Prayer for the Week
Epiphany 3
God of all mercy,
your Son proclaimed good news to the poor,
release to the captives,
and freedom to the oppressed:
anoint us with your Holy Spirit
and set all your people free
to praise you in Christ our Lord. Amen
Today
8.00am Holy Communion
10.00am Parish Communion
4.00pm Church at 4
Current Sermon Series
‘Thinking about the significance and meaning of Baptism’.
Diary – Week Commencing 26th January
Monday 27th January
8.30am Morning Prayer – Church
9.00am Morning Prayer – Chapel Deanery School
10.00am Bible Study Group – 11 St John Road
7.30pm Wroughton Churches Together – St Josephs
Tuesday 28th January
8.30am Morning Prayer – Church
11.00am Coffee & Chat – Cornerstone Café, Deanery School
7.30pm Bible Study Group – 12 Artis Avenue
Wednesday 29th January
The Parish Office will be closed today
8.30am Morning Prayer – Church Hall
10.00am The Let’s Group – Let’s Pray
Community Room, The Deanery School
Thursday 30th January
8.30am Morning Prayer – Church
7.30pm Choir Practice – Church
Filling Station – Carol & Tricia
Friday 31st January
8.45am Morning Prayer – Prospect Hospice
7.00pm Bellringers Practice
Saturday 1st February
10.00 to 3pm Healing on the Streets Training – Church
A Date for your Diary
World Day of Prayer service at 11am on Friday 6th March at St Joseph’s Church. Further details to follow.
Opportunities to join in
Pancake races – Sat 22nd February
Easter Rocks – Tuesday 7th April
Duck Race – Friday 8th May
Sunday 2nd February 2020
Candlemas
8.00am Holy Communion
Preacher: Mark Tubey
Sidespeople: John & Iris Smith
10.00am Parish Communion
Preacher: Mark Tubey
Intercessions: Sheila Tubey
Reading: Galatians 3: 26 – 4: 7
Reader: Ben Cooper
Gospel: Luke 2: 22-40
Servers: Jean Ford and Andrew Kirk
Sidespeople: Rose Humphries and Pat Herring
4.00pm Church at 4 – Church Hall
Leader: Tracy Mason
6.00pm Evensong (1st Sunday of the Month)
Preacher: Dr John Godfree
Intercessions: Mark Tubey
1st Reading: Haggai 2: 1-9
Reader: Malcolm Morrison
2nd Reading: John 2: 18-22
Reader: Clive Parker
Sidespeople: Tony & Julia Edmonds
Floodlighting
The Church was floodlit on Thursday 23rd January by Jeanne Howland in memory of her sister, Helen Gay Marchant.
Electoral Roll Revision 2020
We are approaching the time of our annual Electoral Roll revision. If you completed a form last year you do not need to do anything. The roll is open to anyone over 16 years old who is either resident in the parish or who regularly attends our services. Being on the roll allows you to attend and vote at the Annual Meeting and, if you are not resident in the parish it gives you certain rights otherwise only given to residents. If you regularly attend our services and are not already on the roll, we would like to encourage you to join the electoral roll. If for any reason you attend our services, but do not feel able to be on the electoral roll please would you complete just page 1 and return the form so that we have your consent to hold your details so that we can keep in touch with you.
Bible study
The Tuesday evening Bible study group will be starting John Ortberg’s ‘If you want to walk on water, you’ve got to get out of the boat’, six sessions on learning to trust God. We begin on Tuesday 28th January at 7.30pm, meeting on alternate weeks at 12 Artis Avenue. Please speak to Carolyn Kirk for further details.
Opportunities to join in
The community engagement group are planning lots of events to join in over the next year but we can’t do it all ourselves and we are sure many of you have skills and talents that could be put to use in our attempts to connect with members of our local community. We would love some new members of our group, we only meet three times a year, so not a huge commitment. If you can’t join our group you can still help out by offering your talents. Some of our activities are aimed mostly at young families, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be part of it. We still need people to chat to parents and grandparents, or to run a craft table or game, or to help with food. Look out for opportunities to join in. Barbara 633024
Pancake Races +
We are planning pancake races at 11.30 am in Willow Brook Gardens on Saturday 22nd February followed by pancake eating in the church hall at 12 noon. Do invite anyone you know who would be interested in racing and even if you can’t run in races come along to eat pancakes at midday. We need some help making pancakes and washing up so if you feel you can contribute please speak to me. Barbara 633024
Healing on the Streets training
We shall be holding a training day for current and potential volunteers for Healing on the Streets on Saturday, 1st February from 10.00 am until 3.00 pm in the Parish Church. If you have an interest in this ministry, please come on the day and bring a packed lunch – drinks will be available. For more information, please speak to Barbara Abrey or Margaret Penfound.
Coffee and Chat – Cornerstone Cafe
Before Christmas several of us got together for a coffee and a chat. It was a very enjoyable morning and we would like to meet up again on Tuesday January 28th, 11am at The Deanery Café. Please come along and join us. Christine Wrixon
Church and Church Hall building work
Over the next two years we need to complete some significant building maintenance on both the church and the church hall. We’re delighted to be able to report that we recently received a donation of £40,000 towards the cost of some of this work. We are currently working with our architects to appoint a contractor to take care of the exterior and interior repairs to the church (note that these are repairs, not changes!). More details will follow in the first part of next year.
Plastic Recycling
Wiltshire Air Ambulance are collecting some plastics that the council don’t take at present. We now have a box in the church hall kitchen where you can put clean BREAD BAGS, CRISP PACKETS AND BISCUIT WRAPPERS, which will then be taken to their collection point. The best time to drop them off would be on a Sunday afternoon when the hall is open for Church at 4, or any time you are going to a meeting in the hall.
Let’s Group
Our Let’s Group has started again on a Wednesday morning, 10am in the Committee Room at the Deanery School. All are welcome to attend. Our topics for the next few weeks are as follows:-
January
29th Let’s Pray – Light a candle, Receive a Blessing
February
5th Let’s Reboot – Teaching in the 21st Century
12th Let’s Talk – ‘Who am I’
26th Let’s Chat – With Key Members of the Community
January Green Resolution
The church changed some of the high-powered lights in the roof from low energy bulbs to LEDs at the end of 2017. This has saved us about 25% of our electricity bill, that is £260 each year since then. LEDs are available for domestic lights as well. They won’t save you that much on your electricity bill, but they will save energy and money when you fit new bulbs. The church will be continuing to do so.
CHURCH IN THE WIDER WORLD
Swindon Youth for Christ
Swindon Youth for Christ has been working in the town since 1950, so this year they will be celebrating their 70th anniversary.
In their early years, they invited young people to large evangelistic rallies, sometimes with well-known names, even Billy Graham and Cliff Richard came to Swindon. Over the years the work has changed to meeting the young people on their own ground, whether that is in school or on the streets. There have been various types of mobile youth clubs in that time, particularly going into areas where there were no other facilities.
Their aim continues to be to present the good news of Jesus Christ to the young people of the area in way that are relevant and engaging.
Please pray for all the contacts they have in all the different settings that they work in now.
Knitting for Mission to Seafarers
I recently sent off the last box of knitting for 2019 which brings our grand total for the year to 166 hats and 83 scarves which is a magnificent achievement. Keep those needles clicking and we’ll see if we can beat that total in 2020. Janet Henderson
This week please pray for:-
- Swindon Youth for Christ
- For the staff and patients at GWH
- For all emergency services
- For all those areas of the world suffering violence, war, hunger and living in fear
- Healing on the Streets training day
- Our Bible Study Groups
- We commend to God’s care and keeping those who have died recently especially Bob Miller. We pray for all who mourn the loss of loved ones.
Defibrillator
We now have a defibrillator (also known as AED) in the church for use in situations where someone is in cardiac arrest (a heart attack). Initially this is being kept on top of the safe in the vestry, where it will be accessible during services and other functions in the church. We ultimately plan to install it in the church porch, where it will be available for use by the wider community (it takes some time to get the necessary permissions…).
The Parish Office, Priors Hill, Wroughton, SN4 0RT
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 9am to 1.30pm
01793 812050. office@wroughton.com
Revd Phill Harrison – 01793 812301 vicar@wroughton.com
Church Twitter Account
We have Twitter @WroughtonWichel
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