hope herald...page 4 s sept 17th was the day earmarked to produce the wardens’ notes for the hope...

HOPE HERALDNews, views & comment from

St James Church, HopeSeptember/October 2019

What’sinside

Diary p1, Vicar’s letter p2 ,Grandparents p3, Wardens p4 Late Extrap6, St Theresa p8, Junior Pages p9, Happy New Year p11, Mythicalbeast p13, Alexa p14, Kids & dogs p15 puzzles p16, crossword p17,Community HaLL p18.

FOR YOUR DIARY

FOR MORE DETAILS SEE WEEKLY PEWS NEWS OR ASK CHURCHWARDENS

Our Family ServiceWe have started a Family Service on the 3rd Sunday in the month.

This time (Oct 20th) the theme is The Last Supper and two of our LittleGems will be admitted to take their first communion

Please join us for a happy and enjoyable service and support ouryoungsters

Upcoming events in EcclesSat 12th October 18:30 Italian supper and quiz night, St Pauls.Sat 9th Nov Autumn Fair, St Pauls. Full details later,Sat 16th Nov The TEARFUND BIG QUIZ 19:45, St Andrews

What’s on at St John’s2nd Sunday of the month. 08:00. Book of Common Prayer service.Sunday 20th Oct, Messy Church Harvest Sunday. Including Lunch

Sunday 27th October, 3:00pm. Thanksgiving & remembrance serviceSt John’s Church is now open during the day for personal quiet prayer

and reflection.

Here at HopeBible study/house group meets Wednesdays, 7:30pm, all welcome,

9 Oxford Rd. M6 8LW

Thurs, Fri &Sat 17th, 18th &19th Oct. Priestley Players Present “THRILLER OF THE YEAR” Tickets £5.00, £4.50 concessions.

Sunday 20th Oct, Family Service, during which 2 of the younger membersof our congregation will be taking their first communion. Do come along

and support them.

ROUND AND ABOUT

Letter fromThe VicarSept/Oct 2019

THE CHALLENGE theworld faces with “climatechange”, or “climateemergency” as it is in-creasingly called, is regu-larly in the news, withprotests by school chil-dren, groups like “extinc-tion rebellion”, andspeeches at the UN byGreta Thunberg, alongwith those who wish todeny there is a problemand that it is all just a con-spiracy, such as the presi-dent of the United States.So what are we to make ofit all? Is it something weshould even be interestedin? What if anything doesit have to do with theChristian Faith? There are those insome parts of the Chris-tian faith who say eitherwe shouldn’t worry aboutit as God will save us or ifnot then we should wel-come the end of the worldas the sooner it arrives thesooner the rapture andGods kingdom comes toEarth. This attitude is notone I share. The world inwhich we live is a giftfrom God and one we are

charged with caring for.We are our planets stew-ards, but we have done avery poor job of caring forthis incredible gift. We aresurrounded daily with thebeauty of our world, butperhaps because of this weseem to have failed to ap-preciate that beauty andthe uniqueness that it rep-resents. Our beautiful blueand emerald planet is avery rare jewel in the heav-ens and if we fail to carefor it, if we continue toabuse and damage it somuch that it dies we willnot only seal our own fateas a species, but also thefate of every other livingcreature that calls Earthhome. It is incredibly sadand selfish that we should

even consider allowingthis to happen, or fail totake steps to reverse thedamage we have done.This planet is not justour home, but a gift it isour duty to care for. What then should wedo to care for and savethis wonderful giftwe’ve been given? Theissues involved in pro-

tecting our planet and try-ing to reverse the damagedone can seem so hugethat we feel helpless to doanything, “surely this isup to governments and bigcorporations to sort out?What can I possibly do?”we can think. Admittedlymuch of the big changesthat are needed have tohappen on a large scaleand we alone cannot makethem happen, but we canall contribute in one wayor another. We can writeto our MPs, sign petitionsand join protest marchesto let our political leadersknow how important thisis to us and how the needfor action is very urgent. We can reduce ourcarbon footprint, by not

flying, by only drivingwhen absolutely necessaryrather than lazily takingthe car to the corner shopwhen we could walk ortake public transport. Youmight want to look at theitems you buy, where dothey come from, havethey been flown here?Can we buy locally pro-duced food for instance?We can look at trying toreduce the amount of plas-tic we use, not an easytask by any means as it isin practically everythingas packaging etc, but it

can be done and it helps toprotect the wildlife of ourplanet. It certainly is not easyto make the changes need-ed to help save our planet,but nothing worthwhile isever easy, and even smallcontributions from each ofus can help and have a bigimpact overall for ourplanet. We must not becomplacent that it has notaffected us yet, because itis our Christian duty to begood stewards for ourworld and the impact ofclimate change is already

being felt by the poorestand most vulnerable inour world.

God Bless

Gareth

6th OCTOBER is ‘Grand-parents Day’. Grandpar-ents in the UK numberabout 17 million, or morethan one in four of theadult population. Grand-parents average out at 68years of age, have fourgrandchildren who live 10miles away, and whospend five hours per visit. Grandparents havemultiple roles as theirgrandchildren grow up:playmates, teachers, confi-dants, spiritual guides,mentors, role models andnurturers, as well as pray-ers. They also can keepchildren’s milestones,family history and familyevents

alive. Grandchildren willoften discuss their person-al concerns with a trustedgrandparent. Grandparents are alsoimportant for the UKeconomy! Nine millionof them looked after theirgrandchildren in 2017.On average they did sofor eight hours a week,and 96% received no pay-ment. Research has foundthat if grandparents go tochurch regularly, 60% oftheir grandchildren arelikely to go to church al-so. Grandparental exam-ple is followed! As about 10% of UKgrandparents are church-

goers, would a church‘Grandparents’ Group,’ tohelp grandparents meet,discuss issues and prayfor their grandchildren beuseful? Moses’ injunc-tion to the Israelites “notto forget the things youreyes have seen … makethem known to your chil-dren and children’s chil-dren” (Deuteronomy 4:9)is a constant challenge,but Psalm 92:14 is a won-derful promise! Grandparents’ Day inthe UK is the first Sundayin October. Should weput that day in our churchdiary for a special celebra-tion of our grandparents?

In praise of grandparents!

From the ChurchwardensSEPT 17th was the dayearmarked to produce thewardens’ notes for theHope Herald. Inspirationwas distinctly lacking!Yes, all the routine infor-mation was to hand. Butwe like to add a littlemore than just numbersand statistics. Then aknock on the door andstood there was Rogerfrom The Priestly Players.You had better get downto Church, all the leadflashings on the Southroof have been loosenedand a small pile of leadleft on the floor. Not whatwe had in mind when wewere looking for inspira-tion but at least we havean opening storyline andsomething different to tellyou about. The next few hourswere taken up filling inthe online police report,contacting the contractorfor repair quotes and call-ing the Ecclesiastical in-surance company, whichresulted in a further visitto church to safely stowthe pieces of abandonedlead and take photographsof the roof damage.Isn’t it always the way,you think there is a moun-tain of issues to overcome,then three days later, thejobs done. Police got back

to us with a crime number,we received the quotationfor the work, the insur-ance company acceptedthe quote and the repairscompleted, all in threedays. On Friday the thir-teenth of September, weheld one of our occasionalbeetle and bingo nights. Ifyou’ve never attended oneof these evenings, youdon’t know what you’remissing. A small numberof us gather in the backroom of the hall and chill,with occasional shouts offrustration when someonestruggles to shake theright number on the diceto complete their beetle,and believe you me, thereare some very imaginativebeetles on show at the endof the evening. The vicarage is still apassive source of frustra-tion. The new water meterhas been installed butUnited Utilities need anaddress for them to sendtheir bills to. In fact whenwe think about it; oncethe vicarage is sold, thechurch and hall will haveno delivery address, no-where for church mail tobe delivered. If we decideto install a letterbox in thevestry door, that will re-quire the dreaded faculty

application and from pastexperiences, we could bewaiting up to eighteenmonths for that. One solu-tion is to install a wallmounted post box, at-tached to either the hallcladding or the wheel-chair access pillar. Sonow all we have to do is;install the new letterboxand inform royal mail ofthe change.

Our Autumn Fayretook place on Saturday28th Sept..

Sadly that coincidedwith some of the wildestand wettest weather wehave experienced for along time. However, theshow went on with thestalls and activities in theCommunity Hall.

In the end the out-come was that the eventproduced over £510 forChurch funds.

Our great thanksgo to everyone involvedin the planning and run-ning of the event.

We’re alreadytalking about next year.

All for now

Trevor& Fred .

As we mentioned lastmonth, Jackie Bran-dreth our OLM whoretired, has moved toKendal. Doreen and Iand my sister-in-lawspent some time at mydaughter’s cottage inKendal a few days ago.So, as previously ar-ranged, we all metJackie at a local coffeeshop. She is looking

well and settling downto the more rural life-style.When we told her wewere going to have anew Lady Chapel aislealtar cloth made withthe money she gave us,she was quite touched!From what she said, Ithink she has visitedevery church in thetown yet still not

found one that suitsher perfectly. Shespends a lot of timeback here on familybusiness. All in all Ithink I can say, she isvery happy in her re-tirement.She sends us all herlove.

Trevor

Update on Jackie Branreth

THERE ARE up to 10,000different kinds of birds inthe world, and with about530 different kinds in Isra-el alone, no wonder birdsget a frequent mention inthe Bible.

Noah released a dovefrom the ark to look fordry ground. A stork, anostrich and an eagle arementioned in Job. Quailswere food for the Israel-ites in the desert. Elijahwas fed by ravens. Prov-erbs refers to sparrowschirping on rooftops. Pe-ter denied Jesus before thecock crowed. A dove descending isa symbol of the Holy Spir-

it. The flight of the eaglereminds us of freedomand the renewal ofstrength. The psalmist us-es wings as a symbol forthe protection of God intimes of trouble. Isaiahlikens a bird hoveringover its nest, to protect itsyoung, to describe God’sprotection of Jerusalem.Jesus yearned to gatherthe people of Jerusalem toHim as a hen gathers herchicks under her wings.

Jesus also comparedus with sparrows: “Foronly a penny you can buytwo sparrows, yet not one

sparrow falls to theground without your Fa-ther’s consent…so do notbe afraid; you are worthmuch more than manysparrows!” (Matt 10:29-30) For Jesus encouragesus to know that each oneof us is significant to God.He knows us personally,and, in His sight, we areprecious and of great val-ue. Let’s raise our eyesheavenward and when wesee all the birds flyingoverhead this autumn,let’s give thanks to God.Like them, we can be con-fident, for we are alwaysin His loving care.

Flyers overhead

I HAD a short conversa-tion recently with one ofour wonderful, hard-work-ing district nurses. Shevisits two or three people Iknow well and, withoutbreaking any confidences,she updated me on theirstate of health and well-being. Knowing some-thing of my present cir-cumstances, she asked mein a friendly way howthings were. I told herthat I was getting good sup-port from my children andthat my son, who works inTV, was able to vary hisworking hours to our ad-vantage. She wanted toknow what he was doing atthe moment and said thatshe had always fancied be-ing in one of those TVshows that get a lot of at-tention from the public.

‘What sort of show?’, Iasked. ‘Love Island?’,she said, somewhat hope-fully (she is a nice middle-aged lady) and feigningoutrage at my derisorylaughter, she said, ‘What’swrong with that? Whynot?’ I told her that I hadonly watched the pro-gramme once, just to seewhat all the fuss was about,and had decided that it wasno different from watching

‘The secret life of the zoo’,

where keepers involved insome conservation projectare watching creatures re-cently introduced to eachother to see if they willmate or merely eat eachother. I said that given hersteely efficiency, shewould be better off doingsomething like ‘I’m a ce-lebrity: get me out of

here’! ‘Oh no’, she said,‘I could never eat all thatdisgusting stuff they getgiven. In fact I don’t be-lieve that they eat it either.I think the cameras filmthem putting it up to theirlips or even into theirmouths for a few seconds,but move away while theyspit it out or bring it back.’

‘Okay then’, I said, ‘sowhat about ‘Strictly’?

‘Oh yes’, she said, ‘I’d dothat, but I’d have to join ithalf way through when allthe riff-raff had been votedoff’! I think there are celeb-rity-prone people even inthe Church; people who

anxiously work at keepingthemselves in the spotlightand benefit from it by pre-ferment. Good luck tothem! For myself I wouldalways aim to be effectivein what I do, whether ornot that meets with any-body’s approval. The ce-lebrity life may seem veryattractive to those who aredowntrodden or who feeldepressed because theirlives are unglamorous ormonotonously dull; butonce you commit yourselfto turning yourself into abusiness, there is no es-cape from the demands ofit. You can no longerafford to have any privacy.Making people love you,want you, need you to theextent of spending moneyon any commodity towhich your name or yourimage is attached is veryhard work. Celebritieswho are not talked about,criticised even, and whodo not appear regularly onTV and in the newspaperssoon begin to lose popular-ity and may have a seriouscrisis of confidence orhealth to deal with. The constitutional cri-ses our politicians havebrought upon us in recentweeks have left us feelingthat we are drifting along

LATE EXTRA:Who do we think we are?

with no control over thevessel that is supposed tobe keeping us afloat and noclear idea of where our des-tination ought to be. Lossof confidence is not helpedwhen you don’t know whoyou are, where you’vecome from or what resourc-es you may have to helpyou along your way.Some people are so be-mused by the idea of let-ting go that they run therisk of cutting themselvesoff. It seems to me utterlysad that few children thesedays could tell you thenames of the twelve disci-ples, and I include childrenwho attend church. Hadthey a gadget to turn up thelist for them, would theyalso have any motive forfinding out who these peo-ple really were and whatwe feel they achieved? Itis equally sad that peopletoday know next to noth-ing about the ecclesiastical

history of the district inwhich we live, not even ofthose illustrious peoplewho in Saxon times keptthe flame of Christian faithburning brightly in thiscountry and half-wayacross Europe too. Time was when theChurch of England’s richcalendar of saints was regu-larly explored, celebratedand enjoyed. I am writingthis as we approachMichaelmas. In manychurches on Sunday Sep-tember 29th there will beno mention of angels what-soever. When did you lasthave a Sunday celebrationof one of our leading saintsin your church? Do youeven recognize the saintafter whom your church isnamed? If there is thefaintest chance of any of usgetting to heaven, we aregoing to be like fish out ofwater. I would be muchhappier to think that Imight be sitting on a heav-

enly bench spending timewith someone whose devo-tion to Jesus puts mine toshame. In cities like Manches-ter and Salford we havelearned that we don’t al-ways have to pull old build-ings down. It is perfectlypossible to update themand to maintain their use-fulness without takingdrastic action. To see anold building spruced upand harnessed for the serv-ice of the future is veryencouraging and uplifting.I get the point that the dif-ferent world in which weare living needs the atten-tion of a very differentchurch, but it does notneed to abandon its past aswhole-heartedly as somepeople hope to and desire.For the record All SaintsDay is on November 1st.

DGB

WHO does most of thehousework in your fami-ly? Probably the woman,if you are like most fami-lies. That is the finding ofa recent analysis of whodoes household chores,carried out by UniversityCollege London (UCL). The study found thateven among couples

where the woman is morequalified and has a moredemanding job, she is stilllikely to do around halfthe housework. However,where the man is betterqualified and has a better-paid job, he is likely toleave the majority ofhousework to his partner.

Therefore, it seemsthat despite the steady ero-sion of gender discrimina-tion at work, traditionalopinions tend to carry onat home. The study, pub-lished in Work, Employ-ment and Society, foundthat fewer than seven percent of couples share thehousework equally.

Housework: who’s job is it?

THERESA of Lisieux(1873-97) should be thepatron saint of teenagegirls and young womenwho want to make themost of their lives, despitebeing constrained by fami-ly and school or work. Theresa grew up in astrict, devout Roman Cath-olic middle-class family inFrance, one of four sisters.Her father was a watch-maker. Like her sisters,she entered a Carmeliteconvent at 15, and stayedthere. She was never able

to go anywhere, do any-thing extraordinary, orhold any responsibility.She died at the age of 24of tuberculosis. Yet thisquiet young Carmelite nunbecame so nationally pop-ular that she was declaredpatroness of France 50years after her death. Notbad for someone whodidn’t get out much! So how did Theresado it? By not intending todo it at all. Theresa neverset out to become famous:instead, she quietly deter-mined in her spirit to seekGod, and, having foundHim, to honour Him inher life, to live as closelyas she could to the teach-ing in the gospels. The result was a lifeso spiritually radiant thather convent asked her towrite a short spiritual auto-biography of her pilgrim-age. Theresa obliged with

‘L’Histoire d’une Ame’,

which soon became sopopular that it was translat-ed into most Europeanlanguages and several Asi-atic ones. Theresa alsoprayed for people whowere ill, and there aremany reports of miracu-lous healings that tookplace in answer. After Theresa died in1897, her book just wenton selling. People foundthe artless sweet simplici-ty of her observations onher pilgrimage as a Chris-tian compelling. Theresareminded people of whatChristianity was really allabout: simple but utterdevotion to Christ, notendless outward observ-ance of religion. Theresahelped many in the Ro-man Catholic Church inFrance to remember thefirst principles of theirfaith.

Theresa of Lisieuxmaking the most of life

ACROSS: 1 embus, 4 jackdaw, 8 pitcher, 9 frame, 10lees, 11 lifebelt, 13 censor, 14 unable, 17 back door,19 flit, 22 liege, 23 ovation, 24 desists, 25 minor.DOWN: 1 expel, 2 bittern, 3 Soho, 4 jerkin, 5caffeine, 6 drake, 7 wrestle, 12 goodness, 13 cobbled,15 bullion, 16 joyous, 18 chess, 20 tenor, 21 calm.

Crossword answers

??

Junior Pages

NO I HAVEN'T suddenlylost track of time. I justwanted to share with youtwo interesting festivalswhich occur in Septemberin our former country ofresidence, Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Chris-tian calendar still followsthe Julian calendar, intro-duced by Julius Caesar in45 B.C., rather than theGregorian calendar whichreplaced it in England in1752. This has resulted inEthiopian year dating be-ing eight years behindours. The Ethiopian Tour-ist Board likes to use thisin their catchphrase, ”visitEthiopia and becomeeight years younger “.So,Ethiopia has just entered2012 . The Ethiopian calen-dar, which is believed tobe derived from an an-cient Egyptian calendar,has other differences toours. There are still 365days in a year, and 366days in each leap year, butin Ethiopia, the year isdivided into thirteenmonths; twelve with thirtydays each, and the lastmonth having five days(or six in each leapyear).The Ethiopian Tour-

ist Board advertises, “thir-teen months of sunshine”(they seem not to havenoticed the two Rainy Sea-sons each year!).EthiopianNew Year almost coin-cides with the JewishNew Year, RoshHashanah (on 29th Sep-tember this year). This isnot surprising consideringthe close affiliation be-tween Ethiopia and Israelbefore the coming ofChristianity. As 2011 wasa leap year, the actual daythis year was celebratedon September 12th, in-stead of September 11th,as in non-leap years. Theday itself is dedicated toSt John the Baptist (as heis considered to be thelink between the Old andNew (Testaments) .It isthe end of the Rainy Sea-son, when crops are start-ing to ripen for harvesting,animals are plump fromgood pasture. The fieldsare coloured by yellowdaisies (Bidens sp.),which grow wild, andflower only at the end ofthe rains. So the EthiopianNew Year is a time forcelebration. Two weeks after theNew Year, on 27th Sep-

tember, Christians cele-brate the Feast of theDiscovery of the TrueCross (or simpy “Mesqel”(it means “cross”) in com-mon Ethiopian parlance).It is believed that the Em-press Helena, mother ofthe Emperor Constantine,and a tireless seeker afterrelics (to most Protestants,quite a strange idea), dis-covered the Cross of Jesusin Jerusalem in 327. In the14th century, part of theCross was sent to Ethiopiaduring the time of the Em-peror Dawit, and it is stillhoused in the Church ofGishon-Mariam in North-ern Ethiopia. Mesqel is athanksgiving ceremonyfor the Cross. Ethiopian Christianshave a passionate attach-ment to the symbol of thecross. They decorate theirclothes with crosses, andeven have cross tattoos.Every priest carries a

small handcross,which isused tobless be-lieverswhereverthey aremet. Each

Happy New Year fromBob Hedley **

monastery has its own de-sign of decorated cross.The cross is venerated as asymbol of God’s Love formankind; of love to recon-cile enemies; of the meansto renaissance of the soul;as the key to the Kingdomof God; and as the altar onwhich Christ was sacri-ficed. Christians believethat through His Crucifix-ion, Jesus Christ has savedus. The harvest is ripeand the fields are clothed

with golden flowers. Bon-fires are built. These aretraditionally mountainshaped (recalling the set-tling of the Ark of Noah,and the Crucifixion onMount Calvary). It is alsobelieved that Helena burnta bonfire, and followedthe direction of the smoketo find the Cross. TheMesqel bonfires are litwith much singing ofhymns, prayers, and danc-ing, and then Christiansuse the ashes to make the

sign of the Cross on theirforeheads. While the bon-fire is being lit, onlookerswill light candles, to sym-bolise the spread of God’slight flowing through theworld. This celebration isfollowed by a lot of feast-ing.What a wonderful time ofthe year, and it is a goodtime to thank God for allthe gifts He has given us ,especially His Sacrifice onthe Cross.Happy New Year !

"** Bob and Sonja Hedley worked for over forty years in Africa, including for sixteenyears in Ethiopia. They have recently returned to the U.K. and attend St James'

Page 12

THE GERMAN philoso-pher Friedrich Nietzschewas born 175 years ago, on15th October 1844, nearLeipzig, where his fatherwas a Lutheran minister.His father died five yearslater, but young Friedrichhad a brilliant school anduniversity career. He is perhaps knownbest for his paradoxical

statement that “God isdead”, and his suggestionthat traditional Christianbelief and its attendant ide-as of morality were “unbe-lievable”. One of hisarguments was that the

“brimstone, hellfire, anddamnation diatribe” inChristian letters and ser-mons was incompatiblewith a religion of love andforgiveness. His writing was not somuch logical as aphoristic

– even poetic. He said: “Iapproach deep problemslike cold baths: quickly in-to them and quickly outagain.”

His novel Thus SpokeZarathustra was used byRichard Strauss to create atone poem of the samename, the fanfare of whichwas employed to stunningeffect in the 1968 film2001: A Space Odyssey. Nietzsche’s healthwas poor, and he movedfrequently in later years.He had intense headaches,nausea and trouble withhis eyesight, suggestingthat he may have sufferedfrom a slow-growing tu-mour on the brain. He de-veloped dementia andbecame totally silent, dy-ing eventually of a strokein 1900.

Nietzsche – the man for whom‘God is dead’

Mythical Beasts

The RocThe ROC is one of thelargest, most formida-ble birds in myth.ROCs were so big thattheir wings could report-edly block out the Sunand so massive thatthey could pick up fish-ing boats or elephantsin their talons

Various explorersclaim to have spottedthese giant creatures ontheir travels, especiallynear the eastern shoresof Africa.

Rumour has it that Mar-co Polo (the famousItalian traveller bornaround 800 years ago)referred to the ROC inhis writings:

It was for all the worldlike and Eagle, but ofindeed enormous size.;So big in fact that itswings covered an extentof 30 paces, and itsquills were 12 paceslong and thick in pro-portion. And it is sostrong that it will seize

an elephant in its talonsand carry him high intothe air and drop himdown so that he issmashed to pieces: hav-ing killed him, the birdswoops down on himand eats him at leisure.

There are many populartheories debunking themystery of the ROC,however.

One idea states thatidiotic sailors mistookpalm-tree fronds forgigantic feathers. Anoth-

er theory suggests thattravellers thought os-triches were actuallythe ROC chicks Con-fused by the giant os-trich eggs they saw innests and by the factthat the birds couldn’tfly, they simply as-sumed that full-grownostriches were babies

THE CHURCH of Eng-land has launched an Al-exa skill, enabling users toask the Church of Eng-land for prayers, explana-tions of the Christian faithand where to find theirnearest church for localevents and services basedon their location.Daily prayer resources arecentral to the skill, offer-ing a prayer for the day,as well as morning,evening and night-timeprayers and a grace beforemeals all recorded for Al-exa devices. The skill is also inte-grated with A ChurchNear You, our nationalchurch finder that gets 13million page views a year,to find the nearest servic-es and events, and seeksto increase users’ knowl-edge of the Christian faithby answering questionssuch as: what is the Bible?Who is God? What is aChristian? The Archbishop ofYork, Dr John Sentamu,said: “We’re thrilled to belaunching the Alexa skill,to enable regular church-goers and those exploringfaith to connect with Godin another way at a timethat’s right for them. A

quarter of UK householdsnow own a smart device. Adrian Harris, Headof Digital at the Church ofEngland, said: “Platformssuch as Alexa give theChurch the ability to con-nect people with God andto weave faith into dailylives, whether for dailyprayers or exploring Chris-tianity. We also see this asa fantastic opportunity toencourage people intotheir local church, whichis why the link to AChurch Near You is soimportant, particularly atkey moments in the Chris-tian year such as Easterand Christmas. “We’re prioritisingAlexa at this stage to reachas many people as quicklyas possible, but plan tolaunch on Google and Ap-ple devices in due course.Thomas Allain Chapman,Publishing Manager at theChurch of England, said:

“The Alexa skill meansprayers that ChurchHouse Publishing has pre-viously made available inbooks, apps and e-bookswill now be available inaudio to a new audiencein many homes.” This is phase one ofthe AI project, built joint-

ly by the Church’s Digitaland Church House Pub-lishing teams, with futuredevelopment planned toensure users can findmore answers to faithquestions. Users must activatethe Church of Englandskill by saying “Alexa,open the Church of Eng-land”. A full list of com-mands is available onour dedicated Alexa page. One million peoplego to a Church of Englandchurch and more than fourmillion attend atChristmas. The integra-tion with A Church NearYou will mean even moreusers are able to find alocal place to worship atkey events. This skill is one ofthe first significant faith-based skills available forsmart speaker users in theUK.

Church of England brings prayers with Alexa

THAT is the finding of asurvey by NationwideBuilding Society, whoalso found that one in fouryoungsters of primaryschool age do not evenknow what a high streetis. More than half havenever visited a laundromat,and nearly half have neverbeen to a florist or key-cutter. The survey comesamidst concerns that thefuture of Britain’s highstreet is bleak. A recentreport by Retail Econom-

ics predicts that half ofUK retail transactions willbe online within a decade,as opposed to a fifth of alltransactions at present. In the past ten years,a number of big chainshave disappeared, includ-ing Woolworths, BHS,and Toy R Us. Mean-while Homebase andMarks & Spencer are clos-ing many shops, and prof-its have dropped at JohnLewis. And little wonder: thesurvey found that 75 per

cent of children said thattheir parents mostlyshopped at a supermarket,and 40 per cent had par-ents who shopped mostlyonline. Meanwhile, MPsare urging towns to devel-op a unique selling pointin order to attract shop-pers.

One third of young children have neverbeen to the butcher’s or greengrocer’s

THE OLD adage that dogstake after their ownersmay be more true that werealise. For a new studyhas found that when dog-owners suffer from on-going anxiety, so do theirdogs. Scientists measuredthe concentration of corti-sol, a stress hormone, bytaking a few centimetresof hair from a number ofdogs and their owners. Adirect correlation betweenthe level of stress in anydog and its owner wasfound. The dog’s characterwas irrelevant, researchers

said. Instead, “we foundthat the levels of longterm cortisol in dog andowner were synchronized.Owners with high cortisollevels have dogs withhigh cortisol levels.” Inother words, owners’ per-sonalities have a huge ef-fect on their dogs. The study was carriedout at a university in Swe-den and published in thejournal Scientific Reform.

When you are stressed,so is your dog! Poster

Found in a French Church(translated)

“When you enter this churchit may be possible that youhear “the call of God”.

However it is unlikely thatHe will call you on yourmobile. Thank you for turn-ing off your phone(s)

If you want to talk to God,enter, choose a quiet placeand talk to Him.

If you want to see Him,send Him a text whilst driv-ing.

Puzzle PageSUDOKU

WORDSEARCHDifficulty level: Easy. Difficulty level: Medium

OCTOBER brings us Harvest, and Psalm 65 expresses it perfectly: “You carefor the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God arefilled with water to provide the people with corn, for so you have ordained it... Now find: Corn, Rain, Mud, Wheat, , Abundance, Goodness, Riches,Pumpkins, , Marrows, Water, Thankful, Food, , Crops , Soften, Carts, Overflow,Praise, Care, Blessing, Meadows, flocks.

Crossword No 27

A few clues may be a bit crypticAnswers on page 8

THE COMMUNITY HALLRegular activities using the facilities

MONDAYNHS Fellowship 12.00 - 15.00 (monthly - 2nd Monday) (Contact: Lynn Frier 01617890231)TUESDAYYoga group 19.30 - 20.30 (Contact: Vicky Greer: 07717717186)WEDNESDAYRainbows & Brownies 17.30 - 19.00 (weekly in term time) (Contact: Sylvia McGreal 01617980057)THURSDAYArchery 13.00 - 15.00 and 19.00 - 21.00 (Contact: Dominic Vaughan 01612116563 or 07934080596)FRIDAYArchery 19.30 - 22.00 (Contact as above)

SUNDAYLittle Gems Sunday School 10.00 - 11.00 am (monthly 1st Sunday) (Contact: Sylvia McGreal 01617980057)VARIOUSPriestley Players Amateur Dramatic Society - request info. (Contact: Roger Partington 01617948266)

BOOKINGSBooking requests, whether for regular or occasional events should beaddressed to Mrs Sheila Jones who can be contacted on 01617892863or 07845492109.

STAFF

SERVICES:

Baptisms, Weddings, Funerals etc. by arrangement with Rev. Thomas who may becontacted by telephone, or in person at Church on Wednesdays from 10-30am

Vicar of St. James & St. John

Churchwardens:Mr. T Palmer,55 East Lancashire Road,Swinton,Manchester,M27 5LYTelephone: 0161 794 2702

Sunday 10.00am Parish Communion

Wednesday 9.30am Holy Communion

Hall Bookings: For bookings and enquiries about the Parish Hall ringMrs. Sheila Jones on 0161 789 2863 or 07845492109E-mail for all church issues: [email protected]

Website: www.saintjameshope.co.uk

Mr Fred Lloyd213 Lancaster RoadPendletonSalfordM6 8WATelephone: 0161 789 3476

Rev. Gareth Thomas91 Broomhall Road,Pendlebury,M27 8XRTelephone: 0161 925 0059

hope herald...page 4 s sept 17th was the day earmarked to produce the wardens’ notes for the hope...

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