25th April 2021

EASTER 4

TODAY

Services will be held in the church building. The need for social distancing means that the capacity of the church building is limited, so you will need to book your space (details below)

8:00                     Morning Worship in Church (traditional language).

10:00                    Holy Communion / Morning Worship in Church and on the Telephone and YouTube

4pm                     Church at 4 via Zoom join the Church at 4 group on our Facebook page for the meeting invite and password.

Sunday 2nd May 2021

Easter 5 

NEXT WEEK

8:00                      Holy Communion (traditional language)

Preacher:             Martina Lewis

10:00                    Holy Communion / Morning Worship in Church and on the Telephone and YouTube

Preacher:             Martina Lewis

Intercessions:    Dr John Godfree

Reading:              Acts 4. 24-31

Reader:                John Henderson

4pm                     Church at 4 via Zoom join the Church at 4 group on our Facebook page for the meeting invite and password.

6pm                     Evensong

Preacher:            Marion Colton   

Evensong

Next week (Sunday 2nd May) we will hold our first service of evensong since March 2020. Covid restrictions mean that there may be somewhat less ‘song’ than usual, but we hope that people will still find this a prayerful and positive experience. Please book your place by phoning Janet in the Office or emailing her at: office@wroughton.com

Booking for Church Services

The need for social distancing means that the capacity of the church building is limited. There is also a legal requirement for us to keep a record of everyone who attends our services for the purposes of Covid-19 track and trace. If you wish to attend a service in person then please can you book your place in advance each week. You can do this in several ways:

On Line Booking – please follow the link to Eventbrite and select the date of the service that want to book:

Link for 8:00

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/0800am-sunday-service-traditional-language-tickets-131445136943

Link for 10:00

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1000-am-sunday-service-at-wroughton-wichelstowe-parish-church-tickets-121970305467

Telephone – if you can’t use the online booking then please phone Janet Burchell, Church Administrator, 01793 812050 during office hours – Mon, Wed, Thurs & Fri – 9am to 2pm.

Please make sure you have and wear a face mask; and be aware that you may not be able to sit in your ‘normal’ pew!  We will of course be following all the government and C of E guidelines with regard to social distancing and cleaning etc. our detailed Covid-19 risk assessment is available on request. 

10am Telephone service

The 10am telephone service is still taking place, so if you can’t join us in the church building please do dial in – you will be taking part in the service in church, albeit remotely.

  • 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.

Live streaming the 10am service

The 10am service will be live streamed on You Tube. As well as getting video, the sound quality should be better than the phone. However, unlike the telephone option, you will not be able to interact with other people or to be heard in the service. We don’t recommend trying to use both You Tube and the phone at the same time as this could cause an echo on the phone line, there is also a delay of about 30 seconds which is very off-putting. Please visit our YouTube Channel on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc6wnuTqXBYTixq-NpQgeLQ and press the ‘subscribe’ button. 

Electoral Roll Revision 2021 – closing date 25 April

Our Electoral Roll is being revised with the closing date of 25 April fast approaching.  Application forms are available from the Parish Office- tel 01793 812050 or email office@wroughton.com. The roll is open to anyone over 16 years old, who is baptised and 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 of the form and return it so we have your consent to hold your details so we can keep in touch with you. Completed forms to be returned to the Parish Office by 25 April.

Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) and Meeting to Elect Churchwardens– following guidance from the Diocese and allowing for Covid restrictions, these meetings will be held this year on 16 May within our physical 10am morning worship service and also on the telephone. To attend in person, please book a place in the usual way either by Eventbrite or by telephoning the Parish Office. Holding the meetings within the service will allow more people to attend in person than would otherwise be the case and we will aim to keep the business of the meeting as short as possible. If you would like to stand for election to the Parochial Church Council (PCC), nomination forms are available from either the Parish Office or Helen Toomer (htoomer@outlook.com). If you are interested and would like more information please speak to any of the current PCC members or to the Vicar. 

Sermon series ‘How to pray’

Everyone prays, but no one finds it easy; we all need a little help. During the next couple of months we’ll be following a sermon series thinking about prayer, how to do it, the types of prayer and how to deal with disappointments when our prayers go unanswered. Those of you who took part in ‘The Prayer course’ during Lent will hopefully find it helpful to reflect further on the topics we covered. For those who couldn’t join us, this is your opportunity not to miss out! The sermon series is based on the book ‘How to pray – a simple guide for normal people’ by Pete Greig; available from all good booksellers.

Living in Love and Faith

In May the Diocese of Bristol is launching our local expression of ‘Living in Love and Faith’, a national C of E initiative that has been designed to enable a relational journey exploring Christian understanding around matters of identity, sexuality

and marriage; matters which have proved sensitive and divisive in God’s Church and in wider society.

The initial launch will be through a half-day online conference led by The Revd Dr Eeva John and the team supporting Living in Love and Faith nationally. Participation is invited from all church members, whatever their views. You can sign up to attend on either 8th May or 22nd May (the conference is repeated to enable as many people to attend as possible). More details can be found here: https://www.bristol.anglican.org/transformingchurch/living-in-love-faith/

Spring Harvest follow-up

Those who took part in Spring Harvest this month feel that God is calling us to act on what we have heard and discussed. There will be a virtual prayer meeting to consider the way forward, on Monday, 25th April at 4.30 p.m. Everyone is welcome to engage with this, whether or not you were part of Spring Harvest. Please contact Margaret for details.

Give thanks for your vaccination

As more of our family, friends, and neighbours receive their COVID vaccinations, we rejoice and are glad that our loved ones are protected. We give thanks for all the NHS staff and key workers who continue to save lives across the UK.

For the poorest and most vulnerable communities across the world, there is little hope of a vaccine rollout. These people already face a lack of water, food, and healthcare. Christian Aid is helping keep people safe from coronavirus with practical support. Please give thanks for your vaccination with a donation to help protect our global neighbours while the vaccine is out of reach: https://www.christianaid.org.uk/give/ways-donate/give-thanks-your-coronavirus-vaccine

Swindon SACRE – Religious Education in Swindon’s schools

Looking for Christians to join the team in shaping religious education across Swindon

The Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) is an independent body which considers the provision of religious education in Swindon, advising the local education authority and is able to require a review of the locally agreed syllabus for RE.  The SACRE is made up of representatives of the Local Education Authority, the Church of England, Association of Teachers and Representatives of Other Christian Groups, Other Faiths or No Faith.  The C of E representation is much depleted at the moment and Katy Staples, SACRE advisor, asks if any of us, or anyone we know (lay or ordained) might have a real interest in what happens in RE lessons and in Collective Worship in all the schools in Swindon – not just the Church schools.  You can find out more in the attached FAQ, on the website https://swindonsacre.wordpress.com/ or by contacting Katy Staples at Katy.Staples@bristoldiocese.org.

Singing Jan’s Race for Life at home 2021

On Saturday 24th April I will be walking 5km in my local area as part of the 2021 Cancer Research Race for Life at home.  I would be grateful if you can sponsor me by donating to Cancer Research UK on the page https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/singing-jans-race-for-life  Thank you. Janet Henderson

Eco Top Tips – practical ways to take better care of God’s creation

April – In the bathroom

Fit a water efficient shower head (if you’ve got a shower that takes hot water straight from your boiler or hot water tank). This will reduce your hot water usage while retaining the sensation of a powerful shower. 

Funerals

We commend to God’s care and keeping those who have, died recently especially Peter Taylor and John Hilton.