Newsletter 30th January 2022

Candlemas

30th January 2022

Bring your candles to church! This Sunday we celebrate Candlemas, the presentation of Christ in the temple, marking the end of Epiphany. It is also traditionally a time when candles are blessed in the church. If you have a candle (any size or colour) that you would like to have blessed, please bring it along on Sunday at 10am. The light from our candles symbolically reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world.

Covid Update

Government guidance about the mandatory use of face coverings in indoor venues has been dropped, however the Church of England reminds us that face coverings ‘may be recommended in enclosed or crowded places, particularly where you come into contact with people you don’t normally meet.’ We continue to encourage the use of face coverings during services, especially whilst covid rates are high. This will be reviewed at our next PCC in early March. 

Thanks for bearing with all the changes we have had to put in place to keep the church services as safe as we can.

Collect

Lord Jesus Christ,

light of the nations and glory of Israel:

make your home among us,

and present us pure and holy

to your heavenly Father,

your God, and our God.

Readings

Malachi 3.1-5, Psalm 24.[1-6]7-10, Hebrews 2.14-18
Luke 2.22-40

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!). 

Messy Church

We have a Valentine’s theme for our next Messy Church. Help spread the word about this family afternoon.

Shoreline

Paper copies of the January issue are now available in the church porch. Digital copies were emailed out last week.

Bible Art Luke 2.22-40

Luke 2 22-24 talks about Joseph and Mary bringing Jesus to the temple to be presented, and to sacrifice two turtle doves. As I understand it from Leviticus, one of the doves was sacrificed for Mary's sins, and the other to make her body pure following the birth of Jesus; that is, they were to make her pure physically and spiritually. 

Thus it was that, at the moment she presented Jesus as the first born son to be designated as holy to the Lord, she herself had been given that gift of purity by the same Lord. A few minutes later she was to hear the words spoken by Simeon and Anna about her baby ... no cooing and murmurs of 'isn't he sweet?' 'doesn't he look like this relative or that', but the declaration of who he was. Did the fact that she had just gone through purification of body and soul mean that she was more open to understand what Simeon and Anna said?

Revd Jess

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 Morning 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…

Thank you to everyone who donated to the Shoreham and Adur Community Food Bank. Shoreham Beach food bank volunteer Dai picked up the donations from us, which we collected in partnership with the Shoreham Beach Resident’s Association.  Dai reports that the donations weighed in at a mighty 94.85kg and will help local people who are most in need. 

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, 30th January 

8am – Holy Communion with Canon Tony.

10am – Parish Communion with Canon Tony.

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

You Tube page CLICK HERE 

Church Facebook page CLICK HERE 

Tuesday 1st February

9.30am - Informal Holy Communion with Revd Pat.

Wednesday 2nd February

6pm – Celtic Evening Prayer on Zoom

CLICK HERE

Meeting ID: 868 1252 3106

Passcode: 960274

Friday 4th February

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 5th February 

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 Revd Steve for the link. Email: shorehamcurate@gmail.com

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