The Benefice of St. Bartholomew

Benefice News - 5th March 2021

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Written by Tony Gowers

Church News

A copy of this week’s Church News can be found here. In addition to news, the document gives full details of all of our services this coming Sunday and on the following Sunday. Do join in with everything that appeals to you.

Sunday 7th March 2021 - Third Sunday of Lent

The two services planned for Sunday 7th March will be streamed over the Internet using Zoom. Details are shown in the right hand margin of this webpage and on the Benefice calendar here.

Mid-Week Eucharist (Said)

The Rev’d June is leading a mid-week service of Common Worship Eucharist (said) on Zoom each Wednesday at 9.30 am. Please do consider participating in this service if you are able. You can find the Zoom details in the right-hand margin of this webpage.

Lent Course 2021

This year, we shall be studying one of the York Courses – ‘Glimpses Of God’. This course looks at things which happen in our world today and see where we can get glimpses of God at work. Each session is complete in itself so you can join us for individual weeks if you prefer, but please contact The Rev’d June on 01747 828 427. The course begins on Tuesday 9th February at 2.30pm on Zoom and on subsequent Tuesdays at the same time. The course sessions will be held on Zoom 5.

‘Zoom’ Lent Lunches

We have been invited to join the Chalke Benefice in their Lent Appeal to raise funds for desks and chairs for the children in the church primary school in our link Diocese of Cueibet in South Sudan.

We will be holding Zoom Lent lunches on Tuesdays (Feb 23rd, March 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rd) from 12.30 till 1.15 and hope you will join us with DIY soup and cheese. Elizabeth Hockney will say a few words about the school at each lunch.

The Zoom log-in details are as follows:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83537690257?pwd=YzJLNkYwM3Y3Njc2WE1jeUxwZml5Zz09
Meeting ID: 835 3769 0257   Passcode: 7ibb19

Please send any donations either by BACS, or send a cheque payable to The Chalke-Cueibet Partnership Trust, c/o 27 Viking Way, Salisbury SP2 8TA.

If you would like the details to use for BACS payments and/or a Gift Aid form, please contact Geoff Taylor on 01722 503081. Thank you very much.

Good News!

At a meeting this week, it was decided that our churches will open for worship for Holy Week and Easter. For the foreseeable future, there will still be Zoomed worship each Sunday for those who do not wish to attend church.

Churches Opening During the Week

Some of our church buildings will be open at specified times throughout the coming week. Details of the opening days and times for each church are shown below:

• St Andrew’s Church, Donhead St Andrew: Tuesday and Friday: 10.00 am to 4.00 pm
• St Mary's Church, East Knoyle: Wednesday: 10.00 am to 12.00 noon; Saturday: 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm
• St Leonard’s Church, Semley: Sunday and Wednesday: 10.00 am to 4.00 pm
• St Mary's Church, Donhead St Mary: Monday to Saturday: 10.00 am to 4.00 pm

These details may change as we gain experience of our ‘new normal’, so please check this page from week to week for the latest information.

Finding our new Rector

The closing date for applications has now passed, and a shortlist is being prepared for interviews later this month.

Zoom

With many services now being held in our churches on Sundays and some being ‘Zoomed’ at the same time, we require more than one ‘Zoom room' to enable us to Zoom two services from different churches simultaneously. Details of each ‘Zoom room' are shown below.

Important: please ensure that you check in the right hand margin of the this page the Zoom details of the service in which you wish to participate before joining the service.

Zoom 2

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84985924593?pwd=em4zQ1Q2YkdrdTRuanhYY0lOejZQUT09
Meeting ID: 849 8592 4593      Passcode: 519527

Zoom 3

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85640073075?pwd=akd0WTVKUHpSeDFhZ1NrM1NrTHZKQT09
Meeting ID: 856 4007 3075    Passcode: 2020

Zoom 4

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2872955220?pwd=NTN5OHE0anVTRmNwYmpUVHdoSWI3QT09
Meeting ID: 287 295 5220      Passcode: 175430

Zoom 5

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3341879558
Meeting ID: 334 187 9558       Passcode: 345123

Zoom 6

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4025128421
Meeting ID: 402 512 8421     Passcode: 1943

Zoom 7

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83223161580
Meeting ID: 832 2316 1580   Passcode: A9494L

Zoom 8

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82226890974?pwd=ZWNlRnE1eVVUNGZGcEcwTzdQWEY0QT09
Meeting ID: 822 2689 0974    Passcode: 660923

Zoom 9

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9545950240?pwd=bnd2VllVKzRSM2NDeG1zOGduM1F2dz09
Meeting ID: 954 595 0240 Passcode: 0YYUd2

You can also participate by dialling in by telephone to one of these phone numbers: 0203 481 5237 or 0203 481 5240.

Click here for more guidance on how to join a Zoom meeting.

From the Associate Priest - February 2021

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Written by The Rev'd June Lane

Dear Friends,

The days are slowly lengthening, Vaccinations against COVID-19 are underway, the first snowdrops are about to appear. Lockdown is still with us, the numbers of the dead from COVID-19 grow day by day and the Christmas decorations are all gone. Last Friday the sun shone brilliantly and if you stood out of a draught it felt quite Springlike; on Saturday it poured with rain!!

Late January, early February, a time of such contrasts, a time when we can either be totally depressed or optimistic about the future.

In the church calendar we are still in the Season of Epiphany, the season of Light, of Revelation, but sandwiched between Christmas and Easter Epiphany tends to be almost ignored and that is such a shame. If we think about all of those contrasts in my opening paragraph, Epiphany encourages us to concentrate on the positive, the joyous. To celebrate the shortening days and the snowdrops, the hope given by the Vaccination programme, to give thanks for the good things of the season.

If you are of a romantic disposition, you may be hoping for a special card or some flowers on one particular day in February, the 14th, St Valentine’s Day. On an online design site I sometimes visit, I am being bombarded with designs all focussed on the shape of the human heart, the suggestions for their use range from the extravagant to the minimal, and I often wonder just how many of them are actually used and what their recipients think. Do they keep the articles made using them to use during the year or, once we reach the 15th do they end up in the recycling bin, hours of loving labour literally being shredded!!

Like the contrasts at this time of year and in this particular year, St Valentine’s Day came from a series of extreme events. Valentine was a priest living in the time of the Roman Empire. Just then the Emperor needed a large army and to make sure he had a vast pool of young men to choose from, he outlawed marriage. Valentine felt sorry for young couples who wished to marry, and he disobeyed the Emperor’s edict and married many young couples. Of course he was found out and, because he was breaking the Emperor’s direct edict, thrown into prison and condemned to death. There he still ministered to the prisoners and when he discovered that the jailer’s daughter was blind he laid his hands on her and prayed. She was healed but even so Valentine was executed. Before he died he wrote to her to encourage her to live her life for God and he signed it, from your Valentine, with love.

So let us all concentrate on the positive, the good things on offer this month. Remember that even in this time of restrictions and danger God is still with us and loves us, that there are so many good things happening around us. We can all show that love in so many little actions and words. Let’s all look forward to the joy of Easter to come.

June Lane

Prayer Cycle and Prayer of the Month - February 2021

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Written by The Rev'd June Lane

Do continue to ask for prayers and let us know if there is any way we can help. Contact any of us: The Rev’d June (tel: 01747 828427), Julia (tel: 01747 829166), or Theresa (tel: 01747 829188).

Prayer Of The Month

Our prayer for this month is a reminder that we need God’s guidance and help:

Heavenly Father,
We remember with gratitude,
The light of the star which drew them on;
those wise men, travelling with their gifts
for a fellow wise man , and a king.

We believe that light draws us on;
Draws us to Jesus, Light of the World,
Draws us to give ourselves.

And the Light that is Jesus,
also gives us light;
it shows us the way,
it shines before us to encourage us.
This is light; true light; the LIght of the world;
the light that is a way of peace, hope, justice and forgiveness;
The Light that is Love in a darkened world;
and the way to God, Father of us all. Amen