Wendy is being licensed as an LLM and Craig is being licensed to this Parish at St Paul’s Dorking on 23 June at 17:30. All are welcome to attend, but we have been asked to inform them if more than 10 are attending for catering purposes. If you plan to attend, please would you let Alan know?
There will be a service of healing and wholeness at St George’s on 24 June between 10:00 and 11:00 Please come along, there will be the opportunity to receive prayer and anointing with oil.
Please come to an exciting training course called ‘Leading your church into growth’ at St George’s on 5 June between 19:30 and 21:00 All very welcome to learn how to shape our churches for the future.
Connections is a group for over 50s on 5 June from 10:00 to 11:30 just come along to St George’s church and enjoy a cup of coffee, some cake and various activities.
It was a funny coincidence of events, really. Just before Christmas, we went to see a friend of ours performing in a pantomime. At the same time, Lesley was wondering what she could do for “Thy Kingdom come”, the annual C of E call to prayer. For the previous two years she had organised an art exhibition at St John’s, but felt it was time to do something different. The idea of writing and performing a miracle play about Pentecost came just as we turned our car into the driveway, coming home from the pantomime.
So, extensive internet research on what existed on this theme only produced a small fragment referring to Acts, Ch2, where the locals accused the disciples of being drunk as they emerged from their upstairs room speaking in tongues (or glossolalia if you want the technical term to help with the occasional crossword).
However, this, and a few more modern ideas, from the Life of Brian, for example, led to a script.
The venture then seemed to acquire a life of its own. We had our young artists at St Marks painting paper “flames” to hand out to the congregations. Lesley found short quotations from St Theresa and other, largely contemporary, theologians to stick on the back of them. I found myself in the role of producer, although once the rehearsals started, I did very little, as the cast effectively took over and the play blossomed into something much greater than the original concept.
It was a memorable and exhausting event. We did two performances on the 13th and two more on the 20th May. My thanks to everyone who took part, particularly the “Holy Spirits” Freya, Emilia and Tia (and their mums) who gave excellent performances and had a double dose of religion for two weeks running!
Possibly the lasting image I’ll take from it was the look of shock and astonishment on the faces of Alan and Lesley, our rectors, when the flip chart was produced and the congregation asked, “What has God ever done for You?” This memory is closely followed by the choreographed rendition of “Give me that Old-time religion” – maybe we should perform more hymns in this way!
I think we succeeded in getting the message of Pentecost across in a quite unexpected but effective way – a good combination of humour and a serious underlying message.
Bob Shatwell
Its’ a Miracle…. play was performed on Sunday (13th) at St John’s and St Mark’s and will be performed at St George’s on the 20th May at 10am and 11:30pm. I am lost for words, other than “GO ALONG” – it was very, very funny indeed and I am still sniggering every time I think about it. Huge congratulations to Lesley and Bob Shatwell, and the cast!
Lesley Crawley
On May 15th we are running ‘Write yourself into the story’, an opportunity to enter the world of a Bible story and respond creatively by describing what you experience through your senses, who you meet, what they say, how you feel. This will be a personal response and everyone’s will be different. There will be no obligation to read anything out but there will be a chance to discuss the experience either in a group or privately and to pray. Run by Lesley Shatwell and Stella Wiseman, ‘Write yourself into the story’ will be held at St Mark’s at 7.30pm on Tuesday, May 15th. Call Stella on 07854426297 for further details.
Please join us at the Rectory (25 Upper Hale Road) for a barbeque in the garden on 10th May from 6pm. Bring your own alcoholic drinks and meat. We’ll provide buns, salad and soft drinks. This is followed by a short Communion Service at 7:30pmin the garden for people of all ages.
The C of E has an annual “Thy Kingdom Come” initiative where the parishes are asked to do something different to “help families and young people to pray together”. For the previous two years we’ve put on an art exhibition with a biblical theme at St John’s. This year we’ve decided to do something different – a miracle play. We’ll be performing it at St John’s and St Mark’s on 13th May and St George’s on 20th May.
St . George’s Church, Badshot Lea – Heating Appeal
Our heating broke down at Christmas. We could just replace it, but we are an Eco Church and we want to look to the future – heating that will be environmentally friendly AND make our Church warm and inviting for every one.
So we are holding special events, and here is the first one. Not just for Church goers but for everyone who likes a good hymn – come and enjoy the selected hymns on May 6th at 6:30pm. Let me know if you’d like a voting slip and please share
😊
Maxine Everitt
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 