Worship with us on Easter Day!
We are reopening for public worship on Easter Day! We have two services: The 6am Easter Liturgy (the Service of Light, Vigil, Renewal of Baptism Vows, and Eucharist), and the Mid-morning Eucharist at 10am. Use the links below to sign up to join us in person, or to access our live stream.
Join us in person! Go to our Services & Worship page to see upcoming services and sign up. You can do that by clicking or tapping on this link:
Join us Online! Head to our YouTube Channel to join us Live for our 10am Easter Eucharist, and access other videos. You can do that by clicking or tapping on this link:
New this week
Easter Eggs and Bonnets
Last chance to send in your entries to our Easter Bonnet Competition!
Zoom Coffee Morning
There will be no Zoom Coffee Morning on Easter Day.
APCM
Our Annual Parish Church Meeting will be held on Sunday 25th April at 11:15am in church. There will be a dedicated page with online reports, plus details of how to attend, and how to stand for election to the PCC, next week.
Golden Wedding
Congratulations to Elizabeth and John Charlton who celebrate their Golden Wedding anniversary on Saturday. Love and best wishes from all at St Mary’s.
New Baby
Congratulations to Laura and Tony Bennett (our 6th WB Cub Scout leader) on the safe arrival of their first baby - a beautiful daughter Jessica Grace, born on Sunday 28th March. We send love, hugs and best wishes from all at St Mary’s.
100 Club
Our April winners are: £50 Nicola Scully; £30 Revd Benjamin Jarvis; £20 Jacqueline Ballantine.
Thought for the Week – Revd Canon Rachel Wood
A key symbol of Easter is the Daffodil and depending on where Easter falls these can be plentiful or well past their flowering season. This year, for much of Lent, the daffodils were just buds of a green-y yellow and only a few flowers - a sense of potential, of something getting ready to happen but not quite here. Now though the daffodils on Monkseaton Drive have just reached their peak. This Easter seems perfectly timed with the start of spring.
Easter is a time for new beginnings, but this year especially as infection numbers go down, as more of us are vaccinated, we have more reasons to get excited. As we begin the easing of Covid restrictions we might be tempted to live in anticipation of the next milestone, to keep looking towards a future event that is not quite here yet.
Let’s not ignore the now though. Let’s enter into the joy of this season. Let’s notice nature renewing itself, feel the warmth returning and hear the birdsong. Let’s simply look at the daffodils, trying not to think too much about what’s coming next, but enjoy these Easter days and the small steps we can take - the first drink with a friend in the garden, the plans to meet family for a meal outside, the silent growth of our immunity to this virus.
Psalm 27 says: “I believe I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord be strong and he shall comfort your heart”. There is still a little while to go but whatever we are going through, we can hold onto the vision of God’s goodness and faithfulness and that while we wait for this we will be comforted. There is hope, there are banks of daffodils, we will see the goodness of God in the land of the living.
Holy Week Services
If you missed any of them live, you can catch up on our Services throughout Holy Week on our YouTube Channel (view the whole playlist here). Here are a couple of snapshots:
Diary & Reminders
Diary
Wednesday 7th April: 9am Morning Prayer; church open until midday for private prayer.
Sunday 11th April: Eucharist for the 2nd Sunday of Easter.
St Mary’s Electoral Roll
The deadline for any additions or changes to our Electoral Roll is the 11th April. The church’s Electoral Roll is the register of its voting members; it is a list of those qualified to attend and to vote at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting. Electoral rolls provide an indication of the real membership and strength of the church. Any baptised adults (16 years or over) who live in the parish, or those who have worshipped regularly at St. Mary’s for at least six months and are committed to being part of the life of the local Church of England congregation are able to join the Electoral Roll. Contact Rosie by email at rosietate@me.com if you aren’t on the Electoral Roll already as now is the time to join!
The Link Newspaper for April
"The Link", the Diocese of Newcastle Newspaper is available online.
For your prayers this week:
Your Prayers are requested for
Jonathan Rodd, Jennifer Stephenson, Olya Bouchard, Don, Alan and Margaret Stears, Rose Ketteringham, and Martin Cooper.
Rest in Peace
Grenville Jones
David Bottrill (Anniversary)
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
Remember that News and notices from previous weeks are all available to read by clicking "notices" at the top of the page. Sign up below to receive our weekly email by joining our mailing list.