The latest news, updates, and thoughts from the team at St Mary's.
Please join us for our Easter Services:
Thursday 14th April
7pm Maundy Thursday Holy Communion at St Peter's Church, Yateley
Friday 15th April
10am Good Friday Family Worship at St Mary's Church and on YouTube
2pm An Hour at the Cross
Sunday 17th April
8am BCP Holy Communion at St Mary's Church
10am Easter Family Communion at St Mary's Church and on YouTube
Our giant map of the parish of St Barnabas will soon be complete.
Jane Hughes has also given me a list of the roads in the parish of Eversley and at church on Sunday we will soon have this available to sign up on whilst we make a similar map for Eversley.
We would love you to commit to praying every week for two streets in the parish(es). If you live in the parish(es), one of these is your own. The other is another which no one else has yet committed to praying for. If you don't live in the parish, then we'd ask you to commit to 2 streets which no one else is praying for.
If you are fit enough, perhaps you could go and visit the street you are committing to pray for, and prayer walk it. But if not then the act of praying from home for the people, buildings and communities represented by that street is a key indicator to God that we are serious about asking him to bless every person in our area with his love.
Praying for each street once a week or more frequently will also, we pray, open up opportunities in these areas for God to act. Everyone can do this, so please do sign up when the sheets appear at the beginning of March and we will give you something to help remind you of your commitment to pray.
Alongside praying for our community, we also want to ask you to commit to praying for our Churches.
Did you know that there are 10,080 minutes in a week? I'm asking you to commit 10 of them (or 0.1%!) to pray specifically for your church. Both of our churches face huge pressures at the moment and we need God to guide us and to step in with his resources to help us. Regular committed prayer for our churches for 10 minutes each week is a way that every single person, regardless of physical ability, can help.
Often people have said they don’t know what to pray for so we will commit to send out a short list each month of the particular things or areas that we would value prayer for over the next few weeks. You do’t have to follow or take any notice of this list, but it is there to help guide your prayers if you wish. Wherever possible we will let you know how and when God answers our prayers and the signs of hope we see. Everyone can do this, so please do sign up in church this Sunday or if you can’t be there in person, drop us an email and we will give you something to help remind you of your commitment to pray and the first areas to pray for.
We have shared in prayer for the people of Ukraine on several occasions this week, including at our Ash Wednesday Services. Whilst we continue to pray for the situation, several people have asked about practical ways in which we can help, so we share the following for you to prayerfully consider:
One of the best and safest ways to donate is via the Disasters Emergency Committee have launched an appeal https://www.dec.org.uk or https://www.redcross.org.uk/ who are part of DEC. These are organisations who are well equipped to provide targeted assistance by ‘professionals’ at the places it is most needed, responding to need swiftly as the situation changes.
It is possible to donate physical items, but there is a very specific list of needs that Yateley Town Council are equipped to receive at the former Red Cross Hut, off Monteagle Lane, GU46 6LU. They also need volunteers to help receive and sort donations – if you can help with this please contact office@yateley-tc.gov.uk.
The donation point will be open Tuesday 15th – Thursday 17th March 4-7pm, and Friday 18th March 9am-1pm.
They will ONLY be able to accept the following:
Two years ago this week, our churches began to respond for the first time to the Coronavirus pandemic and I wrote to each of you about some changes to the way we were going to have to operate for the (near!) future.
Two years later, and after all we have endured, and all we see in the news today, I wanted to write to you again. We may not quite be back to normal yet – whatever that might mean – but this week saw a number of things restarting, and I wanted to mark this moment with a thankyou. A couple of times this week I have been reminded of the need for us to be thankful, even, and perhaps especially, when things seem tough or bleak. I have also been reminded that we should express that gratitude to those around us, often and earnestly. So I want to take a moment today to say thank you to you all.
Thank you to all of you who have helped us to keep our churches going over the last two years. Whether in practical, financial or spiritual ways I am aware of how much time, money and prayer has gone into our church life. Turning up on a Sunday, whether in person, or online is a huge encouragement to us and to one another so thank you to all of you who have taken the time to come, in person or virtually and shared with us. Thank you to everyone on this newsletter chain for praying for the things which are happening. Thank you to our prayer chain pray-ers for keeping those of us in need in their prayers and indeed for all of you praying for me too. Thank you for those of you who have gone on rotas and agreed to support us in so many ways. Thank you to those who have joined us recently, and those who have been part of our communities for many years. Thank you everyone for your continued support.
May God bless you all
February's Messy Church will take place at Eversley Village Hall.
Everyone is always welcome at Messy Church, and this month is no exception.
There will be fun, creative activities that celebrate the love that God has for all us.
They will be continue to be designed to enable family 'bubbles' to remain as safe as possible.
It's just that this month, there will be PANCAKES!...
And, we're holding Messy Church at Eversley Village Hall,
thanks to the generosity and help of the EVH Committee.
Do come and join the fun at 4pm on Sunday 20th February, at Eversley Village Hall.
Whilst the legal requirement that facemasks be worn in all church services has been dropped by government, we are still very keen to continue keeping everyone as safe and well as possible.
Singing still increases transmission risk, so in line with other churches and venues both locally and nationally we are continuing to ask congregations to remain masked particularly when singing please.
We will continue to use individual cups for Holy Communion, have hand gel available, and keep the churches well ventilated.
Please continue to dress warmly!
Morning Prayer on Facebook will take a break after Christmas Eve.
It will return on Tuesday, 3rd January 2022.
Masks must now be worn inside our church buildings unless you are exempt or consuming food or drink.
This is particularly important with new variants of Covid in circulation, and vital for keeping each other safe at busy Christmas services.
We are using individual cups for communion, and keep our building well ventilated with doors open during services, so it can become cold. Please dress warmly!
We ask that everyone respect each other’s viewpoints on this as we want as many people as possible to feel comfortable coming to our services.
We urgently need members of both St Barnabas and St Mary’s to encourage each other by meeting weekly at 4pm on a Thursday at St Barnabas.
We hold each other in prayer at this time, giving God quiet and space to speak as we seek to allow the Holy Spirit inspire, guide and direct us as we seek to join in his Kingdom-building work in our communities.
Please come and join us, as we call upon the Lord.