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Weekly Pew Sheet, the Second Sunday in Lent, 17th March 2019

.190317 Pew Sheet

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CHRISTIAN AID WEEK - Sunday 12thMay to Saturday 18thMay

CHRISTIAN AID WEEK - Sunday 12thMay to Saturday 18thMay

Christian Aid History

Christian Aid’sground breaking work began in 1945, when it was founded by British and Irish churches to help refugees following the Second World War.

For more than 70 years, they have provided humanitarian relief and long-term development support for poor communities worldwide, while highlighting suffering, tackling injustice and championing people’s rights.

Where Christian Aid works

Christian Aidworks with people living in poverty in some of the poorest communities around the world.  Christian Aid also works with some of the world's most vulnerable communities in 37 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean.  When emergenciesstrike in these countries, they are there before, during and after to save lives and support people in the long term.   They also work in other countries and regions through the ACT Alliance and other partners, particularly around humanitarian emergencies such as the refugee crisis.

What Christian Aid does

Christian Aid works with local partners and communities to fight injustice, respond to humanitarian emergencies, campaign for change, and help people claim the services and rights they are entitled to.

Can you help us to do our bit?

In St. Ippolyts and Gosmore we collect for Christian Aid by delivering envelopes on one day and then going back and collecting them a day or so later.  Last year we raised almost £800 for this very worth-while charity. If you would be prepared to help collect (just in a small area) please contact Barbara, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.or tel. 01462-421647.

                                                                                    Barbara Thomas

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CHURCH SPRING CLEANING

We need as many people as possible to come and help spring clean the church.  The high up areas will be done on Tuesday 12thMarchfrom 7.00pm. and the lower clearing up, cleaning and polishing on Wednesday 13thMarchfrom 9.30am.  All welcome on either day so that the church will be looking at its best in time for our Easter celebrations.

                                                                                                 Jane Veasey

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Message from the FRIENDS OF ST. IPPOLYTS CHURCH

FRIENDS OF ST. IPPOLYTS CHURCH

Lent Lunches

We will be serving Lent Lunches in St. Ippolyts Parish Hall from Ash Wednesday 6thMarch until Wednesday 17thApril, at 12.45pm. 

till 2.00pm.  A minimum donation of £2.50 per serving is requested, with donations for seconds.  Proceeds will be shared between the USPG and the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Everyone welcome so please come along and enjoy our delicious homemade soups and fresh bread.

Easter Decorating

We will be decorating the church for Easter from 9.00am. on Saturday 20thApril. Further details will be in April Pax.

Dates of next meetings:

Monday 8thJuly - 2.00pm. - to discuss arrangements for the Flower Festival.

Tuesday 10thSeptember - 10.30 for 11.00am.

Both meetings to be held at Little Almshoe House.

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Easter Lilies

EASTER LILIES

Donations towards the cost of Easter lilies can be placed in the envelopes provided at the back of the church.  If you would like to make your donation in memory of a departed loved one please write their name on the envelope.  The envelopes should then be placed in the wall safe by the South Door.  A list of all the names will be placed on the Altar and read out on Easter Day.

                                                                                              Jane Veasey

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ANNUAL CHURCH MEETINGS - ST. IPPOLYTS

ANNUAL CHURCH MEETINGS - ST. IPPOLYTS

“The Annual Parishioners Meeting” (to elect churchwardens) and “The Annual Parochial Church Meeting of the Parish of St. Ippolyts” will be held in St. Ippolyts Church at 7.00pm. on Tuesday 9thApril 2019.  Everyone is welcome to attend but only those on the St. Ippolyts Church Electoral Roll may vote at the second meeting.  The meeting is the Church’s AGM and there will be a review of 2018 with reports from the Churchwardens, our Treasurer, and St. Ippolyts School, as well as the appointment of officers, sidesmen and independent financial examiners. To make the evening ‘go with a flow’ there will be wine, soft drinks and nibbles available.

The Church Electoral Roll is closed before the Annual Parochial Church Meeting, on Monday 18thMarch 2019.  This year everyone has to renew their application to be on the church electoral roll, so please make sure you complete one of the forms, which are available at the back of the church. 

We are looking for new members of our Parochial Church Council.  If you are interested in playing a key role in the future of our church please consider putting yourself forward for election, it is not a particularly onerous task!  Those wishing to be elected can put their names on the election list at the back of the church.  In addition we are still seeking a treasurer to take over from Michael.  If you feel you could spare the time to play an important roll in the life of our church please consider taking on this task.

             Michael Hooper

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News of 2018 Shoe Box appeal

2018 SHOE BOX APPEAL

No, it’s not time to start thinking about this year’s one just yet, but I have just received an update from Link to Hope about the 2018 appeal which reads as follows:

‘A huge thank you to everyone that took part - we couldn’t have done it without you.  Sending 40,000 shoeboxes to Eastern Europe is no mean feat and we are so grateful to all the schools, churches, businesses and individuals who sent their love in a shoebox to poor and marginalised people in over 400 locations in Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria and the Ukraine.’

                                                                                             Arthur Sibun

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Weekly Pew Sheet, Quinquagesima, the Sunday next before Lent, 3rd March 2019

.190303 Pew Sheet

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"Time Flies", a thought from Revd Ginni.

TIME FLIES !

It seems only 5 minutes ago that I was writing my letter for the first edition of PAX for 2019 and thanking everybody for their help over Christmas.....and now, in the blink of an eye, I’m focussing on Easter!  How did that happen so fast?!!  Sometimes it seems like the world is on ‘fast-forward’.  My grand-mother often said that time goes faster the older you get and I’m beginning to believe that to be true!  Since I returned from my post-Christmas break, this last month has certainly seemed to gallop by at an alarming rate.

I spent a glorious week in Norfolk at the end of January and whilst much of Hertfordshire seemed to shiver in the snow, I was strolling on the beach with my dog in the blazing sun......well ok, perhaps not exactly ‘blazing’ but it did feel more like spring than winter!  That week seemed to go on for ages.  I enjoyed leisurely breakfasts as I watched the sun rise, walked for miles along the coast with Toby, my dog, taking in the peaceful beauty of empty beaches that seemed to go on for ever.  I read books in the afternoon and sat with a glass or two of wine to watch the sun set, marvelling as the bright red ball of fire seemed to extinguish itself in the sea. It was like someone had pressed the pause button on life and I could really take in every minute detail of the world.  I guess that’s what holidays should really be about.

And then I came home!  As soon as I picked up my diary, the world seemed to gather speed at an alarming rate and before I knew it I was back to eating my breakfast whilst I worked at my computer, juggling regular commitments with whatever crisis had just arisen and squeezing in a hurried dog walk before he drove me mad with his sad little eyes and annoying whine!!  And here I am, one month on, Christmas forgotten and Easter looming, wondering just how we all came to live life at this mad pace.

I think that perhaps the answer that came to me was that we, as a society, have lost the knack of simply enjoying each moment as we live it, always looking to the next thing rather than savouring what is in front of us.  When did that become the norm, and how can we as individuals fight against it in order to reclaim a little more balance in our lives?

I remember when I was a child that I was never allowed to gobble my food whilst doing something else, nor was I allowed to get away with shovelling down a meal quickly in order to get out to play sooner as, even if I finished first, I still had to wait ‘until my dinner went down’ before I could go out!  It occurred to me as I pondered the pace of my life now that I was still in a rush to get to the next thing.....here I am, bemoaning how quickly time passes and looking forwards to Easter.....whilst forgetting that in order to get to the joys that come at Easter, we

have to journey through Lent first!

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Lent is a time when we should stop and take stock of where we are at, a time for reflection and change and a refocussing on Christ and his ultimate sacrifice for us all.  Traditionally, the forty days in Lent were marked by fasting, both from foods and festivities, and by other acts of penance.  However, in modern times, observers often choose to give up an action of theirs considered to be

a vice, or add something that helps them to come a little closer to God, and also to give of their time or money to a charitable purpose or organization.

So I think that this year, at the grand old age of 53, I may finally take some advice from my mother and grand-mother and try to learn to slow down a little!  I’m going to try to journey through Lent at a gentler pace and give up looking at the next thing before I’ve had time to enjoy the present.....or that’s the plan at least!!  Perhaps if I can make my Lenten discipline the promise to spend breakfast each morning savouring the moment, noticing what I am eating and allowing God the chance to get a word in edgeways before I launch myself into the day, I might just arrive at Easter looking a little less dishevelled!!

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Church Electoral Roll

To be eligible to vote on church matters you must be registered on the St Ippolyts Church Electoral Roll. This is renewed every three years so it is important that you reapply to be on the Electoral Roll. Forms are situated at the back of the Church. Just complete and leave in the box provided

We look forward to you joining those already registered.

If you have any questions speak to either, Ginni, Howell, Michael or Jane.

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Weekly Pew Sheet, Sexaesima, the Second Sunday before lent, 24th Febraury 2019

190224 Pew Sheet

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PAX SUBSCRIPTIONS

PAX SUBSCRIPTIONS

Please don’t forget that annual subscriptions are now due and will be collected shortly.  The magazine costs 40p. per issue, making the annual subscription £4.  (Additional donations always welcome so that the printing cost can be fully covered.)

If you live in the Benefice and don’t currently have PAX delivered and would like this to be arranged, please contact me on 01462-453541.

                                                                                          Clare Larsen

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BEER AND HYMNS

BEER AND HYMNS

Sunday 3rdMarch - 6.00pm.

at The Buck’s Head, Little Wymondley.

Reverend Ginni and the congregation of St. Mary’s Church, Little Wymondley, warmly invite you to join us at The Buck’s Head pub for a service of Beer and Hymns on Sunday 3rdMarch at 6.00pm. It is exactly what it says on the tin - although you are welcome to swap the beer for a drink of your choice! Everyone is welcome to what promises to be a lively evening and if you have a favourite hymn that you feel could be sung with gusto with a pint in your hand then drop me an email by Sunday 24thFebruary and I’ll do my best to include it.

With love - Ginni

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REVISION OF ELECTORAL ROLL

REVISION OF ELECTORAL ROLL 

Every six years there has to be a revision of the church electoral roll.  It was last done in 2013.  All the churches in the benefice will have to revise their rolls.

Every person already on it as well as anyone who is not already on and would like to be needs to fill in an electoral roll application form from the church that they attend.  This has to be done before the closure of the electoral roll revision which takes place between 15 - 28 days before the Annual Parochial Church Meeting.

There is also an Ethnic Monitoring Form for the diocese to be completed.

Please see in your church when that is and when you need to have handed in your application form by.  There will be notices about all of this as well as the application forms inside St. Ippolyts Church and in the porches of both Little and Great Wymondley Churches.  There will also be notices about the APCM’s and about who can be on the Electoral Roll. 

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Happy New Year, a thought from Revd. Ginni.

I hope you’ve all had a lovely Christmas and managed to find some time to relax and enjoy time with those you love.

Christmas seems a long time ago already but it was lovely to see so many of you at our various services.  St. Ippolyts started early with the Crib Festival at the beginning of December which was, as usual, a wonderful event attended by many families, and then we celebrated our Service of Nine Lessons and Carols on Sunday 16th.  This was closely followed by the Nativity Procession at Little Wymondley which saw over 150 people processing through the village led by Angelica the goat and Fanando and Hector the fairy-light festooned Alpacas, who I called my ‘happy camels’ - because they had no hump!!  Boom Boom!  

There were Christingle Services in both Little Wymondley and St. Ippolyts, who also had a Crib Service, all topped off by Great Wymondley’s Living Nativity service which saw your gullible Vicar here playing the Angel Gabriel.  What’s so bad about that you may ask?  Well, the villagers of Great Wymondley decided in their wisdom that the Angel had to proclaim her words ‘from on high’.......and as a zip wire wasn’t a viable option, they sent me up a rather large ladder in the churchyard!!  Alas, the ground was soft and the Vicar large, and the forces of gravity predictable, and by the time I had recited my lines, the ‘Angel Gabriel’ was leaning at a precarious 45 degree angle, propped up heroically by a brave parishioner (Mike Bradley Russell, you are a hero)!!!

As Christmas Eve drew to a close, we gathered at St. Ippolyts Church for Midnight Mass where our Benefice Reader, Howell Davies preached the best sermon I’ve heard in years and brought us all beautifully back to what Christmas is really all about.  I went to bed tired but happy and awoke refreshed and ready for our joyful Christmas Day service where the whole Benefice came together to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  Thank you to everyone whose faith, hard work, and dedication made these services possible.

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And now, by the time you read this, we will be a whole month into the New Year.....and probably three weeks away from when we first forgot our New Year’s resolutions!!!  I must admit, that I decided NOT to even attempt to make any resolutions this year because it just seems to set me up for failure, and no-one needs that in January!!  I do however plan to

get back on my diet again after my holiday - I am nothing if not a ‘trier’ - so you may yet see a resurgence of the Reinventing the Vicar slot!

Whatever you have planned for this year, I pray that you will take time out to do the things that energize you and find time for the people who matter most.

Wishing you all a blessed and happy New Year.

          With love - Ginni

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Weekly Pew Sheet - The Second Sunday after Epiphany, 20th January 2019

.190120 Pew Sheet

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JUBILATE CHOIR CONCERT 17th January - CANCELLED

We are sorry but our concert has had to be cancelled due to unforeseen circunstances.

 

Best Wishes

 

St Ippolyts PCC

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Weekly Pew Sheet, "The Epiphany", 6th January 2019

.190106 Pew Sheet

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"Rejoice and be Merry" - a concert by the Jubilate Choir, 17th January 2019

Following the success of last seasons post-Christmas concert the “Jubilate Choir” will present another festive evening “Rejoice and be Merry” at St Ippolyts Church on Thursday 17 January at 07:30 p.m.. Tickets at £6 to include wine and nibbles will be available for purchase on the door. Do come and join us for what will be a very enjoyable evening.
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Friends to clear Christmas decorations from St Ippolyts Church, 7th January 2019 at 09:30

After Epiphany please come and help the Friends clear the Christmas decorations from St Ippolyts Church starting at 09:30, Monday 7th January 2019

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