ST PETER'S BANNERS

St Peter’s has been gifted two banners in recent months. Both can be viewed at our little church, which is situated in St. Peter’s Road, signposted clearly from the main Havant Road.

Surrounded by its well-kempt country churchyard and accessed also via the network of rural footpaths that cross Hayling Island, it is a haven of peace. Not only that, but if you come between 3:00pm and 5:00pm on a Sunday afternoon, delicious cream teas are on offer!

We have had staying with us this summer the Reverend Frank Roe, who some may remember was curate on the Island in the mid-1950s and who then led many younger people to Christ (and some are still living here in our congregations and greet him warmly). He returned for some months in the early 1990s on an exchange posting with the Reverend George Royle.

Father Frank is a talented painter of banners for churches, and has created many back home in Esperance, Western Australia. So moved was he by the sermons from the Rev Don Churchman and the Venerable Tony Turner inspiring us to live faithful lives using all our varied talents, that he felt moved to create a banner for St. Peter’s. This he has given as a gift to St. Peter’s on the occasion of its Patronal Festival in June and it can be seen now in its temporary site by the South Door. The Church is open in daylight hours every day for prayer and peaceful contemplation.

Of the banner, Father Frank writes:-

"Banners can be a happy alternative to painted walls which used to be very common in our places of worship in the past.

The cloud is symbolic of that which led the Israelites through the wilderness and of our own present journey in faith, of Our Lord’s transfiguration and of His Ascension.

The hand of the Son of God reaches down (somewhat dramatically) to place in the hands of each and every congregation the keys of the Kingdom he first gave to Peter.

The keys are artistic copies of the actual keys to St. Peter’s Church and The Ark. They are symbolic gifts to the male and female members of the congregation whose hands reach out both to receive them and to accept the responsibility, in our day, the keys represent. Their hands extend yearningly from this 11th century church with its modern Ark.

On the dexter side of the banner the coat of arms of Jumièges reminds us of our ancestors who in faith built this church in North Hayling.

On the sinister side is the coat of arms of the parish of North Hayling, with the Eucumencial ship, symbolic of our membership in the universal church of Christ and our island nature. Below are St.Peter’s keys crossed with the sword, sign of St. Peter’s discipleship and his martyrdom."

Earlier in the year, St. Peter’s was gifted a banner worked in silk upon a coarse linen cloth.

Of this work the Rev Ann Leonard writes:-

This is a beautifully stitched version of the 14th century icon of the Holy Trinity by the Russian icon writer Rublev. Rublev takes as his inspiration, the Old Testament story, known as the Hospitality of Abraham, in the book of Genesis, where three angels of God visited Abraham and Sarah. Rublev depicts the three figures as the persons of the Trinity — God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Scholars have spent much time working out which figure is which — through the colours used and through the background symbols — but part of the point is that, in a sense, they are meant to be indistinguishable — one God in three persons — neither male nor female.

This beautiful hanging came to St Peter’s as a mystery gift — it was given to St Peter’s by Miss Ida Edwards, of the charity 'Tools With a Mission' as a result of a house clearance - and we do not know who made it or who owned it. Things to note in the original Rublev picture:

There is a circular dynamic movement which includes all three figures as they turn to each other in mutual love.

There is a chalice on the table showing that it is an altar. (In the hanging the central figure is holding the chalice which probably means that the person who made this hanging felt that the central figure should be Christ.)

In the original icon the perspective is reversed — so that the onlooker is drawn into the picture to join the three figures by taking up the space at the front of the altar — a sign that each one of us is invited into the community of love which is God. It is almost as if without each one of us, the community around the altar i.e. God, the Holy Trinity is incomplete.

You can give to 'Tools With a Mission' in the box by the North Entrance door."

Questions about these stories may be directed to the Churchwardens of St Peters, Ruth Genge or Nigel Chilcott (023 9246 2743) or to the Reverend Ann Leonard (023 9246 1980)