Trinity 5
Dear all,
I hope you’ve had a good week and that at least some of you have been able to enjoy a bit of new-found freedom following the easing of some of the lockdown restrictions last weekend. Starting to do a few ‘normal’ things after so long, and in abnormal circumstances, certainly feels a bit strange.
This week we’re continuing our sermon series on St. Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi. Paul is writing from his very own lockdown; he has been under house arrest for nearly two years, waiting for a trial that will result in either his death or release. Imagine the frustration, fatigue, anxiety he could have felt knowing that any day he could be summonsed and executed. But this is no anxious appeal letter. From the very first verses we are treated to a thankful, joyful faithful appeal, not for help or sympathy, but to rejoice in Jesus! He is able to turn his predicament from fear and worry to joy and hope by trusting God and setting his sights upon the joy heaven. The need to be joyful in all circumstances and to trust that ultimately all things will be put right by Christ is an attitude echoed by the words of Julian of Norwich: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of Taken by Tim Winter
things shall be well.” 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 Phill Harrison 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
Trinity 6
Sunday 19th July
10:00 Morning Worship
Preacher: Revd Barbara Abrey
Intercessions: John Henderson
Reading: Phil 4: 1-9
Reader: Helen Toomer
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. Service sheets are being delivered 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
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 |
| Date and Walnut | 23905416 # | 6076 # | Helen and Helena |
| Lemon Drizzle | 11620235 # | 6880 # | Karen and Peter |
| Victoria Sponge | 86978612 # | 1062 # | Janet and John |
Opening the church building for private prayer
In response to the easing of some of the measures put in place by the government to control the spread of COVID-19 we are now able to open the church building for private prayer by members of the public. The church will be open this Sunday between 12:30 and 4pm and you are welcome to visit during this time. Please use the hand sanitiser located in the church porch before and after your visit, stay within the areas that have been clearly marked and remember to maintain a 2m distance from anyone else who might be there. You’ll find that much of the interior has been cordoned off – this is to make cleaning simpler and therefore help to keep everyone safe; the areas in use will be cleaned at 2pm and 4pm.
…and an opportunity for a new rota:
We have building repairs going on at the moment, which means that we have handed the building over to the contractors as their work site. They have agreed to allow us to us it on Sundays on the condition that it is supervised at all times. Therefore we need a team of volunteers who are each able to commit to being in church for half an hour on Sunday afternoon. If you can take a turn doing this (perhaps you were planning to visit anyway?) then please can you let Janet in the church office know (office@wroughton.com).
We also need cleaners to cover the 2pm and 4pm cleaning slots. Again, please let Janet know if this something you help with. Thank you.
Posting Giving Envelopes in the Church Hall
If you are posting envelopes in the church hall letterbox during the day and find the door open, please place your envelopes in the red Parish Office letterbox inside the porch on the right. This is emptied regularly.
Hello from Westbury on Trym
Just a quick note to say thank you for all the prayers, good wishes, cards and messages I have received in the last two weeks. As you can imagine it has been a busy two weeks getting sorted, but the house is beginning to feel like a home. It is a lovely house and has been the curates house since the 1960s – so feel like I am following in footsteps, albeit my steps will be the first female curate ones! Last Sunday I was licensed as a lay worker via zoom on what would have been my Ordination date, it was very special and emotional service. We have been told that our Ordinations will now take place in October, we are waiting for the date to be confirmed – but once I know I will let you all know. My licensing service has made me realise how much this time is one of waiting for all of us, but one where God does continue to work, just perhaps not in the ways that we envisaged – something which I will hold onto in the coming months. The link to my service The Licensing of Lay workers. July 2020. Bristol Archdeaconary. With Every Blessing and prayers as always. Cheryl
PCC update
PCC met this week to discuss the ongoing building work and the time-table for re-starting public worship in the church building.
Building work – Part of the work that needs to be done is the removal of some patches of failing cement and gypsum based plaster inside the church. The church was originally plastered using lime, which allows the wall to ‘breathe’. The cement/gypsum is trapping moisture in the wall, leading to damp areas and causing the plaster to come away in places. Once the plaster has been removed we will need to allow the wall to dry out for 12 months before it can be re-plastered – we will therefore have areas of bare stone wall to look at for quite some time. This week the PCC to decided to increase the scope of this plaster removal work. This decision was taken in view of the fact that further areas of inappropriate plaster are likely to fail over the years ahead, the mess and disruption that plaster removal and re-plastering will cause, and the unsightly bare walls during drying out. Extending the scope of the work also gives us an opportunity to do some re-decorating once the plaster has been put back.
Public worship – The PCC has agreed that we will aim to re-start public worship in the church building at the beginning of August. This is subject to further planning and risk assessments being completed and the progress of the building work described above. Initially this will be a Morning Worship type service; sharing Holy Communion safely will require some additional thought and planning, so we aim to begin Holy Communion services at the beginning of September.
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.
Mission to Seafarers Knitting Project
My thanks to all those who have been busily knitting hats and scarves for the Mission to Seafarers. Please keep up the good work but please can you keep your finished items for the time being as the office staff at MtS are still working from home and the Port Chaplains are still unable to visit ships. They hope to resume in the autumn so please watch this space for further details. Thank you. Any queries please call Janet Henderson 525856.
Funeral this week
Please pray for the families and friends of Ken Middleton and Edward Meaden as their funerals take place.
‘Peatmoor Lagoon’
