Good afternoon friends,
St Michael’s Gift Day
St Michael’s Gift Day is this Saturday – Belinda and myself will be there along with church wardens Amanda and Bruce to greet you and to receive your gifts for the church which this year will be more than ever gratefully received. Please do remember to Gift Aid whatever you are able to give and the government will help us out as well! There will also be goodies for sale, including Vicarage Apple Juice (it sold out at Eastbury but we have more!) Please do come to say hello, donate, have a chat, ask questions and help raise the £17,500 we need for a new boiler – at more than 40 years old it now has a Prohibition of use sticker.
If you are able to contribute a cake, bread, jams or any other produce please do drop them off – I’ll be in church from 8.30 am in case you’d like to drop them in earlier. Really looking forward to seeing you, meeting those I haven’t seen for a while and certainly to greet newcomers! Thank you very much to all those who have already so kindly donated to St Michael’s Gift Day. Your contribution is greatly valued and much appreciated.
Last Sunday
Mrs Rachel Perkins
It was a joy to be joined by school governors, parents and children from the school to welcome, commission and bless Mrs Rachel Perkins as Principal of Lambourn Church of England Primary school. All welcomed both Rachel and her husband Karl to Lambourn. Our server from Year 4 presented Mrs Perkins with a candle reflecting the school vision as she reminded us all that Jesus is the light of the world.
This Sunday
This Sunday is St Michael and All Angels Patronal Festival. The service will be at 10.30 in St Michael’s. All are welcome to celebrate what is also known as Michaelmas Day. A day that used to be known as a Quarter Day as it marks the start of the legal year. And locally we see many Michaelmas daisies heralding the season. At the service we will be reflecting upon St Michael and All Angels.
Annual Parochial Church Meetings
We are holding the Annual Parochial Church Meetings in October which would normally have happened in April. This is a chance to look back over the ‘previous’ year up to December 2019 and to elect Wardens and representatives, to approve the accounts and to really understand the direction and health of each of our Churches.
St James will be on October 5th, All Saints on October 20th and St Michael’s on October 25th. Further details are in each church or please refer to either myself or Jenny Powell (St James), Karen Sperry (All Saints) or Ruth Honey (St Michael’s).
Do also please think if God is calling you to stand for election as a PCC Member or something else. If you are not sure please ring me, call in or catch me on Saturday gift day.
The Vicar on Tour
The Vicar will be on Tour on Monday 28th to East Garston 2.30 – 3.30 and to Eastbury on Wednesday 30th 2.30 – 3.30 and looks forward to seeing you – all are welcome. We begin with a short service of Holy Communion – lasting 15 minutes and then enjoy a time of conversation. This is an opportunity to come along simply to chat, ask a spiritual question or simply share news.
New restrictions
The new restrictions announced on Tuesday do not affect us in Church on Sundays. But once the service is over – please disperse and move away from the church out of the graveyard. We can still be warm and friendly towards to one another but please do observe the spirit of the law with regards to the rule of six and social distancing as you leave. The new restrictions will affect couples being married in church from Monday 28th as the Government has now limited attendees at the service to 15. Please pray for all those who may well be disappointed.
Harvest festival
Looking ahead to October our celebration of Harvest – will be a little different this year with gifts being requested for the West Berks food bank at All Saints and St Michael’s while St James request monetary donations to The Friends of the children of Tanzania. More details to follow.
And finally …
I think it bears repeating these are strange times aren’t they? As I’m out and about many people tell me how blessed we all are to live in these beautiful surroundings but go on to talk about their concerns – serious ones… like, how do we make sense of the new rules people have to live under … what we can or can’t do etc.
All 3 Parishes are working at trying to communicate well so everyone knows what is going on, what to expect and to know who to go for to ask for help or support. Please, please do ask for help if you need it – we all need it at some point. Similarly, if you want a chat or a shoulder to lean on you know where we are …
Keep ringing one another, keep in touch … these days are uncertain – all that we took for granted now needs planning and consideration. Keep on looking after one another, journeying together, keep on being kind to yourself and keep on trusting God.
Know that you and yours are in our prayers each morning and as the day draws to a close – you are not alone.
With prayerful best wishes for the week ahead,
Julie