The South Barrow Bulletin

The Newsletter of the Parish of St. Aidan and the

Parish of St. George with St. Luke and St. Perran

A warm welcome to our worship today!

This morning, we welcome Revd. Elaine Bates as our guest preacher at St. George’s. As a church family we seek to know Jesus better, to make Him better known and to encourage one another in Christian faith and life - for more details about Sunday and mid-week activities, please pick up the Spring 2014 Programme Card and the current Church magazine, Team Talk

SUNDAY’S SERVICES - 16th February 2014

10.30am - St. George’s - Team Service ---- sermon by Revd. Elaine Bates

11am - St. Perran’s - Morning Worship - with Revd. Ron Wilson

PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS NO SERVICE AT ST. AIDAN’S.

OPENING HYMN

Mission Praise 449 - Love divine, all loves excelling

COLLECT FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY BEFORE LENT

Eternal God, whose Son went among the crowds and brought

healing with his touch help us to show his love, in your Church as we gather together, and by our lives as they are transformed into the image of Christ our Lord. Amen

1 John 4: 7-21 - read by Madge WIGNALL

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.

Dear friends, if this is how God loved us, then we should love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in union with us, and his love is made perfect in us.

We are sure that we live in union with God and that he lives in union with us, because he has given us his Spirit. And we have seen and tell others that the Father sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. If we declare that Jesus is the Son of God, we live in union with God and God lives in union with us. And we ourselves know and believe the love which God has for us. God is love, and those who live in love live in union with God and God lives in union with them. Love is made perfect in us in order that we may have courage on the Judgement Day; and we will have it because our life in this world is the same as Christ's. There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear. So then, love has not been made perfect in anyone who is afraid, because fear has to do with punishment.

We love because God first loved us. If we say we love God, but hate others, we are liars. For we cannot love God, whom we have not seen, if we do not love others, whom we have seen. The command that Christ has given us is this: whoever loves God must love others also.

Two days later there was a wedding in the town of Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the we ding. When the wine had given out, Jesus' mother said to him, “They are out of wine.”

“You must not tell me what to do,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”

Jesus' mother then told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

The Jews have rules about ritual washing, and for this purpose six stone water jars were there, each one large enough to hold between twenty and thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill these jars with water.” They filled them to the brim, and then he told them, “Now draw some water out and take it to the man in charge of the feast.” They took him the water, which now had turned into wine, and he tasted it. He did not know where this wine had come from (but, of course, the servants who had drawn out the water knew); so he called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone else serves the best wine first, and after the guests have drunk a lot, he serves the ordinary wine. But you have kept the best wine until now!”

Jesus performed this first miracle in Cana in Galilee; there he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

GRADUAL HYMN

Mission Praise 987 - Here is love

John 2: 1-11 - read by Anne MORRIS

Please pray for …

those whose affected by the flooding in different parts of the

country and for the various agencies involved Pray that they will work together to provide relief and help. those who are sick Dorothy BAINES, Mike BLAKEBOROUGH, Jean BLAND, Brian COTTAM, Paul and Claire COULSON, Kerrin CROOKES, Audrey DALTON, Mavis DAVIES, Edna DOBSON, Marjorie GORRY, Helen HALL, Nicola HARDWICK, Rosey HENDLEY, Ada HICKTON, Jack, Kathleen KAVANAGH, Stephen LIVESEY, Amanda MAITLAND, Linda PHELPS, Elaine RAWLINSON and Dorothy THISTLETHWAITE those who are bereaved - the families and friends of Ethel FISHER, Mildred KEBLE and Barbara MORGAN safety during the school holidays Pray for our local schools and for all involved in the care and education of children and young people If you know someone who is unwell and would appreciate prayer please give their names to either Gary, Jo, Matt or Judy Cowsill (829710).

PRAYER POINTERS

OFFERTORY HYMN

Mission Praise 649 - The King of love, my shepherd is

CLOSING HYMN

Mission Praise 411 - Let there be love

THIS WEEK’S DIARY

MondayMondayMondayMonday No events

TuesdayTuesdayTuesdayTuesday Home Group 8pm - 65 Greengate St. (Revd. Matt Hornby)

WednesdayWednesdayWednesdayWednesday Holy Communion 10am - St Aidan’s (Revd. Horace Grainger)

Funeral - Mildred KEBLE 1pm - Thorncliffe (Revd. Matt Hornby) PULSE Youth Club 6pm - St. Aidan’s Hall (Revd. Jo Northey) St. George’s Guild 7.30pm - St. George’s Hall Home Group 7.30pm - The Vicarage (Revd. Matt Hornby)

ThursdayThursdayThursdayThursday Coffee Morning 9.30am - St. Perran’s St Luke’s Women’s Fellowship 2pm - St. George’s Hall

FridayFridayFridayFriday No events

SaturdaySaturdaySaturdaySaturday No events

SundaySundaySundaySunday Holy Communion 9.30am - St. Aidan’s Preacher - Revd. Gary Cregeen All-age Service with Baptisms 10.30am - St. George’s Preacher - Revd. Jo Northey Morning Worship 11am - St. Perran’s Preacher - R. Turner

ARE YOU SITTING UNCOMFORTABLY?

In recent months we have been considering how our churches could be more welcoming, not least in relation to worship and our buildings. Plans for the refurbishment and development of St. Aidan’s Church and Hall are progressing well; whilst at St. George’s, the PCC is seeking to progress a grant application to repair the external fabric of the building. Internally, it is recognised that we will need to explore ways of heating the church building more effectively - even though the heating is often on from Saturday evening, inadequate heating and draught, along with the size of the building, make it difficult to heat the church adequately for Sunday worship. This can be off-putting, (especially for those who feel the cold), and can diminish the warm welcome we want to extend to all who come through our church doors. Bare wooden pews do not help in providing comfort and warmth. Therefore, it was agreed at a recent PCC meeting that we would seek to install pew cushions at St. George’s - these would provide more comfort but would also be a means of making the building more welcoming. The cost of the pew cushions vary from £75 to £100 per pew and we have 48 pews of differing sizes - thus, it may be some time before the whole building has pew cushions! However, we need to begin somewhere and it has been suggested that individuals or households may sponsor a cushion or contribute towards the cost of one - perhaps in memory of a loved one or simply as a gift towards ensuring that St. George’s Church is as welcoming as possible. A sample/segment of a pew cushion is available in church today - if you would like to make a donation towards the cost of a pew cushion, please pick up one of the special envelopes available at the back of church, and return this as soon as you are able to do so. If you pay income tax you may wish to consider gift-aiding your donation. Thank you in advance!

GUARDIAN NEWS STORIES FROM THE PAST WEEK

Tomorrow morning, like every Sunday, Anglican vicar Revd. Graeme Buttery will celebrate a Eucharistic service in his parish church in Hartlepool. If he's very lucky, the congregation might be nudging 40, in a church built to seat 800 – and four of those present will be his wife Gillian and their three children. Afterwards, the family will go back to their 1980s breeze-block vicarage next door to the church, where the glass in the front door was recently kicked in by a would-be intruder. All the windows have bars on them after the wife of Buttery's predecessor was attacked in her garden. It's not what you might call an idyllic parish. But is being its priest the dregs of life in the Church of England or the 21st-century Christian missionary frontier? That's the question the Anglican church has been asking itself over the last few days, after a survey in the Church Times revealed that, while in London it takes around four-and-a-half months to fill a vacancy for a parish priest, with an average of three names on the final shortlist, in areas including the north-east many parishes are without a priest for two years or more, and shortlists are virtually unknown. Most priests, it turns out, simply don't want to work in places like Hartlepool; St Cuthbert's, another Anglican parish in the city, has just taken two-and-a-half years to appoint a new vicar. Of 75 names on the Lee List, a confidential list of clerical job-seekers, 54 were looking for a parish in the south-east. Read more at http://tiny.cc/sbt20140216-01

The Church of England is set to decide on whether to fast-track a vote for women bishops; this process would bring to a head a debate that has been going on for two decades. While that has been happening, the make up of the church has been changing quite drastically according to the latest ministry statistics published on the Church of England website. Between 2002 and 2012, the number of female full-time clergy has increased by 41% from 1,262 to 1,781. Simultaneously, the number of full-time males has dropped from 7,920 to 6,017, meaning women now make up roughly one in five members of full-time clergy (but only one-in-seven of those in incumbent posts such as vicars and priests-in-charge). Read more at http://tiny.cc/sbt20140216-02

TEAM CONTACT DETAILS

Team RectorTeam RectorTeam RectorTeam Rector Revd. Gary Cregeen, The Rectory, 98 Roose Road, and Rural Dean and Rural Dean and Rural Dean and Rural Dean LA13 9RL of Barrowof Barrowof Barrowof Barrow 877367 gary@sbtchurches.co.uk Team VicarTeam VicarTeam VicarTeam Vicar Vacant Assistant CuratesAssistant CuratesAssistant CuratesAssistant Curates Revd Jo Northey, 36 Thorncliffe Road, LA14 1BX 826487 Jo@sbtchurches.co.uk Revd Matt Hornby, The Vicarage, 98a Roose Road , LA13 9RL 877755 matt@sbtchurches.co.uk ChurchwardensChurchwardensChurchwardensChurchwardens Ted Fenton (St George’s w. St Luke’s and St Perran’s) 820408 Peter Gardner (St Aidan’s) 825870 Jean Mease (St George’s w. St Luke’s and St Perran’s) 829923 Geraldine Southam (St George’s w. St Luke’s and St Perran’s) 466327 Madge Wignall (St Aidan’s) 820484 PCC TreasurersPCC TreasurersPCC TreasurersPCC Treasurers Pat Liddicott (St George’s w. St Luke’s and St Perran’s) Sheila Darlington (St Aidan’s) 839563 PCC SecretariesPCC SecretariesPCC SecretariesPCC Secretaries Alison Otto (St George’s w. St Luke’s and St Perran’s) 825802 Carole Williamson (St Aidan’s) 826017 VergersVergersVergersVergers Geraldine Southam (St George’s w. St Luke’s and St Perran’s) 466327 Keith Cockburn (St Aidan’s) 826692 Hall Lettings Secretaries:Hall Lettings Secretaries:Hall Lettings Secretaries:Hall Lettings Secretaries: Ted and Ruth Fenton (St George’s and St Perran’s) 820408 Keith Cockburn (St Aidan’s) 826692 Weekly Team NewsletterWeekly Team NewsletterWeekly Team NewsletterWeekly Team Newsletter Judy Cowsill 829710 Team WebsiteTeam WebsiteTeam WebsiteTeam Website Dave Coram 837138