From the Rector - All My Hope on God is Founded

Sunday 11^th October sees the fifth Portsmouth Diocesan annual Stewardship Thanksgiving Sunday fall on the same Sunday that our Havant Parish Church congregations recognise the dedication of our parish to St. Faith.  So as we gather that Sunday to thank God for Faith and her witness to the gospel, at the same time, we think of all that God has provided for us and acknowledge him as the ultimate supplier.  Psalm 50 reminds us that “the world is his and all that is in it”.

What we regularly give to the church reflects how seriously we take our own witness to the gospel particularly in terms of our desire to resource the church’s mission.

Christian Stewardship involves more than just our gift of money.  It recognises what God has given us and we respond to that by asking ourselves how much of our God-given resources we should use to help God’s mission in our community.

This annual diocesan stewardship health check is meant as a Christian challenge to parishes who already have giving schemes in place whose purpose is well understood by the congregation and who respond each year by realistically reviewing their giving.

At St. Faith’s the response to the 2007 Stewardship Thanksgiving Sunday was modest and probably didn’t receive the prominence it deserved given all that was happening in connection with the redevelopment scheme which focussed largely on capital projects.  This has meant that we have fallen badly behind in generating regular income that should be paying for our day-to-day costs of ministry.  We presently give, through our planned giving, only approximately half of what it will actually cost to maintain our essential costs of ministry for 2010.  And this is before we bear the costs of welcoming an Assistant Curate!  On top of this we face the responsibilities of insuring, heating, lighting and maintaining our building as a springboard for missionary activity that needs a budget.  By my ready reckoning our average current giving per head amounts to barely half the national average for the CofE.

Making a thoughtful and considered offering to God has been a hallmark of faithful people.  The book of Deuteronomy says “Each of you must set aside the first fruits of the produce of the soil raised by you in the land and lay it before the altar”

St. Paul encouraged the Corinthian church to make their offering each week. “Every Sunday you must set aside some money in portion to what you have earned” (1 Cor. 16.2)  The idea was that they first set aside an amount on pay day rather than look out any spare change left over after all the weekly expenses had been met.

No one is being asked to give beyond their means but to look carefully at what they give as a proportion of income and asking whether the amount accurately reflects ability to give at this moment in time.  For your information The Church of England recommends 5p in the pound of net income to the church as a target, plus giving to other charities.

Our giving is an important part of our discipleship: Giving for Life sees generous giving as an expression of our investment in God’s mission to the world, and has an impact on our lifestyle which is likely to contradict the often selfish consumerist values promoted from so many directions.

We give to Christ’s Church because giving is what God does to us perpetually.

This Stewardship Thanksgiving Sunday is not the launch of a Parish Stewardship Campaign.  The Parochial Church Council has already recognised that such a campaign will need to revamp and extend our present scheme beyond the present group of givers and will most likely need to be linked to an appeal for the capital funding we need over the next five years to meet the demands placed on the parish to restore the church building and hopefully other church buildings used by the whole community.  This will be the time when appropriate letters of invitation with the accompanying information will be sent out.

But I ask you to use this specially designated Sunday to renew your commitment in the company of the entire diocesan family so that our mission in Havant can be resourced by a decent part of all those good things that God has freely given to us.

On behalf of my predecessors I thank you for the support you may have given in past years.

‘God’s great goodness aye endureth,

deep his wisdom, passing thought:

splendour, light and life attend him,

beauty springeth out of naught.

Evermore, from his store,

New-born worlds rise and adore.

Robert Bridges after Joachim Neander.

Peter Jones

From the Editor

HMS Victory

To Colin, your Editor, and other seafarers the most important day this month is the 21^st “Trafalgar Day”.  My father told me that as a young man he had often seen HMS Victory anchored in the harbour before it was dry docked.  Recently I was studying the Portsmouth Corporation records (1835-1927).  Joy is saying, “That’s a turn off for readers!”  Ignoring her, I found some interesting items about the Victory.  On 23 October 1903, the “Neptune”, an obsolete battleship broke away as she was being towed out of harbour, rammed the Victory and nearly sank her!  Fortunately this disaster was averted.  On 21 October 1905, the 100^th anniversary of Trafalgar, the Victory was decorated and an unusual “changing of the guard” ceremony took place.  A party of Royal Marines in the uniforms of a century previous formed the old guard and were relieved by Royal Marines in the then modern uniforms.  Another old/new contrast occurred when the Victory was illuminated by electric light provided by a modern torpedo-boat destroyer lying alongside.

On 12 January, 1922, the Victory was towed to her last berth in the oldest dry dock in Portsmouth Dockyard where she has remained to this day.  The tow was a hazardous affair.  To save her from complete collapse, the ship was cradled in iron and cement.  The Corporation records state: “Then came to Admiral of the Fleet Sir Doveton Sturdee a great idea.  Why not restore the famous old craft to the condition in which she fought at Trafalgar?  It would cost perhaps £100,000 (a huge sum in 1922!) but surely the nation which honoured Nelson as one of the greatest of its sea captains and one of the best beloved of men, was good for that sum!  And so it was; and so it is that the Victory now lies in dock just as she appeared at Trafalgar.  She is a glorious possession for the nation and the greatest attraction of this the premier port of the Empire.”

I hear you say that we are jumping the gun, or should that be cannon.  What happened between the idea and the arrival of our greatest attraction?  Restoration work started in 1923 on the anniversary (Colin’s going to love this) of the Glorious First of June and Earl Howe, a direct descendant of the victor of that famous naval victory, took part in the ceremony.  I am not sure when work was completed but the records show that two months later, in the first 20 days of August, 1,500 people visited the Victory including a man whose great-great-grandfather had served at Trafalgar.  The records state that this man had travelled far and on reaching the quarter-deck fell upon his knees and gave expression to prayer and thanksgiving that his pilgrimage had ended happily and that these sacred planks endured for the admiration of those who honoured the names of England and Nelson.  The onlookers were profoundly moved by this incident.  If this man is a parishioner of St Faith’s, our Editor will be pleased to hear from you.  I know it’s not Colin Warlow because he was at Goodwood Races that day!

Roger Bryant

From Havant to Scotland and Back

The Story Behind Harvest Festivals

Our Harvest Festival is on Sunday 4 October this year but who began Harvest Festivals?  Have you ever wondered?  It seems pretty obvious to thank God for the harvest, but actually, it is a comparatively recent church service.  Less than 200 years ago, harvest was not formally ‘celebrated’ in church, but in the taverns and on village greens of the countryside, with wild drinking and eating before the harshness of winter set in.

Then in 1834 an eccentric clergyman called the Rev Robert Stephen Hawker arrived in Morwenstowe, a tiny hamlet of a few farms perched high on the windswept cliffs of the north Cornish coast.  The church had been without a vicar for years, but now Robert Hawker strode the lanes of Morwenstowe in a bright purple or red cassock.

Rural life in those days was harsh, and Hawker soon realised the sheer effort needed to survive in those parts.  Harvest was the only thing that got people through the winter: a poor one meant starvation.  Each bad year Hawker buried some of his congregation.

But the summer of 1843 was perfect, and the harvest that year was exceptionally bountiful.  The people of Morwenstowe were getting set to celebrate with their usual abandon, when Hawker stepped in.  Who, he asked, did they think had given them the harvest?  Were they not going to even say ‘thank you’ to Him?

Abashed, the people came to church, and Hawker led them in giving thanks to God for his rich blessing upon them.  The ‘Christian’ Harvest Festival had arrived – in Morwenstowe.

Nowadays Harvest Festivals are enjoyed by both regular church-goers and visitors, making it one of the most popular services in the church year.

The Moving Finger writes …

Two hundred years ago two men were born, and after fifty years each of them published a book which ensured that their names would forever be part of English history and culture.  One of these volumes was ‘The Origin of the Species’ by Charles Darwin, which espoused a theory which has engaged the attention of scientists, scholars and others, to this day; if this learned tome any comment of mine would be nugatory, so I will say no more.  It is the other book published at that time which took my interest and became part of my life.

When I was about eighteen, my oldest brother gave me a pocket size volume of verse; a book which accompanied me throughout my service in the Royal Navy and remains with me now.  It was often read in solitude, and often read or recited by me to shipmates, family and friends – no doubt trying their patience and forbearance.  The book was Edward Fitzgerald’s translation – or rather transformation – of “The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam”: (1^st and 5^th editions).

Some scholars and poets have been dismissive of Fitzgerald, considering him to be, in the words of Robert Graves, “an easy going amateur Orientalist who constructed a mid-Victorian poem of his own from an ill-understood classical Persian text”.  I prefer Professor A.D.P Briggs’ assessment, which is, that Fitzgerald was a talented translator/adaptor of the poetic wisdom of a great Persian writer; without Fitzgerald, no Omar.  The Rubaiyat is not merely a paean of praise in favour of hedonism, for the “carpe diem” theme, many quatrains pose questions of God and Gate.

It is also a collection of wisdom from Islam, with wine perhaps taken as an allegorical allusion to divine love.  The verses contain aspects of belief and unbelief, albeit with contradictions and inconsistencies.  We are reminded that we have only a little time in this world – but there is a sense of re-creation, that we were not made in vain.  Omar did believe in divine creation as is evident in these lines;

“And he that tossed thee down into the field

He knows about it all – he knows!”

the essence and thinking behind the Rubaiyat is, of course, Persian; but Fitzgerald, an unassuming Victorian poet transformed the Persian into a much loved English version of the original.

In 1967, Robert Graves in collaboration with Omar Ali-Shah, a poet and classical Persian scholar, produced a ‘new’ translation of the Rubaiyat, including critical commentaries.  I read this translation with much interest and enjoyment, it takes its place alongside Fitzgerald’s on my book-shelves; but it does not take the place of Fitzgerald’s Rubaiyat in my heart.  Worthy as it is, Graves and Ali-Shah’s translation does not reach out and touch me as Fitzgerald’s does; for me, and for many, many others over the years, Fitzgerald’s Rubaiyat has been, and will continue to be, a source of high regard – love almost – and delight.

John Bradey

Why Study the Bible?

The Mayor of Havant, Cllr Jackie Branson, officially opened the Town Fair just after the scheduled 10 o’clock due to a delay in getting power to the Angel Radio equipment. 

It was a bright and sunny day and so the majority of stalls were around the churchyard, unlike last year’s damp and miserable weather when everything had to be inside the church.  There were the usual popular stalls for books, cakes, toys, plants, bottles, bric-a-brac, Jenny’s jam, St. Faith’s table; face painting, human fruit machine, tombolas and the grand draw, with tea & coffee to drink and burgers and hot dogs to eat.  Missing this year were the pimms and beer stall – perhaps next year?  There was also guessing the date of birth of Judy’s guide dog Innes – last year we had to guess his weight; name the teddy; and name the scarecrow, amongst others.

There are many people to thank for another successful day, including those who worked behind the scene – and far too many to mention you all, so apologies if your name has been omitted below.  A provisional figure of £3,770 was raised, £807 of it from the grand draw. 

The chairman resigned in June and it is to great credit that Ann Buckley and Sandra Haggan – both of whom had organised a Town Fair in previous years - stepped in and took over the organisation, and to parishioners who made sure that everything came together on the day.  As last year, Helen Faulkner, our Treasurer, arranged for the grand draw tickets and the prizes from traders - our deepest thanks go to them.  The Men’s Group, Air Training Corps, Vicki Mockford, and many others ensured that everything was ready for the stall holders.

Our grateful thanks go to Waitrose, who again provided the burgers, hot dogs, condiments and the staff; and to Martin Poliszczuk who cooked them so well and to his assistant, Jeremy Toole; and, of course, to Angel Radio’s Martin and Tony who provided the superb music and compèred the proceedings throughout and gave the ladies at the toy stall a chance to show off their dancing skills!

The Rector was able to tell the people why we needed money for Restoration and Redevelopment as on display was the plaster that had fallen from the ceiling of the Lady Chapel that week.

Much work is required to put on a Town Fair for five hours but it is also very rewarding, particularly when the weather is kind, and the majority of people enjoyed it very much.

Perhaps for the 2010 Town Fair, we can be even better organised, plan well in advance and raise even more money.  For pictures of the Town Fair go to:

http://www.stfaith.com/town%20fair%202009.htm

Colin Carter