The Coker
Ridgeway weekly
28th December 2014
(East Coker, Sutton Bingham, Closworth, West Coker, Hardington
Mandeville, East Chinnock and Pendomer)
Sunday 28th December
The Holy Innocents Red
10am Holy Communion (BCP)
Sutton Bingham
12noon Baptism Pendomer
3pm Family Service / Christingle
Hardington
Collect
Heavenly Father, whose children
suffered at the hands of Herod,
though they had done no wrong:
by the suffering of your Son and by
the holiness of our lives frustrate all
evil designs and establish your reign
of justice and peace; through Jesus
Christ your Son our Lord.
Sunday 4th January
The Epiphany Gold or White
10.45am Benefice Communion
At East Coker Village Hall
(followed by
shared lunch)
Sunday 11th January
The first Sunday of Epiphany White
9.15 Family Communion Closworth
9.15 Family Service Pendomer
10.45 Family Eucharist East Coker
10.45 Parish Praise West Coker
6pm Evensong East Coker
6.30pm Evensong East Chinnock
Post Communion Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, in your humility you have stooped to share our human life
with the most defenceless of your children: may we who have received these
gifts of your passion rejoice in celebrating the witness of the Holy Innocents to
the purity of your sacrifice made once for all upon the cross;
for you are alive and reign, now and for ever.
www.CokerRidge.org.uk
Rev’d David Wilson 862328; [email protected]
Rev’d Charles Hatton 862125 [email protected]
Diary
Wed 31 Dec
14.00 Extra Informal Prayer for the Benefice, East Coker Lady
Chapel – all welcome
Fri 2 Jan
19.30 Wedding Rehearsal, Hardington
Sat 3 Jan
13.00 Wedding of Callan Marshall, Tabatha Goddard, Hardington
Mon 5 Jan
15: 30 ? East Coker Standing Committee, Vicarage
Tues 6 Jan
10.30 Coffee Morning East Chinnock Village Hall
10.30 Little Wheelers(Parents and Children) East Coker Village Hall
14.00 East Chinnock Worship Committee, Beech Cottage
Wed 7 Jan
11.00 ECCF Coffee Stop, Gospel Hall, East Coker
14.00 Informal Prayer for the Benefice St Michael’s Lady Chapel,
East Coker
Tues 13 Jan 10.30 Little Wheelers(Parents and children) East Coker Village Hall
10.30 Book Swap and refreshments, St Mary, Hardington
19.45 Benefice Choir Practice, Weavers Cottage, Hardington
Wed 14 Jan 10.30 Bible Study Group - E Coker. To confirm venue please call
Rosemary Chorley on 412140
11.00 ECCF Coffee Stop, Gospel Hall, East Coker
15.15 ? Seekers After School Club, West Coker school

Service Pattern from January 2015. It is hoped to generally maintain the
current service plan but with the suspension of the 8am HC service at West
Coker and East Coker for the moment. (This is mainly because there are also
Collect
other services on those days at those churches together with the ancillary
Eternal
Son
reasonFather,
of the whose
generally
lower attendance at those particular services and the
Jesus
Christ ascended
toofthe
corresponding
difficulty
seeking someone to come to officiate).
heaven
that he
 throne
Local of
House
of Prayer.
Some of us feel inspired to start a Local House of
might
rule
over
all
things
as the lines developed at the Christian Retreat
Prayer in the Benefice along
Lord
andatKing:
keep the We hope to have a training session in January. If
Centre
Ffald-y-Brenin.
anyone
is
interested
read more about it at www.ffald-y-brenin.org and get
Church in the unity ofdothe
in touch
mebond
on [email protected]
or phone 862003. Gillian
Spirit
and with
in the
of
Tettmar.
peace, and bring the whole
 created
‘Seekers’
after-school
club
order
to worship
atat West Coker Primary school. We are still looking
volunteers
helpand
run this club which takes place from 3.15pm once a
hisfor
feet;
who is to
alive
week
for
about
an
hour.
We tell bible stories, sing and do crafts and games
reigns with you, in the unity
the children
(See God,
Dec Coker Ridge monthly for more details).If we do
ofwith
the Holy
Spirit, one
not
have
any
more
volunteers
before the start of the January school term, we
now and for ever.
will have to close the club. If you think you could help, please get in touch
with Gillian Tettmar (contact details as above).
Bible Readings for Holy Innocents 28 Dec 2014
Jeremiah 31.15-17
15 Thus says the LORD: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter
weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted
for her children, because they are no more.
16 Thus says the LORD: Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes
from tears; for there is a reward for your work, says the LORD: they shall
come back from the land of the enemy;
17 there is hope for your future, says the LORD: your children shall come
back to their own country.
Matthew 2.13-18
13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a
dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt,
and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child,
to destroy him.’ 14Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by
night, and went to Egypt, 15and remained there until the death of Herod.
This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet,
‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’
16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was
infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around
Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that
he had learned from the wise men. 17Then was fulfilled what had been
spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
18 ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because
they are no more.’
©NRSV
Conference on Healthcare, Wholeness and Healing, at Holy Trinity Church,
Yeovil on 7th March 2015. Exploring the meaning of healing and the interface
between Healthcare, Faith Communities, and the Christian Healing Ministry in
particular. More details in early January. For enquiries or to register interest
contact Josie Halla [email protected]
Archbishop of Canterbury’s ‘Thought for the Day’ on Radio 4
Tuesday 23rd December 2014
We love our villains dramatic and we love our heroes convincing, but the
trouble with villains is that they’re often routine-type of people. A few weeks
ago, travelling overseas, I met people who I would definitely class as villains. I
don’t mean ‘villain’ in the sense of a comic book ‘jokey’ kind of way, but
people whose lives seemed to have been overtaken by a commitment to
things that are wrong, even a commitment to evil.
The particular characters I’m thinking of were, for want of a better
expression, war lords. They commanded irregular militia groups, and had
done so for some time. Remorselessly effective in their own area of expertise
- pillaging, rape, and torture - they were noticeably lacking in areas that are
needed to be anything but a villain. There was no empathy, an absence of
compassion, a tragic fixation towards their own advantage.
It was a very chilling meeting. I came away deeply disturbed, not by what
they said, but more by the absence of remorse for the thousands who died
and the tens of thousands who’d been chased from their homes by their
actions.
Last week, I visited Sierra Leone very briefly, far too briefly in fact. The
purpose of the visit was to meet and talk with faith leaders who have been
among those leading the struggle against Ebola. What a difference! Living
their lives at risk, passionately and deeply involved in the people around
them, they demonstrated a love and a reaching out to the grieving, to the ill
and to the frightened that was utterly inspiring. The orphans of Ebola are
being cared for, not least due to the generosity from this country. All those I
met spoke of that.
What made the difference? The war lords claimed to be Christians, but left
no space for Jesus in their lives. On the first Christmas, the shepherds, kings,
Mary and Joseph, took the decision to allow God to take the central space in
their lives; God who gave them every choice and freedom by revealing
Himself space for in the form of a helpless baby. We still remember them for
their joy, their generosity, their sacrificial self-giving. King Herod refused
space in life for anyone except himself and we remember him for his cruelty.
For me, in all the busyness of Christmas there is one essential: that I gaze
again at the reality of Jesus, God himself, in human and helpless form, who
comes to rule and reign in this world, not by force but by love, and that
seeing Him, I give Him His rightful place in my life.