Newsletter 23rd January 2022

Third Sunday of Epiphany

23rd January 2022

'The heavens are telling the glory of God.’ Psalm 19.1

The nativity is still displayed in the church under the altar as the season of Epiphany stretches all the way until Candlemas (30th January). We do hope you can join us to celebrate, either in church or online.

Collect

God of all mercy,

your Son proclaimed good news to the poor,

release to the captives,

and freedom to the oppressed:

anoint us with your Holy Spirit

and set all your people free

to praise you in Christ our Lord.

Readings

Nehemiah 8.1-3,5-6,8-10
Psalm 19*
1 Corinthians 12.12-31a
Luke 4.14-21

Sunday group for children meets in the hall at 10am this week. New children always welcome. Daisy will be introducing a separate group for our older children (11 plus) on the second Sunday of the month. We also look forward to older children soon joining us as servers during the all age services.

Valentine’s Fayre

Valentine’s Quiz

There will be a Valentine’s quiz available from this Sunday for people to enjoy for a small suggested donation of £1. Answers to be returned to church by the 13th Feb. Small prizes. Full copies of the answers will also be available (after the 13th!). 

Donations for the Shoreham and Adur Community Food Bank

This is the food bank that has been operating from the Shoreham Free Church on Friday mornings for some years. It has the same volunteers but is under new management. In partnership with the Shoreham Beach Resident’s Association, we are collecting for them in church on Friday 21st January to Sunday 23rd January. You can also drop off donations with Joss Loader at 25 Falcon Close, Shoreham Beach. Items needed are tinned foods, long life fruit juice or squash, tea, coffee, pasta sauce and household cleaning items. Thank you.

Bob’s Cards – a message from Bob

‘I would like to thank everyone for your support in raising money for COGS.

Together last year we raised £455.50p. I hope you will continue to support me in 2022.

The first card sale this year, will take place at the ‘Valentines Fair’, on Sunday 13th February between 11-1pm after the 10.00am Service in the Church Hall.

I would appreciate any Christmas, Birthday, Anniversary, Get Well, Sympathy cards etc. to recycle. Please pass card donations to me at church or leave on the shelf in the porch for me to collect’.

Children’s Society

An update from Chis and Michael about our fundraising – we collected £240.96 at the Christingle alongside £1008 from the house boxes. This is an astonishing level of support for the Children’s Society from our congregation and the wider parish. Many thanks to all who have made this possible.

Shoreline

The January issue is available digitally this week and paper copies next week in the porch. It contains a special tribute to Canon Ann. This is the last issue that Trish Holme is looking after our advertising (after 20 years of service!) Many thanks to Trish for all she has done. We now welcome Chris and Richard Diebel who have agreed to look after the advertising going forward.

Bible Art  Luke 4.14-21

Luke 4 v16-21 is another of those 'before and after' moments during the life of Jesus and those around him. He is in the synagogue in Nazareth.

The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Jesus; unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
    to set the oppressed free,
    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then Jesus said “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

The moment before Jesus was just the son of the carpenter; presumably also well-thought of in the local Jewish community since they were giving him the opportunity to read the Torah, and to give a commentary on it.

The moment after the minds of all those who were listening would have been full of questions ... 'what does he mean?' 'I really respect this man, but what is he talking about, is he saying that the Messiah has come?' 'is it possible that a demon has entered him?'

Lots of questions which opened up the minds of his hearers to new possibilities if they would only keep those minds open; some did - but some shut their minds down completely.

That moment in the synagogue was a kind of watershed.

Revd Jess

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity From 18th – 24th January Shoreham Churches Together will be marking the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Prayer services will be held in churches across Shoreham. This year’s schedule continues as follows: St Peter’s – Friday 21st Jan, 12noon; Good Shepherd – Saturday 22nd Jan, 10am; St Nicholas’ – Monday 24th Jan, 11am. 

Recycling at COGS

Good new, we’ll be recycling at COGS again. This will be a collaborative scheme with St Mary’s who will also be using our facilities for as long as this works for both churches. 

There will be just three bins in the porch:

• PLASTIC MILK BOTTLE TOPS - red, green, blue, orange, purple colours. 

No ARLA, No WHITE tops from other milks, No SMALL bottle tops please.

• GLOVES (latex, vinyl, Marigold)

• PLASTIC PENS, TOOTHPASTE TUBES & TRIGGER SPRAYS not the spray bottles.

Please make sure you put your items in the right bin for easy sorting. They are clearly labelled.

Kate Collier (COGS) and Anthony Rathbone (St Mary’s) are happy to be RUNNERS (!) taking the recycling to Terracycle, Lancing on the second Monday monthly.
SO ALL WE NEED NOW to make this work are two people willing to be SORTERS and responsible for getting a small number of people to sort at the 11am coffee on the 2nd Sunday of the month. E-mail Kate at fkatecollier@yahoo.co.uk if you can do this. 

You can now take many soft plastics to the Co-op for recycling. Click here to see a list of what can be recycled. https://www.coop.co.uk/environment/soft-plastics/packaging-list

Stations of the Cross Art Day Saturday 12th February, 10.30am- lunchtime (and beyond if you’d like to work longer)

Revd Jane and Revd Jess are running a Stations of the Cross art morning in the church hall. We shall be reflecting on the stations and each make a station using a simple, stylised collage technique. You don’t need to be good at drawing or art to do this. All materials are provided. The pictures will be displayed in church during Lent. Bring a packed lunch and please do a lateral flow test before you come. If you would like to participate book your place by emailing Revd Jess - j.aidley@gmail.com

Fire Drill There will be a fire drill in church during the month of February at one of the 10am services. 

Taizé Healing Service Our next service will be 6th March. Sorry but there isn’t one in February.

Bible Reader’s Training We are welcoming some new people onto our reader’s rota for the 8am and 10am services. Canon Tony is organising a number of training sessions for our new readers and also a ‘refresh’ for any existing readers who would like coaching. These will be on a Thursday evening in church, or during the daytime by arrangement. Contact Canon Tony if you are a reader who would like to participate in the training. Email:  tony.thompson1938@gmail.com

And finally…

We had a lovely goodbye to Canon Ann (thank you to Lesley for the huge cake). We gave her a gift of £600 – thanks to all who contributed. Ann sends her thanks to us ‘for the very generous cheque, the wonderful book of photos and messages and a joyous final service at the Good Shepherd on Sunday. I will write properly later but wanted to pass on my thanks in the meantime.’

I work half-time and the usual days when I am available are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday mornings. Blessings and prayers for you all this week. Revd Jane 

If you are reading this newsletter on a paper copy and would like to receive it each week through email please contact: cogsenews@gmail.com

Services this Week

Sunday, 23rd January 

8am – Holy Communion with Revd Jane and Revd Peter.

10am – Parish Communion with Revd Jane and Revd Peter.

This service will be live streamed onto our Facebook and You Tube channel.

You Tube page CLICK HERE 

Church Facebook page CLICK HERE 

Tuesday 25th January

9.30am - Informal Holy Communion with Revd Steve.

Wednesday 26th January

6pm – Celtic Evening Prayer on Zoom

CLICK HERE

Meeting ID: 868 1252 3106

Passcode: 960274

Friday 28th January

8am – Meditation with Morning Prayer at St Mary de Haura and also on Zoom

Meeting ID: 513293120 (No password is needed ) 

Click here LINK  

Saturday 29th January 

8am – Morning Meditation at the Good Shepherd and also on Zoom

Meeting ID: 166073397 (no password needed) Click here LINK  

Evening Prayer

This is said at 5.30pm at St Marys and via Zoom on 

Monday and Wednesday, at 5.30pm. If

you want to attend online contact Canon Ann for the link. Email: annwaizeneker@gmail.com

To donate to the Church of the Good Shepherd online CLICK HERE Thank you!