THE LINK Keeping you in touch with Outwood, Stanley, Wrenthorpe and Alverthorpe Churches Welcome Sunday Worship Third Sunday of Easter Dear all, Sunday’s Readings There is light at the end of the tunnel, but still a Acts 2.42-end long way to go. We aren’t sure when the Psalm 23 government is going to lift lockdown, but the 1 Peter 2.19-end infection rate in the UK has slowed down, and if John 10.1-10 that continues, we might be going back to doing some of the things we enjoy in the next few Prayer for the Day weeks. Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and But it’s a long road we’ll have to walk: Covid-19 the life: may still be affecting our lives 2-5 years from raise us, who trust in him, now. We may be able to reopen our churches to from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, small services and funerals over the next several that we may seek those things which are above, weeks, depending on what the government allows where he reigns with you – but we don’t have any idea when churches, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, pubs and other places where people gather will one God, now and for ever. be back to normal. Praying together But who wants an easy life, right? One of the things we’ve learned from this crisis is that the Please use these readings and prayers together British value of steadfastness in the face of with your own devotional books. If you would like difficulty has not disappeared in the way people a copy of our booklet ‘Prayers Resources for will sometimes tell you. Neither has the Italian When You Can’t get to Church’, call 01924 sense of joy, German practicality or the American 373758, and we’ll post or email one to you. sense of freedom – we have become more of who we are through this crisis, and not lost our Worshipping Together identity. And for Christians, our identity is above all in Jesus, risen from the dead, offers new life. There is a nation-wide Church of England service on BBC Radio Leeds and all other local BBC So keep on working your way through that stations at 8am each Sunday. Sunday Worship is tunnel. You’re not alone and there’s light on the shown on BBC One at 10:45am. The Church of far side. England streams a service on YouTube every Sunday at 9am. With every Easter blessing, Fr Jonathan You can also join in with our church services Parish Priest, St Mary Magdalene’s Outwood online! We’re showing them live on the churches’ Facebook pages. If you don’t have Facebook, you can still watch the services from St Anne’s and St Mary Magdalene’s: type ‘Outwood Parish Church facebook’ into Google, and click on the first link. If you’re looking for St Peter’s Stanley, google ‘St NinetySeven, NinetySeven, NinetyFive Peter’s Stanley facebook.’ The videos should be available to view once the service has concluded That’s the phone number of a new benefice telephone system that will facilitate participation This week’s online services from St Anne’s and St in church life by everybody – whether you have Mary Magdalene’s are: internet access or not! Sunday 3 May: 10am Sunday Mass, 5:30pm Reflection The system is now live and available 24/7. Just Monday 4 May: 5:30pm Evening Prayer phone 01924 97 97 95 and you will be able to Tuesday 5 May: 5:30pm Evening Prayer choose either to hear a short (3 min or so) Wednesday 6 May: 9pm Sung Compline devotional or "thought for the day" Thursday 7 May: 5:30pm Evening Prayer (accompanied by a short hymn); or you could Saturday 9 May: 12:30pm Midday Prayer Sunday 10 May: 10am Sunday Mass, 5:30pm listen to the latest Church News and Notices; or Reflection you could take part in the most recent Sunday Service broadcast from Stanley/Alverthorpe From St Peter’s and St Paul’s and/or Wrenthorpe/Outwood. Sunday 3 May: 10am Sunday Holy Communion Monday 4 May: 7:30pm Housegroup, 10:00am It's a way for everybody to keep up to date and 'Start the Week - Drop in for Chat and Prayer' on share in fellowship together. Zoom Tuesday 5 May: 9pm Compline, 10am Coffee Don't forget: NinetySeven, NinetySeven, Morning for St Paul’s NinetyFive! Wednesday 6 May: 9am Morning Prayer, 10am Bereavement Support Group, 9pm Compline Thursday 7 May: 9pm Compline Friday 8 May: 9pm Celtic Evening Prayer Sunday 10 May: 10am Sunday Holy Communion You can also go to the North Wakefield Benefice page for more resources: https://northwakefield.benefice.uk/ The website has been redesigned with a new theme and new content to make it easier to access resources. There are links to a series of Mindfulness videos that Angela Coggins has produced and a Cruse document that helps individuals coping with bereavement in isolation. Christian Aid Week - 10th – 16th MAY Our Christian Aid coordinators have information from Christian Aid about how we can help, even though we are not able to take part in Christian Aid week as we would normally do, due to the Coronavirus restrictions. We can make on line donations and below are the details of how to do this:- • Google Christian Aid Week, then click on Christian Aid week 2020/Donate to Christian Aid week. This brings the page up with Christian Aid Week 10-16th May and then your donations can be made. • Also on this page are other ways of getting involved if you so wish i.e. e- envelopes and virtual fundraisers (scroll down as there are details of prayer and services). • On the same tab there is Coronavirus guidelines. If you are unable to make a donation on line, we are hoping that we will have a coffee morning at Wrenthorpe Methodist Church when restrictions are eased, where there will be a supply of envelopes for any donation. They will also be available in church to pick up once we return. Pauline Flockton, Jane Illingworth, John Wade An unexpected source of funding has arrived for Christian Aid Co-ordinators in Alverthorpe, Covid-19 antibodies research being undertaken by Wrenthorpe and Outwood AstraZeneca and Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in the United States. Vanderbilt’s work has Good News from Around the World! been funded by the US Department of Defence, the National Institute of Health… and country singer Dolly Parton! How’s that for working 9 to 5? This April, the UK spent the longest time since 1882 without using coal to generate electricity: 18 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes. While the lockdown has helped, the main reason we have not needed to burn coal has been the glorious weather we have had: a record amount of solar power was generated on 20 April. Medical Detection Dogs already have trained animals to help with detecting cancer, Parkinson’s and bacterial infections, but now the charity is working in partnership with Durham University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to see if they can do the same for Covid-19. Respiratory diseases often produce an odour, so they may be able to detect Covid-19 in people with no symptoms. A store cupboard recipe: Stovies From Mother Jo Kershaw Nicholas, a member of St Anne’s Wrenthorpe’s congregation, sends this photo from Lanzarote, where he's currently stuck in self-isolation, and where he's been adopted by these neighbourhood cats. From left to right, meet: Malbec, Muscat, and Merlot. Coping with being isolated This is an excellent way of making a relatively Angela Coggins, a lay minister in our team, has small amount of left-overs from your Sunday beef assembled some resources for keeping active and or lamb roast into a delicious meal. It sounds engaged during lockdown from the Methodist plain, perhaps even a bit dull, but don’t knock it Homes Association and the Health Innovation until you’ve tried it - this is comfort food at its Network. The HIN document includes details for best. It’s also relatively hands-off, so it makes for people caring for family members with dementia, a good week night tea. There’s some debate while the MHA newsletter is full of activities for about the origin of the name - I was always told it people of all ages which can be done from home, was from the French ‘étuvée’, meaning ‘stewed’ including plays and concerts to watch, fitness (it might sound far-fetched but there are a lot of programmes, mindfulness and relaxation tools, everyday words in older Scots that definitely do and even pub quizzes you can join in with online. come from French), some people say it’s called that because you make it on a stove (I am sceptical, because you make lots of things on the stove!) Every Scot has their own take on stovies - asking ‘the right way’ to do it is a good way to start an argument - but this is how I do it. For four people: A knob of butter (or the dripping from your roast beef or lamb) One medium sized onion We’re sending them out by email with this Five or six large potatoes, or however many will week’s newsletter - hope you enjoy them, and feed your family. A floury variety is best - Maris find them useful.