St Nicholas Parish Church, Fleetwood Week beginning 15th November 2020 – Week 2 in Lockdown The church is open daily from 10.30 am-12.30 pm Monday to Friday for private prayer Sunday 15th November 9.30 am Zoom worship – please phone the vicarage for details if you would like to link up. You can listen via your phone if that is more helpful. Tuesday 17th November Funeral of Peta Wilson RIP in church Thursday 19th November Graveside Funeral of Patricia Steele RIP – Fleetwood Cemetery Sunday 22nd November 9.30 am Zoom worship Church of England Call to Pray Following the Archbishop’s call for every Christian and person of good will to pray at 6pm every day, for the period of this present lock-down, here is a prayer to use this coming week: <h1>Loving Father God, be with us in our distress; be with our families, friends, and neighbours, our country and our world. Give health to the sick, hope to the fearful, and comfort to mourners. Give wisdom to our frontline and key workers, insight to our Government, and patience to us all. Overcome disease with the power of your new life, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.</h1> Diocesan Call to Pray and Give 12th-29th November This is a diocesan led initiative to boost parish funds at the end of this very challenging year. As we each think and pray about how we may respond, enclosed with this newsletter is a thought provoking reflection written by Chris Dingwall-Jones,* the curate from our neighbouring parish. For other helpful information please use the link on the opening page of the Blackburn Diocese website. Advent 2020 – A Child Shall Lead Them Our prayer this Advent is that amidst the challenges we face, we would know the certainty of God’s promise fulfilled in Jesus. At the back of church there is a supply of booklets, produced by the Diocese, which contain daily reflections for the whole of Advent. Why not pick one up when you pop in for private prayer and join with us as we journey through this special season together? Christmas Draw Envelopes Please continue to sell these if possible. The completed envelopes plus money can be put in the wall safe when you visit church for private prayer or kept until December after lockdown. 100 Club This week’s winners are Muriel Freestone, Dorothy Warren, and Dorothy Jones. Prayers Please continue to pray for Dorothy Cox, Dorothy Jones, Alan Mather, and the families of Peta Wilson and Patricia Steele to be laid to rest this coming week.*"Ourselves, Our Souls and Bodies” Sacrificial Giving in a time of SacrificesIf the 80 million or so Google search results are any indication, ‘sacrifice’ has become a key way of thinking around the Covid-19 pandemic. We are called to make sacrifices in our daily lives. Some argue that we are sacrificing too much. Others suggest that many of those who have died have been sacrificed to the economy.Used in news headlines, ‘sacrifice’ is often a negative term. And yet it doesn’t have to be that way. One of the most powerful parts of the pandemic, for me, has been watching the community of Fleetwood, where I’m the curate, come together. Before the government had sorted out its provision for people who were shielding, a group of local churches, charities and community groups had arranged to deliver weekly food parcels to residents in need, not just in our town, but throughout North Fylde.The commitment to this project was amazing. One young man, a local college student, managed to put in over 500 volunteer hours by the end of the summer, and food and donations poured in. There is now a permanent space, ‘the Pantry,’ run ecumenically by local churches, and support is still strong. More than one generous standing order has come from people who are no longer able to donate food from their own shopping, but still want to contribute.Throughout our Diocese and indeed the nation as a whole, communities have pulled together through collective sacrifice, of time, energy, and money, not in a negative sense, but a positive one - collective sacrifice has built community and supported those most in need.I’d like to suggest recovering this positive notion of ‘sacrifice’ as a way of thinking about our Christian response to the pandemic.Christian discipleship is about sacrifice - it is about ‘taking up our cross,’ (Luke 9:23) about having the same mind as Christ who ‘emptied himself…and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross’ (Philippians 2:7, 8). This is part of what we mean when we say that discipleship is about imitating Jesus.Although thinking about discipleship as sacrifice has become less fashionable recently, it’s still central to the Christian life. When we gather, in person or online, for the Eucharist, day by day, week by week, month by month, we gather to remember Jesus’s sacrifice. But why do we remember it? It’s not just so that we don’t forget everything Jesus has done for us - it’s so that we can take to ourselves that sacrifice, here and now. As we share bread and wine, body and blood, we make a commitment, together, to follow Jesus ever more closely - and Jesus in turn gives us the grace, the ability, to do so. That’s why the Eucharist is an interactive process: Jesus makes the perfect sacrifice, once for all; we remember it together, bringing it into the present, and joining our own self-offering to it “ourselves, our souls and bodies” and “our alms and oblations,” as the Book of Common Prayer says. Jesus makes the perfect sacrifice, and that once-for-all sacrifice also sets the pattern for our lives.This is a challenge. It’s easy to do things we want to do, to make the sacrifices that make us feel good. This is why both Jesus and the Prophets continually remind us that true sacrifice goes beyond that: “you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters…these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others” (Matthew 23:23); “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices…cease to do evil, learn to do good” (Isaiah 1:11, 16, 17)It is much harder to do things that we don’t want to do. Today, that’s often giving money. Getting out and doing stuff, volunteering, giving time and talents are great - but sometimes they hold us back from giving the things we really value. A wise priest once said to me that the last thing to be converted is the wallet, which is really just another way of saying ‘where your treasure is, there will your heart be’ (Matthew 6.21). As our communities and our churches continue to feel the effects of the pandemic, the idea of sacrifice as imitating Jesus is an invitation to consider where our treasure is, and to reflect on how our sacrifices reflect the commitment of our Baptism, a commitment we make again and again, each time we receive the gifts of the Eucharist.This ‘Call to Pray and Give’ suggests on one-off, sacrificial gift to your parish on the first Sunday back after churches re-open. As we pray and consider our gift, this recovery of an understanding of sacrifice at the heart of the Christian life helps us to understand what we are called to do – not just to give money to the parish on that day, but to reconsider all our giving, understanding this gift and all gifts as an act of sacrifice and worship, brought before God as part of the Eucharistic action, for our good and that of the whole church. Revd. Dr Chris Dingwall-Jones, Curate at Fleetwood St Peter and St David.
St Nicholas Parish Church, FleetwoodWeek beginning 8th November 2020 – In LockdownSunday 8th November – Remembrance Sunday 9.30 am Zoom worship – please phone the vicarage for details if you would like to link up. You can listen via your phone if that is more helpful. 11.00 am A poppy wreath will be laid at the closed door of the church and prayers will be said.Wednesday 11th November Funeral of Joyce Wane at CarletonThursday 12th November Funeral of Dorothy Brookes in churchFriday 13th November Funeral of Rodney Swan in churchSunday 15th November 9.30 am Zoom worshipChurch of England Call to PrayOn All Saints Day the Archbishops wrote to all the clergy in the Church of England. In this letter they stated their conviction that the first and primary response of the Church at this time was prayer. “Bearing in mind our primary vocation as the Church of Jesus Christ to pray and to serve we call upon the Church of England to make this month of lockdown a month of prayer. More than anything else, whatever the nation thinks, we know that we are in the faithful hands of the risen Christ who knows our weaknesses, tiredness and struggles and whose steadfast love endures for ever.” The Archbishops, in consultation with the House of Bishops, decided that this call would take the form of an invitation to every Christian and person of good will to pray at 6pm every day, beginning this Thursday 5 November (!) for the period of this present lock-down. There are some helpful daily resources on the Church of England website – google: “A call to prayer for the nation Church of England.”Here is a prayer to use this coming week: Loving God, at this time of crisis when so many are suffering, we pray for our nation and our world. Give our leaders wisdom, our Health Service strength, our people hope. Lead us through these parched and difficult days to the fresh springs of joy and comfort that we find in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.Diocesan Call to Pray and Give 12th-29th NovemberThis is a diocesan led initiative to boost parish funds at the end of this very challenging year. It has been somewhat hijacked by the Archbishops’ call to pray and the national lockdown. That said we would encourage to continue to think and pray about how you may be able to respond to help meet the financial shortfall we ourselves are facing at St Nicholas. Details of how to give will follow at some point.Opening of St Nicholas Church for private prayerWe are delighted to announce that the church will recommence opening for private prayer from Monday 9th November. The church will be open daily from 10.30 am-12.30 pm Monday to Friday. Please do pop in, particularly at this time when we are not able to worship together and please advertise it widely to your friends and neighbours of any faith or none. Come, pray, light a candle and know something of God’s peace in these turbulent times.PrayersPlease pray for those who will be laid to rest this coming week and for their families who miss them.
St Nicholas Parish Church, FleetwoodWeek beginning 1st November 2020Sunday 1st November – All Saints’ Day 8.30 am Holy Communion in church 9.30 am Zoom worship10.45 am Holy Communion in church 4.00 pm Service to mark the Faithful departed 5.00 pm Service to mark the Faithful departed 6.00 pm Service to mark the Faithful departedMonday 2nd November – All Souls’ Day12.00 pm Holy Communion in church (remembering our loved ones departed)Tuesday 3rd November 2.00 pm Holy Communion in churchWednesday 4th November Funeral of Dorothy Stewart RIP at Carleton Funeral of Ray Cornell RIP at CarletonSunday 8th November 8.30 am Holy Communion in church 9.30 am Zoom worship10.45 am Holy Communion in church – including an act of remembrance and laying of wreath Diocesan Call to Pray and Give 12th-29th NovemberThis is a diocesan led initiative to boost parish funds at the end of this very challenging year, to enable current levels of stipendiary mission and ministry to continue – a one off sacrificial gift to see us through this time of crisis. Before any of us decide whether and how to respond to this Gift Day opportunity, we are called to pray. So for the 17 days would you join your prayers with the prayers of hundreds of others throughout the diocese as together we seek to ask how God would have us respond to this call to give? Your gift will be used towards meeting the shortfall in the parish share here at St Nicholas – which stands at £6443. Next week we will have further details of resources to help us focus on this call to pray and give. The time of prayer will culminate in gifts being presented during our services on Advent Sunday 29th November, the day which marks the start of the Church calendar year.Opening of St Nicholas Church for private prayerWe are undergoing some further safeguarding checks in church. As soon as these are completed, the church will once again be open daily for private prayer. Thank you to all who have agreed to help facilitate this important ministry.Thank you …To everyone who has brought and shared home grown produce over the past few weeks. Jillian’s apples raised gifts amounting to £16.40 for church funds. We have received a lovely letter of thanks from Streetlife too, which is on the notice board in church.Christmas envelope DrawWe should all now have received our envelopes for the Christmas Draw. If you have not received any and would like some, please ask a member of the PCC. There is a box at the back of church for the completed envelopes; also, a box containing spare envelopes if you feel that you can sell more. Thank you very much!100 ClubThe winners this week are Ruth Aspinall, Paula Meekins and Barbara Quirk.
St Nicholas Parish Church, FleetwoodWeek beginning 25th October 2020Sunday 25th 8.30 am Holy Communion in church 9.30 am Zoom worship 10.45 am Holy Communion in church Reader – Karen Sides people – Sandra & Carole11.30 am Annual Parochial Church MeetingTuesday 27th 2.00 pm Holy Communion in churchSaturday 31st 10.00 am Church cleaningSunday 1st November – All Saints’ Day 8.30 am Holy Communion in church 9.30 am Zoom worship10.45 am Holy Communion in church 4.00 pm Service to mark the Faithful departed 5.00 pm Service to mark the Faithful departed 6.00 pm Service to mark the Faithful departedThank youWe thank Fr Alan Leeson for presiding and celebrating at this morning’s Holy Communion service and to Phil Deegan (Licensed Lay Minister) who preached for our Zoom congregation.All Saints - Sunday 1st NovemberWe will have our usual pattern of services in the morning. We will also be holding a series of 30 minute services in church to mark the Faithful Departed. Families and friends of those who have had a funeral between September 2019 and September 2020 have been invited to attend one of the services which begin on the hour at 4 pm, 5 pm and 6 pm. All Souls - Monday 2nd NovemberThere will be a service of Holy Communion at 12 noon on All Souls Day at which we will be remembering our loved ones departed, before God. There is a list at the back of church for you to add the names you wish to be remembered at this service. Please write clearly!100 Club winnersThis week’s winners are Ethel Chantler, Maureen Siddall and Sarah Quirk. We have also drawn 2 large draws from earlier in the year and the results from these are: Easter Summer1. £100 Gillian King Sarah Quirk2. £80 Margaret Forshaw Beryl Clarkson3. £70 Ruth Aspinall David Ashworth4. £50 Bernice Meekins Peter Meekins5. £30 Dorothy Angel Margaret Pook6. £20 Sarah Quirk Shirley Kershaw7. £10 Barbara Quirk Dorothy CoxWe will be holding the large Christmas draw in December.Church cleaningPlease note this is a week earlier than planned. Come and help if you can!Please remember in your prayers:The sick on our prayer board and Elizabeth King, Alan Mather, Dorothy Cox and Dorothy Jones.
