Byley Funerals
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Messenger Parish Magazine of St Michael and All Angels, Middlewich with St John the Evangelist, Byley April 2016 www.middlewichparishchurch.org.uk 50p Service Plan for April 2016 3rd April– 2nd of Easter 8.00 am Middlewich Communion 9.15 am Middlewich Communion 11.00 am Middlewich All Age Worship 11.00am Byley Morning Praise 2.00 pm Middlewich Baptism 6.30 pm Middlewich No evening Service 10th April– 3rd of Easter 9.15 am Middlewich Communion 11.00 am Middlewich Morning Praise 11.00am Byley Communion 2.00 pm Middlewich Baptism 6.30 pm Middlewich Evensong 17th April– 4th of Easter 9.15 am Middlewich Communion 11.00 am Middlewich Communion 11.00am Byley Morning Praise 4.00 pm Middlewich Annual Meeting ( In No. 28) Tuesdays– Healing Service 9.30 am Thursdays– Communion 9.30 am 2 24th April– 5th of Easter 9.15 am Middlewich Communion 11.00 am Middlewich Morning Praise 11.00am Byley Communion 2.00 pm Middlewich Baptism 6.30 pm Middlewich Church @ 28 St Michael’s Church Office 28 Hightown, Middlewich, CW10 9AN 01606 738005 Office hours 10am-2pm Monday-Friday Office Manager : Beth Deakin [email protected] For further contact details please see p20 … Middlewich Annual Parochial Church Meeting Sunday 17th April 2016 The annual extravaganza of the annual meeting will soon be here again. Sunday 17th April, 4pm in No28. An opportunity for all church members to receive the annual report and accounts, elect churchwardens and PCC members, and celebrate another successful year. Come along and join the throng! Cover picture: Palm Sunday donkey in St. Michael’s (Can you guess where he is standing?) 3 Letter from the Rector Dear Friends: When I pray, coincidences happen. When I stop praying, the coincidences stop. Archbishop William Temple The current Archbishops of Canterbury and York have taken the unprecedented step of writing to every serving parish priest in the Church of England to invite them and their people to join with the Archbishops, and the wider church, in a week of prayer for the evangelisation of our nation. In the week leading up to Pentecost (May 8th-15th, 2016) they long to see a great wave of prayer across our land, throughout the Church of England. They write … Our hope is: For all Christians to deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ. For all of us to have confidence to share the Gospel. For all to respond to the call of Jesus Christ to follow Him as disciples, to live out the Gospel and to seek God’s Kingdom from day to day. At the heart of our prayers will be the words that Jesus himself taught us – ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.’ It is impossible to overstate the life- transforming power of the Lord’s Prayer. It is a prayer that is reassuring enough to be on the lips of the dying and yet dangerous enough to be banned in cinemas. It is famous enough to be spoken each day by billions in hundreds of languages and yet intimate enough to draw us ever closer into friendship with Jesus Christ. It is simple enough to be memorised by small children and yet profound enough to sustain a whole lifetime of prayer. When we pray it with sincerity and joy, there is no imagining the new ways in which God can use us to his glory. So we shall join them, and Christians across this nation, as we pray together for the evangelisation of our country. What we have provisionally planned is that every morning from Monday 9th May – Saturday 14th May there will be an hour’s prayer and worship from 9:30am to 10:30am either in No28 or in church. This will take various formats, and sometimes will be built around existing services. There will then be two evening meetings for prayer and worship on Tuesday 10th & Thursday 12th May (starting at 7:30pm). Exact details of the arrangements will be published nearer the time. The week will then finish with a Pentecost Praise event on Sunday 15th May at 6:30pm. 4 Please do put these dates into your diary and commit to joining us at some point during the week. But also – commit yourself to pray, every day that week, for God’s Kingdom to come, and His will to be done here in Middlewich and across our land. Yours in Christ Simon Drew Confirmation Service (13th March 2016) It was a delight to once again have Bishop Keith with us in the evening on Sunday 13th March, for our annual confirmation service. It was an even greater delight to have five candidates confirmed by him: Paul Ellison, Trish Randles, Gemma Reynolds, Natasha Spann and Claire Wilson. It was wonderful to see them confirmed as full communicant members of St Michael’s Church, and to make a public declaration of their Christian faith. Several of the candidates took part in the service, Paul and Gemma did the readings and Claire spoke about her journey of faith in Jesus. Claire’s testimony ended with her husband Graham and their two children Hannah and Noah singing a song. A note of thanks also to Liz Woode who ran the confirmation classes for the candidates. Most people commit the same mistake with God that they do with their friends: they do all the talking (Anonymous) Don’t forget to check out the 28 website...www.at28.org 5 Spare a thought for our young people and their exams … The following are real answers from a Catholic Primary schools Biblical knowledge exam: 1. In the first book of the bible, Guinessis, God got tired of creating the world so he took the sabbath off. 2 Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. Noah's wife was Joan of Ark. Noah built an ark and the animals came on in pears. 3. Lot’s wife was a pillar of salt during the day, but a ball of fire during the night. 4. Samson slayed the Philistines with the axe of the apostles. 5. Moses led the Jews to the red sea where they made unleavened bread, which is bread without any ingredients. 6. The first commandments was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple. 7. The greatest miricle in the bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him. 8. Solomon, one of David’s sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines. 9 When Mary heard she was the mother of Jesus, she sang the Magna Carta. 10. Jesus enunciated the golden rule, which says to do unto others before they do one to you. He also explained a man doth not live by sweat alone. Parish Weekend Away Cloverley Hall – 30th September – 2nd October 2016 Please do come along and join us. To book a place we require a deposit of £10 per person (including all children). Booking forms available via the church office. Visit www.cloverleyhall.org for more information. 6 Art Exhibition at the Folk and Boat Festival We will once more be holding an art exhibition in the Church at the FaB (formerly Folk and Boat) Festival at Middlewich on 18th and 19th June this year, and would like to hear from anyone who might want to exhibit. Art is often thought of as painting but we would be glad to exhibit other types of art also, such as drawings, sculpture, pottery, wood carving etc. This year we would like to introduce an interactive aspect to the event, such as artists in action, or a 'try your hand at painting' area, or a wandering caricaturist doing sketches of people. Ideas are welcome! The event is primarily intended to be a community activity rather than a commercial venture, although we will happily put prospective purchasers in touch with artists if approached. Please get in touch with Michael Reed if you would like to take part or if you know someone else who might like to, or if you have ideas in respect of the interactive approach. Michael Reed 07740 778351 [email protected] What we usually pray to God is not that his will be done, but that he approve of ours (Helga Bergold) Your Magazine We are thinking about updating The Messenger, so please tell us….. 1) Who you think the magazine should be for. 2) What do you think it should feature. Please pass your thoughts to the church office, or to Margaret English ([email protected]), as long as they’re not rude! 7 A member of St. Michael’s asked recently…… ’why is Jesus called Jesus?’ Here is the answer (I hope!) Isaiah prophesied ‘Behold a virgin will be with child and bear as son and she will call his name Immanuel’ (Isaiah 7:14) 700 years before the first Christmas However, Matthew tells us about Joseph’s dream, when the angel instructs him to call the child Jesus (1:21). Then, two verses later, we are told this is in fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy! Confused? The problem is caused by a different way of looking at names. In ancient times, names were often given as representations of the hopes and dreams of the parents, or even in recognition of divine assistance. Names in the Old Testament had understandable meanings. For example: Abram means exalted father, but Abraham means father of a multitude. Names are more descriptive in Hebrew and Greek than they are in English. They often refer to the character or purpose pf the one being named. Thus Immanuel means God with us.