Thoughts from The Vicarage with chalk blessing and UA Fanthorpe
Greetings, especially to our new readers and best wishes to all for 2023! Please find attached Pews News with services, prayers and readings.
I simply must begin by saying a big thank you for all the Christmas greetings, messages and expressions of care I have been sent, especially with Mr Vicarage being away in Australia. My best wishes for 2023 and please be assured of my prayers as the new year begins.
We are keeping the Feast of the Epiphany this Sunday, January 8th as we remember the arrival of the Wise Men/ Magi at the manger to worship Jesus. Services at 9.00 East Garston and 10.30 in Lambourn.
The Epiphany season continues the theme of Christmas, that God is here among us. The wise men see the face of God in Jesus Christ. The ministry of Jesus begins at his baptism in the Jordan. He turns water into wine at a wedding to highlight the new thing God has done and then we remember his presentation in the Temple as a child, when Anna and Simeon rejoice at his birth and warn Mary about the shadow of the cross over his future.
Jesus is being shown to the world, a gift given to us and for us. These weeks are a time of ongoing joy and celebration. The crib and decorations stay in church for the whole of the season because all of it is Christmas, all of it is cause for joy.
There is a lovely tradition of Blessing our homes by marking the doors of our homes with chalk at the Epiphany – we will bless the chalk in Church on Sunday and hand it out to everyone along with instructions (attached here) for how to mark your home. If anyone, especially in Eastbury who won’t have a service this Sunday, would like chalk delivered to them, or for me or Christine to come round and do it for you, then please let us know.
Dress up Nativity and Christingle Service 2022 – we had two very well supported services just prior to Christmas. They were both well received – especially by all the families present! We’re looking forward to next Christmas already. It’s not often there’s such an array of talent as there was for the dress up Nativity – thank you to all those involved. Special thanks to Sandra, Brian and family who made the Christingles in the morning, all those who acted in the nativity and welcomed the congregation, as we wouldn’t have managed all this without you.
The Carol singing was well attended with village children coming along, many of whom were in excellent voice. I suspect that the refreshments were quite an attraction as they went down very well! Thanks to Ann, Katie and Ian for all their help and assistance on that front. All the donations have gone to the Children’s Society – thank you for your support of one of St Michael’s charities.
A local charity supported by St Michael & All Angels is Racing Welfare and this year the Carol Service collection was dedicated to that cause which raised £379. This will be presented on Friday! It was a wonderfully joyful service and what a joy it was to gather post Covid to sing, to listen and to praise God at what is always a very special service.
A quick note on the weekly Prayer List. It is always a joy and privilege to receive requests for prayer. These are offered at Morning Prayer and Compline in addition to private intentions and Sunday services.
The basic pattern is that we keep people on the prayer list for roughly a month so that we can really focus our prayers. If you notice that someone you added to the list has been removed then it will simply be about timing and how long it is since you asked. You can then, of course, put them back on again.
We are keen to pray for everyone who needs our prayers, of course, but the danger of an extremely long list is that people lose focus and our prayers lose intensity, which is why we try to keep things fresh. People who have died are generally kept on the list until shortly after the funeral. Those who mourn are held daily at Morning Prayer.
Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday, meanwhile a final thought:
This was the moment when a few farm workers and three members of an obscure Persian sect walked haphazard by starlight straight into the kingdom of heaven … from ‘This was the moment’ by UA Fanthorpe.
God bless
Julie