#518 It’s time to talk
Fr Sam writes
Last weekend began with some sad news. After a short illness, John Ellerbeck died in the early hours of Saturday morning. John was a member of the St Paul’s congregation for many years and served as churchwarden. Our prayers are, of course, with him as he sets out on his journey to his eternal home, and with his family. John’s funeral will be on Friday 8 May at 3pm at St Paul’s.
This coming Sunday marks our annual parish meetings. These will be at 5pm in the Parish Rooms with tea and coffee to help our conversation along. Do come if you are able to do so, especially if you are new to the parish: it is an important time to come and talk about what is going on in the life of our church, as well as making some important decisions for the year ahead.
Image: “Suffer the little children to come unto me“, Fritz von Uhde
This Sunday: the Good Shepherd
The fourth Sunday of Easter is known as “Good Shepherd Sunday” because we always hear a passage from John 10, where Jesus talks about himself as the Good Shepherd.
In our first reading, we hear of the common life of the apostles in the earliest days of the church, how they shared their belongings with each other (Acts 2.42-47). Our Gospel reading is the beginning of the Good Shepherd discourse, where Jesus tells his disciples “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10.1-10).
Image: A painting of Christ as the Good Shepherd from the third century AD, in a crypt in Rome
Services this Sunday
| 9.30am | St Paul’s | Parish Mass | Fr Sam Tanna-Korn |
| Organ prelude: ‘Alleluia! O Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing’ – Flor Peeters Anthem: Now the green blade riseth – arr. Lindley Voluntary: Toccata in G – Theodore Dubois | |||
| 10am | Woosehill Church | Holy Communion | Revd Cara Smart |
| 11am | St Nicholas’ | Community Eucharist | Fr Sam Tanna-Korn |
Offerings for the Royal Berks
Mothers’ Union have delivered various items to Royal Berkshire Hospital Voluntary Services, including twiddle muffs and forget-me-not wrist bands for patients with dementia, baby cardigans and hat, and emergency bags of toiletries for patients who are rushed in without any.
Thank you to the members of our congregation who have helped to provide these.
The emergency toiletry bags that Mothers’ Union provide for RHS Voluntary Services and for Ronald McDonald Children’s Hospital in Oxford contain face cloth, comb, toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, eye masks and ear plugs. If anyone can provide any of these new unused items please can they give them to Gill Wilkins at St Paul’s or Jean Vaughan at St Nicholas.
Live for the moment
The Reading Phoenix Choir are coming to St Paul’s at 7.30pm on Saturday 9 May for “Live for the Moment”, a concert that will include works by William Harris, Felix Mendelssohn, Anton Bruckner, John Tavener, Thomas Morley and some excellent works by the 21st century’s choral composers.
The concert is in aid of Dementia UK: the title is a reference to the fact that dementia sufferers can still enjoy themselves, albeit just in the moment, and this links to the support from the Admiral Nurses that helps people who have loved ones with dementia.
Tickets can be purchased on the door or online.
Be Still: a service of quiet reflection
Woosehill Church are starting a new service on the second Sunday of each month at 6.30 in the evening. It is called Be Still and is a chance to be still in the presence of God and one another.
The first service will be on Sunday 10 May.
Lucky Numbers
The lucky numbers for April took place after mass at St Paul’s on Sunday 19 April.
Many congratulations to the lucky winners:-
£50 no 40 David and Lesley Ruddock
£25 no 7 Rhoda Hart
£15 no 69 Tony and Pam Roberts
£10 no 33 Petra Johnstone
Fr John’s anniversary mass
Fr John Connell, formerly Rector of our parish and now a canon at Newport Cathedral, is celebrating his 30th anniversary of ordination this year. To celebrate, there is a mass at 2pm on Saturday 18 July in Newport Cathedral.
The choir has been invited to take part in the service and members of our congregation are invited to the service. A coach is being organised to leave Wokingham (Parish Room car park) at 9.15am and leave Newport at 4.45pm. As always, the cost is governed by the number of people travelling, so it could range from £25.00 to £38.00.
There will be a sign-up list at the back of church or you can contact Rhoda Hart at rhoda297@gmail.com.
This week’s calendar: a saint and a writer
Next Wednesday 29 April is the feast day of St Catherine of Siena, who lived in the 14th century in Italy. She was a Dominican tertiary and a mystic whose deep life of prayer led her to public life. She is remembered for her letters urging reform within the Church and for her role in encouraging the papacy’s return to Rome from Avignon. In fact, she wrote hundreds of letters to many significant political and ecclesiastical figures of her day, even though she only learnt to write in the final three years of her life: before that they were all dictated to secretaries. She is considered one of the patron saints of Europe.
