2nd December 2012

The Parish Churches of

St Michael & St Wulfad, Stone, with

St Saviour Aston by Stone

HOP INTO ADVENT

“Hand On Prayer”

As they used to say on Television “and now for something completely different!” This year we are doing something very different for the Advent season – Hands on Prayer! This isn’t a course about prayer:- rather it’s the chance for us to do some praying together in this busy season.

There used to be a song that ran “How deep is your love?” but the question for us is “How deep is your prayer?” It’s such a seminal part of being a Christian – and true prayer is not so much a case of listing our endless requests before God as learning to dwell with Him

So we shall try three different aspects of praying. On Tuesday 4^th we shall be dipping into Meditation: a system of imagining ourselves into a Christian story and seeing what God has to say to us

On Wednesday 12^th We shall try Contemplation. Although the boundary between this and Meditation is narrow, for us this will be very much a corporate exercise that we will undertake together

And finally on Monday 17^th we shall try using the Rosary prayers. Don’t panic if you don’t have one – I have several: and don’t worry if you think it’s Roman Catholic! Most of the words were said by the Archangel Gabriel!

None of these will be long sessions:- a maximum of an hour including a hot drink and a chat! We shall use the front of St George’s Chapel in St Michael & St Wulfad’s – and hopefully use the time as a chance to reflect on what really matters in this madcap time of year!

Ian Cardinal

Please pray for the sick in the benefice:

Dorothy Burton, Mary Townsend, Vi Smith, Doreen Knight, Joan Taylor, Rosie Kent, Bunty Beecham, Toyah Carter, Kathleen Pickering, Kerris Sutherland

And for the departed:

Remembering their families and friends at this time

This week:

Tuesday 4^th 11.45am – 1pm Drop Inn Café – IN CHURCH

7.30pm HOP into Advent – St Michael & St Wulfad

Wednesday 5^th 7.30pm Aston PCC meets – Thornbury, Willowdale

Thursday 6^th 10.30am Holy Communion – St Michael & St Wulfad

CHRISTMAS TREE FESTIVAL at St Michael & St Wulfad ends this Sunday with the CHRISTINGLE SERVICE at 4pm with the Mayor announcing the winner of the displays. If you have not had the chance to see the displays, do come to this!

SUNDAY 9^TH 3PM The Stone Town Mayor’s CAROL SERVICE As usual, various groups will be participating in this and it would be good to see a Church full of folks from our two Churches to represent the Community