Friends and their News

The former Chaplain of St. Andrews was the Rev. Michael Cocks
Michael and Gertrud Cocks have the following address in New Zealand :

• Greetings from the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Port Neches, Texas
  Hello and God's Peace to you,
  We have a new website - Holy Trinity Port Neches, Texas is now at Holy Trinity Church, Port Neches, Texas
  We invite you all to visit our website:

  from
  Angela Denise Luke
  Wednesday, February 20th 2002.

• Greetings from the Anglical Episcopal Church of Brazil

  The Diocese of Rio de Janeiro
  Rt. Rev. Celso Franco de Oliviera ( celsofranco@osite.com.br ) You are welcome to visit our home pageDiocese of Rio de Janeiro
  This now has a version in English with links to Bibles online

  Please contact us!

  Igor Senez
  22/JAN/2001

At St. Andrew's, we are fortunate to have writers associated with our church, and we are glad to be able to include reviews of their works:

• The Stephen Experience or The Christ of the Space Between
  by Rev. Michael Cocks - former Chaplain of St. Andrew's

  This book describes an intriguing claim of a modern miracle authenticated by careful scholarship, and presents the heart of Christianity through the eyes of St Stephen.

  The book records seven years of conversations with St. Stephen the Martyr between 1974-80, Thomas Ashman being the channel. Stephen's teaching is in line with the mysticism of St. John and St. Paul, the Perennial Philosophy, the Stoics, and with the thinking of some leading modem theoretical physicists. He turns our normal thinking on its head, seeing all things from the point of view of a God who is in all through all and above all. During the years he spoke, and afterwards, there was much striking meaningful coincidence, many signs of the working of Spirit.

  This apparently extraordinary claim that St Stephen might return via a medium required stringent testing. Opportunities for such testing arose on two occasions when Stephen spoke a little in the language he used 2000 years ago, the form of Koiné Greek spoken in Macedonia and Thrace. Cocks' researches in connection with these words have extended over a period of twenty years. His work has been carefully checked by two Greek scholars specialising in the Classical period, from two different universities. It goes a long way towards confirming that we have had to do with the authentic Stephen. From his research it seems very likely that Stephen's parents were born in Thrace, and although Jews they identified with the Celts. It seems that Stephen was born in Ancyra (modem Ankara) in Galatia, and in his early teens, was to be initiated as an Essene in Judaea. It seems that it was from this background that he preached the gospel of Jesus. He was neither identified with the Jerusalem church, nor with St. Paul.

  290 pages. Paper-back
  lSBN: 0-959-7998-1-8

  published 2001, by Kelso, Aukland NZ
  order by e-mail from Ecclesia Books ecclesia@clear.net.nz
  Price $NZ27, Overseas: $US19, £UK14, 180 Swedish kronor, incl. postage and handling.

  Contact the author at cocks@ihug.co.nz
  Tel: +64 3 318 2640
  http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~cocks

• Sunlight and Blue Shadow - 1916-1919 - A soldier writes from India
  by Wendy Henningsson - a member of the St. Andrew's Ladies Guild

  Wendy Henningsson has selected and edited letters written by her father, Edgar Phillips. He wrote many letters home during the first world war describing the hardships, climate, tropical fevers, marches and manouvres, and not least home-sickness from India. These letters give very vivid descriptions of what life was like, the different kinds of people and what they did. This is described in a very vivid and interesting manner - Edgar's observations were as much an artist's as those of a soldier.

  "What is really like on a hot day when one feels as if one has opened the oven door to get the Sunday dinner out... What is really like whwn it rains. Telling you of the Palm trees, the great rivers, bridges over a mile long, the different kinds of people one meets in the Bazaar or along the road. The camels, mules and oxen which carry our kitbags and tents. The fruit seller, the sweetmeat shops... "

  Sunlight and Blue Shadow is a very readable and fascinating book - as members of the Ladies' Guild can confirm. There are many photographs and drawings to help readers appreciate Edgar Phillip's life in India. Highly recommended!

  176 pages. Paper-back
  lSBN: 91-631-0957-3
  Price: 150 Swedish kronor, postage and handling 30 Swedish kronor.

  published 2001, by Nork Books, P.O.Box 41, 425 02 Hisings Kärra, Sweden
  order by post or by e-mail: nork.books@telia.com