First week of June, 2008
It is raining today (big surprise). We planted several new flowers in our garden (back yard) and they are
doing great. The Brits are big on flowers and gardens. Henley is noted for its England In Bloom awards.
Folks from the town spend several Saturdays getting flowers around the town. There will be a super
garden walk again this year as folks will visit some of the best gardens in the town (ours won’t be one
of them). Just because we planted a few flowers would not put us in the category of the best garden in town.
This Saturday is Court Leek Day. This once a year day is a huge tradition here. Our church administrator,
Gordon Trinder, will dress up in his town crier outfit along with other town dignitaries, and perform some
of the old rituals of the town. They will take care of these items: Butter Weighing (where they actually check
the scales to make sure that the town’s people don’t get cheated), Brook Looking (where an elected team
check the local brooks and rivers to make sure they flow freely), Ale Tasting (I have no idea about this one),
nor do I know about the next one - Beating the Bounds. There will be some short plays written for the College
of Performing Arts (one of them is a satire on Americans - I’ve got to see this one). Later in the month there
will be a concert by the Heart of England Singers - an evening of light music. I am sorry to have to miss this
concert but we will be attending another one in Birmingham.
Speaking of music, one of our men, Malcolm Williams, is part of the Alcester All Male Choir. We attended one
of his concerts recently. A choir of usually 70 men (they had only 51 at our concert) sing some of the most
beautiful music I have ever heard. Part of the program was a 3 song selection from Les Miserables. They
sang some American songs, some Welsh tunes and some Brit music as well. In fact, we went to 2 concerts
by this group this year. All the money they raise is for charity. Last year I tried to get Malcolm to schedule
the group to come to Henley Baptist for a concert. Their calendar is filled through 2009. The British love great
music.
We just finished 2 important things at our church. First, we had a wonderful group for the Alpha Course, a
ten week study for the introduction to Christianity. When the Alpha Course began back in the early 1990’s,
it began with 5 groups world wide. This year, there were over 36,000 groups worldwide. The last session
was about the church. I was interested to see how the presenter (who is Anglican) would cover the idea of
baptism and church membership. But to my delight and amazement, he talked about baptism as if he was a
Baptist. He spoke of baptism by immersion, being buried with Christ and being raised with Christ
demonstrated by going down into and coming up out of the water. I would encourage all my friends who
are church leaders to consider conducting an Alpha Course in your church. As there are churches in the states
that have Alpha, there must be a US version. The material is Biblically sound. Then you break off into small
groups for discussion. We had a light meal after every session, then a large meal on the final night. We hung
up a huge banner out side the church advertising Alpha for about 13 weeks. The small group I was in was disappointed when we came to the close of the course and I am looking into finding something for us to study
as a continuation. If I am successful we will probably meet in our home for the follow-up. Several of my group
would love to take the Alpha Course again.
The second thing we just completed was a series of sermons on Psalm 23 - The Great Shepherd Psalm. For
us it lasted 8 weeks and the sermons were supported by paintings that went along with the theme for the
week. A local artist, who sometimes attends our church, did the paintings. We just set them on an easel each
week. Now that we are finished with the series, they will be mounted on the wall in the church lounge.
Our daughter, Susan and our son-in-law Russ will be with us for a week soon. We have promised to take them
to Wales for a few days (hopefully it won’t rain the entire trip). Recently in a sermon (during the psalm 23
series), I mentioned about nursing homes. Over 75% of the people there never get a visit. In my way of
thinking, it reminded me of what the American Indians used to do. They would put their elderly in a cave and
go off and leave them to die. I asked Susan, our daughter, to never put me in a nursing home. In fact, I said, “Susan, promise me that you will never put me in a nursing home.” She said, “Dad, I promise you that we will
never put you in a nursing home. But I am checking out some pretty nice caves.”
Until next time,
Dick
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NADINE’S CORNER:
Hi everyone. Just want to make it perfectly clear here that I DON’T intend to be in that CAVE with him!!
I have claustrophobia and that wouldn’t suit me at all ! So there.
We have been very busy lately. We’ve had a lot going on, but I have loved it all. I guess one of my really
big thrills is that my husband has allowed me to have a part in our church services for a time of prayer. I
write a bit and also share scripture and then pray. One of the retired pastors in our church has a ministry
of outreach to Europe and around the world. He recently asked me to allow him to use my prayer column
in his world-wide newsletter. I feel very honored and extremely blessed. Who woulda ever thunk it !!??
The Lord is so faithful to be with me when I sit down to write. There is no doubt in my mind that I’ve just
had a visit from His Holy Spirit. Boy, what an experience - and I get to do it every week! The column is
entitled “Prayer Pointers”. Actually, it’s the same thing that I use on Sunday mornings. You know, people
tell me they really enjoy the prayer time on Sunday mornings and I tell them that I get the biggest blessing
of all - because I have to study and search the scriptures in order to write each week’s prayer time. The
Lord promises that if we’ll do His will, He’ll be with us every step of the way and boy, do I believe that!
Hook, line and sinker !
We also had another blessing a couple of weeks ago. The American couple (Ed & Linda Sullivan) who
preceded us came back for a visit and we were blessed to be able to have them in OUR home for dinner
(of course it’s their home too)….. We had a lot of good laughs and a great time with them. They miss
Henley and England so much that they come back yearly or every other year for a visit. I’m not so sure
we’ll be able to follow that, but it won’t be because we wouldn’t like to. They get to fly free as their son
works for one of the airlines. Hmmmmm. Maybe we could adopt!
We also have met the couple that were the first lay people to come over. It was a delight to be able to
meet them as well. We had been in touch with them before we came over via e-mail and felt like we knew
them already. Nice people.
Isn’t being a Christian - a part of God’s family - the greatest thing in the whole world? How do people do
without it ?
I have a few “vocabulary” words for you, but don’t think I’ll have too many more for you unfortunately:
NIPPER Small child
TATTY Potato
MOGGY Cat
QUID British pound or $2.00 (Amer.)
COPPERS Small change
COME A CROPPER - Fall down or get into trouble
NICK To steal
NOSH Food
KNACKERED Exhausted
PREZZY Present
PRAT Obnoxious person
CHUFFED Happy and pleased
NAFF Very unstylish
THICK AS TWO PLANKS - Not too bright
Take care everyone and remember we keep you in our thoughts. Please keep us and Great Britain in
your prayers!
God bless you all,
The Harmons
