Dear friends. Some information to share as we are in the season of Lent. · Lent Study Groups. As in recent years there will be a chance to meet together & study the Bible. Zoom – Sunday evenings 7pm starting March 5th. (see link below) – Bible Passage: Matthew 17:1-9 In person at Calthwaite Church (7.30pm) starting March 6th. – Bible Passage Luke 6:36-38 In person at 3 Mill Brow, Armathwaite (2pm) starting March 9th. – Luke 16:19-31 (instructions : Ask God to open your eyes, ears & heart. Read the passage slowly, sit in silence for a few minutes and read it again. Does it raise any questions or do you have any thoughts that we might discuss in the group? If so, please write anything down and bring to the group. Repeat this process as often as you are able, making yourself open to what God could be sharing. Thank God for the time spent in His presence and for anything He has placed on your heart to raise in the discussion group.) ***The original study books on John’s Gospel that I had hoped to use are in transit. We will study them at a future date.*** · The Blencathra Mission Community is planning to meet on Zoom for Morning Prayer (7.30am) – contact me for details · Something New is meeting at 3pm in All Saints, Calthwaite on March 12th. Come and hear from Peter of Adopt-A-Child (UK Home – Living Water Adopt-a-Child (livingwateradoptachild.org) ) and learn how the Church is sharing the story of Jesus with children in other parts of the world. · Mark HOUSTON is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Mark HOUSTON's Personal Meeting Room Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2445023307?pwd=dmZUS3VXa1ZDOG11a2tlRkRVN2pIZz09 Meeting ID: 244 502 3307 Passcode: 0GMjn6 · https://revmrhouston.blogspot.com/2023/01/january-2023.html Sorry for the info overload. It’s great that so much is happening. Mark
Dear friends. Some information to share as the season on Lent dawns on us. · Rev Allison Fenton & Rev Julia Powley are taking my services over the next two Sundays. Allison will be at Calthwaite and Armathwaite on Feb 19. Julia will be at Plumpton and High Hesket on Feb 26. I know you will make them both feel welcome should you be worshipping there over the coming weeks. · The Men’s’ Prayer Group meets every 2 weeks on Zoom. We’re hoping to meet in person somewhere soon, but for now we’ll have to stick with the computer. I’d like to invite any chaps to join us. We next meet on 19 Feb at 7pm. Zoom meeting Topic: Mark HOUSTON's Meeting Room Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2445023307?pwd=dmZUS3VXa1ZDOG11a2tlRkRVN2pIZz09 Meeting ID: 244 502 3307 Passcode: 0GMjn6 · Ash Wednesday. There will be a service at 7pm in St John the Evangelist, Plumpton. All welcome to this short act of worship. · Lent Study Groups. As in recent years there will be a chance to meet together & study the Bible. 5 short sessions entitled You can be Serious – Meeting Jesus Afresh in John’s Gospel. I ordered study books on the day they were published but I’m still for them to be delivered! There are 3 options to meet: Zoom – Sunday evenings 7pm starting March 5th. Use the link above In person at Calthwaite (7.30pm) starting March 6th. All Saints Church In person at Armathwaite (2pm) starting March 9th. 3 Mill Brow · The Blencathra Mission Community is planning to meet on Zoom for Morning Prayer (7.30am) – contact me for details · The Blencathra MC Alpha Course invites everyone to its Holy Spirit Day at Newbiggin Village Hall on March 4 (10.30-2.30). https://greystokeandmungrisdale.churchsuite.com/events/b8s5i0h6 · https://revmrhouston.blogspot.com/2023/01/january-2023.html Sorry for the info overload. It’s great that so much is happening. Mark
Dear friends. I hope you have all had a lovely time over the Christmas & New Year season. There has been a dose of winter virus rattling around for several weeks now, of which I have been dealing with, but I do hope that you have all managed to avoid it, find some time for a good rest and perhaps even get to spend some time with family & other loved ones. And, if I may, every blessing to you and yours for the year ahead. Something New: On the 2nd Sunday of each month (exceptions to this will apply) we hold a service in the afternoon. (3pm at All Saints, Calthwaite). It’s a little less formal to our morning services and is open to all, especially for those of you who find a morning service difficult to manage. We’re trying to bring in guest speakers. This Sunday (Jan 8th) we have the Rev Keith Speck joining us to share some teaching. In March we have Pete Barton from the charity Adopt A Child coming to share with us the work the church is doing to help youngsters in parts of Guatemala and in Romania. Alpha: Rev Martin is inviting anyone interested to join the upcoming Alpha Course that will be starting later this month in Newbiggin Village Hall. If anyone is interested please let me know and I shall pass your details with Martin. On a side note ……..my sermons over the coming months will be loosely based around the headings of the Alpha Course, which I will be tying in with that Sunday’s Gospel reading. I aim to record these and I will work out a way of sharing the audio files with you when I have a bit of spare time. Lent Course, “You Can Be Serious” – This short course digs in to the Gospel of John. If you were part of last year’s Lent group you’ll remember that we had a very ‘heavy’ book to plough through but this book only has about 30 pages. It’s release date is soon and I shall do a bulk buy for the benefice. There will be a Zoom session and sessions where people can meet. Please let me know if this interests you. Men’s Prayer Group: There is a some wonderful teaching about prayer in the Bible. In the Church of England we may have a tendency to reserve prayer for those intercessions someone reads out on our behalf in church on Sundays. Whenever I hear those prayers being read my heart jumps for joy as I listen to the carefully crafted words that cover a range of issues that are being offered to God. But prayer should be more than that. It should be as natural as breathing, as offered in every breath we take. In Acts 1 it says the following: They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. I believe that for your churches to flourish in the way God intends we need to be meeting often and we need to be speaking to God (praying!) constantly. I’m starting this year with a men’s group. We’ll meet in different ways (Zoom, in a church and sometimes we might even meet for a bacon sandwich in a café somewhere). Let me know if this interests you. (& if any women are interested in starting a group ….) I am meeting with many families who are grieving presently. Every time the phone rings it’s usually another funeral director asking what my availability is. Please keep all families in your prayers during this season, continue to be kind both to those you know but also to the ‘stranger’ in our midst (Matthew 25:34-46) Until next time Mark
Merry Christmas from Mark & Ruth Dear Friends Another year draws to a close. We will all have faced some happy times and, no doubt, some have faced difficult & challenging times. I hope that through all that life puts in our way you have found comfort and fellowship from those around you Advent / Christmas Season Please check the News & Notes concerning the many church events taking place across the benefice in the coming weeks. I encourage you to share the joy of the nativity with your local communities and perhaps you might even feel it would be good to go and bless the other churches (from within the benefice, the Mission Community, across the county or wherever you may find yourself during the festive season. If you are staying with your kids & grandchildren, how about suggesting that they come with you to the local carol service. Showing our enthusiasm for this season & the story of Jesus can be an infectious way of sharing with our nearest and dearest. We are all being swamped at the minute by charities asking for help with this worthy cause or that worthy cause. There are so many. However we feel about this it does highlight that across our local communities as well as on a global scale there are people who could use our help. (I have already received a hamper from a lovely parishioner who wants me to make sure it reaches a family who will probably find the sparkle of Christmas a bit dim this year. So, please take time to look at these pleas. I know times are tough but let us see how we might make the lives of some people a little better, either by adding to a foodbank or sending a donation to a charity. Christmas Present Appeal | The Salvation Army Perhaps you might take time to get together with others to offer a warm space for your community. Blencathra Mission Community (BMC) Hopefully you all know about the BMC. With our local Methodist friends and the Greystoke benefice we form a Mission Community that looks to share ways of growing closer to Jesus (something we all need in my opinion). Rev Martin is planning on holding an Alpha Course that begins in February. Alpha is a way of learning more / drawing closer to Jesus. You may want to know more or have a friend who you would like to ask do check it out. If you want to know more please get in touch with me. Your lovely parish church is part of a wider family of churches and, no matter how you might feel we all need this support. The diocese needs some help, especially when it comes to looking after the stock of clergy houses we own. The Archdeacon’s Mission & Pastoral Cttee and the Parsonages Cttee meets 3 or 4 times a year. It tries to make sure that there are vicarages in the most effective locations and that they are well maintained. We, as a MC have been asked if anyone from within our community might consider sitting on this committee. If it is something that intrigues you please get in touch and I shall point you in the direction of the appropriate people to ask. Have a blessed and peaceful Christmas. With all my love and thanks Mark
