NewsLink 15th Aug Final

NewsLink 15th Aug Final

NewsLink Aug 15th Final

NewsLink
1st August —15 August, 2021
Happy Lammas Day!
I had never heard of Lammas Day and it was Richard Mann that mentioned it to me a while ago.
When I saw that we were holding a joint service with our Methodist friends on 1st August, the day
when Lammas was traditionally celebrated – it seemed just right to celebrate something different.
So, what is Lammas Day?
Lammas is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning Loaf Mass, and Lammas Day is an ancient English
tradition celebrated on the first day of August to mark the beginning of the harvest, and especially
the wheat crop to provide for the making of bread.
The early church converted the festival to Christian usage, given our belief that God is our
creator and provides for us through the abundance of the natural world. Traditionally on Lammas
Day, loaves of bread were baked from the first-ripened grain and brought to the churches to be
blessed. On sunday, 1st August there is a procession travelling from Turleigh Cross via Winsley
Methodist Church and the Seven Stars to St Nicholas Church, collecting four freshly baked
loaves enroute, ready to be blessed and broken during our service as we share in Holy
Communion.
Although our loaves are not made from the wheat of the new harvest, we have baked in
thankfulness and celebration of the bounty of God’s harvest. We hope that our service, and our
remembering of the Christian tradition of Lammas remind us of all that we have to be grateful to
God for, and make us appreciate anew the abundance of God’s world.
It is also a timely reminder for us to remember the urgent need for us to take better care of all that
God has granted us, recognising the damaging effects of climate change and the loss of living
creatures that we are causing. We trust that this reminder and celebration of Loaf Mass, Lammas
Day will be an opportunity for us to reflect on what part we, our communities, and our country can
play in reducing the effects of climate change and an opportunity to renew our commitment to
God and his Creation. The practice of celebrating Lammas Day died out with the Reformation,
and was later redeveloped into our well-known celebration of Harvest Festival.
Ann, Rector Prayer: God of the Ripe Corn
God of the ripe corn,
on Lammas Day our ancestors
brought you bread
made from the first fruits
of the wheat harvest.
Today we bring you
the fruits of our labours;
our joys and our achievements,
our hopes and our disappointments,
our plans and our dreams.
We ask you to accept God of the ripe corn,
the work of our hands bring us safe home
and our minds to harvest.
and our hearts. Amen

Ruth Burgess. Taken from Iona Community Wild Goose Publication ‘Bare feet and buttercups’. Used with permission.
Upcoming Services
Booking is no longer required but please
continue to wear a face mask in church.
Sunday August 1st
10am HC at St James, South Wraxall (SW, MF)
10am HC at St Nicholas, Winsley joined with
Winsley Methodist Church. All Welcome. See
details below.
Sunday August 8th
10am HC at St Nicholas, Winsley
10am Open Air, HC service at MF (MF, SW)
10.30 am HC at Christ Church, Bradford on Avon
Sunday August 15th
10am HC at St Nicholas, Winsley (CC)
10am HC at St James, South Wraxall (MF)
Ministry Team:
Rector Rev Ann Keating
Rev.ann.keating@btinternet.com (722230)
Rev Tessa Mann (309374)
LLM: Rachel Pound (862223)
Benefice Office:
Caroline Brydon (865046),
nboabenefice@gmail.com
Website www.nboachurches.co.uk
Church Wardens:
Winsley: Roy Ludlow (868779) Linds Batson
(720069)
Christ Church: vacant, Contact Rev Ann
Keating
South Wraxall: Dave Wyper (865384) Valentine Thornhill (862552)
Monkton Farleigh: Vacant. Contact Rachel
Exley PCC
Secretary (851485)
Lay Pastoral Assistants:
Stephen Pike (782537),Denise Davies
(863678)
Gill Fairhurst (867560),Daphne Cox (868224)
Elizabeth Bush (866624),James Middleton
(920564)
Children’s and Families Worker:
Zoe Yeomans – zyeomans3@gmail.com
Upcoming Events and Notices
Lammas Day
Sunday, August 1st,
Winsley— Family
Friendly Communion
Service for Lammas
Day (Loaf Mass) with
a procession starting
at 10am from Turleigh
Cross.
Activities for children during the service of
approximately 45 minutes.
Everyone welcome, please join us. Any queries,
contact Tessa or Zoe.
Information about NewsLink
Due to several Benefice staff taking leave in mid August and early September, the next edition of
NewsLink wlll be from the 15th August to the 11th September, so covering nearly four weeks
instead of the usual two weeks. Please send any relevant contributions for this edition to the
email below by August 10th latest. Any events and news of groups re-starting in early
September will be in this edition.
You can read the full version of NewsLink and access this week’s online service and details of
future services on the website www.nboachurches.co.uk. If you require a hard copy please email
or leave a message at the Benefice office on 01225 865046.
Monkton Farleigh Street Market
Saturday August 28th, 2pm – 5pm
Make money for yourself and St. Peter’s
Church
How : Have a stall at your garden gateWhat: Cakes, Jams, Plants, Bric a Brac,
Toys, Books, Table Top Game for all to try
their luck. The choice is yours!
Flyers will be distributed around Monkton
Farleigh this weekend with information on
how to book your spot.
The National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast…
The National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast is an annual recognition of the contribution that
Christianity makes to the national life of the UK. This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the
National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast took place online again and was live-streamed on Friday 25
June.
The event was chaired by The Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP and the main speaker was The Rt Revd
Professor NT Wright, who addressed the theme of ‘Life Beyond Covid: A Renewed Hope’. For more
information, please visit www.christiansinparliament.org.uk/prayer-breakfast/
A thank you from Winsley Primary School…
Winsley Open The Book Team, led by Angela Symonds,
provided a delicious cream tea for staff at Winsley School
during the last week of the school term.
For much of the year, the Open the Book Team, supported by
others in the community, provided cakes every Friday for the
staff. This has been hugely appreciated.
Open the Book has continued throughout the last 18 months in
video form. This has been filmed in Angela’s
garden.
Thank you Open the Book Team for being so creative and
supportive to the school.
Here is the July 2021 Update from our Mission Partners, Colin and Audrey Gibson…
What can we say? Where do we start? What is to become of Lebanon? This month we thought we
could not do better than produce (with kind permission) extracts from the English translation of a Lament for Lebanon by Rabih Hasbany. Rabih, who is Lebanese, works at the Arab Baptist Theological
Seminary and the lament is based on his reflection of David’s position in the Psalms when he faced difficulties and enemies, looking to God and praising him. Circumstances did not change, but David was
the one who changed (translation from the original Arabic by Teresa Sfeir).
Please pray for mercy and a way forward for Lebanon.
Astray in my homeland, estranged I cry. My voice isn’t heard by those passing by. Children have lost
their brighter tomorrow. Young ones have no more visions to follow. Ill Fathers no remedy can they find.
The bellies of the new born remaining hollow.
The tankers have no more fuel in store.
We turn to candle light just like before. Our streets are deserted, their lamps are out. As a boat in a
storm, we’re tossed about.
Shall power thirsty rulers be our aid—They who have sketched a Lebanon that is maimed. —They who
have tightly shut windows. Lord I come to you with so much to speak, and bitter tears are streaming
down the cheek.
We look to you, Mighty One alone. Our tongues can’t tell of all the works You’ve shown. And in the wilderness. You’ve been my help. In trials, I was never on my own.
All power and authority are Thine. To every plea Lord, Your ear You incline. Have mercy on my
stubborn people, and grant us the grace of salvation at hand.
Away from you, O Lord, peace has no trace. But in Your arms, we rest in Your embrace. Involve us in
Your new covenant grace, so that we live with You for all your days.
In our nation, though we are hard pressed— There are oppressors and then the oppressed—How can
we ask ourselves “What’s next?” When You’re the keeper of Your promises.