1 The PARISH of ECCLESTON & PULFORD E-BULLETIN SUNDAY 23rd MAY PENTECOST (Whitsunday) “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your people” __________________________________________________________________________________ Welcome to our e-bulletin and worship on the Feast of Pentecost ! Like the Disciples in the Upper Room (Acts 2) we gather together in one place and we celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit in empower- ing God’s people and making Jesus known in word and sacrament and witness. We pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church in this place: “Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth !” (Psalm 104) Roger _____________________________________________________________________________________ OUR SUNDAY WORSHIP 10.30am PARISH COMMUNION at Pulford Church Readings: Acts 2:1-21 John 7:37-39 You can find Reflections on the readings on page 5 of this bulletin - they may be a help in preparing for worship. The ‘liturgical colour’ for Pentecost (ie the colour of the altar frontals and clergy stoles) is red. Why not come along to Church wearing something red today ? _____________________________________________________________________________________ HOME WORSHIP TODAY If you can’t yet get to Church, why not use the form for Home Worship (an attachment with this e-bulletin), which is based on the Service used in Church today. _____________________________________________________________________________________ NEXT SUNDAY is TRINITY SUNDAY Service at Eccleston Church at 10.30am. Readings: Isaiah 6:1-8 / John 3:1-17 Holy God, faithful and unchanging: enlarge out minds with the knowledge of your truth, and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love, that we may truly worship you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen 2 CONTACT DETAILS FOR PASTORAL SUPPORT Roger, Jeanette and Rob are our Ministry & Pastoral Team and are available if you would like support, prayer, or just a chat Roger Clarke - [email protected]; 01244 679969 Rob Hughes - [email protected]; 0780 904 2079 Jeanette Howe - [email protected]; 01244-570597 __________________________________________________________________________________ SUNDAY WORSHIP We are keeping with our post-Lockdown practice of the united Sunday morning service being in alternate venues. Over the next few weeks the pattern is: Sunday 30th May 10.30am Parish Communion at Eccleston Sunday 6th June 10.30am Parish Communion at Pulford Sunday 13th June 10.30am Parish Communion at Eccleston Sunday 20th June 10,30am Parish Communion at Pulford As the Lockdown restrictions slowly ease, and if all goes to plan we will review what we do next towards the end of June. Whatever the ‘new normal’ looks like there seems to be a general feeling that regular (? monthly) shared worship between the two congrega- tions will be a part of it - that’s something we have really learned to value in the past twelve months. Please do pray and reflect about what we should do next. If you have any thoughts, then let us know. We will be starting to consult people shortly. ____________________________________________________________________________________ OPEN DOORS Eccleston Church is open for personal prayer every Wednesday from 12 noon until 6.00pm – and often on Sunday afternoons. Pulford Church is usually open on Sunday afternoons as well. Feel free to call in, be still and pray. _____________________________________________________________________________________ 3 DAILY PRAYER in CHURCH The ‘Daily Office’ is prayed this week in Eccleston Church at 8.00am on Thursday & Friday & Saturday. Scripture, Psalms and Prayer, part of the Church of England’s daily provision. You’re very welcome to come along and share - it would be very helpful however, if you’re able, to let Roger know you’re planning to be there. ([email protected]) _____________________________________________________________________________________ MESSY CHURCH - AND NOW WE HAVE A DATE ! We’ve had to wait a while for the restart of our children’s and families ministry, but we ‘re planning now about how we can restart Messy Church once the lockdown restrictions have been further eased in June (assuming this happens as planned). We can now set a provisional date for Messy Church as Saturday 10th July at 3.00pm. Date – and Venue - to be confirmed, and it may be outdoors (remember the Teddy Bears’ Picnic in July 2019 ?) - we will of course follow all the necessary distancing precautions (and will produce a risk-assessment). This is very much a provisional date – and we’ll keep you posted – but we wanted to get something in the diary asap. A restart of our All Age Worship is still being considered – a lot depends on when congre- gational singing is allowed again. Please pray for the task of going forward in this and all the other re-starts in our Church life. There’ are some Messy Church Home resources on: https://messychurch.org/resources _____________________________________________________________________________________ ANNUAL MEETING We held our Annual Church Meeting last Sunday after the morning service. The Church Wardens were re-elected (Sue Payne at Pulford; Julie Rowland & John Richards at Ec- cleston). We thanked them for their ministry over the past difficult year, and looked forward to more stable times in the ‘new normal’. The Church Council was elected for the coming year and we welcomed Ben John (Pulford) and Hilary Garrard (Eccleston) as new members. We look forward to their contribution to our life together. Please pray for all elected to eldership and oversight in our parish. There is no Archdeacon’s Visitation this year so the Wardens will be admitted to Office locally – we’ll be doing this next Sunday (30th May) at the 10.30am shared service at Eccleston. Do come along. Les Hocking as Treasurer presented the Accounts for 2020 – things held together re- markably well in the lockdowns etc. ‘Though Income was down (mainly ‘Plate’ giving as there were fewer services – ‘though pledged giving held up very well, and the lack of fee income from Weddings) expenditure was also down (and also much of the year was under the new Share arrangements we had negotiated with the Diocese) – so we almost broke even. Our finances are in a healthier place than a few years ago – but we need to be vigilant, and we’ll be restarting our Pledge Sundays later in the year. We also heard reports on the fabric of the churches (good) and the Deanery Synod (looking to the future and Bishop Mark’s leadership of the Diocese). Helen Glaze gave the PCC Secretary’s re- port – this is her last report and we do thank her for her ministry over the last ten years (her successor is Andrew Wilkinson) Roger Clarke in his report looked to the ‘rebooting’ of All Age and Messy Church and Prayer and Study groups (perhaps using ‘Zoom’), consultation on a ‘new normal’ worship pattern, and pointed us to two texts: I Thessalonians 5:24 & 2 Corinthians 1:10 Do look them up, they’re wonderful ! 4 DAILY READINGS & PRAYER Making a space for the Word ….. These readings are taken from the Church of England system of readings (called a “Lectionary”) and are good to follow in our daily prayers. We can use one or both. Why not read aloud ? This slows us down and helps us savour the Word – there may be words and phrases which speak to us and which we can carry into our prayers. Scripture is a living word for us - a point of connection - and the Lord will use it to shape us and speak to us. Monday 24th Genesis 12:1-9 / Romans 4:13-end Tuesday 25h Genesis 13:1-12 /Romans 12:9-end Wednesday 26th Genesis 15 / Romans 4:1-8 Thursday 27th Genesis 22:1-18/ Hebrews 11:8-19 Friday 28th Isaiah 51:1-8 / John 8:48-end Saturday 29th Joshua 2:1-5 / James 2:14-26 Daily Prayer O Lord, from whom all good things do come: grant to us your humble servants, that by your holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by your merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen _____________________________________________________________________________________ FOODBANK As our churches re-open, for public worship and private prayer, we’re resuming donations of non-perishables to the West Cheshire Food- Bank. If you are unable able to attend public worship, please con- sider regular on-line financial donations to the FoodBank. The urgent need continues to be: Tinned Potatoes / Instant mash, Tinned /instant Custard, UHT milk UHT fruit juice,small bottles of cordial /Tinned Puddings and fruit General and ongoing needs: Tinned meat / fish, Tinned vegetables / Tinned tomatoes, Cuppa soups / Pot noodles Instant pasta / Pasta sauce, Instant mashed potato / Instant tinned custard tinned fruit / Biscuits, UHT milk / UHT fruit juice / Instant Coffee Thankyou everyone for your support, and thankyou to Rachel Williams our co-ordinator _____________________________________________________________________________________ “…. Life is not hurrying on to a receding future, nor hankering after an imagined past. It is the turning aside like Moses to the miracle of the lit bush, to a brightness that seemed as transitory as your youth once, but is the eternity that awaits you.” R.S.Thomas (from his poem “The Bright Field”) 5 REFLECTIONS on our SUNDAY READINGS provided this this week by Roger Clarke 1) Acts 2:1-21 Luke’s account of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is so well-known. It is one of those essential pieces of Scripture that tell of the empowerment of the earliest Church and thought he actual circumstances were for one time, it is a promise for the Church in every age. What shall we find in there ? Think first about the context: the disciples are ‘all together in one place’ (verse 1) – the Spirit’s outpouring is upon a community, not simply individuals.