Parish Magazine Letter, June / July 2022

by | May 19, 2022 | Magazine Letter

Dear Friends

As I write we are about to come to Ascension Day (May 26) in the Church calendar, the day when Jesus returned to be with His Father in heaven. My training Vicar used to describe this in terms of a game of football (no surprise, he was a big Manchester United fan!). The first half comprised Jesus’ coming into the world as baby at Bethlehem, his earthly life, ministry, death, and resurrection. The Ascension is the half time point in the match, and the second half is the period we are now in waiting for Jesus to return again. The Ascension is also significant in that it symbolises a ten-day period of waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have used to invite Christians all over the world to pray for five people who do not yet know Jesus to come to know him through the ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ initiative. Hopefully, you may be reading this before Pentecost (5 June) in which case I would like to extend a warm welcome to you to attend either our 8 am or 10 am services that day as we remember not only the Spirit’s arrival but also give thanks for the Queen’s 70-year reign as our monarch. Special refreshments will be available after both services – do stay and join us!

All being well, we will have our new lighter weight chairs in church by then, which I hope you will not only find comfortable but also helpful in terms of being able to be moved around. With the recent reintroduction of our community lunch on the second Tuesday of the month (12 noon-1.30 p.m.), the new chairs (and three new tables – many thanks to the Co-op for both) will I hope be especially useful for those setting and clearing up. We will have a particular Platinum Jubilee focus for our lunch on Tuesday 14 June, so do come and join us. Homemade soup, bread and butter, a cake and tea or coffee for a suggested donation of £3.50 has to be the best deal available in town!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who responded to our Stewardship initiative in Lent. This meant we met our funding target of an extra £108 income per week, indeed exceeded it if you add in over £2,000 of one-off donations. We also received over 60 offers to help or requests for further information about different aspects of our church life. On both counts it was a great response. We have also received in principle support from the Diocesan Advisory Committee for our new extension and no objections to my knowledge from various heritage bodies. So, hopefully we may get the go ahead from the Chancellor for an extension soon and then from the local authority.

With my prayers and best wishes.

Jeremy Tear

Pioneer Team Rector

Team Letter, May 2022

by | May 19, 2022 | Team Letter

Dear Friends

It has been a while since my last letter in Lent. I do hope that if you attended our Team services in Holy Week that you found these helpful, as we moved through the drama of Maundy Thursday and Jesus’ betrayal by Judas, to the agony of Good Friday and Jesus’ crucifixion, before contemplating the silence of the tomb on Easter Eve waiting for the resurrection. My thanks to Sarah, June, and Martin for helping to lead our worship and to all from our Team and other West Warrington churches who helped with the Good Friday service at Honiton Square in Penketh. And I hope that you all enjoyed celebrating Easter Day in your own churches too!

As we approach Ascension Day on Thursday 26 May, and the start of the Thy Kingdom come initiative, we have further opportunities to worship together across our team and West Warrington Churches. This year we are having another prayer walk on Ascension Day focused on the Penketh/Great Sankey areas. The schedule is:

09.00am Prayers at Penketh Methodist
10.00am Prayers at the Oaks, St. Paul’s Community Centre
11.00am Refreshments and prayers at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church
12 Noon Short service at St. Mary’s

Do come and spend some time in prayer together that day as we have this annual opportunity to pray for 5 people we know who do not yet know Jesus. And if you can’t be there in person, do pray wherever you are that day, whether at those times or some other. There will also be a short service of Holy Communion at St. Mary’s that evening at 7pm to which you are all welcome to come and to pray as well.

On a separate note, I am delighted to say that our Team Growing Leaders course began last Saturday with an introductory session at St. Mary’s. We have ten people signed up for the course, which is being run online and in person, and hopefully this will help people to grow in their understanding of what it means to lead in the church and in what area(s) God might be calling them to exercise that leadership.

Finally, I would like to draw to your attention a Christian Aid event being supported by Liverpool Cathedral and Together Liverpool (the social justice ‘arm’ of the diocese). William Bell, who is Head of Christian Aid’s Middle East programme will be speaking on ‘Israelis and Palestinians: Hope, justice and equality’ on Tuesday 21 June at 7 pm in the Cathedral Lady Chapel. To book a ticket, please follow this link- https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/israelis-and-palestinians-hope-justice-and-equality. Donations towards the humanitarian work of Christian Aid are also welcome at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/christianaidliverpoolcathedral.

With my prayers and best wishes.

Jeremy Tear, Pioneer Team Rector