The Parish Church of
HOLY TRINITY, TARLETON
Parish "Webzine" July 2006

From the Rectory

Dear Friends,

June has been quite an eventful month for the parish, and as I write it is not yet over - the stage is being set for the crowning of our Rose Queen tomorrow. At the beginning of the month we had a visit from Bishop John who came to celebrate the Eucharist and consecrate the restored High Altar. This is a special rite of dedication which only a Bishop can perform. It serves as an important reminder to us here at Tarleton Holy Trinity that each time we gather to celebrate the Eucharist we do so in communion with our local Bishop. We are not a congregation that stands alone. We are an integral part of the catholic, or universal, Church. Bishop John did an excellent job explaining it all in his sermon.

Then a few days later came Walking Day which was wonderful. It is such a joy to see the churches come together for our annual walk of witness. The refreshments and entertainment after the walk were especially welcome – what it must have been like for the band members in that heat I dread to think, yet they played so brilliantly throughout. Once I had cooled off a bit and changed out of my cassock, I found myself being persuaded to try the big ride at the fair (truth be known, I didn’t need any persuading!) I was then given a very rough ride on the dodgems, much to the amusement of several parishioners – I know who you are!

The day after Walking Day was Holy Trinity Sunday, our feast of title. I have had many people say how much they appreciated Canon and Mrs. Riley being with us for the 10.30am Eucharist. It was indeed good to see them and they have since written to me saying how much they enjoyed being back at Holy Trinity.

Every year on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday the Church keeps the feast of Corpus Christi. This year we were joined by people from our cluster parishes of Rufford and Hesketh Bank, as well as a few welcome visitors from Bretherton. After the Sung Eucharist there were refreshments and many people stayed behind chatting and catching up with news from our various churches. It was a lovely occasion and I hope that people continue to support the work of the cluster parishes through both prayer and action.

I hope you enjoy the Summer months, and if you are going away please bring back news of what the Church is doing elsewhere.

With my best wishes and prayers,

Fr Nicholas.

FROM THE PARISH REGISTERS 2006
Baptisms “Inheritors with us of the Kingdom of God”
28th May John Harry Smith
18th June Lewis Corneliusson
Rebecca Eddison
Weddings “Whom God has joined together …”
27th May Michael Benson to Claire Burridge
Funerals “Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord”
2nd June David Mee
6th June Richard Blackstone
16th June Margaret Williamson

MOTHERS’ UNION - JULY
One morning recently our post included an envelope from Buckingham place, in which the Queen’s Private Secretary writes:
The Queen wishes me to write and thank you for the lovely card which you have made for her on the occasion of her eightieth birthday.
Her Majesty has been so touched by the response to her special birthday and I am to thank you for your good wishes which the Queen greatly appreciates.

As a result of the generous donations by our Members to the Calendar of Blessings during Lent we have been able to send a very worthwhile contribution to the MU Overseas Fund which supports the work of 300 Overseas Diocesan Workers, who are involved in training local MU Members.

Our Bring and buy Sale held in May was very successful and the proceeds will got o the Away From It All Caravan Fund which provides holidays in Morecambe for families in need of a break and least able to take one.

On Monday 3rd July the Prayer Group will meet in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel at 2.00 pm, and our final meeting before the summer break will be an evening meal at the Rufford Arms Hotel on Wednesday July 12th arriving about 7.00 pm for 7.30 pm.
Pat Heap

Diamond Wedding
Canon and Mrs Finney invite you all to share in the celebration of their Diamond Wedding by coming to 1 Howard Drive on Thursday 10 August. They will be “At Home” between 2.30 and 5.30, or between 7.00 and 10.00, for “drinks and nibbles”. Please, no presents – just come!

The Social Committee
Wednesday 19th July 2006 – Fun Bowling Evening at Tarleton Bowling Club commencing at 6.30 p.m. Tickets £6 inclusive of light supper. Anyone wishing to bowl must register before 6.30 p.m. on the 19th. Tickets are now available.

Sunday, 27th August – Old Church Sunday – Bucks fizz and nibbles will be served after the 10.30 a.m. Eucharist at the Old Church.

Sunday 17th September 2006 – Family Treasure Hunt in the afternoon – further details later.

Friday 22nd September - Harvest Supper and Quiz - details later.

CAN YOU HELP?
I am compiling a book for our Church about the last 40 years of our Rose Queens.
It will have photographs and names of everyone for each year. I have made a start on it and I have been given photographs of the majority of the Queens and the book is coming along fine. But I would be very grateful for any information about who were in the retinues from 1966 until 1975. Were they Petal Throwers, Crown Bearers, Heralds, Sword Bearers, Attendants? Or maybe they crowned the Queen Florence Pilkington 1966 or Pat Singleton 1967.
If you can help please get in touch with me.
Gail Sutton on (01772 813663)

Informal Walking Group Late May Walk
Seventeen of us assembled at the church on Monday 29th May under cloudy skies. One had come from Canada - well, not just for the walk but she was visiting family - and we had another unusual visitor from Southport. We have previously had people come because they had heard about it on the radio but this was the first time we had had the person who read it out on radio - John Kennedy from Dune FM.

The weather cleared as we strolled the paths and lanes to Rufford, seeing hares running away over the fields and rather fewer green plovers than we might have expected.
Lunch at the Rufford Arms was well up to our already high expectations and we were joined there by one more.

Two left after lunch and the canal walk itself was a delight but the weather turned as we came up Plox Brow with distant thunder and a sharp shower near to sleet.
Ian

Very old church notices that keep resurfacing
• Don’t let worry kill you - let the church help.
• The ladies of the church have cast off clothing of all kinds. They can be seen in the church basement.
• The topic for the sermon this week is “What is hell?” Come early and hear the choir practise.
• This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs Lewis to come forward and lay an egg on the altar.
• This afternoon there will be meetings at both the north and south ends of the church. Children will be baptised at both ends.

WHALLEY ABBEY Saturday 22 July 2006
Bishop Nicholas invites YOU to share in this Diocesan Celebration Celebrant: Bishop Nicholas Preacher: Archbishop of York John Mugabi Sentamu
Assemble from 11 am Eucharist at 12 noon
Picnic time from 1.30 (bring your favourite picnic) and enjoy the festive circus atmosphere with: Clown School from Blackpool; Street Saxophone Jazz Band. Tickets: £3 per person or Family ticket £5 (2 adults and up to 4 children) from the Diocesan Office or keep an eye on the pew sheets for a parish contact.

Morecambe Bay for the TLM
Saturday 3rd June dawned clear, bright, sunny and hot, and a total of ten people - eight from the parish and two from our Monday walks - joined the group of well over 200 at Hest Bank. Before we started, Derek Hartley had announced that at least £7000 had been raised, and after a short prayer, our guide set off ten minutes early leaving the later comers still registering. The day was totally clear, you could see right up into the Lakeland Hills, and later on, back to Ingleborough. The string of walkers made an amazing sight as we forged on through very shallow streams with occasional breaks until we reached the Kent Channel. Here there was the option of a ride on a trailer or in a Morecambe Bay Safari Sand Cat but our group all waded slowly through the strong current.
From there we walked a huge, raised sand bank to Humphrey Head and slogged up through the sheep in this nature reserve, catching sight of small raptors in flight.
The double-deckers back to the start crawled down narrow lanes to reach the still narrow B-road to Grange and delivered us back at Hest Bank at 4 pm precisely as advertised.
Our parish group raised over £200. Thank you to all who walked and all who sponsored us.
Sue

Atheism? So last millennium.
Back in May, Andrew Brown, who writes about the press for the Church Times, drew our attention to two articles by socio-biologists that both attacked Richard Dawkins’ style of atheism.
One which I had already seen in The Guardian was by Dylan Evans who used to work at the LSE’s Darwin Centre.
“There are many species of atheisms, just as there are many species of religion. But while many religions still thrive, most of the atheisms that now exist have become extinct. The non-religious person today is, therefore, rather like a person who wanders into a shop to buy a breakfast cereal and finds only one variety for sale. Moreover, this variety isn’t very tasty, because the atheism that flourishes today is old and tired. Dawkins is virulently ant-religious, passionately pro-science and artistically illiterate - thus manifesting all three of the main characteristics of the old atheism in a particularly pure form. His attacks on religion are so vitriolic and bad-tempered that they alienate the sensitive reader and give atheism a bad name. As a friend of mine once commented, no other atheist has done more for the cause of religion than Richard Dawkins.”
Dawkins’ recent TV series showed this up: he only interviewed equally bigoted fundamentalist Christians and kept away from intelligent scientists who are believers like John Polkinhorne.

The other article (from The Boston Globe) was by Darwinian philosopher (and atheist) Michael Ruse. He has a book coming out that argues that the resistance to evolutionary ideas in the US is so strong just because they have been sold as necessarily atheistic. He reckons that US creationists are so entrenched that only an alliance of scientists and sane believers will be able to resist them. He predicts “a range of reactions from the irritated to the livid. And if I don’t get that I’m going to be a very sorry person.”

Dawkins seems to suffer from Scientism. Polkinhorne wrote in his 1986 book One World: "Scientism is the mistaken attempt to exalt science into a complete philosophy. It will not work and scientists have always been among the first to recognise that.”
Ian

Please continue to pray for our ordained friends.
At press time, Keith Thomasson had no time for his start in Bristol, as their house in the Fishpond group of parishes has yet to be found.
However, after the July hard copy had gone to press, we learnt that he is being licensed on Tuesday July 4th. Fuller details in the August magazine.
Alison Alp and Alexandra Logan are still seeking new roles.

The Mission Action Plan Prayer
God of new beginnings, we pray that you will transform your church as you renew us by your love.
Give us vision for the journey that we may travel light, and live increasingly by faith.
Inspire, enliven and empower us, so that along the Way we may be sustained by the life of Christ in ourselves, in one another, and in the world. Amen

From one of those copied-on Emails
Dust if you must, but wouldn’t it be better
to paint a picture or write a letter,
bake a cake or plant a seed,
ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there’s not much time,
with rivers to swim and mountains to climb,
music to hear and books to read,
friends to cherish and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world’s out there
with the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair,
a flutter of snow, a shower of rain,
this day will not come round again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind,
old age will come and it’s not kind.
And when you go - as go you must -
you, yourself, will make more dust!

COMMEMORATIONS and FESTIVALS in JULY
There are two major festivals in July. At the start of the month, Monday 3rd brings St Thomas the Apostle. Towards the end, on Saturday 22nd, we remember Mary Magdalene. We heard a lot about both of them at and after Easter, and both of them have been unfairly represented since their death.

Thomas gets to stand for doubt - and Mary for female frailty. Yet both of them were strong and certain when it mattered.

Thomas simply wouldn’t take hearsay - but as soon as he saw the risen Lord he believed totally and said so in those amazing words: “My Lord and my God.”

Mary Magdalene has been unfairly conflated (confused or combined) both with the unnamed woman who poured precious ointment on Jesus’ feet, and with the equally unnamed woman taken in adultery. Yet she was named as one of those who stood by the cross when most of the men had fled. She was named as one of those who went to look after Jesus’ battered body. John’s gospel tells us that she was the first to see the risen Lord, when she cried “Master” and had to be asked not to hug him in relief! Because it was she who took the good news of the Resurrection to the disciples, the Early Church named her “The Apostle to the Apostles.”

Editor’s note: We’ve had several years of short listings of all the commemorations and saint’s days in the new calendar. I thought we’d try a little more thought about one or two each month. What do you think? Would you prefer the less well known ones?

Secular scuttlebutt
A wicked whisper reaches me that one local journalist is so sloppy in copying on stories inaccurately that he has to do it under a false name in a so-called gossip column.

From previous magazines: Parish Jottings July 1889
The 14th of July has been fixed for our annual Sunday School Sermons, when the Rector will preach in the morning, and the Rev. Seymour Penzer, Rector of Mawdsley, in the afternoon and evening. The cost of the annual Tea Party, Prizes, Bibles, and New Testaments for use in the Sunday School, together with printing and miscellaneous expenses during the past year, amounted to £25 7s 8½d, and there was a previous deficit of £9 3s 10½d, making a total of £34 11s 7d, towards which the receipts for the year have been £28 8s 9d, which leaves a balance on the wrong side of £6 2s 10d. We are thus about £3 less in debt than we were a year ago, although the year has been an unusually expensive one. This gives us ground to hope that if a determined effort is made now and a sufficient sum collected we may with care get our Sunday School out of debt. Let us all do our best to accomplish this.

PARISH DIARY for July
NORMAL SUNDAY SERVICES
8.00 am Holy Communion,
10.15 am Sunday School and Crèche
10.30 am SUNG EUCHARIST
(3rd Sunday, FAMILY PARISH COMMUNION)
JULY
Saturday 1st TLM Pilgrimage to Holy Island
Sunday 2nd Third Sunday after Trinity
8.00 am Eucharist
10.15 am Sunday School
10.30 am PARISH EUCHARIST
Monday 3rd 2.00 pm MU Prayer Group:
Blessed Sacrament Chapel
Tuesday 4th 10.00 am Eucharist Oakgate Close
6.50 pm Choir practice
Wednesday 5th 10.00 am Holy Communion (BCP) Coffee, chat
Thursday 6th 7.00 pm Eucharist
Friday 7th 12.15 pm Eucharist
Saturday 8th 6.00 pm Coach leaves for Lancaster
for Promenade performance of Tom Sawyer
Sunday 9th Fourth Sunday after Trinity
8.00 am Eucharist
10.15 am Sunday School: last before summer break
10.30 am PARISH EUCHARIST
Tuesday 11th 6.50 pm Choir practice
Wednesday 12th 10.00 am Holy Communion (BCP)
7 for 7.30 pm MU: Evening meal: Rufford Arms Hotel
Thursday 13th 7.00 pm Eucharist
Friday 14th 12.15 pm Eucharist
Sunday 16th Fifth Sunday after Trinity
8.00 am Eucharist
10.30 am CHURCH FAMILY EUCHARIST
Tuesday 18th 6.50 pm Choir practice
Wednesday 19th 10.00 am Holy Communion (BCP)
6.30 pm Fun Bowling Evening see above
Thursday 20th 7.00 pm Eucharist
Friday 21st 12.15 pm Eucharist
Saturday 22nd Diocesan Event see above
Sunday 23rd Sixth Sunday after Trinity
8.00 am Eucharist
10.30 am PARISH EUCHARIST
Tuesday 25th 6.50 pm Choir practice
Wednesday 26th 10.00 am Holy Communion (BCP)
Sunday 30th Seventh Sunday after Trinity
8.00 am Eucharist
10.30 am PARISH EUCHARIST

August
Tuesday 1st 6.50 pm Choir practice
Wednesday 2nd 10.00 am Holy Communion (BCP)
+ coffee & chat
Sunday 6th The Transfiguration of Our Lord
8.00 am Eucharist
10.30 am PARISH EUCHARIST
Wednesday 9th 10.00 am Holy Communion (BCP)
Thursday 10th 7.00 pm Eucharist
Friday 11th 12.15 pm Eucharist

Forward dates: August
Thursday 10th August
Canon & Mrs Finney’s Diamond Wedding: see above
Old Church Sunday Sunday 27th August All services at St Mary’s
8.00 am Eucharist;
10.30 am Sung Parish Eucharist followed by Buck’s fizz and nibbles
6.30 pm Sung Evensong

Forward dates: September
Sunday 17th - Family Treasure Hunt – further details later.
Monday 18th - next full PCC (changed from 255th)
Friday 22nd - Harvest Supper and Quiz: details later

Sunday 24th - Harvest Festival:
8.00 am Eucharist
10.30 am Church Family Eucharist
6.30 pm Sung Festal Evensong