| Volume 14 No. 40 | Friday 30 August 2024 |
The Friday ThoughtNews filters down to this part of Berkhamsted that there is an election going to happen in the far-off United States. It seems everyone knows all about Donald Trump, but Kamala Harris is being urged to tell everyone about herself. Personality matters, it seems. I remember being told off by a parishioner who said that I never spoke about myself. Since then times have changed. Who can possibly be more interesting?! Prompted not only by the American election campaign but by visits to art galleries where notices tell you more than you need to know about the artist whose picture you are looking at – well, trying to look at because the picture is usually blocked by the people reading the notices. Statues now need to have an explanation or even an apology attached because you must know a person who was worthy of a statue being displayed was once involved in something nasty. We are gripped by the doings of people who have power in society; not their competence, but their personal life. It was hard for me being a subject of personal interest as a parish priest and imagine it is more than hard being in the national public eye. The church has been caught up in this over the centuries. Just the other day we remembered St Augustine, a bishop in North Africa in the fifth century. He had an exotic, if not scandalous personal life, before he became a Christian and was ordained which adds to his reputation as wonderful scholar and teacher of the Christian faith. Mind you, he made the most of that in his “Confessions”. About people in the New Testament, of whom we know little, if anything, of their personal life, the temptation has been to make it up to enhance their reputation, for good or bad. I am inclined to say that it kind of matters. A person’s personal life obviously matters very much to their nearest and dearest and to the people around them every day, but if someone does what is good, creative, beautiful then does that not stand in its own right and should be judged for what it is? Jesus tackled this problem by simply saying that a bad tree produces bad fruit, a good tree produces good fruit. That puts it rather starkly, because we know we are all a mixture: we have our good points and, yes, some of us are not too good sometimes. Another quotation, “By their fruits you shall know them”, is perhaps a better point of view for judging people in public life. The less pressure, criticism, on the personal life of people in the public spotlight the better. If the constant exposure of what could be private is reduced I believe more people of good will and talent would put themselves forward for public service. In the meanwhile people of creativity and skill but who value the privacy of their families and themselves will keep their heads down and the rest of us will certainly be much poorer for that.
Church news & notices Saturday 7 September at 10:30 am
Walsingham Cell MassThere will be a Walsingham Cell Mass in the Lady Chapel. All are welcome. | Sunday 8 September at 9:30 am
Blessing of the backpacksTo mark the start of the new school year, we’re inviting schoolchildren to come and have their school bags blessed during the 9:30am Sunday service. It's a lovely way to mark September's new beginnings with prayer, and to inspire our young people to start their new term in hope and confidence. | Sunday 15 September at 3:00 pm
Churches Together in Berkhamsted Litter Pic(nic)Members of churches from across Berkhamsted will be meeting for a family picnic near the Canal Fields playground at 3pm. Each church group will be making its way to the picnic from their own church, picking litter on the way. If you'd like to join, our group will be leaving St Peter's at 2.30pm.
For more details please speak to Fr Stuart. Contact:  Send an email to: Fr Stuart
| Saturday 12 October at 7:00 pm
Harvest Festival Night DinnerThere will be another fundraising meal in the Court House to for raise money for the Roof Funds. We would welcome any meal donations for that night . Please contact Carolynne if you can help to support this event: Contact: Send an email to: Carolynne Charman |
 Diocesan news
Monday 18 November at 7:00 pm
St Albans Diocesan Inter Faith Event 2024This Diocesan Inter Faith Week (IFW) Event 2024 at St Albans Cathedral will bring people of different faiths together to share stories and experiences with one another. Let us inspire one another by meeting and networking with friends & invited guests from different faiths, cultures and ethnicities from across St Albans Diocese, also joined by our ecumenical partners, civic dignitaries, and political representatives. Parking is FREE at Civic Centre Multi-storey Car park (AL1 3JS) after 6.30pm. For more information, speak to Fr David. Contact: Send an email to: Fr David  tinyurl.com/4d7rs44f
| Cathedral Tower ToursSt Albans Cathedral are running guided tours up the Norman Tower throughout the summer. Visitors will see the Roman brickwork, the Medieval painted ceiling, the bellringing chamber, and of course a breathtaking view over the City of St Albans right out to the City of London. Adults £15, concessions £12 - advance booking is essential: www.stalbanscathedral.org/Event | Saints in Colour at the CathedralThe Wallingford Screen in St Albans Cathedral is again being illuminated this summer in a series of special displays, digitally recreating the colourful medieval paintwork that once adorned this magnificent stone screen. The displays will be available to view daily for 10 minutes at 11am (except Sunday), 2.15pm and 3.45pm. www.stalbanscathedral.org/Event | Evening Pilgrimages at St Albans CathedralPilgrimage is a reflection of our journey through life, which is ultimately to God. Our great cathedrals and churches were built to inspire and encourage pilgrims on this journey, with a vision of beauty and holiness, pointing to our heavenly destination. St Albans Cathedral are offering free guided walks through the Cathedral in October and November, accompanied by historical insights, prayers, and silence. They start with light refreshments in the Welcome Centre, and end with Compline by candlelight and a visit to the Shrine of St Alban. The pilgrimages are suitable for parishes, ecumenical groups, prayer groups, deaneries and individuals. Visit the cathedral website for dates and booking details: ow.ly/TLN850T8QmX |
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Berkhamsted community news & events Friday 30 August at 7:30 pm
Nettleden Church Jazz NightTJ Johnson and his Jazz & Blues Band will be appearing at the Church of St Lawrence in Nettleden for an evening of music. Bar and food in the churchyard from 6:30pm, ample parking. Tickets are £20. To book in advance, please email: Contact: Send an email to: | Sunday 1 September
Hospice of St Francis Garden Party at Ashridge The Hospice of St Francis Garden is this Sunday! There will be a shopping village, food & drink stalls, puppet shows, craft activities, face painting, and of course a dog show! Advance tickets are now on sale online for £7.00, under-18s £3.00 - all proceeds go to the Hospice of St Francis.
www.stfrancis.org.uk/events | Friday 6 September - Sunday 15 September
Heritage Open Days 2024 Online booking is now open for the 2024 Heritage Open Days, with historic sites opening to visitors right across England. Get out and discover your local history! Once again, our own Dr Christopher Green will be conducting a tour of St Peter's Church, and there will be opportunities to look inside Berkhamsted Place, Berkhamsted Castle, the Foundling Hospital (now Ashlyns School), Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted School and the BFI, plus guided tours around the town, a railway walk, a canal tour and much more - all for free! There will also be tours of historic sites in Tring and Chesham. Pick up a list at the back of church. Tours get booked up very quickly, so reserve your places via the Heritage Open Days website today!
tinyurl.com/yc899bxc | Saturday 7 September - Sunday 29 September
Herts Open StudiosExplore an art trail across Hertfordshire as local artists open their studios to visitors. View their paintings, drawings, crafts and sculptures, and maybe even treat yourself to a piece of art! Find artists' studios, exhibitions and events on the Herts Visual Arts website and plan your trail! www.hvaf.org.uk/our-events | Saturday 7 September
A Choral CelebrationBerkhamsted Choral Society invites you to a concert of uplifting choral classics including Handel's glorious coronation anthem The King Shall Rejoice, and pieces by Haydn, Purcell Fauré, Palestrina, Brahms, Brucker, Mozart and many more. Advance tickets £20 (under-18s free) are available from Brown & Merry Estate Agents or online: tktp.as/EBWSZO | Saturday 7 September - Tuesday 10 September
Heritage Open Days cemetery tourThe Friends of St Peter's invite you to a free tour of the historic Rectory Lane Cemetery for Heritage Open Days. The theme this year is "Routes, Networks, Connections", and the tour will take in the stories of some of those buried here, revealing how their everyday walking and transport routes throw a light on bygone Berkhamsted. Book on the Saturday or Tuesday afternoon tour, By Road, Rail and Water - to the ultimate destination! via the Eventbrite website, or contact the Ranger: Contact: Send an email to: Kate Campell, Ranger www.rectorylanecemetery.org.uk/ | Sunday 8 September at 2:30 pm
Eco Hub talk: Climate JusticeOn Sunday 8th Sept at Berkhamsted Quaker Meeting House, 2:30 - 4:30, The Eco Hub will host speakers Richard Stanforth, Oxfam's Senior Policy Advisor, and Fousseny Traore, a climate and ecological activist from Mali who now lives in the UK. Free tea, coffee and cake! theecohub.org.uk/ | Thursday 12 September - Sunday 29 September
Chilterns Heritage & Culture FestivalThis year’s Heritage & Culture Festival has walks, talks and tours at locations all over the Chilterns area, including astronomy, wildlife, art, historic houses, museums and music. Please note that the tour of Berkhamsted Castle is now fully booked. Full programme and tickets: chilternsociety.org.uk/heritage-festival | Saturday 14 September
DENS Castle WalkDacorum’s homelessness charity DENS are holding a fundraising walk starting at Berkhamsted Castle. Choose a gentle 2-mile canal walk or a 10-mile country walk. Event includes a children’s nature quiz, fun activities, raffle and refreshments within the Castle grounds, plus free guided tours of the Castle. All funds raised go towards DENS’ services, helping to rebuild the lives of local people in Dacorum. Book your place online: www.dens.org.uk/event | Saturday 14 September at 6:30 pm
Chiltern Chamber Choir concertEnjoy a short concert in in Sacred Heart RC Church, with many of the joyful sacred anthems sung at our roof fundraiser at St Peter's back in June. If you didn't make it then, or loved the programme so much that you'd like to hear it again, do please go along and support our wonderful local choir. Admission free, retiring collection in aid of Sacred Heart. www.chilternchamberchoir.com/ | Sunday 15 September at 3:00 pm
Guided tour of St Peter’s Church and Court HouseChristopher Green will be conducting another fascinating guided tour of the church as part of this year's Heritage Open Days. If you've missed Christopher's tours before, now's your chance to discover the hidden histories behind the ancient tombs, stained glass windows and architecture, and the connections to the history of the town. Book your spot on Eventbrite: www.stpetersberkhamsted.org.uk/tour | Saturday 21 September at 4:00 pm
All Saints’ Afternoon ConcertOur friends at All Saints’ Church invite you to an Afternoon Concert celebrating the repairs to their roof. Entertainment will be provided by the Hemel Hempstead Band and the acappella vocal group Hexachord. Tickets £10, accompanied children FREE. Buy tickets online or pay on the day: tinyurl.com/4k4r8fu3 | Thursday 26 September at 6:00 pm
High Street redevelopment public exhibition
The row of Brutalist buildings we see today on the north side of Berkhamsted High Street was built in the 1970s, after a row of unfashionable Victorian shops was demolished. Former mayor John Cook famously saved the ornate 1860s Town Hall from destruction, and its heritage is now celebrated with a blue plaque. Plans have now been unveiled to replace these 1970s buildings with a new development between Boots chemists and Waterstones bookshop. The scheme promises "contemporary residential apartments" and refurbished shopfronts, a landscaped square to the rear (by the Royal British Legion), and new retail on the Wilderness car park. The developers are holding a public exhibition in the old Town Hall (appropriately enough) on Thursday 26 September 6pm - 9pm, where there will be an opportunity to ask question and give feedback on the proposals. 168-192highstreet.co.uk/ |
Cartoon Church This week's cartoon courtesy of CartoonChurch
Copyright © 2024 Dave Walker
 Worship with us | This Sunday: 1 September 2024
14th Sunday after Trinity9:30am Sung Eucharist
You are invited to join us at our main Sunday service
Next Sunday: 8 September 2024
15th Sunday after Trinity |
Music this week ReadingsDeuteronomy 4.1-2, 6-9So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I am charging you. You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!’ For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him? And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children— Gospel: Mark 7.1-8, 14, 15, 21-23Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’ He said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,“This people honours me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me;in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.”You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.’Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’ For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’
 In our prayers this weekAnglican Cycle of Prayer:The Anglican Church of Mozambique and AngolaIntercessions | Diocese | ââJustin, Archbishop of Canterbury, âAlan, Bishop of St Albans, â Jane, Bishop of Hertford, and Charles, Archdeacon of St Albans | In our
continuing prayers | Christina Billington, Margaret Douglas, Judith Hill, Douglas Hill, John Malcolm, Denis Beard, Mary Beard, Patricia Cody, Ghullam Mutaheri, Nola Frost, Betty Beggs, Audrey Higginbotham, Teddy Higginbotham, Jo Neale, Barbara Conway, Yvonne Hart, Clare Wallington, Barbara Fisher | In our
immediate prayers | Frozan Mutaheri, Leah Holdroyd, Len Bennett, Peter Kirk, John Palmer, Michael Mumford, Barbara McKenna with thanksgiving | Weddings
(next four weeks) | Ross Macdonald & Laura Carruthers
Chloe Hopkins & Jake Thomas
Rebekah Ingram & Ian Peters
| Wedding banns
called this Sunday | | Baptisms
(next four weeks) | | | RIP | Veronica Currie | | Memorial (year's mind) | Peter Grego, Christopher Naisbett, Iona & Emrys Jones, Dennis Reynolds, Frank Harris, Leonard Hunt, | â© Funeral noticesTuesday 3 September 2024
12:00 pm Funeral of Veronica Currie—
 Rotas You can also check future rota dates on the parish website at www.stpetersberkhamsted.org.uk/rotas | This Sunday | | 01/09/2024 | Trinity 14 | | | 8.00am Eucharist | | Clergy | President | Stuart | | | Stuart | | Reader | Liz Prosser | | 9.30am Sung Eucharist | | Clergy | President | Stuart (Chris) ((Anthony)) | | Preacher | Anthony | | Sidespeople | Barbara Johnson | Jeremy Gosling | | MC | Will Gore | | | Acolytes | Stephen Lally | Emma Gosling | | Thurifer | 0 | | | Cruficer | Libby Grundy | | | Reader | Nicky Evans | | | Intercessions | James Owen | | | Eucharistic Ministers | Kate Hennessey | Pru Murray | | Sunday School | 0 | | | Sound | Michael A | | | | | | Next Sunday | | 08/09/2024 | Trinity 15 | | | 8.00am Eucharist | | Clergy | President | Stuart | | Preacher | Stuart | | Reader | Sarah Hyde | | 9.30am Sung Eucharist | | Clergy | President | Stuart (David) ((Margaret)) | | Preacher | Stuart | | Sidespeople | Liz Bellamy | Hilary Elliot | | MC | Peter Matthews | | | Acolytes | Chris Clegg | Hayley Khazaneh | | Thurifer | 0 | | | Cruficer | RIchard Currie | | | Reader | Rachel Below | | | Intercessions | Richard Hackworth | | | Eucharistic Ministers | Carole Dell | Christopher Green | | Sunday School | 0 | | | Sound | Julian | | | | | | |
