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Hinckley Methodist Church
Community Notices
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Photo
: C
ynth
ia J
ord
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Minister – Revd Wes Hampton 01455 234929
Senior Steward – Richard Smith 01455 449109
items for this Church News Sheet to
Greetings from our Superintendent the Rev Tim Woolley
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the tem-ple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sin-cere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2.42-48 NIV The familiar passage in Acts 2 is the fullest description we have of what the early church looked like. Characterised by devotion to sound teaching, to deep and rich fellowship, to eating together (one of the best bits!) and to pray-er. Accompanied by miraculous signs and wonders, characterised by abundant generosity, marked by faithful commitment to meeting together to praise God. Oh, and an attractiveness that produced growth. These qualities are also, I would want to contend, indicative of what the church has looked like when it has been its best down the ages. All these things seem, for example, to be characteristic of early Methodism under the leadership of John Wesley. During this time of great uncertainty and tragedy we could be forgiven for thinking that the question of whether we are being faithfully ‘church’ in light of the Acts 2 de-scription is way down the list of priorities. There are family members and friends to contact, food to be bought, distances to be observed, NHS workers to be applauded, legitimate questions to be asked about the government’s re-sponse to the crisis which engulfs us. All these things are vital and necessary, but so, I think, is the continued business of being church. In fact, those around us need us more than ever to be faithfully the people of God, the Body of Christ. In these unprecedented times we are having to discover again what it means to be faithfully church, but many of those aspects of Acts 2 are being enacted, albeit in unfamiliar ways. We are learning how to have fellowship to-gether on Facebook, Zoom and by telephone. Those of us who are able to are meeting together in worship and fellowship and the best part of that for many of us is the joy in the words of Charles Wesley ‘to see each other’s face’. (StF 456) (As well as receiving sound teaching from our ministers and local preach-ers too of course!) We are even, if we put the toaster on, able to eat together during the circuit Zoom prayer breakfast on May 23rd. There are also lots of examples of abundant generosity as we check on our neighbours and ensure they are provided for. And anecdotal evidence suggests a growth in people across the country joining in online worship and seeking prayer. We rejoice in this, as it indicates that for some people online worship is accessible in a way that entering our church buildings is not. We also recognise that for others of us meeting online is a pale reflection of meeting in our church buildings and that those who are unable to meet online are sorely missed and in our thoughts and prayers. And it is prayer that lies at heart of all this. All of God’s people, young or old, online or offline, at work or self-isolating can ‘devote themselves to prayer’ - one of the most important functions of the Church in this or indeed any other time. The world needs us more than ever, as bearers of the Gospel, to be the church – praising, meeting, sharing and praying. We may not feel that we have as yet seen many wonders or signs but the God of miracles we worship is still at work in the world in and through his church during this dark time, and He calls us to continue to be His faithful people. Stay safe and every blessing, Tim.
Resources for Worship for 3rd, 10th & 17th May Here is the link to the Worship from Home Sheet for Sunday 3rd May: https://www.methodist.org.uk/media/16878/3-may-worship-if-you-are-unable-to-attendchurch.pdf Sunday 10th May: https://www.methodist.org.uk/media/17028/10-may-worship-if-you-are-unable-to-attendchurch.pdf Sunday 17th May: https://www.methodist.org.uk/media/17031/17-may-worship-if-you-are-unable-to-attendchurch.pdf ROOTS During the pandemic ROOTS is offering free resources to use at home every week on the ROOTS website. See www.rootsontheweb.com/ Tuesday Zoom Bible Group We enjoyed our first Zoom Bible Class last Tuesday the 28th, starting under Gwen’s direction to study Philippians. Gwen provided notes for us to read prior to the meeting and this included a map of the area in which Paul was travelling as we thought about his first journey to Philippi which we read about in Acts. The map gave us a better understanding of his journey and we were challenged to think about the problems Paul may have encoun-tered. Zoom is a new tool that we are all learning about in order to be able to see and talk to each other during the “lock down”. We are combining two books: Lifebuilder series Philippians – Jesus our Joy, and Discipleship Ex-plored. If you would like to follow what we in the group are studying you can access Videos via U-Tube and just type in” Discipleship Explored” and you should be able to see 1-8 Episodes. We had lots of laughs on Tuesday as well as serious conversation, so we are all looking forward to our next “session”. Perhaps you could start a group on Zoom, it is free for a 40 mi-nute session. Happy Zooming – Cynthia Jordan. Prayer During this very difficult time for the world, we hear that large numbers of people are turning to prayer. We know how important prayer is, both in our personal life and in our life as a church. It is encouraging to know how many are joining in the prayer time at 12 noon, even though we are physically sep-arate from each other. Perhaps this is a good time to mention that ‘coming up’ is the period between Easter and Pentecost during which since 2016 all the churches in England have been asked to take part in Thy Kingdom Come This is an initiative where we all pray during those 10 days for others whom we know, to come to faith in Jesus. More about that soon. For me the time spent at home during these recent weeks has been enhanced by using the app Lectio365 which you can download to your phone or tablet. It gives a 10 minute daily devotional to read or listen to, and was recommended to us by Sheila Grice and Chris Newlyn, the circuit youth worker. The app is produced by the people who started the 24/7 prayer movement, and the cur-rent devotions are based on the Lord’s Prayer. The videos on their website – are also extremely helpful - go to the website https://www.24-7prayer.com/lectio365resources If I could sum up for you in a few words the teaching given to us about prayer it is Keep it simple, Keep it real, Keep it up. Greetings to everyone Gwen Coley
Prayers for week 4th May
Rainbow Prayers
Mon 4th May – Red – reminds us of love. Pray for those you love, your family and friends – we thank you for the love that they give to us too. Thank you God for loving us so much.
Tues 5th May – Orange – reminds us of fruit and food. Pray and give thanks for the variety of fruit, vegetables and food that we are able to eat that keeps us healthy. Thank you God that you created so many lovely things that feed us and give us the goodness that we need to live.
Wed 6th May – Yellow – reminds us of sunshine. Thank you God for the sun, that keeps us warm, helps things grow and can brighten up our lives. Thank God for its beautiful rays that shine on us and the world.
Thurs 7th May -Green – reminds us of the earth. Pray for the world as we stop and reflect in the business of our lives and re-flect on Gods wonderful creation. We pray and give thanks for the reduction in pollution – and we pray for healing of this world.
Friday 8th May – Blue – reminds us of water. Thank you God for the wonderful and creative way we use water in our day to day lives. For washing, cleaning, drinking, cooking and so much more. Give thanks for the clean water that we are given. We al-so remember today of those who gave
Sat 9th May – Indigo – reminds us of the wine at the last supper reminding us of the blood he shed for us. We thank you God for the sacrifices that Jesus made because of the love that God has for each and everyone of us.
Sunday 10th May – Violet -reminds us of purple and royalty. We take time to today to pray and reflect how majestic and awe-some God is. We thank you God for your power, your authority, your might, your grace , your love and so much more. Our God is an awesome God, he reigns from heaven above. With wis-dom, power and love. Our God is an awesome God.
Scout Group News
The Scout Group Exec met last week to update and assess the situation. All groups are being given challenges by their leaders to keep them involved during the lock down.
The meeting also agreed to donate to the Church what they would have paid in room use while they have not been meeting, up to September. £880.
Sadly they also learnt of the death of one of their past Scout leaders Bob Hodges. He along with his wife Wendy (a cub leader) were part of our group for many years, and would always come and share a meal with the cubs when they were at camp.
A Virtual Christian Aid Week
April and now May is beginning to feel a lot different this year! It is for all of us, but usually at this time of year Celia and I, with the help of a band of vol-unteers, have been chasing around collecting, sorting, washing and pricing bric a brac for the Christian Aid Fair (Saturday April25th) and then sorting out bags of envelopes for the collectors who go house to house during Christian Aid Week Sunday 10th to Sat. 16th May. We have certainly had the benefit of plenty of rest this year! The downside of course is that the work of Christian Aid continues and is even more urgent with the corona-virus now affecting communities already facing the daily reality of the climate crisis. Its ok washing your hands if you have plenty of water! The Christian Aid week is the main source of funds for this charity and this year there will be no envelopes or special events so funds, will be down by millions of pounds. Christian Aid asks us to pray without ceasing.
“Love never fails. Even in the darkest moments, love gives hope. Love com-pels us to stand together in solidarity with our neighbours near and far.
During this period of pandemic and great anxiety for many, we pray for all those who are unwell or fearful, for all those taking on extra caring duties and for all those who are now worried about what the future holds.”
You can also donate directly to Christian Aid at christianaid.org.uk, by phone 020 7620 4444 or send Christian Aid, 35-41 Lower Marsh, London SE1 7RL. Alternately, we can pay it in for you in due course. We may be able to hold some of our events later in the year.
The quiz did raise some good funds for Christian Aid. We raised £160 and altogether with other churches £364 was raised. I’m attaching the answers to the quiz and hope they can circulate with this notice, but if not I can send by email. ([email protected]). Best Wishes, keep safe, Margaret and Celia.
Money Matters—The Lockdown has also impacted on finances for individu-als and organisations. Please see if you can are able to pay directly into our church’s account
Our bank details are as follows: Sort code: 77-15-15 Account number : 20138168 Account name : Hinckley Methodist Church
From Liz Toone Hi everyone I hope you are all coping with the isolation and doing your daily excises with Joe Wicks on utube, and your daily walk ignor-ing everyone and passing at least 6ft from one another. I think if we keep up with all the fitness videos we will be able to do the marathon and the Olym-pics next year!!! It’s funny how little things are making us happy now for example my daughter Sarah was over the moon last week when she got a bag of plain flour she was so excited it was the first thing she told me when we had our Saturday morning phone call. I really never thought that the high light of my week would be queuing at Asda for an hour to get the shopping. But I have been putting my time to good use thinking about when and if we get back together again what wonderful activities we will be able to do! We have had some funny moments and been able to have a laugh. My grandsons are bemoaning the fact that they need a haircut but I don’t think either of them will let Sarah or Emma any where near the scissors. Like everyone else we had birthdays during the lockdown and not been able to celebrate they were milestone birthdays as well. Jacob turned 17 on April 9th would you believe and is dying to have a driving lesson also my niece became a teenager this week but with technology we were able to celebrate in a different way. I hope we will be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel soon and be back to normal if that’s possible. Keep safe and positive. Thinking of you all. Liz.
Wes's weekly Bible reflections can be found on our Hinckley Methodist Circuit website or by setting up a 'subscription' to Fred's YouTube page. The link to the last posting is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qozCmcZbOao, with the new one going up every Sunday morning. They are also posted on our Facebook page under 'Hinckley Methodist Church'. Find us and follow us.
Dr Beardsmore. Jane Clinton tells us that one of the town’s doctors, Dr. Beardsmore, died on Saturday 25th May from pneumonia. Many in the town will remember him.
