Newsletter 9th January 2022

Epiphany

9th January 2022

Happy 2022 to you all! We celebrate Epiphany this Sunday (a few days late – Epiphany is actually on Thursday 6th). Epiphany marks the end of Christmas and is the time when we remember how the star led the Magi (or Kings/Wise men) to the baby Jesus. ‘Epiphany’ comes from the Greek word meaning ‘to reveal’, as when Christ was revealed to the world.

Our 10am service is all age, so we look forward to welcoming our families. We hope you can join us this week either in person or on line.

Collect

Creator of the heavens,

who led the Magi by a star

to worship the Christ-child:

guide and sustain us,

that we may find our journey’s end

in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

Isaiah 60.1-6, Psalm 72.[1-9]10-15, Ephesians 3.1-12
Matthew 2.1-12

Saying goodbye to Canon Ann

Canon Ann retires this year and her last service with us is Sunday 16th January. We are sharing cake and buck’s fizz in the hall afterwards. Do come and say thank you and goodbye to Ann.

Additionally Ann is having a farewell drop-in at St Mary’s church on Saturday 22nd January between 2.30pm to 5pm. There is cake and prosecco. Everyone is welcome.

Sunday school returns 16th January. New children always welcome.

Lamb’s Tales returns on 14th January. 

Bible Art Matthew 2.1-12

The reading from Matthew for Epiphany has the verse (Matthew 2:11) On entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasures-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

These men who had travelled so far, enter an ordinary tradesman's house and find an ordinary young woman with a toddler, and they kneel down before the toddler.  This is an astonishing event when you think about it ... one of the weakest members of society (probably pregnant again with her next child) with her probably grubby toddler, with a messy face and a snotty nose, and yet the visitors know inside themselves that he is the very person they have come to see., no matter how things appear.

We are mostly happy to bend down and chat with a toddler, but to kneel down and pay homage to one you have only just met? And for the visitors to have done so in front of a young woman who was probably socially far beneath them.

What was Mary feeling? With these total strangers from another race, entering her home and kneeling before her little boy? Did it bring memories of the shepherds kneeling down before Jesus when she had just given birth to him? Did the whole incident help to reassure her that the things she had seen and heard were things which were true and to be treasured?
Revd Jess

Recycling at COGS

Good new, we’ll be starting the New Year by 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

Afternoon Study and Fellowship Group

Wednesday 19th January 3pm to 4.30pm on Zoom

There is a particular focus on Luke’s Gospel this year in our lectionary readings. Join Revd Jane for an afternoon of study and discussion about Luke. There will be a 30 minute film to watch together by the Bible scholar Paula Gooder, introducing us to Luke. There is also time for prayer and discussion. Make a cuppa and join us.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87877287421?pwd=UVlXRVpkOEEvMjA1WW1LeDlBcjBoQT09

Meeting ID: 878 7728 7421

Passcode: 624624

Stations of the Cross Art Day

We are planning to have a Stations of the Cross exhibition in church again this Lent, with pictures created by members of the congregation. There will be an art/retreat day in preparation for this. If you would like to be involved, save the date, which is Saturday 12th February. More details to come.

Forthcoming Messy Church dates

And finally…

To celebrate the visit of the Magi to the Holy Family some people like to ask God to bless their homes. They mark the front door with blessed chalk, with this year’s number, split in half, and the letters C, M and B in between. These letters stand for the traditional names of the Magi (Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar) and also for the Latin blessing: Christus mansionem benedicat: May God bless this house. The + represents the cross of Jesus. We will be blessing chalk at the 10am service for you to home and use if you wish. 

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, 9th January 

8am – Holy Communion with Revd Jane.

10am – All Age Parish Communion with Revd Jane.

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

You Tube page CLICK HERE 

Church Facebook page CLICK HERE 

Tuesday 11th January

9.30am - Informal Holy Communion with Revd Jane.

Wednesday 12th January

6pm – Celtic Evening Prayer on Zoom

CLICK HERE

Meeting ID: 868 1252 3106

Passcode: 960274

Friday 14th 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 15th 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!