Ministers' Letter: Wednesday 24th February 2021

 Dear Friends,

The Prime Minister’s statement on Monday was much anticipated and, perhaps, contained better news than we might have hoped for.  There seems to be something almost poetic to anticipate a return to ‘normal’ living by Midsummer’s Day.  We’ll see.  Yet even if there are delays En route it does seem that we are approaching an end to living in a spirit of crisis.

A number of folk from AFC tell me they have benefited from taking a Lateral Flow Test at the centre set up at the church.  I’m sure we are all pleased that our building has been available for this sort of community usage recently and we are very grateful to Laura, our Church Administrator who, alongside Janet our Church Secretary, has done so much to keep communication flowing between the church and Buckinghamshire Council and the NHS throughout this time.

You’ll be interested to know that the new ‘handrails’ have been fitted on the Chancel steps in the Sanctuary, and in coming days they will received some French Polishing.  We are grateful for the gift of these rails and the practical help they will render to folk taking part in our services in the future.

There will be no In Person worship at AFC this Sunday, 28^th February 2021.  For the statisticians among us you might be interested to note that since the first Sunday of Lockdown on March 22^nd 2020 we’ve now recorded 50 Audio Services and during that time 27 Sundays have had no In Person worship at all, and on 23 Sundays we were able to hold social-distanced services.

The Elders will be meeting next Monday afternoon to once again discuss the situation.

This coming week’s service takes the theme of Climate Sunday and it’s been a joy to work with other members of AFC’s EcoChurch group in putting it together.

We’ve heard this week that Liz and Sergio Vilela, our Link BMS World Mission partners will be visiting AFC on Tuesday 18^th May 2021.  Taking on board the current restrictions we have no idea what form this meeting will take but it will be lovely for at least some of us to meet and greet them, and then learn more about their work in Mozambique.

Once again we are hosting 30 minutes of After Service Fellowship on Zoom this Sunday, and on Monday we’ll have the second of our Lent Evening Prayer sessions at 9pm.  Do join us for either of these if you can, you’ll be very welcome.

Erna joins me in sending you our love and best wishes.

Ian

Judas divides people...

 

Judas divides people.  Well, that was my experience over the cornflakes this morning!  Let me explain.

I was talking about writing this blog over the breakfast table earlier on.  I said that I find Judas impulsive, wedded to ingrained ideas about Messiahip, someone who spent three years hearing Jesus teach but not truly listening to his message.  Judas seems to think there is just one way to bring in the Kingdom and it's his way.  Of course, in all of this, he is probably reminding me of someone very close to home - myself!! 

As I said all this there came a grunt from the other side of the weetabix!  My wife said she thought I was being far too harsh and before the marmalade was on the toast I was told why!!

Her take is that Judas was intensly sincere and that he was passionate about the freedom and liberty he saw at the centre of Jesus' message.  And that what he was doing was no more than 'pushing' Jesus forward.  The fact that he was so remorseful in the end shows a heartbroken man who realised he'd let his best friend down.  This Judas deserves our compassion.

When we lived in Yeovil we'd sometimes go into St John's Church and look at the Apostles' window.  Eleven had white halos above their heads, Judas had a black one.  Did he deserve it and what colour would be above ours - if there was one there at all?

Yes, Judas divides opinion.  Yet come to think of it, Jesus did too and even today the question still lingers as to what exactly is this 'Kingdom' of which he talked.

The Time Is Now Petition

Part of Climate Sunday is the opportunity for us to sign the Time is Now petition which will be presented in Glasgow later this year at The United Nations Climate Conference.

I've already done this and it is so straightforward.  

If you would like to add your name to the Time is Now petition click on the link below:

https://thetimeisnow.uk/declaration?partner=106

 

Church Life Focus  The church remains closed for In Person Worship this morning and our Elders meet on Tuesday to discuss the situation and options for the next few weeks – these will be posted on the church website. We start our Monday Lent Night Prayer Zoom services tomorrow, Monday 22nd February at 9pm.  We’ll gather at ten minutes to 9 with a time to greet each other and then at 9pm we’ll go into the service of Compline, traditionally thought of as the last service of the day.  I’ll lead the service and tomorrow Liz will be our reader, Margaret offers the intercessions and Sara will bring a thought for the evening.  Folks on the AFC mailing list will have received the access codes to join, but if you haven’t had these just drop me a line and I’ll pass them on.  The service will last for about 30 minutes. Our good friend Mrs Andy Welsh, 101 years young, will be moving away from Amersham on March 4th to live with family in Sussex, so I know a number of us, over the next few days, will take the opportunity of phoning her to wish her well. And just a reminder that our mission offering for Febnruary is the invaluable work of The Hospice of St Francis, so if you would like to support this worthy cause do send your gift to our treasurer, or put it to one side to place in the mission offering basket when we return to In person worship in due course. Next Sunday’s audio service will be one specially recorded for Climate Sunday and I’m delighted that all the members of our AFC EcoChurch group will be taking part, so do tune in next week .

Saturday 20th February 2021: Winter is finishing...!

 

Winter is on the way out!! 

As February runs into its second half and March beckons there is an almost tangible atmosphere around us of hope and renewal.  And all of this coincides with the beginning of Spring and Lent, which started on Ash Wednesday this week.

Over recent weeks it has been truly impressive to witness the administration of the vaccine across the country and share in the good news that so many in the church community at AFC have now received theirs.

Since the beginning of this month our church hall has been operating as a designated NHS COVID-19 Testing Station and we have been pleased to offer our facilities to the wider community in this way.

The last time we met for In Person Worship was on January 3^rd and next Tuesday, the day after the Prime Minister’s statement, our Elders will gather on Zoom to discuss the situation once again.

AFC are hosting a regular service of Night Prayer/Compline, via Zoom, on Monday evenings, throughout Lent, at 9pm starting next week on 22^nd February.  The access codes for this, and for the After Church Coffee time this coming Sunday at 11.30am have been sent out to folk on the AGFC list, if you haven't received them and would like to join in, just drop me an email.

So, as Lent starts and we reflect once again on what it means, personally and corporately, to live with ‘wilderness’ in our lives, there are reasons to be hope-filled.  We are journeying together through these tough days, holding one another in our thoughts and prayers.

AFC hosting NHS Covid Testing site

 

Thank you!

Many thanks for your birthday good wishes and to Sara for the beautiful cake presented at the After Church Fellowship Zoom on Sunday!

 

Church Life Focus for w/b 14th February 2021

 

Church Life Focus  And now a few pieces of news for our Church Focus. The Elders met last week and have made the decision that there will be no InPerson Worship at AFC for the next two weeks, that’s the 14th and 21st February.  The Prime Minister is due to make a statement on 22nd February and the Elders will meet the day after to once again discuss the situation. At 11.30am on both Sunday 14th and 21st February we’ll once again be hosting an After Service Fellowship time for 30 minutes.  Our Church Administrator has written to every one on the AFC list with the Zoom access codes, if you haven’t received a code and would like to join in the Zoom fellowship time, when we split into smaller breakout rooms, do email me. I’m delighted that on Tuesday this week Tea at Three are planning to experiment with a Zoom time together.  I hope that goes really well.  The Hands Together Life and Faith Group had their first Zoom gathering last week. Lent begins this week and one of the ways we are marking it this year is to hold a service of Night Prayer on Zoom every Monday evening at 9pm.  These will begin on Monday 22nd February 2021 and run every Monday evening to, and including, Monday 29th March 2021. I will be leading these with others doing the readings, prayers and talks.  We’ll gather at 8.50pm for ten minutes of ‘catch up’ fellowship and then at 9pm we’ll move into this quiet service of Night Prayer, sometimes called Compline.  We are offering this to our friends in COTHA too.  So, if you would like to join us just drop me an email and I’ll send you the access codes, you will be very welcome. And finally, I’m sure all of us at AFC will want to warmly congratulate one of my predecessors here, The Revd Keith Riglin,who has recently been elected as the new Bishop of Argyll and The Isles.  Keith was minister here for just over seven years between September 1989 to December 1996.  After he left Amersham he served as a URC minister before his ordination into the Anglican Church ministry in 2008.  Recently he’s served as a chaplain at Kings College London.  So, we wish Keith God’s richest blessing as the next stage of his journey takes him to service in Scotland.

Invitation from Christian Aid

 

I do hope you are keeping safe and well in these troubled times.

I’m dropping you a line to let you know that spaces are going fast for the Christian Aid Supporter Conference from 22nd-26^th February. We’ve already had to add on an extra campaigning session due to demand. If you have already booked your place, please do pass this message on to others who may be interested.

We would love you to join us for an exciting Christian Aid online conference to hear from our overseas partners and staff, and share together about our experiences. Running from 22^nd to 26^th February, you can join as many sessions as you like. 

This is an exciting opportunity to be inspired by stories for Christian Aid Week 2021, which focuses on the impact of the climate crisis in Kenya. You'll also be able to hear and share ideas around fundraising, campaigning and prayer in regional workshops.

For information and to register: www.caid.org.uk/supporterconference2021 

Wednesday 10th February 2021: Shall we Zoom?

 

One internet platform that has certainly shone during lockdown has been Zoom. 

Zoom is a noun, yet we use it as a verb.  We zoom on Zoom!

The other day I was totting up the various groups at AFC who are zooming.  The list below is probably not comprehensive but it gives a sense of how much, as a church community, we are now using Zoom:

Team Meeting
Elders’ Meeting
Church Meeting
Junior Church
2 Life and Faith Groups
Book Discussion Group
EcoChurch Sub Committee
Guides
Men’s Luncheon Club (planned)
After Service Fellowship
Tea at Three (planned)
Lent Night Prayer (planned)
Recordings for Audio Service (readings and prayers)
COTHA AGM
COTHA Ministers’ Meetings

Eric Yuan invented Zoom in 2011.  He came up with the idea whilst still living in China as a way of making contact with his girlfriend without undertaking the 10-hour trip to see her.  Back in America he left his employment, taking forty friends with him, to start his own company.  The name ‘Zoom’ came as a suggestion from a friend of Yuan’s.  This friend’s toddler loved the board book ‘Zoom Cars’, and for no other reason than that the name was chosen and stuck!  The company’s first big customer in 2013 was Stanford University and the rest, as they say, is history.  Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

There is an insatiable desire within us to ‘connect’ and platforms like Zoom, WhatsApp, emails and telephone calls have become invaluable to us during this time when physically meeting up hasn’t always been possible.

Surely it’s significant that one of the ancient titles for Jesus is ‘The Word’ – The Word who spoke to us of God’s grace and truth.  Who knows, perhaps in years to come some teenage bible paraphrase might even come up with the phrase: God zoomed among us.  On second thoughts it doesn’t quite have the gravitas needed when used as the final reading at the carol service!

We thank God for the technology that has meant we can still communicate with each other and our prayer is that we will for ever be conscious of God speaking in the kaleidoscope of ways in which he still becomes The Word for us today.  

AFC to be used as an NHS Testing Site

 From Monday 8th February 2021, for at least a month, our church hall at AFC is to be used by the NHS as one of their Testing Sites for Covid 19.

Prayer Request from Street Kids Direct

 We have received this prayer request from Street Kids Direct (Skd)

Please could you pray about the following:

Because of the pandemic, it looks unlikely that schools in Guatemala will re-open before June, though on-line learning is starting again in February.

Lack of schools is particularly hard for the children and families with whom Skd is working, as almost all of them have no access to online learning, either because the families cannot afford a computer, or internet access, or both.

There is added pressure because of the poverty from which the families suffer, for the children to help by earning money, the easiest available source often being involved in the sale of illegal drugs, with all the risks that come with it.

Skd have been supporting these families, but with funds from Global Care, are now starting to employ two teachers to support online learning.

The plan is that two groups of boys will use the facilities at Casa Alexis for online learning and a group of girls will use the facilities at the centre close to La Terminal.

These groups will be supported by the teachers.

Please pray for this to go smoothly as it is a new initiative, but that the children and families will be able to establish a routine so that when schools re-open, they will be able to go back into that environment.

At the moment there is a risk that children who cannot engage with the work provided by the schools, will simply drop out and be lost to the education system.

The Teacher and the Stolen Watch

Following last Sunday's sermon Hazel R sent me this wonderful story.  I'm delighted Hazel is happy I share it on the blog.

A story is told of a young man who finds his primary school teacher at a wedding party. He goes to the teacher to pay his respects and show his admiration. His first question is whether the teacher was able to remember him. But the teacher is not able to do so, as decades have elapsed since the young man had left the school. He asks young man what he's doing with his life now, and the young man replies that he is a teacher. And in fact it was the old man who had inspired him to take up teaching.

The young man narrates the story that he was studying in school when an incident took place while the teacher was taking the class. Another boy in the same class had come into school with a beautiful new watch. The student, tempted as he was, stole the watch, which the boy had kept in his bag during the lunch break. On finding the watch missing after lunch, that boy started crying and went to the teacher, stating that his watch had been stolen.

The teacher had then asked all the students to close their eyes and face the wall while he would search every student’s pocket. This boy who had stolen the watch was now worried that he would be found out and be exposed in front of the class and his character would be shattered. As the teacher went round searching the pockets of allthe students of the class, and found it in the pocket of the boy. Still he continued with the search till the very last boy.

After this, the teacher asked the students to open their eyes and take their seats. The teacher showed the watch to the class and gave it back to the boy it belonged to. But he never said who was found in possession of the watch.

All through his life in the school, none of the teachers or students ever came to know who had stolen the watch.

The young man explained that this teacher had saved his dignity. But the reply that the teacher gave was more remarkable. The teacher said that he himself did not know who stole the watch that day, because while he searched the pockets of all the students, he himself also had his eyes closed.

Prayer Letter from our Link BMS Missionaries

 

Songs of Praise ps

Last week I mentioned in a 'p.s.' to the blog that it had been brought to my attention that Songs of Praise had once broadcast from AFC and I wondered if anyone could remember attending. 

Well, Ann C and Jenny H both wrote in to say they were at the service!  That's wonderful to know.  Jenny H contacted me today saying that David Hodgkins mentions the event in the official AFC Church History booklet, dating it as Sunday 17th February 1963!

Wednesday 3rd February 2021: Voices from the Past

Last week we stood by the grave of my 3x Great Uncle William in the grounds of Christ Church, Chorleywood.  He and his family lived at Pond Cottage on Common Road and he passed away, aged 59, of Spanish Flu in 1919.  He, like 50 million others, became a victim of a pandemic which to me, until now, has just seemed like yet another page of history.

That moment became even more poignant last week when we read down the gravestone and discovered not only his death in January 1919, but then the death of both his daughters, one after another, two weeks later, followed by his son (recently returned from the trenches the year before) after that.  I cannot imagine how my Great Aunt Lizzie coped seeing four members of her family die in as many weeks.  For me, in the grounds of Christ Church last week, the pandemic of 1918/19 came into focus as never before.

And the reality is that our world has done, and is doing, so much better this time around.  Who knows, but I suspect, had William and his family lived in our century there is a chance some of them might have got through.  We are so fortunate in 2021 to have the benefits of science all around us.

Our nation lost Captain Sir Tom Moore yesterday and I think we have all been touched and inspired by his indefatigable character.  He is rightly celebrated in this morning’s Press.

However, it’s also encouraging to realise that Captain Tom’s spirit wasn’t unique and is wonderfully replicated in families and communities all over the world.  I’ve discovered such people in every church in which I’ve ever served – and we have an abundance at AFC!  People who simply never give up and always positively make the best of any situation. 

So today let’s thank God for those around us who bring inspiration and all those in society who, through the wonders of modern science, are bringing hope through the vaccine – a very welcome shot in the arm.