Parish Magazine Letter, Feb / March 2022

by | Feb 20, 2022 | Magazine Letter

Dear Friends

I wonder how 2022 has started for you? We may start each year with plenty of good intentions but it may not take long before those start to disappear. One of my resolutions each year is to spend more time exercising, by going to the gym. We are halfway through January as I write and so far I have only managed to get there one week. I hope you may be doing better with whatever you may have decided to try to do!

It’s a good thing that God understands us as human beings, isn’t it, with all our good intentions but so often failing to live up to them. The confession each week in church is designed to give us an opportunity to reflect on those ways in which we have failed to live as God might have wanted us to do, whether that’s not keeping a New Year resolution, or something more significant perhaps. And of course with Him, we can always make a fresh start.

On a positive note, one of the things that has already happened this year is that we have had the trees pollarded in the front of the churchyard. This was last done in 2017 and I hope helps to keep the front of the church looking in good shape, aided of course by the work of our excellent gardening team. We are also just about to re-start (as I write) the Alpha course after a break over Christmas. It’s been great to have 10 people attending the course and exploring more together about the Christian faith.

Lent begins this year on March 2 (Ash Wednesday), rather later than it often does. I am hoping that once again we will be joining with other Christians from across West Warrington in worship and study (do keep an eye out for the notice sheet and on our website for further details). We are also planning on running again the Growing in Faith course after Easter and the Talking Jesus course in the summer. Do take advantage of these opportunities to deepen your faith if you wish to do so.

In terms of other hopes for this year, I really do hope that it will not be long now before we get permission from the diocese to install the new chairs that we have received funding from the Co-op for. I also hope that we will be able to get planning permission from the diocese and the local authority for our church extension, and ideally be able to start the work.

What are you hoping and praying for this year?

With my prayers and best wishes.

Jeremy Tear

Pioneer Team Rector

Team Letter, February 2022

by | Feb 16, 2022 | Team Letter

Dear Friends

This Sunday, being the third Sunday of the month, is our ‘Team Sunday’. I do hope that you are finding it helpful to see the different clergy moving around our team churches and leading worship. Speaking of which, Lent is fast approaching and begins this year on Ash Wednesday, 2 March. You would be very welcome to attend our Team Communion Service at St.Mary’s at 7.30 p.m. that evening which will include the opportunity to receive the sign of the cross in ash upon your forehead. This service will also be open to members of other churches in West Warrington. If you cannot attend the evening service, then you would be very welcome to attend the regular midweek communion service at St.Mary’s at 10am that day, which again will include the opportunity for ‘ashing’. Please bring a mask if you are coming to either service.
During Lent itself, there will be a number of different courses being run across our churches which will be open to everyone in the team:

‘Cry for Hope’. A 5 week course on Sunday evenings at 6 pm on Zoom which will explore what life is like for Palestinian Christians and how we might respond to their plight. Cry for Hope in Lent: A new series | Sabeel-Kairos Please register with Sabeel-Kairos.

Iif you would like to take part for the session between 6-6.30 p.m. followed by an hour for discussion together afterwards (Zoom details below). Contact Jeremy for further details revjeremytear@gmail.com.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81094300851?pwd=SVBEM0NwU3FWTWhMeWpFa3ZMU0NUQT09

Meeting ID: 810 9430 0851 Passcode: 838533

Making Space for God. Tuesday afternoons at the Oaks, 1.45 to 3.15pm beginning 8th March Not a traditional Bible study! Instead, we’ll spend a little time listening to and reflecting on a Bible passage, before the majority of the time is given for people to respond creatively in any way they want to the passage: whether with art or poetry or song writing or something else. Contact Sarah for further details revsarahpep@sky.com.

Difference Course. Thursdays 7:30pm from 10th March for 5 weeks on Zoom. Difference is a course that explores what it means to follow Jesus in a complex and divided world, seeing transformation through everyday encounters. Finding hope beyond division and difference through renewing our minds and relationships in Jesus Christ. Contact Martin for further details martinthevicar@btinternet.com.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83256267809

Meeting ID: 832 5626 7809

Building Blocks: living out the kingdom. Thursday nights, 7-8pm at St Philip’s, starts 3rd March – looking at good foundations for our walk with Jesus. Contact Sarah for further details revsarahpep@sky.com.

I am really pleased that we are able to offer such a diverse choice of topics for Lent this year and I do encourage you to get in contact with Martin, Sarah or myself if you would like to come along to one of these courses.

Looking ahead to Holy Week, there will be this year the usual Churches Together Good Friday service at 12 noon at Honiton Square on Friday 15 April. Details of other services for Holy Week will be in my next letter.

Finally, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of those who have been involved with our Team Befriending Scheme, which we started during lockdown to offer a listening ear to members of our communities. The Scheme has now come to end but I did want to say a particular thankyou to Heather Copperwheat who has most efficiently administered the scheme on our behalf.

With my prayers and best wishes.

Jeremy Tear

Pioneer Team Rector

Team Letter, December 2021

by | Dec 8, 2021 | Team Letter

Dear Friends

As we have entered the Advent season, our thoughts are no doubt very much turning towards Christmas and preparations being made in all our churches to celebrate the birth of Christ. But let’s not forget that Advent is not only a season to prepare for Jesus’ first coming as a baby at Bethlehem, but also a season to prepare for His second coming at the end of time. And hence in the Advent Sunday gospel, we were reminded to ‘Be always on the watch..that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man’ (Luke 21:36).

So how are we using this season of Advent, which so often gets overlooked in the rush towards Christmas? Perhaps you are reading a Christian book, making some extra time to pray or to study your bible, or to reflect upon your life, perhaps with the support of a fellow Christian. All of those are good Advent disciplines which basically means a practical way of exercising our discipleship. One of the things I am doing this year is to follow a daily Advent video series called ‘The Bethlehem Story which concerns the story of the little town in Palestine from the death of Rachel to the birth of Christ. As well as exploring the biblical references to Bethlehem, there are also Palestinian Christians telling their story about life there today. If you would like to follow the series, you can subscribe to the Unreached Network Youtube Channel, where all the previous days videos are available to watch as well. The series is presented by Andy McCullough, who is the teaching pastor at Reading Family Church, and is supported by Bethlehem Bible College and Sabeel-Kairos, a Christian human rights charity working for peace and justice in Israel/Palestine. I commend it to you.

On a separate note, it was good to join with folks at St.Philip’s on 21 November for a service to mark the ending of the partnership agreement between the Church of England and the Methodist Church. This agreement has been in place for the last 30 years since the church’s inception and it was good to be reminded of the many ways in which St.Philip’s has engaged in mission to its local community. Though the Methodist Church has now had to withdraw from the partnership, St.Philip’s (under Sarah’s leadership) will continue to look for ways of partnering with all Christians who wish to join with them in continuing to reach out to those in their locality. The ending of monthly Methodist input into St.Philip’s will now mean the team are adopting a new service pattern from January next year when the third Sunday will be designated a Team Sunday and the clergy move around our different churches. I hope this proves a blessing and that you will enjoy seeing more of our clergy across the team.

With my best wishes for a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year. Stay safe and take care.

Jeremy Tear, Pioneer Team Rector

Parish Magazine Letter, Dec / Jan 2022

by | Dec 6, 2021 | Magazine Letter

Dear Friends

Just as I was writing my last magazine letter before our Summer Fair, so I am writing this one before our Christmas Fair. The Summer Fair was a great success, blessed by some fine weather, and raised over £1,000 for church funds due to the hard work of Sarah Lavelle and others. Likewise, I hope our Christmas Fair will have been a similar success, aided by the efforts of Clare Archibald and team.

And so it is that the Christmas season will soon be upon us but not before we get to Advent (which begins this year on Advent Sunday, 27 November). The word Advent comes from the Latin word ‘advenio’ meaning to come, and so in this season we anticipate the coming of Christ as a baby at Bethlehem, as well as His second coming at the end of time. The four weeks or so of Advent give us time to reflect upon these great comings and of what we can do to prepare ourselves to receive Christ afresh at Christmas, as well as when He comes again. And yet often we rush through Advent to Christmas in a whirl of busyness – shopping, wrapping, cooking, and yes, even church services! So why not put aside some time this year to make your Advent different – to make time to pray, to read a Christian book, to perform acts of kindness towards others? It could make your celebrations at Christmas even more meaningful and joyful as a result.

And then of course, we move from Christmas to the New Year. I wonder what 2022 will hold for each one of us, for the life of St.Mary’s church, and indeed, the life of the world? There always feels something slightly strange to me about stepping over the threshold into a New Year. For none of us can know for sure what it will hold – what joys, sadnesses, challenges and delights. One thing for sure though is whilst we do not know what the future holds, we can know the One who holds the future, right there in His hands. As the words of the poet Minnie Louise Haskins put it:

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied:

Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

Wishing you and your loved ones a joyful Christmas, and a peaceful new Year

Jeremy Tear

Pioneer Team Rector

Team Letter, November 2021

by | Nov 8, 2021 | Team Letter

Dear Friends

I hope this letter finds you well. Much has happened in the life of our team since my last letter two months ago.

The Living in Love and Faith courses concerning questions of human identity, relationships, marriage and sexuality were attended by 26 people in September and October. Many thanks to all who took part and to members of the core team who facilitated these. I do hope that these will have given us all a greater understanding of some of the issues surrounding these subjects and an awareness of the different points of view which Christians can hold. If you took part in a course and have not yet returned your feedback form, please do so as soon as possible as these will help to shape the General Synod’s thinking on these matters. Speaking of which, congratulations are due to Martin Thorpe who has been elected as one of the new diocesan representatives on that Synod.

At the end of October, we held the Team Memorial Service at St.Mary’s for those who have been bereaved in the past year. About 40 people came in person and a good number online as well. I hope this proved helpful for all who attended.

There have also been a number of mission activities going on across our team as things have begun to open up more after the summer. The Ark Experience at St.Paul’s was a fantastic event, very well attended, and I hope helped connect with many in our community. St.Philip’s has begun a ‘Muddy Church’ for youngsters, about 40 people attending the inaugural session. St.Mary’s has begun another Alpha course which 10 people have signed up for. St.James has restarted its ACE service for young families. For all of these things we can be thankful to God.
In terms of things opening up, I’m conscious that our churches are currently at different places with regards to Covid restrictions. Wherever our respective PCC’s have got to in their thinking, please do continue to be mindful of others who may be taking a more cautious approach than yourself in this matter. I think one of the signs of a Christian community is how we deal with difference and disagreeing well (as Justin Welby has reminded us) is vital, as is taking care of those whose health may not be as good as ours.

Later this month marks a significant moment in the life of St.Philip’s as its partnership with the Methodist Church comes to an end. There is much we can be thankful for in the way that our two denominations have worked together to serve and witness to the community in Westbrook over the past 30 years. I’m pleased to say that Bishop Paul will be coming for the final service of thanksgiving at St.Philip’s on Sunday 21 November at 3.00 p.m. Please let Sarah Peppiatt know if you would like to attend.

Take care and stay safe.

Jeremy Tear

Pioneer Team Rector