Dear Friends,
With the season of Lent approaching I thought it would be helpful to share a Vicar’s update.
Lent 2022
Lent starts on Wednesday 1st March with Ash Wednesday. We will hold 2 services of Holy Communion at 10.30am and 7.30pm. Its my intention to include the imposition of ashes during the service having not been able to include it during 2021.
During Lent there will be three Lent Groups you might wish to join. The first two will follow the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book: Embracing Justice by Isabelle Hamley. Revd Hamley is Theological Adviser to the House of Bishops and was formerly Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury. These groups will take place on Monday mornings at 9.30am hosted by me and Tuesday evenings at 7pm hosted by Mark.
You can get the book from all good retailers including Simply Books in the Village. Please aim to have read the 1st chapter by the first session.
A third Lent Group will take place most weeks of Lent on a Thursday afternoon from 2pm hosted by Andrea following material entitled Walking Towards Glory.
It would be helpful for preparation to have an idea of who will be joining each group – there is a sign up sheet on the noticeboard above the pigeon holes.
On Sundays in Lent, apart from Mothering Sunday, there will also be the opportunity to join with others for a Lent Lunch of Soup and bread rolls. Donations are invited towards the meal.
Living in Love and Faith
You may have heard about Living in Love and Faith (LLF). This is a national Church of England initiative which is about learning together, listening to one another, and listening to God to help discern a way forward for the Church of England in relation to matters of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage. Having listened to the experiences of other churches in our diocese the Deanery of Cheadle (of which we are part) has decided to host a deanery wide LLF course. The course will be hosted by Laura Reid who is one of the Diocesan facilitators and will take place on Thursday evenings (for 6 weeks) from Thursday 24th February between 8pm and 9.30pm in the Upper Room, Cheadle (SK8 1DW).
This will course will give you an opportunity to share your views in an open, safe and respected place but also allow you to hear the views of others. This time of listening and discernment will feed into the wider conversation happening at National Level.
Finance Team
We continue to look for new team members for our finance team. Graham Knight has served the church exceptionally as the church treasurer for many years and will be retiring at the APCM in May. Should a new treasurer not be found, this duty will fall to the churchwardens, who I am sure you will agree already have a lot on their plates.
Graham has been ably assisted by Ann Walker as bookkeeper who is also looking to step down. We are looking for 2 finance administrators to take on some of the work Graham and Ann have done, not all of the work is finance based, some of it includes making some of our statistical returns to the diocese. If you think you could serve the church in any of these roles, please get in touch with me.
Children’s Ministry
There has been lots of developments in our children and family’s ministry over the last couple of months, there are a couple of things coming up that it would be great to have your support with.
Between the 28th March to the 1st April we will be welcoming local schools into church to experience the Easter story. We are looking for a team of 10 or more, to act as station guides, to interact with those who visit.
On the 12th April, we will be hosting an Easter Holiday Club Day, where we will be making an Easter Garden, painting eggs, singing songs, looking at pictures from Experience Easter, learning about the true story of Jesus sacrifice for us all upon the cross and inviting everyone to our Easter services. We need a team of at least 5 to volunteer to help out, for the whole day.
Please contact Connie to join the team for either of these activities.
Thanksgiving Sunday
Sunday 6th March is Thanksgiving Sunday where you are invited to bring in your completed pledge cards and offer them to God. There will be opportunity to do this in each service that day but the church building will also be open until 3pm for you to drop your pledge card off if you aren’t attending services at the moment.
Advanced Warning – APCM
Our Annual Meeting will take place on Sunday 8th May at 11.30am. After serving 5 years as Churchwarden Dave Walker will be stepping down at this meeting. There are also a number of PCC members stepping down having served for 6 years. Please be praying about whether you could serve the church as a PCC member of even Churchwarden.
Easter Hope
Finally, following the success of our Christmas art installation of the word ‘Joy’ plans and production are underway for an art installation over Easter. We could do with some help painting the boards. If you are able to assist, could you let me know and I can send you the provisional painting dates.
Wishing you a holy and peaceful Lent,
Revd Calum Piper
Vicar