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PCC & Deanery Synod
If you are considering joining the PCC or Deanery Synod there is still time to put yourself forward. Please speak to Simon Taylor or Catherine McBride in the first instance or call the office to get a form.

 

4-11s Children’s Leader update…
The time is drawing close for Amy Johnston to leave us as the 4-11s Leader and we are yet to fill this full time post! We have interviewed one candidate and decided not to take them further. So we are still looking for someone to come and lead this great ministry. If you or someone you know is interested why not come and chat to James Ellin or pop him an email.

Leaving do for Amy & Michael Johnston – Sunday 23rd April
We would like as many of you as possible to come to say farewell to both Amy and Michael at morning and evening services on 23rd April (yes, APCM day). After the 10.30am Busbridge service there will be self-service tea and coffee available from the marquee by the centre. There are also rumours of doughnuts. Don’t miss the chance to say your goodbyes to these lovely people. If you still want to contribute to their farewell gift, you can make a payment online marked ‘Johnston farewell’ to sort code 60-09-04, account no. 00705349.

Thank you!
The Taylor family would like to thank everyone who has offered prayer, support and encouragement over the past few days as they have moved house. The next phase of the Old Rectory project is now about to start.

Trekkers Update
Our children’s group in the Busbridge Classic, Trekkers, has a schedule change. After Easter it will be going to twice monthly, on the second and fourth Sundays, with 9th July as the final date before the summer break.

Feba
Feba Prayer Meeting on Monday 8th May, 10.30am to 11.30am at 42 Minster Road. Please take this opportunity to pray for a media organisation with partners and projects in most of the world’s trouble spots. Contact Shelagh Godwin for more details.

We have two simply gorgeous events coming up to fundraise money for the Old Rectory…

Music in Munstead Soirée
Saturday 27th May, 7.30pm

Alison Martin is hosting this lovely black tie event at her gorgeous home, Tillies, in Munstead Heath Lane. Tickets are £40 and include a buffet dinner, wine and the evening will be accompanied by the talented young Steinway artist and winner of several prestigious piano competitions, Harry Nowakowski-Fox. To book your tickets or for any enquiries contact Clare Haddad on 01403 751677 or email clarehaddad@aol.com.

And on 24th June, 6.00pm – 9.30pm you can enjoy a relaxing evening of opera, the joyful strains of jazz and classics from the West End and Gilbert & Sullivan at Midsummer Music at Malthouse. Bring your picnic, drinks and something to sit on (sorry – no gazebos as the site is sloping). Tickets are a mere snip at just £22 per person and can be purchased easily online at www.bhcgodalming.org/tickets/malthouse or for more information email malthouse@bhcgodalming.org.

The APCM
Don’t forget it’s the APCM next Sunday 23rd April, Hambledon 10.30am, Busbridge 7.00pm and will follow directly after the services; 10.00am Hambledon, 6.30pm Busbridge.

 

18th C Coptic painting in Aby Sarga Church, Old Cairo: “Christ’s Resurrection: He breaks the gates of Hell  and saves Adam, Eve and the Prophets”

I grew up in a church which didn’t really focus muchon Palm Sunday, Lent or other moments of what is called ‘the Christian year’.  They were seen as human creations that could become rituals getting in the way of true worship – what mattered was Sunday, each Sunday, every Sunday. It took me many years to begin to see that we all have our own rituals and remembrances – the obvious one being birthdays, and they serve a purpose. Treated well and at their best, key moments in the Christian year are about bringing us closer to the Lord and deeper discipleship.

So, I wonder where you were last Sunday morning? To jog memories, it was Palm Sunday and there were two walks around Busbridge and Hambledon village to help us remember the start of Jesus’ final week. Why do we do such things? Because marking such moments helps us to recalibrate our priorities and put Christ at the centre of Easter in a decisive way. For this reason, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday are huge events in many countries.

For us, they can be but one choice in many busy moments – a matter of weighing our options and deciding if we’ll be part of this moment of remembering and celebrating as God’s family.

For many Christians meeting to remember and celebrate is a matter of a careful decision as it marks them out for their faith in Christ.

Last Sunday morning, while we were wandering around peaceful suburbs and idyllic countryside two groups of Coptic Christians found themselves in a very different situation – just because they gathered in the name of Christ. So, this weekend we join as one with Egyptian Coptic Christians in the powerful words of Christian assurance over the emptiness of fear:

Pikhristos Aftonf!  Khen oumethmi aftonf!

Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!

As we gather to live this exciting Truth, see you on…

· Good Friday service for the whole family (9.30am, Busbridge)

· Good Friday, with over 100 of the church on the amazing church family Hot Cross Bun Adventure Walk (starts 2.15pm prompt at Hambledon Church, walking to Busbridge Church)

· Easter Saturday for the outreach focused Easter Garden service and egg hunt (3.00pm, Busbridge)

· Easter Sunday morning at Hambledon and Busbridge; 9.00am & 10.30am

· And don’t forget there is an extra special Unplugged Easter Celebration (6.30pm) – do come and support the younger people in their growing faith

For more details and other chances to gather, see the church website www.bhcgodalming.org.

Simon Taylor

 

I have been struck this year by how easy it is simply to miss important bits of the Easter story if one just relies on what we look at in church on Sundays. For example, this Sunday we are looking at the Palm Sunday story. Last Sunday we were looking at 2 Timothy, next Sunday it is Easter and we will be saying ‘He is risen. He is risen, indeed!’ and we will have missed all the events in between.

Of course if we came to church on Good Friday we would look at the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and the crucifixion itself and if we came to the Maundy Thursday evening service we would think about the events of the day leading up to Jesus’ arrest.

Even if one reads daily notes one is not necessarily any further on. Jill and I find ourselves this week in Matthew’s gospel reading about Jesus walking on the water on the Sea of Galilee!

So, we are in danger of the vivid and important events of the Easter season slipping by us unnoticed. Might I therefore suggest to you that you take time in the next week to research and answer the following questions?

What important event happened the night before the triumphal entry into Jerusalem?

Who was involved? What was the significance of it?

What did Jesus get up to in the days following Palm Sunday? Where did he stay?

What important part of the church’s life was instituted on the evening before Jesus’ arrest? What did Jesus promise the disciples? What did Jesus command the disciples?

Clues: John 12: 1-11; Luke 20 and 21; Luke 22: 19-20; John 14: 25-27; 16: 5-16; 15:17.

 

2 Timothy 4:1-8

These are some of the last words from Paul that we have. What a powerful charge he gives to Timothy!

Pause for a moment to put yourself in the situation of both Paul and Timothy…

If you were a long standing and faithful servant of the Lord, with something of value to share with someone younger or less experienced than you, what would your instructions be? Would they be similar to those of Paul to Timothy?

If you were in a position of leadership, even if it is over just a few in a small group, how would the responsibilities and characteristics that Paul requires of a leader relate to you?

Most of us are under leadership. Paul addresses some of the difficulties our leaders might face. Think about how we could make their job easier.

He also shows some of the problems we might cause, not only for our church leaders but for those around us.

In this year of spiritual awakening in Busbridge&Hambledon, pray that our understanding will go deep, that our eyes will be opened to see how God’s word applies to our lives and our church. Pray that we might come to understand that nothing is too hard for God. Pray for your group, that every one of them will be equipped and ready to respond. What a charge Paul has given us! What truth we have to think about, take in and make our own!

 

Old Rectory update
We are delighted to announce that two developments occurred in the past week. On Monday the PCC voted to approve the project up to the amount which has been raised so far and planning permission was granted on Wednesday. The Old Rectory team are now looking at costs and priorities and will share this information with the church as soon as we have it.
What can you do?

· Give thanks and pray for those involved in the planning (from Old Rectory team members through to the Waverley Planners)

· Approach Mark Williams to offer to help with an Action Team

· Contact Dudley Hilton to offer to support and care for Probation Service people with us every Wednesday and which started last week

· We appreciate many have given financially, but the Team are keen for anyone who is able to set up a monthly direct debit of any amount for the project to do so, as this will help with longer term planning

· Pray that this project will honour the Living God who intervenes in our lives and will give us confidence in our faith

Hot Cross Bun Family Adventure!
This year’s Hot Cross Bun Family Adventure will be from Hambledon Church to Busbridge Church on Good Friday (14th April) starting at 2.15pm. We are looking for some help with serving tea and/or making cakes. Offers please to Frances Shaw, frances.shaw@bhcgodalming.org or ph 421574.

Reverence service
Have you got it noted down in your diaries that there is a special Reverence choral evensong service at Hambledon on Sunday 2nd April at 3.30pm? There is no Hambledon Heritage service at 9.00am on this day so even more reason to go along to this reflective event.

‘The Journey’
Meditation presents The Journey – a one hour reflection on the life of Jesus with readings and songs, followed by refreshments. Saturday 10th June, 6.30pm, Busbridge Church. No charge, but there’ll be a retiring collection in support of the Old Rectory project.

Nexus
On 6th April, Ann Wilson MBE, Vice Chair of the Surrey Gypsy Traveller Communities Forum, will give an insight into Surrey’s largest ethnic minority, their lives, traditions and aspirations.  An evening not to be missed!  We look forward to seeing you in the Busbridge Church Centre at 8.00pm.  There’ll be drinks, nibbles and a chance to catch up before the talk starts.  All are very welcome!

Sermons on the website
Are you getting annoyed that the latest sermons aren’t on the website? Does it irritate you that you can’t catch up on the service you missed? Do you have an hour a week spare, to load the sermons onto the website? Fabulous! We need you! Tony Nunn has done a sterling job maintaining this for years but is no longer able to do it. If you’d like to put your name forward for this important role, then get in contact with Karen in the Church Office in the first instance (01483 421267).

BIG Spring Clean!
We’ve finally put a date in the diary for the super duper BIG Spring Clean! For those of you who are new to Busbridge&Hambledon, this is held at Busbridge Church and we usually have up to 80 volunteers of all ages in teams doing painting, cleaning, clear up, gardening, building stuff and handing out tea and biscuits! It runs from 10.00am – 2.00pm and includes a fabulous slap up lunch. It’s also a great way of getting to know new people, so what more could you ask for? So put Saturday 10th June in your diaries and if you’re really keen and you’d already like to volunteer your services for this fun event, email karen.kinder@bhcgodalming.org.

Explorers volunteers urgently needed
Would you be interested in joining our lively and creative Explorers team? We are looking for helpers to join us in teaching the 7-11s about Jesus once a month. Please contact amy.johnston@bhcgodalming.org to find out more or to sign up!

Easter Garden Service
Is happening on Saturday 15th April and we need people to make cakes and co-ordinate the tea at this busy event. Contact Catherine Taylor if you can help ASAP. Thanks!

Is this you?
Calling all architects, structural engineers or those with expertise in technical drawing!  We are seeking someone willing to act as a mentor to a gentleman in Chiddingfold who is trying to rebuild his life following some very dark times. He has an interest in these skills and professions and has asked if we could try and find someone who shares this experience and from whom he could learn.  Full support and training will be given to anyone taking on this role. Contact Penny Naylor for more information.

Thanks to everyone who gave to our Easter Appeal for Open Doors. If you weren’t able to be in services last week, donation envelopes will be available in both churches for the next couple of weekends.

please pray for…
· Brian Oxborough as he recovers in hospital
· The baptisms happening next weekend
· The BJS & BIS Easter Services next week
· Mothering Sunday
· The planning for upcoming Easter events
· The Alpha course – finishing soon
· Greenhill Close and their road steward, Carole Keating
· Maplehatch Close & Wormley Lane

 

Timothy was a very fortunate young man.  The son of a Greek father and Jewish mother, he was blessed with a rich heritage. His mother and grandmother were both godly women, who taught him the Old Testament scriptures and also, one imagines, prepared him to recognise the Messiah when he came. We can be sure that they prayed regularly for him and it would appear that, when Paul brought the gospel to their community, all three put their faith in Christ.

If we have children, grandchildren or Godchildren (of whatever age) it is our privilege and our responsibility to pray for them, to teach them God’s word and to share our faith with them. All of us – mothers and others – are called to play our part in this and we must never underestimate the effect it may have.

It’s important and life-changing, both for us and for those we pray for. It builds the next generation into men and women of faith – and that will have eternal significance.

The baptism service poses the question:

Will you pray for these children,

draw them by your example into the community of faith

and walk with them in the way of Christ?

We respond: With the help of God, we will.

 

How would you describe the following professions…?

 

Soldier          Athlete          Farmer

 

How do they differ?

What do they have in common?

Would you consider any of them to include an element of suffering?

 

If you HAD to choose – which profession would you prefer and why?

 

2 Timothy 2: 1 – 13

 

According to the Scripture reading this Sunday the Christian is to incorporate

something of all 3 ‘callings’!

Which would you rate as the most important/significant for you?

 

How can we follow all 3 ‘callings’ at the same time?!

…Listen to the Sermon!

 

The total raised for the Channel for Mission SALCET Christmas appeal, including Gift Aid, was £3341.60. Thanks to all who contributed to such a good outcome.

Mystery at Busbridge Church…
At the risk of this notice sounding like an episode of The Vicar of Dibley, has anyone seen the ’Welcome to Busbridge Church’ framed sign that goes on the church front door? It has been missing since Christmas and we’d really like it back. If you know where it is, please hang it back on the front door ASAP.

Stars in their Eyes!
…is almost upon us! This fabulous fundraising event is happening on Saturday 25th March, 7.30pm at the Wilfrid Noyce Centre. There are strong rumours that Snow Patrol may be rocking Godalming and it may indeed be the case that Elvis isn’t dead, after all. Tickets are an absolute bargain at just £5 each – available after the services or easier still, from going online to buy your ticket on www.bhcgodalming.org/tickets/stars2017.

Mothering Sunday – NEXT WEEK
Carole Keating is looking for volunteers to help her make posies for Mothering Sunday. If you would like to join her on Saturday 25th March at 10.00am in Busbridge Church Centre, please contact Carole. Any donations of greenery would also be gratefully received.

Explorers volunteers urgently needed
Would you be interested in joining our lively and creative Explorers team? We are looking for helpers to join us in teaching the 7-11s about Jesus once a month. Please contact amy.johnston@bhcgodalming.org to find out more or to sign up!

Mission Sunday
Today is Mission Sunday, when the focus of Channel for Mission’s Easter appeal will be Open Doors.  Welcome to all our special speakers in services today. Open Doors is an international ministry serving persecuted Christians and churches worldwide. Founded in 1955, it supplies Bibles, leadership training, literacy programmes, livelihood support and advocacy services. Please look out for special gift envelopes available in all the pews.

Connections Conference – 1st June, 10am – 4pm
Venue: Holy Trinity Church, Church Road, Claygate, Surrey KT10 0JP. Who is it for: all church members and ordained ministers with a heart for older people
Cost: Free of charge (bring your own lunch)
Book on holytrinityclaygate.org.uk/connectionsconference

Amy & Michael Johnston
As you’ve probably heard, Amy (our Children’s Worker) and Michael (our Worship Leader) are heading back to Northern Ireland in April. We will miss them greatly. If you would like to contribute towards a farewell gift for them, please either drop off your contribution to the church office in a marked envelope or you can make a payment online marked ‘Johnston farewell’ to sort code 60-09-04, account no. 00705349.

Marriage Course
A new Marriage Course will be starting in April – could your marriage benefit from an MOT?! If you are interested in attending please email marriagecourse@bhcgodalming.org ASAP. Leaflets with more information are at the back of church or on the website www.bhcgodalming.org/courses.

Diocese of Guildford Transforming Work
The Diocese are putting on a series of events looking at how we can be open to God’s transforming power in our daily work so that we live fruitful lives for God and for those around us. For more information go to www.cofeguildford.org.uk/transforming-work or look out for brochures at the back of church.

Old Rectory Fundraising Events – Update March 2017
Future dates (please put them in your diary):
Saturday 25th March: Stars in Their Eyes
At the Wilfrid Noyce 7.30pm. Organiser: Tim Davies and team. Email stars@bhcgodalming.org
Saturday 27th May: Black Tie Soiree at Tillies, Munstead
Organiser: Clare Haddad
Saturday 10th June: ‘The Journey’ at Busbridge Church 6.30pm Organiser: Shelagh Godwin, jimdogshome@aol.com.
Saturday 24th June: Mid-Summer Music at Malthouse Farm 6.30pm. Organiser: Carol Jones/Caroline Luard and team (details in due course)
Saturday 9th September: Festival of Song: The Star, Witley Organiser: Gary Balchin
Saturday 18th Nov: Auction of Promises perhaps? We just need someone to take this forward – any offers?
Email Rosie James for further info

please pray for…
· The BHC Staff team – leadership, admin and clerical support
· Those who have recently lost loved ones
· The planning for upcoming Easter events
· The Alpha course – finishing soon
· Foxdene and their road steward, Helen Tod
· Latimer Road & Vann Lane

 

 

Some of us may remember many years ago when Cranleigh had a cinema. It was certainly different and the atmosphere was what it must have been like back in the thirties. One Christmas I, and some of the family, went there to see the latest James Bond film. The man in front of us in the queue put down a five-pound note and asked for two tickets. The woman behind the counter looked down at the fiver and looked back at the man with a puzzled expression.  “Oh it’s gone up since I last came here,” said the man to which she replied, “yes and they talk”. 

James Bond is always on His Majesty’s Service and no risk is too great or price too high to pay to make sure that the job gets done and the nation’s security is protected. He gets himself in all sorts of jams but he never seems to be phased out. He always shows total confidence and somehow it always seems to work out for him. How often do we Christians show a similar confidence to the world? Or put another way, do our actions match up to our words?

In today’s reading Paul reminds us we have the power of the Holy Spirit within us and that God loves us from the beginning of time. Should that not give us real confidence? Confidence to go out and show the love of Jesus to all we meet and declare His love for them? I am sure that James Bond would not hesitate to act but perhaps that’s because he underwent lots of training. I wonder how your training is going?

 

When you walk into a church, perhaps on holiday, you can usually tell straight away if it’s a living building, a place of prayer, alive with God’s spirit, cared for by a loving community, where things happen and God is at work.

Busbridge Church was consecrated on 1st March 1867. This was an era of great Victorian building. The foundation stone for the Royal Albert Hall was laid in May 1867, completed 1871; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 1858; Charterhouse School 1872. Work on London’s Tower Bridge was started in 1886; opened in 1894 and cost about £1 million.

We have no pictures of our church being built, and have not been able to locate any original plans. Although the building was deemed to be too small in 1911, we are fortunate that it is not a ‘great barn of a place’, dark and uninviting. We are blessed with a rich Arts and Crafts heritage. It may not always be exactly what we would like for space, but I love it. For me, this building is not only physically warm but spiritually warm as well, reflecting a place of prayer and grace; a place where God has been honoured, baptisms, weddings and funerals marked.

This year, 1st March is Ash Wednesday, and there will be a special ashing service followed by an extended time of prayer. Next Sunday, 5th March, we shall be celebrating with a service in church at 10.00, as well as looking to the future with a short ceremony and lunch in the Rectory garden. We will be praying for and committing the whole site to God, and welcoming back many who have found God here and then moved on into different forms of Christian ministry. Do sign up and come. Much has happened in 150 years, the neighbourhood and times have changed and the world is a very different place. Yet the gospel message of Jesus Christ remains the same. Let’s celebrate!