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THE REGULAR NEWSLETTER

of MICKLETON

METHODIST CHURCH

September 2010

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Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word;
But as Thou dwell’st with Thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free.
Come not to sojourn, but abide with me.

Come not in terrors, as the King of kings,
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings,
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea—
Come, Friend of sinners, and thus bide with me.

Thou on my head in early youth didst smile;
And, though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee,
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Henry F. Lyte, 1847

September Reflection

Two years ago, in September, I wrote of the Methodist practice of ministerial change at the beginning of September and very rarely at any other time of the year. This year, the change has affected our circuit with our superintendent, Bob Powell moving, this time into retirement and a new ‘super’ Helen Bell arriving to look after us. My daily Bible study book, Words for Today, is spending the month of July, when I am writing this, focussing on the way our moods and emotions find echoes in scripture and how they impact on our faith.

One of the greatest causes of mood change is a change in our circumstances. Some people welcome change and are exhilarated by its challenge; others are more fearful, even if the change promises to be for the better. One thing is certain and that is that we cannot escape change. Even if we remain in the same place all our lives, things will change around us. The most elderly people alive today have probably experienced greater changes, at an increasing rate, than anyone has ever done before.

Henry Lyte, in his well known hymn saw change and decay in everything around him perhaps not surprisingly as he was inspired to write these words as he was dying of tuberculosis. He finished it on the Sunday when he gave his farewell sermon in the parish he served so many years. The next day, he left for Italy to regain his health. Sadly though, he died in Nice, France, three weeks after writing these words.

Perhaps you are as surprised as I was to find that there are so many verses, three of which are not included in today’s hymn books. What shines out though is that even the greatest change of all, our death, can be faced with the sense of God’s presence abiding with us. No wonder that this has been such a popular hymn for funerals, (no doubt helped by being known from being sung with such gusto at football matches)!

Another hymn writer, Anne Laetitia Waring, wrote that we do not need to fear change – ‘for nothing changes here. The storm may roar without (outside) me, my heart may low be laid, but God is round about me and can I be dismayed’?

The ‘here’, where nothing changes, is not our rapidly changing world, but the heavenly love which surrounds us. No wonder that she ends her hymn with the assurance that our ‘Shepherd’ is always there, he knows where he is going and we can walk with him.

So, in the Stratford and Evesham circuit, as we face the loss of a much loved and respected superintendent and his equally committed wife Joyce, we can welcome the changes that new personalities will bring because we can trust that God is reliable and there always, whatever changes we have to face in the church or in our own lives.  

Ros Murphy Methodist Minister

Mickleton Preachers

MW Morning Worship. HC Holy Communion. HF Harvest Festival

SoP Songs of Praise – please note time

Diary Dates

Stratford Methodist Church – Friday September 3^rd at 7 pm.

The service led by our District Chair, Bill Anderson, to welcome our new circuit superintendent,  Helen Bell and her husband Fred. All welcome.

September 9^th 2.30 New Session of the Thursday Fellowship – for men as well as women. Christian Aid Tea party.

October 23^rd Art Exhibition

November 13^th 10.30 .- 12.00 Mission Coffee Morning 

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