Christ Church Pellon
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The Hub The Magazine of St. Augustine’s Halifax & Christ Church Pellon Price 50p February – March 2019 Regular events For Children Sundays Children are always welcome! Christ Church 10.45am – SharX on Sunday or all age service (4th Sundays). St. Augustine’s - a special children’s area with different activities. Uniformed Groups (all at Christ Church) Monday 6.00 – 7.00pm Rainbows(age 5-7) Jane Webster 885878 Monday 6.30 – 8.00pm Brownies(age 7-10) Tracey Jagger 248365 Monday 7.30 – 9.00pm Guides(age 10-15) Louise Cater 0775 9267671 Tuesday 5.30 – 6.30pm Beavers(age 6-8) Gareth Toy 07961 426362 Tuesday 6.30 – 8.00pm Cubs(age 8-11) Jenny Lyon 07565 823422 Tuesday 7.00 – 8.30pm Scouts(age 11-14) Beverly 07985 437297 SharX at Christ Church Wednesdays, 6.45—9.00pm. Alternate weeks ages 10 – 13, 14 - 18. Fun, friendship and chat., Karaoke, air hockey, table football, Wii games and lots more. Contact Terry Gledhill for more details 254347. Messy SharX at Christ Church Once a month on the Third Saturday of the month, 3.00pm – 5.00pm. Games, Craft, singing, stories, teaching & food. Contact Terry Gledhill for more details 254347. Fellowship House Groups Various days. Get together for fellowship, faith and prayer. For details contact Brian 250321. Community Café Wednesdays 10.00 am—11.30am at Christ Church. Informal chat to meet other people, chat over coffee and cakes. Wednesday Lunch Last Wednesday of every month, 12.30pm at Christ Church. A lovely lunch followed by fantastic puddings, cheese and biscuits and a cup of tea, all for just £3. International Evening Fridays 6.30pm—9.30pm at Christ Church. A relaxed evening of games, food, and a chance to chill out, especially for those from other countries. Friday Group Friday evenings, bi-monthly. Ladies get-togethers and social events. See ’What’s Happening’ for more details, or contact Ann Gardner 341962. Worship As well as Sundays, we have other regular worship: Monday 9.15 am Morning Prayer at St. Augustine’s Tuesday 12 noon Informal Worship at St. Augustine’s, followed by lunch Wednesday 11.30am Communion Service at Christ Church Interpreted Services. The first Sunday 10.45am service and the Second Sunday 6.30pm Celebration services at Christ Church will be BSL signed services. From the Vicar Dear Readers, As I write this, the weather is just growing a little warmer after the snow we’ve just experienced (albeit not as bead as some!). The sun is also beginning to shine a little again, and even the crocuses are beginning to raise their heads above the grass! You could almost believe that the world was starting to turn from winter into spring. Let’s hope so! Of course, it’s still far from certain at this time of year, but the signs are positive. And, indeed, we know that even if we have more snow, Spring will come – when it is ready. And that’s a lesson worth learning. Some of the most important things in life are actually not within our control! We are at the mercy of others, or at the whim of Mother Nature. And the sooner we learn that we can’t control everything, the sooner we can begin to accept some of the things that we experience. And important as this lesson is, there is also a great danger in it as well. The idea that whatever happens we just have to accept is nonsense. Many of the things that people claim, “Well, it must be God’s will” clearly isn’t any such thing! We know for certain, for example, that God doesn’t want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3.9). Of course, that doesn’t mean that death might not indeed be the answer to our prayers – when the time is right. But a life taken prematurely or by violence is not part of God’s plan. It isn’t something we should accept lightly. And in church life we can also fall in to the same trap. After all, we can easily (and as it turns out – rightly) assume that bringing people to faith is God’s work, not ours. But that doesn’t mean to say we don’t have a part to play! I may not be much of a gardener (!), but I do know that whenever Spring does finally arrive, those who have beautiful gardens don’t have them by accident! They don’t just magically grow overnight! There is a story that’s told of a man who moved into a house that had been empty for an extended period of time, and the garden had become a bit of a wilderness (even worse than the vicarage garden!). 3 The man was a keen gardener, and soon set to work trimming, weeding, fertilizing and eventually planting a new garden, that over the course of a year became something beautiful to behold. One day, he was out in the garden doing a bit of weeding when a neighbour stopped and leaned over the garden gate. “You’ve done a great job with that garden,” said the neighbour. Being a Christian, the owner decided it was a good idea to give God some of the credit. “Well, it was a joint effort between God and me”, said the gardener. “Maybe,” said the neighbour, “but you should have seen the state it was in when God had it on his own!” If we want the spring bulbs to come up, then they need to have been planted at the right time. If we want the best flowers on the shrubs, they need to have been pruned in the right way, and so on. And so it is in church. If we want to see people coming to faith, then we have to play our part. We have to befriend people. We have to talk with them about God – in the right way! And we have to have the right things happening in church that we can invite people to – services that allow people to meet with God, groups that allow for friendships to form, places where people can explore what it means to have faith, and so on. Can we make people become Christian? Absolutely not! But we can certainly provide the right environment for that to happen. So as Spring approaches in the country, what are you going to do to prepare for someone to come to faith? Maybe you could invite someone to a service or a group? Maybe you could have a coffee with them, and share your faith and the difference God is making in your life? Maybe you could support one of the things that are already happening in church that is reaching out to those who don’t yet know you – like Messy SharX or Sunday SharX, or Challengers, or … Maybe it’s time to start something new for a group of people you know? If so, why not have a go – you never know what might grow from it! John Hellewell 4 WHAT’S HAPPENING This is a BSL interpreted service FEBRUARY 2019 1 Friday 9.30 am Chatterbox Toddler Group at Christ Church 6.30 pm International Night at Christ Church 7.00 pm Deaf Church at Christ Church 3 Sunday: Feast of the Presentation (Candlemas) 10.30 am Joint Service at Christ Church 4 Monday 9.15 am Morning Prayer at St. Augustine’s 5 Tuesday 10.30 am Communion at Asquith Court – all welcome! 12.30 pm Worship at St. Augustine’s 1.00 pm International Bible Study at St. Augustine’s 2.00 pm Communion at Clement Court – all welcome! 6 Wednesday 11.30 am Communion at Christ Church 6.45 pm SharX 1 (ages 10 – 13) at Christ Church 7 Thursday 6.00 pm “Listening to God” at Christ Church 8 Friday 9.30 am Chatterbox Toddler Group at Christ Church 7.00 pm Silent Auction at Christ Church 7.30 pm Ladies Friday Group at Ann Gardner’s 9 Saturday 10.00 am Circle Dancing at Christ Church 10 Sunday: Fourth Sunday before Lent 10.45 am Communion at Christ Church 10.45 am Morning Worship at St. Augustine’s 6.30 pm Second Sunday Deaf led service at Christ Church 11 Monday 9.15 am Morning Prayer at St. Augustine’s 12 Tuesday 12.30 pm Worship at St. Augustine’s 1.00 pm International Bible Study at St. Augustine’s 13 Wednesday 11.30 am Communion at Christ Church 6.45 pm SharX 2 (ages 14 – 18) at Christ Church 14 Thursday 7.00 pm Music get-together at Christ Church 15 Friday 9.30 am Chatterbox Toddler Group at Christ Church 6.30 pm International Evening at Christ Church 16 Saturday 3.00 pm Messy SharX at Christ Church 17 Sunday: Third Sunday before Lent 10.45 am Morning Worship at Christ Church 10.45 am Communion at St. Augustine’s 5 18 Monday 9.15 am Morning Prayer at St. Augustine’s 19 Tuesday 12.30 pm Worship at St. Augustine’s 1.00 pm International Bible Study at St. Augustine’s 20 Wednesday 11.30 am Communion at Christ Church 6.45 pm SharX 1 (ages 10 – 13) at Christ Church 21 Thursday 7.30 pm Deanery Synod at All Saints Church 22 Friday 9.30 am Chatterbox Toddler Group at Christ Church 23 Saturday 9.00 am Breakfast at Christ Church 9.30 am Prayer Meeting at Christ Church 24 Sunday: Second Sunday before Lent 10.45 am Morning Worship at Christ Church 10.45 am Morning Worship at St.