Dear Church Friends,
How are you all? The weather has been very changeable this week. Wet and mild early on with a cold shock to the system on Thursday, although that day’s sunshine was most welcome and out of the wind, it felt quite pleasant. In the afternoon I saw a sparrow hawk about 6ft away on the ground outside our patio windows. It hadn’t caught anything and soon flew off straight towards the windows! Fortunately, it saw the danger in time and changed its flight path to avert disaster. Have you noticed any spider’s webs outside your property? There are always several on our kitchen windows and often look beautiful with dew and the first shafts of sunshine on them. Nearby, the Michaelmas daisies are losing their fluffy seed heads in the wind and some of these are getting caught up in the webs adding a spooky look to them. Wrens and robins are around in the shrubbery.
Unfortunately, the rain has delayed the pointing work this week and I don’t know when it will be completed. This means that the church gates need to remain closed and locked, so it is unlikely that there will be access for those with mobility problems to park in the church grounds on Sunday morning. If you have mobility problems, please park on Clifton Drive near to the pedestrian entrance. Please ask if you need any help with access to the church. There is wheelchair available if anyone requires it.
I should like to thank those of you who don’t have a problem with mobility for leaving the parking area around the pedestrian entrance available for those who needed it last Sunday, please do so again this week.
The Real Advent Calendar will be available through Janet S who is selling the calendar again. It has Fairtrade chocolates and a booklet for children explaining the real meaning of Christmas. Janet would welcome purchases and also donations and will use the profit to buy more calendars for distribution to three organisations that support children on the Fylde coast – Sydney Street Children’s Centre in St. Annes , Blackpool & Fylde Home Start and Fylde Coast Women’s Aid. The price of the calendars is £3.99. Thank you for your help.
Our Worship on Sunday 24th October at 10.45am will be led by Stuart Gay
Bible Readings OT – Deuteronomy 30 vv 1-20 NT – Hebrews 7 vv 23-28
Our Worship on Sunday 31st October at 10.45am will be led by Rev Jim Williams
Table Top Sale with a Bottle Stall on Saturday 6th November 10am to 12 noon
There will be a table top sale in the church hall on Saturday 6th November with proceeds going to the Church. We are looking for donations of bric a brac of anything saleable, as well as bottles for the bottle stall. The bottles can be any sort of bottle: drinks; shampoo; shower gel; salad dressing etc, etc. Please bring your contributions to church on Sunday 31st October or to a Thursday coffee morning. Volunteers are also required to run the event, so if you are able to help either on the Saturday morning or with any advance preparations, please could you let Jan H know. Refreshments will also be available. Thank you for any donations….they will be most welcome
Harvest Gifts
Those of you who were in church last Sunday will have heard that your Harvest Gifts raised the magnificent total of £660. Thank you for your superb response and I will let you know which Charites are to benefit in due course.
Some definitions of a friend. I’m sure you can think of many more.
A friend is someone who ignores your broken fence and admires the flowers in your garden.
True friends are like good books, you don’t see them every day, but you know where to find them when you need them.
Gems of Friendship by Elizabeth Gozney
Someone to listen, someone to care,
Someone whose presence by just being there
Can bring us the comfort to soothe us in need,
True gems of friendship to treasure, indeed.
Let us pray
Dear Lord Jesus,
We pray for our friends who are unwell, either at home or in hospital. Please be with them, ease their anxieties and help them to put their trust in you. Pour your love, comfort and blessing on them. The rise in the number of covid infections is worrying, but we pray that the booster vaccines will help to reduce the number of people requiring hospitalisation. Thank you for all the dedicated people who have worked so hard to cope with the situation for such a long time and we pray that you will give them strength to deal with any future needs. We pray for those who are especially vulnerable. We thank You that Your grace has upheld us through these long months. In Jesus’ name, Amen
Please join me in saying the Grace together.
May the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, now and evermore. Amen
God Bless you all
Ruth
