‘TODAY’ Weekly News Current edition click here & for past copies click here.
‘Together’ Monthly Magazine Current edition click here & for past copies click here.
18 August, 2024The MInster Communion
You can view the service via this livestream link.
(You don’t need a Facebook account.)
President: The Reverend Louise Bale
Preacher: The Reverend Tobie Osmond
Deacon: Valerie Gaskell
Reader: Lesley Webb
Intercessor: Lesley Web
Organist: Jo Hammer
Reading: Ephesians 5: 15-20
Gospel: John 6:51-58
Hymns: All My Hope, When morning gilds the skys, I Come with Joy, Angel Voices
The July edition of the Together monthly magazine is now available.
You can get your copy by clicking the button below to either view or download.
(To view past copies of the Together magazine click here.)
Thursday 27 June to Wednesday 3 July 2024
The Minster is giving some space for Co-operatives UK to display and share information about the Co-operative initiative (whose members support a fairer economy), particularly during part of the period of Co-ops Fortnight (24 June – 7 July).
Every year, hundreds of co‑ops and organisations across the UK work together to celebrate and promote co‑ops during Co‑op Fortnight. Co-op Fortnight is organised by Co-operatives UK and is then brought to life through events and sharing stories about the power of co‑operation via social media.
As the voice of the UK’s co-operative movement, Co-operatives UK empowers and supports co-operative enterprises with specialised knowledge and expertise, to grow the co-operative economy and create a fairer society. Co-ops offer an altogether different way of doing business. They’re democratic. They share power and wealth across the economy.
You can discover much more from the Co-Operative UK website by clicking here.
For your prayers, here are the names of those to be ordained Deacons and Priests at Wells Cathedral this Petertide.
Pray for Bishop Michael as he lays hands on each person and for the power of the Holy Spirit to be ever present with everyone at these deeply profound services.
Pray for the parishes within which each new Deacon and Priest will serve and for a flourishing of their ministries.
To be ordained on 30 June 2024.
| Christian Name | Last Name | Benefice |
|---|---|---|
| Farhad | Chermahini | Yeovil Holy Trinity with Barwick |
| Lucy | Davies | Milton and Mead Vale |
| James | Hall | Hong Kong |
| Jane | Hoe | Batheaston with Saint Catherine and Bathford |
| Julie | Kimber | Beercrocombe with Curry Mallet, Hatch Beauchamp, Orchard Portman, Staple Fitzpaine, Stoke St Mary with Thurlbear and West Hatch |
| Julie | Pelling | Bridgwater St Mary and Chilton Trinity |
| Jolyon | Stonehouse | Alham Vale |
| Samuel | Thompson | Frome Holy Trinity |
To be ordained on 29 June 2024.
| Christian Name | Last Name | Benefice |
|---|---|---|
| Lucy | Blows | Pill, Portbury and Easton in Gordano and Chaplain to the Mission to Seafarers |
| Robert | Cromwell | Wilton |
| Edward | Day | The Cathedral Church of St Andrew in Wells |
| Emma | King | Bath Weston All Saints with North Stoke and Langridge |
| Joanna | Moule | Long Ashton with Barrow Gurney and Flax Bourton |
| Ben | Notley | Combe Down with Monkton Combe and South Stoke |
| Coelette | Parkes | Ham Hill Villages |
| Rachel | Pengelly | Street with Walton and Compton Dundon |
| Frances | Smettem | The United Benefice of Winford with Felton Common Hill and Chew Stoke with Nempnett Thrubwell (to be known as Chew Valley West) |
| Louise | Southgate | Dulverton with Brushford, Brompton Regis, Upton and Skilgate |
| Alison | Tolson | Porlock and Porlock Weir with Stoke Pero, Selworthy and Luccombe, and Oare with Culbone |
| Harry | Wainwright | Christ Church with St Mary’s, Frome |
| Nathanael | Worsley | Waterside Benefice |
The Taunton Minster broadband, WiFi and telephone systems have just been upgraded and we now have a new telephone number. This new number will enable you to reach the various parts of the church organisation.
When you phone, there’s a simple menu system from which you choose who you want to talk to. The most popular will be the office for which you simply dial 01823 213388 and press Option 1. Through the menu, you can also reach:
If you know who you want to be in touch with, then you don’t have to listen to the whole menu—just press the Option number you want straight away to get connected.
Please note the new number, update your own phone’s directory and begin using the new number straight away. (Any old numbers you might have a note of will continue to work for now, but in due course they’ll cease.)
All this means we have a telephone system fit for the future (when copper lines end), the broadband in the office is now much faster and the church WiFi has more coverage.
The WiFi coverage within the church has been improved and it now has a new network name. So, if your phone or tablet previously connected to ‘Magdalene’s Coffee Shop’, you’ll find that this will no longer appear as an available network.
Instead, you’ll see ‘Taunton Minster Guest’ as a network option. You can sign into this using the password that you have used previously. If you can’t remember the password, then just ask when you’re next in church. Once you have connected to the new network your device should remember it for the future.
(You’ll see other network options available within the Minster, but there’s only public access network which is the ‘Taunton Minster Guest’ option.)
Please note that WiFi is provided based on a fair usage policy and the Minster’s public WiFi is intentionally bandwith limited. You’re welcome to use the WiFi for normal things like website surfing, emails and all the general stuff that we all do. The free WiFi isn’t meant for big downloads, running games, video chats and the like. You can use your own data for those things!
Here’s a QR code for Taunton Minster Guest which you can use when you are within WiFi range to help make your initial connection:
And finally! The church WiFi mentioned already only has a range within the body of the church. So, if you are in the Upper Room, then you’ll need to use the network ‘Magdalene Centre’ (and this connection has not changed, so if you have used it previously, then it’s still the same).
Pray Your Part is an invitation from the bishops of the Church of England to encourage prayer and participation in the life of our nation and communities, both as voters and as citizens.
Written by a group of Church of England bishops, the daily reflections are part of the Church of England’s #PrayYourPart campaign, which promotes prayer and participation.
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York write: “In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray each day, ‘your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven’. This simple and profound prayer is our starting point during the days leading up to the General Election – and all the days beyond. May God’s will be done in our nation and in God’s world.”
To receive a daily theme, short Bible reading, reflection and prayer for a different aspect of our common life, you can sign up by clicking here.
This 21-day journey of prayer and reflection (from Friday, 14 June until Election Day on Thursday 4 July) is designed for use in the run-up to the country’s General Election.
You can see a preview of what Day 1 looks like and the daily theme for the whole series below and by clicking here.
Participants are encouraged to remember that those offering themselves for public office ‘need and deserve our support and prayer’ and that we ‘rightly expect integrity in those engaged in public life’ but should expect the same standards of ourselves.
There are reminders that party leaders are ‘only human’ and, though privileged, ‘the pressures they are under are hard to imagine.’
The importance of truth is underlined in a world where social media algorithms ‘serve up more of what we like rather than providing a balance of perspectives.’
While stressing the importance of trust in the media, there is also encouragement to consumers of media to commit to telling the truth about – and loving – our neighbour.
The final reflection on Election Day, 4 July, focuses on good government, serving as a reminder that beyond the election, ‘the challenge of government is as much about implementing ideas and avoiding errors as it is about developing policy.’
We are delighted to announce that Miles Quick, Taunton Minster’s very own Director of Music, has been awarded the title ‘Associate of the RSCM’.
Miles’ boundless musical energy and professionalism, skilled music directing, accomplished and expressive organ playing and performances, infectious enthusiasm, and profound Christian faith are a rich blessing of God to everyone at Taunton Minster, in the wider Somerset musical world, and way beyond. The Vicar, Churchwardens, PCC, Ministry team and whole congregation are so very pleased that Miles’ dedicated work has been recognised with an ARSCM award.
Each year the RSCM Council confers Honorary Awards on those who have made outstanding contributions to church music.
Associates of the RSCM (ARSCM) – Awarded for achievements in church music and/or liturgy of nationally recognized significance, or for important musical and/or liturgical work within the RSCM that has had an impact across several Area Teams.
The article in the Church Music Quarterly of June 2024 reads: ‘Miles Quick was, until recently, Head of Congregational and Instrumental Music for the RSCM. He has combined a role as Director of Music at Taunton Minster for 12 years with leading and facilitating RSCM events in the Somerset area. He has a positive ‘can do’ attitude, encouraging the musical gifts of others to flourish, including many young musicians in the Taunton area.’
You can see the RSCM Honorary Awards criteria here.
Miles was born in Taunton and studied music at Durham University and the Royal Academy of Music. He then worked in London at Merchant Taylors’ School and Westminster Abbey, and then for sixteen years in Norfolk at Norwich School. Returning to his Somerset roots, he was Director of Music at Queen’s College, Taunton from 2007 to 2014. Following this, he became Head of Congregational and Instrumental Music at the Royal School of Church Music. In this role he ran workshops and events all over the UK and further afield for six years, and now continues as an RSCM tutor and consultant.
Following the Toilet Twinning appeal on Sunday 19 May, we are pleased to announce that the goal of £180 has been exceeded. Indeed, with £244 raised, we are able to twin four toilets (instead of just three). This means that the toilet in the Benefice Office will be twinned too.
Grateful thanks to the generous donors who supported this important appeal.
More information at the Toilet Twinning website here.
If you want the ‘low down’, well here it is:
● In 2020, 54% of the global population (4.2 billion people) used a safely managed
sanitation service.
● Over 1.7 billion people still do not have basic sanitation services, such as private
toilets or latrines.
● Of these, 494 million still defecate in the open, for example in street gutters, behind
bushes or into open bodies of water.
● In 2020, 45% of the household wastewater generated globally was discharged
without safe treatment.
● At least 10% of the world’s population is thought to consume food irrigated by
wastewater.
● Poor sanitation reduces human well-being, social and economic development due to
impacts such as anxiety, risk of sexual assault, and lost opportunities for education
and work.
● Poor sanitation is linked to transmission of diarrhoeal diseases such as cholera and
dysentery, as well as typhoid, intestinal worm infections and polio. It exacerbates
stunting and contributes to the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
● 829,000 people in low- and middle-income countries die as a result of inadequate
water, sanitation and hygiene each year, representing 60% of total diarrhoeal deaths
● Better water, sanitation and hygiene could prevent the deaths of 297,000 children
under 5 years each year
● Poor sanitation is believed to be the main cause in some 432,000 of these
deaths and is a major factor in several neglected tropical diseases. Poor
sanitation also contributes to malnutrition
● Women and girls responsible for fetching water in 7 out of 10 households without
supplies on premises, according to first in-depth analysis of gender inequalities in
drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in households
● Around 2.2 billion people – or 1 in 4 – still lack safely managed drinking water at home
● 3.4 billion people – or 2 in 5 – do not have safely managed sanitation
● Around 2 billion people – or 1 in 4 – cannot wash their hands with soap and water at
home
● Every day, over 700 children under 5 die from diarrhoea linked to unsafe water,
sanitation and poor hygiene
● Today over 700 million people still live without access to safe water
● Today 2.3 billion people still live without access to safe sanitation services
● The simple act of washing hands with soap at critical times can reduce the number of
diarrhoea cases by over 40 per cent.
● Globally diarrhoea-type diseases are the second most common case of death of
children under the age of five.
● Globally, women and girls are still the primary water collectors in their household.
They are still the main carers when children or others get sick with diarrhoeal
diseases. Day after day, they secure water that is essential for food security and
livelihoods. Yet despite these responsibilities, unequal access to water and land
means that women are disproportionately affected by the lack of water.
● Women and girls are particularly vulnerable to abuse and attack, often having to wait
until dark to relieve themselves in the open and in unsafe toilets, or where they have
to fetch water from remote locations
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