“We exist to receive and share the love of God”

Pentecost Newsletter – Sunday 31st May Issue 12

Welcome to this twelfth newsletter during this time when we cannot meet for public worship. This e-mail also includes the prayers, reflections and readings for tomorrow and some exciting news!

WORSHIP AND PRAYER CONTINUE I usually suggest using the service received with this e-mail at 10am, the time we would usually meet in church so we are praying and worshiping together still even though we are apart, but this week I am going to offer the Eucharist at 9.30am so that I have time to prepare for something happening later in the day! More of that later!

You could join with the National service being broadcast on the Church of England Facebook page at 9am (or watch later) and on the Church of England website www.churchofengland.org. This week’s service will have contributions from Archbishop Justin, Archbishop Sentamu and His Holiness Pope Francis!

The Pentecost service from Manchester Cathedral Facebook page on Sunday at 10.30am is being led by Bishop Mark, the Bishop of Middleton from his home.

Another option is to watch the Sunday Worship programme on BBC 1 – check time in listings as they keep changing the time! At the moment it is listed as 10.45am on BBC1. This Sunday it is coming from Hereford Cathedral before the closure of churches was announced and The Right Reverend Richard Jackson , the Bishop of Hereford leads the service. Sunday Worship continues also at 8am on Radio 4.

Join us at 11.30pm for zoom coffee time. The Meeting ID and password remain the same. Meeting ID 258 831 8643 and Password: Coffee 123. (Don’t forget capitial C and space after coffee) It will end by 12.10pm this week.

Although we are unable to meet together to worship and pray we can still continue to join together each day in prayer at 8 – in the morning and evening. The work of praying the daily office and offering the Eucharist for and on behalf of the parish continues each day at the Vicarage, or now I am allowed, on Sunday’s, in Church. People can participate with this on Facebook and twitter too. If you have any prayer requests please get in touch with me, Revd Liz, 07725739506 or Fr Jack 07999836832 and we will gladly pray for specific prayer intentions. .

Revd Liz’s Sponsored 300 mile walk and Virtual Pilgrimage to Lindisfarne

On Monday 25th May the church celebrated the Venerable Bede, who wrote the most complete History of Christian England up the year 729. He was born in Northumbria in 670 and at the age of 7 he was given to the monastery of St Peter and St Paul at Wearmouth. He then moved to Jarrow where he lived as a monk for the rest of his life. After I said Morning Prayer on Monday remembering St Bede I set out on a walk to pray. As I walked up the hill to Harsthead Pike from Knott Hill Reservoir an idea emerged in my head almost fully formed!

I have been worrying about how church will be when we return and how people are being spiritually fed without us being able to gather for the Eucharist and I have been worrying about how church will be able to pay our way without our usual fundraising efforts. I have been offering these worries to God in prayer.

The idea of a sponsored walk combined with a Virtual Pilgrimage to Lindisfarne, a place I love and have a deep spiritual connection with, seemed to be an answer to prayer for some of those worries at least. I will physically walk 300 miles around the area between Pentecost, 31 May and St Aidan’s Day, 31 August.

Sponsored Walk I will be asking for sponsorship for this challenge and the proceeds will go to St John’s church. People will be able to use the Donate Now Button on the Easyfundraising website. There is a link to do this on this newsletter and there is a link on our A Church Near You Page. Simply scroll down till you see a box that says Donate Now then click on the arrow and it will take you to the Easyfundraising Donate Now part of the website where you can donate the pre-set amounts or an amount of your choice and if you are eligible to Gift Aid you can do that too!

Virtual Pilgrimage Where does the virtual pilgrimage come in? I hear you cry! I have planned a walking route to Lindisfarne calling at various holy sites along the way – this route is 300 miles long. I will plot on the map each mile I physically walk around this area and in my prayer and I hope in yours too we will enter on a pilgrimage to Lindisfarne.

At each stopping off point on the Virtual Pilgrimage I will share with you prayers and liturgies and stories of the place. We can learn together and pray together! There is a pilgrimage prayer which can be used every day by all of us and for all of us as we seek to walk closely with God in our pilgrimage through life.

Bishop Mark has recorded a blessing for me that I will share on social media and via e-mail tomorrow as I set off on this pilgrimage on Sunday at 12.30pm. I also have a surprise blessing coming from another very special place – you’ll have to wait till tomorrow to find out about that!

The first stage of the pilgrimage if I were really walking all the way to Lindisfarne would take me through Mossley and Uppermill so I will walk there (and back again!) as my first walk. Revd David Warner and Revd Penny Warner will welcome me (at a distance!) to St John’s Roughtown and Revd Canon Sharon Jones will welcome me (again at a distance!) to St Chad’s Uppermill. My first virtual stop outside the diocese will be Huddersfield Parish Church, and Revd Rachel will send a greeting!

300 miles over 92 days equates to an average of 3 miles walking each day. Some days I will do more and others less or none – but the aim is that I will have walked the 300 miles by the 31st August on the day the church celebrates St Aidan of Lindisfarne!

I hope you will all support me first and foremost by prayer. I hope you will also support me by sponsoring me and asking your friends and family to consider sponsoring me too! The target is set at £1000! It would be great if we could smash that! Let’s share this pilgrimage with our friends and our families – pass on the e-mails, tell them to follow the progress on Facebook and Twitter and our website and A Church Near You Page. It is Pentecost and is it said in our service today we are driven out into the wild places of this world – so join with me on this pilgrimage – a true journey of the heart. Revd Liz A Blessing from Bishop David

Hurst Virtual Pilgrimage Prayer

Depart Arrive Miles

St John's Hurst St John's Roughtown 2.8

St John's Roughtown St Chad's Uppemill 3.5

St Chad's Uppermill Huddersfield Parish Church 15

Huddersfield Parish Church CR Mirfield 4

CR Mirfield Wakefield Cathedral 10

Wakefield Cathedral St Helen's Hemsworth 8.5

St Helen's Hemsworth Bishopsthorpe 28

Bishopsthorpe York Minster 3.4

York Minster Easingwold 13

Easingwold Stanbrook Abbey 9.3

Standbrook Abbey Ampleforth Abbey 4.6

Ampleforth Abbey St Hilda's Ampleforth 1.1

St Hilda's Amplforth St Mary's Lastingham 15

St Mary's Lastingham St Hilda's Priory 21

St Hilda's Priory Whitby Abbey 1.7

ST HILD'S WAY

Whitby Abbey St Mary's Whitby 0

St Mary's Whitby St Hilda's Whitby 0.7

St Hilda's Whitby Sandsend 2.3

Sandsend Runswick Bay 4.6

Runswick Bay Staithes 4

Staithes Skinningrove 4.9

Skinningrove Huntcliffe Roman Station 3.3

Huntcliffe Roman Station Saltburn 0.2

Saltburn Transporter Bridge 13

Transporter Bridge Greatham Creek 4.2

Greatham Creek Seaton Carew 6.7

Seaton Carew St Hilda's Hartlepool 4.7

St Hilda's Hartlepool St Aidan's Hartlepool 3.4

St Aidan's Hartlepool Durham Cathedral 18

Durham Cathedral St Peter's Monkwearmouth 14

St Peter's Monkwearmouth St Paul's Jarrow 7.5

St Paul's Jarrow Newcastle Cathedral 6.7

Newcastle Cathedral Alnmouth Friary 34

Alnmouth Friary Holy Trinty Embleton 9

Holy Trinity Embleton St Aidan's Bamburgh 9.2

St Aidan's Bamburgh Lindisfarne 16

307.3

A reminder about giving and fundraising Our building is only closed temporarily – we need to be ready to open our doors again for public worship as soon as Government restrictions are lifted. In the meantime, bills keep arriving – we still have to pay for things like insurance for example. I know this is a very tough time economically for many but I hope you will continue to make your weekly offerings. If you did this by envelope or via a cash donation on the plate, I would ask that you keep on putting this money aside each week until we are able to be together again. If you would like advise on how you can continue to give regularly please contact Janet Matley on 07528 386771. If you would like to make a direct payment to church the bank details are below: Co-operative Bank St John the Evangelist Hurst Sort code 08 92 99 Acc no 65317356 EASYFUNDRAISING – don’t forget to shop through Easyfundraising!

We are also able to donate when we shop by going through the easyfundraising website www.easyfundraising.org.uk or app.

Don’t forget you are now able to donate to St John’s directly through the Easyfundraising page. Click here Easyfundraising Donate Now So if you want to make a one off donation you can use this to do so and if you pay tax you can tick for the donation to be gift aided – its very easy! This month £2.14 has been raised towards St John’s Funds – and a total of £289.57 since we registered with Easy Fundraising. Why not download the app or the toolbar and every time you shop online go through Easyfundraising to raise money for St John’s at no cost to you! I’m sure many of us are using online shopping for all manner of things at the moment! If you never done it before please do next time you shop. Help us raise even more! As Tesco say – Every Little Helps! Thank you to those who have already donated what they would usually spend on fundraising events at St John’s each month - it is much appreciated! Next month we would usually be having our Summer Fair – please think about what you would usually spend on donations for the stalls, and on what you might spend on the day and think about giving that as a one off donation. You can do this through an online donation or by sending a cheque to Janet Matley,our treasurer at 21 The Mere, Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 9NH made out to St John’s Hurst PCC Account. Thank you again so much to all who have responded - it is very much appreciated! Thank you also to Janet for safely picking up donations and collections from folk!

Day by Day with St John Daily Readings – Stage 3

You may choose to read either the Old Testament or the New Testament readings below in addition to the psalm and psalm prayer. 31 May Genesis 11:1-9 Acts 2:14-21 Pentecost 1 June 1 Samuel 2:1-10 John 3:25-30 Visitation of the BVM Trfd 2 June Joshua 2 Romans 1:18-end 3 June Joshua 3 Romans 2:1-16 4 June Joshua 4:1-5:1 Romans 2:17-end 5 June Joshua 5:2-end Romans 3:1-20 Boniface (Bishop, martyr) 6 June Joshua 6:1-20 Mark 1:1-13 7 June Exodus 3:1-6, 13-15 John 16:5-15 Trinity Sunday

Janet’s alpine garden with patriotic radishes & lettuces Gillian Oruche’s flowers and cormorants at Chadwick Dam!

Pentecost Flowers

PHOTO BOOK - A REMINDER I said that I would produce a photo book that would serve as a record of this time for our archives – we are living through history in the making in a way we perhaps haven’t since the Second World War. I am hoping it will also be a beautiful book to keep, to reflect with and to pray with. My hope is also that it will be a fundraiser for our church – in this time when we are unable to raise funds in the usual ways with raffles, coffee mornings, fairs etc. I will begin working on this book and continue to add pictures in over the coming few weeks. I will also include pictures that people have been sending me. If you would like to contribute to this pictorial lockdown record please e-mail or message me pictures either of your worship at home, your prayer corner, your candle lit on a Sunday as we pray for those affected by COVID-19, of your street clapping for the NHS and other front line staff, your street playing bingo, or pictures from your walks or your garden beginning to bloom. Thank you to all who have been sending in pictures. Below are a few pictures from me, and from you, this week. I am saving some of the pictures sent for the book! You are just getting a taster on these newsletters!

Equine Friends

Mossley Churches Foxglove and bee View of Manchester

Light a candle of hope in your window each Sunday at 7pm as you pray for all affected by the coronavirus and our country and our world in this time of crisis. Send in your pictures of your candles of hope.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has launched the Daily HOPE line with free reflections, readings hymns and prayers. It’s completely free - and updated daily. There are various options when you ring so there is always something new to listen to. Share the number with your friends.

Charles and Ann Clap for Carers! The Clap for Carers was the last one last week until 25th March 2021

Heritage Open Days Janet Matley attended a zoom meeting with other Sarah Holloway from the Heritage Open Day’s office along with other people from heritage venues in Yorkshire, Liverpool and Manchester. At the moment, government guidance dependent it is likely that we will participate in some way. Watch this space!

Apps you might find useful for prayer.