Category: News

On Sunday we will begin our new series on Generosity.

This week it is – Loving Generously – Luke 7: 36-50

We will be meeting together IN PERSON for this service at 11am for a Communion Service in St Philip’s – please join us.  Our Prayer time before will be on Zoom still – at 10am.

The following weeks will be on the same topic

April 25th – Praying and Sharing – John 6: 1-13
May 2nd – The Best, Not the Scraps – Luke 16: 19-31 – GIFT DAY

For those attending our service on Sunday there will be a leaflet with analysis of our current situation.  There is an online version available too – it is called “All things come from you – and of your own do we give you.”

We would love to hear your testimonies about how God has provided for you in times of hardship so if you wish to share with the rest of the Parish either in these updates or at Church on Sunday please Contact us

Notices

Rev Sue Jennings

On Easter Sunday it was announced that Rev Sue Jennings is leaving us at the end of June.  Sue and her husband Ian have been accepted as CMS Mission Partners, more information to come on this exciting development.  Sue will leave a huge hole in the life of our Parish and our ministry in this city.  Her last Sunday will be 20th June 2021 – the day before COVID-19 restrictions are expected to be fully removed so watch this space for what we can do to mark the occasion.

St Barnabas Communion

We will begin the Communion Service at St Barnabas again this Wednesday 21st April at 10.30am.  We will attempt to also have the option to phone in too.  Sometimes this works brilliantly, sometimes not!  We will use an Easter Season Service you can find here.

Annual Parochial Church Meeting

Our APCM has come around quickly.  We will hold this during our Sunday service on 30th May 2021.  We will still not be able to sit and share as we usually do – so we will hold a slightly longer service incorporating the APCM and end with taking Communion Together.  For those unable to attend in person the option to attend via Zoom or by calling in will be available.

From this Sunday we will start looking carefully at our resources across the Parish .  Our time, our energy, our finances, our staffing and our buildings.  Each Sunday service will focus on a different aspect of this theme

April 18th – Loving Generously – Luke 7: 36-50
April 25th – Praying and Sharing – John 6: 1-13
May 2nd – The Best, Not the Scraps – Luke 16: 19-31 – GIFT DAY

Our Discovery Groups will also be looking especially at Bible passages, joining together to read and talk more deeply on the same theme. There is still time to join one if you like – contact us.

1. Community – Matthew 4: 1-11
2. Living generously – Luke 11: 1-4 and John 6: 30-35
3. Open invitation – Luke 19: 1-10

For those attending our service on Sunday there will be a leaflet with analysis of our current situation.  There is an online version available too – it is called “All things come from you – and of your own do we give you.”

Happy Easter again….. we hope that you had a great celebration.  We loved being together for Communion on Easter morning.

This Sunday we begin a slow transition back to what we called normal before Christmas!

The service will still be online but we will be livestreaming it from St Philip’s Church.  This is in preparation for next week – 18th April – when you will hopefully be in the building too!

We will pray on Zoom as usual at 10am and the service will be on at 11am at the usual link.  Please be aware that the link only appears when we click the button – so it will not be there until about 10.55.

https://linktr.ee/ParishofGHM

From next week we will begin a new series looking at our resources – it is called:

GENEROUS: Living a life worth giving.

More information to come about the series and how you can help early next week.

Notices

Our Zoom prayers at 10am will continue online for a few more weeks while we move back to gathering physically.  This will maintain connection with those who cannot join for whatever reason.  We promise to finish in time for you to get to Church by 11am.

Schools are back next week.  Please particularly pray for  the Schools in our parish and their staff that have been having to change their routines so often in the past year.  Also pray for those in exam years.

Maundy Thursday

Whose Feet Would You Wash?

Jesus washed feet as a prelude to the last meal he shared with his disciples. Part of Jesus’ washing of feet was a prayer for the disciples to notice the community of people so often unseen and passed over. It was a reminder that everyone no matter how insignificant in the hierarchy of the day, has a place at God’s banquet table and we are called to join in and serve others as part of our daily worship.

What would happen if every meal we ate became a prayer of anticipation for the great banquet feast of God?

Come and join us as we look at the intimate and personal story of the meal Jesus shared with his closest friends, where he bowed his knee and washed his friends feet to start a world changing journey.

While we can’t meet in person this year, there is still an invitation to come and get involved. No pressure, but you may want to come prepared with a bowl of warm water and towel ready.

Please be welcome to come, pull up a chair and join the feast.  This will be a ‘Youtube Service’ the link as usual will be on https://linktr.ee/ParishofGHM

Good Friday

Christ was not held on the cross by nails but through the love of God for us all.

Easter Sunday

We meet outside behind St Martin’s Church at 11am on Easter Sunday to declare that

Jesus is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

This will be a communion service and the good news is that outside we can now sing… and so we shall…LOTS! Looking forward to seeing you there.

This service will not be livestreamed – sorry.

Notices

If you missed it last week please read our Letter to the Parish for Easter

This Sunday at 10am we gather as usual to pray on Zoom.

Then at 11am we will meet outside at 6 points around our Parish boundary – from each of those points we will set off in opposite directions to create 12 circular walks.  All the details are found here.

We are still bound by lockdown rules so although we are walking together we are only actually ‘together’ online as we share our progress with each other and those at home on our WhatsApp group.

In the evening we will watch ‘together’ a compilation of all your photos and videos, prayers and thoughts on the walk – that will be at 7.30pm

All links as usual on https://linktr.ee/ParishofGHM

Notices

Holy Week is upon us and there are many details to share about Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  Another update will be out on Monday about services.  We are going to try and read some of the key scriptures together in the coming week.  Details are to be found on this Letter to the Parish for Easter

This week is the last in our series on Freedom in Christ – Forgiving from the heart. It is quite possibly the hardest of all the things we talk about, but the source of so much freedom.

The reading is from Matthew 18:21-35 – The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

As usual we’ll pray at 10am and the Youtube service will be live at 11am.

An Easter Egg prize to whoever gets on the ‘front row’ in the chat this week.

https://linktr.ee/ParishofGHM

Notices

As we’ve said we will be doing something a little different for Palm Sunday – information here Please let us know what walk you’re planning to do so we can cover the whole Parish.

Day of Reflection

As you will know we are at the point when we remember a year of Coronavirus lockdowns.  On Wednesday the nation will be remembering the pain, the grief and the anxiety that has been caused by COVID-19.  There are resources and prayers to be found here:

https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance/national-day-reflection

Easter

“So put away all pride from yourselves. You are standing under the powerful hand of God. At the right time he will lift you up. Give all your worries to Him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-8)

Let’s talk about emotion. Emotions are like that annoying warning light that comes on in our cars. The light is alerting us to a potentially serious problem – how do you respond?

Talking about how and why we feel a certain way will always be hard – it means we have to dig under the surface and take a deep look at things we have spent a lot of time covering over.

God wants us to live free of these ties and invites us to handle our emotions better than we do on our own.

Join us on Sunday as we look at the subject of emotion and how we can live better as emotional people with an emotional God.

As usual prayer on Zoom at 10am and the Youtube Service at 11am

https://linktr.ee/ParishofGHM

Notices

We will be doing something a little different for Palm Sunday – information here

Easter

More details to come, but the main dates and times to keep free are on this poster

We hope you can join us at some point this weekend as we continue to be the church online.

In our Sunday service we are looking at how we can stand firm in the daily “Battle for our Minds”.  We know that the Lockdown has taken a huge toll on mental health, so even if this is not an issue for you, perhaps you could share it with a friend who is struggling.  Or maybe your task this week is to absorb the teaching and pass it on to someone you know.

We will pray at 10am on Zoom as usual

The service will be live at 11am – it would be great to see you in the Live Chat.  All links are here: https://linktr.ee/ParishofGHM

Each day we must choose to be Free in Christ
Our topic this Sunday is “Our Daily Choice” We’ll be reading Romans 8: 1-11

We will meet to pray at 10am
The service is on Youtube at 11am, both are at the usual link:
https://linktr.ee/ParishofGHM

Notices

Opening the Churches

We decided as a PCC to close our churches  for Lockdown 3 not because we were forced to but to be a witness and and example in our community.  We are planning how to reopen joyfully and safely with a mix of outdoor, online and phone services planned for Holy Week and Easter.  We expect to open slowly and steadily after Easter.  More details to come.

This Sunday we are continuing to work towards our “Freedom in Christ”
Our topic is “The World’s view of the Truth” We’ll be reading Romans 1v20-25, & 2v12-16

More information about this course can be found here: https://www.ficm.org.uk/

We will meet to pray at 10am
The service is on Youtube at 11am, both are at the usual link:
https://linktr.ee/ParishofGHM

Notices

Lent Resources

We will be continuing our Freedom in Christ course until Easter.  There are many other online resources available.  The Church of England has #LiveLent God’s Story, Our Story which has an app and a Phone in Service like we do.

The Bible Society also has a program you can sign up to, they’ll send an email every day of Lent.