The Electronic Link - Parish Magazine


The Electronic Link

Parish Magazine 

for 

St Michael’s Kingsteignton 

St Peter & St Paul’s Teigngrace


St Michael's

St Michael's Kingsteignton








St Peter & St Paul's Teigngrace

St Peter & St Paul's Teigngrace







March 2022


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Welcome

 

         The Annunciation 


“… the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, …; and the virgin’s name was Mary”(Luke 1: 26-28).

 

It may seem strange that I have begun this Welcome reflection with the The Repentance of St Peterquotation above.  After all, as we enter March, so we are about to enter the season in the Church’s calendar that we call Lent; and surely Lent is a season of sackcloth and ashes, of waiting and preparation, that looks toward Easter?  Surely a more appropriate quotation would refer to the The Agony in the GardenGarden of Gethsemane and the Cross, rather than with the announcement of the conception and coming birth of Christ?

 

It might not seem quite so strange, however, when we remember that the normal gestation time for a human child is nine months, and that March is nine months before December.  What this means is that, as we approach Easter, so, on 25thMarch, we also observe the Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a Feast that celebrates the conception of the Christ in the womb of Mary, the entry of God into human flesh, and so is a celebration that looks towards the Nativity and, once again, to the Feast of Christmas.

 

                 The Nativity


I know that it can all get very confusing but perhaps what is happening here is a reminder to us all that Easter and Christmas are intimately connected.  If Christmas had not happened, if it was not the case that “… the Word was made flesh, and lived among us, …” (John 1:14), then there never could have been the first Easter and there could never be a season of Lent.  At the same time, without that first Easter, then, again, we would not be observing Lent, but we would also not be celebrating Christmas.

 

The two events go hand-in-hand.  When we remember that Jesus was born of Mary, so we are reminded that God left the bliss of heaven and became a human being.  This is what we recall each Sunday when we recite the Nicene Creed, saying:

 

The Incarnation“For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made man”.

 

And as these words are said, so some people will bow as an acknowledgement that in leaving heaven, in the mystery at the heart of the celebrations of Christmas, a great sacrifice was offered for us by God, even before there ever was any talk of crucifixion.

 

                      The Crucifixion


At the same time, though, as we remember the crucifixion and then the The ResurrectionResurrection, so we can see how the love that brought us Christmas reaches its triumphant fulfilment and completion in the suffering at Calvary and the broken tomb of that first Easter Day.  It is this love, expressed in humility, in the humble acceptance of the preferences of God, that is the narrow door (Luke 13: 24) of which Jesus teaches through out his life and more especially in the sacrifice of the Cross.

 

During this season of Lent, therefore, it may be a help to our meditations, as we continue with our fast of preparation for Easter, to reflect upon the connection between Christmas and Easter expressed in the following words taken from an ancient prayer called the Angelus:   

 

Praying the AngelusWe beseech you, O Lord, to pour down your grace into our hearts; that as we have known the incarnation of your Son, Jesus Christ, by the message of an angel, so by His Cross and Passion, we may be brought to the glory of His Resurrection; through the same Christ, Our Lord.  Amen.

 

 

Fr Mark

 

Photo 1:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Annunciation_(Leonardo).jpg; Photo ‘Annunciation (Leonardo)’ by Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence; reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence;

 

Photo 2:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gerard_Seghers_-_Repentance_of_St_Peter.jpg; Photo ‘Gerard Seghers – Repentance of St Peter’ by The Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg; Public Domain, Copyright Free;

 

Photo 3:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:El_Greco_-_The_Agony_in_the_Garden_-_WGA10581.jpg; Photo ‘El Greco – The Agony in the Garden’’ by Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest; Public Domain, Copyright Free;

 

Photo 4:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Francia,_The_Nativity_of_Christ.jpg; Photo ‘Francia, The Nativity of Christ’ by Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum; Public Domain, Copyright Free;

 

Photo 5:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Piero_di_Cosimo_Incarnation_of_Jesus_01.jpg; Photo ‘Piero di Cosimo Incarnation of Jesus’ by Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence; Public Domain, Copyright Free;

 

Photo 6:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crucifixion_of_Christ_by_Pietro_Perugino.jpg; Photo ‘Crucifixion of Jesus by Pietro Perugino’ by Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence; reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence;

 

Photo 7:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_The_Resurrection_(La_Résurrection)_-_James_Tissot.jpg; Photo ‘Brooklyn Museum – The Resurrection (La Resurrection) – James Tissot’’ by BrooklynMuseum, New York City; Public Domain, Copyright Free;

 

Photo 8:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:L%27Angélus.jpg; Photo ‘L’Angelus’ by Musee d’Orsay, Paris; reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence;

 

 

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                                     Notice of Parish Reorganisation




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Prayer Intentions

for March


1st

David, Bishop of Menevia, Patron of Wales, c601

People of Wales

2nd

ASH WEDNESDAY

Repentance

3rd

Weekday of Lent

Sacrifice of self

4th

Weekday of Lent

Self Discipline

5th

Weekday of Lent

HMRC

6th

1st Sunday of Lent

Our Parishes

7th

Perpetua, Felicity & their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203

Persecuted Christians

8th

Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln, 1910

Leaders

9th

Ember Day

Vocations

10th

Weekday of Lent

Searchers

11th

Ember Day

Vocations

12th

Ember Day

Vocations

13th

2nd Sunday of Lent

Our Parishes

14th

Weekday of Lent

Compassion

15th

Weekday of Lent

Love

16th

Weekday of Lent

Politicians

17th

Patrick, Bishop, Missionary, Patron of Ireland c460

Ireland

18th

Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, Teacher, 386

 

19th

Joseph of Nazareth

Carpenters

20th

3rd Sunday of Lent

Our Parishes

21st

Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, Reformation Martyr, 1556

Tolerance

22nd

Weekday of Lent

Forgiveness

23rd

Weekday of Lent

Obedience

24th

Walter Hilton of Thurgarton, Augustinian Canon, Mystic 1396

Peace

25th

THE ANNUNCIATION OF OUR LORD TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Humility

26th

Weekday of Lent

Integrity

27th

4th Sunday of Lent- Mothering Sunday

Our Parishes

28th

Weekday of Lent

NHS

29th

Weekday of Lent

Teachers

30th

Weekday of Lent

Life

31st

John Donne, Priest, Poet, 1631

Poets


                        Praying Hands




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Lent

A Prayer for Lent




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Contributions to The Electronic Link

 

The editor of The Electronic Link would welcome articles for inclusion in the new magazine but reserves the right to alter, amend or not publish any that are submitted.  The deadline for submission of articles will be 20th day of the month preceding that for which the next edition is dated.  For example, articles for the October edition would need to be submitted by 20th September.  All submissions should be in Microsoft Word format and included as an attachment to an email sent to either of these two addresses:

 

kingsteigntonchurch@btinternet.com

teigngracechurch@btinternet.com

 

Please write in the Subject heading of the email:

 

‘Article for The Electronic Link’

 

Please include in the name of the attached file an indication of it’s content.  For example, for a report on swift boxes in St Michael’s Church Tower, something like ‘Swift Boxes Report’.  This makes it easier for the editor to manage any articles that are submitted.


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The Church – A Praying Community 


St Michael's ChurchLast month we thought about the Church, not as a place we go to once a week but as the people of God who follow Jesus.  We saw that being the people of God who follow Jesus requires not only that we gather around the altar on a Sunday to share in God’s making present today of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus but, also, being ourselves changed and living out that change in the world.

  

                                        Girl Praying


We thought about how we might be supported and nourished by God to live out our calling.  What we saw was that prayer, and especially daily prayer, has a central part in this.  It is where God comes to us and feeds us with his love.  We saw too that there are many ways in which we can pray every day and that finding what works for us in our lives as they are now, isRemote Control an essential task for each of us to perform.

 

Something else we saw was that self-control is a crucial part of a healthy prayer life.  Something that might help us in managing ourselves and our prayer, then, is a plan or, as it has sometimes been called, a Rule of Life.  Over the next few months in these articles, we are going to reflect a little on what might be in our Plan, our Rule of Life.

 

In this article our main subject is rest and activity in our lives, and the balance between them. So, where does rest fit into a Christian Plan or Rule of Life?

                            Rest from Work


MenorahOur starting point has to be a recognition that Jesus was a Jew and that in many ways Christianity is a child of Judaism.  This is reflected in the belief held by the Church from its earliest days, that Jesus is the fulfilment of the prophetic promises to be found in the Hebrew Bible, what we Christians call the Old Testament.

 

As such, Christian understanding of rest has been heavily influenced by the teaching to be found in the Book of Deuteronomy.  In Chapter 5, we find the commandment to:

 Ten Commandments

Observe the sabbath and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.  For six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work (Deuteronomy 5: 12-14)

 

The word ‘sabbath’ can be directly translated into our English word ‘rest’. 


                                      Rest


 In the Old Testament, one reason given for God’s command to rest is that, in doing so, we are following and so remembering the example of God, who rested on the seventh day, after creating the World (Genesis 2: 2-3).

 

Escape from EgyptAnother reason that is given is so that the Jewish people could remember that God had freed them from slavery in Egypt.  So, we find, also in the Book of Deuteronomy, the following passage:

 

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day (Deuteronomy 5: 15).

 

Within Judaism, then, sabbath is a time of rest but also of great joy.  It is a time for remembering and recognising the freedom that God has given to his people.

 

For Christians, respect for sabbath is found in the teaching of Jesus.  The only real change he makes to the Jewish understanding of his time, is to argue that:

 

Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath (Mark 2: 27).


This might sound like a fairly minor shift.  However, it was quite a radical change and something that flew in the face of much of the teaching of the Pharisees, who interpreted the imperative in a much more rigid and uncompromising way.

 

For much of the history of the Church in our own country, it was easy to observe sabbath.  


                           Sorry We're Closed


This was because on one day a week, Sunday, most forms of entertainment, such as shops and pubs, theatres, and cinemas, even play areas in parks, were closed.  People were forced to rest and expected to worship God.  


The problem with this approach, though, is that it seems to have lost sight of Jesus’ own teaching, that sabbath is for the benefit of people and not the other way around.  I wonder how many of us remember the ‘Sunday Afternoon at Home’ edition of Hancock’s Half Hour from the late 1950s but broadcast since?! (see <https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jsys>).


                                                         Tony Hancock

 

Lonely StrollPerhaps, however, in our society, things have gone too far the other way?  For many today it is difficult to identify any opportunity in the week when they can enjoy sabbath.  It is increasingly the case, too, as we have become so much more fragmented as a nation where collective identities have been eroded by a cult of individualism, that there is no common sabbath enjoyed by most people at the same time.

 

As Christians, then, we face a challenge.  As Paula Gooder puts is:

 

How should we keep proper rest time? Time that reflects the recognition that we all need time to rest, recuperate and become fruitful again.  Time that lives out in practice the principle that rest is for our benefit not our restriction.  Time that draws us back again to remembrance of the God who created the world in the first place and then rested (Paula Gooder in Pilgrim: A Course for the Christian Journey – Church & Kingdom, 2018, CHP: 23).  

 

It was, perhaps, in the increasingly distant past, when our society had a clear day set aside every week for rest and worship, Sunday, that the idea that God was for Sunday only first started to develop.  It may shock us to hear, then, that disquiet about keeping God confined to Sundays, isn’t just a trendy fashion amongst clergy today.  In the Book of the Prophet Amos, written many centuries ago and before the coming of Jesus, we find an explosion of anger from God in relation to such an attitude:

 

                  Lightening


I hate, I despise your festivals and I take no delight in solemn assemblies (Amos 5: 21).

 

When we read beyond this particular passage, what we find is that God’s anger is fuelled by the apparent belief amongst the people that keeping festivals was all that they needed to do.  As Paula Gooder again says:

 

They went to the temple, worshipped God and then went back to abusing the poor and acting unjustly in the rest of their life (Paula Gooder in Pilgrim: A Course for the Christian Journey – Church & Kingdom, 2018, CHP: 24).  

 

Where have our reflections got us?  Well, we started thinking about sabbath as part of our reflection on what might be in our Plan or Rule of Life.  What is clear from our discussion is that rest and recuperation have been seen as essential to human well-being from before the time of Jesus and is part of the Christian inheritance from Judaism.

 

                St Merri


It is clear, also, that for Christians, following Jesus is not something that can be kept walled-up on a single day of rest, is not something that we can do on a Sunday and then forget about during the other six days of the week.  As Paula Gooder puts it:

 

God requires the whole of our lives to reflect worship, prayer, justice Calendarand righteousness, Monday to Saturday as well as Sunday.  Christianity is not a one-day-a-week religion; it is a faith that should flow outwards to everything we say and do … God calls each one of us to live lives that reflect our faith every hour of every day – and not just to have a ‘Sunday best’ faith (Paula Gooder in Pilgrim: A Course for the Christian Journey – Church & Kingdom, 2018, CHP: 24).  

 

As we think about our own Plan or Rule of Life, then, we need to ensure that it contains time for rest and recuperation, for remembering and celebrating what God has done for us in Jesus, for prayer and for silence.  We need also to ensure that our Rule does not confine these just to Sunday, however, but feeds them into each and every day of our lives.

 

 

Fr Mark

 

(Photo 1:

St Michael’s Church Kingsteignton by Fr Mark;

 

Photo 2:

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Praying_Girl_bb_-_panoramio.jpg; Photo ‘Praying Girl bb - panoramio’ by bobsveta; reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence;

 

Photo 3:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Remote_control.jpg; Photo ‘Remote control by sergei; Public Domain, Copyright Free;

 

 

Photo 4:

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Noon,_rest_from_work_-_Van_Gogh.jpeg; Photo ‘Noon, rest from work – Van Gogh’ by Musee d’Orsay, Paris; Public Domain, Copyright Free;

 

Photo 5:

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Menorah_(PSF).png; Photo ‘Menorah (PSF)’ by Pearson Scvott Foresman; Public Domain, Copyright Free;

 

Photo 6: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dobruška_synagogue,_Ten_Commandments_01.jpg; Photo ‘Dobruska synagogue, Ten Commandments 01’ by Czeva; reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence;

 

Photo 7: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rest.jpeg; Photo ‘Rest’ by Ajayantvm; reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence;

 

Photo 8: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Israel%27s_Escape_from_Egypt.jpg; Photo ‘Israel’s Escape from Egypt’ by the Providence Lithograph Company; Public Domain, Copyright Free;

 

 

Photo 9:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sorry_we_are_closed_sign.jpg; Photo ‘Sorry we are closed sign’ by Claireneon; reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence;

 

Photo 10:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TONY_HANCOCK_1924-1968_Comedian_lived_here_1952-1958.JPG; Photo ‘Tony Hancock 1924-1968 Comedian lived here 1952-1958’ by Spudgun67; reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence;

 

Photo 11:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lonely_stroll_in_the_sunset.jpg; Photo ‘Lonely stroll in the sunset’ by Annatsach; reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence;

 

Photo 12:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lightning-4941.jpg; Photo ‘Lightening-4941’ by Brezhnev30; reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence;

 

Photo 13:

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Merri_Church_Interior_2,_Paris,_France_-_Diliff.jpg; Photo ‘Saint Merri Church Interior 2, Paris, France - Diliff’ by Diliff; reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence;

 

Photo 14

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moving_in_day!_-_51244999581.jpg; Photo ‘Moving in day!’ by alanharder.ca; r eproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic licence.

 

 

 

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Bible Bites




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Sorry - no Picture Parable this month.  For some reason it won't up-load (Ed).



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A Saint from the Calendar for March

St Cyril of Jerusalem

St Cyril of Jerusalem




On 18th March, along with the Roman Catholic Church, in the Calendar of the Church of England, we celebrate the life and witness of St Cyril of Jerusalem.

 






Printed below is a brief biography of his life, which can be found at: <https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-cyril-of-jerusalem>.

 

The crises that the Church faces today may seem minor when compared with the threat posed by the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ and almost overcame Christianity in the fourth century. Cyril was to be caught up in the controversy, accused of Arianism by Saint Jerome, and ultimately vindicated both by the men of his own time and by being declared a Doctor of the Church in 1822.

 

Raised in Jerusalem and well-educated, especially in the Scriptures, he was ordained a priest by the bishop of Jerusalem and given the task during Lent of catechizing those preparing for Baptism and catechizing the newly baptized during the Easter season. His Catecheses remain valuable as examples of the ritual and theology of the Church in the mid-fourth century.

 

There are conflicting reports about the circumstances of his becoming bishop of Jerusalem. It is certain that he was validly consecrated by bishops of the province. Since one of them was an Arian, Acacius, it may have been expected that his “cooperation” would follow. Conflict soon rose between Cyril and Acacius, bishop of the rival nearby see of Caesarea. Cyril was summoned to a council, accused of insubordination and of selling Church property to relieve the poor. Probably, however, a theological difference was also involved. He was condemned, driven from Jerusalem, and later vindicated, not without some association with and help from Semi-Arians. Half his episcopate was spent in exile; his first experience was repeated twice. He finally returned to find Jerusalem torn with heresy, schism and strife, and wracked with crime. Even Saint Gregory of Nyssa, who was sent to help, left in despair.

 

They both went to the Council of Constantinople, where the amended form of the Nicene Creed was promulgated in 381. Cyril accepted the word consubstantial—that is, Christ is of the same substance or nature as the Father. Some said it was an act of repentance, but the bishops of the Council praised him as a champion of orthodoxy against the Arians. Though not friendly with the greatest defender of orthodoxy against the Arians, Cyril may be counted among those whom Athanasius called “brothers, who mean what we mean, and differ only about the word consubstantial.”

 

 

 

The image above is entitled ‘Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, fresco at a Greek orthodox church’ and dates from the 14th century.  It is copied from 

<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Кирилл_Иерусалимский._Географ.jpg>; it is by an unknown author and is Public Domain, Copyright Free

 

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A Picture for Reflection


The Annunciation Triptych


In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

(Luke 1: 26-27)

 

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Annunciation_Triptych_(Merode_Altarpiece)_MET_DP273206.jpg; Photo ‘Annunciation Triptych (Merode Altarpiece)’ by Metropolitan Museum of Art, online database: entry  470304; Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication