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Newsletter - 21st,
28th December 2008 4th
January 2009
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· Thought for the day - letter from the Clergy · Notices |
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Sunday 21st Services
(4th
Sunday of Advent)
8:00am Holy Communion (Ilmer)
8:00am Holy Communion
10:00am Parish
Communion
Epistle: 2 Samuel 7: 1-11, 16
Gospel: Luke 1: 26-38
Hymns: 395 Of the Father’s love begotten, 467 Tell out, my soul, 520 Thy kingdom come! On bended knee, 358 O come, O come, Emmanuel.
3:30pm Christingle
6:00pm Nine Lessons and Carols
Collect
Collect for 21st
December
God our redeemer,
who prepared the Blessed Virgin Mary
to be the mother of your Son:
grant that, as she looked for his coming
as our saviour,
so we may be ready to greet him
when he comes again as our judge;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen
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Collect for 28th
December
Almighty God,
who wonderfully created us in your own
image
and yet more wonderfully restored us
through your Son Jesus Christ:
grant that, as he came to share in our
humanity,
so we may share the life of his divinity;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen
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COLLECT FOR 4th
JANUARY
O God,
who by
the leading of a star
manifested
your only Son to the peoples of the earth:
mercifully
grant that we,
who know
you now by faith,
may at
last behold your glory face to face;
through
Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is
alive and reigns with you,
in the
unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God,
now and for ever.
Amen
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Dear Friends,
People
talk about the magic of Christmas. I
suppose that means the sense of wonder and awe we all feel as the annual
celebration comes round; as life becomes frenetic withy shopping, food
preparation, office parties, there is still something else. Christmas speaks of God’s love for us,
delivering his present to the world in that stable.
Of
course magicians work by sleight of hand and set out to deceive us. But God’s love for us is no deception or
conjuring trick. At the heart of the
magic of Christmas is the amazing truth that God became a helpless baby and put
up the shop window sign that God cares for humanity and so we too should be
caring for one another. God took the risk
of sharing our life with its pain and its joy.
This
December has seen pain Mumbai, in the Congo and in Dewsbury with Shannon
Matthews. But there will too be much joy at Saunderton Lodge this Christmas
through the great generosity of St. Mary’s congregation on our Gift Day, there
will be joy in the eyes of the children who come to our crib service and in
London and the big cities over Christmas the charity Crisis, will be giving
food and warmth to those living on the streets and who like Jesus have no home.
The
Magic of Christmas is there. This year
let us pray the magic may spread its message in a New Year.
A
very happy Christmas and New Year to you all.
Ian Ogilvie
Acting Rector
Dates for your diary
Tues, and Thurs at
9.30am: Morning Prayer in the Lady
Chapel.
Services for the coming week
What’s on in the coming week:
Tues, and Thurs at 9.30am: Morning Prayer in the Lady Chapel.
Wed 24th: 3pm Crib
Service
Christmas Eve: No
10:30am Holy Communion
11:30pm Midnight
Communion
Thu 25th: 8am Holy Communion (Said)
Christmas
Day: 9am Holy Communion (Said) Ilmer
10:30am Family
Service
Sunday 28th
December
(1st
Sunday of Christmas)
8:00am Holy Communion
10:00am Parish Communion
Epistle: Jeremiah 31: 15-17
Gospel: Matthew 2:13-18
Hymns: 526 Unto us a
child is born, 251 Infant holy, infant lowly, 439 See amid the winter’s snow,
176 God, rest you merry, gentlemen.
Wed 31st: 10:30am
Holy Communion
Sunday 4th January
2009
(Epiphany)
8:00am Holy Communion
10:00am Parish Communion
3:00pm Evensong (Ilmer)
Wed 7th: 10:30am
Holy Communion
Fri 9th: 10:00am
Pop In
2:00pm Friday Zone
6:30pm Choir
Practice
Notices
CHRISTMAS
FAIR: Wow! The final, final total for the funds raised by the Christmas
Fair is £3,732! A lot of people (and a lot of
hard work) are responsible for this excellent result for the Church
refurbishment. Many thanks to all who supported this event in their many
ways!
POP
IN:
There
is no Pop In for the 3 Fridays over Christmas and New Year. Normal Pop In
resumes on Friday 9th January. Any queries, call Michael on 275192.
HALL KEYS: Please check if you
have inadvertently kept the set of Hall keys which normally hangs in the
church. We think they disappeared during the set-up for the Christmas Fair on
21/22 November. Any ideas to Bill (343369) or Michael (275192) please.
THANK YOU: to everybody who has contributed items or money to
the M.U. project which provides basic toiletries for those admitted to Stoke
Mandeville Hospital unexpectedly. This year we have made 6 deliveries to Ward
10; staff and patients are VERY GRATEFUL. A list of items needed
is on the M.U. notice board (by the bookcase). Items can be given to Jean
Smith, Frances Ibell or put in the ‘stamp box’.
CHRISTMAS GREETINGS
FROM KENILWORTH!: Paul and
Susan send their best wishes to all their friends at St. Mary’s.
VIEWPOINT
EDITORS: Hilary Derbyshire and Jim Cadwallader will for the time being sharing the
task of editing Viewpoint. Hilary has set up the following e-mail address, to
which they both have access. viewpoint@stmarysrisborough.org.uk.
Please e-mail contributions to the magazine to that address. The deadline for
the February edition is Sunday 11 January 2009.
PARISH
PROFILE: The Churchwardens
and PCC are at work compiling the Parish Profile for appointing a new Rector.
If you would like to know what kind of detail goes into the document, look on
the Oxford Diocese website, which you can access via the link on our St. Mary’s
website. If you then do a search for “Parish Profile” and “Drawing up a Person
Specification”, you can see the guidelines on what should be included. If you would like to make any comments on the
profile you can contact us via the pigeon-holes in church or by email; philip@phdconsult.co.uk or debby@jcadwallader.co.uk. The
deadline for completing the profile is January 16th 2009 so it would
be helpful to receive any comments as soon as possible.
Philip Derbyshire and Debby Cadwallader.
THE
PARISH OFFICE: will be closed over the Christmas and New Year period and will
reopen on Tuesday 6th January 2009.
·
The Area Dean,
Tina Stirling whose husband died suddenly this week.
·
The PCC and
Churchwardens, as they prepare the Parish Profile.
·
For all those
who are suffering because of the current economic situation.
·
The victims of
the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe.
·
For all those on
active service in Afghanistan and Iraq who will be away from their loved ones
this Christmas.