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From the Lay Deacon
'The Magic of Christmas!'
We must all have heard or seen those words at some time,
but what exactly do they mean? Of course, the Magic of
Christmas does not mean that there is any of the magic
we read about in fairy stories - no magic wands being
waved to make things happen; no Fairy Godmother to grant
three wishes. Probably the only fairy at Christmas is
the one on top of the tree! But what do we
understand by the Magic of Christmas? We have a number
of things from which to choose: the tree, the presents,
the cards, the turkey and Christmas pudding, mince pies
and Christmas cake, and so on. Perhaps they all
contribute in some small measure to the festive side of
Christmas. When I was a very small boy (many, many
years ago!) I was introduced to another aspect of the
magic of Christmas when I heard, at my first school, for
the very first time, what happened on that first
Christmas Day. The Headmistress was a chubby lady, her
lack of inches in height complemented by an equal
brevity of name - Emily Bean. One morning at assembly,
shortly before Christmas, she climbed up on to a chair,
as was her wont on such occasions, the better to be seen
by all, and began to tell us about the birth of Jesus.
We five-year-olds listened enthralled as we heard about
Mary and Joseph making the long and weary journey to
Bethlehem, only to find no room for them at the Inn; the
kindliness of the innkeeper who allowed them to stay in
his stable; the birth of that very special Baby, God's
own Son; the group of humble shepherds out on the chill
hillside watching their sheep, startled by the sudden
bright light heralding an Angel telling them of that
Birth, backed by the angelic host praising God - we
could almost hear their voices singing 'Glory to God
in the highest.....’; the visit of the shepherds to
the stable to find and worship the new-born King. Yes,
Miss Bean conveyed in her simple story-telling something
of the real 'magic' of Christmas, and it still
gives me a thrill each year to hear or read again the
age-old words of that first Christmas night.
More prosaically, we do not know the exact day when it
all happened, but December 25th, from ancient
times a festival of the Winter Solstice, was adopted by
the Church in A.D. 440 as Christmas Day. In Anglo-Saxon
England the year began on December 25th, but
from the late 12th century until the adoption
of the Gregorian calendar in 1752, the civil year began
on Lady Day, March 25th. Perhaps it is more
than a coincidence that from Lady Day to Christmas Day
is nine months, the traditional length of a human
pregnancy.
An interesting legend from Central Europe tells how
Christ returned each Christmas in the guise of a poor,
ragged and hungry child. To the household who took him
in and gave him food and shelter, he revealed his true
identity, shone with radiance, and a choir of angels
sang 'Glory to God in the highest’. As he left,
he broke off a branch from a tree, and pushed it into
the ground, where it immediately bloomed. "This is
my gift to you," he said. "It will bloom each
Christmas to re-affirm my love for all mankind."
Maybe this is the origin of the Christmas tree.
Today, Christmas is commercialised to a greater extent
than ever before. We are besieged by advertisements for
food and presents, for hotels and tours where we may
spend the holiday away from home enjoying 'all the
trimmings' without all the work.
The Christian religion now seems to be under siege, as
reports in the media repeatedly point out fresh
instances: wearing a cross forbidden, nativity plays in
schools abandoned, even the very name of Christmas
dropped. Whichever aspect of Christmas appeals most to
us, however we prefer to spend these few days of
holiday, as members of the Christian Church on earth we
must never lose sight of the true purpose and
significance of it all. In simple terms, we celebrate
the birthday of Jesus; in theological terms, we honour
the incarnation of the Son of God. Let it be obvious to
all whom we encounter that for us this is one of the
great festivals of our Christian religion.
A truly happy and blessed Christmas to you all.
Trevor
About the Parish
Last month I referred to a meeting of magistrates in
1794 in the Pelican Inn, Speenhamland, Berkshire.
They were concerned about the plight of farm labourers
who were falling behind the earnings of other
labourers who had flocked to the towns to share the
comparative prosperity brought about by the Industrial
Revolution. When the harvest failed, farm labourers
suffered considerable hardship. The magistrates
decided that they would supplement the wages of these
men out of parish rates by three shillings weekly
(15p) for a single man, plus one shilling and sixpence
(7.5p) for each dependant. At that time, a loaf of
bread cost one shilling (5p). The outcome was that
employers deliberately kept wages below a subsistence
level knowing that the Parish would supplement them.
As a result, the National Assistance Board in 1948
excluded people in full-time work from receiving
assistance and also introduced a “wage-stop”
whereby assistance to claimants with very large
families was reduced to less than their wages in their
previous occupation. In 1834, a new Poor Law came in
and the experiment at Speenhamland was finished.
The Government appointed a Poor Law Commission to
oversee the new arrangements. A much harsher regime
came into being to deter the able bodied from seeking
the indoor relief provided by Workhouses, which has
been immortalized in the works of Charles Dickens.
Recipients of indoor relief in the workhouse, wore a
uniform, and did very hard labour like stone breaking
for the men and laundry work for the women. They even
lost their voting rights. Each parish had its own
workhouse but gradually parishes started to combine
and have Union Workhouses. The very old and frail
remained in their homes, receiving a meagre outdoor
relief assessed and paid by Relieving Officers. In
1846 a select committee investigated an incident at
Andover Workhouse where the inmates were found to be
almost starving and had resorted to gnawing the rotten
bones sent in to be pounded. Gradually, the public
became concerned and indeed outraged by the
disgraceful treatment of the poor. Conditions slowly
improved during the 19th Century but it was
not until 1 January 1909 that a form of national
insurance was introduced to provide pensions by right
to the over 70s. In 1911, it was extended to the
working population to provide insurance against
sickness and unemployment.
The local councils were required to provide public
assistance to the poor who were not covered by
national insurance. They employed Relieving Officers
and I know from speaking to two of them, who were
colleagues in the National Assistance Board, what a
difficult job they had in providing public
assistance. If you worked for a wealthy council in a
prosperous area you could be very generous. In poorer
working class areas, Relieving Officers had to tell
applicants to sell non-essential items of furniture,
ornaments and personal possessions before they were
deemed in need of help. In the case of old people,
their sons and daughters were traced and asked to
contribute to the maintenance of their parents and
even grandparents. Unemployment stirred the nation’s
conscience in the 1930s. The then Prince of Wales,
the future King Edward the 8th, was
appalled by what he saw on a visit to South Wales,
famously saying, ”Something must be done about
this!” It was unprecedented for a member of the
Royal Family to speak out in public in this way and,
as we shall see next month, the Government did finally
act.
Roger Bryant
A Quick Christmas Cake
Have you made your Christmas cake yet? If not, here is
a quick recipe:
1 lb mixed fruit 4 oz cherries, if
liked 1 cup* sugar
1 cup* water 4 oz margarine (not
butter)
1 teaspoon bicarb
Put in saucepan, bring to boil, simmer for 20 minutes –
leave overnight – next morning, add
8 oz self raising flour 2 eggs spice, if
liked
Put in an 8"greased tin. Bake in Gas Reg 3 for 2½-3 hours.
Beryl Carter
(*cup is approximately 7 fl. oz)
Electoral Roll
The Electoral Roll has to be completely renewed in 2007
which means new Application Forms have to be completed
to enable names to be included in the New Roll. Full
details will be printed in the January edition of
“Faith Matters”.
Audrey Currie – Electoral Roll Officer
Christmas Greetings
Our very best wishes to you all for a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year.
Pam and Derek Bowley
Wishing the clergy and everyone at St. Faith’s a happy
and peaceful Christmas and New Year – with love
Ken & Mary Bracher
A Happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous 2007 to
all our friends at St. Faith’s and St. Nicholas, and
particularly to Roger and Sisyphus for their regular
contributions - also to our kind friends who deliver
“Faith Matters”.
Beryl and Colin Carter
Wishing all at St. Faiths a Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year with love from
Sandra Haggan
May the warmth of Christmas fill your day and the peace
of Christmas bless your way, The joy of Christmas bring
you cheer, Good health Godspeed for the coming year. To
All at St. Faith's from
Judy and Innis
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from
Vicki Mockford and family
Wishing all the clergy and congregation of St. Faith’s a
very happy Christmas
Val & Melvyn Rose
Wishing all a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy
New Year.
Valentine Searle
A very Happy Christmas and peaceful new year to all our
friends in St. Faith's.
Roger and Marion Simmons
Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year to all, from
Victoria, Richard, Holly and Emma Smith
Peter and Rosemary Thomas
send Christmas Greetings and best
wishes for a Happy New Year to all their friends at St.
Faith’s. Rosemary sends especial thanks to the flower
arrangers for their hard work and generosity.
Joy and Paul Utting wish all at St Faith's a Happy
Christmas and a Peaceful New Year.
Colin and Sheila Warlow wish all their friends at St. Faith’s
a very happy and peaceful Christmas and best wishes for
2007.
Dear Colin,
Faith Schools – such as they are now designated – appear
to be high on the Government’s agenda and of much public
interest. A short time ago, the Education Secretary
announced that, in the interest of breaking down
barriers between communities, all new Faith Schools
would be required by law to admit a quota of 25% of
students from other or no faiths; with inference given
that in time existing Faith Schools would voluntarily
conform to this requirement. Following this, in a
recent debate in the House of Lords it was said that
“In Northern Ireland the crop [of Faith Schools] has
produced a savage harvest”, with similar sentiments
being expressed on BBC Radio by Lord Baker, a former
Education Secretary. The today (27 October), after
organised lobbying by religious groups, the Education
Secretary made a complete U Turn and said that
admissions policy would remain a matter for the school
to decide, and that it was not “necessary or
appropriate” to change the law.
It is acknowledged that in the past, the Church in its
various denominations, played a major role in education
to the great benefit of British society, but surely it
is now time for the education system to be completely
secular, with religious education being a matter for
parents, Church, Synagogue, Temple, Mosque or Meeting
House. The academic study of religion would be part of
the curriculum but it would not be biased in favour of
any particular religion.
Furthermore, bearing in mind that the heir to the throne
wishes to be known as “Defender of the Faiths”,
perhaps it is also time for the separation of Church and
State as was reputed to be the view of Archbishop Rowan
Williams when he was Head of the Church in Wales; the
Christian Faith is strong and sufficient in itself.
Yours sincerely,
John Bradey
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend,
Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No
one knows for sure how old he was since his birth
records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.
He will be remembered as having cultivated such
valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the
rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn’t
always fair and maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies
(don’t spend more than you earn) and reliable
parenting strategies (adults, not children, are in
charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well
intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in
place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with
sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens
suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch;
and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly
student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked
teachers for doing the job the parents failed to do in
disciplining their unruly children. It declined even
further when schools were required to get parental
consent to administer an aspirin, sun lotion or a
sticky plaster to a student, but could not inform the
parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to
have an abortion. Common Sense lost the will to live
as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches
became businesses; and criminals received better
treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend
yourself from a burglar in your own home and the
burglar could sue you for assault. Common Sense
finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed
to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She
spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded
a hugh settlement from McDonalds.
Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents,
Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter,
Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived
by three stepbrothers; I Know my Rights, Someone Else
is to Blame and I’m A Victim. Not many attended his
funeral because so few realised he was gone. If you
still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the
majority and Do Nothing.
(This appeared in the Lymington URC magazine. It is
an anonymous piece that bears thinking about)
After creating heaven and earth, God created Adam and
Eve.
And the first thing he said was DON'T
'Don't what?'
asked Adam.
'Don't eat the forbidden fruit.'
‘Forbidden fruit! We have forbidden
fruit! Hey Eve we have forbidden fruit!'
'No way!' 'Yes way!'
'Do not eat the fruit',
said God.
'Why?'
'Because I am your father and I said
so',
replied God wondering why he hadn't stopped creation
after making the elephants. A few minutes later God
saw his children having an apple break.
'Didn't I tell you not to eat the
fruit?'
'Uh huh',
Adam replied. 'Then why did you?'
'I don't know'
said Eve.
'She started it'
said Adam. 'Did not'. 'Did too'. 'DID NOT'.
Having had it with them, God's punishment was that
they should have children of their own. Thus was the
pattern set, and it has never changed.
The moral? If you have persistently and lovingly
tried to give children wisdom and they haven't taken
it, or even if you made mistakes along the way, don't
be too hard on yourself. If God had trouble raising
children what makes you think it would be a piece of
cake for you?
You spend the first 2 years of their lives teaching
them to talk and walk, and the next sixteen telling
them to sit down and shut up. Grandchildren are God's
reward for not killing your own children. Children
seldom misquote you; in fact they usually repeat word
for word what you shouldn't have said.
Chris Thomas
Christmas Quiz
A Christmas Quiz will be available at £1.00 each,
proceeds to The Restoration and Redevelopment Fund. If
anybody would like to take a few to sell, please let me
know. They are of course a good addition to a Christmas
card!!
Sandra Haggan
A Thought for Christmas
This time of the year reminds me of a song my mother
used to sing to my sister and I before Christmas every
year when we were small and when we were getting all
excited thinking what presents we were hoping to
receive. It used to upset us or take the shine out of
receiving the presents and I always wished she wouldn’t
sing it. But as we got older we realised the reason she
sang it to us. I am sure some of you will remember the
song.
The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot
Christmas comes but once a year to every girl and boy
The laughter and the joy they find in each new toy
I’ll tell you about a little boy who lived across the
way
This little boy’s Christmas is just another day
It’s the little boy that Santa Claus forgot
And goodness knows he didn’t want a lot
He wrote a note to Santa for some soldiers and a drum
It broke his little heart when he found Santa hadn’t
come
In the street he envied all those lucky boys
Then wandered back to last year’s broken toys
I’m so sorry for that laddie he hasn’t got a daddy
The little boy that Santa Claus forgot
I sung it to my daughter, Colleen, for years and even
now when I sing it she can easily get upset, even though
she is in her 30’s, and always says “Oh! Mum”.
Beryl Carter
The Great South Run Challenge – Part 1
I had to take part in the BUPA Great
South Run this year. My heart was set on it having
suffered the disappointment of missing the 2005
staging of this major event in the UK distance running
calendar.
Back in Time.
With your permission may I take you back to October
2004. I had spent much of that year running regularly
for fitness and had reached a point where I was
clocking times identical to those I had been achieving
some 20 years earlier. I hadn’t taken part in any
events at that stage, however was now considering
doing so, particularly as a number of my friends had
just completed that year’s running of the BUPA Great
South. Why not build towards the 2005 event I
thought. I could maintain a decent training regime
between now and then and perhaps enter a few races in
the process. I immediately registered an entry for
the 2005 Stubbington 10k and cracked on with the
regular running. I was feeling fitter than I had done
for many years…and, in weight terms, was as light as I
had been for some time. All great…until the back
trouble kicked in!
Now I won’t bore you with the detail, however I
suddenly developed some kind of sciatica problem
having never suffered from anything like it before.
BUPA was still uppermost in my mind…but only because I
was attending its Havant hospital for regular
physiotherapy treatment to help my back.
The back problem meant that running was on hold,
although I didn’t stop believing I could run in the
Stubbington 10k. Ever the optimist, that’s me.
However January 2005 came, my back was getting better,
but only a fool would have attempted to go running in
my condition. Instead I watched my best friend run
the race and cheered him across the line as a
spectator.
By July 2005 I was back out on the road again, but I’d
lost the motivation. The inactivity meant I’d piled
on some pounds and I was running like a slug. I
didn’t enter the Great South - it would have been
pointless. Two miles was a struggle, let alone ten,
and to be honest I just couldn’t find the enthusiasm.
In Training for the Great South Run, 2006. Christmas came and went. I ran the
odd couple of miles here and there; however my heart
wasn’t really in it. At least it wasn’t until I went
up to York on business in February and decided to take
my running kit with me. The hotel I stayed at was on
a long main road with plenty of pavement, so I went
out on a couple of evenings and pushed myself through
three miles. It hurt a bit but I felt like I could
get back into a routine again. March and April passed
by and I was training consistently. My times over
relatively short distances were improving and I’d
started to stretch some of my training runs out to 4
and 5 miles. (Not that far you may think, however I’d
started to dream about the Great South again and knew
I could build gradually towards the 10- mile challenge
it presented).
I ran the Bognor Promenade 10k in May turning in a
pretty average time of 51:09, and then ran the Hayling
Billy 5-mile race in June finishing in a reasonable
39:52. I knew I could go faster, however the
important thing was that I was improving steadily
towards October and had just received notification
that I had a confirmed place in the BUPA Great South.
June was a great month! Driven by the belief that I
under-performed in the ‘Billy 5’, I started to really
stretch out during training. By the end of June I was
consistently running times well inside 39 minutes for
5 miles and feeling increasingly stronger. And then
came July...and with it disaster. During a short
midweek run I felt some stress in my left foot.
Dismissing it as ‘most probably a minor irritation’ I
went out for another training run just a couple of
days later and realised that I had a problem.
The injury meant I couldn’t train for 7 weeks! I was
devastated! I had been running really well and this
came as a major kick in the teeth. I sat out the back
end of July, all of August and beginning of September,
regularly applying a cold pack to the foot and
eventually visiting the Doctor. He told me it was a
tendon problem and that I shouldn’t attempt to run
until the foot was absolutely clear of any irritation.
Gradually things improved and I decided to risk a
steady 3-mile run in the second week of September.
There was no reaction and I was back on the road,
albeit much, much slower than I had been 8 weeks
before. I now had something like 6 weeks to get
myself back to the form I was in and realise my
ambition of running the BUPA Great South event in
under 80 minutes.
I trained really hard. Steadily at first, but
gradually increasing the distances and pulling back
the times. With three weeks to go I was feeling
fairly optimistic, however I knew I had to put in some
longer runs if I was to achieve my Great South dream.
On 1st October I put in a 7-mile road run,
coming in at just under 55 minutes. This was good and
I knew that if I could hold my fitness over the next
couple of weeks I stood a good chance of sneaking
under 80 minutes for the 10-mile event. On 8th
October I ran from Havant Arts Centre, over Langstone
Bridge and along the ‘Billy trail’ to the Theatre and
back. That’s between 8.5 and 9 miles, and I covered
it in 69 minutes. The following weekend I did it
again and took a minute off the previous week’s time.
Now I was definitely tracking to hit my Great South
target.
On Monday 17th October I went out in the
evening for a brisk 3.5 mile warm up run
and…disaster! The tendon problem had kicked in
again. Not so bad that I couldn’t run, however I knew
that if I ran again that week then I could kiss
goodbye to the sound of the Great South starting gun
on that coming weekend. I immediately decided that
training was now officially over, wrapped my foot in
the old cold pack and hoped.
Jeremy Toole
Jeremy would like to offer his sincere
thanks to all who sponsored him in the running of the
Great South event, and helped the Computer 2000
organisation to raise £2,500 in aid of the Sue Ryder
Charity and in memory of the late Paul Farrimond.
Part 2, which gives details of the run miule by mile,
will appear in next month’s edition of “Faith
Matters”
Minutes before the race and here's Jeremy (centre) with
friends and fellow runners Neil and Rob
Concerns About the ‘Send a Cow’ Initiative
I wish to share my concerns with you about the ‘Send
a Cow’ (or other animal, e.g., Goat) initiative.
This is, of course, an initiative springing from the
best possible of motives, that of alleviating famine in
Africa and all sounds very cosy – there is anecdotal
evidence of some successes with the scheme, but it is
the long-term consequences of sending livestock to
famine-hit areas of Africa which is what this article
wishes to address.
The ‘Send a Cow’ schemes have been conceived by
people in the affluent countries who wrongly believe
that meat and dairy foods are essential and that having
more of them is the key to improving the well-being of
the poor. The opposite is true. Many independent
health studies in the developed world show consistently
that vegetarians and vegans in particular, are on
average much healthier, suffer less from heart disease,
and cancer, and live longer. Farm animals waste land
and water. They only convert about 10% of what they eat
into milk or meat. Pulses and nuts have high protein
content and, when combined with cereals and seeds, have
all the protein needed by human beings. Providing more
goats for Africa is not helpful – Africa is already
teeming with goats, and goats were instrumental in
creating the Sahara Desert. Let the crops grown to feed
the animals go directly to the people of the Africa in
the form of pulses and cereals. David Attenborough,
patron of the World Land Trust, accuses the
‘send-an-animal’ charities of ignoring the
devastating environmental impact of the promotion of
animal farming, in other words – forest clearance to
either grow crops to feed farmed animals (to export to
Western nations who can’t seem to do without eating
animal flesh) or for the grazing of farmed animals –
causing soil erosion. This gradual land degradation is
already resulting in environmental refugees, through
desertification, flooding, drought, and therefore,
famine.
‘Save the Children’
are inviting people to donate just £10 to buy seeds so
that a family can plant crops which will feed them for
many years to come; the charity ‘Tree Aid’
provides funding so that villagers can, among other
things: grow trees to meet their daily needs, e.g.,
mango tree nurseries, improve the environment and soil
quality to help grow food, manage their environment and
livelihoods long after funding has ended. There is the
charity ‘Vegfam’ who advocate vegetarianism and
veganism as the only way to feed the world. For God’s
sake, for our sake, and for the sake of the whole world,
let us stop eating meat and dairy.
Helena Youle
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