Christ on the Cross, Community of St John the Divine, Alum Rock

Sunday 21 February 2010, 1st Sunday of Lent

Prayer & Reflection

The Benefice prays for:

Our thoughts and prayers are asked for:

Jacqui Percy, Pam Williams, Sheila Perks, Sarah Whiffing, Pam Daley, Elizabeth Way and Jean Mowlam

Remember the souls of those who have died:

Peter Tomkins and Beryl Thurston

We celebrate the birthdays of:

Mary Brookstein (23rd) and Clementine Macliver (27th)

Welcome

If you are here for the first time, please do introduce yourself to a sidesperson or minister and take a welcome card.

Receiving Communion

Baptised members of any Church are welcome to receive Communion. If you do not wish to take communion but would like a blessing please come forward, holding your service leaflet.

Your Offering

A collection for the work of the church is usually taken during each service. Please use the Gift Aid envelope if you are a UK taxpayer.

Hearing Loop Systems

Loop

We have loop systems for the hard of hearing. At St Mary’s it is available in the main nave. At St Anne’s it can be used in any part of the church.

For Children and Young People

St Mary’s Children’s Groups

Children’s groups and crèche will now meet on the first, second, fourth and fifth Sundays during term time. The third Sunday will be our new Teaching Eucharist lasting 40 minutes with children taking part in the worship. Where possible a quiet supervised area will also be available in the Crèche room for parents and children during this service. During school holidays the Crèche area (unsupervised) will be available for parents to be with their children during the service if needed.

St Anne’s Children’s Groups

Children meet on the first, second, fourth and fifth Sundays during the 11:00 a.m. service. They leave with their leaders after the first hymn. All children are welcome.

St Mary’s and St Anne’s Youth Group

Meets on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. in Rose Cottage at St Mary’s. All young people are welcome to participate in an interesting and varied programme. For more details see the YG notice board in both churches.

Moseley After School Service

M*A*S*S meets on Thursday at 3:45 p.m.

Music Time

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Free, half hour music session on Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m. for children aged 0+ years old. We aim to sing nursery rhymes, Christian songs, play simple musical instruments, hear stories from the Bible, learn basic musical concepts and move to music. Parents or care-givers help their child through each activity or song. No previous musical experience is required. Squash and bikkies after each session.

For more information please Contact Mick Perrier on: 07967 595 881, or via mick@mperrier.freeserve.co.uk.

New Lady Chapel at St Mary’s

During the Building Works, the current Lady Chapel is being used for storage. A new area at the East of the North Aisle has been refurbished. It’s much more accessible and there are now boards for people to leave prayers on as well as candles to light before, during and after the service. There are also a couple of Prayer Stations to help us on our journey in Lent. Please do come and use this area and enjoy the icons to help us be drawn to God.

Social Events

The social committee would like to hear your views on social events within the Benefice. Please take a questionnaire, fill it in and return it to the box at the back of either church. Many thanks for your help.

St Mary’s solar panels

The proposal by the PCC to install Photovoltaic Solar Panels on the upper roof of St Mary’s has been rejected by the City Planning Committee by a majority of one vote. There were 53 letters of support and one against (Victorian Society). The panels would have generated about 10% of the church’s energy requirement and are part of a community project by SusMo (Sustainable Moseley) that includes the Hamza Mosque and Moseley C of E School. A grant of £30,000 had been allocated to St Mary’s by British Gas. We are disappointed that our attempt to show the community that we care about the planet has been stifled.

Chimes

More Contributors urgently required

Can you help to make this monthly publication even more interesting? The editorial team would like to hear from you. There is no need to be a literary genius, simply a desire to share interesting stories or articles or to retell your experiences. For further information talk to Mark Simons or any member of the team. See Chimes for contact details.

Benefice Office

The Benefice will be dosed on Thursday 25 February.

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Sunday 21 February 2010, 1st Sunday of Lent

Readings
Service First Reading Second Reading
Morning, 8:00 a.m. Romans 10:8b-13 Luke 4:1-13
Morning, 10:00 a.m. & 11:00 a.m. Mark 12:13-17  
Evening Jonah 3 Luke 18:9-14

Services
TimeSt Mary’sSt Anne’s
8:00 a.m. Holy Communion
Celebrant & Preacher: Revd Jeremy Dussek
 
10:00 a.m. Teaching Eucharist
Celebrant & Preacher: Revd Rosemary Donovan
With members of the Youth Group
See the Lent Series
 
11:00 a.m.   Teaching Eucharist
Celebrant & Preacher: Revd Rosemary Donovan
With members of the Youth Group
See the Lent Series
6:00 p.m. Evensong
Officiant: Lis Sparrow
Preacher: Revd Jeremy Dussek
 

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Mid-week Services to which all are welcome

Day Time St Mary’s St Anne’s
Mon-22-Feb 9:00 a.m. Morning Prayer  
Tue-23-Feb 9:00 a.m. Holy Communion  
7:30 p.m. Lent discussion group followed by Holy Communion  
Wed-24-Feb 9:00 a.m.   Morning Prayer
Thu-25-Feb 9:00 a.m. Morning Prayer  
3:45 p.m. M*A*S*S at Moseley School
Fri-26-Feb 9:00 a.m.   Morning Prayer

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Services on the following Sundays

Time St Mary’s St Anne’s
Next Sunday 28 February, 2nd Sunday of Lent
8:00 a.m. Holy Communion  
10:00 a.m. Sung Eucharist
See the Lent Series
 
11:00 a.m.   Sung Eucharist
See the Lent Series
5:00 p.m.   Alternative Worship
6:30 p.m. Evensong  

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Future Dates for Your Dairy

Date Time Details
Feb-21-Feb   Lent Series Our Sunday and Tuesday series What is truth, share the truth. See the Lent Series for full details.
After the 10:00 a.m. service Fairtrade Fortnight St Mary’s Fairtrade Stall and Information Display. There will be a variety of goods for sale at reasonable prices. Please come prepared to support this venture.
Sun-28-Feb After the 11:00 a.m. Fairtrade Fortnight St Anne’s Fairtrade Stall and Information Display. There will be a variety of goods for sale at reasonable prices. Please come prepared to support this venture.
4:00 p.m. Fairtrade Fortnight Afternoon tea in St Anne’s Hall. Serving Fairtrade tea, coffee, juice, cakes and biscuits. There will also be a tradecraft stall after St Anne’s Healing Service at 5:00 p.m.
Sun-7-Mar 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Jubilee Debt Campaign Multifaith Conference West Midlands Fire Service HQ,99,Vauxhall Road, B7 4HW. Guests speakers: Joel Edwards, Director of Micah Challenge and Jehangir Malik, UK Manager of Islamic Relief. The aim is to bring people of all faiths together to share their commitment to action on global poverty issues, including the cancellation of unpayable debts. Book online www.jubileedebtcampaign.orq.uk/faith. More details from Ruth Tetlow (Sec. Birminghamham JDC) 0121 449 4892 ruthtetlow@btinternet.com.
There is much to celebrate and give thanks for in the Benefice. Come and share God’s Glory with others.

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Thought for the week by Jenny Allen

Straight to the point

Choices

Is there more to life than money? Does our faith make a difference? Many Christians, including myself, find the account of Jesus resisting all the temptations provided by Satan when he was forty days in the wilderness one that is perhaps the easiest of all the parables in the Bible to understand. Especially when I first heard the story and was trying to come to grips with how I was meant to behave in a world that grownups often seemed to be saying one thing but doing another. For example, I was told that one should always be prepared to refrain from taking the last chocolate in the box, but it might be all right if, as I observed my parents do, take it when nobody else was looking. Fortunately for me my parents did provide an opportunity for me to hear the Bible story. As a grownup I now realise that life can often seem just a series of making the right or wrong decisions. Even though Jesus was hungry he tells Satan that ‘man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God’. Paul reminds the Romans that Christians believe that God sent his son to teach all mankind the right way to make choices, ‘For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved’.

The other evening I was watching a programme on TV about ‘Infinity’. Apparently scientists have come to an understanding of what makes up our universe by counting numbers which are continually being added too. I am afraid I soon got lost in trying to understand and missed the end completely having fallen asleep. I believe that people find it hard to believe in God when it would seem to be ‘cool’ to say that you believe there is nothing beyond scientific explanations as to how our world and the universe was created. But I continue to hear that small voice as I heard all those years ago tempting me to choose either to take the chocolate or give it away. Money and power mean nothing, as Jesus showed, when matched against God’s love given to us when we accept that his son died for us and rose again on Easter Sunday


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Collect for today: Sunday 21 February 2010, 1st Sunday of Lent

Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ fasted forty, days in the wilderness, and was tempted as we are, yet without sin: give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your Spirit and, as you know our weakness, so may we know your power to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

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