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‘Churchwardens’ Chat’
We are now in an interregnum following the retirement of the Vicar and so the monthly letter for the Parish News is written by the Churchwardens
December 2023
Joy to the world The Lord is Come . . . Isaac Watts 1719, based on Psalm 98
Welcome to Advent! The time when we make our spiritual preparations for the great joy of Christmas, the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
This year we are grateful to the Rev Philip Wootton from Tettenhall Wood who has organised an Advent Reflection for St Chad’s taking place on December 6, 13 and 20. If you arrive at 10:45, there will be time for coffee, cake and chat before an 11am start.
The reflection will include music being played and will last just under an hour. The sessions will be repeated on December 7, 14 and 21 at The Church at Perton starting at 7.30pm. As the excitement builds and life becomes so much more hectic, join us for a quiet and calm hour. Come along to either venue, with friends or on your own; if you have any transport needs to get to the sessions let us know and we shall do our best to help.
Thank you to the officials and village representatives who supported our service of Remembrance, especially those from Rainbows, Brownies and Guides. Grateful thanks, too, to all who used our annual Suggestion Box to let us have ideas or suggestions for next year. These ideas will inform discussions for our 2024 plan.
At the time of writing, we are pleased to report our new advertisement for our own vicar has already been published in The Church Times and on the Lichfield Diocese website. Please pray that if it is part of God’s plan, we will have applicants! We shall report next month what progress has been made.
Finally, at Christmas time when we look forward with hope for a peaceful world, join us at one of our services, to give thanks for the blessings we have and to pray for the places around the world where there is war and conflict, sickness and suffering. Please do not be alone this Christmas, we welcome you to get in touch.
We wish to make two special mentions, firstly to the leaders of the Shower Singers, Alix and Keith, for giving us all such fun and friendship each Wednesday; and to Debbie Sims and her Who’s for Lunch? team, to whom we express our thanks for their hard work and for the care and the thought involved in the preparation of lunch for around 40 people – who all leave feeling refreshed from a lovely lunch and the fellowship of being with friends.
As we approach our third Christmas without our vicar we reflect on the year and thank our chairman of the PCC, Philip Sims, for all his work and support, who together with our colleagues on PCC ensure St. Chad’s Church is a thriving hub of worship and outreach. We send our grateful thanks, too, to all our helpers on the many group, from our congregation and from across our whole community, for working with us throughout 2023 to make our work and mission possible.
We officially welcome our new organist and choir leader Martin Fox and we ask you all to join us again in 2024 to help provide more fun, friendship and worship for all to share! Have a peaceful Christmas, sharing the joy of Christ’s coming!
God Bless.
Clive Pendrell and Dorothy Steel,
Churchwardens