This Week's News & Notices
Lockdown Response
As we have now entered another lockdown unfortunately we can no longer open for public worship on a Sunday. We will continue to worship online at 10am on Sundays as usual, with a very limited number of people in church to do help lead the worship.
Click or tap on the link below to access our videos. You can watch YouTube videos on all computers, phones and devices, and even on your smart TV!
We will still be open for Private Prayer on Wednesdays as usual.
Head to our YouTube Channel to join us Live at 10am on Sunday, and access other videos. You can do that by clicking or tapping on the link below:
Private Prayer
Church is open for Private Prayer on Wednesdays from 9am until midday for those who wish to visit during these times and all are welcome to attend. Face coverings must be worn as usual.
The Parish Office
Dot and Carol continue to work from home. Phone messages or emails will be checked regularly and correspondence can be popped through the letterbox in the north door and will be responded to as soon as possible.
A Message from Martin Cooper
Martin sends many thanks for the beautifully made scarf. Martin's recovery is continuing and he sends his love to all.
Charities 2021 Shortlist (Local)
Last year we voted for which charities to support in 2020, one local, one national, and one international. Over the next 3 weeks we will be doing the same. This week's options are for the Local category. Click on a charity below to visit their website to find out more about them, then vote for the one you wish us all to support in 2021.
The Cedarwood Trust is a community development charity working on the Meadow Well Estate of North Tyneside, fighting poverty and supporting community.
North East Homeless provide support to those who are vulnerable and homeless in the North East of England.
Whitley Bay Street Pastors are Christian volunteers who are out in the community helping, caring and listening.
Please vote below
100 Club November winners
£50 Olivia Pratt, £30 Bryan Young, £20 William Walker.
NEW Contact Groups
In previous years St Mary’s had a system of Contact Groups to encourage regular congregation members to look out for one another in an informal way. As we face a winter of lockdown and restrictions on how and who we can meet, St Mary’s Staff Team are proposing to resurrect this scheme. Read more in the letter to the Congregation below:
News from Anne Otter
Anne Otter has now moved not too far away and we send our love and best wishes to Anne in her new home. Do contact the office if you’d like to have Anne’s new address. Anne is hoping to attend a church service once we are allowed to open again on a Sunday and we look forward to seeing Anne then.
Thanks for prayers
“I was delighted when Clare Connors, a long-standing friend of mine, suggested going on your prayer list. I had major surgery just over two weeks ago and have made a very good recovery. I’m back at home now and improving all the time”. Shirley Williams
Prayer Shawl thanks
“A very big thankyou to my friends at St Mary’s who have sent me such a beautiful prayer shawl. It is indeed a great comfort to feel its warmth and love around me as I continue in my recovery. Thank you so very much for thinking of me. Sending love and prayers to you all". Jennifer Stephenson
An Advent Retreat with Poetry and Music
The Church Times are hosting an Advent retreat online on 28th November 2020 between 10am and 1pm, with a number of contributors including poet Malcom Guite. The retreat costs £10 or £5 if you subscribe to the Church Times.
A Call to Prayer for the nation
During the lockdown, the Church of England has called on us all to unite as a nation in prayer every day at 6pm using the following prayer topics:
Sunday - family, friends, and loved ones.
Monday - Schools, colleges, kids and young people.
Tuesday - The elderly, the isolated, and vulnerable.
Wednesday - Businesses, workplaces, and the economic well being of all
Thursday - NHS and other key workers.
Friday - national and local government.
Saturday - the grieving, suffering and unwell.
Find out more from the Church of England website here.
Plants Sale for Church Funds: New Website
Dave Haddock who has been selling his plants to us over the summer has now put all of his new stock on his new website, including an easy order form.
Or you can contact Dave on 0191 2524985 or 07976 687973. 30% of sales will be donated to St Mary’s, so be sure to mention St Mary’s when you order! So far £260 has been raised through this scheme. So spread the word!
Are you in a bubble?
We are aware that there are some people living alone who are not part of a support bubble. If this is you, have you considered forming a support bubble with another household? It could be you and another ‘single adult household’ or it could be you and a couple or family. It doesn’t have to be a member of your family—you can be in a bubble with any household. Once you’re in a bubble you can have all the benefits of all being in one household—you can see each other, go round for tea etc. If you’re on your own and you’re not in a bubble, why not think about forming one. Or you can get in touch with us and we’ll see if there are others in your situation that you could ‘bubble’ with. Perhaps you are a family or couple that has no bubble, and you’d be happy to support others on their own? Get in touch. Always check with your next of kin—once you are in a bubble you are advised not to form any other bubble—including with your own family.
For more information visit the government website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/making-a-support-bubble-with-another-household
Derek's Book
Derek’s book ‘Scripture Messages’ now has been renamed ‘A Light To My Path’ and is available to order from Waterstone’s in Newcastle and from Amazon.co.uk. The new version has a foreword by Tony Garland along with a dedication and has some reviews at the back.
The Bay Foodbank
Please continue to donate non-perishable items at Sainsbury’s & Morrison’s.
For your prayers this week:
Your Prayers are requested for
Martin Cooper
Rona Lawrie
Don
Emma Campbell
Michael Hampson
Pat Brown
Olya Bouchard
Rest in Peace
Norman Searle
James Hunt
Don’t forget, you can add someone to the prayer list by emailing or phoning as usual, but you need to get their permission before adding them to the sick list. You can also use the form on the website here to submit a prayer request online.
This Sunday's Hymns & Readings
Collect
Heavenly Lord,
you long for the world’s salvation:
stir us from apathy,
restrain us from excess
and revive in us new hope
that all creation will one day be healed
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
A reading from the prophet Zephaniah
Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of theLordis at hand;
theLordhas prepared a sacrifice,
he has consecrated his guests.
At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the people who rest complacently on their dregs, those who say in their hearts, “The Lord will not do good, nor will he do harm.” Their wealth shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.
The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter, the warrior cries aloud there. That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.
I will bring such distress upon people that they shall walk like the blind; because they have sinned against the Lord, their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord’s wrath; in the fire of his passion the whole earth shall be consumed; for a full, a terrible end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
Zephaniah 1:7,12-18
A reading from the first letter of Paul to the Thessalonians
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters,you do not need to have anything written to you.For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!But you, beloved,are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief;for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober;for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night.But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
The Gospel according to Matthew
“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them;to one he gave five talents,to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents.In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents.But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed;so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter?Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest.So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents.For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Matthew 25:14-30
Offertory Hymn
Make me a channel of Your peace Where there is hatred, let me bring Your love Where there is injury, Your pardon Lord And where there's doubt, true faith in You
Make me a channel of Your peace Where there's despair in life, let me bring hope Where there is darkness, only light And where there's sadness, ever joy
Oh Master, grant that I may never seek So much to be consoled as to console To be understood as to understand To be loved as to love with all my soul
Make me a channel of Your peace It is pardoning that we are pardoned In giving to all men that we receive And in dying that we're born to eternal life
Sebastian Temple (attributed to St Francis of Assisi)
© 1967, OCP Publications.
Communion Anthem
Take this moment, sign and space; Take my friends around; Here among us make the place Where your love is found.
Take the time to call my name, Take the time to mend Who I am and what I’ve been, All I’ve failed to tend.
Take the tiredness of my days, Take my past regret, Letting your forgiveness touch All I can’t forget
Take the little child in me Scared of growing old; Help me here to find my worth Made in God’s own mould.
Take my talents, take my skills, Take what’s yet to be; Let my life be yours, and yet Let it still be me.
John Bell
© 1989, Iona Community, GIA Publications, Inc. agent
performed by The Cathedral Singers
© 2000 GIA Pubications inc.
Post Communion
Gracious Lord,
in this holy sacrament
you give substance to our hope:
bring us at the last
to that fullness of life for which we long;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
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