dvance

All Ar e W elcome? It is always good to participate in a special time of worship. On Satur day 21 st September I was privileged to play the organ, and David Rees to pr each, at the Induction of Re vd Robert Shear d as minister of Christchur ch Needham Mark et. Our opening hymn was “Let us build a house where love can dwell.” The chorus declar es, sung with bold determination, “All ar e welcome, all ar e welcome, all ar e welcome in this place.” This is not the first time that the question of welcome has echoed r ound my head and the subject has been a theme of many a ministers’ pastor al letter. W e all lik e to think of our chur ches as welcoming, but what does it mean to be a truly welcoming community of God’s people? “All ar e welcome!” What ar e we r eally saying when we write these wor ds at the foot of a poster advertising some e vent or time of worship? What does welcome mean? Zach Lambert is a theologian and the lead pastor and founder of “Restor e ” a chur ch mo vement which describes itself in these terms: W e ar e a chur ch which locks arms with the community to help bring r estor ation to people and neighbourhoods in our city and ar ound the world. We don’t have e ve rything figur e d out, but we are on a journe y of r estor ation thr ough Jesus who lo ves people without pr ejudice or qualification. Restor e is a place wher e you can be yourself, ask questions, and won’t be pr essur ed to conform to any ster eotype. That is quite a po werful and demanding “headline” to place at the top of the chur ch’ s “About Us” page on their website. Ther e ar e two kinds of “e ve ryone is welcome” chur che s:

1. Everyone is welcome to conform to that chur ch’ s image of what a Christian looks lik e. 2. Everyone is welcome to fully embody the unique image God cr eated them to be. Run away fr om the first and run to war d the second. As we serve the call of God to mak e Christ kno wn to all people, we have to learn to embrace all, as the y ar e , to be we lcoming to anyone and e veryone, without caveat. Of course this is not r estricted to the fe w that cr oss the thr eshold of our chur ch buildings; the welcome of love e xtends to e ver y mome nt and inter action, to e veryone we encounter day b y day . In summarising God’s law in Mark 12:30 & 31 W e ar e called to lo ve God with all we ar e and “You shall love your neighb our as yourself.” The wor d interpr eted lo ve her e is one we’ve encounter ed befor e, “ Agapé” – the lo ve with which God lo ves, welcoming, caring, and deep. This is the lo ve that Christ e xposes in its fullness on the cr oss – unconditional, unr eserved and undese rved. Friends, let us seek to be welcoming as Christ welcomes, both as individuals and as the Chur ch, the community of God’s kingdom.

Once a year, Elders invite to th eir October meeting, r epr esentatives fr om Pr e-school, Rainbo ws and Br o wnies to r eport on their activities. In this Advance, you will see how busy the Br ownies ha ve been; making book hedgehogs, gift cards, fruit and vegetable smoothies, planting geranium s i n the chur ch gar den, flo wer arr anging and flying their homemade kites on Felixstowe beach, and these were just a fe w of their activities! Leadership of uniformed organisations is a tr emendous voluntary commitment, far more so than in past years, a nd Elders wer e able to pass on their gr ateful thanks to

leaders Yvonne, Lisa, Kathy, Chloe and Z oe. In December Advance we will r eport on Pr e-school and Rainbo ws. At an Extr a-or dinary Chur ch meeting, follo wing morning worship on Sunday , 3 r d No vember, Chur ch members will have the opportunity to vote for Hadleigh URC joining the URC pastor ate. Please try to attend this important meeting. In October Advance, I mentioned Elders’ el ections. Nomination forms ar e available and should be r eturned b y Sunday 10 th No vember. Advent Lunch – I am deligh ted to announce that we pr opose to hold this on SUND AY 8 TH DECEMBER . Please listen out for further details.

In February we celebrated the Chinese Ne w Y ear and cr eated a large-scale painting of a dr agon using mix ed media painting.

On 22nd February Girl Guiding members all over the world celebrate Thinking Day , the birthday of our founders Lor d and Lady Baden-Po well. This year our pack joined others in the district to have fun at Partyman W orld of Play for the e vening. For Mother's Day we put our folding and artistic ski lls to the test b y using old books to create a Hedgehog Book gift and a special hedge hug card too. The girls did really well to make neat folds to create a colour co-or dinated

gift. The y gained their artists badge with the different types of painting. W e also learned all about the building blocks of str ong foundations and created structur es out of fruit and vegetables which wer e used to mak e some delicious smoothies once we wer e finished . In May , the Br o wnies work ed to war ds their Tak e Action Theme Awar d and tried to be a Top Role Model. The y took on a community  challenge to tidy up and plant some colourful ger aniums in the  chur ch gar den. The girls r eally lo ved getting involved, dirty and learning a new skill. Some of

t h e Br o wnies had ne ver done any gar dening befor e so it was the first time the y had done weeding or planting outside and it was a gr eat e xperience for them.

Since October 2023 The Br o wnies have had another gr eat year of fun. We have learned ne w skills and made ne w friends. In No vember we learned all about the night sky and made our o wn constellation vie wers which work ed r eally well when we turn ed the lights out. W e also had a talk all about the planets fr om a member of the Orwell Observatory . Our end of term Christmas th emed night was a celebr ation of all we had achie ved in the term. W e played lots of Christmas games and activities. As we started the ne w year we r ecognise d that all the girls ar e individuals and we celebr ated the ir differ ences. W e shar ed warm fuzzies v cold prickles. W arm fuzzies ar e good and the y mak e you feel happ y and don 't have to be spok en, the y can be a smile, a hug or a helpf ul gestur e.

shades and floppy hats. This game is always a favourite with the girls. Congratulations to Gr ace on this special achie vement. During our summer term we work ed on boat building skills and tested these to work out the distance the y would tr avel in pr epar ation for our visit to the boating lak e. W e had a special visit to the Sutton Hoo Ships Company at the Long Shed in W oodbridge. W e had a tour of the workshop and the girls were able to learn about and use some of the Sax on tools being used to cr eate the r eplica of the Saxon ship which the company hope to launch in the River Deben in 2026. It wa s a glorious evening and we finished our e vening with a wander along the river to the boating lak e where we launched our little boats, many of them made it acr oss the boating lak e and thankfully Sno wy didn’t need to paddle with her fishing net to rescue any! Our pack was pr esented with a special plaque in r ecognition of our visit and support of the pr oject. It has the 3470 Str ak e Rivet and Ro ve which will be added to the actual ship and will become a part of our futur e history . W e wer e also allo wed special access to the stage b y the boat to make presentations of a Br onze awar d to Evie and the Silver award to Rosie, congr atulations to both of them. We also had an e vening wher e we made kites to fly at our beach night. The girls did really well with these and the y wer e all r eally colourful.

The Br o wnie Gold Awar d r equir es the girl to complete a special clause and Gr ace, one of the girls working to ward her awar d, chose to run an activity for the pack. She taught the Br o wnies all about flo wer arr anging. W e had a gr eat night cr eating our designs in an oasis and the girls wer e able to tak e the decor ations home with them. Many of the girls attended our Bro wnie Division Day at Hallo wtr ee. W e had gr eat weather and the girls took part in many different activities including camp fir e cooking skills, an obstacle course, human football, outdoor crafts and e xploring the ar ea . This was a gr eat e xperience for the older girls as the y pr epar ed for their mo ve on to Guides.

During the year the girls gained many inter est badges including the baking, painting, gr o w your o wn, and local history badges. Dolly made Suffolk rusks for us to sample as a taste of Suffolk. W e also work ed on skills builders and unit meeting activities during our weekly me etings. All of these activities go to war ds the section awar ds and we ar e r eally pr oud of the girls who have gain ed their Br o wnie Br onze awar ds ; congr atulations to Alice, Ella, Evie, Fr e ya, Millie, Rosie and Rub y . And to Rosie on gaining her Silver awar d. W ell done e ve ryone! W e held a special festival of celebr ation for Gr ace who was awar ded her Br o wnie Gold Awar d, the highest awar d in Br o wnies. Gr ace chose a festival theme and the girls enjo yed f ace painting, making festival yurt lights, decor ating cak es and finish ing with the chocolate game wi th a festival theme using

Tr easur ers Report You are thanked for Offerings in September of £1,733 and for donations r eceived in October to our Communion Fund of £36 . This is going to Selig Springboard Suffolk. This is a local Charity supporting the h omeless. W e ar e very pleased also, to be able to advise that we have received the magnificent and very generous total amount in Donations and including Gift Aid receipts to our Annual Harvest Gift Day of £3,950. Thank you all so much and for all your continued financial support. ShoeBox Appeal raised £295 (John B Editor) Mary A and Richard W

Bible Study Our No vember Pastor ate Zoom Bible Study will tak e place on MOND AY 4th No vember at 10.30 in the morning. W e are holding our Study on the FIRST MOND AY of the month as the second Monday is Remembr ance Day which would include a two-minu tes silence at 11o’clock. The main passage for study is Mark 12:38-44 and possibly also Ruth 3:1-5 and 4:13-17. These passages will be the basis of our thinking and talking as we shar e our thoughts with each oth er and listen to what God has to teach us in it all. W e always stimulate each other with ne w ideas and insights as we shar e our e xperience of life, and we welcome all to join u s to listen and contribute. When logging on th e meeting ID is 889 953 6542. If you have no internet you can use your phone by dialling 02034815240 or 01304601196 and when pr ompted enter the number 889 953 6542. Elaine T

The weather was very kind to us for our end of term beach party at Felixsto we this year. It was a perfect mix of gentle wind for kite flying and sunshine too. We just enjo yed being in the outdoors, flying our kites and

Flower Rota

birthday! Happy Birthday and congratulations to you !!! Thursday Forum at Christ Church Thursday Lunchtime 1:10-1:50 No v 7th Suez – the Gr eat Blak enham Recycling facility Jenny Ste ytler, Community Liaison Manager Nov 14th Ipswich Love (CIC) - Putting the love back into the to wn Helen Oldfield No v 21st Fir e Safety in the Home Mick Lo we, Specialist Pr e vention Pr actitioner No v 28th My Stole is the Story Re vd Catherine Forsdik e, Chaplain to the Mothers’ Union and Inspiring Suffolk