2nd May 2021

Easter 5

TODAY

Services will be held in the church building.

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

10:00    Holy Communion / Morning Worship in Church and on the Telephone and YouTube. The need for social distancing means that the capacity of the church building is limited, so if attending in person you will need to book your space (details below)

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

6pm      Evensong

Sunday 9th May 2021

Easter 6 

NEXT WEEK

8:00                      Holy Communion (traditional language)

Preacher:             Revd Phill Harrison

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

Preacher:             Revd Phill Harrison

Intercessions:    Helen Toomer

Reading:              Matthew 7. 7-11

Reader:               Veronica Garside

4pm             Church at 4  Celebrating Ascension. Meeting IN CHURCH. 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)

Evensong

This 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. There is no need to book but you will need to sign-in for Covid track and trace purposes.

Booking for Church Services

The need for social distancing means that the capacity of the church building is limited. If you wish to attend the 10am or Church at 4 services in person then you will need to book your place in advance each week. You can do this in two ways:

There is no need to book if you are attending the 8am or 6pm services, but you will need to sign-in for Covid track and trace purposes Please make sure that 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.

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/

Vacancy – PA/Secretary to The Bishop of Swindon

Job Share 17.5 hours. Salary £11,245.50 p.a

To support, equip and free up the Bishop to carry out his leadership and management.  Working with the existing PA to provide a confidential administrative service for the Bishop of Swindon. Follow this link for more information:

Personal Assistant/Secretary to the Bishop of Swindon – Pathways | Pathways (churchofengland.org)

N.B. The closing date is 3rd May

Wichelstowe Trinity Learning Campus – an update from Revd Phill

This is the new name for the combined campus that includes The Deanery CE Academy, The Kingfisher CE Academy, The Kingfisher Nursery and the community facilities in the centre of Wichelstowe. Following a review, DBAT (The Dioceses of Bristol Academies Trust) have decided to manage the whole site as a single campus, with shared leadership and sharing of facilities, as well as contracts like IT and catering etc. This model also means that there can be sharing of teaching expertise and learning opportunities between the primary and secondary schools (so primary children can benefit from learning from language specialists for example). We are currently recruiting for the role of Executive headteacher, who will be responsible for the whole of the Wichelstowe Trinity Learning Campus. Please pray that God will call equip the right candidate to join us in Swindon to take up this key role.

The Deanery school

We are delighted to announce that Peter Scutt, who has been interim principal at the Deanery for the last six months will take up the role of Head of School for the Deanery. Peter is an exceptional leader, who is whole-heartedly committed to seeing the students, parents and staff of the school flourish. Our plans to establish chaplaincy within the school continue to develop. The chaplaincy team hopes to run a ‘prayer space’ for students during w/c 17th May. Chaplaincy will be a team effort and includes sports clubs, small groups exploring faith, assemblies, mentoring, praying regularly for the school and helping out with practical tasks. Please speak to me if you would like to get involved. And please pray.

The Kingfisher School

We are very excited that The Kingfisher Nursery will be opening its doors to children on Tuesday 4th May. We will initially have a small cohort of pre-schoolers, expanding to include a small reception class in September. We will increase the size of our intake in 2022, as the housing in Middle Wichel starts to become occupied. I am really looking forward to building relationships with the reception children and their families when they arrive – my ambition is to run Messy Church after school, perhaps starting at Christmas 2021. Please let me know if sticky buns and craft activities are your thing! And please pray.

Bible Society donations

We have received £90 as the result of our Lent appeal for the Bible Society’s work overseas. Thank you to all who have given to this valuable work. If anyone else would like to make a donation, it’s not too late!

Recycle your printer cartridges

Do have spent printer cartridges and are wondering how to dispose of them ethically? Cartridges for Charity can do this for you and will collect a minimum of 15 for free. As individuals are unlikely to have a large number, Janet Burchell is willing to collect them in the church office. Please make sure cartridges are wrapped to avoid leakage and list their make and model.Singing Jan’s Race for Life at home 2021

A huge thank you to those of you who sponsored me for my 5km Race for Life at Home, in aid of Cancer Research, on Saturday 24th April. I have raised over £400 and it is thanks to your generosity.  It’s not too late if you would like to make a donation 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

May – In the utility room 

When using a washing machine ensure there is a full load and turn down the temperature. Heating the water to higher temperatures uses more energy.

Funerals

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

 

Last Sunday we recognised that sometimes even a simple prayer can feel beyond us. The important thing is to be intentional about making the time to communicate with God. Prayers are then offered for us by the Holy Spirit within us reaching upwards and connecting with our Father in heaven. The Holy Spirit prays on our behalf at times when we have no words of our own (Rom 8:26-28).

Janet Henderson found this prayer online a couple of months ago and found it very powerful.

‘A prayer when I have no words’

“You have known the distress of my soul Psalm 31:7”

Lord…..

I……

You…….

There’s……..

Please……..

I do not have the words.

Your words say that you know the distress of my soul.

You know the distress of my soul.

You know the distress.

You know.

You know.

You know.

You.

Thank you.

Amen.