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In Matthew 28 Jesus commands the disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations”. Shortly before Christmas I had the privilege of spending a week in St Petersburg, Russia, along with a small group of students from across the country. We met with students at some of Russia’s top universities to help them to connect with God.

When completing ministry in another culture, the lessons come thick and fast. One particularly terrifying lesson involved being taught how to wrestle by a Russian ex-soldier.

The more meaningful lessons, perhaps, involved learning what it means for Christians across the world to be united as a single “Holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9). We are all born into such different societies, but are all required in some ways to shed our own ideals and instead clothe ourselves with Christ.

Russia is a fascinating country, filled with wonderful people but, sadly, it is a country where being a Christian is an increasingly difficult practice. Churches now require licences and, if you aren’t in a state registered church, sharing your faith and worshipping God is an activity for which you can be arrested. Many have been.

Yet I was able to visit a church that is growing despite these challenges. This was so encouraging. During the service we sang in unison, in both Russian and English, the words: “To our God we lift up one voice, singing Hallelujah”. That lesson of hope, of vision for the world, is perhaps the most profound I learned in Russia.

James Heatley

 

The St Luke’s Nativity play this year was called Shepherd Little.

The play was all about a little shepherd who has a bit of trouble with the truth. After trying to convince everyone that she was very tall, very good and even that she was a King, nobody except her trusting Mum would believe her when she said that she had seen an angel telling of the birth of Jesus.

It was only after following the star and arriving at the stable in Bethlehem that everyone realised that she had been telling the truth after all.

With catchy songs and an amazing cast, everyone enjoyed themselves and joined in with the singing!

Lindsay Parish

 

Photo Caption:

The cast of the St Luke’s Nativity play. The play was directed by Lindsay Parish and written by Gavin Mole, her godfather.

The Nativity play in St Mary’s was written and directed by Simon Wood, with many helpers.

It contained songs from It’s a Baby! by Mark and Helen Johnson. The cast performed brilliantly and the fresh look at the Nativity story was really appreciated by the audience.

For the first time the cast was joined by an orchestra. The orchestra was largely made up of trebles from the choir, and played exciting carol accompaniments especially written for them by Michael Dow, the director of music. This was a fantastic opportunity for the children from Zone2 and St Mary’s to take part in the service together.

On Christmas Day an orchestra was formed again to accompany some traditional carols. This time it included some of our talented students who were home from universities and conservatoires. On both occasions the orchestral playing really enriched the musical worship; and we look forward to the next time.

Catherine Cleghorn, Ordinand.

The season of Lent begins this year on 1 March. Once you’ve peeled your Shrove Tuesday pancakes down from the ceiling (or wherever they landed), you may like to give some thought to how you might live differently during the six-week period between Ash Wednesday and Easter.

The term Lent derives from the Old English word lencten, which simply means ‘lengthen’. This refers to the lengthening of the hours of daylight and to the approach of Spring. By association, Lent becomes a period of preparation for the spiritual life which springs from the central event in the church’s year – the celebration of Easter.

Many Christians keep Lent as a time of focused self-discipline. Intentionally depriving the body of one or two luxuries can be a reminder not to become too attached to them. It can be an expression to God that fulfilment in life is to be found with him. I’m sure there will be a good number who will forsake their weekly luxury hot chocolate with extra whipped cream or seek to reduce the number of hours that they watch the TV, during Lent.

However, Lent needn’t be concerned solely with the discipline of abstinence. More recently there has been a move for people to add positive items into their Lenten mix. Examples might be noting down three things from each day for which we are thankful, making the time each week to call one friend to whom we haven’t spoken in a while, or taking a fifteen minute walk each day to notice deliberately (and be surprised by) the things in our everyday world that we normally take for granted or overlook.

I hope that you enjoy your pancakes at the end of February and that you plan a Lent that will stimulate and inspire you in body, mind and spirit.

Ian Rumsey, Vicar of Bowdon

On Saturday 19 November, I had the privilege of seeing Jo Oughton, our church youth worker, receive her Church Colleges’ Certificate in Christian Youth Work. She was handed her award by the Bishop of Middleton, Bishop Mark Davies, during a service at Manchester Cathedral. Jo has worked for two years for this qualification and has studied in a new way for her. This ceremony was a beautiful celebration of her achievement.

 

As many of you know, Jo has been suffering with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) over the past two years and continues to suffer with it. This means that it was very challenging for her to complete coursework and to attend taught sessions. It is admirable that she has managed to complete a course in Christian youth work and attend this service with her illness. I know that she will continue to have a huge influence on young people’s lives for the rest of her ministry. Congratulations Jo, we are so proud of you!

 

Joanna Edworthy, Youth Intern

Bowdon has a long musical tradition and many of our wide array of services are enhanced by the contributions of our church choir, led by Michael Dow, our director of music, and Roger Bryan, our organist and associate director of music.

Church choirs who can deliver high quality Choral Evensong and Choral Matins on a regular basis are becoming fewer in number. These peculiarly English services are a direct consequence of the English Reformation and are one of the glories of English music. Bowdon Church Choir’s repertoire ranges from early music to newly composed works and the high standard is recognised each year as they take up residency in a cathedral for a week, singing in place of the cathedral choir. Positive feedback regarding the quality of music and the age range of the choir is always received.

The choir have recently been honoured by two much prized invitations. We have been asked to sing four services at Chester Cathedral on 18-19 February 2017 and to sing for a week in Canterbury Cathedral from 21-27 August 2017. In order to be invited to Canterbury we had to submit a recording of recent sung services. At one time Canterbury insisted on an audition, so only local church choirs could sing there. We were delighted to learn that we had been accepted!

The choir greatly values the support that it receives from the parish when singing elsewhere. We would love to see you in Chester and Canterbury.

Sue Sinagola

Monday 21 November saw nine young people from Bowdon receive their Gold Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Award at St James’s Palace. Although last year nearly 120,000 people completed a DofE Award, it is estimated that only 1% of the population have achieved a Gold Award.

 

Paul Griffiths, DofE manager for Greater Manchester, led the presentation. We were also able to meet HRH the Earl of Wessex. He was very interested in our experiences and encouraged us to continue volunteering and practising the activities and skills that we had learnt.

 

TV presenter Alice Beer presented our certificates and described some of her DofE experiences. She is still very grateful for these today, describing them as the beginning of her next stage in life, rather than the end of an era.

 

Having the opportunity to visit the palace, meet Prince Edward and finally receive our awards after over 12 months of hard work was very rewarding. So if you are considering doing Gold or even just starting DofE, go for it and you definitely won’t regret it! Completing your DofE Award is hard work but also an amazing experience, and something you will remember for the rest of your life.

 

Sophie Huggon

The Bowdon Church News has been delivered to every accessible home in the Parish for the last 54 years. This is an operation that involves over one hundred people every month. Katharine Perera, the editor of the BCN for the last eight years, developed it into the format that it has today. Katharine was an amazing lady, and a number of us have been working together to try to ensure that the magazine continues to serve the whole community, making the prospect of following her act a little less daunting.

We would like to announce formally the new editorial team. This team includes myself as editor, with the assistance of Lesley Smith. Kay Holt, our Parish Administrator, assembles the calendar, church events and noticeboard sections of the magazine. Roger Bryan is responsible for proofreading. The existing teams continue to do the invaluable distribution, and create the website, social media and email versions. Please feel free to contact any of us at any time.

St Paul describes team work using the image of the body of Christ. The body is made up of many parts, each equally useful and appreciated, although each has a uniquely different function. It is our hope that others will want to contribute to maintaining the aims and standards of the BCN. We are therefore really pleased to introduce the BCN Readers’ Forum. We would like to invite anyone who is interested to come to a meeting to discuss the BCN and its role within the community. We would love to hear from as wide a range of people as possible. If you are interested in being part of this group then please do get in touch with me, using the contact details below.

Catherine Cleghorn, Ordinand and BCN Editor

On Sunday 20th November I was given the opportunity to be confirmed. This was an amazing, once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget!

 

Along with my brother and two others, I had attended a few preparation sessions accompanied by Catherine and Ian. They made the sessions very informative yet super fun. I learnt a lot about Christianity, along with learning about myself and the others. We covered many topics including The Lord’s Prayer and Baptism.

 

When the day of the ceremony arrived, I was quite nervous but excited. It was really heart-warming to see everyone supporting and encouraging me in the decision I was about to take. The ceremony began with some hymns and readings. After this we were asked to explain why we had chosen to be confirmed and if there was anyone who had influenced our decision. I mentioned that my godparents had had a big influence on my decision to be confirmed. I chose to be confirmed, supported by my family, my godparents and the church, to continue the journey of being a Christian.

 

We were then confirmed by the Bishop; this involved him a making a cross on our head and giving us his blessing. After this, we had our first Holy Communion and this was a very special experience, to have a one-to-one connection with God.

 

Following the service, we proceeded to the church hall to be greeted by a HUGE cake and coffee. The cake went down very well – it was delicious!

 

On behalf of myself, and I’m sure the other candidates, I would love to say a massive thank you to Ian, Catherine, the church team and Bishop Frank Sargeant. The day would not have been possible without you.

 

Flossie Bird (aged 13)

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The sermon on the 4th December

at Zone2 was delivered by Julia Dow.

Entitled ‘Enjoying His Presence’

You can listen to the sermon by using the audio controls below, making sure that your computer has speakers.

Or you can download the

audio file by clicking on the icon to the right.
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Click on the icon to download the MP3 audio file
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