St Giles Church, Oxford

Parish News

Upper Vestry window at St Giles

April 2017 Free

(but donations gratefully received)
 PARISH CONTACTS
Vicar: Canon Andrew Bunch, 01865 510460
The Vicarage, Church Walk, Oxford OX2 6LY vicar@churchwalk.eclipse.co.uk
Associate Priest: Revd Tom Albinson 01865 515409 or 07426 948251
tomalbinson@gmail.com
Lay Minister: David Longrigg, 23 Norham Rd, Oxford OX2 6SF 01865 557879
Benefice Manager: Henrietta Mountain-Ritter 01865 512319
10 Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6HT beneficemanager@st-giles-church.org
Churchwardens
Maureen Chu 01865 726011 maureenchu1@gmail.com
Joanne Russell 01865 760788 joannerussell1@me.com
Treasurer: Rod Nixon treasurer@st-giles-church.org
Organist: Andrew Patterson andrew.patterson@finemusic.co.uk
Choir Director: Nicholas Prozzillo choir@st-giles-church.org
PCC Secretary: Sarah-Jane White sarah-jane.white@ihs.ox.ac.uk
Captain of the Bells: John Pusey johnguypusey@hotmail.com
Church Flowers: Mary Whitlock
Benefice Secretary: Anne Dutton secretary@st-giles-church.org
Twitter @StGilesOxford
Instagram stgileschurch
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ChurchStGilesOxford
Website www.st-giles-church.org
________________________________________________________________
WEEKLY SERVICES AT ST GILES
Sunday: 8:00 am Holy Communion (BCP)
10:30 am Holy Communion
6:30 pm Evensong (BCP)
Monday: 5:30 pm Evening Prayer
Tuesday: 5:30 pm Evening Prayer
Wednesday: 12:30 pm Eucharist
5:30 pm Evening Prayer
Thursday: 5:30 pm Evening Prayer
Friday: 1:15 pm Taiz Worship
5:30 pm Evening Prayer
Saturday: 5:30 pm Evening Prayer

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The newsletter is free, but if you would like to put a donation in the wall safe to
help towards production costs this would be much appreciated.
We will be most grateful for any news/views etc - also suggestions for how the
newsletter can be improved. Please send items for inclusion in the May
newsletter to secretary@st-giles-church.org by Sunday 23rd April 2017. We
would really love to hear from you!

Contents
Review of Chamber Concert Maureen Chu Page 3
Time to Reconsider Reformation Martyrs (2)
Page 4
Jonathan Luxmoore (reprinted from Church Times)
St Giles Magazine: 100 Years Ago and 50 Years Ago Page 7
Recollections of a Choir Boy at St Giles Peter Barley Page 8
Annual Parochial Church Meeting Page 9
Well-known Hymns (1) My Song is Love Unknown Page 11
William of Ockham Page 13
Laughter in the Bible Page 14
Dates for your Diary April 2017 Page 15

__________________________________________________________
REVIEW OF CHAMBER CONCERT, SATURDAY 4th MARCH 2017
THE SECOND Concert in the Spring/Summer series was a delightful
Chamber Concert; given by three musicians with associations with the
church the well-judged programme was a testimony to their
knowledge of the venue and appreciation of the occasion. Loyal
stalwart of the choir, Phillip Shirtcliff (clarinet), who has performed
here many times, brought his fine playing and musicianship to the
group. Anna Shackleton (soprano), a tutor for the Choir Academy and
performer in various ensembles over the years in the church,
performed with her accustomed charm and commitment. Friend of St
Giles, and previous choir mum, Akino Kitihara (piano) made her
debut with flair and accomplishment.
The group played as a true ensemble; the choice of music and
programming suited the church very well, and enhanced the strangely

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intimate atmosphere found in St Giles, despite the cavernous size of
the space and obvious ecclesiastical setting.
The audience number was encouraging; it was lovely to see choir
members there with their families, but also good to see members of
the public who were perhaps drawn from the Jazz series, or responding
to the improved publicity the Concert Committee and friends have
striven to achieve.
A pleasing amount of money was made, which will go towards our
fundraising goals for Project 900. Beyond this, these Concerts look to
be building on the fine and longstanding tradition of St Giles as a
welcoming, enjoyable, and truly encouraging place for serious music
and musicianship.
Please look out for future Concerts - you will be very welcome.

Pergolesi Stabat Mater at St Giles: Sunday 9th April at 6:30 pm

Anna Shackleton (soprano), Adrian Boorman (countertenor),
Jon French (piano).

Mozart Requiem at St Giles:

Good Friday, 14th April at 7:00 pm
__________________________________________________________
TIME TO RECONSIDER REFORMATION MARTYRS - Part 2
PROMINENT Roman Catholics have been reluctant to highlight histori-
cal injustices, perhaps for fear of drawing attention to their Churchs
once distrusted image as a foreign mission. It took until 2008 for a
tiny wall plaque to be installed on Holywell Street in memory of four
Roman Catholics Thomas Belson, Humphrey Prichard, and the
priests Richard Yaxley and George Nichols who were hanged, drawn,
and quartered there in 1589, and beatified as martyrs in 1987; and
until 2010 for a tablet to commemorate Blessed George Napier (1550-
1610), who was executed similarly in Oxford Castle. Napier was
expelled from Corpus Christi College for being a recusant, and then
later returned to England as a secret missionary, after having been
ordained abroad. The priests head and quarters were set upon the
four gates of the city, one chronicler recounted, and upon that great

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one belonging to Christ Church next to St Aldates, to the great terror
of the Catholics then in and near Oxford. Even then, no official
Anglican representatives attended the plaque unveilings, or joined a
pilgrimage in memory of Oxfords Roman Catholic victims.
People such as Napier were, of course, far less well known than
Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer although some Catholic victims, such
as Blessed John Story (1504-71), the Regius Professor of Civil Law, who
was kidnapped from the Netherlands and executed at Tyburn, were
prominent nationally.
Definitions and understandings of martyrdom also differ between the
Churches, particularly when those in question did their own share of
persecuting. Roman Catholics, who hold a notion of martyrdom that
emphasises its sacramental place in defending divine truth, may have
doubts about whether the highly politicised Cranmer properly qualifies
as a martyr. Anglicans, in turn, may have doubts about the pugnacious
Story, who had earlier helped to root out Protestants, and acted as a
prosecutor at Cranmers trial. Not all Christian victims of persecution
necessarily suffered in odium fidei out of hostility for the faith.
When, in a conciliatory gesture, a memorial was dedicated in 2009 to
23 Catholic and Protestant Martyrs of the Reformation in the
University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford, some observers
complained that this was misconceived. Some of the Roman Catholics
who were listed, they argued, had supported armed resistance, and
were not recognised as martyrs even by their own Church, while most
of those commemorated would not have wished to be placed alongside
their opponents. To declare them equal and reconciled centuries later
relativised and trivialised their convictions and testimonies.
As we approach the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, these
stories still matter. Beliefs and practices may have changed greatly in
all Churches, while the secular indifference of contemporary society
has brought Christians into closer co-operation. Anglicans and Roman
Catholics, whatever their continued differences, are now good friends
and neighbours. And yet many historical divisions still need to be
healed, while Christians will always have a duty to seek charity and
mercy for victims of injustice. In other European countries, a single
Church emerged victorious, whereas the Anglican ascendancy

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remained contested by Roman Catholics and Nonconformists. So
religious conflicts dragged on, and still have echoes today.
The Reformation era, meanwhile, coincided with the development of
England as a nation-state, with modern institutions of governance and
economy, as well as links with Europe and emerging notions of free-
dom, representation, and law. All of these, and the religious conflicts
that helped to shape them, remain important subjects of debate today.
Anglicans and Roman Catholics could respond to all this by fostering a
more objective, non-sectarian view of the past in England, pressing for
the updating of guidebooks in cities such as Oxford, and criticising his-
tories that ignore significant parts of the factual record. They could
also appoint historians and theologians in ecumenical partnerships to
study the motivations and agendas of either side. While 4 th May is
already marked by both Churches as a day of Reformation martyrs, the
Church of England could also adjust its lectionary to include something
more incisive than the current pious hope that those who have been
divided on earth may be reconciled in heaven. It could also consider
updating its liturgical calendar, which commemorates Charles I and Ss
Thomas More and John Fisher, but could similarly acknowledge other
Reformation victims, whose historical character and devotion are
now, in the words of a 1958 Lambeth Conference resolution, beyond
doubt.
Oxfords ornate Martyrs Memorial was expensively renovated for the
Millennium, and declares that Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer died
bearing witness to the sacred truths which they had affirmed and
maintained against the errors of the Church of Rome. The fateful
inscription, which was said to be a reason why Pope Benedict XVI
declined to visit the city in 2010, recalls the deadly seriousness with
which such issues were once treated. Today, when Oxford teems with
students and academics from all over the world, it deserves to be
matched with more sympathetic, tolerant, and enlightened attitudes.
I thought this article would be of general interest to the congregation of
St Giles. The Church Times have kindly agreed to my request that it can
be reprinted in the magazine. To subscribe to the Church Times, visit
https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/subscribe
David J F Longrigg, LLM

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 100 Years Ago - St Giles Parish Magazine, April 1917
Vicars Letter [Revd Charles C Inge]:
The month begins with Holy Week. The Cross of Christ is the supreme
appeal for the self sacrifice which these arduous days demand from all
of us. But it has a deeper message than that, in pointing out the way
not only of healing the wounds of war, but also of healing the evil
passions which are the origin of war. We shall rejoice in having the
Warden of Keble to speak to us on Good Friday at the Three Hours
Service, when the collection will be for the Oxford Penitentiary, the
House of Refuge, and the Friendless Girls Association.
Missionary Meeting:
A Meeting has been arranged to be held in the Parish Room on Friday
April 13th at 3 pm on behalf of the Diocese of Nassau, Bahamas. The
chair will be taken by Canon Scott Holland 1, and the speaker will be the
Rev Father Bull2. These names should assure a good attendance; but
the Vicar ventures to make a special appeal for the support of Church
work in a Diocese of which two of his uncles were Bishops in
succession, Bishop Edward Churton 1886-1901, and Bishop Henry
Churton 1902-1904.
Day-light Saving:
Summer Time is to begin on the morning of Easter Day. This may
cause some inconvenience in our Easter services, which will in
consequence be an hour earlier. [The services were: Holy Communion
at 6 am, 7 am, 8 am, 9.45 am, and after Morning Prayer.]
Food Economy:
Miss Petty, the Pudding Lady, is coming to lecture in Oxford on Food
Economy and Rations, in the third week of April.

1 Henry Scott Holland (18471918) was Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of
Oxford and a Canon of Christ Church. In 1910, following the death of King Edward VII,
he delivered a sermon entitled Death the King of Terrors, in which he explored the
natural but seemingly contradictory responses to death: the fear of the unexplained
and the belief in continuity. It is from this that perhaps his best-known writing, Death
is nothing at all, is drawn.
2Henry Power Bull, of the Boston House of the Society of St John the Evangelist, was
elected superior-general of the Cowley Fathers in 1916, in succession to Fr Maxwell.

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 50 Years Ago St Giles Parish Magazine, April 1967
An Experiment: [From the Vicar, Revd Stanley Birtwell]
Our Architect, Mr George Pace, produced three very interesting plans
for rearranging the interior of the church so as to bring the altar and
the congregation closer together. The Parochial Church Council
discussed these plans carefully in an evening given over entirely to this
purpose. All that we could agree on was that it seemed a good thing to
make a more convenient use of our chancel than at present by bringing
the altar westwards from the east wall and setting it more or less in the
middle of the arch that separates the Lady Chapel from the present
chancel. There seemed however to be some doubt about the final
result could we not experiment without committing ourselves in any
way, and see what in practice the main point of doing anything at all
really is? Well, this can be easily done by removing the riddels from
the High Altar and putting them round the altar in the Lady Chapel,
bringing the altar forward and arranging some simple kneeling benches
for communion at the present chancel step. We will do this soon to let
you all see it and give the PCC a better chance of talking to the point
. Remember that it is only an experiment and will of course come to
an end long before we decide whether we wish to apply for a faculty
__________________________________________________________
RECOLLECTIONS OF A CHOIRBOY AT ST GILES
I FEEL very fortunate to have begun my journey
in church music as a choirboy at St Giles.
Fortunate in a number of respects not least in
having sung under Peter Ward Jones as Choir-
master. His musicianship and dedication were
obvious, even to a small boy (I was six and a
half when I started out at St Giles). He gave us
numerous good examples of patience, humility,
loyal service, leading by good example and fine
musicianship.
What lessons did I learn as a very young choirboy at St Giles?
Being part of a team, having fun, the importance of discipline. But also
kindness and thinking of others, learning from others good example,
the excitement and significance of the churchs seasons and cere-

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monies, and last but by no means least, much wonderful music of
course.
I am lucky to have a pretty good memory, and so I have many
happy memories of my time at St Giles.
Carol singing (house to house) being one of the youngest, I
seem to remember that I was delegated to carry the collecting
tin! I also definitely remember being lifted up in order to reach
one or two of the doorbells!
Playing in the graveyard during the break! (Probably Id
discourage, or at the very least not be at all keen on that now
that I am a Choirmaster!)
Remembrance Day service going outside to the War
Memorial (do you still do that?)
I was very small when I started, so had to stand on a small
wooden platform to see over the choir stalls!
Kindliness of several of the men: chocolate bar selection packs
at Christmas; 50p Christmas gift seemed a lot of money then!
Also some fine solo singers, and pleasant younger men (some
former choirboys I think).
Sense of community shared lifts with other chorister families,
etc.
Walking with the much older Warren brothers (they were in
the back row, nice young men) up St Giles to Mary Mags -
where their father and mine sang in the (all-adult) choir to
meet our parents after the service
Super voices of some of the older trebles looking up to them,
a sense of their leadership
Music I definitely remember being excited by Irelands
Greater Love (both soloists good), Haydns Insanae et vanae
curae, Dvok Stabat Mater (in English I think!)
Peter Ward Jones organ playing especially Bach,
Mendelssohn, and Handels Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.
Peter Ward Jones giving a harpsichord recital featuring Bachs
Goldberg Variations.

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 Peter used the RSCM Chorister Training Scheme (I still have the
progress cards somewhere at home!) which gave a good
grounding in all things to do with church and church
musicianship
Singing in the choir at Peter and his late wife Shirleys wedding.
Being late twice mortified once on Sunday morning (maybe
family overslept or misjudged the time or the car wouldnt
start: I don't recall) we crept into the vestry; I was very reluc-
tant to go in as I was late. A second time for a carol rehearsal
I knew the correct time, but my father didnt believe me/was
convinced it was later than it was, so I was late!
Choir Trips Bristol (travelling on one of the new Intercity
125s, c.1977), Portsmouth (visiting HMS Victory)
When the time came to leave St Giles, and take up a
choristership at New College (where I had already been at school for a
couple of years) I was sorry to leave such a happy community, but I
took with me many happy memories and a valuable training and
enthusiasm for church (and keyboard) music that has stayed with me
throughout my career. I am so grateful to Peter Ward Jones.
Peter Barley
__________________________________________________________
ANNUAL VESTRY MEETING AND APCM
AFTER the 10.30 am service on Sunday 23rd April, St Giles will hold its
Annual vestry meeting and Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM).
At the Annual Vestry meeting the churchwardens for the coming year
are elected and PCC members are elected at the APCM. PCC members
serve for a period of three years which means that around a third of
the elected members are voted onto the PCC in any year. The number
of elected members on the PCC is governed by the size of the electoral
roll. With over 100 members on our electoral roll, we are entitled to
have twelve elected members. This is in addition to the ex-officio
members: Clergy and Licenced Lay Ministers, Churchwardens and
Deanery Synod Representatives. This year, for various reasons, there
are more vacancies than usual and the meeting can elect up to six PCC
members. Every three years, the APCM also elects Deanery Synod

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members and 2017 is the year in which Deanery Synod elections are
held. There are three representatives on the Deanery Synod. All
members of the congregation who are on the electoral roll can attend
and vote at the APCM. Members of the electoral roll who are
communicant members of the church can stand as PCC and Deanery
Synod representatives. If you are unsure if your name is on the
electoral roll or want to be added, please speak to Jim Smith. The PCC
meets six times a year, usually on a Wednesday evening. If you would
be interested in finding out more about being a PCC member, please
speak to me, the Vicar or one of the churchwardens (Maureen Chu or
Joanne Russell).
Sarah-Jane White (PCC Secretary)
__________________________________________________________

WELL-KNOWN HYMNS 1: MY SONG IS LOVE UNKNOWN (NEH 86)

SAMUEL CROSSMAN (1624 - 4th February 1683) wrote the words in
1664, but it was not until composer John Ireland (1879-1962) was
asked to contribute a new tune for them (Love Unknown) - largely
replacing the original tune (Christchurch) - that this hymn became such
a universal favourite. It is said that Ireland composed the melody over
lunch one day at the suggestion of organist and fellow-composer
Geoffrey Shaw
Revd Samuel Crossman BD was a minister of the Church of England and
a hymn writer. He was born at Bradfield Monachorum, Suffolk. After
graduation from Pembroke College, Cambridge, he ministered to both
an Anglican congregation at All Saints, Sudbury, and to a Puritan
congregation simultaneously. Crossman sympathized with the Puritan
cause, and attended the 1661 Savoy Conference, which attempted to
update the Book of Common Prayer so that both Puritans and
Anglicans could use it. The conference failed, and the 1662 Act of
Uniformity expelled Crossman along with some 2,000 other Puritan-
leaning ministers from the Church of England. He renounced his
Puritan affiliations shortly afterwards, and was ordained in 1665,
becoming a royal chaplain. He received a post at Bristol in 1667, and
became Dean of Bristol Cathedral in 1683. He died a few weeks later,
on 4th February 1683, and is buried in the south aisle of the cathedral.

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Crossmans contributions to hymnody were published in a small
pamphlet entitled The Young Mans Meditation, or some few Sacred
Poems upon Select Subjects and Scriptures (1664). My Song is Love
Unknown, a poignant meditation on the Passion of Christ, is the only
one of the original nine poems which now appears in the New English
Hymnal.
Seventeenth-century devotional poetry provided a nurturing environ-
ment that enriched hymnody in the days before such 18th-century
hymn writers as Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley. Congregational
singing beyond metrical psalms was not widely practised during the
17th century. Though devotional poetry during this era was not
typically written to be sung by congregations, verse from this century
found its way into hymnals later on.
The original poem has seven stanzas, taking the singer from Palm
Sunday through the Crucifixion. But its purpose is not simply to retell
the events of the Passion. From the beginning we find that this is a love
song sung to the Saviour who demonstrated pure love, even to the
loveless.
Hymnologist J R Watson notes that Crossman, like other seventeenth-
century hymn-writers... wrote in the shadow of George Herberts The
Temple: the phrase, Never was grief like thine is an echo of Herberts
poem The Sacrifice.
Oh all ye, who passe by, whose eyes and minde
To worldly things are sharp, but to me blinde;
To me, who took eyes that I might you finde:
Was ever grief like mine?
What might seem like plagiarism today was in the 17th and 18th
centuries the technique of imitation a way of demonstrating ones
knowledge of the great poets, paying homage to them and anchoring
ones own work in their heritage. Each of Herberts 61 stanzas
concludes with the refrain: Was ever grief like mine? Crossman dares
to answer that rhetorical question in the final stanza of his meditation,
boldly stating: Never was grief like thine!
(From: History of Hymns by Dr C Michael Hawn, Professor of Sacred
Music, Perkins School of Theology).

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 Someone is required to co-ordinate the list of Intercessors.
Duties are:
At beginning of June and December an email is sent to all
Intercessors, requesting dates when they know that they are
UNAVAILABLE, over the next six months, with a closing date of
two weeks.
From the results a list is made up, covering the next six months.
Copies are sent to each Intercessor and the PCC Secretary.
This completes the duties until the next December or June.
Not a very onerous job, but a very useful one.
Further information and reply to
bettycouldrey123@btinternet.com
__________________________________________________________
William of Ockham (c. 1285-10th April 1347),
Franciscan Friar, Philosopher
Commemorated in the Church of England on 10th April

BORN at Ockham [= Oak Hamlet] in Surrey, William entered the

Franciscan Order and, as a friar, he first studied and then taught at
Oxford. It is believed that he studied theology at the university from
1319 to 1321.
His writings were ever the subject of close scrutiny, this being a time
when heresy was suspected everywhere, it seemed, but he never
received any formal condemnation. Later in life, he entered the
controversy between the rival popes and had to flee for his life. His
much-used principle of economy often referred to as Occams
Razor stated that only individual things exist and that they are
directly understood by the thinking mind and that this intuitive
knowledge is caused naturally. His doctrine of God led him to destroy
the 13th century concept of the relationship between theology and
philosophy and took the study of the philosophy of religion onto a new
level.
From: Exciting Holiness, Edited by Brother Tristram SSF, 1997

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 LAUGHTER IN THE BIBLE
The dictionary defines joy as a feeling of great happiness, or success
in doing, finding or getting something. In a spiritual sense, we seek joy
in the people and things that God created. Although suffering and
sadness are part of the human condition, God wants us to be joyful and
to find happiness. Laughter is closely tied to joy because the feeling of
joy can promote laughter. It is often said that Laughter is the best
medicine: it can release stress and anxiety, improve your mood, boost
your immune system, and even relieve pain. It can also effect change,
and defuse tense situations. Court jesters sometimes used laughter to
convey unpalatable truths. The Bible has much to say about joy and
laughter, and the following verses can serve as inspiration to us to seek
more joy and laughter in our lives.
Sarah then said, God has given me cause to laugh, and all who hear of
it will laugh with me. (Genesis 21:6)
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
(Psalm 118:24)
Then our mouths were filled with laughter; our tongues sang for joy.
Then it was said among the nations, The Lord has done great things
for them. (Psalm 126:2)
She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to
come. (Proverbs 31:25)
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to
dance. (Ecclesiastes 3:4)
Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for
you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let
perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing. (James 1:2)
Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will
receive, so that your joy may be complete. (John 16:24)

EASTER HOLIDAY JUNIOR CHESS TRAINING

Free chess training for juniors of all abilities at St Giles on Wednesday
19th April and Thursday 20th April from 10:00 am to 12 noon. No need
to book just come along. Rod Nixon treasurer@st-giles-church.org

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 DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

(Holy Week services at St Giles and St Margarets are listed on the back cover)

Sunday 2nd April 5th Sunday of Lent (Passiontide begins)

7:45 pm Priest and Pints at The Royal Oak

Sunday 9th April PALM SUNDAY

9:50 am Blessing of Palms at St Giles
10:30 am Parish Eucharist at St Margarets
6:30 pm Pergolesi Stabat Mater at St Giles

Thursday 13th April MAUNDY THURSDAY

12:30 pm Eucharist at St Giles

Friday 14th April GOOD FRIDAY

10:30 am Matins and Litany at St Giles
7:00 pm Mozart Requiem at St Giles

Sunday 16th April EASTER DAY

5:30 am Service of Light/First Eucharist at St Giles
8:00 am Holy Communion (BCP) at St Giles
10:30 am Holy Communion at St Giles
6:30 pm Evensong at St Giles

Wednesday 19th April Wednesday of Easter Week

10 am-12 noon Junior Chess Training at St Giles

Thursday 20th April Thursday of Easter Week

10 am-12 noon Junior Chess Training at St Giles

Sunday 23rd April Second Sunday of Easter

Annual Parochial Church Meeting at St
Giles after the 10:30 am service

Monday 24th April St George, Patron of England (transferred)

Sunday 30th April Third Sunday of Easter

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