Happy Christmas

Happy

Christmas

Christmas Lunch at Shepherd's Dene

We like our food at St Hilda's.  No sooner was one Christmas meal digested than we were off for another, this time at Shepherd's Dene,

We'd made our choice of menu some time ago and, of course, I couldn't remember.

But Ann Brown, who organised the trip, had it all down to a fine art: when we got on the bus she gave us all a note of what we'd ordered along with a quiz and a raffle ticket.

I had pate, turkey and crumble and all were excellent.

I managed a few quiz questions, but mostly I sat and relaxed after a large lunch.

Shepherd's Dene is the Newcastle Diocese retreat house. Its 2015 programme is here (.pdf) or see their events page

The staff were pleasant and efficient, the setting was delightful, and a very good time was had by all.

Paul Bagshaw

Public meeting in preparation for a new Bishop

PUBLIC MEETING: 

All are welcome to meet

• Caroline Boddington (Appointments Secretary of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York) and 
• Edward Chaplin (Prime Minister’s Appointments Secretary) 

to ask questions about the process of appointing the next Bishop of Newcastle and to express views about the needs of the Church, the Diocese and the region they serve.

The two Appointments Secretaries will be answering questions and listening carefully to views expressed as the process of identifying the next Bishop of Newcastle continues.

Date: Wednesday 14 January 2015

Time: 7.00pm (in order to avoid rush hour on the A1 and around Newcastle)

Venue: Newcastle Falcons Gold South Suite (First Floor), Brunton Road, Kenton Bank Foot, Newcastle upon Tyne NE13 8AF.

The first woman bishop in the Church of England

The appointment of the first woman bishop in the Church of England has been announced.

Rev Libby Lane is to be Bishop of Stockport, suffragan to the Bishop of Chester.

There are reports in the Church Times, Guardian (and a profile), Independent, Telegraph and elsewhere.

From the Diocese of Chester:

Rev Libby Lane. The first woman bishop in the Church of England 

On the announcement being made of her new ministry as a suffragan (area) bishop,

Libby said: 

“It’s a great honour to be nominated as Bishop elect to the See of Stockport.
I am grateful for, though somewhat daunted by, the confidence placed in me by the Diocese of Chester. This is unexpected and very exciting. On this historic day as the Church of England announces the first woman nominated to be Bishop, I am very conscious of all those who have gone before me, women and men, who for decades have looked forward to this moment. But most of all I am thankful to God. 

“The church faces wonderful opportunities, to proclaim afresh, in this generation, the Good News of Jesus and to build His Kingdom. The Church of England is called to serve all the people of this country, and being present in every community, we communicate our faith best when our lives build up the lives of others, especially the most vulnerable. I am excited by the possibilities and challenges ahead.

“It is a particular privilege to be nominated to serve as Bishop among people I have come to know and love over many years; in Stockport, in the Trafford and Cheshire East boroughs. The Diocese of Chester encompasses widely diverse communities, socially, economically, geographically—and the church is here for every one of them.
“I am encouraged by the affirmation and support of colleagues with whom I shall be working. And I am very aware of how great a resource we have in the clergy and people of the churches in this diocese, who every day by their actions make a difference for good.”

The Bishop of Chester, the Rt Revd Dr Peter Forster, said: 

“Libby has had a varied and distinguished ministry, and is currently a first-rate parish priest. She has already demonstrated her ability to contribute nationally through her representative role in the House of Bishops, on behalf of the north-west England dioceses.

“As the first woman bishop in the Church of England she will face many challenges as well as enjoying many opportunities to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ. I have no doubt that she has the gifts and determination to be an outstanding bishop. 

“I am delighted at her designation as Bishop of Stockport after a lengthy process of discernment across the Church of England and beyond.”

Channel 4 News puts Libby Lane's appointment in a global and multi-religious context: women are taking leading roles in Islam, Bhuddism, Judaism as well as Christianity, albeit generally at the very edges of each faith.

Advent 3, 2014

For this Advent we have four different preachers who are all part of St Hilda's Church. There was no specific theme or brief beyond, of course, 'Advent' itself.

Advent 3 

• Who was John the Baptist? He himself said he was not Elijah (the precursor to the messiah), nor the promised prophet. (John 1:19 and onwards)
• Then who was he? He was, he said, a voice saying: get ready for the coming Messiah.
• But what about the baptism? That was for outsiders who wished to join the Jewish faith. Not for Jews. John does not answer directly. Instead he says ''I am not fit to untie the straps of his sandals" - the most menial of a slave's tasks.

And our Advent task too is to be prepared, spiritually, to walk with Christ

Carol Ann Shields
----------------
We'll post brief notes of the sermons each week, just to give a flavour. As the weeks go by and Christmas comes closer we'll link each post to the others.

Advent 1: November 30th - Revd Michael Bass
Advent 2: December 7th - Revd Paul Bagshaw
Advent 3: December 14th - Carol Ann Shields
Advent 4: December 21st - Revd Jon Goode

Monkhouse School - La Nativité

We were delighted to welcome Monkhouse Primary School to St Hilda's Church for their Christmas nativity.

Children, staff, parents, grandparents and supporters packed the church and joined in with singing some of the carols.

The children were the stars. They sang tunefully and enthusiastically. They spoke with confidence and clarity. They all seemed to have enjoyed themselves as they told the  Christmas story.

And they did this all in French, as befits a school building international links and perspective.

Advent 2, 2014

For this Advent we have four different preachers who are all part of St Hilda's Church. There was no specific theme or brief beyond, of course, 'Advent' itself.

Advent 2 

Advent is a spiritual journey:

• John the Baptist's journey was from the settled community into the desert, where (like the prophets of old) he met God. 
• Jesus travelled in the opposite direction. After 40 days in the wilderness he journeyed around the area before setting out for the city, Jerusalem. More specifically he travelled into the heart of God's city, to the holiest place on earth: God's temple set on his holy mountain.
• Our journey is different again: to see a little baby. To see God in the smallest, most vulnerable, most dependant person. Our spiritual journey is to be born again, and to become like a little child. 

Paul Bagshaw
----------------
We'll post brief notes of the sermons each week, just to give a flavour. As the weeks go by and Christmas comes closer we'll link each post to the others.

Advent 1: November 30th - Revd Michael Bass
Advent 2: December 7th - Revd Paul Bagshaw
Advent 3: December 14th - Carol Ann Shields
Advent 4: December 21st - Revd Jon Goode

Christmas Dinner

Enjoying a dance

Christmas dinner at St Hilda's was a wonderful evening.

We - about 65 of us - had an excellent roast turkey dinner with sprouts and carrots, sausage, stuffing and roast potatoes all supplied by Charles Nicholson's of Whitley Bay, and followed by individual trifles made by one of the church members.

Tucking in, and entertained by

Entertainment was provided by Glen Courtney from Durham who sang a range of popular songs from past decades. We joined in with some, danced to others, and listened to them all.

(He was very good, but I couldn't see any page to link to - if you know a relevant link for him I'd be happy to include it.)

Some of the workers ready and waiting for the crowd

Lottery prizes were won and distributed during the evening - including the very tasteful table decorations. Crackers were pulled, paper hats were worn, dreadful jokes were explained and everyone went home happy and full.

Thanks to all those who worked hard to who prepare everything and who cleared up afterwards - their labours were much appreciated.

Opinion: What is the Church of England like?

A Church Times article pointed to a YouGov page called 'profiler'. You can type in a label - "Church of England" perhaps, and the likes and characteristics of those who 'like' that label are compared to the general population.

So I looked at 'Church of England'  (1187 people), 'Church of Scotland' (139 people)  and 'Roman Catholic' (104 people). Methodist and Baptist don't appear on the list.

Politically CofE people were a little to the right of centre, CofS people a fraction to the left of centre, whereas the RCs were very strongly to the right. Readers of the Church Times, however, were significantly further to the right than Church of England members in general

For both RCs and the  CofE the North East was the third most significant region. (Curiously London, for the CofE, was significantly below the level that might be expected.)

Gender: all three churches have more than average men and fewer women. All had more in social classes ABC1 Age: all had fewer young people than expected but this was very strongly pronounced in the CofE.

Members' occupations were quite varied though The Church of Scotland had a significantly high number of members in the military, Roman Catholics had a strong showing in mining and quarrying, and the CofE in Civil Society and Charity.

And it's the Church of Scotland members who are the most comfortable financially - noticeably above the other two.

Lifestyle preferences vary considerably, as might be expected given the range of things to choose from. Unsurprisingly 'religion and  Spirituality' figure at the top of general interests for all three groups.

There was one further very significant difference between RCs and CofE on the one hand and CofS on the other in the  area of media. Whereas members of the first two churches spend 11-15 hours a week online, for CofS respondents it was 46-50 hours. And although RCs watch more television that the CofE, neither comes near the 50+ hours of the Church of Scotland.

Of course, what you make of all this is another questions altogether.  And in some areas numbers must have been quite small which makes any conclusion unreliable.

But: the favourite food of Church of England participants was liver and onions, jam tarts were favourite for Roman Catholics, and Church of Scotland participants went for Lorne sausage (by a long way). Church Times readers preferred faggots (links for US readers). Explain that.

Advent in South Africa

The Archbishop of Cape Town, of The Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Thabo Makgoba, has begun to put his advent reflections online.

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba

He has a tougher patch than most bishops in the UK.

His most recent post describes some of his recent travels and links to various activities in the archdiocese. 

It includes:

I was particularly moved by one of the events I attended this year, when I heard the story of a girl, Nadia, who is a survivor of human trafficking. 

She was abducted from her home at the age of 14. By the age of 16, she had had two children as a result of the abuse she suffered. As she told her story and read a “survivor’s poem” we were all reduced to tears. Her story was painful in itself but what was more piercing was when she said: 

And so Nadia’s story will remain with me as I continue to reflect on the Incarnate Christ in our lives, and His redemptive love, shared by Nadia, who has all the reason in the world to be angry but who challenged us to smile with her. 

“Please do me a favour – smile with me. Because your smile and your hope and your determination make me stronger. If you collapse and cry with me, you make my wounds too deep.”

I think that is in Nadia that our Christmas message lies this year: that despite being raped, exiled, abducted, trafficked and abused, the Christ Child emerges and offers us that hope which supersedes all human understanding.

Advent 1, 2014

For this Advent we have four different preachers who are all part of St Hilda's Church.

There was no specific theme or brief beyond, of course, 'Advent' itself.

We'll post brief notes of the sermons each week, just to give a flavour.  As the weeks go by and Christmas comes closer we'll link each post to the others. 

Advent 1

Advent and love

Advent is about the coming of love. 

We are all interested in the future but are often not sure what it will bring. Looking at the calendar we know that Christmas comes on 25th December. So we need to prepare. 

Despite the commercial pressures we have four weeks to get ready in our hearts and minds for the gift of love. 

We are preparing for the birth of Jesus Christ, Son of God, and Saviour of the world. 

We need to prepare a place for Christ to be born in our hearts.  

We need to seek forgiveness of our sins so that we are pure to receive God's gift of love. 

Here are two statements to think about as you prepare.

1. Love is the only rational option

1. Love wins: love always wins.

Michael Bass
----------------------
The posts in this series:

Advent 1: November 30th - Revd Michael Bass
Advent 2: December 7th - Revd Paul Bagshaw
Advent 3: December 14th - Carol Ann Shields
Advent 4: December 21st - Revd Jon Goode

Advent Calendar

Virtually everything's virtual these days.

The Church Urban Fund's virtual Advent Calendar will reveal prayers, pictures, activities and reflections that all of your family will enjoy ~ one picture released each day so there's no chance of getting to the chocolates early.

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?” 

“When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”  Matthew 25:37-40

Get the first window opened today.

Advent

Paula Gooder and Peter Babington, with the Archbishop of York.



Advent starts this Sunday - in St Hilda's we open the season with the children lighting the first of the Advent candles.

Reflection: Judgement: scale and perspective

Some thoughts triggered by Isaiah 40 and 41: 

The Last Judgement. Jean Cousin the Younger, The Louvre.

Judgement has been a bit of a theme in the weeks leading up to the end of the liturgical year,

We all judge others much of the time. It's a key way in which. as social animals, we locate ourselves in relation to other people. It is a continuous, instinctive  and potentially emotional process.

But Christians use the term in other ways, not least to know oneself (or to place oneself) over against God. This shifts the frame of reference from other people to God who is beyond us.

Secular judgement
In our secular society judgement too has been secularized.

In part this is a conscious rejection of earlier Christian teaching which equated divine judgement with a question of morality: was our behaviour - and our intent - acceptable to God?

There is nothing wrong with this question in itself. The false step was to seek to answer it for other people. Those who had power in the Church assumed that such power meant that they were able to speak and judge on God's behalf. And all too often they equated their grasp of God's judgement with the condemnation of others. They forgot first, that none of us can speak for God and, second, that the Christian God is a God of love with a presumption in favour of compassion and forgiveness.

We are known utterly by God, and  loved.

In our secular judgement we try not to use irrelevant criteria (skin colour, for example) but we're quite happy to use money - wealth and income - as a basis for (and evidence of) public judgement.

It's easier to see this by reversing the telescope: it's the poor that get's the blame. Those who have a little look down on those who have less. Housing, for example, could be a fundamental human right. Instead those who become homeless are regarded with disdain.

This is a very secular form of judgement which says little or nothing about morality and everything about material gain.

Our secular judgements give us ways to know who we are in relation to others in part - whether we like it or not - by 'irrelevant' dimensions (gender, ethnicity, disability, age etc.) and in part by where we locate ourselves on the scales of wealth and income.

Divine judgement

We are utterly insignificant in the universe
and precious in God's sight.

But if we place ourselves over against God we inherently judge ourselves very differently. After all, money is irrelevant to God.

First, God, who is perfection, puts all of us in the shade.

We are, so to speak, spiritually turned inside out: the public and personal skin by which we protect ourselves from others is stripped away and we are known to our core.

Our smallness, inadequacy, self-centredness is exposed to our own sight.

This has to be a scary place. All our instincts are to protect ourselves, to assert our own worth and our value to others, to construct a 'self' comfortable to ourself and to others. Our skin is there for good reason: to protect what is vulnerable.

Scale and perspective
It is very easy in both public and personal judgement to get everything out of perspective: to only condemn (ourselves and others) or to only excuse.

What I took from Isaiah 40 was to hold together first the greatness of God and the tininess of humanity - not least the self-important:

He [God] brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. (40: 23, 24, NIV)

And, the second thing was to hold together both judgement and forgiveness, condemnation and affirmation.

I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (41: 9b, 10, NIV)

If we don't hold the opposites together - God's overwhelming greatness and his affirming love for each one us - our collective and personal failure and inadequacy and acceptance that we are forgiven and loved - then we distort and diminish both God and ourselves.

To know that we are judged and forgiven by God is to step out of the secular frame of judgement (at least for a while) and to set our selves in a different, spiritual, framework by which we know who we are in ourselves and in the world.

“People to whom sin is just a matter of words, to them salvation is just words too.”
― William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying

Making Winter Warmer

Making Winter Warmer helps support those who are homeless and sleeping on the streets this winter in Newcastle and Gateshead.

The project was set up in 2013 by Kerry Lister-Pattinson and her friend Jo-Anne Burns. Vimeo clip

If you would like to help, or for more information, email Kerry at makingwinterwarmer@gmail.com

Rucksacks of help
The pack rucksacks full of donated items and give them out to those who need them:

Kerry Lister-Pattinson with some of the donations
(c) The Journal

“They’re not necessarily for homeless people, although the majority of people we help do fall in to that category,” says Kerry. “If people need help they need help. We’ll not turn somebody away just because they’re not homeless.”

Kerry, 29, said: “We make up around 15 to 20 rucksacks on a Thursday, plus dozens of orders we receive when we are out the Saturday before. But the main thing for us is to be there for them and just be people. 

“I don’t want to say: ‘There you go, there’s your rucksack. Bye’. A lot of the people we help just want somebody to talk to them and acknowledge them. They feel embarrassed taking things, but value it more if you actually speak to them like human beings.”

The team are looking for:

Rucksack/Holdall/Small Suitcase  ~ Sleeping Bag 

Fleece  ~ Jacket  ~ Coat  ~ T-shirts  ~ Underwear  ~ Jumper  ~ Trousers

Hat  ~ Gloves  ~ Socks

Flask

Tins of soup (ring pull)  ~ Snacks (non-perishable)

Baby wipes  ~ Tissues  ~ Toothbrush & paste  ~ Deodorant  ~ Comb/brush

Spoon  ~ Bottled water  ~ Hand warmers

Understanding the problems
The work has also led the organisers to challenge some of the myths about homelessness and to question the approach of Newcastle City Council.

By no means all those homeless and on the streets are criminals. And the practice of repeatedly moving people on, or banning people from the City centre for a period, simply move people around and do nothing to address the underlying problems.

Kerry Lister-Pattinson (left) and Maria Wright
(c) the Journal

New Hope for Children

For some years St Hilda's has supported New Hope for Children.  This is a charity working with street children in Colombia.

children's party
(c) New Hope for Children

Just recently we welcomed Richard Sanderson and his son to give a presentation on the work.

We learnt they were soon to open a new house for the children in Bogota, we watched a film about the work and heard about their challenges and successes.

The main areas of activity include:

3 Children's Homes for 100 children from 0-Adults,

A school for 185 children. This is for the 100 resident children and 85 others who come from very poor areas of the city. The school is currently ranked "Above Superior", 

Hunger Relief - preparing 600 meals a day, 

The Medical Mission 2011
(c) New Hope for Children

Humanitarian Outreach - helping many poor families with donations or clothes, food, baby packs etc.... 

Health Care: the last Medical Mission helped almost 6,000 people in 9 days, 

Evangelism: sharing the life changing word of God with the children and others.

We wish them every blessing in their work and look forward to Richard's return to St Hilda's in autumn 2015.

Emergency Use Only

Tressell Trust, along with Oxfam, Child Poverty Action and the Church of England have produced a study of why people went to food banks:

Emergency Use Only: 

Understanding and reducing the use of food banks in the UK

The looked at data from 900 people using food banks, and from 178 people who had used an advice service at one food bank. They conducted interviews with  40 people.

Their main conclusion is summed up in the report's title. People use food banks because they are desperate.

Summary of key findings (From the Executive Summary of the report) Full report here (120 pages).

1. People interviewed for this research turned to food banks as a last resort, when other coping strategies had failed or were overstretched. 

Tressell Trust food bank - report cover

Deciding to accept help from a food bank was often difficult, and was described by participants as being ‘unnatural’, ‘embarrassing’ and ‘shameful’.  

2. Most food bank users were facing an immediate, acute financial crisis – either a complete loss of income or a very significant reduction in their income had left them at crisis point, with little or no money to put food on the table.  

3. The acute crises people faced could be prompted by a sudden loss of earnings, or a change in family circumstances such as bereavement or homelessness.

However, for between half and two-thirds of the people included in this research, the immediate income crisis was linked to the operation of the benefits system (with problems including waiting for benefit payments, sanctions, or reduction in disability benefits) or tax credit payments.  

4. The emergency support available to people at a time of crisis was not sufficient to prevent them having to turn to a food bank. 

Many participants were not aware of the various emergency payments available in

different circumstances, and even fewer were receiving them. 

Only half (or less) of the users we spoke to knew they could seek support from the Local Welfare Assistance Scheme; very few of those potentially eligible had been awarded short-term benefit advances or hardship payments. 

============

Yesterday was the feast of Christ the King. I can only think that Christ is weeping.

It is shameful that the authorities of such a rich nation should reduce its citizens to seeking food from strangers - and so often because of the actions of the government's own welfare agency.

Opinion: it's a secular country

The Huffington Post (UK edition) has commissioned a sociological study of attitudes to religion in the UK.

Bringing the Faith to the Heathen (Mexico)
(c) Adam Jones

It should worry all of us who are committed members of a faith not least because it reinforces other, earlier, surveys.

Amongst the findings::

• "More than half of Britons believe that religion does more harm than good, with less than a quarter believing faith is a force for good, ..."
• "Even 20% of British people who described themselves as being 'very religious' said religion was harmful to society, and a quarter of [them] said atheists were more likely to be moral individuals than religious people."
• "Of the 2,004 people surveyed in the HuffPost/Survation poll, 56% described themselves as Christian, 2.5% were Muslim, 1% were Jewish and the remainder were of another faith or none."

What seems a little more hopeful (at least from my perspective) was the finding that:

• "Young people are actually more likely to have a positive view of religion. Around 30% of 18-24 year old believe religion does more good than harm, compared to just 19% of 55-64 year-olds."

but, of course, this can't tell us which way young people will move as they grow older. It is the age group least likely to be present in church.

All of which leaves religious folk a number of problems, amongst them:

• We are at some point in a long-term trend away from religious sensibility to an increasing secularity. 
• The legacy of Christian buildings, communities, public symbols and stories is clearly more or less irrelevant to the challenge.
• The language of faith is inaudible and/or incomprehensible to a growing majority of people - not just archaic (traditional) language, but any language of faith.

In practice we - Christians - live and hide in our own little encampments. We tend to be much more concerned to defend our own particular and local church than to be expansive in our sharing of faith. We pour energy into internal conflicts (as Christians always have) and sometimes even convince ourselves that our fights matter.   

And none of this should be surprising. We feel beleaguered, discarded, unappreciated, unmourned. Therefore the emotionally-reasonable reaction is to step back into what we know, what we've always done, including our own internal squabbles: it's where we're safe, comfortable and know where we stand. 

It's no use, of course. It's  just hiding under the blanket and pretending that the storm will pass. It won't.

At the very least we have to step out of our shells and risk getting soaked. I think it's time to stop talking (and certainly stop preaching) and to start listening. Just as a beginning.  

Paul Bagshaw

Looking for a new Bishop

From the Diocese of Newcastle website

Vacancy in See Committee

Helping to find the twelfth Bishop of Newcastle

The Vacancy in See Committee is charged with writing a Statement of Need which will be used to help to find the next Bishop of Newcastle. To help to inform the Committee with its work a survey has been created and this provides you with an opportunity to highlight the qualities and skills you would expect to find in the next Bishop of Newcastle.

Use this link to complete the survey: www.surveymonkey.com/s/newbishop

The survey will be closed at midnight on Sunday 7th December 2014.

Some information about the Survey

There are five sections to the survey:

1. Spirituality, Theology and Faith
2. People Skills
3. Leadership
4. A Voice for the North
5. A Practical Bishop

The survey is anonymous but participants are asked to complete some general information about themselves (eg age range, gender, rural/suburban/urban location) before the completed survey can be submitted. The data collected through the survey will be used to help to inform the Committee's work. Please note, the Committee will not enter into communication or dialogue about the questions it has posed and data collected through the survey will be stored securely and deleted after the Committee has completed its work.

The Committee would like to thank all participants for their contributions to the survey and for taking the time to respond to this survey.

The survey will be closed at midnight on Sunday 7th December 2014.

God's Gardeners

St Hilda's gardeners win 1st place 

in the Places of Worship Category 

of North Tyneside in Bloom 2014

Mac Squires, Austin Hordon, Frank Clayforth and Rev Michael Bass
St Hilda's prize winning gardeners

The team (pictured) meets for about an hour and a half every Tuesday morning and over four years has transformed the garden into a prize-winning delight.

After three previous attempts this year’s success is marked with a certificate, a silver salver and garden vouchers. They also won the appreciation of the congregation and many who pass by along the busy Preston North Road, some of whom will stop for a chat.

In 2015 the team plans a block-paved memorial section in front of the tree seat where people come and sit to enjoy a moment of peace.

Bishop Martin's retirment

After 17 years as Bishop of this diocese, Martin Wharton retires at the end of this month. Following his farewell service in Newcastle Cathedral he  gave the City of Newcastle a blessing from Cathedral Square. (Photos from the service.)

Tributes have been given in a number of places, amongst them:

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, in General Synod 

The Journal

from the Chronicle

The Chronicle 

National Wind Watch In 2013 he told The Journal that it was his Christian duty to speak out against turbines, which he felt were turning the rural North East into a “disfigured industrial landscape”. This led to his largest postbag ever from people on both sides of the debate.

Brief Biography (the Journal)

Bishop Martin was born in 1944 in Ulverston in what was then Lancashire, and after attending the local grammar school went to Van Mildert College, Durham, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics, politics and sociology in 1969. 

He then went to Linacre College, Oxford, where he received a bachelor’s degree in theology and a Master of Arts in 1971. A year later he became a curate in Birmingham, before moving to a church in Croydon. Between 1977 and 1983 he was Director of Pastoral Studies at Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford, and between 1983 and 1992 he was the Director of Ministry and Training in the Diocese of Bradford and a residentiary canon of Bradford Cathedral. 

In 1992, he became area Bishop of Kingston-upon-Thames until he was appointed the 11th Bishop of Newcastle in 1997.

Bishop Martin in the House of Lords (BBC)

New Bishop
Now the search is beginning for a new bishop - though it may well be over a year before anyone  is appointed. Newcastle is the third Diocese (after Gloucester and Oxford) which will be able to choose a woman diocesan bishop.

The public is being consulted on what qualities they would look for in a bishop.

However the process itself is conducted in conditions of utmost secrecy (Wikipedia).  We wait and pray.

Welcome

On St Hilda's day 19th November  2014, welcome to our new blog.

St Hilda of Whitby

St Hilda's Church is a cheerful, warm and welcoming Church of England Church in North Tyneside, not far from the North Sea Coast.

There's a street view picture here.

Hilda was a local saint (Wikipedia) and we are proud to worship in a church dedicated to her.

Bede's Ecclesiastical History says of her:

Christ's servant, Abbess Hilda, whom all her acquaintances called Mother because of her wonderful devotion and grace, was not only an example of holy life to members of her own community; for she also brought about the salvation and amendment of many living at a distance, who heard the inspiring story of her industry and goodness.

Her life was the fulfilment of a dream which her mother Breguswith has when Hilda was an infant, during the time that her husband Hereric was living in banishment under the protection of the British king Cerdic, where he died of poison.

In this dream she fancied that he was suddenly taken away, and although she searched everywhere she could find no trace of him, 

When all her efforts had failed, she discovered a most valuable jewel under her garments; and as she looked closely, it emitted such a brilliant light that all Britain was lit by its splendour. This dream was fulfilled in her daughter, whose life afforded a shining example not only to herself but to all who wished to live a good life.

Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Trans. Leo Sherley-Price, Revised R.E. Latham, Penguin Books, Revised edn. 1990, pp 245-6.

Breguswith had another daughter, Hereswith. Though she too became a saint she seems to have been almost wholly eclipsed by Hilda.