Sunday next before Lent, 14 February 2021

14th February 2021 Christ Church, Community, Diocese, Mothers' Union, Parish News, Prayer, St Andrew's, Turton Moorland Team, Worship

Love and Blessings to You

Dear friends,
As always, our message for you each and every week is for FAITH, HOPE, PEACE, JOY and LOVE. We trust that you are able to feel the joy of the love of God being shared. Do let us know if you need anything.

Please know that you continue to be in our thoughts and prayers. Stay safe and keep well.

Love and blessings, Reverend Carol Hayden, Iain Stewart – Church Warden, Angie Foster – Assistant Church Warden, Dawn Hitchen – Church Warden + Authorised Lay Minister for Pastoral Care.

Walmsley Parish News

An update from Reverend Carol Hayden:
The PCC will be meeting following expected government announcements next week. We then have to decide if it is safe for us to reinstate public worship. Across the team we will be providing lots of resources for Lent, Holy Week and for Easter, should we not be able to meet in person. If you do not have access to online material, we will post out resources. Please could you let me know as soon as possible if you would like to receive hard copies of any materials. Ring me on 01204 587150. If I haven’t called you yet and you would like to chat, please give me a ring. I hope and pray that you are all coping and I look forward to the day that we can all be together again.

With love and prayers ~ Reverend Carol.

Call to Daily Prayer

With the national call to prayer led by our Archbishops continuing each evening throughout February at 6pm, this image seemed appropriate for today’s newsletter.
It is taken from Psalm 50, from which verses 1-6 are on our Liturgy Sheet this Sunday. Verses 3-4 state:

Our God will come and will not keep silence;
before him there is a consuming flame,
and round about him a raging storm.
He calls the heavens and the earth from above
to witness the judgement of his people.

Many are fearful of how life is for them at the moment. Psalm 27 v.1 reassures us that:

“The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid?”

Thankfully we serve an amazing God who turns the darkness of fear into a light of salvation; so let us conquer fear by trusting God. The first step to receiving guidance from God is to want it.

Our Walmsley Parish Prayers include words and reflections from people you will know from our Parish, our wider team and beyond…
See the Walmsley Parish Prayers >>

Public Worship Paused

Our church buildings remain closed for Public Worship, but we hope our wider church family feels connected, supported …and able to support others. We hope we can gather to worship soon, but we do not know when that will be. Please do keep your church council, the clergy and each other in your prayers, and let us know if there is anything more we could do that might help.
God bless.

A letter from our Team Rector

Despite the snow and the cold, the daffodils are pushing on, pushing through, and preparing for a warmer time when they can flower.

As we look around we see in nature this “hope” that the world is warming, we see the plants pushing. Maybe they will be overcome by late snows, but the life in them pushes for their time to flower.
We too need to “push” on despite the cold and the current issues, preparing for a time when things will
be warmer and better, though we still don’t know when that will be.

It seems to me there is a quiet confidence in the bulbs – and we can take heart. We still wait to know when we can gather safely, how we will avoid the curve going back up, what we can do, but we can “push” like the bulbs in the hope and expectation that we will be able to gather and celebrate together.

This Sunday is Valentine’s Day and next Wednesday we begin Lent; Lent will not be as normal, but we trust that the Lent Course “Let us Pray”, will help us in our praying. You can find it on our Team website and there is something each day and a different theme each week. https://turtonmoorlandteam.co.uk/lent-course/

Also, through Lent we are “broadcasting Morning Prayer – why not join us, any time after 8.00am and make a little space for reflection and prayer. You’ll find each day – from Wednesday here https://turtonmoorlandteam.co.uk/podcast/

Valentine’s Day is our “day of love”; Lent is sometimes seen as a time when we think about sin and try and make amends. But Lent is also when we discover the mercy of God, his rich love for us, despite our failings. Whatever is happening around us, may we discover, and maybe we need to make space so we can, but may we discover God’s love, God’s mercy, and let’s learn to pray and to rest in God’s presence, finding strength and hope.

We hope we can resume Public Worship; the PCC will be looking at the guidelines and the context, and will be making a decision after the government has updated next week. Along with our desire to gather in church, we pray for our schools, children and staff as they hope to re-assemble; we pray for our businesses and hospitality – also longing to be back working and welcoming others. Some things will flower before others, but we long for and work for when all can be open again.
Please continue to pray for your churches and please let us know what we can do in the mean-time. When we can’t meet communication is not so easy, so please do feed back what is on your mind or heart and help us so we can offer the best resources and help.

Create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
May we know the joy of being right with God.

Peter Reiss

Online Services

Last week’s wonderful reflection from Team Rector,
Canon Peter Reiss, about WISDOM was based on the first reading: Proverbs (8:1. 22-31), which had been so beautifully given by the St. Andrew’s Sunday School children.
And a landmark was reached – it was the 50^th online service that Peter had recorded from the Turton Moorland Team. If you haven’t yet watched it, you can click here and see previous online services.

As in past weeks, the next online weekly service can be accessed from 8am on Sunday morning.

Watch the service >>
Read the Liturgy >>
‘Look’ Children’s Fun Sheet for this week’s Liturgy

Virtual Evening Prayer

From our own Walmsley Parish, we share with you another ‘VIRTUAL EVENING PRAYER‘, recorded in church and led this week by Adrian Golland. Jane Dent (former Church Warden) reads from the Old Testament and the New Testament reading is given by John Evans (ALM for Worship). Those of you who usually attend Evensong at Christ Church Walmsley may wish to wait until 6.30pm for an element of ‘normality’, but this link is available to watch now:
Watch the Evening Prayer >>

WORSHIP RESOURCES

To access all the wonderful ‘Worship at Home’ resources for adults and children, please visit our Team Website.
New materials are created each week by the Worship Team at St. Maxentius.

Worship at Home 14 February from St. Maxentius >>

Exciting News… Turton Moorland Team will be Podcasting!

Whatever is Podcasting? – I hear you say!

Well, think of a Podcast like a radio station – you just tune in on our website to listen to us. Turton Moorland Team now has its own radio station – only it’s a Podcast! You don’t have to tune in, you simply press play.

Every week-day in Lent we plan to offer Morning Prayer for people to access and join in. The services will be led by different ministers in the team – Rev’d Carol Hayden is starting us off. So please support Rev’d Carol and all who have been involved in setting this up, and join us in prayer. Share this with those you think would like to listen. Especially those who aren’t as connected as some of us. It is so easy to access – just click!

The Podcast will be available at the below link starting on Ash Wednesday and then each weekday from 8.00am. Why not make this part of your Lent, but you don’t have to listen at 8.00am – it will still be there later in the day! Find Morning Prayer here https://turtonmoorlandteam.co.uk/podcast/

LENT
Two new resources for Lent.
Morning Prayer – every weekday – available from 8.00am led by ministers across the Team. Why not join us as part of a Lent practice? You can find it each day here https://turtonmoorlandteam.co.uk/podcast/

Lent Course – “Let us Pray” – a course exploring different ways of praying – see more information below. This too will be available each day on our Team website https://turtonmoorlandteam.co.uk/lent-course/
We will explore praying with the psalms, with music, with Jesus, with silence and with art and images. Each week will be different and there will be a family page for each week, for those who may be don’t have the time to give each day. May this help us in our prayer and in our praying.

Thanks to all who have helped put the resources together and make them available.

Access to the printed resources:

Lent ~ LET US PRAY ~ Overview of the Prayer focus through this Holy Season

TURTON TEAM LENT RESOURCE – Intro and first days

Prayers of Intercession

Hear us dear Lord, as we pray for the sick, the suffering, and those in need. Comfort and heal all those who suffer in body, mind or spirit; give them courage and hope in their troubles and bring them the joy of your salvation. Our prayers and thoughts at this time are especially for:

Yvonne Ashmore; Charles Hill; Chris Maden; Roy Smith;

…and any others known to us.

For our community: Staff and workers of Fortalice
and Urban Outreach;
All who are continuing to educate our
children …in school and at home.

We also pray for the departed:Vera Beale (MU Member from St. Mary’s Church, Radcliffe); Kathleen Margaret Alston;

We remember too those who mourn, that You may provide comfort and help in their loss and sustain them through their grief.

Hear us as we remember those who have died in the faith of Christ; according to your promises, grant us with them a share in your eternal kingdom.

Alan William Marsh; Edith Hodgson; Annie Brown;
Beryl Hampson; Ernest Ramsden; Barry Houghton Evans;
Daniel Horton Robins; Ursula Mary Chapman;
Hugh Horstead Tyler; Anne Slack;

You are the Alpha and the Omega; may we one day rejoice with you in heaven.
Rejoicing in the fellowship of all your saints, we commend ourselves and all the human family to your unfailing love. Amen.

The Promise of Spring: Online Event

Jenny Murphy has shared this month’s link to the Mothers’ Union Thursday Prayers service ‘The Promise of Spring’, which went live on You Tube Thursday 11^th February at midday.

Manchester MU would also like to encourage us to subscribe to their You Tube channel as, if they have more than 100 subscribers, they can change the link name to something more relevant and easier for everyone to find. Please click and watch for at least 20 seconds and this will ensure that it doesn’t unsubscribe you. Or, follow the link and click on ‘subscribe’ before you watch this month’s Thursday Prayers? Thank you.

Join the event >>
Access the printed prayers