28/11/21

ST MARY & ALL SAINTS WITH ST JOHN – NOTICES

Weekly Notices, 28th November 2021

Advent Sunday

“Our vision is to follow Jesus by learning His ways and sharing His love”

We seek to enjoy fellowship together as we worship God, grow in discipleship, develop in ministry and reach our community with the gospel.

We value welcome, worship and witness.

Please Continue to Check the Prayer and Worship section for the readings and sermon for each week. The rota schedule for worship leaders is now back live on the website. We also have produced a copy of the Morning Prayer Service and a copy of the service of Holy Communion. Please select the appropriate service for the link.

 • Many thanks to everyone who donated so generously to this year’s Gift Day. An announcement will be made in the coming weeks regarding the amount raised. If you missed it, but still wish to make a Gift Day donation, please feel free to do so. The easiest way would be to make a bank transfer marked with your name and “Gift Day” or, alternatively to place a donation in an envelope marked “Gift Day” in the collection plate. (Bank details at the end of the notices)

 • Our service this week is Holy Communion in church and on Zoom at 11:00am. The service will be led by Denise Smith. 

• Next Sunday, 5th December, is Morning Prayer, led by Pam Bateman 

Please contact us via email - stmarygoodshaw@yahoo.com if you wish to join the service or if you wish to receive a recording of the service.

• Please use the order of Services mailed out previously 

• The Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC) has approved our proposal to upgrade our heating system in church. The faculty application is now in the legally formal stage. A Public Notice has been placed on the notice board outside church and on the notice board in the Parish Room. They will remain in place for a period of 28 days, during which anyone with an interest can raise an objection to the proposals. There is a file with the details of the proposals, which can be viewed by any member of the public, on the cabinet in the Parish Room. If you do wish to read the full file, please do not remove it from the Parish Room.

• Quinquennial Inspection : We should have had our five-yearly building inspection by the Diocese in November last year. This was postponed due to the backlog caused by the closure of churches under lockdown earlier in 2020. Nevertheless, we now have a date of Monday, 29^th November, for the inspection.

 We are continuing the Virtual Coffee Morning each Tuesday morning on Zoom from 10:00-11:00am (or longer if required). Why not come in and say hello to everyone. 

• Our House Group continues on Zoom this Tuesday at 10:30am. Elaine Black is leading the eight-week course entitled The Prayer Course, which is based around Pete Grieg’s book entitled “How to Pray”. The group meetings will involve watching a video (around 20 minutes) and a short discussion. We expect each meeting will last no more than one hour. Contact Elaine for details.

Zoomdetails by emailing: stmarygoodshaw@yahoo.com.

• Little Angels continues this Wednesday at 10:00am. There are still a few spaces available. Please contact Elaine, if you wish to come along.

• Starting this Monday, 29^th November, Rev Janet O’Neill will be running an Advent Course entitled “Making Room For Jesus”. The course will be each Monday evening at 7:30pm on Zoom. Please email Janet at rev.janet10@hotmail.com for login information.

• There will be an extraordinary meeting of the PCC this Tuesday evening at 7:30pm on Zoom to discuss Christmas Services and our own Focal Leadership within the Rossendale Mission Community.

• Do you do your Christmas shopping (or other shopping) online? If so, there is a way to raise funds for church while you’re doing so. The church is now registered with easyfundraising.org.uk In logging in to this website and following their links through to such online stores as Amazon, Currys, Argos, Marks & Spencer or Domino’s Pizzas and many more, you can help raise up to 2% or even more of your spend for our church. This does not affect such things as Amazon Prime membership or delivery benefits.

• For details, speak to Jean Ellison, Elaine or Mike Black

• If you are already registered with easyfundraising.org, please do consider switching your donations to church. We can be found by searching “Goodshaw” – you’ll easily find us.

• In referring a friend to this system, the church can even receive £5 when the person referred places a first order through it.

• Do tell your friends and family, and they can also raise funds for our church at the click of a mouse !

• https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk

• A date for your diaries : Friday, 3^rd December at 7:30pm on Zoom will be our Christmas Extravaganza Virtual Quiz Night, hosted by Peter McAlavey and Laura Carter. Additional points can be gained by the wearing of festive attire.

• St Paul’s, Constable Lee, Christmas Afternoon Tea is being held in their Parish Centre at 2:00pm this coming Friday, 3^rd December. Spaces are limited, due to social distancing. If you wish to attend, please call Lesley on 07790 088 659.

• The changes to restrictions mean that, once risk assessments are done and Covid-secure systems established, we will be able to restart Junior Church.

• Of course, we do need volunteers to run these, especially Junior Church, which will be without Vanessa Rayner.

• There are still two vacancies on the PCC. If you are interested in having a say in how the church is run, then please contact Mike. This is not much more than a commitment of a couple of hours per week.

• If anyone would like to make a donation towards flowers in church, please see Jean Ellison. Thank you.

• A message from Lorraine regarding Home Communion :

I have now restarted Home Communions. If you would like a visit, please let me know. Thank you.

• If you don’t have Lorraine’s contact details, but would like home communion, please contact Mike, Denise or Elaine, who will pass your details on to her.

• Prayers for the sick : If you or any of your loved ones are in need of prayer, please do contact the church via email or phone.

•   COVID UPDATE We are slowly getting “back to normal” with our Sunday worship in church, but there are are still a few things to remember :

Masks in Church

Please wear a mask :

• When walking around church

• When singing

• When coming up for communion

• Other than that, masks can be removed when seated.

Singing in Church

• We’re back to singing as normal, but please do wear a mask to sing.

Refreshments After the Service

• It’s great to be having time to chat over a cup of tea or coffee after the service, but please do try to remember to maintain distancing and mask-wearing when moving around.

Social Distancing in Church

• In order to increase capacity in the less draughty parts of the body of the church, the pews, which have been blocked off to date will be opened up in a limited way. These will only seat ONE PERSON each. That person will be requested to sit in the middle of the pew, so as to maintain a minimum of one meter distance between themselves and the people in the pews in front and behind.

• The maximum of two people or one family group per pew will be maintained in the pews, which have been open throughout.

Sides-people

• A new duty rota has now been issued, covering the period through to the end of January. It will be sent to every sides-person.

• As a reminder to everyone :

  • If you are feeling unwell, or if you, or any member of your household are awaiting the results of a Covid-19 test, please do not come to church.

  • Please pray for all families within our parish, who have been affected by Covid-19.

•   Pastoral Care Matters : We are facing worrying times at the moment.

• Because of coronavirus, home visits by the Pastoral Team will have to be placed on hold for the moment.

• This is being done to protect the members of our church family who fall into the “vulnerable” category of our population.

• Nevertheless, our Pastoral Team is still working and are more than willing to provide a listening ear or to pray with you over the phone.

• If you feel the need for support, please email us on stmarygoodshaw@yahoo.com, or call Elaine, who will act as coordinator for the Pastoral Team.

•   HAVE YOU GOT THE CHILDREN AT HOME ? DO YOU WANT THEM TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH THE BIBLE STORIES THEY’D BE HEARING AT JUNIOR CHURCH ? Check out a website called sermons4kids.   https://sermons4kids.com

• Also, DON’T forget to have them follow the Facebook page set up by our Family & Community Worker, Claire. – select the link for ARK – Anglican Rossendale Kids on Facebook. It’s GREAT !!!

•  Although we’re now broadcasting our services on Zoom, there are still other places to take part in worship, if you can’t make it to the Zoom service .

Here are just some of the other options

• At 08:10am, the Sunday worship on BBC Radio 4. 
  
  At 9:00am, on The Church of England’s Facebook Page and live streaming on Facebook and YouTube as well as on the CofE’s website, both live and recorded. 

•   Please do use the internet and social media, especially Facebook, to follow what the broader Church of England is doing during the crisis. Alternatively, the Church of England has launched a FREEPHONE service, Daily Hope, which you might find helpful and uplifting. Even if you just want to hear some hymns being sung, why not give it a call ? It’s free - call on 08008048044!!

•   Dates for PCC Meetings in 2021 :

• 11^th January 2022

•   A note to those members of the church, who make their donations in cash :

You may not be aware of this, but the church, under certain circumstances, can claim Gift Aid on cash donations, even if you are not a taxpayer or are not registered with the church for Gift Aid. This is “free money” to the church, to the tune of adding a quarter to the money you have donated.

• There are restrictions, though, which have not been helped by the fact that the church has been closed. To overcome the restrictions, we would be most grateful if you could :

  • Use cash, rather than cheques.

  • Use one envelope for each week.

If this is not possible, please write clearly on any envelope with money for several weeks, which weeks the contents of the envelope cover.

• Many thanks in advance !!!!

We would also ask you to please consider switching to donating through standing order. If you wish to do so, here are the bank details :

Account Name : St Mary & All Saints with St John's

Sort Code : 09-01-53

Account Number : 75875484

• If you have any Notices to be shared, please email them to stmarygoodshaw@yahoo.com by Thursday evening, so that they can be included on the Sunday Notices circular. If you wish to receive the notices electronically each week, please speak to Mike or email the above address.