This weekend’s Bible readings:
Ezekiel 34:1-10, 33-34 (p 865) and John 10:11-18 (p 1076)
Midweek Music at St Mary’s:
On Wednesday 24th April at St Mary’s, Barbara Manning will be presenting a short concert of piano music at 12.30. Refreshments will be served as usual from 11.30. We look forward to welcoming you.
Pop up shop:
The pop up shop with Fairtrade goods and Christian gifts on sale, will be open at the 10.30 service at St Mary’s on Sunday 28th April. Please come and support this if you can - all profits go to our local food bank.
And benefice bookstall:
Our monthly bookstall will also be up and running at the service next weekend. If you’ve ordered a copy of J John’s Ten and have not yet picked it up, Lizzy will have it there, ready for you, along with a selection of Christian books. If there’s something you’d like her to order, please let her know.
Annual meeting reports:
It's coming up to the Annual Church Meetings (APCMs), so if you are involved in a group or activity, please make sure that someone lets the relevant PCC secretary or secretaries have a short report on the last year. It's a really good opportunity to celebrate the huge range of activities that go on, from flower arranging to homegroups to Mothers Union. If you’re involved in a group that is not specifically limited to one church, please send your report to all three secretaries, so that everyone in the benefice is able to hear what we are doing for God in this place.
Reports should be sent as soon as possible, and certainly before next weekend, please, to the following people for each church:
St Mary's - Lizzy
All Saints – Jeremy
Sacombe – Peter
And APCM papers:
If you are willing to receive the papers for the appropriate annual meeting by email to save printing costs (and trees), please let your secretary know so that s/he can send them to you when they’re collated. Hard copies will be available in our churches a week before the relevant meeting.
The meetings will be held after the services on:
The Mundens: 5th May
Sacombe: 7th May
Standon: 12th May
All Saints@6:
Sadly, we have decided to call a pause on All Saints@6 while we prayerfully consider how to move forward. This means the proposed 10 Commandments course will not now be running. Please pray as we seek how to move forward in the future.
Sunday lunch at the Star:
Heather is organising our next Sunday lunch, on 28th April at 12.15pm in the Star at Standon. Please let Heather know if you would like to book a place. If you are on your own at home for Sunday lunch we would welcome anyone who hasn’t joined us before. Please contact Heather on 07909 065550.
Choral evensong in Bury:
On Saturday 4th May our benefice choir will be singing Evensong at St Edmundsbury Cathedral at 3.30pm. Whilst we are not having a coach this time, it would be lovely if any folk wanted to spend some time in Bury St Edmunds that afternoon and join the service. Do speak to Michael or Marion if you want to know more.
Mayday:
We will not be offering a salad stall this year, but we could do with more help in the village hall for the tearoom. If you can bake or help on the day, please sign up at the back of St Mary’s or let Diana or Caroline know.
Ascension Day:
This year, we will not be holding an Ascension Day service on 9th May. Instead, we will celebrate at the Tuesday service in Sacombe on 7th.
Website:
Our benefice website is on the www.achurchnearyou.com platform. The benefice page can be reached via this link: https://www.achurchnearyou.com/benefice/32-240BF/. The forward from https://ubsms.org.uk should point to that page.
Services for the next few weeks
Midweek services each week:
Tuesdays, 9.30am Holy Communion (BCP) & Bible study, St Catherine's
Wednesdays, 9.30am Morning worship & Bible study, St Mary's
Sunday services:
21st April 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's
10.30am Holy communion, All Saints
28th April 10.30am All age worship, St Mary's
6.00pm Choral evensong, St Mary's
5th May 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's
10.30am Morning worship, All Saints
12th May 10.30am Holy communion, St Mary's
19th May 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's
10.30am Holy communion, All Saints