Newsletter - 02-14
Valentine’s Day Greetings to you all.
This Saturday we welcome many of our wedding couples to a marriage preparation event. During our time together we will talk all things wedding and marriage helping many of our 20+ couples who are preparing to marry in our four churches this year.
Our local schools have just finished school and college for half term. I am sure staff and pupils alike are looking forward to a week away from the pressures of school. If you are going away, we wish you safe travels. We hope that many families will join me in The Rectory Garden in Penshurst for a love themed Forest Church at 4pm on Sunday 16th. Please dress for the weather. It is likely to be muddy and slippery underfoot. Please use suitable footwear. Sunshine is forecast, but by 4pm things are likely to have cooled considerably. There will be a bonfire to keep us warm!
On Thursday afternoon many people gathered to remember with affection the life of Bob Atkins. Next Thursday morning we will say a goodbye to Joyce Evans in a service at The Kent and Sussex Crematorium. In the following week services will be held for Mike Hill (25th) and Mike Collin (28th). Both services are in St John the Baptist Church. We thank God for their lives and hold all who mourn in our prayers.
With every blessing for the week ahead
Lisa
In this edition:
Ø Services
Ø Electoral Roll
Services:
Sunday February 16th: 3rd Sunday before Lent
1000 St John the Baptist, Penshurst: Holy Communion
1600 Forest Church Penshurst Rectory
Sunday February 23rd: 2nd Sunday before Lent
1000 St Luke’s, Chiddingstone Causeway: Matins
1000 St John the Baptist, Penshurst: Holy Communion
Sunday March 2nd: Sunday Before Lent
1000 St John the Baptist, Penshurst: Holy Communion
Wednesday March 5th: Ash Wednesday
0915 St Peter’s Church, Fordcombe School Service for Ash Wednesday
1900 St John’s, Penshurst: Holy Communion with the Imposition of Ashes
Readings and lections for February can be found if you Click Here.
Life Events:
Ø In our prayers we hold those coming through our doors this month to mark their life events:
Baptisms: We hold Andrea and her family in our prayers following her baptism in February.
Funerals: We hold the family and loved ones of Joyce Evans, Michael Collin and Michael Hill in our prayers ahead of their upcoming funerals.
And we remember those whose anniversary falls at this time of year, they shall be prayed for in church on Sunday.
Electoral Roll:
Ø The High Weald Churches electoral roll is now open for applications ahead of the 2025 Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) – Click Here to read the full notice from the Diocese. Please note that every six years the electoral roll must undergo complete revision, which is taking place this year, therefore everyone who would like to be included should fill out and return an application form - Click Here to download. Forms can be printed, or collected from church, and returned to a churchwarden, or filled in electronically and returned via email to the office. The deadline for applications is 31 March, and the roll will be finalised by 14 April ahead of the next APCM.
Learning and growing:
Ø Don’t forget the new National Safeguarding Standards. There is a link to the new leaflet on our website, and you’ll see posters going up in our churches soon. And following the appointment of our new benefice Safeguarding Officer, Wendy Ellis, we now have a contact email established – please direct any safeguarding queries or issues to safeguarding@highwealdchurches.org.uk
Mailing:
Ø If you know anyone who would like to be added to our weekly mailing, do let us know (and similarly let us know if you’d like to come off, though we’d be sad to see you go). If you’d like to contribute to the work of the benefice, you can go to our parish giving page via the www.parishgiving.org.uk website (we’d be very grateful). Alternatively, you can always find it on our benefice website: https://www.highwealdchurches.org.uk/news
