St Mary’s & St Luke’s News & Church at Home Resources for 17 January 2021 – Epiphany 2
Lockdown Update
To keep us all safe, our church buildings are closed for Public Worship for the time being
Worship & Prayer for this Sunday and the coming week
Online
Sunday 17 January 2021 – Epiphany 2
10:40 am Live Streamed Worship from St Mary’s
(stream begins at 10:30am)
Morning Prayer – Mon, Tues, Wed & Thursday
Online only on Zoom – bit.ly/930mp
Next Sunday 24 January 2021 – Epiphany 3
10:40 am Live Streamed Worship from St Mary’s
(stream begins at 10:30am)
Click below to view our channels
Together at Home Family Resources Sheet for this week. There are other online resources below.
Watch again Online
If you missed any of our Christmas Services, or would like to watch them again, then you can on our YouTube Channel by clicking here.
Arthur Siddons
It is with sadness that I inform you of the death of Authur Siddons who passed away on Christmas Eve. Arthur has been a long-standing member of St Mary’s congregation and, up until a couple of years ago, did many jobs around the churchyard, often unnoticed, and he never looked for, or wanted, recognition for it. In fact quite the opposite. Please remember his brother Albert in your prayers. Arthur’s funeral is this coming week. May Arthur Rest in Peace and Rise in Glory. Amen.
New Year Zoom Ladies’ Get Together
Following on from our Festive Zoom Meeting we hope that you will join us again for a “New Year Ladies Get Together”.
Date for the diary is Friday, 29th January at 7.00 pm – we would really love to speak to you and see you too. Together we will try to shake off that January gloom. If you can make it please bring along a knife, fork and spoon – no we will not be sending food through space as Willy Wonka tried to do but if you want to know more come along and all will be revealed on the night!
Please drop Joy an email if you would like the log in details – chaplowjoy@gmail.com. Stay safe and God Bless.
Joy & Sue.
Your views on our future bishops
The Diocese of Chester has been given permission to appoint to the Sees of Birkenhead and Stockport.
Now Bishop Mark is encouraging people to complete a short survey which is seeking views and comments from individuals in the diocese about the two bishop posts.
Bishop Mark says: “We have been given permission to appoint bishops in the Sees of Stockport and Birkenhead. At the start of the appointment process, I want to ask you what you would like to see in our Suffragan Bishops, but I also want to ask more about where you believe God is calling us as a Diocese. Bishops should have a role in helping to lead us into the vision that God is giving us, so the two questions are linked.
“Often we think that the more we write, the more difference it makes… it is actually the other way around. So please, be brief, be quick, be clear!
“We would like pithy responses to as many of the questions below as you would like to and return your answers by 22 January 2021, please.”
To complete the survey, follow this link.
David Bowie, the praying man
It’s been five years since the death of the enigmatic English singer-songwriter, David Bowie.
In one of his performances, a tribute concert for the late Freddie Mercury at Wembley Stadium, Bowie announced that he wanted to share a moment of remembrance for Freddie. What he did next took every one of the 70,000 people by surprise. Bowie dropped to his knees and earnestly recited the Lord’s prayer for Freddie and a gravely ill friend watching at home. It was as brilliant as it was surprising. You could have heard a pin drop.
You can still watch the video on YouTube, where the comments section is full of people in awe at the “bravery” of the man. It’s a fantastic reminder of the power of prayer.
Emily Allen, Church Buildings Missioner in the Diocese of Chester, encouraged people to be bolder and braver in offering prayer to those we know and love, as well as those we don’t.
You can read more and listen to Emily’s Podcast on the Diocesan Website here.
Whoever and wherever we are, we each have a unique calling to serve God in our everyday lives.
Perhaps you feel called to be a teacher or a vicar; or perhaps a lay chaplain or Reader? Maybe it’s none of these things.
Whatever sense of call you are experiencing, we’re here to help you.
Called to Serve is an invitation to explore God’s call on your life. Support, guidance, and prayer are all part of the process and will be readily available to you, and asking questions, no matter how small, is encouraged. More here.
Our December/January Magazine is available via the menu above along with the January edition of the Chester Diocesan News
Funerals
Funerals this past week:
Winifred (Win) May Bennion
In the coming weeks
Joanne Keay
Authur Siddons
Please keep their families in your prayers.
From the Church of England – a downloadable personal resource for you or someone you know who needs it
DailyHope, a free national telephone line, offers music, prayers and reflections as well as full worship services from the Church of England at the end of the phone.
Giving to our church Online or by Phone Banking
It’s simpler than you may think
Online One off giving
Giving via your bank
Easyfundraising
Giving Leaflet with further information on giving at St Luke’s & St Mary’s
Online One off giving
You can give via our very simple online giving partnership with Give a Little and Sum Up. Simply click the button below. Sum Up take a small transaction fee from what you give.
Giving via your bank
You can give via your bank via online banking or telephone banking. If you do it this way we receive 100% of the money you give, there is no transaction fee. Here are the details you need to make a payment directly into the church bank account. For phone banking you may need to take a look at a statement from your bank and it normally has the details of how to do this on the back. You can give once or set up a monthly payment. Please remember to never give passwords over the phone and only call the official number on your statement.
Account Name: St Mary’s Wistaston PCC
Sort Code: 08 92 99
Account No: 65067004
Ref: your initial & surname
Easyfundraising
A very simple way to give, if you shop online or do click and collect, is through Easyfundraising – it doesn’t cost you a penny as by using Easyfundraising a percentage of what you but gets given to the church.
In total we’ve raised over £1600 through Easyfundraising. For more information on this please click here.
Giving Leaflet with further information on giving at St Luke’s & St Mary’s
Click on the image to view/download the leaflet.
Church at Home Resources for all ages
We are holding a Zoom Christingle Service on Sunday 31 January at 4pm for our Junior Church Families. Please save the date and Mike will send out more details by email.
Junior Church Resources
Faith at Home from the Church of England
This is a great resource for families to keep their children’s faith alive at this time.
Faith at Home is a national campaign that builds on the work of Growing Faith and Everyday Faith to support the faith development and pastoral care of children and young people. Click Here to go to the Faith at Home website.
A bitesize Bible experience from the Ollerton Family
Through 15 minute sessions explore famous characters and events that form The Greatest Story Ever and discover how we can be part of it today. Simple to run. Fun. Free. No prior knowledge required. This family devotional course mixes online content (videos, readings, discussion) and printed cards to form a colourful learning experience in your own home.
https://thegreateststoryever.orghttps://youtu.be/MO-LGA6pz1Y
The Bible Society
Bible Book Club
This is a fantastic free resource which we’ve used for some of the Midweek Get Togethers and is great for personal use to discover more about the books of the bible. Please take a look at the video and click here to find out more.
Did you know that you can print this Newsletter?
If you would like to print this Newsletter for yourself or perhaps someone who can’t access the internet then you can! To do this simply click the green Print & PDF button at the top right of every post and follow the instructions. Don’t forget if you are sharing paper with someone do it safely and hygienically.