect on our own mortality. Those who mourn need support and consolation. Our presence at the funeral is part of that continuing support."
- from the Common Worship Funeral Service.
Bereavement is enough for anyone to try to cope with without the pressures of organising a funeral. Registering the death can be difficult. Very often the coroner may have to be involved before the death can be registered. This happens when a doctor hasn't been able to ascertain the cause of death immediately.
You will need to contact a funeral director, who will be able to guide you through the organising of the funeral. It is important that you ask the funeral director any questions you might have, and share any thoughts. The funeral director is there to help you.
You can use the Staff Who's Who link below to contact a minister directly, or ask the funeral director to do so. We will liaise with the funeral director to make sure that you are fully supported, and plan a service that meets your needs, and the wishes of your loved one.
In our area, there are a number of possibilities for the funeral service. A service can be held in Saint Martin’s. A service can be held in a crematorium chapel. A service can be held at the graveside in a cemetery. A service in church may conclude with a trip to a cemetery or a crematorium. In this case it is possible to have the funeral in Saint Martin’s, and then to proceed to the crematorium for the committal.
After cremation, it is possible to bury the cremated remains (ashes) in a graveyard or garden of remembrance at a later date. The remains are normally placed in a wooden casket, and are buried in a simple ceremony lasting a few minutes. It is then possible to mark the place with an appropriate memorial.
The clergy from Saint Martin’s are available to pray with anyone who is dying (often with the anointing of oil and/or Holy Communion). Please call The Vicar, The Rev’d. Gareth Bowen, 24hrs a day if necessary, 01322 – 523344 or 07775 - 674504.
We also remember all those for whom we have performed funerals in an annual memorial service, and invite friends and family to join with us.
Even those who share such faith find that there is a real sense of loss at the death of a loved one. We will each have had our own experiences of their life and death, with different memories and different feelings of love, grief and respect. To acknowledge this at the beginning of the service should help us to use this occasion to express our faith and our feelings as we say farewell, to acknowledge our loss and our sorrow, and to reflect on our own mortality. Those who mourn need support and consolation. Our presence at the funeral is part of that continuing support."
- from the Common Worship Funeral Service.
Bereavement is enough for anyone to try to cope with without the pressures of organising a funeral. Registering the death can be difficult. Very often the coroner may have to be involved before the death can be registered. This happens when a doctor hasn't been able to ascertain the cause of death immediately.
You will need to contact a funeral director, who will be able to guide you through the organising of the funeral. It is important that you ask the funeral director any questions you might have, and share any thoughts. The funeral director is there to help you.
You can use the Staff Who's Who link below to contact a minister directly, or ask the funeral director to do so. We will liaise with the funeral director to make sure that you are fully supported, and plan a service that meets your needs, and the wishes of your loved one.
In our area, there are a number of possibilities for the funeral service. A service can be held in Saint Martin’s. A service can be held in a crematorium chapel. A service can be held at the graveside in a cemetery. A service in church may conclude with a trip to a cemetery or a crematorium. In this case it is possible to have the funeral in Saint Martin’s, and then to proceed to the crematorium for the committal.
After cremation, it is possible to bury the cremated remains (ashes) in a graveyard or garden of remembrance at a later date. The remains are normally placed in a wooden casket, and are buried in a simple ceremony lasting a few minutes. It is then possible to mark the place with an appropriate memorial.
The clergy from Saint Martin’s are available to pray with anyone who is dying (often with the anointing of oil and/or Holy Communion). Please call The Vicar, The Rev’d. Gareth Bowen, 24hrs a day if necessary, 01322 – 523344 or 07775 - 674504.
We also remember all those for whom we have performed funerals in an annual memorial service, and invite friends and family to join with us.
Lent 1 Parade Service
GARETH... This week Christians observe Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. Many of us know Shrove Tuesday better as Pancake Day. The Christian season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts for six weeks. In some parts of the world, Shrove Tuesday is known as 'Mardi Gras' and it is a great carnival time with parades, fancy dress and huge floats that process through the towns and villages. Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, has one of the most famous Mardi Gras parades.
JULIE... What does 'Shrove' mean? I always call it Pancake Day because we have pancakes at home then - though I like them, so why don't we have them the rest of the year? And what on earth is 'Mardi Gras'?
GARETH...I like pancakes too, but 'Shrove' comes from a word meaning 'to confess', so Shrove Tuesday means that on Shrove Tuesday you confess all your wrongdoing to God and, if you really mean it, your sins are forgiven. Then on Ash Wednesday you can go to church. In lots of churches they burn the palm crosses from the year before and when you go to church you get a smudge of ash on your forehead. It is like a badge of faith, showing that you are sharing Jesus's pain and temptations.
And 'Mardi Gras' means 'Fat Tuesday' in French, because it is the last day you can eat rich food before Lent, and all the fat in the house has to be got rid of in preparation. The day is just called different things in different parts of the world. Lent is a time when Christians traditionally give things up, read the Bible more, pray more regularly and look forward to Easter.
JULIE... It is not only about giving things up, it's also a time to prepare for Easter. When you do without things you like it can be hard. If you give up chocolates, you can be tempted to eat one - and sometimes give in. During Lent, Christians remember the time when Jesus went into the desert to think about what lay ahead for him. He ate very little and the Devil came to tempt him when he was weak.
GARETH... Jesus was then led away by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil. For forty days and nights he fasted, and at the end of them he was famished. The devil approached him to tempt him and said, 'If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.' Jesus answered, 'Scripture says, "Man cannot live by bread alone; he lives on every word that God utters."' The devil then took him to the Holy City of Jerusalem and set him on the parapet, the highest point, of the Temple. 'If you are the Son of God,' he said, 'throw yourself down; for Scripture says, "He will put his angels in charge of you, and they will support you in their arms, for fear you should strike your foot against a stone."' Jesus answered him, 'Scripture says again, "You are not to put the Lord your God to the test."' Once again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. 'All these,' he said, 'I will give you, if you will only fall down and do me homage.' But Jesus said, 'Begone, Satan! Scripture says, "You shall do homage to the Lord your God and worship him alone."' Then the devil left him; and the angels appeared and waited on him. (Matthew 4:1-11)
Jesus was in the desert for forty days. The number forty comes up a lot in the Bible. The Flood lasted forty days and forty nights; the Israelites followed Moses in the wilderness for forty years. The first King of Israel, Saul, was forty when he became king and David, the great King of Israel, ruled for forty years. There are lots more examples. Perhaps forty is a really important number for the Jewish people.
JULIE... Like Jesus in the desert, thinking about the future and showing his faith in God, many Christians do the same and prepare for Easter by thinking about how they can deepen their faith. A Confederate soldier wrote this prayer during the American Civil War. The Confederates were from the South, fighting against the North.
GARETH...
I asked for strength that I might achieve;
I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health that I might do great things;
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy;
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for,
but everything that I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered;
I am, among all men, most richly blessed.
You don't always get what you want or what you ask for but, for Christians, Lent is a time for faith and trust in God; a time when they look to share in Jesus's suffering and put temptation behind them.
JULIE... And if they have faith then, however hard life seems, there will be a silver lining. As I read this poem, let us reflect on the hard, difficult times we have had and how we have dealt with them. Then let us move on to think of a good time that still lifts our hearts when we think of it.
WHY CRY?
You know something wonderful
will always happen.
It always does.
Know what I mean?
Like how
you just opened the window
and the warm breeze
wrapped itself
around your neck.
It will always happen again.
It always does.
JULIE... What does 'Shrove' mean? I always call it Pancake Day because we have pancakes at home then - though I like them, so why don't we have them the rest of the year? And what on earth is 'Mardi Gras'?
GARETH...I like pancakes too, but 'Shrove' comes from a word meaning 'to confess', so Shrove Tuesday means that on Shrove Tuesday you confess all your wrongdoing to God and, if you really mean it, your sins are forgiven. Then on Ash Wednesday you can go to church. In lots of churches they burn the palm crosses from the year before and when you go to church you get a smudge of ash on your forehead. It is like a badge of faith, showing that you are sharing Jesus's pain and temptations.
And 'Mardi Gras' means 'Fat Tuesday' in French, because it is the last day you can eat rich food before Lent, and all the fat in the house has to be got rid of in preparation. The day is just called different things in different parts of the world. Lent is a time when Christians traditionally give things up, read the Bible more, pray more regularly and look forward to Easter.
JULIE... It is not only about giving things up, it's also a time to prepare for Easter. When you do without things you like it can be hard. If you give up chocolates, you can be tempted to eat one - and sometimes give in. During Lent, Christians remember the time when Jesus went into the desert to think about what lay ahead for him. He ate very little and the Devil came to tempt him when he was weak.
GARETH... Jesus was then led away by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil. For forty days and nights he fasted, and at the end of them he was famished. The devil approached him to tempt him and said, 'If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.' Jesus answered, 'Scripture says, "Man cannot live by bread alone; he lives on every word that God utters."' The devil then took him to the Holy City of Jerusalem and set him on the parapet, the highest point, of the Temple. 'If you are the Son of God,' he said, 'throw yourself down; for Scripture says, "He will put his angels in charge of you, and they will support you in their arms, for fear you should strike your foot against a stone."' Jesus answered him, 'Scripture says again, "You are not to put the Lord your God to the test."' Once again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. 'All these,' he said, 'I will give you, if you will only fall down and do me homage.' But Jesus said, 'Begone, Satan! Scripture says, "You shall do homage to the Lord your God and worship him alone."' Then the devil left him; and the angels appeared and waited on him. (Matthew 4:1-11)
Jesus was in the desert for forty days. The number forty comes up a lot in the Bible. The Flood lasted forty days and forty nights; the Israelites followed Moses in the wilderness for forty years. The first King of Israel, Saul, was forty when he became king and David, the great King of Israel, ruled for forty years. There are lots more examples. Perhaps forty is a really important number for the Jewish people.
JULIE... Like Jesus in the desert, thinking about the future and showing his faith in God, many Christians do the same and prepare for Easter by thinking about how they can deepen their faith. A Confederate soldier wrote this prayer during the American Civil War. The Confederates were from the South, fighting against the North.
GARETH...
I asked for strength that I might achieve;
I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health that I might do great things;
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy;
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for,
but everything that I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered;
I am, among all men, most richly blessed.
You don't always get what you want or what you ask for but, for Christians, Lent is a time for faith and trust in God; a time when they look to share in Jesus's suffering and put temptation behind them.
JULIE... And if they have faith then, however hard life seems, there will be a silver lining. As I read this poem, let us reflect on the hard, difficult times we have had and how we have dealt with them. Then let us move on to think of a good time that still lifts our hearts when we think of it.
WHY CRY?
You know something wonderful
will always happen.
It always does.
Know what I mean?
Like how
you just opened the window
and the warm breeze
wrapped itself
around your neck.
It will always happen again.
It always does.
Tuesday 5 February 2008
January 27, 2008 - Third Sunday After the Epiphany
The Bible is full of beginnings; not only the universal one, when God speaks into existence the components of a magnificent cosmos, but other beginnings as well. Thus the human race begins with Adam and Eve, and begins again after the flood with Noah and his family. In old age, Abraham answers the invitation of God to go away from home and begin anew.
The Bible presents us with beginnings over and over again, until at the end a holy city comes down from heaven to earth, and its name is not Jerusalem, but New Jerusalem, for it is a place to begin, the start of what will be forever new.
Some of the beginnings in the Bible are known as call stories. A call story recounts how somebody was invited by God to begin something new and unexpected. God calls this person to begin, and not only to begin, but – and here's the hard part – to persist, to persist so that another beginning can take place.
One day Andrew and Simon, James and John get up when the sky is still dark, walk down to the sea, and hurl nets into the water, anticipating a catch of fish. It is a day like so many other days. Nothing special. These men have engaged in this same routine hundreds of times before. This is what they do, for they are fishermen.
Amid familiar water and nets and fresh fish, rough wood of boats, rhythmic motion of waves, in the midst of this familiarity, for these four men, a beginning takes place.
Jesus turns up at the waterside. Have they met him before, heard about him? It does not matter. Today, as he calls them, a beginning takes place. He glances out at these working men with their nets and their hard-won catch, and announces in a voice almost comic, the way men kid one another, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." The four hear this as a put-down, a dare, a challenge from this landlubber on the shore.
Like every other call story in the Bible, this one is an adventure. According to G. K. Chesterton, "An adventure is, by its nature, a thing that comes to us. It is a thing that chooses us, not a thing that we choose."
Other rabbis wait for disciples to come to them. This Rabbi Jesus goes out and finds his own. He looks, not among the likely candidates, the best and the brightest, but down at the docks, where he interrupts fishermen at their work.
An adventure is something that comes to us, that chooses us. Discipleship is the great adventure, for the one who comes to us and chooses us is great beyond all measure. We are taken away from predictable lives, plunged into adventure.
Woe to anyone who dilutes this adventure with dullness, who makes discipleship into something safe.
Happy are those for whom the adventure remains forever sharp, who find themselves always at a new beginning.
Are these four men – Andrew, Simon, James, and John – ready and equipped for the adventure that comes to them, that chooses them, this adventure of discipleship? Jesus at the waterside does not collect resumes; he does not check references. The personal histories of these four do not have the last word about their futures. Christ's call means a new beginning. He takes a wide-open risk by inviting them. They do the same in their response.
Subsequent events do not demonstrate that they are particularly fit for their call. Simon, who will come to be known as Peter, betrays Jesus in an even more boldfaced way than all the rest. James and John, nicknamed the Sons of Thunder, not the most agreeable pair to have around, indulge in dreams about their own enthronement, missing the point completely when Jesus announces that downward mobility is the path to his kingdom. Andrew rarely appears again on the radar. Maybe his flaw is playing it safe. Yet Jesus never withdraws his invitation to any of them to share in his adventure, and partners with Jesus is what they finally become.
The novelist James Baldwin once wrote, "Any real change implies the breakup of the world as one has always known it ... the end of safety." The call to discipleship of these four fishermen, the beginning their story represents, implies the breakup of their familiar world, the end of their safety.
They leave behind old securities: the waterside, the boat, the nets, those days of fishing that so resembled one another, and even old Zebedee, the father of James and John, standing astonished in the boat as his two sons suddenly walk away. The new beginning requires this. Disciples must walk away into the future. They may be afraid, but not so afraid that their faith does not lead them forward.
The Bible tells us of this beginning for the four fishermen. They are called out from their occupation about which they know a great deal, in order to fish for people, about which they claim no knowledge.
In the same way, our discipleship means a new beginning, one that appears before us again and again. We keep experiencing the end of safety so that we may participate in a new world. We find ourselves engaged in an adventure, for however strangely, however unjustifiably, Christ comes to us and chooses us, and sends us out to be the next new beginning in the world.
The Bible presents us with beginnings over and over again, until at the end a holy city comes down from heaven to earth, and its name is not Jerusalem, but New Jerusalem, for it is a place to begin, the start of what will be forever new.
Some of the beginnings in the Bible are known as call stories. A call story recounts how somebody was invited by God to begin something new and unexpected. God calls this person to begin, and not only to begin, but – and here's the hard part – to persist, to persist so that another beginning can take place.
One day Andrew and Simon, James and John get up when the sky is still dark, walk down to the sea, and hurl nets into the water, anticipating a catch of fish. It is a day like so many other days. Nothing special. These men have engaged in this same routine hundreds of times before. This is what they do, for they are fishermen.
Amid familiar water and nets and fresh fish, rough wood of boats, rhythmic motion of waves, in the midst of this familiarity, for these four men, a beginning takes place.
Jesus turns up at the waterside. Have they met him before, heard about him? It does not matter. Today, as he calls them, a beginning takes place. He glances out at these working men with their nets and their hard-won catch, and announces in a voice almost comic, the way men kid one another, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." The four hear this as a put-down, a dare, a challenge from this landlubber on the shore.
Like every other call story in the Bible, this one is an adventure. According to G. K. Chesterton, "An adventure is, by its nature, a thing that comes to us. It is a thing that chooses us, not a thing that we choose."
Other rabbis wait for disciples to come to them. This Rabbi Jesus goes out and finds his own. He looks, not among the likely candidates, the best and the brightest, but down at the docks, where he interrupts fishermen at their work.
An adventure is something that comes to us, that chooses us. Discipleship is the great adventure, for the one who comes to us and chooses us is great beyond all measure. We are taken away from predictable lives, plunged into adventure.
Woe to anyone who dilutes this adventure with dullness, who makes discipleship into something safe.
Happy are those for whom the adventure remains forever sharp, who find themselves always at a new beginning.
Are these four men – Andrew, Simon, James, and John – ready and equipped for the adventure that comes to them, that chooses them, this adventure of discipleship? Jesus at the waterside does not collect resumes; he does not check references. The personal histories of these four do not have the last word about their futures. Christ's call means a new beginning. He takes a wide-open risk by inviting them. They do the same in their response.
Subsequent events do not demonstrate that they are particularly fit for their call. Simon, who will come to be known as Peter, betrays Jesus in an even more boldfaced way than all the rest. James and John, nicknamed the Sons of Thunder, not the most agreeable pair to have around, indulge in dreams about their own enthronement, missing the point completely when Jesus announces that downward mobility is the path to his kingdom. Andrew rarely appears again on the radar. Maybe his flaw is playing it safe. Yet Jesus never withdraws his invitation to any of them to share in his adventure, and partners with Jesus is what they finally become.
The novelist James Baldwin once wrote, "Any real change implies the breakup of the world as one has always known it ... the end of safety." The call to discipleship of these four fishermen, the beginning their story represents, implies the breakup of their familiar world, the end of their safety.
They leave behind old securities: the waterside, the boat, the nets, those days of fishing that so resembled one another, and even old Zebedee, the father of James and John, standing astonished in the boat as his two sons suddenly walk away. The new beginning requires this. Disciples must walk away into the future. They may be afraid, but not so afraid that their faith does not lead them forward.
The Bible tells us of this beginning for the four fishermen. They are called out from their occupation about which they know a great deal, in order to fish for people, about which they claim no knowledge.
In the same way, our discipleship means a new beginning, one that appears before us again and again. We keep experiencing the end of safety so that we may participate in a new world. We find ourselves engaged in an adventure, for however strangely, however unjustifiably, Christ comes to us and chooses us, and sends us out to be the next new beginning in the world.
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