Download a printable version, here:
https://www.standrewsclewer.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/mothering-sunday-pews-news-web-version.pdf
Dear Friends in Christ.
Welcome to our new way of communicating/worshipping together.
What strange times we live in, unchartered territory!
By now most of you will have scaled down your social activities but are still wondering what it actually means for us?
As you will have heard, the Archbishops have instructed us to cancel all public worship but to leave the churches open for prayer. So from now on we will have no more services in church together. There is currently an exception for funerals and weddings but we are still awaiting direction from the Diocese.
How then can we continue to worship?
Well we have to do things differently and creatively and I will have to get myself techno savvy! I’m not going to rush in and record services on line for you as there seems to be quite a bit being developed by the Church of England that we can tap into and follow on line, we may even have church services broadcast on TV on Sunday mornings. Stuart will create all the links for us on the parish website. We’ll find a way together.
This Sunday is Mothering Sunday, a day when we gather at the Mother church and reflect on those who mother us. Usually a day when we get together with our families and give thanks and gifts. This year it will be different, do the family come over for lunch or not? What can we do? The Archbishops have asked us to light a candle and put it in our window at 7pm and take time to pray for the situation we find ourselves in.
So many questions with no answers at the moment. But prayer is the one thing we can do. I’m always saying use Lent as a time to read the bible more, pray more and reflect on your actions to serve your neighbour. And now we have the opportunity to draw more deeply into these disciplines. Following our theme of looking outside and inside, let’s reflect on Sunday’s readings. The familiar story of Moses in the bulrushes, what a great story! The story of Moses starts in Exodus 2:1-10. By the end of Exodus 1, the pharaoh of Egypt (perhaps Ramses II) had decreed that all the Hebrew boy babies were to be drowned at birth. But when Jochebed, Moses’ mother, gives birth she decides to hide her son. After a few months, the baby is too big for her to hide safely, so she decides to place him in a wicker basket in a strategic spot in the reeds that grew along the sides of the Nile River, with the hope that he will be found and adopted. To ensure the baby’s safety, Moses’s sister Miriam watches from a hiding place nearby. And we know that the Pharaoh’s daughter found him and he was then looked after by his own mother. Here we have a woman in difficult position fearing for the life of her son, here we have a sister sent on keep an eye on him, what a task! And here we have a princess who knew this was a Hebrew baby and had a compassionate heart. The Gospel reading is also familiar this week and we will probably see it again in Holy Week. “Woman here is your Son”, reminding us of the need to love and care for each other no matter how diverse our ‘families’ are. Isn’t there a saying, home is where the heart is?
So perhaps this week pray for those in your life who nurtured you, who made a home for you. Who nurtured your heart? Whose heart are you nurturing now?
In a time of unknown, uncertainty, worry and fear -reflect on these women, what did they do, where did they get their strength from? They had faith which gave them hope because of love. We will get through this, dig deep into your faith and remember God’s love is always with us. We are here to help each other, try not to worry, we can call, we can bring you shopping, we can pray for you.
May God bless you and keep you.
Revd Rosie
First Reading: Exodus 2.1-10
A man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him. The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him, ‘This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,’ she said. Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’
Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Yes.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed it. 10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, ‘because,’ she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’
Gospel reading: John 19.25-27
Standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
Collect for Mothering Sunday
God our Father,
your Son Jesus Christ lived in a family in Nazareth:
Grant that in our families on earth
we may so learn to love and to live together
that we may rejoice as one family in your heavenly home;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Please pray for:
Healing: Blake, Sam Evans, Reuben, Margaret
David, Don. Karl, Hugh, Sarah, Mark, Elsie, Lesley,Jack, Refugees, Prisoners, the Homeless and those who mourn.
The lately departed and those whose anniversary falls at this time.
Community prayers: Clewer Green School, the head teacher Martin Tinsley and all the staff and governors.
Parish Cycle of Prayer: Please pray for all retail premises in our Parish and those who live or work in Please pray for all who work or are involved with Legoland, Dedworth Medical Centre, Scouts, Cubs, Brownies, Guides, Thames Hospice, the Guards Club and Windsor Lawn Tennis Club
Anglican Cycle of Prayer: We pray for the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui and the churches in Matabeleland & Matlosane (Africa), The Episcopal Church in Virginia & Washington, Huron (Canada), Matana (Burundi), Wad Medani (Sudan), Hyderabad (Pakistan), Mauritius (Indian Ocean), Wangaratta (Australia), Mbaise, Warri & Idaban (Nigeria), Mbale (Uganda) and Waiapu, Waikato & Taranaki (NZ and Polynesia)
A Litany for Mothers
Eve our first mother – thank you for stepping out and being the first to understand the complexities of life.
Sarah, Hannah and Elizabeth – thank you for your patience and courage in waiting for a miracle. May all people longing for children be strengthened by your stories and comforted in their pain.
Hagar – thank you for your resolve in the face of exile. May all mothers who are forced to flee or are forgotten be given hope in you.
Rebecca – thank you for your flexibility. Let us remember all mothers who have to raise their children in a different country or far from their relatives and who feel isolated.
Rachel – you carried the burden of grief and wept for your children. Hold the hands of all those mothers who weep for their children – children who have gone missing, who have died or are lost to them in other ways.
Jochebed – you used wisdom and insight to protect your children. Give to all mothers this wisdom and insight in the bringing up of their children, especially in vulnerable times.
Naomi and Ruth – you showed that love can conquer all trials. Help all mothers to love constantly when life seems impossible and despair weighs hard upon their souls.
Mary – the new Eve whose ‘yes’ to God changed our world forever.
Thank you for sheltering the Holy One all those years ago,
for your faithful love and tender care of God’s most precious Son.
God with a mother’s heart, you gather us as your children.
You comfort and hold us in your warm embrace.
When we hurt your arms enfold us.
When we are afraid your wings protect us.
When we are hungry you feed us with the bread of life.
God with a mother’s heart, your love surrounds and supports us, in good times and tough, in the midst of joy and pain, always and everywhere.
You will never leave nor abandon us.
God eternal and loving one, God with a mother’s heart, we thank you this day for being part of your family. Amen
Christine Sine http://godspace-msa.com
Church Finances- message from Andrew
With the suspension of church services our income is likely to fall and, while some of our costs will be reduced, others will be incurred whether we are “open for business” or not. In the light of this suspension of services you might like to consider continuing your regular giving by paying directly to our bank account, the details of which are:
HSBC Bank, High Street, Windsor
Sort Code: 40-47-37
Account number: 11373366
Account name: PCC St Andrews Church
Churchyard Tidy Saturday 28 March from 10.00 to 12.00.
Please help if you feel you are able and happy to uphold social distancing.
Join us in a Service of Daily Prayer
https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/join-us-service-daily-prayer
BBC launches virtual Sunday church service
https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-03-18/bbc-online-virtual-church-service
Parish Office: Sharon Robinson (administrator)
email: office@clewerparish.org – preferred – 9-12 Mon-Fri
Out of hours office number: 07490 094261
Tel: 01753 864169 – answering service – monitored
Revd Rosie Webb:
email: rector@clewerparish.org
Tel: 01753 852334
Parish website: www.standrewsclewer.org
Church warden: Stuart Cockman
Pastoral helpline number: 07946 590223