Ickenham Church News - October 2012

Harvests are surprising if our garden is anything to go on. In 2011, we had a bumper crop of Victoria plums: the tree was so laden, a bough broke off with the weight of the fruit, and we had plenty to give away, make jam with and freeze. This year is a different story altogether: we had six undersized plums!

The apple crop was equally unusual. The young fruitful tree had a much-reduced yield, and the old tree that severely keels had the largest quantity of fruit we have seen in our seven years in the Rectory.

I am sure that knowledgeable gardeners reading this will have an explanation, but it certainly reminds me that you can’t take nature for granted.

Over the summer I read Planetwise by Dave Bookless, which is an excellent explanation of biblical teaching about humanity’s relationship to, and responsibility for creation. On the weekend of 6/7 October we will hold our harvest celebrations, and although we are no longer a community with direct dependency on a good harvest, indirectly we still are. So it’s good to thank God for His provision and remind ourselves again of our responsibility to look after His world.

This requires us to go with the flow of God’s provision – apples, not plums this year, and more oddly shaped veg in the supermarket, as farmers’ crops have been affected by unseasonal weather. Humanity is not in charge of nature - God is.

When God is in charge of our lives, the fruit he produces can be surprising too. Recenty in church, we were reminded that Jesus’ disciples developed a greater understanding of who Jesus was when stuck in a boat on the middle of Lake Galilee and a violent storm hit. Difficulties are not necessarily sent by God, but He uses adversity as well as good times in our lives to develop His fruit. Are we ready to ‘go with the flow’ of His spiritual harvest in our lives, however surprising?

DROP-IN FOR THE BEREAVED. Third Monday of each month. St Giles’ Church Hall, 2pm to 3.30pm. A friendly, informal opportunity for a chat, over a cup of tea, with other bereaved people and bereavement visitors. The next meeting is on Monday 15th October (then Monday 19th November). Just come along, or ring the Rectory (622970) if you would like to talk to someone first.

Sixteen ministers from Germany visited Ickenham and Uxbridge on 6th September. They wanted to see how different churches in Britain work together in Local Ecumenical Partnerships, which they don’t have in Germany.

Here in Ickenham they saw St. Giles’ Church of England and Ickenham United Reformed Church, covenanted “to walk in unity as far as conscience and our respective Church disciplines allow... [and] seek never to do in separation those things which could be done better together.” The visitors were struck by the range of joint church activities and the contrasting buildings. They also took great delight in viewing the historical features of the village.

I also took them to Christ Church, Uxbridge, which is a single congregation of two denominations: Methodist and United Reformed. They were very interested to hear how that worked. And I spoke about some of the other 56 Local Ecumenical Partnerships in London too.

Ten days after that visit, I went back to Christ Church, Uxbridge, to join in their 40th anniversary celebrations, learning more about the history of that church, and thinking further about its historical links with our own fellowship. In September 1972 Uxbridge Methodist Church and Uxbridge Congregational Church came together in the new pyramid-shaped building called Christ Church in Redford Way. This was just about two weeks before the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches joined nationally to form the United Reformed Church.

Uxbridge Methodist Church had come from the merger of Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists in 1957. Uxbridge Congregational Church arose in 1962 from the union of Old Meeting Congregational Church (that dated from the 1662 Ejection of “non-conformists” from the Church of England) and Providence Church (which formed in 1770, with its own building from 1796).

It was Providence Church in Uxbridge that encouraged its members from Ickenham to start their own fellowship in 1831, meeting initially in the home of Mr and Mrs Brickett, and to build the first Congregational chapel in the High Road in 1836. 100 years later our present building in Swakeleys Road was opened, known at first as Ickenham Congregational Church, and then as Ickenham United Reformed Church after the national union in October 1972.

Here at Ickenham URC this month, we will be celebrating our denomination’s national 40th anniversary along with our Harvest Festival on 7th October. Two weeks later on 21st October, it is our annual Gift Day and marks the 76th anniversary of our current building and the 181st anniversary of our fellowship in Ickenham. You will be very welcome to attend those special URC services (both on Sundays at 11am), and to join in any of the activities of our two churches. See details in ICN or enquire at the churches.

This month, receipt is acknowledged, with grateful thanks, for donations from:

Items for the next edition of ICN should be with the team by noon on October 13th.