7th Sunday of Easter
Dear all,
Those of you with younger Children and Grandchildren, and especially anyone who has been involved in home-schooling, will know that next week is half-term. My family would usually go camping for a couple of nights and perhaps visit parents/grandparents, all of whom live some distance away. However, this holiday will look a bit different – we will be at home. I was reminded this week that Jesus regularly took himself away from the crowds to find a quiet place to pray and recharge, so I have decided that if we can’t go away, I’ll do the next best thing. I’ll be finding a quiet place by having a ‘digital fast’: unplugging my computer, turning off my phone, not looking at social media and avoiding the TV news. I hope you are able to find some quiet in our noisy world this week.
God bless, Phill
TODAY
10:00 Morning Worship – telephone conference
Phone: 03300 945 940
Room number: 60527473 #
PIN: 2656 #
12:00 Morning Worship – live on Facebook
Revd Barbara Abrey will repeat the reading, the sermon and lead some short prayers. Go to our Facebook page ‘Wroughton and Wichelstowe Parish Church’
4pm Church at 4
via Zoom – join the Church at 4 group on our Facebook page for the meeting invite and password.
NEXT WEEK
Wednesday
12:00 Let’s will be live on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1168029310066050/
Pentecost
Sunday 31st May
10:00 Morning Worship
Preacher: Martina Lewis
Intercessions: John Henderson
Reading: Acts 2. 1-21
Reader: Carol Gibbon
12.00 Morning Worship live on Facebook
Revd Barbara Abrey will repeat the reading, the sermon and lead some short prayers. Go to our Facebook page ‘Wroughton and Wichelstowe Parish Church’
4pm Church at 4
via Zoom – join the Church at 4 group on our Facebook page for the meeting invite and password.
10am service by telephone
Our Sunday morning service is an audio meeting that people can dial into using just their telephones – no computers involved! Follow these instructions to join:
- To join the Sunday service first dial this number: 03300 945 940.
- When prompted, enter the room number, followed by # on your telephone keypad: 60527473 #
- Finally, enter the guest PIN: 2656 #
- You may have to listen to some announcements, but you will then be automatically joined to the conference call. Join in with the responses in the liturgy as you would normally.
Please try and dial-in at 9:55, as it may take a little while for everyone to be connected to the conference. Calls to ‘03’ numbers are charged at the standard national rate and are included in your ‘free minutes’ if you have a call-plan. Revd Phill has delivered service sheets and dial-in instructions to a number of people that we know don’t use email, or for whom we have no email address. If you know someone who doesn’t have email and would like to be included please let us know so that he can drop something through their letterbox.
An opportunity for a cup of tea or coffee and a chat after the 10am service
Following our successful trial, we’re going to do this again…
One of the things that many of us enjoy doing after church is catching up with people and having a bit of a chat, it could be about the state of the weather, or the state of the vicar’s sermon. We also very much enjoy a slice of cake to go with our tea of coffee. It is hard to share a cake remotely; but perhaps we can still have that chat.
If you would like to join an informal conversation (about the state of the weather?) after the 10am telephone service on Sunday then choose your favourite treat and join one of our virtual meeting rooms. To access a meeting room you will need to dial the usual national rate telephone number:
03300 945 940 …followed by the room number and PIN.
Each meeting room has a pair of hosts, who will welcome you and hopefully help to get the conversation going. Just like in church, there is no obligation to stay for long, you can just pop in and say “hi” before rushing to the kitchen to think about lunch. Meeting rooms will be opened by their hosts after the 10am service and aim to close by 11:15 at the latest.
| Your tasty treat… | Room number | PIN | Room hosts |
| Lemon Drizzle | 11620235 # | 6880 # | Pete and Karen |
| Simnel Cake | 46145937 # | 2007 # | Mike and Tracy |
| Victoria Sponge | 86978612 # | 1062 # | Janet and John |
| Battenberg | 31584976 # | 3650 # | Sally and Clive |
| Coffee Cake | 90442676 # | 3946 # | Ross and Jean |
Trees in the churchyard
Some of you may have noticed that the large ash tree that stood by the entrance to Legge house car park was cut down this week. It’s always sad to see a mature tree felled and this isn’t something we would do unless it was necessary. The tree lost a large bough during storms last year and was showing evidence of ash-die back; its location next to the driveway and footpath meant that we couldn’t risk further bits falling off. There is more tree work planned over the next few weeks, principally pruning and cutting away ivy.
‘Thy Kingdom Come’ in Swindon
Thy Kingdom Come is a global prayer movement that invites Christians around the world to pray for more people to come to know Jesus. It runs each year during the ten days from Ascension to Pentecost (Thursday 21st May to Sunday 31st May). This year, 11 churches from across Swindon, plus Bishop Lee, have agreed to host 30 minute online prayer meetings at 8am, 10am, 1pm or 8pm each day. We are taking part and Tracy Mason will be hosting the 8am slot on Tuesday 26th.
Prayer meetings will be hosted on Zoom.
Please see the attached video clip and visit the ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ web-site for more information: https://www.thykingdomcome.global/about-us
LECTIO 365
For any of you who would like to revitalise and deepen your prayer life, a number of us can highly recommend the “LECTIO 365” app by 24-7 prayer (you can download it on a smart phone or tablet via the App Store on Apple or the Play Store on Android). Each day there’s a 10 minute devotional, which you can either listen to and/or read. At the moment the authors are working through a series entitled “How to pray” (linked with a book of the same name by Pete Grieg), and are also addressing some of the issues thrown up by the current pandemic. Personally, I am finding it both a real comfort and challenge at this time, and find that the combination of being able to both listen to and read the content a real help to my concentration! Karen Harrison
Wroughton Church Choir and Choral Society
Local singers have not be completely silent during the current crisis. Together with Angela and Robert Breakspear of Stanton Fitzwarren Church, John and Janet have been recording virtual anthems every week since Palm Sunday. We have also been joined by singers from Wroughton Choral Society and St John’s in Devizes. Each singer records their part in isolation onto a smart phone and these are then mixed together by Angela to make a choir – we call ourselves the ‘Corona Choir’.
A few weeks ago one of the singers in Wroughton Choral Society revealed the shocking news that she was terminally ill with cancer. At her request we have made a recording of Mozart’s Lachrymosa and added photographs of Wroughton. It can be seen by clicking on this link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/g6n5x38sd57klr2/Ruth%20Video%20Final.mp4?dl=0
Other recordings we have made include:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e0n0nrufbz4uf5f/Lord%27s%20Prayer%20video.mp4?dl=0 (John Sheppard The Lord’s Prayer 16th Century)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qm2kr0uy6d1in7m/haec%20dies%20video.mp4?dl=0 (William Byrd Haec Dies 17th Century, for Easter). We are currently recording some music for Ascensiontide. Janet & John
Wild Worship
For those of you able to get out for walks (but also suitable for those confined to a garden), there is a lovely resource I’ve been using from the Sanctuary Centre, that explores the richness of the connection between creation and worship, and relates what you might see when you’re out to a verse of scripture. It’s very simple and can be used as a gateway to prayer or praise outside in our wonderful natural world. I’ve found it very helpful at this time. If you want to take a look the link is here: https://www.thesanctuarycentre.org/resources/creative_prayer_idea_wild_worship_field_guide.pdf
Christmas Angels
The Community Engagement Group have decided that it would be good if we could yarnbomb Wroughton and Wichelstowe as we did a few years ago with knitted angels and a note sending good wishes to anyone who picks one up. We will not do this until it is safe to do so. We don’t know how soon that will be but we thought we could prepare now by knitting some of the little angels that we used before. I hope that many of you will still have the pattern, it is very simple and requires only a small amount of DK yarn that many people have a little of at home. It also needs a little toy stuffing for the head, but that can be seen to later. If you no longer have the pattern or never had one I have a copy that can be sent as an email attachment if you let me know. If you know someone who would like a paper copy I could print and deliver if I have an address, please email requests to Janet office@wroughton.com or telephone 812050. Barbara
Daily Hope – free prayer hotline
The archbishop of Canterbury has launched a 24-hour free phone line for Christian worship and prayer, aimed at those who have no or limited access to the internet. People calling the free phone number will hear a greeting from the archbishop and can then choose from a range of options including hymns, prayers, reflections and advice on Covid-19. Daily Hope is available on 0800 804 8044.
Envelope scheme
Weekly or monthly giving envelopes with cheques in can be sent to the Parish Office (by post or put through the letterbox); they will be collected once a week. Thank you to those who have been doing this. You can also now give by card through our website http://wroughton.com/?page_id=2576 and if you pay tax you can gift aid your donation.
Funeral this week
Please pray for the families and friends of Kathleen Masterton and Richard Curtis as their funeral takes place.
And finally, a prayer for this week:
Lord Jesus Christ,
you taught us to love our neighbour,
and to care for those in need
as if we were caring for you.
In this time of anxiety, give us strength
to comfort the fearful, to tend the sick,
and to assure the isolated
of our love, and your love,
for your name’s sake.
Amen.
The Parish Office, Priors Hill, Wroughton, SN4 0RT
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 9am to 1.30pm
01793 812050. office@wroughton.com
Janet is now working from home but normal hours.
Revd Phill Harrison – 01793 812301 vicar@wroughton.com
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