Many countries, have both a north and a south, don’t they? Obviously, geographically, but, they also have a north and a south where, between the two, lie different social and economic realities.
In England’s North, we have the endless levelling-up debate. Dare I mention: ‘Trains’? In Italy, there is the economically strong, affluent North [Milan, etc]. Yet, it is far more disadvantaged in the rural south. ... In fact, most countries in the Global South are characterized by low income and poor infra-structure.
God, of course, will have no truck with such regionalism, division – on whichever point of the compass it lies. ... As the Seraph’s words sing out: “Fear not, glad tidings of great joy I bring to you ... and all mankind”.
And, at this season, we can surely imagine, perhaps more vividly than ever, the power of hope that Jesus brings. Jesus preaches hope for the world; his constant messaging is one of unison, sisterhood and brotherhood. A good collective word for these things would be: ‘Love.’
Jesus is the enemy of tribalism, a factionalism with resources. In the Gospels, he readily criticizes an adherence to petty boundaries and parochial thinking.
Our wonderful carol declares Jesus ‘to human view displayed.’ And when I think of Jesus, see him in my mind’s eye, my hope is always restored that the last stanza of our wonderful carol will be acknowledged by peoples from any land who will listen:
‘All glory be to God on high, and on the earth be peace,
Goodwill henceforth from heav’n to all begin and never cease.’
Love is Jesus’ song. A love that is for everyone who will listen to the rhythm. We might well take our cue from the ‘shining throng of angels’ singing so fulsomely.
“In the Bleak Mid-Winter” poses a challenging question: “What can I give him?”. This could also be asking us, “How do we respond to Jesus?”. The carol also provides us with the answer: “Give him my heart”.
Anyone who knows me at all will know that I am a perfectionist by nature, and so at times can be the (Unofficial) Queen of Anxiety. I worry about anything and everything (and usually about whether I am doing a good enough job of things). I used to worry that I wasn’t “good enough” to be a Christian. The bible seemed to me at the time to have impossibly high standards which I felt I could never live up to. In short, being a Christian seemed to be a tall order. It wasn’t until the Christingle service in 2019 when it suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks: I don’t have to be perfect. God loves me for who I am, so much so that he sent Jesus to die for me and take the punishment for my sins upon himself. How on earth could I have missed the point of Jesus for so long? I thought I had to achieve some level of perfection, but in reality, I just had to have faith in Jesus and give him my heart.
But what does it mean to give our hearts to Jesus? It could mean a number of things: Accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour, turning away from sin, accepting his way of living, loving and leading our lives. There is nothing that we can do to “earn” our salvation – it is a gift freely given to us; a gift of grace from God because he loves us so much. There is nothing on this Earth that I could possibly give that would repay God for such a gift, and so I choose to give my heart, which is all that God wants from me.
This carol talks about the story of the shepherds in the great Nativity story. The shepherds have seen the angels, the Angels have told them to go down to the stable in Bethlehem to meet the baby Jesus. In that meeting, they discover such great news.
The experience is life changing which leads them to go and out and tell everyone that they meet, that this baby will make a difference to the world.
That baby grew up and became the man that we call Jesus. That man died upon the cross at Easter. Through all of that, that baby, that man, that person we call Jesus, changed the world and continues to offer to the world his hope, life, love, joy, even wisdom.
Jesus through his birth, life, death and resurrection reaches out to each and every person, even today. To offer comfort and hope, to offer wisdom and encouragement. And he offers that to you as well.
In revelation Chapter 3, the book at the end of the Bible, Jesus says this: “Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person and they with me”.
As we begin this journey of Advent, looking at Carols and making our way towards the great Christmas celebration, wherever you are in life, however, you might be feeling about the impending celebration of Christmas, Jesus longs to journey with you. Jesus longs to offer you hope, love and even joy.
The baby Jesus changed the life of the shepherds. He changed it so much they longed to tell everyone about it.
As we journey with them, as we journey through so many different carols, my prayer for you is that you get an opportunity to reach out to Jesus just as the shepherds did. And that in reaching out, you might find answers, but most importantly you might find hope and joy and love.
Dear Friends,
I hope this finds you well and that you have been able to enjoy something of the typical British summer weather. This update is long overdue, so as we prepare to go into Autumn there are a few things I wanted to tell you about and ask for your involvement in.
Pastoral Care
The last couple of years has seen a big focus on getting church life back to some form of normality and recovering those things we lost because of the pandemic. One of the things I have been keen to develop within our church community is a more organised system of pastoral care. St Michael’s is a caring church, and when people are in need, the church is always good at rallying round. Sometimes however, people get missed, and we can always improve how we care for and support one another as a church family. As such I am looking to recruit volunteers to a new pastoral care team.
This team would meet together once a month with me and would oversee pastoral care within the parish. It’s my hope that a visit, where possible, could be offered to everyone on the prayer lists either weekly or monthly and that some members of the team might also be able to support Mark in the ministry we have within the local care homes.
For those who become part of the team, you would choose how much time you give to being involved in pastoral care, unlike a previous suggested system you wouldn’t be allocated a certain number of people to offer care too.
If you are interested in being involved, please would you let me know by the end of August as I hope to hold the first meeting with some training in September.
Lift Sharing Scheme
A discussion that took place at PCC recently was regarding whether we could set up a lift sharing scheme at St Michaels, noting that we have a number of people in our church family who now don’t drive or in the winter months aren’t able to attend services or events because they don’t like travelling on their own in the dark. Having done some work with the Parish Safeguarding Team we are now in a position to launch this new scheme whereby we can help link those who would like to come to church but can’t get here themselves, with those who would be prepared to offer lifts.
I am really thankful to David Walker who has offered to co-ordinate this scheme. If you would be willing to offer lifts to people for services or other events, please could you let David Walker know. The requirements for all drivers is that they are fully insured, their vehicle has a valid MOT and is taxed, and they have undertaken a DBS check along with basic safeguarding training. Thank you in advance to those who are willing to support this needed ministry.
If you are someone who would value a lift to church, or if you know of someone who might not ask, but would value it being offered to them, please could you also make contact with ???
Confirmation Service
Following our spring Alpha Course earlier this year, Bishop Sam of Stockport has agreed to come and take a confirmation service at St Michaels later this year. Unfortunately, Bishop Sam’s diary is fairly full so the only time he could offer was Sunday 22nd October at 4pm in the afternoon. Following a discussion with PCC, it has been agreed that we will cancel the 10am and 6.30pm services on the 22nd October and ask you to join us at 4pm instead as we celebrate those who will be baptised and confirmed.
If you are someone who would like to be confirmed or even renew your baptism promises, please would you get in touch with me as soon as possible.
Outreach Committee
Following the APCM this year the PCC set up a new sub-committee to oversee our outreach ministry. The group meets every couple of months and is responsible for planning and delivering events both within the church, to which we can invite people, as well as activities in the wider community. The group are looking for more people to join them and you can do this is 2 different ways. You can join in with the meetings which undertake the planning as well as delivering events, or you can just be on their team of volunteers to help make events happen. If you would be interested in either of these, please would you let the Church Office know and they will pass your name to Jill Illingworth who is chairing the group.
Finance Administrator
Last year our finance team changed with Rob Watson taking over as treasurer. Its been a good first year but the team have realised they could really do with some more help particularly in the area of administration. So, we are looking to appoint another finance administrator to work alongside Elizabeth Beveridge and Julie Bamber. If you are someone who has good administration skills, can find your way around a computer and would be willing to offer some of your time in support of the finance team please would you make contact with Sue Howgego or Julie Sweeting, our Churchwardens.
Upcoming Dates
The autumn term is always an exciting part of the year as we begin to prepare for the Christmas season and there is usually quite a lot going on. Below you will find some of the events and services that will be taking place, I thought some advanced notice might be helpful.
Friday 8th September, 7.30pm - Quiz night. Tickets available from the Churchwardens.
Sunday 24th September, St Michaels Day Bring and Share Lunch after the 10am service.
Sunday 8th October - Harvest Thanksgiving. Donations will be split between the foodbank and Wellspring.
Wednesday 11th October, 2pm - Harvest Afternoon Tea
Friday 13th October 7.30pm - Murder Mystery Night
Sunday 22nd October, 4pm - Confirmation Service with Bishop Sam
Sunday 5th November, 4pm - Commemoration Service
Friday 10th November - Motown Music Night
Thank you for taking time to read this slightly lengthy update, but what I hope you will have seen as you have read it through is we have a lot going on both to support our current church family and also grow our church family. It’s a joy to serve and minister amongst you, and I pray that we all might continue to encourage one another in our faith and shared life together.
God Bless,
Revd Calum Piper, Vicar
Dear Friends,
A couple of weeks ago we marked Harvest Thanksgiving which for me is always the start of the run up to Christmas with all sorts of special services and events coming up thick and fast in the next few months. With this is mind I thought it might be good to share an update with a few things that are going on.
Heating in Church
With the increased prices for gas and electricity, our bills, like everyone else’s, are going up. Every effort is being made to use the resources that we have wisely whilst also making sure that our buildings are still welcoming for people to be in. We have switched the heating on and will always aim to make sure the church is a good temperature for worship. I would however encourage you to make sure you wrap up warm too. Contingency plans have also been put in place in case the temperature in church is too cold on a Sunday morning. If this is ever the case, our worship will take place in the Parish Centre which runs on a different set of boilers. The midweek service is still taking place, but during the winter months will take place in the Lounge.
Life Groups
In November we are launching something new at St Michaels, although some form of it has existed in the church previously. Life Groups are a smaller setting providing space for community to form and for exploration of teaching in a way that is not possible in a Sunday service. A life group, then, is a group of people choosing to grow in fellowship and community, to grow in faith and support one another in life. The strap line for this church ministry is Growing in love for God and for one another. Hopefully each group will do what it says on the tin. I really want to encourage as many members of the church to join a life group as possible. I think they will be really beneficial for each person but for us as a whole church. Attached is a digital version of the leaflet that was handed out on Sunday (with a change to one groups meeting day). If there is nothing to suit you but you want to be part of a group, let me know. There are gaps in what we are offering to start with, we might be able to set up more groups if needed. When you have decided which group you want to belong to, let the church office know and they will pass your details to the group leader who will then be in touch with you to give you more details. LIFE GROUPS LEAFLET
Warm Hubs
The Mill is hoping to offer a warm hub for the local community over the winter. Janet Ketteringham, a trustee at The Mill writes: This winter will be challenging for us all with regards fuel prices. For some, just keeping warm will be difficult or even impossible. Stockport Council have asked communities to provide Warm Spaces from November through to March and have offered grants of up to £1000 for heating and expenses to charities and organisations who can open their hearts and doors to let people in to keep warm. The Mill, our youth centre in Bramhall, offered to open each Saturday from 10am to 4pm provided we can staff it. The trustees of The Mill felt three shifts from 10 am to noon, noon to 2pm and 2 pm to 4pm could be possible. We are asked to provide tea, coffee and biscuits (which is made easy in The Mill by us having a cafe area) and also a friendly welcome and conversation.
If you can give some thought to being part of this massive outreach to people facing a crisis in their lives, and maybe volunteer for a shift, or two or three shifts, or even more regularly, like once a month, then we can do this. Already people are offering to help, which is so exciting and uplifting. We do need a big response to make this work. If you need more information or want to help then please get in touch with either Janet Ketteringham jketteringham43@gmail.com or the church office.
Supporting the Mothers Union
The Mothers Union are supporting a charity called Doors of Hope with their appeal entitled ‘Bags of Education’. This charity want to give as many children as possible the opportunity to go to school in places like Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania and Moldova. Unfortunately for some families school is just too expensive. So the idea behind Bags of Hope is to put together a bag of resources to enable a child to be fully equipped to learn. You can find out more on their website www.doorofhope.co.uk. We are inviting people to collect all the items on the list and bring them to church along with a £5 donation to cover the registration fee. We will then collate all the bags and send them off to the charity. The list of items is attached and there are also printed copies in the parish centre. Should you wish to get involved please let Jill Fairhurst know and then bring your donations to the church office by 13th November. LIST OF ITEMS
Supporting Christians Against Poverty at Christmas
Christians Against Poverty; You may recall Catherine Johnson giving a sermon during the summer concerning CAP, she has asked the St Michaels community for some help leading up to Christmas; Would ST Michaels help with Christmas hampers for Stockport CAP clients? We put together a hamper for every client we're currently working with, which is likely to be 25 to 30 and I wondered if your church might like to help. item - would 30 people buy a selection box, for example? Other churches have also been asked to help. If anyone in the congregation would like to help please could you let Mark Sweeting (familysweetings@gmail.com) know ideally before 31 October. We are looking for donations towards a target of 24 boxes of chocolates, 24 boxes of biscuits and 20 selection packs. Thank you in advance.
Services in November
On Sunday 6th November we will hold our Annual Service of Light and Commemoration at 6.30pm. If you wish for someone to be remembered during this service please do add their name to the list in church before Sunday 30th October.
On Sunday 13th November we will join with the nation in remembering all those who have served our nation and made the ultimate sacrifice. Our 8am service will be a service of Holy Communion and our 10am service of Morning Worship will start at 9.15am. There will be a service at the War Memorial starting around 10.45am which it would be great to see you at.
Christmas is Coming
PCC have signed off on the plans for Christmas so you should see some Christmas publicity fairly soon. To give you advanced warning the annual Carols by Candlelight service will take place on Sunday 11th December at 6.30pm. This is slightly earlier than normal due to the Men’s Football World Cup Final taking place when our service would normally take place. Just in case England make it to the final, it didn’t seem wise to create a clash. Please be thinking and praying about who you can invite to this service.
Thank you
Finally a thank you. Thank you to everyone that supports St Michaels so generously with their financial giving as well as their time. It continues to be such a joy to serve you as Vicar of St Michaels and despite the challenges we will face over the next few months with a hard winter, I know God will be our strength and we will only grow closer to one another and to the Lord. I also want to say a public thank you to Julie and Sue our Churchwardens. They have been doing an incredible job over the last few months doing so many things that are often unseen, from ensuring the church property register is up to date, overseeing contractors coming to service and fix things, managing staff, caring for me, representing the church on various occasions and even unclogging toilets.
This afternoon the weekly bible study looked at the letter of Jude, I want to close using Jude’s words:
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, 25 to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen. (Jude 1:24-25)
God Bless,
Calum
Achieved. St Michael’s is now a Fairtrade Place of Worship.
Not achieved. Organisations and individuals were reluctant / would not commit sufficiently far in advance to being involved because of unpredictability of the Covid situation. Likewise individuals locally who might have attended opined it unlikely they would want / would be able to mix in crowds. Given the same considered were likely still to be a problem there are no plans to host a ‘Green Fair’ in 2022, but having one in 2023 will be considered in due course.
Not achieved. Covid limited activity in summer; projected financial deficit precluded hiring a digger; further discussions about various aspects was on-going.
Achieved. £725 was given, which meant we were not only able to twin all the toilets in the Parish Centre but also the toilets in the Vicarage and still have an additional amount to send to the Toilet Twinning charity for additional toilets in the countries where it operates.
Not achieved. Covid considerations precluded this.
Achieved. A considerable number of the recommendations / suggestions in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030 Agenda are in place / have been actioned. Consideration and implementation of further items will take place in 2022.
Achieved.
Progressing. Sufficient birdboxes were donated to bring to fifteen those in the grounds, but when they were put up it was found those previously installed, some years ago, had not been cleaned and maintained, and had to be scrapped. Plans to replace the latter are in hand, and cleaning and maintenance of all the birdboxes has been included in the EAG’s annual calendar.
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
