All acts of public worship within the Saxilby and Stow Groups of Services have been cancelled for the time being due to the Coronavirus outbreak and in-line with guidance from the Archbishop of Canterbury.
May 2020
Sunday 24th May
Revd. Nicola writes “I do understand that Zoom is not possible for everyone but if you cannot be with us on Zoom please do print off the order of service and go through it in some quiet time over this weekend. I have also attached the sermon for this service” It can also be found on our Home Page”
This Sunday is the Sunday after Ascension Day. We will have Holy Communion on Sunday at 9am (on Zoom) and Gillian will preside. Connection details below.
The Collect Prayer and readings for today are – O God the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: We beseech you, leave us not comfortless, but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us and exalt us to the place where our Saviour Christ is gone before, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Acts 1: 6 – 14 and John 17: 1 – 11
Click the links to access the intercessions you might like to use and also the audio recording of the sermon. But this is also available on Dial a Sermon. The telephone number for Dial a Sermon is – 01522 449166. Please continue to let people know about this service.
Nicola Penn-Allison is inviting you to a Zoom service.
Topic: Holy Communion
Time: May 24, 2020 09:00 AM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84476701766?
pwd=NzF4cG1NV3ZYNmU5YjBML2xnT3ZkZz09
Meeting ID: 844 7670 1766
Password: 7F88V5
You Tube Premiere
Gillian and I have been talking about offering a Sunday service that people can simply sit and watch in the quiet and privacy of their home without needing to join a Zoom Meeting Room. So, after a little bit of experimentation, I have recorded a message, which you will be able to access from 10am on Sunday on YouTube, with more information about the future YouTube service which will begin on Pentecost Sunday (next Sunday). Do have a watch of my video (huge thank you to Julian for getting me organised on this and editing the video!) by following this link: https://youtu.be/hP_5QW9AvMY Please note that you will not be able to see the video until 10am on Sunday! After that it will be available for a few days for people to catch up with it. The aim is to release a new video, of a service, each Sunday. So please let me know how you get on with watching the message. Please also let me know if you would be willing to video yourself reading aloud the Bible passage for a Sunday to be included in the service. Thank you to those who have already volunteered – I will be in touch!
Thy Kingdom Come
I hope you are enjoying the daily reflections that we (Rev’ds Gillian, Helen and myself) have recorded from the Methodist Prayer Journal for Thy Kingdom Come. They are available on our church Face Book pages – they are – St Helen’s Willingham; St Botolph’s Saxilby and St Edith’s Coates. Thank you to everyone who has offered to pray during the 24hours of prayer which begins on Thursday 28th May at 8pm. There are still some gaps so please get in touch if you are thinking about volunteering this time round. I will be releasing more material to those who take part (or anybody else who wants it and emails me for it!) More information about Thy Kingdom Come (including prayer resources to use at home and information on what it is all about) can be found on their web site.
Thursday 21st May
Sunday 17th May
Listen to Revd. Gillian’s sermon for Rogation
Intercessions for Rogation Sunday prepared by Revd. Gillian.
As well as being such an important day in itself Ascension Day also marks the beginning of Thy Kingdom Come 2020. Do take a look at this website https://www.thykingdomcome.global/ for more information and ideas for joining in with this global prayer movement for more and more people to come to know the love of God through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Thy Kingdom Come concludes on Pentecost (31st May) and during this period of time (Ascension Day to Pentecost) we especially pray for people who we know and would want to share our faith with. During this time we will be holding our next 24 hours of prayer and I do hope you might all join in. We had a really good turn out last month and many have already committed to taking part again – but how about joining in too? I will supply prayer resources around the Coronavirus situation and Thy Kingdom Come for use at home for half an hour or an hour (or more). So please do get I touch and let me know when you are committing to pray – we begin at 8pm on Thursday 28th May and finish at 8pm on Friday 29th May. Commit to as little or as much time as you would like and do invite others to take part too.
Sunday 1oth May
75th Anniversary of VE Day Service. Click here to listen to Revd. Nicola’s sermon for this service .
Sunday 3rd May
Revd. Gillian’s message for today can be found here
April 2020
Sunday 26th
Revd. Nicola’s message can be found here
Sunday 19th
Revd. Gillian’s message can be found here
Sunday 12th – Easter Sunday
Revd. Nicola’s message for Easter Sunday can be found here
Four points to help your devotions
Firstly: Revd. Nicola and Revd.Gillian are also preparing resources for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Then we hope to have a similar group of resources for Easter Morning which I think will lift everyone’s spirits and help us to celebrate the new life of Jesus’ resurrection. More on this next week.
Secondly: From Rev’d John Leech for those who are using the ‘Homily Project’ to listen to weekly homilies on the Sunday readings:-
I wrote to you a couple of weeks ago to let you know that we were hoping to make audio recordings of the Homilies for each week and to put them up on the Diocesan website. Sadly, for technical reasons, this is not possible, but you can still hear the podcasts at https://revjohnleach.com/ . The downloadable text versions will still be available as usual at https://www.lincoln.anglican.org/the-homilies-project. I would be grateful if you could let any members of your congregation who are wanting to listen to the homilies whilst we are isolation know about these new arrangements. I am scheduling the podcasts to be available from Saturday evening each week, so that people can listen any time on Sunday.
Thirdly: From the C of E website – do follow this link for more information on what is available for us all to follow our Spiritual journey through Holy Week and Easter: https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-parishes/holy-week-and-easter-2020
Fourthly: Message from our Bishops……
Holy Week, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, is an invitation for us to enter into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This Holy Week occurs at a time of great change in our lives, the country and the world. The end of that change is unknown in many ways. We would like to invite you to enter into the events of Holy Week as local parishes and benefices as well as the diocese and as part of the national church. With church buildings closed, Holy Week will be lived out in different ways this year. This difference should not nullify the emptiness of ‘Holy Saturday’ or the joy we are granted in the resurrection in which we have our identity in this time of crisis, but it will be disorientating for us all.
Across the diocese during Holy Week we are currently exploring the following:
- a brief daily video message from different members of the bishops’ staff beginning on Palm Sunday
- an invitation to make palm crosses out of paper/card and place in windows from Palm Sunday, or use larger branches to indicate your house has entered the story of Holy Week
- a simple service on Tuesday for the renewal of ministerial commitment for all God’s people which we are hoping will be live online at 11am
- a Eucharist online at 5pm on Easter Sunday evening
- an invitation to light a candle in a window each evening from Easter Day as a sign of new life
There are various national initiatives on social media including the daily offices. Archbishop Justin will publish reflections through the week and will pray the Exultet on Holy Saturday with reflections about ‘waiting in hope’. On Easter Sunday he will broadcast a service with the Bishop of Dover.
General Pattern of Services during normal times
Mid Week Eucharists
A mid-week Eucharist is available on Thursdays in the neighbouring Parish of Saxilby with Ingleby at St Botolph’s Church Hall starting at 9.30am.
General pattern of Sunday services
1st Sunday of the Month
10.30am Group Service – This service rotates between the four parish churches of the Stow Group. Please check with the churchwardens for the venue
2nd Sunday of the month
10.45am Eucharist, St. Mary’s, Stow. The form of worship used within the Stow Group is from Common Worship.
3rd Sunday of the Month
10.45am Eucharist, St. Mary’s, Stow.
4th Sunday of the Month
10.30am Family Worship. Normally at Sturton Village Hall. This is an informal and relaxed style of worship that is for all ages and for those with little or no experience of church or the Christian life. The worship time lasts about 45 minutes followed by refreshments and an opportunity to chat with others.
When there is a 5th Sunday of the Month
10.30am Eucharist. This is a combined Stow Group and Saxilby Group Service – This service rotates between the parish churches of the two groups. Please check with the churchwardens for latest venue.
