I hope you have had another good week and enjoyed the sunshine (and the rain) – a quote from the website this week is from Doris and these great images from Robin and Michelle
“All things bright and beautiful, the Lord God made them all!”
Please find below some of the things that have happened this week or that you might want to be involved in over the next 7 days:-
Please join us again this Sunday at 10am (or at a time convenient for you) in our Emmanuel Family Facebook group for our “local” service and a time together in worship. This will be like the last few weeks, post after post in real time to follow a full service that takes around an hour. You can join us live or enjoy it later in the day – the choice is yours. We’ll be singing, praying, reflecting and listen to the message from Mick Neal. Why not join us? Any problems finding the group please email us and we will be happy to help.
Attached is “Vine at Home 3 May 2020” – this is a short order of service for the coming week.
Attached is “Emmanuel Corona Prayers week 7” – prayers for the week ahead.
There will be a Zoom prayer meeting on Thursday 7th May at 7.30pm. If you are interested in joining in the prayer meeting, let Cameron know, either by e-mailing him on thestirks@tiscali.co.uk , leaving a message via the FB Emmanuel family page, or leaving a message on his answer phone.
For those who have children this resource might be useful – from 23rd march 2020 Engage Worship has been posting a daily prayer and worship activity. These appear on their social media accounts for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (use the hashtag #EngageAtHome). They include a simple prayer or worship activity which families can engage with together using movement, interaction, craft, play and more. The aim is to resource families during the Covid 19 pandemic, and strengthen family worship and prayer for this season. “We believe that in the midst of isolation and struggle God will be at work in and through his people.”
Foodbank collections still are available at Tesco’s in Wilthorpe as well as in the box at the vestry door at the back of Emmanuel Church. Please leave any non-perishable items in either place and we shall make sure that they are passed on to Barnsley Foodbank.
Why not grow a sunflower, and also encourage other people to plant a sunflower seed, and post pictures as they grow as we grow hope together. When we are unlocked you could come, bring them to church and plant them along the back fence?
There have been some great good news stories!
Our keeping in touch with others is working well. Here is one e-mail testimony that was received this week:
“I had a great chat in the park on Sunday with a couple of people from Emmanuel…..so there was another church link polished! These are proper ‘guided’ meetings! We are where we are meant to be!”
People are discovering new places to walk: “I have just walked along the canal and have been marvelling that we have never explored that area before. Listening to the birdsong there meant I found a new peace in that moment” wrote one person to me this week.
People are also discovering who they are again – and taking a new sense of purpose in doing and being what God wants for them rather than living up to other people’s expectations. Here’s what someone e-mailed me this week (part of a larger piece):
“Walking, greeting strangers, enjoying parts of Barnsley Countryside I’ve never previously explored, chatting on emails and phone calls and texts, encouraging those who are at rock bottom ….. And just shaping the new corona-world around what works for me rather than measuring myself against what works for others!!! Not sure whether this makes sense but I am finding my peace in accepting that God wants me just to be me!!!.”
11 people met for a 3 Point Turn fellowship meeting on Tuesday night looking at the theme of ‘Trusting one another and God.’
On Sunday evening 8 young people & 4 leaders met on Zoom - they played games and spoke about how they could pray in tough times. They also thought about the week and how they could be more positive in the week to come.
On Thursday evening 11 young people & 5 leaders met on Zoom - they an escape room theme. The young people were split into groups with the leaders and had 50 minutes to complete a series of puzzles quizzes and challenges. They all loved this and so I’m sure they will be doing it again! Kirstie and her team also checked in with the young people to see how they all were and asked them how they are coping with the lockdown situation!
More people who made generous offers of help to those in need within our congregation and food packages have been sent and received gratefully as well as contributions to the Foodbank.
The number of people engaging with our online services and becoming part of the Facebook Emmanuel Family group is growing.
The church building is regularly being checked to keep it safe and secure – thanks for a team of 6 individuals who are helping us with that.
We have applied to the Government to help us pay for our furloughed staff – we are hopeful that we shall recover funds for this.
So many people continue to be generous with their giving of money, time, talents and other gifts, to bless others, to build the Kingdom and to continue to enable Emmanuel to be an out-reaching and serving community of Christ.
Daily Hope – A free phoneline of hymns, reflections and prayers. Have you seen the media coverage of the New freephone number as a simple way to bring worship and prayer and prayer into people’s homes. Over 6000 people called this number in the first 48 hours! This idea came from within the Diocese of Guildford, from the Connections group based at Holy Trinity Claygate in Surrey and the Christian Charity Faith in Later Life. Telephone: 0800 804 8044 (it’s free from landlines, but please check with your provider before using a mobile phone).
We may be planning a Church quiz!
Everyone enjoyed the Zoom virtual coffee after last Sunday’s Facebook service - 25 Emmanuel Family church households joined (almost 40 people). The next Zoom catch up after the Sunday service will be Sunday 17th May at 11.15am to 12pm. Keep a look out nearer the time for the Zoom links and passwords.
Are you on Emmanuel’s Prayer Chain? If not, would you like to? Before deciding you might ask yourself “What is the Prayer Chain?”. At Emmanuel, people ask us to pray for individual situations, family and friends and ask for God’s healing and blessings in certain situations. People on the Prayer Chain are committed to praying for others regularly and confidentially, and form part of a chain through which God’s love flows. If you are not on email, we also offer the Prayer Chain via telephone call. If you feel you would like to join our Prayer Chain either on email or telephone, please let me know on alison@padgettatoz.co.uk (or give me a ring if you are not on email tel: 07930 561210).
As an end to this week’s newsletter, please see attached Joan Booth’s PowerPoint “prayer walk April 2020” from last week’s service.
Many thanks & God bless
The Leadership Team
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