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The Priory and Parish Church of St James, Deeping
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By the time you are reading this, the Annual Parochial Church Meeting will have taken place, with election of churchwardens and lay representatives in the deanery synod and parochial church council. Still to come, though, on 6th May, are the local civic elections, to the district and parish councils. Since my ordination I have always made a point of avoiding giving public support for particular political parties and views but also encouraging Christian involvement in political matters. If Christians are going to make a worthwhile difference to the world, as our Lord calls us to do (you are light of the world, the salt of the earth), then involvement in politics at all levels has to be part of our duty to God.
For most of us that will simply involve using our vote! But we should use our vote carefully and prayerfully: which candidate is most likely to make representations which reflect Kingdom values, which candidate's party best reflects Kingdom values?
Whether an election is for the European parliament, our own parliament, county, district or parish councils, I would urge all who call themselves Christians to read or hear what each candidate has to say, to think and to pray and then to vote accordingly, giving due regard to our Lord's teaching that we should put our own needs last and to not to seek our own ends but rather trust in God.
Meanwhile, please thank God for all who have given us service in our local councils in the past, and pray for those now seeking election and for all who vote.
2nd May, 5th Sunday of Easter:
10am: 1 Peter 2: 2-10; John 14: 1-14
6pm: Zechariah 4: 1-10; Revelation 21: 1-14
9th May, 6th Sunday of Easter:
10am: 1 Peter 3: 13-22; John 14: 15-21
13th May, Ascension Day:
7.30pm: Acts 1: 1-11; Luke 24: 44-53
16th May, 7th Sunday of Easter:
10am: 1 Peter 4: 12-14; 5: 6-11; John 17: 1-11
23rd May, Day of Pentecost:
10am: Acts 2: 1-21; John 20: 19-23
30th May, Trinity Sunday:
10am: 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13; Matthew 38: 16-20
Following the success of last year's Good Friday children's activities, our children's group leaders arranged something similar this year, with more activities and the addition of a major project to provide dramatic decorations for the church, in the form of the giant daffodils which you may have seen. This year the children started with worship in church, based upon the traditional Way of the Cross, and they went across to the hall as people arrived for the Good Friday Liturgy. Everyone then met for refreshments in the hall. Many thanks are due to the large number of people who contributed so much in a variety of ways to the success of the morning.
Here, Celia Warrick gives her view of Good Friday at Deeping St James.
We started off in church and then were called in groups to collect our name stickers. There were lots of different activitys - hot cross buns, chocolate nests, egg cosies, easter trees, "dickie eggs" (piece of card with a pasta bow tie), painted eggs, bookmarks, 6-squares, Art Attack!, easter cards.
Each group started on a different activity, and then each person went to an activity they wanted to. We had an hour to do activitys. At the end the parents came and we all had hot cross buns and a drink.
It was nice going to church on Sunday and seeing the huge paper daffodils we had made at "Art Attack!".
The Annual Parochial Church Meeting took place on Sunday 25th April, along with the meeting of parishioners for the elction of churchwardens.
Bill Flegg stood down after five years as a churchwarden, and Bernard Babb was newly elected, along with Elizabeth Spratley, who continues to serve for another year. Mr Flegg was duly thanked for his past service, and he continues in office until the Bishop's visitation on 24th May when new wardens are sworn in.
This year there were elections to the Deanery Synod, and Simon Marshall and David Merchant were re-elected, along with Cledwyn Bennett who succeeds Trevor Harwood in this role. The new Deanery Synod representatives take up their posts on 1st June.
In addition, six members of the congregation were elected to the Parochial Church Council, namely Jane Thompson, Trevor Harwood, John Fisher, Stuart McCabe, John Worthington and Bill Flegg. Thanks are due to all who served on the PCC during the year now past.
Reports on the life of the church in the parish were received, and the accounts adopted. There was a very positive feeling, with financial difficulties largely solved and the first documentary signs of growth in membership as the electoral roll has begun to grow slowly, in contrast to the fairly rapid decline of recent years.
The meeting decided to try a committee system for administering the church, so that the PCC does not have to carry the burden of making every small decision and so that more people can be involved in running the church. The committees are to be Social, Pastoral, Worship and Mission for the coming year, along with the statutory Standing Committee, and these will be reviewed next year with a view to making any changes necessary.
Mark Warrick, Chairman
A joint venture of the Deepings churches to be held on the weekend 31st July/1st August will include open gardens and other floral activities and attractions. If you would like to open your garden or be involved in some other way, please contact Judy Robinson on 343383 or Judy@georgians.demon.co.uk
We welcome to the Lord's Family:
We commend to God's keeping:
This is only an extract from some of our magazine. Residents of Deeping St James can subscribe to the printed version.
Back issues are available on line as follows:
November 1997;
December 1997;
January 1998;
February 1998;
March 1998;
April 1998;
May 1998;
June 1998;
July 1998;
August 1998;
September 1998;
October 1998;
November 1998;
December 1998;
January 1999;
February 1999;
March 1999;
April 1999.