Page 69 - Bere Regis November 2023

November 2023 November 2023
FROM THE AFFPUDDLE CHURCHWARDEN the shop on 01929 472000, e-m
briantspuddle.shop@gmail.com or
pop in and see us. Our opening hours
Michelangelo & the Sistine Chapel are:
I am staggered by the excellence of the painting by Michelangelo in the Sistine Shop: 9am – 12 noon Monday to
Chapel. But he did us no favours. He has portrayed God, the Father, as a Saturday and 10am – 12 noon on
bearded elderly gentleman sitting in the clouds, surrounded by nymphs and Sunday.
cherubs. PO: 9am – 12 noon Monday – Friday.

It is your shop, so please support it,
either as a customer, or a volunteer,
preferably both!
The 2024 Calendars are now in the
shop. The price is £6.00 (including an
envelope). The calendar uses lovely
and varied pictures produced by
many of our local artists – please
come and have a look and buy one
….or even two. All the proceeds go to the shop.

It’s time to be thinking about Christmas! We will let you know about what services
we can offer in the December newsletter. There is information concerning the last

posting dates for items going abroad in the PO now or see www.postoffice.co.uk/
Christ is lounging on the mountain top, and He and God are “in touch”. All the last-posting-dates.
stories in the New Testament tell how Christ used the power of God to achieve
miracles. But if you go back to the first few chapters of Genesis, and you study a Our customers come to us by means of various
few scientific books explaining the origin of matter, the stars, and the size of the forms of transport – on foot, by car, on a bike. Gill
universe, there is a conflict. The scientists will tell you it didn’t actually happen like has recently taken to coming with Dusty; we are
that. They tell us that there was a big bang 14 billion years ago when all matter in used to dogs waiting outside but a pony was quite
the universe was in one dense lump. The nature of atomic forces meant that it a surprise. Dusty likes the grass by the shop and is
exploded blowing matter in all directions with velocities even almost the speed of partial to Polo mints.
light. Have you run out of reading matter? We have a
But what has this got to do with Michelangelo? - His painting has suggested what box in the shop which has a variety of donated
form God takes but so many of us don’t believe that this bearded gentleman is a magazines for you to borrow. The box is
true representation of whatever created life, the universe and everything. In that ‘harvested’ regularly so shouldn’t contain anything
case, who, or what, did create everything? I haven’t heard a satisfactory answer too old. So come and have a rummage! Donations
to that question, so, whatever it was one could just give it a name, such as ‘God’. of used magazines, on (virtually) any topic, are
What else can ‘God’ do? Well, in the Bible, God is attributed to creating other most welcome.
phenomena such as genetics, and even the difference between right and It is your shop, so please support it, either as a
wrong. Whatever it is that tells you what is right could be considered as one of the customer, or a volunteer, preferably both!
apparitions of God. So, if you are a non-believer, don’t just say “I don’t believe in
God” but rather “my image of God is somewhat different from yours”.

Mike Menzies michael.menzies@talk21.com
Church Warden, Lay Worship Leader, St Laurence Church, Affpuddle Affpuddle and Turnerspuddle website: www.briantspuddle.info

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