04/04/21

ST MARY & ALL SAINTS WITH ST JOHN – NOTICES

Weekly Notices, 11th April 2021

Easter Sunday

HAPPY EASTER, EVERYONE !!! – CHRIST IS RISEN !!!

“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.

 • Our Service this Sunday will be a service of Morning Prayer in church, with live streaming to your home on Zoom at 11:00am. The service will be led by Mike. You will be able to log into the “Zoom Meeting” from approximately 10:45am.

  • Please contact us via email - stmarygoodshaw@yahoo.com if you wish to join the service.

  • Please use the order of Services mailed out previously 

• Booking In for Sunday Services. It would be an enormous help, if you could try to book in by Wednesday evening for the Sunday service. Please do so, if it is at all possible. Thank you !!

• Following on from the success of the Virtual Coffee Morning on Tuesday, we have decided to make this a regular feature each Tuesday morning on Zoom from 10:00-11:00am (or longer if required). It looks as though it will be some time before we are able to re-open our Café On The Hill, so why not come in and say hello to everyone. Zoom details by emailing: stmarygoodshaw@yahoo.com.

• Bible Reading Notes : If you haven’t already paid Jane for this year’s notes, now might be a good time to think about it. Jane Sacks would willingly accept your payments !!!

• Prayers for the sick :

  • Please do keep the following people in your prayers this week :

  • Mary Buchanan, as she recovers from her broken hip and as she is now being treated for chest and heart problems.

  • Marie Holden, who has also had a fall and broken her hip. Marie is now home and being cared for by her daughter, Susan.

  • Abbie Longden. Abbie, the daughter of Rev Dr Lee Longden, has complex medical needs and requires major surgery to her spine. This is compounded by the fact that Abbie has a very serious heart condition. Please do uphold Lee, his wife Sally and Abbie in your prayers, that Abbie’s heart may be string enough to allow the surgery to take place.

  • Jane Sack’s granddaughter, Bella, who is now home from hospital and recovering from viral meningitis.

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

 • Our APCM this year will be held on Sunday, 2nd May. Please reflect as to whether you could play a bigger role in the life of the church. We do have open positions forChurchwarden, PCC members and Junior Church Leaders (now that Vanessa is no longer with us). 

  • Reports are requested for the APCM. Please send these to Mike and Rachel as soon as possible.

• Elaine has kindly volunteered to fill the post of Health and Safety Officer, at least until the APCM is held in May. If anyone  feels they could carry this mantle, please do have a think about it over the next month or so.

• Our Electoral Roll will be updated for the APCM on 2nd May. The list of current members was distributed last week. If you, or any member of your family, household or circle of friends wishes to be added to it, please complete the electoral roll form and email it to : stmarygoodshaw@yahoo.com. The Electoral Roll will be closed off THIS SUNDAY, April 11th.

 

Re-Opening Church After Lockdown  

Please see the RE-OPENING OF CHURCH page for further information as Church will operate differently.

• As a reminder to everyone. Moving forward:

  • 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.
  • The Covid special measures for Rossendale are being lifted this coming Wednesday (26th August), but do remember to follow all the guidance and take care, when you're out and about.

•  The Church of England updated its guidance for conducting services on Friday, 7th August 2020. Under the new guidelines, those leading services no longer need to wear facemasks, with the exception of when communion is being distributed. We will follow this guidance, which will, hopefully make it easier for members of the congregation to understand what is being said !!

• Please follow the guidelines posted in and around the toilet. This includes sanitising your hands both before and after using the lavatory.

• Please do keep all those shielding or unable to join in physical or online services in your prayers, and remember to give them a call to see how they are doing. The Sunday readings and sermons will continue to be included in the notices. No notices will be handed out at the services.

PLEASE SEE THE RE-OPENING OF CHURCH PAGE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

 A REMINDER : Although lockdown is drawing to a close, many of our church family are still not in a position to go out and socialise. If you are feeling lonely and down after so many weeks of our social isolation, you’re not on your own. DO NOT BE AFRAID OF PICKING UP THE PHONE to any member of the church leadership team or Pastoral Team. It’s OK not to be OK. We have a loving church family, and plenty of help is available.

•   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

•  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 This week’s service, from Holy Trinity Scottish Episcopal Church, Melrose, explores the road to Emmaus with Rev Philip Blackledge.
  • 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. Rev Jessica Smith will be leading our Low Sunday worship. From St Francis Church, Strood, our online service will explore knowing Jesus in doubt.

•   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!!

•  As Christians, we are called to love our neighbours. We can do this in many ways, despite the enforced isolation in which we find ourselves.

  • Give someone a call to check that they’re coping with the situation.

  • Pray over the phone with a friend.

  • Pray alone or with the other members of your household for safe deliverance from this epidemic for your families, those whose work puts them in danger of infection and those who lead our country through this crisis.

•  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 are forced to self-isolate and need someone to do your shopping, this can be arranged (but may not extend to loo roll). 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.

•   Dates for PCC Meetings in 2021 :

  • 14th April at 7:30pm – Parish Profile Review by the PCC

  • APCM Vestry Meeting at 10:30am on Sunday 2nd May

  • May 4th

•   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.