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Newsletter Autumn 2021
Welcome
Welcome to our Autumn Newsletter
 
Well, August seems to have passed really quickly and while there’s been many Spanish holiday-makers about – certainly in Los Boliches, it has also been good to welcome a few British visitors to each of our Churches.
 
It has been so frustrating for Chaplaincy Council Members not to be able to plan any social/fund raising events at a time when things would normally be picking up after the summer. On-going restrictions continue to prevent meeting in large groups socially, and our gathering for worship is still dependent on certain rules being followed. This is all for our safety and well being, of course, which I am sure everyone appreciates.
 
As soon as restrictions are lifted, we will share our plans for getting together! Meanwhile, we will continue to use Zoom for Bible Study Groups and this month we re-start a monthly Zoom Sunday Service for those unable to join us – and it is always good welcome our Swallows at this!
Full details for the Bible Study Groups and Sunday Zoom Services are listed below.
 
Again, I would like to thank Janice & Pauline, our Vergers and the small team of willing volunteers at Alhaurin and Calahonda who arrive early each week to clean the church (as per the rules and regs), before our use and clean again after we finish. In the summer heat this has been a big commitment and something we will have to continue to do, until the regulations change.
 
We are extremely grateful for the positive and prayerful response to the recent Update sent out following the last Council meeting. We felt it was important to keep everyone properly informed as to how we are getting on financially at the moment, and the impact the Covid Pandemic and of course, BREXIT is now having on our ministry.
 
May we continue to support all in our Chaplaincy family – and be open to new opportunities and possibilities for being Church in this part of sunny Spain!
 
Fr Nigel
Bible Study Groups
You are most welcome to join our Bible Study Groups at any time….
Both the Coastal and inland Groups would welcome new members. For more information about dates, times, please contact the leaders directly:
John Sutton johnsutton2104@gmail.com
or Caroline carriemachome@gmail.com
Evening Zoom Service

Please join our Evening Zoom Service on Sunday 12 September 2021 at  5pm

Many people from across our Chaplaincy and beyond, seemed to value our Zoom social gatherings and services during the time of travel restrictions, so it seems a good idea to continue using this means of communication, from time to time. So after a short break for the summer we are re-starting these.

Do join us for this short service and chance to chat with friends from across the Chaplaincy – and hopefully we will have the pleasure of welcoming some of our Swallows too! Just use this link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5734420030

Meeting ID: 573 442 0030

September Feast Days & Commemorations
Every month in our Church calendar we observe various Feast Days when we remember events in our Lord’s life, and the lives of well known saints and martyrs. But we also observe various days as ‘commemorations’, when we remember women and men, often of more recent times who are also heroes and heroines of the faith. September has an interesting mixture of these days when we recall the lives of these real people whose lives continue to inspire us along our own Christian journey, and they travel alongside us now in prayerful support.
 

September 6th – Allen Gardiner, Missionary
Allen Gardiner was born in 1794 and joined the Navy as a young man. He resigned in 1826 and, on the death of his wife in 1834 dedicated himself to missionary work. He pioneered a mission to non-Christian people in present day South Africa for the Church Missionary Society and founded the city of Durban. He then went to South America to investigate the possibility of evangelism among the indigenous tribes. He travelled extensively and founded the South American Missionary Society in 1844. With seven other missionaries, he died of starvation inn1851 on the shores of Terra del Fuego.
Everlasting God, whose servant Allen Gardiner
carried the good news of your Son to the people of South Africa and South America:
grant that we who commemorate his service
may know the hope of the gospel in our hearts and manifest its light in all our ways;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 
September 9th – Charles Fuge Lowder, Parish Priest
Charles Lowder was born in 1820 and came under the influence of the Oxford Movements during his studies at Exeter College in the early 1840s. After ordination he became increasingly drawn to the Tractarian and ritualistic expression of the faith, especially after his move to London in 1851, despite fierce opposition the more Catholic spirituality faced within the Church of England at that time.
He went on to become one of the best known ‘slum priests’ in Victorian London. Inspired for urban mission by St Vincent de Paul, Lowder ran a church mission in Wapping, one of the worst slum areas of the East End. To him, mission was not a short-lived campaign but a permanent Christian presence in an area where the Church had no foothold. Lowder’s residence greatly endeared him to the local people, especially after his efforts on their behalf in the East End cholera outbreak. Eventually he was granted his own church of St Peter’s, London Docks, in 1866. When he died, large crowds of East Enders attended his funeral to mourn the priest who had served them so selflessly and for so long.

Eternal God, you called Charles Lowder to proclaim your glory
in a life of prayer and pastoral zeal:
keep the leaders of your Church faithful and bless your people through their ministry,
that the Church may grow into the full stature of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 


September 14th – Holy Cross Day
“We should glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection, through whom we are saved and delivered.’ (cf. Galatians 6:14)

The cross on which our Lord was crucified has become the universal symbol for Christianity, replacing the fish symbol of the early church, although the use of the fish symbol has seen a revival in recent times.
From the fourth century pilgrims began to travel to Jerusalem to visit and pray at the places associated with the life of Jesus. Helena, the mother of the emperor, was a Christian and while overseeing excavations in the city, is said to have uncovered a cross, which many believed to the Cross of Christ. A basilica was built on the site of the Holy Sepulchre and dedicated on this day in the year 335.

The Gospel set for the Eucharist on this Feast Day (John 3:13-17) includes the words: “For God loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life”.
 
Almighty God, who in the passion of your blesséd Son
made an instrument of painful death to be for us the means of life and peace:
grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ that we may gladly suffer for his sake;
who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

September 16th – Ninian, Bishop of Galloway
Ninian was born around 360 and was the son of a Cumbrian chieftain who had converted to Christianity. It is thought that Ninian visited Rome when he was young and received training in the faith. He was consecrated bishop in 394 and returned to Britain, where he set up a community of monks at Whithorn in Galloway. The Church (known Candida Casa or White or ‘Shining’ House), is thought to be the first recorded Church in Scotland. From there they went out on missionary journeys to Perth and Sterling. Ninian died around 423.
Almighty and everlasting God,
who called your servant Ninian to preach the gospel to the people of northern Britain:
raise up in this and every land heralds and evangelists of your kingdom,
that your Church may make known the immeasurable riches
of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is live and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Charity of the month
Our Charity of the Month for September/October is Toilet and Bin Twinning through Tearfund.
 
Thank you very much indeed for your generous donations and support for our recent Charities:
Christian Aid Week: 140€
Debra - Piel Mariposa (Butterfly Skin): 151,16€
Let the Children Live: 325€
 
For the next couple of months we are supporting a Tearfund project.
Tearfund is an international Christian relief and development agency based in Teddington, UK. It currently works in around 50 countries, with a primary focus on supporting those in poverty and providing disaster relief for disadvantaged communities. 

 

Hilary Tompkins writes:

Toilet and Bin Twinning through Tearfund - We now have wonderful new toilet facilities at Los Boliches. We are the fortunate ones. 2 billion people in the world don´t have somewhere safe and hygienic to go to the toilet. (according to WHO/Unicef)

The lack of a loo makes women and girls a target for sexual attack as they go to the toilet in the open, late at night. Almost 1,000 children die every day from preventable diseases linked to dirty water and unsafe toilets. (UN) Toilet Twinning enables families living in poverty to have lifesaving loos. For a donation of just £60 we can twin a toilet with an impoverished household’s latrine in a poor country. Our donation helps to fund an education process involving the whole community. Hearing about the link between sanitation and health is a revelation. People now understand and then they want to build their own latrine. A family who has built their own latrine is much more likely to use it and look after it. Direct donors receive a certificate complete with a photo and GPS co-ordinates so we could look up our twin´s location on Google maps.

In the world’s poorest countries, a person dies every 30 seconds from disease caused by plastic pollution and rubbish. 2 billion people don’t have their rubbish collected. At least a third of the world’s waste is dumped or burnt in the open. Burning releases deadly smoke and toxins. Uncollected waste ends up in waterways and drains, causing flooding that spreads disease and wreaks havoc in the lives of the world’s poorest people.

Donating £45 to twin a bin will help fund a community-led social enterprise that collects household rubbish and sells recycled waste. Preventing disease, protecting the environment and creating jobs. As part of our care for creation we will do all we can to recycle our rubbish using the facilities provided by the local council. Our waste bin(s) can become the proud owners of a Bin Twinning sticker with a photo of the eco project with which we’re twinned.

Please search www.toilettwinning.org  and  www.bintwinning.org  to read how our donations can make a real difference to the lives of some of the world’s poorest people.

Book reviews….
An Early Autumn Book Review:
Following the very positive comments about our summer book review, we offer these suggestions:
Being Disciples by Rowan Williams

Being Disciples is another beautifully written and succinct guide to the essentials of the Christian faith from Rowan Williams. With eloquent simplicity, he pinpoints the ways in which we can grow in the life that Jesus shares with us.
 
First of all, he explains that a disciple needs to be attentive to the possibility of change. Disciples must always be expectant of what they can learn from God. Throughout John’s Gospel, the disciples gain an accumulation of moments of realisation of learning from God.
 
As ever, Williams communicates his teaching with beautiful prose: ‘Forgiveness is when I recognise that I cannot live without the power of mercy; I cannot complete the task of being myself without healing what I have wounded.’
 
Some may prefer that this was not a book made up of his addresses, but as it is so well written, it really doesn’t matter!
 
Being Disciples by Rowan Williams - (SPCK) @ £8.99
and just in case our Spanish resident readers have forgotten about rain….
Rain by Melissa Harrison
 
Rain is a meditation on the English landscape in wet weather by the acclaimed novelist and nature writer, Melissa Harrison. In her short book, she gives descriptions of four walks in four rain showers, in four seasons across Wicken Fen, Shropshire, the Darent Valley and Dartmoor. These highly atmospheric and poetic stories are rich in content.
 
Harrison entrancingly brings in explorations of history, flora and fauna to the descriptions of the landscapes covered. Poetry and folklore make a hugely appropriate appearance. The importance of weather in our lives, is enhanced by the introduction looking at the devastation caused by floods in Winter 2013.
 
Maybe, the book is too short. The walks are so engrossing that the book ends without you almost being truly satisfied – but It is a book to be read, again and again.
 
Rain by Melissa Harrison - (Faber & Faber) @ £12.99 also available as a Kindle Edition
Word Search
Can you find the words listed in the grid?
They may be written in any direction.
AMARYLLIS
ASTER
CALLA
COXCOMB
ORCHID SNAPDRAGON
DAHLIADELPHINIUM
FREESIA
IRIS
LILY
NARCISSUS
You can also down load this as a PDF
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