St Mary’s
Monthly Missive
November 2014
The Rev’d Becky Leach – Associate Vicar at St Mary’s
Tel: 01582 966068. e-mail: associate.vicar
@stmarys.parishofharpenden.org
The Rev’d Professor Nicolas Goulding – Assistant Priest at St Mary’s.
Notices
Alternative Worship Service - Sunday 9th November at 6.30pm. This will be a quiet
reflective service with prayer stations on the theme of remembrance.
Bible Reading Fellowship Home Group – Friday 21 November at 2.15pm a second
look at ‘The Age of the Saints’ and ‘Suffering, death and hope’.
New Parish Youth Group (S,A.S) – For school years 5 – 9. The Autumn Programme is
available at the back of church. This month we meet on Sun 23 November, 5.00-7.00
pm at the Scout Hall, Kinsbourne Green. The theme is ‘Darkness to Light’, and we will
be heading out across the Common in the dark for a scavenger hunt…so please bring
torches. To book please contact Sally Hart via the Parish Office.
Parish Advent Quiet Day – Saturday 29th November at All Saints Church. Please see
separate info about this and sign up on the sheet provided. The guest speaker will be
the Revd Canon Guy Buckler, retired priest and Third Order Franciscan.
Admission of Children to Communion – three of the children from St Mary’s have
been taking part in the preparation classes to receive communion: Sophie Psaila,
Gracie and Henry Pigott. They will be admitted to communion during the 10am service
on Advent Sunday, 30th November. Please keep them in your prayers as they prepare
for this important milestone in their faith journey, and come along to support them in
this service.
Advent Carol Service – Sunday 30th November 6.30 pm at St Nick’s Church,
Harpenden, or an Advent Meditation Service at All Saints Church.
Generous Living and Giving – a heartfelt thank you to you all for giving so generously
of your time, your talents and your money in recent months. We have managed to
increase the giving in the Parish this year by £40 thousand which is a wonderful
response to our stewardship request to try to reach a target of £60 thousand. If there
are still people who would like to join the Planned Giving Scheme please pick up a
form from the back of church, or speak to Becky, Fred or Nina for further information.
Harvest Supper - Many thanks to the team that organized this. We raised £551.50 for
the Bishop’s Harvest Appeal and FCN (Farming Community Network).
Harvest Festival Service – Thanks to Ian and Gillian Pigott for their warm hospitality
at the new Farm School at Annables Farm.
Hymn Books – If you would like to keep one of the existing red hymn books please let
Becky know. Anyone is free to keep one, but if you would like to make a donation to
church for it then that would be appreciated. All the other remaining red hymn books
will be given to Jeremy Sykes Church in Norfolk. We will start using the new red hymn
books in December.
LINK Editor – we are still in need of a new editor of our Parish Magazine called LINK. If
you feel you can offer help with this please speak to Becky or the Parish Office.
Help needed – St Mary’s in undertaking two big projects in the next few months: the
Christmas Experience (8-13 Dec) and the Wedding Dress Festival (14-17 Feb). Many
thanks to those who have already offered to help with these in all sorts of ways. We
can never have enough helpers so if anyone else is interested please speak to Becky
for more information.
Help with monthly Fairtrade Stall – Jenny Evans would like a few volunteers to help
with organizing this at St Mary’s. It involves collecting the goods from St Nicholas,
bringing them to our Sunday service and manning the stall (1st of the month), then
taking the unsold goods back to St Nicholas, and being responsible for the money that
month. Please speak to Jenny if you could help with this or would like to know more.
Foodbank - Thank you to all of those who have supported and continue to support
our donations to the local Foodbank. The Foodbank continues to grow and our
weekly donations are always gratefully received. A simple box of food makes a big
difference to someone who is desperate. The items required for these boxes also
includes non-food items such as soap, shower gel, toilet roll, bleach, washing up
liquid, razors, washing powder, sanitary towels, nappies, baby wipes – the list is
endless. So, when you are next in the supermarket and you reach for the soap, why
not pop an extra bar in and then drop it in the box in the lobby. Please also
remember that with Christmas around the corner it would be nice to put some treats
in the box and it is never too early to have a mince pie! If you have any queries, please
speak to Jenny Clark or Jo Pettitt.
An OHP, Screen and a Slide Projector are looking for a new home. These items are
taking up valuable storage space at St Mary's which we need to use for other things.
Before we offer them to a charity who can make good use of them we thought we'd
check if any of the congregation were interested in taking them off our hands. If you
are interested and want to know more please speak to Ro Marriott or Jenny Evans by
the end of November.
Tuesday Afternoon Group will next meet on November 9th at 2.00 pm. Our speaker
will be Lynette Lewis who will talk about Community Meeting Point. Visitors are
welcome.
Christmas Quiz Sheet - Please look out for this year's quiz sheet in the next few
weeks. Proceeds are in aid of Lymphoma and Leukaemia Research. Copies available
from Christine Horden or Janet Pointon. [often to be found playing the organ ,in case
you don't know us!]
Future Dates
Christmas Experience – Monday 8th - Saturday 13th December. There will be three
open sessions when individuals and families are welcome to drop in to go round the
Christmas Experience at St Mary’s Church. These will be on Tuesday 9th and Thursday
11th December from 3.30 – 5.00 pm, and on Saturday 13th Dec from 9.30am – 1.00pm.
Everybody welcome – no need to book.
th
Sunday 14 Dec
Christmas Services 2014
4.30 pm
Christingle Service
Sunday 21st Dec
11.00 am
6.00 pm
Nativity Service
Carol Service
Christmas Eve
3.00 pm
5.00 pm
11.30 pm
Crib Service
Crib Service
Midnight Mass
Christmas Day
10.00 am
Family Communion
Services for November 2014
Sunday 2 November – All Saints Sunday
10.00 am – Family Communion – Rev’d Becky Leach (preside and preach)
Tuesday 4 November 10.00 am Holy Communion (BCP) – Rev’d Becky Leach
Sunday 9 November – 3rd Sunday before Advent (Remembrance Sunday)
9.15am - Sung Eucharist - Rev’d Becky Leach (preside and preach)
11.00am – Morning Praise – Jenny Goulding (lead) Rev’d Becky Leach (preach)
6.30 pm – Alternative Worship – Rev’d Becky Leach
Sunday 16 November – 2nd Sunday before Advent
9.15 am Sung Eucharist – Rev’d Nick Goulding (preside and preach)
11.00 am Morning Praise – Rev’d Nick Goulding (lead and preach)
4.30 pm Simply Worship – Jenny Goulding
Tuesday 18 November 10.00 am Holy Communion (BCP) – Rev’d Becky Leach
Sunday 23 November – Christ the King
9.15 am Sung Eucharist – Rev’d Linda Williams (preside and preach)
11.00am Morning Praise – Rev’d Linda Williams (lead and preach)
Sunday 30 November – 1st Sunday of Advent (and admission of children to
communion)
10.00 am Sung Eucharist – Rev’d Becky Leach (preside and preach)
Next Month
Tuesday 2 December 10.00 am Holy Communion (BCP) – Rev’d Becky Leach
Sunday 7 December 2nd Sunday of Advent
10.00 am Family Communion – Rev’d Becky Leach (preside and preach)
Please send submissions for November Missive by Wed 26th November to
[email protected].
Thanks. Hilary Pask, editor.