Newsletter: September, 2004

Search and Rescue

Everyone knows the experience of putting something down and not being able to find it again. So we turn the house upside down to find it. Nothing else matters. All our attention is focused on the search. It’s the same when someone is lost on an expedition or journey. The emergency services mount a search and rescue operation and everyone in the vicinity joins in.

When Tony Bullimore, a round-the-world yachtsman, capsized at sea a few years ago, rescuers almost lost hope as they searched for three days before finding his tiny vessel in the vast emptiness of the ocean. He had survived against the odds inside the hull of the upturned craft.

At such times, we feel anxious about the lost object or person, we sympathise with those who wait for news, and our hearts go out to the searchers who risk their own lives. And that is what we are meant to feel when we read the two parables in St Luke’s Gospel, chapter fifteen They focus on the one who is doing the searching who is God.

The parable of the lost sheep would have raised a smile among Jesus’ listeners. In his day, shepherds were third class citizens. They were thought so unreliable that they couldn’t give evidence in a court. So when Jesus said that a shepherd left ninety-nine sheep alone to look for one lost sheep, people would have said: “How stupid! Typical of a silly shepherd!” They knew that ninety-nine unattended sheep would provide a free lunch for the local pack of wolves. A sensible shepherd would sacrifice the one sheep and look after the ninety-nine.

No doubt, the smiles vanished as Jesus taught that he was like the shepherd who cared for the lost. He risked all in order to find and rescue one lost soul. Indeed, he paid the ultimate price by sacrificing himself on the cross so that we could live in a new way with God.

In the story of the lost coin, the stress is different. Here there is no danger, but only material and sentimental value. The coin may have been part of the woman’s wedding dowry. She probably could do without it. However, she didn’t want to. Therefore, it is with God. He could do without us, but he chooses instead to work with us, and to care for us so much that when we are separated from him he searches high and low until he finds us and brings us back to himself.

We don’t often picture God like this. We tend to think of him being hidden, and of us having to find him. However, the whole Bible story is about God mounting search and rescue operations for his people. In the Old Testament God’s people kept rebelling against him — but he kept rescuing them so they could make a new start.

The apostle Paul praised God for having searched him out on the Damascus Road, to rescue him from the mission to kill Christians, and instead giving him a new mission to preach Christ. God is in the search and rescue business, and there is no one so lost that he cannot find them.

Many people in our world are spiritually lost. They may have turned their backs on God deliberately. They may have drifted from him thoughtlessly. Or they may never have heard about him. For as long as there is one person like that in the world, God’s search and rescue mission goes on. We share in that mission in different ways. We can show by acts of compassion God’s love to people whom others reject. We can be his hands, as it were, reaching out to the lost. In that way, we become God’s lips calling to people lost in the secular fog.

However, sometimes, we also become lost. Things happen that cause us to turn away from God instead of turning to him. He gives us the freedom to wander off. Nevertheless, he is never far behind. He is always looking for us, always searching, and always longing to rescue us.

Lorna C. Smith

NEWS IN BRIEF
The Cream Tea in August enabled us to send a total of £350 to the Sudan Appeal. we are very grateful to all who came along and supported this and who helped on the day and in particular to Kathleen Weldin and Ann Hooker who organised the event. We are also very grateful for the loan of some tea pots from Richard of the Magna Carta Tea Room.

The Coffee Morning held at home by Vera Long also in August raised £130. Again many thanks to all those who supported her.

St Jude’s Church’s Harvest Supper will be on Saturday 25th September at 7.00pm in the Church Hall (junction of Bond Street and Kings Lane). Tickets will be needed for this and will be available soon.

SQUARES FOR BLANKETS
The response to the appeal for blankets for Sudan has been so good that we now need those of you who do not knit to contribute towards more wool for those who do.

To remind you, knitting squares are produced as follows:
Using size 8 (4mm) needles, cast on 25 stitches. Knit (plain) into a squares (number of rows can vary depending on tension). Cast off loosely and send them along to St Jude’s on Saturday afternoons for sewing up into blankets. Another volunteer to sew up squares would also be appreciated.

SPONSORED WALK
The Sponsored Walk in aid of The Stephanie Marks Appeal will be on 12th September. Emma Bendall (15) and Olivia Bentley (13) both of whom are members of St Jude’s Church and pupils at Sir William Perkins’ School will be taking part in the walk and are looking for sponsors. If you would like to sponsor them, please telephone Diana Bendall on 01784 435822 or complete a form in Church.

MURDER MYSTERY EVENING
Father Ciaran Gets a Lodger will be staged in the Social Hall, Harvest Road on Saturday 18th September at 7.45pm.

The evening takes the form of a play presented as a “who dunnit?”. The audience competes in teams (tables of 8 to 10 people) to guess the murderer for prizes in various categories.

Tickets cost £10 which includes a fish and chips supper are available from Alan and Erica Crouse on 01784 432813 (please note correct telephone number). All proceeds from this will go to the Christian Aid Sudan Appeal.

PARISH CENTRE APPEAL
Total raised so far £105,686
Total expenditure so far £9,127
Total promises so far £17,688
Money available for project £114,247
Balance needed £385,753

FROM THE REGISTERS
Baptism:
(1st August) Ella Lucy Clark; (22nd) Isabella Alexandra Langaard.

Holy Matrimony:
(31st July) Matthew Arlen Folkener and Rachel Diane Howatt.

Funerals:
(4th August) Maurice Cross; (12th) Anne Smart; (18th) Stanley Newman.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

COFFEE MORNING
As there is a wedding at 3.00pm on Saturday 11th September when the next Cream Tea was scheduled, September will see the return of a Coffee Morning. This will be between 10.00am and 12 noon. Please come along and have coffee with us.

On the same day, the Surrey Churches Preservation Bike Ride will take place and St Jude’s Church will be a staging post for this.

BAPTISM PREPARATION
Many babies are not baptised into the Christian faith as parents believe that it is right to leave that choice to the child to be made at a later date. Baptism is a topic covered in both Key Stages 1 and 2 and this results in children asking questions and, indeed, wanting to be baptised.

There will be Baptism Preparation for Primary School children aged 6–10 years starting on Tuesday 28th September at 3.30pm in St Jude’s Church. Please contact the Vicar if you know of anyone who is waiting for this opportunity.

DEANERY CONFIRMATION
The next Deanery Confirmation will be in November. The Vicar is collecting both adults’ and young people’s (aged 10 and above) names. Preparation will be organised depending on individuals wishing to be confirmed.

CALENDAR FOR SEPTEMBER 2004