Roger Scoones' Monthly Dialogue
Rev Roger Scoones
Rev Roger Scoones is Rector of St Mary's Parish Church, Stockport and is a well known figure in the local community.
January
at St
Mary's
(2010)
“CLOSED”! What can be more depressing than to arrive at a Church door
and see the notice “closed” on it? One comment people make to me
throughout the year more often than not is “what a shame that so many
Churches are closed today – just when people need them most!” Closed we
are though, at St Mary’s – but not for long. Closed during the week, to
be more accurate, on days when we would normally be open, in other words
on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Closed until the second Saturday in
January, in truth – and after that we’re OPEN again until next January
2011! Why, you may ask, are we closed when St Mary’s makes such a big
thing about being the OPEN AND WELCOMING CHURCH? The answer is simple,
if not entirely satisfactory, but certainly understandable in the
circumstances, which is that we depend entirely on volunteers to keep
the Church OPEN! And throughout December the Church is OPEN nearly every
day and some days it opens in the evening as well. This puts a big
strain on our small team of volunteers, who justifiably hope for a short
break over New Year. So we CLOSE for two weeks, while remaining OPEN of
course for a Sunday Service each week! Having said all that, the other
day, on a Tuesday (a day we’re normally open) I was asked if the Church
could be open for prayer for half an hour, for a couple to remember a
funeral service which was taking place in another country. The Church
doors were duly opened and lights switched on to make it look welcoming
for the bereaved pair. Should I have been surprised that others pored in
for coffee and a chat and to light a candle and say a prayer. So maybe
we shouldn’t be CLOSED at all.”
This month St Mary’s joins with other local Churches in an
interdenominational observance of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
which is a worldwide movement or wave of Prayer, which has its
beginnings in the 19th Century.
Despite male mission organisations being against it, women’s groups
began to run missions aimed specifically at women and children, and this
led to annual days of prayer. In 1926 the American women distributed
copies of the service to many other countries and partners in mission
and the World Day of Prayer came into being.
Through Grace Forgan, a Scottish missionary, who heard about it at a
missionary gathering in Jerusalem in 1928, it spread to her native
Scotland, in 1930 and in 1932 to England, followed in subsequent years
by Wales and Ireland.
Nowadays there is an international committee meeting every four years
and deciding on the themes for the following years and the countries to
which they should be given.
The Tunbridge Wells office covers the work in England, Wales and
Northern Ireland. The representatives of all the denominations that take
part meet to edit and publish the service material and distribute it
through the office to more than 3000 local branches. Offerings collected
at the services are used to help fund Christian literature societies,
Christian educational projects, and World Day of Prayer literature.
How does it work? The day is arranged for the first Friday in March and
begins on the International Dateline. A first service is held at dawn in
Queen Salote’s Girls’ School in Tonga and a “Mexican wave” of prayer
rises in the Pacific and continues through Asia, moving on to Africa and
the Middle East. From there to Europe, east and west, and across the
Atlantic to the Caribbean, Latin, Central and North America and back to
the Pacific till the last service of the day is held on the island of
Samoa. Isn’t that fantastic?
So wherever you, the Reader are reading this article maybe there are
Christians praying near you this month. I’m sure there are!
St Mary’s is a Christian family, and like countless families we have
younger and older members, we have births, marriages and deaths. This
year we are looking forward to two weddings of church members –
coincidentally on the same day in August 2010. Sadly we have already
lost two life-long members of our Church family this year. We shall miss
their presence very much.
Each Sunday and Tuesday, however we will continue to meet for prayer,
worship and fellowship in Christ, and with the doors OPEN we hope to
WELCOME many into our historic Parish Church which has stood in
Stockport Market for 900 years.
So don’t be depressed this New Year! The Church is OPEN!! And I wish
you, the Reader a Very Happy and Peaceful New Year with an OPEN heart,
from an OPEN Church – St Mary’s in the Marketplace, Stockport, U.K.
Rev. Roger Scoones
Rector of St Mary’s
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