Epiphany – Follow that star.
Readings for this week: Isaiah 60: 1-6: Matt 2: 1-12
Epiphany poem by T S Elliot.
A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times when we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities dirty and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.
Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wineskins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.
All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.
Website of the Week.
The late John O’Donohue was an Irish poet, Hegelian philosopher and author of many books including the best-selling Anam Ċara. He believed that beauty is a human calling and that it unfolds in the becoming of a person, increasing in us as we pass through life’s most harrowing thresholds. He had a lifelong fascination with the inner landscape of our lives and with what he called “the invisible world” that is constantly intertwining what we can know and see. One of the lines that he loved in the New Testament was: “One day you will know as you are now known.” To hear his mesmerising hour-long discourse on ‘The Inner Landscape of Beauty’ visit:
Baptism of Theo.
It was such a privilege to baptise Theo a few days before Christmas. He was keen that his family and friends who were in Cornwall over the Christmas holidays were able to share this very significant time in his life. Two of his school friends acted as sponsors and led him into the water of baptism…they have been sharing their faith journey together for some time.
Pioneering course.
If you want to know more about pioneering ministry and how we look outside our traditional church structures then do join us for the nationally run CMS pioneering course. This Tuesday 9th Jan at 2pm for 1.5 hours and then every other Tuesday for the following three weeks. You can either contact Sian for the zoom link or join us at St Mary’s Pz…with coffee and cake!
Sunday Jan 14th 12 noon Soup Lunch at Paul church.
Please do stay and enjoy a bowl of heart warming healthy soup and good company.
Coming Soon
Sunday January 21st at 10.30am
As part of our celebration of The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the Sunday Worship at Paul will follow the Methodist Communion Order of Service. We are delighted that that the congregation of Mousehole Chapel are joining us on a regular basis while the Chapel is out of use for repairs. We are very much valuing their fellowship and contributions.
Movement of Supporting
Anglicans for an Inclusive Church
How do we flourish in a church with barriers?
Thursday 29th February 2024
An Evening Conversation on Zoom
7pm-9pm
Keynote speaker: Rob Ponsford O.C.R, F.M.C
“An Introduction to Inclusive Church”
ALL WELCOME
For more information, please contact your local reps
Devon: Tim Collins revtimpaul@btinternet.com
Cornwall: Andrew Yates paulpriest@penleecluster.org.uk
Community Manifesto for Cornwall
with Cornwall Independent Poverty Forum (CIPF)
2024 is going to be a General Election year in the UK. The last County wide elections took place in 2021 when a new Council for Cornwall was elected. For that election CIPF drew up the Community Manifesto for Cornwall. CIPF’s vision for Cornwall is a place where local people and communities are the change that they want to see and recognise that we in Cornwall must take the initiative to act. The community manifesto was a first step in articulating how Cornish groups and communities are stepping up to meet these needs and working out how these works might be emboldened and developed.
As we enter this General Election year CIPF is looking to renew the Manifesto for eventually submitting it to those who will be elected as our Members of Parliament and so guide them in fulfilling their responsibilities on behalf of the people of Cornwall.
The Manifesto will have eight themes
•Theme 1 – Health and Well-being
•Theme 2 – End Food Poverty
•Theme 3 – Housing and Homelessness
•Theme 4 – A Sustainable Economy
•Theme 5 – Strong Distinctive Communities
•Theme 6 – A Benefit System that Works
•Theme 7 – Flourishing Communities for All
•Theme 8 – Public Services for All
If you have a specific proposal under one or more of these themes we would love to hear about them and include them in this updated version of the Manifesto so please email them to Info@cornwallindependentpovertyforum.com
Or come along to the next Poverty Forum on January 9th at 2pm to see how you can be involved. Diocese of Truro is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Zoom link https://rb.gy/hzzxvn
During 2024 all the political parties will be producing their manifestos and promises. Why not take a stake in a different kind of Manifesto – the Cornwall Community Manifesto – by sharing your vision and specific ideas and we will do our very best to include them.
Andrew Yates – Chair CIPF
Church life ponderings and aims for 2024
1.Penlee cluster churches have paid the MMF (church ministry costs) to the diocese in full this year. This is a tremendous achievement everyone in these financially challenging times. Thank you so much everyone.
2.The diocesan call for MMF for Penlee cluster has been set for 2024. It’s £53k, so no rise from last year.
3.St Mary’s and St John’s have decided to follow the example of Paul congregation and have an “adopt a toilet” scheme as part of their environmental awareness focus.
4.Three of the churches are going to have a carbon footprint audit and aim to cut their carbon usage by 10% next year. A brave but necessary step toward caring for our planet.
5.Paul church has agreed to accept the grant from St Paul’s Trust so that an outside “forest school” area can be created in the meadow. We hope that it will be ready for Easter Day.
6.We are delighted that so much focus on our work with people on the edges is taking place across the cluster and is now very much part our DNA: the working out of the “bigger table”.
7.It is important that our “keeping in touch” forms are readily available in each church so that people who are visiting or are taking part in cluster based activities can sign up to get the newsletter and other relevant information.
8.The recently started “footprint”support group” for people who are bereaved is now happening each month and seems to be appreciated. The next one will happen on the first Monday in January
9.St Mary’s and St John’s churches are intending to have new heating systems this year…replacing gas heating with halo heating
10.Community orchard to be planted in Paul
11.Night church will take place each month making links with those who believe that they are on the edge
Paul Community Orchard
We now have all the Church permissions and agreements with CORMAC in place for the launch of our Community Orchard in the churchyard known as the Cholera Field.
Many thanks to Dixie Dean and Jane Haward for all their hard work to get us this far. We are being supported by Forest for Cornwall and so we can become part of their ambitious plan for increasing the number of trees being planted across Cornwall. We have put in request for fruit trees and wait to see what will be delivered and hope to start planting next year. If you would like to be involved or find out more please contact Dixie or Jane or Andrew
