Team Letter, March 2023

by | Mar 28, 2023 | Team Letter

Dear Friends

Holy Week will soon be with us and, as ever, we have a number of opportunities to worship together as Christians across our team and in the company of those from other churches.

Maundy Thursday 6 April Holy Communion St.Mary’s 7.30 p.m.
(followed by Vigil at 9.00 p.m.)
Good Friday 7 April Churches Together Service Honiton Square 12 noon
Good Friday 7 April Last Hour at the Cross St.Philip’s 2.00 p.m.
Easter Eve 8 April Easter Vigil St.James 7.45 p.m.

A heads up for after Easter when Churches Together in West Warrington are organising another prayer walk on Thursday 18 May which is Ascension Day and marks the start of the Archbishops 10 days of prayer known as ‘Thy Kingdom Come’. We are invited to use this time to pray for 5 people we know who don’t yet know Jesus for themselves. So do join us if you can:

9.00 a.m. Prayers St.Mary’s
10.00 a.m. Prayers St.Joseph’s
11.00 a.m. Prayers and Refreshments The Oaks
12 noon Short Service Pemketh Methodist

Further details can be found here.

Many of you will no doubt have begun to hear through our churches of the Diocesan ‘Fit for Mission’ (FFM) initiative. This aims to help churches in deaneries to work more closely together in mission by joining together as part of one, or two, larger parishes. I appreciate that this may be a difficult idea for us to get our heads around when we are so used to often working largely independently as churches. But if we could pool our collective gifts and skills together for the sake of God’s kingdom here in Warrington, that could be very exciting! So may I invite you to attend two forthcoming deanery meetings at which there will be the opportunity to learn more about this:

Sunday 23 April Sharing a vision for Fit for Mission St.Paul’s 6.30 p.m.
Tuesday 13 June Archdeacon’s Visitation St.Mary’s 7.30 p.m.

Further information can be found by clicking here.

Finally, I am delighted to announce that John McCreadie has started work as the youth worker at St.Mary’s and St.Paul’s in conjunction with Youth for Christ. He will spend his time in local high schools as well as working with young people in these two churches. Another person beginning a new ministry next month is John Perumbalath, the next Bishop of Liverpool. You are very welcome to attend his installation service on Saturday 22 April at 3.00 p.m. at the Cathedral. No tickets are required – just turn up!

May you know the hope and the joy that Jesus’ death and resurrection brings this Easter season. With my prayers and best wishes.

Jeremy Tear

Pioneer Team Rector

Parish Magazine, April / May 2023

by | Mar 28, 2023 | Magazine Letter

Dear Friends

As we approach Holy Week, I would like to invite you all to engage in the drama, the highs and the lows of this most special week in the Church calendar. It starts, of course, with the joy and the hope of Palm Sunday as the crowds welcomed Jesus, the prince of peace into Jerusalem, riding on the back of a donkey. How that divided city still desperately needs the arrival of peace. and justice, this year. But the joy of Palm Sunday soon gives way to the darkness of Maundy Thursday as Jesus is betrayed by Judas, arrested in Gethsemane, and denied by Peter. It gets even worse, of course, as Jesus is crucified on the cross on Good Friday and his body is removed and sealed in a tomb. Any signs of hope are truly dead and buried. And yet…and yet death doesn’t have the last word. Jesus is raised to new life on Easter Sunday, and fresh joy and hope are given again.

I think that throughout our lives we too experience something of the highs and lows, the emotions that are connected with Holy Week. Those moments of great joy at a wedding, the birth of a child, the passing of an exam, the gaining of a new job. But we also know those moments of sadness and despair – the breakdown of a relationship, being made redundant, the death of a loved one. This week therefore mirrors something of our experience as human beings. The good news for us though is that whatever the highs and the lows we may face in our lives, God is with us. And He is the one who is able to transform even the darkest situation into something that can be used for good.

So do come and join us in our Holy Week and Easter services this year. Don’t simply move from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday but join us on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Eve to make the week even more meaningful.

With my best wishes and prayers for a very Happy Easter when it comes.

Jeremy Tear

Pioneer Team Rector

HOLY WEEK AND EASTER SERVICES
Palm Sunday 2 April Holy Communion, 8 a.m.; All Age Worship, 10a.m.
Maundy Thursday 6 April Holy Communion, 7.30 p.m.; Vigil, 9.00 p.m.
Good Friday 7 April All Age Worship, 10am; Service at Honiton Square, 12 noon; Last Hour at the Cross, St.Philip’s, 2.00 p.m.
Easter Eve 8 April Easter Vigil, St.James, 7.45 p.m.
Easter Sunday 9 April Holy Communion, 8 a.m.; All Age Communion, 10 a.m.