Bolingbroke Deanery GGrraappeeVViinnee FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE 488 • Mission Statement The Diocese of Lincoln is called by God to faithful worship, confident discipleship and joyful service. • Vision Statement To be a healthy, vibrant and sustainable church, transforming lives in Greater Lincolnshire 50p 1 Bishop’s Letter I am writing this letter to you on a cold and wintery January afternoon. This year, the Church’s calendar gives a relatively long gap between Epiphany and the beginning of Lent, and I have a real sense of being in an ‘in between’ time. Being ‘in between’ can be an uncertain and even challenging thing – we may be in between jobs, in between school and university, in between work and retirement, in between surgery and recovering to full health. Our nation is also in between, as we wait for outworking of last year’s vote to leave the European Union. Being in between one place and another can be a time to rest and take stock; but it can also be a time of fear and disorientation as the hopes and dreams that have motivated or even driven us thus far – doing well in our last job, getting into university or safely through an operation – no longer apply. We can find ourselves without direction as we wait passively for the next stage to begin. W.H. Auden, reflects on this in his Christmas oratorio ‘For the time being’: But, for the time being, here we all are, Back in the moderate Aristotelian city Of darning and the Eight-Fifteen, where Euclid’s geometry And Newton’s mechanics would account for our experience, And the kitchen table exists because I scrub it… The Time being is, in a sense, the most trying time of all… In the meantime There are bills to be paid, machines to keep in repair, Irregular verbs to learn, the Time Being to redeem From insignificance. Redeeming the ‘time being from insignificance’ is the challenge of living life in between: in between the various stages and conditions that come our way; in between the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and his coming again. As Christians, we believe that we do not remain ‘in between’ forever. We believe that in the fullness of time God calls each person, and in fact the whole of creation, into his Kingdom. We redeem the ‘time being from insignificance’ by asking God to maintain and nourish us on our journey, and to provide us with all that we need to take us on the journey from being in between, to being with God in his Kingdom. Bishop Christopher 2 Group Registers: Funerals: Spilsby Cluster Ivor Neville Bogg 61 years Spilsby died 20.10.16 Eric George Taylor 67 years Halton Holegate died 05.12.16 Marlene Ann Gibson 79 years Spilsby died 26.12.16 Mary Elizabeth Alice Bennison (Moyra) 83 years Spilsby died 26.12.16 Betty Blakey 84 years Hundleby died 08.01.17 Marden Hill Cluster Roy Cornall 81 years Toynton St Peter died 20.12.16 Margaret Ann Galley 67 years West Keal died 04.12.16 Christine Ann Gosling 62 years Hagworthingham died 30.12.16 Partney Cluster Frank Timothy Sumner Wilson 76 years Candlesby died 19.12.16 Stickney Cluster Sidney John Coultan 79 years Stickney died 28.11.16 Bernard John Stewart 81 years Stickford died 14.12.16 GRAPEVINE MAGAZINE All copy for next month’s issue to be with the Editor by the 14th of the month. The Vicarage, Church Street, Spilsby, Lincs. PE23 5EF Tel: 01790 752526 (Mon-Fri 1pm-5pm) Email: [email protected] Grape Vine Advertising Prices per year 1 1 /8 page - £40 /4 page - £60 1 /2 page - £90 Full page - £160 Please contact Jane Howsam on 01790 752526 (Mon-Fri, 1pm-5pm) for further details or email [email protected] 3 READINGS AT THE EUCHARIST Principal Service Sunday 5th February 4th Sunday before Lent (Green) First Reading Isaiah 58.1-9a [9b-12] Psalm/Canticle Psalm 112.1-9 [or Psalm 112] Second Reading 1 Corinthians 2.1-12 [13-end] Gospel Matthew 5.13-20 Sunday 12th February 3rd Sunday before Lent (Green) First Reading Deuteronomy 30.15-end or Ecclesiasticus 15.15-end Psalm/Canticle Psalm 119.1-8 Second Reading 1 Corinthians 3.1-9 Gospel Matthew 5.21-37 Sunday 19th February 2nd Sunday before Lent (Green) First Reading Genesis 1.1-2.3 Psalm/Canticle Psalm 136 [or Psalm 136.1-9, 23-end] Second Reading Romans 8.18-25 Gospel Matthew 6.25-end Sunday 26th February Sunday next before Lent (Green) First Reading Isaiah 9.1-4 Psalm/Canticle Psalm 27.1, 4-12 [or 27.1-11] Second Reading 1 Corinthians 1.10-18 Gospel Matthew 4.12-23 4 DEANERY SYNOD th Wednesday 8 February Franklin Hall Conference Room 7pm ALL WELCOME Dates for the diary February st 1 East Keal APCM, 2pm, in the Village Hall 3rd Home Communions 4th St James church clean, 10am 6th Hundleby APCM, 2pm, in church 7th Ruckland APCM 8th Deanery Synod, 7pm , Franklin Hall Conference Room 9th Rota meeting, 7pm Vicarage 13-18th PANTO WEEK 13th Marden Hill Cluster meeting, 7pm Vicarage 16th Tetford APCM 20th Team Worship meeting, 2pm Vicarage 20th Sausthorpe APCM 21st Home Communion at The Old Rectory 21st West Keal APCM, 10am at Spilsby Vicarage 22nd Toyntons APCM, 7pm Methodist Chapel Room 23rd Rural Dean’s meeting 23rd Chapter meeting 24th Langton APCM, 7pm in the Village Hall 25th St James, ‘Little Helpers’ Training, 10am 28th Pancakes & Coffee, St James 12-1pm 28th South Ormsby Group AGM March 1st Ash Wednesday service with Soup and Roll lunch in St Luke, Stickney 1st Ash Wednesday service, East Keal, 7pm 3rd Home Communions 6th Skendleby APCM, 7pm in the Old School 7th Old Bolingbroke APCM, 7.30pm in church 8th Little Steeping APCM, 3pm in the Village Hall 8th Stickney APCM 11th Lusby APCM tbc 5 13th Aswardby APCM, 7.30pm at Aswardby Hall 14th Stickford APCM 14th Dalby APCM, 2pm at Dalby Hall 14th Tetford APCM, 7.30pm 16th New Leake APCM 17th Ashby APCM tbc 19th Firsby APCM tbc 20th Hagworthingham APCM, 2.30pm 21st Home Communion at The Old Rectory 21st Raithby APCM, 7pm in the Village Hall 24th Hagnaby APCM tbc 24th East Kirkby APCM, 7pm, Village Hall 25th Scremby APCM, 10am at Scremby Manor April APCM dates 2nd Hareby after 9.30am service 3rd Partney, 7pm at John Hudson’s 4th Halton Holegate, 7.30pm in church 7th Great Steeping tbc 24th Mavis Enderby, 7pm at Phil Woodgates 25th Candlesby, 7pm at Candlesby House 26th Spilsby, 7pm at Spilsby Vicarage Please check with your church to confirm Annual Parochial Church Meeting’s date, time and venue. Don’t forget to complete your ‘Statistics for Mission’ and ‘Return of Parish Finance’ forms. Hard copies can be found on the Diocesan Website. https://parishreturns.churchofengland.org/UserGuides/2016StatisticsForMission https://parishreturns.churchofengland.org/UserGuides/2016FinanceForm or if you are registered online http://parishreturns.churchofengland.org/ YOU NEVER HEAR IN A CHURCH… Hey! It's MY turn to sit on the front pew! I love it when we sing hymns I've never heard before! Since we're all here, let's start the worship service early! Vicar, we'd like to send you to this Bible seminar in the Bahamas. 6 Thank You Can I say just how much each of you is appreciated for the Gift you give of yourselves for the work of the “Kingdom of Heaven” as Matthew puts it. In a world that more and more seems to be preoccupied with the things that benefit the self you have chosen to be part of God’s outreach, the adventure of life that reaches out to the other. In particular your generosity enables us to work together as Christ’s Body, the Church, in the world. Each of our Parishes across the Team has many people who in so many ways contribute both to the life of that Church and to the wider work across the Diocese and World. In our annual reports we will list so many things that are simply down to you. Let us not take them for granted but say a real heart felt thank you for what has been, what we have and look forward to what we can achieve in the future. Our plans are for growth; for Schools work, for Invitation and for Hospitality to help our work to grow. In this we will welcome our new Priest, we will have new ways of working as well as doing what we are already doing. For this we will need to grow our resources and under God that will depend on you and me. Therefore, I would like to encourage us all to review what we give as we start out on a new year. I have found Bp. David Courts’ 10 Giving “Commandments” a helpful way of realising why we do what we do. Why we Give: 1. As a response to God’s Goodness – to us and all people. 2. As Disciples we are called to follow – to use what we have in his service. 3. As necessary for the work of God to happen – who else is responsible to see it happens but us. 4. As a means of receiving God’s blessings – how else will worship be offered and things paid for? 5. Because what we have is God’s – we give back only what we have received. 6. As positive people - Cheerfully – how much better we are when we give than when we keep to ourselves.