FROM ST GILES’ CLERGY

Happy New Year!

 

Last month I gave this seasonal greeting on 11^th January and it took the recipient by surprise, because for them, the New Year was over.  Well, if so, to greet you this way in February is further out of order.  Or is it?  There are still eleven months of the year left, and actually, perhaps it’s good to be reminded again after a month of the possibilities that a new year brings.

 

How are you doing with your resolutions and intentions for 2006?  I won’t ask you for answers on a postcard!  One of the books I read during Advent, ‘Too busy not to pray’ has inspired me to spend more time rather than less with God, when I find that I have lots to do.  It’s an intention that will have to be activated all the way through the year, so there’s plenty of scope left for me!

 At St Giles’ we published our 2006 Mission Action Plan last month and it is full of objectives or intentions of what we would like to be doing this year.  We launched it during Epiphany, which is the time just after Christmas when the church focuses on the story of the wise men from the East who came to visit Jesus and greeted him as a very special King.  These events indicate that Jesus was not only to be the Saviour King for his nation, Israel, but also for the whole world.  Our plans for 2006 reflect this desire to share the good news of Jesus with others.

 I wonder if you are interested in finding out more about the Christian faith this year?  Perhaps this is an intention you have for 2006?   In the first week in January, newspapers, TV and leisure centres were advertising courses and exercise machines and diets for getting into good physical shape.  This year the Ickenham Churches plan to run a course for people who wish to explore the significance of the Christian faith.  We will be advertising this later in the year, but please let me know if you are interested, either by ringing or e-mailing me. 

God bless,

Adrian

 

FROM ST GILES’ REGISTERS

Baptisms

Nov. 27^th        Samuel Cull-Lapaire
                      Thomas Cresswell Woodward

Dec. 29^th         Mason John Baxter

Weddings

Dec. 3^rd           Jaime Ribas-Ansaldo and Clare Frances Raiment

Service of blessing and celebration of marriage

Nov. 18^th         Richard Womersley and Kate Stroud

Cremations at Breakspear Crematorium

Nov. 23^rd         Philip Kelly, aged 74
                       Doreen Amelia ‘Betty’ Stewart, aged 82        

Dec. 16^th         Sandy Pereira, aged 62  (Following Service in St Giles’ Church)

Jan.  5^th           Eric Trenfield Goodall, aged 78 (Followed by a Service of Thanksgiving in St Giles’Church)

        6^th           Adeline Field, aged 100          

        9^th           Ivy Clyne, aged 92

FROM THE URC INTERIM MODERATOR

I think that it will be helpful if I introduce myself. I am Tony Haws, the Interim Moderator of Ickenham United Reformed Church. Ickenham URC has now been in vacancy for more than two years and I am greatly impressed by the spirit and abilities of the Elders and congregation in maintaining the life and witness of the church over such a long period without a Minister. I know that they have been helped through this difficult period by the close links with St Giles’ Church. I was appointed Interim Moderator to succeed the Revd Jonathan Dean last September. It is the role of an Interim Moderator to help the church through a period of vacancy and this has enabled me to learn a bit about Ickenham. I have enjoyed my relatively few visits to Ickenham absorbing the feeling of community and care that is so much a part of this neighbourhood.

 The church where I minister is St Andrew’s URC, Ealing. I have been at St Andrew’s for two and a half years now, having moved from County Durham where I was minister to a group of three churches: Chester-le-Street, Stanley and Blackhill (Consett). The pastorate was about 22 miles from end to end but that includes a lot of pasture, moor land and country lanes! The contrast between Durham and West London is, as I am sure you can imagine, considerable but I like variety and have enjoyed ministry in most of the forms I have experienced it. There have been times when it has been very challenging but that is part of the Christian discipleship in which we all share.

 I am hoping that Ickenham United Reformed Church will soon be able to rejoice in having its own Minister but in the meantime I have agreed to contribute letters to Ickenham Church News on a regular basis and I look forward to sharing some of my thoughts with you.

 The strong links between St Giles Church of England and Ickenham United Reformed Church are a splendid witness to the growing unity of the Christian Church and I pray that they will continue to develop and grow stronger. In Ealing we were able to make a very public witness to the growing unity of the Church when people from over twenty local churches joined together to produce the ‘Christmas Mystery Parade’ with processions, an extended nativity play and worship on Haven Green (next to Ealing Broadway station). It is wonderful how many ways there are in which God can be glorified when Christians unite together.

 Peace be with you,

Tony