2 x 3= 6 [236]

This Sunday- “I am the Good Shepherd”

This Sunday, Woosehill’s Service and St Paul’s at 9.30 are available on the Internet, as usual, and you need to book for St Nick’s at 11 and Woosehill. It is brilliant to see our services open up again after such a long time- St Nick’s began again last week and this Sunday sees the 8am Communion recommence. This will happen on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month, for the foreseeable future. Here is the OoS for St Paul’s if you need it:

The only Zoom Coffee at the moment is the Woosehill one so do please go along (whichever congregation you normally belong to) to have a good chat over coffee.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85155759369

Meeting ID: 851 5575 9369         Password: 662208

Also, a reminder that anyone who has been baptised is welcome to receive communion at St Paul’s- please just hold your hands out in a clear message as you come to the front so the priest knows what to do.

News and Appeals etc

A number of local charities, including The Cowshed, are appealing for bedding and clothes etc following the dreadful flat fire in Arborfield last week. Do follow the links on Facebook and in Wokingham Today if you would like to help.

Thank you to everyone who filled in the survey a few weeks back. I would like to circulate the comments (anonymised) around the Standing Committee and PCC so we can engage fully with them- if anyone would like me to delete their comments first, please can you let me know by the end of Sunday evening. Thanks.

Bertie has found out (by counting, he says) that the Foodbank delivered nearly a thousand parcels of food while they were using the Parish Rooms as a base which is pretty remarkable.

Bertie has also found out (by reading his emails, he says) that those who use the Daily Prayer app can update it today and it will include audio, spoken morning and evening prayer including singing!

And Doreen has sent this link to a really helpful app and podcast which guides people in praying: she writes this…

I’ve signed up for the Church of England’s “Prayer – where to start and how to keep going” email reflections, which began on 19 April and I wanted to share them with you. These short straightforward e-mails written by Stephen Cottrell are very helpful especially to those who struggle with prayer, as we all do from time to time. You can sign up on the Church of England’s website: https://www.churchofengland.org/our-faith/what-we-believe/lent-holy-week-and-easter/prayer-where-start-and-how-keep-going-email.

A Prayer for the Feast of St George, by Fr Tony Kemp

Lord God, we thank and praise you for valiant St George, patron saint of England and martyr;

Whose life of good deeds and valour are known only to you in heavenly places;

We pray for all those threatened by unseen and destructive forces, both real and imaginary;

Give them confidence in your unfailing love and protection in their hours of darkness.

Hear our prayers for all those who work for peace and harmony and strive for justice;

Giving thanks in their efforts to maintain human rights, equality and dignity.

On this day when we observe the festival of St George and honour his memory –

May we come to rejoice with him in the triumph of your glorious resurrection; Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Here is another cheese joke for those who asked for more- and there really were some…

Here is the news. A tornado has destroyed a French cheese factory. All that was left was de brie.

And here is what Bertie was saying a year ago today in email 37:

Bertie here, your friendly journalist/ Churchmouse. It felt a good moment to send you a message to say that I do miss you and I do hope that you are doing alright in the circumstances.

Some things I have found out this week:

1. Strange as it sounds, you actually can eat more cheese than is good for you.
2. It’s harder to see the vicious cats circling when the churchyard grass is over your head.
3. Liz Gallagher is actually very nice- she sent me a special parcel of stilton to say sorry for her rudeness about my heavy-footedness. I’m not heavy-footed- I’m just genetically predisposed to love cheese. And to have big bones.