#330 pieces of cheese eaten in the last 3.5 days
Hello from a very happy and content parish mouse. Some kind parishioner made me a trail of cheese on Sunday, all the way around the church, with a quick stop at the swimming pool for mice that has been left by the porch doors. Very kind to think of the poor, hot, sticky mice in this heat, a little dip is exactly what Dr Tails ordered. Only odd thing is that the pool says ‘DOG’ on the outside and that some humans seem to think it’s OK for their canine friends to drink from my pool. Still, I suppose there is something quite Christian about sharing and all that…
This Sunday, 31st July, at St Paul’s we have 9.30am Mass with Mtr Cara, and 11am Community Eucharist at St Nick’s with Fr Roy. J Club has finished for the summer, though there will be printed activity sheets in church each week. Evensong and Woosehill’s ‘Be Still’ service are also having a break for August, though Morning Prayer is still said daily: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at 8.30am on zoom, Tuesday and Friday at 9am in St Paul’s.
Parish Quiet Day
Save the date! We will be having a parish quiet day on Saturday 24th September at St Mary’s Church, Winnersh. The theme is, “Walk with God and trust in him: Journey with 3 women from the Old Testament.” This is your chance to take a day out, reflect, listen, pray, walk, learn, read, draw, write… whatever you need to do and however you need and want to spend the day with God and others. Do please ask Mary Cassidy (mary.cassidy@spauls.co.uk) or Cara Smart (cara.smart@spauls.co.uk) for more details or to find out more if you’re interested, or if you’ve never been on a quiet day and would like to find out a bit more.
Here is the Deanery Prayer List for August, a chance to pray for churches, parishes, people and events across the Sonning Deanery.
And a couple of people have asked to read Cara’s sermon from Sunday on shame, honour and prayer, so it’s included here to read and think about more deeply if you wish with a bonus colouring page at the end on The Lord’s Prayer.
Those on the PCC and other members including those lovely people who lead J Club are all renewing or doing for the first time their safeguarding training. For those who need to do it, there will be a separate email with details, but for now please pop the date of 10th October, 7.45pm, Woosehill Church into your diaries. And for us all as a church, a reminder of the safeguarding prayer that was shared last month:
Holy Spirit, you gave the disciples the ability to communicate your love to all those they met,
and envision a world where all your children are treated with dignity, compassion and kept safe from all harm and abuse;
strengthen us with courage, wisdom and integrity,
that, as your church here in this place,
we may protect, safeguard and care for ourselves and those around us,
this day and always.
Amen.
Ride and Stride – 10th September
The Ride + Stride County Co-ordinator, Prue Matchwick, writes this:
The churches of Berkshire are worth saving for many future generations. One way you can help is by signing up for the annual Ride & Stride event and then please ask all your friends and family to sponsor you generously. Sponsor forms can be printed off via the Ride+Stride website: https://www.berkschurchestrust.org.uk/sponsorship-form For JustGiving sponsorship please follow the detailed instructions in ‘Guidelines’ which can be found under the Ride+Stride drop down tab on this website.
Ride+Stride happens every year throughout the country. Our wonderful Berkshire supporters raised nearly £25,000 in 2021 – how can we improve on this for 2022?
St Peter’s Woolhampton have won the Daphne Barnes-Phillips challenge cup for the past two years, which church will wrest this award from them?! This cup is given to the church raising most money through sponsorship and you can walk, jog, cycle, or ride round any number of churches anywhere you choose. We will have an updated list of participating churches, plus a few routes, on the BHCT website.
You can go by yourself or in a group, any time between 10am and 6pm on September 10th. Sign in at each church you visit; have a look round and enjoy refreshments. Do please take photos of your expedition and send them to me after the event, we will use the best ones on the BHCT website.
Prue Matchwick
prue.matchwick@gmail.com
Ride + Stride County Co-ordinator
