Epiphany 1
TODAY
8.00am HOLY COMMUNION in Church
10.00am MORNING WORSHIP in Church and on YouTube
NEXT WEEK
Tuesday 14th January – 9.00 am Morning Prayer – Church
Thursday 16th January – 9.00 am Morning Prayer – Church
SUNDAY 19th JANUARY 2025
EPIPHANY 2
8am HOLY COMMUNION in Church
Preacher: Revd Andrew Francis
Reading: Isaiah 62. 1-5
Sidespersons: Jean Reens and Christine Wrixon
10.00am HOLY COMMUNION in Church and on YouTube
Preacher: Revd Andrew Francis
Intercessor: Marion Colton
Reading: Isaiah 62. 1-5
Reader: Bryan Jones
Altar servers Jean Ford and Andrew Kirk
Sidespersons: Jean Ford and Lynn Hezlett
Live streaming the 10am service
The 10am service will be live streamed on You Tube. Please visit our YouTube Channel on https://www.youtube.com/@WroughtonWichelstoweParChurch (or search for Wroughton and Wichelstowe Parish church) and press the ‘subscribe’ button.
Small Groups
If you would like to join a small group, please contact the leaders of the groups below and find out where there is space. We would love to have everyone involved in a small group.
| 22 Kellsboro Avenue | Mondays 10am-11.30 | Lillian Wicks & Louise Bessent |
| 12 Artis Avenue | Tuesdays at 7.30pm | Carolyn Kirk |
| Church Hall | Alternate Tuesday evenings | Nick & Joan Orman – Next Mtg 21/1/25 |
| The Vicarage | Wednesday evenings during term time. | Karen Harrison |
| Church Hall | Saturday men’s breakfast | Mike Mason |
‘Sunday Club’ dates
Our Sunday morning group for primary school aged children takes place in the Vicarage during the 10am service, usually on the 1st and 3rd Sundays. Future dates are:
Date Adults – lead/support
19/1 Tracy / Beth
2/2 Hannah / Holly
16/2 Joan / Helena T
2/3 Phill / Karen F
16/3 Barbara / Carolyn
6/4 Karen H / Lynn
20/4 Easter Sunday – No session
Week of prayer for Christan Unity
The annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is an ecumenical observance that is celebrated internationally between 18 January and 25 January. This year, in a spirit of ecumenical fellowship, I have invited Revd Andrew Francis to preach at our 8am and 10am services. Andrew is an ordained minister in the United Reformed Church (URC) and therefore brings a helpful perspective from the wider Christian church.
During the week of prayer for Christian Unity I will be saying this prayer every morning, please join me.
Lord Jesus, who prayed that we might all be one,
we pray to you for the unity of Christians,
according to your will,
according to your means.
May your Spirit enable us
to experience the suffering caused by division,
to see our sin
and to hope beyond all hope.
Amen.
Written by the Chemin Neuf Community
Old Testament in a nutshell – St Mary’s Church, Purton
Relax and enjoy the journey as an experienced guide encourages you to see God’s word through the ‘big picture’. A fun and memorable session will help you learn the whole storyline of the Old Testament and inspire and equip you to keep digging deeper. Saturday 25th January between 9.30 and 5.00pm at St Mary’s Purton, SN5 4EB. Cost £14 (includes bread and soup). Book online at www.bible.org.uk
Nature Quiz Night
We are trying to raise money for our church building project (a glass door) and one of our young people, who is going to Canada with the Swindon Ice Hockey team and needs to raise money to take part.
In our last quiz in September St Mary’s Purton beat All Saints. It would be great if other churches were able to take up our challenge.
Nature Quiz
Saturday 1st February 2025, 7pm
Lydiard Millicent Parish Hall
£5 per person. Contact tricia.f.roberts@gmail.com
A New Year’s Resolution by Green Christian member, Edward Gildea
We have just heard that 2024 broke global heat records and that the last decade was the hottest on record. The climate crisis is happening in “real time”. COP 29 was disappointing, as they always are, and we are about to break through the 1.5° safety barrier, if we haven’t already done so.
In the UK we are largely protected from the most extreme climate events, although many who have suffered recent storms and floods in Scotland, Wales and the north of England would disagree. Hurricanes are less ferocious by the time they reach us, having wreaked far more havoc in the Caribbean and Florida.
While we do our very best as Christians to “tread more lightly on the planet”, we often do so with a sense of futility and powerlessness. America, China, India, international corporations and the super-rich should surely be taking the lead?
China is an interesting case in point: we have offshored most of our manufacturing to China, so maybe we should own part of their carbon footprint as we import those goods and place a carbon tax on them? They have also taken the lead in manufacturing up to 85% of the components for green technology, such as solar panels and wind turbines – so we have some catching up to do!
We are lucky to live in a democracy. However, it is not quite the liberal democracy we need, as the current court case against government anti-protest legislation and the 20 climate protestors currently in UK prisons, including a 77-year old Quaker, returned to prison just before Christmas because her wrists were too small for the electronic tag testifies. And of course, in Columbia and other countries, environmental protectors are risking their lives. Let us remember with gratitude and in our prayers all those protesting on behalf of humanity to bring about policy change around the world.
For myself, I have found it helpful to consider my actions on three levels:
- Personal lifestyle decisions over which I have complete control
- Local action in the community, where I can organise, support and join in
- Protesting and campaigning nationally and internationally using the freedoms we have.
So may I suggest a New Year’s Resolution? To acknowledge our personal carbon footprint and take responsibility for it. That is simply a grown-up thing to do. As things deteriorate, we will know we did what we could. But also because it is the loving way to live now. And that is something worth resolving to do.
(Reproduced with permission. Edward Gildea writes magazine articles for his local church, St Mary’s, Saffron Walden, Essex, each month https://www.stmaryssaffronwalden.org/)
Floodlighting
The Church will be floodlit on Sunday 12th January by Cheryl Cowley in memory of her husband, Fran Cowley on their 12th wedding anniversary. Thank you Fran, for the happiest years of our lives.
If you would like the Church to be floodlit for a special occasion (cost £20.00) Forms are available in Church or online please return to Janet in the Office or email office@wroughton.com.
Funerals
We commend to God’s care and keeping those who have died, Simon Dubber and James McLellan Hutchison.
We pray for all those who mourn the loss of a loved one.
| The Parish Office, Priors Hill, Wroughton, SN4 0RT – 01793 812050 office@wroughton.com
Open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 9am to 1.30pm Revd Phill Harrison – Vicar 01793 812301 vicar@wroughton.com Church Twitter Account – @WroughtonWichel Find us on Facebook – Wroughton and Wichelstowe Parish Church Please follow us for all the latest updates from Wroughton & Wichelstowe Parish Church. |
