Donations

Towards the cost of Easter lilies, in remembrance of some relation or friend will be gratefully received by my wife or Mrs. Stevens and used for the sanctuary arrangements. Each lily usually costs about 5/-. Gifts of either white or yellow flowers for Easter Sunday will be welcomed, if possible brought to the church on the Saturday morning.

Annual Vestry and Parochial Church Meeting

Please note in your diaries at once that these meetings are at 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 17th April, at the Parsonage. Coffee and sandwiches will be served afterwards. All who are members of the Church of England should do their utmost to attend.

J.H.G-W.G.

Easter Offering

The churchwardens would like to draw the attention of all parishioners to the custom of giving the offerings on Easter Day to the Vicar. It is possible that some members of the Church will be out of the parish on that day but would like to make some contribution. If so, would they please hand it in an envelope to one of the churchwardens before Easter Day. Collections will be taken during the services on that day.

W.C.M., A.L.

THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH

"Having then gifts ... " Romans 12:6

It is a timely reminder, when so many people are thinking how little they have to bless themselves with, compared with the lucky few. Not one of us, says St. Paul, is without assets, and his list includes some that we usually overlook. The trait of generosity, for instance. A way of bringing comfort to others in time of trouble. A position of some authority - is it sheer accident that you are a senior in your office, a charge-hand, or that you have some influence in your village? Every opportunity of doing someone a service, St. Paul calls a gift. The difficulty is that we do not recognise these things for what they really are. We want life to give us other satisfactions. Count no man happy until he is dead, said the ancients. Count no man happy, say the moderns, until he has coloured television, a new car, and a source of income unsuspected by the Inland Revenue. Our eyes are more on our neighbour's goods than on his good. Yet, have our keennest joys come from outside, through the possessions we acquire? Or have they come from within, through using these gifts of ours, and finding in them "the prize of our high calling"? Happiness is never found by seeking it. It is one of the prizes, a kind of bonus for putting our gifts to the service of God and neighbour.

B.A.