‘Faithful Friends to the Community Caring for God’s Creation’

Streetly Methodist Church

Newsletter

www.streetlymethodistchurch.org.uk

June – July 2017

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Dear Friends, Are we ready to hear and experience a Cultural Commute? I am amazed how quickly our twin daughters have progressed in language, reading and writing. Wow … wonderful progress since arriving in Birmingham last September! In their short lives they have had the opportunity to hear numerous differing languages and experienced many cultural commutes. Born in Northampton, after a year we were off to Maputo, Moçambique. A year later, we moved to Maxixe where they attended a Portuguese-speaking nursery, then further northward again to a Shona speaking area. So they have had the opportunity to hear English, Tonga, Portuguese, Rhonga, Chitwa and Shona. It reminds me of Pentecost - when the disciples found themselves being able to communicate with those of differing languages and cultures (see Acts 2). Although we may have the opportunity to experience and, if blessed, speak other languages, I sense that we truly hear when we deeply understand what is being communicated. The spoken word is only part of being able to hear. We use our other senses in that process. It was special in May to attend the Birmingham Methodist District Synod. I was thrilled to be able to hear with everybody else that we intend to develop strong links with the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe. Also to hear about ‘Church without Walls’ - an initiative to encourage Methodist Churches in the Birmingham District to move forward in ways that again leave me saying ‘Wow’. I am sure we will be hearing more about both initiatives in the coming months. Revd. Trey Hall, who presented ‘Church without Walls’, talks of the need for a Cultural Commute. Put simply, what churches offer and provide during worship can be a long distance from the style, experiences, questions and demands that we encounter in the rest of life. Hence a question: is it the church who may need to make a Cultural Commute or is it right to expect those who know little or nothing of ‘church’ to make that Cultural Commute? Maybe we could reflect on this further as we journey in the months ahead?

The interplay between Christ and Culture(s) has long interested me. I sense it is a key issue. Recently I was reminded about Paul entering Athens (Acts 17). He found a diversity of cultures and beliefs. including those who wished to focus on an ‘Unknown God’ He chose to make a Cultural Commute to get alongside people with the message that had turned his life around - and if we let it, it turns our lives around also. At ‘Cafe on the Green’ in Stockland Green on a Sunday from 5pm to 7pm we sometimes gather for ‘Roots and Branches’. Recently, we were joined by the Zimbabwe Methodist Fellowship, who greatly enriched and helped us experience a glimpse of worship in Southern Africa. We are all rooted in Christ (the vine) as branches capable of bearing fruit (John 15). Maybe as branches in Christ we should make a choice to treasure and celebrate our cultural heritage? May we have the wisdom to treasure and celebrate our cultural diversity whilst remaining united in Christ. May we enable and encourage others to hold to their cultural heritage in Christ. Wishing you every blessing in Christ, Revd. Malcolm Oliver

… to Dave Newman

Electrician, sound and light engineer,

plumber, carpenter and altogether

Top Dude!

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God’s Boxes

I have in my hands two boxes Which God gave me to hold.

He said, “Put all your sorrows in the black box And all your joys in the gold.”

I heeded His words and in the two boxes

Both my joys and sorrows I stored But though the gold became heavier each day.

The black was as light as before.

With curiosity, I opened the black, I wanted to find out why,

And I saw in the base of the box a hole, Which my sorrows had fallen out by.

I showed the hole to God and mused,

“I wonder where my sorrows could be!” He smiled a gentle smile and said,

“My child, they are all here with me.”

I asked God why He gave me the boxes, Why the gold and the black with the hole?

“My child, the gold is for you to count your blessings, The black is for you to let go.”

by Arielle Perkins, collected by Mary Cooksey

This year we raised

£700 Thank you!

Our Beautiful Church The Coat of Arms, Wesley and Whitefield

The Methodist Church coat of arms on our new noticeboards dates from 1948. It contains twelve scallop shells and a three-towered castle. No prizes for working out the significance of those numbers! The scallop shell became a religious emblem during the Middle Ages. Known as the badge of St James, Pecten jacobaeus shells were used by pilgrims as cups. ‘Nobis Officium Aliis Usus Deo Gloria’ means: ‘For us, the task; for others, the benefit; to God, the glory’.

Scallop shells have featured on the Wesley, or Wellesley, family coat of arms since the early 14th century. They symbolised that the bearer had visited the Holy Land or fought in the crusades. The window of John Wesley above the altar contains a banner stating: ‘WHITFIELD WILL PREACH - JESUS LOVER OF MY SOUL’’. George Whitefield (pronounced Whitfield) was a friend of the Wesley brothers when they were all students at Oxford. He was a charismatic preacher of Methodism and in 1739 started preaching outdoors, first to coalminers around Bristol and then on the streets of London. He travelled far and wide, especially to America, becoming a celebrity. His relationship with the Wesleys broke down over a disagreement about predestination (whether God preordains people’s eternal destiny). The Wesleys feared this Calvinist doctrine would spread fatalism; the haunting hymn ‘Jesus Lover of my Soul’ by Charles Wesley contains the phrase ‘Plenteous grace with Thee is found’. They eventually agreed to differ and were reconciled as friends. After Whitefield’s death in 1770, John Wesley preached a funeral sermon at George Whitefield’s request.

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Our Church Family The Physicist

Physics: ‘The branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy’. “Physics, basically, is about how everything works. It’s like this - if you were a chemist making bread you would know lots of interesting things about what to do with flour. The physicist, however, would know why flour mixes well with water. I knew by the age of fourteen that it was physics for me. I’ve always been the questioning sort, always asking, “Why is that so?” I find it immensely satisfying to have the explanations and to be able to describe them mathematically. In my work I use computer programming to support other people doing research. Big commercial clients like oil companies and pharmaceutical companies bring us their problems to solve. The work’s very diverse. One minute we might be researching rapid clinical testing to get a new drug to the market quicker, the next we’re looking at why chocolate bars and crisps are not as crispy as they should be! At one time there was a lot of difficulty reconciling physics and religion. We used to reach for God whenever we had no explanation for something. Attitudes have changed as we’ve understood more and more about how things work and I think that’s a very healthy thing. There are challenges to our understanding of God and our relationship with Him when there are big shifts in our understanding of the universe. A good example is when we discovered that the earth isn’t the centre of the universe. Instead, it’s just a fairly ordinary planet in a fairly ordinary universe. Perhaps it just demonstrates the gratuitous nature of God - why should He restrict himself to just one planet. Are there other life forms out there? It’s not my field, but I do know how rapidly life can spring into action in the right conditions. What if there’s another inhabited planet elsewhere in the universe - are we humans the only ones to have a personal relationship with God?”

Francis Newson was in conversation with Simon Ramshaw

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The Children’s Eco Garden It’s mid-May - the weather is getting warmer and the daylight hours are longer, so already much has been done in the garden.

New this year: Temporary repair done to the greenhouse roof; new bird feeder, brick path, flower bed; 2nd water butt and a fairy glen built. Also seeds, plants, compost, propagators, pots, watering cans etc. have been bought. There is no cost to the church for these things. Plants already in: Vegetables: potatoes, runner beans, peas, broad beans, radishes, lettuces, sweetcorn, courgettes (tomatoes still to come.) Flowers: spring bulbs, nasturtiums, wild flowers, aubrietia, gladioli, doronicum, bellis, heathers, sunflowers and other plants. Seedlings: more than 90 plants were raised from seed, watered and cared for in our conservatory. About half have been planted out already. A big thank you to: The Brownies and especially Alexander and Eleni from the H.O.W. group who have done so much planting and watering; folk who have donated seeds, plants and other things; those who have offered to water the garden; and all those who have helped in any way at all. Looking forward: More planting, watering, weeding, staking and generally keeping the garden in good shape. You are welcome to come and have a look and see how things are developing. We have applied to “Heart of England in Bloom” and hope to have the garden assessed in the summer. A small group of us continue to enjoy working together as a team in the garden, growing and sharing in faith together in God’s creation.

George Ellis

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Eco Matters

Thank you to all who have signed the Tree Charter. A tree will be planted for every signature. We have 83 of the 500 to which we have committed in exchange for generous sponsorship of this year’s Eco Festival from September 22nd to 24th.

Plans are well underway for the Eco Festival. Children can look forward to ‘Leaf Mould’ on Friday evening, with fun crafts and tea as in last year’s very successful event. On Saturday, the Scouts will be leading outdoor woodland crafts and Sutton Beekeepers will be showing beehives and giving you the chance to learn about bees, make candles and dress up as a beekeeper. Ranger Matthew Barker from Sutton Park and Ted Talbot from The National Trust will join us again. There is plenty more in the pipeline. In the church we will have music from the Half Circle Choir and some flower and art displays. Look out for the launch of our photography competition. That will be on the subject of trees and woodlands too, so keep your eyes open for interesting shots. One thing that stuck in my mind from last year’s Eco weekend was a comment by Ruth Valerio that the best thing we could do to help the environment is to eat less red meat. I have since been trying to have more meat-free meals.

A recent issue of the British Medical Journal came with this health warning: Red meat: another inconvenient truth. Here are some excerpts. Overconsumption of meat is bad for health and for the health of our planet. Our ancestors ate meat at most once a week, consuming 5-10 kg a year. Modern diets in rich countries deliver more than 10 times this amount, with animal protein now providing up to a fifth of our energy requirements. A high meat economy brings with it antibiotic resistance, shortages of food, and animal-to-human disease epidemics. As for the effects on the planet, water depletion, methane production, and pollution of air and groundwater are just the beginning. We must of course reduce the use of fossil fuels in transport, but livestock production outstrips this as a cause of climate change. As with many contemporary problems of resource overuse and maldistribution, we need to decide whether to act now to reduce human meat consumption or wait until the decay of sufficient parts of the global system tip us into much poorer planetary, societal, and human health. Doctors are encouraged to lead by example, as our predecessors did with smoking cessation, by reducing our own red meat consumption.

Diana Newson

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Pews or Chairs? The Great Debate!

Church Council has agreed there should be a discussion within the church family about whether to replace the pews with chairs. As part of this debate, people have been asked to contribute their thoughts, both for and against such a change. Here are some contributions. Compared to our pews, chairs would be: • more welcoming • more comfortable, especially for people with back problems • easier to get up from if they had arms • less heavy so they could be moved more easily • more flexible in the way they could be arranged • more attractive for hiring out the church to gain more income • a sign that we are ‘moving on’ and not stuck in the past Compared to chairs, our pews are: • easier to keep tidy • reassuringly traditional and familiar • flexible in how close you sit together • already paid for Some suggestions about future options: • Have the pew cushions reupholstered to make them more comfortable • Fit castors with brakes to the pews to make them easy to move • Explore how much the pews are worth if sold to a furniture maker • Explore how much recycled chairs would cost What do you think?

The Stewards

WANTED! Items for the next edition of this Newsletter

Please send them to: hughrayner@gmail.com

Saint Columba and island of Iona

During a recent holiday on the Isle of Mull, Hugh and I spent a day visiting the island of Iona and learning about St Columba.

St Columba is remembered for spreading Celtic Christianity to Scotland and Northumberland. He was an Irish monk who was exiled to Scotland in 563. He settled on Iona as it was the first land where he could no longer look back and see Ireland. He founded a monastery on the island, having resolved to make amends for his misdeeds by winning

souls for Christ. The monastery was later abandoned after Viking raids in 794 and St Columba’s remains were divided between Ireland and Scotland!

Iona became important as a place of pilgrimage during the Kingdom of Alba and many Scottish kings are buried there.

The current Abbey church dates back to the 13th century. The buildings were damaged during the Reformation but the Duke of Argyll arranged for the Abbey to be restored from 1899 onwards. In recent times, the Labour leader, John Smith, was buried there. The ecumenical Iona Community was founded in 1938 and members of the community try to live according to their founding principles and to serve the wider community. You will be familiar with John Bell from “Thought for the Day” on Radio Four. Currently only 120 people live permanently on the island but many thousands make the ten-minute ferry crossing from the Isle of Mull every year. No cars are allowed, except for residents’.

With the attractive pink granite which is used in the buildings and the green marble which used to be quarried on the island, it is not surprising that tradition says a piece of stone from Iona brings good luck! Rosie Rayner

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Moving On in Worship

The ‘Moving On in Worship’ meetings enable us to contribute our thoughts, concerns and ideas about worship at Streetly Methodist Church. In April, we looked at three questions concerning reflection. Here’s what we discussed… Is it important to have the opportunity to be reflective in worship and, if so, why? • We need to think about what we mean by ‘reflection’ and what we mean about

‘worship’. • Reflection doesn’t necessarily have to be quiet - there’s space to be reflective in

different ways. We can reflect at home and It’s not just about what happens on Sunday.

• Reflection helps us to find a common focus and deepens our understanding and relationship with God.

What can we do to encourage more reflection in our worship? • Reflection is like a muscle, it needs to be developed and trained. • We could give more time for personal reflection during prayers. We could also

encourage open prayer during worship. • Elements of surprise can be important. Repeating phrases together helps provide

a common focus. We could encourage the use of things to take home to help us reflect, such as a list of questions to think about during the week.

• Thought-provoking and creative displays in the worship area, such as the Lenten cross, may stimulate reflection.

• House groups provide another tier of engagement outside church. • Having different preachers each week can make it difficult to introduce new

things, but we could approach the Circuit to see if we can have more local arrangements.

What might happen if we have more opportunity to be reflective in our worship? • We might hear God’s voice more frequently and more deeply. • Things can get very stressful - it might help people be more reflective in life

generally. However, we do need to be aware it might make some people feel uncomfortable.

At the end of the meeting, we discussed the possibility of providing a different opportunity for deeper reflection, perhaps once a month. If you have any ideas or views on this please do speak to one of the Stewards. The focus for our next meeting will be house-groups.

Simon Ramshaw

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Flower Rota - Thank you!

June 4th Ann Craddock 11th Enid Dickson 18th Fiona Sale 25th Chris Smith

July 2nd Mavis Brain 9th Jean Youdell 16th Diana Newson 23rd June Highman 30th Alma O’Brien

Social Events

July 18th Tuesday: Walsall v Aston Villa pre-season friendly football match, with carvery evening meal August 3rd Thursday: Circular country walk, about 4 miles, at Elvaston in Derbyshire, organised by Colin and Mary Cooksey, with pub meal September: Theatre visit September 23rd and 24th: EcoFestival and Harvest Festival weekend October 7th Saturday: Potentially, a quiz in the Guildhall November: Fashion Show in aid of ‘Home Leone’ December: Streetly Singers concert. Christmas lunch at Pacific Nurseries

George Ellis

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Monday Fellowship Starts at 2.30 in the Parlour – Contact Jean Youdell 0121 308 1885

June 5th Taize – Therese Rutherford 12th Stories and anecdotes – Cream teas

(Church Luncheon at 12.30) 19th The John Taylor Hospice – Mark Jones 26th Making a difference when the odds are against you – Clive

Thursfield July 3rd California – Chris Shaw

10th Poetry and prose – Mary Cooksey (Church luncheon at 12.30) 17th Fellowship outing 24th No Meeting – Summer Break

In-Betweens Starts at 7.30pm in the Parlour – Contact Alison Brown 0121 373 3823

June 13th Beetle Drive 27th Lilies of the Land - Highbury Theatre

July 11th Summer Dinner

‘Dads and Pets’ Outdoor Service Sunday 18th June (Father’s Day)

Bring some friends and your pets!

The marquee will keep us dry in case of rain. If you would like to help on the day, please contact a Steward.

Followed by

Streetly Methodist Pet Show Categories to include:

Most Obedient Pet Most Loving Pet

Scruffiest Pet Smallest Pet …

Sunday Services Worship from 10.30am

June 4th John Rutherford 11th Rev John Ingyon - Communion 18th ‘Dads and Pets’ Outdoor Service 25th Kirsten and Clive Thursfield

July 2nd Rev John Taylor 9th Sue Hall 16th Lynette Jones 23rd Rev John Ingyon - Communion 30th Bob Dauncey

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