The Study Day - 25th June 2008

The study day was an outstanding success with everybody there learning a lot more about their Bible & at the same time sharing some fabulous fellowship with people who we often only see on a Sunday in church.

Peter took us through the Bible as a Life Guide, as well as looking at the Old & New Testament.

It was generally agreed that we ought to try and have another similar day later in the year - so watch this space!

Thanks to Peter for leading the day & to Michael & Jean for being such good hosts.

Songs of Praise - Programme 1

So the day arrived, and we all settled back in our chairs to watch the first of two programmes recorded earlier in the year for Songs of Praise.

We all joined in lustily with the hymns and did some people spotting. And who made the centre stage - yes Paul Gath!! and not once but twice!

Paul will now be accepting invites for personal appearances, supermarket openings & after dinner speeches on - How I was on Songs of Praise from Fuengirola! He will also be signing copies of the service sheet next Sunday, which might make a nice Birthday or Christmas present for that person in your life who has got everything else!!

And then to finish off the day - Spain won 4-2 on penalties!

Study Day - June 25th 2008

Have you 'signed-up' for the study day on Wednesday 25th June -

Details below - it will a good day amongst friends & a time for reflection led by the Chaplain

Catholic Priest asks for information to be put up in his churches

When Paul Gath went to the Church the other day to collect something from our cupboard, the Catholic Priest was working in the vestry & had a chat with Paul.

It seems that the priest has been asked by people if & when there is an English Service in Cómpeta, and so he has asked us if we will produce some posters - in English - to be put on the notice board at the entrance to the church.

But is is better than that even. He told Paul that he also looks after the Catholic Church in Cannillas, Archez & a satelitte congregation somewhere else close by, and if we let him have more posters he will put them up in those churches aswell!!

So, we have produced the posters, laminated them to make them look 'posh' and left them in the Church Vestry last night for the Priest.

We are really pleased about this development, becuase - it spreads the word about our congregation and our services; it is a good example of both faiths working together, and it is a cracking example of ecumenicalism at work (ecumenicalism - big word eh!).

Hopefully, the word will spread in other Catholic Churches, and they will soon be following Cómpeta's lead - where Cómpeta goes today, the rest will follow on later!

Well done Paul, and thanks for practising your Spanish with the Priest!

Chaplaincy Council

The Chaplaincy Council met yesterday, for the first time since the AGM last month. There were two new members of the Council - your own Congregational Warden - Adrian Wilkinson & Stuart Smith from Torre del Mar.

The agenda for the meeting was a mixture of routine business, such as Minutes of the last meeting, Treasurers report, when Mike Smith presented several spreadsheets showing the current state of the Chaplaincy finances, along with new items such as the times of the summer services & a look at priorities & plans for the future.

Rather pleasingly amongst the financial figures was a comparison of offertery giving by each congregation year on year, and Cómpeta for the first 4 months of 2008, showed a 58% increase in its giving compared with the same period last year.

The Council agreed to move forward on a plan to have a look at the publicity for the whole of the Chapliancy , and a small sub-committee is being brought together to produce some proposals.

The Chaplain gave an upbeat Report to Council on his work and progress that he has made with things, such as involvement in wedding & funerals, which had been something of a difficult area to get into. This he told Council had allowed him also to become more involved in each of the local communities that form the Chaplaincy, and to begin to extend his pastoral ministry.

A discussion also took place about the development of the congregation at Torremolinos, which is part of the St. Georges Chaplaincy, and a wide ranging number of views were exchanged, which will in due course allow the Council & the Chaplain to move forward again in this part of the Chaplaincy.

The meeting close with the saying of the Grace.

If you ever want anything to be discussed by the Chaplaincy Council - why not have a word with one of your Congregational Wardens, and ask them to have it put on the Agenda.

Remember - this is your Chaplaincy - your congregation - and TOGETHER we shall move forward in the service of God.

More from 'the blogger' soon!

Today is Trinity Sunday - so what does that mean?

Many of us, have been gong to church since we were children, and have grown up in the faith of Christ. And yet what do we really know about the background to the key dates in our church year?

So this set me thinkinng about Trinity Sunday, and here is the answer -

Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the three Persons of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

In the early Church no special Office or day was assigned for the Holy Trinity. When the Arian heresy was spreading the Fathers prepared an Office with canticles, responses, a Preface, and hymns, to be recited on Sundays. In the Sacramentary of St. Gregory the Great (P.L., LXXVIII, 116) there are prayers and the Preface of the Trinity. The Micrologies (P.L., CLI, 1020), written during the pontificate of Gregory VII (Nilles, II, 460), call the Sunday after Pentecost a Dominica vacans, with no special Office, but add that in some places they recited the Office of the Holy Trinity composed by Bishop Stephen or Liège (903-20). By others the Office was said on the Sunday before Advent. Alexander II (1061-1073), refused a petition for a special feast on the plea, that such a feast was not customary in the Roman Church which daily honoured the Holy Trinity by the Gloria Patri, etc., but he did not forbid the celebration where it already existed. John XXII (1316-1334) ordered the feast for the entire Church on the first Sunday after Pentecost. A new Office had been made by the Franciscan John Peckham, Canon of Lyons, later Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1292). The feast ranked as a double of the second class but was raised to the dignity of a primary of the first class, 24 July 1911, by Pius X (Acta Ap. Sedis, III, 351). Since it was after the first great Pentecost that the doctrine of the Trinity was proclaimed to the world, the feast becomingly follows that of Pentecost.

So now you know!

Chaplaincy Council - Tuesday 20th May 2008

The first meeting of the new Chaplaincy Council will take place next Tuesday at St. Georges, Malaga.

The Council is made up of the Congregational Wardens from each of the churches in the Chaplaincy, plus the Chaplaincy Wardens, Synod representatives, the Honorary Treasurer, the Honorary Secretary, and is chaired by the Chaplain.

It is responsible for overseeing the work & ministry of the Chapliancy, and meets about every six weeks.

We will be featuring a report of the Council's activity at regular intervals on the weblog.