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ST. MARY THE VIRGIN

ACOCKS GREEN

May 2020

NEWS & VIEWS

Open Church

Saturday 10am – Noon.

Come in and have a look around the church, take some

time for quiet reflection or just for a chat and cup of tea.

During lockdown you can view the service

sheets and readings on our website

www.stmarysacocksgreen.org

You can also see the newsletter that

Fr. Andrew is putting together along with

music suggestions to listen to.

50p

CHILDREN’S WORSHIP

SUNDAY AT 10AM IN THE CHURCH MEETING ROOM THE REVD. ANDREW BULLOCK 706 9764

ORGANISATIONS

(THESE ARE USUALLY HELD IN THE MEETING ROOM)

LADIES GROUP First Tuesday of the Month 7:30pm Val Corke 708 0636

CHOIR PRACTICE Thursday 6:30pm David Streeter 707 2219

BROWNIES Friday 6:15pm Coral Redpath 742 0024

Sunday

8am Holy Communion

10am Parish Communion

(Family Service 1st Sunday in the Month)

Thursday 10am Holy Communion

Monday – Friday 9am Morning Prayer

Services

People

Vicar: The Revd. Andrew Bullock 706 9764 34 Dudley Park Road, B27 6QR

Reader: Mrs. Sheila Huckfield -Powell 604 1331

Mr. Martin Willetts 0771 709 3598

Wardens: Mr. Roger King 743 3159 Mr. Hugh Kennedy 706 6202

Treasurer: Mrs. Tina Sirett 07982 241308

PCC Mr. John Gardner 628 4173/ Secretary 07974 685777

For enquiries about booking a wedding

or Christening please come to the church on Thursday between 7pm – 7:30pm

to talk to Fr Andrew.

FROM THE VICAR….

Our Churches are closed and services

suspended – we are bereft of normal

Church life. But spirituality is not absent,

faith is not lost - actually it may be more

prominent. In ‘lockdown’, during a

pandemic, we find ourselves sharing in

worship online or via sheets delivered.

Priests are discovering new ways to support

their congregations through videos on

YouTube and Facebook, buttons on church

websites, family sharing on WhatsApp groups, services on ‘Zoom’.

Certainly, Zoom is an interesting way to hold a meeting – my fellow Area

Deans and I are regularly using this facility to meet up with our

Archdeacon, with small pictures of everyone taking part on the edge of the

screen while whoever’s speaking has the main frame.

New ways yes, but what happens between the services? In lockdown,

many are on their own, only going out for medical needs, essential

shopping, daily exercise, or essential work. The vulnerable must self-

isolate completely and have everything brought to them – but being alone

could easily turn into loneliness!

So, what if you are ‘stuck in’? How can you be in on your own and not

be lonely? How can you make the best use of this time? Yes, there are

practical things to do, people to talk to on the ‘phone, there’s the tele and

computer, puzzles and books,….but friends to be with…?

The greatest friend we have is Jesus. He can be our guide in these

strange times.

So often prayer can be seen as the last resort – ‘the only thing I can do is

pray about it!’ – but it should be the first thing we do, not the last! It is

obvious in all four gospels that Jesus is praying to God all the time. When

overwhelmed by the crowds, he went off on his own and prayed (Matthew

14 v 23), and there are numerous examples of him having a time of quiet

prayer, often for hours. After one of these sessions, the disciples asked

Jesus how to pray, and he recommends the words we know as The Lord’s

From the register

Funerals

Violet ‘Jean’ WOOD (82)

Prayer (Luke 11 v 1ff). Even and especially in his last, free, darkest hour

before his arrest, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he prays so hard to his

Heavenly Father and ours.

It's now time for us to pray, not only to our Heavenly Father and

the Holy Spirit, but also to the Son, our greatest friend, who has

lived among us and experienced the highs and lows of human life.

In this, which seems like our generation’s ‘darkest hour’, we too

should be praying – being and talking with Jesus: sharing our

experiences, our worries and our joys with him; not only in our

services, but whenever we can, and especially if we feel the need

for someone close to support us.

Because we can pray, we need never be lonely, even if we are

alone.

May our sovereign Lord Jesus bless you with his presence and his

love throughout these strange and trying times, and forevermore.

Fr. Andrew

0121 707 6722

The answers will be available on the

website www.stmarysacocksgreen.org

and with the newsletter next Friday

Ladies Group News

Tuesday evening March 3rd welcomed Linda from St.

Cyprian’s. Linda used the word SHEPHERD for an

Acrostic Exercise; encouraging us to bring a deeper, overall

meaning to this special word; each letter to have a meaning

all its own, and for each of us to feel our self an Angus Dei.

To end the evening Linda gave us prints

of the sketch of a shepherd (? Jesus)

cradling a wee lamb, the essence of her

being with us that night in Lent.

Val

Book worth reading…

‘How to pray’ by Peter Greig with a chapter on unanswered prayer.

Placing an advert for a year cost just

£75 for a full page, £50 for half a page and

£25 for a third of a page.

If you are interested in placing an advert in this

magazine, then you can contact the editor via

email to discuss. The email address is

stmarymagazine@yahoo.co.uk

Memorising/learning verses from the Bible

How many verses of the bible, or parts of verses, can we quote

word for word? I would like to think quite a few but if I am

honest very few indeed. Having the word of God at our

fingertips, so to speak, is a powerful weapon in our fight against

temptation that the Satan puts in our way, against the evil & sin that we come across in our daily lives.

We only need to look to the example our Lord who was tempted

by Satan in the wilderness, who recognised the power &

influence that Satan can wield but defeated Satan by quoting the

scriptures to him. That same Satan is at work today. A particular event or crisis may be a severe blow to our faith leaving us

questioning the very basis of our faith. We need an immediate

boost to our faith. Our Bible may not be instantly available to us,

we may not have it with us when we need it most. We may have

our I Phone/I Pad with us but it may take time trying to find the right verse on the internet if we can find it.

Sometimes the opportunity to speak about our faith may come up

unexpectedly in our conversations with other people but can be

equally lost as quickly if we do not have God`s word instantly

available to use in our memories. You might think it is quite easy memorising various Bible verses but make no mistake it can be

very difficult as Satan will do all he can to distract us as he

knows what a powerful weapon quoting the word of God can be

in maintaining & growing our faith.

Knowing where to start can be a distraction in itself & we might end up failing to learn any verses. Try Romans 8 v38-39 which

speaks of nothing in the whole of creation being able to separate

us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, particularly at a

time when some event in our lives or in the world around us has

made us think “Can our God really love us” if this particular

event has happened. I have found these 2 verses particularly

comforting on a number of occasions.

John Gardner

Trees

by Alfred Joyce Kilmer 1886 - 1918

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only Good can make a tree.

“Sung on songs of Praise by Bryn Terfel –

Lovely words I thought” - Margaret Smith

Don't Quit

When things go wrong as they sometimes will;

When the road you're trudging seems all uphill;

When the funds are low and the debts are high;

And you want to smile but you have to sigh.

When all is pressing you down a bit -

Rest if you must, but don't you quit

Success is failure turned inside out;

The silver tint on the clouds of doubt;

And you can never tell how close you are;

It may be near when it seems so far.

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -

It's when things go wrong that you must not quit.

John Greenleaf Whittier

(who also wrote 'Dear Lord and Father of Mankind)

Time for a Smile

Heads bowed in prayer, the congregation at our Church listened in complete silence to the Minister as he said, 'Now let us pray in the words that Jesus taught us.' A little girl's voice could be heard throughout the hushed congregation as she said, "Daddy, I didn't know Jesus had a tortoise.". ......................................................................................................... He was a Christian and he loved swimming in the sea. One day, a passing boat saw him swimming in a rough sea a long way from shore and someone shouted, “Do you need help?” The swimmer replied, “No, I am sure God will save me.” Later, a fishing boat passed near and the fisherman called out, “It’s pretty rough out here, can I help you get back to shore?” The man replied, “It’s OK thanks, I know God will save me.” The story goes that the man drowned and went to heaven. He asked God, “Why didn’t you save me?” And God replied, “Didn’t you see the two boats?” ............................................................................................................... A bishop had fallen seriously ill and was told by his doctor not to have too many visitors. However, when his long-term agnostic friend called he was ushered to the bishop's bedside. "My Lord bishop," said the visitor, "I do appreciate you seeing me when other friends have not been admitted." The bishop replied, "Well, it's like this; I feel confident of seeing my friends in the next life, but I was concerned that this might be my last chance of seeing you." ................................................................................................................ Puzzled by his first lesson on evolution, young Johnny arrived home from school and said, "Mum is it really true that I am a descendant of apes, monkeys and gorillas." She replied, "I don't really know darling, I never knew any of your father's family." ..............................................................................................................

John Farrow

Wooden planters available to purchase

Mike (Mallinson) has been busy doing DIY especially

wood work during lockdown and has made some beautiful wooden planters for his garden.

You can purchase one in natural wood for only £7 and

the money will be going to the church.

To place an order please call Mike 07812958201

44 ARDEN ROAD, ACOCKS GREEN, BIRMINGHAM, B27 6AQ TELEPHONE: 0121 707 9077 MOBILE: 07768621617

GENERAL PROPERTY REPAIRS & MAINTENANCE EXTENSIONS

ROOFING – BATHROOMS

PLUMBING & CENTRAL HEATING

CARPENTRY – DOUBLE GLAZING

BLOCKED PAVED DRIVES

ALL TYPES OF BUILDING WORK

As St. Mary’s is currently closed due to the Coronus Virus Fr. Andrew and Gillian are putting together newsletters and the Sunday readings so you can worship at home. If you would like to receive the newsletter, readings and service sheet via email please email stmarymagazine@yahoo.co.uk and Fr. Andrew will send them to you weekly or you can view them on our website www.stmarysacocksgreen.org We pray that we will all soon be back worshipping together and granting each other the peace.

June’s edition of St. Mary’s

Magazine will be out on

Saturday 30th May

If you’d like to put something in

the magazine please email it to

stmarymagazine@yahoo.co.uk

Sunday 17th May

Thank you

Some amazing Easter Gardens made at home

For the past couple of years St. Mary’s Brownies have been

lucky enough to have two Young Leaders join the unit. One of

these Young Leaders, Aliyah aka Sparrow, was appointed as

the Young Poet Laureate for Birmingham in 2018. While in this

position Sparrow’s confidence speaking and performing in public

has grown and she has had many great opportunities come her

way.

Unfortunately, due to her commitments Sparrow has temporarily (hopefully!) left the unit but not before she taught us a thing or two about poetry. On Sparrow’s last night at Brownies we wrote poems. Here are just a some of them… The Moon The moon up in the night sky Shining and shimmering way up high It glows and glistens like jewels And in the dark starry kingdom it rules Recipe For A Shark Take the fire of a fireplace, the colour of coal and the blue paint of a painter for his eyes Take the blue mermaid’s tail, a dolphin’s fin and the sharpness of a knife for his fin Take the sharpness of a shard of glass, the point of a sword and the colour of a pearl for its teeth School Six Cruel Hours Of Our Lives

Harvest Cabbages, cauliflower, Crisp, crunchy swede, Pepper and parsnip, Melons with seeds, Onions and mushrooms, Potatoes for chips, Come to our harvest and give thanks with me! Sparrow She is kind and loving Practices and learns And teaches and helps, thoughtful and kind Really talented Really mindful Only the most imaginative Will not forget you For Sparrow We are saying goodbye to you, our special friend But we don’t want the fun to end You are a Brownie leader and we all need you We all like you all so very much And you are awesome as such We all hope you have fun where you go But where you go, nobody will know We wish you well on your way And hope you have a very good day Thank you, Sparrow for all that you’ve done! Needless to say, after seeing all of these poems from the Brownies, Aliyah was very proud of what they’d achieved in an hour and said it was one of the best Brownie nights ever!

A timely prayer

Loving God, If we are ill, strengthen us. If we are tired, fortify our spirits. If we are anxious, help us to consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. Help us not to stockpile treasures from supermarkets in the barns of our larders. Don't let fear cause us to overlook the needs of others more vulnerable than ourselves. Fix our eyes on your story and our hearts on your grace. Help us always to hold fast to the good, See the good in others, And remember there is just one world, one hope, One everlasting love, with baskets of bread for everyone. In Jesus we make our prayer, The one who suffered, died and was raised to new life, In whom we trust these days and all days, Amen.

(Revd Barbara Glasson, President of the Methodist Conference)

Answers will be put on the website

(www.stmarysacocksgreen.org)

and distributed with the newsletter

next Friday.

Christian Aid Week is NOT cancelled!

This year’s Christian Aid Week will undoubtedly be a different experience,

but they know supporters like us will do all we can to make it the same life-

changing and joyous week they’ve run since 1957. In fact, now more than ever

our gifts, prayers and action are desperately needed. However, in-person

events, such as house-to-house collections and Big Brekkies will not go ahead

this year.

Christian Aid Week is moving online! They are developing and promoting

some exciting ways to help us join together in fun and fellowship as a

community this May.

The message for this year is:

‘Love never fails. Coronavirus impacts all of us. But love unites us all.’

As this virus spreads across the world, love rises up in response. Recognising

we have already shown incredible kindness to our close neighbours, now is the

time to reach out to our far neighbours.

Our love protects from storms, from drought, and now from coronavirus. Our

love protects our global neighbours battling the spread of this illness, our love

protects. with soap, clean water and medical supplies.

By supporting them this Christian Aid Week, we can reach out and protect

more of our neighbours today.

Christian Aid and their partners already have experience of limiting the spread

of infection during the Ebola crisis, and they will build on this experience to

continue to stand together with communities living in poverty during this

period. If infection rates start to develop as they are in Europe, then people in

poorer countries will be hit even harder. Many are already living with reduced

health resilience because of extreme poverty, or in overcrowded humanitarian

camps and in countries which do not have the healthcare infrastructures

needed to combat widespread disease. They will be working on the ground to

help prepare communities to limit the impact of Covid-19.

10th – 16th May

They are particularly working in Bangladesh, where they are helping

Rohingya refugees living in overcrowded camps understand the risks

and take precautions by sharing hygiene messages in their local

languages and offering handwashing sessions.

In Nigeria, they are working to ensure safe distributions of food can

continue for displaced people living in camps.

It’s more important than ever that we come together as a community to

worship and to share fun and fellowship.

Go to their website https://www.christianaid.org.uk from the 10th – 16th

May where they will be:

• live-streaming worship daily

• hosting daily quizzes during Christian Aid week itself on their

website.

• offering the e-envelope as a digital way to share the Christian

Aid Week story with your family and friends and ask for a

donation.

Individuals can donate directly via the Christian Aid website:

https://www.christianaid.org.uk/give-money/make-donation

or by telephone 020 7523 2269.

Please don’t forget Acocks Green foodbank at this time. Morrison’s have

donation points in their store where you can give food.

If that is not possible, you can still help them by giving a small cash

donation instead on their crowd funding page:

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfundi…/acocks-green-foodbank