Three Parishes. Newsletter March Dear Friends

Transcription

1 Three Parishes Newsletter March 2016 Dear Friends At a recent meeting a staggering and fascinating statistic was shared. It is estimated that in ten years time 40% of the current clergy will have retired. I will, be one of the 60% that remains, and I must admit I am looking forward to the challenges ahead. Challenges that will see the re - imagination of church as we know it, perhaps a greater emphasis on lay ministry and I hope, a fresh vision for how we minister and preach the Good News of Christ in our community. This Lent we are encouraged by our Bishops to pray for vocations, yes that means to pray for those men and women who God may be calling into leadership in his church to serve as priest and deacon, but also for lay ministry. I want to encourage us, to widen our prayers so that we pray for our Benefice, and a renewed sense of vision and calling in the church in Saltford, Corston and Newton St Loe. We are moving to that time of the year when we often need volunteers, from church wardens, PCC members, people to help with children s ministry, brass cleaners, lay worship leaders, people to lead prayers in church, and so on. Rather than think of it as who can we encourage to volunteer, I wonder if we should be thinking of it in relation to vocation. Who is God calling to service him in a particular way? Who has the gifts and talents to lead worship, to teach children, to lead a home group, to manage a building project? Who should we be releasing from a particular task to enable their calling to a different area of ministry to flourish? How do we support one another in ministry and develop a shared ministry where we all have a role to play? Can I encourage you to join me and many others across the Diocese, this Lent to pray for vocation within the church, and as suggested above to widen those prayers to include our church and the particular needs and issues we face in this Benefice. You might like to use these prayers: God of our calling, your Spirit bestows upon your people a rich diversity of gifts and ministries; from this royal priesthood raise up, we pray, women and men to proclaim your word, to be stewards of Christ s mysteries and to grow your kingdom; in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Lord God, who calls us to grow more like Christ in all we do and are; in this season of Lent, give us a deepening of our own sense of vocation and ministry, and help us to see where we can best use the gifts and talents you have given us. Enable us to identify and nurture all those you are calling into leadership in your church and especially those women and men you have chosen to be ordained. May we all be united by your Spirit in our desire to grow your kingdom, to share in your ministry and to serve the people of this diocese, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen You might like to join us on a Monday evening during Lent for 30 minutes of guided silent prayer and its not to late to come along to the Lent course! Blessings, Daile

2 An invitation for you to join us for our Lent Course 2016 as we look together at The Church as a Community Wednesdays 2nd, and 9th March MOTHERING SUNDAY 6 TH MARCH : An invitation to join us as we celebrate Mothering Sunday and give thanks for all those who care for us. 9.30am Family Communion at Saltford 11.15am Family Worship with Baptism at Corston 4pm Mothering Sunday Celebration at Newton St Loe - we meet in existing home groups or if you prefer a small group will continue to meet in the Church Hall. Closing Session - Wednesday 16th March 7.15pm for refreshments, for a prompt start at 7.30pm in St Mary s Church Hall Saltford You are very welcome to join us for all the Lent course or as many of the sessions you are able to attend. An invitation... for you to join us through Lent for 30 minutes of guided, silent prayer. Mondays 7pm pm in St Mary s Church, Saltford on 7th, 14th and 21st March Come and join us as we pray for our church, our community and our world. Come and join in with as much or as little as you feel comfortable with. Come and spend 30 minutes resting in Gods presence this Lent. The Wilshere family are planning to go to New Wine at the Royal Bath and West Showground in Shepton Mallet. We will be going Week 1 from Saturday 23rd July Friday 29th July. If you want to join us for a week of camping, fellowship, amazing worship and great speakers you are very welcome. If you have never been, why not check out the website wine.org and see for yourself. If you do decide to join us, get in touch and I will give you the booking code so we can camp together. If a little hesitant about whether it is your thing or not, or you don t like camping, why don t you arrange to come and join us for a day. Parish Administrator and Parish Office Our new parish administrator Liz Benden has started. She is working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings (term time only). The Parish Office will be open between 9.30am and 11.30am. Liz can be contacted on When the Parish Office is closed phone calls will be redirected to The Rectory. Please Note: There is a new benefice address: scnbenefice@gmail.com

3 HOLY WEEK 2016 Across the Benefice of Saltford, Corston & Newton St Loe Palm Sunday 20th March 9.30am Holy Communion at Saltford 11.15am Holy Communion at Corston 11.15am Family Worship at Newton 6.30pm Café Worship at Saltford Monday 21st March 7.00pm Compline at Saltford Tuesday 22nd March 9pm Compline at Corston Wednesday 23rd March 9.30am Holy Communion at Saltford Maundy Thursday 24th March 7.30pm The Last Supper at Corston 7.30pm The Last Supper at Saltford Good Friday 25th March 10.30am Service at Corston 2pm An Hour at the Cross at Saltford 7.30pm Good Friday Reflection at Newton St Loe Parish Registers No entries this month Parish Roundabout Holy Communion at Home or a Visit: If anyone is unable to get to church and would like either Holy Communion at Home or just a visit, please contact the Parish Office. Copydate for the next newsletter is 10 th March at the latest. Please deliver all copy to the Parish Office. If you produce it on a computer it would be a great help if you would please it to: scnbenefice@gmail.com Transport: for transport to a service in the benefice, please ring the Parish Office. The Less Able: if anyone needs assistance to fully share in a church service please ring the Parish Office. St Mary s Saltford The Parish Office, St Mary s Church Hall, High St., Saltford, BS31 3EL Tel: scnbenefice@gmail.com Churchwardens: Dave Faulkner John Norris Easter Day 27th March 8am HC (BCP) at Saltford 9.30am Family Communion at Saltford 10.30am Holy Communion at Corston 11.15am Family Worship at Corston 11.15am Family Communion at Newton Circle of Friends : On Thursday 3 March, Sue and Robin Dixon will relive their holiday in Greece in a talk called In the footsteps of St. Paul. This will be in the Church hall and the start time is 7.30pm. Every one is invited including those in Corston and Newton- St- Loe who would like to join us. Hilary Smedley

4 Theatre Trips : Tickets are available for GUYS AND DOLLS at the Bristol Hippodrome on Wednesday 13th July 2016 at 2.30pm. They are in the stalls priced at 25.00, they need to be paid for by 10th May 2016, contact Olive Wilkinson on for further details HOUSE GROUPS IN SALTFORD Tues Evenings: 18 High Street, 7.45pm Contact: Ken Plant Tel Wed Evenings: 14 Golf Club Lane, 7.45pm Contact: Sue & Robin Dixon Tel Wed Evenings: 5 Vernon Close, 8.00pm Contact: Julia & John Norris Tel Mens House Groups (meet monthly) 2 nd Tuesday of the month at 7.30pm for 8.00pm Contact: John Norris Tel or Dave Faulkner Tel nd Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm Contact: Robin Dixon All Saints, Corston Parish Office Tel: Churchwardens: Jane Jones Liz Acton Bible Study: The next two sessions of the Lent Course will be at Newton on 2 nd March and Corston on 9 th March. There is a light supper at 7.30pm followed by more serious matters at 8.00pm. The final session is at Saltford on 16 th March. A warm welcome awaits at all three sessions. Easter services: Special services in Corston to note this month: 6 th March: Mothering Sunday Family Worship 20 th March: Holy Communion (instead of First Sunday) 22 nd March: Compline at 9.00pm 24 th March: Maundy Thursday Commemoration of the Last Supper led by Canon Farran 25 th March: Good Friday morning Service at 10.30am 27 th March: Easter Day Holy Communion at 10.30am led by Canon Farran and Family Worship at 11.15am led by Daile Choral Evensong: On Sunday 13 th March, Evensong in Corston Church will be sung by Cappella Nova and the collection will go towards the All Saints Corston Church Preservation Trust. Cappella Nova is a local chamber choir with which Libby Birts of Corston sings. The Choir performs in churches in the Bath and Wiltshire area singing at Concerts and weddings and singing in Cathedrals during their own choirs summer breaks. This year they will be singing in Wells and Exeter cathedrals. The Music selected for the Corston Evensong is as follows: Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis by Walmisley in D minor Preces and responses set by William Smith Anthem for Passiontide Ubi Caritas by Durufle The service starts at 6.30pm all are most welcome. Spring Bible Study: Spring Bible Study evenings have been arranged for 14 th and 28 th April and 5 th,12 th,19 th & 26 th May meeting at 8 Brook cottages, Corston at 7.30pm for 8.00pm. The proposed subject is Some Old Testament characters including The Messiah. All who are interested are welcome to come.

5 Holy Trinity, Newton St Loe Parish Office Tel: Churchwardens: Rosemary Denning Ian Tadd The Parish Room: The Hall used by Newton Church will not be available from the end of March because the lease from the Duchy has expired and a new use for the building is being considered. The Hall was the Village School until It was built in 1698 from the endowment of Richard Jones who was a wealthy Bristol merchant and was part of the Temple estate which was purchased by the Duchy of Cornwall in The Church has used the Hall for many social events particularly during May day. It will be missed but we do thank the Duchy for allowing us to use the Hall for so long. SUNDAY 6 TH MARCH - A MOTHERING SUNDAY CELEBRATION with gifts of flower posies followed by seasonal refreshments. We hope you can come and join us. This years Women s World day of Prayer will be held on Friday 4 th March at Saltford Church Hall 2p.m. This service has been prepared by the women of Cuba. The service is interdenominational and everyone from the 3 villages will be warmly welcome. It is estimated that 6000 services will be held in the U.K. and 3 million people from all over the world will take part. Our service will commence at 2 p.m. and there will be tea and biscuits afterwards. How Do You Pray? Last month I invited you to ponder the question: which of the following is the hardest? Give thanks in all circumstances and for all things. In everything, present your request to God. Pray without ceasing. Be still and know that I am God. Giving thanks in difficult circumstances or for painful and unpleasant events is very, very hard. But what about giving thanks in hindsight, when we see how God brings good out of so many situations we would not have wished for? Is it possible that we sometimes don t see them because we are clinging to our preferred outcomes, even when God has different plans? When presenting our requests to God, there ll be times when we really, really want things that we would hesitate to ask God for. We might find it hard to justify or even express our requests for them! Praying without ceasing becomes easier when we realise that prayer is any action on our part which turns our attention towards God, or any response on our part to the Holy Spirit drawing our attention to God s presence close by us or within us. Finally, how easy do we find it to set aside our own ideas, plans, solutions to problems and aspirations, and allow God to be God and in control? Prayer is a precious privilege granted by our gracious God and we are talking about it. Let us pray. Ken Plant The Annual Soup and Cheese lunch in aid of Christian Aid will be held in Saltford Hall on Thursday March 3 rd at 12 noon until 2 p.m.

6 A Message from Bishop Ruth Dear Brothers and Sisters, Bishop Peter reminded us last month of the hope we have in the God of promises as we look to uncertain futures. We can trust God to remain faithful and immoveable whatever our circumstances. Easter has always been a moveable feast although the Archbishop is now taking soundings from other church leaders to see whether we can fix a date for Easter. I wonder how easy that will be! We are now part way through Lent and the first Sunday of this March is Mothering Sunday which is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent. This was traditionally the day when people would gather to worship, to rejoice ( laetare ), at their mother church, a large local church or often the Cathedral. As this practice developed so those in service would have the opportunity for a short holiday, to return to their homes, to their mothers, often bringing small presents or gifts. It was a welcome moment of festivity in the season of abstinence and austerity. A sign of things to come However for some of us, Mothering Sunday can be the most painful day of the year as we remember the loss of a loving parent, whether known or not; or the bereavement of never having been able to be a parent oneself; or the death of a child we have loved and longed for. It can mean that some find it too difficult to be in church that week. Perhaps as we approach Good Friday it gives us a small insight of what it might mean to have been Mary watching her Son die on that cross. So how about a different take on Mothering Sunday this year? We might focus on remembering those who have given birth to us by inspiring our faith or where we ourselves have played a part in someone else s discovery of Jesus as a friend and Saviour. Who might you remember, give thanks for and pray for? + Ruth Taunton MARCH 2016 DIARY 1 st Tuesday 7.00pm Prayer Meeting, 52 Uplands Road 3 rd Thursday 12 noon Christian Aid Soup & Cheese Lunch, Saltford Hall 7.30pm Circle of Friends 7.30pm PCC Corston 4 th Friday Meeting Room 2.00pm Womens World Day of Prayer, Saltford Church Hall 5 th Saturday 10.30am Village Market, Corston Village Hall 6 th Sunday 11.15am Teen Church 7 th Monday 8 th Tuesday 7.30 pm Joint Meeting for both Men s Groups to discuss the idea of Church as a Community 433 Bath Road Saltford 9 th Wednesday 12 noon Soup & Pudding Lunch, Corston 10 th Thursday 7.30pm PCC Saltford 11 th Friday Meeting Room

7 13 th Sunday 6.30pm Choral Evening with Cappella Nova Choir, Corston 14 th Monday 15 th Tuesday 7.30pm Prayer Meeting, 24 Anson Close 16 th Wednesday 7.15 for 7.30 pm Lent Course Closing Session (Led by the Rector plus refreshments) at Saltford Church Hall 17 th Thursday 18 th Friday Meeting Room. 7.00am Choir Practice 29 th Tuesday 6.30pm Prayer Meeting, 433 Bath Road 31 st Thursday Coffee Morning...and things for sale Corston Village Hall Saturday 19 March 10-12noon Bits & Pieces, books, cakes and raffle In aid of Crohns & Colitis UK 19 th Saturday 10-12noon Coffee Morning Corston Village Hall in aid of Crohns & Colitis UK. 20 th Sunday 11.15am Teen Church 21 st Monday 22 nd Tuesday 9.00pm Compline at Corston 24 th Maundy Thursday 7.30pm Holy Communion at Corston led by Canon Farran 25 th Good Friday Meeting Room 28 th Easter Monday