2nd Sunday before Advent
Dear All,
There was an article in the Church Times this week that contained a rant about the human-centric interpretation of autumn colours on the BBC’s Autumn Watch. The author suggested that nature is not producing a beautiful display of colour that we can feast our eyes upon and enjoy, the trees are simply experiencing cyclical death. Well, I have to say I disagree, but it got me thinking… There is undoubted beauty in the colours of autumn, which is why so many pre-schoolers spend time collecting leaves and making collages at this time of year. This beauty is God-given. Yes, this is a prelude to winter, but our trees are not dying, we will see fresh growth in the spring. Our forebears saw in the pattern of the seasons a clear echo of the death and resurrection of Jesus, with new life bursting forth on Easter Day. In the beauty of the falling leaves there is the promise a New Creation.
With prayers, Revd 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
Sunday 22nd November
Christ the King
10:00 Morning Worship
Preacher: Revd Phill Harrison
Intercessions: Mark Tubey
Reading: Matthew 25. 31-46
Reader: Tiffany Weighell
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.
Church Service -10am Our 10am Sunday service has been running in tandem in the church building and on the telephone since August. With the renewed closure of the church building we have returned to the ‘telephone only’ way of meeting that we practiced during the last lockdown. The telephone service allows you to join anonymously and just listen or to announce yourself and be greeted by name. It also enables us to hear one another as we say the responses and pray together, so there is a sense of being together as a community, despite our physical separation.
- 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.
Calls to ‘03’ numbers are charged at the standard national rate and are included in your ‘free minutes’ if you have a call-plan.
Update from the Archbishops – a month of prayer
The Archbishops have written to clergy following the Prime Minister’s announcement of new Covid restrictions during November. They acknowledge that this second lockdown will be different from the first one: “The days are getting shorter and colder. We are anxious for ourselves and for those we love, especially those who are vulnerable and elderly, and for our families. We know that this pandemic is having a devastating effect on our economy and on people’s mental health.” But this second lockdown will also be different in other ways. They note that: “there is much that we have learned from the first lockdown and there is much to celebrate and be proud of. Churches up and down the land have been serving their local communities and working with others to make sure that the hungry are fed and the vulnerable cared for. We have managed to maintain and, in many cases, extend our outreach by streaming worship online and by developing other ways of building community online.”
They call upon the Church of England to make this month of lockdown a month of prayer: “More than anything else, whatever the nation thinks, we know that we are in the faithful hands of the risen Christ who knows our weaknesses, tiredness and struggles and whose steadfast love endures for ever. During the first lockdown we cheered for the NHS every Thursday. During this second lockdown the Archbishops invite you to fast in a way appropriate to you as well as pray for our nation every Thursday, for its leaders, its health and essential services and all those who suffer.”
***Tearfund Big Quiz 7:30pm this Saturday ***
Following the success of previous years the Tearfund Big Night Quiz will be held on Saturday 14th November at 7.30pm. The event this year will be held online via Zoom or WhatsApp and Quizmaster Peter assures us the quiz is both easier and shorter than last year! Teams will be of up to six members and this year’s format enables participants from other households to join together as team members. The event will be to fundraise for Tearfund and a Just Giving page has been set up to facilitate this. For further details and to register a team please contact the Church Office or Peter Ferguson on fergieskpdj@gmail.com leaving a contact email address.
Here’s the link to the just giving page:
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/wroughtonandwichelstowechurch
Praying for our nation during the pandemic
The Archbishops have urged us to pray for our nation every Thursday at 6pm. If you would like to join together to pray with others then dial the usual teleconference number at 6pm: 03300 945 940; Room number 60527473 #; PIN 2656 #
Opening the church building for private prayer
During the last lockdown we opened the church building for private prayer on Sunday afternoons until the building work moved inside. This was initially well attended but quickly tailed off. If there is demand, then we would like to open it for private prayer again now that services have been suspended. Unfortunately security concerns mean that we cannot currently leave the building open unsupervised, so it would be good to gauge the level of interest before we organise a rota for ‘church sitting’ and Covid related cleaning. The Archbishops have called for Thursdays to be a particular day of prayer for our nation, so we wonder if people might prefer to visit the church on Thursday afternoon, rather than Sunday? Please let Revd Phill or Janet in the office have any feedback on this topic.
Parish Safeguarding Officer
Please be aware that Mark Tubey is our new Parish Safeguarding Officer. In the past, the Church of England has failed in its duty to protect children and vulnerable adults from abuse. People have been hurt and damaged in ways that affect them for their entire lives. This abuse was able to continue because processes and procedures that should have kept people safe either did not exist or were not followed. The Parish Safeguarding Officer has a key role in making sure that we all understand our responsibilities and that any safeguarding concerns are dealt with appropriately. Many thanks to Janet Henderson who previously carried out this role, during a time when legislation and government and diocesan regulations were developing rapidly in this area. Mark now has the safeguarding ‘hat’, but please remember that safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility. Thanks, Revd Phill.
Wiltshire Christian Workplace Zoom Call
The local group of Transform Work UK is seeking to bring together Christians in Wiltshire who want to live out their faith at work, to shine the light of Jesus into their workplaces, including where we are working remotely from home.
The focus will be on sharing experiences and praying into opportunities, on the themes of connecting in a time of disconnection, and breaking new ground. Here are the key details:
When: Thursday 26th Nov 2020, 7:30 – 9.00 pm
Where: https://zoom.us/j/95013440378?pwd=WmhWOTlEL3BDSjVzTEc5TGkwdS9Vdz09
Meeting ID: 950 1344 0378
Passcode: 957752
Host: mal.shaw@transformworkuk.org
https://www.transformworkuk.org/
Message from Bishop Viv – Transforming church
We have been asked to share with you the attached letter from Bishop Viv (see: “Ad Omnes”) about important developments in the life of the Diocese of Bristol. It’s well worth viewing the video which accompanies the letter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i1QK6Wmnvo
Knitted Angels
I hope many of you have been knitting angels for our Christmas yarn bombing project. I will be leaving a crate in Church for finished angels or you can deliver them to 17 Edgar Row Close. Please continue to knit them, there is plenty of time before Christmas. Barbara
Knitting for Mission to Seafarers.
I am still collecting hats, scarves and gloves ready to send to the Mission to Seafarers when they resume collections. If you have any completed items please either bring them to church or give me a ring and I will arrange to collect them. Also if you are not a knitter but would like to support this project you could buy balls of Double Knitting yarn (the Prospect shop sells it) and bring them up to church. The boxes for completed items and wool are near the choir vestry. Some of our house bound knitters would welcome some new supplies. Many thanks Janet Henderson 525856
Photos
Please continue to send your photo’s to me office@wroughton.com so that I can include on the notices and service sheets. Janet
Floodlighting this week
The Church will be floodlit on Friday 20th November by Rosina Stevens in memory of Ron Stevens; On Saturday 21st November by Doreen & Bill Greenshields in memory of their son, Andrew Greenshields on his Anniversary.
Funerals
Please remember the friends and family of the late Maisie Wick.
The Band Stand, Town Gardens taken by Janet Henderson
Bishop Viv’s appeal to help clergy in Uganda.
Why is this so important?
During a recent Zoom meeting Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba explained how clergy families easily slip between the cracks when it comes to aid, and can often find financial support from other sources hard to obtain.
Archdeacon Godfrey Kasana in Luweero explains some of the social background to the current Covid 19 crisis:
Average income is too low to allow people to save for the future and with no social security system the family is the main support in a crisis. A sudden loss of income affects every generation. Clergy have been particularly badly hit by the Covid 19 crisis as they rely on offerings from their congregation to support them but churches have been closed since March. This has led to great hardship. Some clergy families can eat only one basic meal a day. We are thankful that churches have recently started to reopen for limited numbers of worshippers, but clergy families are likely to continue to lack the most basic needs as their congregations too are struggling to make ends meet.
Clergy living in rural areas can grow food in their gardens. Because urban clergy do not possess land, this resource is closed to them. Those working in the poorest areas and those serving in the slums are especially vulnerable.
The people who so often bear the burden of care in their own communities are themselves now in desperate need of encouragement and support.
What difference can we make?
Even a small gift of £10 can provide maize meal and beans for a family to survive on for a week; £20 would mean that basic essentials such as salt, sugar, soap and cooking oil could be provided along with the food. £50 would allow a family to meet a simple medical emergency. £200 could provide food for ten families.
There is further information here: www.bristol.anglican.org/uganda-appeal.
How can we give?
You can give through your church (using gift aid if you can) and your treasurer will pass your gift on. Or you can give directly here: https://bit.ly/2Twl8jL
This appeal will run until Sunday 29th November.
Today I am asking you to stand with our Ugandan sisters and brothers in this time of crisis and support this appeal as generously as you can.
In Christ,
Rt Revd Vivienne Faull
Bishop of Bristol
