Category Archives: News

News

Christmas Tree Decorations

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TOPSY Foundation UK

Since 2001 TOPSY has made a significant difference to the lives of thousands of HIV-affected children, women and men living in a poor rural area of South Africa. TOPSY UK’s main aim is to raise funds and awareness to aid the work of its namesake in South Africa, TOPSY SA, where the recent focus of their work has been for the holistic care of orphaned and vulnerable children; the provision of food security to communities threatened by malnutrition; and income generation to help alleviate poverty.

Women from the communities produce a wide range of beadwork including a most appealing Christmas range of small decorations featuring stars, angels and Christmas Trees.  Attractively priced at between £1 and £3, items will be available to buy over coffee after our 10am services, and on Sunday 4 December one of the charity’s trustees has been invited to give a brief introduction to the work of the charity after the service Spelsbury.  Items will also be available at the Christmas Bazaar, Tiddy Hall, Ascott on 9 December, 6 – 10pm.  Do support this very good cause!

Testing, Testing, Transforming lives
Outreach, Ownership, Opportunities for the future
Prevention, Provision, Participation, Progression
Social care, Skills, Self-Sufficiency in Communities
Young lives are nurtured through education and care

More information at www.topsyfoundation.org.uk or for sales of the decorations please call  07811 361304 

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Meditation, News, Prayer

Meditation at the heart of life

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Meeting for worship: Quakers in shared silence at Friends House, Euston © Church Times

The Revd Dr Nicholas Buxton (you might just remember him as Nick with the long hair, one of the retreatants on the 2005 TV series The Monastery) is a priest in Newcastle upon Tyne and the author of a very readable book about ‘Meditation and modern life’ called The Wilderness Within. Reacting to an article on Anglican-Quaker relations, he recently wrote of a predecessor of his who 100 years ago introduced the practice of silent prayer and went on, as Canon of Winchester Cathedral, to write an account of his encounters with Quakerism, published as The Fellowship of Silence in 1917. In it he relates how he once met someone in church who did not otherwise attend services, but came to the silent-prayer meetings and had brought no less than 30 of his colleagues in a nearby office with him!

Continue reading Meditation at the heart of life →

News, Uncategorized

Benefice Rota

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We are trying to bring all the various rota’s from the churches of the Benefice into a single Benefice Rota.  This is very much still a work in progress!

We have added a new page to the website which can be accessed from the menu on the left of the screen – Service Rota.  It is automatically updated so as long as Mark or Beth is informed of changes, it should be correct!  You can take a look at it by clicking here.

News

Training for Ministry

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Picture of + Colin with new LLM’s – November 2014

An extra meeting of the JPCC was called on 20th October, not because of any dire church emergency, but to consider the very exciting news that Ilona wished to be nominated for training as a Licensed Lay Minister (LLM) in the Benefice.  Mr John Leach, the Lay Ministry Adviser for Dorchester Archdeaconry, was present to give a short talk about LLM ministry and training.  There was, of course, unanimous support from the JPCC for Ilona’s nomination.  LLMs are also known as Lay Readers in some dioceses.  It is a calling by God to preach, teach, lead worship, and assist with pastoral, evangelistic and liturgical work.  The theological and practical training takes three years, at the end of which LLMs are Licensed by the Church.

We send our best best wishes to Ilona as she prepares for the selection process next month and assure her of our continuing support and prayers.

News

A History of Spelsbury

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Jon Carpenter, former publisher and owner of Evenload Books in Charlbury, has kindly given us a limited supply of A History of Spelsbury by Elsie Corbett. We are selling them in aid of Spelsbury Church at a discounted price of £10. If you would like to purchase a copy, please contact us by clicking here. 

 

A History of Spelsbury
Including Dean, Taston, Fulwell and Ditchley
by Elsie Corbett

The history of the parish of Spelsbury (which includes the hamlets of Dean, Taston and Fulwell and the great house and estate at Ditchley) was written by the Hon. Elsie Corbett and first published in 1931, but Miss Corbett continued to work on the history of the parish and a revised edition – reproduced here without the plates and with a few corrections by the Charlbury historian, the late Lois Hey – appeared in 1962.

Ditchley was purchased in 1583 by Sir Henry Lee, whose descendants lived there until 1933. But if the parish has a claim to fame today, it is as the birth and burial place of John Wilmot, second earl of Rochester.

Continue reading A History of Spelsbury →

Creation, News

Creation, Climate & Caring for our World

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A coal-fired power station. “massive CO2 extraction’ costing trillions in needed in order to avoid a runaway temperature rise, says a new paper.  Photograph: Florian Gaertner/Photothek via Getty Images

 

Creationtide came to an end this week and Climate Week runs from October 8th to Sunday 16th.  The link between the two is easily made.  If we are to respect God’s creation then climate change and all it entails must be must be uppermost in our minds.

But ‘creation’ doesn’t just mean the natural world, or if does then we are part of it! We are created beings with a responsibility to all creatures and created things, be they sentient or not, and it is probably not too odd to start with our responsibility to ourselves.  How many of us take care of our own wellbeing with as much diligence and concern as we do for our cars, pets or gardens? If God created us to enjoy and be actively concerned for the world, we’d better start by making sure we’re not running to fat and putting extra stress on our hearts: otherwise what use will that be to God?

Then when we look around us we will see a beautiful created world which also needs restraint, extra care and compassion.  What use would be a world which is also over-stressed and liable to collapse? Which is true at the local, the national and the global level, none of which can be taken for granted.  Small steps as well as grand gestures and serious change in political priorities will be required if we are to change direction as a 21st century world with 20th century habits.  As the Bishop of Salisbury has memorably said, There is no Planet B!

We’ve all heard of the Paris agreement – which, thank God, was ratified this week by enough ‘Parties to the Convention’ for it to come into force on November 4th. And there were important steps forward in Montreal this week on emissions from international aviation. In Witney this month we will elect a new MP: how aware of environmental issues will he or she be? Some of us were at Kencot Solar Farm this week for a photo opportunity organised by Christian Aid to try and influence our new representative at Westminster.

But our own daily actions all make a difference, to us as well as to the air that our neighbour breathes, and cumulatively to the world we share with our international neighbours near and far, as well as to our own generation and the next and the next.  Could we possibly consume less, use less fuel, throw less away?  Could we do more to influence the world around us, the people and politicians, and the atmosphere we all share?  You can read about ‘carbon offsetting’ on local firm  Climate Care’s website which also gives tips on how to reduce your carbon footprint.  unknown-7

https://climatecare.org/

8th October 2016

Creation, News, Reflection

For the love of … God’s creation

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Springs Alley by Gordon Cooper – http://www.earthingfaith.org/inspired

Creationtide, a Church season initiated in 1989 by the Orthodox Church and since adopted by Anglicans and Catholics, began on September 1st with the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and it runs throughout the month until October 4th. Then on 8th October begins Climate Week – a ‘week of action’ initiated by the Climate Coalition which includes over 100 organisations, from Christian Aid to WWF ( https://weekofaction.org.uk/about/). Continue reading For the love of … God’s creation →

News, Uncategorized

Fellowship of St. Birinus

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250px-saint_birinusIn May 2009 the Bishop of Dorchester founded the Fellowship of St Birinus, as a way of acknowledging people who have given exceptional service in some way to their church and community over a number of years. St Birinus was the first Bishop of Dorchester from the year 634 to 649 A.D.

Last Sunday, in the beautiful setting of Dorchester Abbey, a special service of Evensong was held for the Fellowship of St. Birinus at which 50 new members of the Fellowship were admitted by Bishop Colin.  We are delighted that this year three members of the Chase Benefice were invited to receive this award:Elizabeth Llewellyn-Smith, Rosy Nixon and Ken Wakefield in recognition of their service to the Benefice and wider church.

Pictured below are Elizabeth and Ken with Bishop Colin. As Rosy was unable to attend the service we will mark her nomination at a forthcoming service in the Benefice.  We send them all our warmest congratulations and thank them for all that they do.

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