Parish and Village News Church of the Epiphany, Tockwith March 2017 Price 70p Church of the Epiphany, Tockwith Rota 5th 12th 19th 26th March 10am 11am 4pm 11am Parish Holy Communion Holy Communion Informal Communion 1662 Service Barbara Harris (1) Deryck Wilson (1) Reading Mary Shaw (G) Sarah McBride (2) Janet Marriner (2) Sarah McBride (G) Peter Harris (G) Imogen Woods (G) n/a Intercessions Karen Stobert Deryck Wilson Mary Shaw n/a Chalice Neil Stobert Janet Marriner Janet Marriner Sides John McKernan Barbara Harris Ian Williams Deryck Wilson person Susan McKernan Peter Harris Joanna Worth n/a Tea & Diane Wakelin Jenn Waller Bev Greaves coffee Margaret McBride Marion Hainsworth Pam Williams n/a Audio Angela Jenkins Neil Stobert Deryck Wilson Church Bev & John McKernan John McKernan Janet Marriner opening Charles Greaves The Revd. Roy Shaw writes......................... :HOOZHJRWWKURXJK)HEUXDU\)RUPDQ\IRONLW¶VWKHORZ point of the year- all the festivities of Christmas and New Year are over; the bills to pay for all that have come in; and the horizon seems a bit empty till the promise of Spring appears in warmer days and daffodils by the wayside. Yes, the holiday brochures have been pored over, but still, that remains a promise, not yet real. But we got through. In spite of cold and grey weather, and WKHQRWLRQRIµ)HEUXDU\ILll-G\NH¶ZH¶UHRQWKHHGJHRIVSULQJ again. Snowdrops have been out for a month, setting us up for that parade of late winter/early spring flowers- aconites, grape hyacinths, primulas, daffodils, tulips and others. These hopes and dreams sustain us. They get most of us through low times. The hope, the promise, even, of something better to come, even though the corners of our minds and hearts acknowledge that for many in the world today- our news programmes remind us of this constantly- there is little hope for a better world. The best they can hope for is WKDWµZHJHWWKURXJKDOLYH¶6D\\RXUSUD\HUVIRUVXFKDVWKHVHDQGJLYHDV\RXFDQ On the subject of giving, thank you to those who have responded to the needs of our churches outlined in a previous maJD]LQH DQG VSRQVRUHG D GD\¶V FRVWV- £30- to keep it open. And to those who have given other amounts, too- DµWKDQN\RX¶WR\RX Individual churches will be acknowledging your gifts with a letter of thanks. In the end, thankfulness is an important component of that which gets us through. I ILQGDQHFKRRI6W3DXO¶VVHQWLPHQW- µ7KDQNVEHWR*RGIRUKLVLQGHVFULEDEOHJLIW¶ RI our saviour, Jesus)- a great corrective to the misery times in life. In the grey clouds, what are you thankful for? Have a wonderful and thankful March- God bless you deeply, widely, richly. Your vicar, Roy 01423 359003/ [email protected]. NEWS FROM THE CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY TOCKWITH Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (1st March), a day when we should all try and be at Communion service if we can. The Parish Service this year will be at Askham Richard at 7.30pm Preparing for Easter is what Lent is all about. It is intended to have us spiritually fit and fine-tuned to celebrate RQFH DJDLQ WKH µVDYLQJ HYHQWV¶ RI WKH passion, death and resurrection of the Lord that are at the heart of our life and faith. Preparing properly for Easter helps us to Experience Easter in all its fullness, and sharing the journey of preparation together can be an enormous encouragement. Each Wednesday during Lent there will be presentations at Long Marston church discussing how Jesus is seen by others of different faiths. Full details of these talks can be found in this magazine. The Church and School have been working very hard together and that collaborative working came to fruition with the first Tockwith School Goes to Church. We are all used to the school visiting the church to celebrate particular Christian festivals but this was special because the service was conceived by the pupils themselves. The service was centred around the theme Creativity which is one of the core values of the school. The others being Perseverance and Friendship. 174 children and parents and friends came along to the service. There are some pictures in the centre pages of this service showing what a great afternoon it was. This is your church, if you want it to be a living, thriving community in the years to come then you need to support it. Were you EDSWLVHG RU PDUULHG LQ WKH FKXUFK" +DYH \RX FHOHEUDWHG D ORYHG RQH¶V life? Do you know that one day you will need the services the Church of Epiphany? We have a very loyal congregation who give very generously to pay for the ministry offered by the church, However, they are not the only people who want a parish church in the village. As we embark on the season of Lent please think about what \RXFDQRIIHU*RG¶VFKXUFK7KLQNDERXWZKDW\RXKDYHWREHJUDWHIXOIRUUHPHPEHU that Jesus walks your journey with you, He stretched out His arms on the cross and died for you. Lent is a time of challenge ± what is God challenging you to do? :HKDYHDUDQJHRIVHUYLFHVDQGDFWLYLWLHVUHIOHFWLQJWKHGLYHUVHQHHGVRI7RFNZLWK¶V community. Whether you are looking for a traditional communion service, a family SUDLVHVHUYLFHZLWKDPXVLFJURXSRUDKDOIKRXU¶VUHIOHFWLRQWKHUHLVVRPHWKLQJIRU you. Join us for coffee after our services, which is a great opportunity to meet up and chat with people. Children are catered for by the ever popular Messy Church. Give us a try!!! Why we call the Fourth Sunday of Lent µ0RWKHULQJ6XQGD\¶DQGQRWµ0RWKHU¶V'D\¶ The Fourth Sunday in Lent was traditionally called ‘Mid-Lent’ or ‘Refreshment Sunday’, because it was a day on which the rigours of Lent were relaxed. This feast day was also called Mothering Sunday as a reference to the Epistle reading for the day (Galatians 4:21-31). This is the name that the Church uses today. The Lent Epistles teach about our life as Christians and how we follow Christ. On Mid-Lent Sunday the Epistle talks of bondage to the Law and the old covenant as compared with the freedom LQ&KULVWµWKHSURPLVHGRQH¶DQGWKHQHZFRYHQDQW Verse 26 says: But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. We gain our freedom through Christ and, as it was seen before the Reformation, the Church. Thus Mothering Sunday is about the freedom we gain through the promise of -HVXV &KULVW GHOLYHUHG WKURXJK RXU µ0RWKHU &KXUFK¶ 3HRSOH were encouraged to go WR WKHLU µ0RWKHU &KXUFK¶ WKHLU KRPH FKXUFK WR worship and give thanks. Hence apprentices, and others, went home for the weekend and often took with them gifts, or their accumulated pay. Their main reason for going home was to be with their family when they ZHQWWRWKHLUµ0RWKHU&KXUFK¶WRJLYHWKDQNVWR*RG 0RWKHU¶V 'D\ LV D VHFXODU HYHQW LQYHQWHG LQ . In recent years Mothering Sunday has been hijacked to take the place of the secular day to give thanks for our mothers so, as well as giving thanks to God for our church, we now also give thanks to God for our own mothers, but do so on Mothering Sunday! Why not come along to our special Mothering Sunday Family Praise Service on Sunday 26th March at 11.00am ± in praise of mothers. Tockwith School goes to Church Thank you to all who attended our first Tockwith School Sunday service which took place on Sunday 29th January. Our talented children wrote our service which was based around our current Christian value “creativity.” With superb singing from our young voices choir, fabulous prayers read by our children and who could forget our Creative session in the middle of our service where we all were crafting with recycling! A super way to spend a Sunday afternoon so thank you to all 174 who attended! Our next service will be “Octoberfest”…official date to be confirmed. If any parents would like to help out with this service please don’t hesitate to talk to myself or Mark. Thanks again Sarah McBride and Mark Wharfedale The glow sticks went down a treat (see the centre page for more pictures) This greater connection between Church and School undoubtedly led to the latest Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodists School (SIAMS) inspection at the school as being judged as OUTSTANDING. Well done to all those involved. The report can be viewed on the school’s web site. Here is a message from the Head Teacher Justin Reeve On Friday 3rd February, we had our Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS). We were inspected against three judgments and then awarded the overall judgement of OUTSTANDING. Our previous judgement was Good and the next inspection will be in 5 years. We are extremely pleased to share the outcomes and some quotes from the final report as follows: • The school's ethos, based on the clearly stated Christian values of perseverance, creativity and friendship, enables children to develop excellent personal skills and to make good progress in their studies. • Excellent partnership with the church through the local incumbent, the diocese and lay members of the local community enriches children's education both academically and more widely. • Standards are rising steadily because innovative and inspiring leadership by the school's headteacher is based on robust evaluation of all aspects of the children's education. The inspector was blown away by our children and remarked: "Their spiritual and moral growth thrives in the open atmosphere where ideas are valued and creativity flourishes." "They are exceptionally tolerant and feel secure expressing their ideas, even when different from their friends." "Excellent relationships and friendship are promoted from the earliest age." I hope you enjoy reading the report as much as I did. I am very proud of Team Tockwith. Justin Reeve Headteacher ST DORCAS ORPHANAGE HERE WE COME.....