GREETINGS from Greenacres Congregational Church “Greetings to each other, all our neighbours - and everybody whose eye this leaflet (WebPages) meets.” Issue No. 421 December 2001/January 2002

In this Edition of Greetings: April/May 2002 Minister’s Letter Greeting Cards Computers Oct/Nov 2001 Minister’s Letter Minister’s Letter Dear Friends, Have you seen that series of television programmes on Channel Four, “The 100 greatest…”? I think it all began with “The 100 greatest Number One hit records”, a programme that had The Beatles in top spot with “Yesterday”. Even though the programme was almost 3 hours in length it became an instant hit and spawned a whole host of similar programmes. Among the programmes that have followed there has been: The 100 greatest Films The 100 greatest TV Adverts The 100 greatest Sporting Moments The 100 greatest TV Villains But my favourite of them all has to be the programme “The 100 greatest Kids TV Shows”. It was an evening of pure nostalgia and great entertainment. Jacob watched the programme with me, and by the end he was fed up with me saying about each new show featured “When I was your age I used to watch this!” Not that I was a couch potato when I was a young boy … but do you remember The Multi-Coloured Swap Shop with Noel Edmonds, Rainbow with Zippy and Bungle, Mr Benn and all his costume changes, The Magic Roundabout with Florence and Dougal, Blue Peter with John Noakes and Shep, and my all time favourite … Tiswas with Chris Tarrant and Lenny Henry. Great stuff! For a whole evening again I became a little kid, transported back in time 30 years to some wonderful memories of growing up. I don’t think Jacob can quite grasp that I was once a little boy like him! You know, if we organised “The 100 greatest Bible Stories”, I wonder which tales would get told? Of course, there would be the epics, like The Creation, Noah, Jonah and Daniel up there in the top twenty. The Four Horse of the Apocalypse, the stoning of Stephen and the 10 Plagues of Exodus would probably appeal to the youth generation! Saul on the Damascus Road, the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and the Sermon on the Mount would also no doubt rate very highly. But I’m sure the top three would be (in no particular order) the birth of Jesus, the Good Friday story and the miracle of Easter Day. All three of them were very well portrayed in the film “The Greatest Story Ever Told”. Do you remember that epic? John Wayne as the Centurion. Max Von Sydow as Jesus. Claude Rains as Herod. Charlton Heston as John the Baptist. Telly Savalas as Pilate. They don’t make films like that anymore! The story of Jesus is the greatest tale ever told, and at Easter we are reminded of that. We are reminded of God’s great love for each one of us as Jesus gave his life on the cross. We are shown God’s love in action in the wonderful new life story of Easter Day. And all of it reminds us that we too are told to share our love with one another. So this Easter time, may God’s richest blessing touch your life through the love of family, friends and neighbours, and bring his peace and joy. Best wishes, Neil Chappell [Back to top] Greetings Cards After six years, selling about 2500 cards and raising about £600 for the Church Building Fund, I’ve decided to support another good cause. This time I’ll be selling cards to support the ‘Take Heart’ Appeal. This appeal raises money to provide extra facilities (such as a roof garden) for patients suffering from cardiac-related problems at Leeds General Infirmary. This is where my son, Doug, is being treated. Thank you to all those who have bought cards and I hope that you will continue to support me on occasions when I bring the cards to Church. For more details or to place an order, please email me. Many thanks. Stuart Paulley [Back to top] Computers Do you use a computer at home? Are you familiar with word processing or desk top publishing? Are you interested in helping the Church embrace the technology of the 21^st century? Then please email our Minister for ways in which you can help our Church from your home. Whilst updating our Church Records we would like to include email addresses. Please forward your email address to our Minister for inclusion on this list. Ink Jet Cartridges Do you use an ink jet printer? Do you throw away those plastic cartridges when you run out of ink? Did you know that our Church could benefit financially if we save our old ink jet cartridges? Please save your empty ink jet cartridges so that we can send them to a specialist company to be recycled. In return, this company will make a small donation to the Church for every one we return. Also, If you are also interested in buying ink jet cartridges at excellent prices we might be able to help you. For details regarding all this, please email our Minister. [Back to top] Oct/Nov 2001 Minister’s Letter (Several people have asked for a copy of the Minister’s Letter from the October edition of Greetings - so we reprint it here.) Dear Friends, I don’t think there can be one of us who has not been horrified by the recent events in America. The tragedy of the terrorist attacks has brought home to us once again just how stupid and senseless humankind can be. What made this attack even more horrendous is that it became 24/7 news - the drama literally unfurled before our very eyes, thanks to the saturate news coverage we have today. Who will ever forget the image of those passenger planes flying into the World Trade Centre towers, and then their subsequent collapse? Not just Americans were killed. Not just Christian folk were killed. This was a global tragedy that has had repercussions for everyone. It has effected global economies and global security like never before, and not one society in our world remains unaffected. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those people directly affected by the events in New York, Washington and Pittsburgh, to those who have lost loved ones, to those injured, to the rescue workers traumatised by what they’ve seen and had to do, to communities trying to rebuild broken lives. Sadly, one of the most disappointing aspects of this tragedy has been the response of the American people, and especially that of George Bush Jr. and Colin Powell. Whilst agreeing that everything possible must be done to bring those people who masterminded these attacks to justice, I feel sad that America has shown no humility at all. All it speaks of is its power, its dominance, its determination to avenge. It speaks of vanquishing its enemies like some sort of quasi-cartoon hero. It talks of war, war, war. What makes the tragedy doubly difficulty to digest is that any dissenting is viewed with the most aggressive disdain. People who question past American foreign policy, who question the response that America and the world will take now are being cast as ‘Anti-American’. Does this world need another war? One politician said today that we should ‘bomb (the Afghanistan people) with food and aid’. I don’t know if the inspiration for that speech came from the sermon on the mount, but that is almost a direct parallel with the thinking of Jesus: “"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?” Many of the teachers of the law in the time of Jesus corrupted the scriptures, from Leviticus 19:18, by adding “and hate your enemy”. By doing this they intended to define their neighbours to include only Jews, and to exclude Samaritans and Gentiles. If we are to live as citizens of the kingdom of God then we must practice self-denial, self-giving, showing non-discriminating love towards all people - even our enemies - for God does the same. Please pray for wisdom and guidance to be given to all our world leaders at this time of immense uncertainty. May we all strive to be peacemakers in our world. Many regards, Neil Chappell [Back to top]

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