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COVID –19

Whenever circumstances change we will put detailed information on - our Facebook page: St Peters Church Bengeworth and on our website: bengeworthchurch.co.uk

Thurs 30th William Wilberforce Psalms 14, 15, 16 1 Samuel 12 Luke 22.47-62 Fri 31st Ignatius of Loyola Psalms 17, 19 1 Samuel 13.5-18 Luke 22.63-end

Making Christ Visible

in Bengeworth

St. Peter’s Key

July 2020

St. Peter’s Church, Bengeworth

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The government will continue to consider how to allow places of worship to reopen for additional uses in Step 3 of its Roadmap, which is expected to be no earlier than 4 July, subject to further scientific advice.

Through its Places of Worship Taskforce, the government is continuing to work with faith leaders and representatives to develop a plan to enable the phased and safe reopening of places of worship.

This guidance for places of worship will be updated as and when further changes come into effect.

No place of worship will be able to reopen before a final decision by the government and the accompanying change to the legal position in the published regulations. Places of worship will be able to reopen at a slower pace if they wish.

At Bengeworth we are preparing to re-start Worship on the 5th July, if the government gives the go ahead. This will be a new normal, rather than what we have been used to before March. A risk assessment has been prepared to enable us to open safely. With social distancing at 2 metres St. Peter's Church can seat 40 people. If this changes to 1 metre then up to 70 people can be seated. Family members and couples can sit together but single people will need to keep the required distance. Queue management will be arranged in and out the building with hygiene cleaning at the point of entry and exit. You may use face coverings if you wish for additional protection.

We have prepared a Worship rota for the next three months. August will not be the usual Summer Trail. Services will follow the normal monthly pattern, as far as possible, in each Church. There will be no singing until we are told this can resume. No refreshments will be available after the Service for the time being. Communion will be received in one kind as before the lockdown.

For the latest information about what is happening you will need to go on our Church Website: bengeworthchurch.co.uk. The Benefice Office will re-opening part time, from the 1st July.

REOPENING CHURCH

Mark Binney

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Wed 15th St Swithin Psalms 110, 111, 112 1 Samuel 2.12-26 Luke 20.1– 8 Thurs 16th St Osmund Psalms 113, 115 1 Samuel 2.27-end Luke 20.9-19 Fri 17th Psalm 139 1 Samuel 3.1-4.1a Luke 20.20-26 Sat 18th Elizabeth Ferard Psalms 120, 121, 122 1 Samuel 4.1b-end Luke 20.27-40 Mon 20th Margaret of Antioch Psalms 123, 124, 125, 126 1 Samuel 5 Luke 20.41-21.4 Tues 21st Psalms 132, 133 1 Samuel 6.1-16 Luke 21.5-19 Wed 22nd Mary Magdalene 1 Samuel 16.14-23 Luke 8.1-3 Psalms 30, 32, 150

Thurs 23rd Bridget of Sweden Psalms 143, 146 1 Samuel 8 Luke 21.29-end Fri 24th Psalms 142, 144 1 Samuel 9.1-14 Luke 22.1-13 Sat 25th James the Apostle 2 Kings 1.9-15 Luke 9.46-56 Psalms 7, 29, 117 Mon 27th Brooke Foss Westcott Psalms 1, 2, 3 1 Samuel 10.1-16 Luke 22.24-30 Tues 28th Psalms 5, 6, (8) 1 Samuel 10.17-end Luke 22.31-38

Wed 29th Mary, Martha and Lazarus Psalm 119.1-32 1 Samuel 11 Luke 22.39-46

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Wed 1st John and Henry Venn Psalm 77 Judges 9.22-end Luke 16.1-18 Thurs 2nd Thomas the Apostle Psalm 78.1-39 Judges 11.1-11 Luke 16.19-end Fri 3rd July 2 Samuel 15.17-21 or Ecclesiasticus 2 John 11.1-16 Psalms 92, 146 Sat 4th July Psalms 76, 79 Judges 12.1-7 Luke 17.11-19 Mon 6th Thomas More & John Fisher Psalms 80, 82 Judges 13.1-24 Luke 17.20-end Tues 7th Psalms 87, 89.1-18 Judges 14 Luke 18.1-1

Wed 8th Psalm 119.105-128 Judges 15.1-16.3 Luke 18.15-3 Thurs 9th Psalms 90, 92 Judges 16.4-end Luke 18.31-end Fri 10th Psalms 88, (95) Judges 17 Luke 19.1-10 Friday 12th July Psalms 96, 97, 100 Judges 18.1-20, 27-end Luke 19.11-27 Mon 13th Psalms 98, 99, 101 1 Samuel 1.1-20 Luke 19.28-40 Tues 14th John Keble Psalm 106 (or 103) 1 Samuel 1.21-2.11 Luke 19.41-end

READINGS FOR JULY

Below you will find weekday readings for Morning Prayer Source: http://www.oremus.org/ You can subscribe and download the resource yourself

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The Prime Minister has announced today that it will be possible to open church buildings for public worship from 4 July, as long as all public health guidance is followed. Weddings will also be permitted with a maximum of 30 people.

As with previous announcements around opening for private prayer and funerals, no-one should feel obligated or pushed into opening their buildings before they are ready. Safety remains of paramount importance and this will be a gradual process. Other than weddings, there is no limit on the numbers of people allowed in a particular church, as long as they are able to be more than a metre apart. Churches will also be permitted to open for other purposes such as tourism and hospitality.

The Bishop of London, as Chair of the Church of England’s recovery group, has issued a statement in response to the announcement, which can be read here.

Bishop John said:

“Churches have been supporting their communities throughout the lockdown in all kinds of practical and spiritual ways. It’s great news that from 4 July we will be able to open our buildings for worship and weddings and to be a place of comfort and hope for all those who have been affected by the pandemic. However, safety remains of paramount importance and we’ll be looking closely at the Government’s advice and working out how churches might open while ensuring we are protecting the vulnerable and limiting the spread of the virus.”

Advice and guidance on opening church buildings will be found on the Church of England's Coronavirus pages as soon as it is available. It is anticipated that there will be specific guidance on the type of worship permitted ahead of 4th July.

+ John

REOPENING CHURCHES FOR WORSHIP

Bishop John

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As I write this piece for you, at the very end of May, life is still full of uncertainty, and I have no idea what the situation in our country, or in our churches, will be like by the time you read my words. The year to date has been one of unprecedented change – much that we now regard as ‘normal’ would have been unimaginable this time last year. We have adapted our life styles, followed the guidelines, practised social distancing, closed our church buildings and endeavoured to stay alert to slow

the spread of a global pandemic and save lives.

I wonder what you have most missed during these months of lockdown. And I wonder how long we will consciously treasure those things when we eventually have them back in our lives.Because we take so much for granted, until it’s suddenly not there, or not allowed.For me, it’s been all about people – my family and friends. Throughout April and May, there were many things we could only do with ‘members of our own household’. I, along with over eight million other people in the UK, live alone, so until late May I couldn’t do anything with anyone! Apart from my virtual encounters (which fill most days – the wonders of technology have enabled meetings to go on, so the world hasn’t ground to a complete halt). How I have missed being with my Mum and Dad, my wider family, sharing a meal and a hug. How I have craved a face-to-face chat with a friend. How I have longed to mingle with others over a coffee at then end of a church service, after having sung our hearts out in praise and shared communion and a sign of peace together.

Some of those joys are gradually being restored now. I can see my mum in the garden, but not hug her. I can run with a friend and chat to my heart’s content, but running a marathon with thousands of others is off limits. Church buildings are likely to be closed for gathered worship for some time yet. My spirits have been lifted wonderfully by these new freedoms, and I want to keep that sense of thankfulness and joy, never again taking such things for granted.

In his letter to a small church in Colossae, Saint Paul urges his readers to ‘be thankful’, to ‘sing with gratitude’. It’s easy to forget thankfulness when we take things for granted, the freedoms most of us have as able bodied people in a relatively affluent part of the world. When the freedom to leave our homes, walk the hills, get a haircut, worship together, hug our family gets wrenched from us, we

CULTIVATING THANKFULNESS

Nikki Groarke

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Collect for St Thomas’s Day

Almighty and eternal God, who, for the firmer foundation of our faith, allowed your holy apostle Thomas to doubt the resurrection of your Son till word and sight convinced him: grant to us, who have not seen, that we also may believe and so confess Christ as our Lord and our God; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

Healing God, bless those on a journey of recovery from illness or surgery.

Grant strength, patience, and freedom from pain.

Bring restoration of health through your Spirit’s power.

Reach out and touch them so they know you are there, bringing comfort and light even in the darkest of times.

Amen

ST PETER’S DUTY ROTA

5th July Trinity 4 Zechariah 9.9-12 Sally Ashton Romans 7.15-25a Jane Richards Intercessions Marie Bomyer Matthew 11.16-19,25-30 Mark Binney 12th July Trinity 5 Isaiah 55.10-13 David Daniels Romans 8.1-11 Isabelle Lambert Matthew 13.1-9,18-23 Intercessions Anne Malpass 19th July Trinity 6 Isaiah 44.6-8 Dave Cockram Romans 8.12-25 Marie Bomyer Matthew 13.24-30,36-43 Julian Bomyer Intercessions John Gordon 26th July Trinity 7 1Kings 3.5-12 Jane Richards Romans 8.26-39 Richard Southern Matthew 13.31-33,44-52 Mark Binney Intercessions Sally Ashton

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PRAYER SHARE

Collect for William Wilberforce

God our deliverer, who sent your Son Jesus Christ to set your people free from the slavery of sin: grant that, as your servant William Wilberforce toiled against the sin of slavery, so we may bring compassion to all and work for the freedom of all the children of God; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

God to enfold me, God to surround me, God in my speaking, God in my thinking.

God in my sleeping, God in my waking, God in my watching, God in my hoping.

God in my life, God in my lips, God in my soul, God in my heart.

God in my sufficing, God in my slumber, God in mine ever-living soul, God in mine eternity. (Ancient celtic oral traditions - car-mina gadelica) https://www.faithandworship.com/Celtic_Blessings_and_Prayers.htm#gsc.tab=0

That we can glimpse you within creation is a beautiful thought, but also tells us that you desire to be seen, to be found and known. Open our eyes, Lord, as we walk through this world, feel the wind and sunshine, see the majesty of creation unfolding before our eyes. Help us to see you Amen

Collect for Mary Magdalene

Almighty God, whose Son restored Mary Magdalene to health of mind and body and called her to be a witness to his resurrection: forgive our sins and heal us by your grace, that we may serve you in the power of his risen life; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

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are perhaps prompted to realise how little we appreciated all that was good. I hope to have an attitude of gratitude long after this crisis is over. I want to be thankful for all the things I have missed, not just for the first few weeks I have them back, but forever.

As we venture into whatever the new normal looks like, let’s cultivate thankfulness and grateful hearts, and never take our blessings for granted.

Supporting those with hearing loss to engage online

The Revd Victoria Barlow, Curate in the Christ the King benefice in Redditch, has written this blog to help parishes support those with hearing loss to engage fully with online fellowship and worship. This is a time when we are all learning about isolation. We are all experiencing it for ourselves, and facing the ups and downs of the different days. Even the most introverted among us are beginning to long for small talk! As church families, we have perhaps become even more aware of the feelings held by those who are isolated through being homebound, or by not being online. We have reached deep for new and creative ways to connect. I celebrate this enormously and truly believe it will bear gifts for the future. Each of our personal situations, and those of our church families, loved ones, and communities has presented different challenges, and different opportunities to reflect, to become more empathic, to be creative in loving, and to reach out.

As a deaf person, who lipreads, this time has certainly had its challenges. Communication is often a shared task within ministry; as groups of colleagues we work together to create better accessibility in our parish and beyond. Often, we find ourselves surprised at how these new practises make things better for us all. No one wants to be staring at a speaker with a bright light or sunshine behind them, we all benefit from clearer speech and from the courteous manners of ordered discussion without too many speakers at once; room layout helps everyone and better practise in not speaking with faces obscured enables better communication... the list goes on. As a deaf person I am pushed toward physical meetings rather than voice calls, which often becomes a joy, creating strong relationships and enabling us to make time for each other in a very clear way.

In this time... there has been a sudden flourishing of voice calls, and of video calls

ONLINE SERVICES

Revd Victoria Barlow

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and worship. It is easy to feel that one cannot contribute, cannot be included. Lip reading is exhausting and draws very much on context, and on being able to see clear details of lip, mouth and throat movement. Lip reading on screen is virtually impossible, especially if the connection is variable, which, face it, it usually is. I found myself unable to participate in voice and video calls, cut off from worship, from meetings and discussions within my colleagues and friends. It’s resulted in an amazing sense of dislocation, frustration and a decent bash to the self-esteem.

Bishop Martin, our Bishop of Dudley, discovered that skype has free subtitles, and is ideal for a one to one conversation. I thank him for that, and commend it to you as a platform. He gave me enormous hope when I had given up. Skype, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet all offer free subtitling as standard, but they are all pretty useless in action as a meeting forum... there are reasons why we have all resorted to Zoom.

Meanwhile... my sister and brother priests in the Sodality of Mary, a dispersed religious community to which I have the honour of belonging, would not take no for an answer on this. They researched, shared my frustration and sorrow, and finally came up with a way of enabling subtitles on Zoom, so long as you have the ‘pro’ package. They also, with me, hammered out a set of guidelines for good practise. They are transformative.

I suddenly felt human, included, and once more able to connect and share in others’ gifts, and perhaps even to share my gifts with them. I am now able to participate in online Zoom worship with communities. One of them said to me... “thank you for reminding us that inclusion takes many forms”. We have a gospel that calls us to be creative and inclusive, and that tells us we are the richer for working in vulnerability and diversity. If Zoom is not an appropriate forum for you, or if you do not have the pro package... please consider making a typed script available, or sending notes and messages to aid communication and looking at the guidelines below in order to offer as good communication as possible. I assure you the hearing amongst you in your communities will be as grateful as the deaf.

Sisters and brothers, please consider exploring this with your communities – one in three people experience some sort of hearing loss; it is a major area of accessibility, especially perhaps among our older demographic. Reaching out in honesty and

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July 2020

Sun 5th 8.00 am Holy Communion 10.00 am Morning Worship Tues 7th 10.00 am Holy Communion Sun 12th 8.00 am Holy Communion 10.00 am Morning Worship Tues 14th 10.00 am Holy Communion Sun 19th 8.00 am Holy Communion 10.00 am Parish Eucharist

Tues 21st 10.00 am Holy Communion Sun 26th 8.00am Holy Communion 10.00 am Parish Eucharist Tues 28th 10.00 am Holy Communion

ST PETER’S DIARY

sunshine. If it sticks further south, Arctic air and Atlantic weather systems are likely to predominate, bringing colder, wetter weather. The rhyme just needs a little re-rendering:

"St Swithin's day if thou dost rain For forty days, relatively unsettled there's a fair chance it will remain St Swithin's day if thou be fair For forty days, a northerly jet stream might result in some fairly decent spells But then again it might not".

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ST SWITHIN’S DAY, 15TH JULY

https://www.theweatherclub.org.uk/node/153

"St Swithin’s day if thou dost rain For forty days it will remain St Swithin’s day if thou be fair For forty days ‘twill rain nae mare"

The St Swithin's Day legend is an old one –the earliest surviving written reference dates back to the 14th century – although its roots are much disputed. St Swithin (or Swithun) was an Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester who died in around AD 862. He requested that his remains be interred among the common people outside the church, but in 971, after he had been made patron saint of Winchester Cathedral, his body was dug up and moved to a new indoor shrine. According to some writers, this caused sufficient displeasure in the heavens for a terrible downpour to strike the church and continue unabated for 40 days, hence the legend. The only problem with this theory is a complete and utter absence any evidence, with no early account of the reburial mentioning the slightest drop of rain.

John Earle, a renowned authority on Anglo-Saxon Britain, offered a more convincing theory when he suggested that the legend had its roots in a widespread pre-Christian belief in weather auguries, later adapted to coincide with Christian feast days – in France, an almost identical legend is attached to the feast day of St Medard on 8th June, and similar stories exist all over northern Europe.

Whatever its roots, the veracity of the St Swithin's Day myth clearly fails to stand up to much detailed examination. Since records began, not a single 40-day drought has occurred anywhere in the UK during the summer months, and there has been not one instance at any time of the year of 40 consecutive days of rainfall. Sunshine on St Swithin's Day in Miami may well auger 40 days of unbroken sunshine, but in Blackpool it most assuredly does not.

That said, there is the tiniest glimmer of sense to the rhyme. The middle of July tends to be around the time that the jet stream settles into a relatively consistent pattern. If the jet stream lies north of the UK throughout the summer, continental high pressure is able to move in, bringing warmth and

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accessibility is our calling as Christians, and this not only sends a clear and prophetic message to society at large, but is a huge warm cwtch of love to those who are frustrated and excluded.

Top tips for helping those struggling with hearing to engage with video conferencing:

Install the ‘rev’ live captioning app on the host’s Zoom... it must be enabled by the host, it cannot be enabled by participants. It requires pro-zoom, but is free: https://t.co/B88Zz1xoJJ?amp=1

Please speak clearly and relatively slowly (as if you are in church, or on stage, rather than as in normal conversation)

Please face the camera directly if you are speaking

Make sure there is not light behind you (ie a window or lamp) and that your face is lit without silhouette or shadows

Avoid touching your mouth or face or obscuring your lips in any other way

Although it is often natural to bow your head to pray, please don’t do so when leading. It is perfectly OK to bow for the doxology or the Sacred Name as the context is evident.

You may need to think about camera angle so that lips are not obscured by your name or the captioning

80% or so of lip reading is contextual, so unexpected or unknown words, especially names or places or people, can be impossible, and sudden changes of subject are challenging – use the chat facility to type in proper names or hints as you speak

In the main session, allow the host to chair the meeting. Turn all microphones off unless speaking so that the camera does not jump away from the speaker due to unexpected sounds.

The break-out rooms do not have captions enabled, so extra care must be taken there. Ideally the Deaf participants should return to the main room as a ‘break out’ room, so that Captions can be maintained. This will need to be announced in advance, so when participants are moved by zoom to a breakout room, they can

return themselves to the main room.

Keeping subtitles on for the leader’s use enables to see what may have not been picked up and what may need further explanation.

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SENSING CREATION

From CMS https://churchmissionsociety.org/resources/

This reflection invites you to appreciate the beauty and rich variety of creation, ponder its fragility and consider our God-given responsibility to care for it. The first section suggests some different ways to pray, engaging with different senses. We then seek to learn from Scripture about our role in creation, and finally consider ways in which we can participate in stewarding God’s creation.

Speak: A creation prayer My dear King, my own King, Without pride, without sin, Youc reated the whole world, Eternal, victorious King. King of Mysteries, You existed before the elements, Before the sun was set in the sky, Before the waters covered the ocean floor, Beautiful King, You are without beginning and without end.

King, You created the land out of shapeless mass, You carved the mountains and chiselled the valleys, And covered the earth with trees and grass. King, You measured each object And each span within the universe: The heights of the mountains

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As archbishop, he was close to William III and crowned Anne and George I. After Queen Mary's death, he was one of those who persuaded William III that his long and bitter quarrel with her sister Anne must be ended. He attended William III on his deathbed and crowned his successor, Queen Anne, but during her reign he was in less favour at court.

Queen Anne thought that he favoured the Low Church, and clashed with him over her sole right to appoint bishops. Increasingly he lost influence to John Sharp, Archbishop of York, whom the Anne found far more congenial.

He was a commissioner for the Union with Scotland in 1706, but in the last years of Anne's reign was very much a secondary political figure, and from September 1710, though still nominally a member of the Cabinet, he ceased to attend its meetings. A strong supporter of the Hanoverian succession who shocked many by referring to Anne's death in August 1714 as a blessing, he was one of three officers of state entrusted with the duty of appointing a regent when Queen Anne died. When George I arrived Archbishop Tenison crowned him in October 1714 but then died not long after this on 14th December 1715.

Thomas Tenison had been affected with gout in his final years and he died in London, at the age of 79.

He had founded the Archbishop Tenison's Church of England School in Lambeth, Greater London in 1685 and the Archbishop Tenison's Church of England School in Croydon, Greater London in 1714.

Thomas Tenision was buried in St Mary's Church in the Borough of Lambeth, near to Lambeth Palace, in the episcopal vault under the church. He requested that his tomb should be unmarked and it was only in 2016 that the crypt was opened and his funerary mitre discovered, indicating which was his tomb.

Sources:

https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/philosophy-and-religion/protestant-christianity-biographies/thomas-tenison

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12418/thomas-tenison

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39613462

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ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY

Thomas Tenison

Born at Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, Thomas Tenison was educated at Norwich School and attended Corpus Christi College in Cambridge.

After graduating in 1657, he was chosen as a fellow of the college two years later. For a short time he studied medicine, but in 1659 he was privately ordained. As vicar of St Andrew-the-Great, Cambridge, he set an example by his devoted attention to the sufferers from the plague.

He showed compassion for the poor, and promoted voluntary societies and charity schools, the foundation of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and the Society for the Propagation of

the Gospel, and the demand for bishops in America. A biographer wrote of his ‘great goodness and integrity’ and ‘natural sedateness’ which preserved the church from shipwreck in stormy times. ‘Dull and prosaic … yet a great primate’ is another assessment.

In 1667 he was presented to the living of Holywell-cum-Needingworth, Huntingdonshire, England by Edward Montagu, the 2nd Earl of Manchester, to whose son he had been tutor, and in 1670 he became rector of Saint Peter Mancroft in Norwich. In 1680 he received his Doctor of Divinity, and was presented by English King Charles II to the important London church of St Martin's-in-the-Fields. In 1689, under King William III, he was named a member of the ecclesiastical commission appointed to prepare matters towards a reconciliation of the Dissenters, the revision of the liturgy being specially entrusted to him.

The general liberality of his religious views won him royal favour, and, after being made Bishop of Lincoln in 1691, he was promoted to Archbishop of Canterbury in December 1694, following the death of Archbishop John Tillotson the previous month. He attended Queen Mary II during her last illness and preached her funeral sermon in Westminster Abbey.

Thomas Tenison a painting in

Lambeth Palace

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our

community to join in and add to our

line. We can’t wait to see everyone’s

rocks. Let's see how long we can make

it!

And the depth of the oceans; The distance from the sun to the moon, And from star to star. And you created men and women To be Yours towards of the earth, Always praising You for Your boundless love.

From Celtic Psalter (ninth century) Taken from Aiden Readings from Northumbria Community’s Celtic Daily Prayer, published by Collins.

Sense: God’s creation presence around you Either go for a brief walk or sit by an open window paying particular attention to the elements of nature you encounter with your senses right where you live. What can you see around you? Notice the colours, textures, shapes, movement of creation. What can you feel? Notice the sensation of wind, rain or sun, warmth, cold. You may want to touch a flower, the bark of a tree, a leaf, a grass shoot, a feather. What can you hear? Notice the different sounds around you: the animals and the elements. Notice manmade sounds. Notice the contrast. Notice where your attention is drawn. What can you smell? You may notice differences in smell depending on

where you are. What can you taste ,if anything? Are there tastes you associate with nature?

Reflect: On your own or in a group spend time reflecting on your experience: What took you by surprise? What subtle changes did you notice? How did you encounter God?

Learn: God’s heart and our call to care Read: Psalm 8- Divine Glory and Human Dignity LORD, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth! You set your glory above the heavens! Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have established strength on account of your adversaries, in order to silence the enemy and vengeful foe. When I look at the heavens, the work of your fingers,

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the moon and the stars that you established–what is man that you take notice of him, or the son of man that you pay attention to him? You made him a little less than divine, but you crowned him with glory and honour. You gave him dominion over the work of your hands, you put all things under his feet: Sheep and cattle–all of them, wild creatures of the field, birds in the sky, fish in the sea–whatever moves through the currents of the oceans. LORD, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth!

Think about: What response does creation evoke in you? How does it speak to you of

God? Looking at verses 4–9,what does the text say about our responsibility?

The text says “You gave him dominion and placed all things under his feet”. In other places we are called to be “stewards” of God’s work. How would you describe what stewardship means in your own words?

How do you see our caring for God’s creation as a missional activity?

Participate: taking part in God’s mission to care “It is not possible to love an unseen God while mistreating God’s visible creation.” –John Woolman, Quaker and abolitionist James in his letter asks: “Do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything?” (James 2:14, The Message) In what practical ways do you sense God calling you to participate in creation care right now? You may want to consider things to do differently: different ways to travel to reduce carbon footprint different ways to eat to reduce food air miles and contribution to carbon

emissions different ways to shop–local, ethical, with less packaging different ways to combat waste places you would like to appreciate more things you would like to do less of If you are interested in learning more about different aspects of creation care, resources from our friends at A Rocha might be helpful. Visit arocha.orgfor more information. For more resources for churches visit A Rocha UK’s introduction to eco church: ecochurch.arocha.org.uk

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NEWS

St Peter’s is open for Private Prayer from Wednesday 24th June. There will be two open sessions a week:

Wednesday 10 am—11 am Friday from 10 am -11 am

There will be someone in church to meet you, hand sanitiser to use and clearly indicated places to sit.

If you would like to visit one of these sessions to donate items to the foodband or make a donation to church funds that is fine. Cheques for St Peter’s should be made out to ‘Bengeworth PCC’. We are looking forward to meeting you again.

We will do our best to let you know if this arrangement changes.

East Window

The scaffolding firm has been booked to start putting up the scaffolds on 1st July, so that the East Window can be put back in place. Let’s hope for dry weather in July so that this can take place smoothly.

Pauline Hailwood has died, after being seriously ill for a long time. Her funeral will take place in St Peter’s, on 20th July. Unfortunately the number of those who will be able to attend is limited. Please remember Pauline, her family and friends in your prayers. Church House Refurbishment Congratulations to those involved in putting together the bid for money from the News Homes Bonus. This has resulted in a £25,000 grant. There will be more details about this in next month’s magazine.