{"id":609,"date":"2017-03-23T12:37:51","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T12:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=609"},"modified":"2021-03-29T13:01:13","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T13:01:13","slug":"vicars-page-february-2017","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/vicars-page\/vicars-page-february-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Vicar&#8217;s page &#8211; February 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/vicars-page\/vicars-page-january-2017\/\">Previous month <\/a>\u00a0\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/vicars-page\/vicars-page-march-2017\/\">Next month <\/a>\u00a0\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/vicars-page\/vicars-page-index\/\">Monthly index<\/a><\/p>\n<h1>&#8216;Maureen&#8217;s Musings&#8217;<\/h1>\n<p><em data-rich-text-format-boundary=\"true\">The Vicar\u2019s monthly letter for the Parish News<\/em><\/p>\n<hr align=\"LEFT\" \/>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-95 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Maureen-05-214x300.gif\" alt=\"The Vicar\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" \/><strong>February 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I am writing this in the midst of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and I am looking forward this coming weekend to welcoming visitors from other local churches to St Chad\u2019s to take part in our service by reading and sharing their prayers with us. Soon too (next month) Lent will start with the possibility of attending Lent lunches both in this parish and within our neighbouring Ecumenical partnerships. Whereas our lunches are always mid-week, the Covenanting Churches Lent lunch is on a Saturday \u2013 which gives those who are otherwise engaged during the week a chance to be part of the Lenten preparation. Since there are now more churches in the Covenanting group than Saturdays in Lent (!) we will again be assisting our neighbours at Perton Church with the Lent lunch there.<\/p>\n<p>Coming together and lending assistance where needed is all the more important \u2013 given the events in the wider society of this country and indeed internationally. Events which have led to \u2013 it seems \u2013 ever widening divisions opening up both within and between nations. All the more reason for Christians to offer grassroots, practical assistance wherever they see a need.<\/p>\n<p>Although I was made both sad and angry by the theft from church of two of our new screens (we have now worked out that it must have been at lunchtime on Christmas Day!), I was also very touched by the response from the community and several people who even offered to donate spare monitor screens to us. I am sorry that we could not always take you up on your kind offer \u2013 these were quit large screens and the fixing is the key element. But the generosity of your actions \u2013 and the outrage you expressed on behalf of the community as a whole, was much appreciated.<\/p>\n<p>Early in February I and the PCC will be taking a Saturday out for another \u2018awayday\u2019. Not a trip to the seaside (! \u2013 shame!) but a chance to spend a bit longer on the long-term, strategic planning that every organisation needs if it is to thrive. We will be assessing how well we\u2019ve done on the actions we outlined from last year; what needs still to be achieved; what maybe needs to be changed and anything new we want to add. Plus a bit of imaginative dreaming&#8230;. \u201cHow about we &#8230;.!\u201d It might sound all too familiar for those of you with any corporate experience in the secular world, but there is a difference. Our objectives are always related back to thinking of what God is calling us to do and to be in Pattingham and Patshull, and are rooted and grounded in prayer. It will help us greatly if you too are praying for us \u2013 especially on Saturday 4th February \u2013 that our plans and actions may serve to further God\u2019s kingdom here and in the world.<\/p>\n<p>Happy February \u2013 at least the snowdrops are blooming! \u2013 Every Blessing,<\/p>\n<p>Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Previous month \u00a0\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0Next month \u00a0\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0Monthly index &#8216;Maureen&#8217;s Musings&#8217; The Vicar\u2019s monthly letter for the Parish News February 2017 I am writing this in the midst of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and I am looking forward this coming weekend to welcoming visitors from other local churches to St Chad\u2019s to take part in &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/vicars-page\/vicars-page-february-2017\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Vicar&#8217;s page &#8211; February 2017&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":22,"menu_order":98,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-609","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7797,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/609\/revisions\/7797"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}