St Nicholas Parish Church Fleetwood. Week beginning 12th March 2023 We seek to be a church that lives by faith, is known by love and is a voice of hope to the community we serve. Website https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/11671 Sunday 12th March 3rd of Lent 8.30 am Holy Communion in Church 9.30 am Worship on Zoom 10.45 am Holy Communion in Church Sidespersons: Susan & Christine. Reader: Elizabeth 4.00 pm Family & Co in the Broadway Rooms Tuesday 14th March 2.00 pm Holy Communion in Church Thursday 16th March 10.00 am Community Coffee Morning & Warm Hub in the Jubilee Room Friday 17th March 9.00 am St Nic’s Little Gang in the Broadway Rooms 11.45 am Lent Lunch at St Mary’s Lord Street 2.00 pm Funeral of Stanley Kirkham at Carleton Sunday 19th March Mothering Sunday 8.30 am Holy Communion in Church 9.30 am Worship on Zoom 10.45 am Holy Communion in Church Sidespersons: Carole & Sandra. Reader: Margaret 4.00 pm Family & Co in the Broadway Rooms ********************************************** Messy Lent: What a fabulous morning we had at Messy Church on Saturday with arts and crafts, puppets and a treasure hunt and all with a Lenten theme. It really is a joy to be able to provide this ministry to the families in our community, particularly to those with whom we have made connections through St Nic’s Little Gang and Family & Co, (our 4pm Sunday worship). Massive shout out and much thanks to Janet and her team for putting it all together and delivering an excellent morning once again. Sunday 3rd of Lent: marks 18 days into our Lenten journey, we still have a way to go! That said plans are already underway for our ‘dramatized reading’ of Matthew’s Passion on Palm Sunday, together with a range of services and gatherings to take us through Holy week and on to the climax of Easter Sunday. Last year following the Easter Eucharist at 10.45 many of us continued the Easter celebrations in the Broadway Rooms with a Jacobs Join lunch, Easter bonnet parade and quiz. It was a super afternoon and great to be together with the church family and new friends for this most special time in our church calendar. We would like to do it again this year with your help! Please sign up at the back of church to tell us if you’re coming and how many you’re bringing. Be sure to I invite your family and friends, the more the merrier. To help with the food and festivities for the Jacobs Join, we need sandwiches, sausage rolls, crisps, snacks, cakes, deserts etc. Chocolates and Easter eggs for prizes and raffle prizes. Or you might rather just make a financial donation towards drinks for the table? The main thing is that you come whether you are able to donate anything or not! It really is a lovely day to be together and to get to know new friends too. Come and join us! Dorothy Angel: Has recovered well from her recent heart procedure and is truly grateful that she was held in prayer throughout. She feels so blessed to have received such love and care from so many of the church family. Dorothy is improving with each new day and looks forward to being back up to full speed very soon. Please also remember in your prayers: Rev Jane Everitt, Rev Martin Keighley, Elizabeth King, Chris Kelsall, Michaela Jones, Janice Porter, Mark Price, Lucy Adamson, Grantham Fidler, & Peter Hollier. And the families of Stan Kirkham, Ray Merrison, Norma Newton, Gordon Smith, Angela Smith & Ray Woollett whose funerals are due to take place.
St Nicholas Parish Church Fleetwood. Week beginning 5th March 2023 We seek to be a church that lives by faith, is known by love and is a voice of hope to the community we serve. Website https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/11671 Sunday 5th March 2nd of Lent 8.30 am Holy Communion in Church 9.30 am Worship on Zoom 10.45 am Holy Communion in Church Sidespersons: Elizabeth & Margaret. Reader: Karen 4.00 pm Family & Co in the Broadway Rooms Tuesday 7th March 2.00 pm Holy Communion in Church Thursday 9th March 10.00 am Community Coffee Morning & Warm Hub in the Jubilee Room Friday 10th March 9.00 am St Nic’s Little Gang in the Broadway Rooms 11.45 am Lent Lunch at St David’s Church Larkholme Lane Saturday 11th March 10.00 am Messy Church in the Broadway Rooms for all the family Sunday 12th March 3rd of Lent 8.30 am Holy Communion in Church 9.30 am Worship on Zoom 10.45 am Holy Communion in Church Sidespersons: Susan & Christine. Reader: Elizabeth 4.00 pm Family & Co in the Broadway Rooms ********************************************** Lent 1 Sermon on Genesis: The sermon last week which focused on Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden has caused one or two folk to ask some questions and to think a bit deeper about the issues that were raised. It’s one of the wonders of scripture, in that you can read and hear the same passage time and again and then suddenly it speaks to you in a new way. Here is some more of Genesis for us to ponder. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’ He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’ GENESIS 3:8–10 Where are you?? God is not asking because he needs directions. He knows precisely where they are. As he knows precisely where we are. Despite their rebellion, he doesn’t kill them, he doesn’t drag them angrily from their hiding places. He comes down ‘in the cool of the day’, as was his habit, and invites them into a conversation. He wants their fellowship. As he wants ours. Perhaps God’s question is a question for us, however long we’ve been coming to church. Lent, after all, is a time to reflect, to let God strip back the layers so we might know him better. Where am I in my relationship with him? What might I be hiding? Perhaps I am too busy, too afraid, or too ashamed to walk with him ‘in the garden in the cool of the day’? How are my relationships with others? Perhaps I am harbouring anger, envy, or jealousy. Are there things I have not done that I ought to have done? Things I have done that I ought not to have done? God’s question is an invitation to allow him to bring to light those things he wants to help us with. Where are you? If you aren’t sure, if perhaps there are things hidden that you don’t even know are there, then one of David’s prayers gives us a way forward: ‘Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.' (Psalm 139:23–24) And he will. Because ‘the way everlasting’ is what he has wanted for us – from the beginning. Please also remember in your prayers: Rev Jane Everitt, Rev Martin Keighley, Elizabeth King, Chris Kelsall, Michaela Jones, Janice Porter, Mark Price & Lucy Adamson. And the families of, Josie Gibson, Stan Kirkham, Ray Merrison, Norma Newton, & Gordon Smith whose funerals are due to take place.
St Nicholas Parish Church Fleetwood. Week beginning 26th February 2023 We seek to be a church that lives by faith, is known by love and is a voice of hope to the community we serve. Website https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/11671 Sunday 26th February 1st of Lent 8.30 am Holy Communion in Church 9.30 am Worship on Zoom 10.45 am Holy Communion in Church Sidespersons: Karen & June. Reader - Joy 12.30 pm Baptism of Janie Ann Taziker Welcome and set up - Berny 4.00 pm Family & Co in the Broadway Rooms Monday 27th February 1.15 pm Funeral of Eleanor Riseborough at Lytham Park Tuesday 28th February 2.00 pm Holy Communion in Church Wednesday 1st March 11.45 am Funeral of Rene Pilling at Carleton Thursday 2nd March 10.00 am Community Coffee Morning & Warm Hub in the Jubilee Room Friday 3rd March 9.00 am St Nic’s Little Gang in the Broadway Rooms 11.45 am Lent Lunch at Fleetwood URC 2.00 pm World Day of Prayer at Fleetwood URC Saturday 4th March 10.00 am Church Cleaning Sunday 5th March 2nd of Lent 8.30 am Holy Communion in Church 9.30 am Worship on Zoom 10.45 am Holy Communion in Church Sidespersons: Susan & Christine. Reader: Margaret 4.00 pm Family & Co in the Broadway Rooms ********************************************** Lent Lunches: The United Reformed Church is hosting this Friday’s lunch. For many years the Churches Together in Fleetwood have hosted a simple lunch of soup and a roll on each of the Fridays in Lent. It’s an opportunity to meet with other Christians and to invite your neighbours along too for fellowship and a bite of lunch. There is no cost, although we are encouraged to make a donation towards this year’s chosen charity, International Aid. Please do make a determined effort to come to as many of these lunches as you are able. Much preparation is involved for the hosting church! World Day of Prayer: One of the WDP Guiding Principles states that ‘Prayer is rooted in listening to God and to one another. On the first Friday in March through WDP there has always been an emphasis on listening to women sharing their hopes and fears, their joys and sorrows, their opportunities and needs. This year the theme of the worship service “I Have Heard About Your Faith,” is based on the letter to the Ephesians, and is an invitation to active listening, which is the ground of all our prayers. Following the example of the letter (1:15-19), where the author praises the church for their faith in Jesus and love toward all the saints, the worship services, which will take place all over the world on Friday, contextualize the witness of the saints with the stories from the women of Taiwan. Why not come along and be part of this wave of prayer? It’s at the URC on Friday after the Lent Lunch. May God give us the wisdom and courage to tell the stories of faith that transform lives. Please also remember in your prayers – Dorothy Angel, Rev Jane Everitt, Rev Martin Keighley, Elizabeth King, Chris Kelsall, Michaela Jones, Janice Porter, Mark Price & Lucy Adamson. And the families of, Eleanor Riseborough, Emily Lowe, Josie Gibson & Rene Pilling, Stan Kirkham & Ray Merrison whose funerals are due to take place.
St Nicholas Parish Church Fleetwood. Week beginning 19th February 2023 We seek to be a church that lives by faith, is known by love and is a voice of hope to the community we serve. Website https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/11671 Sunday 19th February Next Before Lent 8.30 am Holy Communion in Church 9.30 am Worship on Zoom 10.45 am Holy Communion in Church Sidespersons: Carole & Sandra. Reader – David 12.00 pm Short meeting of the PCC in Church 4.00 pm Family & Co in the Broadway Rooms Tuesday 21st February 2.00 pm Holy Communion in Church 6.45 pm PCC (Parochial Church Council), meets in Jubilee Room Wednesday 22nd February 10.00 am Funeral of Les Fletcher at Carleton 12 00 pm Holy Communion with the imposition of ashes Thursday 16th February 10.00 am Community Coffee Morning & Warm Hub in the Jubilee Room Friday 24th February 9.00 am St Nic’s Little Gang in the Broadway Rooms 11.00 am National moment of silence in Church for Ukraine 11.45 am Lent Lunch at Trinity Baptist Church Sunday 26th February 1st of Lent 8.30 am Holy Communion in Church 9.30 am Worship on Zoom 10.45 am Holy Communion in Church Sidespersons: Karen & June. Reader - Joy 12.30 pm Baptism of Janie Ann Taziker Welcome and set up - Berny 4.00 pm Family & Co in the Broadway Rooms ********************************************** Silence for Ukraine: A national minute’s silence will take place at 11am on Friday 24 February to mark the one-year anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. St Nicholas Church will be open for private prayer as usual, but on Friday, the church bell will toll at 11 am and prayers will be said as we pray tribute to the courage of the Ukrainian people. Since the war began, thousands of Ukrainians have been killed defending their freedom from Russia’s appalling onslaught. Millions more have been forced from their homes, with 114,400 Ukrainians finding refuge in the UK. God of peace and justice, we pray for the people of Ukraine today. We pray for peace and the laying down of weapons. We pray for all those who fear for tomorrow, that your Spirit of comfort would draw near to them. We pray for those with power over war or peace, for wisdom, discernment and compassion to guide their decisions. Above all, we pray for all your precious children, at risk and in fear, that you would hold and protect them. We pray in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Amen. Lent Daily Reflections: “That You May Know the Truth” is the title of this year’s Lent reflections prepared for us by clergy and lay-members of the diocese. Please take your copy and try to set aside some time each day to journey with us through these 40 days of Lent. Lent Lunches: For many years the Churches Together in Fleetwood have hosted a simple lunch of soup and a roll on each of the Fridays in Lent. It’s an opportunity to meet with other Christians and to invite your neighbours along too for fellowship and a bite of lunch. There is no cost, although we are encouraged to make a donation towards this year’s chosen charity, International Aid. Please do make a determined effort to come to as many of these lunches as you are able. Much preparation is involved for the hosting church! Trinity Baptist Church is hosting this Friday’s lunch. Please also remember in your prayers – Dorothy Angel, Rev Jane Everitt, Rev Martin Keighley, Elizabeth King, Chris Kelsall, Michaela Jones, Emily Lowe, Janice Porter & Mark Price. And the families of, Eleanor Riseborough, Les Fletcher & Clara Pilling whose funerals are due to take place.
