ST JAMES THE GREAT HAYDOCK April 2020 50p Registered Charity Number 1153937 www.achurchnearyou.com/church/2849 1 THE PARISH OF ST JAMES THE GREAT HAYDOCK Vicar: Fr Andrew Welsby CMP The Vicarage, 169 Church Road, Haydock, WA11 ONJ. t: 01942 727956 e: [email protected] Assistant Priest: Fr Ian Wynne m: 07885 823786 e: [email protected] Churchwardens: Mr Philip Peplow, t: 01744 614937 Mrs Nancy Holloway, t: 01942 712328 Organist: Mr Gordon Gerrard Sunday Worship: 8.00am Said Eucharist 10.00am Sung Eucharist 12 noon Said Eucharist Weekday Worship: Each day Morning and Evening Prayer are said in St Alban's chapel at the times displayed each week on the small notice board outside the main door of the church. If you would like to attend any of these brief acts of worship, you are most welcome to do so. Holy Hour: 6.30pm Thursday Evening Prayer Rosary group Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament The Holy Eucharist: 7.30pm Tuesday 9.30am Wednesday 9.00am Friday - School Eucharist in church On Holy Days as announced in the church magazine Confessions: By appointment. Holy Communion: to those who are sick or housebound – on request Holy Baptism: Baptisms - to arrange, please contact the Vicar or send a message via the church website. Holy Matrimony: Initial enquiries to the Vicarage or via the church website Funerals: The Funeral Director will usually make all the arrangements 2 KALENDAR for April 2020 All Public and Private use of the Church building is discontinued during this period of global pandemic. Please, if you can, monitor our website and facebook page for announcements about when Devotions will be broadcast, and also when we can resume our regular pattern of worship in church. Wednesday 1st F D Maurice, Priest, Teacher 1872 Thursday 2nd Friday 3rd Richard, Bp of Chichester Saturday 4th Ambrose, Bp Sunday 5th PALM SUNDAY Monday 6th Tuesday 7th Wednesday 8th Thursday 9th MAUNDY THURSDAY Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martyr 1945 Friday 10th GOOD FRIDAY William of Ockham, Teacher 1347 Saturday 11th HOLY SATURDAY G A Selwyn, Bp 1878 Sunday 12th THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD - EASTER DAY Monday 13th Tuesday 14th Wednesday 15th Thursday 16th Isabella Gilmore, Deaconess, 1923 3 Friday 17th Saturday 18th Sunday 19th SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER Alphege, Abp, Martyr, 1012 Monday 20th Tuesday 21st Anselm, Abp, Teacher, 1109 Wednesday 22nd Thursday 23rd George, Martyr, Patron of England c.304 Friday 24th Mellitus, Bp. 624 Saturday 25th ST MARK THE EVANGELIST Sunday 26th THE THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER Monday 27th Christina Rossetti, Poet, 1894 Tuesday 28th Peter Chanel, Martyr, 1841 Wednesday 29th Catherine of Sienna, Teacher, 1380 Thursday 30th 4 From the Vicar Dear Friends, I’m not usually at a loss for words (as you know!) but we find ourselves in a time of unprecedented emergency, and we didn’t have Global Pandemic Ministry classes at theological college. My main priority now is to do my level best to keep every single one of you in my prayers, and to try to keep us ‘together’ even as we are forced to be apart, so that when we can eventually return to our beloved church to praise God together, we do so as a united community. I have found myself helped in this ‘holding in prayer’ by the practice of the Company of Mission Priests of which I am a member. We are a ‘dispersed’ community of single priests serving in parishes from the North East to the South coast – and we can only meet together as a Company once a year, at our General Chapter in Walsingham. But, for the remaining 51 weeks of the year, we pray for each other every day, by name, and that really does make an enormous and tangible difference to us a community – so, I ask you to do the same… pray for each other by name every day. Another way of keeping us together is the offering of the Eucharist which will continue every Sunday at 10am and on Holy Days as announced. For the time being, I will have to celebrate the Eucharist alone in the Vicarage – and I can promise you that I find that an extremely strange thing to do. This Eucharist will be ‘broadcast’ via You Tube (thanks to Matthew Price) and can be seen either on the internet (on your smart phones or tablets as well as computers) or, if your television uses Virgin media, on channel 198. I hope that as many of you as possible will join in this Act of Worship in your own homes, and set aside that time for God, as you would if you were coming to church normally. The strangeness of celebrating in this way is for me, only mitigated by knowing that many of you are deriving some comfort from it. I also commend to every one of you the ‘Act of Spiritual Communion’, for which you will find a short ‘order’ after this letter. As the Book of Common Prayer instructs us, the intention to receive the Sacrament, even when physically unable to do so ensures that the grace which flows from the Sacrament is available to all. 5 I do need to say a word about money. As you might expect, the fact that we cannot meet weekly poses us with a tremendous financial challenge. Apart from those who give through the Parish Giving Scheme, or by standing order, our regular income has collapsed – but the ongoing bills that we have to pay haven’t. We are saving some money, of course, on heating and lighting etc., but we still have many other monthly bills to pay – not least the Parish Share. If you use the Planned Giving envelopes, please consider if you would be able to pay by bank Standing Order instead (I can provide you with the bank details as required), or if not, please can you deliver them to the Vicarage and I will ensure that they are banked properly. This is a profoundly challenging time for us all in all sorts of ways. We all have families to consider and care for as best we can. We must all take care of ourselves, and as the time passes, we must try not to give in to depression and despair. This WILL be over one day – nothing bad lasts forever. When we return, we will be different, as individuals and as a community. But, challenging though this season will be, it can be a time for real growth in our closeness to God in prayer and for a genuine rediscovery of what ‘community’ means for us in adversity. When we can eventually reclaim the church, there will be an inevitable time of sadness, especially if we have lost anyone, but the first Sunday we are back will be a real celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord. That day will be our Easter Day, and I hope that our “Alleluias” will ring our louder and more joyfully than ever! If there is anything you need, please do call me. With my love and prayers, 6 A simple Act of Spiritual Communion Take some time to sit quietly, gather your thoughts and prayers, and ask God to come to you. The Lord’s Prayer Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name; Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen Act of Contrition I love you, Jesus, my love above all things, and I repent with my whole heart of having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself from you again, grant that I may love you always, and then do with me what you will. Act of Spiritual Reception In union, dear Father, with Christian people across the world and across the centuries gathered to make Eucharist, hearing your holy Word and receiving the Precious Body and Blood, I offer you praise and thanksgiving. Even though I am exiled from tasting the Bread of Heaven and drinking the Cup of Life I pray that you will unite me with all the baptised and with your Son who gave His life for us. Come, Lord Jesus, dwell in me, and send your Holy Spirit that I may be filled with your presence. O Lord and heavenly Father, we thy humble servants, having in remembrance the precious death and passion of thy dear Son, his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension entirely desire thy fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; most humbly beseeching thee to grant that by the merits and death of thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his blood, we and all thy whole Church may obtain remission of our sins, and all benefits of his passion. Amen 7 NOTICES The Guild of Health & St Raphael The next meeting of The Guild of Health & St Raphael should be after the 7.30pm Eucharist on Tuesday, 28 April 2020. Elaine Wallwork and Pat Berry will offer Laying on of Hands during the service. However due to the current situation this will in all probability have to be cancelled. Everyone is welcome to receive Laying on of Hands with prayers for healing of body, mind and spirit for yourself or anyone else you name. Laying on of Hands is for everyone, not just members of the Guild.