Milborne Port Corona Care Food
Some usefull contacts for food supplies - please support our local food producers.
Eastertide Service for home use
Meeting the risen Jesus
A liturgy for the Easter season for use at home.
SATURDAY Grieving and Waiting
Grieving and Waiting in the In-between Time.
A ‘Holy Saturday’ reflection for worship at home, whenever it is needed
SUNDAY On the Emmaus Road
Journeying with Jesus on the Emmaus Road. An ‘Easter Sunday’ reflection for worship at home, whenever it is needed
Pew News for Easter Sunday
Pew News for Easter Sunday with readings and prayers plus resources and a message from Sarah.
More Hymns from Rachel
Rachel has added two more hymns, this time not on St John's organ. See Music to hear all the hymns and other organ music
Pew News for Palm Sunday
With readings and prayers for Palm Sunday, a message from Sarah and information about Holy Week.
Prayers for Holy Week 2020
Including prayers for Palm Sunday, Maunday Thursday and Good Friday. There is also a prayer for use during the corona pandemic.
Two New Hymns added by Rachel
Rachel has added two more hymns to the video playlist to be found on the Music page
Our Rector's Letter for April
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As I write this letter in the middle of March, the number of people contracting the coronavirus in this country is rising. Our government is beginning to take measures to contain the spread. Our newspapers are showing pictures of empty supermarket shelves and there has been a spate of panic buying. We will need to do what we must to protect the truly vulnerable amongst us. It seems to me that taking precautions, washing our hands well and self- isolating is not about selfish fear but a proper way to do right by other people no matter what.
It is with a heavy heart, that today's guidance from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, leaves me with no alternative but to announce that all Public Worship, home groups, Lent study activities and other social gatherings organised by our parishes - are hereby suspended until further notice.
It does not mean, however, that we stop being ‘The Church'. Rather, we are invited to experiment - and be creative - with praying, worshipping and serving differently. Where possible our church buildings will remain open during daylight hours to hold a holy space for people to rest, think, reflect and pray in. Please exercise care and maintain the appropriate social distancing.
Jesus came to show us how to be in a relationship with God and in relationship with each other. He came to show us how to live not simply as collections of individual self-interest, but how to live as the human family of God. That's why he said, ”Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbour as yourself”. So look out for your neighbours, look out for each other. Listen to those who have knowledge that can help to guide us medically and help to guide us socially. Do everything that we can to do this together, to respond to each other's needs and to respond to our own needs.
During the crisis I will make available some extensive resources to enable us all to sustain our prayer life at home. There will also be resources to be used in the leadup to Passiontide, Holy Week and the season of Easter. You can find many prayer resources on the Church of England's website, www.churchofengland.org. Our overall aim will be to offer support to those who need it, and the opportunity to continue connecting with God through the ministry of the church throughout the coming crisis.
We will do our best to keep our website and Facebook page up to date. Website: www.milborneportchurches.org.uk Facebook: St John the Evangelist Church, Milborne Port. I will also be writing a blog for those who are not on Facebook. It will go live soon here : https://wordpress.com/home/milborneportchurches.word press.com We will continue to produce a weekly/monthly news sheet which we will get to church goers and leave at the back of church.
If you need help in this crisis, or would like to offer your help, please see the information on the following page. Please join me in praying regularly for all who may feel anxious at this time and all of our healthcare professionals.
With love and every blessing through this unprecedented time.
Rev Sarah
Pew News for 29 March 2020
Including Corona Care in Milborne Port, resources for keeping in touch and prayers and readings for the fifth Sunday in Lent.
Service Booklet for Lent for home use
The words in this booklet are very close to those we have been using on Sundays during Lent at our 10.30am communion service, but we’ve adapted them for you to use at home, knowing that your sister and brother Christians will be using them in other places nearby.
Pew News for Mothering Sunday
With information on what the parish is doing in response to the Covid-19 virus plus prayers and readings for Mothering Sunday.
Milborne Port Magazine April 2020
Please note two important changes since the magazine went to press:
- The church building is now CLOSED but the Church is still active, as explained in the magazine.
- Recycling Centres across the county are now CLOSED
Organ music from St John's
Corona Prayer
Some online resources containing prayers and useful information
ALL SERVICES AND CHURCH EVENTS CANCELLED
You may have seen from today's press release from Lambeth Palace that the Archbishops have asked us to put Public worship on hold until we are told we can gather again.
See their letter here https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/news/archbishops-call-church-england-become-radically-different-public-worship
The church will remain open for private prayer.
Events that have been cancelled are the Lent lunches and the Lent group. Also there will be no posy making on Saturday morning and the Mothering Sunday breakfast is cancelled.
In the meantime please watch this space for more information.
Sarah
Our Rector’s letter for March
“Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayer and requests.” Ephesians 6.18
On the first Sunday in Lent (this year March 1st), churches across the world recall the story of the time when Jesus was led away from the busyness and distractions of the world to spend 40 days and nights in the wilderness. It was a time to think and pray about his life and ministry.
Two thousand years ago, the disciples welcomed Jesus back from his regular time and place of prayer with one of the greatest questions of all time; ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’
Lent is the time when we intentionally make space to draw nearer to God. Prayer is the most important activity of our lives. It is the way in which we develop a relationship with our Father in heaven. Prayer brings us peace, refreshes our soul, satisfies our spiritual hunger and assures us of our forgiveness. Prayer not only changes us, it also changes situations.
Our English word ‘prayer’ derives from the Latin ‘precarious’. We pray because life is precarious. We pray because life is marvellous. We pray because we find ourselves lost for many things but not for the simplest words like ‘please’, ’thank you’, ‘wow’, ‘sorry’ and ‘help’
Although, prayer is the most important activity of our lives I suspect we are horribly bad at it and like the disciples could do with some help. For our Thursday evening Lent course this year at St John’s Church we will be using material from Pete Grieg’s book ‘How to pray’. All evenings begin at 6.30 p.m. in Church House, apart from the 12th March (venue tbc) with a shared meal. The programme is as follows:
- Thursday 5th March: Why Pray? In this session we talk about how to have a quiet time and the examen prayer
- Thursday 12th March (Venue tbc): Listening to God In this session we talk about Lectio Divina
- Thursday 19th March : Adoration In this session we talk about how to pray the psalms
- Thursday 26th March : Petition and intercession In this session we will learn how to write intercessions to be used in church
- Thursday 2nd April : Confession and Reconciliation In this session we will learn the Jesus prayer
Everyone will be most welcome – do come along!
Revd. Sarah
A Letter from our Bishop
Pick up your Bible with a new joy
Martin Niemöller was a Lutheran Pastor, best known for his opposition to the Nazi party during the 1930’s. He was imprisoned between 1938 and 1945, first in the Sachsenhausen and secondly in the Dachau concentration camps. He survived these experiences and, on his release, became a pacifist and a committed campaigner for nuclear disarmament.
A former U Boat Commander, in his book, ‘From U Boat to Pulpit’, he wrote about what the Bible meant to him during his imprisonment which included years of solitary confinement. He wrote: ‘The word of God was simply everything to me, comfort and strength, guidance and hope, master of my days and companion of my nights. The bread that kept me from starvation and the water of life which refreshed my soul. And even more, solitary confinement ceased to be solitary.’
The Bible is still the most published and the most read book in the world. The Bible was inspired by the Spirit of God and is the place where Christ is found and proclaimed and where God speaks.
As we come to Lent might I suggest that we pick up our Bibles with a new joy, with fresh eyes and with a renewed determination to spend time each day reading the Bible. If we do we will find that the Bible is indeed the Word of Life, the pathway to Jesus and the doorway to salvation. If we are looking for comfort and strength, guidance and hope we can find all those things within its pages.
The Right Revd Peter Hancock
Bishop of Bath and Wells
Rector's January Letter
Dear Friends,
I hope you had a good Christmas and before I do anything else, I would like to wish you all a very Happy and Blessed New Year.
I wonder how many of us have made a ‘New Year Resolution’ for 2020? At the start of every new year like any other I feel like I need to get a grip; less food, more exercise, a healthier lifestyle and a better work life balance.
‘Behold, I make all things new’; ‘a new heaven and a new earth’; ‘put off the old self...and put on the new’. Our Scriptures are full of exhortations to renewal – of our minds, and hearts and our relationship to God and to each other. Change is the normal state for Christians. We know that we haven’t yet arrived and are in the process of becoming the person God would have us be.
The New Year is a time to commit ourselves to new beginnings. In the Gospels we rarely, if ever, find Jesus focusing on the past mistakes of the people he meets, but instead seeking to draw people into new and hopeful beginnings. So, whether you are hitting the gym, dieting or training for a marathon (or none of the above in my case...) remember that our new beginnings are not only about fitness of body: our spiritual health and fitness needs attending to as well.
As we come to the end of 2019 and look forward to 2020, here is a good question to ask yourself: what, if anything, do I need to leave behind? As you reflect on that question perhaps you would like to join me in saying the following prayer.
Jesus, bringer of hope-filled change
help me to let go of what must be left behind
and draw me into your new beginnings. Amen. Rev Sarah