Author: The Parishioner

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Navigating By The Son: Finding Our Way in An Unfamiliar Landscape

How I Came to Write It, by Stephen Cox

About twenty years ago I prayed what for me then was an almost unthinkable prayer. I paused for a long time before I prayed it. I couldn’t imagine the sequence of events that would be necessary for God to lead me to see the issues differently, and I wanted to pray with full openness to allow God to work in me. I asked God to show me if I was wrong in how I understood what the Bible says about homosexuality. I was not prepared for how painful and disturbing God’s answer was to prove. I took a conservative position, and it seemed obvious to me then that this was the only biblical view and therefore the only legitimate Christian view.

A year or so later, my prayer began to be answered in a way I had not anticipated, when I discovered suddenly and unexpectedly that my devout and deeply Christian older son was gay. Three things were very clear, firstly that he had not chosen to be gay, secondly that his efforts, which had been long lasting and persistent, to find ‘healing’ from homosexual orientation, had been to no avail, and thirdly that he loved God and was submitted to God in a way that won, (and still wins) my admiration and respect. Over the next several years he moved to a position of believing that the expression of homosexual love was not necessarily un-Christian. Though we still do not totally agree over how to interpret the Bible on this issue, I was deeply changed by engaging with him and with the questions raised. I found myself reading the Bible with a fresh urgency. In doing I found myself reflecting more biblically on how we live together with profound and emotive disagreement, and on what God might be saying to us when we see Jesus and the fruits of his Spirit clearly manifested in those with whom we disagree. I have found that the scriptures have a great deal to say on the matter in ways that have enriched my faith and my love for Jesus Christ, and have opened up the Bible to speak afresh to me in all kinds of circumstances. 

This book is the result of my journey of exploration.

It is not primarily about homosexuality. It is about being Christlike, and what that might mean in a church and society that is often divisive and judgmental. It is about where we find our identity. It is a book about how we treat our ‘enemies’ and what it actually means to love them, about how we argue well, about grace and honesty and disagreement.

Above all it is a book about Jesus, and how we are called to imitate Him, not just ‘believe the right things’. 

The above is slightly adapted from the introduction to the book,’Navigating by The Son: Finding Our Way in An Unfamiliar Landscape’. Matador 2021 £11.99 paperback or £9.99 e.book. Widely available including from the Matador shop at

https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/

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15:00 03/04/33

It was just after 3pm on the 3rd April 33AD.  The Roman Army Execution Detail noted that the first of the three prisoners being executed that day had just died.  It was a bit of a surprise because normally a prisoner took much longer to die, but as the Detail had to remain until all the prisoners were dead it was probably more of “One down, two to go” feeling than anything else.  In the meanwhile it was back to gambling to while away the hours until they could return to barracks; after all they were just Roman soldiers carrying out their orders.

The background to this?  At the time the Roman Empire was busy being the Roman Empire.  The Emperor Tiberius ruled in Rome and Pontius Pilate (a junior Roman Civil Servant) was the Roman charged with keeping order in the province of Judea.  To keep things rosy he had cosied up to the Jewish Religious Powers and they to him, but being Pilate he had still managed to alienate others.  Also in the frame was Herod Antipas (a son of Herod the Great) who was the Roman appointed Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea.  So far so good.

Then along came trouble, a 30odd year preacher who had gone about preaching that the Kingdom of God was close at hand had come to town. The new preacher was accompanied by a band of rustics (including ex fishers, an ex tax collector and an ex zealot), he did not rail against the Roman Authorities but preached that one should love God and love one’s neighbour as one’s self.  He had upset the Religious Authorities by declaring that the Temple was a place for prayer and worship and not a place for commerce.  For the Religious authorities the question of the day was how to neutralise this threat without upsetting the status quo?

Herod Antipas had incarcerated a previous troublesome preacher (and cousin to the new one), then without trial the preacher had been beheaded, his head put on a platter and presented to a young dancer who had pleased the said Herod Antipas.  This option was no longer available.

The preacher was detained by the Temple Authorities and after a confrontation was handed over to the Roman Authorities.  The death penalty was demanded by the Temple Authorities and to avoid trouble this was granted by Pilate, which takes us back to the start of the article.

Epilogue: Pilate was removed from office 36AD, Tiberius died 37AD, Herod was removed from office 39AD, the Temple was destroyed 70AD and that rag tag army of fishers and others (excluding the zealot) spread the teachings of the executed man until in 313AD Christianity was recognised as an acceptable religion within the Roman Empire.  Now THAT is a story!

Scrivener

PS.  The date quoted above is believed to be the most probable, by many scholars.

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What’s Inside (Easter Parishioner 2021 – Back Cover)

What’s inside?

An Invitation to the Table — (p3&4) By Revd Neil Lambert                 

Book of Psalms 2021 — (p5) New Psalms by local people in trying times

Meet the Local—(p8&9) The Parishioner interviews Mary Langsford

Our local Waterways Chaplain (p10) Rosie Leakey

News from Abbeywood Care Home (p11) We’re doing a panto! Oh yes we are!

Poems & Poetry Competition — (p14&15) Enter your poems by 30th April!

How to Celebrate Easter 2021—(p16) St Mary’s services

What’s on in Ash Vale — (p17)

Bible Study for Eastertide —(20 & 21) By Helen Lambert

Pea shoots, a seasonal favourite  – (p22) By Vicki Fox

News from St Paul’s Tongham— (p23) Ramp building has started!

How I came to write ‘Navigating by the Son’ – (p25) Author Stephen Cox shares his journey and the key themes from his new book.

Meet the Candidates for the County Council elections on 6th May (p26  – 28)

15:00 03/04/33 — (p29) Scrivener reflects on the Romans at Easter

Help is at Hand! – (p30) Useful numbers

Easter Trail—(inside back cover) Free fun in the holidays!  Decorate your windows and front gardens for some lovely Easter walks! #AshValeEasterTrail

Don’t miss the Easter Service!

Sunday 10am on Zoom (See centre pages for what’s on)

We welcome fun, informative and local interest items! The copy deadline for the June/July 2021 issue of The Parishioner is the 7th May 2021. Emails please to:  parishioner@ash-vale.org.uk

In these unusual times we are minimising the risk to our readers and volunteers by printing only on request, and by sharing The Parishioner far and wide via email, website and social media instead. Please remember to like & share online! If you or someone you know would like a paper copy please pick one up at St Mary’s or The Chapel, or call / text 07730 609446  to request one. Best wishes & stay safe!

The Parishioner seeks to explore and reflect upon a wide variety of local issues whilst recognizing that not everyone will agree with the views expressed.  These do not necessarily reflect the views of all the members of St Mary’s Church nor those of its Parochial Church Council.

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Poetry Competition – Mirror Mind

Reflections on memories in poetry

The Chapel Poetry Group invites you to get creative and submit poems reflecting on your memories. All the winning poems will be published in our 2021 poetry collection “Mirror Mind”, and celebrated at a launch event either in person or online, as covid regulations permit.

First Prize for our overall winner is a £30 book voucher, and all winners whose poems are published will receive an author’s copy of the collection with your poem in it. This is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate local poets and explore treasured memories.

Everyone is welcome to participate, whether you are an established poet or a beginner, young or old. The important thing is, you must write about your own memories and experiences. Here’s how to enter:

Submit your poems by email to: ashvalechapel@gmail.com 

Continue reading “Poetry Competition – Mirror Mind”
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Happy Easter from Butterflies Preschool

We are delighted to now be enrolling new starters for September 2021.  We are currently open Monday – Friday, with longer days running on Mondays and Wednesdays until 2.30pm.  We are Ofsted registered and accept all funding. We run independently from the Community Hall side of St Mary’s Church and follow the Early Years Curriculum. Our Pre-school has an outstanding Early Years team, highly qualified with many years of experience. We are committed and dedicated to providing a safe, clean and nurturing environment for our children every day.  

Despite our village and world around us finding its way through a global pandemic, it is a huge blessing to see how resilient and happy our Butterflies children are, especially as they enjoy playing and learning with each other. 

As lockdown regulations begin to ease, our infection control safety measures continues to be one of our top priorities.  We understand it can be a worrying time for many families and are happy to share all the practices we have in place, should you be interested in learning more about our Pre-school.  We also have a few spaces left on certain days, though we are looking to recruit and grow our Early Years team to enable more availability for little ones.  If you are interested in a free taster session we would love to hear from you. For further information, please feel free to contact Natalie Andrews on 07881807337 or by email Butterfliespreschool19@gmail.com
We wish everyone in our community a safe and happy Easter. 
Best wishes from all of us at Butterflies, 
Natalie

(Owner, Butterflies Pre-school)

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Meet the Candidates:

About Nigel Manning, a candidate for the Surrey County Council elections on Thursday 6th May 2021

I have lived in Ash / Ash Vale for over 30 years. I spent 42 years in Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs as an Inspector of Taxes, latterly focussing on investigating multi-million-pound international companies. This sound financial experience has been enormously valuable to me, in my voluntary role as a local councillor. I have had the privilege and honour of representing the residents of both Ash / Ash Vale on both an Ash Parish Council (APC) and Guildford Borough Council (GBC) for over 20 years. As Chairman of APC for the past 19 years, I have a proven track record of dedicated voluntary and public service. I have a strong local voice and a reputation for getting things done. I also have a common-sense approach to maintaining quality services whilst securing value for money for all residents, whether they live locally or in the wider Borough.

From 2003 to 2016 I was the Lead Member at GBC for finance and assets, in some form or other.  I stepped down in 2016 so I could be Mayor of Guildford. I appointed Rev Neil Lambert as my Mayor’s Chaplain; I still recall with great amusement the sermon Neil gave at my Civic Service – he brought “The Tea Table”, need I say more?

I have always been aware of the pockets of deprivation within the Borough and as Mayor I saw first-hand the fantastic work the volunteers do within our local communities. Year in year out, with little or no recognition, they support the vulnerable and disadvantaged. It was an extremely humbling experience to meet and say thank you to so many wonderful people who selflessly give up their time to help others. As Mayor I supported many charities including the Mayor’s Support Fund and British Heart Foundation, raising over £55,000 during the Mayoral year.

I regularly support many local charities and for years Marsha and I have organised numerous charity quiz nights, within the Parish and across Surrey.  These have raised thousands of pounds for worthwhile causes, including the 1st Ash Vale Scouts and the Citizens Advice Bureau. (CAB). Prior to the Covid 19 Pandemic we regularly attended the monthly charity night quizzes at Victoria Hall.

I care passionately about our local community. I have actively encouraged the Parish Council to organise the Summer Fete and Christmas Fantasia, so that residents can come together to support local charities fundraising activities.

In addition to my “council work”, I am currently the Chairman and Trustee of Ash & District Museum Society and Trustee of the James Payne Memorial Fund. In the past I have also been a governor at Ash Manor School and a Trustee of Ash CAB.

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Meet the Candidates:

About Carla Morson, a candidate for the Surrey County Council elections on Thursday 6th May 2021

Ash Vale has been my home for many years. I had a varied career in public service and since taking redundancy have spent my time undertaking voluntary work with Citizens Advice and latterly our Covid Support Group.

Last March I set up the Ash, Ash Vale & Ash Green Coronavirus Support Group. We’ve all pulled together and have a much more joined up community now. A supportive community spirit is absolutely paramount and with that in mind, I’ve become concerned that we aren’t getting the support we deserve from our local councillors. Our current councillors have remained remarkably silent throughout the last year.

Our area has been dominated by Conservatives for over 20 years and it’s time for change. We need new ideas and views as our community has grown in size and diversity: we have to ensure no one is left behind.

There’s much I want to achieve as additional building in our villages didn’t come with supporting infrastructure, so we are now left with more traffic on the roads (many of which are in poor condition), insufficient school places and overwhelmed GP services. This must be rectified. I also want access to the most accessible parts of Ash Ranges open again for ALL to enjoy, step free access at Ash Vale Station and even more commitment to stopping climate change through things such as increased active travel and improved/cheaper public transport.

Conservative controlled Surrey County Council want a single Unitary Authority and to scrap our local council, taking decision making even further away from us. This would only make things worse. All of this on top of proposals to cut £1m Special Educational Needs (SEN) funding, a failing adult social care system and severe reductions in our fire service capacity. This comes at the same time as an announcement to borrow £100m to fund local projects over the next five years. I’m all for the funding of local projects but where is the money going to come from to repay the loan and interest? Further cuts to essential services?

I will be standing as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Ash in the County Council elections in May. Whether you believe in politics or not, it’s part of all of our lives and we can’t escape it. I’ve no wish to be a politician, what I do want though is to be a champion for our villages and make sure we get, not just what we want but also what we need and deserve. I hope you will offer me your support and join me on this journey.

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Meet the Candidates:

About Peter Kimber, a candidate for the Surrey County Council elections on Thursday 6th May 2021

‘Hi, I’m Peter, the Labour candidate for Ash in the upcoming county council elections. I love this area (having lived in Ash Vale all my life) and know we are incredibly lucky to have so many green spaces close to us (the canal and ranges for example), as well as excellent transport links with three railway stations in the Ash area. However, I believe there is much that can be improved by electing a Labour councillor.

For example, we have had the ‘range floor’ area of Ash Ranges closed by the Defence Infrastructure organisation (DIO). I know many of us used to really enjoy walking and cycling over that part of the ranges, and the concrete tracks on that part made it much more accessible than other parts of the ranges. I know how much this has affected those living around the range complex, as they can no longer walk their dogs or exercise as the gates to the ranges around Ash Vale Station and near the Swan pub are locked. The ‘Save Ash Ranges’ campaign has a meeting with a representative from the DIO a little while back, which many of us had to watch on Youtube as the zoom call was so popular! Ultimately though, most people (a notable exception being our own MP) were dissatisfied with the response given by the DIO. Those behind the Save Ash Ranges campaign are doing a sterling job in standing up for range users, and if elected, I will offer to work hand in hand with the campaign and lobby hard for the re-opening of the range floor. This would be my first priority if elected.

There are also other issues I would address, I would support the re-introduction of an hourly, useable, 41 bus service between Ash, Ash Vale and Farnborough, as well as supporting step free access to Ash Vale Station (however, I am also aware at the amount of work needed for this to happen).

At a county level, Labour supports the introduction of unitary authorities in Surrey, replacing the current two-tier county and borough councils. This would reduce bureaucracy and increase efficiency. Labour would also reverse cuts to our fire service and reverse fire station closures.

Lastly, Labour would fix Surrey’s broken roads, something which has my full support! It is completely unacceptable that cars are getting damaged by potholes and shoddy road repairs. Labour would break up the monopoly given to the firm ‘Kier’ by Surrey County Council for road repairs, and introduce proper competition, alongside better in house coordination of road repairs.’

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Easter Bible Study – Hebrews 12:1-4 (NLT)

By Helen Lambert

Jesus – the Initiator and Perfecter of our faith!

Does faith seem hard at the moment?  In fact does life seem hard?  It is often said that life is a marathon, not a sprint – and there are times in a marathon where it feels almost impossible to take the next step towards the finish.  The image of a race is one that is used in Scripture to describe our journey of faith – and in today’s Bible reading, the writer acknowledges that it is an endurance race! Not only that, but Jesus has run it before us…

The writer of this letter highlights three ways in which we can be encouraged during this strange time when all is changing, but sometimes it feels as if nothing has changed.  The first of these is set out immediately in v1.

We are surrounded

Whether we live on our own or with others, many have experienced the kindness, neighbourliness and a sense of community that has grown throughout this year.  Coming on to our doorsteps to encourage the NHS, or to remember those whose lives have been lost, has somehow bound us together. Who, in particular, does this verse say “surrounds” us (v1)?  At St Mary’s, many have known the importance of “fellowship” – that “togetherness” that we experience through the Holy Spirit in our lives – as we have continued to meet and worship, albeit remotely, through the wonderful technology of Zoom.  How wonderful that our God is not limited by physical walls and distances!  There are times when running a long race when it is only the encouragement of the crowds lining the road – “You can do this!” – that keeps us going.  Let us not stop encouraging one another in these (hopefully) last stages of beating the pandemic.

Strip off the weight

For an endurance athlete, the balance between weight and strength is an important one, and it is essential that they are not carrying any unnecessary weight on race day that would slow them down.  Whilst God does not mind what physical shape or size we are, he does want us to run this “race” of our Christian life unhindered.  What are the things that might slow us down, or even “trip us up” (v1)?  As we reflect on the past year, can we use the opportunity to consider what might be preventing us from living life as God intended?  We may not have been out much – but are there aspects of our attitudes, relationships and behaviours that we have hidden away, but we know need to change?  “Strip off every weight that slows us down” – use this time to commit to change!

Eyes on Jesus

If the challenges just mentioned seem hard, we are now told how to do it (v2) – what is the secret? All successful athletes have a trainer – the one who commits to seeing them succeed, from beginning to end.  The athlete can only succeed if they follow the trainer, who will themselves have been a successful athlete who has won many races – a true “champion”.  Who do these verses say is our “champion”, and what is his role (v2)?  The secret is that we are not meant to run this race alone.  The “crown of witnesses” (v1) can support and encourage us, but is it Jesus himself, our champion, who enables and empowers us.  Note that he is both the “initiator” (some versions say “author”) and “perfecter” of our faith.  We so often feel guilty that we are not trying hard enough to believe, or not trying hard enough to live the right way.  The world tells us that we need to rely on our own inner resources.  The Bible tells us that it is Jesus himself who, by his Holy Spirit living in us, is our inner resource.  He sows the seed of faith within us, he shows us the way forward, and he gives us the strength and ability to live according to what he has shown us – to “run the race”. 

We know we can trust him to do this because he has run it before us (v2b). This coming week we will remember how Jesus went to the cross (v2) and died for all our sakes (v4) in order for us to be able to live our present lives in relationship with him, free of all that slows us down (v1).  We have this “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow” * because this death was not the end – Easter is a celebration, not a mourning, because Jesus rose again and “is seated in the place of honour beside God’s throne” (v2).

And so, this Easter, if you are tempted to “become weary and give up” (v3), “fix your eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith”!   

1Great is Thy Faithfulness.  Thomas Obediah Chisolm 1923

Hebrews 12: 1-4 (NLT)           

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.

Bible passage source: Bible Gateway online: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%2012%3A1-4&version=NLT 

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An Easter Giggle

A vicar was planning an Easter pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and was aghast when she found it would cost her £50 an hour to rent a boat on the Sea of Galilee.  She protested to the travel agent that the cost was ridiculous. ‘That might be true,’ replied the travel agent, ‘but you have to take into account that the Sea of Galilee is water on which our Lord himself walked.’

‘Well, at £50 an hour for a boat,’ she replied, ‘I am not surprised!’  

Shared with kind permission from…. www.parishpump.co.uk