#458: We’re halfway through the longest month

Hello my friends, I have a lot to report so I better get on with it, such is the life of a busy mouse! Despite the continuing lassitude caused by the Christmas and New Year cheese feasts, I, Bertram, have truly not been slacking. As I told you last week, I have continued gathering news and can today report:
The King of Treasurers has been in his study counting up the money (and preparing figures ready for the PCC meeting on 20th January), and I heard that the budget he has been working on is looking tighter than he would like … a shortfall of a few thousand pounds seems inevitable.
HOWEVER, I also heard that the PCC is exploring a new plan to help make ends meet!
One of the ongoing, but rather overlooked, costs of running the parish is the wherewithal to celebrate the Eucharist around which so much of our worship is based. In short, the cost of
- candles (10 different kinds and sizes required over the course of a year),
- incense and charcoal,
- wafers (4 kinds/sizes), and
- wine
tots up to a couple of thousand pounds each year (shown in the accounts as Sacristy costs). Every now and then, linens and such items wear out and have to be replaced too.
The plan is that members of the congregation could contribute, three times a year, to a restricted Sacristy fund, choosing which item(s) each might like to “sponsor” from a list of consumables which will be provided.
Details of how this will work will be circulated soon …
This Sunday
We celebrate Epiphany 2 with an 8am BCP Eucharist and a 9.30am Mass at St Paul’s, 10am Communion at Woosehill and 11am Communion at St Nick’s. The music for the 9.30am at St Paul’s will be
Before (ca 7′)
Graham Fitkin – Wedding
Anthem
Charles Villiers Stanford – O for a closer walk with God
After
Théodore Dubois – Fiat lux
There is also an Evening Songs of Praise at St Paul’s at 6.15pm. There will be refreshments and a chance to celebrate our new hymnbook and to start learning a new Mass setting. All the hymns that evening will be from the new hymnbook. Do go if you can.
News and thanks from Yeldall Manor
Yeldall Manor is a residential drug and alcohol recovery centre near Reading for men struggling with addiction, which we support as a parish and people across the churches also support them, in various different ways. If you’d like to know more about them, you can visit their website Yeldall Manor – Drug and Alcohol rehabilitation programmes or get in contact via their newsletter details. They have sent us this message of thanks and also their newsletter to share.
So much of the Gospel message of Christmas talks about light in the darkness, streams in the desert, new growth in the wilderness. Those verses speak really powerfully to me about recovery and new growth after addiction: “Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days. The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses.” (Isa. 35:1)
I want to thank you for being part of this transformation through your kind donation of Christmas gifts for the residents here at Yeldall Manor. Your thoughtful giving is very much appreciated and will have a very real impact upon the men who come to us to find freedom from their drug or alcohol addictions.
“The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing for joy! Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the wasteland.” (Isa. 35: 6) This Christmas, many men experienced a much more joyful celebration; full of happiness at a life clean and sober, feeling more fulfilled, relationships often restored and faith newly-found or rekindled. It is the support that we receive from you and others like you that helps to make transformations like this possible. Thank you!
May God bless you all this New Year,
Sue Hedger
Seasonal news from Yeldall Manor
Loneliness coffee drop-ins in January
Firefighters from Wokingham Fire Station are running drop in coffee sessions at Wokingham Baptist Church this month. Please see the attached poster and do go along or pass this onto someone you know who might appreciate them.