Sea Sunday is held every year and is a special day to remember all those brave men and women who work at sea. It was held this year on Sunday July 14th. On the same day our four churches (Chilton Moor, East Rainton, Great Lumley and West Rainton) all met together at St Mary's, West Rainton.We were entertained, instead of a sermon, by the acting of the story of Jesus calming the waters by our 'Open The Book' group who take Bible stories to the schools in West and East Rainton.The collection that day was dedicated to the Mission to Seafarers.Our Treasurers had the pleasure of taking the collection to the South Shields mission to hand it over and take the opportunity to have a look at the wonderful chapel.Please go to the Missions' website, https://www.missiontoseafarers.org/ and have a look at the wonderful work that do.For example, they meet ships on the Wear and Tyne and transport Christians to and from the chapel for rest and prayer. They help with the aftermath of incidents on ships and keep records in the chapel.The staff and volunteers at South Shields were very welcoming and we are sure that they would welcome more visitors!
The PCC (Parochial Church Council) is incredibly delighted to announce that we have been successful in gaining building grants from the National Churches Trust and The Wolfson Foundation. These grants are £10,000 each and have to be matched with funding from our own savings (so around £40k in total.) Whilst this will be a strain on our finances, we will be able to repair and re-point the stonework around the east and north of the church. This will reduce the damp and on-going <a></a>issues with the internal plasterwork. We are busy applying for grants to help with roof repairs!
Recently the Church of England has introduced Prayers of Love and Faith. These are prayers which can be said with and for a same-sex couple to celebrate their relationship. Bishop Helen-Ann Hartley (Bishop of Newcastle) describes them with these words “The Prayers of Love and Faith are resources to pray with and for a same-sex couple who are committed to one another in faithfulness and love. They are intended to enable those who wish to give thanks for and joyfully mark that commitment before God and their community of faith.” At present these have been approved nationally to be commended for use. This means that they aren’t something each church has to use, like the order of service for Baptism. But each church must make their own decision to offer them or not. At St. Mary’s we discussed this at our last PCC, and we are keen to offer these prayers. At present we can only offer them in the context of a regular service (Sunday Morning), rather than as a standalone service, though there is hope that soon we will be able to offer these. For me it’s therefore a sadness that we cannot yet offer either a standalone service or a service of marriage for a same-sex couple. This recent change feels like half a step in the right direction and there is much further to go. I would therefore like to extend a warm welcome to any same-sex couple who would like to join us for Prayers of Love and Faith. As a time to celebrate your relationship and to bring it before God. If this is something you would like or would like to talk about more you can contact me on 0191 3882228 or revjestall@gmail.com Grace and Peace Rev. John Estall
