Dear Friends

We are now in the middle of Lent, with Mothering Sunday this weekend, and it feels like Easter is fast approaching! If you have been attending one of the Churches Together groups on ‘Caring for Creation’, or a group studying a different topic within your own church, I hope that you have found this both challenging and helpful. With the announcement from Boris Johnson of his roadmap for easing us out of lockdown, I am hopeful that we are beginning to return to some sort of normality, and part of that may well be the re-opening of all our churches for worship, whether indoors or outdoors, as we remember once again the death and resurrection of Jesus this Eastertime.

On a Team level, we have 3 services/events planned. Firstly, on Maundy Thursday, there will be a Vigil at 9pm, lasting one hour. This will be an opportunity to prayerfully reflect on some of Jesus’ words from John’s gospel as we watch and wait with him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Hopefully, this will be in St.Mary’s, and (new broadband permitting!), there will be the opportunity to join it by zoom for those who are unable to be there in person. If you wish to have the link for this, please do email me at jeremy@westwarringtonchurch.uk. Secondly, on Good Friday, there will be an outdoor Stations of the Cross in the woods behind St.Philip’s School from 11 a.m. – 4.00 p.m. Do email Sarah Peppiatt at sarahp@westwarringtonchurch.uk if you would like to be sent the details. If you do not have email, please ring her on 01925 569733, and she will deliver the details to you. Thirdly, there will also be on Good Friday a service at 2 pm as we reflect on Jesus’ Last Hour at the Cross. This will be streamed live at https://www.facebook.com/StPhilipswestbrook. If you don’t have a Facebook account to pick this up, you can always type ‘St Philip’s’ Church Westbrook Facebook videos’ into Google and find the service there afterwards.

However we may celebrate Easter this year, I hope and pray that you find it a spiritually enriching experience, whether in church, outdoors or at home

Take care and stay safe.

With my best wishes and prayers

Jeremy Tear, Pioneer Team Rector

NB This year’s Thy Kingdom Come initiative runs from 13-23 May. Keep an eye out in your church notice sheet for a potential Churches Together event on Thursday 20 May

Dear Friends

As lockdown continues and our churches continue to remain closed for public worship, I appreciate that this remains a very challenging time for us all. The poor weather of recent weeks, culminating in flooding across parts of the country (including here in Warrington), does not help either, and we may well be feeling thoroughly fed up as a result. Positively speaking though, there are signs that spring is on its way and the news that over 10 million people have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine is a very welcome development.

This month sees the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday 17 February. As mentioned in last month’s letter, I am very grateful to Sarah Peppiatt who will be leading an online service at 7 p.m. that evening for us as a team, and those within other churches in West Warrington. If you would like to join the livestream, visit the St.Philips Facebook pagehttps://www.facebook.com/StPhilipswestbrook. If you don’t have a Facebook account to pick this up, you can always type ‘St Philip’s’ Church Westbrook Facebook videos’ into Google and find the service there afterwards. Churches Together in West Warrington are also running a Lent course online this year based on material provided by York Courses called ‘Caring for Creation’. How do we as Christians respond to global warming, leading to climate change? What difference does a hope based on faith in God make to how we respond to this issue? In the light of the recent flooding in Warrington, this course feels more pertinent than ever. If you would like to join a group (in addition to any Lent groups your church may be running), these will take place on Mondays and Wednesdays at 2pm, and Thursday at 7.30 p.m. Please let me know by Sunday 14 February at the latest if you would like to be involved.

Finally, two of our local churches in West Warrington are providing support to those affected by flooding, namely Kings Church through its centre on Marina Avenue, and Bethany Church on Liverpool Road. King’s Church are providing food parcels to those in need through its ‘Kings Table’ food bank. You can contact Jacky Johnson jacky-johnson9@sky.com if you wish to donate. Bethany Church is  providing food, clothes and household items. Contact John Addison revjohnaddison@gmail.com if you can help.

Take care and stay safe.

With my best wishes and prayers

Jeremy Tear, Pioneer Team Rector

Dear Friends

Firstly, if it’s not too late, a Happy New Year to you all. The past year has been one that we may rather choose to forget but hopefully this one, with the rollout of the coronavirus vaccines, will be better. But before it gets better, it feels like it is currently getting worse, with the rising death rate and NHS staff working under extremely stressful conditions. Do keep them and those they treat in your prayers.

The introduction of the third lockdown brings its own pressures upon us all as individuals and families, including of course the life of our churches. Whilst we are in theory able to remain open for public worship at present, currently each of our four team churches has taken the decision to close. This will hopefully reduce the risk of the virus being transmitted, and further strain being placed upon our local health service. I realise that for some of us this will feel extremely frustrating, whilst for others it may be a welcome relief. Either way, let us continue to do all that we can to support one another, and others, through this time with our phone calls, emails, online worship and prayers. And don’t forget that if you can transfer your giving online via the Parish Giving Scheme or by Standing Order, that will be extremely helpful too.

Looking ahead, the season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday 17 February. I am very grateful to Sarah Peppiatt who will be leading an online service at 7 p.m. that evening for us as a team, and those within other churches in West Warrington. If you would like to join the livestream, visit the St.Philips Facebook pagehttps://www.facebook.com/StPhilipswestbrook. If you don’t have a Facebook account to pick this up, you can always type ‘St Philip’s’ Church Westbrook Facebook videos’ into Google and find the service there afterwards. Churches Together will also be running a Lent course online this year based on material provided by York Courses called ‘Caring for Creation’. How do we as Christians respond to global warming, leading to climate change? What difference does a hope based on faith in God make to how we respond to this issue? If you would like to join a group, do keep an eye out for details via your church notice sheet/website.

Take care and stay safe.

With my best wishes and prayers

Jeremy Tear, Pioneer Team Rector

Dear Friends

Christmas 2020 is going to be like no other Christmas which I can remember. Online services, restricted numbers in church, no congregational singing. It all feels rather odd as I am sure it does to you. And that’s just in church of course. Outside of church, we may or may not be meeting up with family and friends as part of a Christmas bubble, but whatever we are doing, it will be different this year.

And whilst we will no doubt miss the familiar routines, it does perhaps give us all the opportunity to reflect a little more on what Christmas is really all about, namely the coming of Jesus into our world. For Jesus came into a world that was different for the Jewish people of his day. Not only were they living under Roman occupation with the restrictions that imposed upon them (as is true for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza today), but they were living with the weight of expectation of a coming Messiah who had been promised for many years and not yet materialised. Little did they realise that the Messiah was going to come in the shape of a weak, helpless, little baby born in Bethlehem. This was certainly different to what they had been expecting. But then we have a God who delights in surprising us in unfamiliar ways.

So as we approach Christmas this year, with its difference and unfamiliarity, may I encourage us all to take a moment to stop, to pause, and to listen again for the words of the angel proclaiming, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people”. For if we do that, and let those familiar words resonate deeply with us once again, they can provide the inspiration and hope to take us forward into all the uncertainties of the coming year.

May God bless you and all those you love, and remember, this Christmas season.

Take care and stay safe.

With my best wishes and prayers

Jeremy Tear, Pioneer Team Rector

Dear Friends

It’s been a while since my last letter and I am wondering how you are all finding the current national lockdown? Things perhaps feel harder since I last wrote though it does appear that there may be some respite on the horizon for Christmas before another potential lockdown in January once again. When will this all end, you may well be wondering? The announcements made in the past two weeks regarding the development of vaccines do at least offer us some hope and a way out of the current impasse, though of course realistically it is going to take a number of months before a nationwide vaccine programme is implemented. So what is going to sustain us in the meantime?

Advent is a season of watching and waiting. Not just for the birth of Jesus but for the day when He will one day return again and make all things new. So it is the prospect of Jesus’ arrival into the world at Christmas, and of His Second Coming, that can sustain us now in the present. Jesus came into a context where people were crying out for hope, hope from the oppression of the Roman occupation. And although his arrival didn’t liberate people from the Romans, it did offer them a new way of living, and loving, in the midst of their struggles. And what was true for people then can be true for people now. We struggle with the pain and the problems of the pandemic – we are crying out for relief. Jesus doesn’t wave a magic wand to take us out of the situation but He does provide us with the resources to live, and love, through it.

And there are many ways, of course, that churches up and down the country have been reaching out to others in their communities to help them through this time. One excellent way that we have developed as a team is the telephone befriending service. There are many in our area who are lonely and isolated at present, and we now have more requests for help than our existing volunteers can cope with. So, if you could offer an hour or two each week to ring someone in our locality who would like to receive a call, please let Heather Copperwheat, our scheme administrator, know. Heather can be contacted at telephonebefriending@westwarringtonchurch.uk.

So as we look towards the arrival, and the second coming, of Jesus this Advent, may I encourage us all to look out beyond ourselves to the needs of others.  Yes, we need to pay attention to our own needs too but we are also to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. It’s as we do that, so we can discover the joy and fulfilment that Jesus came to bring, and experience something of His life in all its fulness.

Do continue to take care, and to stay safe. With my best wishes and prayers.

Jeremy Tear, Pioneer Team Rector

Dear Friends

I wonder how the Prime Minister’s announcement this past week that new Covid restrictions will be in place for the whole country for the next six months has left you feeling? Disillusioned? Despairing? Downhearted? I can well understand if you are feeling any of those things at present, as we have to contend with our own local restrictions in addition. It’s not an easy time for anyone, including those of us who are Christians who have to live with restrictions on how we worship. So, what might our faith have to say to us at present?

Firstly, let us remember that God is with us through whatever we may have to face in life, including coronavirus. As Paul puts it in Romans chapter eight, ‘For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord’.

Secondly, we are a people of hope. Not a facile optimism, but a hope that is grounded in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A hope that can sustain us even through the darkest times. As Psalm 33 puts it, ‘We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield’.

Thirdly, we are invited to share the good news of God’s love for us and the hope Jesus gives us with others. Have you thought about inviting a friend, neighbour, family member or work colleague who may be finding life difficult at present to come to church with you or to join one of our online services? Numbers are obviously restricted in our buildings at present but the Christian faith is not restricted to those who currently attend. It is for everyone in our communities – all are welcome, and welcomed by God.

So as we move through this autumn into what could feel like a long hard slog in the months ahead, let’s not despair but rather ‘delight in the Lord’ as Psalm 37 puts it. For by placing our hope in Him, we can find the strength we need to face whatever lies ahead.

Take care and stay safe.

With my best wishes and prayers.                            

Jeremy Tear

Pioneer Team Rector