THE BEAULIEU, EXBURY & EAST BOLDRE NEWSLETTER 5th February 2012 No.1463
3rd SUNDAY BEFORE LENT
Web site: www.beaulieuchurches.org
E-mail: office@beaulieu-rectory.org.uk
COMMENT
Jesus appears to have had a clear sense of purpose and priorities. It perhaps seems unreasonable that he walked away from the many people who wanted to see him in response to his ministry. But Jesus was content to say ‘No’ to this, just as at other times he said ‘No’ to people who wanted him to settle a dispute or perform a miracle. What ‘good’ things might we need to say ‘no’ to in order best to achieve God’s purposes in us?
LENT COURSES
Lent courses will run for 5 weeks through March on Thursday evenings and Friday mornings in the Abbey Church Hall. Watch this space for more details.

MUSIC AT BEAULIEU
Saturday 10th March £10.00 7.00pm
Students from the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School for young string players revisit Beaulieu. The school has a strong international flavour and pupils often become professional soloists.
The BIG news for Music at Beaulieu is that you can now book tickets for all concerts (except Glyndebourne and Terry Lightfoot) online! Just go to our website, www.musicatbeaulieu.org/programmes and
click on BOOK NOW There is a 10% booking charge, but the more tickets you order, the % gets smaller.

ST PAUL’S, EAST BOLDRE
Marigold Jordan is collecting used postage stamps, both British and foreign, for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance. Can you please help by saving your stamps and passing them on to Marigold. (Please remember to leave a border of paper around the perforations when you remove the stamp from the envelope). There is a box in the Abbey Church by the hall in which to leave them for Marigold to collect.

This Sunday 5th February
3rd SUNDAY BEFORE LENT
8.00am Bucklers Hard - HOLY COMMUNION
9.30am Abbey Church - SUNG COMMUNION
11.00am St Paul’s, East Boldre - HOLY COMMUNION
12.30pm Abbey Church - Baptism
4.30pm St Katharine’s, Exbury - EVENSONG

We pray for the sick: for Joy, Pamela, Betty, Pat, Jill, Marjorie, Colin, Minna, Christopher, Kathleen, Sheila, Philip, Dennis, Tom, Kevin, Jean, Keith, Millie, Mick, Sue, Uta, Mona, Mary, Alan, Patricia, Billy and Davina. (To keep this list up-to-date and relevant, please let us know the names of those we should continue to hold in our prayers.)
Those who have died: We pray for the family and friends of
Dorothy Keeping whose funeral was in St Paul’s, East Boldre on Friday 3rd February followed by a commital at Bournemouth Crematorium. .
Baptisms: We pray for the family and friends of Joshua Daniel Plank who will be baptised in the Abbey Church today

CALENDAR FOR THE WEEK
Tuesday 7th February
9.30am Abbey Church Hall – Jellytots
7.30pm Abbey Church Hall – Beaulieu Band
Wednesday 8th February
10.30am Abbey Church – HOLY COMMUNION
6.45pm Abbey Church Hall - Yoga
Thursday 9th February
10am – 12noon Rectory Office

Next Sunday 12th February
2nd SUNDAY BEFORE LENT
8.00am Bucklers Hard - HOLY COMMUNION
9.30am Abbey Church – ALL AGE/FAMILY SERVICE
11.00am St Katharine’s, Exbury - HOLY COMMUNION
4.30pm Abbey Church - CHORAL EVENSONG

Readings for Sunday 12th February
2nd SUNDAY BEFORE LENT
First Reading Proverbs 8:1, 22-31
The passage speaks of wisdom, created by God “at the beginning of his work” (v. 22), and present with him “like a master worker” (v. 30) when he made the world.

Second Reading Colossians 1:15-20
The author describes Christ as God’s invisible image, and his agent in the creation of the heavens and the earth. It is in Christ that all things hold together, and through him, God reconciled all things to himself.

Gospel John 1:1-14
The Fourth Gospel begins with the cosmic origins of God’s Word, through whom all things were created. And this Word became human in Jesus Christ and lived among us, making it possible for people to live in loving relationship with God.



THE DAILY OFFICES
Morning Prayer 8:30am
Tuesday to Saturday - Abbey Church
Evening Prayer 5:30 pm
Tuesday - St Paul’s, East Boldre
Wednesday - Abbey Church
Thursday - St Katharine’s, Exbury
Friday – Bucklers Hard
Saturday - Abbey Church

From the Rectory Study February 2012

As I am writing this for a mid January deadline I have the opportunity to look both back as well as looking forward, Janus being the Roman god with two faces, one looking to the past and another to the future.

First, what a Christmas! We had some good congregations but the biggest area of growth was the Blessing of the Crib at the Abbey Church where the congregation of over 170 included more than 60 children.

We had said that the collections from a number of the Christmas services would go to support four separate charities namely Save the Children, The Children’s Society, Naomi House and also St James’s Hostel, working with the homeless in Southampton. I am delighted to be able to tell you that our treasurers sent off a total of £1,804.32 to these worthy causes.

Many people worked hard decorating the churches and contributing to the services in a variety of ways and I am hugely grateful to them for all their efforts.

Looking forward, Lent will soon be upon us which is traditionally a time for a bit of study and learning, going back to the days when new members of the faith would be prepared during this time prior to being baptised at Easter.

However, why today would anyone want to give up an evening or morning to do this?

Three reasons, first, to learn more about the Christian faith, second to have an opportunity to consider some of the big questions facing humanity in an ecumenical environment and third, to examine our own beliefs in fellowship with others.

I am going to be offering the latest York Course entitled ‘Handing on the Torch, Sacred words for a secular world’ and I quote here from the course notes: Christianity is the largest movement our world has ever seen. It continues to grow at an immense pace – especially in Asia (including China), Africa and Latin America. At the same time, Christianity in the West struggles to grow and - perhaps - even to survive. In this course we consider some of the reasons for this and what it might mean for individual Christians, for churches and for Western culture, in a world where alternative beliefs are increasingly on offer.

Session 1 - A Christian Country?
Session 2 - A Secular Society?
Session 3 - A Beleaguered Church?
Session 4 - Competing Creeds?
Session 5 - Handing on the Torch

I shall be running two parallel sessions each week, 7pm on Thursday evenings and 9.30am on Friday mornings starting 1st and 2nd March respectively in the Abbey Church Hall. These sessions are open to anyone of any tradition and none and I look forward to welcoming you as we journey together this Lent. Ryc.