ChadNet – no 51 – Sunday 14th March 2021
Welcome to this week’s edition of ChadNet – the eBulletin of St Chad’s Church, Pattingham with Patshull.
In this week’s ChadNet:
- View from the Vicarage
- Sunday 14th March
- This week
- Sunday 21st March
- Public worship will resume next week
- Church Fete is cancelled
- Confirmation
- Lent – our Lent Course by Zoom, Lent @ Home and #LiveLent
- Annual meeting and electoral roll
- From the Memorial Book
- Resources to use at home and Virtual Sunday School
- Giving to the Church
There are no services in church this week but they will resume from Sunday 21st March. The church remains open for private prayer and Worship on the Web continues online.
View from the Vicarage
Mothering Sunday inevitably makes me think of my own Mum. None of you will have known her as she died approximately one year before I came to Pattingham – indeed it was partly losing her that made me think it might be the right time to move on from my previous parish…. And now here I am beginning to contemplate retirement and conscious that the end of May – which once seemed quite a distant prospect – is now hurtling towards me quite fast!
My Mum would have loved Pattingham, I am sure. She would have loved the cakes! The green space, the regular clip-clop of horses going past the vicarage windows, the village hall with all its activities and not least the church itself.
Most people who knew both my parents always remarked that I took after my father’s side of the family (much to Mum’s annoyance at times!) but those who only came to know me after he had died, would say that they saw her in me and I think I inherited a good share of her temperament. Less mercurial than my father. Not easily fazed or panicked by problems. Someone who coped without fuss and was prepared to consider new ways of working. Thanks to Mum I have good keyboard skills (of the typing kind) – which has been a boon given the amount of computer work I do. She would be the first to admit that whatever musical and especially singing ability I have comes from Dad – although she instilled in me a love for the ballet and musical theatre. And I think it is from her that I gained a love of literature and words.
You may have gathered from this that Mum and I were very close. As an only child, she spent a lot of time with me when I was growing up. She never did learn to drive and, in those days, most households had only one car (imagine!) so I remember walking with her the 20 minutes or so that it took to go from our house to the main shopping centre of Ilford, where we lived at the time, or to my grandmother’s house – a similar distance away. She was good at inventing word games and developing my general knowledge to stop me getting bored on the way and complaining!
Mothering Sunday / Mothers’ day often came close to her birthday at the end of March. And in my mind the two were often superimposed upon each other. In later years I came to understand that it was more to do with Mother Church than my physical mother, but for most of us I think the two are inextricably bound up together. The fact that Christianity has always celebrated motherhood and in particular that of Mary, is also significant.
Not all of us are mothers in the biological sense of course, but all of us have had a mother – although I am well aware that not everyone has the happy memories that I do. For some the mother/child relationship is a difficult one, fraught with conflicting emotions. But where it works well, a mother is critical to providing nourishment and nurture in our early years and then gradually reducing those ties, encouraging our independence and maturity as we grow.
I am not one to over-play the ‘parental’ imagery of a relationship between a parish and its incumbent. I don’t think it is appropriate or particularly healthy, not when we are all fellow travellers trying to mutually help one another towards our goal of union with God in Christ. But I will confess to a trace of ‘maternal’ pride in the way that the PCC are approaching the coming interregnum and setting ambitious but achievable goals in developing the future life of the church as a worshipping community in this place.
There will be much more of that to come in the next few weeks – sufficient for now to focus on our plans for this weekend – (posies available for collection from the Lychgate from 10.45 am on Sunday – thanks to Chrissie and Liz S.) – and then a gradual return to in-church worship from Sunday 21 March – Passion Sunday, following the familiar safety precautions that we can remember from December. I look forward to seeing as many of you as can safely gather in St Chad’s very soon.
Maureen.
Contacts
Maureen can be contacted by phone, text or email. (01902 700257 – 07812 805371 – )
Contact details for other church officers can be found on the Contacts page of the church website. Communications in relation to ChadNet should be sent to
Sunday 14th March – Mothering Sunday – Fourth Sunday of Lent
There will be no service in church. The Worship on the Web service will be led by the Youth Group and their mothers. It will be on the Worship on the Web page of the website from 10.00 am. For those without internet access it will also be on the Dial a Service phone line (01902 906585) from 9 am – until then last Sunday’s service is on the phone line.
Mothering Sunday posies will be available to collect from a table by the Lychgate from 10.45 am while stocks last.
Until Palm Sunday the diocese is providing sermons for parishes to use. This week’s preacher is Ven Paul Thomas, Archdeacon of Salop. The sermon can be found on YouTube at https://youtu.be/qMexAlb3PR8
The collect and readings for the Eucharist, which would normally be on the pewsheet, are available on the website.
This week
During the week Maureen (or occasionally Ken) will stream Morning Prayer and Compline (Night Prayer) on Facebook Live. Morning Prayer will be at 8.30 am and Compline will be at 9.30 pm (there will be no Compline on Friday).
The church will be open for private prayer every day. The times may vary depending when the keyholders are able to open and close the church. Look out for the “church open” sign outside the porch. Please observe the instructions in the notice on the door, which include the need to wear a face covering, using hand sanitiser and keeping apart from anyone else who is already in there.
The Lent Course continues on Monday evening. More details are below.
Wednesday is the copy date for the April magazine. Send articles to Mike Moss at
Sunday 21st March – Passion Sunday – Fifth Sunday of Lent
There will be a service in church at 10 am.
The Worship on the Web service will be led by Maureen. It will be screened in church as the main part of the service at 10 am, when it will be followed by a brief service of Holy Communion for those who wish to stay. It will be available on the Worship on the Web page of the website from 10 am.
The collect and readings for the Eucharist, which would normally be on the pewsheet, are available on the website.
Public worship in St Chad’s is to resume on Sunday 21st March
At its recent meeting the PCC carefully considered when it will be possible to resume public worship in church as there are now more people who are vaccinated and fewer in hospital.
We have decided to restart services in church from Sunday 21st March. Initially, and probably until at least the end of April, the pattern of services will continue as it was in December and the online services will continue.
Each Sunday there will be a service in church at 10 am which will include screening the Worship on Web service and a short communion service. There will also be a Commmunion service each Wednesday at 10 am.
We will still not be able to share the chalice so communion will continue in one kind only. We will have to continue observing the covid precautions – wearing face coverings, hand sanitising, observing social distancing, not mingling and not singing.
This year’s Fete is cancelled
The first weekend of July, when the fete is due to be held, is less than two weeks after the earliest date on which most of the current restrictions will be lifted according to the government’s roadmap.
Due to the numbers involved both in planning and running the fete and in attending the PCC has decided that it will not be possible to hold the fete as usual this year and has therefore taken the decision to cancel it now.
Once the restrictions are lifted we hope to be able to arrange some suitable alternative but that will clearly be later in the year.
Confirmation
There will be a deanery confirmation on Sunday 18th July.
If anyone is interested in being confirmed then – whatever your age – or would like to find out more – please contact Maureen as soon as possible.
Lent
Lent course
Broken Bits and Weirdness (But God Still Loves Us) – A series for Lent 2021 – author: Fay Rowland
Mondays at 7.30 pm (there are no longer sessions on Thursday afternoons)
Described as Bible study like you have never seen it!
Each week we will meet a new character from the Bible with a reading, a bible study, a wondering question with space for response, some meditative colouring, a craft, a recipe, suggestions for outdoor activities linked with the theme, and a prayer. Everything is optional – you are not expected to do the lot – just choose whatever seems helpful or attractive to you and brings you closer to God.
[The invitation to the Zoom meeting is only included in the edition of ChadNet which is emailed to subscribers.]
Lent @ home
A reminder that the “Lent @ home” booklet is an opportunity to journey through Lent as an individual, as a family or as a support bubble. There are reflections, readings and prayers for each week between now and Easter.
It can be downloaded here.
#LiveLent
The Church of England is offering daily Lent reflections by email from Ash Wednesday to Easter Day. There is also a phone app available. Details can be found at https://www.churchofengland.org/livelent/ – to sign up for the emails go to https://www.churchofengland.org/node/27518
Annual meeting and electoral roll
The Annual Church Meeting will be held in church at 11.15 am on Sunday 18th April (after the 10 o’clock service). If we are unable to meet in church arrangements will be made to hold it by Zoom.
The Church Electoral Roll is being revised. Those already on the roll do not need to do anything but those who wish to join it need to complete a form and return it to Michelle Pass, the Electoral Roll Officer. To be able to vote at the 2021 APCM the completed application must be received by Wednesday 31st March. More details and an application form can be found at <https://www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk/web/church-electoral-roll/>
From the Memorial Book
Those whose anniversaries occur between 7th and 21st March.
Anthony John Harley – 11th March 1997
Gordon Francis Thomas – 12th March 1992
Dennis William Lovering – 12th March 2012
Emily Margaret Ada Pugh – 13th March 1991
Ronald Lacey – 13th March 1998
Arthur John Rogers – 14th March 2005
Hilda Northern – 15th March 1997
Thomas William Roberts – 17th March 1973
James Keith Bradshaw – 17th March 2006
Lilian Ross Beach – 17th March 2006
Phyllis Alice Wood – 18th March 2016
Ronald Arthur Painting – 20th March 1980
Olive Harris – 20th March 1990
David Spencer Haddock – 21st March 1996
Leslie Thomas Price – 21st March 1997
You can see all the pages of the Memorial Book on the Memorial Book Online page of the Church website.
For those without internet access – listen to a Pattingham church service by phone
Several members of our congregation who do not use the internet are using the dedicated phone number – 01902 906585 – to listen to our services. Calls are charged at normal rate. The service for each Sunday will be available from about 9 am and will continue to be available until it is replaced be the next week’s. If you know someone who might find it useful please let them know.
The Daily Hope phone line from the Church of England on 0800 804 8044 is also available.
Resources for worship and prayer at home
Some of resources which can be used at home are listed on the Resources Available Online and the Resources Available for Children, Young People and Families pages of the website.
In the absence of our own Sunday School we encourage children and families to look at the Virtual Sunday School YouTube channel. A new Sunday School video normally comes out each Saturday. This week’s is Meet our new BABY! Mother’s Day Special with Ruth & Naomi Nappies
They can all be found on the Sunday School on the Web page of our website as well as on YouTube.
Giving to the church
In the current circumstances there will inevitably be a reduction in the money which the church receives. However we will need to continue to pay our bills and we would ask that those who can afford to do so should continue to give regularly. Details of the various ways in which you can give can be found on the Giving page of the website.
We have a JustGiving page to enable people to make one off donations. It’s at www.justgiving.com/pattingham-church. You will be asked if you want to make a contribution on top of your donation. If you do it will go to JustGiving and not to charity. If you do not want to make such a contribution select “other”. If you are a taxpayer please consider gift aiding your donation.
If you are paying by cheque please make the cheque payable to “Pattingham PCC” or “Pattingham Parochial Church Council“.
ChadNet
This bulletin is sent to those who have requested it. We now have 95 subscribers but there may still be some people who are not aware of it and would wish to receive it. The weekly bulletin for each Sunday will normally be sent on the preceding Friday or Saturday. Additional bulletins may be sent if required. It is only being sent to those who have requested it.
If you know of anyone who might be interested please tell them about it and ask them to sign up using the form on the website (www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk/web/information/chadnet/sign-up-to-chadnet/) or by email to
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St Chad’s Church, Pattingham with Patshull Registered charity no 1151604