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WINDY NOOK METHODIST CHURCH NEWSLETTER EASTER 2019

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DEAR FRIENDS .. I am not sure how much you like change or whether you feel “familiarity breeds contempt”.

Personally, I am a creature of habit, I choose the same

breakfast cereal perhaps go back to the same restaurant, the one you know the menu off by heart everything is comfortable. Conversely at times I have had great changes in my life and managed to get through them. The world as I write this is, undergoing great change, in Britain we are still trying to decide how we are going to Brexit, New Zealand is coming to terms to how it relates to each other after the mosque shootings and in Mozambique and Zimbabwe they are recovering from the effects of the cyclone. Change however it comes effects peoples’ lives, effects how we think. As we experience the season of Easter can we really imagine the effect, the change it had on the lives of the disciples. They had met this amazing man who had shown them so many things, seen miracles, heard new and significant teaching. He had told them he was the Messiah and surely that must be good, that nothing could harm him surely. They instead saw him arrested and crucified on the cross, that was not how they envisaged the plot working out. They had given up a lot to follow Jesus and then was this the end? With hindsight we know that this was not the end we worship a risen Christ and through this resurrection the disciples would go through their ultimate change from bumbling followers of Christ to the greatest evangelists this world has ever seen. Following Christ is about change but the most significant change is in us as Christ’s disciples as we accept the risen Christ as our saviour.

The disciples now felt empowered not disheartened and we

should seek to the be the same as we seek to do God’s will in our particular lives and context. The challenge to us is that we live as if we follow a risen Christ not one left in the tomb. Easter Blessings to you and your family at this time.

Neil. 2

CAROL SINGING 2222 Carol singing started off well, thanks to help from our local Councillor, Jim Turnbull, who arranged for us to borrow a minibus from the Council’s Transport & Cleansing Department. Unfortunately, it ended up being very hard work! Quite a number of people had asked for their carol to be ‘early’, because of family arrangements, travelling, and children’s bedtimes, which meant a lot of driving around the area. However, by almost 1.00am, most houses were in darkness, the paths were frosty and slippy, and, having been singing since 6.30pm. we were all very cold and exhausted! Sadly, that meant that we didn’t manage to sing at every house we had hoped to visit, but it was very encouraging to hear so many people say their carol had ‘made their Christmas’ (and a few tears as well). We can trace our carol singing back to at least the late 19th century, and in the early days, the singers were all men from the chapel choir. Over the years, this changed to include female voices, especially young people. At first any money raised by the carol singers went to chapel funds, but in the 1950s, John McKie and Davey Stoker suggested it should go to charity, and, even though the choir were worried about how they would afford new music, it was decided to support the National Children’s Homes (now Action for Children). The amount collected for this very worthwhile cause at Christmas 2018 was £1000.40. As well as money from carol singing, this also included the collection at Community Carols, and Edward’s melodeon-busking at Asda and Tesco of over £300. Some generous and encouraging people sent donations even though they hadn’t had their carol, so an especially big thank you to them (as well as to the intrepid singers!). So how can we make it work better this year? We did have an organized itinerary last time, but perhaps we’ll have to ask people for a wider time-scale for their carol. Someone suggested going out in the afternoon as well, but some singers would be at work, and more singing in the afternoon as well as over seven hours at night would probably be too much! Answers on a postcard, please!

Susan Tilley. 3

THE LORD’S SUPPER OR HOLY COMMUNION OR SACRAMENT Some of you may recognise this as being part of the Easter Story when Jesus had a last meal with his closest friends on the evening before Good Friday i.e. Maundy Thursday. During this meal Jesus blessed bread and wine and gave it to his disciples and this became an important part of the early Church. Most of the churches- Catholic, Anglican and Methodist celebrate this occasion with their own version called Holy Communion. At Windy Nook we usually call it communion or sacrament, - an early morning service is held on the first Sunday of the month and we normally have it as part of an evening service once every three months. If you check the plan which can be found at the back of the church you can see exactly when this takes place. In the Anglican and Catholic church someone can be given the bread and wine only if they have been confirmed. In Methodism anyone can take part if they believe in and love Jesus. So why am I telling you about this? Well…. Just to let you know about this part of our chapel life and also if anyone misses this type of service due to ill-health it is possible for us to come to you so you don’t miss out. All you have to do is contact a steward or the minister and we can arrange something. Also if anyone has any questions about this please do not be afraid to speak to a steward or someone who comes to this service. Pauline Dixon

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TAKEN FROM ‘OUR DAILY BREAD’ THE TORN VEIL. It was a dark and sombre day in the outskirts of Jerusalem. On a hill just outside the city walls, a Man who’d been attracting crowds of eager followers for the past three years hung in disgrace and pain on a rough wooden cross. Mourners wept and wailed in sorrow. The light of the sun no longer brightened the afternoon sky. And the intense suffering of the Man on the cross ended when He cried out in a loud voice, ‘It is finished.’ (MATTHEW 27:50; JOHN 19:30) At that very moment, another sound came from the great temple across town - the sound of ripping fabric. Miraculously, without human intervention, the huge, thick veil that separated the outer temple from the holy of holies tore in two from top to bottom. (MATTHEW 27:51) That torn curtain symbolised the reality of the cross, had shed His blood as the last sacrifice - the one true and sufficient sacrifice (HEBREWS 10:10) which allows all who believe in Him to enjoy forgiveness and enter into a relationship with God. (ROMANS 5:6 - 11) Amidst the darkness of that original Good Friday, we received the best news ever - Jesus opened a way for us to be saved from our sins and to experience fellowship with God forever. (HEBREWS 10:19 - 22) Thank God for the message of the torn veil! Dave Branon.

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NEWS FROM OUR BOYS’ BRIGADE Boys’ Brigade have been having a fun time recently with learning more about different bible stories. We have recently finished our topic of Noah and the whale and learning about obedience. The older boys have had chance to do some building. We received a donation from another boys’ brigade where we were given different toys we could build, such as a bubble maker (which Evan has been able to make successfully), building planes and cars. They seemed to enjoy this a lot. We have recently had Denewell boys’ brigade run our nights for three weeks. In this time the boys did a range of different activities. Since then , we have agreed to go on a joint camp with them over Easter weekend at Broomley Grange. We have 5 boys coming to join and we will enjoying our time doing outdoor activities, including zip wiring as well as a walk to the local ice cream farm, Easter egg hunt and building new relationships. As always we are asking for volunteers and helpers at boys’ brigade. Whether it be for once a month or as much as you can commit. It would be extremely helpful. Laura Keith

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NEWS FROM OUR BAND Our good news is that Band has been awarded a grant of £500 from the fund of the High Sheriff of Tyne & Wear. We’ll be using this to help pay for the cost of tuition on drums and trumpets, when a professional musician will come to give lessons to our Band members. This is becoming ever more important because of the work shifts and challenges of those who usually do instrument teaching. It’s certainly a bargain for lessons for those learning their instruments! Our new members are becoming valued members of Band, working hard at their instruments. We’ve got quite a few new tunes we could develop, but ideally need a few more people to learn them!

EASY FUNDRAISING We’ve recently received our easyfundraising cheque for October – December. It was for the excellent total of £135.78, so a huge thank you to everyone who supports chapel in this way. A lot of Christmas shopping must have been done online with companies which support easyfundraising! This is the easiest possible way of raising money – no need to make things, bake, write funding applications, just a few more clicks when you’re buying online anyway. So if you’re about to buy birthday presents, gifts for Mothering Sunday, booking your holidays, renewing your insurance………… go to easyfundraising and get us some free money! 7

LINK TO HOPE SHOE BOXES Hard to believe, but the information and leaflets for 2019’s shoebox appeal has just arrived! There are a couple of changes in the arrangements. There is now a list of ‘Essential’ items for every shoebox, which seems to be the sort of things we’d be including anyway, and then the usual items requested for either a family or an old person’s shoebox. In addition, the donation requested has gone up to £3 per shoebox. This is partly because of the increased cost of transporting the boxes, but also to give those making the deliveries a small amount of cash to help in cases of urgent need that they come across when dropping off a shoebox. They might visit a family or old person who has no food whatsoever, or no warm clothes. Compared to other shoebox appeals, £3 is still cheaper. The Hotter shoe shop in Eldon Square has been very helpful in giving new, empty shoeboxes! And if you come across anything in sales etc which might be good for a shoebox, you’ve got around 7 months to collect them! We did well with 70 shoeboxes last year; let’s make it even better by 5th November 2019! You can read the diary of those who delivered shoeboxes last year at www.linktohope.co.uk Susan Tilley

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CHILDRENS’ EASTER EGG HUNT

Here you are going to hunt for words that you can make using the letters in the words EASTER EGG. 1. Nake a word that describes a wall in China. 5 letters 2. Nake a word for what you put into a car to make it go. 3 letters 3. Nake a word for the direction that is opposite of west. 4 letters 4. Nake a word for the raised platform on which a play is per formed. 5 letters 5. Nake a word that means how old something is. 3 letters 6. Nake a word that means to take a nap. 4 letters 7. Nake a word that means to guide the direction of a car. 5 letters 8. Nake a word that means to welcome somebody. 5 letters 9. Nake a word that describes a tall, woody plant, like an oak. 4 let

ters 10. Nake a word for a rodent. 3 letters Have fun … answers at the bottom of the page. From Karyl

1.GREAT/2.GAS/3.EAST/4.STAGE/5.AGE/6.REST/7.STEER/8.GREET/9.TREE/10.RAT

Answers 9

WHEN IS EASTER ? Unlike Halloween, Christmas and Valentine’s Day which all fall on fixed dates, Easter can fall anytime between March 22nd and April 25th. So, how is the date of Easter decided and why does it change each year? The date is decided by a complex set of calculations based on observations of the moon. In Western Christianity, Easter Sunday must always follow the first full moon after the spring equinox. But, because the precise timing of observing the full moon can vary in each time zone, the church instead calculates the date from the ecclesiastical calendar. Don’t read any more unless you have at least a B in GCSE Maths. They divide 19 normal calendar years into 235 months of 30 and 29 days each, with the ecclesiastical full moon on the 14th day of each lunar month. The ‘paschal full moon’ (meaning Passover) is the one that falls on or after the spring equinox on March 21st. Easter day is the first Sunday after the paschal full moon. So if the full moon is on a Sunday, Easter will be a week later. Are you still keeping up? The latest Easter in recent years was April 23rd in the year 2000 and the earliest was March 23rd in 2008. It will not fall in March again until 2024, when it is on March 31st. In 1943 a full moon fell on March 20th, just before the equinox, so the paschal full moon was the next one on April 18th. This was a Sunday so Easter was seven days later on April 25th. It will not be this late again until 2038.

From Karyl.

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MAKE YOUR OWN EASTER CROSS Cut 2 pieces of paper 30 x 2cms and join together to form a 58 x 2cm strip as shown in the diagram No. 1. If using patterned paper, start with the pattern side face down. 1 - Make a diagonal fold near the middle of the strip so that the top part of the strip extends out to the right. 2 - Fold C over B so that the top of strip extends to the left. 3 - Fold C end under B so that top of strip extends to the right again. 4 - Fold A under B and through slot and pull tight (shape looks almost the same but B now has more slots). 5 - Bring A end up and through bottom slot at B and pull half way through and tuck A into top slot at B. 6 - Bring C end over and through right slot at B and pull half way through and glue C onto B to complete the pattern. To hold it together I added a brad through point B. Because of the sharp edges on the brads, these crosses are not suitable for children.

From Karyl. 11

GOOD FRIDAY and EASTER SERVICES

Share this important weekend with us we would love to see you!

GOOD FRIDAY 19th April Words & music for the day

10.30 am 6.30pm

Time to reflect on what happened … for all ages Words and music from our choir and guest soloists Followed by faith supper

EASTER SUNDAY 21st April Jesus is alive – for us!

6.30am 9.30am 10.30am 6.00pm

Sunrise service at Whitehills Communion at chapel Morning worship & fellowship, with refreshments and crafts Revd Neil Maynard

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