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‘Maureen’s Musings’
The Vicar’s monthly letter for the Parish News
February 2018
I imagine it is a sign of old age creeping on, but I increasingly find myself remembering snatches of old songs from my youth(!) February brings to mind the great Flanders & Swann duet:-
January brings the snow, makes your feet and fingers glow.
February’s ice and sleet, Freeze the toes right off your feet.
Well I hope that is not prophetic for the month ahead. More particularly, I hope that February sees the end of the mini epidemic of flu and pneumonia that seems to be afflicting people in the Parish as I write this in mid January. But I have known Februaries when we were all basking in wonderful warm sunshine and wearing tee-shirts!
February will bring the beginning of Lent, which this year coincides with Valentine’s Day. Hmmm, that should provide quite a challenge for my Ash Wednesday sermon!
Nothing is organised as yet, but I am hopeful that we will have our usual range of parish lent lunches. See later in the magazine for information about this year’s Bishop’s Lent Appeal which is supported through our lunches.
As we are also members of the Covenanting Churches of Wolverhampton West (CCWW), we will also be supporting and helping with their Lent Lunches which happen on Saturdays during Lent. Again a schedule of these should be available later in this edition, and we will again be helping our friends in Perton on 24th March. This year they will be collecting for two charities; Power Please, which provides electric and specialised wheelchairs for disabled young people locally at Penn Special School, and Musalaha, a non-denominational Christian charity, ministering through reconciliation between Arabs and Jews in Israel/Palestine. Both charities are doing exceptional work and are worth your support. And what could be nicer that a delicious bowl of soup and maybe some cheese to follow while you do good work!?
I am optimistic that February will also see the end of the Heating Project in church. The first phase ensured that Christmas was very bearable in church this year and I hope that the final stage will really see an improvement to the level of comfort and welcome that we offer to visitors and regulars alike.
The PCC will be meeting on 10th February for our annual Mission Action Plan revision day. This gives us a bit more time than usual to do some longer term planning and dreaming together. So if anyone has any suggestions for things they would like to see the church in Pattingham providing or offering, please let one of us know! All ideas gratefully received. This year we are again returning to our friends in St Alban’s for this day… the fact that there is an excellent fish and chip emporium nearby has nothing to do with it!
And a week after that I hope to be meeting with several of the couples who are planning to celebrate their wedding with us this year. This helps us to give them some quality time to think about not just the day, but also some of the factors that might help them to make their commitment to each other life-giving and life-long. Please remember them in your prayers.
February is not on the whole, my favourite time of the year…. but I hope it finds you well and maybe dreaming of the days of spring to come – hurrah!
Every blessing
Maureen