You are herePewsheet Archive / June 2018
June 2018
1st July 2018
The Parish Churches of
St Michael & St Wulfad, Stone, with
St Saviour Aston by Stone
It’s Ordination time again: this weekend our former placement student, Richard Hume, will be ordained a Priest in his parish Church at Longton – and last weekend a Curate from our Deanery, Drew Walker was also made Priest in Uttoxeter. Our congratulations to them both and our prayers go with them.
Where do these people come from? We have been deeply blessed with Curates and students in training in our Benefice – but perhaps also slightly blinded by the fact that these people seem to just “appear.” The fact is that they come from faithful Christian churches where they have been encouraged to explore their own vocation – calling. Just as Jesus called those first disciples to follow him, each Christian is called by God for some specific purpose. In the wisdom of our God we don’t always see exactly what that is to begin with – but truthfully every single one of us is called.
“I couldn’t do something like that!” I hear you say – and maybe we are right. But consider this:- those first disciples were hardly perfect – in fact each one of them failed Jesus in some way or another; but they were still the people that Jesus made into his church and who, by the power of God’s spirit, changed the world in which they lived
So what is your calling? Our PCCs have been debating Bishop Michael’s call to our Diocese to explore his three themes:- Discipleship, Vocation and Evangelism. There is much for us all to think about – how the Good News of Jesus can be transmitted to those around us – how our daily walk with the Lord can be strengthened and fed by our discipleship. But this weekend we are challenged to think hard about what God wants for us and for our lives. The simple truth is – it is so much better than anything else we could possibly imagine!
Ian Cardinal
Hymns for today
Aston Stone
243 Civic service
Ps130 427
349 313
359 518
313 310
Please pray for the sick in the benefice:
Ron Burton, Mary Townsend, Doreen Knight, Noelle Emery, Peter and Dianne Harvey, Elsie Richardson, Roy & Barbara Ball, Vera Tomkinson, Neil & Pat Wynne, Gary Kelsall, Jocelyn James, Emily Franks, John Richardson, Annette McMullen, Peter Bowler, Howard Boswell, Catherine Ritchie, Sarah Taylor, Graham Baker, Jackie Finnemore, Wendy Gee, James Astle, Miles Brain, Joan Lazonby, Elsie Woodcock
And for the departed:
Clare Austin, Eric Simpson, John Rowley, Mary Rigby, June Parnell
Remembering their families and friends at this time
This week:
Tuesday 3rd 11.45am – 1pm Drop Inn café – St Michael’s Hall
Thursday 5th 10.30am Holy Communion – St M&W
(12 Noon Eccleshall Deanery Chapter)
LADIES GROUPAfter our successful tour of Lichfield Cathedral, the next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 5th September – The World of Wedgwood. Afternoon tea at 1.30pm – cost £16 with optional guided tour at a further cost of £5. Please book your place with Steph – with money – by August 12th
CHRIST CHURCH FLOWER FESTIVALOur brothers and sisters in our next door parish are celebrating 180 years this year. On 6th/7th/8th they have a flower festival – do go and support them!
St M&W OPEN CHURCH – to coincide with the July Farmer’s Market Saturday 6th July from 10am till 2pm. Can you volunteer any time as a welcome? - list to sign at the back of church
JOHN ROWLEY’S FUNERALwill be held at St M&W on 11th July at 11.45am. Prayers for Glenda and the family at this time of course
24th June 2018
The Parish Churches of
St Michael & St Wulfad, Stone, with
St Saviour Aston by Stone
And so to a Saint’s day: but this Sunday is an unusual Saint: John the Baptist is, in many ways, a pre-Christian figure, certainly stemming from the inheritance of the Old Testament faith.
So perhaps a good question for us would be as to what makes a Saint in the first place? The original word is simply ‘Agioi – someone dedicated to God. But that doesn’t help us very much because there is a degree to which that describes all of us. We are dedicated, consecrated and put aside for holy use at our baptism – and the New Testament does describe all Christians as being Saints
That said, there is a very long tradition of Saints particular – in other words people whose lives were so very different that their faith shines out from down the centuries. We could name so many, of course – and on Thursday mornings we often keep a “Saints day” rather than just repeating the Sunday readings
So what makes a particular Saint? – and surely now is the answer that they are people whose lives are best described as signposts – people whose whole being is a signpost to our Lord and Master, Jesus himself. And in this respect John the Baptist is a wonderful example. According to St John’s gospel he always refused to be identified as a possible Messiah – and when Jesus passes by he says to his hearers “Behold the Lamb of God!”
John met a sticky end at the hands of Herod the Tetrach of course, at the instigation of his conniving wife, Herodias. In the tradition of the Eastern Church he is always shown as holding his own head on a platter (!) and there are many churches that are dedicated to him. This sunday we celebrate his miraculous birth (he has another day in August that deals with his martyrdom) and remember that our God does extraordinary things in order to fulfil his promises
Ian Cardinal
Hymns for today
Aston Stone
401 82
197 401
158 158
163/452 276/463
425 427
Please pray for the sick in the benefice:
Ron Burton, Mary Townsend, Doreen Knight, Noelle Emery, Peter and Dianne Harvey, Elsie Richardson, Roy & Barbara Ball, Vera Tomkinson, Neil & Pat Wynne, Gary Kelsall, Jocelyn James, Emily Franks, John Richardson, Annette McMullen, Peter Bowler, Howard Boswell, Catherine Ritchie, Sarah Taylor, Graham Baker, Jackie Finnemore, Wendy Gee, James Astle, Miles Brain, Joan Lazonby,
And for the departed:
Clare Austin, Eric Simpson, John Rowley
Remembering their families and friends at this time
This week:
Tuesday 26th 11.45am – 1pm Drop Inn café – St Michael’s Hall
Wednesday 27th 7.30pm St Michael’s Hall AGM – St Michael’s Hall
7.30pm Aston PCC meeting - Church
Thursday 28th 10.30am Holy Communion – St M&W
7pm St Michael’s school Governors
SANDON ESTATE WALK: Thursday 28th June (after Last year’s walk round Chartley castle.) Meet at 6.45pm at Sandon Church, ready to start at 7pm. Visits made to the moated site of the original Sandon Hall and the recently restored Tower from Trentham Hall. Cost is £2 – sheets to sign at the rear of both Churches
CONCERT: with the Choir of St Michael’s School and Stone Recorder Group29th June 6.30pm. Tickets available from Christine Burton - £7
HOT POT SUPPER – a Victorian Evening: Saturday June 30th in St Michael’s Hall. Speaker will be Brian Morris who will give a presentation of a "Victorian Magic lantern Show." It is a light hearted account of life in Victorian England. Cost £7.50
17th June 2018
The Parish Churches of
St Michael & St Wulfad, Stone, with
St Saviour Aston by Stone
DEANERY SYNOD this week is held at Astonand we host a speaker in the Rev’d George Fisher, on Evangelism (one of Bp Michael’s directions of travel.) All are welcome to this meeting – Tuesday 7.30pm
How do we expect to see God at work? Many people would expect to see an obvious miracle – a stream of lava changing direction in Hawaii. Maybe it would be another Lazarus rise from the dead – or even if we have financial problems, an unexpected inheritance or something like that
There’s quite a contrast to this in this week’s gospel. Instead of the abrupt interruption, lightning from Heaven kind of thing, Jesus talks about something that takes time. In an agricultural society he talks about seeds and the way that they grow. It’s a good illustration, because it often masks a tremendous amount of power: tree roots can shatter stone in time – and those of us that search for lost canals will know how fast nature takes over any site that is not carefully maintained
So Jesus says the Kingdom of God is often like a tiny seed. It may not look much – but, in the end, that seed accomplishes mighty things. In the case of the mustard seed it grows into something that can even accommodate birds nesting within its shade! So, if we are tempted to think that God doesn’t hear us, has gone away, or even is doing nothing, look for the small signs that he is at work.
In my first Parish in Leeds there was a family where the Son wanted to be Confirmed. His mother was anxious because his father was very much against all religion. But the son was Confirmed and something happened in her too, because she was Confirmed the following year. To everyone’s amazement, the next year it was the turn of the father – who then became leader of the Church cub scout group! The last I heard of the family, the Son visited me on the way to a selection conference for Ordination. Truly God did mighty things and changed everything beyond recognition – in his own good time!
Ian Cardinal
Hymns for today
Aston Stone
277 17
53 485
501 226
364/127 61/127
380 466
Please pray for the sick in the benefice:
Ron Burton, Mary Townsend, Doreen Knight, Noelle Emery, Peter and Dianne Harvey, Elsie Richardson, Roy & Barbara Ball, Vera Tomkinson, Neil & Pat Wynne, Gary Kelsall, Jocelyn James, Emily Franks, John Richardson, Annette McMullen, Peter Bowler, Howard Boswell, Catherine Ritchie, Sarah Taylor, Graham Baker, Jackie Finnemore, Wendy Gee, James Astle, Miles Brain, Joan Lazonby, John Rowley
And for the departed:
Lilian Slater, Clare Austin and Eric Leonard Simpson
Remembering their families and friends at this time
This week:
Tuesday 19th 11.45am – 1pm Drop Inn café – St Michael’s Hall
7.30pm – STONE DEANERY SYNOD – Aston Church ALL WELCOME
Wednesday 20th 7.30pm Team meeting - Rectory
Thursday21st 10.30am Holy Communion – St M&W
EVENSONG AT ST SAVIOURS:This Sunday June 17th 6.30pm
SANDON ESTATE WALK: Thursday 28th June (after Last year’s walk round Chartley castle.) Meet at 6.45pm at Sandon Church, ready to start at 7pm. Visits made to the moated site of the original Sandon Hall and the recently restored Tower from Trentham Hall. Cost is £2 – sheets to sign at the rear of both Churches
CONCERT: with the Choir of St Michael’s School and Stone Recorder Group29th June 6.30pm. Tickets available from Christine Burton - £7
HOT POT SUPPER – a Victorian Evening: Saturday June 30th in St Michael’s Hall. Speaker will be Brian Morris who will give a presentation of a "Victorian Magic lantern Show." It is a light hearted account of life in Victorian England. Cost £7.50
10th June 2018
The Parish Churches of
St Michael & St Wulfad, Stone, with
St Saviour Aston by Stone
HOT POT SUPPER – a Victorian Evening: Saturday June 30th in St Michael’s Hall. Speaker will be Brian Morris who will give a presentation of a "Victorian Magic lantern Show." It is a light hearted account of life in Victorian England. Cost £7.50
EVENSONG AT ST SAVIOURS:on Sunday 15th July. This will be preceeded by an Afternoon Tea at 5pm. If you would like to attend, please assign the list at the back of church. Everyone is welcome.
In our Gospel reading today, Jesus says something amazing. As he sits teaching, surrounded by a large group of people from all different places, families and backgrounds, all eager to hear what he is teaching them about God, he tells them that he counts each one of them as a member of his family – God’s family! And that makes all of us in the Church part of the same family. Our distinguishing family likeness is how well we obey God by living the Jesus way
Being called to be sons and daughters of the living God, a part of God’s family is the greatest blessing that can be bestowed upon us.
Nichola Abbott
Hymns for today
Aston Stone
133 13
514 54
346 Sheet
10/352 227/10
205
Please pray for the sick in the benefice:
Ron Burton, Mary Townsend, Doreen Knight, Noelle Emery, Peter and Dianne Harvey, Elsie Richardson, Roy & Barbara Ball, Vera Tomkinson, Neil & Pat Wynne, Gary Kelsall, Jocelyn James, Emily Franks, John Richardson, Annette McMullen, Peter Bowler, Howard Boswell, Catherine Ritchie, Sarah Taylor, Graham Baker, Jackie Finnemore, Wendy Gee, James Astle, Miles Brain, Joan Lazonby, John Rowley
And for the departed:
Lilian Slater and Clare Austin
Remembering their families and friends at this time
This week:
Tuesday 12th 11.45am – 1pm Drop Inn café – St Michael’s Church
Tuesday 12th 7.30pm – Joint PCC – St Michael’s Church
Thursday14th 10.30am Holy Communion – St M&W
DROP INN CAFÉ: This Tuesday, 12th June, Drop Inn will be held in church as the hall is playing host to Rene’s Café.
SANDON ESTATE WALK: Thursday 28th June (after Last year’s walk round Chartley castle.) Meet at 6.45pm at Sandon Church, ready to start at 7pm. Visits made to the moated site of the original Sandon Hall and the recently restored Tower from Trentham Hall. Cost is £2 – sheets to sign at the rear of both Churches
CONCERT: with the Choir of St Michael’s School and Stone Recorder Group29th June 6.30pm. Tickets available from Christine Burton - £7