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FEBRUARY 2018 All Saints’ Church Parish Magazine LEEK WOOTTON LINK Leek Wootton | Guy’s Cliffe | Hill Wootton | Chesford | Goodrest | Wedgnock | North & Middle Woodloes LEEK WOOTTON LINK | FEBRUARY 2018 well as individual residents, is circulated EDITORIAL to you all 10 times a year and we trust Welcome to the February issue of The that you value this service to the Link. community. Snow, rain, wind and the January sales Readers of a hard copy magazine should and now we come along and ask you all receive an envelope with details of your to make a donation towards the cost of distributor to return any donation to. producing The Link! Alternatively, the editorial team will be All that is contributed, edited and happy to receive donations (cheques to distributed, is voluntary and we hope that Leek Wootton PCC) to 30 Hill Wootton everyone will help to support the Road. production costs for another year. Thank you in anticipation and please News from the Church, the Parish keep your contributions coming. Council, community organisations, as Helen & Lesley Eldridge The Editorial Team Cover Image: Snowy Churchyard, 10 December 2017 by Steph Jones All Saints’ Church WHO’S WHO? Priest in Charge Reader Jim Perryman t : 850610 Audrey Rowberry t : 851498 The Vicarage, 4 Hill Wootton Road 7a The Meadows e : [email protected] Secretary to the PCC Church Wardens Eileen Clayton t : 855124 Jonathan Kingston t : 851181 2 The Hamlet 32 Hill Wootton Road Treasurer to the PCC Nigel Stallard t : 850548 Mark Sayers t : 859389 Reading Room Cottage 36 The Hamlet Church Lane Articles for The Link: If there is anything you would like to include, please email [email protected] The deadline for editorial submissions for the MONTH issue is: FRIDAY, 16 February Advertisements for The Link or for www.leekwoottonchurch.co.uk: 1 WEEK IN ADVANCE OF THE MAIN SUBMISSION DEADLINE Via email to [email protected] or call Jim Perryman on 01926 850610 Would you like to receive The Link by email? Please email [email protected] and request your email copy Back issues of The Link are available to view online. go to free.yudu.com and search for ‘Leek Wootton Link’ 2 LEEK WOOTTON LINK | FEBRUARY 2018 FROM THE VICARAGE The Power of Love Say the words “February Fourteenth”, and many people would immediately respond, “Valentine’s Day”. I wonder how many other Saints’ Day dates are as well known? Oddly, the actual St Valentines (yes, there appear to be two of them from a similar time in the third century. One a bishop, one a priest and both of whom were martyred in Rome during times of persecution) have no connection traditionally with love, marriage, romance or – for that matter – anything else other than being killed because of their faith in Christ. Still, let’s not allow facts to spoil a good commercial festival. Just as 25 December is as good a day as any to celebrate the birth of Jesus, why not use 14 February as a good day to celebrate romantic love. Love, in all its forms, is intensely powerful – the romantic with its dramatic passion; the familial with its deep and lasting bond; the committed with its determined desire to seek the best for the other person; the divine which encompasses all these in a self-sacrificial revelation of the heart of God. Love changes everything, as the song says. Which brings me back to 14 February which, this year, is also Ash Wednesday – the first day of the season of Lent. Lent is not a time when we tend to think of ‘love’ – it is a time of discipline: ‘giving things up’. The Ash Wednesday ceremony of having the sign of the cross made on the forehead in ash is a symbol of a repentant heart – sorrow for the role each of us has played in being the reason why Jesus had to come and face the cruelty of his death on the cross. But there, of course, is the whole point – there is the link which Ash Wednesday falling on Saint Valentine’s Day highlights so poignantly for us. The power of love – that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16) – reaches out to us even in our undeserving and sinful state. Love changes everything. The love of God brings hope, brings opportunity, brings purpose, inspires repentance. Jesus Christ came to show the passionate nature of God’s love for each and every one of us and for his entire creation – love that was prepared to suffer the intense pain of rejection without changing one iota. God has never ‘fallen out of love’ with you or me, despite the fact that we can never be good enough to earn that love. The ash cross placed by one sinner onto the head of another is a reminder to each of us of the power of love, a call to each of us to recognise the cost of love, and a sign to ourselves of our desire to respond to the great love of God, with the poor but genuine love of our own hearts. Let’s truly celebrate the power of love together – you’re invited to All Saints’ for a romantic, if perhaps rather symbolic, Holy Communion meal of bread and wine with the one who loves you more than anyone else possibly could. The table’s booked for 7:30pm. Jim Perryman 3 LEEK WOOTTON LINK | FEBRUARY 2018 www.leekwoottonchurch.co.uk ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH www.leekwoottonchurch.co.uk CHURCH SERVICES / EVENTS FOR FEBRUARY Sunday, 4 February 8:00am Holy Communion (CW) 9:30am All Age Worship Wednesday, 7 February 10:30am Midweek Holy Communion Sunday, 11 February 9:00am PANCAKE BREAKFAST No charge (donations welcome), but please remember to pre-book - sign the list in church or email Jim Perryman c.10:00am Holy Communion with Children’s Groups Wednesday, 14 February ASH WEDNESDAY 7:30pm Ash Wednesday Holy Communion INCLUDING THE CEREMONY OF THE IMPOSITION OF ASH AS A SIGN OF REPENTANCE Sunday, 18 February 8:00am Holy Communion (BCP) 9:30am All Age Worship Wednesday, 21 February 10:30am Midweek Holy Communion Sunday, 25 February 9:30am All Age Holy Communion with Children’s Groups Saturday, 3 March 6:30pm Kenilworth Youth for Christ Praise and Worship event at Kenilworth Methodist Church Sunday, 4 March 8:00am Holy Communion (CW) 9:30am NO SERVICE – Road closures for BHF Warwick Half-Marathon 4 LEEK WOOTTON LINK | FEBRUARY 2018 ADVERTISING 5 LEEK WOOTTON LINK | FEBRUARY 2018 LEEK WOOTTON MU Contact : Janet Jackson t : 258264 At our December meeting, we continued our exploration of gender-based violence by looking in detail at domestic abuse – systematic, patterned behaviour that is designed to control one partner within an intimate or family relationship. It can happen against men as well as women and can take the form of physical, emotional, financial, sexual or spiritual abuse, or neglect through deprivation of food, shelter, heat, clothing, comfort, medication or access to medical care. Through a short drama we reflected on what it might feel like to be abused and we considered how and where churches and Christian people may have colluded with abuse. We looked at how we should respond to domestic abuse and learned of the agencies that work to support victims and survivors of abuse. If anyone in our community is affected by such issues, there are leaflets in church, which may be of help. At our February meeting, we will be meeting a victim and survivor of domestic abuse who will share her story with us. We will also learn about the work of Coventry Haven, which provides a safe refuge for women and children seeking to escape abusive relationships. Do feel free to join us: our meeting will take place on Thursday, 8 February at 1:30pm at 14 The Meadows. By contrast, our January meeting was more joyful! We enjoyed a time of fellowship sharing a festive meal at The Anchor and celebrating Audrey Peedle’s forthcoming big birthday (we won’t tell you which birthday, just that it is 21 and a bit more!). Our thanks to Janet for organising the event and especially the special cake. For those of you who like to plan ahead, Mothering Sunday is a key date in the church calendar to remember mothers and falls on 11 March this year. Mothers’ Union Make a Mother’s Day campaign focuses on supporting mothers all over the world. Why not give your mother an ethical gift this year that will make a difference by helping mothers all over the world move from life on the margins right to the heart of their families and Father of all, help us communities? Gifts range from just £6 - £100. For always to show love example, £6 will support projects in the UK that help for our family restore broken relationships in communities while £15 will members and to build help a mother learn to read and write, and bring a better world for transformation to her entire community. everyone. Guide us to If you would like to support the work of Mothers’ Union in use our resources and this way, details are available in church or can be found at power wisely, to show www.makeamothersday.org/choose-a-gift. When you buy respect and one of these gifts, you’ll be sent a card featuring native consideration and flowers from a country Mothers’ Union works in to give to never to raise voices your mum – so she won’t be without flowers on 11 March.