St Peter's Yaxley

…reaching out in love and faith

A Prayer for St. Peter’s

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Being the Light of the World

We proclaim that Jesus is the Light of the World.

In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it  ( John 1:4,5 ).

We declare that St Peters is the light of God, set on a hill. And it is to be a beacon of hope and life and light to all that is around it in Yaxley.  We declare that God’s church here at St Peters will make a difference to this area.

Lord we thank you for the church of St Peters and that it stands on a hill seen from any direction. 

It is a place where the light of the world shines into the community from the provisions, and the people that you have gathered there in your name. 

We thank you for the presence and power of your spirit when we are gathered together and for that same strength and power of your holy spirit in us spread out around the community when we are not all together in one place. 

Alone or together we cry out to you at this time: eradicate COVID 19 and heal our planet from it’s ravages.  For all those who have been struck down by depression, health issues, job losses and relationship conflicts, in the name of your son Jesus we ask you to heal and restore them to full health and heavenly father comfort those who have suffered loss at this time.

Lord we give you thanks and praise for the building adaptation taking place that through it your light would shine out further and stronger into this community changing peoples’ lives, giving them hope for the present and the future.  Thank you  for the giving and the planning to make this possible. In Your name we bless all those working on the project with your  protection and your presence.

We pray your blessings and the power of the Holy Spirit  on all those groups who will be using the new facilities now and when we can meet together.  We pray for the Holy Spirit to give us all visions and dreams as to how the adaptations can be used and developed to meet the needs of the wider community, for your Kingdom to come closer and wider and your name to be lifted up and glorified in this place.

Blessing

We bless you people of St Peters in the name of Jesus Christ to rise up and be the light of the world, that all those in darkness will be affected and drawn to your light.  We bless you to shine out for the Kingdom of God.  We bless you to repel the darkness in the area in which you are based.  We bless you to be in the world but not of it, and therefore to be different and to be effective in Yaxley and surrounding community.  We bless you to be the aroma of Christ.

Amen

The Message

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Dear Friends

I have been thinking about language and the way that language changes.  Over the last couple of years we have had to learn a completely new language.  Do you remember the time when you thought a bubble was something that children blew from washing up liquid or bubble gum rather than something that we used to protect ourselves from others.  When I was nursing, LFTs were something related to a liver function test blood test, now it is the test that I take at least twice weekly to try and ensure I don’t infect someone with Covid 19.

The language of Christianity has changed over the years.  One of the oldest translations of the Bible that we use today is the King James Bible which was first used in 1611.  The language may seem old to us today and difficult to read, but this has been the translation of the Bible that many people have used for many years.  The language of the Bible and the language of Christianity may have changed over the years, but the message has never changed.  That message is one that has been passed down through the ages, it was told from person to person, it was written down and shared and still the message of the Bible is current to us at the end of 2021.

Angels are messengers in the Bible, taking a message to Mary that she was to be the mother of Jesus.  Joseph was also visited by an angel when he had doubts as to what he should do.  It was angels that appeared to the shepherds telling them the news that changed history:

I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  Luke Chapter 2

This Christmas we will be looking at the amazing Christmas story that has been passed down through the ages in a variety of ways, starting with the angels.  There will be an angel trail around Yaxley, Advent windows, a Blue Christmas service, Christingle, Carol Service, Crib service, Midnight service welcoming Christmas and a service on Christmas Day itself.  We will be remembering that Jesus came to be Emmanuel – God with us because of the love of God for us.  You are welcome to join us for any of these services and events.  We have had to limit numbers and implement a booking system and we will of course be following any Government and Church of England guidance, so please do keep an eye on social media.

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas from St Peter’s Church Family

 

A Season of Remembrance

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Dear Friends

We enter a season of remembrance as we come to the end of October and move into November.  At the end of October, we have All Souls when we remember those who are dear to us who have died and gone ahead of us.  We then remember All Saints – those people who have been sainted for the people they were – St. Peter is a great example – our own church here in Yaxley.  Those people who have set excellent standards in the way they have lived their life for God as they follow in the footsteps of Jesus.  People are still being sainted even today and there are many who have lived amazing lives for good and for God who will never be known by the many, but their example is known and treasured by the few.

At this time of year, we would usually be inviting you to an All Souls service, a place to remember those who have died throughout this year and those who have died perhaps many years ago but whom you still want to remember in this way.  For this year we have moved this service to the beginning of December and will be doing this in a Blue Christmas Service.  A service for those who may find the celebrations of Christmas very hard to cope with for a variety of reasons.  Anyone is welcome to this service, and we will be having time during this service to remember those who have died who you wish to remember.  If you would like the name of your special person or people to be read out, then please do get in touch on the details below and let me know.  This service will be on Sunday 5th December at 4pm at St. Peter’s Church, Yaxley.

Of course, we then move on to a different remembrance on 11th November and then on Remembrance Sunday at our morning service and our special Service of Remembrance at 3pm.  We know that war rages on today in many countries as well as remembering those who gave their lives so that we might have our lives today.

From 7th November, we will have new times for our service.  Our morning service which will be contemporary worship will be at 10.30am and we will be having an early evening service at 4.30pm which will be a traditional Communion Service, please do join us for either of these services.

As we move into the darker and colder months of the year, I hope that we as a church here in Yaxley can offer a place for you to remember and know the love of Jesus who gave everything for us and walks with us today.

Rev Sarah                 01733 248690/07498 230858 or yaxleyvicar@gmail.com

A New Season

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Dear Friends

We are moving into October and in theory the colder months of the year in this country.  In August this year we seemed to be in Autumn already and I was getting very close to putting my heating on and then September arrives, and we have a few tropical days!  Things seem very strange in so many different ways.  In September we have held a service for creation Sunday – thinking about the world which God created and how we can play our part in caring for the world at this time.  Later this year, there are big conversations coming up about climate change and what we can do to reverse the damage already done.  We are praying as we move towards COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference, that we will be able to take steps to heal the planet which is suffering in so many different ways.

As we move into a new season and see changes around us in the weather, temperature and in nature, and as the clocks change at the end of the month, we are expecting some changes too at St. Peter’s and are looking forward to what lies ahead for us.  Many of you may know that we have been having some building work done since just after Easter of this year.  Our new facilities which include a new room upstairs, new toilets and a new kitchen area should be completed this month and The Bishop of Ely is coming to dedicate our new facilities and we will have a Confirmation Service for those who want to make their own declaration of faith. 

Please do come and join us for this service with Bishop Stephen on Sunday 24th October at 10.30am. You are very welcome to join us on this Sunday or any Sunday.  We would love to see you.  We hope that from November we will be able to welcome back other groups and our children and youth ministry groups as well.  We have missed you. 

I love the autumn as the leaves change colour and fall, I hope that you are able to get out and about and see the beauty of the world around us.

With every blessing for this season.

Rev Sarah

A new and changed world

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Dear Friends,

We are excited that the building work has started in St. Peter’s which, when completed in the autumn, will give us more toilets, better kitchen facilities and serving area and a new room upstairs. We went back into the church building for Easter and since then have been online for our worship services. However, we are now making plans to return to the church building at the end of May. By the time that you read this, we should be back in the church building for one service at 9.30am. You are really welcome to join us, but you will need to let us know if you will be coming to a service to ensure that we can maintain social distancing until we know what the easing of lockdown restrictions in June will mean for us – please just email or phone me if you would like to attend. We will also be continuing with one service online at 11.00am. You will find us on our YouTube Channel.

We are looking at the book of Acts in our church services at the moment. This is the book that follows the four Gospels that outline the life, work and teaching of Jesus. Acts is the point where those first friends of Jesus start the first Christian church and community. The book of Acts is fairly fast paced and we see these first Christians navigating a new and a changed world for them. Their world changed completely but they set about to build new community and spread the news about Jesus. There was nothing easy about this and they came across many twists and turns, hurdles and barriers.

I don’t know about you, but the first time someone gave me a date for an event this year, it was wonderful to write something in my diary rather than rubbing it out. It is lovely to see through this magazine and the Facebook page that places are starting to open, events are being able to be planned and we need that hope. We know that there is much to rebuild, much has changed. We have lost loved people, we have lost opportunities and have all been impacted in some way. At St Peter’s we will be looking to restart events and groups slowly over the next few months, but we know that some will not start until the Autumn due to the building work and while we take time to understand new guidance and changes and plan.

Do join us on a Sunday for our services. Explorers will be running again in half term from the 31st May so keep your eyes open for more information and do come and explore with us.

With every blessing for the coming weeks.

Rev Sarah
01733 248690/07498 230858 yaxleyvicar@gmail.com

Our condolences and prayers are with the Royal Family

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Dear Friends,

As I write this, the news is that His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh has died. Much has been said already about his character and his long service to our country and his support of his wife, our Queen. We send our condolences and our prayers are with the Royal Family as they mourn this loss.

This is the statement from The Bishop of Ely:
I express with you my sadness at the death of Prince Philip. We give thanks to God for his life and service. Our hearts and our prayers reach out in sympathy for Her Majesty the Queen in her profound loss after 73 years of loving marriage and shared duty. We pray also for Prince Philip’s children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

We thank God for the Prince’s deep sense of duty in his support of the Queen and the service of his country. We remember his keen intelligence and wit, his promotion of the initiative and growth of young people through the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, his promotion of new technology and scientific research and his patronage of hundreds of good causes. We also remember his fine record as a serving naval officer and his sporting gifts and passions. We are thankful for his Christian faith and his commitment to clergy support and development through St George’s House at Windsor.

Most of all, we praise God for the example of a person dedicated to his family and its wellbeing over more than seventy years with the joys and the sacrifices which come with such a commitment.

We thank God that Prince Philip now enjoys the fullness of the resurrection life. We pray for Her Majesty that she will know all the consolations of her own deep faith in this time of mourning.

God save the Queen!

Yours ever in Christ, + Stephen Bishop Stephen Bishop of Ely

This month of May has a particular focus of prayer for the church as we approach Ascension to Pentecost – the time when Jesus went to heaven and sent The Holy Spirit. There is a National call to prayer called Thy Kingdom Come. Please join us in praying for our country at this time. We can pray at anytime, anywhere.

Thy Kingdom Come is a line of The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Our village, country and our world continue to need our prayers, do join with us to pray The Lord’s Prayer this month.

With every blessing Rev Sarah 01733 249690/07498 230858

Annual Report 2020-21

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I don’t think that any of us could have envisaged that as we approach the anniversary of a year since lockdown began in England, that we would continue to be in lockdown a year later due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. We are people of faith and hope and the vaccine and recent roadmap to end lockdown brings us hope and we continue to pray for an end to this pandemic.

Read the full report here

Thank you

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Dear Friends

I write this as we are just entering Lockdown 3.0 as it seems to be known. I am not sure that any of us would have thought last summer that we would be back to this place again. We have taken the decision at St. Peter’s, that we will not be opening the church building for Sunday Services at this time to keep people safe. Our services continue online as well as the weekly mailings that are sent out.

It can be hard to wonder what we have achieved over the last weeks and months but on the last Sunday of December we did a look back at 2020 after we looked through some of our social media for the year and realised how many things had gone on. We are so very grateful to the community of Yaxley for your support, especially through the work of the Foodbank. Our amazing volunteers continued throughout last year and will carry on volunteering in this year. The community of Yaxley and our surrounding villages have been so generous in their donations that there were days that we could barely get out of the front door due to the number of donations, so thank you 😊. We were able to make more Christmas packages than other years and sadly we expect the demand to continue, and probably increase, but Foodbank is still running on Monday and Thursday afternoon from 3pm to 5pm in the church and no vouchers are needed. Like so many individuals and organisations in the village, we do not want to see anyone go hungry due to their circumstances.

You may also have been involved in Explorers, (all age activities) which launched in the summer holidays, ran again in October half term and we started again in Advent through to Epiphany. Our Explorers bags were collected by so many people, in fact 170 went during December and I loved seeing so many people out and about on the Nativity Trail. We enjoyed Christingle and singing Away in a Manger on our doorsteps and seeing your photos of your crafts and activities. Explorers will take place in February half term so look out for more information on this during the month and make sure that you join in our Explorers activities.

One of the things we are passionate about is prayer and we continue to pray for our community of Yaxley and for an end of this pandemic. If we can pray for anything for you, please let me know.

Look after yourselves and stay safe.
With every blessing
Rev Sarah – yaxleyvicar@gmail.com 01733 248690/07498 230858

The Gate of the Year

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Dear Friends,

As I write this, we are drawing to the end of one of the strangest and most unexpected years (not that you need me to tell you that!) I have been thinking that this time last year Coronavirus and Wuhan were distant news articles. I do not think that any of us thought that it would come close to our shores, let alone become a worldwide Pandemic that would put us into lockdown for several months closing down much of our country. As we head towards the end of the year, it is often a time when we look back on the year that has been, and we look forward to a New Year with new chances and opportunities.

You may well be wondering what the next year has in store for us? We may be walking into the next year with quite a lot of trepidation knowing that it will not be easy. As you look back on 2020, what stands out – toilet paper? Home-schooling? Loss of job or relationship? Loss of loved one? Maybe there are equally some good things that you can look back on – More time with family? A slower pace of life, realising what is important to you?

I obviously cannot tell you what next year will bring, but I know a God who has been with me all my life and yes, even in this year. As I walk into 2021 I do so believing and trusting in a God who does know the way.

“The Gate of the Year” is the popular name given to a poem by Minnie Louise Haskins. The title that she gave it was “God Knows”.
The poem, written in 1908 and privately published in 1912, caught the public attention when King George VI quoted it in his 1939 Christmas broadcast to the British Empire. The poem may have been brought to his attention by his wife, Queen Elizabeth. (Thank you to Wikipedia)

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

With every blessing in this New Year

Rev Sarah 01733 248690/07498 230858
yaxleyvicar@gmail.com

Happy New Year!

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Dear Friends

Happy New Year – It is 2022 (can you believe it???!)  It seems very strange to say that as I am writing this at the start of December, and we have just put our Christmas decorations up at home.  Today in church we have had a Nativity service and Blue Christmas service, and there is much more to come.  I am surrounded by Christmas cards which need to be written and presents to be wrapped and as you read this, we will be at the other end of Christmas and the start of a New Year.

As I write this, news is coming out daily about yet, another variant of Covid and we are all hoping and praying that this will not cause significant illness or upheaval as we all continue to find our new normal.  With this in mind, some of what I write, you will need to check on our website or give me a call!

We have been looking to open up at St. Peter’s for several months, but our building work has been our priority.  As I write this, we are hopeful that the church building will be handed back to us from the builders fairly soon – hopefully more news on this next month!  With this in mind, we plan in 2022 for our groups to re-open with our wellbeing being on Thursday 27th January 2022 at 8pm and our Foster and Adoption group will be announcing dates.

Sundays: 10:30am Contemporary Service

(1st Sunday – All Age, 2nd and 4th Sundays Holy Communion with children and youth ministry groups and 3rd Sunday – Opening the Bible.)

4.30pm Traditional Service of Holy Communion

5th Sundays – 1 service at 10:00am

Foodbank will continue on Monday and Thursday from 3pm to 5pm in the church building.  Thank you to everyone who has donated through 2021.

Fridays:

1st and 3rd Fridays (9.15am to 11am) – Sparks (Pre-School children and parents/carers) – crafts, activities, songs and refreshments.

2nd and 4th Fridays (9.15am to 11am) – Encounter (Anyone welcome and pre-school children welcome) – An informal way to explore the Christian faith with videos, discussion and refreshments.

Do join us 😊 With every blessing for a New Year – Rev Sarah