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Church notice sheet - 10 January 2010

Readings

9:00am - Psalm 42 & 43 and Matthew 11:25-30
11:00am - Matthew 11:25-30

God Is Closer Than You Think

John Ortburg will be familiar to anybody who has read or seen "If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out Of the Boat".

Our new DVD series for homegroups this term is called "God Is Closer Than You Think". John Ortburg wonderfully combines humour and seriousness, as you will see in the clips we will be showing over the next couple of weeks.

Despite his many books, and worldwide fame John Ortburg is an incredibly humble man. He is one of those writers who inspire us not by their "greatness" but by their ordinariness. In fact, this DVD is about the ordinariness of the Christian life. In a day when more and more people are trying to find God in the extraordinary, John helps us to discover God in the day-to-day.

ROCK Project

We are pleased to announce that the ROCK Project (Refurbishment Of the Church Kitchen) will commence at 8:00am on Monday 18th January.

There will be some disruption to the users of St. John's during this time. One decision that has been made is to withdraw the coffee facilities after the services until work is complete. Once the work is finished we will celebrate with refreshments in our new kitchen and room). We are sorry for this inconvenience but it wouldn't be practical with the kitchen being out of use trying to struggle with limited sinks etc.

It is estimated that this work could take around 6 weeks so we do ask for your patience.

It will also necessitate the closing of the creche area during the work. The creche for the time being on a Sunday morning will now be located in the old vestry. We are sorry for this inconvenience and have notified all church user groups.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact Pauline Davis or Andrew Carpenter. We will keep you updated on this project as it progresses.

St John’s House Party at Lindors 26-28 February

It is now time to pay the balance of the money for those going on the Church House at Lindors Country House Hotel, less the deposit of £25.00 per adult. Could you please let Rod Mortimer have a cheque made out to St Johns PCC, no later than 21 January 2010. Once the cheques have been received details of how to get there plus your Room number will be sent/handed to you. The amounts for any child will need to be paid in full, where applicable.

Praying for others

At St. John's we have two Prayer Circles which come into operation when anyone in our congregation needs prayer or finds themselves in a distressing or anxious situation. Anyone can ask for prayer at any time by contacting the Prayer Circle Co-ordinator, Jean Dean. If you would like to pray for others by being part of the Prayer Circle, please contact Jean who will be happy to tell you how it works and to answer your questions.

Jars of Grace

Keep bringing them in! So far we have received 72 Jars/gifts and the total is £2,197 including the Christmas Offerings and tax refunds to come on Gift-Aided Jars and donations. This means we are slightly down on last year at this stage (75 Jars/gifts and £2,300), and have some way to go to beat last year's record total of £2,591.

If you didn't use a Jar of Grace at mealtimes, you can still give to the appeal! Cheques should be made payable to St. John's PCC.

A new way to give to God's work at St. John's

Do you complete a Self-Assessment tax return? If so, here's a new way you can contribute to God's work at St. John's. On the tax return form you are given the opportunity to nominate a charity to receive all or part of any tax repayment due to you. The repayment donation will then be paid directly into the St. John's bank account with Gift Aid added even when the donor wishes to remain anonymous. All you have to do is enter our special identification code (GAU27DG) on your Self-Assessment tax return. It's as easy as that! If you would like more information about this, or other, ways to give to God's work at St. John's, please speak to our Treasurer, Andrew.

So you think you know your church?

The Christmas and New Year quiz was evidently too daunting for most of you! Andrew received only three entries and they all scored 17.5 marks out of 20. And so, being the generous person he is, Andrew has awarded prizes to all three winners - Pauline Davis, Jean Dean and Rod & Sharon Mortimer.

Well done to them all - they are obviously the people to talk to if you want to know more about St. John's, Haydon Wick!

Psalms - the sermon series

The book of Psalms is a book of genuine human emotion.

Some Psalms are joyful, very suitable for singing in the sunshine. We find the psalmist, celebrating, rejoicing, worshipping and laughing.

Others are songs for the night. In then we find lamenting, the bitterness of grief, depression, loss and sorrow.

The Psalms allow us to read over the shoulder of godly people who've walked this earth before us, and to hear what they have said to God in times of deep joy and unbearable stress.

Over the course of this sermon series we will look at several aspects of human life as reflected by the psalmist. We begin with three songs sung of the night:

In our last series on Corinthians we saw something of the self-deception of the "super apostles", who claimed to live above these things. But Paul is more honest. He admits he has to deal with them, just like the Psalmist.

One of the reasons that people sometimes fail to stay the course in the Christian life, is that they have never come to terms with the fact that such emotions are a reality for Christians. Or if they have, they don't want to admit it, for fear of seeming less than spiritual.

When we read the Psalms, we come face-to-face with what faith can really be like for Christians in difficult times. But in reading them we find new strength for the daily journey.

A Thought for the New Year

This little poem was written by the 17th century monk Brother Lawrence, a man who celebrated the ordinary. This ties in very well with our current homegroup series:

Lord of pots and pans and things,
Since I've no time to be
A saint by doing lovely things,
Or watching late with thee,
Or dreaming in the dawnlight,
Or storming heaven's gates...
Make me a saint by getting meals
And washing up the plates.

Remembering the past - blessing the future

In 2008, PCC set up the St. John's Memorial Fund to be used to further and assist ministry within the parish, and not for the general running or maintenance expenditure which we meet from the regular offerings of our members. If you would like to know more about how the Fund is financed and about the memorial plaques which you may have seen on the chairs in church, please pick up a leaflet from the table in the church foyer, or speak to our Treasurer, Andrew.

Parish Office

The Parish Office is open on Wednesday and Friday mornings from 9am to 1pm. Please provide all items for the bulletin in writing first thing on Wednesday please!

Do you buy on line?

If so, please consider buying through http://www.buy.at/StjohnsHW. The church receives commission from 2% to 12% on anything you purchase.

There are over 100 retailers involved (including M&S, Amazon, John Lewis, Comet) some of which offer exclusive discounts and promotions - and best of all ... there is no extra cost to the purchaser!

Tape Ministry

If you or someone you know would like a recording of the service, please contact Nigel Crowhurst, our Tape Co-ordinator.

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Page last updated: 15 January 2010